TNA: Where Old Wrestlers Go To Wrestle
Feb. 15th, 2011 08:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
deannawolJust got done watching TNA's PPV event Against All Odds and much to my surprise, I enjoyed it.
Recently, I've been rather unimpressed by the storylines in TNA. They've been heavy handed and have none of the groundwork done to support either the emotional content or the sheer scale of what they're trying to achieve.
Take the Jarrett/Angle storyline. There's supposed to be real emotional turmoil and a deep seated hatred flowing back and forth. Afterall, Jeff Jarrett nicked Kurt Angle's wife and married her, taking Kurt's kids from him. But they're playing Jarrett as a hella creepy. The "real life" view on Jeff and Karen's life and their kids was just... I wanted to take all six kids (2 of Kurt and Karen's and 4 of Jeff's with his previous wife) away from him. It didn't help that the kids were looking at "Daddy Jeff" as if he was crazy.
This whole creepy thing was supposed to culminate in a contracted match in Against All Odds. If Kurt won, he'd get sole custody of his kids. If Jarrett won, Kurt would walk Karen, his ex, down the aisle (which is going to happen in the Impact Zone) when she and Jarrett renew their vows on March 3rd. Then, they got the Immortal/Fortune storyline (another major storyline) all tied up in the middle of the Jarrett/Angle storyline and it all got messy, or should that be messier?
I wasn't looking forward to the PPV fight between Jarrett and Angle, I have to admit, but they presently surprised me. There was some quality entertainment in there, some almost real wrestling. Outcome was predicted well in advance, but you actually believed that it was going to be close. And actually, I'm really happy about that.
The Immortal/Fortune storyline is a little annoying but I'm sure that it's going to get messed up more before it works itself out.
Most of the matches on Against All Odds were fairly average. The X Division title match was average. The divas match was a little pedestrian. The three person tag team events (Immortal v Fortune) match was okay-ish but nothing special.
The Bully Ray vs Devon fight started with Devon forbidding his sons from going into the arena, but of course they popped in, and one of them got carried off in a stretcher. What I want to know is who thought that leaving handcuffs under the stage was a good idea? Devon got handcuffed to the ropes while Bully Ray proclaimed Devon weak (again and again and again and again) and dumped his kid through a table. It was a street fight so it tables were allowed. But man, it was ... really, really bad acting.
I do have to admit that there was one match that had me crossing my legs in sympathy and that was the final match. The final match of Against All Odds was a ladder match between Jeff Hardy and Mister Anderson. Jeff Hardy is obviously the favourite, given that he made his name on ladder matches and ladder matches kinda grew because of Jeff Hardy. So yeah, some strings pulled there. (Jeff Hardy is aligned with Immortal who run TNA at the moment.) But it kinda came close. And yes, they spent more time on the floor after some insane move than actually wrestling but the end of it... Yeah, it came pretty damned close. Again, predictable outcome but with some good moments.
And so, we're back to regular Impact from Thursday, with it's predictable format (60 minutes of talking, 15 minutes of wrestling). I'm so close to tossing in the whole thing and just watching the www.wrestlewrestle.com reviews of it. He's at least funny.
Recently, I've been rather unimpressed by the storylines in TNA. They've been heavy handed and have none of the groundwork done to support either the emotional content or the sheer scale of what they're trying to achieve.
Take the Jarrett/Angle storyline. There's supposed to be real emotional turmoil and a deep seated hatred flowing back and forth. Afterall, Jeff Jarrett nicked Kurt Angle's wife and married her, taking Kurt's kids from him. But they're playing Jarrett as a hella creepy. The "real life" view on Jeff and Karen's life and their kids was just... I wanted to take all six kids (2 of Kurt and Karen's and 4 of Jeff's with his previous wife) away from him. It didn't help that the kids were looking at "Daddy Jeff" as if he was crazy.
This whole creepy thing was supposed to culminate in a contracted match in Against All Odds. If Kurt won, he'd get sole custody of his kids. If Jarrett won, Kurt would walk Karen, his ex, down the aisle (which is going to happen in the Impact Zone) when she and Jarrett renew their vows on March 3rd. Then, they got the Immortal/Fortune storyline (another major storyline) all tied up in the middle of the Jarrett/Angle storyline and it all got messy, or should that be messier?
I wasn't looking forward to the PPV fight between Jarrett and Angle, I have to admit, but they presently surprised me. There was some quality entertainment in there, some almost real wrestling. Outcome was predicted well in advance, but you actually believed that it was going to be close. And actually, I'm really happy about that.
The Immortal/Fortune storyline is a little annoying but I'm sure that it's going to get messed up more before it works itself out.
Most of the matches on Against All Odds were fairly average. The X Division title match was average. The divas match was a little pedestrian. The three person tag team events (Immortal v Fortune) match was okay-ish but nothing special.
The Bully Ray vs Devon fight started with Devon forbidding his sons from going into the arena, but of course they popped in, and one of them got carried off in a stretcher. What I want to know is who thought that leaving handcuffs under the stage was a good idea? Devon got handcuffed to the ropes while Bully Ray proclaimed Devon weak (again and again and again and again) and dumped his kid through a table. It was a street fight so it tables were allowed. But man, it was ... really, really bad acting.
I do have to admit that there was one match that had me crossing my legs in sympathy and that was the final match. The final match of Against All Odds was a ladder match between Jeff Hardy and Mister Anderson. Jeff Hardy is obviously the favourite, given that he made his name on ladder matches and ladder matches kinda grew because of Jeff Hardy. So yeah, some strings pulled there. (Jeff Hardy is aligned with Immortal who run TNA at the moment.) But it kinda came close. And yes, they spent more time on the floor after some insane move than actually wrestling but the end of it... Yeah, it came pretty damned close. Again, predictable outcome but with some good moments.
And so, we're back to regular Impact from Thursday, with it's predictable format (60 minutes of talking, 15 minutes of wrestling). I'm so close to tossing in the whole thing and just watching the www.wrestlewrestle.com reviews of it. He's at least funny.
