NWA TNA Rewind 8.08.02: Hyperbole Edition!

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Best Episode Yet?

NWA:TNA last night on PPV was perhaps the best edition of the show yet, proving that NWA officials are listening to fans and nonfans in trying to adjust the product. With all of the marketing and legal issues, TNA plans on a relaunch of sorts in the fall, so they should work out all the kinks in their show. Last night they showed that they are working hard on tweaking the product to be at its best from week to week.

Last night’s show was a great mix of heavyweight contenders and X Divistion action. There were the typical Russo-debacles, but if Jerry Jarrett is going to get re-involved in editing Russo, these kinds of segments will probably get fewer and shorter. The matches are generally longer than those on Raw and Smackdown, but still a bit shorter than those on WWE PPVs. With the in-ring work as the focus, the matches could stand to be a bit longer, especially the NWA World Title Matches, which was hyped as possibly going 60 minutes, and ending up going about 10.

The matches all have a good intensity and seem to all have meaning and purpose in the grand scheme of NWA TNA. Matches set up future title matches, and all are put over by Tenay in establishing the unofficial rankings in the Heavyweight and X Divisions. And it’s great to see Malice finally win a match – it’s tough to build monster heels without wins, and beating up a Harris is always entertainment to me.

Worst Segment Ever?

Upon reading that headline, you probably can’t decide between the Miss TNA rematch between Bruce and Taylor Vaughn and the Dupps/Disco fiasco. Well, both were atrocious and marred an otherwise fantastic show.

The Miss TNA thing is especially baffling to me. Not only is Taylor Vaughn not attractive or charismatic, but Bruce is not a big star in the making, and thus the segment is neither building stars or exhibiting top quality T&A.

Jive Talkin’ has been a brutal failure so far, as no major angles have gone down on the show, and all three editions of Disco’s talk show have been too long and pointless. If the promotion wants to build a strong Piper’s Pit-style interview segment, it needs to make sure major, controversial angles are born from it each time, or else it’s a waste of valuable PPV time.

Most Title Changes In NWA:TNA History!

TNA does a fantastic job of making their titles and champions seem important. The heavyweight division is built around the NWA Title, and all top contenders have issues with Ricky Steamboat over getting title shots. In addition, the “tale of the tape” before the NWA Title match was a nice tough.

It was interesting to see that both singles titles changed hands in one night. Both champions held the titles for nearly 2 months, and both new champions are deserving. However, I worry that with Russo in charge, titles are going to change hands more frequently. The foundation of TNA is its respect and reveration of the title belts, and they would be remiss if they devalued them.

Most Tweeners In One Show Ever!

Another tenet of Russo booking is having many shades of grey, rather than just black and whtite good guys and bad guys. Jeff Jarrett is being booked as being screwed by the bosses, so that will eventually turn him full babyface. However, Ricky Steamboat is generally booked a do gooder face commissioner, until last night when he screwed Jeff Jarrett out of a title shot. At first, Jerry Lynn was made to seem heelish in his beratement of AJ Styles for his lack of respected. But after a while, it became clear that Lynn was right and that Styles IS an ungrateful punk. However, they never really turned Lynn back face, so he is stuck in tweener limbo as well.

Even the lower card is a confused mess of tweeners. Which of the Flying Elvises are the faces? Siaki is coming off like an arrogant heel, but the other Elvises are still booked as heels as well. Are the Dupps supposed to be cheered or booed?

TNA really needs to button down some heel and face identities for its stars for several months so when they do turn, the swerves and turns are meaningful and interesting. As it stands, wrestlers are being booked inconsistently and fans will have trouble relating. They only shirt they have at this point is for their former top face prospect, AJ Styles, and they have already turned him heel. Merchandising also relates to booking, and these things needs to be better coordinated.

Major Admission Of Error By Me!

In last night’s report, I wrote:

(Sidebar: it’s a weird contradiction that Steamboat says he felt held down from the WWE World Title picture and then goes on to talk about all his NWA World Title matches.)

To which Wabruscato responded:

I don’t understand how that is a contradiction. The WWF never really gave Steamboat a chance at Hogan’s World Title, but in the NWA, they recognized how talented and over he was and gave him many chances. Steamboat was “held down” in the WWF, never getting higher than the IC Title picture (which I believe he only held once). But he was the NWA #1 star, beating Ric Flair in what many call one of the best wrestling matches of all time.

And to that I say you’re right! I think the announcers and Steamboat could have better conveyed their point: WWF held Steamboat down, and NWA recognized his talent, so Steamboat was living up to the NWA name by recognizing Killings’ talent. Instead they went with the race angle on it, instead of making the NWA seem like the better, more fair promotion.

Greatest Feedback In NWA:TNA Rewind History!

Michael McCullar writes:

Well, after last week’s fiasco, I said, like a lot of people, this was the last chance for NWA:TNA to keep me as a customer. After this show, they have me for another week. There was some crap in the middle, like the Dupps and the evening gown match, but the other matches more than made up for it. The SAT vs, the Flying Elvises was killer, the X Title match was off the hook, JJ vs. Apolo was good, The Truth vs. Shamrock was decent, and Don Harris vs. Malice didn’t suck like I thought it would. So 2 ****+ matches, a *** match, and 2 ** matches for only $9.95 is a hell of a lot better than the crap the WWE has been putting out there lately.

Widro responds:

While I liked the show, WWE stuff hasn’t been as crappy lately. But I do agree with your points about the show last night.

lord humongous added:

WOW! Widro, I would like to thank you for your great coverage of these matches. I get every one but some do not and you truly call each one honestly and mark out at just the right moments. This was obviously their best show and had less of the Russo presence. Do not get me wrong Russo is valuable in bringing in the casual fans but too much Jerry Springer ruins the show. Tonight they hit on all cylinders. Even their low point which was the Dupps segment with disco was at the very least entertaining.

The main between Low Ki, Styles , and Lynn where Ki won the belt did the impossible and stole match of they year honors from the four way dance for the X-title some weeks back.

Color me a marking idiot and let me joining the hicklacious masses in the

following chant. TNA! TNA! TNA! Naw F it! TRUTH! TRUTH! TRUTH! TRUTH!!!!!

Widro responds:

The strong in work in the X Division will carry this promotion until it dies or Russo kills the X Division. Both X Division matches last night were enjoyable and markedly different from anything WWE puts out, which is what TNA really has to concentrate on.

fbwbiohazard checked in with

This isn’t a review of the show, but rather of the whole NWA:TNA business plan in general. After reading a review of last nights, i couldn’t help but feel that i missed out, as are many fans. I am on the verge of ordering, to check it out, but no way would i pay 10$ a week. The NWA need to get on national TV free soon. They would gain a large following i would imagine. The X-Division is the biggest thing for me. But the shows seem to fluctuate between crappy and good, so you never can be sure whether or not it is going to be worth 10$.

Widro responds:

That inconsistency has become TNA’s biggest problem. Last night’s show was strong, but with only one match announced for next week, you never know if next week will be good. TNA needs a string of 5-8 great shows in a row to end the summer and build momentum for when their marketing kicks back into gear in the Fall.

Eric Katz has a lot to say

Hello Widro. Just thought I’d send you my thoughts on the NWA-TNA show.

I live in NY so I’m screwed from watching it, but I’ve enjoyed reading about the product. A lot of my favorite indy wrestlers have found a home in NWA-TNA, and I think the national exposure for these guys is great. I thought this week’s show was very positive, but this show could also be the signs of TNA’s downfall.

Good aspects of the show.

1) There were a lot of good matches this week. SAT’s and Red vs. The Flying Elvises sounded like a fun match, reminiscent of The Yung Dragons vs. Three Count.

2) Truth/Shamrock seemed like a decent match. PLUS, the Title is off Shamrock. I think they’ll probably feed him to the New Church and then he’ll be off to train for UFC. People had a lot of hope for him, but I think we’re now remembering why the then WWF gave up on him. But putting the title on K-Truth (my name for him) is a great thing. They just need to establish his name and leave it as that.

3) Malice winning. Yea, those monsters that lose matches, they always get over. See: Big Show.

4) Jarrett/Apolo. I’ve heard some good things about Apolo, and J a double r e double t is the man, of course.

5) Main Event. It lives up to the X-Division Standards. Good stuff, I’ll have to buy a tape for that one.

Bad Aspects.

1) Smell the Nash: Kevin Nash is forever known as the man to create the idea of the tweener. In the spirit of Kevin Nash, Vince Russo has decided to make several people tweeners. Last week, Truth decided to dance and be cool. This was after he had been bashing the crowd. This week, he was a face . . . for now. Meanwhile, Steamboat . . . is turning heel? My problem is you have to establish your faces and your heels, to stop confusion. But I fear more odd turns like these that just don’t make sense. Steamboat just started being a heel. I mean turns are one thing, but I feel like Russo is just making these guys a bunch of tweeners, with no consistancy. Not good.

2) There’s way too many random brawls going on, and it’s causing a lot of confusion, at least for me.

3) Kill Jive Talk . . . now! They are wasting a segment on Disco Inferno. C’mon, the man carried a duck around to get over for awhile. Really, now honestly.

4) X-Division: The more awesome matches you put on, the more people are going to be pissed when you don’t. X-division matches have set such a high standard that if they stop being awesome matches, people will be so pissed that they won’t buy the ppv.

I worry about the 1st bad aspect. Things need to stay clear, basic, and easy to understand.

Well those are my thoughts, hopefully Cablevision will give me my NWA-TNA soon so I can watch. Because I wonder how much longer they will last. Hopefully they’ll do well, but one can only hope. See ya next week.

Widro responds:

Looks like you have a good grasp of the TNA product just from reading my reports. Or at least you can see what I like and dislike from how I describe things! I kind of like all the backstage brawls, because they are treated as segueways and transitions between segments, giving the illusion that there is no down time, and it really is Total Non Stop Action.

That about wraps up another Rewind. Thanks for everyone who emailed in this week. We have Jarrett/Truth vs. Lynn/Styles next week and well we don’t know yet. Hopefully they’ll give us more X Division and Scott Hall will return, and less Jive Talkin’ and Miss TNA crap.

Jonathan Widro is the owner and founder of Inside Pulse. Over a decade ago he burst onto the scene with a pro-WCW reporting style that earned him the nickname WCWidro. Check him out on Twitter for mostly inane non sequiturs