By Kendra Bunyon on August 29th, 2008
Some people asked me to introduce myself (which I really should have done last week) and tell a little bit about myself. So here goes - I’m Kendra Bunyon, but most of my friends call me Ken. I’m 35 and have been watching wrestling since I was in middle school. I have always been interested in fashion and the wild outfits I saw on some of the wrestlers (Macho Man Randy Savage, Undertaker, HBK, etc.) really interested me. I ended up going to college for fashion design - like there’s anything I can do with THAT degree living in Maine! I had hoped to fight my way into the wrestling industry, but then the wild ring gear fizzled out. That’s when I realized that I loved to watch wrestling for the physicality of it and the storylines.
When I discovered the Internet I also discovered that there were a lot of interesting sites that publish rumors and inside stories about wrestling. I’d found my niche and started writing for one such site about three years ago. Recently WNW was looking for someone to blog TNA and I jumped on the chance. Luckily they accepted me as their new TNA blogger. Honestly I feel very strange when I am watching a wrestling show and not typing away about it. I know I have a lot to learn and a style to develop, but I’m going to work at it, to put in the time to get it right.
TNA Impact started with a mini-docudrama about Sting, then he was shown climbing out of his SUV without makeup. He says he’s going to break his silence tonight. With all of the drama and mystery that’s been surrounding Sting lately I’m shocked they showed him without his makeup.
Surprisingly they showed video of what Kong did to Gail Kim last week. I’d have thought they’d have brushed Gail under the rug now that she’s gone and it looks like she’s with ‘the other company’. Kong then dominated over a seemingly very talented black woman. It was her first match with the company, or that was what the announcers said. The match started so quickly that I never caught her name (sorry), but was impressed with her in-ring skills. After the match Kong, who gives the best ‘psycho looks’ in the business, and Saeed were about to beat the woman further. They set up chairs in the ring, but ODB came out and beat down Kong. Looks like with the lack of Gail they’re moving ODB up into that top spot to fight with Kong. It finally took security to peel ODB off Kong who was locked in an STF. I liked seeing security having to break up women in the ring. We’re so used to seeing them have to break the men up, but never the women. Makes me feel like they’re getting a little more respect in the ring.
Borash interviewed AJ Styles and how he’ll be facing Cage next week. I like how they’ve made Borash into a real character compared to how that ‘other company’ portrays Grisham. It works much better to have him be a real character, the way Coach was when he was an out back interviewer. It adds a more rounded feel to the show.
Another little docudrama breaks up the flow of the show - not in a good way. They felt, for some reason, that they had to give us Consequences Creed’s life story. While he’s great in the ring, we really did not need this huge chunk taken away from what could have been good ring time.
Petey Williams, who just looks goofy trying to be Steiner, tagged with Sheik Bashir against Creed and Jay Lethal. Creed and Lethal make a tight tag team and I hope to see more of them together. They’re both great singles competitors, but meld wonderfully as a team. Bashir and Williams, on the other hand did not do well together, but that’s the point of putting two heels together who do not like each other. But it worked well for the storyline of the match. Bashir had to blame Williams for their loss and possibly set up for a feud between them later.
This past week I discussed why TNA doesn’t flow as well as the ‘other company’ when on TV. The person I discussed it with is a new fan and he said that TNA’s camera angles and editing is very rough. This match proved his point. The cameras were shaky and the editing quite choppy. They cut from camera to camera in the middle of a move rather than before or after. They do not focus in on the moves from the best angles. All in all it looks very amateurish.
Karen’s Angle has Chris Parks on this week. He wanted to be more comfortable so he tossed the coffee table across the room and sat on the floor. Karen acted perfectly scared of Abyss who is wonderful on the mic! He hadn’t been allowed to talk for so long when Father James Mitchell was around. I figured he had to suck on the mic, but he’s great. He talks about Abyss and Chris as two different people, but that’s he’s been rehabilitated. He then started hitting on Karen because she’s now single and scared the crap out of her. They both played it wonderfully! He read her this horrible (romantic?) poem about him abducting her. He started to laugh maniacally, but it was obvious he was having trouble keeping a straight face. In the end he pulled out a bunch of his hair (ala Mankind) and gave it to her as a gift. That whole bit made me laugh out loud! I’m so glad they’re letting him talk for himself now.
The Beautiful People cut another promo with Kip James. How he fits in to their little group, I have yet to figure out. Velvet Sky has been reusing Sable’s original call phrase and can’t do it anywhere near as well as Sable did in the late 90’s.
TNA is known for its horrible gimmick matches, but what’s with these gimmick characters. Shark Boy has been around for quite a while and Eric Young can do about anything and still be loved, but this Curry Man thing is just strange. I know they had to do something with Christopher Daniels, but this is such a waste of his skills. He’s a great talker and this only shows off his (exceptional) ring skills.
After Curry Man beat Rave, Rock and Christie jumped in and they beat him down until Shark Boy and Super Eric saved him. While gimmicky, it seemed to work somehow.
Cornette meets with Tracie and tells her that she’s in charge of the Knockouts. It’s her job to keep them out of his hair.
Nash talked to Borash and said he called in a favor with Cornette and is in a qualifying match for the Championship Match at the next PPV. Nash said that Samoa Joe is in the rafters chasing Sting. He said that Joe doesn’t have his eye on the ball and if he doesn’t clean up his act Nash might be Champion for the sixth time.
I don’t think Russo would be dumb enough to put the strap on Nash, but he’s done more bizarre things as of late, so you never can tell. They should be focusing on the younger guys who are great in the ring and let the older legendary guys round out the storylines. Putting the strap on Nash would be extremely counter productive for the company.
Joe joined West and Tenay at the announce table for the next match, sure as heck couldn’t make the announce team any worse. Actually, Joe has a great voice and could be wonderful on announce, it’s the other two who are not my favorites (and I used to be a huge Tenay fan when he was in WCW).
A match between Angle and Nash? That does not show off the best of TNA’s ring talent. Yes, they’re huge names, but they’re not the future of the company. The fans were terribly quiet for this match, they just didn’t seem as into it as they were when the smaller, younger guys were in the ring. Nash still has his strength, but he’s so much slower than he used to be. Big Sexy has been one of my all time favorites, even through the nWo, but he’s really showing his age and ring rust.
Angle is also not up to his prime. He’s obviously hurting a lot every time he’s in the ring and it makes for a not as good match - unless he’s in with someone like AJ who can carry him some. Nash can’t carry this match.
Please know that this all hurts me to say as I have been a huge Nash fan for as long as I can remember and like Angle quite a lot too, but this just did not work in any way, shape or form. Though I have to say Nash put up with more abuse than I thought was possible for his tired knees.
TNA goes through ‘the mystery of the guitar’. They’re acting as if it might be Jarrett! Shocker!
SoCal Val has a horrible makeup job to give her a black eye. She is pissed at both of them. She puts up her ring for a wrestling match! The ring is to be hung above the ring and whoever gets the ring, gets her. How’s that for the lamest gimmick match Russo has ever come up with?
Kip James comes to the ring with the Beautiful People to support them during their match. He’s been delegated to valet? The announcers called him the Beautiful People’s fashion consultant.
While Taylor Wilde is good in the ring, she just doesn’t have the flow of some of the other Knockouts. I guess it’s that she’s is holding the title belt but is no where near as good ad Gail Kim. She also did not seem to mesh well with Roxxi as a tag partner.
Actually, the whole feel of the match seemed off. None of the women seemed to be on their marks and the moves did not flow together well. It slowed down the pace of an already lagging show.
Taylor Wilde ended the match under the ropes holding tight to her arm or elbow. It gave the Beautiful People the chance they needed for a finished on Roxxi, but she actually looked seriously injured until she rushed back in to rescue Roxxi after the end of the match. They then beat down Taylor and Kip threatened to cut her hair until Rhino ran down to rescue her. In other words the post match goes on and on without any real reasoning behind it other than to fill time. It feels as though they can’t just end a match and let it be.
Sting hit upon a lot of interesting points of TNA’s history and a lot of the positive and negative points that people feel both about the company and the industry in general, so I’m including a summary here as I think what he said is very important to the show and future storylines.
Sting had his makeup on and headed for the ring to give everyone his reasoning for attacking Samoa Joe and AJ Styles. He said he was not happy with the next generation of wrestlers - to retire and leave the company in their hands would be to kill TNA. He called Booker T a legend in this business and because Joe went overboard is why Sting got involved in the match. He really thought Joe could carry the torch into the future of this company. He feels that Joe spit in his face. When he was Joe’s age Flair took him under his wing - he respected the older generation. First AJ called him Mr. Sting, then called him a coward. AJ said Sting owed him something. Sting owes him nothing as Sting paved the way for people like AJ. AJ should thank Sting every month when he pays his mortgage, but AJ thinks Sting should thank him. He said he wasn’t talking to everyone out back, but most of them are spoiled brats. If he has to be a parent, a babysitter, than so be it. If they think he’s wrong, they should tell him to his face - now.
AJ came stomping out to face Sting. AJ told Sting he was wrong, dead wrong. He said he looked up to him and idolized him. He said he never disrespected him. He asked who helped get TNA started - this got some pop from the fans.
Sting said AJ went too far at Hard Justice too. He pushed Angle too far in the ring rather than simply going for the pinfall. Angle’s done something none of them had done - he’s an Olympic Champion. He then gave AJ his bat and turned his back and gave him the first shot. When AJ wouldn’t do it Sting pushed him. Some of the fans wanted AJ to do it. He started to turn Sting around to hit him, but then Sting hit the death drop.
Jarrett’s music…
I really enjoyed a lot of this week’s TNA, but there was also huge chunks that either slowed the show down, made no sense or were just bad. Creed and Lethal made for a wonderful tag team I’d love to see more of. The new woman who faced Kong actually gave her a bit of a run for her money. ODB really took a big chunk out of Kong and made them both look good. Abyss was so funny and enjoyable actually talking and I can’t wait to see more. While it was a blast from the past to see Nash in the ring, he just doesn’t have it any longer.
I just didn’t feel like I saw very much good in ring action from this week’s show. What made it worse was the camera work and editing. When the camera is behind the person interfering outside the ring the action is blocked, there’s a real problem with that. When the camera angle changes in the middle of the best moves of the match, there’s another big problem. It feels as though the camera operators and directors do not know where and when the action is going to happen and they miss the best action because of it. I would have thought Russo filled them in before the show, but it does not look as though that’s happened. If the camera work and editing improved, it would make for a better flowing and much more enjoyable show.
Tags: AJ Styles, Angle, Awesome Kong, Nash, ODB, Samoa Joe, Sting, TNA
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August 29th, 2008 at 8:19 am
for the past week i tried to figure out what was wrong about your blog (no offence). i did not watch iMPACT! last night so i was expecting to find the results here, but after reading i still dont know who advanced, angle or nash? you should write the matches in orderly fashion, who is against who, how the match went, winner, rating (if you want) and thoughts about it. same goes for promos. (ala Luke, Chris, and Anthony) also, your paragraphing is confusing. for example:
“Sting had his makeup on and headed for the ring to give everyone his reasoning for attacking Samoa Joe and AJ Styles. He said he was not happy with the next generation of wrestlers - to retire and leave the company in their hands would be to kill TNA. He called Booker T a legend in this business and because Joe went overboard is why Sting got involved in the match. He really thought Joe could carry the torch into the future of this company. He feels that Joe spit in his face. When he was Joe’s age Flair took him under his wing - he respected the older generation. First AJ called him Mr. Sting, then called him a coward. AJ said Sting owed him something. Sting owes him nothing as Sting paved the way for people like AJ. AJ should thank Sting every month when he pays his mortgage, but AJ thinks Sting should thank him. He said he wasn’t talking to everyone out back, but most of them are spoiled brats. If he has to be a parent, a babysitter, than so be it. If they think he’s wrong, they should tell him to his face - now.
AJ came stomping out to face Sting. AJ told Sting he was wrong, dead wrong. He said he looked up to him and idolized him. He said he never disrespected him. He asked who helped get TNA started - this got some pop from the fans.
Sting said AJ went too far at Hard Justice too. He pushed Angle too far in the ring rather than simply going for the pinfall. Angle’s done something none of them had done - he’s an Olympic Champion. He then gave AJ his bat and turned his back and gave him the first shot. When AJ wouldn’t do it Sting pushed him. Some of the fans wanted AJ to do it. He started to turn Sting around to hit him, but then Sting hit the death drop.”
this should have been 1 paragraph, MAYBE 2.
i suggest reading the others’ blogs and try to take the good things out of them. i am really not trying to offend you, but to give you constructive advice.
August 29th, 2008 at 8:26 am
almost forgot:
This week’s “iMPACT Poll”: WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT STING’S PROMO??
August 29th, 2008 at 10:31 am
What really annoys me is the ridiculous names in TNA such as jay lethal, shark boy, curry man,super eric , consequences creed and so on
August 29th, 2008 at 10:46 am
Are the Booker T locker room promos annoying anybody else or is just me? This studip king booker-esk gimmick and awful accent are just driving me insane.
August 29th, 2008 at 10:58 am
I find them freaking hilarious
August 29th, 2008 at 12:00 pm
i agree with appsy on that one
August 29th, 2008 at 12:00 pm
Kendra- Listen to people like Guy. They made me a better blogger.
August 29th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
Excellent call Guy. For the blogs each pargraph should be one scene, or one match, and use the blank space to show the break between them.
August 29th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
I can’t believe they put Kip back to the “Billy and Chuck” gimmick.
The reasoning for Curry Man is, back when they were heavily promoting their “alliance”, so to speak, with New Japan, they wanted Daniels to bring his Curry Man character since it had been a pretty big hit over in Japan. However, no one knew how big of a response the crowd would give him. So, after theystopped promoting the alliance, they kept the Curry Man character around. I think the dance has a big part to do with that. And, I’ll proudly admit it, I do the Curry Man dance every week.
Also, I’m suprised Russo didn’t make the Lethal/Sonjay match a “Ring On A Pole” match.
August 29th, 2008 at 3:03 pm
I liked how you introduced yourself Ken/Kendra.I have to agree with Guy on the paragraphing.As Anthony said,it helped him improve tremendously.Anthony is my personal favorite blogger on the site.But when he started,he was nowhere what he is now.If I may add a suggestion,I like what some of the bloggers(maybe all of them,I am not 100% sure)but put up like a wrestler ranking system.And another thing that was alluded too would be a rating system…for promos,matches,ppv notes(like new matches announced and what you think of them,what you thought of the previous ppv,or if you are excited about the next ppv…maybe a ppv prediction blog?that sorta thing).Like we have all said,we are just trying to help you out.I have faith that you will just get better and better.As for the Impace Poll question,I love Sting promos.He doesn’t talk often which make it special when he does.He speaks with alot of passion towards the business.I enjoy all of his promos including this one.
August 29th, 2008 at 3:43 pm
I preferred this week’s blog to last week with the exception of the Sting/AJ segment. You kinda confused me like Guy said. I fell asleep so I missed everything from the Beautiful People match onward. You’ll keep improving I’m sure but god help you since you have the “wonderful” job of covering TNA. As bad as WWE has been this year, they still put on better shows 9 times outta 10 versus TNA.
My only other comment is on the SoCal Val segment. Whoever gets the ring gets her? It makes it seem like she doesn’t care for either guy. Just whoever wins the match, she’ll settle for. It would have made it better if one of the guys suggested the match. The way they booked it, it makes SoCal look cheap and easy. In my opinion, I wouldn’t find for her anyway. She’s not cute at all.
August 29th, 2008 at 4:54 pm
Thanks for all the support, i hope ken will take the suggestions for next week. James: i gave that advice to Adit but he left before he had a chance to do it. i call it interactivity and the “iMPACT! Poll” has been the TNA blog’s interactivity since i started it. i would love to see a TNA top ten list on the blog.
August 30th, 2008 at 4:07 am
What hasn’t been mentioned is that the blog has definitely improved. This week is a lot less bow-for-blow play-by-play recap stuff and a lot more analysis which I like. While maybe the layout could use some work, I think your blog is actually pretty good, so keep it up.
August 30th, 2008 at 9:16 am
I have to start out saying that TNA took a step back after this weeks Impact!
Ken took a step forward. I like the fact there is no ranking system. I don’t like the fact there is no rating system on the matches. Lets be honest a ranking system for TNA is pointless. I am a huge fan of TNA, but anyone who watches Impact can decide for themselves. It isn’t rocket science.
The promo with Sting opening would have been better for Sting to dismiss the interviewer. 1/5
The opening match was cool. I liked how Tenay said that Kim left after her match with Kong. It made Kong to be a beast. She made Gail quit! Kong now has an unstoppable demeanor about her, which she already did! ODB should have waited until the powerbomb through the chairs to come down to the ring! I would have seen Kong as a relentless and crazy woman if this would have happened. The security broke ODB and Kong up.
I gave that whole segment 3/5.
AJ cutting a promo was decent, but lacked excitement. Christian and AJ should be a great match. Also AJ saying he don’t have the gold medal, but it is in good hands just leaves me to believe JJ has it! 2/5
Rough Cut has been getting better. I like the fact that they give the fans a little BTS feel of the wrestling industry. They even used Creed’s real name a couple of shows earlier. They also talk about former wrestlers on TNA.
Overall it gets a 3/5.
Sheik and Petey vs. Lethal Consequences was a good match. Petey and Sheik didn’t quite mesh. Lethal Consequences already mesh as well as pick up wins together. It seems to me that they are a tag team already. I would like to see more of these two as well Ken. Sheik is a great athlete. Petey also is a great athlete. Sheik vs. Petey would be a great match on any occasion. Lethal Consequences to me are a real tag team threat. Let the macho man gimmick die and let the true Jay Lethal shine. It is great showing respect to a true legend in that of Randy Savage, but it is time to let it rest. I gave this match a 3/5 with Lethal Consequences getting the win!
ODB’s promo was crazy and weird. She also said she is ready every Friday night, which was just insane since Impact is on Thursdays. She also said boobs which was great.
That segment got a 2/5.
Karen’s Angle was great with Abyss. He is a cross between Kane, Mankind, Abdullah, and a psycho. This segment was in my opinion one of the best segments of the show. Karen would be better suited as an off camera role in my opinion. The cool part about the segment was when Abyss asked her if she liked a man that snarls, a man that whispers, or a man that screams with insanity. His poem was great as well. When he ripped out his hair that was classic.
This segment in my opinion got a 4/5.
The beautiful people’s promo with Kip was just lame. No need to discuss what they talked about just know it was lame.
It gets a 1/5.
Kurt Angle’s promo was awesome. Frank Trigg acting as his enforcer was great as well. Kurt getting angry when he finds out that AJ doesn’t have his medal makes him look like the top heel in the company. Trigg has came into TNA, and is making headway by doing what he does.
This segment got a 3/5.
Jimmy Rave vs. Curry Man was awesome. It reminded me of a ROH match with some of the great outside the ropes spots. I amost started chanting ROH! My fiancee just said don’t so I didn’t. Great spectacle. What was kind of sad was that Lance came down and then The Rock and Rave Infection as a whole laid out Curry Man. It took several paintbrush slaps before the Prince Justice Brotherhood came to the rescue. It was a let down to a great match.
The whole thing still gets a 3/5.
Cornette in the back talking with Traci Brooks was kind of crazy since they have announced on their website I think it was last week that Traci was over the Knockouts. I will say that the match added at No Surrender between PJB and RRI was kind of lame. Cornette did a shoot on wrestling talent as well. When a shelf life is up dispose and get new talent.
Fair segment 2/5.
Booker acting like an African king was dumb in his promo. Team 3D was hilarious during this promo. Bubba Ray arguing with Devon about a robe was great. Also whispering to Devon about different things in Booker’s room was funny. When he spilled the I guess champagne on Sharmell was timed great.
It gets a 2/5.
Nash backstage talking about old vs. new school was good. It kind of reminded me of WCW when the New Blood came in! Nash hinted at being a six time champ as well.
Pretty good segment 3/5.
Nash vs. Angle match was actually pretty good for what it was. Joe added on color was good as well. Nash having the upper hand for the first part of the match was good. Joe talking about whoever gets into the match with him at No Surrender how he is going to walk out champ was great. After a commercial break Angle is in control. Angle also used a figure four leglock. People were chanting Woooo in the audience! I marked as well. Then the crowd started a small Nash chant. Then people started chanting tap!tap!tap! Nash called Joe a mother fucker. That was classic! Angle won due to Joe causing interference on Nash. Then Joe got into the face of Nash talking about his temper problem. Nash just walked away.
The whole segment as a whole got a 4/5 for both Nash and Joe using mother fucker!
The guitar symbol is a mystery still. Jarrett coming back is awesome. I am stoked to see this on television. JJ talking about TNA’s inception was awesome. I am hyped watching PPV moments back when TNA costed 10 dollars. Jeff talked about his wife and it was very emotional.
This segment in my opinion got a heartfelt 4/5.
The Sonjay Lethal fued needs to be killed at No Surrender. Val says that whoever wins a ladder match gets her. I am very confused. This whole feud has sucked. I think it was better on paper.
This segment got a 1/5.
Beautiful people with Kip(WTF) vs. Taylor and Roxxi was a decent contest. Roxxi with no hair resembles Sinead O Conner in my opinion. Roxxi can actually wrestle if TNA would give her time to do so. Taylor (Shantelle) is an awesome athlete but nothing compared to Kong, or Raisha. The Beautiful People with help from Kip get the victory. Kip getting slapped twice was awesome. Rhino running down to the ring after this makes no sense though.
It gets a 2/5.
I think that making the knockouts division was a positive thing, but marketing it should be done better. Also before this match the Knockouts promo still had Gail in it. It looked kind of lazy on the television team of TNA. If she is no longer there take her off of everything!
The Sting promo in the ring seemed to be part work and part shoot. It got a 4/5 for me as well for being half shoot.
August 30th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
Awesome promo by Sting. I hated the show up to that point, but Sting saved it with one of the best promos since Joe cut one at the PPV Hall skipped. If they run this angle right, it could have tremendous potential, pitting the young, “arrogant” guys against the older, “paved-the-way” guys.
August 31st, 2008 at 5:52 am
Michael, ladies and gentleman! Here, ken, this is the basic form your blog should look like
September 1st, 2008 at 12:19 am
After being a life long fan of wwe, i grew tired of the womens and divas division and decided that i would check out the Knockout division of TNA. It is nice to see the women being treated with respect on TNA, but in saying so, some of the creative is lacking. I must say that it is nice to see a womens tag team getting a major push with one of the companies, but the paper bag thing must go. And yes i agree that Velvet doesnt do the same job as Sable did when applying some very insulting comments. I also took offence to a certain comment referring to certain wrestlers sexuality. ( if they are not open on camera about it,then dont bring it up).
I fast forward through the rest of the broadcast as i am no longer interested in seeing the likes of Booker, kip and b.g james, sheik abdul bashir, kurt angle, kevin nash… and the list goes on. I will refer everyone to a comment made by mr. cornette himself. “Wrestlers are products, and all products have a shelf life. When the shelf life has expired its time to get them out and move on ” I am seeing a major swing of TNA to the way that WCW opperated, use released (sometimes disgruntled) former employees of the ‘ other company ‘. I feel that this will inevitably end the somewhat moderate success that TNA has accomplished. My thoughts for now.
September 1st, 2008 at 6:00 pm
If anyone has taken offence to anything sexuality related to what I have written, I apologise for you being a social discontention. I also use words that most of you should never use in a normal day to day conversation. I know I should never say them, but sometimes things have to be said or done to show the true passion behind what is being said or done.
I know I am not the model citizen by any means, but I can say that I am one of the most real fans of wrestling.
My passion for the industry is one borderlining on obsessive. I hope most of you don’t obsess over an industry which you can never improve. I just try to help by adding comments. Sometimes I see some of my ideas on television, but I know I am not the only fan with the idea.
This is my personal introduction from me to all of you.
I have been passionate about wrestling ever since I first saw my first wrestling VHS tape back in 1984. It was Wrestlemania. Hopefully this will help you know what I look for in a wrestling match as well as show.
Have a great day or night whichever you prefer!
September 5th, 2008 at 7:27 am
Michael, if the sexuality comment was referring to mine. I was actually talking about what Velvet and Angelina were saying in a backstage segment
September 5th, 2008 at 7:38 am
I never actually read your comment. In saying that i have gone back and read it and there was absolutely nothing in the slightest offensive with what you said. Now saying that, i think that we all drew the same conclusion with the wrestlers i was referring to when Velvet and Angelina made their comment. My point made.