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I got to meet Kurt Angle 3 different times throughout the night, and jeff jarrett was signing autographs at the merch stand right after the main event (which don west announced) most wrestlers (on my side of the ring anyways) stuck around a long time to sign autographs and i have pics with some as well. they also had everyone come out afterwards for meet and greet

I was also able to get autographs (so was my brother) from all the wrestlers except for Madison Rayne, who seemed like she ran through the fans quick and skipped a lot of them.

I was also disappointed that I was told Angelina Love would be backstage, but she was signing at the table up front instead, but i still got to meet her and go backstage no big deal.

However, if Broash wasnt jerking us about having a PPV there, they will need to bring a few more big names to draw people such as hogan (even if its just to talk) flair, rvd, matt hardy, etc….Jarrett and angle are cool, but they aren’t hulk goan

I felt that the show on the whole was average at best. There was nothing wrong with the show, and I really tried to keep my thoughts on it objective. As such, there wasn’t anything that really stood out or frustrated me. Either way, it was a good show, but that’s it.

The Abyss storyline made me think that pro wrestling fans seem to love mystery storylines over the summer (look at the WWE’s “whodunnit” stuff). I still find myself somewhat frustrated b/c between the “big surprises” and “them” and “they” and “shroud of mystery,” I can’t help but to feel that the revelation of any of these things will be about as surprising as an alcoholic at an AA meeting. I think I’m being overly cynical, but it’s just redundant stuff to me at this point. Abyss always has mysterious folks talking to him…what’s different?

I wasn’t all that impressed by Angle and Wolfe’s match, and I really feel they’ve had way better outings than this one. It seemed to me that Chelsea’s presence took away from the match instead of adding to it, really. Angle seemed to tell a story, and Wolfe seemed to be more concerned with berating Chelsea instead of fighting to maintain his spot in the rankings…that is assuming that his spot is important to him. Then I couldn’t help but feel kinda bad for Wolfe, since he’s now TNA’s Chris Jericho.

So again, while the show was okay, it wasn’t anything I’d call home to my mom about. It was a decent night for TNA, but with so many “big surprises” in store, I’d think that they’d want their shows to be anything but simply “ok.”

With Sting talking about “Them” and Abyss about “They”, are we headed for a Them vs. They angle? Are the faces really the hels and the heels the faces?

- First: good God, so MANY babyfaces!
- Second: if that meant a heel turn from Abyss, THANK GOD!
- Third: so RVD is the WORLD champion and we don’t see him?

I remember when Hulk Hogan made his debut on the live Impact in January and that show featured tons of surprises, some of which were good (Ric Flair, Jeff Hardy), and some of which were horrible (the Nasty Boys, Orlando Jordan, Sean Morley). On that particular night, I couldn’t believe what all was taking place and it really brought me back to the days of the original Monday Night Wars. Wrestling was exciting to me for the first time in a long time. Once Impact moved to Monday nights, though, it always seemed that TNA was hyping some sort of surprise for each of their live broadcasts.

The problem with hyping surprises, aside from the obvious drawback of not living up to the hype, is that is ruins the surprise no matter what it happens to be. By definition, a surprise is a completely unexpected occurrence. Think back to any M. Night Shyamalan movie you have seen. The twist in The Sixth Sense worked because it was unexpected. Every other movie he made after that used these sorts of twists and it became expected, thus ruining the movie. Because of this, I have vowed never to watch another one of his movies ever again.

A recent example of a surprise that works is the NXT invasion angle. That was unexpected and created a strong starting point for a huge angle. Not once did WWE promise a huge surprise or felt they needed to coax anyone to tune in. In fact, it was the one shining moment in an otherwise boring as hell 3-hour Raw. Once it happened, though, it had fans talking about for the rest of the week.

Are wrestling fans too accustomed to eating broccoli with the promise of ice cream? That could very well be. It’s unfortunate, too, because just like you said, the product should be able to stand on its own. TNA has enough great talent that I would rather hear people talk about the Angle/Styles match at Hard Justice in 2008 than hear people talk about the surprise arrival of the Nasty Boys in 2010. Surprises, though, is what gets people talking and tuning in time and time again, while really great matches are hard to come by.

As for Bryan Danielson, one of the first thoughts that popped in my mind after hearing about his release was that thought of him joining TNA. The more I thought about it, though, the less I wanted to see that move happen. I hated the fact that WWE released him but I think I would become even more frustrated if he was in TNA being misused as most of the talent is. I feel his best option would actually be to go back to ROH until WWE offers him another contract.

Thanks again for your comments.

I won’t knock Dixie for the methods in which she connects with the fans, but as you’ve stated, it’s completely insane to continue to bait and switch fans just to entice them to watch the product. From time to time, such methods would be very refreshing. However, I feel her tweets were done deliberately to get us to watch the ppv in hopes that fans would somehow say, “Hey, despite the surprise, this show was worth watching!” Speaking personally, that didn’t happen; I was severely upset at the lack of a “big surprise,” during the show. Call me a dumb fan, but I didn’t catch her last tweets about the surprise until Monday morning.

But, I believe that the product should speak for itself and the creative direction and action in said product should be great enough to cause viewers to turn in. If the company continues down this path, then one can’t help but to wonder whether or not it will take big surprises just to keep us tuned in.

It’s like getting a child to eat their vegetables by promising them loads of ice cream once they finish. Sooner or later if the trend continues long enough, the child will expect loads of ice cream once they finish their vegatables, which could lead to tons of other problems down the line. As traumatizing as it may be, sometimes we all have to learn how to eat the green stuff just because, you know?

TNA is the same way; they shouldn’t rely on coaxing fans to watch the product only to turn around and let them down. The product will eventually have to be able to stand on its own without relying on the promise of something major. Judging by Sunday’s ppv, I feel like they’re headed in that direction.

The real question my friend is whether or not the fans have grown use to having broccoli with vanilla ice cream looming on the horizon. Sad to say, I think we have. We’re just waiting for the next “shocking” moment to happen so we can wax poetically about it for two weeks and then wait for the next controversial moment like an addict scrounging up money for the next fix.

Case and point, as soon as most realized that Bryan Danielson’s release seemed more legit than not, a good number of fans called for him to jump to TNA where his talent would be “recognized” and “appropriately utilized.”

Most of these fans seemingly forgot the 90-day no compete clause the WWE has in place, as well as the fact that Nigel McGuinness made that jump as well and currently spends most of his time starting at the ceiling lights under the massive frame of Abyss.

Now if that’s not insane, Starman….

I thought that Slammiversary was a decent show with the highlights being Angle/Kazarian and Styles/Lethal. I was concerned about Dixie Carter’s tweets during the weekend, because although she was talking about two different surprises, it really was coming off a one big huge surprise that was going to happen at Slammiversary. She tried to clarify later on, but it may have been too late for some fans who didn’t see her last message about it.

I have to give her credit, though, for engaging with the fans via Twitter as using it as a way to keep fans in the loop on things like this. I would never expect someone like Vince McMahon to do something of that sort, unless it was a secretary or someone else writing the tweets for him. Hell, WWE basically gave fans control of a show recently yet guided them through the voting process as to which option to choose.

Anyway, as you can tell by my thoughts in this post, I am also leery of what the big surprise may be. Like I said, TNA hypes these company changing surprises all too often and they are usually huge letdowns. It is said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result, but for once I am hoping this time is different. I guess I also may be insane.

And, yes, you are completely right in saying a roster of their caliber should be offering so much more than they are delivering. I would put TNA’s roster head-to-head with WWE’s roster any day, but it is the creative side and often times logic that seems to keep TNA from growing and getting anywhere outside of the fan base that already follows their product.

Thanks again for commenting.