RVD, New Champion

[Gnrfan]

I was told today that RVD beat AJ for the title on Impact.

So i looked into it thinking surely TNA would not throw away AJ vs RVD for the title on Impact? But they have! RVD is the champion!

Now i dont watch much TNA but as soon as RVD joined that was what i was excited about AJ vs RVD over the World Title.

I have many negative views over this but thought i see what everyone thought. Some words that come to mind are:

Rushed
Stupid
Contractual
Wasteful
Idiotic

I know that some people will come on here and defend the title changes hands on Impact but this is not the sort of feud that should have title changes on TV. Let them feud for 3 solid months.... Let RVD take the title.... and then let AJ take it back.

IMO AJ should have stayed champ for at least another 2 or 3 months. He's a TNA original.... Let him try to take the company on. Don't turn to old WWE guys straight away.

Just seems odd to me that they have done it and RVD is one of my favourites of all time.... This should of headlined their biggest PPV not an episode of Impact IMO!

[Izzy]

AJ got buried - but I suspect this is just rebooting his gimmick, he'll be pulverished by Flair next week - vanish for a month and return as a face.

I knew RVD won - but it was still a huge moment, the celebration at the end was a really great touch - and ultimately Impact very much looks like the show where anything can and does happen. RVD and Hardy's interaaction was great and the build up to his qualifying match and the title match was great

We all moan about how stale wrestling is - and yet when TNA doesn't do the predictable build up to a PPV and just dives in people get nervous!

Impact needed to raise its game - this week showed that they aint saving quality just for the PPV, ultimately you can't portion out the good stuff to 12 times a year and beat WWE...

[D]

First of all, RVD isn't an "OLD" wwe guy

he is an ECW guy and one of the greatest still alive and the most exciting wrestler competing in the ring today

AJ isn't pulling ratings. This is a business, this isn't charity.

u carry the company or u drop the strap. thats the wrestling business.

It wasn't rushed at all

WWE's wrestlers were stuck in Ireland or wherever, they knew they had a big chance to capitalize and losing 3 to 1 is pretty damn good.

Why anybody would watch that **** WWE had on over RVD vs Hardy and then RVD vs AJ is beyond me. how could any self respecting wrestling fan not watch those two matches?

[Gnrfan]

This is why TNA will "Never" go past WWE!

They think they are "Alternative" by changing the funamental rules of wrestling and it just doesn't interest me at all.

I have no doubt that the match was good. Anything AJ and RVD do is great in-ring.... My point is that they have rushed to this feud waaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyy to quickly.

You can throw a guy like Swagger or Pope into a World title win, coz they couldn't carry the PPV. But AJ vs RVD would have had people watching. Its one of those feuds that everyone has wanted. But to just do it and have RVD win was IMO some of the worst booking in recent times.

Have the match and have AJ Styles beat but he leaves with the title by some heel action. Have AJ refuse to give RVD his match... then do it at PPV!

I'd probally watch TNA for a AJ vs RVD sustained feud.... but i aint watching that ****. Its lazy booking....  where's the build up? where's the intensity? where's the feeling that RVD taking AJ's title matters?

Nowhere. And once again we have a wrestling who is best known for his time in WWE as TNA champion! Shocker!

[D]

Dude, no offense, but u are so full of **** with this one

u are so brainwashed by the WWE machine that u sound like the GNR mods who must defend the great WWE against all attacks!


Before u come on here dissing TNA, maybe u need to take a 2nd look and realize, that YOUR world champion on SD is Jack **** Swagger. A Guy who cashed in a briefcase that took him 30 minutes to get down and had him beat Chris Jericho with no build up, no nothing and a guy is a champ that doesn't even belong in the ring with Jericho. At least AJ lost to one of the greatest wrestlers of all time.

It is RVD, it isn't like he lost to some 50 year old washed up WWE guy.

RVD,Jeff Hardy, Kurt Angle may be former WWE wrestlers, but all could main event WM right now.

I think this is a way of getting AJ away from the ridiculous gimmick he is involved with, or maybe it will make AJ come back more brutal and bad ass and he will get his rematch and revenge on the next PPV.

I understand it would be better to build a feud BUT u are so use to the same stale ass WWE ****, u don't even recognize how awesome changing the title like this was.

I for one expected WWE booking where AJ would get DQ

no way RVD wins the title... I absolutely thought there was 0 chance RVD would win.

So RVD winning was a major surprise to me and made it that much greater.


But if u love stale wrestling, where every feud and storyline follows the exact same script, keep watching the **** on USA network.

[Hammy]

I think the main point was, they blew the 1st time meeting of one of their dream matches on "Free TV".

I know you in the past dude knocked WCW for giving away Hogan vs Goldberg on TV when they could have built it up on PPV and sold a shitload of buys.

Without getting into a this promotion is better than that conversation, that's not the issue, I think the point is, many when they heard Rob Van Dam was signed thought, great, think of the dream matches, primarily, RVD vs. AJ Styles, the logic behind that is you build it up for months, Styles, dodges him, avoids facing him, the taunt the matching happening, build it up big, then put in on PPV and hopefully get a hell of a lot of buys, even if they do that now, they had the first match, the "1st time meeting" special vibe/stigma isn't there.  To many it just seems like a desperate way to "Spike" falling ratings on monday nights.

[Gnrfan]

I think the main point was, they blew the 1st time meeting of one of their dream matches on "Free TV".

I know you in the past dude knocked WCW for giving away Hogan vs Goldberg on TV when they could have built it up on PPV and sold a shitload of buys.

Without getting into a this promotion is better than that conversation, that's not the issue, I think the point is, many when they heard Rob Van Dam was signed thought, great, think of the dream matches, primarily, RVD vs. AJ Styles, the logic behind that is you build it up for months, Styles, dodges him, avoids facing him, the taunt the matching happening, build it up big, then put in on PPV and hopefully get a hell of a lot of buys, even if they do that now, they had the first match, the "1st time meeting" special vibe/stigma isn't there.  To many it just seems like a desperate way to "Spike" falling ratings on monday nights.

Thats exactly it.

I know TNA have to try and pull out more and more to compete. But to throw away a match that could headline your biggest event when its never been done before and many fans are just "waiting" for it.... to put it on Impact is booking stupidity.

You might not agree D.... but thats Wrestling 101

[D]

once again both of u guys are wrong

WCW were already MAJOR big time which was why giving away goldberg vs hogan was a mistake

TNA are trying to get to that level.


People forget, but everyone goes on about how the Cruiserweights carried WCW and how the Guerrero,benoit,jericho,malenko,mysterio etc etc


truth is, no one ever would've noticed those guys had they not tuned in for Hogan,Flair,NWO etc

so TNA are trying to get their great unknown talent over by big time rubs from already famous guys.

TNA if they keep AJ and the TNA originals as the main players, will never succeed. they have to introduce these guys to the viewers tuning into see the already famous superstars.

so in WCW, a dream match on Nitro would be a mistake. on an up and coming company's show who are trying to compete against WWE on a night WWE were taking off basically, i think that TNA basically put a PPV on live TV

i like it, i think that is the type of stuff that brings u up

when WWE were chasing WCW, Mick Foley winning the title on Raw was one of the big things that propelled them.

In the attitude era, u always saw PPV quality feuds on TV

hell, WWE ppvs are basically an extended Raw and SD combined cause u have already seen the matches 20 times

TNA are trying to build a buzz. having RVD vs Hardy and RVD vs Styles on one show will help build that buzz

cause lets be honest, RVD vs AJ, no one is gonna buy the PPV anyway.

everyone are such drones locked into the WWE for reasons i just cannot explain u could bring Cena to TNA and it wouldn't matter. people are so use to a certain brand, they can't give anything else a chance.

[Gnrfan]

once again both of u guys are wrong

WCW were already MAJOR big time which was why giving away goldberg vs hogan was a mistake

TNA are trying to get to that level.


People forget, but everyone goes on about how the Cruiserweights carried WCW and how the Guerrero,benoit,jericho,malenko,mysterio etc etc


truth is, no one ever would've noticed those guys had they not tuned in for Hogan,Flair,NWO etc

so TNA are trying to get their great unknown talent over by big time rubs from already famous guys.

TNA if they keep AJ and the TNA originals as the main players, will never succeed. they have to introduce these guys to the viewers tuning into see the already famous superstars.

so in WCW, a dream match on Nitro would be a mistake. on an up and coming company's show who are trying to compete against WWE on a night WWE were taking off basically, i think that TNA basically put a PPV on live TV

i like it, i think that is the type of stuff that brings u up

when WWE were chasing WCW, Mick Foley winning the title on Raw was one of the big things that propelled them.

In the attitude era, u always saw PPV quality feuds on TV

hell, WWE ppvs are basically an extended Raw and SD combined cause u have already seen the matches 20 times

TNA are trying to build a buzz. having RVD vs Hardy and RVD vs Styles on one show will help build that buzz

cause lets be honest, RVD vs AJ, no one is gonna buy the PPV anyway.

everyone are such drones locked into the WWE for reasons i just cannot explain u could bring Cena to TNA and it wouldn't matter. people are so use to a certain brand, they can't give anything else a chance.

Man i'll agree to disagree with you.

IMO TNA will get no where with all these ex-WWE or ex-WCW guys as their champions. They need to give someone the title and have confidence in that person to hold that title for 6 months.

Drones or not.... WWE tells better stories and despite having mostly inferior talent still make their workers look better.

All i would say is that its WWE that is giving "New Guys" a chance at the top... while TNA havent made a new world champion since Joe won it over two years ago and before that it was Abyss in 2006. In that time you could of made so many people credible instead of signing WWE/WCW guys. Compare that to WWE where in that same time they have given chances (and rubs) to Edge, RVD, CM Punk, Sheamus, Swagger & Orton. You may not like them but they seem to be the braver of the two companies.

When ECW created stars like Taz, Raven, Dreamer, Sabu, RVD, Rhino etc they were all ECW and despite going bankrupt they took risks with their content and workers and i think WWE saw them as a bigger threat than they see TNA because they know they are so different and at this point despite having some talent they don't seem to have a clue how to put it together and tell stories..... and all this with WWE on cruise control with a PG product. Imagine if they decided to go all-out.

TNA need a long term plan..... like literally 12 months worth of ideas on the table now.... so everything that happens is thought out. Coz everything i have watched seems rushed and thrown together and while i could accept 2 months ago they were still finding their feet with new leadership and new talent.... they should be more organised now.

[Lineker10]

Goldberg Vs. Hogan 2! Seriously - probably the most ridiculous booking ive seen in TNA. Wrestling is all about building things up, building the company, building stars, building fueds. Blowing your two biggest fueds in one night on free TV says to me that TNA have no clue when it comes to long term business. I could go on forever about it but to try and keep it short. You dont blow your biggest fued on free TV when people would be willing to pay, you dont have zero promotion for said bout, you dont then use the 2nd biggest match you have on the same night, also with no promotion, and you certainly dont have your champion lose, to a guy doing double duty! Are they crazy?! Its one thing trying to win big in the ratings - its another throwing away your best fueds for nothing - mind blowing for people who have been in the wrestling business for so long. Its like having Undertake Vs Cena for the title on RAW - laughable!

[Izzy]

Wow, some dyed in the wool wwe types here

would a big feud between rvd and styles have been better? Maybe.

However for me - sod the ppv, stop treating the weekly shows as 2hr adverts, 90% of TNA fans have never seen a TNA ppv - and never will unless impact is so good they are willing to hand over cash

pointless building up to something only a few thousand will see

get impact up to 1.5 and then worry about ppv

TNA did what they needed too - they don't have the luxury of waiting for wrestlemania!

[Lineker10]

Wow, some dyed in the wool wwe types here

would a big feud between rvd and styles have been better? Maybe.

However for me - sod the ppv, stop treating the weekly shows as 2hr adverts, 90% of TNA fans have never seen a TNA ppv - and never will unless impact is so good they are willing to hand over cash

pointless building up to something only a few thousand will see

get impact up to 1.5 and then worry about ppv

TNA did what they needed too - they don't have the luxury of waiting for wrestlemania!

I have no problem with TNA trying to build up impact. The point i am making is that this fued and these matches could of done just that - instead they blow it all in one night.

TNA desperatly want to try and attract middle of the road viewers, people who have only ever watched WWE. RVD Vs Hardy and RVD Vs AJ as the top homegrown TNA guy are both fueds and matches that could do that. Jeff Hardy was probably the most over guy last year in the WWE and RVD is over with the WWE crowd aswell. Now in order for people who currently watch RAW to be poached over to impact by TNA they need to promote these matches. Announce them the week before and promote it like hell, so that those WWE fans sitting down on monday to watch RAW might flick over to TNA.
What you have instead is no promotion, so only the normal TNA viewership will have watched mondays impact - no ratings gain whatsoever. If WWE fans have heard about it or watched the repeat and think they might choose impact this week, their first experience of TNA isnt going to be RVD/Hardy or RVD/AJ, its going to be Ric Flair/Abyss and some run of the mill matches. That right there could be the differance between them sticking with TNA or turning back to RAW. They could of at least had RVD/Hardy on monday and RVD/AJ this monday, with a heap of promo in between.

I prefer Impact, but the WWE arnt stupid. When people talk about it being a machine, it partly because they understand promotion down to an art. Weekly free TV should be all about creating an exicintg show with good matches, continuation of fueds but clever booking that avoids the pinnacle of the fued until its PPV time. People will start buying the PPV's if the fueds are hot enough.

Another thing that is abit weird about monday impacts and the title change was the fact that AJ lost the belt to a guy doing double duty. Jeff Hardys probably seen as one of the top guys in the company, RVD has to wrestle him and then AJ 45mins later and still wins? It was his 4th match in 48 hours. Just seems to make AJ look really weak. Still, it made for a good show, if not good business!

[Gnrfan]

Wow, some dyed in the wool wwe types here

Why does every TNA fan assume that WWE fans hate TNA? Its like a complex or something.

I like wrestling! But wrestling is not just putting two talented in-ring guys together. Its about so much more than that.

I could not agree more with Lineker on this.... there is putting on above average shows, and then there is throwing away massive matches. If you are gonna throw them away on TV for free at least have a feud with some heat on the match.

If you want AJ vs Angle on TV then fine! Why? coz its been done before! RVD vs AJ was something that has been on message boards for years as an ultimate match-up. Thats completely different from putting on above average shows to get Impact over.

[Hammy]

and never will unless impact is so good they are willing to hand over cash

And people won't pay for stuff they get on free tv on a regular basis, the point is in making the show an entertaining, storyline advancing program that has people on the edge of their seats wanting to see the conclusion on PPV.

[Izzy]

Angle v Anderson at Lockdown was the best match in wrestling since hbk v taker at WM25

...but we'd seen multiple matches between those 2 just in the last month or so

match doesn't have to be 'the first time' to be good - frankly I prefer a long running series resolved after a few PPV's, pisses me right off when the show following a ppv is as if nothing ever happened!

AJ will fight RVD again at a ppv and it will ne great

Wrestling shouldn't be about conning cash from people 12 times a year - it should be good every week.

24 doesn't wait till every 4th ep to raise it's game...