A Look At Impact Wrestling a Month into the Anthem Era

A Look At Impact Wrestling a Month into the Anthem Era
April 22, 2017
By Ryan Porzl

It was announced back in November that Anthem Sports & Entertainment announced the purchase of TNA Wrestling which has since been rebranded as Impact Wrestling. Since then, we've seen new management and the return of co-founder Jeff Jarrett to the promotion along with other who were apart of TNA's past. After wrapping up loose ends during the January TV Tapings, the Anthem Era officially began with the March TV Tapings which saw some new direction, new faces, and the return of old ones. So, with the last episode of the March tapings having aired on April 13th, we now have seen the complete first tapings of the Anthem Impact. So what did Impact get right and what did they get wrong or at least need to work on?



Pluses
The talent brought in for the most part has been great. Now, this will be a two parter as I'll first focus on the new talent and then the ones that have returned. The new talent include the likes of EYFBO (Ortiz and Santana of LAX), Diamante, Fallah Bahh, Mario Bokara, Idris Abraham, MJ Jenkins, KM, Reno SCUM, Garza Jr., Kongo Kong, and Laredo Kid. EYFBO and Reno SCUM have been successful tag teams in many independent promotions in their respective parts of the United States. Abraham provides the X Division with a new member. Diamante & Jenkins add new blood to the Knockouts Division and have potential to be future champions. Bahh & Bokara are a team in the indy circuit and could have successful singles careers. Kong is very successful on the indy circuit as a singles wrestler. Garza Jr. and Laredo Kid have been a great tag team and can be successful in the X Division with Garza especially showing great potential. KM is a solid big man who can cut a good promo and add something. Bahh, Kong, and KM are all big men while Bokara is broad and strong which is good as American wrestling is used to the bodies for the last 30 years and casual fans still dig the big men. Plus, with indy companies not having many big men and WWE focusing on smaller wrestlers, they along with guys like Lashley & Moose give Impact something different.

The returning talents have also been great in Matt Morgan, ODB, Magnus, Homicide and Crimson. Impact really got it right here as the knee jerk reaction would've been to bring back wrestlers like Christopher Daniels, Kazarian, Chris Sabin, and Alex Shelley who have done everything they will do in the company. Daniels is already 46 years old and in the twilight of his career all the while he and Kazarian have held the X Division & Tag Team Championships numerous times and neither were ever meant to be NWA/TNA/Impact World Heavyweight Champion or the Grand Champion. Same goes for Shelley while Sabin is a former World Heavyweight Champion, won the Tag Titles, and is a record setting eight time X Division Champion. Other than Sabin and Shelley maybe winning a few more Tag Team Championships, what's left for any of these guys? This has become a serious problem in wrestling where companies and people act like wrestling is some factory job where the people work in the same place for 30 years until retiring. Wrestlers coming and going keeps things fresh. It also allows for potential second chances as we've seen with the returning wrestlers. Morgan has been a guy most pegged as a future World Champion since appearing on Tough Enough II fifteen years ago as he had size, talent, mic skills, great look, athleticism, and personality. It seemed like a matter of when he would be champion and main event the biggest show of a company's calendar. However, his WWE run was short & forgettable while his previous TNA run had some success in the form of two Tag Team Titles and some big matches but he never came close to achieving his true potential and when he retired by 2014, it looked as though he would be remembered as a disappointment. Now back, Morgan has the opportunity to reach his potential at long last. Crimson came to TNA in 2010 and also showed great potential with good ring skills and great looks while he eventually came to his own as a talker. Crimson had a run with the Tag Team Championship and went undefeated for 470 days but after losing to James Storm at Slammiversary 2012, he never regained his momentum and was sent down to Ohio Valley Wrestling where he enjoyed great success but was eventually cut as a cost cutting measure in 2013 after making a few more appearances. He then seemed to be making a return in 2015 as the company used him here and there but nothing came of it and he wasn't rehired full time. It appears he'll be put in a tag team with former NWA World Heavyweight Champion Jax Dane and it could be great while both have potential to have at least one World Title reign. Magnus did make it to the World Title and two Tag Titles but he still was capable of more and is still very young at 30 years old.

The tag team division has also been rebuilt nicely as well. Whether you're a fan of TNA/Impact Wrestling or not, you can't deny they've had a strong tag team division for most of their history. In fact, TNA/Impact has been responsible for creating some of the biggest tag teams this century. However, the division has been hurt over the last two years and the depth has been lacking. The company has had periods where The Wolves were out of action in 2015 when Eddie Edwards missed a few months and almost all of 2016 when Davey Richards was out. The Hardys missed almost all of 2015 after Jeff was injured. Beer Money reformed in January 2016 when James Storm returned but then split up when Bobby Roode left two months later. Since then, the tag division has seen new additions in EYFBO and Reno SCUM as well as Garza Jr. and Laredo Kid coming in and getting paired up. Mario Bokara and Fallah Bahh have teamed up in the indies and could become a team as well. Crimson and Jax Dane are forming a new team called "The Veterans of War". All in all, the division looks to be stronger than it has been in years.

Some wrestlers have also been giving great opportunities most notably Andrew Everett and Sienna. When they debuted last year, Everett was mostly a member of Shane Helms' Helms Dynasty stable with friend and tag partner Trevor Lee while Sienna was the muscle or enforcer for Maria Kanellis-Bennett's Lady Squad. While it was a good way to introduce them and Sienna got a run with the Knockouts Championship, the problem was that eventually they seemed stuck in the background. Everett was clearly in Lee's shadow, there didn't appear to be any plans to make them a tag team, and the times Everett was in a big match, it was mainly a multi-man match where he was the first eliminated. Sienna held the Knockouts Championship for two months and then seemingly was put on the backburner while just being Maria's muscle all the while coming off as someone capable of more as she rarely cut promos while not having her own rivalries. Now, things have changed. Everett was kicked out of The Helms Dynasty while Lee regained the X Division Championship which has resulted in a feud with Everett chasing Lee for the championship and getting win after win on TV as Helms throws any hurdle that he can. With Maria having departed, Sienna has now shined as she's had more matches and promo time while continuing Maria's rivalry with Allie & Braxton Sutter as well as bringing in KM and Kongo Kong in according to the storyline. She's now become the number two heel (villain) in the Knockouts Division behind only the current champion: Rosemary.

The company has also formed relationships with other wrestling promotions from around the world including AAA & The Crash in Mexico and Pro Wrestling NOAH in Japan. This is cool as we get the chance to see Impact wrestlers competing elsewhere around the world and possibly being given titles or tournaments which raise their profile. Plus, it allows Impact to bring in talent from those companies occasionally which adds something different to the product and give the company a global look by bringing in talent from all over the world.

The return of LAX (Latin American Xchange) and the way they've used it has been perfect. Now this is something Impact could've easily screwed up. The knee jerk reaction would've been to just have the classic line up of Konnan, Homicide, and Hernandez but Konnan is in his 50s and can't wrestle anymore especially after hip replacement a decade ago. Homicide is going on 40 which isn't old but he has lost a step and Hernandez just turned 44 which is getting up there all the while both Homicide and Hernandez have been wrestling since the 90s. On the other hand, just having EYFBO and Diamante as LAX wouldn't work either as longtime fans would never accept it and just see it as Impact shamelessly using an old hot act and slapping it on these newcomers in an attempt to give them instant credibility. Instead, Impact has combined things. Konnan and Homicide are back which bridges the previous LAX with this new one and fans buy it as LAX because of their involvement while EYFBO and Diamante are the talents carrying the load while getting instant credibility.

We've also seen the continuation of many feuds from the previous era which is great. The feuds include Allie and Braxton Sutter feuding with Sienna and Laurel Van Ness while Davey Richards feuds with Eddie Edwards. The first feud has been a story going on for months but it still has legs and no where near done despite the departure of Maria. It also gives all four something to do as Allie has someone to wrestler in Sienna and Van Ness as Maria wasn't a wrestler while Van Ness and Sienna get to shine on their own without being in Maria's shadow. Richards and Edwards have put on a feud of the year candidate and it's nice to see Impact continue this as they've stolen the show a few times specifically their last man standing match.

Minuses
A complaint amongst fans was a lot of the top Impact talent was used at the March tapings to put over the new talent coming in. I'm mixed here as I understand wanting to give the new talent strong wins to establish them but I do think they may have gone overboard a bit or had the wrong talent either lose too much or go winless. The tapings ran from March 2-5 and in that time, we saw EC3 go 0-1, James Storm go 0-1, Kingston went 0-2, Eli Drake went 1-2, Abyss went 0-3, Crazzy Steve went 0-3, and Bram went 0-4. I get you have to build new talent and there are plans for some but I'm not sure going this route was the best. I get with EC3 there are plans for him and the DCC broke up but why the others? Abyss & Crazzy Steve held the tag titles for much of 2016 and then went 0-3 each at the recent shows. Bram is a great prospect and will likely get repackaged along with missing the April shows due to appearances in NOAH but why go 0-4? Not only that but did he need to take the pinfall loss in the recent eight man tag last week when Tyrus could've taken it? Drake is another prospect but he went 1-2 and I don't see how this will lead to anything as it's not like he's in a losing streak or a slump storyline like EC3 is. It's also not just the fans as rumors came out of those tapings that some of the talent felt they were just losing to Jarrett's guys. When new management comes in, the old employees get worried about their positions and I'm sure Impact was no different. While building new talent is fine and Jarrett means well, it possibly could've been done a little better as it felt like he fanned the flames of the wrestlers & fans paranoia. Now that the new talent has been built up, hopefully things can get back to normal and the regulars can pick up some wins to assure them and the fans nothing bad is happening to them.

I didn't agree with the break up of the DCC. Granted, it might work out for all three guys but for now, I'm not for it. When the stable began in October, it was not only a cool stable but also one that gave something for everyone. James Storm got to do a different gimmick besides the cowboy who drinks beer. Bram is a great prospect and it gave him something that could help propel him upward. Kingston has been a solid indy wrestler who was now not only given something to bring him in but give him something that gives him instant credibility by being in a stable with Storm. With the loss of the stable, Storm is still a main eventer but he's once again back to the beer drinking cowboy gimmick he's been doing for fifteen years. While the best characters are said to be the wrestler's real life personalities cranked to eleven, fifteen years is a long time and it's a problem we've seen in wrestling where wrestlers have the same look and gimmick for so long with little changes or updating. Bram is one of the company's best prospects and could be a future Impact World Champion but he's been almost completely rudderless since last summer. After losing his first title in the King of the Mountain Championship, Bram then began a storyline with Decay which wrote him off TV for three months then he came back to the DCC only for that to get dropped months later. This comes off as a step back and hopefully Impact can get him something to get his momentum back. Kingston has nothing to do and while he could end up in LAX or get some push, he begins his Impact run on a false start. Another thing is that I can't help but feel that the biggest reason the DCC broke up was because Jeff Jarrett or Dutch Mantell didn't "get it".

The return of authority type figures especially Karen Jarrett. When it was announced that Jeff was coming back, everybody knew it was a matter of time before Karen followed. Honestly, Karen has never been a good character or performer in wrestling and has mostly been around because of who she was married to (first Kurt Angle and then Jeff Jarrett). Karen brings nothing to the table here as she isn't a good performer and she's not the least bit believable in the role. Usually authority figures either hold legit positions backstage or at least are some legend but Karen is neither. It really hurts her when you have Sienna confront her and say she got to where she is because who she married and you can't help but feel Sienna is absolutely right. It's also not just Karen but the authority figure thing is so old at this point and we don't need a weekly bit where an authority figure shows up to make matches. Impact was just fine in January when there wasn't one and the announcers made the announcements regarding matches or they would be online. Not only that but we also have Bruce Pritchard who is slightly better because he's worn a bunch of hats over the last 30 years but this means we now have two authority figures running around. It's bad enough when the WWE does it and it's not better when Impact does it.

The announcing has also been some of the worst I've listened to in the 20 years I've been following wrestling. Normally, I like Josh Matthews and Jeremy Borash but their constant bicking is just annoying. While some weeks it wasn't bad, other weeks like the March 9th show was unbearable as the two would spend most of the two hour broadcast going back and forth all the while ignoring the action at times which came off embarrassing. I honestly don't know who's idea it was for them to argue but everyone involved should know better and not to bicker throughout a match. It's distracting, annoying, and takes away from the action. Nothing or no one be it a manager or announcer should take away from a match and become the center of attention. Worse of all, where is this leading? In theory, it was supposed to write Matthews out as an announcer but he came back on the live April 20th episode so again, what's the point? Does anybody want to see two announcers feuding?

Finally, there is the hiring of some talent. While most of the hirings and returns are great, there were a few I wasn't high on and they were Chris Adonis & Alberto El Patron. When it comes to Adonis (The former Chris Masters in the WWE), I don't hate him or think he's untalented but I've never been blown away by him and he was decent but never spectacular. It just feels like there were probably better options out there. As for El Patron, I never understood why companies fall over themselves to bring him in and push him as a top star. Like Adonis, El Patron is decent but not special in anyway. He's a decent wrestler but not a great one and he's not a good talker or that charismatic. He's too bland and definitely not a guy who should be challenging for world titles. Even worse is that he's shown to have a bad attitude as he's been fired both times he worked for the WWE and while the first time was due to a confrontation over a behind the scenes employee who made a racist remark, he still shouldn't have put his hands on him. Meanwhile, he's had a reputation of complaining about his positioning in the companies. His claims of Impact being his home is no different to what he said about ROH, Lucha Underground, and AAA all the while claiming how racist WWE is only to immediately bail back to the WWE without fulfilling obligations to AAA when the opportunity arose. He's also known to have gotten into physical confrontations backstage at wrestling events on two different occasions. Quite frankly, El Patron isn't someone to trust and may turn out to be a headache.

Like any situation, Impact has seen some good things and things that aren't so good. Like anything new, it will take time to get everything going and early ideas may not pan out in the long run. We'll have to wait and see how things progress but one things for certain, it's not going to be boring.