SpikeTV and iMPACT Wrestling announced that starting May 31st, they’d air iMPACT at 8PM-10PM. They noted the change was due to more audience in the 8PM hour along with less sports competition. I wouldn’t have admitted that, but what do I know? My opinion on this situation is kind of on the fence.

They have a ton of competition coming up this Summer (June). My DVR gets a killer workout on Thursdays due to many great shows on against iMPACT. I always pick to watch iMPACT live, but understand those who decide to DVR iMPACT. It’s understandable why they are moving and I think it’s a good decision, as they can pick up younger (gasp!) demographic who they’re missing being on 9-11.

Though, they’re going to have to do a s—load of promoting it along with Spike. It’s time to call in the other Viacom channels like MTV and CMT to promote the move. There isn’t any reason they can’t use the mix of young talent and former WWE talent to promote it. The SpikeTV ads won’t cut it nor will a graphic at the bottom of the screen. Start promoting this Thursday and don’t stop.

They have to put 100% into marketing this time change or nothing will change, could even get worse.

I feel that the addition of social media into pro-wrestling is very welcoming. You have the interaction between the talent and fans, which TNA has prided themselves on since the start of the company. There isn’t another company out there that is as fan friendly as TNA between social media and autograph sessions. The fact that you can reach out to Dixie Carter, AJ Styles, Eric Bischoff, Hulk Hogan, James Storm, and so many others is remarkable. It really shows the positive side of social networking with interaction by the talent. Yes, you have that positive side.. but there’s a dark negative side.

The dark and negative side of social media has become obvious over the past year or so. Between the “hacking” of Kurt Angle’s Twitter months ago, the shots talent has taken at the company, and a few others.. it really shows that social media can be a great asset.. in portions. It shouldn’t be used in the sense that you have to scratch your head and wonder “Is this part of the show?”. That is where social media becomes a hindrance, in my opinion.

And there is nothing worse than to be on Twitter during “iMPACT” interacting about the show with our followers and see a talent talk about the “amazing” television show that they are watching. Great, you are watching an amazing show that is head-to-head with “iMPACT”.. but that doesn’t mean you should promote it. What does that say about “iMPACT” that the talent is promoting another show, instead of “iMPACT”? It doesn’t speak highly. I understand that TNA management can’t tell a talent what they can or can not tweet about, but some talent need to use their head. As a fan, it really does irritate me to see talent talk about another show.. during their show.

Social media has proven to be a good and bad thing for TNA, but it’s going to matter in the long-run wether it really was a good thing for TNA to push social media so much.

What do you think? Tweet us your thoughts @TNARevolution, post on our Facebook Wall, or leave a comment below!

As a long-time fan of TNA Wrestling {back when it 1st debuted on Spike TV, the ring had 6 sides & the logo was red with 4 spikily doodads on it} I’ve been privy to the best {& worst} of its storylines. The worst of which, naturally, being from the more recent years. But it hasn’t always been like that, has it?

Once upon an X Division, there was a booker named Scott D’Amore, who the more-than-casual fan will remember him as the Head Coach of TNA’s Team Canada in 2004. This was, of course, not the 1st year of his tenure with what would become known as IMPACT Wrestling, as he’d entered the company the year previous, with Border City Wrestling standout Chris Sabin, long thought to be 1 of the best the X Division has had to offer. That, in & of itself, should be all the proof I need, right?

In May of 2005, D’Amore was appointed to the head of Booking in TNA, which resulted in such matches as Ultimate X reaching new heights, as well as the TNA in-ring debut of Samoa Joe. Not saying that Scotty was single-handedly responsible for the Samoan Submission Machine entering IMPACT Wrestling, but take into account how his character went on cruise control for a coupla months, then started a bit of a downward dip after losing the TNA Heavyweight championship, is enough for my tastes.

July 2008 saw Scott D’Amore’s TNA contract expire, though Wikipedia doesn’t specify when he was no longer the Lead Booker for Total NonStop Action Wrestling. . . although the introduction of certain characters would suggest a particular lack of creativity in the company’s remaining Booking Committee.

Then, there was the other source of Scott’s creative attention, the Knockouts division. While each pugelette represented @ least 2 perfectly cromulent reasons to watch Spike TV every Thursday night, D’Amore went 1 step further, elevating them beyond Divas & actually allowing them to {COLLECTIVE GASP!!!} wrestle in full-length {& sometimes even Main Event} matches! There were some well-considered & fleshed-out angles with the lovely ladies of So-Flo Wrestling, but sadly, as with the rest of the booking for the Thursday night wrestling show that everybody who loves Connecticut Wrestling claim to hate {yet flat-out refuse to stop watching}, the Knockouts matches started going to pot as well, which was really sad, because the alternative was kinda atrocious. . . !

But alas, I can call a direct correlation between my own TNA fandom’s origins & Scott D’Amore’s being in charge of the Booking Committee, so it’s no wonder that I can draw such a direct parallel to his no longer being there, with the somewhat steady decline of the overall wrestling product of IMPACT Wrestling. So’s life, I suppose, but this’ all my opinion & being a writer on this site allows me free reign to inflict it upon you lot!

Oh & by the way, those who might be wondering why it’s been so long between articles, I can only say that I’ve just recently gotten myself a computer, so my ability to type’s been limited to when I could get onto a computer ~ generally, 1 day out of the week! So let’s look forward to seeing more smarmy trifle coming from my tippity-tapping keyboard in the foreseeable future!

Wanna keep track of my comings & goings? Simple enough ~ shuffle on over to my website & you can Like my Facebook page, Follow me on Twitter, Subscribe to my YouYube channel & even check out my page dedicated to a rather large collection of wrestling championship belt pictures!

- I assume many want to hear what I thought of the entire production of iMPACT being from taped in the UK. It was some of the best production work I have seen from TNA in a very long time, this isn’t a knock at TNA’s normal production.. but you could feel how big of a show this was due to the way it was set-up as far as lighting, cameras, etc.

- The show opens with a good opening promo that set up the main event for the show and the main event for Against All Odds. I do wish TNA would have opened up with in-ring action instead of a promo, but it was at least a good promo.

- A good tag team match between Morgan/Crimson and Joe/Magnus, I am extremely surprised and delighted to see how well Joe/Magnus “clicked”. It’s very similar to Beer Money Inc where you have two guys just put together and it just works. The win for Joe/Magnus gave them some much needed credibility.

- This entire Garett Bischoff angle is just kind of a “meh” point after the past few weeks, due to the predictability of his trainer. Was there any doubt that it would be Hogan? I called it from day one on Twitter, just like everyone else. I would have never announced Hogan’s appearance to the television audience and it would of had a better selling point. If you had to advertise Hogan, have him open the show and talk about how badly he wanted to see all his Hulkamaniacs across the pond. Other than that.. it was an okay series of segments, just too predictable.

- Okay, call me crazy.. did Mark Haskins almost breaking his neck add to the ending of his match with Aries or what? It’s not ever a good moment for someone to land like that nor be injured, but it is one of those situations where Aries just looked like a BAMF. I can not wait until Aries/Shelley at Against All Odds, I pray that TNA doesn’t open the show with it though.

- Tara and Gail Kim had a good little match, they didn’t scratch the surface of what they will bring too the table at Against All Odds which is good. Gail Kim has brought some much needed life back into the division.

- James Storm pulling double-duty against Bully Ray and Robert Roode within an hour of each other was amazing. It really put Storm over as this ass kicking machine instead of the normal good guy who has the odds stacked against him because the “powers that be” want it. Storm wanted them both, so he got them. I don’t agree with giving Storm/Roode away for free.. normally but this time it worked.

Overall, it was a great edition iMPACT. TNA has been knocking these things out of the park with good to great shows back to back since the end of Decemeber. I can’t wait for next week and Against All Odds!

Over the past few years I have “evolved” from just another writer on the website to the work horse of the website, doing whatever I had and needed to do for the website. I dominate the Twitter account (and anger UK fans in the process) for live comments about iMPACT and Pay-Per-Views, talk with you – the readers – via Twitter, write articles, and just generally do whatever I need to do. In the process of becoming the work horse/jack of all trades for TNARevolution, I had burned myself out. I was running around trying to write as much as I could to keep content fresh to the point where it affected my writing ability and burned me out. I am not trying to make excuses for the lack of content that I failed to provide you, I am just letting you know that because of my inability to let nature take over and make this website a success, I have and will continue to do whatever it takes to make this website work and be the success I know it can be. You guys haven’t stopped visiting the website despite the lack of content and that says a lot about you as our audience.

We have changed things here at TNARevolution within the last year to better ourselves and set a standard for what a wrestling website should be, in my opinion. There are 10,000 (maybe not, but you get the point) wrestling news sites that allow you to focus on the backstage drama and backstage news, but that isn’t us. I don’t want to be another face in the crowd that people call a “copy and paste” website, I want us to be at the forefront of something bigger which is why I pushed for this magazine format. You can’t be a success by being the other guy, you have to be different to have people take notice. You guys have taken notice. It may seem like I am just rambling for the point of rambling, but there is a method to my madness because I am here to inform you that as of January 25, 2012… We are back. I am back to provide the content that you are deserving of seeing! Let’s face it though… this isn’t just mine and Brian’s website, this is for every single TNA fan that wants to hear the voices of TNA fans drowning out those other types of fans.

I hope you are excited about 2012 and the future of TNARevolution.com, because I sure am. So, maybe this wasn’t a state of the address speech… but it sure got me fired up.

TNA Knockout of the Year: While many say that the Knockouts Division isn’t the same division that it had been in the past, TNA has kept a very solid division throughout the year. The division really picked up toward the end of the year with the return of Gail Kim, but despite what Kim brought to the table these final few months… she isn’t the Knockout of the Year. The award will have to go to Mickie James who carried the division as the top babyface throughout the majority of the year, really dominating the championship picture.

Tag Team of the Year: The one division that has slipped through the cracks of TNA Wrestling has been the tag team division. From injuries, releases, and break-ups.. the division has dwindled down to few tag teams that anyone can get behind. The award has to really go to Beer Money Inc due to their dominating of the other tag teams that stepped in their path including The Motorcity Machine Gun and Ink Inc. Also, the fact that the two went from the top tag team to the two heel and babyface within a matter of 12 months… phenomenal.

X-Division Star of the Year: This is a no-brainer for me: Austin Aries. Despite not making his return to TNA Wrestling until mid-year, Austin Aries has already won the X-Division Championship and put on outstanding matches. He is the cornerstone of the X-Division and has brought the division back from the dead. He’s also the greatest man that ever lived. How can you argue with that?

Feud of the Year: The year has brought some of the best feuds in recent memory from TNA Wrestling. Fortune would show their muscle as a faction with their feud with Immortal, before AJ Styles would go on to produce a great feud with Bully Ray. These two feuds wouldn’t come close to the great feud that was Kurt Angle vs. Jeff Jarrett (with Karen Jarrett). From the personal promo work by two of the best microphone workers in the business, to phenomenal matches… Angle and Jarrett stole the year.

Best Moment of the Year: The year has had some “feel good moments”, but the one that tops it as the best moment of the year has to be watching “Cowboy” James Storm become the TNA World Heavyweight Champion. James Storm has proven over the almost ten year tenure of TNA Wrestling that he is one of the best tag team workers in the wrestling business, but he proved in 2011 that he can be on of the best main eventers in TNA Wrestling.

Worst Moment of the Year: Jeff Hardy shows up in no-shape to wrestle; TNA puts him in the ring. Hardy should have never shown up like that, TNA never should have put in him the ring. Case closed.

Pay-Per-View of the Year: This was really a toss-up between “Lockdown” and “Bound for Glory” as both were great pay-per-views that featured both great matches and told great stories. With that said, I’m going to have go to with “Lockdown” as the best pay-per-view of the year. From top to the bottom, it was a great show of wrestling matches that told the stories that I paid my money to see.

TNA M.V.P of the Year: While there are many wrestlers that could be the M.V.P for TNA Wrestling, I’m going to have to go with Robert Roode. Roode was able to put on some great matches and cut some great promos throughout the entire year, but more noticeable.. he was able to transform to one of the most cheered guys in the company alongside “The Cowboy” James Storm, to the biggest heel in the company within a tweleve month period. That is off the chain.

(All awards are based on my opinion)

The biggest pay-per-view of the year has come and went, but was the event as good as it should have been? Let’s find out in my review of “Bound for Glory”:

Mexican America defeated Ink Inc to retain the TNA World Tag Team Championship: I am so glad this match was moved to the pre-show as it was nothing special. I thought that Toxine was very “off” during her moments which is just disappointing as I was looking forward to her being in TNA. Hopefully they can have a rematch with Ink Inc getting the tag team championship as Mexican America isn’t my cup of tea.

Austin Aries defeated Brian Kendrick to retain the TNA X-Division Championship: Great match, great way to kick off the show. Austin Aries continues to be the star of the X-Division with his mannerisms, promos, and then matches. I’m just really tired of Brian Kendrick being the face of the X-Division, as it is getting tiresome. How many shots can you have before your shots run out? Let’s give someone like Alex Shelley a shot and spice it up.

Rob Van Dam defeated Jerry Lynn in “Full Metal Mayhem”: Another good match that suffered due to the crowd. The crowd was too worried about a promotion 10 years ago by chanting “ECW” instead of cheering on TNA, RVD, and Jerry Lynn. ECW is dead, let it go. This brought the match down because it was distracting to many because it just doesn’t make a lick of sense, it isn’t ECW people! I’m hoping this angle ends here because I don’t know if they can top this match.

Crimson defeated Samoa Joe and Matt Morgan: It was kind of unimpressive, but nothing horrible by any means. It was an okay match but nothing really sticks out as a great moment during the match, which is something that “Bound for Glory” should have. It will be a forgettable match within a good pay-per-view.

Mr. Anderson defeated Bully Ray in a “Falls Count Anywhere” match: Very enjoyable match, wasn’t expecting it to be that good of a match but was greatly surprised. I thought the two worked well together and had some good moments. I just wish the table had broke during Anderson’s dive, as it would have been a great ending to the match, but thought the Mic Check through the table worked too.

Velvet Sky defeated Mickie James, Winter, and Madison Rayne to win the TNA Knockout Championship: I missed all of this match due to a problem from TNAonDemand.com thus only saw the finish of Velvet Sky winning. I won’t comment until I check out a re-airing of the pay-per-view.

AJ Styles defeated Christopher Daniels in an “I Quit” match:  I think this is a match that suffered due to the stipulation it had been given, since there aren’t really many things you can do in an “I Quit” match that couldn’t have been done in say a street fight. I did enjoy the mid-match promo by Daniels as it was something different and added to his new found heel character. Styles going over was the smart thing as was the way it ended, it sets up a future re-match which I am hoping will be at “Turning Point” in an Ironman Match. That’d be awesome.

Sting defeated Hulk Hogan: It wasn’t a horrible match by Hogan standards; even somewhat enjoyable. The problem I have with the whole thing is what happened following the match which is Hogan turning on Immortal to help Sting. I’m sure most know by now based on my Twitter comments that I wasn’t happy with Hogan turning face, due to the fact that it doesn’t make sense to do this late. Hogan has been a heel for year, steals the company from Dixie Carter, feuds with Sting for almost two years, and has (with Immortal) screwed with many of the top faces. Oh, he also lied about retirement and it was all a “work”… two weeks ago. I guess all is forgiven because Hogan saved Sting. It is stupid to me. You can have your opinion on it, that is fine but my points are valid. Remove your head from the clouds and realized, an opinion can’t be wrong.

Kurt Angle defeated Robert Roode to retain the TNA World Heavyweight Championship: There were many fans (including myself) that thought this was Robert Roode’s night and in a way it really was. Roode went toe-to-toe with Kurt Angle and almost had him beat, so Angle resorted to cheating to keep his World Championship firmly in his grasp. This opens up the door for a rematch at Turning Point with Roode able to get the win, which could be a blessing, as the whole “Hulkamania Is Back” will be the most talked about and hyped thing on iMPACT. Roode not winning is better than Roode winning then getting overshadowed by Hogan on TV. I thought the match was good and the finish worked, also.

Overall: I thought the pay-per-view was worth the $40 that I paid for the event, just disappointed in the TNAonDemand service for messing up and making me miss the knockouts match. Should be fun to see how they follow this up with. I’ll guess: “The Hulk Hogan Show”.

When Hulk Hogan signed with TNA Wrestling back in October of 2009, many people had a negative reaction too the signing. Many believed that it was the death sentence to TNA Wrestling, but I remained optimistic. I don’t think the glass is half full, I just believe in giving people a chance before writing them off. I stuck by my opinion that it could be a good thing, but little things started to bother me. Hulk Hogan was out making the media rounds, but wound up promoting his book more than the fact he was coming to TNA Wrestling. I don’t believe that Hulk Hogan ever once made note about when or where you could watch TNA Wrestling, maybe I just missed it. I originally shrugged off it thinking that maybe he wasn’t allowed by the producers to play TNA Wrestling – WWE does have a lot of power with networks – so I don’t freak out.

Once Hulk Hogan made his way to television, we started to see things change. He came out and openly blasted the six sided ring on television, the exact thing that gave TNA its identity from 2004 until 2010. Okay, that’s not a big deal compared to AJ Styles being used as a scapegoat due to the ratings of the “Monday Night iMPACT” move thus losing the championship to Rob Van Dam. That is really when my blood started to boil over Hulk Hogan being in TNA Wrestling. I don’t even want to get started on Hogan’s buddies coming to TNA!

The real gripe I started to have with Hulk Hogan was the same one I had with Sting, he hadn’t done anything to earn his paycheck. I’m not someone who hangs their hat on ratings or buy rates, as I feel both are a very flawed system. I look at the bigger picture which is the work load that the guys have, the position they are in, etc. Hulk Hogan was put over on (and off) screen as the face of TNA Wrestling, but he didn’t do anything to earn it. How many times did Hogan go onto a talk show and promote just TNA Wrestling? Rarely! How many times did Hogan appear at a house show to boost attendance? Once! How is the guy who doesn’t do anything that the public can see, the face of the company?

In comparison to Hulk Hogan, Jeff Jarrett was on every single house show loop once he returned. He didn’t just wrestle at the events, he was up at the crack of dawn out promoting these shows. He would promote all day long, show up and sign autographs, wrestle his match, and sign autographs after the match. This is the kind of person that TNA should have been hanging their hat on, someone who is working their rear-end off regardless if a camera is with them or not. It doesn’t have to be Jeff Jarrett either, it can be anyone… they just have to be placed in that same position. Hogan is NOT the face of TNA Wrestling until he starts WORKING like it.

Hulk Hogan has proven that he doesn’t have time for TNA Wrestling nor does he care about the company. He was at both E3 and Comic-Con this year, yet he wasn’t there to promote TNA Wrestling. Nope, he was there to promote his video game! He appeared on Good Morning America, only to promote his show on TruTV.

So, when the rumors that Hulk Hogan’s contract was about to expire with TNA Wrestling, I really hoped that he wouldn’t re-sign with the company. It’s nothing personal against Hulk Hogan, it’s just that I believe he hasn’t brought anything to the table. Of course, the rumor is now that Hulk Hogan has re-signed with TNA Wrestling. TNA hasn’t confirmed it themselves (neither has Hulk Hogan), but they did announce Hulk Hogan would be making media rounds on ESPN to promote “Bound for Glory”. I hope this is what Hulk Hogan will be doing from now on which is being an ambassador of sorts for the company. He doesn’t have to be on television to help, he has to be in the trenches doing these appearances to promote the company.

I do feel that this is two years, too late. I really hope TNA Wrestling and Hulk Hogan prove me wrong, as I want the best for the company.

The pros of this figure without a doubt outweigh the cons, as the entire figure seems just about perfect. The head scan is no different then any other TNA figure and is spot-on, down to Hardy’s face-paint. Of course, the attire is spot on down to the belt and shoes that Hardy wears. What can I say, it is pretty much perfect.

Of course, I have one con which isn’t something that really affects the purchase of the figure, but the neck joint on the figure makes it appear that Jeff is looking down at all times which seems to be the trend for Jeff Hardy figures. I’m not going to count off for this since it isn’t a make it or break it point, just thought I’d point it out.

Rating: 10/10

You can pick the Deluxe iMPACT 5 Jeff Hardy at your local K-Mart, ShopTNA.com, RingsideCollectibles.com, or Amazon.com!

Let’s kick this off with the pros of the figure, which there are a good bit of. The figure is really well done with many of the correct, or as correct as they can be, parts being used. Jakks did a great job with the head scan, which is something that Jakks has been great with during the TNA Wrestling line. The fact that it also comes with the TNA Global/Television Championship is a major plus!

Now, the cons and it’s weird how a pro can also turn into a con. I’m talking about the Global/Television Championship strap because it looks pink, as opposed to red. I know that at some shots the television championship doesn’t look red, but I have never seen it to be this kind of pink looking color which just makes it inaccurate. Also, I would have used a different torso on Rob Terry, mainly using the one seen on Hernandez, Hulk Hogan, etc.

This is a solid first figure for Rob Terry – better than some others – but Jakks really needs to work on their quality control. You can’t keep putting out figures that don’t have the correct parts, error on belts, etc. when the TNA/Jakks line is mainly for collectors. It’s not a bad figure and think it’s worth having in your collection, but Jakks needs to get their head in the game.

Rating: 9.0/10
(Points taken off due to the pink strap)

You can pick the Deluxe iMPACT 5 Rob Terry at your local K-Mart, ShopTNA.com, RingsideCollectibles.com, or Amazon.com!