Last night was the kick off of Lucha Underground and TNA Impact Wrestling on Destination America. I'm going to give you my thoughts on those and a thought that popped in my head about CM Punk this morning.
Lucha Underground had it's big Azteca Warfare match last night to crown it's first champion. I thought this would just be a no holds barred battle royal, but instead the only way to get eliminated was pinfall or submission. So you were promised 19 falls, which I thought was very creative.
This also works better in the Lucha format since there is a lot of high flying. It's hard to get your spots in if you can't go over the top rope. Also, it seemed like numerous stars used common sense and rested on the outside when they could, I love common sense. The hour flew by and the result with Prince Puma winning was probably correct. I dug the Wrestle Kingdom 9 mention by Matt Striker. I thought it might not have been bad to rip on Raw for being so shitty. What's the worst that can happen WWE mentions their product in jest? Wouldn't hurt their ratings in the least. (WWE knows this and that's why they never mention anything not WWE, even NXT on the network barely gets mentioned or has a commercial spot running during their 3 hour show!)
My other takeaways were Son of Havoc is a beast. He has been portrayed so far as kind of a flake, so I wasn't buying in, but his skill set cannot be denied. The 90 seconds after his arrival were the best of the match for me. He did a move where he dove head first into the ropes and was able to hit the rope right across this chest so he could bounce off of it and reflect back into his victim. He was also freaky fast. I think this guy is a diamond in the rough and I need to research his previous work.
I liked how they progressed all their angles, but also started new ones. Johnny Mundo's kick on Mil's girl was killer, and I hope they had added that smashing effect because otherwise that was nasty. It sets up perfect for Dario to now use Mil to punish Johnny, which should be good and allows Puma to do something else away from those two.
Prince Puma is killer solid. Again not a guy I followed before this show started, but his in ring work is amazing. This show works because almost everyone on the roster is a good dance partner so guys like him look good constantly selling and getting their moves in. The roster quality on this show is off the charts.
I think the future is brighter for this company as that match was something special. The hour flew by and I felt like I had been through war after it was all said and done. I'm interested to see where this goes next, but I assume Dario will unleash his caged fighter with that key to battle Puma. Also the debut of Cage should add some interest as well.
Impact followed Lucha and I thought that this was a good thing for both brands. Why not piggy back off of each other, but later I found out that Impact is moving to Friday's. I think that is a huge mistake. Who's watching at 8 PM on a Friday consistently? Friday's are generally one of the biggest go out nights of the week. I think they will need to address this if the ratings really slump. Wednesday is a good night for them.
I hated the opening segment. It was just mindless to have everyone out there brawling. It was not accomplishing anything and was very cornball. I'm sure it was cool for the live crowd, but beyond that pointless. I thought the impact of the Angle announcement was lost in all the madness. I was happy he was stepping down as the GM and more happy that at least so far no one stepped up to be the next one so far.
His match, like many on the card, was very blah and same old same old. You aren't getting your money's worth by having Angle out there wrestling in jeans. That's a main event quality match, but I also realize they are trying to throw the kitchen sink at us for the first show.
I'm not going to be negative on the entire show. There was good action, a few minor surprises, and it had a lot going on, which was refreshing, but I can't let that finish go. TNA's biggest problem is that they look for the major heel turn way too often. They build guys ups as faces for a short time and then look for riveting moments where those guys can turn. Remember MVP, Angle, and Hogan were all saviors who eventually turned heel.
I'm not saying every heel turn they have done is bad, but they have done so many it's impossible to keep up with who is a heel or face. Eric Young turning heel was just another example of this. He was a face for a long time so TNA went for shock value by doing this and it fell very flat in my mind. Samoa Joe has already flipped so many times I can't keep track. TNA just can't keep doing this and pass their title around like it's just a prop and meaningless.
The real dumb thing was that Lokee lost his title 30 minutes before this, in the match of the night. Would he really not get help from his new crew to retain his title. Wouldn't it add some heat for his new crew if he got helped and turned heel on Aries? Then Joe and Young could have been the guys turning at the end of the night, which would have been enough. So to me this factor also made the whole thing feel a little dumb.
TNA needs to realize that it's hard to get invested in their product if we can't get invested in their characters. Most casual fans want to pull for a guy, but when he flip flops a bunch they can't truly support him no matter how good he is in the ring. I'm sure the people behind Eric Young weren't too excited last night with that finish. I think that's what staled the product on Spike TV and starting on your new network this way was a mistake. Just have a great Main Event match and let it be about the quality of your characters and wrestling. Let the product breathe a few months before worrying about that kind of drama.
To close I had a thought on CM Punk. I have flip flopped on his situation many times over the last few months, but I was firmly on his side after hearing his podcast and not hearing enough from Vince about it on the Stone Cold podcast. I did respect what Vince said that you don't air your dirty laundry. I give him kudos for being a pro about it and I respect that, but I felt he owed the situation a little more info. He could have used it to build heat for HHH, but I guess he didn't want to fan the flames.
Now that CM Punk has cleared the air with his side I thought time to move on, but what I realized today is the UFC announcement came shortly after the podcast. To me it suddenly feels like Punk did the podcast to clear the air so that he wouldn't have to deal with questions about it during all this UFC Q and A stuff he is doing. Now he has a pat answer of I said what I had to say about my time in WWE. I think that's a PR thing as much as Vince apologizing for the wedding thing. (Bottom line on that is if Vince was sorry whoever did it should be fired.) (I don't think he would fire HHH though, damn.)
Yet, I can't give Punk a pass here. I think he has to own up to having an agenda with that Podcast. It raised his profile with all wrestling fans and made the UFC thing an even bigger deal. Then later mentioning Daniel Bryan as the next guy who could jump was another way of grabbing headlines with WWE fans that he can get to watch his UFC event. It keeps feeding the stories about him and WWE without talking about his time there. Also, no chance Bryan ever does MMA, which is why Punks answer should have been more bland.
Do I completely dislike CM Punk because of this...no. That's the problem I have with a lot of people. They jump all over someone for a mistake they made or a selfish thing they did and don't forgive or garner too much hate on someone. I still like the guy, but I take the opinion that he was being self serving in this situation. It's not like HHH who has done so much stuff over the years that I fully dislike the guy...ok ok..I'll stop.
Until next time! May your drop kicks land flush and your clothesline connect true.
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