I caught the Impact taping here in Orlando on Tuesday night and was very pleasently suprised. The X-division needs no more hyping so I'll just say the likes of Petey Williams, Elix Skipper and Chris Daniels were just what I expected, I was a little upset that I didnt get to see an AJ Styles 1on1 but thats life, and his spots in the big Six-man tag were great. My personal favourite on the night was Sabu thou. At the end of the Main Event Six-man it was typical TNA over booking with the locker room entering the arena. But Sabu was typically suicidal taking a suicide dive thru the ropes without really calling it (rhino happened to be out on the floor and did his best to catch him. Then Sabu took off towards the exit tunnel jumped off the stage smashed some railings and ran out of the arena past fans, it was sureal (i'll post pics when i get back off vacation).
The fans in the impact zone are a real weird bunch, they are kinda like the ECW bunch in fanaticism but are much younger and made up of skater kids, goths and general misfits around the ring, then they have some older hardcore fans directly opposite the camara posistion who act like cheerleaders for the crowd (and they are mic'ed from above that section) getting chants going. The rest is then made up of people coming out the theme park which would suck as a crowd if they didnt have their cheer section to lead them.
The obvious problems with TNA still exist tho (relient on older cast aside WWE stars and JJ, and chronic over-booking of main events) but I feel if they move away from those charactaristics TNA will go a long way into the WWE`s ratings.
My big suprise on the night was how over Lance Hoyt was and how impressive he moved for his size. When I saw him emerge I wondered if this was Test`s new gimmick but as soon as he moved in the ring I knew that wasnt the case. This is a guy to watch in future years imo.
Finally, and dare my tounge fall out for saying it, JJ was awesome. He wrestled solidly and in a tight enviroment did a lot of crowd interaction to get people riled up (I know most of people hate him already but he really pushed that further).
Anyway hope that gives you guys who havnt made it to the impact zone a taste and I would recommend the show for anyone visiting Orlando.
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