How many reboots is this for Impact Wrestling?

Thursday night TNA Impact Wrestling went through yet another of the company's many many reboots. Now firmly under the Anthem regime, they've bled several of their bigger talents due to late contracts, losing Drew Galloway, Mike Bennett, Maria and the Broken Hardys, five individuals that drove much of the storytelling for Impact for the last two years. This left The Wolves, EC3 and Lashley as the credible main eventers in the promotion, although Cody could easily be moved into that role if he was willing to commit to more television time.

This would of course be a great spot to build on existing talent. So the company of course brought in a former WWE star, and one that's damaged goods at best. While Alberto El Patron is certainly capable of great matches, he's not a guy to build a company around. Impact has two men for that role already: the World Champion Lashley and the leader of The DCC and criminally under-utilized talent James Storm. Hope springs a bit with Storm as The DCC seem to be at odds after losing a lackluster tag match to the debuting (and equally lackluster) Reno Scum.

But with a show dominated by arguments between lead announcer Josh Matthews and new third man on commentary Jeremy Borash distracted from the entire program. They do much to ruin a rather pointless X Division match and do more to hurt Rachael Ellering's debut than help her.

The most pushed storyline on the first episode of the new Impact.
Image credit: Impact Wrestling Twitter.

Prolonged chat sessions from Bruce Pritchard and Dutch Mantell don't really help the program get far either, but they did encourage yet more references to WWE programming. I've seen the words WWE mentioned less on episodes of NXT and 205 Live than on this episode of Impact Wrestling.

Dutch has to be the one that thinks Make Impact Great as a slogan is good as well, right? Because only someone that portrayed a racist right winger on television for over a year could think a reference to the current divisive President's campaign slogan is a way to bring in viewers. I can see a good section of the potential audience automatically turned off just by that phrase, never to give the new Impact another chance.

But the women's match was solid as was the main event between the debuting Patron and Lashley, at least up until yet another Dusty finish from a company absolutely obsessed with them. Cody's search for Moose (supposedly in Japan for NOAH despite not having that NOAH match until after the tapings) were superb promo segments, but they were devoted to a part time star prioritizing New Japan over the company.

And the brawl between Richards and Edwards as well as Decay's magic theft of the Broken Hardys' titles were both pure agony.

There's hope in the new Impact Wrestling, but is it an improvement over the last year, where TNA had actually started to solidify a decent project? I'm not so sure. Only the coming weeks will show us for sure.

The inaugural Impact Wrestling Top 10

I have written several unique Top 10 lists in the last couple years of producing The Wrestling Weekday. But somehow Impact Wrestling has always escaped my coverage. Considering the year end Top 10 featured a long time Impact star now in WWE at #2 and an actual Impact star at #1, it seems the time is ripe to feature the first ever list of Impact talents!

Image credit: Impact Wrestling. 

1. Ethan Carter III: While it currently feels like EC3 is treading water a bit at the end of 2016 and the beginning of 2017, he is cemented as a perennial main eventer on the Impact roster. He could still make huge moves in the year ahead, especially if the company decides to play off the loss of his storyline aunt from the roster. 
2. Drew Galloway: I am not a fan of Galloway as a heel. He made one of the best faces the company had to offer, while as a heel he feels like just another bad dude in a sea of bad dudes. But he has definitely made waves since his in ring return and looks to have a solid run as Grand Champion. 
3. Decay: After Total Nonstop Deletion, Abyss and Crazzy Steve are in a bit of a random space, but they continue to be one of the best units on Impact Wrestling, even if it seems unlikely they will challenge for the tag titles much this year. 
4. Davey Richards: Davey's path upon his return seems clear. After a short uniting of the Wolves for a few weeks, he will take a heel turn against his former partner. Hopefully, Impact uses Angelina Love as his mouthpiece during his heel run, because while Davey can go in the ring, he is still one of the worst talkers on the Impact roster.
5. Jade: If Impact is smart, they will start to build a major part of their promotion around Jade. The perennial #1 contender to the Knockouts title, the former Mia Yim has to be on WWE's radar now. She has the potential to be a game changer in the world of women's professional wrestling and Impact would be wise to market on that. 
6. Moose: Unlike Mike Bennett, Moose was smart to make the jump from ROH to Impact. Impact not only gets him in front of more eyes, but it also helps him develop more attention on his career as it continues to grow. He might still have a future in WWE, but with a more solid place on Impact, he can develop the same kind of following that has helped names like Styles, Roode and Samoa Joe in WWE.
7. Eddie Edwards: He finished 2016 as TNA World Heavyweight Champion, but his obvious impending feud with Davey makes the continuation of his reign seem unlikely, especially with Lashley after him this week. But Eddie has cemented himself as a growing star for the company, and arguably far more valuable than Davey.
8. Lashley: It seems likely Lashley will win the title just a few hours after this posts. Outside the #1 pick, no one on this list did as good a job as reinventing themselves in 2016 as Donald Trump's former wrestling buddy. His dominant work week in and out on Impact Wrestling builds upon his goal of making professional wrestling seem credible and he does a great job of that even when he's warring with Eddie Edwards at the Hardy compound. I never thought I'd say it, but I've became a big fan of this man in the last year. 
9. Rosemary: The Knockouts Champion is easily one of the most over talents on Impact television. With a compelling character, a unique in ring style and a propensity to do things in the ring to make a true impact, the former Courtney Rush is a figure a company could be built around. Along with Jade, she makes a strong case for Impact to double down on the Knockouts side of the roster. 
10. The Broken Hardys: Broken Matt Hardy was the top wrestler of 2016 as chosen by the readers of The Wrestling Weekday and the staff of the ESO-PRO podcast. But Brother Nero did his own reinvention in the second half of the year and even freed from his obsolescence, he still is in a much better place in his career in 2017. No tag team is as in demand in 2017 as the Hardys. The twenty year veterans look to make a huge mark with international matches that will likely be rebroadcast on Impact Wrestling broadcasts, even as they continue to push the boundaries of storytelling in the year ahead. 

Image credit: SI.com.

ROH could take some tips from New Japan

Ring of Honor is always a frustrating company for me. They have all the talent in the world with stars like Jay Lethal, The Young Bucks, Dalton Castle, Moose and Michael Elgin all regularly working their shows. They have a deep roster with a healthy mix of veteran talents (The Briscoes, Kazarian, The Motor City Machine Guns) and new stars (Donovan Dijak, Adam Page, Jonathan Gresham). But they also seem buried in a malaise where stories take months too long to develop and characters are never allowed to evolve naturally. And while the hotshot booking of TNA and WWE isn't necessary for a company as wrestling influenced as ROH, the company seems to have no understanding of how to integrate slower building old school feuds with new school storytelling.

Their Japanese promotional partner New Japan Pro Wrestling has been doing just that for years. In many ways, NJPW continues the wrestling as sports focus of Antonio Inoki it was founded upon forty years ago. The style has become more innovative, but New Japan is a company where wins and losses matter. It is a company where status is something that must be achieved. Even the current champion Kazuchika Okada still has nay-sayers, despite having years now as a major main event player in the company. Hirooki Goto and Tetsuya Naito have worked as heavyweights for nearly a decade each, but now both are entering the title picture for the first time. Yet New Japan continues to tell solid stories with their talents as they develop them through the regular storytelling cycle that kicks off at New Year Dash every year and culminates with the next year's Wrestle Kingdom.

ROH and NJPW have worked together for years now, even debuting full ROH
crossover events in Japan now.

Here are a few tips I think ROH could take from NJPW to help keep so much of its program from routinely feeling stale.

The ROH Top 10

I don't follow Ring of Honor as regularly as I once did now that the regular late night broadcast of the show I used to watch here in Eastern Iowa has became very late night. I do occasionally watch the streamed episodes after they air, but I often find the promotion to be incredibly weak booking wise. Often I feel like they hold off on pushes of hot talents until they grow cold while pushing many stars that the ROH faithful just feel flat about. That doesn't stop the company from having some amazing matches still and as they recently closed out their year with Final Battle it seemed like a fitting time to introduce their inaugural top ten.

Remember, all these talents are available for your voting pleasure in the year end Top 10 list!

So without anymore ado, let's get to the countdown!

Image credit: TheWrestlingMayhemShow.com

Did the Young Bucks make the right decision by signing with ROH?

It was a big news story after being teased by the Young Bucks themselves: who would they sign a contract with at this point in their careers? The answer was Ring of Honor. While the deal in place allows them to continue their work with ROH's partner NJPW and the Bucks' home promotion PWG, Ring of Honor seems like a strange choice for the duo.

Image credit: ROHWrestling.com.

Ring of Honor has had two other high profile signings in the last few months. They signed Moose after rumors that the rising star might be WWE bound. Since that time, he's fought on the early half of every card in negligible matches that do nothing for a star that was massively over entering 2015. The second signing was of Roderick Strong, a man that while often looked at as bland personality-wise can go as well as anyone in the ring. His signing has embroiled him in a feud with Jay Lethal, the perennial booking favorite of ROH's Hunter Johnson.

Global Force Wrestling makes a stop in Eastern Iowa!

Global Force Wrestling listed several minor league ballpark house shows as part of their rollout this summer. One of those shows is coming to Clinton, Iowa, a small town of about 30,000 on the Iowa-Illinois border. It is a strange venue until you consider it is a healthy distance from the major Iowa cities and much of Illinois.

The ticket page rolled out on May 8 and it is a bit sparse on details for the show. It includes announcements for the Bullet Club and for Moose to be in action, but it also gives news of a new Global Force Wrestling signing...

Big Poppa Pump from earlier this year at a Canadian Wrestling Elite show.

Yes, Scott Steiner promises to be the old man of the GFW roster. But even at 52, he still has a certain insane charm. He may be a bit too old and jacked to ever be as good as he was twenty years ago, but he does bring some name power to the show.

The site promises an expanded announcement of the card in the future, but it should be interesting to see what kind of action the new promotion brings to Eastern Iowa.

Global Force Wrestling gets a roster!

After over a year of nebulous promises and only a replay of a stupendous Japanese wrestling event to their credit, Global Force Wrestling has finally moved one step closer to becoming a real entity. On Wednesday, they finally announced the first ten names on their roster, as well as revealing Chael Sonnen will be their color commentator.

Now you can bounce all over the internet for opinions on how good the ten talents announced are, but I honestly think they have built a very solid start from the independent talents currently available to them for use. While it does rely heavily on the gaijin side of New Japan Pro Wrestling, GFW's healthy relation with New Japan should cause little trouble there.

Here is a few thoughts on the announcements:

Chris "The Adonis" Mordetzky and “Darewolf” PJ Black (formerly Justin Gabriel) are two solid former WWE stars that both have shown they were more than what WWE ever gave them. With very different styles in the ring, these two men could set the standard for the singles wrestling style of GFW.

Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows will represent the Bullet Club in GFW, but I am sure if Jarrett gets this way they would not be alone. A very solid heavyweight tag team, they have tons of upside, and can really be introduced to American audiences in a new way. Certainly having AJ Styles or the Young Bucks would help their credibility as a unit, but the Bullet Club could be a very dominant heel unit in the US soon as well.

Davey Boy Smith Jr and Lance Archer, a.k.a. The Killer Elite Squad, have their own NJPW pedigree, but they may actually have even more of an upside to Anderson and Gallows. The KES is already heating up the Texas area and with work in New Japan and NOAH right now, they might be awfully busy for too much GFW work, but they will bring a dominating style to Global Force.

Seiya Sanada is probably the least surprising announcement as the recently departed TNA star announced he would remain in the US with an unnamed promotion just a few days ago. But Sanada will now have the chance to show why he wowed fans last year in TNA before stupid gimmicks and some horrible time under James Storm derailed his run completely. Just the chance to see Sanada versus Black should sell at least one of the TV episodes on GFW's slate.

Moose was under contract to Ring of Honor, but that may not be the case as he moves to GFW. He is still green, but his style shows he has a great upside. He has the same mix of power and speed that made Uhaa Nation such a great signing for NXT, although he will need to work harder to get to Uhaa's level in the ring. All of that said, Moose could very well be a major force for GFW's growth the way AJ Styles was for TNA.

Thea Trinidad and Lei D'Tapa both have TNA pedigrees, but they were both critically underused there, so it is anyone’s guess what they can bring to the GFW roster. Hopefully, more announcements will bring a larger women's roster to GFW, as with a few choice signings they could easily change the shape of women's wrestling in the United States today.

Personally, I think these are a solid ten folks that will help brand GFW as a great mixture of underutilized talent and future superstars of wrestling. Now the question remains whether or not they will be able to show it on any major scale. While TV tapings have been announced, no television partner has been, so these could be ten great talents with nowhere to show their skills.

That being said, with Toby Keith helping fund GFW, they could have inroads in places new to the wrestling business. Could CMT be in the future for Global Force?