Step Up: Impact Wrestling in NYC
TNA has been hyping those NYC tapings for weeks, and it seems it was for a good reason. Last week’s show was heavily based on wrestling, used an appropriate amount of ECW fandom in exactly the right arena for it, and has started the build towards Dixie Carter finally going through a table. Each of the matches “clicked”, the promos were kept short, but impassioned, and I just thought the whole product, top-to-bottom, was very solid.
I don’t know if TNA can continue to tape in New York. The prices just went up again ,and they were already risking losing money at the previous cost. It’s the most expensive market to run in the country, but it’s also one of the best in terms of fan response and an energetic audience. If they wanted a similar crowd for half the price, they should really consider finding a smaller venue in Chicago to make their semi-permanent home. And I mean IN CHICAGO, not 90 minutes outside of the city like they normally do, so none of the hardcore fans actually show up.
Step Up: WRESTLING
The New Japan G1 Climax tournament kicked off this week. Night one was an incredible success, showcasing some fantastic matches in the second half, and some decent ones in the first. It’s really Bullet Club heavy this year, as almost every contest featured one of their stars, so that’s going to play a heavy role going forward. I worry they are starting to reach NWO levels of critical mass, and if they keep expanding it will lose effect, but for now I’m enjoying the ride still. The biggest story of the tournament seems to be Okada, and him trying to win the whole thing in order to get his title back from AJ Styles. That’ll be a nice story going forward, as he’s got to get through the entire Bullet Club to do it.
If you’re a sane person and you don’t have $160 to spent on the 13-event tournament, I’ll be providing coverage of each of the events starting later this week. I will have to catch up, because of the time difference there’s no way the coverage will be live, but we will eventually have results and a review for each of the 13 days of this incredible series of iPPV events.
