The Katz Files – Arnie Katz
My Weekly TNA Notebook
The Kingfish Arnie Katz delves into points raised by the 11/19 iMPACT.
Sting: Bait and Switch
There is simply no excuse, on a pre-recorded show like this, for the
Even though they obviously knew that Sting wasn’t there and wasn’t going to show his face on iMPACT, Mike Tenay and Taz talked it up throughout the show. Tenay even made an extended reference to an interview conducted earlier in the day that had surprising and exciting developments!
This could have been fixed in post-production, but it wasn’t. Is this the new deal that Dixie Carter keeps promising?
Foley Goes Face, But…
.Mick Foley has turned babyface with as little rhyme or reason as when he went heel to fight Abyss.
Yet a further turn, perhaps back to heel or to tweener, already seemed underway on the 11/19 iMPACT. Even as Foley teamed with Abyss to combat Stevie Richards and Raven, Mick griped constantly about being abused y TNA management. His big complaint is that Dixie Carter didn’t tell him about the Hogan deal.
This certainly makes it look like Foley and Hogan will have, at the least, a war of words when the Hulkster actually comes to TNA. Mick can work very well as a tweener, subtly shifting his approach to reflect his adversary at the time, but the turns aren’t being handled very well.
Mick’s recent turns have been too extreme and too unmotivated. If TNA wants him in the tweener role, then his basic personality should remain constant and whether he’s heel or face should depend on the personal issues developed in the storyline.
TNA has taken the easier, but less pleasing, approach of having Mick Foley do an about-face every three weeks or so. What kind of credibility can Foley possibly have with fans when he says something one week and then the exact opposite the next?
Steiner vs. Amazing Red
This is the kind of match that helped dig TNA’s present hole. Why would anyone think it was a good idea to put the X Division champion in there with Big Poppa Pump?
The match turned out to be an excuse for a save by Bobby Lashley that added nothing to the Steiner-Lashley feud, yet managed to make Amazing Red seem puny and insignificant.
When TNA wants to schedule this kind of match, it would make a lot more sense to use someone like Shark Boy as the foil instead of cheapening a valuable property like Red. It’s bad enough that they have saddled the Pride of Brooklyn with the Don West gimmick.
We’ve got Nash and Young –where are Crosby and Stills?
When Good Mike Does Bad Mic
After fans saw Abyss blockade Mick Foley’s office in the wake of his plea for Mick not to wrestle, Mike Tenay acted like it was all some sort of Big Mystery when Foley didn’t answer the call of his entrance package.
A better alternative would have been to have the announcers wonder if Mick would escape from his office when his music hit. TNA could’ve even cut back and forth between the ring and Foley’s escape effort.
Pretending that there is a mystery when there isn’t one is a surefire way to turn off fans. If the announcers are made to look stupid, what they say will have zero impact.
That’s all for today! I’ll be back on Monday with my recap and analysis of Turning Point on Monday. Hope you’ll join me then – and, please, bring your friends.
— Arnie Katz
Executive Editor
[email protected]
(11/21/09)