KELLER'S TAKE KELLER'S SIX PACK: Thoughts on TNA Impact - cheesiest thing in wrestling history, final PPV sales pitch, Did Devon lose a dare?
Dec 8, 2012 - 4:51:35 PM
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By Wade Keller, PWTorch editor
(Wade Keller's full report on Impact plus added analysis with more thoughts and select key quotes was posted exclusively on the PWTorch VIP website and VIP mobile site on Friday night. Subscribe here to go VIP: PWTorch.com/GoVIP)
-- Jeff Hardy's Inner-Most Thoughts segment - That is maybe the cheesiest thing in the history of pro wrestling. I'm not kidding. Can the announcers calling the show hear his thoughts, too, or only us as viewers? Do the fans who attend house shows have permission to tell Storm what they magically heard Hardy say about them in his own head?
-- By the end of Impact, they did enough to give a backstory to the key matches on the Final Resolution PPV to make this feel like a solid final sell. It's such a handicap to have a lead babyface champion who's so weak on promos they don't trust him with anything verbal other than those ultra-cheesy inner-thought narrations.
-- A.J. Styles and Daniels set up their PPV match without wacky soap opera storylines, and it worked. Nice mic work with a heel being heelish and the fans being given a reason to want to see the babyfaces give him what he's got coming if for nothing else than to see Daniels's reaction to losing.
-- I couldn't believe Devon kept all of his clothes on when the TV Title match began. He looked ridiculous with black jeans, a long sleeve black shirt, a plaid button up shirt, a black leather jacket, a necklace, and black gloves. It almost seemed like he lost a dare.
-- Keneley Cliche Watch: "We're just getting started." Keep in mind, this was over half-way into the show.
-- Keller's Take on Announcers Presenting Mid-Match Commercials: When they cut to an early break in the main event and come back with ten minutes left in the show, I'd like the announcer to assure viewers that they took their final break and the duration of the main event would air uninterrupted. The announcers should also sound slightly disappointed they have to cut away in the midst of the main event and not sound quite as cheerful as Keneley does.
It's an industry-wide issue, because decades ago the announcers sounded tortured in having to tell the viewer they were breaking away, and it conveyed a sense that every minute of every match mattered and these commercial breaks are a necessary evil. The more they make commercials seem like a horrible inconvenience, the more they can also sell PPVs partially on the basis of being "commercial-free."
(Wade Keller's full report on Impact plus added analysis with more thoughts and select key quotes was posted exclusively on the PWTorch VIP website and VIP mobile site on Friday night. Subscribe here to go VIP: PWTorch.com/GoVIP)
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He hosted the weekly Pro Wrestling Focus radio show on KFAN in the early 1990s and hosted the Ultimate Insiders DVD series distributed in retail stories internationally in the mid-2000s including interviews filmed in Los Angeles with Vince Russo & Ed Ferrara and Matt & Jeff Hardy. He currently hosts the most listened to pro wrestling audio show in the world, (the PWTorch Livecast, top ranked in iTunes)
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