Ring of Impact #1 (Season 1 Kickoff)

Welcome to the inaugural entry in the Ring of Impact series. Where I’ll be pitting TNA against Ring of Honor, in a week to week, month to month, year to year throwdown. I went overboard with backstory in the prelude posted here earlier this week – so check that out for more detail into the project’s origin and how it’ll roll out. But I’m ready to dive headfirst into thousands of hours of action (swimsuit optional)!
 

TNA Impact Wrestling #651 1/5/17
 

1. Moose (c) vs. Mike Bennett (w/Maria) - IMPACT Grand Title Match - 6

2. Rockstar Spud vs. Swoggle - 1

3. Decay (Abyss & Crazzy Steve) (w/Rosemary) vs. The Helms Dynasty (Andrew Everett & Trevor Lee) (w/Gregory Shane Helms) - 4

4. Allie vs. Sienna (w/Laurel Van Ness & Maria) - 3

5. Eddie Edwards (c) vs. Lashley vs. Ethan Carter III - TNA World Heavyweight Title - 6

Average score: 4

 
This felt like the kickoff to a new year. I dug that. Commentators Josh Matthews and The Pope welcomed us to 2017 right off the top and also some chatter of Anthem Sports & Entertainment being new majority stake owner. This means little to us, the viewers, save for a goofy owl emblem that now is part of the official TNA logo and adorns the turnbuckle pads, banners, and the large video screen above the entrance aisle. It’s literally everywhere. Hoot hoot. Great opener. Contested for the Grand Championship which I feel like we need to note on. I’d all but forgotten it. It was something engineered by Billy Corgan in-between writing sad songs. Kind of a European-style rounds format. Good physicality and thought Bennett and Moose worked well together. I may have hoisted an extra point upon it from my own buzz and excitement of it being the first match I saw for this massive project but think it was solid. Swoggle beating the charismatic Spud in 90 seconds clean didn’t help endear myself to the episode. On record now that I’m a Helms Dynasty mark – so hoping for lots more of them ahead. Good chaotic action but barely 3 min. thus the lower marks from yours truly. Allie is involved in a storyline where she’s the servant of Maria Kanellis who’s taken umbrage with Allie standing up for herself and beginning to train to be a wrestler. I detail it here because from what I’ve watched ahead it’s a pretty consistent for a segment or two each show. This was also the first time that it dawned on me I’d seen this as I recall this feud. I don’t know precisely when I stopped following weekly TNA TV in 2017 but this rang a bell. Really good main event. Three of the big dogs in the title picture going at it. Perfect placement to end the first episode of the new year with a rousing main event.
 
Ring of Honor ROH TV #277 1/7/17
 

1. Jay Briscoe vs. BJ Whitmer (w/Damian Martinez & Kevin Sullivan) - Decade of Excellence First Round Match - 5

2. Silas Young & The Beer City Bruiser vs. Alex Reynolds & John Silver - 4

3. Cheeseburger, Joey Daddiego & Will Ferrara vs. The Kingdom (Matt Taven, TK O'Ryan & Vinny Marseglia) - 4

4. Chris Sabin vs. Colt Cabana - Decade of Excellence First Round Match - 5

Average score: 4.5

 
Glad to have ROH TV back on my screen! I would DVR Ring of Honor TV back then and tried to stay up with it. Sometimes it had airing irregularities. It’d be delayed. It wouldn’t show up Sat. night as advertised but I could catch a Sun. morning airing. Then there’d be recap shows or re-airings of live events which I had previously seen and wasn’t keen on reliving. So, at some point in 2017 I definitely failed to maintain weekly viewership. One other fast note that may need reiterated more in the future but will air it now, the dates/show numbers on Honor Club are slightly off. Cagematch has what I’ve found to be the most comprehensive and reliable data and I know it to be accurate. So if you’re following along on Honor Club, at least for the 2017 season, the episode #’s should match cagematch listings, but the shows are listed a week later than they actually aired.
 
Nice to start of this ROH journey with some Jay Briscoe but bittersweet also with his tragic passing. BJ is goofier than normal running with Kevin Sullivan and company wearing white garb and having strange symbols painted on his face a la the Taskmaster himself. ROH is known for its consistency and that was on display here. The middle of the show which were patently elevated squashes still consisted of solid in-ring work including good effort from the losing parties. I like that even arguably “throwaway” matches to give some of the roster’s heels a little shine feature quality stuff from bell to bell. Main event was another tournament bout and the major highlight for me was Colt out on the floor raking at Sabin’s face while simultaneously verbally prodding Chris’ partner Alex Shelley who was doing commentary at ringside. You wanted to reach through the set and smack Cabana yourself and that’s good bad guy bonafides.
 
Who won?
Here’s where we can pointedly show that in-ring action alone doesn’t make a show. While the average score on this week’s ROH TV was 4.5 and TNA’s 4.0, I’m giving the nod, on this inaugural edition of Ring of Impact, to the Orlando theme park sideshow Impact Wrestling. While I don’t know if we’ll see anything as bad as Swoggle vs. Spud all year on ROH, the highs from Impact, specifically the strong opener and closer, propelled it ahead. Impact did a good job of establishing this episode as a kickoff of a new year, and brought that energy into the program, and the hot main event secured it this round. Impact now leads with a (1-0) record.