High Road/Low Road 07.06.07: The Long Impact Match
Posted by Chad Nevett on 07.06.2007
Last week, Impact featured one very long match and not a lot else. Was this the best idea they've had in ages or a sad failure? You decide in this week's High Road/Low Road!
Welcome back to the High Road/Low Road! A brief explanation of the column: Uncle Trunx takes the Low Road (negative view) on angles, gimmicks, and other wrestling related "stuff" while Sat takes the High Road (positive view).
The Results for the Night of Champions:
High Road: 19%
Low Road: 60%
Both Roads: 21%
The Results for Will the Chris Benoit tragedy have an affect on his wrestling legacy?
Yes: 91%
No: 09%
E-Mails:
These are all of the e-mails that we received this week. We do not respond to the actual e-mail, but the reply to your e-mail will be below.
John Bryant Writes:
No offense guys but Columnists lately well some of them have really pissed me off. One guy claimed and I quote: "Benoit and other pro wrestlers aren't Athletes, their just actors trying to get bigger for a part" I'd love to see Lebron James or Barry Bonds or Terrell Owens go out and play Basketball, Baseball or Football 300 nights out of the year, sometimes 4-nights a week. I know I know, Wrestling is choreographed but look at it this way, Wrestlers don't have the time off cushion that the other sports give their players. I mean do you really think Lebron James or Terrell Owens could handle playing their sport that often for the length of time that guys like Jeff Jarrett or the Undertaker have? I know there's no way in hell Barry Bonds could. but indeed Pro Wrestling isn't a sport as Mike Wilbon on ESPN's Pardon The Interruption put it, but the men who bust their asses day in and day out to feed their families are indeed athletes. And yes a lot of wrestlers have admitted or have been accused to use of steroids, but let's go over that list, EDGE a man who like Kurt Angle and Stone Cold Steve Austin & Chris Benoit has had Fusion Neck Surgery or other types of Surgery done on their neck & back. Now I know some wrestlers use steroids and obviously so, guys like Batista & Chris Masters, who just look or looked too unnaturally big. I've wrestled back and forth with my decision as to whether or not I'd continue to support the business and I will continue to do so. but it'd be hard, I mean guys like Owen & Curt Henning & Eddy who passed away early are some pretty tragic deaths but none of them have been like this. and I think it's pathetic that the media has become so callous that it can't acknowledge the deaths of Owen Hart or Curt Henning or Eddie Guerrero or Crash Holly but it takes someone murdering their family and themselves just to get them to finally talk about the hazards of Professional wrestling and no I don't mean the steroids, I mean WWE's impossibly lengthy schedule, or the lack of cushion Indy Wrestlers & Mainstream Wrestlers have to rest their injuries, I mean Samoa Joe is working with a bad knee & back because he can't afford to take time off to rest and he's one of their main event guys, what about guys like Sonjay Dutt or Petey Williams who are in the X-division or on the under card? Steroids shouldn't be the focus, it's the lack of time wrestlers have to heal up.
Sat: I think some of what you are saying is correct. The wrestlers are working a grinding schedule. I can't remember where I read this, but somebody was saying that the wrestlers should be given time off in a rotating schedule. That seems to work and it would allow wrestlers to heal from their injuries.
Uncle Trunx:
Sport or entertainment, it's not that relevant in terms of this argument. The fact is that there are a lot of guys taking a lot of physical risks, getting a lot of injuries and working through them by whatever means. Time off to heal has never been a reality of the business; will it now become a possibility? We have to hope so, but I somehow doubt it.
Jarkota Writes:
I took the Low Road on this because, even though they *did* have every title on the line as promised, only two got new owners. In addition to the ECW and Women's titles (two belts that, really, *nobody* gives a rat's hairy heiny for these days), we should have at *least* seen the Intercontinental and United States belts change hands, as well as one set of Tag titles and the Cruiserweight belt (it's *far* too much to ask that the new 'Golden Boy' John Cena lose his belt cleanly and Batista is clearly not Champ material these days). Hell, the I.C. match was called on a D.Q. after about three minutes (which may or may not be significant, considering Umaga's previous WWE name/gimmick/stable); I didn't even order the PPV and I felt cheated as I read the results.
Most of the matches were so-so in nature with, of course, only the WWE and Heavyweight titles getting even a halfway-decent matchup. From what I understand, CM Punk and Johnny Nitro did their best with the hand they were dealt, but the crowd reaction for reasons I won't state here as we all know them by now obviously made at least Nitro, if not Punk, as well, feel a little uneasy and it hurt the performance. (That said, though, I have to say putting the belt on Johnny was the best move they could have made, as it now means he has a ready-made feud with CM Punk that they can work with for at least a couple of months.)
It's sad when the 45-minute Angle vs. Cage vs. Rhino match (which I'm watching the replay of right now) on TNA's free TV is better than an entire WWE PPV, and I'm sure most will agree with me on that.
Sat: Looking back, the I.C. Title should have changed hands. The thing that hurt the pay per view was that I got the impression that the wrestlers were just going through the motions.
Uncle Trunx:
To be honest, I missed the lack of title changes but it's a very valid point. Why hold a night of champions and then keep the status quo as far as the major belts go? It only serves to show how little this event meant in real terms.
And so to this weeks column. This is Trunx trying to post the column for the first time; usually Sat handles the techy stuff and I just sit in a corner and grumble. So if this goes horribly wrong, remember it's my first time. Nobody's first time is the best, however much they've been looking forward to it. Enough innuendo; here's the column:
This week's High Road/Low Road featuring...
One Long Match During a Single Episode of Impact
High Road:
By having one long match in a single episode of Impact, you are doing something that is very rare in professional wrestling. Most of the current TV matches are very short and are usually cut off with a commercial break. We very rarely see a long match on TV, so whenever we see a long match it is something special and something different.
Low Road:
I have nothing against wrestling on a wrestling show; I actually think it's a really good thing. I applaud TNA for going with more wrestling and less extra curricular activity. Or at least I would, if that was what happened. Instead, we get the entire roster somehow being involved in the match. I understand that you have to have other guys on TV but going with a long match (perhaps 25 or 30 minutes) and some other way to get the other guys involved; a lumberjack match, or number 1 contender battle royal, something like that. Something where they get the exposure without turning the one match on the show into a mess.
Oh, and the match was interrupted by commercials. Lots and lots of commercials. Unavoidable but annoying.
High Road:
One of things that I have noticed is that whenever there is a long match, you are practically guaranteed a good match. Usually, on Impact, we see short matches. With short matches, they can be good, bad, or okay, but most of the time they are either okay or bad. By throwing in a long match once in awhile, you are guaranteeing the fans a good television match.
Low Road:
Again, there are many things which make a good match. Length is no guarantee; the finish of this match, with about 150 people involved, ruined it for me and made the first ¾ of the programme irrelevant. Why spend 35 minutes building up something which could've been done in about 1/3 of the time? I love long matches but I hate screwy finishes; to me, the end of this match suggested that they needed to find something for a lot of guys to do, so they just threw them all out to interfere. That's not a good thing and if it ruins the only match on the show, it ruins the show.
High Road:
This high road only works if you don't read the spoilers. One of the things that always seem to be a good idea is showing a really long match without announcing that it is going to be a long match because it forces the fans to make sure that they never miss an episode of that particular show. Plus, if you give the illusion that you have other stuff planned (like Mike Tenay did), then you get the feeling that this is something special because the company was not expecting something like this to happen.
Low Road:
Indeed, that works if you truly buy into the hype and can avoid the spoilers. Yet watching the show, I felt I could quite happily have tuned in for the last 5 minutes and missed nothing of any note. That doesn't help build an audience, although I wish them all the luck in the world if they're trying to educate the wrestling audience to appreciate wrestling over bitesize matches and lots of talking. I hope that next time, they can somehow go with a clean finish and find something else for the rest of the roster to do.
High Road:
I had not thought of this High Road, but this is really a very good point. This is what Byers' wrote in his Impact Crater:
"I believe that a lengthy match like this on free TV goes a long way in promoting TNA's pay per views. For far too long now, Impact's matches have run seven minutes at the longest, and they're normally hacked up by a commercial break. I can understand that being the case most weeks, as they legitimately do need time to do other types of segments to build up their angles. (Of course, they do too many angles, but that's a different issue for a different time.) However, if you don't periodically do a longer match on free television, potential pay per view buyers have no clue what kind of in-ring product your company is capable of putting on during a PPV which matches will naturally tend to be longer."
This is an excellent point. I have noticed that TNA puts on some amazing pay per view matches. What better way to get more people to buy the pay per view by showing them a match that they are likely to see on one of their pay per views.
Low Road:
I would agree, but I feel that they need to add more time to the show for this to work. To create interest, they need to show both talent depth and in ring action; create characters that people care about right through the card and produce the quality in the ring. This was a brave attempt to do the latter, but it had to happen at the expense of the former. Given an extra hour of TV time, where other characters could be built up (and not thrown into the match to give them something to do) I think this would've worked so much better. Comparing this to the long Cena / Michaels match from Raw a few months ago, I can't help but feel that one worked better because they had a second hour to play with and use to showcase the rest of the roster. That is what would benefit TNA most if they're going to go with long matches.
High Road:
The long matches during a single episode of Impact are something that doesn't have to be done all the time. This is something that can be done one time every two months. If this strategy is adopted, then I think that it will help the other episodes of Impact because people know that TNA is also trying to give them a long match once in awhile.
Low Road:
I think it needs to be left until they have more TV time, otherwise they face the choice of neglecting the majority of the roster or going with a ridiculous amount of interference; neither is an ideal solution and both potentially hurt the show. If this is used as leverage to get a second hour, I hope it works but as a regular occurrence, I think it has to be left until there's more time to justify it.
High Road:
One of things that hurts Impact is the fact that the spoilers for the shows are out way before the episode has been aired. Because of these spoilers, you need to give the fans an incentive to watch the show. For example, if you have four short matches and an in ring interview, the chances are good that most people will not tune in. But, if you have a title change or a long match, you are more likely to have the fans tune in. The last two Impact ratings have been 1.2, which has been an all-time high. So, to get the fans to tune in, you have to either have a title change or a long match and I prefer the long match because it can be done multiple times without devaluing the long match. If there are multiple title changes, then it will devalue the title. Long matches during Impact can help draw in more viewers.
Low Road:
Possibly, although a long match is risky if people have read the spoilers; they may decide just to tune in for the end! This is especially likely if the end is as much of an interference riddled mess as we saw last week. This also goes double if the guys in the match are not people that they want to see. It could be a good strategy but it could backfire. I await the ratings with interest to see what effect it had.
High Road:
This long match during Impact showed that it is possible for TNA to have a long match and get a ton of people on the show without hurting the match. I think that most people would have expected the match to be hurt because of all the stuff that was going on, but that turned out to not be the case. This match showed TNA that they are capable of showing longer matches.
Low Road:
I disagree; having a ton of people involved hurt the match in a big way. In fact it was the one thing that made me wish that they'd added in more matches and made this one shorter. I love the idea of TNA having longer matches on Impact, but unless they get a second hour or find a way to involve more people in the show that doesn't turn the match into a train wreck, I feel I'll be disappointed with the results.
So, are you taking the High Road or the Low Road?
High Road/Low Road Plugs
We are taking the high road on these articles so you should read them...
There are other articles that we didn't list, so check them out as well.
E-mail us your reasons for taking the High Road or the Low Road and suggestions for future High Road/Low Road at satuncletrunx@gmail.com. Your reply will be included in next week's column.
