The Global Impact Crater 01.17.08

Welcome to the first ever GLOBAL IMPACT CRATER~!, my review of the television special produced by TNA wrestling which highlights the company’s trip to Japan on January 4, 2008. While there, many members of the promotion’s roster competed on the “Wrestle Kingdom II” show promoted by New Japan Pro Wrestling. The show promises us footage of the TNA wrestlers hanging out in the foreign country as well as a full match between Kurt Angle and NJPW star Yuji Nagata, which was for the fake IWGP Title that Angle totes around.

The first segment of the show consists of several TNA wrestlers, including Christian, Kurt Angle, The Dudley Boys, Scott Steiner, and Travis Tomko talking about what coming to Japan means to TNA Wrestling. These aren’t in-character promos but rather “shoot” style interviews that you’d see the wrestlers delivering when speaking with mainstream media outlets about the company. Frankly, I would be perfectly fine with TNA scrapping its normal interviews on Impact and promoting all of its upcoming pay per view matches using this style, because it was far more convincing than anything that Kurt Angle or the Dudleys have done on the stick in the last six months.

Segment number two starts off with Tomko training heading in to the big show. He lifts weights, he does sit-ups, and he buys a drink out of a vending machine. We also get footage of a press conference which was used to promote the show. The majority of the TNA guys are there, as are key members of the New Japan roster. One member of the media asks for a comment from “Mr. Abyss,” but the monster refuses. Okay, that was some good, subtle comedy right there. Angle speaks and really puts over Yuji Nagata as one of the best wrestlers going today, which of course will go a long way to making his eventual victory look all the more important.

After the next break, he see highlights of the TNA matches other than Angle vs. Nagata. AJ Styles, Christian, and Petey Williams are shown in six man tag team action, though their opponents (Minoru, Milano Collection AT, and Prince Fergal Devitt) are not named. The trio is shown victorious and then cutting a promo about said victory. Up next is clips from Abyss vs. Manabu Nakanishi (who also isn’t named). Yes, they show Abyss trying to use the thumb tacks, and, yes, they show him getting planted in to them face first. Now it’s the Dudleys against Togi Makabe and Toru Yano, which is a hardcore match. The Dudleys pick up another victory for the American company. Last but certainly not least, it’s Travis Tomko. He teams up with Giant Bernard (formerly A-Train in WWE) against Scott and Rick Steiner. Bernard and Tomko’s IWGP Tag team Titles are on the line. The younger team is shown victorious, though it’s not without some great spots from the Steiners, including their big bulldog and Scott’s avalanche frankensteiner.

After a few final comments from Kurt Angle and a dubbed interview from Yuji Nagata, it’s time for . . .

Kurt Angle vs. Yuji Nagata for the IWGP Third Generation Title Belt

Mike Tenay is on commentary, fortunately without Don West. Iron Mike does a good job of putting over the importance of the Tokyo Dome shows and Nagata’s background. His knowledge shouldn’t be surprising when you consider the fact that his gimmick as a WCW commentator was that he was the guy brought in to educate the rest of the announce team about the backgrounds of foreign wrestlers. The Professor even briefly alludes to the fact that the IWGP Title Angle holds is not the legitimate one, though he doesn’t go in to enough detail to fully explain the situation to people who don’t follow Japanese wrestling.

Angle jumps Nagata prior to the bell and pummels him in the corner. Dammit, there’s Don West. Nagata powers out of the corner and reels off some punches, only to have Angle respond with an overhead belly-to-belly suplex. Yuji blocks a German and gets an overhead belly-to-belly of his own, after which Angle bails. Things go to the mat when the Olympic gold medalist returns to the squared circle, with Nagata working a headlock and making an early attempt at the crossface, one of his regular submission finishes. Kurt makes the ropes and heads to the floor for a second time. Standing switches abound back on the inside, and now the two men are trading armbars. That quickly breaks down in to a strike-fest, as Nagata kicks away at Angle’s legs but misses an enzuguiri. That allows the TNA Champ to execute another belly-to-belly, though Nagata cuts off his momentum with a back elbow and applies a chinlock. Angle powers up and VICIOUSLY clips Nagata’s knees. Now it’s Yuji’s turn to head to the outside, but Angle follows him and kicks away at the legs before bringing him back within the ring’s confines. Kurt applies a toehold there and transitions in to a figure four. Tenay puts this over as being a result of the legendary Destroyer seconding Angle recently and teaching the hold. God, Tenay is so awesome when he’s not forced to dumb things down.

Nagata fights to reverse the figure four for a bit but ultimately has to break it by dragging Angle over to the ropes. Kurt continues to stay on the leg by dropping elbows to his opponent’s knee, but a second figure four attempt is blocked by a series of kicks to Angle’s back. That allows Yuji to lock in an armbar, and his facials as he applies the hold are awesome. When we come back from a mid-match commercial, Angle is in the middle of hitting his rolling Germans, after which he makes his first attempt at the Angle Slam. It misses, and Nagata takes the opportunity to hit another overhead suplex. Rolling vertical suplexes are next from the Japanese veteran, though Angle blocks the third and tries for the ankle lock before Nagata reverses it in to crossface number two. Angle somehow manages to roll over in the hold and grab Yuji’s leg, which brings us to the ankle lock. Nagata manages to reverse THAT, and here’s another crossface. Angle sells it like he’s passing out, though he fires up at the last second and once again grabs a foot for the ankle lock. Nagata kicks off and grabs crossface number four, which Angle rolls through before hitting the Angle Slam!

Kurt’s straps come down at this point, and he follows up his slam with his moonsault . . . or at least he tries to. Nagata avoids it and hits a HYUUUGE running knee strike in the corner before setting the former Olympian up for a belly-to-belly superplex. It connects and gets two. Nagata returns to the crossface after Angle kicks out, and Kurt does a good job of putting over the fact that he’s just about to tap out. Nagata eventually tires of waiting for the submission and turns the hold in to the Rings of Saturn, which in turn morphs in to a cradle for two. The wrestlers then begin trading forearms at mid-ring, which concludes with both men collapsing after an Angle clothesline. When both guys get back to their feet, Nagata nails a backdrop suplex for two, and then he goes for a big kick to his opponent’s chest. Angle blocks it and grabs Yuji’s leg, which of course turns in to the ankle lock and the dreaded HEEL HOOK~! That does it, as Nagata taps and Angle retains his belt.

Match Thoughts: This was quite the match. There were a few moments in it that American fans may not take to (particularly the repeated exchange of submission finishers in the middle of the bout), but I think that the action picked up enough in the end that everybody should enjoy it even if they’re not entirely used to New Japan’s style. The thing that captivated me the most throughout the match was the two men’s faces, as both individuals did a fine job of getting over the match as realistic through their expressions. You could see that when they were applying holds they were applying them with all their might and when they were taking hits they trying to appear as though they were knocked damn near unconscious. This match made me remember why I used to really enjoy watching Kurt Angle, in an era before he became the overexposed sitcom star that appears every week on TNA Impact. I don’t do much in the way of star ratings anymore, but, if you held a gun to my head and made me give one out, I’d probably peg this as being around ***3/4, which is far better than most of the matches we see for free on TNA programming.

Overall

This show was better than any episode of TNA Impact that has aired since I’ve been covering the show. Period. Why? It’s because, unlike regular Impacts, the company actually went out of their way to make the show feel special. They had wrestlers cutting promos in order to put over their opponents and put over how great the company is, which goes much further in terms of generating fan interest than the lame backstage skits and b-grade humor that typically populate the Impact landscape. They also had a main event that, though it ran a little bit longer than I would like to see a weekly show’s main run, was otherwise an example of exactly the kind of action that we could and should be seeing out of TNA every Thursday night. I’m amazed that TNA actually knows how to promote an event as though it is a must-see but repeatedly refuses to use that ability in areas where it will actually make them money in their domestic market. Somebody in TNA creative needs to sit down with whoever cut the footage for this special together, and the Global Impact crew should explain to the regular writers how a wrestling show is supposed to be run. They clearly get it, and the Jarrett/Russo/Mantel triumvirate clearly does not.