For its AMC debut special, TNA Wrestling delivered surprise guests, debuts, and three new champions. According to former WWE star Bishop Dyer, though, it didn't deliver upon its own name.
"We can get into the million positives, but I think for me, when you look at TNA, it's Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, literally by definition, what it stands for. I think my biggest issue with last night is we got three matches in two hours of television," Dyer said on "Busted Open Radio."
For the first "Thursday Night iMPACT" on AMC, Elijah and the TNA World Tag Team Champions The Hardy Boys defeated Order 4's Jason Hotch, John Skyler, and Mustafa Ali in a six-man tag match. Elsewhere, The Elegance Brand's Heather and M By Elegance dethroned The IInspiration as Knockouts Tag Team Champions; Mike Santana also struck gold when he unseated Frankie Kazarian as TNA World Champion in the main event. In between, Dyer noted that TNA seemed to fill time with unimpactful material.
"We're like an hour and ten minutes into the show and we've had one match, and if I'm a casual viewer who's viewing this for the first time, seeing these stars, I can promise you they were flipping channels for so many long promos of people that they don't know who they are," he said "... for you to sit there and watch a six or seven minute promo, it's difficult when you don't know who they are. You can watch a 6 or 12 or 15 minute match with talentyou don't know who they are because it's exciting."
Instead of familiarizing fans with its characters through lengthy promos on Thursday night, Dyer believes TNA would have been better served by running shorter video packages highlighting its current and former rosters.
"The match they opened the show with, phenomenal," Dyer said. "Let's go Hardys. How can you not be excited about that? Elijah's doing his thing. Mustafa Ali is coming into some of his best character work and best in-ring work that he's done, period. His group is awesome. Then give me a video package on maybe a little bit of the history of TNA and some of the talent, and then let's go have another match. I think there should have been at least six matches on that show, or five and you give the main event a half hour."
For Dyer, another source of frustration lied in the absence of the newly re-signed Nic Nemeth, who repeatedly teased the possibility of cashing in his Call Your Shot Gauntlet trophy for a TNA World Championship match. When Mike Santana raised his hand in victory following the main event, however, Nemeth was nowhere to be seen on the live broadcast of "iMPACT."
"They needed to have that on TV, because now, as a viewer, I saw a title change and that was it. Well, what's my draw to come back and watch next week?" Dyer asked.
As revealed on TNA's social media, Nemeth did appear before the crowd in Dallas after "iMPACT" went off the air. Equipped with his trophy, Nemeth ignited a brawl with Santana, resulting in security members pulling them apart and Nemeth being named as the special guest referee for Santana's title defense against Kazarian at TNA Genesis.
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Busted Open Radio" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
