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TNA DODGES MAJOR BULLET LAST NIGHT AND LOTS MORE EXCLUSIVE NEWS FROM LAST NIGHT'S TAPING

The TNA Impact taping live was plagued by a number of long breaks last night caused by TNA having issues with the production equipment. The company was using their staff but The Manhattan Center's production equipment. There were several technical issues with the equipment, leaving to delays where the crowd had to watch Jeremy Borash stall for time on the mic or just sit there with the Impact theme playing over and over. The EXACT same thing happened when Steve Karel's Urban Wrestling Federation filmed their first PPV there and this is one of the reasons ROH didn't run Final Battle at the venue last month. Thankfully for TNA, they were not actually live but "live to tape" as if this had happened while they were broadcasting live, they would have been doomed. By not running live, they had time to figure out any issues that came about. In the venue, though, the delays absolutely hurt the crowd. My advice to TNA is that if this happens again, send a dark match to the ring so the fans live have something to watch.

Beyond the technical issues, there were also delays due to the show being "live to tape" so they had to wait for pre-tapes to run within the context of the broadcast, etc. before they could go to the next in-ring segment.

If you saw the show, there were obviously issues with the direction missing shots as well. I don't know who directed the show, but it was not David Sahadi, who had been directing the shows. It was obvious there was a lot of "ring rust" production-wise, which considering the promotion hasn't produced a live to tape show since June of 2014, you almost have to expect.

As I reported Monday in the Elite section, after last night's episode, TNA will be post-producing all of their episodes in Nashville as opposed to cutting the shows live at the tapings.

The debut last night featured a lot of "reality TV" touches such as the opening with all the wrestlers preparing to go to the show, cameras all over the venue, etc. As I reported Monday in the PWInsider Elite section, we'll be seeing a lot more of that as the show continues on Destination America.

Unlike SpikeTV, Destination America gave TNA an over-run last night. Dixie Carter noted in several interviews that Discovery, which owns Destination America, will be giving TNA a big promotional push going into their Friday 1/16 episode.

Last night's opening segment, with everyone brawling outside The Manhattan Center, was actually filmed Tuesday evening. The wrestlers then "brawled into" the arena, which is a hell of a feat as the venue is on the 8th floor of the facility. Live, the fans had no idea what was going on as there were no screens, so things like the Lashley issues with MVP, etc. the fans in NYC weren't keen to as they were watching the show live.

Tommy Dreamer worked backstage last night as an agent.

For those who asked, Bully Ray was not at the show or working backstage.

The return of Awesome Kong easily garnered the biggest pop live last night in NYC, although the crowd was pretty hot for it's size (450-550).

There were rumors of Alberto Del Rio working the taping. As of this morning, he was still in Puerto Rico after winning the WWL title on Tuesday. We are told he's slated to return home to Texas today, so there's no way he could have been at the taping last night.

The plan is to tape four episodes of Impact over the next two days.

For those who asked, Velvet Sky was fine after taking that bump during her Battle Royal elimination.

Congratulations to Christy Hemme and her husband, who gave birth to their first daughter on 1/3. Hemme was already back to work at the Impact taping last night.

Ken Anderson and Chris Melendez were with Dixie Carter yesterday in Los Angeles at the Television and Critics Association gathering.

Jeremy Borash shaved his head bald last night following the angle with EC3.

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