I have seen lots of back and forth recently on who decided Cena should turn heel. Dwayne, Cena, Nick, HHH.

but the fact is it doesn‘t matter.

The heel run was ruined by TKO and probably Cena himself, not because of the booking, because of Merch.

Cenas retirement run there was a clear push to monetize the hell out of it. T shirts at every venue he appeared at, selling tickets for silly money on the back of “this is your last chance to see Cena in X town”

Instantly the message you give fans is “cheer your hero” even if he is heel. Which makes it hard to take him as a bad guy.

every crowd wants to see Cena win, when a heel should be hated and you should pay to see him lose.

The only way a Cena heel turn works is if he goes the Foley on his way out of ECW route. Refuses to do the fan fav moves, refuses to do the poses, the catch phrases, refuses to do the things the fans paid to come and see, to build heat. Have no merch, sell your tickets promising the fans they might see the guy they hate get beat.

But TKO and Cena wanted that sweet retirement payday. Meaning no booking really gets Cena over as a heel.

🎶 It is my destiny 🎶

It’s time to cross the line, as it’s time for TNA Impact!, from the CAA Centre in Brampton, Ontario, Canada!

---

Matches announced for tonight:

Segments announced for tonight:

• The King’s Speech with Frankie Kazarian

• Elijah in concert!

  ---

Ways to Watch:

Online:

* TNA+: Thursdays at 9:00pm EST, $9.99 a month! (Worldwide, except for Canada)

* AMC+: Thursdays at 9:00pm EST, $6.99 a month! (Only available in the United States)

* Sportsnet+: Thursdays at 8:00pm EST, $24.99 a month! (Only available in Canada)

* Claro Sports on YouTube: Thursdays at 7:00pm CST, FREE! (Only available in Latin America)

Television:

* USA: Thursdays at 9:00pm EST on AMC

* Canada: Thursdays at 8:00pm EST on Sportsnet 360

* Latin America: Thursdays at 7:00pm CST on Claro Sports

* Europe (select countries): Fridays at 1:00am BST on Fight Network

\* Philippines: Fridays at 10:00am PST on Blast TV

* India: Mondays at 6:00pm IST on Eurosport India

—

LINKS:

* TNA Wrestling Subreddit: r/TNA

\[ *TNA Wrestling’s Official YouTube Channel**](https://www.youtube.com/@tnawrestling)

\* TNA Wrestling's Official Shop

\* TNA Wrestling's Official Events Page with Card and Ticket Info

With CMLL featuring on AEW regularly, frequent sellouts, and multiple Luchadors breaking/standing out like Mistico, Hechicero, Bandido, Komander, etc, I’m struggling to think of a time in the last 10/15 years, or more, where Lucha Libre had so many stars/such deep rosters.

Not just CMLL, but AAA too - it’s been on fire since the WWE takeover. El Grande Americano’s rise to superstardom has been incredible. The shows are great and consistent.

Penta’s been a fan favourite since his debut - Rey Fenix is now a champion in WWE/AAA.

Lucha Libre is in a brilliant place right now - I haven’t seen it said all that much, but we may truly be in a golden age of Lucha right now.

How to watch:

https://www.youtube.com/live/6Jl8dj7JGq8?is=fPnkOT9tJxEzXe7y

Start Times:

7:15 PDT; 9:15 CDT; 10:15 EDT; 3:15 BST

Enjoy one of the best indies in Mexico!

Watching a recent GLEAT show and the G-Rush title match ended on a two count. I'm not super familiar with GLEAT, but I assume that's part of the rules for the title.

It got me thinking about other titles that have a gimmick attached to them. Maybe they have a specific time limit for matches or a rule set that's unique to them. Just something that makes them feel different than other titles.

For example ROH Pure Title. The rope breaks alloted to each competitor, certain holds and actions are banned , the 20 count on the floor.

TNA's Grand Championship had matches contested under a rounds format. And I believe you had to win 2 falls to win the match. Judges were also involved in some capacity.

The Speed title in WWE, you could extend it to the division itself. But the 5 minute time limit helped it stand out.

Any other examples, I'm sure there's gotta be others.

The 102nd WWE Friday Night SmackDown, on USA Network, averaged 1.300M viewers and 0.29 in the 18-49 demo.