Post by Talon Thorne on Apr 16, 2008 19:17:30 GMT -5
TNA 101
March 11, 2008
By Talon Thorne
I constantly am trying to freshen things up and re-invent my column, adding new features and improving others. This week you will see a debut of my “Rankings” feature which ranks the top five contenders in each of their respective divisions much like the TNA Website had done. Also I have three report cards: iMPACT, Destination X and for the only time and ROH PPV. I will finally hit some thoughts and finish things off. First things first.
iMPACT! Report Card
“Fighting for the Edge”
March 6, 2008
Action
-The Street Fight between AJ Styles and Kevin Nash was okay. I liked seeing AJ use strategy by going after the knee of Kevin Nash.
-Everyone involved in the Battle Royal are also involved in a match at the PPV and get to name the stipulation for their match at Destination X. What match do the Machine Guns, Rock N Rave Infection and LAX have at Destination X? Guess it’s a 3-way tag. Sonjay Dutt and Scott Steiner came out to watch and came ringside. I enjoyed the Battle Royal and thought Curry Man landing on Jimmy Rave was clever. So it will be Curry Man and Shark Boy vs Team 3D. If Team 3D can’t make weight or lose at Destination in a Fish Market Street Fight they will be out of TNA.
-The First Blood Match was solid but it sucked that it ended after that little amount of blood on Joe’s arm. I guess Tomko is the biggest thorn in the side of Joe since he has defeated him multiple times, two recently and once last year.
-Rhino vs Mesias was okay. TNA doesn’t really have squash matches so Mesias got in a lot of offense despite leaving TNA. I liked James Storm attacking Rhino after the match.
-I wasn’t a fan of the Salinas vs Awesome Kong Match and I am not a fan of Salinas.
-I really enjoyed the main event and though it was good. The only thing I didn’t like is how Christian won by escaping the cage. In TNA’s history it hasn’t been about that, it has been about pinfalls and submissions. The beat down after the match was pretty good as well
Entertainment
- The opening segment was good. So there will be an advantage stipulation for Destination X’s main event. The Robert Roode and Booker T showdown was well done.
-The Samoa Joe/Christian Cage/ Kevin Nash interview was really good as well. Kevin Nash ended it by doing a Hulk Hogan Impersonation. Good start to iMPACT
-The Eric Young segment was okay. I think Young will reveal some sort of superman gimmick at Destination X.
-I liked the Black Machismo Interview. He once again was pretty funny with his impersonation. I love Val! They will have a date next week.
-Next week Angelina Love and Velvet Sky will give Roxxi Laveaux a makeover. Hmm!
-The Elevation X Video was good.
-Fans wanted elements of Global iMPACT and they got it with TNA Rough Cut. I enjoyed this segment even if it featured VKM.
-I liked the James Mitchell interview but don’t know why they would push someone like Judas Mesias in an interview where the man is heading out of the company.
-I didn’t like the Raisha Saeed interview because Saeed sounded really fake. I found it interesting that Awesome Kong matches up to Hernandez.
-I like the graphics for the Destination X Preview.
Six Points of iMPACT!
1) Christian Cage vs Kurt Angle, a Six Sides of Steel Match to remember!
2) Just a scratch: Joe loses a First Blood Match after bleeding from his arm.
3) TNA Rough Cut: Another taste of Global iMPACT!
4) Destination X Battle Royale, it is Spicy!
5) Awesome Kong squashes Salinas
6) Kevin Nash defeats AJ Styles in a Street Fight
Armchair Booking
-I would have changed the Street Fight, First Blood Match and Six Sides of Steel Match all to normal matches without interference. You could have accomplished the same thing you did tonight with normal matches. There was little advertising for these gimmick matches.
-If these three weren’t gimmick matches I would have had Samoa Joe lose by disqualification.
-I would have booked Christian Cage to pin Kurt Angle after a top of the cage move.
-To me there was a lot of wrestling. (How much I do not know). But there were too many matches. I would have eliminated the Women’s Match and given more time to the other matches.
-Finally I would have made the Shark Boy and Curry Man vs Team 3D match not a Street Fight. We saw a Street Fight tonight and last month at Against All Odds, we don’t need to see another.
Grade: B
Overall Thoughts: Overall, this could be the best iMPACT in the past 6 months. There were problems which I mentioned above. Originally I was planning on giving the show a B—(The Professor was saying how he wants to see me rate the show different from my average C Grading) but this was a pretty good episode of iMPACT!. If TNA would organize their show better and pace it like this show was, then it would be a great product.
Show Rating: 1.2
Destination X
March 9, 2008
The PPV
-After a cool opening video we got the 3-Way Tag Team Match between LAX, the Machine Guns and the Rock N Rave Infection. This was a nice fast paced opener. The fans were really into LAX and so was I. LAX winning put them back in the Tag Title hunt which is good with me.
-A little note: A red line protruded down the center of the entrance ramp. I have a feeling that it was because of the “Cross the Line” Video last month. Cool idea! I still think that TNA should use “Cross the Line” as a slogan.
-I loved the X Division Championship Match and was on the edge of my seat the whole time. Petey Williams and Jay Lethal had a lot of cool chain moves in the match. I thought it was over when Scott Steiner pushed Lethal off the top allowing Petey to hit the Canadian Destroyer. I never expected SoCal Val to get involved, but she did. Excellent match that puts the X Division back in the spotlight. Nice little Sonjay Dutt interaction after the match as well.
-I called the Kaz and Eric Young vs Black Reign and Rellik Match down to predicting Eric Young would come out as a Superhero. This was another solid match. The “Super Eric” gimmick is going to be a love or hate gimmick depending on the fan. To me it will give Eric Young some new life as a character. I would just change up the mask because Eric was blinded at the end. Also have the cape attacked to the costume.
-I enjoyed the Women’s Knockout Match as well. As I predicted ODB and Gail Kim worked together to eliminate Kong but refused to let the other one to win, costing them the match and allowing Awesome Kong to retain. The only negative of this match was the interference of Raisha Saeed. To me she should just be the voice of Awesome Kong while letting the champ do the wrestling. I expect to see Awesome Kong vs Gail Kim next month at Lockdown.
-I enjoyed Jim Cornette’s whole in-ring segment. Before he came to the ring he was bothered by Angle’s Alliance and Team 3D about their respective matches. Cornette announced in the ring that should Team 3D make weight tonight, it would be the last time they would have to do so. Cornette, with the guidance of the fans announced that the decision stands about the Cage Match from iMPACT’s result, so Samoa Joe, Kevin Nash and Christian Cage have the advantage tonight.
-We got the Fish Market Street Fight after Team 3D made weight. To me this was a horribly gimmicked match. There was no way that I was going to believe that being smacked with a tuna would hurt. It was what it was and that was a comedy match. The crowd was pretty dead for this match and kept chanting we want tables. They eventually got them when Johnny Devine was launched through one. I liked the finish how Brother Ray got the white powder in his eyes and accidentally assisted Curry Man in 3D’ing Brother Devon leading to the victory. Curry Man and Shark Boy receive the biggest victory in their TNA careers (as their certain characters that is). My biggest gripe of the match was that I thought if Team 3D lost the match they were out of TNA?
-The strap match was okay. I loved the Roode/Booker T feud but haven’t been a huge fan of their matches. I wish the matches on iMPACT got as much time as some of these PPV Matches. I loved the aftermath though. I felt real bad for Traci getting whipped. My wife was actually crying during this whole moment. After the whipping, Roode took a shot at Brooks as well. The crowd went crazy when Sharmell came out and started whipping everyone.
-The Rhino/Elevation X Promo was good but TNA needs to be quick with their production because I could hear Rhino say “How was that” at the end of it.
-The Elevation X Match wasn’t overly as impressive as the first one. Most of the match was spent fighting in the ring. I wish they would have done something different like fight alongside the Elevation X. Both men tried but there is only so much that can be done on the structure. I was irked by the fact that it seemed James Storm lost his fear of heights. The final fall Storm took looked like it kind of hurt when Storm’s lower body landed on the table while everything else landed on the mat.
-I enjoyed the main event. There was some pretty good action. While it won’t go down as a Match of the Year Candidate it still was solid. I thought it established Joe as a badass when he forced Tomko to submit to The Clutch.
Grade: B+
Overall Thoughts: This PPV to me is probably the best one I have seen since Bound For Glory and maybe even since 2006. Almost everything clicked in one way or another. While I didn’t like the Fish Market Street Fight and thought the Elevation X Match was weak, almost every other match on the card was solid or excellent. I especially liked the X Division Championship, Opening Match and Women’s Title Match. If this was a filler for Lockdown then Lockdown should be excellent. Definitely a recommendation from me.
My Prediction Score: 6 for 8. The only ones I got wrong were the Strap Match and Fish Market Street Fight. I predicted everything else from Eric Young’s Superhero debut to ODB and Gail Kim costing each other the Knockouts Title to Samoa Joe getting the pin in the main event (I did however say that he would get it on Kurt Angle)
ROH PPV Report Card
For the past three days I have sat through the ROH PPVs Respect is Earned, Driven, Undeniable and Man Up and am thankful that it is over. I am not going to do 4 report cards for every PPV. Here are my thoughts from the four PPVs
-One word for Ring of Honor: Overrated. From now on I can confidently laugh at ROH Fans when they say their product is better than TNA or the WWE. The promotion, roster and matches are overrated.
-A big thing you will notice is how bad production is. Bad lighting, sound, camera angles, camera cuts and more. The show reminded me of XPW or some other indy promotion.
-What makes the last fact so bad is that the matches go on way too long. This is why I couldn’t get into ECW, because I got bored half way through. Every match uses almost the whole repertoire of every wrestler involved. To me every match was the same. They go move for move, hit a finisher, kick out, opponent hits finisher, kick out, repeat process 15 times, moronic fans go crazy, end of match. There were some cool moves, but none lived up to the hype that the promotion deserves.
-ROH is the definition of Pro Wrestling, in a bad way. Pro Wrestling died way before the Monday Night Wars. All the wrestlers were generic, like TNA was a while back. The promos were generic and the matches were all the same. TNA and WWE are Sports Entertainment which thrives off of storylines and characters. In ROH there is no story, no real characters. Very generic wrestling promotion.
-The Bryan Danielson vs Nigel McGuinness match from Driven, Nigel vs Takeshi match from Undeniable and especially the Ladder War from Man Up are definitely overrated. They would have been better if they were shorter and if a wrestling fan could care about the wrestlers but I can’t
-ROH is filled with guys who likely will never make it in wrestling besides for the Indies and ROH: Bobby Dempsey, Rocky Romero, El Generico and many more. Skinny guys and fat slabs of blob.
-The announcers for ROH are boring. Its like watching golf in a unwell lit room. Horribly boring.
-There were cool moves however by some of the stars.
-Larry Sweeney, Agent is severely overrated, he has nothing on James Mitchell. The best promo guy to me in ROH is Adam Pearce who cuts good promos.
-The standout stars who should move onto better things or die in ROH are Bryan Danielson, The Briscoe Brothers, Claudio Castagnoli, Matt Sydal (already did), Nigel McGuinness and Brent Albright. Let Austin Aries and Roderick Strong stay with ROH.
-How is Gabe Sapolsky a booking genius? What storylines were told, Nigel hates Bryan Danielson blah blah blah.
-ROH is the perfect example of a tryout show. I bet scouts go to ROH to see what these guys got. They see if these guys can go long matches and if they have charisma in the ring. Otherwise ROH is nothing.
Grade: D
Comments: Just like I have been saying, ROH is overrated. If you like repetitive matches, generic wrestlers and promos and unlit rooms please watch ROH. TNA definitely has booking problems but is head and shoulders above ROH. I will eat my hat if TNA dies before ROH, so much that I will stop watching wrestling. Most of these ROH fans probably used to be ECW fans. I have also realized that I have been harsh on TNA for these past few months and will lighten up.
The Rankings (3/10/08)
Heavyweight Division/ (TNA World Champion) Kurt Angle
(#1) Samoa Joe- The countdown is on for Lockdown where Joe will receive a 1-on-1 Championship match with Angle, inside Six Sides of Steel. Joe recently gained some momentum by forcing Tomko to tap out in their Six Man Match at Destination X. Joe has defeated Angle before, but this time will it be for the gold?
(#2) Christian Cage- Cage was screwed out of the World Title by AJ Styles and Tomko at both Final Resolution and Against All Odds. While Cage won’t be receiving a World Title shot in the near future he definitely proved he can beat Angle when he did just that inside a Six Sides of Steel Match, in controversial fashion nonetheless.
(#3) Tomko- Tomko has been on quite a role since this the beginning of 2008. Tomko holds wins over both Samoa Joe (in a First Blood Match) and champion, Kurt Angle. While his submission loss to Tomko at Destination X was a minor setback, there is no doubt Tomko will continue to climb the Ladder of Success in TNA.
(#4) Kevin Nash- Kevin Nash only has this spot because of Booker T’s recent loss to Robert Roode. In his defense, Nash does hold a win over AJ Styles, and if not for a low-blow he might have just beaten the World Champion as well.
(#5) Scott Steiner- Steiner has a title shot coming to him from Feast or Fired. Steiner is currently concentrating on molding Petey Williams, but eventually he will come knocking for his championship match.
X Division/(TNA X Division Champion) Jay Lethal
(#1) Petey Williams- If it wasn’t for SoCal Val, Williams might be X Division Champion. But if it wasn’t for Scott Steiner, Williams wouldn’t have had the match won. Nonetheless the match was exciting and Maple Leaf Muscle definitely deserves another title match.
(#2) Johnny Devine- The former X Division Champion has yet to receive his rematch. It doesn’t look like he is focused on earning it so I expect Devine to slip on the Rankings.
(#3) Sonjay Dutt- The best friend of the X Division Champion, Black Machismo, Sonjay Dutt needs to stop thinking about Peace and SoCal Val if he ever wants to become X Division Champion.
(#4) Shark Boy- Shark Boy has been on the biggest role recently in TNA, from the Tag Team Division to the X Division. His new bad-bass attitude has given him a new lease on life. If you agree with that give him a Shell Yeah!
(#5) Scott Steiner- Scott Steiner defeated Petey Williams to get both title shots from Feast or Fired. Steiner is a dark horse in the X Division but is definitely a threat whenever he decides to go for the gold.
Tag Team Division/(TNA Tag Team Champions) AJ Styles and Tomko
(#1) Latin American Xchange- Their win over the Infection and Machine Guns at Destination X landed them a title shot. When will they receive it?
(#2) Shark Boy and Curry Man- What a month it has been for Shark Boy and Curry Man! In a month of upsets, Shark Boy and Curry Man slip into #2 after wins over the Rock N Rave Infection, Black Reign and Rellik and Team 3D at Destination X. I don’t expect them to move much further up the ladder, but anything can happen in TNA.
(#3) Motor City Machine Guns- One month ago fans expected this hot young team to sky rocket into a title match. They have recently been de-railed following an Xplosion loss to the Rock N Rave Infection and a loss at Destination X. Even Shark Boy and Curry Man were ranked higher due to their reverse momentum.
(#4) Team 3D- With their weigh-ins behind them let’s hope Team 3D can get over their recent loss to Shark Boy and Curry Man to regain dominance in the tag team division.
(#5) Rock N’ Rave Infection- It has been an up and down month for Rave and Hoyt. Despite losing at Destination X, the RNR Infection still can claim their victory over the Motor City Machine Guns.
Knockouts Division/ (TNA Women’s Knockout Champion) Awesome Kong
(*#1) Gail Kim- There is no true #1 Contender defined for Awesome Kong. Gail Kim is above ODB only for the reason that she has actually beaten the lady killer. ODB and Gail Kim proved to be quite the tag team at DX but the shine of the gold clouded both their intentions. There can only be one Knockouts Champion in TNA.
(*#1) ODB- The only Knockout who nears the strength of Awesome Kong. ODB came close to winning the title on two occasions. Unfortunately for her, Kong’s handler Raisha Saeed got involved on both occasions.
(#3) Angelina Love- Angelina Love won a big 3-way match over ODB a month ago. She did fight the Knockouts Champion but came up on the losing end of things, with a Concussion to boot.
(#4) Jacqueline Moore- The tough veteran will always be a contender wherever she goes. Her experience in unmatched in TNA. It only depends on when she will focus on the title.
(#5) Roxxi Laveaux- The Voodoo Queen is considered a threat to the title due to her skill. She has lost track of where she is recently. Let’s see if a makeover from Angelina Love and Velvet Sky will set her straight.
AND SOME NEWS…
TNA Interactive PPV
I have heard that TNA plans on running an Interactive PPV later this year. This is a good idea! While some critics may think that TNA is just trying to copy WWE once again, they need to shut up. When you have an idea that makes tons of money, you need to run with it. TNA should try and make as much money as they can. If TNA copied a bad idea of WWE, that would be bad.
I like the Interactive PPV idea especially for TNA. I liked the Cyber Sunday concept but could care less about the PPV. If TNA ran an interactive PPV then they need to run with it and do it the best they can.
To me a perfect thing to do would be replacing the Hard Justice PPV in August with the Interactive PPV. That way the fans decide everything heading into the biggest show of the year. Also, I hate the Hard Justice name.
Smackdown moving to Thursday Nights
Reports have spawned that since WWE signed with MyNetwork TV they might move back to Thursday Night. Where does that leave TNA? To me TNA should move to Wednesday Nights because:
1) If they stayed on Thursday and Smackdown moved to Thursday, Smackdown could very well take a piece of their fanbase they have gained for so long. TNA has worked hard for this fanbase and doesn’t need to lose anyone.
2) There hasn’t been a major wrestling program on Wednesdays in many years. I don’t care what you say, Thunder was dying before they went to Wednesdays.
3) TNA used to run their two hour PPVs on Wednesdays. Going back to Wednesdays could be for this reason only.
4) TNA would need to do this as early as June to put the ball in their court. If they wait until after Smackdown moves to Thursday Nights (should it happen) then if TNA moves, it would seem like they were running from the WWE. Making the move before the WWE would allow TNA to control the situation for their reasons preventing the head to head battle from ever happening.
5) Should TNA go to a Bi-Weekly Live Schedule then a move to Wednesdays would allow the talent to work for Indy Promotions on the weekends.
My views on TNA’s Writing vs The Writing of WWE or ROH
Right now TNA’s Product has a variety of things that fans should enjoy: high-risk wrestling, big name stars, innovative matches, good women’s wrestling, and interesting storylines. TNA features both real-time storylines (seen in TNA Rough Cut and the Robert Roode vs Booker T feud) and reality based storylines (those that would be seen on TV Shows like CSI, Law and Order or something else). TNA should be proud of this.
TNA suffers in two major ways, the creative department (holes in storylines) and the booking department (matches taking place when they shouldn’t, not enough wrestling etc). There are two ways TNA could fix their creative writing:
1) Go the lazy route and be more like ROH or to a lesser extent WWE and offer little storylines. Only accentuate upcoming matches and feuds. To me this is what WWE did since the attitude era. To me this is the lazy approach and shouldn’t be done by TNA.
2) Hire an Editor for the Writing/Booking Team- Vince Russo is a mad scientist of wrestling. He has so many ideas, some of which are good and others that are bad. TNA needs to hire an editor to weed out the bad ones and perfect the good ones.
The ROH Brand?
Paul Heyman recently spouted out at the mouth about how TNA doesn’t have a brand or TNA branded stars but ROH does. The Professor already gave evidence of the TNA Brand in his recent Podcast. The other half is the ROH Brand, what is it? Please someone tell me what is unique to Ring of Honor, I can’t think of one thing.
If you would like to give feedback please do so by e-mailing me at Talon_DR@yahoo.com. I will reply to you, I guarantee it. You can also discuss this as well as the other columns on this site in the General Section of the Forums. Please let your voice be heard. If you disagree with me then please express why and what you disagree with. Or the other way around. Thank you for your time!
March 11, 2008
By Talon Thorne
I constantly am trying to freshen things up and re-invent my column, adding new features and improving others. This week you will see a debut of my “Rankings” feature which ranks the top five contenders in each of their respective divisions much like the TNA Website had done. Also I have three report cards: iMPACT, Destination X and for the only time and ROH PPV. I will finally hit some thoughts and finish things off. First things first.
iMPACT! Report Card
“Fighting for the Edge”
March 6, 2008
Action
-The Street Fight between AJ Styles and Kevin Nash was okay. I liked seeing AJ use strategy by going after the knee of Kevin Nash.
-Everyone involved in the Battle Royal are also involved in a match at the PPV and get to name the stipulation for their match at Destination X. What match do the Machine Guns, Rock N Rave Infection and LAX have at Destination X? Guess it’s a 3-way tag. Sonjay Dutt and Scott Steiner came out to watch and came ringside. I enjoyed the Battle Royal and thought Curry Man landing on Jimmy Rave was clever. So it will be Curry Man and Shark Boy vs Team 3D. If Team 3D can’t make weight or lose at Destination in a Fish Market Street Fight they will be out of TNA.
-The First Blood Match was solid but it sucked that it ended after that little amount of blood on Joe’s arm. I guess Tomko is the biggest thorn in the side of Joe since he has defeated him multiple times, two recently and once last year.
-Rhino vs Mesias was okay. TNA doesn’t really have squash matches so Mesias got in a lot of offense despite leaving TNA. I liked James Storm attacking Rhino after the match.
-I wasn’t a fan of the Salinas vs Awesome Kong Match and I am not a fan of Salinas.
-I really enjoyed the main event and though it was good. The only thing I didn’t like is how Christian won by escaping the cage. In TNA’s history it hasn’t been about that, it has been about pinfalls and submissions. The beat down after the match was pretty good as well
Entertainment
- The opening segment was good. So there will be an advantage stipulation for Destination X’s main event. The Robert Roode and Booker T showdown was well done.
-The Samoa Joe/Christian Cage/ Kevin Nash interview was really good as well. Kevin Nash ended it by doing a Hulk Hogan Impersonation. Good start to iMPACT
-The Eric Young segment was okay. I think Young will reveal some sort of superman gimmick at Destination X.
-I liked the Black Machismo Interview. He once again was pretty funny with his impersonation. I love Val! They will have a date next week.
-Next week Angelina Love and Velvet Sky will give Roxxi Laveaux a makeover. Hmm!
-The Elevation X Video was good.
-Fans wanted elements of Global iMPACT and they got it with TNA Rough Cut. I enjoyed this segment even if it featured VKM.
-I liked the James Mitchell interview but don’t know why they would push someone like Judas Mesias in an interview where the man is heading out of the company.
-I didn’t like the Raisha Saeed interview because Saeed sounded really fake. I found it interesting that Awesome Kong matches up to Hernandez.
-I like the graphics for the Destination X Preview.
Six Points of iMPACT!
1) Christian Cage vs Kurt Angle, a Six Sides of Steel Match to remember!
2) Just a scratch: Joe loses a First Blood Match after bleeding from his arm.
3) TNA Rough Cut: Another taste of Global iMPACT!
4) Destination X Battle Royale, it is Spicy!
5) Awesome Kong squashes Salinas
6) Kevin Nash defeats AJ Styles in a Street Fight
Armchair Booking
-I would have changed the Street Fight, First Blood Match and Six Sides of Steel Match all to normal matches without interference. You could have accomplished the same thing you did tonight with normal matches. There was little advertising for these gimmick matches.
-If these three weren’t gimmick matches I would have had Samoa Joe lose by disqualification.
-I would have booked Christian Cage to pin Kurt Angle after a top of the cage move.
-To me there was a lot of wrestling. (How much I do not know). But there were too many matches. I would have eliminated the Women’s Match and given more time to the other matches.
-Finally I would have made the Shark Boy and Curry Man vs Team 3D match not a Street Fight. We saw a Street Fight tonight and last month at Against All Odds, we don’t need to see another.
Grade: B
Overall Thoughts: Overall, this could be the best iMPACT in the past 6 months. There were problems which I mentioned above. Originally I was planning on giving the show a B—(The Professor was saying how he wants to see me rate the show different from my average C Grading) but this was a pretty good episode of iMPACT!. If TNA would organize their show better and pace it like this show was, then it would be a great product.
Show Rating: 1.2
Destination X
March 9, 2008
The PPV
-After a cool opening video we got the 3-Way Tag Team Match between LAX, the Machine Guns and the Rock N Rave Infection. This was a nice fast paced opener. The fans were really into LAX and so was I. LAX winning put them back in the Tag Title hunt which is good with me.
-A little note: A red line protruded down the center of the entrance ramp. I have a feeling that it was because of the “Cross the Line” Video last month. Cool idea! I still think that TNA should use “Cross the Line” as a slogan.
-I loved the X Division Championship Match and was on the edge of my seat the whole time. Petey Williams and Jay Lethal had a lot of cool chain moves in the match. I thought it was over when Scott Steiner pushed Lethal off the top allowing Petey to hit the Canadian Destroyer. I never expected SoCal Val to get involved, but she did. Excellent match that puts the X Division back in the spotlight. Nice little Sonjay Dutt interaction after the match as well.
-I called the Kaz and Eric Young vs Black Reign and Rellik Match down to predicting Eric Young would come out as a Superhero. This was another solid match. The “Super Eric” gimmick is going to be a love or hate gimmick depending on the fan. To me it will give Eric Young some new life as a character. I would just change up the mask because Eric was blinded at the end. Also have the cape attacked to the costume.
-I enjoyed the Women’s Knockout Match as well. As I predicted ODB and Gail Kim worked together to eliminate Kong but refused to let the other one to win, costing them the match and allowing Awesome Kong to retain. The only negative of this match was the interference of Raisha Saeed. To me she should just be the voice of Awesome Kong while letting the champ do the wrestling. I expect to see Awesome Kong vs Gail Kim next month at Lockdown.
-I enjoyed Jim Cornette’s whole in-ring segment. Before he came to the ring he was bothered by Angle’s Alliance and Team 3D about their respective matches. Cornette announced in the ring that should Team 3D make weight tonight, it would be the last time they would have to do so. Cornette, with the guidance of the fans announced that the decision stands about the Cage Match from iMPACT’s result, so Samoa Joe, Kevin Nash and Christian Cage have the advantage tonight.
-We got the Fish Market Street Fight after Team 3D made weight. To me this was a horribly gimmicked match. There was no way that I was going to believe that being smacked with a tuna would hurt. It was what it was and that was a comedy match. The crowd was pretty dead for this match and kept chanting we want tables. They eventually got them when Johnny Devine was launched through one. I liked the finish how Brother Ray got the white powder in his eyes and accidentally assisted Curry Man in 3D’ing Brother Devon leading to the victory. Curry Man and Shark Boy receive the biggest victory in their TNA careers (as their certain characters that is). My biggest gripe of the match was that I thought if Team 3D lost the match they were out of TNA?
-The strap match was okay. I loved the Roode/Booker T feud but haven’t been a huge fan of their matches. I wish the matches on iMPACT got as much time as some of these PPV Matches. I loved the aftermath though. I felt real bad for Traci getting whipped. My wife was actually crying during this whole moment. After the whipping, Roode took a shot at Brooks as well. The crowd went crazy when Sharmell came out and started whipping everyone.
-The Rhino/Elevation X Promo was good but TNA needs to be quick with their production because I could hear Rhino say “How was that” at the end of it.
-The Elevation X Match wasn’t overly as impressive as the first one. Most of the match was spent fighting in the ring. I wish they would have done something different like fight alongside the Elevation X. Both men tried but there is only so much that can be done on the structure. I was irked by the fact that it seemed James Storm lost his fear of heights. The final fall Storm took looked like it kind of hurt when Storm’s lower body landed on the table while everything else landed on the mat.
-I enjoyed the main event. There was some pretty good action. While it won’t go down as a Match of the Year Candidate it still was solid. I thought it established Joe as a badass when he forced Tomko to submit to The Clutch.
Grade: B+
Overall Thoughts: This PPV to me is probably the best one I have seen since Bound For Glory and maybe even since 2006. Almost everything clicked in one way or another. While I didn’t like the Fish Market Street Fight and thought the Elevation X Match was weak, almost every other match on the card was solid or excellent. I especially liked the X Division Championship, Opening Match and Women’s Title Match. If this was a filler for Lockdown then Lockdown should be excellent. Definitely a recommendation from me.
My Prediction Score: 6 for 8. The only ones I got wrong were the Strap Match and Fish Market Street Fight. I predicted everything else from Eric Young’s Superhero debut to ODB and Gail Kim costing each other the Knockouts Title to Samoa Joe getting the pin in the main event (I did however say that he would get it on Kurt Angle)
ROH PPV Report Card
For the past three days I have sat through the ROH PPVs Respect is Earned, Driven, Undeniable and Man Up and am thankful that it is over. I am not going to do 4 report cards for every PPV. Here are my thoughts from the four PPVs
-One word for Ring of Honor: Overrated. From now on I can confidently laugh at ROH Fans when they say their product is better than TNA or the WWE. The promotion, roster and matches are overrated.
-A big thing you will notice is how bad production is. Bad lighting, sound, camera angles, camera cuts and more. The show reminded me of XPW or some other indy promotion.
-What makes the last fact so bad is that the matches go on way too long. This is why I couldn’t get into ECW, because I got bored half way through. Every match uses almost the whole repertoire of every wrestler involved. To me every match was the same. They go move for move, hit a finisher, kick out, opponent hits finisher, kick out, repeat process 15 times, moronic fans go crazy, end of match. There were some cool moves, but none lived up to the hype that the promotion deserves.
-ROH is the definition of Pro Wrestling, in a bad way. Pro Wrestling died way before the Monday Night Wars. All the wrestlers were generic, like TNA was a while back. The promos were generic and the matches were all the same. TNA and WWE are Sports Entertainment which thrives off of storylines and characters. In ROH there is no story, no real characters. Very generic wrestling promotion.
-The Bryan Danielson vs Nigel McGuinness match from Driven, Nigel vs Takeshi match from Undeniable and especially the Ladder War from Man Up are definitely overrated. They would have been better if they were shorter and if a wrestling fan could care about the wrestlers but I can’t
-ROH is filled with guys who likely will never make it in wrestling besides for the Indies and ROH: Bobby Dempsey, Rocky Romero, El Generico and many more. Skinny guys and fat slabs of blob.
-The announcers for ROH are boring. Its like watching golf in a unwell lit room. Horribly boring.
-There were cool moves however by some of the stars.
-Larry Sweeney, Agent is severely overrated, he has nothing on James Mitchell. The best promo guy to me in ROH is Adam Pearce who cuts good promos.
-The standout stars who should move onto better things or die in ROH are Bryan Danielson, The Briscoe Brothers, Claudio Castagnoli, Matt Sydal (already did), Nigel McGuinness and Brent Albright. Let Austin Aries and Roderick Strong stay with ROH.
-How is Gabe Sapolsky a booking genius? What storylines were told, Nigel hates Bryan Danielson blah blah blah.
-ROH is the perfect example of a tryout show. I bet scouts go to ROH to see what these guys got. They see if these guys can go long matches and if they have charisma in the ring. Otherwise ROH is nothing.
Grade: D
Comments: Just like I have been saying, ROH is overrated. If you like repetitive matches, generic wrestlers and promos and unlit rooms please watch ROH. TNA definitely has booking problems but is head and shoulders above ROH. I will eat my hat if TNA dies before ROH, so much that I will stop watching wrestling. Most of these ROH fans probably used to be ECW fans. I have also realized that I have been harsh on TNA for these past few months and will lighten up.
The Rankings (3/10/08)
Heavyweight Division/ (TNA World Champion) Kurt Angle
(#1) Samoa Joe- The countdown is on for Lockdown where Joe will receive a 1-on-1 Championship match with Angle, inside Six Sides of Steel. Joe recently gained some momentum by forcing Tomko to tap out in their Six Man Match at Destination X. Joe has defeated Angle before, but this time will it be for the gold?
(#2) Christian Cage- Cage was screwed out of the World Title by AJ Styles and Tomko at both Final Resolution and Against All Odds. While Cage won’t be receiving a World Title shot in the near future he definitely proved he can beat Angle when he did just that inside a Six Sides of Steel Match, in controversial fashion nonetheless.
(#3) Tomko- Tomko has been on quite a role since this the beginning of 2008. Tomko holds wins over both Samoa Joe (in a First Blood Match) and champion, Kurt Angle. While his submission loss to Tomko at Destination X was a minor setback, there is no doubt Tomko will continue to climb the Ladder of Success in TNA.
(#4) Kevin Nash- Kevin Nash only has this spot because of Booker T’s recent loss to Robert Roode. In his defense, Nash does hold a win over AJ Styles, and if not for a low-blow he might have just beaten the World Champion as well.
(#5) Scott Steiner- Steiner has a title shot coming to him from Feast or Fired. Steiner is currently concentrating on molding Petey Williams, but eventually he will come knocking for his championship match.
X Division/(TNA X Division Champion) Jay Lethal
(#1) Petey Williams- If it wasn’t for SoCal Val, Williams might be X Division Champion. But if it wasn’t for Scott Steiner, Williams wouldn’t have had the match won. Nonetheless the match was exciting and Maple Leaf Muscle definitely deserves another title match.
(#2) Johnny Devine- The former X Division Champion has yet to receive his rematch. It doesn’t look like he is focused on earning it so I expect Devine to slip on the Rankings.
(#3) Sonjay Dutt- The best friend of the X Division Champion, Black Machismo, Sonjay Dutt needs to stop thinking about Peace and SoCal Val if he ever wants to become X Division Champion.
(#4) Shark Boy- Shark Boy has been on the biggest role recently in TNA, from the Tag Team Division to the X Division. His new bad-bass attitude has given him a new lease on life. If you agree with that give him a Shell Yeah!
(#5) Scott Steiner- Scott Steiner defeated Petey Williams to get both title shots from Feast or Fired. Steiner is a dark horse in the X Division but is definitely a threat whenever he decides to go for the gold.
Tag Team Division/(TNA Tag Team Champions) AJ Styles and Tomko
(#1) Latin American Xchange- Their win over the Infection and Machine Guns at Destination X landed them a title shot. When will they receive it?
(#2) Shark Boy and Curry Man- What a month it has been for Shark Boy and Curry Man! In a month of upsets, Shark Boy and Curry Man slip into #2 after wins over the Rock N Rave Infection, Black Reign and Rellik and Team 3D at Destination X. I don’t expect them to move much further up the ladder, but anything can happen in TNA.
(#3) Motor City Machine Guns- One month ago fans expected this hot young team to sky rocket into a title match. They have recently been de-railed following an Xplosion loss to the Rock N Rave Infection and a loss at Destination X. Even Shark Boy and Curry Man were ranked higher due to their reverse momentum.
(#4) Team 3D- With their weigh-ins behind them let’s hope Team 3D can get over their recent loss to Shark Boy and Curry Man to regain dominance in the tag team division.
(#5) Rock N’ Rave Infection- It has been an up and down month for Rave and Hoyt. Despite losing at Destination X, the RNR Infection still can claim their victory over the Motor City Machine Guns.
Knockouts Division/ (TNA Women’s Knockout Champion) Awesome Kong
(*#1) Gail Kim- There is no true #1 Contender defined for Awesome Kong. Gail Kim is above ODB only for the reason that she has actually beaten the lady killer. ODB and Gail Kim proved to be quite the tag team at DX but the shine of the gold clouded both their intentions. There can only be one Knockouts Champion in TNA.
(*#1) ODB- The only Knockout who nears the strength of Awesome Kong. ODB came close to winning the title on two occasions. Unfortunately for her, Kong’s handler Raisha Saeed got involved on both occasions.
(#3) Angelina Love- Angelina Love won a big 3-way match over ODB a month ago. She did fight the Knockouts Champion but came up on the losing end of things, with a Concussion to boot.
(#4) Jacqueline Moore- The tough veteran will always be a contender wherever she goes. Her experience in unmatched in TNA. It only depends on when she will focus on the title.
(#5) Roxxi Laveaux- The Voodoo Queen is considered a threat to the title due to her skill. She has lost track of where she is recently. Let’s see if a makeover from Angelina Love and Velvet Sky will set her straight.
AND SOME NEWS…
TNA Interactive PPV
I have heard that TNA plans on running an Interactive PPV later this year. This is a good idea! While some critics may think that TNA is just trying to copy WWE once again, they need to shut up. When you have an idea that makes tons of money, you need to run with it. TNA should try and make as much money as they can. If TNA copied a bad idea of WWE, that would be bad.
I like the Interactive PPV idea especially for TNA. I liked the Cyber Sunday concept but could care less about the PPV. If TNA ran an interactive PPV then they need to run with it and do it the best they can.
To me a perfect thing to do would be replacing the Hard Justice PPV in August with the Interactive PPV. That way the fans decide everything heading into the biggest show of the year. Also, I hate the Hard Justice name.
Smackdown moving to Thursday Nights
Reports have spawned that since WWE signed with MyNetwork TV they might move back to Thursday Night. Where does that leave TNA? To me TNA should move to Wednesday Nights because:
1) If they stayed on Thursday and Smackdown moved to Thursday, Smackdown could very well take a piece of their fanbase they have gained for so long. TNA has worked hard for this fanbase and doesn’t need to lose anyone.
2) There hasn’t been a major wrestling program on Wednesdays in many years. I don’t care what you say, Thunder was dying before they went to Wednesdays.
3) TNA used to run their two hour PPVs on Wednesdays. Going back to Wednesdays could be for this reason only.
4) TNA would need to do this as early as June to put the ball in their court. If they wait until after Smackdown moves to Thursday Nights (should it happen) then if TNA moves, it would seem like they were running from the WWE. Making the move before the WWE would allow TNA to control the situation for their reasons preventing the head to head battle from ever happening.
5) Should TNA go to a Bi-Weekly Live Schedule then a move to Wednesdays would allow the talent to work for Indy Promotions on the weekends.
My views on TNA’s Writing vs The Writing of WWE or ROH
Right now TNA’s Product has a variety of things that fans should enjoy: high-risk wrestling, big name stars, innovative matches, good women’s wrestling, and interesting storylines. TNA features both real-time storylines (seen in TNA Rough Cut and the Robert Roode vs Booker T feud) and reality based storylines (those that would be seen on TV Shows like CSI, Law and Order or something else). TNA should be proud of this.
TNA suffers in two major ways, the creative department (holes in storylines) and the booking department (matches taking place when they shouldn’t, not enough wrestling etc). There are two ways TNA could fix their creative writing:
1) Go the lazy route and be more like ROH or to a lesser extent WWE and offer little storylines. Only accentuate upcoming matches and feuds. To me this is what WWE did since the attitude era. To me this is the lazy approach and shouldn’t be done by TNA.
2) Hire an Editor for the Writing/Booking Team- Vince Russo is a mad scientist of wrestling. He has so many ideas, some of which are good and others that are bad. TNA needs to hire an editor to weed out the bad ones and perfect the good ones.
The ROH Brand?
Paul Heyman recently spouted out at the mouth about how TNA doesn’t have a brand or TNA branded stars but ROH does. The Professor already gave evidence of the TNA Brand in his recent Podcast. The other half is the ROH Brand, what is it? Please someone tell me what is unique to Ring of Honor, I can’t think of one thing.
If you would like to give feedback please do so by e-mailing me at Talon_DR@yahoo.com. I will reply to you, I guarantee it. You can also discuss this as well as the other columns on this site in the General Section of the Forums. Please let your voice be heard. If you disagree with me then please express why and what you disagree with. Or the other way around. Thank you for your time!