Wrestling’s 4R’s 6.29.07: Reader Feedback, a Breakdown on Impact, Special Thoughts on Raw and ECW in the fallout of the Horrific Events of the Week, Hardy and Finlay rock the house and More!
Posted by Larry Csonka on 06.29.2007
All of the stuff you’re used too, plus extra thoughts coming from the barrage that has attacked my inbox over the span of the week and HUGE news on the podcast!
HUGE PODCAST ANNOUNCEMENT!
The news was broken on the 411 BLIZZOG that the "Tremendous Tirades" Podcast, with Larry Csonka and the Wife will be an official part of 411 very soon. I have talked to Ashish and we plan to host the show ON the site, no more send space, and Ashish is working on having these shows streaming on 411 as well.
The shows will be WEEKLY shows at the very least. Christi and I are going to format the show, so that we have the same rough deal every week.
We will still do the POST PPV Podcasts that everyone has come to love.
We shall also start having more guests from the 411 staff on in the future.
We also plan to work to get some exclusive interviews on the show for the site.
WHAT DO WE NEED FROM YOU?
We need you to keep supporting the project!
We need ASK CHRISTI questions! This will be a regular part of the show from week to week! So we need your participation here!
We need GUEST ideas, both wrestling (within reason) and from 411!
We will have a new show up this weekend.
More details to come!
WWE VENGEANCE Podcast~!
We're back once again to discuss the Vengeance: Night of Mediocrity PPV. We'll break down the show and discuss the good (some,) the bad (some,) and the just plain FINE! We also talk about the greatness of Jell-O shots, THE LIST~!, DEAR CHRISTI, Deadliest Catch's season Finale and More!
If that doesn't work, copy and paste the following link into your browser and you'll be fine: http://www.sendspace.com/file/d792rh
Csonka on the Ultimate Sports Show~!
I discuss the Benoit death, steroids, concussions, depression and much more with Kenny "THE SNAKE" Stabler! To download my segment, go ahead and click HERE!
The 4R's of wRestling
Introduction~!
-Welcome back kids for another edition of Wrestling's 4R's! As always I am Larry Csonka, along with me is my tag team partner "The Whole Geoffin Show" Geoff Eubanks. It is time again for that walk through the wild world of wrestling TV that we take each and every week. It has certainly been wild to say the least, so I think we'll just get to work.
How the 4R's of wRestling Work!
Here is a quick explanation of the 3 R's. I will take the 4 main shows (5 if I go RetRo) of the week: TNA Impact, WWE Raw, ECW on Sci-Fi and WWE Smackdown. If we have a PPV, that show will get a special PPV edition of the R's all to its own. I then group my feelings on the shows in various categories: The Right, the wRong and the Ridiculous. The Right is stuff that worked very well: a great promo, a great match and so on. PuRgatoRy is a section between the right and wrong. It shows equal traits from both sides that cannot be ignored and need discussed. It is not a bad place per say, as things can get remedied or go the wrong way the very next week. The wRong is what it sounds like: bad matches, bad or boring promos and so on. The Ridiculous is stuff that had no right on TV: Stupid angles, Diva searches and so on. And there is always a possibility of a 5th R, which is as bad as they come. This column is supposed to be analytical, and at the right time very critical of the shows, it was the whole reason it was created. This is not a "mark" column, nor a "smark" column, I cannot speak for Geoff, but my goal is to analyze the show from many different fronts, reward the good and call out the bad. There are also occasions where I will bring out a 4th, 5th or even a 6th R to the column, so beware of those~! I will not apologize for my opinions, they are as they are, whether very positive or negative.
iMpact!:
iMpact 6.21.07:
The Right:
Harris vs. Raven/Serotonin Drama/Christian Cage/Abyss - This is one of those big lumped together deals, but that is actually a good thing because I feel that this segment was very effective for several reasons. Usually I get upset when they seem to run 800 miles an hour and have 100 guys in the show, but this worked out rather well and had good flow. First of all we had the match with Raven and Chris Harris. Now while to short to be anything of consequence, the match was fine. Harris was put over like a big star, which after the matches with Storm and him being placed in the KOTM match he should be. So he and Raven have a fine match, Raven, while not looking "great" looked much better than in recent appearances, so that was good stuff.
-Now in retaliation for the previous week where Raven and the rest of Serotonin appeared and distracted him, Kaz came out for revenge here. Havoc and Martyr had got involved and Kaz helped even things up, Harris got the Catatonic and the win. This gives Harris momentum, and amazingly enough, it appears as if Serotonin maybe getting, *GASP* …AN ANGLE! I hope so, because up until now they have just been jobbers with a gimmick, and I really feel that they have a lot to offer and that there is WAY too much talent there to waste.
-So all was going very well, I was satisfied and THEN things got better. Christian Cage, along with AJ Styles and Tomko acting the part of his production crew was there to have a little chitchat with Harris. Cage was short and to the point, he was pissed that Harris speared him off the ladder at the end of the KOTM match, costing him the title. He says that he is the man that makes the superstars around there, which is god because Harris seems to want to make a name for himself. He closed his message with the message, "At some point we will put on a masterpiece, and you won't like the way the story ends." I love this angle, because having Cage feud with Harris WILL elevate Harris, and that is a good thing.
-It was at this point that Abyss ran out and chased Cage away. They brawled out to the ring and Abyss looked to get revenge on Cage for the beat down he suffered, but Tomko and AJ came out to make the save, Cage escaped and Abyss looked crazy pissed. I am glad that they are still continuing this, and having Abyss obsessed with it all. The next step is for Abyss to face AJ, and if that is the case, he and Abyss always have good matches and that will be a pleasant addition to the next PPV. And to close this out, they ran a video package with James Mitchell discussing his new monster coming to TNA, which will all connect with this as well. Sweet God I feel like Kevin Bacon.
puRgatory:
Thank You Jill - During the TNA Slammiversary PPV they ran an interview with Jeff Jarrett, in which he reminisces about TNA's early days, including the Hogan deal, which has been replayed 800,000 times. He talks about sitting with his dad and wife Jill at the dinner table and starting TNA. He gets very emotional and when discussing her and says she is the one that gave him the strength and encouragement and that is how he got through this all. She was his rock and she was a huge part of making TNA succeed. He discusses her battle with cancer. She was in pain all the time and on May 23rd she passed on. He will not come back until he is prepared, and being in a ring is the worst place for him right now. He thanked us for our support, and thanked us on behalf of Jill. Some people feel that this wasn't needed, but I feel differently. This was a heartfelt eulogy, thank you and goodbye from a husband to a wife. If you aren't married you cannot understand this. She was a big part of his life and of TNA; and now that she is gone it has to be hard for him to celebrate the 5th anniversary of the company. This was well done and I had no problem with it at all. After it was finished, they showed the crowd, with people crying and hugging their loved ones and they chanted "Thank you Jill, Thank you Jeff." Something I will remember for a long time I think. That all being said, I have some issues with it being run again on the show. First of all this ate up a nice little chunk of time on the show, time that was desperately needed for matches and angle development. The other issue is this. While I have no problem with them having this video on their website, this doesn't come off well to a lot of people. This looks like you're showing it again for sympathy. They really need to tread carefully here, because you don't want to send the wrong message, the message that this is an angle for JJ, to make him the super-face. In reality I know they were just showing it for the Orlando fans since they have been a big part of TNA. I also know they showed it to the TV audience because 1.5 million people would see it, as opposed to 20,000-50,000 on PPV. I just think that they need to be careful here so that people don't get the wrong message, which some already have. I would like to think that this was not their intention, but, things sometimes are not seen the way you intend.
The super long opening talky bit… - Let me say that from the opening of the show to the finish of this segment was 15-MINUTES! That's right, one fourth of the show was this opening segment where they had Jim Cornette bring out the champions to explain the PPV main event. It was good though that they explained the main event for the PPV, in that is always good to get it out there. But they tell us it will be Angle and Machismo vs. 3D. BUT THEN in typical TNA fashion they immediately complicate things by saying that over the next three weeks that all of the champions will have to defend the titles, and if they lose the titles they are then out of the match in favor of the new champion. WHY MUST WE COMPLICATE THE ISSUE? Seriously you do not have to overbook the issue guys, simplicity is often the best. The good thing is that they seem to finally have turned Angle heel with his promo. That needed to be done because he has been in limbo too much since his debut really. So that's the good thing here. This was not horrible, but it also had its issues.
Joe wins the X Title - So with the overbooking mentioned above, Black Machismo defended his X-Division title against the former champion Chris Sabin and another former champion Samoa Joe. The match was fine and Joe is the new champion. Now I feel this is good because Samoa Joe NEEDS to be in the main event picture, and this was the way to get him here. The promo he cut about no more promos and all action was a great set up. Now that he has the title, he is in the main event picture and he can carry out the mission of making Angle's life hell. It also reestablishes Joe's dominance, which was a very good thing. But I also feel that this is bad because they basically took the whole road to the title Machismo was on and succeeded at and flushed it down the toilet. I really feel it devalues that, especially after the lengthy run Sabin had. So again, while there was good to this, there was an equal amount of wrong so to speak.
The wRong:
Under 10-minutes - Well it's been a while, but it's back. This seems like a trend when coming off of a PPV, they load the show with tons of talking and angle stuff; and then the next three weeks they have more wrestling and semi-talk. Instead of smoothing things out over the 4-5 weeks of TV, they bombard you right off the bat, ala the super long opening talk segment. They wasted ONE FOURTH of the show on this, hence punishing the rest of the show. I cannot believe that it really needed to be this long. All uninterrupted and out there for us to see. So the matches had to suffer. The main event match really could have used more time. I feel that they should have either really cut the main event segment or one of the other matches. And this goes back to the "WE ARE WRESTLING" promo stuff they did, and proclaim to be. I have said this before and have to again, the main problem is this. TNA is 2nd best at everything right now. They come off as the WWE's 4th brand to a lot of people. There was a time when they were putting on the best PPV's in the business, but that time is past as the last few have been mediocre to good. There have been times when they had great TV shows, and they changed. Great PPV, changed. Great wrestling, changed. Great X-Division, changed. Great Tag Teams, changed. They have never sat down and decided that they want to be the best at one thing, so they are 2nd best at everything. They say "WE ARE WRESTLING" and fail to deliver on TV, and that is why I mention it the way I do. They open the show with the classic RAW opening, the 15-minute interview. That's sure a way to differentiate yourself. Please TNA, make me care. In the end, it stays the same. I have continued and will continue to say that and will maintain to say as long as needed, they need to offer up as close to as much wrestling time as there are commercials. There are 18-20 minutes of commercials per episode of Impact. So hence forth as I have said, I feel that there should be around 15-18-minutes of wrestling action per week, minimum on Impact. Sure there are times when you can have more story than in ring action, but the fact that this is a regular occurrence is disturbing. But until they do this regularly, then I will consider it a wrong.
The Ridiculous:
NADDA~! -
SmackDown!: By: "The Whole Geoffin Show" Geoff Eubanks
SmackDown 6.22.06
This is going to be a brief edition of the SD! R's this week. Aside from fighting a body flu-turned head cold I managed to pick up at Disneyland on Saturday, I am, predictably, absolutely shattered by the horrifying events of the weekend. I'll try to add my own thoughts at the end, for any interested parties; for those up to their eyes in the situation and wish to skip on to the remainder of Larry's contribution to The R's, as I said, I'm placing it at the end, so scroll past it. Believe me, I'll understand if you're as overwhelmed as I am.
I also just want to make a note that I'll not be addressing anything regarding the "Vince is dead" angle, as, aside from the fact that it was mercifully and Rightfully discontinued, it no longer will have any bearing on our stories henceforth and, since before last weekend's events or even the tragic passing of Sherri Martel, I hated the angle, I'm just as content to never mention the angle again.
The Right:
Edge & MVP vs. Batista & Ric Flair – This was a great, old school Southern-style tag match involving 3.5 great performers (and tagging with Flair appears to already be bringing up Batista's game; I've said it before it's a shame Flair's role appears to be that of Big Dave's assigned life coach, but, at this point in both their careers, it's probably for the best). This was a "fun & function" main event, as we brought together and spotlighted the brand's two top singles belts and the feuds involving them on the go home to The Night of Champions. There was much more in-ring cohesion in this match than we've seen in the recent past among these four, so I'm looking forward to seeing where we go from here.
Jimmy Wang Yang & Shannon Moore vs. Chavo Guerrero & Jamie Noble – Although this was little more than another opportunity to set up Chavo's CWT defense against JWY at VENGEANCE, I still find it encouraging that Moore and Noble are being allowed back on TV, even if it is just to give the semblance of a division we all know will never be pushed. Still, I love my CWs and it's always a treat to see some action in this manner. I'll spare us all my pinnings for longer matches, handcuff removal and an actual division.
Matt Hardy vs. Finlay – No surprise we had such an awesome, psychologically driven and consistent match from two men who can have a memorable match with anyone. Although there's definitely a pattern developing in both Hardy & Finlay's matches week-in and –out, thus far, they're only rough blueprints, as opposed to others who continue(d) to run the same match move-for-move for years. Great to see Hardy get the tough, well-earned victory with The RKO, uhm, I mean The Twist Of Faith after Finlay rocked a wicked Indian Death Lock. Hopefully this means we might finally be bumping Hardy up the card, having managed back-to-back victories against two of the company's best technical wrestlers on ANY roster in William Regal and Finlay. I'd also LOVE to see Finlay involved in a real program of his own, too.
He's been popping boners for months, he may as well pop the question – Did you see Teddy Long drop the mic as it was handed to him? Sweaty palms? Nerves? That new tingling KY? (I include that bit of humor against my current mood only because I thought of it Friday night as I watched/recorded SD!, as I had a dinner guest.) Again, I have faith in this angle, so I'll remain stalwart and leave this in the Right section. I'm just wondering why, if Kristal was going to say yes, that she did so on the same show as when she left Teddy hanging in the ring? I thought we were going with classic soap opera cliffhanger faire here. Oh, well, suits me…this build up has been building up for too long. I expect an extended honeymoon, which is when Evil Vickie will strike.
BTW, all this time I've been so rude and disrespectful to Vickie…? Did you see how she was dressed here tonight? THIS is how I've wanted to see her all along, respectably dressed and well covered, allowing her lovely face and hair to be the focus of her appearance. Well done, Vickie!
purgatory:
NADAA
The wrong:
Mark Henry vs. Funaki – There was absolutely no reason to rehash this. Funaki did his imitation of Special Delivery Jones at WrestleMania and put over Henry as a monster. He should be getting into the CW mix and trying to rebuild some credibility there and not being wasted in this manner. This also bothers me because it makes me wonder if McMahonagement has no role or direction for Henry…?
Masters is on SD! to make Khali look polished – I really don't see a role for Chris Masters on SD!. I mean, we already have Mark Henry, who, God help me, is more polished and better on the mic than is Masters, as well as Kane, who plays Masters' same card, but is bigger and more intimidating in appearance. Anything Masters brings to the table, there's someone on SD! who outclasses him…and I'm just talking about Kane and Henry…! Add to that the categorical jobbing out of Masters on Raw and here we are, back to the drawing board, being force-fed the same garbage (ie, Masters) that I neither liked nor bought the first time.
The Ridiculous:
NAADA
Geoff's Thoughts on Chris Benoit – You know, having written this week's R's, I thought I might get more into writing something eloquent and insightful on this subject, but, after spending the morning reading over the week's events on 411 in this regard (I still have no internet at home and, quite frankly, as I was ill the past two days, I don't think I'd have been up to reading and digesting this story anyway), I just don't think I can bear to go into my thoughts, feelings and suppositions, such as they are.
As it stands now, I'm going to take the same road as I feel the performers who shared their feelings on Benoit on the three-hour Raw last Monday appeared to take (and I say this because it appeared to me that at least some of those guys had at least an inkling of the deeper story, based upon what they said, where and how they choked up during their delivery, and I wondered if there wasn't something horrible waiting to be announced in this regard, because, in stark contrast to the Brian Pillman/Eddie Guerrero/Owen Hart tributes, there was precious little mentioned about Benoit: Family Man), that being, nothing and no one can take away the fact that Benoit was what he was in the ring, that being, as Triple H said, that he commanded, deserved and received respect. I've positively worshipped this man's uncanny ability for the better part of a decade and I want to drive home this point before you, the reader, write me off as an uber-loyalist as sick in the head as Benoit tragically and apparently became:
It's been my role as a fan to judge his contribution to professional wrestling and there's nothing and no one that will cause me to change or alter my stand where his talent was concerned. Chris Benoit was easily one of the best men to ever lace boots on any continent at any time in history.
HOWEVER, having never known the man personally, it is much less my role to judge Chris Benoit the man. His closest friends are at a loss to explain this incredible misfortune, how am I to then do so? I must admit, in this vein, that I physically blanch when I see a picture of him now. It will be quite awhile before I'll be able to pop in one of my several videotapes or DVDs to enjoy that in-ring prowess I describe in the previous paragraph. I will most certainly be deleting the oft-used phrase, "For the love of Benoit!" from my vocabulary.
I keep hoping some evidence will come to light exonerating Benoit, perhaps some tie to the mysterious circumstances in which Sherri Martel died a week earlier, some bitter soul in the shadows of the business stalking people s/he felt had wronged him/her and exacting some disgusting revenge and is eventually caught and made to serve due penance. Granted, that won't bring back Sherri or Chris or Nancy or little Daniel, but it will allow me the inner-peace that I can hold my head high and proclaim that I am a fan of one of the greatest, who didn't disgrace his legacy, who didn't become numerous times over the monster Vader or Mankind or Abyss ever were booked to be, who, even if through some emotionally and chemically-imbalanced haze felt he was granting his family some twisted brand of mercy by relieving them of their lives before taking his own.
But if this is the way things are to stand…well, I still have a lot of things to think about in this regard, as this situation brings to light a sickening myriad of issues with which I feel it is ALL of our responsibilities to consider and discuss. I'm sorry, I just have too much in my muddy brain to go on in this fashion at this time. In closing, and in sum, I still respect Benoit the performer. If all apparent evidence ends up being true, he chose to throw away his life and take his most dear with him. I choose to celebrate his life and what he did with it before things all went horribly, horribly wrong. If your hands are all set, hovering over the keyboard to send me an e-mail to tell me what an asshole I am, save the trouble, I'm already aware of that fact. Rather, why not put those hands together and say a prayer for Benoit's surviving children and the family and friends of the deceased, because they need comfort much more than I need to hear you tell me what I already know. And if you ever loved and appreciated Benoit even one tiny little bit, pray that there's some horrible, awful mistake that may never even be discovered and that God holds Benoit unaccountable and that Chris and Eddie and Owen and Pillman are all together again.
Remember people, show Geoff some love by emailing him here: yostankmama@hotmail.com
RAW!:
AND
ECW on Sci-Fi!:
Obviously I will not break down Raw since it was not a regular show. The WWE was damned if they did and damned if they didn't on that night. On one hand they were right to get a tribute done for a member of the roster. On another they were wrong for not waiting to see the circumstances, much like myself when I did the retrospective. But as in these cases, it is what is done and we have to do what we do. On another hand it was ridiculous to keep he west coast replay going when they found out the circumstances. But damned anyway. They are getting heat from airing the special, but if they didn't they would have been slammed by many for not doing so and dishonoring Benoit, at the time.
I cannot tell you how to feel here. If the tribute they did and or I wrote helped you, then good for you. But if you were pissed off and angered by what he did, they so be it, you have every right because it is your opinion, your feelings. Deal with it how you must. If you never can watch a match of his again, then do so. Grieve for his wife and child, be mad at him, no one will blame you for that. In essence we are fans of a horrible business. A business that in the last 10-years has seen almost 50 men and women die under the age of 50 due to drugs, steroids or other unnatural causes. It sucks. There is no doubt about that.
In closing, again, I will not pull the article I wrote. I wrote it before more details were in. I do this often, that's what I do here. Some people say they pity me because writing that article has glorified a murderer. Obviously not the case if you know me. I did my job, I made an addendum to the article and that is what is there. I don't condone what happened, I can never look at the man that entertained me for so many years in the same light. Hate me all you want, send the mail and get it off your chest because for many of you, I am the only person you can vent to. That is fine. In the end, as I have said, I will not judge the man. That is for what ever GOD he believed in to do. Personally I feel this is unforgivable, and as a father, could never understand how you could take the life of a child of your own. But again, I am not his judge and neither are you. Some of you will never know how badly I feel that I was able to do that retrospective so quickly, but it was done and it stays. Be outraged, be angry, hate him, me and or whatever you need to do. But remember that we lost a women who many of us loved as a performer, a child that will never live a full life and apparently, a man we thought we knew. Someone that was a hero to many of us, but unfortunately we didn't know him. We put people on a pedestal and idolize them, but they are so far from us, no matter how many details we think we know about they. In the end, three people have died, it is a shame and as a whole the wrestling business may never be the same again.
The ramifications of this could be catastrophic on the world of wrestling. WWE, as a business is trying to distance themselves from him. They are removing mentions of him from the website. Vince McMahon opened ECW by saying that besides the opening mentions here, there would be no mentions of Chris Benoit on their programming due to the murder-suicide.
The speech by Vince was as such: Last night on Monday Night Raw, the WWE presented a special tribute show, recognizing the career of Chris Benoit. However, now some 26 hours later, the facts of this horrific tragedy are now apparent. Therefore, other than my comments, there will be no mention of Mr. Benoit tonight. On the contrary, tonight's show will be dedicated to everyone who has been affected by this terrible incident. This evening marks the first step of the healing process. Tonight, the WWE performers will do what they do better than anyone else in the world…entertain you.
From a business aspect they had to do this. Vince was in a tough spot, and I feel did the best he could with the cards he was played. Some will be upset by this, but again, damned if they do, damned if they don't. As far as the ramifications of this on the business as a whole, they could be big. Something like this could kill WWE's TV deal. Without TV, PPV would fail. People do not want to think that, but it could happen. The government could get involved ala baseball. The WWE has a wellness policy, but if Benoit's toxicology comes back and he is loaded up with Steroids, painkillers, anti-depressants and or what not, the fallout on the company could be devastating. I almost do not want to think what COULD happen. It is a scary though to be honest with you. The WWE should reevaluate their policy. They need to amp things up. Maybe he was just crazy, maybe he was just a sadistic asshole, but with all we know about steroids, concussions, depression and such, an on staff Psychologist maybe in order. Maybe they truly can stop these things from happening. Eddie was a wake up call, and for a while things were working…but now we have another tragedy. I hope they, we, someone can do something to avoid something like this from ever happening again. And again, I am NOT blaming the WWE and saying they killed them. I am just saying, with all we know, maybe they can do more.
As far as ECW goes, I think they did what they could. They wanted to make up for what, in hindsight what is looked at as a mistake by many. They felt they owed it to the fans to entertain them. Again, damned if they do, damned if they don't. Some will feel they should have run best of shows, regrouped and came back next week fresh and with a new game plan. The show was semi-therapeutic, but in another way just made me think of the whole twisted situation more. All I know is this, things have changed and changed in a BIG way. A hero to some is lost, more importantly three lives are lost and some people are questioning if they want to continue to be a fan of this fucked up business. I know that after watching and covering the press conference, I myself am questioning my devotion to wrestling as a whole. All I know is this. If you are, 411 and myself will be here for you. Take the time you need, be angry if you must. I have said, I'll be here to vent to. Just do what you have to do.
READER RANT TIME!!:
From Bryant on the Sandman -
Just some insight regarding why Sandman is not in the title match Sunday. I believe the wording used on Raw when the match was announced was "any former World Champion on the Raw roster at the end of the night." Since Sandman did not become a member of Raw until the supplemental draft six days later, he did not fit this criteria. At the end of that night, he was a member of the ECW roster. It may be a cruel, technical interpretation of the match set up, but it would allow WWE to claim continuity.
From Andrew on Slammiversary -
Dear Larry
This was the first time TNA has been live on PPV in Australia, so I took the odds to it and ordered the show. I've seen smatterings of TNA in the past (the weekly TV shows are not shown here), usually when I'm in Thailand, which has TNA on 5 days a week.
I really enjoyed the show, especially the crowd. It was a super hot crowd who reacted big to all the special moments, not dissimilar to the old ECW crowds. I was surprised at how over Jay Lethal and Eric Young were. But having seen some of the early X Division matches on DVD, especially those involving AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels and Samoa Joe, this match couldn't hold a candle to those.
Match quality was OK, although I feel the Bashams, Kip Frey and BG Jammes were a total waste of time. That being said, I CANNOT understand why WWE fired Christy Hemme. She has an obvious passion for the business and is still hotter than 98% of the Divas in either company (Mickie James stands alone on that score)
The main event rocked and all 5 guys are good to great workers. AJ Styles was the standout and it's a testament to his abilities that the crowd see him as a star despite less than favorable booking. The interview Christian Cage gave before the main event was awesome. He still reeks of awesomeness...
I might be tempted to go back for another dose of TNA on PPV but Australian fans are currently badgering our only cable provider to air the weekly Impact shows. Without these, continuity is harder to maintain.
Thanks for your report!
From Padraic on several things -
Great stuff daily on 411. I'm a huge fan of the site. I wanted to shoot you a quick email with high hopes for the coming months in Pro Wrestling.
1. ECW Becomes an Actual Brand
The seeds have been sewn, now it's time to execute. The first thing I believe they need to do is establish a class system within the brand; meaning a midcard and main eventers. With only one hour to tell a story, and roughly 3 matches per show, we do not have time to mess around. No wasted movements, in an out of the ring. We've established that it's the minor leagues of the E, so let's give the fans the best matches that they think SHOULD be on Raw. I've got high hopes for the new roster and think that this could be solid. If I could change one thing, I'd move Paul London, Jamie Noble, and Jimmy Yang to the brand.
2. The evolution of Brian Kendrick
Ok hear me out - London and Kendrick break up and fued for a bit. In the early stages of ROH these guys had some interesting matches and give then chance these could be constant show stealers. If Kendrick wins the fued, I would LOVE to see him start to shadow HBK... they used to call Shannon Moore HB2K back in the old WCW, so bring it back. A nice little Student vs. Teacher mini fued could be sweet in between Survivor Series and the Royal Rumble.
3. Heel turns, Heel turns, Heel turns
TURN PUNK HEEL. Straight Edge CM Punk gives the best promos ever. If RVD resigns (please for the love of God) they've got a built in fued here because RVD loves weed. Bobby Lashley is headed there, just do it. N.O.D 2k7 = Lashley, Cryme Time, and Farooq as the mouthpiece.
I could go on forever, but I think this is enough. You've got my dream job, Larry. If you've got any advice for a novice like myself, I'd love to hear it.
From Ryan on Slammiversary -
While reading your column of Slammiversary 2007, I read that you didn't mind Chris Harris being added to KOTM. I think this was a huge logic gap by TNA, as if those weren't common enough. I'm not going to waste your time with the "he already had a qualifying match and didn't qualify" idea, although that if the main reason why I don't agree with the choice. However, for one, Harris had a scheduled match against the LAX. They pull him out of the match, with no announcement and no reason given. Let me go back, they announced the change on "The Road to Slammiversary" which is on at freaking midnight. The real reason my intelligence was insulted is: LOOK WHO THEY REPLACED HARRIS WITH! Cornette kept talking in his promo about how Harris was there during the early days of TNA. Was Senshi not there during the early days? Did Senshi have a match scheduled? You make good points by saying Harris is a more believable world champion at this point and has experience. Fine.
But the setup is there. I could just picture Don West: "MIKE, remember that LADDER MATCH, that AJ, Jerry Lynn, and Senshi had. Well we're seeing two of those great athletes right now!" My point is that instead of creating a logic gap, why couldn't TNA just go with Senshi? IMO, the only way this would have made sense is if Senshi would have turned and joined LAX. Of course that would have been a RUSSO TURN, but at least it would have given a reason to put Harris instead of Senshi in KOTM.
To wrap up since this is going on long enough, great columns and god bless.
From Kevin -
I totally agree with your views on Mick Foley leading up to this match. They should have aired videos and clips of him. my girlfriend has only started watching WWE recently, about 6months. She knew Mick Foley as an on-air character (she thought he was a character like the fucking Coach, a non-wrestler) and didn't see him as a threat. she was asking why would they put him in this match. all the others in the match could be seen as legit threats to Cena's belt but to people who didn't grow up watching Foley they would just be wondering who the fuck is this guy and what is he doing here.
Fuck Santino Marella. I think they should get the IC belt off him before it loses any more credibility. Umaga should also be pushed back to the WWE title scene. just needed that rant there about Santino. sorry.
