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HTQ's Thoughts for September 20th

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HTQ’s Thoughts on September 20th

 

 

I didn’t see a lot of Unforgiven because I had almost no interest in watching anything the card had to offer. What I did see wasn’t that great, but there were a few standout moments, primarily Matt Hardy’s huge legdrop off the top of the cage onto Edge. What was so great about it was that the fans went apeshit for the move, when it’s really a very low-risk move in terms of the chance of something going horrible wrong. It used to be that the fans didn’t care if you came off the top of anything, let alone a cage, unless you were doing 720 degree splashes through flaming tables. Now, they’ve been reeducated to pop for something as basic as a legdrop, even if it is being done off the top of a cage.

 

Other moments worth paying attention include the great sell-job done by Hurricane off of the DDT he took from Trevor Murdoch, which had one writer to the Observer website so incensed because he thought it was real, and he got so irate over that. Also fun to see that Christ Masters isn’t over a lick still, even though he’s been given the superpush this year.

 

Vince’s reaction to the upcoming ‘war’ between him and Spike/UFC is funny for all the wrong reasons. To combat this new threat, which is more a creation of his own mind than anything else, Vince is going back to the past by bringing back every big name he can get, and almost every minor name he can find or drag out of rehab. Instead of building to his future by building up his future superstars, Vince is instead relying on names from the past to help fight the problems of today. That never works, and while he might get a one-night boost out of this, it’ll do nothing positive in the long-term. He could have brought the names back one at a time to get a big boost out of each of them, but because he’s panicking, Vince is going for one huge boost all at once, and in doing so is throwing away whatever he could have got from those names by showing a little patience. It’s strange how Vince shows patience when you’d think he’d panic, and panics when he can afford to be patient.

 

 

Raw was Bore again. I recorded it, went through it in about ten minutes, and I don’t appear to have missed anything. We get Cena vs. Bischoff for the Raw ‘Homecoming’ on October 3rd. What a classic that’ll be(!). Can we stop with Renegade Babyface versus Evil Owner/GM part 324,686,939?

 

 

The prospect of Brock Lesnar wrestling for New Japan appears to be far more likely than a lot of people think. On The LAW radio show this weekend, Dave Meltzer speculated that WWE legal got word that they would likely lose the case, which they probably would have done had the case gone to trial, which would greatly weaken the strength and validity of the no-complete clauses in their contracts, and so are going to try and avoid that by making some sort of settlement to allow Lesnar to wrestle in Japan. If this happens, and Meltzer does think we’ll see the proposed Brock Lesnar vs. Masahiro Chono vs. Kazuyuki Fujita ‘dogfight’, and Lesnar is given the green light to compete for New Japan, then it could be that big boost the company needs to really turn the corner.

 

Any guesses for the finish to that match?

 

 

Over in TNA, they’re about to debut on Spike with Jeff Jarrett as their world champion. Yes, they put the NWA belt back on Jeff. Dixie Carter recently gave a lengthy interview about the company, and her remarks about Jeff make it clear as to why he got the belt, and it might not be entirely down to how he works in the ring. I don’t know what the relationship between Jeff and Dixie is like, but she came across as a lovestruck teenager in the interview when talking about Jeff, and it confirmed once and for all, as if any but the blindest of people had any doubt, that TNA will forever be a vehicle to push Jeff Jarrett as the superstar he can never be.

 

 

Ring of Honor changed their main title too, as Bryan Danielson is the new ROH Champion, taking the belt from the soon-to-be departing James Gibson last Saturday night. This is a great move by ROH, because they’ve put the belt on arguably their best in-ring worker, and it’s on someone who isn’t set to leave anytime soon, which I think took away from the recent title reigns of CM Punk and Gibson. The only question now is how long of a reign Danielson will have. With the short title reigns of Punk and Gibson, I’d like to see Danielson keep the belt until at least the end of the year.

 

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*KNK*

It's remarkable of the three primary wrestling promotions in North America; Only one has any idea what they are doing and that's the company with the most impossible to please fanbase.

 

What does that mean? Expectations of a product determine the effort the promotion will put into that product.

 

Clearly, by the WWE and TNA fanbases, the expectations are drastically low. What happens? Each promotion stays conservative and cater to the low expectations.

 

Meanwhile Ring of Honor, highly pressured by it's smaller yet more intensely vocal fanbase is forced to meet HIGH expecations and delivers with exceptional results thus only raising the expecations higher, eventually that will come to haunt ROH but that's not in the near future.

 

Why is it that WWE and TNA's fanbases aren't willing to raise the expecations? That's the ultimate reason either company is willing to grow as a product. In fact, WWE is regressing as a product. Everything is recycled.

 

TNA for every step forward it makes, it takes two steps back.

 

There's nothing new to add to the tremendous stupidity of placing the title on Jeff Jarrett but it's just another aspect of how mind boggling it is to see a company on the verge of breaking out, basically settle for what it is now and not intend to expand because it won't expand under the umbrella of Jeff Jarrett.

 

Would it expand under AJ Styles, Samoa Joe and Monty Brown? We can't accurately predict what success TNA would enjoy if those guys were the proper centerpieces of the product rather then a PROVEN failure but there would be higher expecations for the company with that push.

 

Once again, Dixie Carter and Vince McMahon are simply willing to settle for low expectations. Which is killing professional wrestling on a mainstream level.

 

Ring of Honor simply refuses to insult their fanbase and even though sometimes Gabe will making booking decisions that leave fans disapointed or confused or even downright angry...An actual response is created and unlike in TNA or WWE, it's not an response of apathy.

 

CM Punk's reign was nothing short of brilliance and that was because they used that angle to play with the fans. They acknowledged the fans existance and importance. Something WWE and TNA fails to do.

 

It's a shame the great emotional story of REDEMPTION was short lived by Gibson's brief reign but he really deserved a reign of any kind and he could have laid an egg and went through the motions and waited til WWE called him up but he didn't. For 8 months he took himself and ROH to an new level.

 

"The American Dragon" will be a fine champion and I'm fairly confident that he'll get a proper reign if only to please that fanbase that actually takes value in the title itself. I don't personally believe the title was "hot shoted" over the last few months but some core fans do and Gabe is bound to give Danielson the proper reign he richly deserves anyways along with pleasing that fanbase.

-

 

Brock Lesnar's saga could have been really interesting to follow but as I expected, Brock Lesnar (or rather, his lawyers) found the loophole to get out of that stupid lockdown. You'd have to wonder if Vince McMahon would begin to panic at the possibility of Brock Lesnar becoming successful on his own without the Vince McMahon promotional machine and cave in?

 

Vince McMahon cave in? Never mind.

 

Brock Lesnar getting work from NJPW could be a great negotiational tool and you have to wonder if Brock would rather ply his trade in America again if he can get his demands met or is the appeal of a less demanding schedule and the appeal of a new crowd and the freedom that much more attractive for Brock Lesnar?

 

-

 

Unforgiven looked like crap on paper and the results indicate for once...WWE delivered it's promise.

 

 

 

 

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Hunter's Torn Quad

It's remarkable of the three primary wrestling promotions in North America; Only one has any idea what they are doing and that's the company with the most impossible to please fanbase.

 

I think that could be down to ROH;s fanbase not being too big or expansive enough to have to worry about too many places. They don't have so many things to have to worry about, and so they can concentrate more on the little things. Of course, pleasing fans is not a little thing, but you'd think it was given the behavior of WWE and TNA.

 

Clearly, by the WWE and TNA fanbases, the expectations are drastically low. What happens? Each promotion stays conservative and cater to the low expectations.

 

These fans need a kick in the ass. WWE is the biggest promotion in the world. Standards should be a lot higher than being 'tolerable'. TNA were getting there, but they squashed all that momentum by putting the NWA belt back on Jarrett.

 

Meanwhile Ring of Honor, highly pressured by it's smaller yet more intensely vocal fanbase is forced to meet HIGH expecations and delivers with exceptional results thus only raising the expecations higher, eventually that will come to haunt ROH but that's not in the near future.

 

I think it's because the fanbase is smaller that ROH are putting the effort into pleasing them. They can concentrate on one style of fan, and don't have to worry about the wasting time on the casual or fly-by-night fans.

 

Why is it that WWE and TNA's fanbases aren't willing to raise the expecations?

 

Because they are lazy ass fucks who can't be bothered to put effort into anything, much less wanting something above tolerable out of a wrestling promotion. The fans don't give a shit, so WWE doesn't give a shit, so the fans don't give a shit, and so on and so forth.

 

That's the ultimate reason either company is willing to grow as a product. In fact, WWE is regressing as a product. Everything is recycled.

 

Exactly. The fans are too dumb, stupid or lazy to care that they are being fed the same stale crap from 1998, so the promotion makes no effort to try anything new.

 

There's nothing new to add to the tremendous stupidity of placing the title on Jeff Jarrett but it's just another aspect of how mind boggling it is to see a company on the verge of breaking out, basically settle for what it is now and not intend to expand because it won't expand under the umbrella of Jeff Jarrett.

 

What makes it so sad and maddening is that TNA were on the verge of becoming something special. They were right there at the door of opportunity, and proceeded to nail wooden boards over it.

 

Once again, Dixie Carter and Vince McMahon are simply willing to settle for low expectations. Which is killing professional wrestling on a mainstream level.

 

It's more than that. They're settling for what they themselves are happy with, not the fans, which results in a product that I'm sure is getting their rocks off, but it doesn't give the fans much to get excited over. Not that they care either way.

 

Ring of Honor simply refuses to insult their fanbase and even though sometimes Gabe will making booking decisions that leave fans disapointed or confused or even downright angry...An actual response is created and unlike in TNA or WWE, it's not an response of apathy.

 

Say what you will about some aspects of the portions of the ROH fanbase, but at least they care enough to give a shit. WWE have run off the fans who cared enough to criticise it, and those are some of the most die-hard fans you get. If run off fans who want to complain, then you've really fucked up.

 

"The American Dragon" will be a fine champion and I'm fairly confident that he'll get a proper reign if only to please that fanbase that actually takes value in the title itself. I don't personally believe the title was "hot shoted" over the last few months but some core fans do and Gabe is bound to give Danielson the proper reign he richly deserves anyways along with pleasing that fanbase.

 

I think Danielson is in for a long reign, and he should get one, if only to restore some major stability to the belt.

 

Brock Lesnar's saga could have been really interesting to follow but as I expected, Brock Lesnar (or rather, his lawyers) found the loophole to get out of that stupid lockdown. You'd have to wonder if Vince McMahon would begin to panic at the possibility of Brock Lesnar becoming successful on his own without the Vince McMahon promotional machine and cave in?

 

I expect Vince to try and recreate Lesnar in some fashion to try and prove that anyone could have done what Lesnar did. It'll fail miserably, of course.

 

Brock Lesnar getting work from NJPW could be a great negotiational tool and you have to wonder if Brock would rather ply his trade in America again if he can get his demands met or is the appeal of a less demanding schedule and the appeal of a new crowd and the freedom that much more attractive for Brock Lesnar?

 

New Japan: Solid money, but less than WWE. Less travel, less political bullshit to deal with. A real chance to move up the card and become a superstar.

 

WWE: More money then New Japan. More travel. Political bullshit to deal with. Revenge booking to look out for.

 

Lesnar has smartened up a lot in the past year or so. He'll pick New Japan.

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Dangerous A

I just have to wonder what may come of Dragon if WWE v. TNA were to heat up sooner than later. Obviously the Jarrett debacle is a set back, but if they end up getting an unexpectedly higher number than previously thought and Vince panics (which is very likely) I could see Dragon in the middle of a bidding war between WWE and TNA.

 

I figure Danielson is smart enough to know what is up. In WWE, he'd get the most money and with Regal as his friend, perhaps he wouldn't get fucked over so hard as a newbie.

 

In TNA, while he wouldn't get as much money, he would get a lighter load that would permit him to still work ROH as well as a 100x's better chance at getting over since he'd be immediately be plugged in the X division where he would even have the chance to shine as bright as Joe or brighter because while he doesn't fly like a lot of the other X'ers, he smokes just about anyone on the ground in the world.

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Hunter's Torn Quad
I just have to wonder what may come of Dragon if WWE v. TNA were to heat up sooner than later. Obviously the Jarrett debacle is a set back, but if they end up getting an unexpectedly higher number than previously thought and Vince panics (which is very likely) I could see Dragon in the middle of a bidding war between WWE and TNA.

 

I figure Danielson is smart enough to know what is up. In WWE, he'd get the most money and with Regal as his friend, perhaps he wouldn't get fucked over so hard as a newbie.

 

In TNA, while he wouldn't get as much money, he would get a lighter load that would permit him to still work ROH as well as a 100x's better chance at getting over since he'd be immediately be plugged in the X division where he would even have the chance to shine as bright as Joe or brighter because while he doesn't fly like a lot of the other X'ers, he smokes just about anyone on the ground in the world.

The worst employer to have is one who hired you only because the other guys wanted you. He has no incentive to push you, because he didn't want you to begin with, and only hired you to keep you out of the hands of the competition. If anything, he might resent you because, in his mind, you forced him to hire you.

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