RedJed

I was there tonight and this must had been this town's first taste of WWE as they were pretty hot for a REALLY shitty show. Most, if not all of the crowd had to be very casual wrestling fans and certainly marks to the max as they were laughing and cheering the lamest shit. Lots of families here more than I've ever seen at a WWE event in years. What's weird is that they dont even get Smackdown on Thursdays in this area from what I heard people around me saying - yet they are taping this for TV. It's pretty sad when Heidenreich and Jordan have one of the worst matches I've ever seen live (I'm sure they will edit it to make it look better but there was a handful of botched moves) and yet Heidenreich was the 2nd most over guy on the damn show (besides Cena). Few other notes.... The arena must only hold I would bet 7,000-8,000 - anyway they couldnt even fill up the lower level completely in this tiny arena, so anticipate VERY dark lighting in the crowd. With that said, I think you will still be able to tell clearly that a second level of seating is so sparsely filled it's a joke. Worst WWE crowd size I've ever seen for a TV taping - I would bet maybe 4,000, possibly less. Basically there wasnt any even average to good matches from what I saw. Every match booked for Smackdown was short, standard, one sided and very boring. I missed about half of Velocity though so its possible there was something ok there. The Eddy segment did not get over well at all with the crowd - that was one thing that the crowd didnt give him heel heat for, it was more the "what the fuck" type in the aftermath. When he came out, did a sort of staredown to the crowd first and then the mask, then slowly was about to talk, didnt, and then stomped on the mask and left. I understand their intention to use actions instead of words but this did just not click at all. I know I felt a little ripped off when there was no unannounced dark match main event even happening. Cena and JBL went back and forth a little bit in the ring but it was not a match and more just worthless filler to build the ppv match with Cena getting the crowd to chant "I quit" at Bradshaw, etc. Also felt ripped off that there was no Angle or Misterio even doing anything in front of the crowd (Rey wasnt even there at all - I would assume Angle was since I think he was at the ppv "press conference" in Minneapolis earlier in the day) and guys like London didnt even wrestle. Plus they were pushing Taker was going to be here like crazy locally and to have that not happen is typical and I guess I didnt really care, but it still would have been nice to see him do something. It's pretty sad when a divas video played to Jet's "Be My Girl" is one of the main highlights of the night. Needless to say, this was a horrible lead in to the ppv Sunday. This was probably the first ever WWE live show that I can truly say I did not enjoy very much at all, and that covers at least 50-some shows throughout the years.

I went to Taboo Tuesday last year in Milwaukee and I have to say that crowd looked dismal there live and I dont follow attendance figures much, but that had to be one of the worst attended ppvs in recent memory. I ended up scoring great lower level seats right in front of the hard cam about a week/week and a half before the show, just as an example. It is very possible that along with comps, there really wont be many open seats at Target Center on Sunday. I didnt think it would be nearly as hard to find a decent single seat as this. Even Ebay hardly has shit.

Maybe a few days before the show but as of right now all thats avaliable is upper level seats. Minnesota hasnt had a ppv in over 6 years so they are having pretty good ticket sales, even if the card is weak as hell.

Does anyone know where I can get a good seat this late? I've been procrastinating...

From the Observer site today.... The new booking team will be announced to the wrestlers at a pre-show meeting tomorrow. Scott D'Amore looks to be the head of the committee. Surprising that they are having a person I am willing to give a chance to with D'Amore heading the team. This might work. In this week's Observer, it also states that Jeff Jarrett wont be in the booking team as of right now as there is some heat with the Carters side v. Jeff and Jerry Jarrett over the whole world title deal. But both Jarretts will be able to add input, just not in the same way. Although I think thats great to hear its also possibly naive that Jeff wont have a buddy like Borash standing up for him and some of Borash's suggestions will probably also be Jeff/Jerrys. Metlzer reported that Rhodes was going to put the belt on Styles this Sunday, and that still seems likely even with a new writing team. Everyone in TNA is virtually for it at this point except Jeff and Jerry Jarrett so there is power struggle that the Jarretts could easily win due to them owning a massive chunk of the company of course. Jeff and Jerry think giving the belt to Monte Brown or Matt Hardy would make more sense at this point (which I agree with actually) v. having Styles run with the belt when its unclear to them if he can really be the long term champion they need. Anyway this is apparently going to be the structure of the booking team: It will be really spearheaded by the Carters and that new VP, Frank Dickerson (they will be the people that have to approve everything by the end of it), but as it was reported today, D'Amore will have some running of things too above others possibly. Mantel AND the Jarretts are not on the team. The rest of the committee will consist of Borash, Bill Banks, and in a weird surprise, Mike Tenay (which I think sounds like a good idea). No Douglas or Lynn or anything yet though, damn.

Too many f'n tag matches. That's all

Just got this from the Torch VIP area - they did an audio interview w/ him last night that lasted 80 min. Listening to it now but here is Keller's notes from it - how is this guy getting all of the shoot inteviews lately, he's going to be doing the DVD shoot for Matt and Jeff Hardy next too. - ON WHERE HIS FORMER WRESTLING HANDLE, "HORSHU," CAME FROM: Reigns says his nickname came from being named "Horshu" in prison when he was lucky even to make it to prison after surviving several personal issues such as a near drug overdose, being stabbed in the throat, and being left for dead. WCW never understood what the nickname was about, but WWE was familiar with where the nickname came from. - ON HOW LONG IN ADVANCE HE KNEW ABOUT HIS RESIGNATION AND WHETHER HE CAN COME BACK: Reigns says his departure from WWE has been coming for some time now. Reigns says he expressed concerns to Vince McMahon and John Laurenaitis about not being used correctly some time ago. The decision became final on Wednesday, but he knew for the last week that he was going to lean towards walking away. Reigns says he's relieved to be home in order to take care of his personal business, but there are aspects of the business he will miss. Reigns says he spoke with John Laurenaitis on the phone about the release. Laurenaitis expressed knowledge that Reigns's head wasn't into wrestling and Laurenaitis told him to take six months off, and then see if he was ready to come back to the business. Reigns says he's not sure if he'll have a second chance. "This was my second chance in wrestling; I had a chance with WCW with past years and blew that over with a drug habit," he says. "If I never get that second chance, I'm okay with that." - ON WHETHER THERE ARE ANY ILL FEELINGS BETWEEN HIMSELF AND WWE: Reigns says there are absolutely no ill feelings towards WWE because it was a mutual split, and he's not just saying that because he hopes to get a job back there one day, but is forever grateful to WWE because, "They put food on my table, they put money in my pocket, and they gave me a great jumpstart on life again." Reigns says he knows Vince must have felt as if he lost an investment, and probably would be hesitant to rehire him if he came back. Reigns says he has other obligations to tend to and may have been wrong to tend to other investments while still being part of WWE, but WWE does the same kind of business to make sure other investments are available if the WWE were to fall on hard times. Reigns says he doesn't blame Vince if he doesn't want to rehire him in the future, but at the same time, hopes Vince understands why he walked away in that he had to take care of his personal business. - ON HOW WWE PROVIDED HIM THE RESOURCES FOR LIFE AFTER WWE: Reigns says he was able to use the payoffs from WWE to invest money in real estate and start his own salon. Reigns says that, before road expenses, he earned well over $175,000 for a full year of work from Judgment Day 2004 until his very recent departure. Reigns says his near-the-top billing at February's No Way Out PPV against the Undertaker contributed a great deal to his salary. Reigns says he had to consider what the most important thing for himself is and he decided that tending to his investments - a basic guarantee - was more important than trying to chase payoffs in WWE, which are far from guaranteed. - ON WHETHER WWE WRESTLERS ARE HAPPY WITH THEIR PAYOFFS: Reigns says the wrestlers have to pay road expenses and taxes because of the Independent Contractor status, meaning less money in their pockets. The majority of WWE wrestlers are happy with pay, but even when they're not happy with pay, that doesn't mean they're going to do anything about it. Reigns says, "If I wasn't happy, I would leave. But you don't see that many guys leaving; they stay." Many guys choose to stay because they don't have an Option B to work with. - ON HOW HE THOUGHT HIS POSITIONING IN THE COMPANY SHOULD HAVE BEEN HANDLED: Reigns says there are many guys giving their all for the WWE - even some breaking their necks for WWE - and they deserve a chance to be on the top spot, as long as they can carry the ball. There are many younger wrestlers coming up from OVW, but Reigns feels like he should have been used ahead of them because his time to contribute is very limited because, "I'm a used car with a few good years left on it." Reigns says he never received the opportunity he wanted, but maybe Vince had an idea for something big to happen six months or year from now, but he needed something "sooner rather than later." Reigns says he had a solid meeting with Vince and told Vince there was something they could do together to make some money with him, to which Vince agreed, but Vince never could quite come up with a solid plan to make things work out. Reigns says his promos and his ability to speak is his best asset and "a gift from God." Reigns says he had so many one-liners, nicknames, and clichés that he could utilize, but WWE never let him be who he really is as a performer. Reigns says he knows how to beat someone up and knows how to talk, and just wanted an opening to make a solid run with his talents. There are plenty of agents in WWE who tried to tell him what to do, how to wrestle, and what to work on to where he felt like he had to please twenty different people every night. Reigns says he just wanted to be himself and not a person who had to please everyone. - ON WHETHER HE WANTED TV TIME AS COMPARED TO OTHER WRESTLERS: Reigns says many guys crave the attention of being on TV and, "they would wrestle for no money just so their face could be seen on TV and they can walk around town and sign autographs." Reigns says he wasn't dying to be on TV or didn't have the desire to brag to others about being a pro wrestler. The wrestling business was just a way to put food on his table, so he treated it as a job. - ON WHETHER THERE IS A SYSTEM IN PLACE IN WWE TO EXPRESS CONCERN OVER PUSHES OR TV TIME: Reigns says the philosophy in management is that the "squeaky wheel gets the grease." Essentially, those who speak up get the push, and he's the type of guy who doesn't mind speaking up or telling management what he thinks, while others are from the school of thought where they should "keep their mouths shut and do what you're told." - ON HIS FAVORITE MOMENT BEING PART OF THE WWE ROSTER: Reigns says he thought the program with the Undertaker went well and he says it was an honor to wrestle him in the ring. On the quality of the match he had with Undertaker at No Way Out, Reigns says, "I blew up in that match; I was not prepared going into that match." In addition to Undertaker, Reigns says he was honored to work with Kurt Angle. Reigns says he enjoyed the few times he was able to do some promo work, while also loving the opportunity to wrestle in the ring. - ON WHEN HE FIRST DECIDED TO BECOME A WRESTLER AND HOW HE GOT INVOLVED: Reigns says he grew up in the same town in Illinois as current WWE referees, Jack Doane and Chad Patton. Reigns says he was trying to straighten up his life by getting his degree in college while also traveling around with Jack Doane to hang around with some of the wrestlers before heading to the WCW Power Plant in 1996. Reigns says he went through the brutal three day training period at the Power Plant and loved the work outs because he was in great shape and was motivated to succeed. He says he enjoyed learning the ropes, taking bumps, and getting some ring work and ring experience. Reigns says he learned a great deal from Fit Finlay and Ricky Steamboat despite their styles being completely different. Reigns says he'll never be like Chris Benoit or Eddie Guerrero - a great technical wrestler - and just wants to work his style of being a brawler. - ON WHEN HE FIRST WAS SENT TO WORK LIVE CROWDS IN WCW: Reigns says he tried to send some tapes of him working out in the Power Plant to WWF, but it was to no avail. In early 1997, he was put on Nitro straight out of the Plant, and immediately after being placed on TV, WWF called and brought him up to Headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut where he worked out in the ring with Dr. Tom Prichard. Prichard helped bring Reigns to where is now and he helped guide him to success - both with his wrestling skills and being a man. Reigns says Prichard helped get his life straight after years of misdirection. - ON HIS FIRST CONTRACT AND WHETHER HE REGRETS SIGNING IT: Reigns says WWF offered him a deal after working out with Dr. Prichard and he took the offer to Eric Bischoff at WCW, who offered Reigns even more money to stay put in WCW. Reigns says he ended up signing with WCW because of the substantial monetary offer. "Looking back at the time, it probably wasn't a bad decision, but it probably wasn't the best decision," he says. Reigns says that had he signed with WWF, he probably would have turned into a major talent, going back to the old saying, "Vince makes talent; Ted Turner buys it." In hindsight, Reigns says he wishes he had signed with WWF back in 1997. Reigns says his first WCW deal was for three years, but it had a roll over clause to where they could release him within thirty days. Bischoff was an innovator in creating competition for Vince, and had a hand in creating some of the best times for the business during the Monday Night Wars. Yet, in the end, Vince won the War because, "You're never going to shut Vince down; Vince had the last laugh." - ON LIFE IN WCW AND WHETHER HE BENEFITED FROM HIS TIME THERE: Reigns says his growth as a wrestler was absolutely stunted because WCW management was primarily concerned with making their friends and the top guys happy, ensuring that most of the mid-card level wrestlers weren't given the time of day to develop programs around their characters. Reigns says he befriended Chris Benoit, who still calls him up to ask how he's doing and whether things are going well. He says Benoit is a "true gentleman" in the business, and is sincere in his concerns and contacts with others. - ON WCW'S GUARANTEED CONTRACTS: Reigns says he received a deal calling for $75,000 guaranteed for the first year, but with stipulations including PPV appearances and signs of improvement as it pertains to moving up the card. The $75,000 deal was a trading contract where he was supposed to show up at the Power Plant, work out, and make appearances on TV. - ON WHETHER WCW HAD ANYTHING TO DO WITH HIS DRUG USE AND WHETHER THE PROBLEMS DERAILED HIS PROGRESS: Reigns says the atmosphere of WCW had nothing to do with his drug abuse because it was all about him dealing with the drugs, and he takes all the blame for the drug abuse. Reigns says he's seemingly always followed a pattern of going four or five years without problems, only to fall into the trap one way or another. Reigns says drugs absolutely hindered his progress as a wrestler. Reigns says it was all fault because, "No one put a gun to my head and told me: here, smoke this crack pipe." Reigns says, "In September, I'll be six years clean and sober, and I can honestly say I'll never go back to that life again." Reigns says his addiction in June of 1998 was so bad, that WCW had no choice but to release him because they didn't want him to die in the middle of the ring because of how much cocaine he had in his system. - ON THE PERSONAL AFFLICTIONS HE HAS OVERCOME: Reigns says that within a year of his release, he was back in Phoenix broke and homeless committing crimes here and there. His time in prison saved his life to where now he has a million dollar mansion on the side of a mountain. Reigns says being locked down in prison gave him time to find the light at the end of the tunnel to straighten his life out. He says he got back on his feet after being in prison and worked his way back to where he could approach WWE for being hired. The time it took to get another shot with WWE was so lengthy probably because they knew about the drug problems he had in WCW. Reigns says Vince never had to worry about him relapsing into the drug use because he's learned his lesson and isn't going to fall into the traps again. - ON WHY HE WOULD WALK AWAY AFTER DOING SO MUCH TO GET HIS LIFE BACK IN ORDER: Reigns says family members have pointed out that it makes no sense for him to walk away after watching him put so much effort and energy into making it back to the business. It may look ludicrous to walk away when looking at his decision from the outside, but considering the grueling travel schedule and the long time away from home, those factors combine to form an ability to break wrestlers. It's a difficult climb to make day in and day out. - ON THE REACTION TO WWE DROPPING FIRST CLASS FLIGHTS FOR WRESTLERS AND PLACING THEM IN COACH. Reigns says the decision to drop first class flights absolutely hurts moral and causes resentment. He says, "It causes an aura in the locker room that is not conducive to a productive work environment." Reigns asks how WWE can justify this decision when these huge wrestlers - who already have injuries that aren't going to be healed by being cramped up for 14 hours - are expected to go wrestle right after getting off the plane. It's not feasible to expect wrestlers to work under those conditions. Reigns says the decision is looked at very negatively within the circle of wrestlers. There were ten or twelve guys who were adamant about this not happening, and Reigns isn't sure if management understands the concept of being forced to fly coach. It may be possible that the people in the office who made the decision are the ones who have never wrestled and do not understand what it's like to "fly 30,000 miles in two weeks." The upgrades from coach to business are expensive and that it would probably cost many of the lower card wrestlers their entire overseas trip pay off just to upgrade on every flight. Looking at the decision from Vince McMahon's perspective, Reigns says that if the company truly need to save money to allow everyone to keep their job, receive payoffs, and put food on the table, then "maybe that's a cutback that needs to be made." However, Reigns says he isn't sold on that being a decision that should be considered. - ON THE IMAGE WWE WANTS TO PORTRAY TO BY HAVING WRESTLERS DRESS IN SUITS: Reigns says he always wore suits to TV even before the mandatory dress code was implemented, so it didn't bother him, personally. To play into the decision to drop first class, Reigns says that if he walks onto a plane dressed to the hilt and then sits in Coach, it doesn't just add up to the people sitting around him. For instance, If Ric Flair were to walk to Coach, people would wonder and speculate why Flair is sitting in coach because he just doesn't belong there based on the image portrayed on TV. Reigns says, "Perception is reality." If people perceive you as a superstar, people are going to see you a superstar, which leads to more revenue for the company. WWE needs to perceive their wrestlers as superstars who are "larger than life, unapproachable, and unattainable to the public," he says. "Putting them in a dress shirt and coat in coach is absurd!" Reigns says many wrestlers can't afford to buy nice new suits in order to dress for the part because they have to spend their payoffs to provide for their family. Reigns says many wrestlers don't understand fashion and that could have played into why WWE management decided to implement the policy. Reigns says that many of the less-stylish wrestlers thought, "Skechers boots were dress shoes." In comparison, Reigns points to his sharp dress on TV as proof that he has a great sense of style. - ON WHETHER HE IS IN FAVOR OR AGAINST THE DRESS CODE POLICY, AS IT WAS IMPLEMENTED: Reigns says he is against the way the dress code policy was executed, mainly because it doesn't even meet the demographic WWE is trying to reach out to. "Suits and ties don't always mean anything in our demographic," he says. "They don't mean anything to our fans...our fans don't relate to suits and ties." Reigns says WWE needs to let the wrestlers be who they are because the perception on TV should be translated to the perception outside of the arena. - ON INITIATIONS AND RIBBING IN LOCKER ROOMS: Reigns says it all comes down to the "boys being the boys." There's a certain code that has to be followed and if people who step in the business don't follow the code, "you're going to get your ass handed to you." He says some of the boys may have gone too far, but he doesn't have a real opinion on it. Reigns says he didn't face the ribbing issue because he knew almost everyone in the WWE locker room upon being called up from OVW, mainly from working with a lot of WCW guys who crossed over to WWE. The WWE guys had seen him before, so he wasn't just another "brand new face coming out of Louisville." - ON THE CLASSIFICATION OF WWE WRESTLERS AS INDEPENDENT CONTRACTORS AND HOW IT AFFECTS COVERAGE: Reigns says wrestlers have insurance to cover anything that happens in-ring and coverage on any medical expenses for times when they get sick. However, there isn't coverage on anything that happens away from WWE, such as personal insurance. It's a chief concern for a lot of the boys, mainly for the ones who don't own their own business and don't understand the business side of treating employees as Independent Contractors. Luther says the very nature of the business and being classified as Independent Contractors is "a double edged sword." He says it comes down to WWE telling wrestlers, "You are an independent contractor, but we own you." It's been an unpleasant fact for so long that the boys have just accepted it because you have to live with the classification if you want to make money and live a good life. - ON WHETHER PROMOS ARE OVER-SCRIPTED TO WHERE WRESTLERS CANNOT BE THEMSELVES: Reigns says the writers work hard and have good intentions to do the best they possibly can for the wrestlers, but on the other hand, asks whether any of them have ever been in the limelight to experience a "rock star" environment where things are out of control and life is lived as wild and crazy as possible. "I've got photo albums of hot bitches," he says. They don't understand what it's like to have the rock star status. Reigns says that during the Monday Night Wars, WWF and WCW were letting guys be themselves where people like Steve Austin could throw out cuss words and The Rock could talk trash to everyone, basically in an effort to push the envelope as far as possible. Now, the "let it fly" concept has been lost, allowing the writers to be given too much power. Reigns says he has a great story to tell that could be turned into something to WWE could make money off, but the writers never realized that. "Let me be me or I got to go," he says. - ON THE DRUG SITUATION IN WWE COMPARED TO WCW: Reigns says WWE's drug situation is substantially cleaner - almost non-existent - as compared to WCW. Nowadays, wrestlers have nowhere else to go, so they are walking the fine line to make sure they don't creep into drug problems that could lead to losing a job. The fact there is nowhere else to go has caused the business clean up, and that has had an effect of limiting the edginess and racy content that used to make WWE such a hot product. Reigns says Vince McMahon does not condone drug use or any type of atmosphere that encourages drug use. He promotes a "clean, professional environment to the fullest." Reigns says the guys who have been down the road of drug use are the ones who should be making money for WWE because they have the best stories to tell in the ring and on the mic. - ON HIS BIGGEST WEAKNESS AS A PERFORMER: Reigns says his conditioning was a problem, but that came from not receiving many matches to work on his wrestling skills, while being limited to just doing a promo here or there. Then, all of a sudden, he was expected to compete in a 15 minute match out of nowhere with the Undertaker. Reigns says he needed to be in the ring every night to get the conditioning needed. "Professional wrestling is the hardest thing I have ever done," he says. Reigns says that if he could have gone 10-12 minutes on house shows every night, he would have been in fine condition to wrestle, because the only way a wrestler can get into ring shape is by wrestling night in and night out. He just didn't know how WWE wanted to use him, so he could never get his feet set and get behind something. He just wanted WWE to allow him to tell his story and make some money off that. - ON WHETHER HE WOULD WORK ANY INDY DATES IN THE FUTURE: Reigns says it doesn't make any sense at this stage in his career because of wanting to tend to his investments. However, Reigns says, "I don't mind working 250 nights a year." He says he's not going to say no to working in TNA or on Japan tour. - ON WORKING WITH JOHN LAURENAITIS: Reigns says he absolutely liked working with Laurenaitis. Luther says he might still be in Louisville if Laurenaitis and Dr. Prichard did not request him to be brought up. On Laurenaitis's influence, Reigns says, "He's a big part of where I am." - ON LOCKER ROOM LEADERSHIP AMONGST THE SMACKDOWN WORKERS: Reigns says the Undertaker will always offer an opinion or guidance if he's asked for help. He shoots straight from the hip and is a good guy to have in the locker room. Reigns says Kurt Angle taught Reigns many of the nuisances of the business while on the road together. Angle and Undertaker have a great synergy in the locker room, "like a well-oiled machine." - ON JOHN CENA'S PROGRESSION TO A LEADERSHIP ROLE: Reigns says Cena is a guy who has come a very long time in a short amount of time. He keeps to himself most of the time, but he really impressed the locker room when he confronted the decision by WWE to remove the first class plane tickets. The decision was announced shortly after WrestleMania when Cena just won the World Title. Cena took center stage to stand up for the boys and showed himself to be a true leader. - ON MARK JINDRAK'S PERSONALITY AND HIS POTENTIAL IN THE BUSINESS: Reigns says Jindrak is always looking in the mirror, checking to see if his abs are still in place. Jindrak has one of the best bodies in the business and is an overall good guy. WWE just isn't sure about Jindrak and the "light bulb needs to go off" between him and management before he can move up to the next level. - ON JBL PROVING THE CRITICS WRONG: Reigns says he was a big fan of Bradshaw's work in the APA, and actually wanted to debut in WWE as a recruit for the APA because their style of drinking beer and playing cards fits his style perfectly. Many critics said he wasn't worthy of the top spot, but he proved them all wrong. Reigns says JBL is "one of the best promo guys in the business." Reigns says success has not changed JBL and he is the same exact person as he has always been. - ON WHETHER STEPHANIE MCMAHON HAS THE RESPECT OF THE WRESTLERS: Reigns says Stephanie McMahon is a true businesswoman just like her dad. She was in charge of some of Reigns's backstage vignettes and always brought out the best in Reigns. She has certainly earned the respect of the locker room, and the respect isn't merely a result of her being the boss's daughter.

Montreal would be interesting just because of the language difference there. I liked San Diego too, just because I knew all of the places they were going to, etc.

I went to Best Buy to get it first, but they said it doesn't come out until next Tuesday also. He said it was the same for *almost* all of the Best Buy stores also. I've noticed this problem with alot of Best Buy stores - they hire people in video who dont even know shit half of the time - why can't they put them on fucking cashier duty or something? For him to say other Best Buys dont have it til next Tuesday as well is foolish to even say to a customer. It would be as easy as him saying, "ok just go to the website and order it" For what its worth, they even had a display up for the DVD at the Best Buy here and YES they were avaliable on Tuesday. I picked up the last copy though, so I'm sure even this Best Buy was saying the same story to others like its been discussed here.

That was to build up the King of the Ring 98 card or Fully Loaded card (one of the two) and it actually wasnt a match, just an angle/brawl around and on top of the cage.

-- Dusty says the situation is fairly simple. Dusty is doing a lot of things right now including writing a sitcom, a movie, and promoting his book as well as doing public speaking and says, "To tell you the truth, I don't have a lot of time to deal with something I don't really believe in." He goes on to say that he will continue to work for TNA as an on air talent. "There's a scoop but there's no scoop. I hope they do good." Then why the fucking fuck did he even take the job if he didnt believe in the product??!! And Rhodes is writing a sitcom and movie? He should have taken more time doing the job he was paid to do, write TNA. -- Dusty thinks one more match between he and Flair on pay-per-view would draw. This is one problem with Rhodes - he is delusioned (if thats even a word) in the past. That match would not draw on pay per view. -- Dusty feels for TNA to survive, they need a better TV deal. He is glad they are on FSN but doesn't think a 4 o'clock time slot on Friday afternoon is that good. His ideal spots would either be at 6 on Saturday night (the old Saturday Night slot) or head to head with RAW on Monday night. "That's my vision. That's not their vision." I agree with him on the timeslots. He's right that FSN might not be bad if they just would have those timeslots he discussed. Or at least no worse than WGN, and of course if FSN would not force them to pay to be on the station too. -- "I'm not going to battle with a committee of people that are not my... That don't have the same vision that I do. It's not me being a dictator. That's not it. I use people's ideas. But at the end, it's my movie, it's going to be my movie, and nobody else is going to direct it." Dusty tells a John Wayne story that fits well. This is the real problem with Rhodes - he is talking contradictions there, using people's ideas but yet it's his baby. You can't really have it both ways. It's clear the rumors of him not accepting input from others is what led to his downfall. This is almost the exact same problem with Russo. If either of them would just be a team player, the committee(s) would and could use them for their positive traits. When you are running the book alone and have this "me v. them" mindset it exposes the weaknesses that anyone naturally will have. You NEED that feedback from the outside to bounce ideas off each other. Hell, even Heyman has help in the booking. -- Dusty thinks FX would be the ideal station for wrestling because that seems to fit their kind of programming. To me, if Spike drops out, TNA should try FX instead of WGN. Much more attractive overall long term, and by that token, they could continue to keep that association with Fox in general, even cross promote a FX show and a weekend FSN show/specials? -- The Lockdown event was not Dusty's idea. But, he took the idea and tried to make it work and feels those who watched the event actually saw that it turned out "pretty cool." He gives a lot of credit to how hard the locker room worked. He also talks about the speech he gave the night before where he told the boys that it is in their hands now. Wow, he actually praised the locker room and the workers? WOW -- Dusty says TNA will not run house shows in the near future because they don't have good enough TV to pull it off. he says they'd "lose their ass" if they tried it right now. House shows - yes, attempts to at least do the ppvs somewhere else - no.

Has anyone seen the Freddy's Nightmares TV series? I picked some of them up on videotape a while back. Freddy is actually in some of them, but most of them are pretty lame actually.

I know Austin is a nice city and all but is it just me or is MTV stretching for new locations for Real World? Austin Texas??!! I actually think a weird but interesting location would be something like Tokyo or something. Or Australia.

One of the biggest laughs I've EVER gotten out of wrestling was when Hogan was hogtied to the Undertakers bike on a Raw back in 2002. Just seeing this visual was hilarious (Hogan had this look on his face like he was shitting himself) and then it seemed like Taker drove in the backstage with him like that endlessly until he threw him into a bunch of boxes - it looks SO weak and that made the whole thing even funnier.

Looks like a good show overall - I just hope guys like David Young and Trytan arent in the actual gauntlet match on Sunday. I'll be watching this later tonight since FSN airs an early feed early Fri morning at about midnight/1am depending on your feed.

Best idea would be to have him screw Styles, and then bring back Shamrock to do a Jarrett/Ortiz v. Styles/Shamrock feud down the road if they can get Ortiz to agree to another set of appearances. This would be a good program to build to after Jarrett would lose his belt, hopefully to Brown. With the future of Ortiz doing anything after this one shot though, he could just play a non factor in the match as a whole, who knows.

If they stick with just these 5 matches plus Sabin/Traci v. Trinity/Shane on the ppv, I will be happy. Give each match time plus keep in mind a 20 man gauntlet will take some more time than a normal match. That rumored James/DDP v. Outlaw/Brown match was never developed in the first place and is better off the ppv as its a "filler killer" to me and serves no purpose for being on ppv - the match could be worked on an Impact coming soon instead and all of those guys should be in the gauntlet instead. The more interesting thing on this ppv is if they will hotshot anything or pull any weird booking shifts in Rhodes' absense. I also beg the question if Rhodes already wrote the ppv basically, and if so, how much they will change it up. I dont want to see Styles win the world title oddly enough as they still need to let this Brown re-signing thing either happen or dont happen and then plan accordingly. They should know more by next month's ppv, which they could build up as a King of the Mountain match - Jarrett v. Styles v. DDP v. Brown v. maybe Abyss v. ???? (you could put Raven, Outlaw, Killings, etc in this spot). If no headway is made with Brown by THAT point, you give the title to Styles (regardless having him chase the title from the May ppv is smarter than having him outright win it on Sunday) but if Brown resigns, then give him the belt then. Jarrett finally losing and TNA starting fresh post-Anniversary show is key. At this ppv, I figure if they have given Jarrett 11 months already, they might as well wait another month where it will mean more.

I went to HOW in fear yesterday after all the bad press I've heard about it (ended up getting really stoned to try to see if that would help) and came out of it really enjoying the hell out of the movie. It was so fucked up it worked. Very morbid scenes of gore and just general weird shit happening that at made the film interesting to me and I didnt know where things were going from scene to scene. I'm sure I'm in the minority but I thought this was one of the better horror films out so far this year *runs for cover* The only real bad bad BAD part of the movie was Paris Hilton's attempts at acting. But it made up for it with her kill that was fucking outstanding (as were most of all kills in this movie in fact). Elisha's nips were popping out through her tight shirts during most of the scenes too, so I can't complain too much on the T & A factor here. Sounds like it was the theater itself that sucked for the movie which can ruin the experience, I had that same thing happen with School of Rock. Mostly all of the scenes I saw the boom mic above and it was generally not focused right on the screen, the bottom 1/5 or so of the picture was cut. I ended up bitching to them after and got a free admission for the next movie I went to up there.

Oh most definately - but in the same breath, if guys like Mantel and Jeff Jarrett are back on top of this committee, I can't right now see that as a good thing. My feelings on what they should do is have Jerry Jarrett being the main writer, with a committee below him of Mantel, Douglas, Borash, Carter, etc. NO Jeff Jarrett in creative PLEASE. Have Jerry Lynn at least run part of the X division, as I think he could lay out matches well in general. I say: Jarrett Sr., Douglas, and Carter book the main event, and D'Amore and Lynn book the X Division. Mantell sucks and I don't think Borash is useful for anything, much less booking. I don't care who books the tag team division as long as they don't just play favorites with AMW like its been for, oh, forever. That sounds good - if anything Mantel could run someting like the tag division perhaps? I dont think he has much value either but under a committee, much like Rhodes, he might be alright. I always liked his IWA stuff for the most part from what I've seen. Maybe have him run a HC division?

Oh most definately - but in the same breath, if guys like Mantel and Jeff Jarrett are back on top of this committee, I can't right now see that as a good thing. My feelings on what they should do is have Jerry Jarrett being the main writer, with a committee below him of Mantel, Douglas, Borash, Carter, etc. NO Jeff Jarrett in creative PLEASE. Have Jerry Lynn at least run part of the X division, as I think he could lay out matches well in general.

I picked it up today (Best Buy due to laziness in getting a better deal) and so far, its been great. I never saw the ppv itself and was there live, so this is a real trip to watch now. Came off fantastic on TV from what I've seen so far.

Until I hear who is all involved in this committee and how the structure of it really will be, I think this was a bad move as of right now. With a ppv coming up Sunday, now is not the time to change things up all of a sudden this drastically - even though I understand that something needs to be done with Rhodes. But I thought the TNA writing has been alright these past few Impacts finally, and Rhodes maybe had a chance to make something interesting out of the product. Oh well.

I think Crash is one of those movies that will take time to catch on, moreless word of mouth and such will be a positive for it and lead to it probably sticking around at least for another month or so in the top 10. This is kind of a bad time of the year for this to come out though and could completely get lost in the shuffle of summer blockbusters very soon. I bet it will prosper when it gets on DVD though for sure, and if this makes the Oscars (which is probably will) that might warrant a re-release or something

I think they should wait the week AFTER Judgment Day to do the draft, which would be in line with Calgary and whatever the location would be for Smackdown to host the draft shows (I think it should be split into both shows as that would generate a likely larger rating for both Raw and Smackdown that week). The shows right after Judgment Day can be, for Raw, the world title match from this tournament and then for Smackdown, just fallout from the ppv the Sunday before, with maybe some hotshotted rematches from it or whatever. If I was WWE, whatever the case, they should start promoting it NOW officially - the sooner the better.

I didnt even comment on whats TNA is doing right..... I think Impact since the last ppv has been pretty good overall week by week. The last two weeks have had ppv calibur type main event that went 15-20 minutes. Thats good. Having Ortiz in could be real good if done right. If he actually wrestles, that could gain some mainstream appeal or at least crossover from the MMA world. Alot of other stuff has been discussed already that I'd agree with.