RedJed

If you're going to go into a show already set that its not going to be good, well its probably likely it wont be. The opening match itself seemed to be better than expected given the fact that it has to be improvised somewhat because of the Candido injury and they made it not look so obvious they were doing so - I already said this. It, to me, was a little bit above average (which is ** 1/2) so I gave it ***, as I thought it accomplished alot in really getting Hoty over, be it intentional or not. To me a **** match is something definately worth checking out again and again to me, as the flow of it was tremendous and had unique spots like the four way submission, some spots off the top rope and cage, and a decent finish that didnt hurt Sabin at all. I dont know what you are referring to, but never seen any TNA X division match do a ***** although some others like the last Ultimate X I think I had at **** 1/2, much like Styles/Abyss. If Raven/Hardy was one of the dullest table matches you've seen, you must have not seen many before, as this was certainly not as good at most WWE TLC matches, for example, but most certainly above the radar of most table matches. Sure RR 00 was a great match too, probably about this same level to me, maybe going **** on that one. For the main event, it just seemed like they both had their working shoes on to the max. Those two always work together and they used alot of creativity in the match itself, not even getting into the cage for 10 minutes. Those spots on the cage door with Styles taking those stiff shots were certainly memorable. Tons of intensity along with some gimmicks here and there that just plain worked to me. Had the feeling of a 'big match' and honestly, yeah I will remember it! If you can't accept what I felt the matches were, thats fine - to each their own.

It might have, but there wasnt a large amount of speaking in the film in that it might not have mattered. So most might have assumed it was going to be in english. Hell, I didnt even know it was going to be subtitled at all going into it myself - the previews just showed the over the top action primarily and I was hooked.

Bigger question is - did you even see the show? And if so, what did you think? I love how people bash on my opinion when they can't even offer a really substantial one themselves.

Who says the person who did the results is a TNA fan? Yeah that review was from Wade Keller, and I dont think I would necessarily call him a "TNA fan" per-se. I thought the show was really good overall and as I expected, the booking was pretty iffy at best but the workers, in most cases, made a complete effort to bust their asses and make the matches creative. Rhodes should still be walking the plank after this show though, as a few of the finishes really baffled me such as Waltman pinning Brown. One thing I liked was that every match had decent time and nothing much was done in between matches for worthless filler material, such as stupid banter between Rhodes and the girls or Johnny Fairplay again, etc. The opener was actually not as bad as you would think with the Candido injury forcing them to improvise. They showed a replay of the injury later and it reminded me of the Sid Vicious deal, as his ankle flat out did almost a complete 90 degree break and it looked sick. I would guess the finish was something with Hoyt and Candido not being on the same page, as the Naturals for no reason whatsoever attacked Hoyt after the match and turned him face. This was a good way to turn Hoyt face strong in him taking on both Siaki and Apolo and faring well against them with Candido injured. Certainly not as bad of a match as I was thinking it was going to be *** Rhodes/Roode tried and had a pretty decent cage match for the first 2 falls, but the blindfold gimmick just wasnt going to work regardless. But the first 2/3 of the match was certainly acceptable material. ** 1/2 X division cage match was well done, I thought. Everyone worked hard and the spot with Trinity was certainly noteworthy. I'd like to see Sabin v. Shocker in a singles match now. **** Raven v. Hardy was a tremendous ECW style stuntfest with good HC action (compared to the six man Lethal Lockdown match which was crap HC action). Hardy, when motivated, can at least work a fun and very watchable garbage match. Hope this feud continues *** 3/4 The X division match and tag title matches were ok but I dont know, something was missing here - probably though ridiculous high spots off the cage that made you go WOW. I think there was alot of expectations for these from the quality tag cage match from Dec and it was impossible to accomplish. *** 1/4 Lethal Lockdown match was pretty weak overall. It just seemed to showcase all of the guys in TNA that I really dont want to see together in one ring. The BG James/Outlaw thing is getting old, just turn him already. Brown was looking tremendous in there and then they had to pull that crap and put Waltman over him. Waltman, by the way, did NOT look good at all, dare I say half drunk acting. ** Main event was great stuff, not sure if I want Styles-Jarrett again but here we go. **** 1/2

They just had Quartermaine juice in the preshow match w/ him and David Young v. 3Lk v. Naturals, obviously to continue to promote the violence factor for the ppv.

I just saw Kung Fu Hustle today and definately recommend checking it out. Lots of great action with and without CGI influence, but overall a really great story on top and heaps of laughs. Reminded me of Shaun of the Dead only with the fung fu genre as a backdrop instead of zombie horror. Glad to see it crack the top 5 for sure...

Countdown show has Douglas and Borash really first and foremost promoting that this is going to be a very violent and "barbaric" night of action, we'll see....I could see a very strong ECW feel of an overall product for at least tonight. Lots of hard workers trying to make matches sounding bad on paper good by being creative. In fact to be honest if you take the cage gimmick off this, this card sounded very good on paper.

I'm probably in the minority, but after first hearing the all cage ppv and being against it, this could be good - given all of the heat Rhodes has been getting lately, it's do or die for him here. Time will tell but all I know is I am lookin forward to it tonight!

They would have to slow build Hardy getting the title, in fact I would wait at least 6 months after he would show up in TNA to do so. Jarrett against anyone is not going to draw and TNA doesnt have the time to have Jarrett holding this title much past May (at the very latest, he needs to give up the belt at the Anniversary show). Making people take notice in TNA BEFORE Hardy does a chase for the title would make much more sense in my eyes as even though he is a fresh character, I can't see him really drawing in the fans until they get through a Hardy Boys reunion for at least a few months and then move towards bigger and better things for each Hardy. Matt could go for the world title and Jeff could aim for the X division title. I'm more than anything basing things from Jeff's feud with Jarrett that didnt really draw interest at all. I can't see it being any different with Matt. With good booking Matt can be a draw in 2-3 months after a TNA debut though, and if paired off against the right guy (Brown, Hardy, or someone like that) in a title chase, that might very well work.

Yeah the Hardys v. NAO, Outsiders, hell even Team Canada or a heel AMW would probably draw if done in NC. These are things about TNA that baffle me in that they dont take a chance and go somewhere beyond Orlando - I dont know if they pay rent for the building or what in Orlando but isnt taking a chance and going somewhere else, even if you only draw 500-1000 a plus and adds revenue v. running FREE ppvs for the fans in Orlando? Or at least run an actual arena in Florida, like Ft Lauderdale (ECW and MLW used to run shows there) and hope that from the people who saw TNA live in Orlando that you could draw a suitable crowd (which I truly believe they could do)? Wasnt Shane Douglas going to promote a TNA show in Pittsburgh? That might work too if they did an angle that got Shane back wrestling in a TNA ring for a one shot deal, against a guy like Jarrett maybe - I never have gotten why they never followed up with a face Jarrett v. a heel Douglas for the NWA title, this was the same title that Douglas threw down and formed the ECW extreme days from. But yeah it baffles me why TNA wont take a chance in expanding their live events to different areas. They might be surprised at the turnout in some instances, that is if shows out of Orlando were promoted properly.

Well at least July 17 will allow both Rhino and Hardy to appear on that show, but I wish it wasnt in f'n Orlando still. How can they guarantee that if they have not yet made a new deal with Universal though? In fact how can they even guarantee the June ppv being there if their lease expires early June? If they were smart, they would try North/South Carolina for the TNA July ppv with a Hardy Boys reunion on the show. That might very well draw a good PAID crowd. Another spot TNA should consider trying out in Canada for a ppv. I think they might get a decent turnout up there and the whole Team Canada faction would probably be a major hit.

You will definately need a cable/satellite reciever and/or an over the air antenna. The reciever would likely provide more HD channels than the OA antenna, but if you are within a large populated market and have local broadcast channels that you could get just as easy over the air, then your antenna would probably pick those up pretty good and you wouldnt have to pay anything other than the price of the antenna, which I think runs pretty cheap, maybe $100 or so. The antennas they make to pick up HD are better than a normal "rabbit ear" antenna I believe, so keep that in mind. Normally, cable providers try to provide customers with as much of the HD broadcast channels as possible, and then also add a handful of unique cable channels that are in HD. For example, HDNet, HDMovies (Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban owns both of these), Discovery Channel HD Theatre, UniversalHD (which shows alot of shows in HD from Bravo, USA Network, etc) and TNT. Not alot of cable channels are in HD yet though so the selection is certainly limited at this point - I think even the largest markets like Los Angeles only has about a dozen HD channels total. Satellite dishes usually just offer the limited cable channels that are in HD that I have already mentioned and not normally the broadcast ones. DirecTV offers NBC and FOX though I believe in certain markets, and Dish Network (which I have) offers zero broadcast channels except CBS in certain limited markets, and if you want that channel, you literally have to install another dish pointing in another direction. So thats kind of a pain. On a side note, alot of cable providers "downgrade" the HD signal to fit as much as they can in HD on their limited bandwidths. So in some cases that isnt even "true HD". The satellite companies traditonally dont do this, but there is some instances as well. So research up before you make the decision where to go to get your HD. My suggestion is that if you live in a small market where you can't pick up the broadcast channels over the air, cable for HD is traditonally better, but not if the company is downgrading their signal obviously. If you live in a big city and get all of the HD broadcasts over the air, then just go with satellite additionally to get all of your other channels offered just like cable, but then the extra HD stuff. HD channels are totally seperate channels from your standard defiinition channels, so for instance NBC might be channel 2 - well NBC HD might be on channel 2000 or whatever. Different providers have different ways of where they put the HD but traditionally they are usually on a different "tier."

Kanyon would be perfect, that would be my pick since they could then move him down to the X division post-ppv or in a nice midcard feud against a guy like Monte Brown, who I bet he would make look like a million bucks.

Cut and pasted from another thread.. Can we be so lucky to NOT have Nash on this ppv? That opens up a barrage of possibilities for a replacement. They could do something with Brown changing sides during the ppv or something although that turn here might be rushed. Or else I would imagine a replacement might be either BG James or Killings perhaps. This would be a good time to do the James heel turn to side with Gunn. A better idea would be to just debut a new or returning star - Dlo Brown comes to mind. I dont think Scott Hall is in good enough shape to be Nash's replacement, but that would be another possibility.

Monte Brown should be special ref for that match, leading to Jarrett retaining and then you build to Brown v. Jarrett at the Anniversary ppv. It just makes sense, do the face turn in the post-match or something. July ppv would obviously be the perfect time to debut not just Hardy but Rhino as well. I think its legal but couldnt TNA advertise a Hardy Boys reunion against some tag team at the July ppv even if Matt cant start til July 11 or whatever the date is? Rhino would be best as doing a run-in after Brown would defeat Jarrett in a rematch from the June ppv (which Brown would win the title). That three way six man on the preshow sounds like they should have taken out the jobber team and had that six man in the cage instead of f'n Hoyt v. Apolo, those matches should have been flip flopped. Who the fuck is Jamie D?!!

Dutt as the replacement sounds just fine to me. I think they let Amazing Red go - I dont think he's been wrestling alot lately, is he injured again? But I know TNA wasnt as high on him as they used to be as his injuries turned against him and it really affected his workrate. Can we be so lucky to NOT have Nash on this ppv? That opens up a barrage of possibilities for a replacement. They could do something with Brown changing sides during the ppv or something although that turn might be rushed. Or else I would imagine a replacement might be either BG James or Killings perhaps.

Either Omaha or Green Bay, I just may have to get tickets for whatever show the draft ends up on.....

Yeah, I just wish Jarrett would be a solid upper mid carder and left at that. It's like we already have one champion in US wrestling with basically the same story as Jarrett in HHH, why does TNA first and foremost think it will be a draw to copy from the HHH formula which only serves to bury talent (this is a rhetorical question) and then furthermore have the role served to a guy who has NEVER truly drawn a sizable amount of interest as a main eventer. I understand that TNA feels its smart to have a long term world champion with some name value, but for it to be Jeff is not the answer. I look at it this way, he's had the belt for 10 months now - they are still not nearing profitability, the time is up and the Jarrett as champ idea needs to be dropped - time to move on. Jarrett's name holds about the same ground as having a guy like Nash as champion (which would be equally bad if not maybe even worse) - sure, they are known name to wrestling fans, but they arent equated with the right name value - having runs in the dying days of WCW is probably the biggest negative against guys like Jarrett and Nash and always will be. Jerry was smart in the initial stages of TNA in recognizing that the fanbase would 1) pretty much know that they - Jeff and Jerry - are running the company and as such 2) Jerry knew its not smart to push Jeff down the throats of the fans. Where that vision was lost in years past baffles me. In Jerry's book on the development of TNA, he seemed to have butted heads pretty hard with Jeff nearing the end of the book, which was timelined almost during the entire 2002 year. Ironically that was when Jeff began his first run as NWA champ. Coincidence? I doubt it. Jerry, from the stories I heard, kind of fell out of grace with the TNA vision when Russo started getting nutty and Panda took more control also. When Mantel was hired, I think Jerry was all but null and void in TNA and was working more on other things. Hell, even when they moved to Orlando, I dont think he was very involved. He didnt like how Jeff was running the company and also how he was at the same time doing the only thing Jerry didnt want Jeff to do when they bought the company - push himself to the moon while making everyone else secondary by a long shot. Sorry, got a little off topic there - point trying to be made is that even his own father realizes the reality of Jeff as a lack of a draw v. what Jeff and others thinks he is.

Just saying that adds zero credibility to all of these arguments you are trying to disprove or fight against. No need to prove this guy wrong anymore, MikeSC, it's more of a running joke now on his replies, saying things like it's "fact" that Jarrett is a "world class champ." If he was, first and foremost, TNA would be a profitable company ever since June of last year. Hell, I think even Jerry Jarrett himself wouldnt agree with that "world class champ" statement!

Wouldnt it be OPINION that Jarrett is a world class champion?

Supposedly, there hasnt been any weird moments since the Lutz family moved out, which begs the question if they are lying or not. Their reasoning when questioned on this is that they "brought the horror with them" when they left, as they claimed to have had major problems after they left the house and finally had some sort of exorcism done a few years after living at Ocean Avenue which "cured" them.

It's more than a penetration issue, it's a question of whether the target audience is ever inclined to flip to that station in the first place. Exactly - WGN is such an "eh" station (except the Cubs, its was more worthless than a TBS or something) most certainly not catered to wrestling fans. In fact if they go to WGN I question their gameplan to even make known that they are on a channel like WGN, much less people remember if they hear it. Its like that RPW league getting airtime on a channel like f'n PAX - they are going nowhere on that channel yet getting Impact-level numbers on their FSN slot (and what does that say about TNA unfortunately?). The station isnt associated in any fashion with anything wrestling in the past except an old NWA syndicated show in the 80s/early 90s. Like I said they would be better off on a place like FX or Spike - if they are going to bother with WGN (wasnt they going to do this before they got the FSN deal?) they are just continuing to waste $$$ on presenting a show that is almost impossible to generate ratings on such low rate "networks" that are hard to consider "target market" channels for an person already familiar with wrestling on the station. Spike, even at a weird timeslot, would be the best way to get this company rolling while FX would work too since I think those Toughman contests did well on the station in a Sat night slot. Do the same with TNA, why not?

Wow - I was never really into Christian too much before he did a great job tonight. Been a solid midcarder but tonight that promo put him on a different level. This guy might be going somewhere in 3-4 months! He made me interested in him against Cena which I didnt think was possible.

Was I seeing things or was HHH blading JR himself? Ross bladed and barely got any color, so HHH tagged him in the head with the gig a few times when he was punching him while Ross was on his knees about 2-3 minutes til the finish. Did anyone else see this?!! F'n weird stuff there if thats the case

Why the WWE didnt advertise Hogan's appearance on RAW ahead of time other than just hours before the show tonight baffles me.