RedJed

The ironic thing is that when they started on FSN, they made a point to have all of those same guys (Styles, AMW, JJ) with the same titles as well for the debut show, I believe. If anything it was just a part of the contract TNA themselves probably "promised" them as TNA felt they were their core draws/stars to the network. More probably just a spoken guarantee Jarrett gave to those guys throughout the years perhaps, as "company guys"

Just to your last part, Jearan, I can, with clear certainty, give you just a few reasons why I didn't enjoy this ppv completely, even going to far as saying I wouldn't mind a refund. 1) They have a match that is supposed to determine who gets title shots and who gets fired. I paid $30 for this show, and part of me ordering was wondering how this match was going to go, but more than that, who would get the shots and who would get fired. Turned out I didnt even have to order this show for that second part. So it was a bait and switch, trying to promote their TV show that gets WAY more viewers each week than who is getting the ppvs. It makes no sense, you can pretty much state as fact that damn near everyone who watches Impact gets the ppvs, so why piss on the loyal ppv viewers by not giving them that complete payoff on the ppv? It's an insult to longtime TNA viewers (like myself) especially. 2) The whole ending of the show. I didnt even mind that Hall wasn't there and no-showed, as long as it was followed up upon propertly. The Joe promo was going somewhere but then the really phoned in ringwork from just about everyone in that "main event" and having one of those guys being Eric Young (ironically the only guy who DIDNT phone it in) just gave the end of the show a really unsatisfied feeling. In the very least, they could have had Joe and Nash do a brawl angle at the end or something? And if there was a knock there about "being desensitized to violence" in that is was why some didnt like the show, consider this event also was marketed as some ultra violent blood fest of a ppv. Instead we got a really lame version of a "tacks match" that consisted of two unmemorable spots. Considering the promotion that was given to that match being out of this world hardcore or something, it's lucky I even gave it ** at best. But I don't think that makes US desensitized to violence, its just that when you prop a match up as being significant, it needs to deliver and that one didn't even come close. And give me a break, but this is far from the most shocking event in pro wrestling in 07. Things like the Jimmy Jacobs Age of the Fall promo in ROH, Vince's limo blowing up, the whole Benoit fiasco, off the top of my head are more shocking than this. In fact, TNA themselves have even had more groundbreaking/shocking moments this year than this.

How hot is TSM that we have TNA representatives posting here? Someone ban this guy, stat. As far as the PPV goes, the only thing I cared about was Kim/Kong, and I dunno how I feel. I mean, Kong came off as a monster, especially at the end, but it's been a couple months now and I'd like to have seen the title change. I think the money's in the chase, and you definitely could have done this finish at the next PPV with Kong as champ. But, we'll see where it goes. I still have faith. I swear to god it was Russo posting there. Yeah, there is DEFINATE strength in lengthening the Kim/Kong feud. TNA did the right thing tonight (which is rare to see) with all of that, and I'm sure we'll see Kim against Kong here at the next ppv, with Kong then going over. Considering this was the first world title match Kong had, I'm fine how this went, they madeup for the copout DQ finish by having Kong kick all kinds of ass after the finish.

To each their own, but Hall no-showing wasnt groundbreaking TV for me, nor did it make it anywhere close to a good ppv for me. Dare I say I almost expected it, so it wasn't "shocking" in any form, really. More than anything, it just annoyed me, and then when they followed up with Eric Young as the replacement, it just deflated any impact "making a good situation out of a bad" could have been. I dont expect a rehash of New Blood/Millionares feud from WCW, however I have a small amount of faith that TNA will wake the fuck up after this and start pushing the homegrown talent more, in particularly bringing some prominence back to the X division after the Dudley Boys feud. Meltzer, on the LAW radio show tonight, suggested that maybe Hall demanded more money to come in last minute or something.

Hall wouldnt have been buried so bad if it was a work. See how they handled the Rhino issue, it appears he may legit be hurt after his Impact match w/ Rellik as he took a stiff kick in the head (which they showed) but on Impact, after that spot, he went out of the ring unexpectedly and sold that shot a hell of a long time. So he probably is legit injured. And Hall legit no-showed (as said before, evident by Karen saying she saw Joe talk to Hall and Nash earlier). Now what is probably a work is: 1) The interaction with Joe and Nash, for the most part. I think the storyline of the match was going to be that Joe had heat with Hall and Nash anyway. Nash is probably pretty legit annoyed, yet concerned at Hall not being there, though. He clearly wasn't "feeling" the match or the pre-match promo by Joe. I wouldnt be shocked that regardless if Hall was there or not, there was a plan in tact for Nash v. Joe. 2) To a degree, the Joe promo. I think most stuff was probably approved ahead of time, and Young as the partner was something I think the bookers would have approved ahead of time, thinking he's such a fan favorite that it would deliver. The thing TNA doesnt get, though, is that Eric Young is a guy the fans just don't take seriously. He's a comedy figure.

Just because it really was the only really stand-out part of this show other than Kim/Kong, here is a synopsis on Joe's promo before the "main event" - from pwtorch.com The heels came to the ring first, then Nash, then Joe. Joe took a while to come out as his music played. Tenay and West wondered if it was a mind game or if he was looking for a partner. Joe said backstage he was told to come out there because the fans trust him. He said Hall no-showed the event tonight. He said he'd love to tell them that he would be walking to the ring later tonight, but the truth is he "punked out on me and on every single fan in this building tonight." Joe said he considered going two-on-three and making the best of it, but then he realized he just got a live mic on PPV, so he wanted to get something off his back. He said there are TNA die-hards who bust their asses for the fans every week and there are superstars who think they come and do whatever they want, however they feel like it. He said there are superstars who screw the hard-working guys of TNA and the fans, too. He looked at Nash, who stood in the corner and listened with body language that said he wasn't into it. Joe said TNA is the wrestlers who show up and bust their butts for the fans. "Scott Hall, chico, kiss my ass, you punked out and you're a punk," said Joe. He looked over at Nash. Then he lookd out of the ring and asked someone if they were mad. He said, "Go ahead and fire me, I don't care." Joe said they were going to try call someone to be his partner. He said he didn't want someone from the outside because they've got everybody they needed already in the back. He said when he asked if anyone wanted to team with him, all of the X guys stood up. Joe said there was one wrestler, bloody and battered, who will show up even when old and broken down. He then called for Eric Young. Huh? --------- Honestly, the only stuff I fully enjoyed in this show was both women's matches. The women's tag was ridiculous comedy at times, but I did like the idea of teaming the two blondes regularly. The women's title match was not the greatest match ever, but the crowd made it that much more fun, and Kong was booked pretty damn well.

What about Kaz? Or Lethal? Matt Morgan? Hell, how crazy would it have been to have Awesome Kong been the person he calls out? Shit, what about Christopher Daniels or Chris Harris? Sure, they are heels, but the context of the promo meant it really didnt matter if it was a heel or a face in the big scheme of things. They had other (and more interesting) options than Young, even when you consider "young and hungry" performers.

I think it had to be real, because they would have had a much better plan than having Eric f'n Young as the new guy if it wasn't. Although, if they end up keeping Nash around (which judging by the way he acted, is questionable at best) they could so easily manuever a Nash/Joe match from this mess.

Well it was easily TNA's worst ppv of the year, I will say that much. Their hands were tied a bit with the main event, but that should have been an excuse to really do something out of left field to at least make the last part of the show come off somewhat memorable. As I said before, as much as I am not a fan of his, having JJ make an appearance as the new partner would have at least been a bit of a surprise. But at least Joe went over (although it was over Tomko, who doesnt really mean much), who knows what the original finish of that match was before the Hall no-show. Probably Nash over Angle or some shit. With the women's match at ***, that was MOTN.

Joe pins Tomko after a muscle buster. Most phoned in, underwhelming, lackluster, and just boring TNA ppv main event EVER. Nash immediately leaves the ring after the match while Young and Joe celebrate in the ring to end the ppv. I can't tell if they are playing on a Nash/Joe match down the road or if, because of the Hall no-show, which led to the interesting promo by Joe, including legit shots digged AT Nash, that Nash is legitimately pissed off. What a waste of money this was. While it was clear Hall no-showed, I wonder what the deal was with Rhino.

Yeah he was making shots at Angle too, such as "guys profiting for their own benefit", etc. A dig at Angle for getting Karen on the payroll? Not that I don't think Eric Young is a hard worker and everything, but having him in this match is just way weird. I feel like I'm watching Impact right now.

Joe is "shooting" in the ring on TNA politics and burying Hall. Digging into Nash like crazy as well. I would guess because Nash probably fought to get Hall back and in and vouched for him a bit. Whether its scripted or not, its good. Nash looks pissed off though. Then out of the blue, he announces Eric Young as the new teammate. WTF?!!! I thought for sure we would see Jarrett be the third man, just to make up for Hall's no show. Guess not. Other than the women's title match, this show has been pretty fucking weak to say the least. A refund for paying for this show, in theory, would be nice.

Hall is apparently not going to be there, Nash and Joe are arguing like crazy before the match. If Hall no-showed, give me a break. Could still just be a swerve of sorts.

The tacks match was about as paint by numbers as you get. Nothing really impressed me, finish was what you would expect with Abyss putting his finisher on Rellik on some tacks in the middle of the ring. Other than one other bump by Black Rhein on a table of tacks, that was all for the stip. I've seen other Abyss matches WITHOUT this stip have way more tacks, table bumps, etc, than this. ** at best.

I think its complete bullshit for them to do that shit on ppv, just to try to get people to tune into Impact. Don't they get it, many MANY more people are watching Impact than the ppvs, so shouldnt their job be to sell the ppvs and not have the ppvs sell the show? Its back asswards thinking at its finest. Raven is brought in to be Abyss's partner in about the most "who cares" fashion. Oh and Kong/Kim was pretty damn awesome, the crowd was really REALLY heated. Post match was well done with Kong just dominating everyone. Smart booking here to keep this feud going, and going hot.

Steiner got the fourth case. So the four who got cases were Petey Williams, Senshi, BG James, and Steiner. Really odd match but some ok spots here and there, moreless was a handful of guys in the ring most of the time, and the rest were working outside the ring against each other. Probably could have been worse, but it still was pretty weird and really stupid. Nothing that really was memorable here. Kong v. Kim next...

Guys in the battle royal thing - XXX, Sonjay Dutt, Shark Boy, Rave, Hoyt, Chris Harris, VKM, LAX, and Scott Steiner. Harris is playing heel before the match starts bitching at the announcers about something. He's also getting heat for refusing to even participate in the match because of the risk of being fired. Tenay and West are ripping on him alot for having no cahones. Apparently, and this is just from how the match has started, there is NO over the top battle royal rules at all, nobody really gets eliminated. You just need to grab one of the cases (padlocked on poles on each corner of the ring) and then drop to the floor for you to "win" the case. Big fucking BS swerve, we'll know what four guys get the cases in this match, but they wont open the cases up to see what they have inside until Impact on Thursday. Arrrg.... Petey Williams just got a case so he's one of the four. Kip James (looking as gay as ever) got a case from the pole, got cornered in the ring and threw it outside to BG James, so James is number two. Senshi just got the third one.

Yup, nothing special so far. They already had the tables match (** 3/4), a women's tag (** 1/4, Velvet Sky is HOT) and Storm/Young (**) and now are about to do the Feast or Fire match here. Should be interesting - still no specific rules announced yet. Rhino was taken out of the tacks match (they played it up like it was from being laid out on Impact, but thinking there is something else here than that) so Abyss is going to have a mystery partner in that match. Also, its probably just storyline but they are saying Scott Hall isnt at the show yet.

What was the book's ending? Just saw it today and quite the film, was paced real good, some strong performances too, and yeah, that ending, WHOA. I didn't really know much of the story beforehand, so was pretty blown away by the creatures in the film.

Yeah it seemed like Raven was possibly going to be the main man against Jarrett with all that Jackie BS, that seemed to suggest Jackie and Raven would align, she would tell him about her secret (whatever it was) and that would lead to Raven/Jarrett again. Man, if Raven ever leaves TNA (and surprised he hasnt already) I would love to hear him do a shoot on the company.

WWE must own the theme or something. His music used in WCW/WWE was never duplicated on commercial DVD releases (I believe) or video games either, so that may have had something to do with it. All in all though, I like his theme in TNA - its close to the original.

Yeah, I was pretty upset about it all myself - that was the single most point where I thought (and until this point I had complete faith in the product) that TNA really is just as bad in holding down talent as WWE has/had been. Yeah, the whole Raven/Jarrett super duper mini feud in 05 was a fucking joke. AGAIN, Raven does the job to JJ, when he was pretty damn over as champion. To make it even worse, AGAIN, there is no followup on Raven/Jarrett really after Raven lost in Canada to him. It just made no sense.

They certainly didn't mention how after "babyface" Jarrett pinned "heel" Raven in their big match, the fans loved it so much that they pelted the ring with garbage. Yeah they talked about how the build was so strong (which it was) that they turned tons away from the Asylum that night, and then someone (may have been JJ himself) elaborated on how well laid out the match was and that "it delivered" or something close to those lines. They then interview Raven and he compliments the build but throws out there that damn near everyone wanted him to win that match, and that was kind of the final word from him. Shocked that comment even made it in the DVD, actually. Internally, that whole feud HAD to have generated a ton of politics as the feud was never followed up upon really afterwards other than Styles being thrown into the mix and then AJ wins the belt from JJ. Raven continued to be extremely over that entire year, and he got at least one more title shot (against Styles) which again saw him get the shaft. For whatever reason (I'd call it fear of a certain someone losing that top stop as the head babyface) Raven was clearly held down to a level in 03 there.

Yeah, I just got it this week, overall I was kind of let down. They elaborated on parts of the year that I expected, but really didn't cover alot of the actual booking of that year's show as a whole and more took certain elements they thought was strong from that year (such as Raven/Jarrett) and covered it a bit, but not enough to my liking. The majority of the documentary was just how TNA was a small little "family" that made it through year one, and that was about the bottom line. Definately alot of spinning of things, and it was weird to not have Jerry hardly mentioned at all. It was as weird, I thought, that Russo wasnt really given much mention at all, nor was even interviewed at all. All in all, there was some stuff I found interesting (just general stories about this and that) but overall, I was let down. I would like to see them do this for year after year of TNA, though, as the concept has potential but they just need to refine it a bit, and definately be leery of how WWE has done alot of the same spinning of situations as they have done with this documentary. I guess I expected more of a humble approach from the company regarding their first year and instead it was your typical "thinking inside the box" stuff one would expect from a wrestling company.

My guess is its battle royal over the top rope style where once its down to four of them, they all fight for the boxes? For all we know, the boxes might be named what is in them. All in all though, one of the most clusterfuck ideas the company has had and thats saying something!