RedJed

That whole JR line - "can you believe this!!" after Cena beats Murdoch (like that was supposed to be such a big deal?) was the best unintentional humor in weeks on this show. So we got Orton/Cena for sure at SummerSlam, still no Jackass angle (or even hinted about) yet, Umaga/Hardy feud continues (?), Lashley really doesnt advance anywhere post-GAB, and thats about the show? Kennedy/Hardy was a decent match, with that incredibly sickening looking botch by Jeff. I enjoyed the tag match w/ Londrick/WGTT also. Main event was just goofy shit that didnt need to be booked in the first place. Cody/Orton had a decent match, post-angle was predictable as hell but makes sense if they want to keep this Orton push strong.

I wonder what exactly the company wanted out of the ppv? It sure wasnt a huge home run, if you ask me. At best, a perfectly acceptable show that didnt have anything offensively bad, but not really overtly great either. Much like TNA's ppv last week, it was just there. Lashley v. Kennedy probably or something like that is upcoming *sigh* Or they rehash Umaga v. Lashley as a program, both equally retarded. Lashley's only real hope on saving face, to me, is a heel turn on Cena immediately. Otherwise a rematch would be about as bland as ever, IMO.

Flavor Flav gets a roast now? Da fuck???!!

Whats so fucked up about that was it actually had already started, if you go back and watch, I believe, the 11/24 Smackdown (really good overall show by the way) - it was still on my DVR and watched a bit of it last night, viewing Benoit-Finlay was pretty hard to sit through, but it got much weirder when they brought the "Guererro estate" angle into the fold on this show out of the blue in an segment with Benoit and Vicki. I dont know the details, but I think the angle may have gotten dropped the next week. Think back as well around this time period with the storylines that Benoit was being put through, accused of beating up Vicki, going into a very personal storyline with Chavo, that, now knowing how good of friends they were when they were doing this, must have been really fucked up for both of them (on this same show, Chavo attacks Benoit after his match and constantly browbeats him, saying "you're not a part of our family, you'll never be, etc, etc"), and then on top of it they were going to start a fictitional storyline on Benoit finding out Chavo and Vicki were "being shady" with Eddy's money. I'm certainly not blaming WWE for creating the monster Benoit obviously became, but quite the fucked up angles and storylines to be put in, not just for him but for all three of them, given Eddy just had died about a year before that, and Benoit particularly was still going through some tremendous greiving still, more than likely.

Either you are being sarcastic or you REALLY are the ultimate Smackdown fanboy.

Are they this low on ideas after the ppv to come up with this for a main event? Good god..... With that said, I can see some swerve and Lashley either replaces Candice or outright joins that team to make it a 3 on 3, and then turns on Cena, giving probably Umaga the win. Speaking of another turn, I think its almost too obvious of a Cody Rhodes turn and I think at this stage, its far premature. He seems to be relatively over well for a newcomer, and I honestly think Dusty himself would probably fight against a heel turn for him, at least now, like crazy. And he's probably be able to get the right people in the right places to understand it isnt the right time to do it. Down the road, an Orton/Cody tag team might be something, though.

I think they are at the stage now where they NEED some heels winning clean, though. Otherwise nobody takes them seriously, and there is no heat with them in the upper card against established babyfaces.

Totally in agreement there, I know I am beating a dead horse on this issue, but Raven is by far one of the most underutilized guys particularly on the roster and has been now for a long time. He may, physically, be a shell of his former self, but he can still go if he gets the chance TO go. And right now he's not even getting the airtime to do so. I dont know what the behind the scenes story is there, but he's treated as suc an afterthought with his faction in the storylines.

A thought on Orton and the chance of him beating Cena, presumably at SummerSlam..... I think it would send a HORRIBLE sign to the roster if he got the belt anytime soon for one thing (given all of the troubles he's had this year), and then just to put over HHH then in the process is equally ridiculous. Plus it is very mundane booking in the first place since Orton lost the belt to HHH last time as well. Regardling Lashley..... Even if they turn him heel, no way should he be getting the belt, the ECW run didnt do shit for him and he needs alot more development in the upper card before he gets taken that seriously. Regarding Booker.... I know alot of people have a hard-on for him around here, but can you actually dignify him in yet ANOTHER match with Cena in the first place? He certainly should not be the whipping boy for HHH either (as he will be at SS) but because of being put in roles like that now and before, his point of being taken seriously as a main champion again is lost, to me. He had his nice run on Smackdown, and that was his peak.

If its a given that HHH HAS to win back the title at Mania, I hate to say it, but you might as well just keep it on Cena until then, BUT turn the guy heel later in the year here, at least. If they think it out right, the guy can still sell tons of merchandise as a heel, if that is their only concern. This would be the perfect scenario to me - Cena loses it to HHH soon after SummerSlam but wins the belt back sooner or later after Cena, out of frustration of losing the belt, finally kind of snaps and turns heel (this title change back to Cena could be at the Rumble), and then goes to Mania to lose to babyface Kennedy (who wins the Rumble).

Either that or he got an injury and they rushed the finish, couldnt tell since my feed went out near the end of that match. If that was indeed the finish, I dont know how they are going to explain Punk gets yet ANOTHER shot at the belt at Summerslam, if thats the plan.

lol that was great, my sentiments exactly Same here. Saw most of the show via stream, and hardly anything stood out as memorable other than Kane chokeslamming Khali, and Cena with a top rope FU on Lashley. None of the matches even got to *** by my book, and everything was just booked very paint by numbers in a way. I would have liked to see the end of the show with a Lashley heel turn on Cena to change things up a bit creatively, but it is what it is I guess. Orton v. Cena at SummerSlam doesnt sound good at all to me. A heel turn on Raw tomorrow by Lashley and a rematch with Cena at SummerSlam would be way better.

Rhodes would have been capable to do a perfectly entertaining 20 minute brawl with Orton - seriously. They could have went into the crowd to start the match, around the ring to kill time, then brought it inside for the final 10. Did that match EVEN go 10 minutes? Uber dissapointing to say the least. Thank god I didnt order this, nothing has stood out to me as "must see" so far.

How did it end exactly? My feed is fucking up left and right here....

I cannot find a solid link for a stream at all - anyone having decent luck at all with any of these? I get nothing but choppy sound and video constantly.

somewhere in the park of 2-4 hours depending if there's Fight Nights or All Access specials, still though with the exception of TUF and Fight Nights, TNA outdraws UFC and really TNA is the only show that is on a weekly basis and not on a seasonal basis, all i'm sayin is that TNA deserves more love from Spike, i just seriously hope they jump to Fox How the network chooses to promote TNA, (by the way, TNA is promoted more then enough) doesn't change the true problems with TNA. Fox isn't going to change anything about TNA. All the promotion in the world means shit when the product is shit. Actually, to be fair to TNA and any other organization for that matter, my feeling is that you can have a ridiculously great product, but if the promoting/advertising of such product isnt done properly, people just arent going to tune in en masse. TNA has had bright spots with Impact on and off, and there certainly has been times in the company's history where the product was very strong. The glaring issue I have always seen is that they either have a really bad or non-existant marketing team in tact that really doesnt hit the right places to advertise their product properly.

How about Jericho as one of those names possible? It seems apparent he's gotta be back in the ring soon judging by his interviews, and hasn't even said where, just that when he comes back he wants to be a main guy, and TNA would be the place to be given that push. But since he was being very pro-WWE during his interviews, its hard to say. He probably doesnt even know himself, and is just playing both sides for the best deal. Also, apparently TNA has been courting Killings to come back, and almost is treating it as if he never left, even though he certainly did. Maybe a deal to get him back is a push as a main eventer again and/or a title run? Doubt TNA would agree to it anyway. For what it's worth, I would love Jericho, Lesnar, or even Ken Shamrock as whoever they were hinting at coming in. It seems interesting to me that they are going with what sounds a bit like a blowoff of Joe/Angle at the next ppv, meaning they might have something big for the main event at BFG, with one of those guys and whoever is this hint at a previous world champion coming in. Lesnar/Joe, for example, at BFG would be great, led from Angle/Lesnar at the Sept ppv (and seperately, Joe/Sting at the Sept ppv.) Missed the show but sounded like a weird one, a bit. I like the idea of the Duds turning heel, maybe they wont be the Duds so much anymore.

This is just one of those shows that really has nothing to really draw as "special" - I cannot stand either Cena or Lashley, that match sounds unbearably uninteresting to me. There really isn't a good finish to that one. Probably one of the worst sounding ppvs in years, to me. The undercard US/IC title matches sound bland and should (and have been) on the regular shows. Women's and CW title matches are filler to the max. Carlito v. Sandman is an extremely bland feud that doesnt need to be showcased on ppv. The world title matches all have zero to hardly ANY compelling story/program with the workers, although part of me likes Kane/Batista/Khali a hell of a lot better than the Batista/Khali and Edge/Kane lineup, but nonetheless, still very much uncompelling. Like someone said, the only match I can even see ppv worthy is Dusty v. Orton in a bullrope match, and thats a sad state of affairs. I wonder how different this card is, compared to the plan of action before the Benoit mess? I know there was talk this ppv was going to be the show that it would be revlealed who was behind the Vince death angle, so that may explain why it comes off so bland sounding on paper. A hookup to a live feed of the show would certainly be appreciated, I looked on Sopcast, and I dont think its going to be on there tonight like the TNA show was last weekend.

So does Cor Von still have a job or what? Thats all I'm wondering....

Hmmm well I was right on what the fuck they would do to build Joe/Angle up properly, if they were wading that out til BFG. Im actually glad they are going right away with this as I dont see any redeeming purpose in drawing out that match another 3 months anyway, especially if they could get someone much more drawing power for a BFG main event (which would definately take a guy like Lesnar or Goldberg brought in against Joe). Plus this will give Joe the three titles at once drawing factor (it HAS to) - I would then presume the tag titles and X division titles may go through a tournament scenario for the next ppv, or something, then. Sting taking a slam on broken glass? Why are they doing things like that so commonplace? I am shocked Sting is going with it to be honest.... I dont know what to make of the four way tag feud they are hinting at there, but it would still make for a decent ppv match, regardless. Steiners v. 3D, I think, may have enough interest to hold off until BFG, and glad to see them try something different with Dudleys and turn them heel, as they were clearly not being liked by any crowd hardly.

I'm still of the thought this is going to be one of the big summer bombs when all is said and done (not even as good in comparison to Almighty, probably pulling about 40-50 million total, if that). I wasn't looking forward to it even before I saw the trailer, as they held off way too long on another one, and Chan nor Tucker have been in ANYTHING successful since the previous one. Plus the trailer doesnt even make the film look that great. This will be a rental for sure, if that. And I actually did enjoy the other two Rush Hour films, but this just seems to be Rush Hour Extended Edition or something.

Apparently the plan is to run ppvs out of Orlando every month next year, or from BFG onward (couldnt remember what Meltzer reported in the Observer recently, it was one of the two) so that will help, but I do fear running the weekly show still out of Orlando constantly is going to create an issue with "same ole same ole" in a sense. Ideally, I wish TNA could tape a second show out of Orlando weekly (put it on syndication and also run it on channels like FSN, etc) on top of a main weekly show on a major cable network, from a different location each week. What amazes me is that I think, all things considered, they could easily run off the east coast with TV/ppvs, at least BREAK EVEN on these live events, you would think. That would, theoretically, be the same, if not better, than the Universal deal is. My impression, and might be wrong, is that they pay rent to be at Universal and also cannot charge for admission as well, so its really not that impressive of a deal other than a consistent staging & production convenience for the company.

When did he have all three at the same time though?

I found the rest of the ppv I missed online, the main event was actually better than I expected - ***, but the other two top matches were underwhelming to me, nothing to write home about. They did a post-show video on Youtube, with Joe interviewed, and then they air some footage of the Duds talking shit to the fans for giving them heat during the match, hopefully they try a heel turn on those guys as I am calling them the Duds for a reason. Also Russo was shown on camera during this video, in the ring and walks out at one point right behind the announcers.

He will be a face for awhile, I think. But rest assured, much like Flair, he will go back and forth on roles for a long time before he retires.