RedJed

I am just blown away by Grindhouse totally falling off the map this quickly. Went to it Friday afternoon and the theatre was actually packed, so figured it would jump this week in the numbers. Apparently not. With such a significant drop, it would be pointless to try to "re-release" the films seperately with additonal footage, as was suggested. Just blast out a kick ass DVD of both films (probably release them seperately then as DVDs to try to make up for some $$$ losses) and hope for the best. It's really too bad because I heard there was movement on making Don't and Thanksgiving as full features for a potential sequal, but that's gotta be impossible at this point. Aqua Teen not even cracking the top 12 doesnt shock me either - its a very specific niche market film, and the advertising wasnt really strong for it to begin with, and must imagine its on a smaller number of screens than the norm. I can't believe people flocked to Distrurbia - looks like an potentially "ok" film, but nothing to rush out and see for sure.

Thought it was a pretty fun show tonight to watch, hard to say how it rates as a show overall compared to other Manias though, plus this was the first Mania since 18 I saw at home versus live in person so it was a different experience than usual for me. Wish I would have went again. As good of a show as I expected. Generally speaking alot of the finishes in the undercard matches came out of nowhere, that would have been my biggest negative on the show overall. As before mentioned, the production on this show was just WHOA. Taker's entrance in particular was fucking top notch. MITB was good, right winner went over, crazy spots, hard work from most of them - cant really complain about this one at all other than I might have expected some big OMG spot with Punk and Kennedy at the end but still it worked fine. Khali-Kane was definately worst match of the night (or the women's match) but in both cases at least they were short and to the point. I enjoyed Benoit-MVP and fine with the time constraints on it as I'm sure more time will be given to them in what could be a hell of a program. BOTB was a mix of weird execution, botchiness, etc, but still was fun to watch, even if it was much like watching a car crash in some ways. Vince should scoop up Tara Conner though-she looked fine as hell tonight. Trump blew a surefire media video blitz spot with the stunner, but not sure how they could even send such sloppiness out to media outlets of that given how it turned out. What bothered me more about this than anything was that this really didnt help Lashley or Umaga much at all in the big scheme of things. Neither looked impressive during the match and ideally, the match itself should have been booked more as a street fight or something with weapons/props all over (well except ladders for obvious reasons) if you ask me. ECW match was pretty sad - surprised Van Dam went over though. Again, if the desicion was made for no weapons or props for Umaga/Lashley, they could have been used here gladly. Or at least a tornado rules style match in the least. The vignettes during the show were a mixed bag. The Trump/Boogeyman one was funny, dancing deal was alright, the Vince one was just plain odd. Taker-Batista - nothing can be said more than already has been --- a very solid match, dare I say Batista's best showing ever, even beyond the HHH matches. Cena/Michaels - I enjoyed a ton during those last 15 minutes. I gotta go with the consensus here about the BS with Cena not selling the knee though later in the match, that could have and should have been a factor in Cena maybe having issues applying the STFU completely, or at least Michaels trying to get out of the move by playing to that injury or something. I'm still waiting for someone to actually try to pin Cena when they are in that move simply by rolling Cena on his back when it's on. Thought it might happen tonight near the end there but nope. I wont lie - seeing Cena winning that match, albeit that it was an incredible match, in the exact same fashion as Mania 22 v. HHH was kind of a letdown to the end of the show though. I thought Michaels winning, a short celebration followed by Cena going full heel in "presenting" the belt to him would have been much more productive at the end though. This generated the same reaction as last year's Mania at the end, people were a bit ambivalant about it, but still were like "ok whatever" but two years in a row is a bit much.

Thing was......all of those shows were based in Nashville. Much like Lawler in Memphis, Jarrett is hot shit in that area, so of course he'll get over there. It's a different story when you are talking Orlando, at least long term. I will be very interested for the response to babyface Jeffy in St. Louis too.

Another spoiler...... Gee, thanks TNA. On a side note, I read the spoilers over at Observer site and the reporter made it sound like Jarrett ACTUALLY got a strong face response from the Orlando crowd, which I find hard to believe.

Damn Im shocked Hills Have Eyes didnt clear even the top 5.

Has anyone happen to just catch this on daytime TV or now apparently late night Saturdays? This is the cheesiest goddamn shit I've ever seen. They got some western gimmick tonight with all the hosts dressed up and the chicks have some dumb cowboy letting us know about every two minutes how to text message to try to win dough. From what I've seen, the only redeeming quality of this no-commercial lame "puzzles" show is a hostess named Erin who is one of the most beautifully sexy gals I've seen in quite some time. She's showing herself off damn well, dancing around, which I suppose is the whole point of having her on the show in the first place. Some of these callers they try to get to answer are hilarious too with their lack of able to communicate their answers. Normally I wouldnt comment nor even think about the ridiculousness of this show but I'm buzzed and bored and well, yeah.

He does dumb skits where he is doing knockoffs of certain movies basically, in fact half of the time they arent even skits more than just a "movie poster" with him in it. Very puzzling way to "get him over."

Definately a good episode, the ending didnt bother me nearly as much as some are saying here, as it will be interesting to see where they go from here with all of that. I dont think that was a vision of the smoke monster at all, but otherwise, I don't get it - but in this case, its a good thing.

The fight was off camera pretty much on the ppv, other than the crowd looking over near the area it was happening and a TNA chant after Harris roughed up the guy, that was about it.

Exactly. And I share the sentiments on the whole Joe thing - if they wanted to punish him, the Tomko job and tri-beatdown was more than enough.

Regardless of the final rating, I'm seeing this ASAP in the theater, its one of those films that the theater experience would be quite the trip, me thinks.

I dont think TMNT is going to beat Hills Have Eyes 2 this coming weekend for what its' worth.....hell I wouldnt be shocked to see 300 maybe win one more week, or at worst still be in the top 3-4. Weird side note on Norbit - not that I plan on seeing it or anything, but its been playing at the discount theater here for the last 2 to 3 weeks. Pretty odd they would throw a film that is still in the top 10 there. This same theater just finally dropped Casino Royale this past Friday, as an example of the fare they usually have. Saw that Dead Silence on Friday and was surprised - I admittedly had low expectations but it wasn't nearly as hokey or lame as I thought. The Jigsaw doll even makes a cameo in the background of one scene (since the Saw creator/director did this one).

Show was definately not too bad for recent Impact standards. I hope they stick with the AJ/Christian alliance (w/ Steiner, Tomko) long term, could be alright.

I certainly hope not - Christian/Jarrett with the roles reversed sounds even worst than the previous feud last year. They have to realize it won't draw and just turn the viewers off more, although nothing surprises me with this company lately. If they go that route immediately upon Jarrett's return, I've about had it. Jarrett as a face given credence to another world title run would have to be some impossible length of time I'm sure TNA will never allow, but I'd say keep Jarrett in the upper card for a good two year run as a PROVEN face before a thought is even considered to have him on top again. With all of the negatives the company is suffering right now, that would be the nail in the coffin for my TNA viewing habits if they rushed Jarrett back anywhere NEAR the title. Guys like Angle or Joe should certainly be the next in line, unless Jarrett (total speculation here) is playing politics and changed what I thought was a given with Samoa Joe winning at the ppv for his own agenda to winning it himself in a few months (maybe even May ppv). Let's hope not. The only really good start to bringing Jarrett back, as I mentioned, would be to be one of the guys in the King of the Mountain match in June. But not winning the match. Dare I say he should be the fall guy to make a point of what's right "for business." Nashville (if they have the June ppv there) will probably give him a nice pop from the live fans (that is the only place other than a few others around that area where I could confidently say that) and if he did the job too (say that Joe or Angle win this match) he'll likely garner at least a bit of respect from the more "smart" TNA fans - IE Orlando crew. But from there, I'd suggest JJ almost should pay some dues to gain such respect for a solid amount of time coming back in (they need top faces to put over more heels anyway, why not), as there is really not going to be any other option otherwise as creatively they won't be able to draw sympathy for him for shit. Jarrett is a case where there is/was legitimate heat/hatred in a sense where a significant part of the fanbase obviously knows he's the backbone of the company. Blame, by nature, falls on him and unless he's coming back to actually build the product and not continue to self-contain it, the fans will do nothing but shit on it. Like I said before, a face who almost has to "prove himself" for a good while is the only answer for his return, to be taken positively at least.

Who said he would win another KOTM match in the first place? Not me, I just suggested him just RETURNING to TNA for that match versus this nonsensical shit at Lockdown. Honestly, I still have enough faith in TNA that they wouldnt give Jarrett the belt again for a good while. *knock on wood*

Having Jarrett return at the ppv as a babyface is just yet another example of TNA really not really taking into account fan response. Anyway you slice it, the fanbase is going to shit on that unless they have a very creative way to establish him IMMEDIATELY as a BELIEVABLE face, and that promo after last year's BFG is the only thing they've done so far. If he shows up in Orlando for the next tapings, you know THAT crowd will let him hear it, and honestly, I dont see St. Louis being that much different in their reaction. If they were adament about having JJ return and as a face, a much much MUCH better idea would have been to hold him off til Slamiversary, which is rumored to be in Nashville, returning in the more than likely King of the Mountain main event on that show. Slow build him coming back with some compelling storyline, that would be the only way to make this work. The JJ deal at Lockdown just comes off rushed and with little to no reasoning behind it. Why in the fuck would Angle, Joe, Sting, etc want him on their team? It makes no sense as each of those guys were either feuding with JJ or interacting in some form with him right upon his departure.

Heading to the IMAX for this one soon........looking forward to the experience!

Holt shit indeed - that last segment was pretty well done, and the spot to end the show, well thats how you get viewers to watch the next week. I am in utter shock that I actually want to see Lashley/Umaga now after this and last night's stuff. Some mystery folks HAVE to be helping WWE in booking these shows right now - they are so solid, it's trippin me out. First ECW show in a long time that kept me watching from start to finish.

--The Wrestlemania III DVD out in two weeks features the complete original event (with Jesse Ventura's stuff left in), plus Randy Savage vs. George Steele from SNME, and lots of Steamboat & Savage interviews. Disc 2 includes the Saturday Night Main Event show that built up the show and Hogan, Steamboat and Andre interviews (thanks to Rob Bokon) I'm definately picking this up, it sounds great.

I'll admit it, I marked out for the Little Bastard DDT on Boogey - overall I liked the show tonight.

It's really too bad Rey won't be healthy by Mania time as I thought, after the angle tonight, I wouldn't mind seeing him against Umaga. It would give him a nice "mainstream" rub that would probably mean more than Lashley IMO. Honestly, over and above everyone, I'd love to see him in the spot, which shocks me since Im far from a Rey fan in the first place, but they built the sympathy card good there on the show. I'm also wishing it would be Foley instead of Lashley as well - you have a ready-made angle that would have been followed up upon if Foley returned to try to get back at Vince for "firing" him. Hell, take it a step further and squeeze Melina in there too for further backstory. I'd also love Benoit in the spot too, it would make little sense but could give the rub to Benoit to lead to him maybe doing a post-Mania feud with a heel Batista or something. I'd like nothing more than to see him back higher up on the card on SD and this would help that cause. Plus it would be US champ v. IC champ interpromotional. Absolutely huge longshot as well but the fantasy booker in me would love to see Jericho be brought back to face Umaga, but whatever.

The current plan in TNA is to bring in Doug Basham and Damaja (formerly Dany Basham) as a new heel tag team to be managed by Christy Hemme to fued with VKM. In the long run with her fued with VKM, Christy Hemme is expected to turn heel. The idea is that the male audience can't get a girl, and certainly not one that looks like Christy, so therefore they want to see women like her degraded with Kip representing the male audience. In Christy Tuxedo Match at Against All Odds, the idea was to get Kipp over as face and Christie as heel. Russo's original script called for BG to cover Christy up with a towel after she had stripped but BG refused saying that if VKM were to be faces, covering Christy up with a towel would turn them heels. Source: Wrestling Observer Thoughts on this? They should be a good team to have in TNA, I will say that much. The angle is the stupsz, though.

I really dont think the ppv schedule is THAT bad anymore ever since the brand split, although there is so much interpromotional stuff on most single brand ppvs, its kind of become ridiculous.

I may be blanking out on old villians, but whoever was talking to Mandy, I have no idea who this guy is. Definately wasn't Graham. He looks vagualy familiar from another season, but can't put my finger on it. Can anyone help?

I dont think they were ever able to determine WHO tried to kill Palmer on that attempt since he was shaking so many peoples' hands. Who was Mandy talking to on the phone then after she poisoned Palmer? I swear it was him....going to go look back on the DVDs to see who this in fact was.