RedJed

Exactly, especially on your last point. That match, in theory, should have been able to showcase and get over ALL of the six guys in there, but ESPECIALLY guys who you have to protect to some extent to build for the future of the company (is that an oxymoron statement at the current rate it is going though?). Van Dam clearly is not positioned the same he once was, and whatever the reasons behind it, its stupid because he is over and the fans want to see him continue to be over. The same goes for Punk and the same goes for Sabu. The Punk treatment more than anything bothered me. Regarding the timing of the ppv going off, my only plausable guess on what the fuck was the deal there is that they gave 15-20 minutes possibly for Sandman-Holly originally or with losing Al Snow as well for a match, they lost a few matches on the card overall and just didnt bother to change the times of the matches already booked before the change was made to go with Holly in the EC and/or Snow not being able to make it for that match. Meaning whatever the case the company REALLY doesnt care about the product or its viewers of such product. If there was a full show originally booked and you had to make changes, you still should go the full allotted time originally one way or another.

Well, if it means anything the Smackdown PPVs this year have all been pretty good, although Armageddon traditionally stinks and the card looks the weakest for a SD PPV in a while. Personally, I think anybody who purchased Survivor Series or D2D after knowing what the cards were got what they deserved. First, no way I'm ordering either Armageddon or NYR - Rumble might be a stretch as well but maybe for $5 I would, same with the major other shows, Mania, SummerSlam, etc. But I'm done ordering any shows outright for the full price - its either $5 with others throwing money in or else they're not worth it anymore. These past two shows just ruined it for me, and I've had little issues throwing down on most ppvs for well over ten years. And to be fair, Survivor Series had a TON of potential on paper. With DTD, I expected the book to be given almost outright to Heyman since they hadnt booked the rest of the card anyway, liked they didnt care about it, so figured Heyman could be given free reign to book a mishmosh of entertainment, like some older ECW ppvs were booked. When that was clear Heyman had little to do with the creative on this show, it had no chance.

Plus add the fact they quoted Burke saying the exact same shit Heyman said during his promo on the ppv last night too. It also was kind of oddly strange in a worked sense that Heyman was shown crying last night for no apparent reason but for Show losing? Seemed out of place and made me think the company already had something up their sleeve as recently as last night to work something with Heyman into the product. For all we know the meeting went well with Vince, Heyman spoke up, was heard, and is getting more creative freedom back and this is just some goofy start for Heyman back in power. And/or him coming back as a rogue outsider of sorts leading the disenfranchised "Original" guys on the roster like Van Dam, Sabu, Sandman, etc for the "power of the company" might be their idea what to do with Heyman with Show having to leave. The timing of it all makes it very suspicious to say the least though, and makes me want to believe its not a work. I mean that show last night was not just bad but brutal, and knowing Heyman's legit passion for the brand, its very concievable this is legit.

Ok follow up to the ppv but anything would have been a step up from Sunday in any regard.

I cannot believe I have given WWE $80 in the last week for two shows that were, from top to bottom, basically complete wastes of time. Normally I can find a silver lining to a dark cloud on most middle of the road to even mostly bad shows, but SS and this show tonight were both just horribly executed I dont really know where to begin. But ending a show with 40 minutes they still could have used is a start.... Justifying even spending $10 on the ppv tonight, in retrospect, would have been too much. The opener was ok, but not very well put together from top to bottom. The rest of the undercard was boring and thrown together to the MAX. Back in the days of the old ECW ppvs, Heyman would at least give the thrown together mishmost of matches some fun semblance of entertainment. But this was atrocious. Most significant storyline from the undercard is Mike Knox walking out on Kelly - ugh! There is ZERO upward hope for this company now more than ever after tonight, which leads me to the biggest fuckup of a main event on ppv in a long time. First -- if they knew they were going to have this much time to kill, and they HAD to have known this, why didnt the EC match just go longer? Guys like RVD and Punk would have/could have gotten a nice rub if they werent booked to look so inept in this one. To kill off any official "undefeated" streak for Punk in such a lakadasical manner as it was done just pissed me off. There is and should have been some thought on how to at least protect him in this match, and instead the complete opposite happened. Van Dam's legs have been almost cut completely, which seems to be the intention. Test worked hard for when he was in, but to see him in here looking so dominant over others was just hard to watch, sans with Holly (who did as much of a phoned in shot in this match as you can get, but I dont blame him). Lashley just isnt ready for this either, hell, he's still learning to just pace himself and look fluid in a normal match - the crowd reaction for him said it all. This is going to be Cena like reactions all over again with this run unless he goes heel immediately. As for Show, probably the less he does the better and he was really blown off here by the way he didnt even work the match more than a few minutes, got his ass kicked hard, and jobbed on the way out clean. But I guess if he's going to be gone for a good while, why not, but just wish it was at the expense of producing something worthwhile from that long title reign. I have never in all my years felt so ripped off from a show than tonight, and SS was definately nothing too inspiring either.

Fuck, I can't find this anywhere near where I live in MN. Even some Best Buys in the Twin Cities have all copies unavaliable yet, or already sold what they had. Where is the best deal online for this? I just got the Piper DVD and will post some thoughts on it after viewing....

Wrestling quality, from top to bottom this was probably the best Smackdown this year, as far as I've seen so far. Not sure about best free tv show of the year though I'm not sure of just because some of the other segments dragged on, surprisingly Kennedy's was one of them. The ending contract signing seemed so cliche and predictable. Benoit-Finley was a fucking excellent match though for sure. Regal/Kendrick surprised me how stiff and generally out of control (in a good way though) match it was. Yang/Helms actually got some decent time to turn into a match I'd like to see a program out soon, and the cage match was better than I thought it would be. Was surprised to see this show be so strong workrate wise leading to SS on Sunday.

Idiotic would be a start....... Ending the streak for a guy who would be going over anyway in a title match if put in there with someone else? Thats so counterproductive I dont even know where to start. You would think Taker himself would be objecting to this down the road when/if this happens.

Wow I'm pissed - probably looking forward to this more than any TNA ppv ever and now I cant get it Sunday? Well I guess I'll get it Monday or something. If anyone hears more on this Dish Network snafu, please post.

They could build that for the Royal Rumble where RVD gets the title and goes to defend against CM Punk for Mania. I wouldnt mind that, since Show-RVD was one of the least interesting "world title" feuds in a long time (a horrible first start to the new ECW too on top) and if Van Dam is going to progressively get the belt at some point versus just winning it against everyone else in the Chamber (Lashley can win via some fluke), a real chase is in order against an opponent that will work better with him than Show to get the belt. Lashley with the belt out of the gate kind of needs to happen almost anyway to give him some credibility from the start too, and with them short on heels, its gotta be almost certain they turn him to join Heyman's crew.

Jesus christ, Piper is in horrible shape. Rhodes is probably in better overall condition than him. The results here just sound so standard and dull. Was there even a match over *** on the show?

Is he blaming MNF for rating remaining stagnent? Thats the most absurd excuse for the rating issue I've ever heard. Overall, decent little piece there though - good to see Jarrett acknowledge that the success or lack thereof of certain sports programming resides in heavy advertising. TNA NEEDS to learn this - they need a team that handles just advertising for them and they need to spend it in the right places - above and beyond commercials on Spike TV.

Show v. RVD for the main event sounded horrible. This idea sounds worse, if thats even possible. This gimmick match should be saved for New Year Revolution every month. If they are going to do a six way deal, they could at least come up with some original gimmick for the show and not this blatant shilling of "we are WWE"

I honestly have no desire to see ANY of those aformentioned feuds/matches. If they are slow building those to the ppv, I am going to be very let down and half tempted to not even order it. I give them credit for trying to build feuds, but those are nothing to give two shits about. They need to blow those four feuds all off next week and/or the week after, seriously. Van Dam needs the belt STAT as Show is not drawing at all, is clearly dragging ass and probably needs a less stressful schedule without being champ, and is horribly stale to me right now on top. Seeing him lose at the ppv to Van Dam seems predictable and downright boring, especially now that I have seen two weeks of pretty boring matches between the two. Those two dont mesh well, nor do they create a compelling feud at the least, especially one that is supposed to be a main event to the first "new ECW" ppv? Cmon now... The ECW ppv doesnt need a ton of feud hypejobs really, perhaps a few old ECW guys returning on the ppv or in the few weeks leading to it (Foley? Funk? Etc?) and a couple matches on top that will be guaranteed to deliver to the fanbase. That's it. They're better off with the "less is more" formula that worked for the ONS ppvs versus, like I said, RVD versus fucking Big Show part who knows what and who cares. Off the top of my head, the main event could be RVD v. Sabu v. Sandman in a three way dance (add gimmicks if you wish) and I'd be happy to see that, hell, even throw a few bucks down on it. It's marketable to the old ECW fanbase and those three and Punk are probably your most over workers right now, everyone else to me seems strongly below them right now. Below you can do some weird shit like Foley v. Show, Punk v. Test or Holly, and then also have some of the midcards in finals for the revived TV and tag titles plus your ECW nostalgia impromptu matches as well.

Fuckin TNA - they could use the Philly house show as a strong ticket seller for Genesis in Pittsburgh the next week.

I thought the three stage deal to build the tournament wasnt bad at all really. It was different, gave the show some backbone in that there was something going on, and hell, even Lance Hoyt came out of it looking better than he ever had. Was the "inside out" premise of the first part a little hokey? Sure, but it was different and really didnt "expose the business" or anything. Naturals-LAX was weird but made sense at the same time. Weird in that the title contenders they have been trying to build up so much were moreless squashed, but I think this is a cause and effect situation. The fans moreless werent buying the Naturals as anything much than a joke, and as such, more work needs to be done creatively to give them more effectiveness on top (whenever that time comes). I like the idea they stood up to Douglas and my guess is this will lead to giving them more edge and character. Plus a feud with the Duds might not be too bad. The Jarrett thing, well this much is clear - he probably will stay off TV for awhile. Interesting that he basically admitted the oversaturation of him in the company may have fucked things up, even professtionally (meaning for the company) or was I hearing that just the way I wanted to? In any regard, TNA can try this and do the whole James Gang alliance thing with him, but I dont think its still going to fly, not unless he is off TV for a LONG time, there is a very slow build to him as a face, he has a heel against him right off the bat that people REALLY hate, he's kept away from the title until the end of time (they almost need to do an angle where Jarrett publicly claims he will never EVER wrestle for the title again due to a love for his family blah blah blah) and most importantly, they return to Nashville. Angle/Joe stuff continues to be tremendous and the booking of it so far has been so simple yet so effective. Show went extremely fast watching it, which is a good thing but a sign two hours is needed to a ridiculous level.

Like most, I thought the ppv was pretty strong and overall a great one. From top to bottom it's easily in the top 5 of their best ppvs ever, and undoubtably their most significant so far. One thing that stood out to me more than anything was how good it was to see them out of Orlando finally. It gave a breath of fresh air into the product and workers for me. The production was still very strong, the set looked great, and needless to say they need to really think about doing all, if not most, of the ppvs out of Orlando. Have they officially announced Genesis is going to be there? If so, that damn stupidity to not go with that ppv somewhere else, Pittsburgh perhaps, just because Angle/Joe is a ticket seller.

Thanks for the heads up, I''m all about it

Whatever the case, that Impact show made me more interested in the ppv than before - somehow, someway. That Angle/Joe segment was some of the most powerful TNA stuff, PERIOD, in their whole run. Thing is that I see that ppv leading more long term into things, like building to the next six months of shows, versus BFG being a Mania show of sorts, blowing off this and that. With that said, I do see them giving the belt to Sting and in the background (for now) building Joe-Angle somehow during that match. Am strongly looking forward to this ppv. I could see a few surprises and Russo booking leading to more long term ideas/programs down the road as that is what they need to focus on right now anyway. Whatever the case, I feel the buzz for the show on Sunday is strong and I'm damn well looking forward to seeing what is up their proverbial sleeve from a booking perspective. But I gotta say, fuck, did Jake Roberts come off EXTREMELY fucked up in that edited segment with him or what. If he makes it to BFG in one piece, I will be very surprised. I can't believe they even aired that segment, Roberts was a mess.

Issue I got this past Monday in the TNA section, just a small blurb during the Impact recap. Says its more than likely not going to happen, but its been considered.

Three way dance? Dudleys vs AMW vs James Gang? That might not be bad - I would say throw Naturals in there too and make it an elimination four way. Actually, latest Observer has this potential spoiler about the Duds opponents possibly......

I thought Impact was excellent last night, one of those shows that moreless had me entertained from start to finish. I really like whatever influence Russo has right now, as more things are happening with many characters (typical Russo) and, surprisingly, nothing is at all offensive or really stupid that is going on right now. My feelings are that this show was probably the real first one that Russo had his hands more on than usual, as things just seemed shaken up here quite a bit. Everything also had purpose which is good to see. Thoughts/observations.... -That Joe promo was GOLD. And no Jarrett even attempting to get involved in the mix......I am NOT going to complain about that as we do NOT need to see Jarrett-Joe exchanges anymore. That match sucked once, and rest assured it would suck again. -Christian shined on the mic as well and stood out more like a star than he has in quite awhile. -Really liked the angle with LAX and Styles/Daniels. Unique in a sense with the cage being set up on the side, etc. TNA normally doesnt do angles more than just having this person and that person run in during a match, so this was refreshing. -The vignettes of guys talking about Sting/Jarrett was good in that they werent just basic filler. Not sure what the whole James Gang thing is leading to other than thinking back to Jarrett and Road Dogg having a history. -Thank you Russo for shitcanning the Jackass gimmick. X division match was pretty good too. -The Nash thing was kind of lame but I'll give it a chance even though bringing him back to dog on the division again is so counterproductive. I would imagine the battle royale at BFG will be won by Austin Aries. -Traci managing Bobby Roode? That would be my guess. -Good to see Skipper taken out of that tag team finally. He's been horribly underutilized for awhile now. Not sure what it means to be w/ Truth as a tag team, I think both would be much better suited as singles. -The ladder match was pretty good for Impact standards. Good bumps and electric feeling to the match.

Zbyzko v. Young? Doesnt sound good at all. Probably will be the opener. Any news at all on WTF they are doing with the Duds at the ppv?

Very interesting news - while, of course, this doesnt mean Jericho has signed with TNA, it certainly ups the chances for him to appear sometime down the road. That can't be denied. Waiting for someone to say....."But he said he'd always go back to WWE if he was to return, there's no way he'll go to TNA." Riiiiiiight.

I honestly didnt think the strip poker thing was THAT bad - did anyone feel like it really took away from the in-ring stuff? Other than an occasional side screen of a chick taking off something, I didn't see the big issue. The only thing that really annoyed me about it was the blatant Cena/Marine namedropping.