RedJed

Have you seen it? Technically, Smackdown *is* broadcast in widescreen, but with black bars on the left and right sides of the screen. Ummm nope Smackdown isnt broadcast in widescreen, then you wouldnt have those black bars there. Widescreen would be either with NO BARS ANYWHERE or else some stations, even though they dont do HD, may do the show in widescreen anyway which would basically be black bars or some space on every side of the screen. For what its worth I'd like to see it in HD just to see how clear it can be and how much different it would also look in widescreen as well. Its not a big deal really but if its on a HD channel and they have the technology, why not? And for what its worth some sporting events like football, for some reason I cant even explain, are better in HD but more particular in 5.1. But the guy before me is right, it wont be in HD. See the schedule here for confirmation. http://www.nbc.com/nbc/header/TV_Schedule/

$48 grand a year is good money. I don't know where the fuck you live. Not when you're spending that money on constant airline tickets, food on the road, hotels, and other odds and ends. Sure, alot of that stuff can be written off but you still have to spend the money beforehand before you can try to balance it all out come tax time. And anyway you slice it anyway, 40someK is actually SHIT. At least if you want to live a decent life or try to raise a family, etc. Also think of it this way - a WWE person making under 50k isnt even earning a thousand a week and think of the expenses dealing with travel, food, and lodging in a weeks time.

I cant see them actually signing Test to a contract based on how critical he was about the entire company in the past year or so (esp. with the Guererro stuff and, ironically enough, about drug problems within the company or something to that effect) and plus the guy is so clearly on the juice its not even funny.

More stories about Greg.... Bought a car from him in 03 and the guy almost lambasted me for just saying I was a wrestling fan. He seemed so disenchanted with the whole business it amazed me. Bitched and bitched and BITCHED about Vince and WWE and then for no good reason, started ripping apart on Rick Rude for reasons I cant even recall, I must have brought his name up or something. The guy came across very bitter and almost ashamed to be a fan. Oh and VERY high and mighty at the same time.

And travel expenses for most of them That is insane to be making only 40k on the road full time with WWE and yet they have to pay for all their expenses. After taxes and road expenses, they'd be lucky to pull half of that as take home gross, I'd imagine.

Did ya read some of the posts here though? That definately wasn't Mia - watched the episode again last night and it was a much more curvy woman, and facially, it clearly wasnt her. Good point about a possible confrontation with Jack and HLS - now I would assume that was why Bill cringed when he found out they were on their way? And I just have to say I thought it was aprapo (sp?) that Lynn did what he did. Ultimately he was the one who fucked up EVERYTHING since he didnt tell anyone that someone stole his key out of pure pride and fear of ridicule. Instead he amped himself up and tried to be an unreasonable dictator because of what happened, which only further created problems overall, with Chloe, etc, going behind his back. Face it - the guy deserved to die in the world of 24. There was a clear purpose and story with Lynn that I think the writers did a very good job on. Sure, maybe there was a small sense of remorse when he died, but ultimately it was right on that he was the person who had to do what he did because of his past errors in judgment - first being just allowing his druggie sister even reasonably close to CTU in the first place. And that shit comes back to bite ya on this show.

I don't think screaming at the top of your lungs constitues telling a story. If you think thats all he does, or for that matter "fellates Cena and HHH" - then some people are not understanding the abilities Ross has compared to the other announcers. At least with Ross once in a blue moon he can make a feud or match interesting via the commentary, whereas I dont really see anyone else on the roster other than Tazz at times really trying to do the same.

No kidding, ideally this ppv should probably have a lineup like this - like you said, establishing blowoffs to major feuds of the last 4-6 months. PRESHOW Team Canada v. Naturals PPV Opener - Contenders elimination match w/ 10 X division guys in a cage match spotfest to determine placement in a top ten X division lineup James Gang & Killings v. LAX Joe v. Styles v. Daniels AMW v. Duds Rhino v. Abyss WAR GAMES - Jarrett/Steiner/Brown v. Christian/Sting/Mystery Partner (ends up being Goldberg) I'm sorry but not only would I feel that this lineup would overall be a draw, but it would also completely blow off all of the important issues and programs for the most part. It was not hard at all to come up with a lineup like that and makes a hell of a lot more sense than moving Joe to the HW division out of nowhere with such little fanfare (they need one more three way there to really give it a final blowoff, Ultimate X did NOT accomplish that), as an example. Christian-Abyss is ridiculous to book on this card as well. Now if you want to do Christian/Abyss at the May ppv (via Abyss going over Rhino at Lockdown) and Joe/Sabu at the May ppv as well (when Joe gets screwed out of winning back the X division belt again but yet kicks the shit out of Styles and Daniels in that match to keep his credibility high) that is more than fine, but to have it here is just rushing it way too fast and without any logic.

Not that it surprises me anymore, but thats ridiculous they have that CW four way match on f'n Velocity, especially if it actually leads to a match w/ London and Helms at Mania. I'd still think they gotta have something like a gauntlet match at Mania with all of the CWs though. Lashley/Finley has tons more steam and potential to even bother blowing off at Mania, so might as well put both of them in the MITB match along with Hardy to slow build a few real high profile Finley/Lashley bouts down the road. Thinking that Booker T will still be facing Boogeyman at Mania so I wouldnt consider him to be in MITB.

Eh I dont really feel sorry for them at this point since it all comes down to ratings and there's gotta be some concern when the trend has been decreasing on the Sat nite ratings lately. I dont see, though, why they couldnt have Impact on instead of CSI and then just do a second Impact later or even the replay that same night, but we'll see what happens. 11pm on Thurs nites is worst than Sat nite at 11pm - the lone exception being TUF, because they had Raw as a lead-in. Spike may find out quick that they have to shift this schedule on Thursdays, with that said. They need to try 2 hours from 9 to 11 of Impact and then TUF at 11, but it will be a process, if ever, to get to that point. It's going to take some crow eaten by Spike to allow that to happen. I think wrestling is a better lead-in to MMA, not the other way around. The only positive from this is that it means TNA needs to clearly try harder (which they do need to do currently) and it might motivate them to turn up the creativeness a little more than its been like lately in hopes of proving themselves more to Spike.

Cmon TNA get your shit together. This isnt the kind of show(s) you put out after having shitty ratings the past few weeks and then a downgrade on Thursday nights, plus a small letdown of a ppv. Them doing a cage match to build the ppv shows a complete lack of creativity here and to be quite honest, they dont deserve that chance to be on primetime on Thursday when you are doing things such as this. Jarrett and/or D'Amore need to allow someone else to take over the book because this is just fucked. Heres hoping backstage vignettes make up for the lack of punch in these spoilers. Jarrett and Steiner running NWOish over others just comes off second rate WCWish, and next thing I expect, we'll see Hall & Nash make a power play to either oppose them or join them to make it even more dull. In fact Nash and Waltman already tried to get in as a face team, so thats not that far fetched.

For what its worth, count me in as one of those who actually wants to see Ross return back to announcing. Like it or not, even with his exaggerated catchphrases, the guy knows how to tell a story when a story is needed to be told. The Lawler-Ross interaction was stale at the time, but its clear Lawler doesnt gel nearly as well as with Styles/Coach. Ideally, Ross and Lawler should go back to announcing Raw, and Styles should be moved over to team with Tazz on Smackdown. Cole and Coach? Who knows, who cares. Backstage interviewers perhaps? But they have shown that they arent cut out for an actual announcing role. Ross, Lawler, and Tazz on SNME should be interesting. I'd much prefer Tazz/Ross doing SD matches and Ross/Lawler doing Raw matches and then have them all on announcing for the interpromotional main event. Any thoughts on what else may be added to the SD side for the show on Sat?

To Coils - the main juggernaut of the story was CLEARLY explained in the opening montage. Anyone seeing even one trailer of the film and then the film itself could grasp what the story was going to be about. I was high as a kite after smoking a blunt before the movie, had not even seen the original before this (saw it directly afterwards) and yet I still got it and understood things in its' entirety. Just admit you didnt like it, thats fine, but to say it made no sense is fucking asanine. BTW, read something recently that the directors cut DVD will have about 2-3 extra minutes that was cut to maintain the R rating. Good to see a "unrated" DVD coming out that actually is more lude and crude than the R rated version and not just some extra pointless scenes thrown in there to make it "unrated."

The format in particular on last Sat's show was fucked. The last half hour consisted of a extended Jarrett vignette/promo, the horrible Christian/Brown segment, and then a pointless 8 man "main event" squash match. No wonder they got a number like this, I'm sure their rating dropped the longer the show went on.

I could care less that he's gone to be honest. There is a reason why he wasnt under a contract, because he isnt WORTH a contract if you ask me. He was the ultimate X division filler talent, won't be missed.

No that wasnt Mandy I dont believe. They just did a brief tease of her, am curious where her connection is in all of this.

Up and down Raw for sure but how bizzare to see Verne Gagne being inducted into a WWE HOF, and then to have the shitty ass son wrestler who works at a Twin Cities car dealership (I shit you not, bought my vehicle from him) to be the one inducting him. When I bought my car from Greg a few years ago he was shitting on WWE whenever he could get a chance. But money is money, these guys' will just be this years' Paul Orndorff.

I think unless they open the show right away with Tony being revived, there was just about as strong of a point made there as possible that he died and Jack was going insane because of it. But it could just as well be a swerve for next week, as I think they did this with Tony being shot down at a mall in season 3. But I do have to say - Tony being killed kind of makes sense with the story going the way it has.

My thoughts exactly. Some really shocking/intense/gritty/dirty moments with the trailer scene and others here and there, just unabashed violence which somehow fits the context of the twisted story in the first place. It just went hand in hand. Some of the stuff made me a little unnerved in it (and there just HAD to be some moments cut with the rape scene there), which doesnt happen to me much with these kind of films. So a job well done by Aja. Much better to me than the original - with that said, has anyone seen the old sequal to Hills Have Eyes? Just ran into it on Netflix but have yet to check it out.

Good to hear the Ultimate X wasnt a letdown intentionally at least - I think TNA should consider hotshotting an Ultimate X rematch for their first primetime Thurs Impact. Kind of ironic because the Ultimate X match at BFG fell into a similar trap as this in that it just didnt go in the way it was intended. Not agreeing on Abyss/Christian in a cage title match though, Lockdown should be a place to blowoff feuds and leave it at that. Both of those guys should be in this proposed War Games idea they have. Digging those names for the X Cup. Mistico in TNA is going to be a treat and with those other three? Very nice indeed. How the hell TNA got CMLL to agree to letting them in is beyond me.

Just got done reading some feedback from people who ordered this from the Observer site, and some are calling it already ppv of the year candidate and one of the best TNA ppvs they have ever seen? To that all i can say is they must not get many ppvs, especially TNA ones. Rumble and No Way Out was better than this even if you ask me.

I thought Christian-Brown from Dec. was way better than this tonight, for what its worth. A few matches are worth checking out, but I wouldnt suggest anyone to buy the replay particularly.

Yeah I dont know if thats what was going on there or not, I'll have to watch the match again via the replay right now. Overall, I thought that was one of the more underwhelming ppvs TNA has done in months. Poor Monte Brown tried but him and Christian just do not gel together. That match hurt both of them. The Ultimate X match was really turning into something and then the finish came out of nowhere. 8 man match had a few promising moments but was ruined by the booking of the match overall. Undercard was dull other than the opener and 4 way with some high points in them. But nothing that you can't get on any other TNA ppv undercard, actually you usually get more out of the undercard than this to be honest. As I said before, everything just seemed filler and/or building up to Lockdown. Would have made for a great extra special Spike TV special but not really worth the $25 here or whatever it is I pay for these. The ending angle, on top of a stale main event, was a paint by numbers boring booking of how to try to get a heel faction some heat, and it didnt really accomplish its goal. Steiner running in made me groan as it all came across as the dying days of WCW, especially with the Goldberg chant. Read on another board that Jarrett might be injured?!! I guess that explains why he did the sitting down guitar shot at the end. Apparently he had to be helped to the back after the ppv.

And to cap it all off, as expected, here is Scott Steiner. He got quite the pop when he came out but his run-in to end the ppv just comes off bush league to me. Goldberg chant now lol This all comes off so dying days of WCWish.

Formulmatic angle at the end here, blah