
RedJed
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I agree - they tried bringing in "names" like Gunn, Nash, Hall, DDP, etc - none of them drew a dime. While an argument was that it was partly because they were matched up with or teaming with Jarrett, the fact of the matter of it is that they WERE all stars in the past, but that past is long gone. Unless you have a strong name like Goldberg, Lesnar, etc building up the main event with such players is ineffective. It's already been proven. Raven, Brown, Rhino, etc in the main event scene long term is a great idea, but you cannot expect the company to base the direction around them primarily, when it's a work in progress at best right now. Guys like Styles, Joe, Daniels, Lynn, Waltman and others leading the X division is new and fresh and progressive - you HAVE to differentiate as an alternative to the WWE and this is the obvious approach. While they may not be draws yet, you know what, NOBODY IS. So why not take a chance at something new than try and rely on a world title scene that needs much more developing from the JJ experiment of the past 3 years. I dont think its very hard to understand, or shouldnt be to some here. With that said, I hope next months ppv is headlined by Joe v. Styles. Lynn v. Waltman is another strong ppv X division match, as will hopefully be whoever they decide to put Daniels in against.
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If that proposed "national company" the guy from NWA Ohio actually takes off, I could see JJ going there, though. But it's highly doubtful that company even will ever exist. There's always a pipe dream of a chance the Jarretts may still try to pull a power play and leave TNA and start their own organization (as was rumored to be suggested to some if it came down to the Jarretts getting completely out of power in TNA), but with the Spike deal now in tact, who knows. They probably now want to stay and are trying to make friends within the company again.
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As far as the Impact show goes, I expect an overhaul of that by October, but as of right now, it's actually not too bad. About a month before they went dark, it started to pick up once they got Rhodes out of there. Probably better than it's ever been, there is actually 10-15 minutes matches here and there.
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Damn though, I really dont want to see another Batista - JBL singles match, especially on top of the SummerSlam card. That match tonight was unbelievably boring and tedious. Might be better to have a fatal 4 way with Orton, Taker, Batista, and JBL. Thats ridiculous to give Rey another win over Eddy as well. Why should I care for a SummerSlam match with them? What a bunch of booking mistakes made tonight.
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What stood out to me about the show, other than some very slow paced "action" was that each match's finish was probably wrong to do in theory. Shouldnt Benoit be defeating Jordan? MNM over Animal/Heide? Eddy over Rey? And especially Batista over JBL all should have happened. Hassan-Taker was way better than I expect and its sad to see Hassan have to go if he could work a match with that kind of heat everytime. But ugh, what a complete waste of rest of the ppv. Mexis-BWO didnt even get 5 minutes! I definately feel ripped off, worst ppv in quite some time.
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That in itself might be why they are making a push to turn Velocity more into something substantial. There is a chance that if it starts getting respectable ratings before it leaves Spike that USA might decide they want to have Velocity on after all, thus keeping both Heat and Velocity on as the brand's B shows instead of just one show on the weekend.
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In this week's Observer, there was a report that Court Bauer has been given the job of booking Velocity. Coincidence or not this recent change has seen Regal-Benoit last week (originally altogether an over 20:00 match but cut on TV) and this weeks show was well done with BWO, Christian v. Funaki, more Kazarian being put over, and MNM v. Doring/Roadkill in a much better than expected match for Velocity. If this keeps up, I wont complain but it's almost a question if they should or not with TNA taking over the time down the road. If they start getting good ratings for it, TNA will have a higher expectation to reach, then again a better chance for TNA to get a good rating at the same time, if the Velocity show gets solid ratings by Oct and by default that same fanbase may keep tuned in for TNA when it starts. Bauer is actually adding significance to the show and lets hope it keeps up. UFC is having a live show the first weekend of August as well, and it wouldnt be surprising to see Bauer being instructed to book a strong show that night also, thats just in a few weeks time.
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I would too but what else is there to do with Batista if there is no Hassan? Taker/Batista would be fun to watch, but it's tough for them to pencil that in since it could deflate Batista down to size a little bit potentially if put in the ring with another face, and especially since its in his hometown they want a large pop from the crowd. Orton/Batista would be ok but leaves Taker out in the cold, and the natural opponent for him right now is Orton. The only other option would be to either have JBL win tomorrow or else have that match be some kind of screwy no desicion, leading to a rematch at SummerSlam. I dont think that is a very good idea particularly, in fact that is more of a chance of ruining Batista than a Taker/Batista match would be. One thing is certain, Batista shouldnt be losing either tomorrow or at SummerSlam. What they would be doing is almost exactly what the writers did for the WWE title match at SummerSlam 2000 with Rock v. Angle v. HHH in a way. Rock, the champion, was kind of the odd man out in the deal with Angle and HHH feuding - they had nothing else to do with Rock, so they put him into a three way with them. By that notion it kept the Angle/HHH feud going steady.
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To take that a step further, that was the planned card as of about a month ago. Obviously a lot of things have changed and the only thing that still be staying the same is Hogan-Michaels. The commercial holds no merit to what is now planned. Kind of a pointless thread since I think most of us knew the initial plans anyway.
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Probably the best scenario at this point would be a Orton v. Taker v. Batista three way match for the title at SummerSlam, since I assume the original plan had to be a Orton v. Taker match on the card. You could protect a future draw of a Mania rematch with Taker v. Orton for the next Smackdown ppv instead of SummerSlam and at the same time have Taker put over Batista without the fear of fans losing interest in Batista as a face if they did a Taker/Batista match. Plus you have the ready made storyline with Orton also being pissed at Batista from the day after Mania when he beat him and "put him out of action." Makes perfect sense to do a three way.
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I'm in about the same boat. I though Corpses was a fucking pile of crap movie - just seemed not thought out very much by Zombie as a whole. Devil's Rejects is almost the complete opposite of that, as you can tell they really made a conscious effort to draw you into a compelling story from start to finish and deliver with plenty of sick gore, blatant nudity, etc. A friend of mine had to really twist my arm to see it yesterday and I'm glad I did. Rob's wife looked absolutely smokin in this one too. I would assume the ending leaves open a sequal possibly when you think about it?
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Watching this last night on Sun Sports (thank god I have a dish) and this was way better than the spoilers on paper. Both X Cup matches were tremendous, with Joe-Dutt being TONS better than their previous match, and dare I say Joe's best match in TNA so far. Styles-Bentley was also solid and one of the better Bentley matches I've seen in a long time. Other things that happened that the spoilers didnt really elaborate on was Raven challenging Jarrett to a match in the future, stating that both of them can't be in TNA for much longer and one has to leave, so it very well may be possible they could be setting up Raven v. Jarrett in a loser leaves the company match, which opens up a huge can of worms on "what if" Jarrett might actually be gone by the time November or so comes around and TNA starts a new Jarrett-less direction after such. Complete speculation but just a thought. Waltman and Jerry Lynn did a pretaped segment in the back that was very strong, going back and forth arguing with each other - you have to see it to know what I mean. Built great heat for a feud with them, and they will be having a match at the next ppv, they already announced. Good stuff this week, worth checking out on the website for sure.
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<{POST_SNAPBACK}> That was supposed to be for SummerSlam originally but it got scrapped when HHH wanted more time to build a program with him and Flair, and subsequentally that was part of the reason he took time off. He's planning on being off TV for at least the next 2-3 months and will even be going off the road completely (ie no dark matches, house shows, etc) within weeks. Courtesy of this weeks WON.
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Bret v. Vince? The fuck did you hear that??!! That's an internet rumor at its very best (or worst depending how you look at it). Rock is on fine terms with WWE, under a verbal contract that allows him to appear when possible. He was supposed to be the surprise partner for Michaels on Raw weeks ago, that Hogan ended up taking. He just had scheduling conflicts with his latest film. Chances are as long as he has time to do so, he'll be at Mania this year. Again, where are you hearing about no Hogan/Austin? Hogan and Austin themselves are even hinting at it in recent interviews and it is currently penciled in, not concrete but looking like it's very possible.
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I call it a blessing in disguise
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It wasnt because they thought he was over that they penciled him in with Hogan, and then ran the angle with Austin, it was because they were forcing the hand and attempting to push him down the throats of the fans, almost like a JBL back last year. There is a HUGE different there between a long term plan for a heel that sees the company turning their head away from a lack of interest in the character who is actually not over but is so damn set on putting him into main event contention they dont care and a heel who actually gets over without the forcefulness and they run with it. If he got real heat then people would have been going fucking nuts for Hogan to kick his ass in that tag match and there would have been a solid buyrate for the show. Ultimately it fell below expectations. By the way, they had planned to build to Austin's return match against Hassan but the lack of a draw and interest for Hogan/Hassan feud forced them to drop that idea altogether. What else do you people need to realize this guy wasnt over? I'll say it again, he got the same kind of heat and was about as over as La Resistance!
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The guy wants to be a professional wrestler. He was training to become a professional wrestler. The WWE called him up before he was ready and saddled him with a cheap heat gimmick. The guy worked hard, did his job and got over enough to warrant a push to the main event. Now he might lose it all because the creative team is a bunch of monkeys with typewriters. How could you possibly fault the guy for that? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> You're EXTREMELY delusional if you think he is over enough to warrant a main event push. WWE has been fucking busting their ass to TRY to get this guy over ever since he came around but the response is not anywhere near what should warrant being put into a consistent main event position. AGAIN I go back to when they built up the tag match at Backlash. That tag was, by all marketing indications, the main match that the company decided to promote around. Did it draw? NO. Magnus is as talented overall to me as a Chris Masters. Both young, complete boring shit in the ring, tepid at best on the mic, and fucking ZERO charisma. Nothing to me stands out that makes me think, "OMG this guy is going to be a fucking star in x number of years."
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This would probably be the first WWE release that would really bother me. This guy is young and talented and did everything that management asked of him. He goes from main eventer to food line in one day. Unbelievable. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> You're making me crack up. He was not a main eventer and if he would have stuck around, I think all of you would find out REAL fast an experiment to do so would fail miserably. His promos were forced and boring, his ring work sucked, and he had NO charisma. How is that talent?
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If you can't quote your source and if it's none of the major reliable reporters, then I think this is complete bullshit if you ask me. Sounds like an "internet journalist" from a two bit website putting some sort of lack of logic from a DVD to something else. If WWE were to bring in Warrior, they would not bury his ass, which sounds like what the DVD is all about. Hogan/Piper v. Rock/Austin - very possible though.
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Yeah if they really wanted to, Spike could add replays to the TNA show at anytime, just like FSN did (FSN officially added Fri and Sat night replays back around Feb I think). If they will is another question altogether. Also, on the subject of advertising within the network, that is a big question mark too and I hope TNA was smart enough to negotiate that with them. It will be key to have marketing and advertising to the max during Saturday night programming ASAP (especially within the Velocity timeslot) and also obvious other times to aim for in advertising would be within Raw's timeslot as well. I would think Spike would be acceptable to advertise TNA strong but you never know since TNA is paying for the time, but you would think as such, that means some sort of incentives like that. All I know is that they have been pimping out UFC like CRAZY and that doesnt even officially start for another month - I hope Spike does the same with TNA as one problem TNA has always had is proper advertising of their product. It would be a damn shame if Spike is making them pay for the time and then on top of it doesnt even give it a proper marketing push leading into it's debut on the station. Hopefully some more detailed and technical things about the Spike deal come out soon, I'm certainly intrerested to find out.
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No way is that a good thing. Sure you can piss off the fans somewhat by actions but alienating them? No fucking way. The point of a heel is to get people interested in the heel character, yet legitimately hating them enough to actually want to see them get their ass kicked. Case in point mid 80s WWF Roddy Piper played that to a tee. He was an obnoxious whiny heel who was quirkly, yet a piece of shit at the same time. I never really wanted to see Hassan get his ass handed to him ever. Fuck, even goddamn Kid Kash, Jeff Jarrett, and HHH can do that for me. This is the problem with Hassan to me. The character is too forced for me to actually be entertained by it as everytime he talks, he gives me the impression he's just BEGGING for heat. It's all too fake and false for me to buy into. It's a fucking Arab gimmick for a goddamn Italian guy - nuff said.
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That could turn out not to be the case. The PPV company is saying ECW drew more than 300K buys. And they'd know. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> My theory is that WWE will not accept publicly that the ECW ppv did any better number than their own. I think it's pretty clear the show did better than Vengeance when now reports are coming in from the ppv companies of estimates more in the mid to high 300,000s. And typically that means less than the final number. Its more an ego thing than anything as I'm sure internally some of the upper echelon of management (most of the McMahons, Laurintatus, etc) were not happy with the way Heyman and Co. mocked the company as a whole on the show and will still do a yearly deal for the sake of profit, but anything more is against their pride or something to acknowledge that ppv drew better, if that makes any sense. Back to topic, sorry
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It was very subtle, and they could have easily hit him with chairs or something else instead. It's all about the context. While it wasn't totally explicit and obvious to everyone, it did seem like they were trying to draw certain parallels for the sake of the angle. Hassan praying and Davari being carried out like a martyr only exemplified this. It's subtle, so they can easily claim that it wasn't what they meant. That said, I still don't find the angle more offensive than it is stupid. It was highly illogical for Hassans character and I really don't know how they could have gone about explaining it. I agree with everything else you've said regarding the issue though. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> As much as I seem to be coming across offended by the angle, I never really was so I agree with you that it was more just stupid than offensive really. Was just a cheap attempt to elevate the character's level of interest by drawing obvious comparisons to arab terrorist activities/behavior. The point I think alot of us are trying to make is that the company as a whole should have seen this was going to be a problem way before they even greenlit the angle. And now they are paying for it. While it may not be offensive to some of us that understand the ways of the pro wrestling world, I would imagine that the majority of WWE fans and to take that a step further, the majority of people in the country, at least had some offended thoughts of some sort by this or at least by hearing about it through media reports, etc.
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Some thoughts/perspective from Meltzer, reasoning why Hassan probably wont be on Raw either....let the bitching begin.... --Regarding the 1wrestling.com story about UPN wanting Muhammad Hassan permanently off Smackdown, we've been able to confirm that is the case. I would presume he would have to go back to Raw and complain about unfair persecution (as opposed to corporate unbelievably bad foresight/borderline outright stupidity, I guess). Who knows if Spike will or won't care. The other alternative is to do away with the character this weekend. At this point that's the smart move, because moving him to Spike would be dangerous if the New York Times and other New York media follows up, because it's just more bad pub and Spike would react the same way, and WWE would look even worse, and at this point any follow-up negative pub would cause advertiser issues which they can't afford at this time. I would presume the scheduled Batista vs. Hassan Smackdown title match plans for SummerSlam is not happening and they'll have to at least consider re-booking finishes for one, and perhaps two matches for Sunday.
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Please don't give an example that doesn't exist - he wasn't in a position to draw. Until said time where he is given top billing at a pay-per-view, we can only make assumptions as to what kind of a draw he is. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> So you're telling me that match wasnt used as top billing on the ppv? Give me a break, WWE was pushing out pre-taped calls over the phone from Hogan saying something to the effect of watch me kick Hussein's ass at Backlash, etc. That WAS the match that was being pushed as the top match at Backlash, dont make any mistakes about it. There was very predictable and fortelling segments on Raw between Mania and Backlash as well with Hassan that should have drawn in theory, where he was baiting Hogan for the return, and then the Hogan return at MSG. Those all should have drawn significant ratings if Hussein was/is a draw, or should I say if he was worthwhile enough to draw some interest against Hogan, who was gone for so long that many in the company expected some firepower from a return. All I'm saying is he HAS had chances, and nothing amounted from them.