RedJed

I think Spike should seriously consider having TNA be on Monday nights from 10ET to midnight ET or 8ET to 10ET, so they would compete for one hour with Raw and another hour would be unopposed. You then simply give two hours additionally to UFC, having Ultimate Fighter actually compete head to head with Raw (or you be REALLY adventagious and have a live UFC Fight Night hour every Monday, with TUF after it). This UFC/Spike combo on Mondays might really work judging by these numbers. I think competition creates more of a buzz than running unopposed and here is a big thing - Mondays are traditionally "wrestling night." And even putting it this way - TNA has more chance to really succeed on Mondays, I think, compared to a Thurs night, because people are going to be flipping through either while watching Raw or just looking for something to bring them back to wrestling on that all familiar Monday night spot. And before you immediately think that TNA isnt "ready" yet for Monday nights, consider the number that they got Monday. Nobody can reasonably think that a 2.0 isnt at least do-able.

To be fair, every time I read these spoilers, I feel underwhelmed by them but when I actually watch the shows, it turns out way better than I expect on paper. Still though, the creative really needs to be turned up on Impact, there is no doubt. What are they waiting for? Is needing a better timeslot again as the excuse much like they seemed to play up when they were on FSN? Something needs to happen soon with things, all I can hope is that a two hour slot proposed for Thursday on Spike would change up their booking habits. I was just watching some of the first 2-3 months worth of TNA (and mind you alot of this stuff was even stuff that Russo was writing) and it was actually really strong stuff in a general sense, compared to what they are generally putting out right now, which is quality action but very weak on the creative front. When TNA first started, sure they made some mistakes (Cheex, Johnsons, etc) but generally they worked a formula almost instantly that really clicked.

Hmmm, so does this mean SNME is obviously going to be live, or at worst, on a brief few hour tape delay that night? Hell, I just figured we'd see them tape that as a double shot with Raw that same week. Maybe that was the plan before TNA jumped on a house show idea here.

I think Christian has a VERY strong chance to win the belt. Lots of politics happening in TNA lately again with the typical higher-ups now coming back to realize the reactions to Jarrett is not best for business (just read this in the Observer I got today), even in the slightest. So we may get the switch here, and not just to lead to Jarrett winning it back either. Add to the fact Christian is really getting over here and it seems like a no-brainer, even to the most cynical within the company. Sting as champ may be a long term decent idea, but they got things build already enough with Christian to bypass any Sting run until Christian and maybe a Monte Brown run fails. I was thinking Sting v. Brown at the next ppv, but maybe not. That's really odd if they dont have Sting working the next ppv, should be a given he's at every one really. So looking ahead for next ppv, these are probably the three main matches... Christian/Jarrett Styles v. Joe v. Daniels II Duds v. AMW III

Cool, so lets say they do six more shows.... 1. ECW Arena 2. Somewhere in Canada again. 3. Atlanta, not sure where here, maybe the old spot they used to do the WCW Sat Night tapings? 4. Nashville, old fairgrounds spot 5. Jersey or Buffalo 6. Strong house show somewhere in FL That might not be a bad start.

Show was alright, but not the end-all, be-all, build to the ppv on Sunday. They did a shit-ton better job with this last month with a really good show ending video package highlighting all of the matches. They didnt do that this time. The thing that caught my eye is this Jarrett/Jackie thing. Probably in the minority but I am interested where this is going, as they have been dropping hints here and there about things what it could be all about. What seems clear is that it is something to do with Canada (D'amore and Jarrett were mentioning Canada last week with her letter to them) and now its something that Jarrett and maybe D'amore were involved with together, some sort of secret. Thinking this HAS to lead to Gayda being Raven's girlfriend and she is bringing up something in Canada, which maybe in the storyline something went down when they did the title switch up there. Thats my best bet at making sense of it for now, but like I said, I'm interested to see where they go with this. Raven can be set up for a title shot next ppv and this whole storyline might open up a lot more real soon.

Eh the show sounds like of weak on paper for sure, things should ideally really be shaken up for the last time to build the ppv on Sunday. I'll be interested to see how they edit the Mr. TNA segment for sure, though.

Also, is Raw from Charlotte this week?

Damn they are really going full tilt with Raw/Smackdown this past week and now it appears next week will be the same. Don't really see the point in doing a TLC match with Edge and Flair when Edge is just recovering from injuries and Flair just obviously isnt cut out for this type of match. But whatever, its free on TV so I wont complain for big matches that should be on ppv being put on Raw. It seems like, intentionally or not (yes with the Cena change, no with the Batista change) that they are going to try to really spice up the booking from now til Mania hopefully. The proposed Mania card needs a full overhaul of changes anyway and maybe they will be doing so considering all of the hotshotting happening since last week.

I thought the entire show last night was all kinds of good. The opening segment with Batista was well done, and was basically what I would percieve as a shoot of sorts. Its amazing how over Batista is as a babyface doing the a-typical babyface stuff (like slapping everyones hands after the segment for example) and yet Cena couldnt get even close to the kind of support doing what he did. Orton-Benoit was a solid **** match, well put together and paced, really can't complain much at all other than maybe the Orlando run-in, which makes no sense unless he's going to start stalking Orton or something. The Pipers Pit segment was, well, different. There is something about Boogeyman that, as much as I want to hate the guy, he's entertaining as hell. Seeing him eat a prostetic face growth was kind of bizzare and even pretty sick if you totally suspend disbelief (which is hard in this case, which is why I actually laughed my ass off about it) but at least that ridiculous gimmick is gone. This was probably the most creative way you could do it with incorporating the asburd shit with Boogeyman into this and the upcoming program with JBL, which I am also looking forward to for some really odd reason. I normally would hate shit like this, but this is a really rare exception. Kind of reminds me that its so out there, almost like a Troma movie, that its entertaining. The battle royal wasnt too bad at all really. Last 10 minutes was really good with Rey/Henry/Angle stuff. Best stuff I've ever see from Henry in this match, so a proposed Angle/Henry match at the Rumble might be alright.

Thats about what it comes down to. Sure, it was definately probably better pay and, of course, exposure, but the guy got fucked over in the first place - he should have been much more careful (had verbage in his contract about even being used fairly if thats what it would take) before he decided to go back. Instead he gave the company the benefit of the doubt, more in particularly Johnny Ace, which was a huge mistake. The Edge feud didnt do anything but possibly build to an interpromotional match with Edge at a later date (or perhaps that was what he was told would happen when he put over Edge at the Homecoming Raw), but of course that will never be happening at this point. Otherwise there was no real advantage for Hardy to even work a program with Edge since it just benefited Edge first and foremost. Once Hardy got moved back to Smackdown, they were going back and forth with doign something with him, and then came the Taker thing, and so much for that idea. Regardless of the Taker thing happening or not, I have my doubts if they would have done shit with him anyway because he was always going to have a glass ceiling hanging above him because of the politics. And this isnt even me talking as a Hardy fan (because I'm not) but its clear as day that the situation is/was obvious - they just brought him back to spite TNA since they were going to do something significant with him. Same thing with Foley. Now Hardy, even if he leaves, has a ton less market value to TNA, but I bet they would still consider bringing him in- not sure if that would be including bringing back Jeff or not, but I would imagine they would. I can't really see them putting Hardy into the world title picture if he was ever to go to TNA now, but starting him in the X division and then moving to tags with Jeff would work. I wouldnt expect Hardy to stick around much past the month, probably after a quick burial in the Rumble match.

I wonder what the attendance was for the house show last night. That sounded like a pretty deep lineup and good show. Have it a hard time to accept hardly anyone knew TNA that went to the show like that guy said.

Good stuff. I think Sting is really going to work in TNA, barring any possible downgrades in his in-ring work. But he still should be a top notch character and it appears he is really excited about this, which will be a significant change from the last time I saw him in TNA. I dont know if anyone caught it on the last Impact, but there was some strong suggestion of a future Joe-Sting match, even playing up on the (assumed) legit problem with Joe being upset that he couldnt get a raise, but yet Sting was brought in for a shitload of $$$. Anyway it was cool to see TNA play upon this rumor, which apparently has been taken care of, and now it looks like there is a strong chance of Joe/Sting. A guess may be that Sting will get the belt, and part of an agreement TNA made with Joe to settle down on the pay thing for now is that Sting will job out the belt to Joe at a later date. Sting/Rock and, hell, Sting/Warrior might even be intruiging, especially in a TNA ring. Long chance for either likely but it's still neat to envision.

If they could ever scoop up Bret and/or Jericho, I wouldnt even waste time and do a house show "test run" in Canada ASAP, even likely trying out their first out-of-Orlando PPV up there too. I think it would work wonders with having either of those draws (and yes, they are such in Canada) up there. Otherwise, its really hard to say when and how they should do house shows, other than they need to be VERY careful on it. If they could get Sting to work house shows, that would be a significant boost to the theory that TNA can actually make house shows work. Also, though, the main thing is that they would likely have to hire alot of more established employees from other companies to really spearhead this effort 110 percent. WWF and WCW had a guy who really worked hard with the house shows (Zane Bresloff?) but I believe he passed away not too long ago. They need someone like him, who would really have experience in the field and could promote the house shows locally extremely strong. I think the first step is at least getting the ppvs OUT of Orlando and then once you get a good gauge on how good (or bad) that result is (and you'd have to do it for a good 3-4 months of ppvs in different locations) then you go from there with the house show plan. There's no excuse they couldnt at least return to Nashville (and a larger facility in the Nashville Auditorium) and maybe Atlanta also, as those are two close "wrestling friendly" areas.

Probably would be the best to just give the belt to Orton ASAP, build to a Buried Alive match (or whatever) with Taker at No Way Out (according to this weeks Observer the latest idea for NWO was to be Batista/Taker anyway), and then from there, try your damndest to get Rock in for a one time shot at Mania v. world champ Orton. Oh yeah and Henry-Batista is supposedly penciled in for Rumble - I have my doubts if that will even happen now, probably for the best.

I can just see Vince and Steph watching as they filmed the rat poison segment, they just start laughing histerically while the rest of the crew just stands there like idiots wanting to say something but knowing it would cost them their jobs. I mean seriously, how could anyone other than McMahon sympathizers/ass kissers in the company even remotely find the humor, or even the fucking point, in this?!!! I would have loved to have seen the response of staff who watched this as this was filmed. Meanwhile Tim White gets up and Vince reassures him this will "draw a shitload to the Tap"

Right f'n on! JBL and Kash both got that heel inside a Ricky Morton type of charisma and it would work, I think.

To be fair, that wasnt a bad match at all, It was like watching people wrestle under water. The only problem I saw with that match was that the crowd was extremely apathetic towards it (and keep in mind this continued the entire night with every other match too) - but they both worked hard to try to make something out of what was going to be nothing no matter how you slice it after that Tim White angle. But to each their own.

To be fair, that wasnt a bad match at all, but the crowd was dead, most in part from the Tim White angle. But its probably good he's gone. It was getting so bad that Crazy and Psicosis didnt even want to have him at ringside during their matches.

WWE would be much better served if instead of Vince/HBK AND HHH/Cena (which is a mistake on many levels at this point considering the response Cena has gotten - chances are we would be seeing an unintentional double turn in a program), one of two things happens. 1) Cena turns heel by aligning with Vince - and then takes on HBK at Mania for the title 2) HBK and Vince swerve everyone by HBK winning the belt at NYR with Vince's help, leading to a HBK-Cena title match at Mania. Hogan v. anyone other than Austin is going to be the shits too, BTW. Orton/Batista has no right being on Mania either.

Shows look ok, thank god they didnt spring a hotshot Sting run-in, as that probably would have been borderline insane since they have come this far without him actually appearing, and might as well save that for the ppv. Not sure why people are bitchin about Gen Next going over the team w/ Daniels, Styles, Sabin. The point is to put them over strong immediately to start off with a sizable push. It doesnt hurt Styles and Daniels at all since they arent jobbing. Would you rather see them beating Diamonds in the Rough or what?!! BTW, Sabin might seem to be getting the shaft as of late but apparently his work has been noticed and he's in line for a big push, seperating him from the "other" X guys in terms of their pushes (or lack thereof) relatively soon, according to Meltzer.

The absurd just got more absurd! From Observer.... --There are tons of freebies all over the Tokyo area for the New Japan Tokyo Dome show late today headlined by Brock Lesnar vs. Shinsuke Nakamura for the IWGP title. Here's a funny one. At the Tokyo Dome ticket booth yesterday, there is a sign by the booth saying the show is sold out. Then when you go to the booth and ask if there are tickets, they said it wasn't and gave people asking as many free tickets as they wanted, saying bring all your friends. And this is for people going there willing to pay for tickets. Not only that, but Pia Ticket also has the show listed as being all sold out. New Japan people were kicked out of Narita Airport (which is a long ways from Tokyo actually) for giving away tickets for 90 minutes to people coming off planes. (thanks to Jose Gonzalez and Mori Ono)

Shit, when is the last time WWE did an interview at the old 80s/90s interview stand by the entrance? This might be a decent weekly thing to do with Funaki actually.

lol and she wonders why she is typecast?!!!

This may be a dumb question, but how can NJPW even think that having Akebono (or fucking ANYONE) announced something like only 2-3 days before the show is going to change shit? Maybe even a better question is how does any company in Japan think sales can go quick on tickets when they hotshot in such a manner? Maybe I just dont understand the system over there in how word gets spread about things like this, but it's akin to a guy being signed to a Sunday ppv on a Friday here in the states, with no TV time even given to promote such. Just seems like REAL bad business to even think of doing such a thing.