Corey_Lazarus

Benoit. Why? Two reasons: 1) He may not be nearly as charismatic as Jericho, but he certainly gets more respect by casual fans because of how hard WWE pushed him during his World title chase in '04. That and casuals realize that Benoit's matches are usually superb, and take the "Best Damn Technical Wrestler" moniker in 100% seriousness. 2) He could teach the younger guys who still just do highspots and weak brawling how to properly lay out a match, give 'em some pointers on psychology, and possibly help train new workers were he to retire while in TNA. Yes, Jericho would be better interview-wise, but his matches just aren't as good as Benoit's are, on average, and when he's not a sarcastic/arrogant/whiny heel? Jericho isn't that entertaining. Benoit is entertaining as both the sympathetic face and the vicious heel...as long as he doesn't have to talk.

Abyss: Dimmu Borgir - "Progenies of the Apocalypse" At least the intro for it. The faster parts and the power metal-y breakdown wouldn't fit, so just loop the intro riff over and over again. Has a nice war-ish classical score around it with driving guitars and drums, perfectly fit for an entrance. AJ Styles: Avenged Sevenfold - "Chapter Four" Fits in a couple of ways. Starts off very dark, and then lightens up with some great melodic and harmonic fills over a good background riff. The song's also about the murder of Abel by Cain, and since AJ's a reborn it'd fit (not his gimmick, but he himself). Plus, A7X is growing in popularity thanks to endless touring and the success of "Bat Country," so it'd be something to go "hey, we've got our top wrestler using an older song by a very popular band!" Also a good entrance theme once the melodic/harmonic part comes in. Alex Shelley: Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - "Whatever Happened To My Rock N' Roll" Because he uses it in RoH, so fans of his from RoH would instantly pop for it. "The Alpha Male" Monty Brown: some tribal stuff Would it be kinda racist to have a black wrestler enter to tribal music? Yes. But would it fit his gimmick of an in-ring predator that makes countless references to the African Serengeti? Yes. America's Most Wanted: Nashville Pussy - "Wrong Side of the Gun" Southern rock band. Southern tag team. Fits. Apolo: Puya - "Oasis" A nu-metal song that came out back when nu-metal was still SOMEWHAT listenable (ie. 1996-1998) all about how much the boys love their homeland of Puerto Rico. He's Puerto Rican. Yeah. Austin Aries: Marilyn Manson - "Personal Jesus" See "Shelley, Alex." BG James: Motörhead - "No Class" I don't know exactly 100% why, but it just fits him. Hell, have it be an instrumental for him and let him "rap" over it, or something, I dunno. I was tempted to give 3LK a group theme, but it'd work better if they came out to individual songs and then used the current theme song they have for tag/6-man matches. Chris Sabin: Unearth - "Zombie Autopilot" It'd be a great entrance song, that's why. He'd get it because I think every wrestler should have a video package of their highlights set to their entrance music, and a video of Sabin's highlights would be mint set to this song. Also, a "HAIL SABIN!" should play before the opening notes of the tune. "The Fallen Angel" Christopher Daniels: Marilyn Manson - "Disposeable Teens" Because he uses a ripoff of it right now, and uses the actual song everywhere else he works. Gail Kim: Zombie Nation - "Kraftwerk 400" She should have a techno/dance song as a theme, and don't ask me why. Why not go with one of the catchiest? Jeff Hardy: keep current I can't think of anything else for him. Jeff Jarrett: Kid Rock - "Cowboy" Meh, why not? Better than his current "MY WORLD" song that makes him come across as a ripoff of HHH (with the "My Time" slogan/theme in 2000). Kip James: Gwar - "Billy Bad Ass" Haha, just for shits and giggles. Konnan: some Spanish rap song, I dunno Beats me... Lance Hoyt: Black Eyed Peas - "Let's Get Retarded" Just for hilarity's sake. Matt Bentley: Black Label Society - "Stillborn" That's the song that his theme reminds me of, oddly enough. It'd be cool to see him come out to it, too, doing his faux-HBK twirl and whatnot. Raven: keep current I like his current TNA theme better than I did his WCW ripoff of "Come As You Are" or his ECW song ("Come Out And Play" by The Offspring), as I feel it works for him better. Maybe change the "chorus" part (where it sounds kinda happy) and just keep the same riff/lick going over and over again. Rhino: Dope - "Debonaire" Bring back the ECW Rhino theme, or heads will roll! Roderick Strong: Mozart - "Requiem" Would be very interesting to see a wrestler come out to nothing but classical music. Ron "The Truth" Killings: hrmmm... I'm torn. Gang Starr's "1/2 & 1/2" and NERD's "Lap Dance" would both work equally well...so one of those two. Sabu: keep current "Huka Blues" was his best theme in ECW, and since this is a ripoff of it, why not? Samoa Joe: Six Feet Under - "War Machine" Only the intro/chorus riff looped over and over, much like Taz used to use (only his was the original by Kiss before Harry Slash re-did a little bit), with the Godzilla intro beforehand. Shark Boy: Jaws theme Duh. Sonjay Dutt: Dream Theater - "Overture 1928" Why not? It'd be...interesting. Sonny Siaki: keep current The drum beats with that little techno "blip" in the background works. HUH! Team 3D: Biohazard - "Dogs of War" Ray is all about NYHC. There ya go. Team Canada: keep current Team Canada's rock remix of "O, Canada" is good. The Naturals: God Lives Underwater - "No More Love" A good intro song, and it'd prolly get a decent face pop just for how damn catchy it is.

Skip Swimfan and just watch the movie it ripped off, Fatal Attraction.

At least they'll push it. If the graphics in the game are anything close to that, we're in for a visual treat...so let's hope the gameplay is, at the very least, passable.

If Jarrett were to get the book again...oh God. I'd stop watching AGAIN since it would mean 24/7 Jarrett AGAIN... ...that dude really needs to get rid of the ego he somehow amassed halfway through 2003. Before? No real reports of him doing political bullshit. Sure, when he was on top the X-Division really was kinda sabotaged, but aside from that? Not much, and the X-Division still flourished. But if this were to ever happen? Haha...bye-bye TNA.

The Alien, The Tall Man, and The Thing. One hid inside every dark corner and attacked you, and if they grew in numbers? Oh shit, you're fucked. TRAINED MARINES couldn't even handle them, as all but one died (and he only survived because the only person to ever successfully defeat the bastards saved his ass). Just ONE took out a crew of 6 (not including Ripley) in less than 24 hours (see the interview at the beginning of Aliens, unless I'm mistaken and it's 48), a couple hundred destroyed a colony of thousands, one was responsible for the deaths of all but 2 inmates on a prison planet, and only a handful layed waste to a ship filled with more trained soldiers (and pirates who could handle anything). The Tall Man is just fucking creepy (Angus Scrimm is the man). He can NEVER die. NEVER. You think you got him, like Reggie and Michael thought all those times? And then BAM! He comes through the doorway with a line like "it's never over" and one of his dwarves grabs you and beats the shit out of you. The hearse pulling up in front of the house at the beginning of Phantasm II is a wonderfully creepy scene (and I say the beginning of #2 because it doesn't show it at the end of the first one), and the standoff of The Tall Man, Reggie, and Mike at the end of Oblivion? One of my favorite moments in horror history. I SOOOO hope Don Coscarelli makes a 5th one and ties it all together, because the main characters have been so well-crafted throughout the series that I actually care for them (a rarity in horror). And The Thing...because you don't know who's infected (a clone) and who isn't. Paranoia is the ultimate horror, isolation just before that, and both come into play when dealing with a shapeshifting viral-like organism that is made up of INDIVIDUALLY LIVING cells.

Wow. Sheldon's a very old-school guy with a great mind for the business (first promotion to run 'Net-only broadcasts, has some of the finest young talent in the country as they learn PSYCHOLOGY over HIGHSPOTS), so him being affiliated with XPW in any way, shape, or form is a shock to me. Especially since NECW, for a couple years, was my favorite promotion. Also, Barber, did you know NECW has cancelled some of their shows? Sheldon and "Brutal" Bob Evans have been having a shitload of arguments between themselves, and since Bob is the head trainer of SlamTech (which provides NECW with talent, for the most part) and helps with the booking, this is a bad sign. I don't want to see NECW go under, at least not without seeing them live one last time, and with the way I think it's headed that might not happen.

He's not had a good match? The Jarrett title match on Impact was excellent, and he was in Monsters Ball, his matches with Abyss have always been good. Has he had any AMAZING greatest TNA matches? No. He doesn't need to. He has the look, the charisma, he's over, and has things that almost all of that TNA roster don't. The Pounce looks better and better the more I see it, and it's stupidly over with TNA fans. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I dislike all Jarrett matches inherently (yes, I'm biased as hell), haven't seen Monster's Ball, and haven't seen his matches with Abyss. Though I actually won't doubt I'd enjoy Monster's Ball and the Abyss series, since I'm a fan of garbage wrestling and of Abyss.

I do believe FYE sells the DVDs online, but I've never seen them in any of the stores. I'll check the FYE in Natick tomorrow, since my band's going there to sell tickets for our show at the Worcester Palladium in December.

Maybe. I'm not sure on the titles, for the most part, from after the first King of the Mountain match (when I stopped watching for a period of time) and earlier this year. And yes, TNA's done the "title changes hands on a DQ" a couple of times, actually. Mostly with the tag belts, though, so it kinda diminishes those.

Actually, the main comparison to Mankind/Kane comes from the mask, and I wouldn't want too different of a mask for Abyss should they change it. Maybe make the mask stand out more with different patterns or something, or simplify it, I dunno. As for title histories...I'll do that right here, off the top of my head. No dates, though, as it'd be hard-as-balls to try to remember all the dates. Also, both the World and Tag belts have longer lineages than just TNA (obviously), so I'm only counting the TNA-era (since they were both vacated before TNA's debut anyway). NWA World Heavyweight title Ken Shamrock won the Gauntlet for the Gold after defeating Malice in the finals to become the first NWA World champion of the TNA era. Ron "The Truth" Killings defeated Ken Shamrock © to become the first black NWA World champion following interference by "Mr. Wrestling III." Jeff Jarrett defeated Ron "The Truth" Killings © following interference by "Mr. Wrestling III" (Vince Russo). AJ Styles defeated Jeff Jarrett © and Raven in a Triple Threat match following interference from Vince Russo to become the first TNA Triple Crown winner (X-Division, Tag Team, World). Jeff Jarrett defeated AJ Styles © to become the first two-time NWA World champion of the TNA era. AJ Styles defeated Jeff Jarrett © in a Cage Match to become the second two-time NWA World champion of the TNA era. Ron "The Truth" Killings defeated AJ Styles © to become the third two-time NWA World champion of the TNA era. Jeff Jarrett defeated Ron "The Truth" Killings ©, AJ Styles, "Wildcat" Chris Harris, and Raven in the first-ever King of the Mountain match to become the first three-time NWA World champion of the TNA era. Raven won a King of the Mountain match (I forget the exact participants) after the champion, Jeff Jarrett ©, was stripped of the title. Jeff Jarrett defeated Raven © at a TNA-sponsored Border City Wrestling event to become the first four-time NWA World champion of the TNA era following interference by America's Most Wanted (Chris Harris and James Storm). Rhino defeated Jeff Jarrett © after winning a #1 Contender's Gauntlet. Jeff Jarrett defeated Rhino © to become the first five-time NWA World champion of the TNA era following interference from America's Most Wanted, Monty Brown, and Abyss. NWA X-Division title AJ Styles defeated Psicosis, LowKi, and Jerry Lynn in a Four-Way Double Elimination match to become the first-ever NWA X-Division champion. LowKi defeated AJ Styles © and Jerry Lynn in a Triple Threat match to become the second NWA X-Division champion. Jerry Lynn defeated LowKi © and AJ Styles in a Triple Threat Ladder match to become the third NWA X-Division champion. Sean "Syxx-Pac" Waltman won an X-Division Invitational Ladder Match after an injury forced Jerry Lynn to relinquish the NWA X-Division title. AJ Styles defeated Sean "Syxx-Pac" Waltman © to become the first-ever two-time NWA X-Division champion. Jerry Lynn defeated AJ Styles to become the second two-time NWA X-Division champion. Sonny Siaki defeated Jerry Lynn ©. Kid Kash defeated Sonny Siaki ©. The Amazing Red defeated Kid Kash ©. Chris Sabin defeated The Amazing Red © and Jerry Lynn in a Triple Threat match. Michael Shane defeated Chris Sabin © and Frankie Kazarian in the first-ever Ultimate X match. Chris Sabin defeated Michael Shane ©, LowKi, and "The Fallen Angel" Christopher Daniels in Ultimate X2. Frankie Kazarian won an X-Division Gauntlet for the NWA X-Division title after Chris Sabin © forfeited the title due to injury. ...and I lose track after this because I stopped watching/caring until AJ won it back earlier this year (so for these you'll have to do research)... "The Fallen Angel" Christopher Daniels defeated AJ Styles ©. NWA World Tag Team titles Jerry Lynn and AJ Styles won a one-night tournament to become the first NWA World Tag Team champions of the TNA era. America's Most Wanted (Chris Harris and James Storm) won a Tag Team Gauntlet for the Gold for the vacant NWA World Tag Team titles after the NWA Board of Directors stripped AJ Styles and Jerry Lynn of the belts. The Disciples of the New Church ("Killdozer" Brian Lee and Slash) defeated America's Most Wanted ©. America's Most Wanted defeated the Disciples of the New Church © to become the first-ever two-time NWA World Tag Team champions of the TNA era. XXX defeated America's Most Wanted ©. Jerry Lynn and The Amazing Red defeated XXX ©. XXX defeated Jerry Lynn and The Amazing Red ©. America's Most Wanted defeated XXX © in TNA's first Cage Match to become the first three-time NWA World Tag Team champions of the TNA era. Redshirt Security defeated America's Most Wanted ©. 3 Live Kru defeated Redshirt Security ©. Redshirt Security defeated 3 Live Kru © after interference by The New Franchise. AJ Styles and Abyss defeated Redshirt Security ©. Kid Kash and Dallas defeated XXX in the finals of a Tag Team title tournament following the vacation of the NWA World Tag Team titles by the NWA Board of Directors due to the Abyss/AJ Styles feud. D'Lo Brown and Apolo defeated Kid Kash and Dallas © by DQ. Kid Kash and Dallas defeated D'Lo Brown and Apolo © by DQ. America's Most Wanted defeated Kid Kash and Dallas ©. ...BANG! The Naturals won the belts somehow...? America's Most Wanted defeated The Naturals ©.

You see the title. Yeah.

Going the cartoon route for Venom's introduction, as stated, wouldn't throw the movies off-course at all, really. John Jameson is established as an astronaut, so he brings the symbiote back in #3 (and most of the movie helps build Eddie Brock as hating Spider-Man), it bonds with Peter and then gets rejected at the end... ...end the movie with Eddie Brock working out as he curses Spider-Man for ruining his life/career/etc., and then a silhouette, a slithering sound, and the camera turns around to see the Venom spider, and then? Credits.

...wiseass.

Different audience. RoH is playing to the fans who care most about workrate and how good the matches themselves are. TNA are trying to find the middle-ground between what the RoH fans and the WWE fans want. I'm all for a stable being made out of a handful of the undercard X guys, but it's been proven that outside of Jarrett's lackeys and SEX, TNA has yet to make any good stables.

After his damn fine series with AJ Styles in '03 (tag bouts and one-on-one), he sorta faded away and then left entirely to tour Japan. He came back in early '04 and did nothing of note until winning the NWA World Tag Team titles with Apolo (who was under a mask as El Leon at the time), and even then the only redeeming quality of those matches was that Kid Kash (ie. the best heel TNA ever had) interfered in a few of them, and two of them were against the team of Kash and Dallas (the latter now known as Lance Hoyt). Interesting how the older generations don't know a damn thing about the younger ones, eh? Well, that's really a given, but hey, it's still kind of annoying. My folks used to not understand the X on the back of my hand either (yeah, L-A-Z, the one who did the drunken TNA review and smokes like a chimney, used to be sXe), saying it was a porn thing, and don't get how it's actually a positive thing these days to be considered a "pimp," but alas...my mom's an angry Portuguese cunt, and my dad's just into hockey.

...why? Why reform a stable based out of RoH when TNA made it clear in the last 3 years that they want to use the shared talent different? That'd be like WWE using the nW...okay, or WCW doing the Flo...okay, fuck it, just reform Generation Next. ...or try to build the workers as individuals first instead of throwing a bunch of unover guys who put on good matches but have no characters together in a pathetic attempt to get people to care about them.

Technically, Barber, if UTSH is the head of the Sledgehammer forums, then it'd be wise to just take down the posts. If not? Fuck 'im.

Yeah. Okay...here's what I'm wondering...how will this game rank, quality-wise, to the wrestling titles we have out there now? Yukes has proven it can provide decent pickup-and-play games with fine graphics that leave much to be desired for the hardcore gamer, but are perfect for those that wish to just play a game for fun and not obsess over it. Aki is the team behind the best gameplay in wrestling games ever, and now they do the EA Def Jam games, which are both better than any WWE title since Aki held the license for the non-PS games due to how in-depth the gameplay is. They took a big leap with the control changes for FFNY that they hadn't done before, and it paid off in some eyes, but failed in others. Midway did Wrestlemania: The Arcade Game in the mid-90's for PlayStation, and while it's still a fun game to play, it wasn't terribly good. It's pretty lame, redundant, and over-the-top goofy, but a good pickup-and-play game. Hrmmm...Yukes vs. Aki vs. Midway...this should be interesting in late '06/early '07.

Or maybe Rhino just likes the spiderweb design and put it on his elbow. I know plenty of people with spiderweb ink done on their elbows, as its a pretty ideal place for it. I think that the spiderweb tattoo is one of those things, much like a tattoo of a 13, that may have an alternate meaning, but most people don't think of that meaning when they get it done.

Warn him there, jerky.

I like it. Actually hype up how well he can hit a backbreaker as opposed to just "hey, he knows a lot of 'em." Or, hell...have him "break" some indy guy's back (or choose one of the other X-Division B/C list guys to wear a hood an alternate costume) with his barrage, thus adding "legitimacy" to not only the move, but to him as a wrestler. Hype the balls out of how dangerous his backbreakers are, and have Tenay talk about how he positions his knee (so that the point of it is right into his opponent's back for maximum damage) and such to hype his backbreakers over everybody else's. Also, put out a promotion-wide limit on backbreakers by others. Sure, they can use them from time-to-time, but Strong has the trademark, so all of the uber-innovative forms are his to use. Haha..."The Crippler" Roderick Strong...haha. I dig giving him a back submission, too, as it would make the backbreakers that much more important. Also, put over Strong's backbreakers like they did with DDP's Cutters: he can hit them from ANY position. Have, say, Sabin pick him up for the Cradle Shock, only Strong twists out of it and BAM! Backbreaker. Sonjay goes for a 'rana, but Strong catches it and BAM! Backbreaker. Do this as much as possible. As far as the back-based submission hold...hrmmmm...maybe a simple Bow-and-Arrow with a minor variation would do the trick?

A few notes: 1. C'mon, man...Daniels taking Raven out of TNA? Bullshit. Raven was one of the reasons TNA was exciting in its first year, and could easily make the whole company that much better if allowed to run with the ball. Plus, I dislike the whole "Jarrett wins over Raven AGAIN" thing. If any feud with Raven and Jarrett goes down, Raven needs the blowoff. 2. Angel's Wings is not a submission hold, it's a spinning sit-out Pedigree. You're thinking of the Koji Clutch.

I'm actually loving that album cover because of how stupid it is. And yes, Pantera's pre-Vulgar album covers were pretty fucking awful (Cowboys is the least bad, and it's only good because of how cheesy it is).

IIRC, Touken Retsuden was released in the States under the name "Powermove Pro Wrestling." It sucked. It was good for a few things, but the limited number of moves you could do and the slow gameplay hampered it indefinitely.