Corey_Lazarus

It'd be funny if he came to the ring talking on his cell phone, actually. Since he does all of those "shoot comments" in his promo's that are meant as jokes and all. But yeah. TNA needs new music for their workers since most of the music is awful and generic.

Difference being that though he is acting "unprofessional," Raven will still job to whoever the bookers want him to. Jarrett won't. I'd say somebody who voices his displeasure with his current situation but does what he's supposed to regardless is more reliable than somebody that just raises a fuss whenever something doesn't go their way.

The AJ DVD is a good buy. I got it last year for Christmas, and it gets a decent amount of play. The Abyss matches really ARE as good as people said they were (for those of you that haven't seen them), and you'll be amazed at how much better a lot of the 2002 X-Division stuff is compared to quite a bit of your Impact stuff (pre-'Net).

His cover of Nirvana's "Rape Me" is amazing, as is his cover of White Zombie's "More Human Than Human." But "Rape Me" is definitely the best cover he's done so far.

I was on perc Friday night. Had a very fun night.

Yeah. He is.

Yes, because Heaven forbid a man KNOWN FOR SPEAKING HIS OWN MIND INSTEAD OF TOWING THE COMPANY LINE does exactly that. Jeez, they act like Raven being an arrogant prick is new, or something. Of course he's arrogant about himself: the guy is, arguably, the most over wrestler of the past 15 years to never have a main event position in the WWF or WCW. He gets over on his own by doing his schtick, and connects with the disenfranchised, cynical members of the audience (which usually turns out to be most of the audience). Yeah, just don't use him because he spoke his mind. Why not just go "hey, Raven, I know you love to speak your mind, no matter how controversial it may be, but c'mon, dude: we're trying to promote our product here, so ya mind just saying what the facts are and hyping the show a little?" If he says "no"? Don't let him do the interview, duh.

...and? My name's not really Corey, either.

Wow. I'm not a parent, but I do have a firm place in the upbringing of my sister's daughter and her ex-boyfriend's son and daughter. Of the entire family? My baby niece loves me the most (considering she flips out whenever I have to leave to go to work or to a friend's house, more so than she did for my sister sometimes). And you know what? She's 3. If she ever threw a fit and I was watching her, I'd do exactly what Bruiser's wife did: grab her by the arm, no matter the setting, and scold her. In the privacy of my own house if he continued throwing fits? Yeah, I'm guilty of just going "whatever" and letting her finish it. The key when it's a temper tantrum is to not give in...when in a private setting. If it's in public and it's a terrible tantrum? Grab the arm and scold. But damn, if my niece ever flips out and starts hitting me I'd spank her. Not so much to cause lasting pain beyond the few moments immediately after, but enough to let her know that it's not going to be tolerated. My parents never hit me unless I actually deserved it. My dad's only hit me maybe three times in my whole life: once when I was 4, once when I was 7 or 8, and once when I was 13. The one when I was 4 was entirely wrong, and even my mom yelled at him for it (I tried to cast a fishing pole when he was changing the hook on it and I didn't know that the pole I was using was the hook he was changing, so he smacked offside the head). When I was 7 or 8, my dad smacked me offside the head because I told him he "fucking sucked," and that one was entirely justified. 13? Because I got suspended from school for a couple days for telling the principal he could go fuck himself. Of course, then my dad laughed after he smacked me offside the head at the fact that I told my principal to go fuck himself, so it was more like a "well, I'm obligated to punish" than it was him actually wanting to hit me. But did I fuck around with my father around? No. He put FEAR into me when I was young, and the few times I fucked up I deserved some punishment (save for when I was 2). He's only hit me a handful of times, if that, and it was always a smack offside the head, and that's why when I pissed him off I stopped fucking around. So if you're going to sit here and tell me that punishing your kid via a smack offside the head, a slap across the face (when they're older, such as in their teens and can handle it), or a spanking doesn't work? Haha, eat shit. I'm still good friends with my dad. Hell, if it weren't for him, I never would have gotten into wrestling like I did 8 years ago because he took me to a WWF house show in late '97, and then an ECW show in '98 and another ECW show in '99. I wouldn't have the desire to do anything musically that I do, and now I'm in a band that's only been together for a month with two shows booked already. Him smacking me when I fucked up didn't hinder that. A parent can be his/her child's best friend, but, in the end, they need to be a parent first. Calmly explaining to the child what they did wrong and why they're being punished works to a degree, but if the behavior continues and it's a last resort? Smack 'em offside the head. Half the fuck-up's I know that are in my age group most definitely would've benefitted from parents that actually gave a shit what their kid was going to grow into. Basically, I was never beaten by my parents, and I get along with my father pretty damn good and still greatly dislike my mother. I fail to see how the correlation can be made from disciplining your offspring as opposed to just going "dude, that's not cool."

My criteria for a good PPV: -At least 2 good matches from a technical standpoint (not meaning they're good because it's technical wrestling, but they're good because the wrestling itself during them was good, the pacing was good, and there wasn't too many things blown during them). -The flow of the show (it can't just be match-match-match for me, but it can't also follow the same formula that most TV shows do; it needs to FEEL like a PPV in its flow, and get across the FEEL of the company). -The main event (if it's a shitty match that's expected to be good, it leaves a bad taste in your mouth after the show's over; likewise, if it's a shitty match that you KNEW was going to be shitty, it still leaves a bad taste in your mouth when the show's over; many WWF/WWE PPVs were pretty bad until the main event in 1998 and 1999, but the main event saved the show). So, basically, if the PPV is enjoyable with good matches, good flow, and a good main event, I call it a good PPV.

I don't think they'll necessarily dumb it down, but rather play to everybody's strengths. TNA's been fairly good at that recently. I could see The Naturals flat-out out-wrestling Team 3D (still trying to get used to that name), but if the match becomes a brawl? It's all Ray and Devon. I could also see that happening with the James Gang/NAO/whatever you wanna call them. It isn't entirely necessary to dumb down the tag division just because the new team can't keep up with the rest of them. Just book the matches so that the new team plays to their strengths while the established TNA teams play to their strengths as well.

Played with my Cliff Young CAW (another e-wrestler I use), and I gave him a powerbomb (I think Powerbomb 6 or 7, I'm not sure, but it's a running release powerbomb). Cliff Young vs. Eddie Guerrero in Season Mode. Eddie's back is to the ropes, toe kick, power grapple, the powerbomb. I'm expecting it to be like every other powerbomb where the animation just has Cliff magically placed back near the center of the ring as Eddie crashes to the mat. Uh-uh. Eddie goes OVER THE TOP ROPE and lands on the outside. I paused the game, went "holy shit," and then Eddie got back into the ring. Tried it again, thinking maybe it's just a glitch. EDDIE IS POWERBOMBED OVER THE TOP ROPE AGAIN! So I set up a table in my next match, one against Chavo which was, I do believe, your standard season match, so it's no DQ. But it's at a PPV, so there's a table under the ring (since during the normal Raw/SmackDown shows, there's just a chair where the table should be under the ring). I set up the table VERY close to the ring, get Chavo in position, powerbomb him over...but he lands on the table without it breaking. Only downside to the spot, because it otherwise would've been SICK. I'm going to try to play a game with my buddy Chris and use that spot (table set up, powerbomb them over onto it) in a 3way with him on the outside. Have him get up on the table, grab the guy, and then put him through it or something. I dunno.

But they'd be ultimately losing to a team that was, at one point, the most over team in all of the United States. Say what you will, Mike, about their popularity once the WWF/WWE tag scene started dying out, but right up until their release they were still popular (which is likely, IMO, part of the reason that WWE wouldn't let them have the Dudley name: because then TNA would have the advantage of having one of the most decorated tag teams of the past decade or so in their ranks). BTW, Rudo, if you haven't already been told, Raven kept his name because he himself trademarked back in his first ECW run.

William Dawes is an ancestor of mine through marriage.

As long as nobody replies with "now I have a reason to live again," you done good, Dames.

Why they don't try to find indie acts (be they indie rock, punk, metal, rap, industrial, or whatever) to do songs for them is beyond me, since they could come across a somewhat well-known band that are fans of the product and would cut a deal with TNA to write a song for them/let TNA use one of their songs and voila: both sides win, since the band's fans will know about the product, and the TNA fans will know about the band. Seriously. I dig Lynn's new music, but it's not the same as him using Fear Factory's "Scapegoat." Try to find some obscure indie death metal band that Jerry listens to (since he's a huge metalhead) and ask them. Either that or get that music department guy (Chris something, I believe) to hire some other people with different backgrounds to be a part of his team. ...AND BRING BACK THE TRUTH'S OLD-SCHOOL STOCK THEME! IT MAY HAVE BEEN STOCK MUSIC, BUT IT WAS GOOD!

But they're not HOMEGROWN. A HOMEGROWN star is somebody that received their first bit of fame through the company, or was signed to the company as a rookie and blew up in it. Styles and Daniels were stars elsewhere before coming to TNA, thus are not homegrown stars. Styles is as homegrown a TNA star as Rey Mysterio Jr. was a homegrown WCW star. Would anybody ever say Rey was homegrown WCW? Of course not, because he had stardom elsewhere first, so why even think about Styles being a homegrown TNA star when it's a similar situation? I'd say TNA's homegrown stars right now would be America's Most Wanted, The Naturals, Chris Sabin, and Monty Brown. Possibly Team Canada, since they never worked any BIG indies before coming to TNA (again, unlike Styles/Daniels, who worked RoH shows before TNA).

I think it should be the Tattoo'd Skank on a Pole match I've been hearing some rumors about.

Have the face upset a somewhat over heel. The heel flips his lid and beats the face down afterwards. The face comes back the next week and challenges the heel to a rematch. The heel wins through nefarious means. The heel, confident that he can win again, challenges the new face to another rematch, which the face accepts. Back-and-forth in the beginning, then the heel dominates, then the face comes back and wins decisively. Bam. Instant over face, especially if they're TALENTED.

Was a star in Puerto Rico before TNA as Justice, I do believe. Or Prince Justice, or whatever. As far as the States goes, he's a TNA homegrown, but in reality? Nope.

Just had a nice 12-minute match between my newest CAW, Jesse White, and a CAW I made of The Amazing Red. So the match starts and White's a power-based wrestler, so I'm just clotheslining and tossing the fuck out of Red. Head and body are in yellow in, like, a minute in. I go for a spinebuster, and Red turns it into a DDT. A lot of back-and-forth follows with Red using his speed a whole lot, and he knocks me (White) down and starts doing one of the kung-fu taunts I gave him (it's pretty long). I get up, and I have a SmackDown ready, so I nail it as I'm running...CLOTHESLINE FROM HELL~! Red goes down...but his foot's on the ropes so it's a rope break. More back-and-forth under the same formula, and then I get a pair of SmackDown's. Red nails the West Coast Pop on me (what I gave him for a finish), but since Red's in the red (haha, no pun intended) and White's body is in orange and head's in the yellow, I kick out at 2. Clothesline, whip to the ropes, running back elbow, pick Red up, Powerbomb 05 (running AwesomeBomb), and then White goes up top. ELBOW DROP~! White pulls Red up at 2, and then lifts him up. Whip to the ropes, White charges, CLOTHESLINE FROM HELL!! White picks Red up at 2, breaking the count, and then boots him in the gut for his other SmackDown: Powerbomb 9 (an over-the-shoulder powerbomb pin that has the receiver landing pretty much on their head). 1-2-3, done. I just thought it was cool that Red was winning the match for a good portion until I did enough tosses and clotheslines to get two SmackDown's up, and then finished him off with one right after the other. Made for a cool visual.

Forget this "homegrown" bullshit. NONE of TNA's stars are "homegrown." Styles was a star in NWA Wildside and RoH before TNA. Jarrett was a star in the WWF and WCW before TNA. Christopher Daniels was a star in Japan, various SoCal indies, and RoH before TNA. Samoa Joe was a star in RoH before TNA. And all of the new guys they're bringing in - Nash, Team 3D - were all big names elsewhere first. Truth is the closest thing to an honest-to-goodness homegrown star they have. He wasn't over in the WWF due to being just another dancing negro (seriously, that's not meant to be offensive, it was true), but he came to TNA, cut some money promo's, carried HERMIE FUCKING SADLER to an entertaining match, and had good matches with Ken Shamrock, LowKi, Jerry Lynn, and Jeff Jarrett. The man was TNA's top non-X star until he was jobbed to Jarrett. Who do they have for homegrown guys right now? Just Monty Brown, and I doubt he'll get over the way TNA wants him to, mainly because of how "out there" his gimmick truly is (and that most TNA fans are into him simply because of how weird he is). Truth is their best shot at bringing in newer, younger, more "hip" fans, since - GET THIS - they can have a main event wrestler with a rapper gimmick who actually WAS a rapper before he became a wrestler, actually CAN rap good, and actually CAN have a good match. Basically, Truth is TNA's answer to John Cena, only a hundred times better in every which way.

On Killings' possible future main event role: On the Spike debut of Impact, 3LK were portrayed as big stars in the company simply because they came out and brawled with Jarrett and AMW. Truth is the best member of 3LK in the ring and on the stick, and easily has the best look of the group (since he's still in shape and all). New fans see them, and they see Truth, and they'll go "who's that black guy hanging out with Konnan and Road Dogg?" Then they'll see him in the ring, and say "you know, that guy ain't too bad." They'll hear him on the mic, and say "you know, that guy ain't too bad." Then they'll see him in a match with somebody who actually knows how to work, and they'll say "you know, this guy is pretty fucking cool." All TNA needs to do to push Truth back into the main event scene is to give him mic time and a singles feud with somebody in at LEAST the upper-midcard. Perhaps give him a shot at being #1 Contender. His charisma, passable in-ring ability (and I'm copping out by saying that, as I think he's DAMN GOOD), and look will take care of the rest, and soon he'll be popular enough to take on Jarrett again.

I remember the graduation song. It was "Good Riddance," and half of the class sat there and raised a fuss over it because of how overplayed that fucking song is. Of course, my 8th grade "graduation" song was "Graduation" by Vitamin C, and it was just me and a couple other people raising a fuss over how shitty it was. I really wish I made a video for graduation, because I would've set it to something by Black Label Society or some other "hey, they're soft enough for YOU to like them, but heavy enough for ME to like them" band that the dumbass wannabe elitist I was in high school would choose. Though I'll laugh if anybody ever chooses Johnny Cash's cover of "Hurt" to be their prom and/or graduation song. I'd laugh THOROUGHLY.

They would and they wouldn't. They would because the Heel Section would reform, show up, and just completely tear apart the main event scene, most likely. And they wouldn't because TNA would advertise it as a homecoming, almost, and it'd make sense to hold a PPV there rather than do just a house show. Do a house show back at the Asylum to test the waters, and if people show up? Run a PPV there and maybe even sub-title it "Return to the Asylum." Like, say the next Lockdown is held in Nashville. Call it Lockdown: Return to the Asylum.