Styles

An an O's fan, I want that deal too!

I'll be going with a friend! Section 110.

Al is WHOOPING my ass this week. Damnit.

Gammons says this trade is false and Rosenthal says the Red Sox are not into it. It's between Chicago (white sox) and Baltimore. Both demand a window to sign an extension. AJ's wife is from Baltimore and rumors have him preferring the O's. Orioles would take Lowell, not sure about the White Sox. White Sox package is Contreras, Anderson and Marte. The O's package is Penn, Bigbie, Julio and Kline.

The winner of the X Cup gets an X title shot at next month's Sacrifice. It's pretty obvious they're building up Joe for Daniels. I doubt they give away Joe/Styles on iMPACT! when hardly anyone's watching. I say Joe wins the thing, beats Daniels at Sacrifice and they build up Styles for him at this Bound For Glory show they're already hyping for October. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> The TNA site says the finals of the X Cup will take place at the next ppv. The winner would get a title shot the month after that. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Hmmm...well on the PPV, whenever West or Tenay mentioned it they said the winner would get a shot at Sacrifice. Since that blurb on the website is a few days old, I'd trust the latest information, but they could have mispoken I suppose. Either way we get some good matches!

The winner of the X Cup gets an X title shot at next month's Sacrifice. It's pretty obvious they're building up Joe for Daniels. I doubt they give away Joe/Styles on iMPACT! when hardly anyone's watching. I say Joe wins the thing, beats Daniels at Sacrifice and they build up Styles for him at this Bound For Glory show they're already hyping for October.

Looks like everyone stopped following the show :-D Just in case people haven't checked yet AJ beat Waltman with the Clash in a good match, Daniels beat Petey with the BME after some great revesals in a well worked match and Raven beat Abyss with the DDT into thumbtacks in a satisfying bloody brawl. After the match Jarrett came out and taunted Raven, Rhino ran in to the ring and gored Raven. Overall a good show. I got to give it to TNA for sticking to their guns about Matt Hardy and not putting him over at the expense of their other talent, their announcement on the website played like a reverse psycology angle, but it was legit and just another example of TNA being honest with their fans. I would have loved to have seen him run in though because I'm a fan of the angle and it would have helped drive replays and DVD sales, but he wasn't missed. They did an a great job building up Rhino as a top star. All through the night the running storyline was around him. The fans popped huge for his name in the preshow, and could have gotten over as a face, but like Monty Brown before him, I guess Jarrett wants to be alligned with the hot act. Raven/Rhino should be a good program for next month. Joe/Sabin stole the show. Fantastic match. I've seen tons of ROH so I know it's only scratching the surface but as is, they tore it up and I would give it ****. The crowd was way into it too. Joe just became a star in TNA. Styles/Waltman and Petey/Daniels were both good matches. Not spectacular but smartly worked and good action. Kip James!?!?!?!? The Naturals/Hoyt vs. Team Canada gets my "underrated match of the night" award. Great, smartly booked match. I loved the ironic ending of Hart getting thrown out after getting framed with the flag pole, but then Team Canada using the megaphone to win. The crowd was into Hoyt as usual who continues to improve, and the Naturals are starting to come in to their own as a face team. Good job all around. Sonjay winning was a good move and that Hindu Press was sick, looked like he cracked Mikey right in the face with his knees. X cup should make for some fun iMPACTS! and it's obvious they're building up Joe/Daniels next month...ohhhhh boy! I'm bored with AMW, I would like to see the heel turn they were teasing and another feud with the Naturals with the roles reversed. "Shane"? Didn't we establish that the Shane twins didn't own the trademark to "Michael Shane"? At least they're not calling him "Michael" again. Thumbs up show all around. Already we have Rhino/Raven and Joe/Daniels set up as top matches for next month.

I mean predicting. I predicted after his column after RAW on Monday that he'd be appearing at the TNA show even in a "seen on camera in the crowd" capacity while everyone else shot the idea down. Not everyone checks the TNA folder, and it hadn't been posted in this thread yet. Thanks for enlightening me though.

Take this for what it's worth but Meltzer is reporting that WWE has given TNA approval to use Matt Hardy at the No Surrender PPV on Sunday. I called it, btw.

So, I take it Comcast is just never going to add it?

Trade announcement! Rockbirds get: G. Maddux (ChC - SP) A. Boone (Cle - 3B) Brockvegas Posse get: D. Erstad (LAA - 1B) R. Drese (Was - SP) Boone will be released immediately, so it was really a 2 for 1. Finally got my pitching upgrade in Maddux. Hopefully Erstad (who didn't have a spot to play on my team) and Drese, who while improving needed upgrading, can help treble's team rebuild.

YEY on the trade! If the Lakers think they can tap into the potential of this perrenial disappointment, all the power to them. Meanwhile, the Wiz got the best deal they could hope for. Caron Butlet has the potential to surpass what Larry Hughes did for us last year which was a huge hole to fill. We lose some speed but we gain a shooter. Everything I've heard from Laker fans about his attitude and work ethic is very encouraging, like the anti-Kwame, Butler and Arenas together should be a good tandem. Getting Chucky Atkins is actually very usesful too since another need was a dependable backup PG, and he gives us a 3 point threat off the bench. Hopefully the Wiz can get this rumored deal done with Donell Marshall at the 4 so Jamison can play at his natural 3. Arenas Butler Jamison Marshall Haywood I actually like that lineup a lot, it's gritty and gives us a lot of shot options on the outside. Haywood is already far more of an inside force than Kwame could ever project to be. Kudos to Ernie Grunfeld for turning a potential disaster (the loss of Hughes) into a positive (Kwame for Butler and Atkins, and hopefully the signing of Marshall).

We'll take Burnett on the condition he signs a (reasonable) extension with us. His wife's from the Baltimore area so we might have an in. Daniel Cabrera is totally off the table, but we might be willing to deal Hayden Penn if it bring us Burnett.

TNA is now offering iMPACT! on it's website streamed through real player. They have the past 3 weeks of iMPACT! up for you to watch any time you want, so you can catch up on the storylines since the last PPV Slammeversary: http://www.tnawrestling.com/ (short version though, Raven won the King Of The Mountain match at the last PPV, Abyss won a #1 contender Gauntlet match at Hard Justice 2 PPVs ago, and now Father James Mitchell is back to manage Abyss and get his revenge on Raven from their feud 2 years ago where Raven ran Mitchell out of TNA. It became a "No Surrender" Dog Collar match after each guy attacked the other with a chain on iMPACT!)

THIS SUNDAY. Pre-show starts at 7:30 pm ET, $29.95 on PPV. http://www.tnawrestling.com/nosurrender/index.html

I don't think he'd have to wait in line...

I still leave a 1% chance of hope that he ends up getting a ticket ringside and is shown on camera in the crowd or something like that to further the character and to pay off his Sunday in Orlando rumors. But it's probably not likely to happen.

According to Meltzer add Outlaw/Monty Brown vs. Killings/Konan and Naturals vs. Team Canada for the tag titles to make the card complete. Looks like a good show and I expect a few suprises too.

I energetically root for a split, so neither one of ya gains ground while the O's take 3/4 from the Mariners. Good luck to both of ya...really.

Shouldn't it be fleshed out to see who has the most "real" all stars from this year? I've got 4, with Tejada and Kent as starters and Mora and Livan Hernandez as reserves.

...and bring back Jim Leyland? I heard he was looking to manage again. That would be kind of neat. My bold, hoped for prediction which I never would have dreamed possible in March but now is at least a possibility is a Baltimore/Washington World Series. We'll see...

If you think that was acting, you have no idea what kind of a person Miguel Tejada is. As someone who sees him play, hear's him talk to the media, etc. every day, he is the most humble, gracious, energetic, fun loving, classy player I have ever seen. It was a big shock for him when they gave him the car and he was humble about it like he is always. I bet he donates it to a charity, as he already has a Ferarri that's somewhat of an icon itself in Baltimore. God that was the perfect game I got GOOSEBUMPS when they asked him about Baltimore getting home field in the world series. Miguel has led the Baltimore resurgence. Between him, Roberts, Ryan and Mora (even if he did K) Baltimore served notice on the national stage. That won't be the last MVP trophy Tejada wins this year, bank on it. GO O'S!

New thought: Matt "appears in the crowd" at the TNA PPV. Ok, I need to go to sleep, I know.