Michrome

Best TNA news in months.

Are 7 year olds their target demo now? Most high school and college kids are out with friends or doing something fun, and adults are at work. Further, how does it help to have 2 months of inflated ratings and then a drop when school starts? 52 weeks reserved doesn't mean Fox can't pull it earlier than that, either. They have a MAJOR uphill climb.

Following Meltzer's numbers in the last 6 months, the biggest ratings winners outside of Foley's first couple appearances were all the long matches. HHH-HBK, both Benoit-HBK matches....basically, any matches that were long main events (20+) did great gains in the ratings, even Orton-RVD. Get a clue.

Funny thing is that if this had happened last week, people would have been blaming Benoit. There are lots of possible reasons: 1) People were turned off after the 2 minute nonfinish opener. 2) After that match, none of the remaining advertised matches have any history of drawing, and the god-awful Edge-Orton match may have killed off more. 3) The show refocused on Shawn-HHH, a feud that has never drawn ratings of PPV buys since Summerslam 2002.

No, kid will be a flash in the pan like Rikishi. There is no way to ever evolve into anything, he will be hot and popular for a few months, and then screwed forever. The ONLY way to salvage his career after this thing dies out is to have him reveal he was only faking being a retard, which is even more offensive. Have fun being over for 3 months Nick Dinsmore.

Somehow I doubt it, if you know CM Punk. He basically already told TNA to fuck themselves, and I doubt they want a huge legal issue over this whole thing.

The funny thing is that War Of The Wire, despite being a poor RoH show, is like 10 trillion times better than any NECW Ive ever seen.

Main Event Spectacles, Night of Champions, and Final Battle 2003 are my personal favorites. I also love the second anniversary show.

Thank god for TNA, this policy is really helping the Indies...oh wait, TNA workers lose another place to work. And the pieces start falling. The real interesting thing is that Raven is still on the show, and apparently told Goodman he would take care of TNA. So now what happens if Raven doesn't have to pay, but Daniels, Styles, and Red do? Whoever made this policy is a fucking moron.

Further evidence against your "nobody cares about long matches" theory is in the ratings. The first Benoit vs. Michaels match that went 21 minutes + gained over a million viewers total according to the Observer, which is a fantastic number. The 35 minute Shawn-HHH match did a great job sustaining a big gain too, as did the Shelton-HHH match, and others. The long matches have consistently been WWE's best source for a long-term strong rating to end the shows. They never lose anybody, and gain throughout. The only time a long match has died in the ratings was the ironman match, and that was because people didn't want to sit through an hour match, and because they knew it would all come down to the end anyway. Long wrestling matches over the last 5 months have done GREAT in the ratings, whether you care about facts or not.

Plus, he works with TNA. Not happening.

The 2004 show that got very little hype, the Pure Wrestling tourney, was my favorite show in quite some time, and maybe my favorite ROH show ever. No MoTYCs or anything, but the tournament told a great story, and every match was at least good. Also, it had a GREAT 4-way match on it, and a Spanky promo that made me all tingly inside.

If you could get that, it would be worth it probably. One way to jump in is to go to the first Anny show (2/8/03), where they recap all the important parts of 2002. Of course, they do that on the 2004 2nd anny show, so you could wait for that to come out. The announcers do a damn good job going over current storylines...in fact, the way they do it so much is often one of the reasons they're annoying. 12/27/03 basically kick-started the main storyline for the new year (Prophecy-SCS). Of course, that story is now out the window. Besides that, there isn't much in terms of storyline continuity you have to worry about, since much of the show is just about winning or losing, with the exception of the usual one major feud.

There are definitely guys out there for tapes that might sell them for like 10 bucks a show. For DVDs, I think this sale is the best shot you've got. I'd honestly reccomend picking up the last 3 DVDs: 12/27, 1/10, and 1/29 so you can get an idea of where the promotion is. If you like it, then maybe you'll follow it. The next 2 come out in about a week. I buy mostly from RF Video to keep the promotion going...and the DVDs are much better quality anyway.

Anyway, of the 19.95 ones, here are the top shows I would buy: --Epic Encounter (For 1 match...the best match in the world in years) --Night Of Champions (tremendous blend...Daniels-Williams is brilliant, and there are 2 great spotfests for fans of that) --Death Before Dishonor (Great 4-way, Williams-Carter, bigtime Punk-Raven stuff, and of course, London's farewell. Well worth seeing.) --Bitter Friends, Stiffer Enemies (Insane Homicide-Corino brawl that was light years better than you'd expect, and a fun technical Daniels-Xavier match) --Tradition Continues (Great 4-way, Punk-Styles is real good, and the main event is such a fun Vader-style match) --Empire State Showdown (The most underrated show of all. Daniels-Walters is real nice, the scramble is the best one ever, and Corino-Punk is just art) --Main Event Spectacles (One of RoH's best. Scramble Cage, Homicide-Whitmer, and Dragon-Styles. If you want to see Styles totally outclassed in a match, this is it. And it's fucking great) --Final Battle 2003 (Briscoe-Dragon is subtle brilliance, fun ladder match, and the AJPW gimmick was fun for a night) --BLAD (see where this feud was heading before TNA stepped in, and oh yeah...almost all of the matches are real good, with a great ME)

If you're deciding on buying DVDs based on the production quality, I don't think ROH is for you anyway. My view on this is as follows: If it turns out that Rob is still there, they will be sued for fraud by The Rexplex and every other venue/promotion they have assured he is gone. Not to mention TNA, who has his signature. In the end, Rob is never going to gain any more from ROH sales, because if he does it will be found out, and then he's finished. As is, I'd rather send money there to keep it afloat to give the boys 2-3 more dates a month, and keep the great wrestling going.

The best 2002 show is All Star Extravaganza. The shows got markedly better overall by mid-late 2003 though, and have been great so far in 2004.

Just have fun. Don't bring signs, it's not an arena, nobody can see if you do. From my experience...just don't be the asshole that tries to be really funny and tries to make himself the show. I hate people that do that. If you go, cheer the faces, boo the heels, and enjoy the great wrestling, you'll have an awesome time. Nothing like guys busting their asses for 500 people.

For what it's worth, there are some changes for the better (IMO). 1) CM Punk is getting a world title shot against the winner of Joe/Cide. If it's Joe, you may be seeing the big world title change. If it's Cide...well, you'll be getting a kickass match. 2) Steele will replace Punk in that tag. I think Steele is better suited for this kind of thing anyway. 3) The Stryker-Shelley series will continue. 4) Ray Gordy and Superstar Steve of NOAH are appearing for the first time. (Unnanounced): Spanky's tour ends 6/8, and he will likely be on this show. I think they're just waiting to do something with him at their Boston show to set up his match here.

SD did a 2.9 2 weeks ago? What is the excuse for that?

Ok, fine, how do you explain the piss poor ratings for the 2 prior weeks? The fact that they're drawing in the 3.9/4.0 area is really good. They don't have any fresh faces, but the programming is good enough to keep fans. Last year, they blew a sure-thing ratings bonanza with Goldberg, and this year they're doing a great job with Benoit. The overrun did a 4.5 I believe. I'd like to see what the last 2 Quarter Hours did, to see if we really lost any fans over time in that long match. I doubt it.

3 reports from Rajahwwf.com Just scary.

It's a big show I guess, anyone watching?

That's 3 EST. They're very, VERY lucky that their trial period is during the summer, when kids are home. I still think it's a death slot, so we'll see. Edit: It's going to be 1 hour by all accounts.

Most people giving it something around the *** range. Very smart match, both guys brought their best. Really fun match.