Michrome

Scherer is reporting that the buzz now is that Turner definitely has the wheels in motion for a return to wrestling when the no-compete expires in March 2005. Dave says that he is hearing that Ted has been in contact with Goldberg and Steve Austin, and that this is going to become a big story.

While this is relatively true, it still smokes anything WWE puts out by a longshot.

Having just watched the main event cage, I think that rating is nuts, but hey, you were happy about AJ winning. I think it was a solid **, but not much more.

Name me the "great" matches since 1995. If you're going to name his matches vs. Styles, and the one vs. Raven, just spare us all the headache.

Looking forward to downloading this. Meltz was a lot harsher on the show than Keller.

Have you even read the first amendment? That post was just pathetically sad. Who cares if Europeans laugh at us? I know this is the wrong forum, and I'll stop, but the idea that you think this has anything to do with the first amendment is a horrible indictment of your civics teacher.

So the parents watching the superbowl with their 6 year old child shouldn't care because you don't? Some parents want safe TV for their kids, and the superbowl has always promised that. Thousands of families and little kids were watching while that happened, and while it didn't offend you, telling other people they shouldn't be offended is borderline absurd.

Wrong. He's still worth well over a billion dollars, he just doesn't have as much as he once did.

Oh come on. He has tons of money still, and if he has Goldberg and Steve Austin, he will easily secure a TV deal. Those guys are money, especially since it would be a first-time match.

They weren't aimed at you. And yes, I think Steele is a better worker than Punk. When it comes to Hero, it's real close. Both guys are fucking awesome, but lately I'd probably give the nod to Chris.

Why don't you go find my quote where I said CM Punk is bringing in more buys than Sting? I've said Punk could be a star, and could potentially bring in more buys than Sting, whose effect on shows is pretty much null now. Of course, TNA rejecting his request to do the SE character, and giving the best interview in the country a mouthpiece manager didn't help matters much. And yes, Ace Steele's body of work over the last 3 years smokes AJ's. He was asked to work a dumbed-down, short style for TNA fans that he doesn't excell at, and amazingly, he didn't do well at it. Go check over at Chicagowrestling.com, where he's rated the number 1 worker in the Chicago area by those fans. The guy is fucking tremendous, he's been awesome in NOAH, awesome in IWA:MS, and awesome everywhere he's been given a chance to work singles matches with decent length.

WCW drew for years with the most embarrasing main events on PPV in wrestling history. All he would have to do is one or 2 ten minute PPV matches with very little bumping with Bill Goldberg.

If he can't wrestle, why is he negotiating matches with Japanese promotions right now?

Pfft, there is lots of Indy talent out there that's not in TNA. There are lots of big names floating out there too, and who knows which WWE guys would choose to leave for Turner's money and a chance at a big push. Any promotion that starts off building to Austin vs. Goldberg has an Ace that Vince can't compete with. He has no match that is on that level.

Just logically explain to me why I should praise a company that costed guys thousands of dollars, and now will make it up to them? It is something any promotion with any decency would do. If Jarrett kidnapped Chris's son, and then gave him back, he'd get praise around here. They committed an injustice against these workers, got called on it, and then decided to pay them for the dates. While it's the right thing to do, it isn't exactly some saintly act.

Bingo. Doug is now PERSONALLY RESPONSIBLE for any claim TNA makes of damages through a vague contract. Whether or not he has a financial interest in the company is irrelevent, they have someone who is signed on as the owner of the company (at least in name) bearing financial responsibility.

I agree that doing this was the right thing to do, but I don't really feel the need to praise a company for making up the money they were gonna cause their guys to lose. I'm happy they're doing this, but the whole situation is still a really shady breach of trust of their workers. Go ask Chris Daniels or AJ Styles if they're happy about how this situation has turned out.

Wow, that's the most hilarious post I've ever seen. 1) If this was all about the pedophile thing, why did they go to the wrestlers privately and ask them to just leave Ring Of Honor? AJ and Chris refused, and fans got mad, so they went to RoH with a bogus contract they knew Cary wouldn't sign. Doug signed it anyway, but it still wasn't enough. 2) A viable alternative to the WWE? HAHAHAHA. Is this in that same parallel universe where Jeff Jarrett is a draw in 2004? Or in any year ever on a national level? 3) That rumor was reported by Powell, and it seems to switch every week. I guess we'll find out soon, but needless to say, if they run PPVs along with that FSN show, they'll go out of business in no time. I'm curious to see how they compensate the guys, and for how long. Chris Daniels makes double what he makes in TNA when he works ROH. Are they going to give him 2500-3500 a month until his contract runs out in RoH fees? Or does this only go through May?

No they don't. AJ Styles gets 800, think about what the rest get.

The high road? You mean paying the wrestlers because of all the negative press after taking advantage of a vague contract in order to deny their workers the right to free labor? Gosh, what great guys. Next thing you know, they might even start paying their workers better than the horrible wages they currently get. That would be so great of them.

You're still wrong. Forcing wrestlers to work a style that doesn't suit them is TNA's fault, not the worker's. It reminds me of the fucking morons bashing Ace Steele, who's a better worker than just about everyone in TNA.

Yes, they're always making it so easy to come up with new ones, aren't they? They have the late-90s WWE Main Events down to a science? I haven't seen one that comes close to the better crowd brawlish ones of the late 90s. It's more like: "Jeff can't wrestle normal matches, so we fill it up with crowd brawling instead."

Shelton vs. Flair (*) Tajiri vs. Coachman (1/4*) Jericho vs. Christian/Stratus (*1/2) Foley vs. Orton (**1/4) Hurricane/Rosey vs. La Resistance (1/2*) Edge vs. Kane (*) HHH vs. Shawn vs. Benoit (**3/4)

I didn't think any matches were above ***, but it was still the best minor show in a long time for them. Take away the crowd being hot for Foley, and the rare nature of barbed wire in the WWE, and that match really isn't that much more than your average indy gorefest. The story was ok, and the nod to the RR00 match was nice, but there wasn't really much substance at all between repetitive weapon shots.

Man these guys tried really hard, but the crowd totally did not give a shit. As a match it wasn't really good since it was just a collection of spots, but I think the (lack of) reaction to this was indicative of what the Nashville fans like. They don't really want to see 2 random guys thrown out there to put on a nice spotfest. This isn't an ROH crowd that might chant "please come back" after that match, because it's not what they want. They want long, dramatic matches. Hell, they don't even have to be GOOD. Look at the heat for Raven-Harris, which was the fucking pits in terms of work. The crowd cared about that match. The X division needs to evolve. With guys like Ki, Daniels, Sabin, and a couple others, these guys are really capable of putting on longer, dramatic matches with the spots spread out well. Why is Chris Daniels being forced to work like he did in 1999, when his current work would make this crowd like his matches a lot more? I think Daniels vs. Ki in an "RoH-Style" match for 16 minutes would get way more heat than these 6-ways. Anyway, just food for thought. I think the X Division needs change.