Magus

Strong/Shelley. TNA, sign Strong. the guy's freakin' good.

i agree on Monty's selling. he could use a Jackhammer as his main finisher. Goldberg's not gonna mind.

on the subject of "when you're number two you should insult number one", i don't think TNA should ever try to take that route. the classy thing to do would be to focus more on their own product and making it the best it can be. get people's attention on your own merit, not by being a parasite.

i heard that he's actually been signed now, so he'll be there. BUT, one can't help but feel stupid for believing them now. they've advertised Hardy for what, 3 weeks now? ever since his match with Styles (which was good), they kept mentioning him like he was going to be there, and he's never showed. Dusty said last week that he had 7 days, so where the fuck is he this week? and on top of that, Meltzer said the crowd was silent when Hardy's name was mentioned tonight. i just think it makes them look bad and it kills a lot of the heat Hardy had coming in.

read the review and it sounds pretty decent. i'm a little irked though that they advertised Raven and Hardy and neither man was there. that's bad mojo for PPV, and they've been doing it more and more lately.

1. sign the talented guys you haven't already signed, and get ready to sign more. 2. get rid of the guys who have no value to the shows. 3. get a new booker. someone with some actual original long-term ideas for the Wrestling Reinvented format. 4. sign some sort of talent sharing agreement with ROH, so TNA guys can work ROH, and TNA can get some of the best indy talents on their show.

hey, a man can dream. these are just random thoughts anyway, and i try to look at it as "here's what i think would be cool", not if it could actually happen. i'd love to book a Raven vs. Austin fued (or something similar), even though it'd never ever happen.

so this takes place after my AS3 post, where Raven lost the NWA World Title to Jerry Lynn, and Jarrett lost a match to Jeff Hardy in their fued. so here's the fued that continues with them after the show. this is main event stuff that'll go on for a few months, but doesn't completely drag the World Title into the picture... Jarrett, upset over his loss to Hardy, promises that he has some surprises in order. meanwhile, Hardy has a match against Abyss to determine who will be the next challenger to Lynn's world title. during that match, Jarrett comes down to the ring and starts to beat down Hardy. the lights suddenly go off and a strobe light kicks on. Raven is in the center of the ring while Hardy is getting beaten by Abyss and Jarrett. Raven goes nose-to-nose with Jarrett, his hated rival... then they shake hands! Raven joins in on the beatdown to end the show. since Abyss/Hardy went to a no contest, the third person in the rankings gets the shot at Lynn. its Ron Killings. but for this next show, we have Abyss/Jarrett/Raven vs. Hardy/Lynn/Killings. in a promo, Jarrett says that they are the new dominant force in pro wrestling. Raven dubs them "the Unholy Alliance". the Alliance wins their match when Jarrett pins Hardy. the Alliance goes on to defeat many competitors in tag team and singles matches (their first victims are the Extreme Revolution, who felt betrayed by Raven). they are completely dominant, and Jarrett even mentions that now that Hardy is out of his way, he's going to get back his World Title. eventually, the NWA Board of Legends (consisting of Dusty, Larry, and a few others) decides to do something about the Unholy Alliance. Jarrett (with Raven's help, of course) eventually goads Lynn into a World Title match. the week before the match, however, Dusty comes out to announce what the Board plans to do. out comes TERRY FUNK. the World Title match is now a 3 Way between Jarrett, Lynn, and the Funker. in the match, JJ takes a huge beating from Funk, and Lynn picks up the win with a cradle piledriver on him. enraged, the Unholy Alliance declares war on Funk. Funk doesn't back down, and has a match against Abyss where he wins. but that's not all, as Raven declares that the next week Funk will have to go through all three of them, if he can find two partners. Funk gets Dusty and Zbyszko, but they lose to the Unholy Alliance in brutal fashion. next week, Raven and Jeff celebrate their victory over the so-called legends, but Funk shows up on the screen saying that he wants a rematch. this time, he has a new partner, since they injured Larry. JJ and Raven accept, as they'd be happy to destroy Funk again. in the main event that night, Raven is in a no-DQ match against Ron Killings for a position in the World Title rankings. near the end, who should come out but MICK FOLEY! Foley destroys Raven and tells Killings to make the pin. Killings gets the win and Foley raises his arm in victory as the crowd goes wild. the next week, however, Raven is pissed. he and Jarrett change the tag match to just the four of them: Jeff/Raven vs. Foley/Funk. Foley and Funk come out and Foley cuts a great promo on them. they accept the challenge. later, the match happens, and its mainly Foley/Raven and Funk/Jarrett. Abyss watches at ringside. eventually, though, Terry Funk gets the win over Raven and the legends win the match. the next week, the Unholy Alliance is incensed, and Jeff gets them booked against AMW for the Tag Team Titles. its time to remind the people just who they are. Raven and Jeff go after AMW tenaciously and win the titles. with gold around their wastes, they're once again a dominant force to be reckoned with. TNA's tag teams compete for shots at the title, but to little avail, as no one who goes against the Unholy Alliance can really beat them. Foley and Funk can, though, and they challenge them to a steel cage match. the next week, we see Raven vs. Funk and Foley vs. Jarrett to hype the tag title match. Raven pins Funk and Foley pins Jarrett in their respective matches. the next week, we get the big match in the main event, and its a brutal brawl. the match is won when Raven climbs over and gets out of the ring. once that happens, Abyss storms in and cleans house. the Unholy Alliance stands victorious once more. Funk and Foley disappear for a week while the Alliance brags about their win. the next week, Dusty announces that Mick Foley wants one more run in TNA, and he's awarded Mick a chance to win the NWA World Title. but first, he has to go through Raven in a contender's match. the match goes down as the culmination of the Raven/Foley rivalry. Jarrett, Abyss, and Terry Funk all watch the match from ringside as Foley and Raven battle. Foley finally gets the win despite JJ's interference. Funk brawls with JJ and Foley celebrates as the show ends. two weeks later, Foley goes up against Jerry Lynn and wins in an old fashioned southern style brawl. Jerry shakes his hand afterwards in a sign of respect and Mick Foley is the new NWA World Champion. Foley continues to fued with Raven (and thus the Alliance). meanwhile, Jarrett and Funk have a big final battle. eventually, Jarrett would steal the #1 Contendership from Raven, causing the Unholy Alliance to break apart. Jarrett would win the title from Foley and Raven would turn on Jeff to get back what he sees as rightfully his. Abyss would be caught in the middle, but i'm not sure what he'd do exactly. Funk and Foley would have the option to continue in TNA if they wished.

here's my prediction... Truth gets the guitar off the pole, but Shamrock wrestles it away from him. Shamrock tosses the guitar to Jarrett, who smashes it over Dusty's head and picks up the win. cheap, ineffective, no one gets over. now here's what i think SHOULD happen... Truth gets the guitar off the pole and quickly smashes the FUCK out of Jarrett. Shamrock tackles Truth while everyone else continues to brawl on the outside. Shamrock and Truth go at it while Jarrett lies in the ring unconscious. Truth eventually knocks Shamrock to the outside and goes back over to Jarrett for the easy pin (maybe he hits a top rope legdrop for good measure). it focuses on the main three guys. Jarrett's the heel, Truth's the face, and Shamrock's a psycho on his own. and Truth has a pin on the champ, which gives him some cred.

-Ten Man Guitar on a Pole: well, i'm no fan of the guitar gimmick. hell, i think that's pretty much agreed upon by everyone who watches Jarrett perform. GET RID OF THE GUITAR. otherwise, this actually looks pretty good. i'd much rather see this as Killings/Rhodes/Zbyszko vs. Jarrett/Shamrock/and one of the Elite Gaurd. James and Konnan just don't belong in main event matches. but with ten men in there, they should be hidden pretty well, and this match should be okay as long as Killings is kept strong, and there's no nonfinish. that's what i'm most skeptical of. -Styles Wrestles Twice: Kazarian and Shane aren't the absolute best X Division guys on the roster, but they're in there with Styles, so this should be awesome. Shane and Kazarian are pretty good as a team, and Styles is God. -Ladder Match for Jackets: not a good idea for a ladder match, but i guess we should be glad that its not Viagra or a Guitar in the stip. they're holding off on the title rematch, which is good. with the exception of the jacket idea, this seems like a good gimmick match. should keep up the AMW vs. Naturals fued, which is a good thing. -Jeff Hardy: they've advertised it for so long without delivering anything, now i'm not as interested anymore. but hopefully Hardy will indeed show up, as this is his last chance in the storyline. i actually think Hardy could do well in TNA, so i hope he's signed and that he doesn't disappoint. -Red/Sabin/xXx vs. Team Canada: y'know, its just not xXx without Ki. if they can't get Ki, i say Daniels and Skipper should hold try-outs for a replacement. anyway, this should be awesome, as it has a lot of the X Division's best workers. -Sabu/Dutt vs. Abyss/Shelley: i'm already impressed with Shelley, as he reminds me of Styles. don't like the "Baby Bear" name, which TNA will probably drop at some point. Goldy as their manager isn't bad, b/c at least she's not fueding with Watts anymore (Watts for Shelley. that's a good fuckin' trade). Abyss is always good to watch, and Dutt/Sabu is a good team. -Raven's Back!: the Raven vs. Sabu fued has been "paused", and i hate it when they do that. but he's back now, and it should be back ON. hopefully we'll get the standard Raven promo and he'll interfere in Sabu's match somehow. y'know, Abyss and Shelley would be awesome as Raven's stable instead of Goldy's. but that's just me. OVERALL: counting Styles wrestling twice, there's only two one-on-one matches on the card. that's not so bad, as more guys get to be featured on the show. on paper, this show looks really fucking sweet. the storylines aren't that bad either, with a few exceptions here and there (based on personal tastes, that is). this could be a good one for TNA if they avoid the typical TNA mistakes.

After that, I quit reading what you said. Please don't discuss the quality of a show if you haven't seen it. Just because you don't like the wrestlers doesn't mean the show can't be good. c'mon, you can't deny that Jeff in TNA is looking a helluva lot like Hogan in WCW. but i digress, as you're right in what you said there. i just don't like seeing another WCW. BTW, cool sig. i take it your a comic fan? or just caught up in Spidey-mania?

TNA has a hard enough time getting the X Division over (its doing great right now. but that's mainly b/c their golden boy is there holding the belt, and they have no objections to booking him strong). they should focus more on making the X Division title more coveted and increasing competition for it instead of throwing more gold on the show as a quick fix.

well, i could go through step-by-step of what i thought of this show, but i'll just summerize all my feelings with this: i didn't see it, as i have DirecTV. but lately (and from what i read in reports), TNA is in yet another mire of shit that's politely called a "downswing". they are looking so much like WCW that it stopped being cute. sure, they focus on the matches more, and i'm VERY grateful for that. however, that one good thing doesn't weigh up too well against all the bad. most of the matches are for shit, the booking is for shit, the characters are for shit, and they continue to push certain guys who are soggy shit. the storylines are nothing short of horrible, especially the main event. Jeff Jarrett is becoming less like HHH and a whole helluva lot more like the Devil of Politics Himself: Hulk Hogan. hey, the X Division is getting more exposure and we're getting some better matches. that's freakin' GREAT. but on every other front they aren't doing anything spectacular. of course, the product could get better if the company rounded out the rough edges it has, but i'm not holding my breath.

TNA looks enough like WCW already, thank you very much.

pretty good. but i'm betting that Lita will turn on Hardy at some point and then become Kane's woman. *SWERVE*

that's a good idea. problem is, that means that TNA would have to push Raven like he's an honest-to-goodness strong character. imagine that. right now, TNA is doing exactly their style: they haven't thought a damn thing through. if they actually gave some thought to the story that lasted more than 10 minutes, they could make it stronger even with Raven NOT THERE (like how you suggested). but that's not TNA style, baby.

yeah, this is bad news and shit. but there's nothing like a good kick to the balls to make someone work a little harder. this'll test TNA, which i think they need.

Raven busted his ribs, not sure of how badly. but that's probably the reason

shit, i forgot about that. that made me sound like an insensitive prick, so apologies. best wishes to Styles and his family for the loss.

-Jarrett's not taking the fall, but Shamrock probably can't either. with this kind of problem, we're gonna get a LOT of interference. this is a title match, what do you expect? i'm hoping they won't step over Truth just to give Shamrock all the spotlight. -i'd like to see the Naturals become real threats to the title, even if they have no chance of winning this match. AMW will just pull out the win and we'll set up another heel group (Canada) for them to knock down. i say AMW wins, but the Naturals keep the titles. -will we get an answer to the Jeff Hardy mystery? doing this stuff while Jeff isn't signed yet is setting yourself up for a fall. -looking forward to the X Division Tornado match. nothing bad to say here. -i'm not sure which Brown should win, but either way, i'd like to see D'Lo get a shot at the title. Monte ain't ready yet IMO. -another X Tag match, sorta. i can't say anything bad about this, but with all the X Division guys running around, you'd think the actual champ would be too. where the hell is Styles on this card? you can't throw some guys at him until Kash returns? oh wait, i'm not supposed to know that... -and Kenney/Siaki are still fueding with the NYC (at least Watts isn't mentioned). this is the worst. fued. ever. maybe Vito can add something to it, but as long as Gilberti is still pushed, its shite.

-the way they're promoting, they had better have Hardy sign on. they'll look like jackasses otherwise. hell, the hype is getting me more interested in Hardy. that may change when he actually gets on the shows every week. -i say they should screw AAA. sign Garza and then start dealing with CMLL. besides Juvi (who be in TNA again sooner or later), Garza is the only AAA guy worth a damn, and if he's actually willing to SIGN with them, the solution seems clear. -Jarrett should have taken the hit from Rodman. that doesn't excuse Rodman, but Jarrett is part of the problem too. it would've been better than what turned out on Impact, and JJ wouldn't have lost any heat. he's a heel, he's supposed to get his ass kicked every now and then. -i'm going to be as open minded as possible: TNA could bring in Billy Gunn, put him back with BG, reform the Outlaws (under completely different names), and it could do a lot. now let's be realistic: IF Billy was to actually get out of WWE and come to TNA, he'd need to be paid a good deal, and he'd probably bring Bob Holly with him. then we'd probably have to sit through main event fueds featuring both of them jobbing to Jarrett. not sure which will happen, though. -eh, Fairplay is lame. he's tolerable if he's kept down to an absolute minimum. being able to spout one-liners does not make you a good promo. see, if he manages a heel and doesn't talk too much, he's good. but if he's going to be facing people who belong on "the Surreal Life" every other week? he's gonna suck. damn, TNA is such a whore for cheap pub. -oh, and the committee idea is brilliant. get about 5 of 'em and they don't always need to be there at the same time. Dusty and Larry are decent choices, but do NOT NOT NOT involve them in fueds. that's a lot of why Russo sucks so much as DOA, because he's always in a fued or cutting a promo on someone. use legends as special attractions to announce things or actually get wrestlers over.

i also heard this was a worked shoot, so i'm leaning towards that conclusion. not that its a bad idea, mind you. i was a fan of the Kash/AJ fued from the start, and adding the pro-TNA vs. anti-TNA dynamic would just add to it.

World Title Champion: Jerry Lynn 1) Raven 2) Abyss 3) Jeff Hardy 4) Jeff Jarrett 5) Ron Killings X Division Champion: Christopher Daniels 1) Sonjay Dutt 2) AJ Styles 3) Chris Sabin 4) Kazarian 5) Amazing Red Tag Team Champions: AMW 1) the New Church 2) Team Canada 3) the Extreme Revolution 4) the Naturals 5) Miyomoto/Nosawa

my bad, i was expecting him to be on the PPV (good thing he wasn't, its best to have him and other special attractions like him on Impact. so it works out for the best). as for Hardy, they hyped the "update" all week, and then the pay off is Dusty Rhodes basically saying that TNA is interested in him. well duh, of course TNA's interested in Hardy. more than anything else, it was a letdown, but it also serves as more proof that TNA has no clue what they're doing. they've bait-and-switched us too many times in the past couple of weeks, and to me, what happened tonight with Hardy was no different. they gave it a lot of hype, but didn't deliver anything substantial. i have no problem with what they're doing, as signing Hardy can easily be part of an angle (and they haven't actually signed him yet, either, so i'd have held off on announcing it, too). the problem lies in TNA's advertising. they shouldn't have thrown Hardy's name around if a) he's not going to be there, and b) there's not even a real announcement concerning him. they acted like it was a big deal, and it turns out to be what it was tonight. that sucks, and i call them on it.

THANKS FOR THE FEEDBACK i may continue this, as i have ideas of where to go with some of the characters. TNA has been looking more and more like WCW lately, and i KNOW i can write better angles than what they're passing off for wrestling right now.