Hunter's Torn Quad

Yours sincerely, The Internet. I like how you explained why you didn't like what Storm had to say.

I expect the idea would have been to debut a member of the Hart Foundation to take out Shawn and give Bret the win. Shawn would have probably demanded they debut two new members and use lots of plunder to beat him up. Vince would have then gone with just one man, as planned, but acquiesced to Shawn and allow him to get knocked out with some foreign object before losing.

I don't think a Rick Rude return to the WWF would have amounted to much. Rude couldn't really bump because of his neck, which may have been in worse condition than Austin's, and regardless of the brawling style the promotion had at the time, he simply wouldn't have been able to psychically keep up. His workrate, which was somewhat overrated to begin with, had long since deserted him, so that's a strike against him. Another is that he didn't match up size-wise to the top guys of the time, which meant he'd have to rely on a workrate and bumping ability he didn't have anymore. Rude would have meant something for about a month, if that, and then people would have seen that Rude didn't have it anymore and that would have been it.

Getting past a 1.4 shouldn't be TNA's concern. Their concern should be figuring out how to get more than of their 1.6 million die-hard TV viewers to actually buy a PPV; for all the praise TNA gets for their consistent viewership, it's often overlooked than their PPV buys, which ideally should be a major revenue source, have a ceiling of around 20,000. TNA rarely get over that mark, and when they do, like with the Joe vs. Angle match at Lockdown, they completely ignore what got them that increase in buy rates and go back to a formula that has long since shown to be a failure in getting strong buys for them. Not constantly making themselves look minor league would help; their always using their talents WWE accomplishments to get them over, they're always saying how this top guy top guy used to be a star in WWE or talking about what that top guy did in WWE 5-10 years ago. More than anything, though, they need to completely change their format and style; TNA are essentially WWE but in smaller venues. They do the SE-style skits, SE-style booking and SE-style matches. It's when they've done the exact opposite of that, as with Joe vs. Angle at Lockdown or the first Joe vs. Angle match, that they've been able to convert the most TV viewers into PPV buyers. Unfortunately, those in TNA's creative seem unable and unwilling to try anything other than they what they've done themselves (Russo) or seen themselves (Jarrett/Mantell) firsthand. Unless that changes, you're going to get a terrible product that admittedly has a loyal viewership, but also does nothing to make more than 20,000 diehards put down $30 every month.

Dusty was into the idea of putting heat on the heels. I think he was so into it that he thought doing it to the Roadies in their hometown would put the heat of all heat on the Horseman and simply didn't realize the heat would go on the promotion. That finish killed Chicago for the NWA and is symptomatic of what killed the NWA.

Blanket statements, especially those without context (it was a correspondent who actually wrote the report), are fun, aren't they? And that show was indefensible, so it's not a reach to rip into it.

You'd be surprised how well fake fighting works. I think the best scenario is for Shane to force Orton to put his WrestleMania title shot on the line against an opponent of their choosing (I dunno, maybe CM Punk, or Kane or something), and if he loses he's fired. Have Shane be the special ref. Then have him turn during the match. Why wouldn't Shane just DQ the other guy right away instead of waiting 15 minutes? How about no silly turns, none of which would even begin to rectify this abortion of an angle, and just book Orton super strong in the next couple of weeks to try and make up for this display of ego? Orton can face HBK next week and it can end with Legacy beating up HBK and Orton kicking HBK into next week. JBL just stands at ringside and sneers at HBK as this happens. The following week, six days before No Way Out, it's Orton and DiBiase against JBL and HBK. JBL wants to punish HBK and he's forcing him to wrestle when he's in no condition to, as he's selling a serious concussion from the week before. The match ends with Orton pinning HBK after the RKO and while Orton and Legacy stands back, JBL berates a falling HBK, only for Orton to RKO JBL and then give him the kick of death. Before Orton can get to HBK, Super Shane runs in and the two brawl to end the go-home Raw. At No Way Out, Orton and Shane have their brawl, Super Shane naturally holds his own against Orton before falling to an RKO and then the kick of death to lose by KO. However, to show how over the edge Orton has gone, he can give Shane a second Kick of Death, and they can go all out to get over the fact that nobody has ever suffered two of Orton's big kicks in a row and they don't know what this could do to Shane's brain. Then, on Raw the next night, the show ends with Orton gloating over what he's done and being all boastful, only to be confronted by his opponent for Wrestlemania, which I would have be Undertaker. The idea being that Vince has reached out to the ultimate hitman to take out Orton at Wrestlemania, by making a deal with a man who has never lost there. This way, Orton KO kicks HBK one week and the following week pins him clean and then KO kicks JBL for good measure. That puts Orton over strong on two of Raw's biggest names on consecutive weeks and, in some way, rehabs him from having to sell for Shane on Raw. Not only that, it adds heat to the HBK/JBL angle, because it fosters more resentment from HBK to JBL over standing by while he got KO'd and also forcing him to wrestle, and JBL doesn't look too superior to HBK because he got blindsided with an RKO and then KO kicked.

MAIN CARD (TELEVISED) Champ Jamie Varner vs. Donald Cerrone (for WEC lightweight title) Urijah Faber vs. Jens Pulver Mike Campbell vs. Danilo Villefort Jose Aldo vs. Rolando Perez PRELIMINARY CARD (UN-TELEVISED) Benson Henderson vs. Anthony Njokuani Edgar Garcia vs. Hiromitsu Miura Dominick Cruz vs. Ian McCall Frank Gomez vs. Scott Jorgensen Blas Avena vs. Jesse Lennox Charlie Valencia vs. Seth Dikun

On Saturday night's Wrestling Observer radio show, Meltzer said that Flair will NOT be inducting Austin and Ross is instead inducting Watts. Meltzer said it was a 'Vince call'.

I presume they're trying to ensure Orton keeps getting booed for the time being, and making him hide behind the law and threats of lawsuits would do that.

I thought the Rumble itself started off fine but dragged terribly for the most part. It wasn't a bad Rumble, but there was nothing really memorable about it other than RVD showing up. The only spot I really hated was when Koslov was put over big by eliminating Khali all by himself only for Triple H to very casually dump him moments later; the least they could have done was have some kind of battle before Kozlov went out. The Matt Hardy turn really will need a good explanation behind it if it's going to get over, and it needs to cover all the bases; as Lucky Lopez said earlier, if Matt Hardy was the one behind the attacks, Matt continuing to help Jeff is just too dumb. I half expect Christian to come in to help Jeff in this feud; he's going to be over big as it is, and they can play up the angle of brother against brother, maybe with Christian screwing Edge to allow Jeff to get the belt back, and saying how Edge isn't the only one who can get brother to turn against brother.

It looked like Arlovski was giving Fedor some trouble before sailing into that big right hand. It's a shame, because the fight looked like it could actually be competitive. Yvel took a beating from Barnett, and while I really don't like him, he has some heart to hang in there. Conversely, I'm not sure Barnett doesn't lose some steam by taking so long to finish Yvel off. I guess this leads to Fedor vs. Barnett, but Fedor, or at least his people, seem reluctant to make the right. But it really has to happen, and one would expect Fedor to take the scalp of another former UFC champion.

On a recent edition of Figure Four Daily, Lance Storm made the suggestion that Vince hires the ultimate hitman to take on Orton at Wrestlemania, The Undertaker. The idea being that with Undertaker unbeaten at Wrestlemania, it assures babyface Vince of getting his revenge, which presumably the fans will pop for. Storm also suggested that if the company is really going to put the rocket under Orton, and if he's truly matured and put his behavioral issues behind him, then they have him be the one to end the streak.

Re: Kip James being in the main event. Meltzer also reports that TNA only had five hours to find a replacement for Nash. The other idea for the main event was for it to be Booker and Steiner vs. Foley and Devon (with Devon being picked over AJ via coin toss), and for the restart to come after the heels would beat down and injure Devon and get DQ'd. They went with the Kip James idea because Jarrett liked it better. I've only had a chance to see the Angle/Jarrett match, and I thought it was really good. There were a few things I didn't like about it, but it was still around the **** range.

Funny Bob Holly story from the latest Observer/Radio show: when news of his being cut came out, various promoters wanted his number so they could book him, so they talked to wrestlers in WWE to get it. The problem was that nobody had his number because nobody liked him; he didn't have a single friend.

Where are people getting the idea that Test was slotted for Big Show's spot at the Survivor Series in 1999 and was going to win the WWF title?

I was always a fan of Edge's original entrance when he came through the crowd.

Re: Bruno There was an incident a few years ago at a Raw taping where Bruno and his people met with Vince and his people over something, probably the proposed DVD, and the discussion turned to a documentary that a big TV channel wanted to do on pro wrestling. Bruno was going to be part of it but was told by the channel in question that Vince, who they had also approached, had said to them that if they use Bruno then he (Vince) wouldn't take part. The channel acquiesced and whatever the program was went ahead without Bruno. Bruno confronted Vince about this, Vince denied it all, and Bruno called him on it and walked out.

So who's the other? Warrior? Kevin Wacholz (Nailz)

1. Will we ever see Randy Savage in the world of professional wrestling again? Even in a non wrestling capacity (say getting inducted into a certain Hall of Fame)? Or do you think he's the rare case of a wrestler who saved his money over his career and is content in retirement? While you can never say never in wrestling, I think this might be the exception that proves the rule. If Savage really wanted to participate in wrestling in some way, even if it was just a brief cameo on Impact or doing stuff for 24/7, he'd be doing it. Savage either has no desire for any of that or is content to make sure his price for doing anything is such that nobody is willing to meet it, in which case his desire isn't bigger than his need to feed his ego. 2. Do you think his sterling WWF heyday was in anyway tarnished by his mostly mediocre WCW (Post DDP feud) and TNA runs? Has it been tarnished by the rumors regarding his WWF departure that sprang up after his retirement? I don't think so, and his TNA stint was very much a 'blink and you'll miss it' deal that almost nobody remembers. 3. Where would Savage rank in a list of The Greatest of His Era? Greatest of All Time? From a workrate standpoint, he's right up there with the best, and he's one of only three people to get something out of the Ultimate Warrior. However, and I can't quite put my finger on it, there's something about his style that I don't think warrants tagging him with the label of being an all-time great. 4. Don't usually like to divulge in this type of gossip but what are your thoughts on the rumors RE: Savage's estrangement from WWE? Is it a result of his unreasonable demands? A result of an affair with Stephanie? Savage just being content in retirement? Something entirely different? Something happened, but that's all anyone can say with certainty. Whatever it is, it's clear that it goes beyond anything that typically goes on in wrestling, because Vince has brought back almost everyone he hates and used them in some capacity. Savage is probably on the very short (one other person on it) list of people who absolutely will never be brought back . 5. Favorite moments, matches, etc. His feud with Ted DiBiase; they had great chemistry in the ring.

http://www.pwinsider.com/ViewArticle.php?id=35794&p=1 According to Bill Watts, he will be an inductee into the HoF this year.

http://www.justin.tv/kgswrestling It's not loading for me. The little blue thing just goes around and around over and over again. These always work for me, no clue what's wrong tonight. http://www.justin.tv/wrasslintv This one is working for me.

When did Hernandez start doing Tom Selleck impersonations?

If Cage hasn't signed with WWE but is going there, he's not showing up in TNA to do a PPV job this close to his proposed WWE return.

The actual news posting: