Hunter's Torn Quad

From Alvarez by way of WO.com

Huh? He's over because the fans are cheering him, rather fervently at that. He might not last, but perhaps they're striking while the iron's hot with the belt. I don't really understand what the point you're trying to make is. He's somewhat over now, or at least getting a reaction, because of the gimmick, but once the gimmick runs its course, what use is it? TNA have shown no willingness to get the younger X-Division guys over as anything other than comedy figures. That might get a short term buzz, like with 'Black Machismo', but over the long haul it does nothing but make it harder for them to get over on their talent because TNA keeps drumming into the fans heads the idea that the young X-Division guys are comedy figures to be laughed at and not taken seriously.

Jay Lethal getting the X-Division title doesn't necessarily translate that he's over with the fans or that the gimmick is working. It might be getting some laughs now, but unless that gimmick has legs, and comedy gimmicks like his have a short shelf life, then him getting the title means nothing in regards to him being over.

I will be stunned if Jarrett gets pinned tonight, and I'll be shocked if Jarrett isn't the guy that beats Christian for the TNA title.

Lethal Lockdown 2007 Person Who Gets The Pin Gets A Title Shot @ Sacrifice Team Cage (Christian Cage, Scott Steiner, Abyss, AJ Styles, Tomko) .VS. Team Angle (Kurt Angle, Samoa Joe, Rhino, Sting, Jeff Jarrett) Winner: Team Angle (Jarrett pinning Tomko) NWA World Tag Team Championship Electrified Cage Match LAX (Homicide y Hernandez) © .VS. Team 3D. Winners: Team 3D TNA X-Division Championship X-Scape Rules Chris Sabin © .VS. Jay Lethal .VS. Alex Shelley .VS. Shark Boy .VS. Sonjay Dutt Winner: Jay Lethal Christopher Daniels .VS. Jerry Lynn Winner: Christopher Daniels Special Guest Ref: Bob Backlund Senshi .VS. THE Austin Starr Winner: THE Austin Starr, when Backlund nonsensically turns on Senshi. Gail Kim .VS. Jackie Moore Winner: Gail Kim Blindfold Match Chris Harris .VS. James Storm Winner: James Storm Petey Williams .VS. Bobby Roode Winner: Bobby Roode Christy Hemme's Team #2 vs. The Voodoo Kin Mafia Winners: VKM

The booking committee is Jarrett, Russo and Dutch Mantel. Jarrett is the head of the committee, but all three of them have input. At least as of a few weeks ago, Russo was mainly responsible for the writing of Impact, although for the last couple of weeks Mantel has been 'making the final calls' of what goes into Impact. However, Jeff's wife has taken a turn for the worse lately, so the booking is mainly just Russo and Mantel for obvious reasons. While Cornette, Raven, etc can pitch ideas, it all comes down to the aforementioned trio of Jarrett, Russo and Mantel.

If someone hasn't accepted that Russo has considerable influence on TNA booking by now, they never will.

Give them twelve minutes, with nobody else involved, and just let them beat the shit out of each other.

Glad to know we have someone on the inside who sits in TNA booking meetings that can confirm this. You seem so sure that Russo isn't booking. Does that mean you're in on the booking meetings? That news was taken from Meltzer, though you'll probably dismiss it because of that.

There is a difference between being capable and being good. Cena is capable enough that he can be carried and can hold up his side of a good to great match if he is in the ring with a good worker. However, put Cena in the ring with a bad worker, and Umaga is not a bad worker, then the match sinks and it becomes obvious who really is making the good matches that Cena is involved in. Once again, nobody is saying Cena is bad, only that he just isn't as good as some people want to think he is. Because HHH and HBK are not good anymore I'm not any kind of HBK fan, but he's damn good at getting good matches out of limited workers. Shawn and Cena had a pretty good match at Wrestlemania, and Cena, dubious selling of the leg aside, more then held up his side of things. But in no way, shape or form did Cena carry that match. If anybody seriously thinks Cena carried Shawn in that match, then they really have no clue.

When was the last three-way title match in TNA where the challenger winning the title actually beat the old champion? Even when Christian won the three-way for the title in January, he pinned Sting to win the match and not Abyss.

I would concur with that statement.

I'm a fan of his until he grabs a mike or works. Seriously. WWE has done such an overload job in terms of pushing him that he's over with me until he speaks or wrestles. That's when all the god-like booking and video packages disappear. Damndest thing. It's a shame because I want to like him. This is where a babyface manager would come in handy, but WWE have turned the manager/agent into almost a solely heel character.

Cena is good enough that he can keep up with great workers, but he's not good on his own. He can't carry people, because when he's put in the ring with a sub-par worker in a straight match, it invariably sucks and his weaknesses become readily apparent. Cena has had some good to great matches in the past, but that's when he's in with some top notch workers, and I think people see those matches and give Cena far too much credit, not realizing that the match was great more because of the other guy than anything Cena did. Cena was able to keep up for sure, but the majority of the credit for those matches goes to the guy Cena has been facing.

I don't think Dana will worry too much about the ratings. I think the show itself, while doing good ratings would be nice, is more of a long term investment in getting over Pulver and Penn for their fight, and getting over the personalities of the main fighters, including the winner, who come out of the show. As long as the finale does great numbers, and the winner and other fighters from the show get over to the fans, then the numbers needn't be too much of a concern.

Okay...for the 10th time...Russo is NOT BOOKING! While Mantel has been 'making the final calls' on TV lately, due to Jarrett's wife not doing so well, Russo IS booking, and prior to Jarrett's wife taking a turn for the worse, Russo was the major script writer for Impact. The story floating around that Russo was merely a consultant to Mantel was false. In fact, it became something of a joke backstage at TNA with Mantel ribbing Russo by referring to him simply as 'Consultant'.

It was a silly buyout to begin with, but I don't think jobbing those guys was any sort of big deal. Squandering the marketability of a number of talents, Sting not included, that could have injected some freshness into the mid to top level scene in the NWA wasn't a big deal? Let's face it, the UWF wasn't even hardly known outside of Louisiana, parts of Texas, Oklahoma, etc. I know where I live we didn't get any UWF programming. It wasn't a promotion anywhere near the level of the NWA. They needn't have even used the UWF name. Just have the wrestlers come in as a group, give them a name, and have them booked strong from the get go so they get over. It's not rocket science. Honestly, what could Crockett have done? Make the UWF guys look strong from the beginning so that when they NWA guys finally beat them it meant something? The UWF had a limited area of appeal, and even that area was declining in business. So the idea of keeping the NWA and UWF separate wasn't all that feasible. Could he seriously do a unification match with Dr. Death vs. Flair? They did to Nikita Koloff vs. Terry Taylor to unify the TV titles, but Koloff going over there was the right move. Again, the UWF name needn't have even been used. If you bring in new guys, having your guys go over them strong and clean from the beginning in the major matches is not even close to the right move. The best thing for business would have been to make them mean something before beating them, otherwise all you're beating are wrestlers your fans take seriously, and what's the point in that? That doesn't do business.

I seem to also recall WWE fans crapping on Goldberg when he faced The Rock at Backlash. And also Jericho at Bad Blood 2003. Add to it that he only signed a 1 year deal and had seemingly no real respect for WWE. So why go out of your way to push Goldberg? The build up to Goldberg vs. Rock was terrible. They did just about every single thing wrong you can do with a Goldberg-type character, from the comedy to having him get punked out twice in the same show and so on. Goldberg had gone from being Goldberg, someone special, to just another name. He'd been stripped of what made him a character people could get behind. The Jericho match was a fine match in itself, but it wasn't the kind of match people wanted from Goldberg. They wanted Goldberg to go out there and be a killer. When he was, the cheered him, and that cannot be denied. When he wasn't being what they wanted, of course the fans are going to boo. I find it funny that you're bringing up Goldberg's 'lack of respect' for WWE when they showed him almost none when it came to booking his character in an effective manner, and one which WWE's own fans showed they wanted. As for why you'd go out of your way to push Goldberg, I don't know. Maybe something crazy like getting him over big so that when he puts someone over clean it means something. But that might be just crazy talk. When Nash and Steiner did show up, they were mostly horrid in WWE. Nash tore his quad literally walking across the ring. Steiner was a fiasco when they put him against HHH (too soon admittedly). Honestly, what money were guys like Nash and Steiner drawing in WCW? .10 buyrates baby! I won't deny Nash and Steiner were generally horrid in WWE. But this is where smart booking comes in. Nash had a pretty decent match with Hunter in the HIAC. Why? Because they booked around Nash's weaknesses instead of exposing them. That's what you do with limited workers; you book around their weakness and accentuate their strengths. What Nash and company drew in WCW means nothing when it comes to what they could have done in WWE. Chris Jericho was a going nowhere midcarder in WCW, who wasn't even on TV for the last few months of his time there, but the second he showed up on Raw, the fans treated him like a god. He could have been something special in WWE, and the fans wanted him to be so it could have happened had politics not got in the way. I don't recall Rob Van Dam drawing much prior to coming to WWE, but the fans still treated him like a god and badly wanted to get behind him. While Nash, Steiner and company were all played out in WCW, coming to the WWF meant a fresh start and an all new playing field. You had a ton of potential money in Steiner matches against Hunter, Angle, Lesnar, Rock, etc. Granted, they would have to have been booked meticulously to hide Steiner's weaknesses, but the matches would have drawn, not only because it was Steiner, but because it was something fresh in the main event. Given that these guys all showed up in WWE eventually and none lasted especially long or got over consistently, why would an Invasion with them have been so different? It likely would have been the same crappy matches to go with the "Why are these hasbeens getting pushed?" questions. That much I won't deny, but it boils down to the same old problem of ego getting in the way of business.

Of course they would have been worth a damn. Physical conditions aside, they were major names and would have given the ill-fated Invasion angle a boost. Sure, Nash and Steiner were physically shot, but that's something you can work around. Have the younger guys work the bulk of the matches and only put Nash, Steiner and the like in for a few minutes to do their big moves and then tag out. Goldberg was accepted by WWE fans, but only when he was being the Goldberg they wanted him to be. When Goldberg was booked as a monster, WWE fans went nuts for him. Witness his showing up at MSG, where he would admittedly get booed on his final night in, and he blew the roof off the place when he came out to end the Rodney Mack 5-minute 'white boy' challenge. Check out Summerslam in the EC match he was in. When Goldberg was being Goldberg, and kicking the crap out of people, the place was going crazy and they were ready to explode into the stratosphere when they thought he was going to lay waste to Triple H and win the gold belt. The aforementioned names would have been tremendously effective in any well booked Invasion angle, but therein lies the problem with the Invasion angle in the first place. It was never going to work, and the outsider angle has never worked in WWE, because Vince cannot make 'outside' talent look superior to his homemade stars, even when the 'outsiders' are his own talent.

Actually, the plan wound up being for Flair to drop the belt to Windham at a TV taping before the Bash and for Windham to defend the belt against Luger at the Bash. The irony in all that is that Windham was working without a contract.

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I'm thinking that it's for when he turns babyface down the road and they want the fans to be able to chant something, in this case "MCV". Even if that were the case, I think people'd be more like to chant "Cor Von" then "MCV". I think they'd chant "MCV", for the same reason they chant "RVD" rather than "Van Dam".

True or not, the crowd died when Shane was on offense. That happens whenever Lashley is selling, or at least selling for someone the fans don't take seriously as a threat to Lashley.

I'm thinking that it's for when he turns babyface down the road and they want the fans to be able to chant something, in this case "MCV".