Hunter's Torn Quad

They did offer to loan him the money, which he would, of course, have to pay back.

Smart move. People will be tuning in right away and that's what they want to see, this way they try to set up a sexy main event in hopes the casual people might stick around. The only way that works is if K-Fed is part of it and they make that point clear.

Turns out Liddell went into the fight with a torn ACL, which took place three weeks ago, and Ortiz apparently broke his foot in the first round.

K-Fed vs. Cena will start off Raw tomorrow.

You forgot to mention the best part, that production people will still be having their hotels paid for.

More than anything, the two most important things about the PPV were that it couldn't be a stinker and that the main event couldn't have an ending that people would crap all over. That it had neither of those flaws, because the PPV was pretty good and nobody disputed the ending of the main event, was the real success and something UFC couldn't afford to do in front of what will very likely be their biggest PPV audience ever.

I think the main event delivered. I would have given Liddell round 1 10-8 with how he dominated Ortiz, busted him open and came damn close to stopping him. Ortiz did well to hang in for as long as he did, and at times he did look like he might have a chance to let loose with something, but he couldn't pull it off.

So is that the excuse Meltzer is using about putting Armstrong at the table since Tazz has already stated on the WWE website that Meltzer is a lair? The exact quote from the Observer about this situation: What exactly is Tazz saying Meltzer lied about?

From JR's latest blog:

This will be the first UFC main event in probably years that John McCarthy will not be the referee for. McCarthy will be refereeing on the show. It was a decision made by the Nevada State Athletic Commission to allow one of its regular referees to do the main event. This part that worries me. I hope the NSAC pick someone competent.

Russo won't stop overbooking when he should and they're having to edit his stuff to fit. Going to two-hours will give him an excuse to write even more stuff because he thinks more time will mean having to try and fit even more stuff in. The one positive about going to two-hours is that it will hasten Russo burning himself out, at which point TNA might bring in someone who knows the value in not throwing out so many angles and once and in not burning through big money programs and matches.

The response has been good so far. I'll keep the voting open until next Friday night and get to work on calculating the votes over the weekend.

Cornette's input as far as creative goes is very minor. He has input into what happens in his segments, but apart from that his main role is to advise talent when it comes to interviews and other segments. Russo is still the main creative force, which is why Impact going to two hours will mean very little in regards to pacing things out. Russo has shown no willingness to stop cramming one-hour of Impact with too much material; he's been told repeatedly that he writes too much and it's a hassle having to edit it all to fit but he's refused to listen and keeps on overbooking. Russo has to either stop overbooking or someone has to step in and take the reigns from him. The former isn't going to happen, and the later isn't happening any time soon because of the idea they have to give Russo time. When TNA gets two-hours, the most likely outcome is Russo will still write too much and they'll still have to constantly edit things to fit.

The plan was for Bret to retain against Shawn via DQ and there would be a four-way at the December PPV against Shawn, Ken Shamrock and The Undertaker. Bret would put over Shamrock or Undertaker before Shawn wound end up winning and get the belt. Vince knew Bret wasn't going to show up on Nitro with the WWF Title. Bret was still under contract to the WWF and such an action would have left Bret, and WCW, open to a lawsuit they had no way of winning. Vince just needed an excuse to calm down an irate locker room and that was it.

It's ok if you haven't seen anything from Japan. Just vote on what you've seen.

Because outside of WWE and TNA, it's unlikely a lot of matches after November 30th are available to people.

Jokes that the reason they appear to be having Joe vs. Angle III by January is because Russo, as a born again Christian, has been told by God that Christ will be returning in February Says Joe vs. Angle II appears to have done in the 50,000-60,000 range and while it had a lot of buzz going into it, this show had a lot less buzz. Says it’s too soon for Joe vs. Angle II, as it barely had time to digest their first match before we’re being hit with the second one. Feedback for the show appears to have it back in the 30,000-35,000 range, which he calls a disaster for Joe vs. Angle II but a disaster that anyone with a brain saw coming. Says that, ideally, the rematch would have happened in Spring of 2007 with the final match taking place at Bound For Glory, but instead it’ll all be wrapped up by January. Questions what they can do next for Angle that is a money program, bringing up that we might get Angle vs. Jerry Lynn because they both want to wrestle each other, but it won’t be a money program. Says Joe vs. Angle was the dream program and they seem intent on burning through it as soon as possible. Said that aside from Joe vs. Angle, the wrestling wasn’t as good as last month’s PPV but the booking wasn’t as bad. According to one person, as bad as some stuff comes across on TV, they live and die by crowd reactions they get in the Impact Zone, and while they pop big for the VKM stuff, and thereby ensuring it continues, they’re the super hardcore TNA fans who will always be there and their reactions aren’t necessarily an indication of the reaction of the rest of TNA’s audience. The feeling is that Dixie Carter loves the crowd pops, and so the wrestlers and writers wrestle and write accordingly to that. TNA were happy with the PPV because it was better than the ECW PPV. Turning Point: Low-Ki vs. Jay Lethal vs. Alex Shelley vs. Sonjay Dutt vs. Austin Starr. **1/2 The Bikini Contest: “He (Roode) told her to do anything she needed to do to get Eric to sign a contract with Robert Roode Enterprises. You see, the fans hate Roode, but if Roode Inc. signs Eric, who they love, they’ll love Roode too. Why the fuck would Robert Roode care? And if he wants to be loved, yelling at the fans and calling them morons is a bad place to start. He said if she couldn’t get this done, she might be the one who’s fired. Ok, so if she has the power to fire Eric, why not just tell him that if he doesn’t sign with Roode Inc. he’s fired?” Chris Daniels vs. Chris Sabin for the X-Title. **3/4 Questioned why they’re trying to give the rub from David Eckstein to Lance Hoyt of all people. AJ Style vs. Rhino ***1/4 Questioned why Daniels didn’t come down to stooge Styles off from cheating or why Rhino show a tape of the finish to the referee and get the decision reversed when we’ve seen both happen in the last month. AMW vs. LAX in a flag match. *** The VKM stuff/BG Promo: “This was actually a hell of a promo by BG, but also fantastically stupid. First off, they guaranteed themselves another legal letter. Second, they’ve now wasted God knows how much time passionately building up a match that THEY CAN NEVER DELIVER. So the question is, why can’t TNA build a storyline like this and let BG cut promos like this AGAINST SOMEONE IN TNA?” Abyss vs. Sting vs. Christian for the NWA Title. **1/4 “Finish was classic. I guess the idea was that Abyss was supposed to go for the black hole slam and swing Sting into Christian on the way around, and perhaps drop Sting into the tacks. Well, whatever the idea was, I’m sure it sounded good on paper. In execution it looked like a horribly botched spot. Everybody fell all over themselves like geeks and that was the finish, and it was so bad that whatever Abyss would have gotten out of pinning Sting, well, he didn’t get it. The tacks mean literally nothing now.” Angle vs. Joe II. ****1/2 The tapings on Monday were very disorganized, with big gaps between matches and segments and it got to where people wound up going home and they had to move fans in front of the hard camera because of that. Samoa Joe injured his knee at the Impact taping but the extent isn’t known right now. Joe has also been working with a pinched nerve in his back for a while.

As there seems to be a decent level of interest, we'll give the awards idea a go. To make things easier, mainly for me as I’ll be counting these things up and everything, I’ve decided to pattern things after the Observer Awards. Where possible, give a top three for each category. If you can’t think of three nominations for a category, that’s fine but try and think of at least one. Points will be awarded on a 5-3-2 basis, and the nominee who gains the most points in each category wins. A quick word of note regarding Wrestler of the Year and Most Outstanding Wrestler of the Year awards; Wrestler of the Year is an MVP award for the wrestler who means the most to their company, while Most Outstanding is strictly about in-ring performance. A wrestler can be the most outstanding of the year, but might not be wrestler of the year if he’s not been in a position to prove he’s meant the most to his promotion. The Categories: Wrestler of the Year Tag Team of the Year Match of the Year TV Show of the Year Announcer of the Year Card of the Year Feud of the Year Promotion of the Year Worst Wrestler of the Year Worst Tag Team of the Year Worst Match of the Year Worst TV Show of the Year Announcer of the Year Worst Card of the Year Worst Feud of the Year Worst Promotion of the Year Most Overrated Wrestler of the Year Most Underrated Wrestler of the Year Most Outstanding Wrestler of the Year Best on the Mic Worst on the Mic Best Booker Worst Promotional Tactic The Awards will cover the period from December 1st 2005 to November 30th 2006. When you've finished making your nominations, PM me your ballot.

Sucks for Konnan.

Oh shit, yes! Gabe on WOL said that he has no plans to use Sweeney as a wrestler for now, but probably will in the second half of 2007.

Nash might come back for a comedy match but that's unlikely. Sting is a virtual lock to re-sign. He wants to stay and TNA want him stay.

Gabe will be on WOL in about twenty minutes.

Does anyone have the Sean O'Haire vignette's from a few years ago when he was playing the excellent Devil's Advocate character?