Hunter's Torn Quad

The Kurt Angle stuff is no surprise. He said he was going to do as much during his numerous interviews over the last month. I'm not surprised it's getting under Jarrett's skin. Doesn't Kurt know that Jeff doesn't like people playing with his toys? As for the disorganization, that's what happens when you don't plan things out in advance. TNA 'creative' need to work on just the creative, because there is no good excuse to not have the next six to eight weeks of TV and PPV's sketched out and pretty well done so they can avoid this kind of thing.

If GSP and Hughes are the only ones getting a percentage of the PPV money, then they will wind up with a great deal more than Sylvia. They should be the only ones getting such a deal, because Sylvia didn't draw a dime.

The payoff's for each fighter, excluding bonuses and sponsorship money; Georges St. Pierre ($58,000) Matt Hughes ($75,000) Tim Sylvia ($120,000) Jeff Monson ($13,000) Brandon Vera ($40,000) Frank Mir ($30,000) Drew McFedries ($8,000) Alessio Sakara ($10,000) Joe Stevenson ($24,000) Dokonjonosuke Mishima ($8,000) James Irvin ($10,000) Hector Ramirez ($3,000) Antoni Hardonk ($6,000) Sherman Pendergarst ($4,000) Nick Diaz ($24,000) Gleison Tibau ($3,000) Jake O'rien ($12,000) Josh Shockman ($3,000)

According to Meltzer, estimates on the buys for UFC 63 and 64 are 500,000-700,000. I assume the higher number is for 63.

And if they did want Angle to end the streak, at least let Joe win the first match and make it look like Angle had to fight to do so. As it is, he did it in less than 15 minutes.

Exactly. People seem unable, or unwilling, to look at the bigger picture. How much more over would Joe and TNA have gotten if Joe had beaten Kurt Angle clean? As mentioned, Angle can't get any more over, so what does him winning do? TNA, on the other hand, can get more over and desperately needs to, and it would have made TNA, and Joe, look like a big deal if someone as highly touted as Kurt Angle is unable to beat Joe. Angle has also already made the current TNA Heavyweight Champion tap out... Which makes you wonder why people should care about Angle ever challenging Abyss. Abyss tapped out clean three days before his title victory and he only won the NWA Title because the champion got DQ'd. I don't think they could have made Abyss look any weaker as a world champion if they tried, and who cares about anyone facing such a weak champion? If Angle beats him again, it's no big deal, but if Angle loses to Abyss, he lost to a joke of a champion.

How about anybody. How about the guy who dresses like a shark. Beating Joe should have meant something. It should have been used to elevate someone new, who hadn't been elevated before. They had Joe lose to Kurt Angle instead, who's already established ten times over. Bad booking. This is why TNA is still a glorified indy fed. Angle didn't need to beat Joe. He's already over huge, the people already think he's the best wrestler ever and he's already seen as super tough. Why did he need to win when Joe winning would have meant so much more and would have been a benefit to TNA? Bad booking. This is why TNA is still a glorified indy fed. This is the one problem TNA have never been able to correct. They have the talent, and almost always have had the talent. It's the booking that is their problem, but they don't seem able or willing to do anything about it.

The latest Figure Four Weekly says the current plan is for Brown to be pushed as a top star on Raw, and the Serengeti stuff won't be used in his interviews.

A couple of notes from the latest issue of Figure Four Weekly: At Genesis when the crowd shit all over LAX being stripped of the tag titles, Vince Russo was beind the curtain watching and was visibly frustrated over the reaction. The wrestlers are said to be totally frustrated with the current booking.

The rating was another 3.7. Have they offered any kind of explanation for the TV audience of all the angles and storylines started on WWE.com?

If you missed out on the first part of Dave's WCW story, you can get both parts e-mailed to you right away as part of a special: http://www.wrestlingobserver.com/wo/news/h...t.asp?aID=17959

WO.com

For all WWE could do to make ECW v.2 more like the original version, the one thing they can't do is recreate the atmosphere of the original, and that more than anything is what made ECW ECW. A million groups have tried to recreate ECW and they've all failed, not because of what they did or did not do, but of what they could not do. That atmosphere can't be recreated, and that alone means any attempt to bring back ECW will always fail.

Sylvia fights to not lose rather than to win. It might help him not lose but it makes for boring fights. I was dying for Monson to tap out that big tree.

Figure Four Weekly

WO.com I'd have to agree with that. The wrestling was good to great and the heat was always there, but some of the skits, especially the stuff with Nash, were terrible. It was the kind of stupid 'comedy' that you'd see on Raw, and the last thing TNA needs to do is anything that looks like something stolen from Raw. The formatting also needed work, because too often a match would end and before you could blink they'd be right into a bumper for a commercial. This really hurt something like The Naturals win over Team 3D, where they went over very strong, not only laying them out with their own finisher and also beating them in their own specialty match, but before you could even take it in they were off into the next commercial break. The least they could have done was have Tenay and West looking shocked and talking about how they have never seen Team 3D dominated like that. And I hated the post-main event where they kept switching from the ring to the back then back to the ring to show the two different angles. The PPV is being sold entirely on Joe vs. Angle, so they should have picked that angle and just stayed on that. Something like this makes me wonder why TNA still don't go to a split screen. That is something they really need to start doing. All in all, the prime time special was classic TNA in that the wrestling and heat was spot on, but the production and presentation had some serious flaws.

The Heavyweight title fight was just flat out crap. Sylvia might be a decent fighter, but I still hate him. He always bitches and complains, and he did it again in the post-show press conference, and the sooner someone, anyone, takes the Heavyweight title the better. The main event was great. I thought GSP had it won right at the end of the first round. It really was The GSP Show and Hughes seemed almost like Rich Franklin last month in that he seemed beat before the fight even started.

It started out as a work but became a shoot when Russo cut his promo against Hogan. It was one of those angles Russo loves to run that only the fans on the internet understand and the other 99% of fans don't understand what's going on and are just confused. The idea was to play off of Hogan having creative control. It was played up leading into the PPV that Hogan was unwilling to lose to Jarrett and had played his creative control card and was demanding to win the title. This was done strictly backstage and, maybe, online, so nobody watching on TV had any clue this was going on. The fake angle, as it was played out in front of people backstage, is that Hogan would beat Jarrett by DQ when Scott Steiner would interfere, I assume ‘against the script’. Somehow, Jarrett would end up defending the WCW Title against Booker T with Booker winning. Hogan would come back later in the year to face Booker. The worked shoot part, which Hogan, Russo and Jarrett were the only ones in on, is that Jarrett would lay down for Hogan in their match. Hogan would ‘reluctantly’ pin him, win the WCW Title and then cut his promo against Russo and quit. Jarrett would then defend the WCW Title against Booker T later in the PPV, Booker would win, and when Hogan returned later in the year he would face Booker in a Champion vs. Champion match. Where it became a total shoot, at least on Hogan, is when Russo cut his promo against Hogan and vowed Hogan would never be seen in WCW again. Hogan wound up filing a lawsuit against WCW/Turner which I believe is still ongoing.

Wrestlemag - The ring is set up for an ECW taping, and right now they’re making last minute changes with the lights. The set has changed a little from previous UK tapings, with the TitanTron shaped to look like a Union Jack. - A video package from WrestleMania 22 played, with John Cena being booed out of the building when he was shown. They announced that ECW was being taped tonight as well, and that also got booed. - In a dark match prior to ECW being taped, Carlito beat Doug Williams via pinfall. A short match that went about five minutes, with Carlito winning after hitting Williams with the backcracker. - ECW started with Elijah Burke on commentary alongside Joey Styles. No sign of Tazz. - Paul Heyman and Big Show cut a promo to open the show. Heyman reveals that there will be no Rob Van Dam tonight, and also that Hardcore Holly will be in the Extreme Elimination Chamber match at December to Dismember. Backstage, Bobby Lashley attacks Holly then gives Big Show a spear, before heading to the ring and signing a contract that will see him as the sixth man in the Elimination Chamber match next month. Excellent opening segment that the crowd were hot for. - Backstage, Holly, Big Show and Heyman argue over who to blame for what just happened, with Big Show putting the blame on Heyman. Heyman announces Lashley vs Hardcore Holly for later tonight. - CM Punk beat Mike Knox with the Anaconda Vice in a match that went a little longer than Punk’s previous outings. - Matt Striker cut a promo talking history and hyping up the Elimination Chamber match, which led to a video package to further hype up the match. Our history teacher also incorrectly pronounced Gorbachev. - Backstage, CM Punk cut a great promo putting over the importance of the Elimination Chamber match. - Tommy Dreamer beat Daivari via DQ in a short match after The Great Khali interfered and gave Dreamer the low blow into the ringpost. After the match, Khali continued to attack Dreamer. - In the main event of the ECW taping, Bobby Lashley vs Hardcore Holly ended in a no contest after Big Show, Test, Paul Heyman and Heyman’s security interfered, only to be chased off by Sabu, Rob Van Dam and CM Punk. During the match, Lashley hit Davey Boy Smith’s trademark delayed vertical suplex and running powerslam moves. RVD got a major superstar reaction at the end of the match, and was over far more than Lashley was. - After quickly changing the ring, RAW started with DX coming to the ring to an incredible reaction. They cut a promo and footage aired from last week’s show. The Coach interrupted and said he had issued a bounty on DX for £10,000, to which Triple H called him a cheap bastard. - A four on two handicap match was made, with DX taking on Lance Cade, Trevor Murdoch, Charlie Haas and Viscera. DX won in a fairly long match rather than the squash you might expect, with Triple H giving Charlie Haas the pedigree and picking up the win. - Backstage, The Spirit Squad did a promo with DX that saw all members of the Squad in the background doing the Shawn Stasiak thing by running into a wall while DX were oblivious to what was going on. - Johnny and Kenny from the Spirit Squad beat The Highlanders after Kenny rolled up Robbie for the win. - Chris Masters beat Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler in a Masterlock challenge. - Backstage, Eugene tried to get the bounty on DX, but he ended up running into a wall also. - A highlight video of WWE’s most recent trip to Iraq played for the live crowd, before Todd Grisham interviewed Lita backstage. - Still backstage, Chris Masters tried, and failed, to claim the bounty on DX, ending up hugging a toilet instead. - Todd Grisham has replaced Jerry Lawler on commentary alongside Jim Ross to sell Lawler passing out to Chris Masters’ Masterlock earlier in the show. - John Cena beat Umaga via DQ after Big Show interfered. Fun match which the crowd were totally into, with 50/50 split on who was behind Cena and who was booing him. After the match, Umaga and Big Show both laid Cena out. - DX left the building after claiming the bounty by taking themselves out. Shawn Michaels stole the 10k from Coach. - Jeff Hardy beat Johnny Nitro to become the new Inter-Continental champion after rolling through a moonsault by Nitro and getting the pinfall. After the match, Nitro attacked Hardy and laid him out using a ladder. - Outside the building, DX are shown wanting to use Coach’s money to buy tickets to get back inside. They struggle to get any, so try and buy some from Cryme Time. - Backstage, Carlito is shown reading the Daily Star newspaper and makes reference to Celtic vs Manchester Utd match that is happening in a week or so. Torrie Wilson and two girls from the Daily Star invite him out after the show. - Graphics are shown on the Tron running through the Survivor Series card, then DX are shown coming into the building through the crowd and sitting at ringside. - Mickie James beat Lita in a non-title match. The pre-match stipulation put in place was that Mickie had to wrestle with both of her legs tied together, but DX distracted Lita, allowing Mickie to hit her with a DDT and get the win. - Jeff Hardy vs Johnny Nitro in a Ladder Match for the IC Title was announced for next Monday’s show. - Edge and Randy Orton beat Ric Flair and Roddy Piper to win the Tag Team titles. Piper was taken out early on, leaving Flair alone. Edge and Orton pretty much destroyed him, winning the tag belts after a spear by Edge. After the match DX hit the ring and brawled with Edge and Orton, RAW coming to a close with DX left in the ring as Orton and Edge stood by the top of the ramp.

Wrestlemag - In a dark match, Funaki beat KC James after a sunset flip. - The Boogeyman vs The Miz & Kristal went to a no-contest to open Smackdown. No official announcement was made on the result. - Backstage, King Booker and Finlay got talking as it was announced they’ll be taking on Batista and Bobby Lashley later on in the show - Footage of Rey Mysterio undergoing knee surgery last week was shown.

Pop-ups.com says the rating was a 1.04.

Yes.

Other PPV provider are still carrying the PPV live.

WrestlingObserver.com Of the three options given, the most likely is some sort of working agreement that sees them working together against a common enemy, the UFC. No matter what happens between the two, I don't see it lasting long if it even ever gets off the ground.