Hunter's Torn Quad

I think you need to get back on topic. If you are able to.

I'll ask. I'll say it again, but in the form of a question so people don't bitch; does anyone else see them giving the belt back to Jeff because Kurt took out the referee and he was only the 'ringside enforcer' ?

We're all friends here. You don't need to be so formal and use my first name.

So, Joe had to sell the guitar but a 47-year old man got to no-sell it? And does Jeff get his vanity belt back because the referee was KO'd and it was the 'ringside enforcer' who counted the tap out?

It will probably be a 10-15 minute gimmick show, with weapons, run-ins, bullshit and a convaluted finish that the crowd won't pop for as they should because they've been numbed by all the gimmickry.

But who got the build-up in their match based on it being their hometown? And which one was being treated as a serious wrestler and which one was treated as joke in recent weeks?

They would come back if you gave them a happy ending by not beating the guy they came to see win. It's very simple booking.

It's TNA's first time in Detroit. Why have the hometown hero lose the first time out? Why piss off fans who are attending only their first, maybe second, TNA show? TNA need to be making their fans happy, not pissing them off.

More upside or not, Rhino losing was stupid. If they wanted Christian to look strong coming out of BFG, at least let Rhino win in his hometown and have Christian lay him out after. That way, you would still have Christian looking strong, but you wouldn't be beating a guy in his hometown before your first non-Orlando PPV crowd and you wouldn't be pissing off the local fans by beating their hometown hero.

But it would be a SWERVE~.

That is classic Russo booking. Would it have killed them for Rhino to win in his HOMETOWN?

So, not only do Joe and Angle keep fighting, which makes their first time locking up in a match less special, but they take away the one thing that might make the main event interesting. That even assumes TNA bothers to adhere to its stipulations for this one, because that Eric Young one lasted about a week.

I think that's what TNA calls its version of the Wellness Policy.

Joe has to go over and it has to be clean. Joe going over establishes that TNA's top star is better than one of WWE's top stars, and it makes TNA look good to be able to say that one of their stars beat a WWE star who wanted to try his luck in TNA. It also goes a long way to making Joe seem special again, because for quite some time now he's been just another guy in a crowded main event scene. Beating Angle makes Joe special and TNA need a homegrown talent that is special, because they cannot rely on WWE to keep letting top names go. While Angle can beat Joe eventually, he cannot beat him now. Angle is already over enough and is established enough that ending Joe's streak does almost nothing for him and would only make Joe, and TNA, look bad because it establishes that a top WWE guy can beat a top TNA guy, and TNA does not need to make itself look bad any more than it already has. Joe beating Angle can make for a great, and very believable storyline, where Angle can say that he underestimated Joe and the competition in TNA but when he gets that rematch he won't make that mistake. Angle putting over Joe like that puts over TNA, and Angle talking up the wrestlers in TNA makes them look special, because you've got Kurt Angle, who the fans respect a lot and who they believe is a genuine tough guy, telling them that the wrestlers in TNA are not to be taken lightly. After the match, you can have, and probably should have, Joe and Angle shake hands and do a respect deal. Angle is going to get cheered no matter what and while Joe might be booed against Angle, you don’t want the fans getting into the habit of booing him at this point. Make it clear that Angle respects Joe. That is also something that elevates Joe, because if he has the respect of Kurt Angle, it makes him seem special.

It is too soon. Sure, it's probably going to get a slightly higher buy rate than your normal TNA PPV anyway, but with every additional month of build they could have increased the number of potential buys. Instead, they're rushing into it. To be fair, they also don't know how much longer Kurt is going to be able to keep going, so while it isn't going to maximise business by going right to Joe vs. Angle, at least this way they have a pretty good shot of the match taking place.

Because UFC doesn't matter in the bubble that TNA lives in.

bob_barron in the bleachers with a poisoned tampon.

With a big hog of spit and snot in it. No, I'd have started on the food when they actually ordered it. If they didn't know that the SMW crew really wanted the food they ordered, they should have said so right away, and not waited 15 minutes.

If I was working there, I'd have actually started on his food.

The fact Angle signed with TNA less than a month after getting fired proved that.

The culture's may be different, but the ability to work those fans into a frenzy isn't. The fact that Eddie was good enough to do it in one place is, at the very least, reason enough to give him something to work with to see what he could do with it. Bringing up Vampiro isn't the best of examples, because he never got the chance to see if he could be huge in the US. If being a great wrestler and working the crowd up wasn't enough, what would be? When a guy can get the entire arena chanting "Eddie Sucks", and he hasn't even wrestled the match yet, doesn't that say something to his ability? Eddie just had to stand there and the people were going nuts for him. And you're telling me a guy who could do that doesn't deserve a chance He already did that in Mexico, but we've already established that Mexio doesn't count in your eyes. Eddie already knew how to do that, whether it was in Mexico or not. That alone shows he deserved a chance at doing it again above those who hadn't proven that anywhere in the US, let alone outside of the US. I'd bring up Mexico again, but bringing up anything outside of the US is a lost cause with you.

The fact they didn't give him no-compete clause speaks volumes. They didn't even want Kurt tied to them through something that could only benefit them.

They waived the 90 day thing b/c they wanted to sever all ties with Kurt Angle. Some people still don't seem to realize just how big of a statement that is.

East.Coast.J You never saw Eddie work Mexico did you? Eddie had learned how to work as a tremendous heel long before 2004. He had that worked out over ten years before then. Smiley wasn't crazy over until the Screamin' Norman gimmick, and that was a comedy act. Even then, Norman wasn't 'crazy over' until Eddie had long since proven to anyone with open eyes he was worth pushing strong.

From Meltzer.