Hunter's Torn Quad

The obvious results would see Suwama get the pin in the six-man, and give a good showing in the title match before ultimately falling to defeat.

I think it would have been interesting to see what would have happened if WWE had got behind Christian when the fans did and given him a strong push. It's possible that he would have been one of those guys who the fans get behind in wanting them to reach the top but when they get there, the support drops off, for whatever reason. Whatever would have happened can be speculated on, but we'll never really know. At the very least, I think he'd have ensured a strong upper midcard position where he could slip into the top level mix when needed. As for Christian's talent and ability, I don't see him as main event player. I see him as a better version of Jeff Jarrett, where he's good at everything, sometimes really good, but not at the main event level on any of it, at least at the major league level. He's the utility guy who stays strong near the top of the card, usually beats the guys below him but puts them over when they're en route to the top level. He'll be over enough where he's a good opponent for a top face in the TV main event, but rarely in a main event match on PPV; when it happens, it'll be to make up for the shortcomings of whoever else is in the match, and to carry the workload. In WWE, he'd be Umaga, who's kept strong unless it's against the real top guys or next hot thing, when his role would be to ultimately put the other guy over. Which I'd peg as the right spot for Christian.

4/7 Results by Irving AJPW, 4/7/08 (GAORA TV) Tokyo Korakuen Hall 1,700 Fans 1. Ryuji Hijikata & Katsuhiko Nakajima beat Nobutaka Araya & Nobukazu Hirai (10:48) when Nakajima used a face kick on Araya. 2. Hiroshi Yamato & KAI beat Kaz Hayashi & Hajime Suruga (10:22) when KAI used the splash plancha on Suruga. 3. Satoshi Kojima, TARU, Shuji Kondo & Silver King beat Osamu Nishimura, T28, Seiya Sanada & Manabu Soya (11:50) when Kojima used a lariat on Sanada. 4. Champion Carnival - Block B: Kensuke Sasaki [4] beat Joe Doering [4] (8:01) with a lariat. 5. Champion Carnival - Block A: Toshiaki Kawada [2] beat Taiyo Kea [0] (13:35) with an enzui knee attack. 6. Champion Carnival - Block B: Minoru Suzuki [2] beat Suwama [1] (9:31) with a sleeper hold. 7. Champion Carnival - Block A: Keiji Muto [5] vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi [3] (30:00) ended in a time limit draw. BLOCK A 1. Keiji Muto [5] 2. Hiroshi Tanahashi [3] 3. Satoshi Kojima [2] - Toshiaki Kawada [2] 4. Taiyo Kea [0] BLOCK B 1. Kensuke Sasaki [4] - Joe Doering [4] 3. Minoru Suzuki [2] 4. Suwama [1] 5. Osamu Nishimura [0] Not surprised by how Block A is going, but Doering doing so well in block B does raise an eyebrow, mostly because you've got former TC champion Suzuki and newly joined Nishimura in there. I hope Nishimura beats Suwama, or even draws, because I'd hate to think of Nishimura being the designated jobber of his group. The big loser of Block A is Kea, but he'll probably get points against Kojima so as to keep Muto and Tanahashi the two strongest in that Block.

Nobody has said they aren't legends in the business. But when it comes to being known outside the business? They're just not well known enough to reach the level of Rock, Austin or Hogan. Not really, because she's not considered that highly on tennis. It's more than fame on it's own. It's success in your own field as well. Which Kournikova lacks.

The first results are in: AJPW, 4/5/08 Tokyo Korakuen Hall 1,900 Fans - No Vacancy 1. Seiya Sanada, KAI & Hiroshi Yamato beat Kaz Hayashi, Nobutaka Araya & Nobukazu Hirai (13:28) when Sanada used a cast-away German Suplex hold on Araya. 2. TARU, Shuji Kondo & Silver King beat Ryuji Hijikata, Katsuhiko Nakajima & T28 (11:31) when Silver King used the Death Valley Bomb on T28. 3. Hiroshi Tanahashi & Tetsuya Naito beat Suwama & Manabu Soya (16:23) when Tanahashi used the High Fly Flow on Soya. 4. Champion Carnival - Block B: Joe Doering [2] beat Minoru Suzuki [0] (10:55) with a revolution-style Powerbomb. 5. Champion Carnival - Block B: Kensuke Sasaki [1] vs. Osamu Nishimura [1] (30:00) ended in a time limit draw. 6. Champion Carnival - Block A: Keiji Muto [2] beat Taiyo Kea [0] (16:41) with the Shining Wizard. 7. Champion Carnival - Block A: Satoshi Kojima [2] beat Toshiaki Kawada [0] (15:41) with a lariat. AJPW, 4/6/08 (GAORA TV) Tokyo Korakuen Hall 1,900 Fans 1. Ryuji Hijikata, KAI & Hiroshi Yamato beat T28, Seiya Sanada & Manabu Soya (10:23) when Hijikata used a Fisherman Buster on T28. 2. Kaz Hayashi, Nobukazu Hirai & Katsuhiko Nakajima beat TARU, Shuji Kondo & Silver King (10:11) when TARU was disqualified. 3. Minoru Suzuki & TAKEMURA beat Toshiaki Kawada & Nobutaka Araya (14:15) when Suzuki used a Gotch-style Piledriver on Araya. 4. Champion Carnival - Block B: Joe Doering [4] beat Osamu Nishimura [1] (25:20) with a Canadian Backbreaker. 5. Champion Carnival - Block A: Hiroshi Tanahashi [2] beat Taiyo Kea [0] (20:53) with the High Fly Flow. 6. Champion Carnival - Block B: Kensuke Sasaki [1] vs. Suwama [1] (30:00) ended in a time limit draw. 7. Champion Carnival - Block A: Keiji Muto [4] beat Satoshi Kojima [2] (17:36) by referee stop due to a cross armbreaker. After two days, Doering is the surprise leader of Block B, while less surprisingly Muto leads Block A. Tomorrow, Doering faces Sasaki while Muto faces Tanahashi, which should tell us a little more of how the Carnival is going to go.

Supposedly, there are commercials airing in the UK that have the Backlash main event as Orton defending the WWE title against JBL and Hunter in a three-way.

Which to me is a qualification to being considered a real legend. People who aren't fans of your sport knowing who you are because you transcend that sport. People who don't know a thing about wrestling know who those guys are in the same way that people who don't know a thing about boxing know who Muhammad Ali is.

Not naive, just stating a fact. Hogan, Austin, Flair and Rock are legends. Shawn, for all his talent, just doesn't fit in that group.

I'm not a fan of Hogan, but it was absolutely the right decision for him to win. At the time, they were hoping to have Austin vs. Hogan at the following Wrestlemania, and with Hogan only appearing sporadically, they couldn't have him lose in any of the matches that took place before then, especially if the idea was for Austin to win their match. Hogan is a legend, a popular one at that, and people don't like to see legends lose, unless there is a very good reason. Shawn Michaels in the main event of Summerslam isn't good enough a reason to beat Hogan. With Hogan losing to Austin in a dream match at Wrestlemania, as unlikely a finish as that was, it's a little more acceptable to people because not only is it a dream match that would actually approach Rock vs. Hogan (where nobody minded Hogan losing) in terms of atmosphere and build, but it's against one of only three other men who could reasonably be argued to be on the same level of Hogan in terms of being a legend in the business. Yes, Shawn was the one staying around, but he didn't get hurt at all by losing. Hogan losing not only would have taken a little of the luster off of Austin vs. Hogan, because they'd have to have worked around Hogan losing in is last or second to last match prior to facing Austin in the build to the Wrestlemania match, but you'd have been upsetting people by beating a legend, one they like a great deal, for no good reason. Hogan losing to Austin, like his losing to Rock, wouldn't have upset people much because of the comparable status of the two. A legend losing to a legend is fine. But Shawn is not a legend.

Probably for the same reason they had the no-contest finish; a combination of Bret being so popular and so much better a worker risked turning the crowd on Nash if he beat Hart. At the time, Nash was being groomed as the next Hulk Hogan, and that meant doing everything they could to ensure the fans cheered him. Beating Hart would have made that difficult, hence the non-finish in their title match, and likely why it was never considered for Wrestlemania.

Douglas is unlikely because he parted ways with TNA on bad terms. I've read a couple of interviews if his where he's knocked TNA, Dixie Carter specifically (comparing her Vince McMahon, and not in a positive sense), so ego's would have to be checked at the door for Douglas to return. Which is a shame, because Douglas makes a very good commentator. I think Tenay would make a good color guy if they need to stop having him oversell every little thing like it's the second coming.

According to the latest F4W, while some thought Rock aloof others disagreed, and it was pointed out that he was in a hurry because he's in the middle of making his latest movie, and he had to "move heaven and earth" to get to do the Hall of Fame. If it was that hard to get away from filming, I can imagine he didn't have a lot of time to talk with people. I would guess Rock was fine talking with people before his spot, but once he was done, he probably had to get out of there fast, and didn't have time to talk at length.

If they slow build the Batista vs. Shawn program, when Flair pops back in six months it can be to try and talk his two best friends into making peace. Batista can fake going along with it, and then turn on Shawn and Flair, leaving them both laying if need be.

JBL vs. Finlay A good opener, but by being the opener it limited what they could do and so it didn't live up to its potential. Hopefully, they'll rematch them in a similar kind of match and let them really cut loose. MitB A very good stuntfest with plenty of creative spots, even if some of them didn't come off as planned. Shelton Benjamin's bump to the ladder outside was probably the best of the bunch. Punk winning was a surprise, but I hope he doesn't become the first person to win MitB and lose when he makes his title challenge. Batista vs. Umaga Short and disappointing. Both guys can do much better than this and if this feud does continue, I hope they can redeem themselves. Kane vs. Chavo Guerrero What's to say about a squash? On Bryan Alvarez's recap of WM, he said that he'd heard that Chavo showed up at Impact after the Highlander was told to leave, which would explain the brevity of the match. Ric Flair vs. Shawn Michaels The match was entertaining, but I think it could have been a lot better. However, as an emotional spectacle and an nvolving story, it was perfect. The ending with Flair telling Shawn to superkick him and Shawn apologizing to Flair and telling him he loved him before hitting the superkick was a dramatic masterpiece. Flair walking to the back, bidding farewell to the fans, is the new lasting memory of Wrestlemania to replace Benoit and Guerrero in the video packages. Playboy Bunnies match Didn't watch it, don't care. Cena vs. Hunter vs. Orton Very good match with a great story. I enjoyed this a lot, and the final five minutes was very well executed. The finish was good for at least two reasons; Orton got over by being the first person to pin Cena on PPV since, I think, Booker T back in November of 2006. Hunter got over because his big move set up the pin on Cena. Orton retaining was a minor surprise, but unlike some surprises, it makes sense and his winning, plus the nature of his winning, adds more to this feud than any other finish could. Big Show vs. Floyd Mayweather This was amazingly good. And not in a 'I thought it would be horrible but it was merely just bad' way. This was really good. Whoever put this match together deserves an award, because it was great to watch. Meltzer speculates that Mayweather leaving with so much heat means he's probably coming back at some point. I wouldn't mind that at all. Edge vs. Undertaker This was a great main event. It started cold. Very cold. But with a lot of hard work and some great sequences, this had the crowd going wild. Edge lost clean but, as mentioned by someone else, he was put over huge with kicking out of almost all of Undertaker's big moves and forcing Undertaker to resort to his biggest move. And that gogoplata is over. This was a very good Wrestlemania looking back, and would probably rank in the lower end of the Top Ten WM's of all time.

For those who get overly defensive about the valid criticisms of TNA's creative team, it's worth realizing that TNA's growth in revenue was despite the creative team not because of them, It's great that TNA are slowly starting to grow, and it will hopefully give them the time needed to fully turn things around. But to use this news as some kind of validation of TNA's direction would be absurd. They've started to make the long needed changes, at least with the main events, with the more serious build to Joe and Angle, and hopefully they'll persevere with this direction for as long as it takes to find out whether it will work or not, and then we can give creative some kudos they will have earned. As for the World X-Cup, I would look forward to it more if they handed the booking of it over to someone other than Jarrett, Russo or Mantell, and gave that person the creative freedom required to make the best of use of the talent they will bring in.

That was actually pretty good stuff.

Great match, with Orton and Hunter getting put over with that finish.

Interesting match placing. Maybe foreshadowing a result that people won't like?

It would be a great visual if the lights stayed low for the rest of the night.

No miracle for Batista this year. That was average at best.

A pleasant surprise for that one.

The only match/scenario I'm that interested in seeing live is Flair-Michaels, and with only a few hours to go I'm really tempted to order the PPV. There's some curiosity over Mayweather/Show, but not enough to give me that final nudge and make the order. I'll probably end up ordering at the last minute.

Why should Bruno be inducted? Maybe because he was one of the best babyfaces the company had, was champion for eight years, and has sold out MSG a near-record number of times. If Bruno is going to refuse, that's his choice. But it would add a ton of credibility to the HoF to have Bruno inducted. If Bruno doesn't want to appear, fine. Induct him anyway, give him a nice speech and presentation, and let the choice be Bruno's as to whether he appears. It might make WWE look like the bigger people if they're willing to do all that for someone they admittedly have no love for. 1. You can't induct someone if they don't want to be inducted. They might as well wait until he's dead, then. 2. It wouldn't make WWE look like "bigger people" - no one cares about the feud between the two, anymore. Well, except the people who want to nitpick about the HOF inductees. While you can't properly induct someone who doesn't want to be there, it can't hurt to make real overtures at doing so, if only to plug the few credibility gaps the HoF has. As for making WWE look like bigger people, I was referring to Vince, who would no doubt relish the chance to look benevolent in the face of such an outspoken critic of the company. As for your last remark, I actually don't care about the feud. I was just pointing out one of the few credibility gaps in an otherwise credible, for wrestling standards, HoF. If that makes me someone who wants to nitpick, then there are a number of other nitpickers in this thread as well.

Why should Bruno be inducted? Maybe because he was one of the best babyfaces the company had, was champion for eight years, and has sold out MSG a near-record number of times. If Bruno is going to refuse, that's his choice. But it would add a ton of credibility to the HoF to have Bruno inducted. If Bruno doesn't want to appear, fine. Induct him anyway, give him a nice speech and presentation, and let the choice be Bruno's as to whether he appears. It might make WWE look like the bigger people if they're willing to do all that for someone they admittedly have no love for.

Or because a limo driver and Pete Rose are it, while Bruno Sammartino and Bob Backlund aren't. Over the past few years, the WWE HoF has become more industry wide rather than WWE orientated, which makes it seem more credible. While criticism has died down over the years, and rightfully so, it's still a HoF that counts a limo driver and Pete Rose as members, when people who have made far greater contributions to the company still aren't invited.