Hunter's Torn Quad

I'm bringing this up because there are some interesting notes in the latest Observer about the terms of Lashley's release. Lashley is being paid on his contract until May, at which point he is free to go wherever he wants to, which includes TNA and UFC. Meltzer believes such a favorable release, that being Lashley is free to go TNA so soon when his contract had much longer to run, "indicates he had something on them enough that they would give up keeping him from working for TNA for the duration of the contract to keep him quiet".

Considering while he was on hiatus on 2005, Hunter and Stephanie were shopping him around Hollywood, I'd say he was receptive to the idea. If Hunter could have a career like The Rock, he'd jump at the chance. Few wrestlers would choose a life on the road with all the hassle that entails over even a moderately successful acting career, where they could make comparable or better money, take fewer bumps, deal with less bullshit and spend more of their time at home with their family. Rock doesn't owe wrestling anything anymore. Some people seem to be taking that to mean Rock shouldn't be grateful or isn't grateful for what wrestling has done for him, which is untrue. Rock's done his time, given back more to wrestling than a lot of people at his level have, and made it out. Not only that, he made it out alive, with his head and his heart intact, money in the bank, and, divorce aside, a pretty solid family life. Most former wrestlers can only dream of having made it out to the other side. I'm thinking Rock turned down doing something at Wrestlemania, beyond showing his face and waving, and someone, more than Cena, in WWE isn't happy.

Nobody has tonight's spoilers up, either. I would do it like I usually do, but I just can't be bothered anymore.

Granted, there may be much more to the story but based on this, I gotta side w/ TNA on this one. I'm not blood-thristy but it seemed like a very reasonable request. I know Meltzer/Storm took the Guns' side on WOL but blading on a ppv doesn't sound like something that should be refused . . . especially in a streetfight. I don't think anyone should be forced to slice their forehead with a razor blade. The blading itself sounds like something that TNA should have made clear at the start of the storyline when they laid it out. I can understand TNA being upset with Sabin and Shelley if they really wanted it to happen, but the way they punished them, especially the burial in the promo, is kind of petty.

One of the other ideas floated for Rock that WM was to do a short-term World title switch with JBL; Rock would win at WM then drop it back to JBL the following Smackdown.

PBF is a boxer, so he's probably going to KO Show with a right hand to get that photo op of the small boxer KO'ing the big giant. It's the money shot.

A couple of notes from the latest Observer: In a cost-cutting deal, TNA have stopped the local promotion of on-sale dates for PPV's. Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley are in the dog house for refusing to blade at Against All Odds. The idea was that since they were beating Team 3D in their own specialty match, the streetfight, the booking team wanted Sabin and Shelley to get color for them. Sabin refused, and Shelley went along with it, so the match was rebooked for MCMG to get laid out with the 3D and vanish, while Team 3D did that promo before the match burying them while putting over Lethal. Any thoughts of MCMG getting the tag titles were scrapped, and now the belief is they can't book them in any kind of major grudge feuds.

If it ends up as an actual singles match, it either ends in a non-finish or, far more likely, Show losing. It's not even a question, really.

Austin vs. Hogan would be the ultimate nostalgia match; the 80s vs. the 90s. It meant something ten years ago, five years ago, and still means something today, and to suggest otherwise is absurd. It would also most definitely appeal to people who might not order Wrestlemania anyway, because if someone is only interested in watching Austin or Hogan wrestle, and they find out that the biggest wrestler of their era is facing the biggest wrestler of the previous/next era, they'd buy the PPV in a heartbeat.

I believe he was more or less trying to get to a "get the fuck away from the stupid storylines" point. He was. People always seem to jump to the conclusion that "focus on the wrestling" means "have no storylines", when I don't think I've seen one person who wants more focus on wrestling in TNA actually say TNA should have no storylines and/or ignore them completely.

2/22 TNA Today from Webster Hall

Impact 2/21 - They announced Booker T vs. Kurt Angle as the featured contest of the night, in a non-title match. - TNA World Tag Team Champions AJ Styles & Tomko defeated Kip James & Bullet Bob Armstrong in a Tag Team Title match when Kip turned on Bullet Bob. Kip attacked BG James after the match as well. - There was an in-ring interview with Jim Cornette, The Motor City Machineguns and Sonjay Dutt to celebrate all of Black Machismo Jay Lethal's accomplishments in TNA. Lethal cuts a promo, then asks out SoCal Val, to which she responds "Ohhhh yeahhhh!" - Kaz defeated Rellik. After the match, Black Reign attacked Kaz. Eric Young wanted to make the save, but was too scared to face Rellik and Reign. - Petey Williams defeated Johnny Devine and Sonjay Dutt to become the number one contender to the X-Division Title at Destination X. Scott Steiner helped Petey get the win. - Brother Ray defeated Curry Man & Shark Boy in a handicap match. This time, Brother Ray made the weight of 275lbs., but Devon didn't. Ray hit Shark Boy with the scale for the pin. - Roxxi & Jackie Moore defeated Gail Kim & ODB. There was more miscommunication in the match with ODB and Gail. They brawled afterwards. - Kurt Angle defeated Booker T in a non-title match after Robert Roode interfered. They attacked him after the match until Christian, Samoa Joe and Kevin Nash made the save. Nash then challenged Angle to a match for the following week. Xplosion: - LAX defeated The Rock And Rave Infection. - Awesome Kong won an 11-Knockout Gauntlet by pinning Gail Kim.

It would probably lose them less money than their current direction has over the past year. It's not about putting on long matches on TV. It's about putting out a product with little in the way of the constant "to the back" moments, where nothing gets time to sink because we need to rush backstage for another inane skit, and instead putting the focus on the matches and the wrestlers, with promo's and serious angles to build programs, rather than stupid skits and goofy comedy that might make a few people laugh but do nothing to make their viewers want to buy the PPV's. Sure, there's room for the occasional comedy skit, but that kind of stuff is best kept to the midcard. Because it's a house show, there isn't a place for the lame skits and bad comedy that infest Impact and do nothing to make you want to buy the PPV. Which is exactly why people rave about them. It gives fans the type product they want to see, rather than the product that creative wants them to see.

Flair vs Edge for Edge's title. Edge and Flair have pretty good chemistry and it could be a good enough match. After a few near falls and a figure four thrown in, Edge gets the win. Flair takes off his boots and leaves them in the center of the ring and walks back crying and waves one last time to the fans. After he is gone, Edge who was "recovering" from his match outside the ring, roles in the ring and seeing Flairs boots kicks them out of the ring and grabs the title to celebrate. Cue Jeff Hardy's music - Jeff is cashing in his MITB win from earlier in the night. Jeff goes over and the fans go apeshit. First Matt comes out to celebrate Jeff's win, much like Eddy and Benoit. However then the whole lockerroom empties, to "celebrate Jeff's win", however instead Ric Flair is hoisted up on a couple of guys shoulders. Fade to black. Which would make Jeff Hardy's big title win totally secondary and an afterthought. Not a good idea at all.

How about the fact that people would probably riot if Matt Hardy beat Ric Flair at Wrestlemania for the World title? Or that Matt's title win would get overshadowed by Flair's retirement? Or that Flair's big retirement scene has to share the spotlight with Matt Hardy's title win?

I'm not sure what's worse; that he wants Flair's last World title win to get no build on PPV, that Flair doesn't even get to run off the Major Brothers on his own, or that Flair only wins because of the help of five other people.

Have the main event to Wrestlemania end in twenty seconds with the Fingerpoke of Doom.

You don't really think that was just one happy coincidence, do you?

And it's the one with no real input from 'creative' that gets the heavy praise. Which is probably why TNA don't put out such a product, even though it does get such a positive reaction. After all, if the input of the writers is reduced, their emphasis gets reduced, which is bad for the ego.

*Impact opens with Jim Cornette again trying to sign Samoa Joe to a contract, but Christian Cage comes out. He asks Joe to team with him tonight against AJ Styles and Tomko. Joe agrees and leaves without signing his deal. *Team 3D comes out for a match against Shark Boy and Curry Man. Earl Hebner forced 3D to weigh before the match. Devon weighs in under 275. Brother Ray can't make weight so it becomes a handicap match. Devon pins Curry Man after nailing him with the scale. *Abyss vs. Scott Steiner never took place as Abyss walked to the ring and then turned away and walked out, still too hurt from the Barbed Wire Massacre match to compete. As he left, Abyss removed his mask while he had his back to the crowd and then left. Scott Steiner took the mic and said he wanted a match right now. Petey Williams came out and Steiner defeated him. Steiner was full blown heel. *Apparently they shot an angle backstage where Christian Cage was attacked, so it will be Kevin Nash teaming with Samoa Joe later. *TNA Tag Team champs AJ Styles and Tomko defeated Samoa Joe and Kevin Nash after Kurt Angle interfered. Tomko pinned Joe. *Rellik pinned Eric Young. *Homicide defeated Chris Sabin and Jimmy Rave in a three-way match. *Rhino came to the ring and cut a promo on James Storm, challenging him to an Elevation X match at the next PPV. *TNA Knockout champ Awesome Kong defeated ODB in a non-title Street Fight after Gail Kim got involved and it backfired. ODB and Kim shoved each other afterwards. Xplosion: *Robert Roode pinned Kaz. *Kurt and Karen Angle renew their vows. When it is asked if anyone objects, Samoa Joe and Kevin Nash come out. They brawl with Angle. During the brawl, the preacher's glasses fell off so he pronounced AJ and Karen husband and wife, so AJ kissed Karen. She freaked out while Angle looked on in disbelief.

He refused to go to rehab over alcohol issues.

In stature or the match itself? I think everyone recognizes that the match was dull at best. I do believe it would be famous in Japan, no doubt. It might not have been the first Wrestler vs. Boxer fight, but it's the most famous and is probably the most historic when it comes to talking about the Wrestler vs. Boxer debate, regardless of how bad it really was. The fact it was so bad just made it more memorable, and anyone was around when it happened is bound to have heard of it, even if they didn't watch it; it's like the 70's version of Hogan vs. Andre on NBC. The match, at least in Japan, with the most famous boxer in the world fighting the most famous wrestler in the entire country, is widely considered to be the forerunner of MMA, and when the history of MMA is talked about in Japan, it's always brought up. While to American fans it was a farce, it really was the first famous fight between different disciplines.

Ali/Inoki might have been a farce to American fans, but in Japan, that was the fight that become an iconic piece of wrestling history, and is one of the famous fights in the history of Japan and a forerunner of modern MMA.

If Hardy wins the title this year, it would be much better if he beat Triple H for the title. They can play up that Hardy beat Hunter at Armageddon, and that while Hunter beat Hardy to win his Wrestlemania title shot and kind of even things up, it wasn't a straight singles match. Hardy and Hunter have a backstory they can draw on to make for a compelling story, even to where it becomes almost Teacher vs. Pupil. It would be far more interesting than anything they could with JBL, even with the lure of shoot comments, which would serve only to bury Hardy.

So, you want Cena to come back, win the title at WM but lose it clean one month later? Then you want Cena to turn heel, when the current dynamic is going great guns and needs no adjustment? And then you want to recreate the Fingerpoke of Doom, one of the most monumentally retarded angles WCW ever did, just for a one-week title reign?