Hunter's Torn Quad

And this new character would be different to his old one, how?

Test will probably do a clean job in ECW. The Ladder match deal show has been talked about elsewhere. And any bets on what Carlito does for punishment this week?

Yes, though the report I read had Punk getting in no offense before winning with a roll up, so it's not like they're putting him over even when he wins. Speaking of punishing people: From the Raw house show that same night.

On WOL, Meltzer said that Styles might not be part of the Christian heel group after all. He said some people are pulling for it, but some aren't hot on it. Senshi is on now. Decent guest.

Samoa Joe and Senshi are scheduled to be on WOL after the hour.

Yeah, Russo really knows what the fans want(!).

There is a strip club in Little Italy.

Brother Ray was so angry he needed a lapdance to calm down. And run-ins in the opening match.

I know it's good business to get the best deal you can, but did Vera really think UFC would match the EXC deal? I like watching Vera fight, but he's not worth a $1.5 million signing bonus, let alone a seven figure per-fight deal. Even the UFC deal is near the high end of what he's worth right now.

Am i the only one who's surprised by this? I mean, it was an ok match for Cena/Umaga, but damn! 4 stars? I never understand Meltzer's star ratings, because whenever I listen to WOL it seems he shits all over the matches and says how awful they were, but his star ratings never reflect what he says about the match. Meltzer was very positive on WOL towards the Cena-Umaga match. It was a good match, better than a lot of people expected, and it told a great story.

At one house show, somebody had a sign with Test and a needle, and it said something like "The best body chemicals can buy."

Financial stability is the main reason wrestlers sign with WWE. Developmental deals aside, most WWE wrestlers make decent money. Few make the big bucks, but the majority makes a decent monetary living. And with WWE set to be around forever, unless something unforeseen happens, signing with WWE pretty much guarantees that you'll get a regular paycheck and make enough money that you'll be able to have somewhere to live and be able put food on your table. The downside to signing with WWE is that you're chances of making the big money are almost nil unless you catch fire like John Cena, and you're chances of making even good money are just as slim unless you become a favorite of Vince or one of his inner circle. Add to that the inevitable frustration from the politics and other bullshit, and it comes down to whether the regular paycheck is worth the baggage. B. RVD went to the competition. THE COMPETITION. For someone that's looked so far down like RVD, that's going to be a killer. They'll bring him back just to humiliate him.

He's also been sporting quite the GH Gut for some time now.

F4W

Have they even mentioned her since she made the one appearance?

NWA WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH Unofficial Enforcer: Samoa Joe Cage’s Consultant: Scott Steiner World Champion Christian Cage vs. Kurt Angle Joe is meant to be getting the NWA title soon, and he got pulled from ROH so TNA could keep him in their own storylines, and this is the best they can do with him? As for the match itself, it's a Smackdown PPV midcard match and it'll have interference all the way through. Christian Cage is simply not a world champion. He got his chance, which he did deserve, but he failed. Cage is the new Jeff Jarrett, in that he's the heel world champion that just doesn't cut it in the role but they're pushing him in that role regardless of that fact. The build up has been uninspiring, and I don't see anyone having any real emotional investment in this match and truly caring what happens. It's also a match where either guy winning carries more negatives than positives. Christian winning set up Joe beating him for the belt next month, but it devalues Angle even further and it keeps the world title on someone who doesn't cut it in the role. Angle winning does set up Angle vs. Joe for the title, but it's a match that has gone from something special to totally meaningless, and it would also take the steam off of the new heel group right out of the gate. I'll go with Cage retaining the title, as it's the lesser of two evils. PRISON YARD MATCH Sting vs. Abyss w/ James Mitchell Total 'Attitude Era' garbage. Who could possibly care about this? X DIVISION TITLE MATCH Champion Chris Sabin vs. Jerry Lynn The match itself should be good, but the chances are good we'll get some bullshit finish or lame comedy involved. LITTLE ITALY STREET FIGHT NWA World Tag Team Champions The Latin American Exchange vs. Team 3D Why not just have a streetfight? Why the need to create some Italian background for Bubba Ray just to give the match a goofy name? LAX should win, if only because Bubba's pissing and moaning and his unprofessionalism when it comes to working with Homicide should not be rewarded with a win over the company's hottest heel act. MOTOR CITY CHAIN MATCH “The War Machine” Rhino vs. “The Phenomenal” AJ Styles A 'Motor City' chain match in Florida. That makes sense(!). We'll probably have another fuck finish, probably with AJ winning, and it won't matter because they'll keep this feud going with some post-match angle that renders AJ's victory meaningless. BASEBRAWL 2 Team Eckstein vs. Team Pierzynski Who cares? CHRISTY HEMME’S TNA IN-RING DEBUT If Hemme is facing , then I hope that Orlando crowd shit all over this bullshit. This whole storyline is just utter bullshit. JAMES STORM & MISS TENNESSEE vs. PETEY WILLIAMS & GAIL KIM A probable victory for the heels to set up Chris Harris coming back for revenge. Or, because it's a SWERVE~, Harris will return and turn heel. No matches for Joe or Daniels, AJ put in a match where he can't do any of his big moves, a host of silly match names, and storylines and matches that are taken right out of 1998. TNA, thy name is Russo.

I'm not sure how accurate this is, but apparently Christy Hemme's opponent at the PPV will be: Again, not sure how accurate it is, but it would make sense given TNA.

And the main events on Raw are usually given more than five minutes before a million run-ins and you're never told what the finish is. More often than not, a Raw main event is given some time and actually has a finish to it. That alone puts it above Impact.

And you've also got the fact that every match having some sort of angle behind it means the viewers attention gets pulled in so many different directions that nothing gets over because nothing gets a chance to sink in.

It would be more accurate to say they have more tracked viewers than in the history of the company. Neilsen have now begun to tracking college students in dorms, which has helped the ratings for Impact, and Raw as well, because their are now viewers being counted that weren't before, so on the surface it like more people are watching when it's simply more people being counted. Of course, none of this takes away from the fact that these TV ratings haven't translated into increased PPV buys.

I personally could give a shit less about ratings or PPV buyrates. You would care if the money marks were unhappy with them and pulled the plug. Since Russo returned, I haven't missed an Impact. Great. Have you bought every PPV?

Better Lance than the buffon they've got in charge now.

Which fans of Russo will use as proof that he's turning things around, all the while ignoring the fact that TNA PPV's are still at the same level they used to be, and might even be lower.

So he's like plaque?

It was supposed to be about Bret. Which it was. They just very very lucky.