Hunter's Torn Quad

Even before going into the WWF, he was heavily into cocaine. In Mid-South, Bill Watts had to start booking him in short, five-minute matches because of it, as JYD was in such bad shape. Once he came to the WWF, it got worse, and he was never considered reliable enough to give any kind of real push to. He even did the virtually clean job to Harley Race at WM III, which he for sure wouldn't have done had he been in any kind of decent shape, both mentally and physically.

The idea of Jeff and Jerry as always been to hold off that big clean job by Jeff, which he hasn't done yet (JJ marks, don't bother bringing up his loss to AJ Styles, as that was not clean and the only one put over was Tito Ortiz), until such time as they regain power, and it can get put off for good.

I'm guessing that idea is going to be presented to the booking crew by Jarrett and co. Of course, when it comes time for Jarrett to do the clean-as-a-sheet job, things will change.

I remember that for Knobbs standing on a table, and pulling apart his asscheeks, saying he was impersonating Eric Bischoff. Eric promptly walked off the Nitro set in anger, and Knobbs almost lost his job.

Fired for selling merchandies without permission? There has to be more to it than that. And yes, he was a terrible referee. His counting always killed the momentum early in the match.

When they're not co-owned by the people who want to push themselves as main event players, even though they don't have the ability for that position, despite what their family think.

The camera crew were just doing a documentary on Bret. They weren't even originally set to be there, but once Bret decided he was leaving the WWF, it was decided to keep them on to document Bret's last days with the company. As for why Vince allowed it, he was still #2 at the time, and when you're in second place, you become more friendly to people who, in your mind, can do something to help you get back to #1.

Not really, because the heat from fans turning on a fad babyface doesn't really translate into the heat that will get people to pay to them get beat up. Once the fad wears off, and people realise what they were cheering for, they're not going to want a reminder of that, which means I don't see them paying to see him get beat up.

I remember a house show back in 2002 that saw Bradshaw rip into Russo and Ed over the mic. Bradshaw has taken more than few shots at Russo, and Ed to a slightly lesser extent, over the years.

You're not the only person to think that. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like those in power realise that, or, for some reason, don't care. Jarrett is death for TNA as long as he is pushed as top guy. He was seen in WWF for years as someone who couldn't get over a lick until the very end, and even then it took a cheap heat gimmick. And then he was seen as a top guy during WCW's dying days, which doesn't exactly make him seem like a major player to the masses. Quite how that stellar resume makes him qualified to be the guy to carry a company that is meant to be a potential competitor to WWE, I don't know, but there are those deluded enough to think that, both in and out of the Jarrett circle. I guess all we can do is laugh at those who worship at the altar of Jarrett, and enjoy the non-ME TNA stuff that will undoubtedly be good to great, even if it isn't enough to carry the company to where it genuinely as the potential to go.

Just posted by Meltzer.

When there really is a deal, TNA will be shouting it long and loud, not using some 'Ozzy style' reverse message.

Either Dixie lied or Jeff and Jerry managed to bullshit their way back into the ME scene. I'm guessing that later. And yes, this isn't the ME scene to build an alternative to WWE around, but that's secondary to pushing Jeff as a star, which is what TNA was only ever meant to be.

Even people who like Jeff (note: not those who hero worship him), and know what they're talking about, again forgoing the hero worshippers, have said Jeff isn't the guy to build a promotion around. TNA are going to have a hard time as it is trying to make it, but those chances won't be helped with one of their top guys being someone who couldn't get heat with a blowtorch in the WWF or WCW.

Should Joe v Styles go on last? Yes, for the exact reasons you gave. Will it go on last? Unlikely, given the ego of Jarrett. Those blinkers must be really welded on tight.

But do you think Edge can retain his heat that long? A lot of his heat is due to the Hardy/Edge/Lita "thing", which is bound to die out sooner or later (say, after he's done his program w/ Matt?). I agree that Cena's heat won't have a long shelf life, but I also don't think Edge's will, either. I think he could retain some heat that long, and what heat he loses could be restored quite easily if they put some thought into it. I think the difference with Cena and Edge's heat is that while Cena's peak is far higher than Edge's, when Cena's heat drops, it's going to drop hard, because it's more of a fad deal than a personality and character that people can identify with. With Edge, while his heat can't match Cena's at its peak, it's more sustainable at that secondary level, and I think it's going to be easier over the long term to be able to get it up to the level where he can be a main event player. With Cena, once his heat drops, and drops hard, it's going to be hard to get it back up to that level where he can be a serious main event player again, and I don't see Edge having that problem.

Considering ROH got almost 1,000 fans for their show, that Hardy was over, that the Hardy v. Daniels match was over, that CM Punk became a heel because of it, and now everyone really wants to see Punk v. Daniels- how can you say they shouldn't have used him? Daniels took tons of punishment from Hardy, kicked out of his Twist of Fate and only lost because of Punk. Daniels came out of the match looking great. Hardy did his usual disses of Edge and Lita, and got a fuck Johnny Ace chant going, but then put over ROH on the mic and proceeded to have a good match. Short term, yes, they got something out of it, but when tickets went on sale for a return date, with no Matt Hardy, they didn't shift a whole lot, so how did that benefit ROH? They got a lot of people to come, which is good, but those extra people came because of Hardy and weren't exactly beating down the doors to come back for a card without Hardy so, again, I have to ask how that benefited ROH? If those fans were jazzed by what they saw and were eager to see more ROH, then it would be good for ROH, but all they got were a lot of extra fans for one event, and that was great for the short term, but not so for the long term. I'd argue that they could have gotten Punk more over as a heel, and he was really over strong already, by having Punk help an ROH wrestler beat Daniels, which in turn could have led to a program between that wrestler and Daniels, which would have benefited ROH. As it is, he helped an outside wrestler, who isn't going to be returning the favor, and isn't going to be someone that Daniels can get revenge on, which he could if it had been an ROH wrestler. If it had been a pinfall loss via the cheating of Punk, then it wouldn't have been that bad, but Daniels tapped out. Even passing out would have been better than having an outsider, who Daniels won't get his heat back from, making Daniels tap. Ultimately, it was a WWE angle getting put over with a WWE wrestler being put over on an ROH event at the expense of an ROH wrestler and an ROH angle. Explain to me how, in any way, it benefits ROH to more or less advertise that they Vince's latest small time affilliate, when that is the absolute last thing their audience wants?

TNA is back to being the Jeff Jarrett Show. Again.

Jarrett's got to find people who have heat that he can leach off somehow.

Not everybody is ultimately right. Shawn was in Vince's ear, but his statement that he was refusing to do jobs for anyone came after ONO, in early and late October, and that's stated in the Montreal issue, which you apparently have in your hands. You may read the timeline of events as Vince's decision on Bulldog jobbing having something to do with Bret, but that is simply not the case. As I have stated repeatedly, and as Meltzer himself says in numerous Observers, Shawn was meant to put Bulldog over at ONO to show the locker room that he was a professional, but Shawn refused to do so at the last minute, hence the change in plans. For someone who claims to have the Montreal issue in his hands, you don't seem to be reading it that hard, because most of this is stated in that very issue, with the rest of it detailed in later issues.

Hunter was already wrestling Dude Love. The main event was promoted as DBS v Shawn, and to make a last minute change would have pisssed the crowd off, because they wanted to see DBS beat up Shawn. Yes, Vince has the final say, and he should have shown some backbone and forced Shawn to do the job, because Shawn had no actual contractual right to refuse to do the job. Nevertheless, it remains that Shawn was meant to do the job, and had apparently agreed to do so until flat out refusing at the last minute. It was no 'insurance policy', either.

According to the Observer piece on Survivor Series '97, Vince approached Davey on the day of the show and asked him to job with the idea that they'd build to a rematch at a bigger show in Manchester several months down the road. According to McMahon, Bulldog was the only Hart Foundation member that Shawn would work with. However, this was never the actual plan. The WWF intentionally breached Hart's contract two days later. The Bulldog job was just taking out insurance in case of an impending defection. Michaels is still a dick, though. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Bulldog was meant to win the UK match. The idea behind the booking was to show to the locker room that Shawn was really a professional, and would do business. Shawn just changed his mind at the last minute, after Davey had done a ton of press to dedicate the match to his dying sister. Davey Boy doing the job had nothing to do with Bret leaving; it happened purely because Shawn pulled a power play he was allowed to get away with. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Actually I am holding the Wrestling Observer article in my hand as I write this and it clearly states that it was McMahon's idea for Bulldog to job and it was all done in the context of the Bret Hart contract issue. Meltzer wrote the definitive piece on the whole SS '97 fiasco and so I tend to side with him on this issue. That's not to say that Michaels wasn't an asshole who refused to job all time, because he was. It is just sort of a wrong time, wrong place in this instance. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> You might want to check out Observers written at a later date. DBS was meant to win the match, to show to the locker room that Shawn was a professional. Shawn pulled a power play at the last minute, refused to do the job, and hence we got what went down.

According to the Observer piece on Survivor Series '97, Vince approached Davey on the day of the show and asked him to job with the idea that they'd build to a rematch at a bigger show in Manchester several months down the road. According to McMahon, Bulldog was the only Hart Foundation member that Shawn would work with. However, this was never the actual plan. The WWF intentionally breached Hart's contract two days later. The Bulldog job was just taking out insurance in case of an impending defection. Michaels is still a dick, though. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Bulldog was meant to win the UK match. The idea behind the booking was to show to the locker room that Shawn was really a professional, and would do business. Shawn just changed his mind at the last minute, after Davey had done a ton of press to dedicate the match to his dying sister. Davey Boy doing the job had nothing to do with Bret leaving; it happened purely because Shawn pulled a power play he was allowed to get away with.

The potential and realised damage this could do to wrestling is the last thing on the minds of people like these. All they care about is how they felt about the angle, and the fact that other people could find it offensive is almost a joke to them, and that such a creatively bankrupt and morally repulsive angle could affect wrestling in a negative way is the last thing on their minds, if it's even on their minds at all. I strongly suspect Hassan is going over Undertaker, maybe even thanks to Randy Orton to set up the Orton v Undertaker match. As for Hassan getting the WWE Title, I would not be surprised if Vince did go in that direction, even if it would be a disaster for business. WWE knew exactly what they were doing with the imagery in the angle, and, like UPN, were trying to play both sides of the fence by having the angle taken off of overseas editions of Smackdown yet keeping in the US and Canadian versions. Not only that, they even had the angle on their website, which those in England and elsewhere can still see, so they were trying to have their cake and eat it. The fact they took the video down, and offered a bunch of laughable excuses for the angle shows they know what they did was insensitive and tasteless, but they didn't care enough to pull the plug before trying to get some mileage out of it. They did some mileage out of it, just not the kind that benefits the business, and the sad thing is they, and others it would seem, don't care about the negative light this puts wrestling in. They just care that they got any press at all, and they don't care that it isn't the kind of press wrestling needs.

It looks like Mantaur 2005.