Hunter's Torn Quad

That's a good qualification if you were arguing for Morton to be included as a singles guy, but it doesn't do anything for the RnR's as a team. As for the Midnight's inclusion, I think their main event program with Bill Watts and Stagger Lee in Mid-South makes a good qualification; it drew $1.2m for 14 dates, set gate records in every city but one, which was New Orleans at the Superdome, and even then they only missed out on the record by $6,000 with a crowd over 20,000. Good argument for the Midnights. The problem I think is that the big star in that pairing is Bill Watts, and Stagger Lee (Junkyard Dog) is on the list as it is. The Junkyard Dog and Bill Watts had many other main event feuds in Mid South. The Midnights did not. But how many of those feuds set the kinds of records that the feud with Express did? Don't forget that adding the MX, and the RnR's to Mid-South, helped the territory to it's best year in business. You can't discount the MX's contribution to that success, or to the the success of the feud with Watts.

That's a good qualification if you were arguing for Morton to be included as a singles guy, but it doesn't do anything for the RnR's as a team. As for the Midnight's inclusion, I think their main event program with Bill Watts and Stagger Lee in Mid-South makes a good qualification; it drew $1.2m for 14 dates, set gate records in every city but one, which was New Orleans at the Superdome, and even then they only missed out on the record by $6,000 with a crowd over 20,000.

How much do you think his personal problems have affected his career? They affected his career greatly. Hall had a ton of unrealized potential because he just couldn't beat his demons. He could have done so much more in his career than he did, but his problems always dragged him down. Do you think Hall was ever main event material? Not for anything more than a short-term run, at least as a singles. Hall had great charisma, but main event charisma? Maybe. But his in-ring talent, mic work, and everything else just wasn't at that level. I think the best level for Hall is about where he reached in real life, where he was a strong upper midcard guy who could be put in the main event if needed, and be seen as a threat, but who's primary role is to elevate the next top main eventer. What effect has his membership in The Kliq had on his career and his legacy? I think it clouds his talents and achievements to some degree, but Hall didn't need help to affect his career. What were some of Hall's best matches? I think his best match was the Action Zone tag match teaming with Kid against Shawn and Diesel. His ladder matches with Shawn were, to me, overrated to a degree, even though they were still really good. I think his best matches were against Kliq members, and considering they were just about his only good matches, to me it says more about his motivation than his actual talent ability. Some of the most memorable angles he was involved in? Other than the nWo, nothing stands out. What was his better run; in WCW with the nWo or in WWF as Razor Ramon? As Scott Hall in WCW. It was more high profile, more memorable, and the storyline he's most remembered for. Providing that he's sober, do you think Hall could still serve a purpose for WWE or TNA, be it in a wrestling or non-wrestling capacity? A warning poster for what happens when you let your demons ruin your life. Scott Hall should never be in wrestling again. Ever. Even if Hall wants to beat his demons, he simply cannot beat them when he's in the wrestling business. For the good of his personal life and peace of mind, Scott Hall should never be involved in the wrestling business again. Do you think Hall has had a lasting impact on the business? Maybe as a warning to people that even with a ton of potential and ability, if you can't beat your demons, you're never going to reach the heights you could.

What I remember from the Raw with Maven as GM was the main event when Maven faced HHH, with Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit were at ringside. What makes it memorable is that top heel Hunter was booked like he was the top babyface, and Maven, Jericho and Benoit, all faces, were booked like heels. You had the heel valiantly fighting off the interference of the cheating babyfaces, and also kicking out of their signature moves, with Maven looking like a chump because he couldn't win even with two top names helping him out. Maven was a good talker, though, and had real potential.

Two 'tag partners who hate each other' angles for the price of one.

It's a Raw ending you'll either really love or really hate.

It's the money match because they're the two top stars of Raw. The first match was two years ago, so it's not like they went back to it right away. While a rematch usually means the loser of the first match getting his win back, that has very little bearing on whether it's going to be successful.

Impact for May 1st - The Motor City Machine Guns vs. Shark Boy & Curry Man ended in a no-contest when Scott Steiner & Petey Williams came out and attacked all four men. Steiner then cut a promo on Kurt Angle. Angle came out and they started to brawl, with Steiner putting Angle in the Steiner Recliner until Samoa Joe made the save. - Backstage, Jeremy Borash interviews AJ Styles, who says he needs to find a partner for tonight since Tomko got hurt "in an MMA fight in Japan". - Mike Tenay conducts an in-ring interview with Velvet Sky & Angelina Love, who talk about their match at Sacrifice. They make fun of Gail Kim & ODB, who come out and brawl with them. - LAX defeats Eric Young & Kaz. After the match, Homicide gets on the mic and calls Hector Guerrero to the ring. He talks about their past, but also how LAX admires the Guerrero family. They make a pact for all Latinos to be united. LAX left, then came back out to add a part where they officially ask Hector to be in their corner at Sacrifice, and Hector accepts. - ODB & Gail Kim defeated Angelina Love & Velvet Sky. After the match, Angelina tries to attack Gail but Roxxi and ODB make the save. - AJ Styles & Super Eric defeated The Rock & Rave Infection. - Samoa Joe & Kurt Angle defeated Scott Steiner & Petey Williams. Afterwards, Angle attacked Joe, then Steiner attacked Angle. Steiner then attacked Joe and posed with the TNA belt. - Jim Cornette comes to the ring and brings out the singles wrestlers for the Deuces Wild tournament: Matt Morgan, Kip James, BG James, James Storm, Booker T, Robert Roode and Sting.

The only problem I have with Hunter getting the belt back, is that if his reign is of any length, there's nothing new or compelling do with him. The only new feuds he can do are with JBL, and that doesn't exactly have a lot of promise, and Regal, and while the matches with Regal should be really good, it doesn't have a lot of life to it, and at best it's good for one 'B' PPV main event. Anything else he can do, he's already done.

The Tomko one doesn't make sense on the surface, unless TNA really are big on control. As for the hair shaving, I wonder if they would have gone through with the shaving if they weren't upset with the behavior of the women.

After eight years and four months, Keiji Muto is again the IWGP Heavyweight Champion! 6,000 fans watched the spectacle of Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Keiji Muto today, the young ace of the industry vs. the living legend, for Japanese pro wrestling's top prize. Nakamura aimed for an arm, while Muto aimed for a leg, not too surprising given their trademark moves, and it was a grueling technical battle over 20 minutes. Even Muto's Shining Wizard and Nakamura's Landslide couldn't finish this match, and it was old school Muto that made the difference, a Schmidt-style backbreaker and moonsault press, the professional wrestling master defeating the man who it was said had no enemies left after defeating Tanahashi twice and submitting the mighty Kurt Angle. Osaka rose with "Muto" chants after the match, the legend's popularity as always overwhelming, the crowd treating him as one of their own, rather than an outside as has always been the case in his returns. Nakamura's RISE second-in-command, Hirooki Goto, who fell to the Great Muta at the Tokyo Dome on January 4th, challenged Muto to a match after his celebration. After their no contest with Nakamura & Bernard in March not counting as a defense, GBH's Togi Makabe & Toru Yano made their second V1 defense of the IWGP Tag Team Title against the on-fire "Friendship" tag of Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Takashi Iizuka. But the unexpected happened as suddenly Iizuka betrayed his tag partner, choking a bloody Tenzan out with a sleeper hold. Makabe dropped the King Kong knee on GBH's former leader for the win, while Iizuka mysteriously exited, it would seem a GBH member now - although he did not confirm that tonight. Wataru Inoue made a successful V3 defense of the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title, ending his three match series with TNA superstar, Christopher Daniels. Wataru's V1 defense of the title was against Daniels at the Tokyo Dome in January, before Daniels won a non-title rematch at Sumo Hall in February, setting up this third and decisive battle, again for the title. Well, in their closest and longest match yet, Wataru pulled through, pinning the Fallen Angel after his Oracion Flame. ZERO1-MAX's ace combination of Masato Tanaka & Shinjiro Otani earned quick revenge for their promotion's 3-1 series loss on the Hakata double header, beating Koji Kanemoto & Ryusuke Taguchi today, Tanaka pinning Taguchi. Nagata's music hit after the match and he intruded, getting into a showdown with Tanaka. NJPW, 4/27/08 (WPW/PPV) Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium 6,000 Fans - No Vacancy 1. Jado, Gedo & Karl Anderson beat Yujiro, Mitsuhide Hirasawa & Kazuchika Okada (5:30) when Anderson used the Gun Stun on Okada. 2. Milano Collection AT & Minoru beat Shiro Koshinaka & AKIRA (6:14) when Milano used the Victoria Milanese on AKIRA. 3. Hirooki Goto & Giant Bernard beat Tomohiro Ishii & Tomoaki Honma (8:33) when Bernard used the Bernard Driver on Honma. 4. New Japan vs. ZERO1-MAX: Masato Tanaka ZERO1-MAX & Shinjiro Otani ZERO1-MAX beat Koji Kanemoto & Ryusuke Taguchi (12:56) when Tanaka used the Sliding D on Taguchi. 5. Riki Choshu, Masahiro Chono & Jushin Thunder Liger beat Manabu Nakanishi, Tiger Mask & Tetsuya Naito (8:52) when Chono used a Shining Yakuza kick on Naito. 6. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title: Wataru Inoue © beat Christopher Daniels TNA Wrestling (19:28) with the Oracion Flame (3rd defense). 7. IWGP Tag Team Title: Togi Makabe & Toru Yano © beat Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Takashi Iizuka (15:14) when Makabe used a top rope King Kong kneedrop on Tenzan (1st defense). 8. IWGP Heavyweight Title: Keiji Muto All Japan beat Shinsuke Nakamura © (22:34) with a moonsault press to become the 49th champion. All from SSS. Quite the surprise on the surface.

One presumes Hunter is/was planned to win tonight, but who knows if that will happen now. The best thing about the WWE Title match is that you can make a good case for three of the four participants winning, so you can't really be sure who might win.

A lot of WCW's audience were fans who lost interest when the likes of Hogan, Savage and Piper stopped being relevant, and tuned into Nitro when it become a vehicle for Hogan and friends and they were able to see the stars they grew up with be main event players again. They just quit watching. It wasn't that they went to another sport as much as the only wrestling on offer was of a style they hated and had no interest in watching. Nothing will bring them back. They're gone for good. You can't bring them back by putting the stars of that era back on top because they're either too old, too injured or too dead. You can bring that style of fan, the one who wants a wrestling orientated product with serious storylines and little comedic bullshit, but that means putting on a product that you're not seeing at the national level. TNA could, but they're content to be WWE-lite, and while they might show flashes of having a clue, they always revert to the same bullshit that's been passe for almost a decade. Fans left in stages with each bungle driving off it's own segment of fans. A large chunk of fans turned off when WCW died and the style of wrestling they wanted died with it. The Attitude Era fans largely tuned out when the anti-hero that got them interested did the one thing guaranteed to turn them off. Those are probably the two incidents that saw off the biggest number of fans.

My take is that Savage uses the piledriver because it worked before in putting Flair out of action, and because he wants to put Flair out of action again, why not go with what he knows will do the job? They can even have Solie get all technical to explain how the piledriver impacts the neck more than any other move so there's a storyline logic to doing what, as you said, is basically a repeat of the Funk angle.

They were hoping to break the 1.2 million mark set last year, and I believe were considering 1.4 million a possibility.

Not sure about the storyline reason, but the real reason was because the Southern Boys gimmick was deemed 'too Southern' and they wanted something less regional.

Bryan Alvarez says the rumored number for Wrestlemania buys is in the 950,000 range worldwide, which would be around 665,000 buys domestically.

Appears that last week's bad rating was no coincidence. If you can't get a good rating on a night when you run a tournament, well... The ratings aren't quite as bad as they looked; they don't take into account the people who record Raw on DVR and watch it within a week. If you add those people to the numbers, the add around .3 to the final rating. Last week's rating of a 3.2 was really closer to 3.5 when you add in the people who didn't watch Raw live.

How much of the tournament should be shown on the PPV? Quarterfinals on? Semi-finals on? If the focus of the PPV is strictly on the tournament and maybe a WWE/World title match, then the quarterfinals on make it to PPV. If there are more than a few undercard matches then adding seven singles bouts means you'll be trying to squeeze too many matches into too little space, and things get rushed. Since the last KOTR PPV in 2002, do you think the WWE has been better at building young superstars? Worse? Taken at face value, then this one is a no-brainer, because WWE have been terrible at building young superstars. The ones with the talent don't get chosen because they don't have the required look, or the ones that have the required look don't have the talent. Least favorite? The entire 1995 PPV was putrefyingly bad and one of the all-time worst PPV's ever. 1999 was right down there as well.

Five Star Kalib Starnes mockery

Shawn isn't in that line up, so he's probably in the KotR. Same with Batista.

Starnes wanted to screw over the UFC on his way out? At least that's the story his camp are putting out. As for UFC 83, it was a fine show. Not the greatest, but very enjoyable, and with a fantastic atmosphere. Quarry vs. Starnes was terrible, but the last fifteen seconds was tremendous. Quarry should get a bonus for his mockery of Starnes. I was a little worried when GSP and Serra were standing, but it was all GSP on the ground and he dominated Serra to regain his title and all was right with the world. With Dana trying to work out Hughes vs Serra, it might potentially set up GSP vs. Serra III for the UFC's NY debut. And I just found this, which is great: http://mmamania.com/2008/04/21/mma-referee...n-of-the-night/

I quite liked the build to Cena vs. Michaels last year. For a one-hour show, the build to Damaja vs. Doug Basham in the Loser Leaves OVW match can't be beat.

Hogan getting his win back. Other than that, they didn't really give a whole lot of thought into what to do with Warrior. Once Hogan beat Warrior, they didn't know what to do with him, and let him stay home for the remainder of his contract. Amazingly, Warrior got a raise and contract extension before the Hogan match, and walked away with a few million dollars. Not bad for two months work.

The NWA World Heavyweight title: This one begins in November of 1989 right after Ric Flair beats Terry Funk in the I Quit match to end their feud. During the November tv, Flair talks up his victory over Funk, and says that he needs to move on to new challengers for his title, and that there are many contenders that deserve a shot at his title, but he doesn't know who should get the break of a lifetime. At this point, Flair should still be a babyface, but retain that cocky sense of self-confidence. Flair should be Flair, and the fans can cheer or boo him as they see fit. At the end of the month, the interviewer, Gordon Solie, can tell Flair that there is someone out there calling the NWA and demanding to confront Flair over the World Title. Flair asks who it is, but Solie tells him that the person is disguising their voice, so they don't know who it is. As December rolls on, Flair gets more irate at this person, who is still unnamed, and calls him out. In the meantime, Flair defends the NWA title against the Great Muta at Starrcade which is set up thusly: After Muta attacks Flair at the end of Clash IX, Flair rips into Muta in a promo, and tells Muta that if he thinks he can attack Flair from behind and get away with it, then he is mistaken. Flair tells Muta to step up to the plate and see if he can do that kind of damage by attacking Flair face on, and Flair says he'll sweeten the deal, and put the NWA World Title on the line. The next week, Muta, via Gary Hart, accepts the challenge, and the match is set for the main event of Starrcade. During the hype, much is made of Muta being unbeaten in the NWA, and that Muta already has the TV Title and will look forward to adding the World Title to his collection. Various angles will take place to hype the match up, with the final tv before Starrcade seeing Muta 'mist' Flair with the black mist, and the announcers will go crazy putting it over, citing the black mist as the most dangerous mist, and that Flair is now the firm underdog going into Starrcade. Flair comes out for the match with his eyes red and bloodshot, selling the misting from Muta. The match is mostly Muta in control with brawling and his usual spots, with Flair fighting back with chops and punches, and Muta going for the eyes to regain control. It goes about 17-minutes and is really heated, with the fans getting into Flair's comebacks. The finish sees Flair go for the figure-four on Muta, Gary Hart try to interfere only to get decked by Flair, and when Muta goes for Flair, Flair hits a lowblow with his heel that the crowd pop for and he slips on the figure-four on Muta who fights for all he can, but finally submits as Gary Hart tries to pull himself up to help Muta. Back to the mystery wrestler calling up the NWA and wanting to confront Flair, and the week before Clash of the Champions X in January, Solie tells Flair that the mystery person will confront Flair live in the middle of the ring. Clash X rolls around and Flair storms to the ring looking angry and irate; Flair goes off on the person who has been calling the NWA, and tells whoever it is to get his ass to the ring, and settle things like a real man. Cue Pomp and Circumstance-like music, and the crowd go insane as Randy Savage walks out. Flair is shocked, and looks like he is about throw a fit. Savage gets in the ring, grabs the mic from Flair, and tells Flair that if anyone knows about being a man, it's him (Savage). Savage then talks about how he has been around wrestling all of his life, and that he's done with performing in a three-ring circus and he's come to where the real wrestlers fight it out, and that he is challenging Ric Flair to a match for the World Title at WrestleWar the following month. Before Flair can answer him, Sid Vicious hits the ring and goes after Flair, and Savage just looks on for a minute, before pulling Sid off of Flair and throwing him to the floor. Before Sid can return to the ring, Roddy Piper comes out and pulls Sid to the back, telling him to wait his time for now. Savage looks at Flair before making belt motions around his waist, and hopping over the top rope to the floor, and walking off, locking eyes with Sid briefly as he does so, before he and Flair engage in a staredown, with the announcers wondering if Flair will accept the challenge of Randy Savage, and if Sid will go after Savage as well now, due to Savage preventing his attack on Flair. (The Sid-Piper team will be explained later on) The Flair-Savage series begins at WrestleWar. Flair wins at Wrestle War in a hard fought match, but to keep the program going Savage attacks Flair afterwards and piledrives Flair on a steel chair to lay Flair out. In 1990, something like this is still a major angle, so it gets a ton of heat and Savage still looks strong because Flair gets stretchered out and Savage gets to brag about putting the NWA champion in the hospital. This happens in February and with the next PPV, Capitol Combat, in May, we’ve got three months of promos and angles to build to the rematch with Flair vowing revenge against one of the few men to ever put Flair out of action. To really spice things up, the rematch will be in a cage, a gimmick which hasn’t quite been prostituted into oblivion and still means something. Flair versus Savage at Capitol Combat in a cage needs to be violent, so it’s going to be a complete brawl with both guys bleeding tons. We’ll have the big Thunderdome cage so that both guys can brawl around the ring and we can get camera shots of the blood spattered all over the ring mats. Flair goes over here, but I want a finish that keeps Savage strong. I want it memorable, so we’re going to have Savage miss an elbow off of the top of the cage and Flair cradling Savage for the win. For the time, Savage’s move will be a huge spot and it’ll get over big because it’s going to be replayed and talked about constantly on TV the next week. Flair goes over clean, but Savage loses nothing because he literally put it all on the line for the NWA title, a fact Flair will play up in post-CC promos so as to put over the spot, Savage, and, of course, the NWA title (because Savage was willing to risk his health to win it) With WrestleWar out of the way, and successful defense against Muta at Clash XI, it’s time to focus on the Great American Bash in July, which will be headlined by Flair defending the NWA title against Ted DiBiase. Ted DiBiase gains the number one contendership by way of a feud with Terry Funk which will be explained later. It’s a wild feud, with some memorable matches and angles, so people are primed for Flair versus DiBiase at the Bash. Flair versus DiBiase at the Bash is an old-school masterpiece, going over twenty minutes, with lots of great action. DiBiase wins when Flair has the match won and goes for a figure-four, but DiBiase kicks him off and the ref gets knocked down, but not out. Flair goes to pick the referee up, but DiBiase reaches into his trunks for knuckles and KO's Flair when he turns around. The knuckles go back into his trunks, the referee gets up, sees the cover, counts the pin, and DiBiase is the new NWA World Heavyweight Champion The next major even is Clash XII, which is in September and it’s going to be headlined by Ted DiBiase defending the NWA title against Ricky Steamboat, who won’t be forced out the year before and ends up in a feud with Bret Hart (to be detailed later) which culminates at the Bash. Clash XII in September sees DiBiase defend against Steamboat and they go to a 30:00 draw. DiBiase is going to try and play it straight, but he’s going to get more heelish as the match goes on and Steamboat gets closer to victory. The final five minutes see lots of two counts, with DiBiase desperately trying to fend off Steamboat until the time limit expires, which it eventually does. A rematch must be had, and it’ll take place as the main event of Halloween Havoc with a one-hour time limit. Steamboat’s going to play on DiBiase’s pride in the build to this and claim that DiBiase knows he can’t beat him clean. The idea being that Steamboat knows he can outwrestle DiBiase, so he’s going to goad DiBiase into playing into his hands and keep things straight. The rematch goes around 40:00 and the shocker is that DiBiase actually does play fair because his ego demands he prove Steamboat wrong and that he can win without cheating, which he does, by rolling through a crossbody from Steamboat and hooking the leg for the win. Clash XIII is in November and DiBiase headlines this in a tag match as he teams with US Champion Stan Hansen to take on Sting and TV Champion Terry Funk. You’ll see later why Sting and Hansen are in these spots, as well as how Hansen and Funk got their respective belts. It’s a transition show, so we’re going to have a non-finish as DiBiase and Funk brawl away at one end of the arena while Sting and Hansen brawl away at the other end and both teams get counted out. This brings us to Starrcade where the main event is DiBiase defending the NWA title against Terry Funk in a cage match. Funk parlays his TV title reign into a title shot as a means to try and gain revenge on DiBiase over winning their feud earlier in the year. While that aspect gets played up, the big lure on the Starrcade main event is Terry Funk gunning after ‘one last’ NWA title run. We’ll run video pieces on the Funk history in wrestling as well highlights of Terry winning the NWA Title from Jack Briscoe. The match itself, in a regular cage, is another war, with lots of bleeding and brawling. The finish sees a turnbuckle get exposed and, in an act of desperation, DiBiase hotshots Funk head first into the metal, knocking him out and getting the win. Summary: Flair, and the title, get over with two great matches with Savage and two clean finishes. The screwjob loss of Flair to DiBiase protects Flair but gets over DiBiase as a cheating heel. It also doesn’t, or shouldn’t, get a groan because it’s the only screwjob in an NWA title match all year and they can get something over huge if done sparingly, which they will be. DiBiase also shows he’s a great wrestler who doesn’t need to cheat, which means the heat he gets is even bigger because of that fact, because he holds his own and even cleanly defeats Ricky Steamboat, who spent most of 1989 establishing with the fanbase that he’s one of the premier wrestlers in the world. DiBiase gets over as a heel with the Funk feud in the early part of the year, and it culminates in the Starrcade win because he crushes the dream of Funk for that one, last NWA title reign. Where it goes from here into 1991 is a little up in the air, but my ideal plan would be for DiBiase to hold the belt until the Bash where he’d drop the title to Sting. Sting would have ready made challengers in the form of DiBiase, Curt Hennig (explained later), Luger, and maybe some Clash defenses against Arn, Tully, either of the Steiners and others. That’s the NWA World title done with. Next time, I’ll cover the US Title.