Hunter's Torn Quad

The Hassan title challenge was planned a month or two beforehand, because they thought he'd be super hot by that time. I don't know whether he'd have won, but it's possible given how hard Vince wanted to push the gimmick. Of course, Hassan never did get over to where they wanted, and then they ran that angle with the five masked guys and Hassan attacking the Undertaker on Smackdown right at the time of the suicide bombings in London, and we know what happened after that.

It's possible Reed simply wasn't anywhere to be found when it came time to set up and have the match. For Reed to be there and yet not wrestle does seem like something was up, especially when it appears just about every other person on the roster had a match that night.

Observer. The best bet for long-term health is to take the hit, miss Wrestlemania, and get the needed surgery. Rey won't want to do that, no matter what he's told, but the company might take the initiative and insist that's what he does.

The Butch Reed IC title story has been confirmed by numerous people.

He couldn't report it, because he needed the printing room to write that there's very week rumors that the UFC is being sold, and if it was, there'd be very little talk about WWE buying it.Why even report that? This is why I don't subscribe to the observer.. it seems like alot of fluff. The potential sale of UFC is a far bigger story than why a faceless WWE writer was fired. As for why Meltzer didn't speculate why Lagana was fired, it is possible that either he hasn't had it verified by enough people who are high up the food chain. Or it could be something involving the personal life of a member of staff or the roster. Stuff like that Meltzer won't print unless it breaks elsewhere, and you know he's had to have heard about plenty of stuff that's never made it to print for just that reason.

Russo was sent home the Thursday before Souled Out. The last Nitro before it was all Russo.

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.

*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.

Also, the World X Cup is coming back according to a kayfabed interview with Jim Cornette on the TNA site.

Why did Tomko take out Christian in the first place? He saved him on Thursday and even shook his hand, but three days later he turns on him? The usual TNA PPV, with the wrestlers working hard to put on a good show, and the bookers seemingly trying their best to make the wrestlers job as difficult as possible.

Children's MMA (Seriously) And YAMMA's first big fight, according to Don Frye, will see Frye take on Oleg Taktarov.

Maria Playboy preview picture (SFW)

For what it's worth, the Observer of the time said Simmons was going to or probably going to retain the title against Rude. If the decision had already been made to put the belt back on Vader, which seems likely, that result does make sense.

On the surface, it does look like MNTV is the front runner. NBC probably don't want Smackdown on USA for the aforementioned reason of not wanting to look the wrestling network, and WWE probably don't want Smackdown on Sci-Fi, if only because it would put Smackdown on the same network as ECW, and that might be seen as dragging Smackdown down to the level of ECW.

A couple of notes about the PPV this weekend, prefaced with a UFC note for comparison: Observer F4W And for reference, the AAO main event last year was the same main event as this year, Christian Cage against Kurt Angle, with Samoa Joe as the outside enforcer. The only difference is that this year, Angle is the champion going in instead of Christian.

The point was that a series of different schools headed by teachers who specialize in different styles makes for a better education. Or not. I mean I really don't see the problem with the WWE style. A wrestler learning different styles, so he can be a more well-rounded talent, doesn't make for a better education? Ok.

The point was that a series of different schools headed by teachers who specialize in different styles makes for a better education.

Murder is rational? While the notion of wanting to spare his son suffering might seem rational, the judgment behind it clearly wasn't, because he then killed his son. What's rational about that? It's a problem/weird because he wasn't talkative or 'normal'? I don't think Michael Benoit wants his soon to be seen as innocent and blameless. He just doesn't want his son pilloried as a purely evil man.

Let's play a game to reduce the tension:

People calling for WWE to open up more training places aren't 'pining' for anything. They're realizing that the current WWE developmental system, even with OVW, is wholly inadequate when it comes to training and preparing talent for when they're called up to the main roster. As great as OVW was at what they did, there's only so much you can learn in the one place with the same set of teachers. Much better for developing talent that they're able to go from once school to another and learn different styles from a variety of teachers. If a guy can learn from three or four different schools, and thus pick up three or four different ways of doing things, he'll probably be more well rounded than someone who was only able to learn one way of doing things from one school. Because it's a sure thing that the small group they have now are going to make it in some fashion? Much better for the company to have a large developmental talent pool so that there is a better chance of someone picking things up well enough to be ready to get called up to the main roster. All you need is one or two strong upper midcard or main event talents to make it, and the whole system pays for itself. This has far more chance of happening with a large and well stocked developmental system. That is true. While some people who came from OVW were trained elsewhere, people shouldn't disregard what they picked up in OVW.

With all the talent OVW helped bring along and the myriad of decent-to-solid workers they produced, I'm amazed people still question their contribution or legacy.

Lesnar smashed up Benoit's leg with a chair to set up Benoit passing out. How is that a clean finish? Not only that, Benoit got a visionary tap out on Lesnar and kicked out of the F5. There was plenty of reason to build to a rematch between the two with the story told in the first match.

WWE tried to debunk the study by taking the position that because Benoit didn't act like an 85-year-old with dementia, their findings were suspect. The study never said Benoit was acting like the aforementioned dementia patient, just that his brain had comparable damage. Still, it made for an easy out for apologists. Also, being aware of your actions and having the mental capacity to make a sound judgment of those actions are two totally different things.

The Fingerpoke didn't bury a title, but it did bury WCW, at least in Georgia. It also personified the fact that WCW was Hogan and Nash's personal playground and the decisions made were all about ego rather than business.