Hunter's Torn Quad

Triple H pinning Goldberg after one move in the EC at Summerslam 2003. The finish to Triple H vs. Booker T at Wrestlemania 18. Pretty much everything in WCW that revolved around Nash and Hogan, because they treated the promotion as their own personal playground from the moment they arrived.

While that's probably an accurate assessment, Russo would definitely not have booked an angle along the lines Storm laid out. In Russo's scenario he would probably have had Kong beat Angle clean then hire a lawyer and have the lawyer be all "No man can touch this woman, that is the law!" or something. And it's the way Russo would have approached the idea that people would have 'shit all over', rather than the basics of the idea itself. If Storm or anyone else had given a Russo-esque idea about presenting Kong vs. Angle, it would have got ripped, and rightfully so. But that seems to much like a common sense approach to things for some people.

I don't see Hardy getting the title, even short-term, because it's going to wind up around Hunter's waist and he's big on protecting titles that he's set to win. If Hardy isn't going to get the title, then fine. But now is not the time to beat him, and they can afford not to and have a non-finish in the Hardy-Orton match because the Rumble is probably going to end the show.

Because SMW and OVW under Cornette's watch were just dullness personified and had no 'entertainment factors' about them...

I'd be fine with D'Amore getting the book, as long as he stays away from the X-Division, as he's not a big fan of it. It's also worth remembering that D'Amore's stint as booker was during the time TNA had no national TV, and were forced to keep things very basic and simple as they didn't want to run any major angles. Whether D'Amore could be as disciplined and focused when booking a full, two-hour show, remains to be seen. Cornette knows how to book logically, make the most with the least, and hide weaknesses and accentuate strengths. By any reasonable booking standards, that makes him great.

Drawing a laugh is something I won't deny Hornswoggle does, and you're right that, as a short segment, it's not too bad. The issue I have is when people take that reaction as an indication that Hornswoggle means more than he actually does. The Worm got a huge pop, but it, like the Hornswoggle reaction, ultimately meant nothing when the segment was finished.

It doesn't have to be 'realistic' as such, but it helps to be able to suspend your disbelief over what's going on, and it's impossible to do that with Loony Tunes-style 'comedy' such as spray painting a hole onto a wall and running through it. Something so beyond belief doesn't even fit into something as inherently wacky as professional wrestling. It entertains a vocal minority, sometimes a majority, but so does a lot of stupid stuff that wouldn't belong, for a variety of reasons, on a wrestling show. He's so 'over' that his segments perform the most poorly of any pushed member of the roster, losing viewers just about every time, and WWE had to pre-tape his training skit for the Great Khali match because they knew people would crap all over it. It's good to see the myth of the pop lives on.

It's long since come out that Russo was secretly helping write TNA during their formative months. It was one of the reasons Waltman and, as a consequence, Scott Hall left before the end of 2002.

You're pretty much right, but I would say Meltzer is USUALLY right. I'd say Meltzer has about a 80-85% success rate overall. Which is pretty good considering that Vince changes his mind so often for the slightest reason that you'd be hard pressed to be any more accurate when the plans Meltzer hears about get changed so frequently by the time he goes to press.

That would be generally accurate. It would also be a more sensible opinion than to just dismiss everything Meltzer says out of hand.

Add in the Puroresu DVD Sampler disc for a quarter: If you've never seen Japanese wrestling, or if you simply haven't seen any of the above matches, there's no reason not to get either of these discs.

The crazy stuff still has to make sense for it be a good thing. Your idea is lacking in that department.

Working out his notice. Probably a wise idea, so as to leave on the best possible terms.

I believe the current plan is HHH vs. Regal at the Rumble, with Hunter winning EC next month to get his WM title match. That being the case, I pick Kennedy to win the Rumble, but get screwed out of his title match somehow.

Nobody wants to believe something that might end up not being true and then feeling like a fool. Much better for the ego to dismiss everything as a lie out of hand. Plus, you get to feel superior for not believing in a dirty 'internet reporter' while a lot of other people do. Nash got the book right before WW3.

- Xplosion Match: Judas Mesias defeated Elix Skipper. - ODB defeated Angelina Love. After the match, she challenged Awesome Kong to a match at Against All Odds. - The Motor City Machineguns & Jay Lethal came to the ring and accepted the challenge from Team 3D for a Hardcore Street Fight at Against All Odds. Team 3D interrupted and they all ended up brawling. - Tomko defeated Eric Young. After the match, James Storm attacked Eric and tried to drink a beer with Tomko, but Tomko hit him. - Kaz defeated Senshi. After the match, Black Reign attacked Kaz. - VKM comes out and Kip wants to know who BG's partner is. BG reveals it to be his father, Bullet Bob Armstrong. They all embrace and leave together. - Abyss defeated Lance Hoyt. Jim Mitchell reveals Abyss' secret and it's that Mitchell is Abyss' father. - Robert Roode defeated Sonjay Dutt. - In a three way elimination match, Christian defeated AJ Styles and Samoa Joe. Joe was eliminated first after getting disqualified for getting caught with a chair that AJ used. Joe was mad and was arguing with Matt Morgan, but Kevin Nash came out and got Joe to calm down and leave. Christian then pinned AJ to win the match.

What exactly do I need to be able to make use of the various FPR game saves out there?

Xplosion: *ODB & Jackie Moore defeated Angelina Love & Velvet Sky. Impact: *The Motor City Machineguns defeated Senshi & Elix Skipper. *Judas Mesias defeated Chris Harris. *Petey Williams & Sonjay Dutt defeated VKM. Scott Steiner came out during the match and switched briefcases with Petey. Petey abandoned Dutt because of it, but Dutt scored the pin after VKM had a disagreement. *An announced match between Robert Roode and Ms. Brooks did not take place as Jim Cornette wouldn't allow it. Cornette threatened to suspend Roode, but then said he wouldn't because he wanted to give Booker T a chance to get revenge. Brooks was attacked by Roode's "number one fan." *LAX defeated Jimmy Rave and Lance Hoyt. *The Angles have an in-ring coronation naming AJ Styles their "Prince." Christian Cage interrupts and it goes back and forth on the mic until Samoa Joe hits the ring. *Awesome Kong defeated Gail Kim to win the TNA Knockouts title in what was described as a "good match."

I guess that kind of makes sense...all three of those faces had run-ins with the York Foundation. Cage matches on WCW TV used to be somewhat common in the late '80s/early '90s. The set up for the match was the York Foundation beating Rhodes, Z-Man and Josh for the Six-Man titles when Josh let his friendship for Rich get in the way of beating the Foundation and the Foundation used that to steal the titles. The match itself was pretty good stuff, complete with post-match beatdown and Big Josh getting juice.

1. THIS IS WAR! NONSTOP RISING! Christian Cage, AJ Styles & Petey Williams vs. Milano Collection AT, Minoru & Prince Devitt http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=74QsCckRZTc http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=Yb4zH5hUGyU 2. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title Match: Wataru Inoue © vs. Christopher Daniels http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=RjTEcJCVql8 http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=Gaots3aEoaM 3. Japanese Muscle Monster vs. The American Monster: Manabu Nakanishi vs. Abyss http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=i8fP_oZHR9Q 4. NEW JAPAN vs. The Alliance GROUND ZERO: Takashi Iizuka, Koji Kanemoto, Tiger Mask & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Masato Tanaka, Tatsuhito Takaiwa, Yutaka Yoshie & Katsushi Takemura http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=4fGoji9aLWY http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=81GbRYvqZWA 5. GET THE TABLE! GET THE HIGHEST! - Hardcore Match: Togi Makabe & Toru Yano vs. Brother Ray & Brother Devon http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=HVeU3J6RfHg http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=hufAWSRM2FA 6. ONE NIGHT STAND : LEGEND vs. VBH (GBH + Voodoo Murders): Riki Choshu, Masahiro Chono, Super Strong Machine, Jushin Thunder Liger & AKIRA vs. Jado, Gedo, TARU, Shuji Kondo & "brother" YASSHI http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=gtjw_NhEuxc 7. Generation of Chaos: Great Muta vs. Hirooki Goto http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=ijfND2a3EC8 http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=y30e2F6u0to http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=9k2qZviYpts 8. IWGP Tag Team Title Match: Giant Bernard & Travis Tomko © vs. Rick Steiner & Scott Steiner http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=KWWoHmTy6os http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=TCDpiSDgpbU http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=L97c8TW3kb4 9. Final Resolution: REAL vs. Justice: IWGP 3rd Belt: Kurt Angle © vs Yuji Nagata http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=rUeM0IGyWF4 http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=L97Nde1fltE http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=rvHTihe1gys 10. IWGP Heavyweight Title Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi © vs. Shinsuke Nakamura http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=Ra-HTKS4-og http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3-sXdKuTYs http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=7sB8sbHYAsE http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=1bgeYSosKXk http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=0DovB_x03to

That might make people wary of going to the ground with Manvil.

From the latest Observer, a few rough estimates on TNA buy rates this year. The reason they're estimates is that the numbers are so small that they're not tracked closely: 36,000 for Destination X (Joe vs. Sting) and Bound For Glory (Sting vs. Angle) 35,000 for Turning Point (Joe vs. Angle) and Lockdown (Team Angle vs. Team Cage) 34,000 for Final Resolution (Joe vs. Angle) 27,000 for Genesis (Sting and Booker T vs. Angle and Nash) 26,000 for Hard Justice (Joe vs. Angle) 23,000 for Against All Odds (Angle vs. Cage) 22,000 for Slammiversary (King of the Mountain) 21,000 for Sacrifice (Angle vs. Sting vs. Cage) 17,000 for No Surrender (Angle vs. Abyss) 15,000 for Victory Road (Joe and Angle vs. Team 3D)

The theory that the fans won't feel so cheated out of not getting a finish if the babyface gets his hand raised.