Hunter's Torn Quad

If Cena and Orton takes place at No Mercy as well, they can have another non-finish or a post-match attack from Orton to set up a fourth match at Cyber Sunday. If Cena against Orton is happening at No Mercy and Cyber Sunday, they'll have to do something in the first match to warrant going back to it the next month.

I don't know about 2003 and 2005, but Hogan's run in 2002, at least as Unified champion, was a disaster. Ratings sank by about a full point on both shows.

3.9, with hours of 3.6 and 4.1 I think Cena gets DQ'd for beating on Orton too much, and then they come back for the blowoff match at the following PPV, maybe with a stip of Cena losing the title if he gets disqualified.

The gimmick change didn't last long, because Dustin didn't get over as Dustin Runnels, and he was back to Goldust after only a couple of months. Dustin Runnels was a heel, but when he reverted to Goldust he turned face on Val Venis, who I think was officially a heel but was getting cheered because of the gimmick.

Doubtful. WWF fans are weaned on star power and major league showmanship, qualities ECW sorely lacked. You might have got some WWF fans liking it, but the majority would have considered it low-rent and not bothered.

This is classic example of why Rock cut great entertainment promos, but terrible wrestling promos.

Around 1997. Vince took out some big loans to keep the company afloat, and Raw was very close to being canceled on USA.

Mike Johnson is reporting that not only will Bound for Glory have a Women's Gauntlet match, but a Monster's Ball match and an Ultimate X match.

Ken Anderson taking on Austin Aries, and looking a good 30lbs lighter He's sure bulked up a lot since then.

Kennedy was set to be part of the biggest angle of the year. One that was likely to lead into wrestlemania. Wrestlemania is seven months away, and Kennedy can still be plugged into the main event. Unforgiven is this Sunday, and I don't know who else WWE would have gone with after the hot angle they shot with Cena's father.

Anyone else see the latest WEC show, with the Rob McCollough vs. Rich Crunkilton main event? A really good event, and I thought the Bantamweight title fight was awesome. Chase Beebe didn't seem to tire at all for the five rounds, and just kept going and going.

What helped Orton more than anything was that he was set to headline a PPV. The wrongful death suit is probably to do with the Benoit situation.

I can't feel sorry for a man who quite clearly hasn't learned a thing over the years, and who still thinks it's 1997. Getting angry at the fans is missing the point, but for TNA it makes a great excuse to keep the blinders on. When your most diehard fans are rejecting something, it's the kind of thing that should send up red flags about what you're putting out, not be cause to raise the drawbridge and start lashing out. As for Russo's influence, just take a look at TNA since he came on board. His fingerprints are all over the product.

The problem with chanting "Fire Russo" is that if he didn't book the segment in question, TNA uses that as a reason to dismiss and ignore the fact that their most devoted fans are rejecting the segment. They generally try to play at as the fans just trying to get themselves over. Of course, they have no problem accepting the reaction of those same fans when they're going crazy for a hot match.

No. That match was booked all wrong for Goldberg. It went too long and he sold too much. Goldberg works best in short, explosive matches where he doesn't have to sell a lot. It's not that he's bad at selling, it's that the crowd die when he starts selling. They don't want to see it. They want Goldberg to generally kick someone's ass around the ring, maybe sell a little, and then fire back and hit the jackhammer for the win.

According to Mike Johnson at PWI, Sandman had showed up in 'questionable' condition at some house shows recently, and missed one of the South African house shows entirely. As well as that, he and Ricky Steamboat had words on the flight back. Sandman was apparently unhappy as well recently, and WWE had no problems with firing him.

I remember that. It still makes no sense.

Of the many things that helped bring about the downfall WCW, DDP getting the world title is way down on the list.

The idea at the time was for Austin to face Hogan at Wrestlemania the following year. With Hogan only wrestling infrequently, and being treated as a legend, it would have been a bad idea for Hogan to have lost the match with Shawn, or any match before facing Austin. A rematch the next month would have been pointless, because the draw was in it being the first time meeting of two legendary names, and it wouldn't have done even half the business Summerslam did.

If Joe wasn't part of TNA, I'd say he would have had a better then 50/50 shot of getting the title, because he'd make a perfect foreign heel for NOAH. As it is, he'll probably get put over huge in the body of the match but end up losing.

Russo and Nash's booking reigns were different kinds of bullshit, almost as bad as each other, but Russo's did the most damage. Nash's booking centered around keeping him and the usual group of old guys around the top mix and virtually neglecting everyone else. Russo's booking, and I use that term loosely, was worse because it tried to turn WCW into a copy of the WWF and it started causing even the die-hard, long time WCW fans to turn off, and it really says something that even the hardest of the hardcore WCW fans were turned off, because they had suffered through some really bad TV up to that point. I can understand some people liking Russo's first run more than Nash's run, but no question that Russo's did the more significant damage, because even Nash wasn't running off the die-hards. Sullivan's regime wasn't as bad as much as it was boring. There was virtually nothing exciting about his entire three-month run.

The report didn't mention the "Fire Russo" chant that ended the show. From the Torch:

Impact 9/13 *Karen Angle came to the ring and introduced TNA champion Kurt Angle. Instead, Sting appears and says that he doesn't blame Kurt for what happened at No Surrender and that it was Karen who cost them the TNA Tag Team titles. He wants Karen to admit he never struck her but she claims she can't remember that caused her to fall to the ground. Kurt Angle appears and hits Sting with a chair. They brawl to the ring. Angle handcuffs Sting to the ropes and demands to know why Sting would slap his wife. He says that at Bound for Glory he will, "embarrass the sh** out of Sting." He promises to snap Sting's ankle and breaks his neck. Karen Angle slaps Sting and the Angles leave the ring. *Black Reign defeated Shark Boy in a short match. Reign hits a prone Shark Boy in the back of the head with his shovel. He goes to get the rat but Eric Young comes out and pulls Sharky out of the ring. Reign pulled off Sharky's mask but Young covered it with a towel. *Christopher Daniels defeated X-Division champion Jay Lethal in a non-title match after Daniels got the pin with Last Rites. Good match. *Christian Cage,. Tomko and AJ Styles come to the ring. Cage says that they have some problems to take care of and his problem is with Matt Morgan. Morgan comes to the ring. Cage says that he wrestled Samoa Joe at No Surrender and since Joe realized he couldn't defeat Christian, he got himself disqualified. Cage says that Joe hung him until cage was almost out of breath and now he knows why the fans chant, "Joe's gonna kill you." Cage says that he knows that Jim Cornette is Morgan's boss and that he's the one that runs the show. He says that when your marquee wrestler is tossed over the rope and is being choked, you don't wait five minutes to do something about it. Cage tells Morgan that he's going to get a crash course and to make sure that it doesn't happen again. He says that there are three of them in the ring and only one Matt Morgan. Morgan rips off his shirt and prepares to face all of them, but Samoa Joe hits the ring and spears Cage. Morgan throws Styles out of the ring while Joe disposes of Tomko. Morgan gets the mic and announces that he'll be the special enforcer at Bound for Glory for Christian Cage vs. Samoa Joe. Cage demands to know who allowed that to happen and Jim Cornette comes out and says it was his decision. Cornette said that Cage had a Samoan Challenge and says he has an opponent for Cage next week and out comes the debuting Junior Fatu (formerly Rikishi). *TNA champion Kurt Angle fought Abyss to a no contest in a Six Sides of Steel Submission Match where Abyss would have had to leave TNA if he lost. Judas Mesias came from under the ring and attacked Abyss. Abyss had Angle in the Anklelock when the smoke appeared and Mesias showed up and began choking Abyss with some sort of metallic wire, possibly barbed wire. Angle escapes the cage. Mesias hits Abyss in the head with a chair. Mesias hits a leaping DDT onto a chair on Abyss. Mesias pours out Abyss' bag of glass and stabs Abyss with it. He leaves Abyss in the ring. Xplosion *Robert Roode defeated Kazarian with the Payoff. They teased the Kaz-Brooks romance. *James Storm pinned Sonjay Dutt with a superkick. Impact 9/20 *Judas Mesias defeated Eric Young in two minutes. After the match, Shark Boy makes the save for Young and Mesias attacks them both. He gets a steel chair. Rhino comes to the ring with a chair to ward him off. Mesias leaves. *TNA Tag Team champion Ron Killings (with Pacman Jones) defeated AJ Styles (with Tomko) after Jones spraypainted Styles in the face, allowing Killings to nail the Ax Kick for the pin. *Karen Angle comes to the ring. She tells Sting that she is deeply sorry for what she did to him and never meant Sting or his family any harm. Angle says that from the bottom of her heart, she is sorry. Karen says she wants Sting and Kurt to have a great match at Bound for Glory. Sting comes into the Impact Zone and says that if she thinks, he's going to end up caught in another Angle plot, she's wrong. Sting says it's just going to be him vs. Kurt at Bound for Glory - no tricks and no Karen. Sting asks Karen if she read the letter that she received, which turned out to be a restraining order that ruled they couldn't be less than 50 feet apart between now and Bound for Glory. Sting walks to the ring, so Karen backs out and leaves the ring. Police try to take Karen away for breaking the order. Kurt Angle tries to stop them. *Christian Cage defeated Junior Fatu after interference from AJ Styles. Fatu gives Styles and Cage the stinkface after the match. Tomko attacked Fatu. Samoa Joe made the save. They cleared the ring and are standing tall as the show ends. Before you ask, no dancing. Impact 9/27 *Team 3D defeated Shark Boy and Sonjay Dutt. Possibly the funniest match in TNA history. A great comedy match. After the match. Brother Devon sets up chairs in the ring and they attempt to give Sharky the same attack they pulled on Scott Steiner but Dutt pulled Sharky out of the ring. *The Motor City Machineguns defeated Jimmy Rave and Lance Hoyt (with Christy Hemme), pinning Hoyt. Team 3D attack The Machineguns. They set up tables and place Sabin on it. They powerbomb Shelley through Sabin and the table. Shark Boy tried to stop them, wearing a neck brace, giving 3D a chance to finally assault Shark Boy like they did to Steiner. *In a Five -Way Women's bout that was to gain entry into a Women's Gauntlet Bout at Bound for Glory, Roxxi defeated Gail Kim in a bout that also featured Christy Hemme, Traci Brooks and Jackie Moore. *Outside, Jeremy Borash interviewed Jim Mitchell and Judas Mesias. Borash asked them if they were able to find Sting since they had been looking for him all week. Sting attacked Mesias, which led to an impromptu Streetfight between the two... *Sting vs. Mesias - They battled into the ring. Kurt Angle attacked Sting. Rhino made the save for Sting. Angle and Mesias get the advantage. Abyss' music plays and he comes to the ring, going after Mesias. The show ends with Abyss clotheslining Mesias out of the ring and the babyfaces standing tall.

Final Raw before Survivor Series '97 had Kane beating Ahmed. I checked Cawthon's site, and see no Austin/Ahmed match at all that year. After Austin's neck injury, for a while they'd tease Austin against someone for most of a show before getting out of it somehow, so that might have happened, but I don't see them actually having a match.