RavishingRickRudo

Sammy was really active on the ground, just not very smart. I'll take active over smart Sam crying at the end was tremendous. I genuinely felt bad for him and Matt saying "I didn't come here to make friends, and I failed at that" was great. Very emotional stuff. Something that this season has been really lacking. For Season 3, they should really consider structuring their fights better, and rather than randomly set up the matches, have it outlined in a tournament format and use the challenges determine who fights when (IMO, they should have TUF 3 be purely lightweights, and the winner becomes lightweight champion).

Oh that was hot.

Sorry. I let my excitement get the best of me...

Actually... wait... How are your comic drawing skills? It's all the rage over at DVDVR.

Make 2 half-assed reports.

But what if it does? Do we harvest SJ for the cure?

I am waiting for Hurricane X-Treme, or Super Hurricane Alpha II: The next level.

Hurricane Yvonne sounds too Gary Larsonish. Hurricane Alpha is much more impending doomish.

Um, holy shit? I didn't even know they were a couple. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Son of a bitch. There goes that possibility. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I'm sure the other hobbit is available.

On CNN last night (this morning) there was a reporter out in the rain and behind him a couple was fucking against a wall the whole time he was there. Both he and the two at the desk were speculating, then realizing, then trying to ignore. It was classic television.

In terms of rankings, I'm glad they did away with them because putting the two top ranked guys against each other isn't always going to happen and when it doesn't -and you have those rankings advertised- it hurts the match you are presenting. Naimark is a huge Royce fan, so any zaniness he says about Royce should be taken with a grain of salt and shouldn't take away from his other views on MMA (which I often agree with and usually am one of the few that do ). From his position, Royce = Great Submissions, Matt Hughes = Subbed Easily, therefore, Matt + Royce = Submission by Royce. No one has done more for MMA than Royce Gracie; that he beat low calibre opponents shouldn't take away from that. Plus, it's not like Royce was from the future who came back with the knowledge current MMA fighters have. He was a single disciplined fighter too.

Joe was working too soft last night, and when Joe works soft he isn't nearly as effective. He worked soft vs. Raven at the Warrior-1 show and was very disappointing, but Lyger managed to keep the match working.

And that's what I'm talking about when I say it gains meaning by osmosis. You have, like, 20 guys involved in this whole deal fighting for both the tag and world titles. It doesn't really matter who is *holding* it, it's about who *wants* it, and how far these people are willing to go to get it (and keep it). How compelling the storylines and matches are will dictate the interest level of the fans, so that when they see all these guys fighting for the same issue (in this case power, ie: the title), then they end up caring about that issue.

I will be very disappointed if this thing doesn't kill 3/4's of the worlds population, given the media hype on it.

The title is irrelevant. In this case, it is merely a prop device. I know, it's crazy to say. Especially coming from me because of the way I look at the WWE. But TNA isn't the WWE. What applies to the WWE doesn't necessarily apply to TNA. The WWE has their title established, the legacy is there. In TNA, the title -at least to the newer audience- holds much less volume. Especially since JJ was the holder. For TNA, the belt doesn't make the wrestler, it's not as important. Storylines are. Matches are. And how they are using the title to further storylines and matches by putting the title on Rhyno is going to help the belt by osmosis. Rhyno isn't going to be the star of the show as a result of this, he's just going to be a player on one team going up against players on another team. Which team has the gold is what's important, not which individual wrestler. Getting the title over with the audience is difficult, however getting over what the title means -in this case power- is a little bit easier.

And then they had Joe get beat on during the Gauntlet. He should have been _killing_ everyone in there leading up to the face-off with Abyss. "I don't think Joe is the monster in TNA that we want him to be" - Me to LOTC. So will Hardy and Brown, and Joe and AJ feud do to how they were eliminated during the gauntlet?

It showed that Jin, once upon a time, would tell his boss "no" and had a line. After he met Sun and got involved with her father, saying "no" got so much harder and he compromised a lot more than he would have had he been on his own.

The fall-out from this show is going to be so important. It set so much up that one would have to wonder if it would be better suited for the TV special because the audience would have been greater. Like, this would have been a _awesome_ RAW that everyone would be talking about and wanting to see what happens next. Is the next Impact a show that was taped last week? I hope not. With a short period of time before their November show, it will be interesting to see what they do in the next few weeks.

Yeah, JJ can use Gail Kim to lure a broken-hearted Raven over to his side. Rhyno can bring in the chick who broke his heart. It works well. Very ECWish. Is Heyman booking for them now??

Rhyno is a pretty good choice for champ. Not as a long term thing, but as something that kick starts a bigger angle, it works. Raven has a problem with Rhyno. Not only did Rhyno punk Raven out, but Rhyno also carries Ravens title. Rhyno is alligned with 3-D now. The ECW connection there is pretty obvious. This puts Raven in a bit of a situation. Does he join up with team ECW against JJ and team TNA, or does he team with JJ and TNA because it puts him in a better situation to get back his title? He can't go it alone because there are strength in numbers and right now he doesn't have any. Including 3LK and Billy Gunn is brilliant if they are planning to have NAO vs. Dudleyz, because then you turn NAO heel and switch the balance of power away from Team ECW. There's _lots_ of ways they can go with this, which is the best thing they can do for their TV program. Keep this angle strong and keep the fans hooked. The woman that Rhyno was talking about? Put her in there and she can go up against Gail Kim. Awesome stuff, really, if they're going this way.

Good show. It would have been a _great_ television show, the way it was booked and finished. Was it worth the money? I dunno. I don't regret buying it, but I kinda have high standards for PPV's. Would I consider buying another one? Yes. They got enough pops outta me to warrant it. The stuff I bought it for didn't live up to expectations, but then some other stuff exceeded them greatly. Tough call. Certainly not a bad show. Quite a few production errors, but in general, it was a WWE-level PPV (in terms of style and production) which is a plus for an up and coming organization. The first match was insane. Give Sonjay Dutt the title. Curry and I came up with a great way to get him into the WWE. The man is golden. Aries was really good as well. One of the better matches I've seen this year. Even though I prefer depth of story and all that, if a match has enough crazy spots in it and is paced pretty well, I dig it. I'd give it a solid ****. Joe/Lyger was too short and they should have put it on later in the show. They should have taken out both 6 man matches and made this and the main event go longer. But Lyger stomping Joes foot to set up the fisherman buster was FANTASTIC. They worked a really good big man/lil man match psychology-wise, it just needed more time and a better spot on the card. *** The Simon Diamond 6 man match was kinda pointless. I say bring Skipper in as Sheldon Benjamins weasley lil drug addict brother ("Skipper Benjamin"), Curry says bring Skipper in and have he and Benjamin recognize each other as "Black Wrestlers". Booking wise, I would have made this match first. It had some good spots in it, but not crazy enough to blow their wad in the first match. **1/4 Hoyt/Brown was sooooo much better than it had any right to be. Well booked, they worked within their limitations and got theirs spots off in a well paced manner setting up for a good finish. *** 3LK vs. Team Canada - another 3 man match that didn't really serve a purpose other than to bring them together for the finish of the show, which is good for booking TV, but for PPV's it's a lil different. Nothing bad, but nothing particularly good. ** Ultimate X - awful finish, it didn't really get going because of that. I mean awful in terms of expectations, in terms of living up to the gimmick and being a smart finish, it was good, because it made sense. However you'd think they'd have this match down by now. Short, but I can't imagine them going any longer cause it would have really put the show down to the wire. Traci bouncing her titties when rallying Bentley was probably the highlight of the match. It was a good valet spot. **1/2 AMW vs. Naturals - I really dug this match. Its been a while since I've seen a good brawling tag match and this hit the spot. I liked the handcuff spot with Kim, I liked the beer bottle spot, I liked the finish. Good heat for AMW, they had me thinkin the Naturals were going to win at one point during the match, so good on em. ***1/2 The Monsters Ball match, in particular the Jeff Hardy spot, was CRAZY. Good garbage. ***1/4 Daniels vs. Styles was kinda frustrating in that they didn't use the Ironman stip at all, and I fucking hate that. This could have been a match with a 30 minute time limit and had the same effect. This could have benefited from a, what do you call it? A story? But in terms of a collection of well performed spots, it was nicely put together and paced. The little story they did have was good leading up to both guys using their "big" finishers at the end and starting out small. ***1/3 The gauntlet didn't have Joe winning, but I liked the Kip James spot with K Kwick, so yeah. No rating. The main event was quick, but I liked it. Tito didn't do anything. I sorta expected a title change tonight, it was such an ECW move. The finish with the Dudleys coming out was hot. I like them tying all the guys together and it would be great for it to turn into a interweaving clusterfuck.

I think we have the match all booked out.

Can you imagine the match, though? My god the shitty punches, kip ups, and rope running... but by god would there be some dancing!

Haven't we all in our darker (brighter?) moments dressed up like La Parka, though?

You could have Lyger wear lifts to help prop him up some and have Raven slouch to make up for the 3-4 inch difference in height. And if you have someone like Abyss and Monty Brown in the ring at the end, along with certain camera angles, the illusion would be effective for the TV audience. Certainly doable.