RavishingRickRudo

It is very hard to classify Professional Wrestling. It is very much a unique thing. Beyond the "pseudo-sport" and beyond "low-brow entertainment" that the mainstream would classify it as. Beyond the "art" and "morality play" that wrestling fans try to intellectualize it as. Beyond that. What professional wrestling is, is... well... professional wrestling. There isn't much you can compare it to. The people who call it a pseudo-sport, the people who call it low-brow entertainment, the people who call it art and a morality play... they all have something there, but it's not the whole story. The goal of sport is to present a competition with winners and losers, which wrestling does present. Wrestling is pretty simple to 'get' and it does pander to the lowest common denominator. Wrestling tells stories and takes a certain amount of skill to perform, so one could see it as an art. And there is the element of good vs. bad and morality in it, and it is put forth before an audience. But there is one distinct element, and it's the most defining element of professional wrestling, that is not covered by these descriptions. Wrestling is about the audience. It is about satisfying the audience, it is about connecting with the audience, it is about getting a bigger audience in your next show than the one you have on your last. It is about making money. Sport is not about making money. It does make money, but the primary goal of the athletes is to win and score points. Art is about conveying a feeling, or a situation, or showing a degree of skill. You can't really compare a painting or a song with wrestling. You can compare some elements of a film or theatre with wrestling, but the goal of film and theatre is not really to make money - that's the goal of producers and studios - but the actors, director, writers, etc. their goals are not to make money, and they don't have the immediacy of the live audience. Those involved in the process may want to be telling a story, or to perform well, or to get an award or critical acclaim, but it's not about making money. I think this is where we start to pervert what wrestling is. Wrestlers are not actors. They are not artists. There is not an OSCAR that they are looking for. Yet some rate them as if they are out to win one - or at least the wrestling equivalent of an OSCAR - which is unfair. I find it silly to criticize a wrestler for no selling something when that very no selling gets a strong reaction from the crowd - as it is the wrestlers job to get that reaction from the audience. "Selling" is a means of getting a reaction from the audience, just as storytelling is, just as cupping your hand to your ear is, just as doing a really cool move is, or working a sleeper hold, or payback spots, or even no selling. There are many ways to get that reaction, but it's the reaction that matters, not how they get it. Their performances are only as good as the reaction it gets from the live audience. That is what makes wrestling unique. Which leads me to the most apt comparison I can make to professional wrestling. And that is... Stand-up Comedy. Comics are similiar to Wrestlers in this regard: Jokes are moves; There is build and pacing and even selling, and most importantly, there is the audience. A successful comedian, a good comedian, is one who does what? Get the most laughs. Get's the loudest reaction. Ditto Wrestlers. A Comedian doesn't have a script to work from. Neither to wrestlers. Sure, there are preplanned spots for both, but if the audience isn't feeling it, then good Comedians will adapt. When to tell the right joke, to know when the right time to follow-up on a joke, to know how long to let the audience laugh for, to know when to leave the stage. That's what comedy is all about, that is what wrestling is all about. The ultimate goal is to make the audience laugh. It doesn't matter if their stories make sense, it doesn't matter if the Comedian contradicts what he said, it doesn't matter whether it is high brow or low brow, it doesn't matter if the Comedian uses a thousand F-bombs or none... as long as the Comedian gets that audience laughing... it doesn't matter. It only matters when the audience isn't laughing. It's silly to call a Comedian who has an audience eating out of the palm of his hand, to bad Comedian. You may not like it, you may not laugh, but that's where true objectivity comes in - even when it doesn't work for you, you can still admit to it working for others and give the Comedian credit for that. Ditto Wrestlers. Yet we don't evaluate Comics on things like logic. Which is a big problem with how fans look at wrestling. It doesn't matter if the match doesn't make sense, it doesn't matter if someone forgets to sell the leg that was being worked on, it doesn't matter if they used high spots or garbage... as long as the Wrestlers get the audience into it... it doesn't matter. It only matters when the audience isn't into it. THEN you can look at things like no selling, like logic, like high spots and garbage. Bringing up those things to explain why a match doesn't work, when the match did work, doesn't make sense. Why it didn't work _for you_, sure, but then don't claim objectivity when you make those statements in the face of it working for the vast majority of those watching live. We evaluate Comics on how they made us laugh and how they made the audience laugh. Not by how the story about the baby selling weed on the street doesn't make sense. I think the same should apply to Wrestler. Because the goals of the two are more similar than they are to any other performer out there.

This is why Hunter is going to be a babyface come Mania time. Him saying "I say what I am going to do, and I do it" is prime facebait. Plus, if you saw the Rumble, with his cool comedy stuff ("Candice, could you hold my balls"), there's no way the fans are going to boo him against Cena. HHH is the cool guy in the VIP room sippin on Cristal while Cena is on the dancefloor doin the robot and the running man hopin for the crowd to say "go while boy, go white boy go". He'll get eaten alive. We had this discussion with NiceGuyAdam on his show and LOTC made the point of saying HHH is going to get over exactly like Christian did against Cena - by calling him out and making fun of him for being Vanilla Ice 3.0. I think the problem with the faces in the WWE today are that they are directionless. They wander around until it's their turn and then they wander around some more. Fans want to get behind the guys who are not waiting their turn, they get behind the guys who step up and take the spotlight. But that's not how it works in the WWE, no matter what they say. Fans aren't stupid, they recognize who the WWE wants to push and who the WWE won't push. And a lot of the times, who the WWE pushes are not the guys the fans like. The fans want to cheer who they want to cheer, but the fans don't know if they should fully get behind them. They get behind guys like the Boogeyman partially because they know it's a safebet. It's a comedy character, there's no chance to get burned by cheering him only to see him get squashed.. it was never meant to be taken seriously in the first place. How many times have the fans rallied behind someone only to see them hit their heads on the glass ceiling? Think of how much more over Rey would be if the fans got the impression that the WWE was pushing him straight to the top?

That's part of Chuck Liddells popularity in the UFC. He says he's going to knock out Tito, he knocks out Tito. He says he's going to knock out Vern, he knocks out Vern. He says he's going to knock out Randy, he knocks out Randy. Fans need to get the sense that they are backing the right horse.

While I haven't given up on TNA, my interest in them certainly declined after 2 specific realizations. One was that Sting was the Big Surprise. I like Sting, but if that is their idea of something huge, I don't think their head is in the right place. The other was Team Canada. Team Canada continues to get pushed at some level despite being glorified jobbers. So what you'll get is 2 wins for every 3 losses, or vice versa. It's ineffective. And the only reason that is happening is because they are Scott D'mores boys and he has leverage when it comes to booking, and he is just lookin at keepin his boys in the spotlight no matter what. I think TNA needs to have a rule that says those who are booking and writing the show have no role on the show. Because when I see stuff like JJ and Team Canada getting a certain focus of the show because they are in power, there is little to no hope of that ever changing because the power isn't going to change. Where it particularly hurts is that Team Canada and JJ don't interest me in the slightest and really aren't up to the standard of current television characters. It's hard to book just for 2 or 3 guys, no doubt. Giving some guys a focus of 20 minutes, writing for 20 minutes, and having the rest of the roster get pissed because they are not getting used and are not getting paid. That's probably a big reason why TNA doesn't or can't go this route and instead decides to throw everything on screen and hopes something sticks, and continues to push for 2 hours on SPIKE. But if they don't know how to effectively use 1 hour, how can they use 2?

I think that, when booking for a national audience, the philosophy should certainly change and differs greatly from booking for a local audience. ROH books for a specific audience - the audience that shows up. This affords them certain luxuries, including rotating the top guys on a frequent basis because you know the audience is going to show up anyways. When you have a nationally televised show there is the certainty of someone flipping through the channels and seeing your product. And in that time they see it, there are several possibilities: A. They watch it for a second and then change the channel. B. They watch it for a few seconds and then change the channel at the next commercial. C. They watch it until it finishes (or until they see something they don't like) and then doesn't bother to watch it the next week. D. Something like B or C, but they do watch it the next week, repeating their viewing behaviour. E. Something like D, but they watch it infrequently afterwards, continually on the fence until they make up their mind. F. Something like D, but they watch it frequently and eventually becomes a full blown fan - incorporating it into their viewing schedule. The odds of someone walking by the arena and going "Hey, let's pay to see a wrestling show" are pretty slim. When someone goes to an ROH show, what are the odds they are doing it on a whim, that they will get up and leave if they aren't interested, that they have little interest in the first place, or that they will react in any way that's close to being similar to a TV viewer? When people go to ROH shows, they want to go to ROH shows. TNA is not ROH. IMPACT! has more similarities to HOUSE than it does to ROH, when it comes to finding its audience. This is where focus comes in. With a TV show -any TV, be it a wrestling show, a medical drama, a crime series, a sitcom- the focus needs to be there so when that person who is flipping through stops to see what's on, they "get it". When someone turns on TNA, particularly a wrestling fan, they need to see what TNA is all about in that single viewing. The best way for someone to "get it" is through specific, main, characters. It's easier for someone to "get" one character, because people can relate to each other. You don't see them cycling the role of Gil Grissom every week on CSI, you don't see them continually replacing Rory on Gilmore Girls. The lead cast members are the "anchor" for the viewer, the constant focus that will be guaranteed for them to see week in and week out. This assurance means that the viewer can put their emotions and their heart into a show and get excited and not worry about it all going away. Shows tend to die when their main cast members leave, because it's just not the same for the audience to see someone else in that role. And yes, that is potentially damaging for a wrestling company, however wrestling fans are more accustomed and open to a change in guard. But we're not really talking about booking for wrestling fans when we talk about TNA at this stage in the game, we're talking about booking for potential wrestling fans, and the most important thing in looking for converts is the hook and the anchor. (Luckily, when they *do* become wrestling fans, it may get easier for the once regular television viewer to accept a change on top because wrestlings structure allows for a more open door.) TNA needs to stop their current philosophy of "let's get every guy out there and try to get the light on all of them" and needs to adapt "let's put our best and most interesting guys out there and let's let the light shine brightest on a chosen few". That they aren't able to translate their TV numbers to PPV numbers shows how (un)interested the fans are in seeing the results of the storylines. My bet is most that do tune into the show (let's say 0.75 of them) are just doing so for an alternative, while the 0.35 that comes and goes represents what I'm talking about above when I talk about category E. They are on the fence. They are looking for a reason to stay and watch, but as the ratings flux shows, they haven't foudn it yet. And there's probably a lot more out there in terms of Bs and Cs that could turn into E's if TNA actually had a focus to share with the audience. Most TV shows have a A and B storyline. This is particularly evident in hour longs. They usually include anywhere between 4 to 6 to 8 characters. How many characters who were a focal point of the show? 20+? In most TV shows you'll see the characters on screen for the majority of the program. How often would you see TNA Wrestlers? 5 minutes at best? How can a television audience form a bond with anyone when it's spread so thin? A television model of an A and B storyline each week (you could allow a C storyline, which are not uncommon), with 8 characters getting the focus week to week would be an effective way of building shows and building PPVs. You bring up UFC, well, they don't sell their PPVs on the whole card, they sell them on the strength of 2 matches (or in the case of 57, just one), because that's all the fans need to get them to buy a show. The same can be said for wrestling. The WWE has *never* been good top-to-bottom, and often it only had one good thing going for them, and that one good thing was enough because that's all the fans really needed.

I was angry and I didn't mean it. Forgive me.

Posting With Shadows The story of a man who believes in smarks, in a world where the anti-smark is king

You know, it really fucking sucks that you're stealing heat away from me. I just had to say that. Once upon a time, some in the WWE folder were called RRR Clones and yes-men as erroneously as people -INCLUDING ME!!!- are being called HTQ yes-men. This is so very wrong. People used to be willing to have themselves banned if it meant I would be banned as well. THAT'S HATRED! I put in more time here, dammit! I have tenure! I deserve that heat! BAH!!!

Read the review on WO.com and count how many times the reviewer references the fans.

I figure I'll say it here cause its not really appropriate elsewhere, but I can't stand it when people call the WWE "classy" or "applauding" the WWE for their RAW and Smackdown shows... like, seriously, what the fuck? Has the company gotten so low that doing what is expected of them and not ignoring it is considered "classy". If Vince put on a show at the Staples Centre in honour of Eddie with every cent going towards Eddies Family, then putting out a 3 disc retrospective with every cent going towards Eddies family as well, I'd call that classy. The video stuff and the matches, really required very little effort to put together, and all they really did was delay their storylines for another week. Going the extra mile and doing something that isn't expected of them to do is something that should be applauded, what they did with RAW and Smackdown is just not trashy.

WWE business in the early-mid 90's dropped because they didn't create new stars that appealed to the fans, so it was hard to keep the momentum from the 80s going. Going the kiddy route of the Godwins, Doink, et. al. just started to bury them. At this time they moved to more PPV's a year, which certainly didn't help things. Meanwhile, popular culture was about 2 things - rap and grunge, both of which had an edge the WWE didn't have nor wanted to have. I don't think steroids had a lot to do with it. That's my perspective, maybe there's something I don't know here. However, the WWE gave a very, very, very, VERY bad impression to kids when it came to body image. Women will talk about Barbie and models and magazines giving this unrealistic image, but professional wrestling was just as bad if not worse. Then again, the entire culture in the 80s with Arnold, Sly, and Van Damme was focused on these super physiques. I think Vince should take a lot of the blame when things like this happen, because he sets the standards and he could *easily* stop a lot of it right now by implementing certain measures. But that's ethics we're talking about, and Vince doesn't see wrestlers as people. But while a lot of it is on Vinces shoulders, steroids is found in every sporting competition for a reason, and its the same reason its found in wrestling - to get a leg up on the competition, or to keep up with the competition. In wrestling, which is such a visual medium, its important to look bigger and stronger, because people will believe you are bigger and stronger without having to even watch you wrestle. So it's inevitable. Even without Vince, there would be steroid use. I just don't think it would be as rampant as it is today. And the fact that Vince could stop it if he wanted to puts responsibility on him when he doesn't, even while dead bodies pile around him. Inaction, in this case, is just as bad as action. Even though he doesn't force anyone to use them, he doesn't say not to - and when he pushes guys who use, it certainly doesn't say not to. But then again, Vince is probably looking at himself and saying "I'm not dead yet and I've taken roids for decades, so it can't be the roids..."

I emailed Meltzer about this, but do the families get anything after a wrestler dies? Do they have insurance plans? Will the WWE take care of Eddies family? I don't mean for a life time, but will there any aid given in general?

Cause wrestlers are wannabe fighters. And who wants to be a wannabe? That's like wanting to host Entertainment Tonight, or worse, anything on E! We're talking about pond scum, here.

Prefer to be given only finish and call everything else in the ring? Lay the entire match out beforehand? I like the idea of laying the story of the match out before hand, as well as key (high) spots and perhaps some of the more intricate stuff. I can't imagine myself remembering anything more than a few points, let alone the entire match lay out. Like to have your promo's scripted? Or just be given a couple of bullet points, and wing the rest? Bullet Points. I've done my fair share of public speaking and business presentations and I find this style works best, as long as you know what you're talking about. Blade often? Only on occasion? Would you rather never blade at all? Oh. I am far too pretty too gussy up my face with blade scars. Real Answer: When I need to. What style would you like to wrestle? Why would you prefer to employ that particular style over others? UWF-I style. "Catch" wrestling, I suppose it's called. Why? Because it's easier than regular wrestling, yet you can do a lot with it. Less dangerous, for the most part, as well. Feed holds, grab holds, go from one to another if its not working or if it's reversed. Mix it up occasionally with some southern brawling and All Japan dramatics. Refuse to take certain moves? Only take them when working with certain wrestlers? Any move that hurts... basically. Are there any match types you'd like to wrestle in a lot? Some match types you'd rather never have to work in? 2/3 falls matches. You can do a lot with the psychology. Ladder matches... basically matches where you fall down hard on something really hard... What style of normal match would you like to do the most? Would you prefer to sell or to dominate? Would you like to do long matches? Well, 2/3 fall matches go long. My regular matches wouldn't - maybe 10 minutes tops, average would be 6 or 7 minutes. I dunno. I think I'd be good at selling, mainly because I sell stuff in everyday life, like a playful thwap on the shoulder I tend to act like I just got shot, and I usually get "are you ok?" in response. I am pretty melodramatic. I'm also a size where I can realistically dominate and get beat up, so it doesn't really matter. Would you like to have a manager or valet to work spots with or would you rather just do it all yourself? Valet. Mainly so I can have something nice to look at. *Stasiak* Are there some types of angles that you would refuse to do? Some types of angles that you'd love to do? Those really dumb ones by the WWE. I wouldn't do those. I'd probably get fired for laughing at it... or slapped by Jim Cornette. A Teacher/Student angle would be sweet. But so would a grudge match. What promotion would you like to work for the most? What promotion would you hate to work for? There isn't a promotion (besides UStyle) that would successfully integrate my style, so I would, like, not wrestle. Hey, that's what I do right now . Not work for? ROH. It would go way over their heads ("So... do we... CLAP... now?") What promotion of the past would you most liked to have worked for? What promotion would you have hated working for the most? UWF-i! Hated? Um, UWF! Herb version. Any wrestlers today that you'd like to work against? Any you would avoid working against at all costs? Tamura. I would avoid HHH. What wrestlers from the past would you like to work against? What wrestlers from the past would you not want to work against? Karl Gotch would have been awesome. Lou Thesz too. Inoki maybe. Not want to work against? Hansen.

Yes they do. No they don't Watch Punk v. Rave in the steel cage match. Or some stuff from the Lethal/Joe v. Rotts feud, Punk v. Aries. ROH fans can suspend their disbelief. Explain to me how they suspend their disbelief. Really. Don't make me watch ROH. I just can't. And people have been raving about feuds in ROH since 2003 since the Raven-Punk feud. I haven't heard/read it. Anything I've read about good "feuds" were because of the _matches_ involved in the feuds rather than any stories being told. Actually, wait a sec. Raven or Dreamer pouring beer down Punks throat was part of that angle, I remember that. Yeah, that's about it, actually. My point still stands - ROH fans don't watch ROH for the feuds. They watch for more smarkish reasons like "match quality", and their emotional involvement (as Loss mentioned) is kept to a bare minimum. This leads to more "chants" than "cheers". I don't understand how can you rip on the fanbase when you've never been to a show. And at the ROH Board, after every show there's always a thread where people complain about the behaviour of the fans and it gets annoying. I've been to indies before, one in particular was comprised of many folk who would (and have) go to ROH shows. They did the dueling chants. Some decided to chant both names at the same time. Think about that. Not very genuine. Besides, not actually being in the crowd doesn't disqualify me from commenting on them, or basing an opinion on them, or being absolutely annoyed by them. The fans (YOU, Bob) are annoying. Why let other people affect your enjoyment of a show? Because if sound wasn't an important part of the show, they wouldn't mic the rings, or have announcers. But they do, so it is. I can't just watch a show in silence, Bob. Besides, the crowds reaction should be dictated by the wrestlers. If the crowd is going out on their own and coming up with several retarded chants that have nothing to do with whats going on in the ring, then whats going on in the ring can't be that good, now can it? I mean I go to ROH shows to slap the wrestler's hand, go crazy for Nigel, call Lacey a whore, see my friends and see some good wrestling. Most ROH fans go to the show just to have a good time and good wrestling. Not with some grand notion of how to put themselves over. And not with the notion of storylines and feuds, it seems from you discription Lemme post something. Kobashi vs Joe Greatest. Match. Ever. First, the crowd was absolutely on fire for this match. Kobashi was getting a lot of cheers and would get the fans on their feet by just looking at them and hulking up. I have never seen Joe so intense for this match. He came up with Lethal as his second/assistant. Match starts with Joe slapping Kobashi and Kobashi returning the favor. The first Kobashi chop gets the fans on their feet. Kobashi is thrown outside and Joe hits him with a baseball slide (maybe i dont remember well) and hits a suicide dive onto him for "Holy ****" chants. Goes back inside for some insane stiff chopping which gets the electric crowd on their feet. It goes back outside where Joe hits an ole ole kick. However, Kobashi avoids the second one and instead hits a move of his own which received a huge pop but I couldn't see. Kobashi DDTs Joe on the floor. Goes back inside for more chopping. Joe eventually gets control after a Kobashi abdominal stretch and starts locking on submission holds. Eventually Joe reverses a Kobashi suplex into a suplex of his own. Joe places him on the turnbuckle and hits him with a Muscle Buster! Crowd is going wild for only a two count. Joe hits a power bomb and flows into an STF. Kobashi almost gets the ropes but Joe in a crossface holds back his arm! Kobashi finally gets to the ropes. Kobashi eventually regains control and hits joe in the corner with a bunch of chops, leading to a huge pop. Kobashi then hits not one but two Half Nelson Suplexes! Joe kicks out of a couple of pins but then is met with a sleeper into a sleeper suplex! There might have been some more moves afterwards but eventually Kobashi gets pumped up and hits Joe with a crazy lariat for the win. Crowd goes nuts and chants ROH! Look at the self-importance. NINE references to the crowd in this. And, apparently, the match was SO great that the FIRST thing this guy had to say about it was something about THE FANS. Was the ECW audience even this absorbed into being ECW fans? Well, they *did* chant "ECW"...

Canadian fans don't do it to "get over" with the wrestlers though. We do it cause we're asses and tend to want to stray from the (american) norm. I'll take a WWE crowd over a ROH crowd any day. Then again, I hate wrestling fans, in general. WWE tends to have an overly markish crowd of guys who bring belts to the right. ROH has guys who chant "Thank You". Both are extremes that I don't really like to be around.

I rarely _ever_ hear anyone report on or talk about how good a feud is when it comes to ROH, so I find that very hard to believe. Punk drawing in Chicago? Get OUTTA here. Saying War Games is the selling point of a show is proving my point exactly. Any buzz surrounding that match won't be "I can't wait for this to blow off", it's going to be "That match is going to be crazy! ROH~! WAR GAMES! I'M GONNA START A FOUR HORSEMEN CHANT!" ROH Fans don't suspend disbelief. They wouldn't do and chant the shit they do if they did.

The bottom line is, wrestling is predetermined and the storylines are fake. So? It's called suspension of disbelief. People are able to do it with television, film, and theatre. People take guys hitting tiny balls with sticks of wood seriously. It's not necessarily difficult to get people "into" things. Yet Pro Wrestling, especially on an indy level, can't do it. Is it because the fans are "smart" to it?? I don't think that's the real reason - people are able to watch movies and know everything about the actor, and still laugh and cry and be emotionally involved despite being -what would be called in wrestling- "smart" to it. Yet wrestling/ROH fans would rather chant some silly shit than watch a match intently. The ROH fans get into the matches and storylines regardless, but when all is said and done, they still appreciate the wrestlers themselves, whether they're supposed to be faces or heel. From what I have seen, ROH fans aren't nearly "into" the matches as they like to appear to be. You look and listen to crowd heat at other events - Hogan/Andre, Kobashi/Kikuchi vs. Furnas/Kroffat - and its another level of interest. These fans aren't conscious of what they are doing - they are too busy experiencing it. ROH fans aren't that way (I generalize ROH fans, I am sure there are a few that I wouldn't want to punch in the liver). Chanting "thank you" to a heel CM Punk on his last night isn't a problem. I think it is. It reeks of self-importance. The real problem is when the fans blatantly ignore the face/heel dynamics during the course of a storyline and cheer the heel anyway, ala Homicide. But really, that's not just restricted to ROH fans. I seem to recall Steve Austin and The Rock being cheered by WWE fans when they were trying to heel it up. Nothing wrong with that, to me. Cheering heels because you genuinely enjoy the character is fine. It's up to the wrestler and promotion to adapt. I think a big part of the sincerity of the crowd is lost in ROH.

Isn't it implied that by cheering loudly, you are saying "thank you" or "welcome back"? You don't hear crowds chant "Thank you" at any sporting event, or after any live theatre. But then again, those crowds understand their roles at the event while ROH fans think they ARE the event. Actually, those crowds don't even know they have a role, while ROH fans are so into themselves that they think they are relevant. That ROH fans find the need to bring up all the shit they chanted at the event certainly is a problem. At least to me it is. It's fucking annoying.

But do people go to the shows FOR the feuds and storylines? Or do they go for the "good matches"?

"You fucked up" falls under the same category that I'm talking about. Fans have forgotten what their purpose is. ROH fans go to ROH to see good matches, not to see feuds or storylines. Actually, maybe the fans *do* know their purpose, it's ROH that has forgotten. Cause ROH doesn't really do feuds or storylines, their objective is to put on good matches. So you don't really see fans cheering or booing genuinely for their favourites, you hear them chanting in relation to the match quality. "You fucked up" is to reference a mistake and is a criticism of the match, while "Thank you" is the opposite (both equally annoying to me). I don't really think it's appropriate for the crowd to chant either, the crowd should react to the story of the match and particular spots. But where's the fun in that? You're not part of the show, then. You won't be able to get over. And if you can't leave the show thinking how great you were, then why did you go in the first place??

Agreed. Jarrett is a good wrestler, a good talker. He's a solid addition to anyones roster. He, however, has limited growth (mainly) on account of his size. The guy just isn't a convincing champion. I don't look at JJ and think "that guy could kick my ass". To use the airport analogy that Kevin Nash likes to use, if you see JJ walking by, you wouldn't think he was a wrestler. And worse, he doesn't look tough in the ring. He's average. No one sees average on TV and stays on that station. I can see this moving into a Raven/Dudleys vs. JJ/AMW** feud, which is actually a pretty strong feud for TNA on television (The Dudleys' "big surprise" on TV is a pretty good hook, you have the ECW connection, and a 6 man feud can last for a few months), but only as a secondary feud with a bigger headliner. The X title would be an OK headliner in general, but when trying to capture the most audience possible, you need a big name to get their attention, and then in between the big name(s), you sneak in the unknown guys and try to get them over as fast as possible so you can shift the focus towards them. I don't really see any big names out there right now (Jericho would be border-line) that would do that, so maybe they may have to bite the bullet and get the X-title over as the main title through force and hope that the fans cling to it. (** the more I think about it, the more a Dudz/Raven (how was Raven able to keep the name, btw??) vs. AMW/JJ sounds good. It can have legs in that you have more guys joining the cause - Jeff Hardy joins Dudleys and Raven (Hardys history with the Dudleys, and the fact that he is an "outsider" in TNA along with the ECW guys), Monty Brown joins AMW/JJ cause he's TNA born and bred. Rhyno has to make a choice, since I believe he is with JJ, and he eventually joins the Extreme Team. Abyss gives his loyalties to the TNA team. That way you can mesh the guys the fans would know with the guys they wouldn't know. I don't know how much TV time TNA will get, but one big arch with lots of wrestlers would be PERFECT for this day-and-age in a very serialized/hour-long-drama television season. Booking/writing television would be a breeze if you had that one big storyline, some storylines that surround it (and eventually become a part of it), and then your headlining X-Division staying outside of it. Some people would contend that having the TNA guys has heels wouldn't be wise, since TNA is the show. Why would you want the fans to hate TNA? First of all, it's easier to hate someone you don't know, than to get behind them. And, ultimately, fans are more likely to cheer the guys they DO know, than cheer the guys they don't know. With that said, I would have the feud play out in a way where most of the TNA guys turn on JJ, to get the TNA guys over as faces. The way this feud could be booked, there's like months worth of TV to use.) ...dammit, why am I not putting this in my own blog? This = Ratings. Oh, and I'd start off the first TNA show with AJ Styles coming out dressed like John Cena, acting like John Cena, and then saying "The reason why you can't see me, is that I'm moving way too fast" and throwing off the Cena stuff to reveal AJ Styles. Lemme revise this: I'd start off with an intro package to AJ styles where he says and does all this - then having him wrestle to show it.

You were missed. *Edit* Ok, not "missed", missed. Like, I didn't ponder "where is Mullato??" or anything like that. But when I read your post, I was like "Holy Shit, Where was Mullato??". It's more of a retroactive missed.

Maybe I can freestyle to a beat and dissem like Em. "Yeah, yeah. Rudo'ere. Triple R, Baby, Yeah, yeah Yo, Shanghai Kid, you a dumb fool In this folda, you the piss in the pool. I'd go upside ya head, but I'm playin it cool. No need to use the hammer, when I got you tool Ha Ha (WUT?!) Downhome, Downhome, what the fuck you sayin? Yo words are weak, son, it's shit you sprayin. From y'ass to the screen, dumbspeak you parlayin Shit, go fuck yourself with Patrick Swayze, you Jennifer Grey'in (Awww SHEET) And IggyMcFly, I ain't forget abowchew You Ignorant, dumb mark Nazi to our Smark-ass Jew, The Holocaust of Stupid you bring make even Hilter spew HHH ain't put over no one, that means Batista too. ChehehehchOUT."

To me, Lushus is a guy who can sing, but doesn't know the lyrics. He can say some pretty silly things sometimes. A few more years, a lil more jaggedness, some exposure to better wrestling and he'd be worth listening to.