cabbageboy

They are kinda limited with what they can do with Angle at the moment. He is in no shape to wrestle right now and even they know it. I won't compare it to the Bret WCW thing since they could have very well put Bret in a match (not sure what exactly, wouldn't have had much build). What is Joe doing at BFG now though? I heard maybe a 3 way?

What was all that stuff about Greg Gagne and Deep South? He was fired from OVW, not from Deep South. Or were they thinking of switching him to Deep South before firing him? As someone who has watching his truly horrid OVW efforts, I am extremely glad he is gone. Down here we went from Paul Heyman to Greg Gagne.

Bischoff was a good heelish GM because while he might have been a sleaze in some respects he did at least seem rational enough to where I'd work for the guy. Let's face it, based on Vince's onscreen persona would you want to work for this guy? He's insane and ill tempered and might literally make you kiss his ass on TV. Bischoff at least seemed heelish and smarmy in a realistic, corporate manner. Wrestlers can at least talk to the guy without him blowing a gasket.

Still, most fans don't know the whole story on why Angle was released. I think ECW originally had the idea with Angle to just let him squash some jobbers and get as healthy as possible, but then they panicked and put him in physically demanding matches with RVD. I've thought for a long while that TNA could get on the map if they signed someone that was truly a big star. Signing Sting didn't mean a whole lot because Sting has been out of his prime (there's that word again) for about 10 years. Signing Christian didn't stir huge interest because he was never a serious contender in WWE. But signing a former world champion who headlined WM THIS year? That's a big signing. I can see why TNA did it, looking optimistically that they can take steps to see that Angle doesn't kill himself in the ring.

I thought Joe just grabbed it and looked at the belt and put it down? It was kinda rushed since Cornette went straight to the ring.

I don't think Angle will really help TNA's ratings all that much. The time change will help some, but has Angle ever really been a big ratings draw? It's not like ECW's ratings were affected either way if he was there or not. I mean yeah they have gone down since he was released but I'm not sure if there's a major connection there.

Well, let's see how I did today and compare it to the predictions on page 1: NY Jets at Buffalo (Buffalo by 6). The Bills have been a nice surprise thus far. I'll go with the Bills here at home, by roughly the 6 predicted. (Wrong on this one, Jets pick up the road win. 0 for 1) Cincinnati at Pittsburgh (Pitt by 3). With Roethlisberger ailing it's tough to know what to expect here, but the Bengals look stronger thus far. Cincy by 7 in a big road win. (Got this one almost dead on. 1 for 2) Jacksonville at Indianapolis (Indy by 9 1/2...later 7). The Colts need to end the Jags hype before it gets absurd, and they'll likely do so. They won't cover though. Colts by 7 or so in an ugly 14-7 type game. (It was 21-14 actually, but still got the spread dead on. 2 for 3) Tennessee at Miami (Miami by 11). Wow, Dolphins favored by THIS much despite totally sucking thus far? I will take Miami to pick up their first win, but they won't cover here. Miami by 3. (It was 13-10, got this one dead right. 3 for 4) Washington at Houston (Washington by 4). Washington might be inept, but that aren't so inept as to lose to the Texans. Skins by 6. (Redskins covered by more than I figured. 4 for 5) Chicago at Minnesota (Chicago by 3). Bears have been stellar against awful teams thus far, but now they have a test. Vikings have won close ones thus far, and for some reason I see them pulling this off by hook or crook. Vikings by 3 (what else?). (Ah shit, Vikings gave it away late. 4 for 6) Carolina at Tampa Bay (Carolina by 3). Matchup of two surprising 0-2 teams. Not sure what Steve Smith's status is, but the Panthers have been less crappy than the Bucs. Simms will toss another 3 INTs as the Panthers win by 10. (Well, Carolina did win by 2 but wouldn't have covered. 5 for 7 overall, 4 for 7 with spread) Green Bay at Detroit (Detroit by 6 1/2). It's like the blind vs. the blind. Favre had trouble winning in Detroit in his prime, can't see him winning now. Lions by 7. (I was gladly wrong on this one. 5 for 8) 4:00 games: Baltimore at Cleveland (Baltimore by 6 1/2). This will be an ugly game. Ravens continue the beatings and likely injure someone from the Browns. Ravens by 17. (Ravens ended up with WAY too tough of a time here, barely winning. 6 for 9 overall, but just 5 of 9 with spread) St. Louis at Arizona (Arizona by 4 1/2). Kurt Warner vs. his former team! The Rams are a puzzling team, beating Denver and then losing at SF. I'll go with the Cardinals here by 6, but have no real conviction on this one either way. (Rams got the bleh 16-14 win here. 6 of 10) NY Giants at Seattle (Seattle by 3 1/2). Game of the day, 3rd week in a row for the Giants. Seattle got an ultra lame win over NY last year with Feeley's missed FGs. Won't happen again. Giants pick up a big road win as Feeley redeems himself, or at least doesn't suck as bad. Giants by 3. (Okay I was dead wrong on this one, haha. 6 of 11) Philadelphia at San Francisco (Philly by 6). It's a tough one to predict since it's hard to gauge the Niners thus far. Can't see the Eagles losing this one though. Philly 28-20. (Philly had an easier time than I thought. 7 of 12) 8:00 game: Denver at New England (NE by 6 1/2). Denver has looked really bad thus far and is lucky to be 1-1. Pats have picked up 2 uninspired wins. Since this is a revenge game for NE I'll take them to humble Jake the Snake and win by 7. (Instead the Broncos humbled the Pats at Foxboro. 7 of 13). This is why I don't bet on games anymore.

Nah I wouldn't book Joe vs. Angle right out of the gate because there's no way I'd end Joe's streak vs. the WWE guy they just signed, and you can't just kill Angle's heat out of the shoot. That's the kind of match they need to build over a year or something. I have to admit with the Angle announcement and the TV slot announced TNA is looking more formidable. Now if they can just get some house shows going on a regular basis (a real tour, not just spot indie shows) they'll expand the fanbase nationwide.

Yeah but is he really under a no compete until February? Doesn't that seem like a ridiculous amount of time? I'm not saying that isn't a good thing given his physical shape right now, but rather from the contract point of view. I have to admit this surprised me tonight though. Though I do recall some Torch newsbit from the time of Angle's release where it was mentioned he was going to TNA. Keller > Meltzer in this case?

Yeah I didn't see this coming at all. How have the Giants gotten this bad all of a sudden? The Colts/Jags game wasn't shown here, instead we got the Steelers/Bengals. I'm not sure how they determine stuff like that, guess they figured the Steelers were more marketable against the semi local Bengals. It sounded like the sort of game I was expecting though, maybe a little higher scoring. Jacksonville is just so boring though. The Jags make the 2000 Ravens look like the 1998 Minnesota Vikings. For the past few years here is the Jags' game plan: play solid enough defense, run the ball, and do nothing but 4 yard screen passes. The main problem with that approach is that their D isn't THAT amazing. Not enough to beat really good teams.

Carnival, I don't see how Texas right now should be #4. Maybe they can work their way back up that far but as of right now they have to be put lower due to getting waxed at home. Just wondering but what's with the trashing of Syracuse on here? They're already 2-2 and very well could beat Wyoming, Cincy, maybe UConn. They seem more like a 5-7 type team rather than a 2-10 team predicted here.

Godson is way off base. ECW on TNN was a bizarre show at times that focused too much on the silly Network storyline, but there were some truly awesome matches that were on the TNN show. The RVD/Lynn match mentioned above, the various Tanaka/Awesome matches (Christmas and New Year's). How about Mikey and Tajiri vs. the FBI from 2000? If anything I always thought ECW gave away too much stuff on free TV that they never could quite match on PPV.

I remember that exact interview with DBS and I don't remember anything about ECW being in it. Not that it wasn't, but I remember him saying something about New Japan and pondering taking some Japan dates. He mentioned that WCW hadn't yet offered him a deal, and that in addition to the roids one major factor causing tension with Vince was his marketing in Europe. Something like with European tours or signings Vince was going to send guys who weren't that marketable in Europe, meanwhile Davey Boy has to stay in the US and wrestle in Fargo, ND. There was also a mention of Bulldog facing Tatanka in a face vs. face match if DBS had stayed (this would be 1993 at some point). It would have been in the UK or somewhere in Europe, and been a streak vs. streak type deal. Bulldog's "streak" in Europe vs. Tatanka's overall win streak.

Well, U of L avoided a letdown today and got past Kansas St. 24-6. I'm glad to get that one out of the way, since it was one that alarmed me when the schedule came out. I don't think this is the K-State of 1998 however. Just gotta get healthy and get through the Middle TN game, then Cincy, and then Cuse on the road and then the big one vs..... West Virginia.

Chaosrage, yeah I did think the RVD/Lynn feud in its TV title incarnation was highly stale. How many times does Lynn get a shot and come up short? He needed some wins in the feud and the only one he really got was Hardcore Heaven 2000 (which had a Scotty Anton heel turn and about 30 run ins). I would have finally let Jerry get a win for the TV title, then RVD moves on to the world title. At some point you can then go back to the feud again only this time for the world title. Make sense?

You know what's sad? It took me until tonight to realize that when JBL referred to losing his image consultant in Japan he was talking about Amy Weber. Perhaps he's being a bit too inside with those comments? Hell, I'd totally forgotten about her.

In 2000 I sent an email to Dave Scherer (back then on 1wrestling.com, also ran ECW's site) in response to some ECW article. Basically I pointed out all the frustrations I felt about the company (not giving RVD the title, pushing Justin, foolishly badmouthing TNN the way they did, etc). Scherer actually sent this to Heyman and Heyman responded. Here is a summary what Heyman said: --There was every intention of putting the title on RVD, but Heyman was waiting for a better TV deal. He seriously put the badmouth on TNN and defended burying the network on the air, but never addressed the point I made of it being tough to get another TV deal when you go out of your way to attack the current network on the air. --He agreed with the point I made about having the ring intros take less time, just announce guys as they come to the ring. Of course he never FIXED this. --Heyman seriously hated Raven at this point, almost to the point of accusing him of taking money under false pretenses. He couldn't wait until Raven's contract was up so he could sign with the WWF. --He said Justin Credible was busting his ass and that he was sick of people saying he was biased towards Justin and Rhino. --I mentioned that the RVD/Lynn feud was very stale, but he compared it to the Rock/HHH feud in the WWF at the time, saying it still had legs and produced a great match. On the same note I pondered what exactly RVD's motivation was at that point. Why did he care about the TV title after holding it for 2 years? Why not just say "Screw the TV belt, I want the world title?" The response: "RVD feels the TV title is HIS belt and wants it back." Needless to say I wasn't thrilled with that response, since I was desperate for an RVD world title push. Anyway, I hope this sheds some light on the subject. If I still had the original email I'd post it (I did post it on the old Rantsylvania site actually).

How hard is it to really book Joe/Jarrett at the PPV? Any moron could do "Jarrett goes out of the ring, fans beat him with straps, Jarrett gets his ass kicked for a while, does something illegal to gain an advantage, Joe comes back and hits a musclebuster, then gets a submission." As far as Jarrett's main event push ending, I wouldn't bet on it. He and Russo are thick as thieves. I doubt Jarrett would want Russo around otherwise.

With week 1 in the books I'll go ahead and post the schedule for NFL week 2 and give predictions. Sunday 1:00: Oakland at Baltimore: You gotta be kidding me, right? Oakland looked helpless in the first game, Ravens looked great. Baltimore by at least 21. Buffalo at Miami: Bills had their chance at the upset in NE, but blew it of course. They'll compete here and maybe pick off Culpepper a couple times, but lose again by about 6. Houston at Indianapolis: Assbeating, thy name is the Texans. Colts by 21. Tampa Bay at Atlanta: I have to wonder, are the Bucs really that bad? Are the Falcons really that good? I'll go with Ron Mexico here by about 7. Detroit at Chicago: This will be an ugly, ugly game. Lions aren't quite as helpless as the Packers at this point, but the Bears should still hold them on D. Something like a 13-3 game. Cleveland at Cincinnati: Rivalry game, so the Browns will bring an effort. Won't matter though, Bengals by 14. New Orleans at Green Bay: How far have the Packers fallen when they are home underdogs to the SAINTS? I can't in good conscience pick N.O. here though....Pack by 3 if they have any pride left. Carolina at Minnesota: Interesting game. It might sound crazy but I'll take the Vikings here in a tough one by about 6, sending the Panthers to a surprising 0-2. NY Giants at Philly: Maybe the best game of the day. Giants can't afford to go 0-2, so by hook or crook they have to pull this one off. NY by 3 on a late FG by the maligned Feeley. 4:00: St. Louis at San Francisco: Rams seem to struggle once a year with the Niners, but I don't see it for some reason. Rams by 10. Arizona at Seattle: I am so close to picking upset, if it was in AZ I might. Seahawks get another major scare and get a late TD to win it by 7. Kansas City at Denver: Jake Plummer can't possibly be as bad as he was last week, and with Trent Green hurt the Broncos should take this one by 14 at home. New England at NY Jets: Pats should put up another uninspiring win against a bleh opponent. NE by 5. Tennessee at San Diego: This one won't be pretty. Chargers in another romp, maybe 35-10. Washington at Dallas: Redskins have a short week and have to go to Dallas. Cowboys can't afford to go 0-2 with a home loss. Dallas by 7. Monday: Pittsburgh at Jacksonville: The Jags are the masters of technically sound, but boring football. This one is a toss up, but I'll reluctantly go with the Steelers with either Roethisberger or Batch. Pittsburgh by 4.

I actually think Dynamite was the weak link in the Bulldogs. He was the one who was injury prone and cost them matches. How was Stan Lane the weak link in the Midnight Express? I don't think they really had one. Ditto Demolition...neither guy was different enough to really be the one who got pinned (besides, Ax was the guy with the heart trouble). As far as the Brainbusters, I don't think Arn was a weak link. I'd think if you ask most people who is more credible between Arn and Tully, they'd say Arn in a heartbeat.

If Umaga gets a serious main event push we are getting close to repeating the agony that was the Yokozuna 1993-94 push. Trust me, no long term good can come of this. If they want Umaga as a lame duck challenger that gets beaten and forgotten, fine. I wouldn't put Umaga in the title scene. They can't put the title on him whatsoever, but they can't job him without killing his win streak. I'd just let him squash jobbers and a few midcard guys, then come WM have a streak vs. streak match with UT. Then of course I'd job Umaga out and soon after he'd be forgotten.

Yeah I know TNA has promoted shows in various places but what I mean is they need to do a REAL house show series. I mean an actual tour, not just random shows. To be a real promotion you have to hype where you're going. Like on the old WWF shows (stuff like All American Wrestling) they would have the airplane and list all sorts of dates and places they would be. It gave them a big time look, like they were everywhere and would be in your town soon. TNA right now is a regional promotion out of Orlando, or even worse they are like if WCW was soley based out of Disney in 1993 without ever doing anything else. As far as the announcement goes, if they truly want a WCW type announcement they should have it be Goldberg coming in, and then proceed to turn him heel by the end of the PPV.

It's not that every match needs to be extreme, but just don't do the DQs. You have a 6 man tag with a storyline that Sandman is hurt mid match....you're telling me he can't feign a concussion and do a job there? Or just job out Mike Knox?

It's pointless to add Umaga to the title scene. They aren't going to put the title on him, nor should they. And the other option is to just job his undefeated streak to a guy like Cena that doesn't need it. I dare say I'd keep him unbeaten just squashing jobbers and an occasional star, then put him vs. UT at WM. Streak vs. streak.

Here is the difference in the Colts and Steelers: The Colts at least KNOW they have no running game. It'll be an ugly game, but the Colts will stagger to some sort of victory. I mean come on, JAX has won due to having a field day with friggin Drew Bledsoe and Ben Roethlisberger with a 104 fever coming off an appendectomy. The Jags hype hasn't gotten going full steam, which is what I mean by saying the Colts need to nip this in the bud before people seriously start thinking the Jaguars can, you know, do something.