NO! This has to be a joke...

[Styles 0]

I give up....

[RedJed 0]

Wow. We all bitched because Russo was going to start writing, and then the best weeks of TNA were under Russo's pen.

Eh, thats debatable - when did Russo have full control of the book? TNA had a nice run about 2 months after their initial debut til around the end of that year - a few really stupid things like the Dupp Cup and Lenny and whatshisfuck - Kweewee under the new more homo gimmick. I felt the start of 2003 (where I am thinking he had more control of booking) was up and down depending on the week. Remember the week where we had "The Russo Army" angle all show long? UGH!

 

For what its worth, I think from about March 2003 through the summer (with the X tournament) was pretty good. If memory serves me right, I remember some shows that Jerry Jarrett and Russo booked together, and those seemed pretty good to me.

 

One thing is for sure though - that when Mantel came in, he built more long term (which is good) but he is/was horribly uncreative and predictable in his booking style. And Jeff Jarrett reallly should have had no input ever in booking since he never really booked before TNA and it showed.

[Corey_Lazarus 0]

It's not really debatable, because Russo and Jerry shared the book from the moment Russo came in (LATE August, so no, the Dupp Cup and Puppet in the trashcan were NOT his ideas) until mid '03 when Jerry was replaced by Jeff, and then Russo was gone entirely from October '03 until February '04, and then left again in either November or October again.

 

Sure, they were up and down, but overall, the quality was solid, as the weeks with decent-at-best matches were very good angle-wise, and the weeks with stupid-as-hell angles had terrific matches. I miss the team of Russo and Jerry, really. Jerry knew enough about the old-school style and how to modernize it to keep us happy work-wise, and Russo knew what it took to make an interesting product AND he had a filter (which is what he REALLY needs the most: somebody to take out the bad and keep in the good).

 

And, for the record, I liked the show where it was Russo's Army all night. Mike Sanders dressed as a General? Ownage. It furthered the SEX/Tradition feud, and brought it to its peak.

[Guest Fook_Theta]

Who had the book when Raven was about to win the title? Who had the book when AJ finally won?

[RedJed 0]

It's not really debatable, because Russo and Jerry shared the book from the moment Russo came in (LATE August, so no, the Dupp Cup and Puppet in the trashcan were NOT his ideas) until mid '03 when Jerry was replaced by Jeff, and then Russo was gone entirely from October '03 until February '04, and then left again in either November or October again.

 

Sure, they were up and down, but overall, the quality was solid, as the weeks with decent-at-best matches were very good angle-wise, and the weeks with stupid-as-hell angles had terrific matches. I miss the team of Russo and Jerry, really. Jerry knew enough about the old-school style and how to modernize it to keep us happy work-wise, and Russo knew what it took to make an interesting product AND he had a filter (which is what he REALLY needs the most: somebody to take out the bad and keep in the good).

 

And, for the record, I liked the show where it was Russo's Army all night. Mike Sanders dressed as a General? Ownage. It furthered the SEX/Tradition feud, and brought it to its peak.

Yeah I guess thats the point I was also trying to make - Russo and Jerry as a team wrote some tremendous stuff when one or the other would bounce ideas off each other or moreless Russo would be filtered, but in a fair way. I also wish it would go back to them too, but maybe if Jerry can work hand in hand with Rhodes, that may do something. Time will tell.

 

If you have time, try and get that journal book from Jerry Jarrett, (I think they have it at HighSpots) which covers all of 2002 in trying to develop TNA from basically a day to day process. It shows that, while I feel he (at the time) needed some dose of reality in that the wrestling scene is different than it was once was, that Jerry Jarrett does actually know his shit, and especially when it comes to his son and how to use him. It also shows how much of a deer in the headlights Jeff can be with alot of the business stuff, which is one of many reasons why TNA hasnt succeeded.

 

It's too bad that Russo and Jerry wont work again together since Jerry is basically the reason why Russo left (from his scathing comments about him in his book). But I still hope now that Jerry is trying to get himself back in the fold and take control of the sinking ship to get a new and positive direction formed.

 

The company, though, sounds way too political right now, according to the last reports of Jeff and Dutch still damn near having full control of the book even though Rhodes is supposedly heading it. I dont get it...Jerry needs to (and I think he is currently trying this) sweet charm the Carters to allow him to fully run TNA with his business desicions overpowering everything else. This goes beyond the book (which he can still just give to Rhodes until he blows it) but covers such things as possibly getting all of these egos in check and not allowing plans of action to be compromised. I can't imagine the friendship, or lack thereof, that the two Jarretts have these days from all of this. Pretty sad.

[RedJed 0]

It's not really debatable, because Russo and Jerry shared the book from the moment Russo came in (LATE August, so no, the Dupp Cup and Puppet in the trashcan were NOT his ideas) until mid '03 when Jerry was replaced by Jeff, and then Russo was gone entirely from October '03 until February '04, and then left again in either November or October again.

 

Sure, they were up and down, but overall, the quality was solid, as the weeks with decent-at-best matches were very good angle-wise, and the weeks with stupid-as-hell angles had terrific matches. I miss the team of Russo and Jerry, really. Jerry knew enough about the old-school style and how to modernize it to keep us happy work-wise, and Russo knew what it took to make an interesting product AND he had a filter (which is what he REALLY needs the most: somebody to take out the bad and keep in the good).

 

And, for the record, I liked the show where it was Russo's Army all night. Mike Sanders dressed as a General? Ownage. It furthered the SEX/Tradition feud, and brought it to its peak.

One thing I forgot to mention is that I thought, but I may be incorrect, that Russo had, for a month or two, damn near full and unfiltered booking power of TNA, and this was where I was thinking early 2003 came into mind and I thought that is what led to Jerry getting back into the writing more (in March or April of that year), as he took a break of sorts when he was more booking things from TNA's inception until October of 2002 and then had Russo do more after that time. I could be off though.

 

As has been discussed already, when he has full control of things, its usually not as good as it could be which brings the point if he really is THAT good of a booker or not. I'm still unsure about him to this day.

[RedJed 0]

Who had the book when Raven was about to win the title? Who had the book when AJ finally won?

I think that was the Russo/Jerry Jarrett team when both of these instances occured.

[Guest LooneyTune]

TNA started sucking (majorly) when Grandpa Mantell got hired to completely fuck the company over. Mr. "Our main audience is 76 year old grandfathers."

[SamoaRowe 0]

TNA started sucking (majorly) when Grandpa Mantell got hired to completely fuck the company over. Mr. "Our main audience is 76 year old grandfathers."

Oh, I totally agree. When Mantell came on, I had turned into a very loyal and enthusiastic TNA fan, was ordering the ppvs whenever I had the money (which was often in those days) and was thrilled at the possibilities of TNA expanding. I wasn't alone, as I remember the fans in the Asylum were becoming very enthusiastic as well, and many were wearing TNA merchandise. It was a very exciting time.

 

Then Dutch Mantell came on board... and it all fell to shit. By the end of 2003, I had lost most interest in the TNA product and I only ordered a handful of shows in 2004 (most of which were X-Cups).

 

On a personal note, Dutch killed TNA.

[RHR 0]

I would pretty much say that I think that TNA was really screwed up by all of the people in charge. Each one has a hand in the shit that is going on. The sad thing is, the guys with no say...THE WRESTLERS...are really trying to make this thing work.

 

I feel somewhat bad for AJ, Truth, Elix, Daniels, Sabin, Kash, the Canadians, etc....they are really trying to make this thing work...yet those in charge...think Randy Savage and fucking the Outsiders will pull people in. It's crap.