Notes From The Backstage for 4/30

[Guest BoboBrazil]

By Bob Ryder

It's finally going to happen. After weeks of buildup, Jeff Jarrett defends his NWA World Heavyweight Title tonight against Raven. It's shaping up to be the biggest match in TNA history and there's a sense of excitement leading up to this show unlike anything we've ever experienced.

 

With all of the interest the match is generating, we're expecting to attract some fans who might not have tuned in to recent shows, and probably some fans who might not have seen any of our shows at all. We're going to do our best to make sure those fans like what they see, and we have an action packed show planned.

 

Fans of the 'X Division' will especially enjoy tonight's show. Kid Kash will put the X Title on the line against Amazing Red in what promises to be an exciting title defense. Jerry Lynn takes on Christopher Daniels in a potential match of the year candidate, and the show will also feature a 4 Way Elimination style match with Jason Cross, Shark Boy, Jimmy Rave, and Chris Sabin battling each other to try to move up the X Division rankings. Sabin was very impressive in his initial TNA appearance a couple of weeks ago, and Cross has rebounded well from his hand injury. Shark Boy always gets a great reaction, and Jimmy Rave is on the verge of breaking through in a big way. This match could be the platform one of these guys needs to make a big impact in the X Division.

 

Another match I'm looking forward to is a special tag challenge between the teams of AJ Styles & D-Lo Brown and Sonny Siaki & David Young. Styles & Brown got a great reaction last week, and the team of Siaki & Young has a lot of potential. This one could be a show stealer.

 

The main attraction tonight, though, is clearly the Jarrett vs Raven match. It should definitely be an interesting match, if for no other reason but that the two men have very different styles. Jarrett is the more traditional technical wrestler while Raven thrives on a more extreme violent style. Don't let labels fool you, though, because both men are capable of adapting. Raven can wrestle, and Jarrett can brawl.

 

Raven had his greatest success in ECW, and I had a chance to see a lot of his matches in the famed "ECW Arena"....the place Jarrett was referring to when he mentioned the "Bingo Hall" in his comments last week. You could always count on Raven's matches to be violent, but you could also count on seeing things that would make his matches unique. A lot of wrestlers do the "drop toe-hold", but Raven's version was more fun to watch because he added a chair to the mix. A lot of wrestlers use the "DDT", but Raven's "Even Flow" just looked better.

 

As successful as Raven was in ECW, he never really found his stride in WCW or the WWE. Those days are behind him now, though, and he has definitely made an impact in a short period of time in TNA.

 

I've been attending a lot of local shows recently in the Nashville area, and I've seen some really good matches lately. The fans in this area are tremendous and sometimes it seems like I've stepped back into the "good old days" when I see crowds respond the way they did in the 60's. If the referee is the most hated guy in the building, chances are you're at a show with "old school" fans.

 

Rick Santel, a member of our security crew who works local shows in and around Nashville, suffered a broken nose last week in a match in Woodbury TN.

 

We're continuing to expand out national syndication efforts. XPlosion will soon be airing in Denver, and we're adding more stations every week. If you want XPlosion to air in your area, tell your local television station to get in touch with us.

 

Jeremy Borash reported last week that Jeff Jarrett is going to be traveling to New Zealand at the end of May to compete in a special WWA event. It's looking like Jarrett will be wrestling Sting on that program. We'll have more details about that event coming up soon.

 

Jeremy also talked in his column about the great "Fanny Pack" debate that has been going on recently. As you may or may not know, a lot of wrestlers tend to like to wear a "Fanny Pack"....and Jeremy (and others) think they shouldn't. This debate hasn't reached the proportions the infamous "Martin Short" debate reached in WCW, but it's well on the way. For those who might not know about the "Martin Short" debate.....it started in catering when somehow the subject came up as to whether Martin Short was funny or not. As I recall, Chris Jericho thought Martin Short was hilarious but Disco Inferno didn't think he was funny at all. To determine once and for all whether Martin Short was funny, Jericho and Disco decided to poll the locker room. For the next hour or so everyone on WCW's roster was asked if they thought Martin Short was funny or not. The result was that Martin Short is funny, although it was a very close vote. Disco claims the results were fixed because Martin Short is Canadian and the WCW roster had quite a few Canadians (including Jericho).

 

You know those phone calls I have been mentioning? The ones coming to the TNA offices from people you wouldn't expect to be calling? Well, we had more of them this week.

 

Well that's about it for this week. Be sure to spread the word about tonight's big show. If you have friends who are wrestling fans but who may not have watched our shows....tell them this is the night to do it! I'll be back next week with more "Notes From Backstage"....until then, enjoy the show!

 

Bob Ryder

www.nwatna.com

[Guest bps "The Truth" 21]

I stopped reading after I read this:

 

Jerry Lynn vs. Christopher Daniels.

 

*marks out*

 

Now I have to read the rest.