TNA news from latest Observer

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

According to several sources, the Carters and Panda must have given Jerry Jarrett the word they are wanting to pull out. Jarrett has told people he's on a time limit to find a new ownership group. The company has booked a 2/13 PPV date, which is the last PPV date on the schedule at this point. It's said Jerry has gone to Bob Carter and suggested before pulling out, to put himself in charge of the company and he'd be able to make it financially viable through cost cutting. It's very unlikely to happen since Bob's daughter has the position in charge of those financial decisions, which is why there was surprisingly little advertising for the 11/7 PPV . . . When Dusty Rhodes was introduced, he gave a football coaching speech to the talent and I've heard very mixed reactions to his speech. Some said it was like a college football coach rah-rah speech, but others said people were not at all positive. It was even compared with the famous Eric Bischoff speech where he said Hogan, Savage and Piper were the only people in the company who had ever drawn money so nobody had a right to complain, which pissed off the entire locker room, in particular anyone who had been friends with Flair, who was sitting there when Bischoff made that speech. Rhodes got heat by saying he heard there was a lot of heat because of how Hall & Nash came in, got the top spots, and in particular when Nash went way long on the interview and had nothing to say. Rhodes said he's tired of hearing complaining about Hall & Nash, saying they had proven themselves at the top level, and said, thanks to Hall, Nash & Savage, the company drew a good buy rate. Some say he lost credibility right there, because nobody even knew Savage was going to be on the show, so his being there had zero effect on buy rate. Plus, others thought it was a slap in the face, as he was insinuating they were the reasons for the buy rate and some took it like he was saying they were the only proven stars in the company. There was a ton of scepticism given his track record. Rhodes has booked out his major storylines as much as six months in advance, because he is an old school proponent of knowing where he's going and telling longer stories. He's into a lot of mystery stuff, and like Russo, is into copying from movies he's seen. The difference is, from those who know both, Russo copied with no idea how to tie the skits into anything that had wrestling intrigue, while Rhodes has a level of depth of knowledge Russo never understood, but he's also the product of a decade plus before. Rhodes said the biggest problem in the company is the lack of communication, which many agreed with. That's the biggest problem in both WWE and TNA right now. For example, things were so bad that even though the company had been told by FSN that the 11/26 show was cancelled, whomever got the word, didn't feel it important enough to let people know. Keith Mitchell, who does production, didn't find out until he called FSN to coordinate satellite time for 11 /26. and was told, "don't you know, you don't have a show." On the 11/19 show, even though the company knew (although almost nobody was aware of it, because when Keith Mitchell doesn't know and he's the one who does the coordinates, you can imagine how few were let it on it), nobody felt it important enough to announce on the air that next week's show would be airing on the following Tuesday. . . Rhodes' new- philosophy is to run fewer matches on TV, and make the matches longer, and try and slow down the X division matches with the old make the spots mean more ideas. He also emphasized letting guys have more interview time, and that the guys who can't pick up the slack on their interviews will eventually be replaced by those who can. The positive is a lot of the wrestlers no know long-term angles, so hopefully in knowing where they are going, they can tell the stories, as opposed to the past where the top guys may have had 2-3 weeks of knowledge of where they were going, but most everyone else didn't know until they showed up for TV. The negative on Rhodes is the same as many; not recognizing what shouldn't be on TV. He booked Scott Hall vs. A. J. Styles for a TV main event, but Hall was a good 20 pounds overweight and looked to have aged. Part of the problem was he was wearing those small WCW tights from when he was in shape at 245, and it only accentuated his gut because the tights were four sizes too small. All that was accomplished was Styles having a bad match that made people less interested in buying the PPV. The feeling by some is, they exposed that Hall can't do anything before the PPV. The funny thing was, the live fans were super into the match, chanting "Let's go A. J." alternating with "Let's Go Scott Hall" like it was a classic.. . They are really going to miss David Sahadi, because those videos are the best thing on the TV show. . . The plan right now is to air footage on the PPV of the deal when the WWE came to film the Rumble commercial in Orlando. It will have to be announced this week, so not sure how hard they are going to push it as one of the major selling points. . . A lot of people were also mad because nobody was told directly exactly how their pay will be affected by the double tapings. In fact, it wasn't even a sure thing the company would even address to the wrestlers the new taping schedule, other than they posted a note in the locker room listing upcoming dates for December as 12/5 (PPV), 12/7 and 12/21 and left it to the guys to deduce that meant taping ever}' other week. Eventually, after coaxing from some veterans who said it had to be addressed, they called a meeting, which was where Rhodes was introduced and gave his speech. It may not even be a sure thing, since Panda is looking at cutting costs wherever possible. It's known the wrestling side tried to make it so wrestlers who came in for a taping would be paid the equivalent of two shows instead of one, so the wrestlers and announcers wouldn't get their pay cut in half which would be one that would be received poorly. Panda hadn't approved of that at last word. Bob Ryder told the wrestlers at the 11/23 taping that they would all be getting paid for two shows "this time," with the important words being "this time." Lots of people are nervous, because the TNA gig, if you make $500 a week plus a PPV, is $2,500 per month. It's not liveable on its own, but it's a base. If cut down to $1,500, it makes a big difference. For those who don't get outside Indy work, and these are the guys who need this the most, they'll be the first ones hurt. The fact Konnan would miss a PPV show to work in Mexico tells you a lot about the long-term confidence in things here. . . Jeff Hardy is said to be now in the best frame of mind since he's come. Hardy gets along great with Hall & Nash because when he was a teenager being brought in to do jobs on WWF TV, Hall & Nash were always friendly with the Hardy’s and were again when they came in here. Hardy has been pretty much told he has carte blanche to arrive late, as long as he gets there on time for the TV show . . . Erik Watts is back partially because DDP, who had been friends with him for years since both trained at the Power Plant at the same time, went to bat for him. . . Dale Torborg has been backstage at Orlando shows of late. He's a life-long fan who has always looked at getting back in, even though he has a career as a major league baseball coach. . . Petey Williams came up with the Canadian Destroyer move a few years ago in practice with Chris Sabin. He said the move is a lot safer than it looks. The funny thing is Amazing Red had come up with the move in 1998 in training, but never used it in a match. Williams, 23, said he's preparing for a career in law enforcement in Canada in case something happens with his wrestling career. .. Kid Kash will be back in the doghouse after an interview in this month's Power Slam magazine in the U.K. When asked why he's unhappy, he said, "It's the politics, the favoritism. In every other company I've worked for, and I've been around a long time-there was always room for advancement (I guess his memory of his stay in WCW has vanished). That's your main goal in any job, to advance. That's my goal. But, in TNA, that doesn’t seem possible because they've already selected the people that are going to be pushed. . . Most companies have their chosen ones. I understand that. But most companies allow the other talent, the true talent, to advance (he's still not remembering WCW). TNA doesn't allow that. Even when you watch the advertisements (for Impact), they only advertise Jeff Jarrett, Raven, AMW and A.J. Styles. . . Bob Ryder asked me if I watch the television show. And I told him that I did, but I don’t anymore because you can't even tell if I work (for TNA)... They don't even have an explanation for anything.. . I've taken a lot of flak over the years because I tell you what's on my mind. (TNA management) never tells you anything straight . . . TNA wants credibility. They want the company to be credible enough to run with WWE. So they started realizing that the only thing people are tuning in for is to watch the X division. When I was in the X division, it was exciting. But it was guys like me, Jerry Lynn, Christopher Daniels and Elix Skipper, guys who know how to wrestle the cruiserweight style and tell a story in a match. Now they have guys who are in over their heads, who are buddies with people in the office.. . Don't get me wrong; some of these kids are good. But they have not one ounce of ring psychology. They take a big bump off the top rope and what do they do? They kip right up. They have no selling ability, no microphone ability. The only thing they can do is big spots. But they can't even do their spots where they are supposed to go. If you watch an X division match, all you see is a cluster of moves. . . TNA claim they don't have money in the budget to pay the wrestlers decent wages. They should pay us at least what we're worth. .. TNA says (they can't pay more) because it's not in the budget. But they can bring in different people, like Lex Luger, of all people, a washed up guy with more demons in his closet than he can deal with." He complained how TNA can pay Hall & Nash $50,000 each and not give him a few hundred dollar a week raise. He said he's asked to get a release a few times and been turned down, but wouldn't go to WWE if they offered him a developmental deal. .. TNA lost its TV in the U.K. on The Wrestling Channel effective 12/15. The channel, which is having its financial issues, offered TNA a lower priced deal for 2005, and TNA turned them down. Rick Norton on The Wrestling Channel forum said they've been unable to agree to new terms, plus had constant comments from viewers about the delayed feed (they were airing shows from months ago), and said they felt the time lag was unacceptable considering WWE is able to get its shows on Sky the week of airing.

[Guest M. Harry Smilac]

I think Kid Kash and RVD should get together sometime and go bowling.

[JoeDirt 0]

Thanks HTQ!

 

I'm sure Kash was exaggerating...but Hall and Nash weren't REALLY given $50,000 each for Victory Road, were they?

[Guest Gary Busey]

They are really going to miss David Sahadi, because those videos are the best thing on the TV show.

 

Is he not with the company any more?

 

And thanks for typing this all out, we really appreciate it.

[Guest LooneyTune]

Ok, TNa will be dead on February 14th...St. Valentines Day Massacre. Thanks for posting these Observer news every week.

 

I can't think of a company now that deserves failure more than NWA-TNA. For 2 years I plunked down my money ($10 a shot) for the weekly PPVs, some good, some bad (more of the latter near the end). NEVER, since the early part of 2003, have they tried to do anything else but push Jeff fucking Jarrett down our God-Damn throats. The X-Division has been reduced to the level of WWE's Cruiserweight Division, because we have to watch two fucking old farts named Kevin "I hope I don't die walking" Nash and Scott "give me another shot" Hall make asses out of themselves even more.

 

Let's not forget the BRIGHT idea for bringing Lex Luger in those couple of times. I can go on and on until this company finally dies. The only thing I'll miss is A.J. Styles, Christopher Daniels, Elix Skipper, and not much else. Mike Tenay should really be given a job with WWE. The guy for all of 2002 carried Don West on commentary, when West was horrible. Somehow he molded into a pretty good color commentator. I'm not saying Tenay is 100% responsible, but he certainly helped.

[TheBigSwigg 0]

They are really going to miss David Sahadi, because those videos are the best thing on the TV show.

 

Is he not with the company any more?

If Sahadi is really gone, I'm pissed. I really hate Borash's techno bullshit videos.

[Guest LooneyTune]

I could make better videos with Power-Point than Borash can with whatever he uses.