TNA Comments which don't warrant a thread

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

By way of the Torch, so proceed with caution:

 

TNA wrestler Abyss has been sitting in on production meetings lately and is now considered a member of the booking team. For many months the booking team had been made up of Jeff Jarrett, Dutch Mantel and Vince Russo. Abyss, Mike Tenay and Jeremey Borash are now also involved, making it a 6-man committee. Each member of the committee is said to have a different agenda, which could lead to some trouble. Abyss is clearly a fan of hardcore matches while Dutch Mantell is said to be completely against any matches being decided by submission holds - a philosophy that has many wrestlers shaking their heads.

[Guest]

Dutch Mantell is said to be completely against any matches being decided by submission holds

I agree with this philosophy to a point, though certainly not to that extent. Unless you're going to move a wrestler down the card, why make them look weak? Quitting DOES make a wrestler look weak. Can't use the "passed out due to the pain of the hold" finish too often, honestly, I think it sucks outside of 1 or 2 special instances.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Dutch Mantell is said to be completely against any matches being decided by submission holds

I agree with this philosophy to a point, though certainly not to that extent. Unless you're going to move a wrestler down the card, why make them look weak? Quitting DOES make a wrestler look weak. Can't use the "passed out due to the pain of the hold" finish too often, honestly, I think it sucks outside of 1 or 2 special instances.

By that logic, you couldn't use submission holds on top guys to get the hold over, because you're not moving the top guy down the card. If submission holds are used to get wins, even over top guys who aren't moving down the card, it educates the fans into accepting those holds as potential match finishes, and allows for a more dramatic match. Otherwise, when a guy goes for a submission hold, you'll get nothing but silence because the fans don't buy it can be a finish.

[The Buzz 0]

With Dutch's logic we shouldn't end the match by pinfall either. Can't make anyone look weak by pinning the other. Maybe we can make TNA the first Professional Thumb Wrestling league.

[Guest]

I'm talking stuff like making Abyss submit. The guy's such a maniac that he goes through thumbtacks and has barbed wire matches, how the fuck is it believable to have the guy submit to anything less?

 

I'm supposed to care about Abyss after that? It doesn't bother me when Angle submits, because it's generally recognized onscreen that he's a chickenshit. Or when they're trying to build someone up and have them quit. I'm speaking more in general, and not just in regard to TNA. They have so many wrestlers who are portrayed as chickenshits and cowards that it doesn't bother me as much, except for the example I gave, Abyss submitting. Joe submitting, well, yeah, that bothers me a little too. We know the ankle lock is a great finisher, we don't need to see your "monster" guy quit to it. And then have someone debut by cutting a hole in the ring and attacking Abyss...well, why the fuck should I care. He's a quitter, right?

 

I'm thinking from the perspective of the audience that TNA is trying to get to watch their program. I'm going to watch it anyway, so it doesn't bother me, but Joe Mark's (assuming they tune in) going to see Abyss getting cut by barbed wire, then seeing him tap out and say, well gee, that doesn't make any fuckin' sense, does it? If he can take barbed wire, why can't he take an ankle lock?

[2GOLD 0]

I'm talking stuff like making Abyss submit. The guy's such a maniac that he goes through thumbtacks and has barbed wire matches, how the fuck is it believable to have the guy submit to anything less?

 

Getting your skin pierced is one thing, folks do that shit for fun. Getting your ankle or arm twisted in a direction it shouldn't go to the point it is about to break, different story completely. You've got real life tough guys out there who can take a beer bottle straight to the face and not blink. But you get their leg caught and twisted in a way it's not supposed to twist, they are going to yell in pain and ask for it to stop.

 

Lasting a good amount of time should be enough to show toughness. I've never liked quick tap outs but a tap out with a good length of time, I don't see how that hurts a guy.

[Hawk 34 0]

With that real life theory, just getting back dropped or DDT'd should be cause for quitting.

[vermilion 0]

I'm going to watch it anyway, so it doesn't bother me, but Joe Mark's (assuming they tune in) going to see Abyss getting cut by barbed wire, then seeing him tap out and say, well gee, that doesn't make any fuckin' sense, does it? If he can take barbed wire, why can't he take an ankle lock?

 

Hopefully Joe Mark isn't that stupid and actually uses common sense. I'm more likely to quit from someone snapping my ankle than a few small puncture wounds. Submitting to a move that has been built up, like Angle's anklelock, doesn't make anyone go "Oh what a pussy!" You see him lock it on and you go "Shit, how's he going to get out of this move? This is the end." and the more he fights, the more suspense and drama it adds to the match. Submission holds are no different than impact finishers in that aspect. Triple H's Pedigree is a killer in kayfabe. We all know this doesn't happen but theoretically if he hits someone with it, and they kick out, the match gets that much more exciting. You are supposed to think "Wow, if he kicked out of that, what is it going to take to keep him down?" and you think he has a chance of winning. If he doesn't kick out, you aren't supposed to think he's weak, b/c everyone drops to that move. It's ridiculous to take out submissions for that reason. Might as well ditch pinfalls too, don't want to make anyone look bad. Hell, everything should end in a draw then, for the sake of not making someone look weaker than another wrestler.

[The Buzz 0]

This is probably one of my only gripes about TNA, is everyone is supposed to look strong at once, but in turn everyone looks like dogshit because of it.

[Jingus 0]

Yep, submitting to a hold sure does make someone look weak. Why, just look at those pussies in the UFC. There's so many tapouts there, the whole roster must be a bunch of girly-men.

 

The problem with wrestling's mentality towards tapouts is that, over the years, they simply came to see holds as a way to kill time, and never emphasized the fact that you really can break someone's arm with a properly applied top wrist lock. So once holds became "that stuff we do to warm up the crowd before we get to the REAL offense later on", nobody wanted to lose to a hold anymore. Problem is, MMA is exploding in popularity in this country, and more and more people are being educated that a good choke or armbar can end a fight in seconds, so it makes the wrestlers look insanely unrealistic and phoney when they scream and writhe and struggle in a hold for minutes on end.

 

 

Abyss is on the booking committiee?! That guy is so scatterbrained he could never remember that he'd ever met me before. As in, "Hi Jingus, I'm Chris, nice to meet you." "Um, dude... I managed you on that indy show... it was ten days ago." He's introduced himself to me literally a dozen times over the course of a couple of years.

[Silence 0]

Abyss is on the booking committiee?! That guy is so scatterbrained he could never remember that he'd ever met me before. As in, "Hi Jingus, I'm Chris, nice to meet you." "Um, dude... I managed you on that indy show... it was ten days ago." He's introduced himself to me literally a dozen times over the course of a couple of years.

 

Now I know who came up with that ridiculous "Shock of Horrors" match.

 

[Hawk 34 0]

Yep, submitting to a hold sure does make someone look weak. Why, just look at those pussies in the UFC. There's so many tapouts there, the whole roster must be a bunch of girly-men.

 

The problem with wrestling's mentality towards tapouts is that, over the years, they simply came to see holds as a way to kill time, and never emphasized the fact that you really can break someone's arm with a properly applied top wrist lock. So once holds became "that stuff we do to warm up the crowd before we get to the REAL offense later on", nobody wanted to lose to a hold anymore. Problem is, MMA is exploding in popularity in this country, and more and more people are being educated that a good choke or armbar can end a fight in seconds, so it makes the wrestlers look insanely unrealistic and phoney when they scream and writhe and struggle in a hold for minutes on end.

 

 

Abyss is on the booking committiee?! That guy is so scatterbrained he could never remember that he'd ever met me before. As in, "Hi Jingus, I'm Chris, nice to meet you." "Um, dude... I managed you on that indy show... it was ten days ago." He's introduced himself to me literally a dozen times over the course of a couple of years.

 

Maybe you're not a very memorable guy?

 

[Boxer 0]

So you TNA fans, got any plans for Carly Colon? Will be a mid-carder or will they throw him into the main event. Maybe a feud with Christian Cage?

[Steviekick 0]

The plan is to repackage Carlito as Carl Calone, and give him a basketball parody gimmick.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

The real plan is to let him go back to Puerto Rico and not do anything with him.

[Jingus 0]

No, TNA will be shitting themselves with excitement to get ahold of Carlito. He's not quite an Angle/Booker level acquisition, but I'd argue he's almost as big a star as Christian was. Plus, this is the same company that employs Billy Gunn and Kevin Nash, they'll hire any-damn-body who got famous with the WWE. It took them weeks to realize "um, maybe this isn't a great idea" with friggin' Test and Rikishi, and no matter how much the IWC says that Carlito is lazy, he's way better than either of those two loads.

 

Carlito would be helped a lot by the simple fact that, with the nature of his gimmick, he doesn't have to change much after leaving the WWE. His name is really Carly, his hair always looked like that, and if they never managed to stop Scott Hall from throwing toothpicks and "Hey yo", I doubt they can demand Carlito stop biting apples and "thas cool".

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

I know TNA would probably go after him. I just wouldn't really want to see it. TNA supposedly told Sabu they had no room for him because they wanted to focus on the homegrowns, so what does signing Carlito accomplish?

[Jingus 0]

Bill Behrens publicly denied the Sabu story. But even if it were true, it's probably just a lie to get him to go away because someone in the office doesn't like him. After all, this "homegrown" company did feature four ex-WWE/WCW guys in their last main event, and seems awfully shy about putting that title on Joe.

[Obi Chris Kenobi 0]

Ok, I don't personally understand all the hype about Carlito, his WWE has never captured me. Though I didn't watch it during 2003-2005 so if he did anything memorable in that time period I would have missed it.

 

On a side note, since TNA have went 2 hours I can't be bothered to watch it. I could stomach to the 45min bitesize chunks it used to be, but now when I download it, it'll take me a few weeks to get around to watching and catching up.

[Atticus Chaos 0]

Sunny did an interview where she talked about Carlito and how when she worked with him last year in Puerto Rico he told her he didn't even like wrestling that much and was only in it 'because his dad made him to do it'. So, I don't think Carlito is going to be anymore motivated in TNA than he was in WWE.

 

I think Carlito and Masters are two guys TNA might actually stay away from. Masters because they are attempting to have some sort of drug policy (yeah, I know about Booker, Angle, Steiner...etc but those guys are stars, wheras Masters,like Test, was barely over in WWE so TNA have no reason to take the risk with him) and Carlito, because the last thing they need is to push a guy famous for being unmotivated and piss off everyone in the lockerroom.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

I think Carlito and Masters are two guys TNA might actually stay away from. Masters because they are attempting to have some sort of drug policy (yeah, I know about Booker, Angle, Steiner...etc but those guys are stars, wheras Masters,like Test, was barely over in WWE so TNA have no reason to take the risk with him) and Carlito, because the last thing they need is to push a guy famous for being unmotivated and piss off everyone in the lockerroom.

TNA just hired Johnny the Bull. If they hired him, they'll surely bring in Carlito. There are many 'last things' TNA need to do, but the almost always end up doing them anyway.

[Jingus 0]

the last thing they need is to push a guy famous for being unmotivated and piss off everyone in the lockerroom.

Once again, this is the same company with Kevin Nash wrestling in the main event feud.

 

Top booking guy Dutch Mantell spent half his career in Puerto Rico working for Carlito's dad. They'll bring him in.

[Brocklock 0]

I'll say Carlito's better than Test, but I'd argue he's better than Rikishi. Rikishi's at least a better bumper than Carlito and has a little more ring presence.

 

I've always thought Carlito sucked ass. Heel Carlito's always seemed lost and he'd just go to the rest holds and face Carlito would just do slow, lame looking flips that people would mark for because no one elsle would do them in the WWE. For having Carlos Calon as his father, his punches suck ass and his micwork was typical heel cheap heat 101.

[The Ghost of bps21 0]

Every once in a while I pop on to say this...

 

but...damn I really dig Tomko.

 

If he had never been in the WWE and had horrible matches I would think this guy could be at the very top.

 

Go Tomko Go!

[cd213 0]

Every once in a while I pop on to say this...

 

but...damn I really dig Tomko.

 

If he had never been in the WWE and had horrible matches I would think this guy could be at the very top.

 

Go Tomko Go!

 

i am a huge Tomko mark. I've been a fan of his since his Bane days in OVW. I was always pissed that WWE wasted him. He had such potential. I also love him teaming with Albert since I am a huge mark for Albert as well and would go crazy if they brought Albert in to tag with Tomko.

[Nate 0]

I gotta put my 2 cents in on the Tomko talk, I never really gave a crap about him in WWE maybe because he didnt stand out from the other big men there and when he came to TNA at first I thought "GREAT ANOTHER WWE REJECT" but he really stepped up his game in TNA and from what I have seen from Japan, I'd say he's up there for most improved wrestler

[Karnage 0]

Tomko is one of the better uses of WWE outcasts. The only time I enjoyed Tomko in WWE was when Christian asked him for a beat at the Rumble.

[RedJed 0]

Went to an indy show in Northern MN over the weekend and Christy Hemme, Rikishi, and Jake Roberts headlined....just some randomness from that night that I might as well post here....

 

From seeing her interaction with fans and whatnot, Christy shows she really WANTS to be in this business. Somehow she recently got a concussion (last match w/ Kong? Hard to say...) so she wasnt allowed to work a match. But she still was a referee for a (horrible) ladies match on the card.

 

As far as Rikishi goes, he seems pretty bitter and burned out with wrestling as a whole. Was kind of rude to kids that wanted his autograph, wouldnt really even talk to them unless they paid for a signature. Asked him about if he's coming back to TNA at all, and he laughed. Take that as what you will. He phoned in his match bigtime.

 

And then Jake Roberts - you can imagine the story here. He was hanging around the vending area clearly intoxicated/fucked up on something pretty much right as the show started. Didn't really interact with many people much, just kind of walked around drinking, etc. He was supposed to be in the main event of the night but the promoter ended up putting him in the last match before intermission, clearly concerned he was going to continue to get messed up and be in no shape to perform. As it went, Roberts came out to the ring VERY loaded, did his usual crass sexual manuerisms and everything (if anyone saw Heroes of Wrestling ppv, this was almost a rehash of what he was like) and worked about a 4 minute match, if even that. Just an awful and embarrasing sight to have to witness.

 

There was a follow up "apology to the fans" message from the promoter later on, explaining that Jake showed up at 4pm already really wasted and he felt he had to make the decision to get him out there ASAP because of that. The company even rented out a snake for Roberts to use for the show (I guess he either doesnt have or can't travel with the snake anymore?) and since he was so blasted, they refused to let him bring the snake out to the ring with him. On top of that, the promoter docked Roberts pay by twenty five percent because of everything.

 

Weird night for sure at the local indy show.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

CITIES FOR FIRST 2008 TNA PPVS, NEW MATCH FOR TURNING POINT PPV AND MORE

by Mike Johnson

 

I've heard TNA has opened negotiations with a pretty big internationally known name about coming in for a regular role with the company but until I confirm who it is, I'll refrain from mentioning more.

 

The 1/6/08 Final Resolution PPV will take place in Orlando, Florida. The 2/10/08 Against All Odds PPV is tentatively scheduled for Greenville, South Carolina.

 

TNA's Mobile text messaging service announced that the Turning Point PPV on 12/2 in Orlando will feature a "Feast or Fired" Battle Royal which will lead to a wrestler being "fired." Cue the Eric Young paranoid promos. The match will feature four briefcases, one in each corner with three of them containing title shots and the other featuring a pink slip.

[The Truthiness 0]

I didn't think they could come up with a more retarded match then a Reverse ladder match, they made me a believer with the "Reverse Battle Royal". I knew they couldn't come up with a more retarded idea then the Reverse Battle Royal, and they made me a believer once again with "Feast or Fired". I now know not to doubt Tna.