Interinactivity: July 15th, 2011 – CM Punk, Ric Flair, Destination X, WWE / TNA

Welcome to this week’s edition of “That Being Said”. This week, we’ll discuss CM Punk, Ric Flair, Destination X, WWE .vs. TNA, who would benefit from a switch to another company, and much more!

Before we begin, I have something a bit odd to report. For the first time in a while, Swayze went to check out 411 to get some more fan reactions on Destination X. I hadn’t been there in a LONG time either. Anyway, he said it was pretty much what he expected, although some people were REALLY critical of the show. Anyway, the odd thing he found and told me about – two commenters in particular LOVED this show. Know what their names were?

Blair and Swayze.

I can assure you that this is not us.

I’ve never commented on a 411 article.

Ever.

So yeah, there you go. Odd little coincidence. Not sure what possible point there could be to someone doing that, but we’re pretty amused by the whole thing. As long as no mystery online gambling charges start showing on my credit card, anyway. I had a clone on Facebook once, that kind of freaked me out, but I sort of just assumed it was a crazy ex… or just Swayze himself, but Swayze wouldn’t be caught dead on Facebook.

Thanks for all the great questions last week. Let’s get into it.

Jimmy: good article Blair, glad your still doing inter-activity but will you still be reviewing destination x? it should be watchable.
Blair: I watched Destination X - it was well done. It certainly wasn’t perfect, and there’s a lot that could have done better, but it was still the best PPV TNA has put on in years, and in a way, it was almost awesome in it’s imperfections. By that I mean, you could absolutely tell who the crowd cares about in TNA, and who they don’t give a shit about. Like, you NEVER heard ANY crowd do ANYTHING for Anderson, Morgan, Gunner or Crimson like they did for Kaz and Joe. And Kaz and Joe were the OPENING match. And You KNOW that the crowd cares about Amazing Red and Alex Shelley, and that they don’t give a shit one way or the other about Shannon Moore or Robbie E. You KNOW they weren’t going ANYwhere to watch Abyss and Spanky Kendrick, but that was the only thing promoted on the opening. I loved the PPV for that reason – that it showcased EXACTLY what is wrong with TNA. That’s not me – WATCH the PPV and WATCH the reactions of the crowd for most of those matches. Then watch a Gunner or a Ken Anderson match, and you tell me what the crowd really cares about and wants to see. How some people can ignore the reactions of the LIVE FUCKING CROWD is beyond me.

And no, sorry, but I won’t spend the time reviewing it. The show should speak for itself in terms of how good it is, and it will illustrate 2 things – how poorly your average TNA PPV stacks up against a show like this, AND that TNA DOES have the roster to pull off a good PPV, it’s just that they choose not to in favor of believing that people will pay to see Ken Anderson as the main draw of TNA. That’s the ONE thing that TNA has over WWE – the roster to pull off a PPV that is awesome from top to bottom. I don’t know that WWE has that roster, but as long as TNA keeps squandering THEIR roster, it won’t make a difference one way or the other.

And, since at some point, the buyrate for this show will be reported online, the fact that the show likely won’t do that much better than your average TNA PPV will be used by TNA marks to conclude that the X-Division is not a draw. Let me just say in advance that this notion will be idiocy – they didn’t promote this PPV. Like, at all. I believe they’ve promoted this PPV less than any PPV they’ve done so far in my recent memory. What did you see as the main thrust of Impact leading into this PPV? Sting raping Hulk Hogan, and TNA pretending that anyone cares whether Ken Anderson is a face or a heel.

CB: I just can’t stomach Impact this week after I went to TNA’s live BaseBrawl show in Coney Island last weekend. You know, the show where Ric Flair — who was advertised as a special guest main attraction — was backstage and yet NO-SHOWED the live crowd anyway. Seriously, that happened.
Blair: Well, in TNA’s defence, could this have something to do with the fact that Ric Flair is worth more dead than alive financially?

CB: I do have a WWE-related question and comment, however. I’m sure you either heard about or saw the Cena-Vince exchange on the Fourth of July episode of Raw. In case you didn’t, the crux of the matter is this: WWE turned what was one of the most buzzed about moments in a long while (Punk’s promo and all the unpredictability that came with it) and essentially screwed the whole thing up by having Vince tell Cena he’s fired if he loses to Punk at the PPV. Oh, and not only that, WWE also confirmed to GLAAD officials that CM Punk’s contract is legitimately expiring on July 17th, following Punk’s gay slur incident with fans in Australia.  So basically, in a nutshell, WWE went from making MITB a must-see PPV filled with intrigue and turned it into just another run-of-the-mill event where “anything can happen” will be exactly what doesn’t happen, where Super Cena will either save the day or John will be fake fired for the second time in MONTHS. And therefore, I think WWE is actually worse than TNA, in the sense that the company has a freaking monopoly on the business, has amazing production values, and has the ability to actually take chances … and yet they just recycle the same stuff over and over and over again. Merch sales or no merch sales, it’s getting extremely boring out there in WWE land.
Blair: I didn’t see the exchange, but I did read about it. To my knowledge, and I could be wrong, but this happened BEFORE Homogate 2011, and before the internet knew that Punk was ACTUALLY leaving. While I’m glad that he’s leaving if that’s what he wants, before that came out, I thought for sure that he’d be staying and that that part of what we were seeing was a work. So yeah, they probably saw just HOW well the angle was going for a guy who wasn’t going to be on their roster anymore, and between the fact that Chicago and a large portion of wrestling fans in general are is going to rip Cena to shreds, and the fact that they won’t be able to capitalize on this whole thing with Punk gone, they needed to do something to save their show-runner.

Not the hardest thing in the world to understand, but yes, it certainly does make for less interesting TV now that we know that Punk is actually leaving. But remember that the reason that they had to publicly acknowledge that is pretty much Punk’s fault himself. I think if Punk were staying, right now we’d be seeing WWE capitalizing on this as much as they could, but on the other hand, if he were staying we’d probably have never seen this angle in the first place.

The whole thing was playing out quite well for both WWE and CM Punk before Homogate, though. It was easily the best and most interesting thing that WWE or TNA had done in a couple years, WWE had the nuts to give Punk a live mic and no net on a couple of occasions, and in return they would have had SuperCena shut him down for the kids, gotten a bigger PPV buyrate for sure, and Punk himself could have made a living in Japan, Mexico, or the indies for the rest of his life on just that cred alone. The promos that Punk cut over the past couple weeks (bless YouTube for making sure I don’t have to sit through RAW just to find them) have been the best promos in wrestling over the past five or so years. (This is usually where some TNA mark will tell me that the Jeff Jarrett \ Kurt Angle exchange where they knocked that ugly whore Karen down the stairs was better. I even had one guy Twitter me that I was wrong about it and that it HAD to be a SHOOT because they were swearing and Spike had to bleep it.)

So before Homogate, WWE and Punk both deserved a kudos for the angle. This is why WWE will always be superior to TNA. Their roster might not be as strong and it may be boring, but you will NOT see time -travelling-drug-rape-hypnotized-past-life-ghost-in-a-mirror stuff either, for the most part. To me, that stuff feels like having someone open up my head and shit on my brain. This is just another example. When WWE has someone important leaving, they usually handle it with grace and a logical storyline (please do not bring up Bret Hart.) Like with Shawn Michaels, Ric Flair, Batista, or Punk before Homogate 2011. TNA has no concept of this. Someone will either just disappear, or something like Bobby Lashley will happen. Anyone remember that? TNA let him go out and shit all over TNA and the few fans they actually have, then said he wanted to quit TNA because it sucked, and wrestling sucked. On their first show of MONDAY NIGHT WAR 2!!! He was never heard from in TNA again. TNA fans were like ‘IT’S A WORK!!! JUST BE PATIENT!!! DON’T BE SUCH A MARK!!!” Nope. Turns out it was just TNA being retarded. It’s not like WWE has a perfect track record or anything, but take a look at the past few years – maybe boring, but not NEARLY as illogical and nonsensical a show as TNA.

I will watch the main event of the WWE PPV on Sunday, although not the rest of it. That sounds unnecessarily painful to me. Mostly because I can’t wait to see Punk’s crowd reaction, Cena’s crowd reaction, and just in case it actually is the last time we’ll see Punk on TV in a while. I’ve been a huge fan of Punk since his indy days, and this seems worth it just for historical relevance.

Also, it’s not “getting boring” in WWE-land. With a few small exceptions, WWE has been boring for YEARS. TNA is worse than boring. I have a lot of people e-mailing me telling me that the business is cyclical, and that this is just a “down period”. Which isn’t true. Wrestling has had one, MAYBE two real boom periods in it’s history. That’s not a cycle. That’s something happening twice. I’ve stubbed my toe on the stoop in my garage twice. That’s not a fucking cycle.

Daniel Gianni: Blair, I dig the white clothed meditation profile pic.
Blair: That’s good, because you weren’t getting an UNclothed meditation profile pic.

Daniel Gianni: Just wanted your thoughts on who you feel can make it in the WWE from the current ROH roster. I know that the roster is much weaker today than the heydays with Punk, AJ, Low Ki, McGuinness and co but do you see anyone there who could fit the WWE’s superstar mould. Since wrestling skill doesn’t matter that much compared to their so called “IT factor”, is there someone who can ascend to the mainevent like CM Punk managed to (albeit with much difficulty). The ‘E likes people who’re good on the mic and being able to put on great matches is a bonus. I felt Nigel McGuiness would have been perfect, shame how his career played out….
Blair: I imagine Desmond Wolfe was amazingly pleased with his decision to go to TNA for the first two months, until Hogan and Bischoff got there. Then it went downhill FAST. Wolfe even won a poll saying he was who TNA fans wanted to get a title shot, and they blew that off. It’s just unreal.

If you’re talking who could fit the CURRENT WWE SuperStar mold, then the first guys that come to mind for me are the Briscoes. I know WWE hates tag-teams for some reason, but they have a brawling style that I think could work for WWE. Plus, they look alike. WWE fucking LOVES that. I never understood why no one has taken the Briscoe’s after all these years. Claudio Castagnoli is a great talent who is good on the mic. WWE already missed the boat on Cabana. Generico could work in a humorous capacity. Davey and Eddie are tearing it up, but they’d be wasted in WWE, as their mic work is awful, and I don’t know if WWE would even take them. Jimmy Jacobs might do all right. Other than that, I think the ROH guys need to work on mic skills and ring presence before E’ would even look at them, sadly. I’m still waiting to see what they do with Tyler Black.

Limodriver: The best part of the knockouts handicap match: In the middle of the match, Tenay pissed all over it by speculating that ODB and Jackie might not honor the stipulation. If the stipulation isn’t enforceable, why have the freaking match? And then, predictably, as soon as the match is over, ODB declares that she won’t be abiding by the stipulation. Not to mention the inherent absurdity of someone not under contract with TNA continuing to show up in the Impact Zone every week and getting physically involved with an actual under contract knockout.
Blair: Given the chaotic environment in TNA and it’s history of baffling decisions, I don’t find it all that hard to suspend disbelief that something like this could be allowed to go down.

JESSE NEAL: Hey, Hulk. Hulk! I think we may have a problem.
HULK HOGAN: Who the fuck are you?
NEAL: Uh… it’s me. Jesse Neal.
HOGAN: Who the fuck is Jesse Neal?
NEAL: I’m Jesse Neal!
HOGAN: No, I understand that, but I mean like… who is Jesse Neal?
NEAL: … I’m…
HOGAN: Right… right, I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I guess I was just startled to see you in my locker room. Sting force fed me these pills earlier on and… it’s not important. What can I do for you?
NEAL: Well, Jaqueline and ODB are back and are beating up Velvet Sky!
HOGAN: Who the fuck are…
NEAL: ODB and Jaqueline used to work here, and…
HOGAN: I see. And who is Velvet Sky?
NEAL: You… you’ve met her… so many times. She’s… a Knockout.
HOGAN: What the fuck is a “Knockout”?
NEAL: They’re what we call our female wrest…
HOGAN: I GOT BIGGER PROBLEMS!!!

Patrick Spohr: I’m not saying that Bischoff is all to blame, of course. But he’s one of those guys who’s in a position of power in TNA, to some extent. As an Executive Producer, I’m sure that all possible talent acquisitions and possible storylines and pushes have to cross his desk for approval. What I’m saying is that Bischoff doesn’t bring much to the table as an on-screen talent, so he should just drop the act all together and work behind-the-scenes.
Blair: I highly doubt Bischoff himself has final cut. I’m willing to bet that no one has final cut, which is why the show is a mess. You’re right about him not being missed as an on-air talent though. For that matter, if he left TNA entirely, I doubt he’d be missed that much backstage either.

Patrick Spohr: Since you don’t watch much, if any, WWE programming, I won’t ask your opinion about them. Instead, I’ll ask you this: with the Sinclair Broadcast Group purchasing Ring of Honor and slated to air 1-hour episodes of the show a week, will this add up to anything for RoH? Sinclair has had some financial problems, and the stations they own are mostly in small to mid-market cities. They have stated they will offer the program on syndication which will allow other broadcasters to air the program, but do you see anyone biting on this offer? Or do you think broadcasters will balk at having another wrestling program on that will compete against TNA and WWE?
Blair: As for broadcasters balking at taking on WWE or TNA, no one is thinking that ROH will beat WWE, at least not for the foreseeable future, and NO ONE is thinking that TNA is the company to beat. A 1.3 rating is nothing. Down the road, you never know. As for the show itself, HDNet is not available where I live, so I didn’t see ROH’s last attempt at a TV show, but from all reports, it was pretty bad. ROH is a different kind of wrestling promotion, so I don’t think that a WWE or TNA-style TV show would work for them, but I also don’t have a better idea, unless they structured it somewhat like the old ECW on TNN show. I don’t know what ROH is going to do with the Sinclaire show, but I certainly hope it goes well, because they’re lucky to be getting another shot on TV. A wrestling show is INSANELY hard to get on TV for a small promotion. For a small promotion to get on TWICE? Hopefully they know how lucky they are, and will capitalize. Also, feel free to ask WWE questions. I may not watch, but as Vince from Entourage says, I DO read, E. I do read.

Rhett Davis: Ok my question for you Blair is what are your feelings on multiple world titles (WWE/World) and should the midcard titles (Intercontinental/United States) become obsolete?
Blair: In my opinion, both shows need a World Title. I think it’d make more sense to name the belt after the show in question, but that’s another issue.  They should ABSOLUTELY keep the mid-card belts. I don’t know why they’d ever get rid of them – the IC or US belt is a nice proving ground for guys on their way to the top. It’s where they decided countless guys were ready or became ready for the next level, and, more importantly, where it was decided that a LOT of guys had reached as high as they could go. If Shaemus, Kozlov, or Barrett, or any other boring, stereotypical waste of a heel that they’ve elevated in the past few years had gone through that kind of proving ground, I don’t believe that they would have ever been pushed to the World Title picture, and I believe that’s part of the reason why they’re falling from grace so rapidly.

Wally Kovacs: On the subject of suggesting that haters just stop watching … I would assume that would devestate TNA, as odds are something like a quarter of the audience is hate watching it. And that is where the 10% thing does sort of fail. You can say “90% of the people watching like the show, and 10% complain”. Of course, that’s because most of the people that hate the show or don’t like it very much, just don’t watch it. And the 90% like it ‘enough’ to not bother complaining, but presumably not enough to regularly buy PPVs, etc. So, if the status quo is fine, continuing the leave the 90% contented is a good idea (which is sort of the M.O. of the WWE, but they at least have a large enough 90% to make good money off of them). For a company like TNA though, it might be smart to try to go after more people. Not necesarily trying to please the 10% (hell, they are already watching), but there just may be some people not watching at all that agree with the 10% who haven’t quit yet.
Blair: It’s an interesting idea. I’ve heard the opinion before. The thing is, I’ve also heard it said that the people who are left watching WWE right now are the ones who will NEVER quit watching it, no matter how bad it gets. TNA, I don’t know if their audience is consistent enough for that to be true. But, WWE, for their faults, at least over the last year, had tried some new kinds of stuff like Nexus, this Punk thing, and Rock to try to grow (or re-grow) the audience they have. Nexus sure didn’t work, and you could debate what else worked and didn’t, but at least it’s an attempt. TNA is DYING to increase their audience, which is why you see them trying so much of the weird shit they do. No matter what else, give them an A for effort at least. A D- for execution in most all cases, but an A for effort at least.

Joseph Hargrove: On the subject of Destination X, I really like the Fatal 4 Way contract match because it has Jack Evans and Low Ki. From what I remember, Evans is the longtime friend of Teddy Hart hence why his affiliation with the Hart Family. Should be good on Sunday. As for Punk, I don’t know if you have seen it but there is a video out now from the WWE’s tour of New Zealand. Let’s just say Punk gets a painful sendoff thanks to Cena and Co.
Blair: I love Hargrove. He comes up with some of the best stuff ever. Anyway, the match you speak of was the 2nd best match on the card, and that’s saying something. But again, I make the distinction that it doesn’t really matter in the big scheme of things. Destination X, even if it does all that well buyrate-wise, will still not change all that much in TNA for more than a few weeks. I’d need to see some real signs of a permanent change before I would watch ANY TNA for the foreseeable future, and I don’t see that happening. I’ll read the reports. That’s about it. As for Punk, I’m not sure what your point is, but I did watch the main segment of RAW on YouTube and I thought it was awesome that Cena can’t even get a positive reaction in his own hometown, and that Punk could NOT manage to get booed, even after he bashed the city’s sports teams.

ASGurl: Here’s my contribution for next week, and it will be timely since the PPV in question will be next Sunday – the CM Punk thing – work or shoot? And what’s your opinion on it?
Blair: I guess I already kind of covered the “my opinion” part of this. Also, the angle itself is obviously a work. The fact that he is leaving appears to be a shoot, but it’s not REALLY a shoot, because he’s doing exactly what they want him to do, plus there’s a good chance we’re all being worked and that he’s not leaving at all, or just leaving for a couple months or something.

Jader: Blair – question for next week – what WWE guys do you think COULD do well in TNA?
Blair: Any of them. Literally anyone. Male or female. Doesn’t matter if they suck. TNA LOVES ex-WWE guys. They picked up Val Venis and Orlando Jordan for fucks sake, and employed Orlando for a year and a half. Kendrick was chosen to be the guy who saved the X-Division purely because he is an ex-WWE guy. The only guy who has actually BENEFITTED from going from WWE to TNA is The Pope, and that’s only before TNA mostly stopped using him. WWE missed the boat on Pope. Everyone else who wasn’t already a mainstream success has been a waste of money and TV time, and quite a few of the guys who WERE already mainstream successes have been wastes of money too. Not all. Many.

CB: I say NO ONE in WWE can do well in TNA. At least, no one in WWE can end up being a bigger star in TNA.
Blair: … except WWE castoffs like Ken Anderson and Matt Morgan. They never got the push in WWE that they’re getting in TNA.

… because they suck.

CB: Case and point 1: Jeff Hardy. Hardy was the TOP FACE on SmackDown!, was WWE Champion, had an amazing feud with CM Punk, and then came to TNA. What has he done in TNA? Pissed it all away.
Blair: Remember that Jeff Hardy started pissing it all away BEFORE he got to TNA, it’s just that TNA was dumb enough to take him even though he was in the midst of a 2-year legal trial, and even though he’s clearly a drugged-up waste. You know what’s even more messed up? That even AFTER Hardy showed up on Impact last year, WWE STILL called him trying to get him to change his mind. It’s just unreal. I’m pretty sure you could donkey punch Linda McMahon during forced anal and Vince would still bring you back if he thought you could make him a dime. And I’m not a Hardy fan by any stretch, but Jeff Hardy was a license to print money for McMahon when he was ruling SmackDown. His program with Punk was one of the only things in WWE I’ve watched over the past few years. I never thought anyone would get as much out of Jeff Hardy as Vince did.

CB: Hulk Hogan. Remember when Hogan was going to save TNA, remember the move to Monday nights? How’d that work out?
Blair: Pretty well, for Hulk Hogan. I’m pretty sure the dude still got his money.

CB: R-Truth – better in WWE (yes, he started in WWE, but did a lot in TNA before going back.) Christian – what’s better, being an almost-top guy in TNA and getting the title for a little while, or being the almost-top guy on SmackDown! and getting the title for 5 days, then embarking on a run as a top heel against WWE’s #2 face?
Blair: Exactly. And Christian was treated like shit for YEARS before he made it to this level. Although Christian did get valuable experience working the top tier of TNA, if you asked him, he’d probably still be VERY glad that he left to go back to WWE.

Patrick Spohr: The problem is that the guys who could POSSIBLY benefit from a switch to TNA, guys like Danielson, Evan Bourne, and/or Cody Rhodes, are also guys that TNA won’t push. What TNA looks for in main-event guys is pretty much the same thing the WWE does: big, imposing guys. That’s why TNA has spent so much time pushing guys like Gunnar, Crimson, and Morgan, because they want that kind of guy in the main-event. If any of the WWE’s cruiserweights moved over to TNA, they’d face the same problem the rest of the X-division: they won’t get pushed or utilized properly (look at Brian Kendrick).
Blair: Kendrick is still being utilized better than the rest of the X-Division. He’s probably going to be doing an angle with Bischoff after Sunday. Which is hilarious. He’s the PERFECT example of a guy who doesn’t make in WWE, then goes to TNA, and gets pushed above others BECAUSE he was in WWE, even though he didn’t make it.

Patrick Spohr: The only guys that could get a good push in TNA if they left WWE are mid- to upper-mid-card guys, and they have no reason to leave. John Morrison, even if he went to TNA and got a good push won’t: a. make the same amount of money that he would in the WWE, and b. won’t get the same amount of viewers. There’s no incentive there. Christian and Chavo left because they weren’t really being used, and didn’t see any push coming in the foreseeable future. We’ll wait and see what happens with Chavo, but things didn’t work out all that well for Christian in TNA, so he came back. I’m sure if Vince got on the horn tomorrow with Anderson and gave him an offer, Anderson would jump right back to the ‘E.
Blair: If Vince even dropped half a hint that he would bring Anderson back to WWE, Anderson would drive to Stanford with no pants on after shitting in Vince Russo’s suitcase. Guys like Christian, Rob Van Dam and Angle are different stories – they could have gone back to WWE if given the chance, but they didn’t, whether it be because of conflicts, the schedule, or their utilization. This is why it made sense to bring those guys in, but bringing in a guy like Anderson, who got fired and no one cared, makes no sense at all. Very rare that WWE actually misses the boat on someone, although The Pope is a notable exception in my opinion, and again, look how TNA uses HIM.

Cynical Bastard: So… whether they draw money or not, I’m going to have to hope I can catch some ROH at some point, since apparently neither TNA nor WWE know how to book talent.
Blair: ROH shows are well worth the $15 for over 3 hours of wrestling, but being that the iPPV’s come only once every couple months, that’s not much, at least until we know what the TV show will be like.

WaterDrip: “But I heard it was ONLY ROH they were allowed to work.” I don’t think this is the case at all. I see ROH dudes booked on all sorts of random cards.
Blair: You could be right. I haven’t heard much more about it since the initial rumour.  But ROH guys could just be finishing out the dates they were already booked to work.

Ernie Lupica: Hey Blair, it’s Ernie Lupica. Firts, after watching Imapct last night, did you notice that the fans are starting to cheer Crimson? They are starting to cheer him. Although I am alittle wooried about the knee brace he was sporting last night.
Blair: I didn’t watch Impact last week. It was nice. REALLY nice. Anyway, Sorry Ernie, but I don’t for a second believe that people started cheering Crimson out of nowhere for no reason the week after I stopped watching, but I didn’t see it so I can’t say. Swayze watched. I’m gonna ask him.
Swayze: I watched. I don’t remember fans cheering him.

Ernie Lupica: I have to take you to task on something you said last week in your final Impact report. You said that ROH’s last IPPV was the better than anything that TNA has produced in the past 3 years. Now, the past 3 years, I will go back from Julu 2008, and form the top of my head, I am going to list the best matches that TNA produced during that time period:
AJ Styles vs Kurt Angle – Hard Justice 2009
Desmond Wolfe vs Kurt Angle – Novemer 2009 PPV
Desmond Wolfe vs Kurt Angle Final Resolution 2009
AJ Styles vs Christopher Daniels Turninig Point 2009
AJ Styles vs Kurt Angle – TNA Impact January 2010
Kurt Angle vs Mr. Anderson Lockdown 2010
Motor City Machine Guns vs Beer Money best of 7 series on Impact and ppv.
Any and all Motorcity Machine Guns’ matches for TNA in 2010
Jeff Jarrett vs Kurt Angle Lockdown 2011

Whew! That took awhile and from the top of my head withou no mresearch. Blair, can you honestly say that ROH’s ppv was better than ANYTHING TNA produced in the past 3 years???
Blair: Yes.

Yes, I can. That’s a pretty impressive list, although I have no idea how Jeff Jarrett got on there anywhere. But that aside, that list of yours took place over the last few years in TNA. Most of that list took place before Hogan and Bischoff took over. And on most of those shows, the match you listed was the ONLY acceptable thing on the card. Your average ROH show blows that out of the fucking water in terms of match quality, and quite often, in storyline quality as well. Not that ROH’s shows are the best in terms of storyline quality, just more that TNA is absolute shit in terms of that. My point is, I said that the ROH iPPV was better than anything TNA has done in years, not better than all the best stuff that TNA has done over the past few years put together.

A couple other things about that list. Where do you see Desmond Wolfe, Motor City Machine Guns, Christopher Daniels, and AJ Styles in TNA today? They’re jobbers. Pure and simple. Angle is the ONLY good wrestler on that list that TNA is really behind. And there’s a ton more stuff I could say about what that list illustrates – stuff like what it says about TNA when Desmond Wolfe is on two of those matches, then a couple months later he gets shot to the bottom of the card and then off the show entirely (yes, this was BEFORE his injury) even when fans vote for him as the guy they want to see go for the World Title.
Swayze: Every PPV produced by ROH over the last three years is better than everything, EVERYTHING, TNA has done over the past three years. Easily. Hell Ernie, those matches aren’t even the best from TNA. Those are garbage compared to AMW vs. Triple X Cage Match 1 and 2, Low Ki vs Daniels vs Shane vs Sabin Ultimate X, the FIRST Daniels Joe AJ triple threat and the three matches leading up to it, Sabin vs Juvi Ultimate X Cup, any match from AJ vs Lynn, the AJ Lynn Ki ladder three way, the Raven AJ #1 contenders match. TNA used to do some really cool stuff. Now the best they got is Angle vs Jarrett? That’s pathetic. And yes, ROH tops stuff like that without even trying. And ROH is boring! FIST PUMP!

Patrick Spohr: Actually Blair, here’s another question for you: when Flair made his scheduled appearance at the TNA event at Asbury Park, he made a few interesting comments, according to the news sites. Maybe we could get your opinion on these: 1. Flair claimed he wasn’t aware that he was scheduled to appear at TNA’s Basebrawl in Brooklyn, though he did appear at a VIP autograph session that day. What the hell do you think happened here?
Blair: Either TNA is just retarded and/or lying, or Ric Flair is just retarded and/or lying, or some combination of both. Whichever it is, I don’t know, and to be honest, it doesn’t really matter. When Ric Flair talks, you need to get a salt truck, back it up to whatever he says and dump the whole thing. When TNA talks, you need to get a salt truck, back it up to whatever they say, dump the whole thing, and then you need to get a salt shaker and add some salt (to taste.)

Patrick Spohr: Flair told the crowd at Asbury Park that he was on a mission to win the TNA World Title. Do you think this is Flair just joking around, or do you think they’d actually push him into the title picture? If they did, how badly would that angle backfire on them?
Blair: I would absolutely believe with no difficulty that TNA would give Flair a run with the belt just so they could say that they were where Ric Flair held his last World Title. It was rumoured that he wanted another title run with WWE during his last couple years with them, and they wouldn’t give it to him. Yeah, that’s kind of a silly idea, to give Flair a title run at this stage, but in the big scheme of things, is it REALLY worse than a Ken Anderson or a Gunner title run? At least people know who Flair is, and people care about him. They don’t care about an untalented prick like Anderson. I mean, shit, TNA is ALREADY doing a Sting / Hogan / Bischoff story as the main focus of Impact. In 2011. Flair with the belt isn’t THAT much more of a stretch. I’m not saying it’s a great idea or anything, I’m just saying it’s no worse than what they’re already doing. So yes, I believe that TNA is crazy enough to try this, but whatever happens, people need to stop telling Flair to retire. It will never happen. He will never retire. Not voluntarily. If he has his way, they’ll be doing the wrestling version of Weekend At Bernie’s with his corpse.

As with anything else, I think talking about Ric Flair’s decaying and withered husk of a corpse is as good a time as any to call this a day. Thanks everyone again for all the great questions and comments.

Good luck to anyone watching TNA Impact tonight. I imagine most people reading this probably know how it ends already, but I won’t spoil it for anyone who hasn’t. Just know this: TNA… nay OUR VERY WORLD, is changing FOREVER thanks to the MAJOR SHOCKER that takes place on Impact Wrestling tonight. And I’m sure that more unintentional great moves are on the way.

Keep the questions coming! Comment or hit me up at www.Twitter.com/BlairADouglas. This has been “Interinactivity”, thanks for reading and have a great weekend!