Welcome back to ringside folks. I have been MIA the past couple of weeks due to some personal shit in my life (which I’m sure none of you care about.) But I am back and the same (if not worse) than ever. So lets start things off a bit different this week.
The E-Mail Bag
Finally, some damn hate mail. Personally, I love hate mail as long as it’s good hate mail. That means that the e-mailer makes a point and makes a compelling argument for their point. An example of bad hate mail is “TNA SUX, WWE RULEZ, YAY!” An example of good hate mail is the following two pieces:
Just a few things….
Vince McMahon drops the “n” word: big whoop. Nobody cares anymore. And he did it in front of Booker? So, been done before (Kevin Nash said it in WCW), not to mention the countless other times the word was dropped in ECW. It’s offensive to maybe 5% of the human population today. Plus, the word has changed definitions. It’s socially acceptable for two white guys to call each other their “nigga.” Shoot, watch Adult Swim on Sunday nights at 11 to see a show that glorifies the word (it’s also, hands down, the best show on TV right now…Boondocks, baby!) So, your diatribe came off as you just wanting another reason to bitch about the WWE product. Low. I wouldn’t expect that from you (Hevia, yes. Eric S., yes. But not you).
Smackdown! Special: You know, WWE had a one-hour show that ran for a while…God what was that called….oh yeah! It was called RAW. RAW used to be a one-hour show and, guess what, it’s now the #1 show on cable. It expanded to 2 hours. It went from being taped weeks at a time to live every week. So, yes, they already know they can do a one-hour show. They do two of them every week (Heat and Velocity). They’re bringing back Saturday Night Main Event in March. Your WWE venom this week is really uneducated man…I’m disappointed. As for the actual matches…did they really even need to do it in the first place? No. Smackdown! is still airing as normal this week. RAW aired as normal. Why would they pack a special with material when we’ve already had a PPV, RAW, a Smackdown!? They did it because UPN wanted to reward them for their ratings success with Smackdown! That and UPN probably didn’t have any programming for that spot. Or something.
Rey vs. Show had to win the way it did because (A) If Rey wins, it kills all of Big Shows heat going into his feud with Triple H, and (B) Big Show’s not going to beat one of Smackdown!’s top stars at their home turf as it would make Mysterio AND Smackdown! look weak. Smackdown! has gained a ton of momentum over the past few weeks and I highly doubt they want any of that to turn sour. Hence why they scrapped the midget division already. As for the Eddie stuff, I’m tired of everyone blowing it out of proportion. It’s not as if they dug up Eddie corpse, had Pat Patterson violate it on National TV, set it on fire, and they drop it from the rafters of the building. Big Show was playing up the weakness of Rey Mysterio: Mysterio is doing this for Eddie, so any disrespect may give me an advantage. As for the Orton/Taker thing…it would have happened whether it was Eddie’s lowrider, Stone Cold’s beer truck, or The Giant’s monster truck…it showed how truely ruthless Orton is…he ran a dead man over with a dead man’s car.
TNA: Hey, the original point of the column! Did you realize more content this week was spent on (poorly) bitching about the WWE and barely recognizing the intent of your column, which is to talk about TNA? Shit, your mailbag this week was longer than your TNA material.
Monty Brown is OVERRATED…..PERIOD. And he’s starting to reach Warrior levels on the nonsensical promos…
3LK/4LK is about the only thing we agree on…I hop Kip and BG give each other anal herpes trying to relive the glory days, Konnan chokes on a taquito, and Killings makes his 3rd attempt to keep the NWA Title longer than a month. But, alas, TNA has a writing team with the IQ of a ball point pen, so it makes sense that they’d stick them all together and have their own “DX” in TNA…$10 says Chyna’s on the way….ugh….
They more they rip off RoH, the more I wish RoH had the national deal and TNA didn’t.
Christian still hasn’t wrestled…why do I have a feeling this was a bad idea? Why, each week, is one of the top workers in the company (well, the TNA marks wouldn’t know that because they haven’t seen him actually wrestle yet) regulated to promos, especially against that waste-of-space Monty Brown? Is the #1 contendership on the line? Why is Rhyno still in the title hunt? Why didn’t Raven pull out the rematch clause? And why in the HELL is JJ even still champion?! The booking in this company is on par with WCW at their worst…sure, they can throw together the good matches on paper, but with no story, no build, no sensical explanation or time to build a proper feud, TNA is quickly heading for death. The only interesting feud right now is Abyss/Sabu Pt. 265798359 (I like the barbed wire twist…makes me all giddy). Styles/Joe hasn’t had proper build (ONE encounter since the incident? Pathetic), JJ/Rhyno is retarded, Christian deserves better, and anything involving 3/4LK is guaranteed to suck.
TNA needs writers. They need continuity. They need to push the right workers. And, finally, they need to tell that “nigga” Jeff Jarrett to jump off a bridge.
~Ramsey~
Wow, I’m on the credibility level of Hevia and Eric? Paint me shocked. Anyway, I bitched about the N word because I was trying to turn off the 3 black people that read this column to the WWE product. Hey, I’m not going to lie, I use the N word all the time around my white friends and black people that I’m cool with (damned if I say “nigga” around black people I don’t know. I don’t want to die yet.) Did I blow it out of proportion? Yes. But I did it because I thought that there was no need for McMahon to say it, much less in front of Booker. ECW always said the N word because they were ECW. Not the “family product” that WWE is once a week.
RAW being one hour way back when is different than TNA being one hour today. How? It’s simple, TNA has too many people that they want and need to get on TV. Do you think Vince cared if he got his cruiserweights or smaller sized guys on RAW? No. Vince just made sure that his main stars were on their every week. I’m saying that today, RAW or Smackdown! couldn’t pull off a one hour show because of all the stars that they have. That’s TNA’s problem on TV and in the World Title Scene (which I’ll get to later.) Too many stars, not enough time or titles.
I just didn’t like the fact that it was Eddie’s Low Rider. They couldn’t use a regular ass car? Plus, Big Show spitting on the car really made no sense considering he was one of the biggest criers on the Eddie Specials. I just didn’t like the ending because of all the hype, why couldn’t Batista come out and help Rey? Hell, better question, why is Big Show trying to pull off the Heel on Smackdown, Face on RAW gimmick? It doesn’t really work for him.
Yes, my TNA material was very short a few weeks ago but with good reason. There honestly wasn’t that much to talk about. There was no big news story and they created no controversy with their show. I just gave my opinions on the show and left it at that. I also like long e-mails, longer column for people to sit and read and more material for me to argue with them on.
Blah, I like Monty Brown so sue me. His promo with the Bob The Builder doll at Turning Point was gold and I’m sure it had my buddy Neely (the other hate mailer) marking out like hell.
Well thank God 4LK didn’t last long. More on that later.
I don’t think the booking of these feuds are horrible but I’ll also admit that they aren’t the greatest (I again think it’s because of the one hour show.) AJ/Joe doesn’t need build in my opinion. It’s AJ Fuckin’ Styles and it’s Samoa Fuckin’ Joe. Neither man is good on the mic and their actions speak louder than words. I agree with you on Rhino, Raven and Jarrett. Christian got better, he went over Monty Brown cleanly.
I wouldn’t mind seeing ROH get a National deal, I would love to see their product.
Jarrett can jump off a bridge, I’m all for that. I think TNA has continuity. Monty Brown constantly brings up that Jarrett owes him a favor from Destination X. That’s better than WWE who didn’t even recognize Edge and Christian as brothers after their big split.
In conclusion, TNA does have problem right now and I shall get to them a bit later.
usually enjoy your column, but it recently occured to me that one
thing was painfully obvious. It always seems like you have that
“hardcore TNA FAN” mentality that you think every angle, spot, match,
interview in TNA is a good one. Based on your biased judgments about
the WWE and how it’s clear that you’re much more a fan of TNA, it’s
hard for me to understand how people like yourself don’t understand
that TNA has just as many problems as the WWE. For example you bash
WWE for putting on a SmackDown special. I was at the live event, and
let me tell you that it was a good show. Live special and the 2 hour
tapings. Benoit-Regal, a solid Booker-Benoit (very unlike the SurSer
match), a cruiser battle royal, and the Taker-Orton driving through
the stage set was indeed a good spot, as was the other Taker-Orton
spot as you will see tonight. Also, I wouldn’t blame the company for
Big Slow’s actions at the live event. It was soley Big Slow’s fault,
otherwise they wouldn’t have edited out of TV. I guess you just don’t
understand the booking either. The booking was out of the Suriver
Series survival match where it was Rey who eliminated Big Slow, not
“Eddie’s tribue show.” The ending really had nothing to do with
Eddie. It was just to further push the Orton-Taker fued, the purpose
wasn’t to “offend Eddie” by crashing the low rider. Besides, it’s not
like he used the same low rider every show so they weren’t like
destorying one of his own belongings. So you’ve made your point, your
opinion is that WWE’s shows downright blow. Now we get into Impact,
which all of a sudden, even if the show is miserable and a pain to
watch, since it’s labled “TNA”, you give it far too much leeway and
somehow make it seem like it was a good show. Like how you think
Monty’s continuous jobber murdering is “good”, yet the Master Lock
challenge must have sucked, huh? And besides, hasn’t Monty proved
himself enough by now to move out of the squash phase every week? I
also wouldn’t go as far as to say it was a “good show” just because
the storylines were pushed. Styles-Sabin was good yes, as are most of
the X division matches on Impact, but when they’re putting out 1 good
X match every week, I kind of need the other matches to at least by
solid before I can say that the X match saved the show, because if
that was the case it would always be “good” per se.
– Mark
My main man Neely. I’m going to be honest with you. I didn’t watch Survivor Series and I didn’t know who eliminated who, I honestly didn’t give shit. I thought Big Show vs. Rey was stupid because Big Show is a face on Raw (taking on the biggest heel) and a heel on Smackdown (taking on a top face.) It made no sense to me. The low rider thing, as I said earlier, I would have been cool with it if it wasn’t a low rider. The fact that it was a low rider seemed a little over the top to me. I don’t love the Monty Brown jobber squashes so I try to put a positive spin on them by saying he looks like a monster. If I was pro-WWE, I would have done the same. It’s easy to point out WWE flaws because they have been around so long and they should have learned from their mistakes. With TNA, people (including myself) give them a pass because they are trying to create something different (although the more things change the more they stay the same). I try to put a positive on every TNA show because I want people to watch TNA. I also have no problem with them advancing storylines all show because that’s one thing they lacked on FSN. They would just throw together PPV matches with no reason. Whatever show I labeled as a good show, I thought was a good show. Whatever show had Raven vs. Diamonds In The Rough as the Main Event, sucked. Finally, I enjoyed reading the NeelDown reports on Impact when I didn’t do the live coverage. I hope to debate with you over who won an interview argument between two mic gods in the future.
TNA Turning Point Aftermath
So I did order Turning Point for two reasons: 1. I’m a Sting mark and wanted to see the build for his comeback and 2. AJ vs. Joe was going to rule.
Sabu defeated Abyss in a Barbed Wire Match: This match was what I expected it to be, a bloody fight. I cringed every time one of these men went into the barbed wire. No matter how hard you try to protect yourself that shit has to hurt. I thought putting Sabu over was the wrong move but Jim Mitchell might have saved that entire debacle by saying “You conquered your fear Abyss.” TNA needs to play off that now by having Mitchell saying things like “Now that he has conquered his one fear, he will be unstoppable.” That way Abyss loses no heat and Sabu picked up the win. If you’re a fan of blood and hardcore matches, I say watch this match.
Matt Bentley & Austin Aries defeated Roderick Strong & Alex Shelley: This was your typical no build, throw it on the card, X division match. That of course means that these guys went out and put on an above average match. I’m really loving Alex Shelley’s gimmick. I hope TNA gives him more of a chance to shine in the X division. Think about it, Shelley could pick up a big PPV win and then say something like “I knew he was going for that move because of all the tape I had on him. I devised 35 counters 12 being submissions and 5 being different pin variations.” Some over the top shit like that.
Raven defeated Chris K: Who Betta Dan K? Raven. This was just a continuation of the whole “Bringing Back People From Raven’s Past” shit. I think TNA is going to drag this out as long as possible until they scoop up some former Diva (Christy Hemme possibly?) to be Raven’s girlfriend, assuming they didn’t forget about that whole ordeal.
Team Canada defeated 4LK: Thank God they finally pulled the trigger on this storyline. Now everything will start to come together for these 4. BG and Kip can reform the Outlaws and make the crowd happy with their antics, Konnan can form a stable with Homicide and Apolo and do nothing for a while, and Killings can get lost in the midcard shuffle. I’m just happy that they didn’t drag this out to 2006.
Chris Sabin, Sonjay Dutt, & Dale Torborg defeated Diamonds In The Rough: The match it self was of course nothing special but the main point of this match was to get mainstream attention, which it did. Adding Johnny Damon to the mix got them a nice little segment on SportsCenter, which is always nice. Not much else to say about this.
Christian Cage defeated Monty Brown: Boy was I shocked when Christian went over clean. I’m not saying it was the wrong move but I think most people pinned this as a double DQ. Clearly TNA is going to let Christian be the star that he should have been in WWE. Monty Brown on the other hand now has problems. He lost to Christian and now Sting is coming in which pushes him further down the card. More on that later though.
Team 3D defeated America’s Most Wanted: This was a fun little match that earned Team 3D the revenge on AMW. I’m really glad that this wasn’t for the titles because there was very little drama in it. That bump that Storm took was pretty bad and I hope that he is doing ok.
Samoa Joe defeated AJ Styles to win the X Division Title: Now my friend has a problem with this because he claims that “Samoa Joe shouldn’t be in the X Division because he’s not a cruiserweight type guy.” Well while he’s right that he’s not a cruiserweight, he’s wrong in saying that Joe shouldn’t be in the X Division. Joe can keep up with everyone in the X Division and make them look like a million bucks. AJ vs. Joe 2 was probably better than the first but not as good as the Triple Threat. This match was really stiff and intense. Another one of my friends (who knows nothing about wrestling) caught the Women’s Match on this past weeks Raw. His comments “It was so fake, they didn’t even hit each other.” So what did I tell him? Watch this match and tell me that they weren’t hitting each other. On his blog Joe said that he and AJ couldn’t even eat the next day because they couldn’t move their jaws. These guys put a show and every X Division TNA haters (“it’s nothing but gymnastics. Spot, rest, spot, spot, rest, finisher, win”) need to watch this match because it had psychology, drama, and excitement.
Jeff Jarrett defeated Rhino to retain the World Title: This was your typical over-booked Jarrett title defense. Was it a nice little brawl? Yes. The scaffold spot and the Gore through the table were nice little moments but I don’t want that in a Main Event unless it’s in the stipulations (which I believe this match was not No DQ or anything.) Luckily when Jarrett faces Christian we won’t have this problem because Christian can carry Jarrett to a non-overbooked match. The big thing is that Sting is returning to TNA, which I’m for and against. Again, more on that in a few.
So overall it was what you expect from a TNA show. A MOTY Candidate, Solid X Division Action, An Awesome Brawl, and An Overbooked Jarrett Title Defense. Thumbs up for the show.
So Many Contenders, So Little Titles
So here’s what the TNA Main Event Scene looks like as of Turning Point:
*Jeff Jarrett: World Champion
*Christian Cage: Beat Monty Brown Clean
*Sting: Returning with a huge contract
*Monty Brown: Still owed a favor
*Sabu: Won a Barbed Wire Match
*Abyss: Conquered his fear
*Rhino: Tainted loss
*Raven: Fighting for a rematch
That’s 8 guys going after 1 title. That can’t happen. So how does TNA fix this? It’s simple really. Add another title. Now, I play TEW and I am currently booking TNA. I tried to run it with just 3 titles but I kept signing some big names and I realized that one title wasn’t going to cut it. So, I added the TV Title (currently held by Monty Brown.) Now I know that I’m playing a game and TNA is running a moneymaking company but hear me out. The basis for the TV Title is that of WCW’s TV Title in the early days. The Title is defended on every episode of Impact! and at every PPV. Now who would be perfect to hold this title? My current champion, Monty Brown. Why? It’s once again really simple. Monty Brown is very good on the mic and brings instant credibility to the title. You put the title on Monty Brown and things change but stay the same. You can still squash jobbers on Impact! but this time, it will be for a title. So when he defends it against a big name at a PPV, it means a bit more. Now you might be saying “Monty Brown deserves the World Title and reducing him to a secondary title is wrong.” Well, you’re right but remember when I said Monty Brown brings credibility to the title? Here’s why. Monty Brown can go on Impact! every Saturday, get on the mic, and shine. “You see, while Jeff Jarrett is ducking challenges from Sting and Raven, Monty Brown is here every week, busting his ass to defend the TV Title. And I don’t need help from 50 people to win my match either. I just need one POOOOUUUUNCE and it’s all over.” You know, some shit like that. Then you can split the contenders in half and it makes for a much calmer Main Event scene.
The X Division has the same problem. It seemed like every X Division title match this year featured a combo of the following workers: AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, Christopher Daniels, Chris Sabin, and Petey Williams. Now I’m not saying a bad thing about any of these guys because they’re all really good workers and they all put on good matches with each other. But guys like Shelley, Dutt, Aries, and others just got put in throw together matches on every PPV. So the solution to the X Division problems? Again, a very simple answer. A Number One Contenders Title. Now either TEW has a smart AI or ROH has a Number One Contenders Title because while looking at the ROH Champions list on TEW, I saw this belt. The concept is simple. Who ever has the title going into the PPV must defend it against a top contender and whoever wins that match gets a guaranteed title shot at the next PPV. The only flaw with this is that I guess TNA could have AJ, Daniels, Sabin, ect.. hold on to the title at each PPV but I’m going to say that they are smarter than that. Listen, AJ vs. Daniels doesn’t need a title to be good or special. They are going to put on a show regardless so TNA needs to give a guy like Alex Shelley the chance to shine.
Fricken Sweet
Yes, Sonny Siaki is gone from TNA. Now he can go to WWE if he wants and do nothing but face Matt Hardy on Heat every week.
Speaking of a Hardy, it seems like Jeff will be gone from TNA in the near future. Oh well, it’s not like he was going anything anyway. The only reason TNA kept him around was to lure Matt to TNA but that didn’t work so see ya later Jeff.
I know that was short but I just wanted to throw in my two pennies on two workers I could care less about and am happy to see them go.
The End
No quick hits because I don’t feel like, sue me. Drop me a line at AMPLine4Life@aol.com (btw, a I will have a new SN in 06 if anyone cares) and join me next time At Ringside.
P.S.: No column next week as I plan to be hard at work on the Year In Review column set to be posted on December 30th.
