TNA At Ringside: Just Wrestle

Columns

Welcome back to ringside folks. First off, the banner above you is basic and sucks because I made it and I’m new to photoshop. A decent amount of stuff to get to so lets get started.

News & Shit

TNA fans asked to tone it down

This is pretty lame to me. Let the fans chant what they want to chant. If you don’t like it, edit it out. That’s really my whole opinion on his subject. I guess I don’t mind that they want the fans to tone it down, I just don’t like it.

Christy Hemme is in talks with TNA

Blah, whatever. I will say that Hemme is something nice to look at and it seems like she wanted to be a good wrestler in WWE but women bring drama, TNA doesn’t do drama. TNA does wrestling. They already can’t decided what the hell they’re doing with this whole Gayda storyline so they throw in 500 people to save it. Now they want to bring in Hemme to stand there and look pretty. I’ll pass on this idea.

2005 Supercard

I don’t know where I stole this idea but I know I stole it because I’m not creative enough to think of this on my own. Anyway, here’s the deal with it. I take 1 match from each PPV and throw it together on a supercard. The catch is, I can only use each wrestler and title once. What this has to do with this week’s column, I don’t know but I wanted to give this a shot. I promise to keep it short.

Final Resolution: Elix Skipper vs. Sonjay Dutt

Against All Odds: Disciples of Destruction vs. Jerrell Clark & Mikey Batts

Destination X: Jeff Jarrett vs. Diamond Dallas Page (World Title)

Lockdown: Lance Hoyt & Chris Candido vs. Apollo and Sonny Siaki

Hard Justice: Chris Sabin & Traci vs. Matt Bentley & Trinity

Slammiversary: Ron Killings vs. Kip James

No Surrender: Abyss vs. Raven

Sacrifice: Jerry Lynn vs. Sean Waltman

Unbreakable: AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels vs. Samoa Joe (X Division Title)

Bound For Glory: America’s Most Wanted vs. The Naturals (Tag Team Titles)

Genesis: Shark Boy vs. Nigel McGuinness

Turning Point: Christian Cage vs. Monty Brown

After finishing this all up I have realized that I’ve probably pleased Eric S. as I failed to use (ok, I didn’t want to use him) Jeff Hardy. So yeah, I thought it was a cool idea so deal with it.

Final Resolution Fallout

So here’s some quick thoughts on Final Resolution for the kids.

*Austin Aries, Alex Shelley & Roderick Strong over Chris Sabin, Sonjay Dutt & Matt Bentley: A really hot opener right here with some really nice spots. I was really into this match but my friend called and f*cked up my flow. I wasn’t a big fan of the ending and what the hell was up with Shelley pulling his own tights after he won?

*The James Gang over The Diamonds In The Rough: Whatever. I was on the phone through most of this match and didn’t catch it nor did I care about it. Elix Skipper should be off doing better things right now. Hurry up and feud The James Gang with LAX and put an end to this shit.

*AJ Styles over Hiroshi Tanahashi: This match seemed a little off to me. I don’t know what it was but AJ didn’t seem on his game and Tanahashi didn’t impress me too much. Maybe I was expecting too much or something. The ending was pretty bad as well. I really didn’t need to see Moore come out to save face for Tanahashi (You’ll job Lyger clean but not this kid?) and then AJ didn’t his The Clash properly.

*Sean Waltman over Raven: This was a pretty anti-climatic ending to the Raven/Zybsko feud. Out of everyone they picked Sean Waltman? I would have rather it been Shane Douglas over Sean Waltman. My cable box reset during this match so I missed the last portion but whatever. What I want to know is why didn’t Raven take a swing at Zybsko when he entered the ring? He’s been wanting to kill him for months and when he gets his chance, he doesn’t do shit.

*Bobby Roode over Ron Killings: Blah, more with LAX and James Gang. Konnan comes down to help out Killings but in the end, he just stands there while Killings gets pinned. End this storyline, I’m sick of it.

*Abyss over Rhino: This will of course lead to a huge brawl match at next months PPV. This match had an ECW feel to it with both men being able to use chairs and not getting DQed. The right man went over here, sadly Rhino will win next month.

*America’s Most Wanted over Team 3-D: Yeah, what the f*ck was up with this ending? It was wrong on so many levels that I won’t even go into it. I just want to know why the ref thinks that the fans would cheer an AMW title win? I understand the ref was blind, but he wasn’t deaf. It seems like once you put on the ref shirt, you become a whole new person. The slightest touch puts down for an hour, you lose one sense you lose them all, and a bunch of other shit. Re-match next month, yay.

*Samoa Joe over Christopher Daniels: Great match, as you would expect out of these two. I was actually a fan of the ending because it sets up AJ vs. Joe in something like an I Quit match or they could go old school and have a Towel Match like Backlund vs. Bret from a year back. I don’t care what type of match it is, AJ vs. Joe will rule no matter what.

*Sting & Christian Cage over Jeff Jarrett & Monty Brown: I marked out pretty hard when Sting came out. He looked to be in good shape and he could still hit all his basic moves. I didn’t like the fact that Sting won because it sets himself up for a World Title Shot while Christian moves down a rung. I don’t read the spoilers so I don’t know, maybe Christian is getting a title shot and not Sting but based on this match, Sting makes a title case.

So Final Resolution was decent. It wasn’t the blow away show that it could have been but it wasn’t complete trash. Could it have been better? Of course, AJ/Tanahashi could have been better, AMW/3D finish could have been better, could have been a bigger surprise then Waltman, and some other things. But there are a lot of could haves in wrestling.

Spare Me

Here’s the thing with TNA, they have tons of potential with guys like Styles, Daniels, Joe, Christian, Shelley, Sabin, ect… Since moving to the Monthly PPVs, they haven’t relied too much on storylines. Sure there’s been some stuff involving Jarrett and what not but they haven’t gone over the top with anything. That seems to be changing.

Right now there are two storylines that I’m just completely sick of. The James Gang vs. Latin American Xchange and Jarrett vs. Gayda.

I’ll start with the James Gang/LAX feud. This shit dates back to March of 05 when Kip James entered TNA. Since then he’s been driving the wedge between BG and 3LK. He finally broke through and all seemed fine and dandy until Konnan decided to turn on 3LK. Then Konnan recruits a thug stable and they beat up BG’s dad (“THAT’S MY DADDY!”) Oh but it doesn’t stop there, oh no. To prove they are even more thug, Konnan beats up people with a blackjack (By the way, Stevie Ray called, he wants to know when WCW returned). So fine, it’s The James Gang against LAX but no, it can’t be that simple. You’ve got to throw in Killings who wants no part of this shit. Killings has plenty of talent but for the time being, it won’t shine as long as he’s stuck in this hell hole.

TNA needs to put an end to this crap. I don’t care how they do it either. Have it be Killings/Kip/BG against Homicide/Konnan/Apollo in some sort of street fight, whatever. End it and let Killings be alone, let The James Gang do what they got to do, and break Homicide from LAX.

Oh but if you think that’s bad, it gets worse. Jackie Gayda comes into TNA and she immediately goes after Jarrett. Oh but it doesn’t just involve Jarrett. No, it involves Scott D’Amore, Gail Kim, Canada, and now Raven. And if it involves Raven then it will soon involve Zybsko. Did TNA hire Gayda just for this shit? Was this their plan to sort out what happened in September in Canada? Well let me tell you, this plan sucks. Here’s what the hell happened in Canada, Raven got screwed and he wants his re-match. You know how to solve that? Raven should have beat Waltman at Final Resolution. But no, TNA tries to complicate shit by adding Gayda into the mix. You want to know what Gayda brings to the table? Good looks. That’s it, good looks. Did you see her interview on Impact a few weeks ago? It was horrible. Did you see her wrestle in WWE? She was horrible (Jackie “Botch A Bulldog” Gayda was the nickname my man Chris gave to her). She’s a pretty face and that’s it. You know who’s about pretty faces? WWE. TNA should be about wrestling, not pretty faces.

They need to end this whole Gayda/Jarrett situation and then fire Gayda. The only reason I wanted her to come in is so Charlie Haas would come in, but he’s WWE bound it seems, so f*ck Jackie Gayda.

In short, drop the idiot storylines and just wrestle.

The E-Mail Bag

Jeremy:

Oh, boy, are you going to hate to see what I have to say in the Round Table…

Up until a couple of days ago, I was convinced that Raven’s mystery opponent would be Sandman. But then the Round Table came up and I started thinking about it. And the more I thought about it, the more one option other than Sandman began to make more and more sense. Vampiro’s working for AAA now. TNA still has a good relationship with AAA, and Konnan holds the book down there. Vampiro would be easier to cast as a heel than Sandman would; I just keep seeing Fullington make his five-minute entrance and the crowd absolutely going batshit over him, and Raven suffering in comparison in what should be one of his most important matches in years. They need someone who won’t show Raven up. Vampiro seems more like the kind of guy Larry Legend would bring in to take care of his little Raven problem than Sandman would. Raven and Vampiro do have a history in TNA; it may not be as lush as the history between Raven and Sandman in ECW (and they’ve fought each other in TNA as well), but it’s still there. Plus, if Vampiro can be obtained for a longer service, he does have that history with Sting going back to WCW, and it wouldn’t be a stretch for the Jarrett Faction to bring him in on that basis.

So, when it came down to brass tacks, I ended up choosing Vampiro as Raven’s opponent. I’m sorry that contradicts your article, but at least I didn’t do so before you published. Small consolation, I know, but I do want to apologize anyway because it’ll end up biting you in the ass a little when the Round Table goes up, and I only felt it fair to warn you. I was, however, able to turn choosing Vampiro into an Antonio Pena/gay pedophile jab, and that in itself was worth it.

Eric

Yes, that is my esteemed colleague Eric S. Why he is apologizing, I don’t know. Well I don’t know but it wasn’t needed. I was just basing his pick on what he said in a Short Form a while ago. Vampiro would have been a very good pick for TNA but no, they went with Waltman. Anyway, thanks for the apology Eric and can’t wait to read the Short Form this week.

Hey,
Liked the column this week, so thought I’d put in my two cents.
1) I like Sharkboy, but TNA needs to release him. He has a good gimmick going and if he can keep it going somewhere else(WWE’s Cruiserweight Title Carousel) then he might have a permanent place (for about 6 months most).

2) Gayda has potential. But only if TNA can secure Mr. Haas. Other than that, let her go too. Molly Holly, Jazz, Ivory, and the already acquired Gail Kim could make for a good women’s division if booked right.

3) Sandman and Dreamer are good picks for the Raven match at FR., but I’m going another way, see if you can guess. He’s a former world tag team, cruiserweight, U.S.(in WCW I believe) champ. He’s Japanese, and he’s a good fit in TNA in my view (sign Tanahashi or maybe Lyger to team with him). If you didn’t get it, my pick to show is Tajiri. Or Zybyzco can do his own dirty work.

4) An apostrophe looks like this ‘. A question mark looks like this ?.

5) As long as Jarrett doesn’t have the title, I don’t care if Sting does or not. Just be glad they don’t bring in David Arquette.

6) Moore, like all other WWE defecties, was underused. Like Sharkboy, he has an okay gimmick, but like Sharkboy again, wasn’t used properly. I’d rather see him turn face and fight Shelly.

-Johnny M.

1. I agree that Shark Boy needs to be released. I like his gimmick and he seems to be good in the ring but he’s just jobbing right now. TNA could free up the little cash they pay him and pay somebody else.

2. Haas has reportedly signed with WWE so fire Gayda.

3. Tajiri is another good pick but I think he’s focusing on his family and a career in journalism or something.

4. A stfu looks like this STFU.

5. It’s not like they don’t have a celebrity history. I mean, Jeff Hammond went over Frankie Kazarian.

6. Moore vs. Styles is a sleeper match. I don’t think Moore is horrible in the ring and we all know how I feel about AJ.

2 cents is always welcome as long as you pay be 5 dollars.

Thanks for another insightful column Lambert.

I actually think TNA has done a good job of building up Joe and Daniels. They simply aren’t over-exposing the feud. Joe cut his first promo ever in TNA and it was regarding Daniels and their match on the last Impact and it was awesome. The week before, Daniels cut a promo on Joe. You really don’t need to do much else. In WWE you’d probably have Joe running over Daniels cat, Naruto, and then Daniels would go to Orange County where he would convert Samoa Joe’s family to the occult. Well this is TNA, where we don’t have dumb shit like that.

Joe and Daniels definitely have their work cut out for each other because they are wrestling each other 3 times this month in three different matches. One on one, old school style at Final Resolution for the X title, a 30 minute Iron Man match in ROH on 1/27, and the finale of their ROH feud on 1/28 in an anything goes match.

The guy who wrote the letter saying TNA should let Joe go in favor of Chris Benoit is a f*cking idiot. Joe’s young, he’s the X champ, he’s the most dominant wrestler in TNA’s history. He’s the most over guy on the roster. He’s wrestling the best matches on TV and PPV. Explain to me how you can afford to lose him, even for Benoit who meanwhile is STILL in WWE after everyone said his contract was up in November. I’d love to see Benoit in TNA, but it ain’t going to happen. I could easily see Benoit retiring from wrestling altogether soon especially after what happened to Eddie. Not saying that will happen, but I think it could.

So far I think Final Resolution looks good, but it needs a couple more matches to be really good.

I dare TNA to add Austin Aries vs. Chris Sabin to the PPV and give them like 15 minutes. I bet it would rock the camel’s ass.

Keep up the awesome work Lambert,

-Jeffrey “The Vile One” Harris

Yes, after reading some of my own work, I agree that Daniels/Joe was built nicely. It was about wrestling not about beating up fathers.

I would also say keep Joe over Benoit because Joe is a sure shot, I think I covered that last week though.

Well they added Aries vs. Sabin in a way and it did rock.

great column, but a few things i noticed/questioned:

-why would christian need to pin jarrett for a title shot? other than the obvious reason of a #1 contender in TNA never seeming to get his title shot…

-“Do I think they should sign Juvi? Sure, he’s a great talent in the ring despite his backstage problems.” this is something i totally disagree with. i remember reading about how sloppy a worker he was, and then saw his match against london when he won the cruiserweight title last year — his “450” barely made it 360 degrees, while his foot ended up landing on london’s face. taking jerry lynn’s comments on best of the X division into account with this, i’d be scared to be near juvi if he was walking. the last place i think he should be is in a wrestling ring, especially one i like. (not to mention i don’t think he’s been entertaining since before he lost his mask).

-shark boy is awesome. he’s the old time jobber you may as well keep around because everyone seems to love him. sure, he doesn’t sell merchandise like hardy… and unlike hardy, he shows up, too.

-kazarian? the only future i recognize is… chris sabin!

-“Where’s My Chicken Soup?” (In reference to Shelton’s mom of course.) this would look awesome with the campbell’s soup style colours.

-“Jericho Will Make A Impact” (A secretive TNA Sign.) don’t forget it should be “An Impact” for grammar’s sake — not that mine is always great, but it is live tv. you could probably throw in an exclamation mark, too, unless you want it even more secretive.

enough of my bitching, keep up the good work.

~josh!

-Exactly, whoever pins the champ gets the title shot. Sting seems to be the man.

-On the subject of Juvi, I’ve also heard that he can be sloppy in the ring but when he wants to be, he can be very good. I dare him to be sloppy against Samoa Joe. “Joe Will Kill You” might come true.

-I would keep Shark Boy over Hardy as well, because I hate Hardy and his brother.

-Kazarian, Sabin. I’d take them both any day.

-I’ll talk about my journey to Raw in the next section. Also, it’s a wrestling event, since when has grammar or spelling mattered?

RAW in Raleigh and Me in Philly

So we (Stephen, Jessica, and Myself) ended up with floor seats for the event. Sadly they weren’t very good floor seats. The crowd was pretty hot the entire event which was a good thing. I’ll just give you our highlights:

*During Heat Mike “The Miz” had a match and we started a “Let’s Go Real World” chant. Miz turned around and acknowledged the chant, that was pretty cool.

*When Shelton was waiting for his opponent we tried to start a “Charlie Haas” chant but fell short.

*During Shelton/Show we started a “TNA” chant but I don’t think it was picked up.

*During Edge/Flair we started a “Christian Cage” chant but it once again fell short. It’s really hard to start a chant with 3 people and have the whole crowd pick it up.

*I was over with my section I think as I made some jokes that the near crowd laughed at and gave me props for.

*Some fat bitch and some big dude were about to get into a fight but security took the fat bitch away.

The show itself was pretty good. I didn’t like the ending to the HBK/Angle match as well as some other things but whatever.

On to Philly:

*While waiting to board the plane to Philly, Al Snow was at the airport. We exchanged thumbs up which was pretty cool.

*At the hockey game I was about 10 feet away from Sylvester Stalone who was at the game. The Avs won in OT which made the trip worth it.

*At the hotel I was on the same elevator as David Banner for 3 floors. That was pretty cool.

So it was a pretty fun weekend and now I look to kick back, relax, and watch Steve Smith rape the Seahawks like he did the Bears.

The End

That’s it for this week. Next week I plan to report that Sting on Spike pulled TNA it’s first 1.0 rating. Until then, drop me a line at AMPLine4Life@aol.com and join me next time At Ringside.