– Welcome back knuckleheads, to an all new edition of The View From The Cheap Seats. Neeley here, I would like to use this small soapbox to thank all of our loyal fans for writing in in regard to last week’s debut. As promised, you’re all in here, so let’s get to it, shall we? First lets take it over to Jed with this first piece…
MAILBAG!!!
Many thanks to all the people who wrote in and expressed their love of the new column. Many thanks indeed.
But, naturally, some people had other things to say. Johnny Senus is one of them, and he didn’t much care for my opinions on Vince McMahon and the “live sex” scene.
To Jed Shaffer:
Vince McMahon’s decision to put Edge & Lita in uncomfortable positions (i.e., “Live Sex”) is NOT a grotesque decision. Copeland & Dumas were the ones who decided to sleep around with each other. Vince McMahon did not make that choice.
First things first: you gotta learn how to disagree, and what is an arguable point. Opinions are not arguable, because an opinion is a personal belief. And in my world, your opinion that it was not a grotesque decision is complete and undiluted shit. No offense.
Now, I’ll give you why your point is what it is: Dumas and Copeland made a mistake. Dumas betrayed a long-term boyfriend, and Copeland violated the sanctity of marriage. Their mistakes are well-chronicled, and their transgressions have cost them dearly in the arena where punishment is appropriate: their personal lives. Amy Dumas no longer has the trust or love of a good man, and Adam Copeland lost a year of his marriage, assuming he can salvage it … and both have been branded with a scarlet A for a long time, all in the public eye, no less.
Yes, their angle made some money and capitalized on a hot situation … but there’s a difference between pairing them up and making them re-enact the carnal mistake that caused two personal relationships to fragment completely. For Amy, it’s only uncomfortable, and a visual reinforcement of her slut image to the public (something I’m sure she doesn’t much care for). For Adam, though, who is trying to rebuild his marriage, this act is not only pouring salt in the wound, but how do you think Mrs. Copeland feels about seeing her husband pretending to f*ck the woman who f*cked her husband a year ago and started all this? Put yourself in her shoes and see how YOU would feel in the same situation. She doesn’t deserve this. Adam and Amy don’t deserve public punishment. They made a mistake. For Vince to shove it in their faces and force them to simulate sex is not only crass and tasteless television, it’s inserting a damaging cancer into a recovering body.
Edge & Lita put themselves in the position that they are in. Why should Vinnie Mac care? He sees money and ratings with them being a paired up couple of nymphos. He knows that it’s a hot angle, and that the real-life situation adds even more fuel to the fire.
So, just because make a mistake, other people are open to exploit it at will for the rest of your life? That’s the basis of your argument right there. And nobody would ever agree with that.
Yes, but at what cost? The cost of a marriage? The cost of happy employees? Why should Vince prey upon the situation for money? If you made such a mistake at your job, would you feel comfortable if you were thrust into working with said person after the damage was done just because it made the company more money? Or does the end justify the means?
To criticize the same guy who helped stir up the pot between Bret Hart & Shawn Michaels is purely nothing more than just preaching to the choir.
I think you’re mixing metaphors. Preaching to the choir means delivering a popular message to a group of people who already believe in the message. I was not preaching to any choir; these are my opinions, which is what my half of the column is for. What you mean to say is that it’s redundant to criticize Vince for this … which it isn’t. Ring of Honor milked a long feud with Homicide and Steve Corino, and they despise each other; promoters do this all the time. Bret & Shawn and Adam & Amy aren’t comparable, because in the Bret & Shawn scenario, the only people being bothered by it were Bret and Shawn. With Adam & Amy, there is collateral damage to consider.
looking forward to the next one!
– Douglas Kalish
Thanks Doug.
just wanted to drop a quick email saying: i like the
format; i like the writing.
~j!
Thanks J.
ok, feed back on your guys thing ,i loved it. it was alot of ba ckground on WWE that i had not really put togeather, and it helped that it was two instead of one, giving it more credability. one question though, all through the insidepulse, i havent heard any comments about rey winning the royal rumble. Hes a top notch preformer that sells the merch, and him winning the title would be a feel good moment incorperating eddie guerreo, and no one can say he doesent deserve it, or that he wouldnt delever TOP rate main events, which is something that cannot be said for alot of the recent title holders. Not to mention his stellar preformances in the rumbles so far. so my question is, why dont you think he will win the rumble to take the title?
– Justin Notter
Well Justin, you should feel good about yourself because just what you said came true at the Royal Rumble. I’m not going to reply to the comments on Rey here as it is going to be a major topic in this very column… but good job.
Hey guys,
like the new column idea because
1) I like PTI on ESPN and
2) I’m a fan of both your writings
so I thought I’d put in my two cents.
I really was confused with Jed’s take on Angle’s title win. If he loses and loses and loses to Cena a grand total of four times (only two were single at Unforgiven and Survivor Series with the Triple Threat at Taboo Tuesday and EC at NYR) then magically wins against all of SD that qualifys him (in my book) for a Luger award. I want him as champ, don’t get me wrong, but it was the wrong way to do it.
Looking forward to you guys next week.
Johnny
Jed: I would consider Angle in a position like Triple H or Undertaker in that losses won’t hurt them, no matter who it’s to. Luger’s choke-artist label came early in his career, when he was being pushed as the Next Big Thing; they derailed that push, as a matter of fact. I won’t say this was the right way for Angle to win a World Title (he shoulda beaten Cena like a drum), but think of all the other people on Raw they could’ve imported to SD for this purpose … Big Show … Carlito … Masters … it coulda been FAR worse then Angle.
Glad you like the column! Thanks for reading.
Hello Jed, Mark,
I know I’m late sending over feedback from the your first edition of The
View From The Cheap Seats, but I just wanted to say that I enjoy it — and,
not with any due respect to the other writers at your website or any other,
but it takes a lot for me to sit down and be able to enjoy a column these
days that doesn’t just sound like a bunch of babbling shit.
I’m surprised more people don’t use your method of giving dueling opinions
on subjects and matter. It works out good in my opinon. I liked how during
your “grades” of the week you weren’t afraid to disagree, and at one point
Jed gave the grade to TNA while Mark simply gave that grade to WWE. That
just shows that you’re not afraid to disgree or take shit from one another.
– What I also liked was your totally seperate opinion on Cena with the
title. While I totally agree with Jed on what he said and about how the
merchandise argument is dull and pointless, I also agree with Neeley that
the way he was put on such a high pedestal he could never step down. I
think Jed was a bit more in touch with his detail on that, so I give him
more credit.
– The grades. Good idea to end out the column.
– The topics. Important, and well covered.
Like I said, this is currently one of my favorite columns. I still read
some of the other platinum columns I have been for years in Wrestling News,
Opinions, Ect., The Reality of Wrestling and Hyatte’s Midnight News over at
that other site now.
– Good job guys, look forward to reading this in the future, so here’s till
then…
Craig S.
You’re right about the late thing, as you barely made the cut. But thank you so much for the kind words… Hyatte? Eric? Man, you just made my day…
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Tapioca Ice gets his bling back
Jed: Guess I gotta eat some crow here. I really, honestly, didn’t think Vince would make this mistake. Eric did, but even he had the timeframe wrong. Perhaps the E let some bogus news stories hit the dirt sheets, to create confusion? Wouldn’t be the first time.
But the question is … why did they go there? Ratings had climbed into the mid-4’s, territory they hadn’t regularly seen for years. Edge was proving to be a hot heel champion … and heel champs draw more then face champs, historically (the precedent being that people are more inclined to pay to see someone try and knock the heel off the top of the mountain instead of watching a face champion fend off all comers). So where’s the logic?
Where’s the sense in putting the belt onto someone who was being booed weeks ago? I still don’t buy the “he sells merch” angle; Cena may sell merch (and so do a lot of people), but the bad booking of his character has translated into sagging ratings. And making Edge a hotshot footnote doesn’t help his main event credibility, which was fragile to begin with.
So where’s the rationale? A money match with HHHead Of Creative at WrestleMania, naturally. A lot of IWC pundits will say that this could be done without the title … and they’re full of what makes the garden grow, and obviously just as blind. Cena vs. Triple H makes no money as an undercard match whatsoever. It has no fuel, no driving force, no compelling reason to watch it. Cena may move merch and Cena may make the girls squirm, but Cena is not enough of a name to sell an undercard match like that.
Cena needs the title in that equation for that match to have any value to the proles. Otherwise, it’s just a match, another mediocre offering amidst a field of mediocre offerings.
That still don’t mean this doesn’t suck worse then anything which has ever sucked before. If their ratings bottom out, though … if their progress vaporizes instantly, and they’re slumming in the 3’s again, you’ll see Edge with that title again tootsweet. That’s what last night’s main event was all about: giving them an out to put the title back on Edge in case
Cena as champ again causes a nosedive. Hopefully, you all did your duty and didn’t watch, like me.
Mark: Pardon me if I’m running with the same gag here, but have I ever mentioned that John Cena sucks? Okay, you get the point.
The bottom line is this folks: At WrestleMania 22 (which I will be at), the face is going to be Triple H and the heel is going to be John Cena. You can call me out on that. It’s going to happen just like it did when Cena’s face abilites ran out before, after defeating Jericho, and then continuously beating Angle where his fan support shot down like a creative idea that might pop up in discussion for the WWE. But who can blame the fans? Who? Give me one good reason to actually enjoy Cena, and I’ll know. But expect a rebuttle.
Phil Clark brought up many good points in his latest column, and I agree with him that I would rather see Edge-Cena-Triple H at WrestleMania than Cena-The H’s. And at this point, I would take Trips as champ over Cena. And it takes someone very special to do that.
So, why the hell did they give Cena the title back? Or better yet, why did they waste the long anticipated money in the bank title shot so Edge can hold on to it for less than a PPV? Quite frankly, my thoughts on this still lay on Cena as the babyface champion circulating boos. I think Jed and I both agree on this, but I might be wrong. I don’t really care if he does though, because I’m backing this one. Edge as champion brought things to the table that no one expected he would, which is RAW ratings. Those RAW ratings were vital as the TNA feud heatens up with all the signin rumors and so on, and that thanks to Sting TNA finally reached over its breaking point goal and scored a 1.0 rating on Impact, but more of that later.
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Who won the Rumble?
Jed: Pundits all across the IWC are either cheering the E for their bold pushing of Rey Misterio, or chiding them for pushing him in what is so obviously a “dedication to Eddie”. The latter group will all say that, while Rey deserves a push, this is a blatant and obvious push based on his association with Eddie Guerrero, not a push based on merit.
I won’t disagree there. If Eddie were still alive, Rey would be nowhere near the final four of the Royal Rumble, let alone the winner. But I don’t think Eddie’s death is the whole equation. Batista’s injury played a huge part in this. Assuming we are to believe Da Meltz, the booking plans had Batista going through Mizark, Undertaker and onto Randy Orton at WrestleMania for the big “battle of Evolution” match. Do you see Rey Misterio in there? No. You know why? Orton would’ve won on Sunday, had it not been for his opponent vanishing in a cloud of injury (this makes the SECOND year Orton has looked to be tapped for the Rumble, only to have it pulled away due to some circumstance … poor guy). With Metrosexual Man gone, the plan went into chaos, and since the E can’t book contingency plans alongside their running plan, they panicked … and saw an opportunity to milk a little pathos out of a bad situation. Make no mistake, Eddie’s dying pushed Rey to the Rumble victory … but Batista’s injury pushed Rey into the Rumble in the first place. One was the car, and one was the fuel that drove it.
But was it the right choice? Hell no. Like Eric said, they booked themselves into a corner: if they don’t push Rey to the main event, they’ve made him look like a fluke (which seems to be their M.O. lately) and invalidated the purpose of the Rumble. If they do push him, then they’re either stuck giving the title to someone who is too small to be a credible champion in a field populated with Angles and Benoits and Undertakers and JBLs, or they make him lose, and kill the heat he has from riding the Eddie’s-dead wave. This was a bad idea, and not that that’s a knock against Rey-Rey: it’s a bad idea because the eventual outcome, whatever it may be, will only deflate the crowd and hurt Rey’s standing in the eyes of the fans.
Mark: Shall we first talk about how bad the actual event was, or will I come off as too harsh? Well, some “people” are giving it sympathy because it’s a fun show. Personally, while I can’t speak for those people, did not find it to be a fun show to watch. In fact, had I ordered it instead of watching it free at a local sports bar, I may have refused to pay my DirecTV bill.
We can start with the undercard, which turned out to be just what it looked like on paper, which was nothing. The cruiserweight invitational was okay. Again, like anticipated, they didn’t give them the time of day, but it was a nice little spotfest for the short time it had. London’s Shooting Star Press onto the bunch to the outside was great. Didn’t Vince ban that though? That struck me as interesting. Women’s match was trash, and like I have repeatedly said about women’s matches in our Roundtables, I bet the hot dog and cotton candy venders at the arena had their business sky rocket. Some people compalined about the positioning of the matches like how the Rumble wasn’t last, but it doesn’t matter a damn to me. What difference does it make? The matches wouldn’t have been any worse or better. I feel bad for JBL. Ever since losing the title he has just been used as a high ranked replacement on SmackDown. Now it seems he is just getting used to put new guys over, like Boogeyman on Sunday (what a wrestling clinic that was) and now working with Lashley. It’s good of him, but will we ever see him in a high position again?
My thoughts on the Rumble were… that I hated Mysterio winning. It was ALL Eddie Guerrero passing away. Those of you who disagree with me are either blind or have not yet received the news of Eddie’s death. Yep, the Royal Rumble match is decided on death. Has Vince finally crossed a fine line that people will actually pay attention to? Speaking of crossing lines, has he officialy crossed wrestling with reality with that whole groping situation? Like Jed said, it had a lot to do with Dave Batista’s injury. But the only thing wrong with that theory is… what didn’t? Everything is different due to that injury. It’s pretty safe to presume that if not because of Eddie that Rey wouldn’t have a flying chance of being even in the final four in the Rumble match or have a shot to go to WrestleMania. For those of you going the other way and saying that Rey deserves the spot because of his ability, guess what? You’re absolutely right. But that completely ignores the fact that he’s getting it for all the wrong reasons. If Da Meltz is right, which he most likely is, then it’s the proof right there in front of you that Orton would have won the Rumble. Why else have Rey win it so he can lose the title shot?
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Sting gets paid to sit at home … where can I get a job like this?
Jed: I’m really at a loss for words here. Sometimes, TNA can be mind-blowingly progressive and innovative, usually with their X Division. And sometimes, they do something so confounding, so not based on logic or common sense that you wonder how the Carters and the Panda keep underwriting them.
I’m no business major … never ran a business, never been an accountant, never been in charge of personnel. But I think I can see a common sense solution: you have a storyline with a performer who has been out of action for sometime. You want to run a fake retirement angle for him, after a “farewell” match, then do a big comeback against the world champion heel. Instead of paying him to watch Oprah for 60 days, why not pay him per appearence? Saves two months of salary. Or, hey, here’s another idea … pay him a nice purse for his “farewell” match, and sign him to a contract after his “comeback”. I mean, really, do we have to worry about Sting going to the WWE? He hasn’t yet, and he’s had more then a couple years to do so. The E has courted him, and he’s rebuffed them numerous times. He’s not a flight risk.
Instead, we get him collecting money for staying at home. Meanwhile, a former WWE Champion (the first Undisputed Champion, he’d be quick to remind you) sits at home, has made overtures about coming in, and yet is told to go away when he asks for the amount of money Sting is getting. Who’s worth more these days, Sting or Chris Jericho? Who’s been on TV for the past five years in both a wrestling promtion and outside of it (he’s all over VH1) and who hasn’t? Who’s been the top dog and a consistent upper-midcard player for five years in the competition, and who’s been collecting gym membership dues in Atlanta? No, TNA passes on the current hot name and goes with the old guy, and pays him to park his ass in a Barcalounger and eat bon-bons. This is real stupid. I’m a big TNA supporter … not a TNA mutant, as Neeley would say, but I gladly and eagerly watch Impact, and watch their PPVs, too. If it hadn’t been for my wife being due sometime in March (twins come when they please, dontcha know), I’d be at the TNA house show. But moves like this make me question their business plan … or, I should say make me question the existence of a TNA business plan.
But the farewell segment was kinda cool, nonetheless.
Mark: I have an answer for your question on the topic headline, Jed. If you were Steven Richards. The same thing is supposedly happening to him right now. Which ponders the thought that he probably would have been released with Kidman, Maven and the rest of the bunch during WWE’s last big firing sale, had it not been for the JBL-Meanie incident that was brought to SmackDown, so he was involved in a trade to reform the bWo and work a Velocity match or two.
I was never excited about the Sting return to TNA. Been there, done that, been bored witht that. Of course, that was also my enitial reaction when I realized that Waltman is back… again.
Well, this was just the TNA booking that I had expected, sadly. You get this guy to come in for one lousy tag match and call it his farewell match to the fans. He pulls you your biggest TV rating in history and finally gets you over that 1.0 slump. You turn away three hundred to four hundred fans out of the Impact Zone due to the overwhemling amount of fans who want to see his big comeback. Time to kick him out to the curb. Well, so much for that. Good job on getting the guy the ratings you wanted. Now, go back to Jay Lethal and Kenny King squashed on Impact. Go back to more of the Jarrett women fiasco. That is what we want to see…
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The unretirement bug strikes RoH
Jed: Lance Storm’s return to wrestling, and to, of all places, workate-psycho Ring Of Honor, ranks up there as one of the “Huh?” stories of the year so far. No knock on Lance … I like Lance. Took me a long time to like him, but I do. I just wonder how well he’ll go over in RoH after a long layoff, and a few years being ground down by the WWE machine. For his sake, I hope he comes back strong and stays around for a while. The wrestling industry needs an old school wrestler like Lance Storm. He would make a great addition to the RoH roster, and an even better addition to the TNA roster, which is lacking something very crucial, even after 3 years: technical wrestlers. They have the X Division, which is a blend of technical and high-flying, and they have brawlers … but they don’t have a seasoned, technician the likes of Storm. Rumor has it TNA would like an Impact Players reunion … I’d prefer to see Storm on his own (NO TEAM CANADA!!!), but I’ll take whatever I can get.
The one thing we can’t assume, though, is that this is a slam dunk retaining of the ROH Title by Bryan Danielson. RoH’s booking history leans toward the vastly unpredictable and highly unorthodox. Witness: a near 2-year long title reign for Samoa Joe. Witness: Joe losing the title to midcarder Austin Aries, instead of any of the other top-flight contenders (AJ Styles, Homicide, CM Punk, Christopher Daniels, Alex Shelley) in RoH. Witness: CM Punk and James Gibson winning the title after they had signed contracts with the WWE, and were virtually on their way out the door. RoH’s World Title is quite a valuable prize, but predicting the booking for it is a lot like trying to shoot a penny with a .38 … from 1000 feet away … with arthritis … and epilepsy. You may hit the target, but you can’t say it was anything but luck. Me, I’m not gonna even try … I’m just gonna wish him the best of luck, and make sure to catch the match by hook or by crook.
Mark: I have nothing to add here except that I’m extied for Storm. Unlike Jed, I’ve liked him for as long as I can remember. But… the thing that strikes me, as Jed explains is… what? I don’t know, it just seems odd. Years on the sideline and this comeback. If it all works out well, Storm could work out to be a great utility for Ring of Honor. Not only that, but benefitial for him, because I beleive these types of events is where he’s always belonged. He is also going to be great with putting some of the younger guys over, I assume.
It’s a win/win scenario.
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The Grade Book
Jed gives an A to: All three companies, for, however inadvertent or intentional, feeding the spirit of competition amongst wrestling promotions that helps the industry thrive. In the span of two weeks here in Detroit, we will see a TNA house show, the first Saturday Night’s Main Event in about 15 years, and Ring Of Honor’s second trip to the Motor City, all in the weeks before WrestleMania. Long has it been since the WWE has considered anyone a threat to their monopoly … whether this scheduling is purely coincidental (yeah, right) or an intentional attempt to undermine one another’s business, the appearance is that the spirit of competition is returning … and that means companies may just start stepping up their product. That’s good for them, good for the boys and good for fans.
Mark gives an A to: WWE RAW. I’m going out on a very limber limb on this one, but I feel like RAW has done a good job the last few weeks. They kick the new year off with an immediate MOTYC (and it is, even if you think differently) Edge-Flair in the first ever singles tables, ladders, and chairs match. This was followed by a RAW that some people considered the best since homecoming to USA, with a Cena-Edge main event rematch that was 10 times better than the PPV match! The ending sucked, but the ending of the Rumble one sucked just as worse.
Jed gives a B to: Bret Hart, for sticking to his guns and turning down all the offers from the WWE to do an on-air appearance at WrestleMania. There’s a small part of me that would love to see him referee the dreaded Shawn/Vince match that’s only a couple months away; it’d provide a nice bit of storyline closure, and it’d give WrestleMania something it’s sorely been lacking in recent years: a genuine “WrestleMania Moment”. But, above my selfish fanboy side is my sense of honor and pride. Bret doesn’t need to come back and do some lame angle at WrestleMania, especially since he can never pay it off with a match with either Vince or Shawn. Better to maintain your integrity and not give in to the lure of the E’s almighty dollar, a rusty fishhook that has lured many a formerly noble person from their honorable roots lately.
Mark gives a B to: TNA, for announcing that the number one contender who will face Jarrett at Against All Odds will indeed be Christian Cage. Not that we didn’t all expect it, but this is a good move for TNA all around. The fans love Cage, and they did the right thing by giving him the immediate spot. They also had no other choice due to Jarrett’s piss-poor reaction at the arena lately. No wonder he’s been booked in only a couple of Impact matches since the move to Spike.
Jed gives a C to: TNA, for the booking of Samoa Joe/Christopher Daniels/AJ Styles II. Yeah, sure, this is bound to be a MOTY candidate (last year’s was MOTY, without a doubt). Sure, we’re bound to not see the same match we did last year; the X-Division guys as good for that. But the on-air protests of Generation NeXt are starting to sound eerily real: Joe hasn’t defended his title against anyone on PPV that isn’t his next two co-opponents. Joe sure looks like a badass, but if they don’t diversify his opponents soon, he’s gonna look like a one-trick pony to the TNA fan.
Mark gives a C to: TNA, for the same reason, for booking what already looks to be a MOTY at Against All Odds, a newly refreshed Samoa Joe versus AJ Styles versus Christopher Daniels. I’ve liked the constant build on this one too, I thought it was drawn out very well. It looks to be the match that will once again have that TNA tradition of saving an otherwise dull PPV. However, the tag title match will be a bit refreshed with the Dudleys in there now, and Christian-Jarrett, considering management doesn’t screw it up, looks to at least be an above average Jarrett fest.
Jed gives a D to: The WWE’s “creative” team for their multiple crimes at Royal Rumble 2007. Aside from the numerous undercard disasters, and the pair of mistakes in Cena regaining the WWE Title and the burial of the event’s namesake, we got treated to an end-of-show event so ludicrous, so insipid, it was dropped right out of 1994. Never mind the ridiculousness of The Undertaker making the ring collapse and fire and fireworks and all that crap. How about logic? Isn’t Angle a face now, or did he turn without me knowing it? And how can The Undertaker, who hasn’t been seen on Smackdown since his unfortunate victory over Randy Orton at Armageddon over a month ago, stride into the place and proclaim himself the #1 contender? Batista dropped the title weeks ago … you’re telling me that all those Bachelor’s-degree-holding experienced television writers couldn’t come up with an alternate plan for No Way Out and had to shove Angle into Batista’s role instead? I could rant about … well, the entire damned event, really, but I don’t want to. Neeley needs space to say his stuff, too, and I could exceed the word limit bitching about RR’07.
Mark gives a D to: The WWE, for having Rey Mysterio win the Royal Rumble for the sole purpose of basking in Eddie’s glory, when it could have and was done in many other ways. We had the well deserved tribue shows and so much more. We did not need Vince using a death to push Mysterio to winning the Rumble, just to then lose the title to Orton. This made me royally pissed
Jed gives an F to: WWE Vice President Of Talent John Laurenitis. Either he is really just an idiot, or he is so bitter about the Dynamic Dudes not working as a tag team, that he’s taken to ruining the lives of many a person under him. He’s the wizard who laid out the match at WCW’s Sin PPV, including the brilliant spot of Sid coming off the turnbuckle with a big boot … and we know how that went (he’s also the guy who got Road Warrior Animal the 7th spot in the Magnificent Seven. Why Animal, of all people? It’s his brother). But since becoming VP of Talent at the E, his crimes have become the stuff of Enron-esque legend. The liquidation of the Women’s Division, dumping talented people (like Charlie Haas) while keeping talentless loafs (Carlito, Chris Masters), letting valuable names who were on the roster slip through his fingers (Dudleys, Christian, possibly Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho), rehiring his way-over-the-hill brother, and releasing wrestlers for petty reasons (Rhino fighting with his spouse is an offense worthy of a firing? Matt Hardy complaining about his ex being a whore is termination material?) have been the norm under his reign. And now comes word that the WWE will look to either sign away TNA talent or sign indy talent whom TNA might be interested in … not because they WANT this talent mind you … it’s just so that TNA can’t have it. Yes, like a greedy kid who hates his toys but not enough to let you play with them, they want to sign people to long-term contracts and bury them just to hurt TNA. Yes, I’m aware that, during the Monday Night Wars, both companies did their best to steal talent away from each other and hoard them … but this is a whole new method. And a wholly despicable one. Dudleys, Jericho, Christian, Kazarian, maybe Benoit … all are getting tired of the BS in the WWE. Laurenitis has helped this pit of hell become a bottomless chasm. We can only hope that someday soon, he’ll make a big misstep and get his ass canned.
Mark gives an F to: The WWE, for the way they booked the Royal Rumble. TNA’s Final Resolution was one that many fans, even the hardcore ones, (that means you Mr. Lambert), will agree was under their usual subpar. This could have been a golden oppurtunity to jump out in front, especially in the jist of everything that’s happening between the two right now. And they could have done that with this show, but no. The undercard couldn’t have been worse. The actual Rumble match was below average, the worst I’ve seen in a while. And could they have picked worse mystery entrants?
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Okay folks, that does it for another round of TVFTCS. Hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.
TheViewFromTheCheapSeats@gmail.com – you know the routine.
Closing Statement: Which was stupider, Eugene being one of the mystery entrants in the Rumble, or WWE using The Big Show for advertising purposes when they did their commercials for their Stacker 2 fatburner?
– Mark and Jed
