Welcome back to ringside folks. Not a damn thing to mention off the start so lets head into the goods.
News & Shit
*Thursday Night Rating: 1.1
I actually expect this weeks rating to be around 1.3 or 1.4 based on the main event alone. I think anything less than a 1.3 will be a disappointment in my eyes.
*Douglas refuses a hair cut
Today (Thursday), I got a haircut and now I look better than before and it hasn’t affected me in the least bit. Andy Douglas was scheduled to get a haircut but refused, thus looking the same and affecting his push/status with TNA. The morale of the story? Get your f*cking hair cut so you can save your push and your job.
*Frankie Kazarian could return
Not the worst move TNA could make. It adds another person to the seemingly depleted X Division and it most likely brings Matt Bentley (who I’m a fan of) back into the fold. They’ve certainly brought back/in worse talent.
*Austin Aries set to return
Good, I like Austin Aries. As long as they drop his stupid ass gimmick that he had when he left, I’m all for it. Just let Aries be Aries and give him a push in the X Division. Everything should be water under the bridge at this point and if it’s not, somebody should grow up. With Aries returning, Kazarian possibly coming back, and Bentley possibly coming back, things are looking good for the X Division.
*July 22nd
So UWF and TNA are pairing up once again and are once again heading my way. Only difference this time is that I’m actually going to the event in Jacksonville. Last time I trusted a very unreliable friend who couldn’t come up with the money. This time, I’ve already ordered the tickets and I’m going with some one who already has the money. Words probably can’t describe how excited I am about this event considering it will be the first time ever I have the chance to watch Styles, Daniels, and Joe live and in action. July 22nd can’t come soon enough.
It Hasn’t Been Done In…..2 WEEKS!
It’s nice to see Homicide in a TNA ring for once. He and Dutt had a nice match going but due to time constraints it was of course cut short. Still if they pull out Dutt & Killings vs. Homicide and Hernandez or Homicide vs. Killings for the PPV, I’ll be happy. Homicide could be a true talent for TNA and the X Division if used correctly. So I’m begging TNA, use this man correctly and see what he has to offer against true opponents and not The James Gang. I still feel that Homicide needs to break away from LAX to become a star but everyone has to start somewhere.
I’m not feeling this whole Slick Johnson/Larry Zybsko thing at all. I honestly don’t see the humor in the whole thing and I don’t think the pay off will be worth it. While it’s nice to see a ref with a personality, it would also be nice for Raven to actually do something in this whole feud. I figure Slick Johnson will be the ref in the Zybsko/Raven classic and will screw over Raven because God knows an evil referee hasn’t been done before. Also, those Blad Zybsko pictures weren’t on par with the Bald Edge pictures from years ago, sorry TNA.
Once again, Eric Young is the man. I’ve come to the conclusion that he’s like Eugene but he’s 100 times better considering he actually isn’t playing a retard as his character. As I’ve mentioned before, without a mid card title, Eric Young isn’t going very far in TNA. Granted he’s over with the fans but he’s not over enough or legit enough to carry the company as a World Champion. A mid card title, sure, I’m all for it. Hell, pair him back up with Roode and give them a run against Styles & Daniels, I’m all for that but no matter how much we all love Eric Young, he won’t cut it in the Main Event, which kind of sucks. I honestly didn’t understand that whole comment about Wayne Gretzky considering Gretzky just signed a 5 year contract with the Coyotes and unless his team sucks it big time, he’s not going anywhere. Hell, if it makes Eric feel any better though, I’ll start calling him the Wayne Gretzky of TNA.
So another training video for The Naturals. Question is, will all this turn out to be a waste of time? If Douglas refuses to cut his hair and blows this whole push, where do Shane and Stevens go from there? I wouldn’t mind seeing Shane Douglas coach Chase Stevens through the X Division but I also can’t see Chase Stevens as the X Division champion. Still, if Douglas doesn’t get the cut and blow all this, unless they plan on burying this entire angle and Chase Stevens, that’s about the only way to go. Just another sign that TNA needs a mid card title.
As you know, I’m not a big fan of this whole “shoot against WWE” thing that TNA has going but I found the piece on Rhino to be well done. That’s the difference between Team 3-D and Rhino. Team 3-D takes shots at WWE to get a cheap reaction out of the crowd while Rhino took his shots as a way for you to feel his pain and feel what he was going through. Rhino had that energy behind his words that screamed “Fuck the past and f*ck WWE, I’m here to help TNA become big” while the words of Team 3-D scream “Come on, cheer for us so everyone doesn’t realize we are a stale team”. Now I read in the spoilers that Rhino actually came out to the Impact Zone with the real ECW World Title and challenged Vince to come to Orlando and take it. While that would have fit in with this piece, I feel it wasn’t necessary to include. I understand that Rhino has the belt but if Rhino has been watching ECW over the past 4 weeks, he should clearly see that Vince doesn’t give a damn about the product, much less the belt. I say to Rhino, hold on to the belt and show you were the final Extreme Championship Wrestling champion and let Big Show parade around with the Entertainment Championship Wrestling title.
Once again, we understand that Monty Brown can beat jobbers. Move on now. I also love the comments by Brown “I’m not padding my record like Samoa Joe” after the third straight week of squashing guys who probably have a combined total of 1 win in TNA while Joe got his streak by defeating guys like Sabin, Lethal, Dutt, Styles, Daniels, ect… Monty Brown is another reason that TNA needs a mid card title. They clearly don’t trust him to carry the World Title and I for one am getting sick of these squashes and meaningless post match rants after the match when that time could have been well spent on Dutt/Homicide.
I don’t care what anyone says, I am enjoying the antics of Kevin Nash and Alex Shelley. “I’m going to use something that the wrestling world hasn’t seen in…..2 WEEKS!” To me that line is classic because it seems like everything is recycled nowadays. Also Nash stumbling trying to find the words was great as well because you know they could have re-shot the footage but you also know that Nash wanted to come off that way. The slow clap at the end by Shelley and Devine capped that entire video off. I also found the Osama Bin Laden/Sabin comments funny as well. A little stale and dull? Sure, but funny nonetheless, I have a vague sense of humor I guess. I’m also very interested in the match at Victory Road that involved Sabin & Lethal taking on Shelley & Nash. While I feel that Shelley will be the fall guy in the match, I still think it will be a good match as long as Nash is limited and even then, Lethal and Sabin should keep it entertaining.
While I still don’t think Samoa Joe’s voice matches his body, the man can still cut a hell of a promo. I know he’s more of a “let the wrestling do the talking” kind of a guy but when called upon, he brings the goods on the mic.
The main event was solid enough to hold my attention but nothing too great. Still, this main event was about putting the top 4 names in the company in one match and praying that this match alone boosted the ratings to a solid 1.4. It was also a way of hyping the match at Victory Road, which I see no problem with. I feel that Samoa Joe is the forgotten man in this whole equation though. I know he’s mentioned in almost every segment involving the match at Victory Road and I know he still has a feud with Steiner going but that’s just it, Joe is feuding with Steiner. Sting’s main goal in TNA is to do what? Rid the company of Jeff Jarrett. Christian’s goal since Slammiversary is to do what? Regain the World Title, currently held by Jeff Jarrett. Scott Steiner’s main goal is what? To help Jeff Jarrett in any way possible. All three of those men have Jeff Jarrett in common while Samoa Joe honestly has nothing to do with him. If, and I should say when, Samoa Joe wins the World Title I at least hope that TNA builds it to mean something. At this point, a win against Jarrett for the belt doesn’t have much meaning behind it because Jarrett and Joe have had little to no interaction since Joe was inserted into the main event.
In an exclusive broke by Botter (Great first name BTW), the 4 way match at Victory Road will be the Main Event and the winner will get a built feud with Jarrett instead of jumping right into the match. I find that to be a wise decision by TNA and also a sign that Samoa Joe will win the 4 way match at the PPV. If TNA wanted Sting or Christian to win the match, they might as well jump into the match with Jarrett and spare us a month of the same booking. With this though, we get something fresh with Jarrett and Joe and when Joe wins the belt, it becomes something special instead of Rhino’s almost meaningless win last year at Bound For Glory. So kudos to TNA for coming to this decision.
UFC 61
Now I’m not the smartest man around the Pulse when it comes to UFC but I know enough to split the tab on UFC 61 on Saturday. That’s right, SpikeTV has done enough promoting and what not for me to actually spend 40 bucks on essentially two fights that could go a combined 30 seconds. Still, I’m not picking up the full bill and after all the promoting by SpikeTV and TUF3, I’m dying to see Shamrock vs. Ortiz, hell, I’m even interested in Arlovski vs. Sylvia.
So whom do I have in the fights? Easy, Ortiz is going to turn Shamrocks face into ground beef again and Arlovski won’t go down so easy this time. Sorry Shamrock marks, he’s too old to hang in the cage with Ortiz. The last time these two met, it was all Ortiz. The only thing Shamrock showed me in that fight was that he knew how to escape holds and run. Shamrock is a loose cannon, which I feel will work to his disadvantage. The only reason I want Shamrock to win is because if he does, UFC has a reason to book these two again in a rubber match.
E-Mail Bag
Wow, if I’d have known you were in Fayetteville on Monday, I would have made the trip…like my entire family lives down there. Anyways, to the column.
~I kinda wonder if a move might hurt them. Look how long it took the Thursday ratings to stablize after the move. Plus, Spike is still all gay about UFC, plus there’s some new comedy show debuting in the 9 PM slot soon…we’ll just have to wait until it’s time to renew iMPACT! (which I believe is in September) to find out if they’re switching times, another hour, etc.
~I liked Roderick, but he won’t be missed. If WWE doesn’t snatch him up, he’s going to wander the indy scene forever. He’s like another Bryan Danielson.
~Diamonds In The Rough was always a pointless idea, and them breaking up just furthers the “there are no tag teams in wrestling” arguement. C’mon, when WWE has more teams (Spirit Squad, Highlanders, Hooliganz, Gymini, Scotty/Funkai, Pitbulls, Regal/Finlay) than iMPACT! (AMW, 3-D, Styles/Daniels, James Gang), there’s something wrong.
~Eric Young rules. That is all.
-Ramsey
I think it’s a given that they will switch to a better slot. Last night SpikeTV ran UFC Unleashed (a repeat) at 9 PM followed by those two comedy shows from 10-11 followed by Impact. Why not have Impact take the place of UFC repeats? SpikeTV seems to be very high on TNA and they seem to want it to succeed. All they do is praise TNA about how they’re hitting their target demographic and what not. I’m almost positive that Spike will renew the TNA contract and I’m almost positive that they will improve the timeslot by the end of the year.
Yeah, as mentioned last week, TNA has gotten along fine without Strong. He’s a good worker with an endless amount of backbreakers but he’s not a make or break the company kind of guy. I think he’s better off in ROH compared to WWE. He will be so limited in WWE that he wouldn’t last a week in the company. At least in ROH he can show off his true skill. As for Danielson, I would love him TNA but his heart seems to be in ROH.
WWE actually has more teams than TNA? I still find that hard to believe but you probably watch more WWE than I have as of late. You also left out LAX and The Naturals for TNA teams and if you’re going to count Regal/Finlay (who are more of a stable with Booker than a team) then you would have to count Sabin/Lethal and Shelley/Nash. I still feel TNA has more teams but you brought me to light that WWE actually has teams.
YouTube Match of The Week
I stumbled upon this match while browsing a wrestling forum. For all you AJ “He’s a spot monkey” Styles fans…shut up:
Match: AJ Styles vs. Low Ki
Event: Zero One
Rating: ****
Plugs
Steve moves days and brings you extra coverage, got to love a guy like that. On the subject of my comments, I don’t blame Steve. TNA can be formulaic at times (especially as of late) and it’s just not his cup of tea, you can’t fault a guy for that. As long as Steve keeps bringing the goods on Wednesday, he’ll always earn a plug from me.
Vinny tells you what makes a good storyline. Ever though about fantasy booking Vinny?
Eric breaks down the RVD/Sabu situation as well as Raw.
GRUT continues the best play ever written.
Daniels breaks out a new rating system for an old show.
Neeley reviews Impact. Why does he get a plug when I hardly ever give reviews a plug? Simple, Neeley is cool like that.
The End
Before I end this I will state that I am getting back into collecting Hockey Cards so if you’ve got some that you want to unload, feel free to contact me. Continue to enjoy the summer everyone, drop me a line at AMPLine4Life@aol.com and join me next time At Ringside.
