Welcome back to ringside everyone.
Fuck Em Both
So last week due to my rushing to finish things up, I didn’t deliver on the Jeff Hardy pics that you probably don’t want to see. Well most of you know my thoughts on Matt Hardy but lets take a look at Eric’s favorite wrestler (I also challenge him to caption these pics just to see what good stuff he comes up with)
And to think, this guy is still under a TNA Contract.
News & Shit
*Thursday Night Rating: 0.8
So when does TUF4 start?
*Talks Of 2 Hours
The big rumor going around is that SpikeTV is going to allow TNA 2 hours on Monday’s in which Raw is pre-empted due to Tennis. See, some stupid WWE marks will say “TNA needs to get their own day” but where’s the fun in that? As a wrestling fan, what’s the biggest day to you? Most likely it’s Monday because you know you’re going to see a live 2 hour show from 9-11 on most Monday’s. So if WWE isn’t there to deliver due to Tennis, why shouldn’t TNA step in and step up? I know I still find myself flipping to SpikeTV on Monday’s instead of USA. If the general WWE audience doesn’t see Raw on USA on a certain Monday, what are they going to do? Channel flip and when they flip to SpikeTV, they’ll see wrestling and because they’ll need their fix, they’ll watch the show. That’s my theory at least.
*Joe’s Gonna Kill D’Amore
So according to reports, Joe was upset with the ending to his match with Rhino on Impact. Rule number 1 in TNA: Don’t piss off Samoa Joe. Still, Joe handled it like a pro and he’ll move on, probably win the blow off match at Hard Justice, and head back into the title hunt. No need to get upset over spilt milk big man.
Shelley Special 2
So the build for Hard Justice continued this week and things seem to be falling into place.
*I’m not sure what to think about the Spike vs. Abyss situation. On one hand it’s a nice throw back to Spike vs. Awesome but on the other hand it’s either predictable that Abyss goes over or it kills Abyss if Spike goes over (unless Raven gets involved). All that said, we all know it’s going to be a hardcore type match at the PPV and we all know that Spike is going to kill himself in order to continue to make Abyss look like a monster. Another good thing to take from this is that Spike is at least staying out of the X Division for the time being. Honestly, can you really imagine Spike in the X Division? I thought he had a hard time fitting in with the WWE Cruiserweights (and they gave him the damn belt), to think of him next to the likes of Low Ki, Sabin, Lethal, and others is beyond my level of thinking. While you could say he fits in weight wise (I honestly think he’s too damn small to fit in weight wise), he certainly doesn’t fit in wrestling wise. Spike is best off used as a crash test dummy and nothing more. He’s not a horrible wrestler by any means but you don’t think of 5 star matches when you think of Spike Dudley, you think of him taking an ass kicking and the crowd eating it up.
With Abyss, there was clearly a foreshadow with Abyss/Raven, that or they just wanted to remind everyone that Raven was still with the company. I’m all for another Abyss/Raven encounter. Their matches last year were brutal and I loved every minute of them. Raven doesn’t need to be in great shape to take a staple gun so some ones head so weight shouldn’t be a problem in this one.
*So Monty Brown’s contract is slated to run out sometime in the fall and if you ask me, he shouldn’t renew it. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate Monty Brown or anything like that. I think his mic work is solid, his ring work continues to improve, and he shows a heart for the business that most Ex Football players don’t. That said, TNA has screwed him over so many times that what’s the point in staying? Remember last year at Final Resolution when Monty was hugely over with the Impact Zone? Yeah, he defeated Nash and DDP to earn a title shot at Jarrett. Now he should have won the title on that night but instead, Jarrett retained. So they decided to turn Monty Brown heel and have this whole favor thing going with Monty and Jarrett. Did he ever get his favor? Not that I can remember. We flash forward to this year and what do they do? Keep him out of King Of Mountain in favor of Killings. Monty should go to WWE where you know he will get a solid push because he has the look of a Vince McMahon worker.
*The X Division 4 Way served its purpose and that’s all you can ask I guess. Shark Boy was his normal X Division filler self who took the fall to save face for the others, Johnny Devine was there so Nash and Shelley had reason to scout everyone else, Sonjay Dutt was there to play 2nd fiddle as he always does, and Petey Williams showed he can make it on his own. So now we’ve got Petey vs. Low Ki at the PPV in a match that should bring the goods. Low Ki will of course be going over in the match considering he’s being built right now as the Samoa Joe of the X Division. Petey vs. Low Ki is something we haven’t seen in awhile or we haven’t seen ever so it’s something new and fresh.
*So the seeds have been planted for Christian to turn on Sting. That’s right, Christian needs to turn on Sting and go heel. He makes a much better heel compared to face and he will get real heat and not “Get off my screen” heat. If Christian doesn’t turn on Sting, I don’t know what’s next for him. He could move into a feud with Steiner but that would mean Jarrett and Sting most likely continue their feud and I don’t know about you guys but I’m about over those two. Blow the thing off at Hard Justice and let Sting move on to Christian and Jarrett move on to Joe.
*I’m personally loving the James Gang taking Eric Young under their wing. Despite what people may say or think about them, The James Gang are the life of the party 9 times out of 10. They always seem to have fun with what their doing and that’s something you can’t say about everyone in the wrestling business. Eric Young will fit in perfectly with those 2 and it should benefit both parties. As for A-1, he needs to be released. Sorry but it’s clear that TNA really has nothing for him to do, which is why they paired him up with AMW…who also seem to have nothing else to do. It might be time for AMW to split ways but I can’t see them as singles stars at this point. If there was a Mid Card Title, sure, split them and have them go after the mid card belt. Sadly, there is no mid card belt and neither Storm nor Harris is going to be a Main Event star in this day in TNA.
*I can’t continue to state how good Shelley and Nash work together. Devine plays his role but at the end of the day, Shelley and Nash are the stars of the show. “Samolion Joe”, it’s gold my friends. Shelley shows Nash a takedown followed by a submission and what’s Nash come back with? A forearm to the back. The two feed off each other so well and it just continues to make for entertaining segments on Impact. They honestly need to release a Paparazzi Productions DVD once this whole thing comes to an end because I can almost guarantee that it would be the Number 1 seller for TNA within the first week. Plus they’re going to make a Sting DVD (undeserved I might add), why not a Paparazzi Productions DVD?
*Ok, I still don’t buy Bobby Roode as a Main Event player but damn if he’s not the perfect way to introduce a mid card title. Roode has all the tools to make it in TNA but he’s not quite good enough to crack the Main Event at this moment. Clearly they’re going to give a manager so who do they go with? I’ll stick by my prediction from last week and say they pair him up with Traci. She’s perfect eye candy by the side of Roode and it could be like a Savage/Elizabeth partner ship with the two. If it’s not Traci, I don’t know who the hell it will be considering TNA isn’t that deep in the manager department.
*I can see why Joe was upset with the ending to his match with Rhino but what other choice did they have? Joe couldn’t of course job because he’s Samoa Joe, he beats people, people don’t beat him. They couldn’t job out Rhino because of what he did for the company and he’s honestly one of the most over guys on the TNA roster. So to get out of the corner they put themselves in, they booked a no contest thanks to the interference of Monty Brown. That of course sets up Brown vs. Joe vs. Rhino at the PPV in what is likely to be a No DQ match or whatever term you want to use that defines a match with no rules. Joe will of course go over in that match (presumably over Brown considering he’s on his way out) thus propelling him back into the Title Scene for September and October. So as I said before, hang in there big Joe, the strap isn’t too far away.
TNA House Show
So last Saturday I made a 2 hour drive down to Jacksonville, NC to attend the UWF/TNA House Show. I posted these on a message board just minutes after I got back from the show and since I’m lazy, I’m not making any changes. Here’s what I went through:
Ultimate Experience
This was pretty cool right here. I met and got autographs with everyone on the card (check the results for that). AJ Styles and Christopher Daniels signed my newly bought AJ shirt and Samoa Joe signed my “Joe’s Gonna Kill You” shirt. I asked Joe if he was going to kill some one tonight and he responded with “They don’t pay me to make cock jokes” Shot at DX possibly? I got pictures of and with most of the guys as well. I’ll upload those when my friend sends them to me (most likely on Monday). We went to take our seats but they stupidly double booked some tickets. I was fine but my friends seat was double booked. In the end, my friend ended up getting his seat so nothing major. I had front row seats right across from the hard camera (if this show was going to TV). So needless to say, the seats were awesome.
Before I get into the matches, just know that I rate on a money scale instead of a 5 star scale (a system that needs tweaking). You’ll see how it plays out in the end.
America’s Most Wanted over Diamonds In The Rough
Solid match with some funny comedy spots. The crowd was into AMW, which was surprising to me. DITR teased hitting each other but nothing ever came of it. A funny moment came when a fan yelled “AMW Sucks” and Storm fired back with “Ya but you swallow”. I would give this match a solid $6.
Eric Young over Petey Williams
Another comedy match more or less. The crowd was into Eric Young, which was no real shock. Not much to say for this match. $3
Samoa Joe over Abyss & Rhino
Some guy had signs that said “Gore me you pansy, you got fired” and “WWE Rulz”. Rhino snatched both signs and tore them apart to a great reaction. This match spilled into the crowd and bleachers. Joe did the ole kick in the crowd right in front of me, it was pretty phat. For a solid hardcore brawl that delivered on many levels, I would go with $12.
Intermission
Not much went on here. Some hott chicks came over to our section looking for seats saying, “The wrestlers invited us”.
Alex Shelley over Jay Lethal
This match stole the show. Two kids who were seated near me were just standing there before the match while Shelley was on the outside and Shelly walked by them and said “Hey kids, you suck, where’s your parents?” his delivery was just great on it. Another moment was when Shelley was doing a rope choke on Lethal in front of me, the ref did his 5 count, and Shelley said “I have ’til 5” and I yelled “Good job Danielson” and he responded to me with “He stole it from me”. Pretty awesome right there. Again, a very good match with at least $15.
Gail Kim over Amber O’Neill
A good womens match right here. Worth $5 considering it was a womens match.
AJ Styles & Christopher Daniels over The James Gang
Remember the hott chicks? They ended up sitting in the bleachers and Kip James spotted them (I guess he invited them). So Kip jumped the rail (stepping on my knee) went to the bleachers and yelled out “HOTT CHICKS!” it was pretty funny. Kip also got on the mic and did “if you’re not down with that, we got two words for ya” and the crowd said “suck it”. He would go on with “If Ya SMELLLLLLL” but BG took the mic from him. Daniels got the mic and was like “If you want Kip James back on the mic, gimme a hell yeah” and we of coursed yelled hell yeah. So Kip got back on the mic and went on with “If Ya SMELLLLLLLL, What The James Gang….Is Smokin”. The match itself was a very solid tag match which I would give $10.
I paid 50 bucks for the show and the match money came out to be a grand total of 51 dollars. Comebine that with the fact that I got the meet and interact with the wrestlers and that only increases the value. Great show, well worth the money.
YouTube Match Of The Week
YouTube is down at the current moment (oh uh) so no match this week.
Plugs
Botter gives you a bunch of news rolled up into one. I advise everyone to just not read wrestling news for a week and wait for Botter on Thursday’s.
Daniels remembers one of the many events that killed WCW.
Steve needs a back up generator in his house.
Brashear remembers another event that led to the downfall of WCW.
Neeley reviews the life of Jake Roberts.
The End
That’s it everyone. Drop me a line at AMPLine4Life@aol.com and join me next time At Ringside.
