What is up wrestling fans, I am the WrestlingNerd bringing you another written review. Today, we take a look at WWE Raw on 5/30/11. With it being Memorial Day, what would the WWE do to cap off the holiday? Well, let's find out and start with the review.
We open up the show with......what the hell? Ok, we appear to be having some problems on the WrestlingNerd show. Please stand by.....
After witnessing the black screen of death (curse you black screen of death), bad syncing, audio and visual problems, we see that R-Truth is in the ring. I should note that he was throwing a fit in the merchandise stands and was even talking to "little Jimmy" and "little Jimmy's father" (who are wearing John Cena shirts). Finally, just as it appears all of the technical difficulties are done, we see that Cena has made his way to the ring and calls Truth crazy. Truth continues this argument that Cena and the fans have plotted a conspiracy against him for not getting into the main event. Cena ads that he has no problems with a fight until the Raw GM reads the email. Michael Cole reads it and says tonight's main event will be Cena vs Truth tonight. Overall, definitely one of the strangest ways to open up the show and it was for all of the wrong reasons. There was some technical difficulties that took up most of the opening. I liked how King was blaming it on Truth because of how insane he is. It is possible that Truth might have hit something, but who really knows. I would normally comment on Truth's promo, but there was either no sound or the sync was completely off. From what it looked like, it looked like Truth was doing some decent promo skills here, but I really don't know. Anyway, we appear to be having a match later tonight. It is amazing how quickly Truth has risen into the main event slot. I am not even sure if he belongs here quite yet. Don't get me wrong, I really like Truth's current heel character, but it does seem he is getting a little rushed. Plus, he might just be thrown in there as bait for Cena because Cena always seems to win, but who knows?
Match #1: Kofi Kingston vs Dolph Ziggler
Ziggler is back to the bleach blonde hair, which I think was an improvment since he looked like a generic guy with his brown hair. This was a pretty decent match, but I have also see many Kofi/Ziggler matches. In fact, we have seen quite a few of these matches in a six month span. Were these those big plans for when they moved Ziggler from SD over to Raw? Oh well, I shouldn't be too shocked since Ziggler is still missing tools to go further in this company, mainly a personality. The finish comes when Ziggler hangs onto the ropes when Kofi attempts SOS. With the counter, Ziggler hits Zig Zag and wins the match cleanly. With this type of win for Ziggler, it basically sets up another rivalry between Ziggler and Kofi. While the two work well together, it does seem kinda lazy to just recycle a feud that happened six months ago. Heck, I think they had a feud prior that, so I think this is three feuds between Kofi and Ziggler in a span of a year....damn. Sorry, but this seems like something you would see on Impact Wrestling, and I am sure that isn't a good thing. I just hope they do something a little different this time around.
Winner via pinfall: Dolph Ziggler
A brief Alberto Del Rio promo after a commercial break. He says that the Vehicular Manslaughter attempt was just an accident and claims that this is all Big Show's fault (The strange thing is that it is all Show's fault. If he wasn't standing next to Del Rio's car and assulting Ricardo Rodriguez, none of this would have never happen. Show is the good guy, right?). He ends the segment by saying that Show must pay for the damages to his car. Not a whole lot to say about this segment. It appears that a Del Rio/Show rivalry is in the works. I would only hope that Del Rio goes over Show since he needs it more than Show..... but you already knew that. Oh, and when did Show turn into a bear? Seriously, go look at this scene and they show Show growling like a bear during all of this.
Match #2: Eve and Kelly Kelly vs Bella Twins
Little Guido has been referring a lot lately since he appears on television every week for the last month. The match is about what you expect and was pretty boring. The finish comes when Kelly hits an Imfamasser on one of the Bellas and wins the match. Of course there was no Kharma appearance for this spot because they already had another segment planned for her later tonight. I wouldn't be surprised if the audience reaction to this match was "Who the f*** cares about these divas, where is that Kharma? She is actually interesting". Seriously, Kharma is the most over diva at the moment while nobody really cares about the rest of these ladies.
Winner via pinfall: Kelly Kelly and Eve
We are back in the ring where Cole is basically calling out Alex Riley (Who got a massive pop tonight). He tells him that he should apologize to the Miz because the Miz has been like a father to Riley. After Cole is done working the shaft, Riley tells him to shut up because he is as annoying as the Miz. Cole then calls Riley a bastard (Wow....isn't that like extreme language in PG land?), which makes Riley toss Cole to the ground. He is talking down to him until the Miz attacks Riley from behind, which allows Cole to retreat. Miz has the upper hand of the brawl until Riley fights back and is now beating up the Miz. The segment ends with Miz retreating through the audience and Riley standing tall once again. Well, they seem pretty apparent on keeping Riley on Raw, which almost makes the draft over to SD pointless, unless plans change. I guess as wrestling fans we are suppose to forget that ever happened. To add more to wrestling logic, Cole was very upset with Riley during this segment. That isn't the part that baffles me. The part I was thinking about was during this attack last week, in which Cole was saying that the Miz had this sort of attacking coming. I guess Cole changed is viewpoint in the matter of a week. Yeah, it is more wrestling logic because we are suppose to forget about that line Cole mentioned and focus on the scene in hand. Then again, only a nerd such as myself would actually remember that line and try to bring continuity into it. Yes, I am insane. As far as the feud goes, I am not so sure about this one. Keep in mind that Miz just lost the title to Cena and could use a rebound, and I am not sure if him locking up with Riley is the best solution. The reason I say that is it seems that Riley is really over with the audience as a face and just sending him out there to lose to the Miz might not be the way to go and could hurt his momentium. If this feud were to happen, you would have to suspect for the Miz to go over considering he is a lot more developed that Riley and WWE has more invested in Miz at the moment. Now, I am all for wanting to build up Riley, but I think having his first babyface fued be against the Miz might be a bad idea because he will most likely lose it and should be working over small talents to begin with. Plus, a feud like this can break Riley if he isn't ready for it and he could end up like Sean O'Hare or Maven (Wow, didn't expect to reference Maven on this show. I think this show just hit an all time low) or a bunch of other talents who got a big push too soon. I just don't want to see Riley getting destroyed out there because there is some potentional in the guy. By the way, I am digging Riley's new entrance music.
Match #3: CM Punk vs Rey Mysterio
Mason Ryan was at ringside for this match. This was a decent back and forth match. The finish comes when Punk hits a Chuck Norris roundkick in the back of Rey's head and he is down for the three count. Kinda interesting that Punk didn't end this match with the GTS, but maybe they are trying to sell Punk's feet as dangerous weapons. Punk getting the win keeps him and Nexus as a main threat for the time being. They are definitely trying something with Punk if he is getting clean wins over Mysterio. Simply put, Punk needs to be used better on this show because it always seems his pushes never go all the way and just seem to fall short. I really think Rey's role with the company has changed since he seems to be putting over talent more than getting himself over. Rey is a Luigi? Who would have thought?
Winner via pinfall: CM Punk
Kharma is already in the ring after a commercial break and it appears she is going to talk for the first time (What is even more strange is even though she was in TNA, I think this is the first time I have ever heard her speak because TNA had her use a manager during her time with the company). She says she had two dreams in her life. One of them was to be a WWE superstar. She mentions that she tried out for Tough Enough one year, but was told by Jim Ross that she was too heavy and wouldn't make it in the WWE (oohhh, I bet JR is getting a lot of angry emails after tonight). She said she went around the world training to become the best wrestler possible (Oh no, I think she said wrestling. I am surprised Vince McMahon doesn't bleap out this word). She said after lots of hard work (and a f*** up by Bubba the Dumbass Sponge and TNA), she finally achieved her dream and was given a contract by the WWE. She said her second dream was to be a mother. She tells the audience that she is pregnant and because of this needs to take some time away from the company. She vows that she will be back until the Bella Twins come out and make fun of the fact that she is overweight and is going to have a baby. Kharma has this look of wanting to kill the Bellas, but says that when she comes back, she is going to hope they are still here as well. I think this was the best promo I have heard from a diva or KO all year. To be fair, it felt more like a shoot since Kharma talked about real life events and in a way, the WWE kinda broke kayfabe with this one. Then again, I am trying to think if there was another way to do this and this might have been the best solution. If they did a group attack on Kharma, it would have been bad for the child and it would have ruined the Kharma character, even if that is a simple way to write off a character. I will admit that this is a bit of a blow for the WWE because they were getting a lot of attention for how well the Kharma angle had been going and it is a shame that it has to end so soon, but there is a good reason for prolonging the Kharma push. I do wonder where they go from here, because it doesn't seem like anyone is going to care about the divas division once again until she comes back. I also wonder if they will mention her from now until she returns? Still, even though I was really getting into the angle, congratulations go out to Kia Stevens (her real name) for the miracle of joy and I wish her the best of luck. Still, look at the diva division? Beth Phoenix and Natalya not doing anything, Michelle McCool basically retired, and Layla injured. While they have the spotlight on the Bellas who are the worst heels ever and Kelly who is just kinda there. This division is almost dead and it seemed that Kharma was carrying the division the minute she arrived because she made people actually want to watch a diva match just to see her attack someone. Hard to say where they go from here, but they better think of something because Bellas, Eve, and Kelly aren't the best choices.
Match #4: Jack Swagger vs Evan Bourne
They showed more CP buildup with another one of those cheap jokes from last week. It was just as stupid as last week, but I will admit the last line with the Mysterio mask was pretty hilarious. Still, this crap makes the current cast of SNL look funny. Oh, and is anyone else a little offput when King and Cole contradicting each other all night long, but then there are times where they are exchanging jokes and flashbacks as if they are friends? This is why I still like my idea of making Cole a manager, but I really need to shut up about that since I have been mentioning it a lot and I am sure you folks are getting sick of me talking about that theory. Anyway, this matchup was nothing special. Swagger was dominating most of it. The finish comes when Bourne pulls off a rollup and wins the match. Swagger was pissed off after the match. I wouldn't be surprised if this is the last win that Bourne gets on Raw until about 3-4 months down the road because I don't see him winning the feud.
Winner via pinfall: Evan Bourne
Match #5: John Cena vs R-Truth
The match was nothing too special. During the match, Truth kept leaving the ring and kept talking to people who were wearing Cena shirts. Eventually, Cena gets a little irritated by this and starts to fight with him on the outside. The two fight for a while, and during this time the ref is making the 10 count. Truth quickly dives back into the ring and wins the match via a countout. I would have liked to see more wrestling between the two, but I suppose this Truth win does set up another match so hopefully that match will end up being better.
Winner via countout: R-Truth
After the match, Cena looks sick to his stomach that he just lost the match (Cena: I just lost a wrestling match....I no longer have a reason to live...). Truth runs over to the father and son at the beginning of the show and splashes a drink in his face. Cena runs over to him while Truth retreats. The show ends with Cena tending to the fan.
Overall Impression:
I wasn't really expecting anything too exciting with it being a holiday edition of Raw, but I thought it was an average showing. The show definitely got off to a rocky start with the technical problems (Try not to forget that the show is live), but it appearaed to be getting back on track with some decent matches. There was some pretty decent wrestling matches this evening, so that is at least a good thing. We also got to see Kharma shoot a promo and I think won more fans over with her words. There is also something in the works between Cena/Truth and Miz/Riley. They are also keeping an eye on Punk for the time being and hopefully they are preping him for something decent, but I would really be happy if the contract issue was dealt with since it appears it is still an issue. Not a perfect showing of Raw, but not a bad showing either. There was some decent matches and promos for the evening, and considering it was a holiday, I think that was the best you could have gotten tonight. Casual fans will probably enjoy this showing while seasoned wrestling fans will probably be bored with it. Still, I thought it was a fair showing. That is going to do it for the review and I hope you enjoyed it. As always, tell me what you thought of my review or tonight's show. My littel tribute to the Macho Man Randy Savage is up in case you are interested in checking it out. I will see you guys and girls on the next WrestlingNerd show, see you next time.
PS: I have finally started using my blogspot account and will be posting links towards my page at the end of my reviews, but it will contain the same reviews that I normally post on here. Still, this is another place to check out my reviews and where you can leave your input. I always enjoy hearing back from you, so check it out if you are interested.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Monday, May 30, 2011
WrestlingNerd Presents: Wrestle Ramble #1
This was the first edition of the WR. It was originally posted on March 17, 2011. It also remains to be one of my most controversy blogs because of my thoughts and feelings of the six sided ring. Needless to say, seasoned wrestling fans weren't happy with what I had to say and I got slammed pretty hard, but I still stick by my thoughts and continue to stick by my thoughts to this day. Well, here it is for you entertainment pleasure.
And now for something completely different.....What is up wrestling fans, I am the WrestlingNerd bringing you the first edition of the Wrestle Ramble. I will be discussing various news/headlines going on in professional wrestling. Now, I am well aware most people want me to talk about the Jeff Hardy situation, but I will save that for the end since there is a lot of headlines that are showing up for that part. I will make a warning and say there is POSSIBLE SPOILERS that might show up on the Wrestle Ramble, so that is a warning in advance, but I will try to keep this to a minimum.This is the first edition, so there will be some mistakes here and there so all I can say is be patient and hopefully I can find a rhythm with this. Without further or do, let's start the ramble.
Micro John Cena?
So, did anyone wonder who the kid was in the Rock segment that was impersonating John Cena? Well, I did some research and I found out the name of the kid is MattyBraps. Apparently, he is a Youtube star who does a lot of rapping. Personally, I have never heard of him, but then again I mainly use youtube to check out some LPers like Chuggaaconroy and NintendoCapriSun or other such music and abridged series, plus I can't stand rap music so it would make sense that I have never heard of him. I actually went out of the way to listen to some of his tracks, and for being only 8 years old, he isn't half bad. Still, I probably wouldn't be listening to him in the near future. I will be fair and say he is already a better rapper than Cena, but I don't think that is saying much. Hey, I have a rap coming through my head at this moment. It's the Legend of Zelda it's really rad, those creatures from Ganon are pretty bad............I apologize for that in advance. Oh God, how can something as great as Zelda be subjected to this? Oh Nintendo, you and your silly marketing ideas (Hey, it was either the Zelda rap or the Donkey Kong rap.). Anyway, if you want to find out more about this kid, just find him on youtube. I just figured that some people would have been curious as to who that kid was, and now the mystery has been solved. Thank you Scooby and the gang.
TNA releases......but yet Jeff Hardy still has a job?
Apparently, there are some people in TNA that got the axe this week. Daffney, Miss Tessmacher, and Kiyoshi have been released from TNA. What I find hilarious is they fired these people and yet Jeff Hardy still has a job with this company. I know Eric Bischoff likes to run under the light of controversey creates cash, but I don't think even with Hardy that is the type of controversey you want to create. Anyway, it is a shame that Daffney is gone becaue I actually liked her. She had a good look with the hot zombie chick deal, and yet as soon as Hogan and crew show up, they tossed her aside because.......she wasn't blonde or she didn't fit their image of a female superstar. I know it is harsh to think that, but look at the KOs they showcased in the last year. Angelina Love, Velvet Sky, Madison Rayne and Lacey Von Erich. All four of these women are blondes (Rayne did dye her hair, but was originally blonde on this show), Yeah, TNA isn't shallow at all. Now, I will be fair since Vince McMahon is guilty of doing the same thing with the diva division. I know it is true that women's wrestling isn't a draw and it isn't what people pay to watch, but you can at least put something out there that is a little bit decent. It almost feels like these guys are saying "It's women's wrestling, which means we don't have to try". People obviously care about Trish Stratus and Lita, and I think it was their talent (......ok, their looks also help out but they did have skill) and in ring performance that helped. Tessmacher isn't a hugh lose and neither is Kiyoshi. In fact, I am not even sure who Kiyoshi is, which obviously means TNA wasn't using him. For the most part, neither of these talents were being used, so it makes sense to give them their walking papers. Although, given the Hardy situation, I wouldn't be surprised to see other talents lining up to get out of TNA as soon as possible.
I have an update with this particular posting. Yes, I am aware that Tessmacher still has her job and for the most part, this was false reporting by the websites during this time. As far as I know, the other two releases are legit while the other is false. I do apologize for the false reporting and I have been working on making things right.
The six sided ring and my thoughts on it
This has been on my mind for a while, and it is an argument that I never really understood. It has been a year since TNA switched from the Looney Toons six sided ring to the more traditional four sided ring. It seems no matter where I go, I keep hearing people scream "Bring back the six sided ring". Honestly....why? I always hated that stupid six sided ring. I felt the thing looked like it belonged in a circus and not in a professional wrestling ring. It was so embarassing to see guys like Christian and Kurt Angle wrestle in that overly gimmick ring as opposed to the traditional one. I honestly felt that I couldn't take TNA seriously with that ring.......but of course let's not go into details on creative staff or storylines and other things that make us not take TNA seriously, let's just focus on the ring. Now, I know the common counter argument that the six sided ring folks said was it made TNA stand out. How did it make TNA stand out? Are you really convinced that a six sided ring will bring you guaranteed ratings? Well, if that was the case, why didn't it work when you had that ring in the first place? The ratings aren't going to be effected if a ring was 4 sided, 6 sided, 10 sided, or lined up to look like Sonic the Hedgehog's hair. At the end of the day, what will get people talking about TNA will be the in ring action and the storylines, so why make such a big deal out of the six sided ring? I guess I am a bit of an old school guy and I just perfer the basic 4 sided ring. Don't get me wrong, I am all for change or updating anything out there, but I don't think the six sided ring is a hugh lose and I think TNA is better off without it. There is already a ton of things wrong with this company and fans of TNA should be concerned with those and not worrying about some silly gimmick based ring. You have the Charlie Sheen of pro wrestling in Jeff Hardy.....yeah I think you have more than enough problems to be dealing with than some ring that looks like it belongs in a zoo.
Is there too many PPVs in professional wrestling today?
I think a recall a few weeks back in a twitter or facebook post by Bischoff (or an interview, I can't quite remember) that he feels there should be less PPVs in a year for a wrestling promotion. For once, I agree with Bischoff on something. There is simply way too many PPVs on these days. WWE puts on at least 14 PPVs in a year and TNA has another 12. Also with these PPVs, there is usually one month to build up certain storylines. Not only do you have one month to put a card together, but most of the feuds in pro wrestling these days go past a month. Meaning that there will be at least three PPVs that will feature the same two guys, but will be altered since a gimmick match or two will be added. Wouldn't be it simpler to have a two month gap in PPVs? This would give you lots of extra time to build up storylines and even put together some lower card storylines. It would give people like Evan Bourne or Yoshi Tatsu a chance to be given a bone every now and then. Now, am I saying should lower card guys get put in the midcard level or fight a guy like Triple H? No, but what I am saying is it would give them a chance to do something once in a while other than just be the poster child for WWE Superstars. Since there is only a month in between PPVs, you mainly have to focus on the main event and midcard stars and storylines, meaning some lower card guys don't really get a chance to do much. Again, I am not calling for these guys to get a world title match, but have them put in a lower end mini storyline would be nice, that way you are using them since there is a lot of talents on both WWE and TNA that are just there and don't do anything. Over the past few years, the number of PPVs buys has been going down for both companys, so maybe it is time to be doing 6-8 PPVs in a year as opposed to 12 or more. In TNA's case where they have done a poor job in hyping up their last few PPVs (Both AAO and VR cards were slapped together at the last Impact taping, some good buildup huh?), this is where TNA can maybe give themselves a little extra breathing room and maybe play out the storylines as well as they can with extra time? Now, I know that TNA would probably screw this up, but let's try to be optismistic here. The reason I am all for lowering the number of PPVs is the cost. There are a lot of people who simply can't afford to pay for one or two PPVs in a month, and most of the cards aren't that great. If your a person who is low on money and is only going to invest in the PPVs that seem worthy, chances are your going to hold out for WrestleMania or Lockdown and not care so much about filler/less steller PPVs like Over the Limit or Victory Road. Either that or your going to pay for the PPV that has the best looking card and had a lot of good buildup. There are some PPVs that almost have no buildup and almost don't mean anything. Isn't watching wrestling on PPV supposted to be special? Yes, it should but since there is so many of them these days, only a few PPVs stick out and the rest are either average or below average, which is lame and a waste of money because you get average or below average with Raw, Smackdown, and Impact. Let's try to make PPVs special again. Let's cut down the number of PPVs and lets put some extra time and effort into all the storylines that would be on those potentional cards. Chances are this idea will never happen, but if there was an outcry for less PPVs, than I am all for it. Like I said in the last ramble, change can sometimes be a good thing and I would be all for this.
Maybe the Price is wrong, Bobby?
Apparently, TNA star (or possible future endeavors if he is on here) Brian Kendrick appeared on the Price is Right last week. Gosh, the jokes are just too easy here. Kendrick must be desperate for money when he has to appear on a game show. Is TNA really not paying you enough? Well, it is TNA so I shouldn't be surprised at this point. It was strange to say the least because Kendrick's current character on TNA is a Yoda type character where he tries to be all wise and preachy, and yet he acted like a normal human being on TPIR so I thought it was a break from his silly character that is on TNA. Most people would say that it is pretty embarassing on TNA's part for having one of their superstars having to appear on a game show to win some money, but given the Hardy debacle, I think Kendrick appearing on here is the least of their problems. You know what else is sad? If TNA knew about this, why didn't they use this as an opportunity to advertise TNA wrestling? This would have been a golden opportunity, consider there is a decent about of people who watch this show. One of TNA's biggest issues (but not the main overall problem) is advertising. Simply put, this show never gets advertised that well. Spike TV doesn't do a decent enough of a job to spread the word about TNA. I have many friends and family around here that honestly have never heard of TNA but have definitely heard of WWE. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if 60% of the WWE audience or more has never heard about TNA. Freaking advertise your own product. Put a damn commercial on another network, sell some things, promote OUTSIDE of Spike TV. Yeah, I am betting dollars to donuts that WWE is clearly advertising their product while TNA really needs to improve on this. If you watch tv throughout the week, how many TNA commercials do you see? Now, how many WWE commercials do you see? This is also why I think it is time for TNA to leave the Impact Zone more often. There are ton of small venues across the US and I am sure taking the product on the road will help out. . As far as how Kendrick did on the Price is Right, he didn't really win anything except for a popcorn machine. This popcorn machine costed around $3000, heck I wouldn't be shocked if Kendrick made more money with that damn popcorn machine than a year's worth of working for TNA. Kendrick was wearing a Seattle Sounders shirt as well, which is always great to see a little love for the Pacific Northwest (Where I live), so it is just great to get noticed once in a while. Still, couldn't Kendrick get a Seahawks shirt? Just sad........really sad. Oh, and to make this whole thing even more hilarious, the guy standing next to Kendrick on contestant's row had the hair style of Carlito. Irony!!!!
NXT Redemption or NXT Rejects?
The latest season of NXT is called NXT Redemption. This is a season in which they showcase losers from all the past seasons of NXT (except for 3 because it was only divas and it was a trainwreck). In case you haven't found out who is on the show, we have Bryan Saxton, Conor O'Brien, Darren Young, Jacob Novak, Titus O'Neil, and.........Lucky Cannon (This guys still has a development contract with WWE?). But wait.......oh there is so much more. Look at the "pros" (We have to put this term loosly because......well you know) that are on this show. The pros are Chavo Guerrero (Who is arguably the best pro for this season), JTG, Vladimar Kozlov, Yoshi Tatsu, Tyson Kidd, and.......Hornswoggle..........HORNSWOGGLE. The f***ing little person who thinks he is a leprachaun is now fit enough to be giving advice to the NXT stars? Oh, gosh is this not going to look pretty at the end of the day. To add insult to injury, the winner doesn't win a title match like the past winners, instead they win a ticket to be on NXT Season 6 and chose their own pro (Striker "You can chose any WWE pro...except Cena, Orton, Triple H, Punk, or any of the major talents because they are too busy to deal with this crappy show). What.....that's a prize? So, you mean to tell me the show that makes rookie superstars juggle balls, hit pinatas, cut promos about mustaches, and sell programs, is going to have all six guys go through it again and if you win you...... have to do it for a third time? You have got to be kidding me. Not only that, but you couldn't have picked a much blander group of rookies for this season. Conor's gimmick was that he acts like a rat......sounds like something that would happen on TNA. He has dumped that for this season, but now he is boring. Darren was really boring on NXT and he really was the weakest from all of the rookies from NXT season 1. I will be fair since Young looks like he is improving with this edition of NXT. I don't know a lot about Novak or Saxton, but I see things from Saxton that work but don't work. Saxton kinda reminds me a lot of David Otunga, to where he has things that work to be a star, but is still green and needs more work. I am kinda glad Titus is being given a second chance, because I think he kinda got a raw deal on NXT season 2. I thought he would have a chance to shine.....until I found out that his pro is Hornswoggle. Somehow, having Zach Ryder as a pro is not sounding like such a bad idea, is it? And there there is Lucky Cannon......the mear fact this guy still has a job is already a miracle on its own. I remember him from season 2, and he was unbelievably boring. This guy literally has no personality, no charisma, no speech skills (He is still flubbing up promos now) and his in ring ability is nothing to wow over. He is now a heel on this show and he looks worse now than when he was playing face. Yes, he is getting more boos but that is because he looks like he just robbed Elton John with his ridiculous ring attire and he is not drawing the type of heat as say someone like Cole or Punk would recieve. The kind of heat he gets is similiar to the Shore gimmick that is on TNA, and I am not sure if that is the type of heat you should be shooting for. Why couldn't we put guys like Percy Watson or Derrick Bateman on this show? Yes, I have heard of Bateman and this guy is a character and a riot. He looks like Andy Samberg if he went to the gym five times a week. Those guys are funny, instead why did we get stuck with the combined personality traits of the cast of Yu Gi Oh? In fact, the characters of Yu Gi Oh already have more personality than these guys. It is also pretty bad when the only pros that speaks the best english is the Mexican American and the Canadian. Does anyone understand what the hell JTG is saying half the time? Ok......well when it comes to things like this, I try to find some things that are a positive, and there is a few positives. William Regal is on commentary with Todd Grisham for this paticular season, and I watched parts of this and I thought he was enjoyable. Maryse is also a co host with Matt Striker. I can't stand Striker as the host sometimes, so at least Maryse can be there to make it easier on the eyes. Then again, maybe I am judging this too soon? Maybe this could be one of those shows that is so bad that it is just awesome to watch, or awesomebad if you will? I will definitely be checking out this show ever now and then. I still don't think I will review it, but maybe I can leave some feedback here and there on the Wrestle Ramble once in a while.
Main Headline of the Week: Jeff Hardy
Now it is time to talk about the Jeff Hardy situation. I know there is a lot of TNA topics today, but TNA really made a lot of headlines.....and most of them for the wrong reasons (During a Impact taping, Hogan made a reference to a tsunami during one of his promos......I shouldn't have to go into detail into how disrespectful this is. He did apologize for it.......but come on Hogan, you should know better than that at this stage of your career). Now, there have been a ton of headlines that have been pouring the last couple of days with this matter, so I will try to break it down as best as I can. First of all, how the hell could TNA go forward with this match? Based on the thought that Hardy was on something prior to the match, why would you run the risk of even sending him out there.....even if it was only for a match that was under two minutes? Think about this for a second TNA creative? Hardy was swaying back and forth going to the ring, he almost tripped up the steel steps, and he was playing with his shirt and probably had no idea what he was doing. Think of all of things that could go wrong in this situation? Hardy is on something, so he could have jumped into the live audience and started attacking people. He could have injured Sting, and even himself. Yes, it is Hardy's fault for wanting to start the party early, but it is the creative staff that is at more of a fault for going through with this match. Are Russo, Bischoff and Hogan this stupid? Anyone who gave Hardy the green light to go and compete in this match should either be fired or resign from their position, because this is unacceptable. I don't even care what TNA's excuse is for sending Hardy out there, cuz quite frankly any excuse TNA would give you wouldn't be good enough. I guarentee if the WWE was in this situation, they would have pulled Hardy and made another match at the last moment. It makes no sense that they would go through with this match since they already had it planned out for RVD and Anderson to go to a double countout. Here is the simple solution TNA. After the RVD/Anderson match, have Bischoff show up and say Hardy isn't here and make it a triple threat match for the world title between Sting/RVD/Anderson. Heck, maybe they had Abyss or Kurt Angle backstage with nothing to do? Of course, maybe they weren't available but is this creative staff really not that bright? Answer me this Dixie Carter, how do you make it up to people who support your company or watched the event? I am not even sure what the answer to that question is. Now, time to talk about the other Hardy. Matt Hardy was starting to do something useful in TNA with his match against AJ Styles at VR, but his social networking comments quickly remind me that Matt is just as big of a screwup as Jeff is. Matt wrote that Jeff is fine and that he is sorry for losing to Styles at the PPV. WTF is wrong with? Your brother obviously needs a ton of help and your passing it off as if your ignoring the giant elephant in the room? Hate to say this, but Matt Hardy is nothing but a bulls***er. If you had a brother that had a drug problem, wouldn't you try to help him out? Well, apparently Matt is doing the exact opposite here. There was a ton of wrestlers that were pissed off backstage after this match. Not sure how true or untrue these things are, but since it was really embarassing that TNA went through with this idea, I imagine that the locker room is pretty upset about the whole thing. Sting was clearly upset if you saw this part. He clearly didn't want to do through with this match, but it was either that or risk something even worse happening so he was up against a wall here. If you watched the match, he intentially put all of his weight down on Hardy during the pinfall just in case Hardy was stupid enough to try and kick out before the three count. It is sad because Hardy did try to kick out of it. The ref didn't even check Hardy's shoulders, he just made the count and looked down the whole time, as if he was embarassed by the whole thing, and why wouldn't he be? So, now the question comes what does TNA do with Hardy? I would say that Hardy has screwed up so many times that he has eaten up a third or fourth chance by this point (Really, it is more than that if you count is WWE days as well), so they really should just cut him loose. You can either fire him now and get it over with.....or you can suspend him and force him to go to rehab and get the help that he needs. Chances are TNA is going to keep Hardy away from tv for a while and really do nothing, meaning it won't solve the problem. It really seems like Hardy is going to end up like Eddie Guerrero, in which we find out that he is dead in some hotel room. I know nobody wants to think like that, but it is pretty clear that Hardy doesn't want to clean himself up, and chances are he goes into a long sleep that he never wakes up from. Unlike Hardy, Eddie did clean himself up and it was all the prior drug use that caught up with his heart (the performance enhancing drugs had a hand in this as well, but that is a different discussion on a different day), which is why it is still sad to think about Eddie. I miss Eddie to this very day and was taken from us way too soon. Eddie will always be #1 in my book. Anyway, Hardy doesn't want want to clean up and we might feel sad for a while if this happens, but he will also be known as the guy who pissed away his entire career and couldn't keep himself clean. This guy had it made in the WWE when he got semi-clean. He became WWE Champion and was the main guy on SD, but he threw it all away just so he could go back to his old habits. To the Hardy marks that are out there, how can you honestly keep defending this guy? I remember hearing the Hardy marks be behind him when he got the drug charge.....which was weeks after leaving the WWE. The Hardy makes stood by him when he made the CM Punk shoot. The Hardy marks stood by him when TNA had to shorten up another PPV main event because Hardy was "tired". I really would like to hear anyone out there still defend this guy? Face it, he is a screwup and he will always be a screwup. It is sad because I will admit this guy has talent, but he is flushing his career and life down the toilet. Oh and to anyone that actually purchased VR, TNA tries to make it up to you in a way. If you send your purchase info for the PPV, TNA will give you six months of free TNA On Demand. Normally I would say six months to watch MORE TNA is just pure punishment, but it is mainly just wrestling matches so at least they are giving you something. This is a smart move since they basically admitted that VR sucked and are giving you six months of free programming, but TNA should also make sure this never happens again and do the right thing. I don't think it was the best thing TNA could have offered, but acknowledging that Hardy screw up is somewhat of a positive. Plus, I think this PROVES that this wasn't a work and Hardy was under some illegal substance. Why would TNA offer some sort of a package after the PPV if that wasn't the case? I think this is proof enough. Still, this might save money in your wallet, but seeing Hardy fired live on Impact....priceless. If you looking for your free subscription for this if you purchased the PPV, go to TNA's website to find out all the details.
That is going to do it for the first edition of the Wrestle Ramble. I eventually want to have a spot on here in which I will answer questions from YOU that involve wrestling. If you have a good question, chances are it will appear on the show later on down the road, but bare with me if I can't get to it right away. I won't be doing this fanmail or Q & A part of the show for at least a few weeks so I can gather up a decent amount of questions and try my best to get through most of them. You don't even have to ask a question. If there is a topic in pro wrestling that you want me to dig into, I can talk about that as well so feel free to bring it up. I am going to try to update the Wrestle Ramble every week or every two weeks, depending on the headlines/news/questions/theories that are out there. Wrestle Ramble will generally show up on Wednesdays or Thursdays, unless something insane happens and I have to update asap. I hope you enjoyed this edition of the Wrestle Ramble, tell me what you thought about it and ask any questions and it might appear on the show at somepoint. I will see you guys and girls on the next WrestlingNerd show, see you next time.
And now for something completely different.....What is up wrestling fans, I am the WrestlingNerd bringing you the first edition of the Wrestle Ramble. I will be discussing various news/headlines going on in professional wrestling. Now, I am well aware most people want me to talk about the Jeff Hardy situation, but I will save that for the end since there is a lot of headlines that are showing up for that part. I will make a warning and say there is POSSIBLE SPOILERS that might show up on the Wrestle Ramble, so that is a warning in advance, but I will try to keep this to a minimum.This is the first edition, so there will be some mistakes here and there so all I can say is be patient and hopefully I can find a rhythm with this. Without further or do, let's start the ramble.
Micro John Cena?
So, did anyone wonder who the kid was in the Rock segment that was impersonating John Cena? Well, I did some research and I found out the name of the kid is MattyBraps. Apparently, he is a Youtube star who does a lot of rapping. Personally, I have never heard of him, but then again I mainly use youtube to check out some LPers like Chuggaaconroy and NintendoCapriSun or other such music and abridged series, plus I can't stand rap music so it would make sense that I have never heard of him. I actually went out of the way to listen to some of his tracks, and for being only 8 years old, he isn't half bad. Still, I probably wouldn't be listening to him in the near future. I will be fair and say he is already a better rapper than Cena, but I don't think that is saying much. Hey, I have a rap coming through my head at this moment. It's the Legend of Zelda it's really rad, those creatures from Ganon are pretty bad............I apologize for that in advance. Oh God, how can something as great as Zelda be subjected to this? Oh Nintendo, you and your silly marketing ideas (Hey, it was either the Zelda rap or the Donkey Kong rap.). Anyway, if you want to find out more about this kid, just find him on youtube. I just figured that some people would have been curious as to who that kid was, and now the mystery has been solved. Thank you Scooby and the gang.
TNA releases......but yet Jeff Hardy still has a job?
Apparently, there are some people in TNA that got the axe this week. Daffney, Miss Tessmacher, and Kiyoshi have been released from TNA. What I find hilarious is they fired these people and yet Jeff Hardy still has a job with this company. I know Eric Bischoff likes to run under the light of controversey creates cash, but I don't think even with Hardy that is the type of controversey you want to create. Anyway, it is a shame that Daffney is gone becaue I actually liked her. She had a good look with the hot zombie chick deal, and yet as soon as Hogan and crew show up, they tossed her aside because.......she wasn't blonde or she didn't fit their image of a female superstar. I know it is harsh to think that, but look at the KOs they showcased in the last year. Angelina Love, Velvet Sky, Madison Rayne and Lacey Von Erich. All four of these women are blondes (Rayne did dye her hair, but was originally blonde on this show), Yeah, TNA isn't shallow at all. Now, I will be fair since Vince McMahon is guilty of doing the same thing with the diva division. I know it is true that women's wrestling isn't a draw and it isn't what people pay to watch, but you can at least put something out there that is a little bit decent. It almost feels like these guys are saying "It's women's wrestling, which means we don't have to try". People obviously care about Trish Stratus and Lita, and I think it was their talent (......ok, their looks also help out but they did have skill) and in ring performance that helped. Tessmacher isn't a hugh lose and neither is Kiyoshi. In fact, I am not even sure who Kiyoshi is, which obviously means TNA wasn't using him. For the most part, neither of these talents were being used, so it makes sense to give them their walking papers. Although, given the Hardy situation, I wouldn't be surprised to see other talents lining up to get out of TNA as soon as possible.
I have an update with this particular posting. Yes, I am aware that Tessmacher still has her job and for the most part, this was false reporting by the websites during this time. As far as I know, the other two releases are legit while the other is false. I do apologize for the false reporting and I have been working on making things right.
The six sided ring and my thoughts on it
This has been on my mind for a while, and it is an argument that I never really understood. It has been a year since TNA switched from the Looney Toons six sided ring to the more traditional four sided ring. It seems no matter where I go, I keep hearing people scream "Bring back the six sided ring". Honestly....why? I always hated that stupid six sided ring. I felt the thing looked like it belonged in a circus and not in a professional wrestling ring. It was so embarassing to see guys like Christian and Kurt Angle wrestle in that overly gimmick ring as opposed to the traditional one. I honestly felt that I couldn't take TNA seriously with that ring.......but of course let's not go into details on creative staff or storylines and other things that make us not take TNA seriously, let's just focus on the ring. Now, I know the common counter argument that the six sided ring folks said was it made TNA stand out. How did it make TNA stand out? Are you really convinced that a six sided ring will bring you guaranteed ratings? Well, if that was the case, why didn't it work when you had that ring in the first place? The ratings aren't going to be effected if a ring was 4 sided, 6 sided, 10 sided, or lined up to look like Sonic the Hedgehog's hair. At the end of the day, what will get people talking about TNA will be the in ring action and the storylines, so why make such a big deal out of the six sided ring? I guess I am a bit of an old school guy and I just perfer the basic 4 sided ring. Don't get me wrong, I am all for change or updating anything out there, but I don't think the six sided ring is a hugh lose and I think TNA is better off without it. There is already a ton of things wrong with this company and fans of TNA should be concerned with those and not worrying about some silly gimmick based ring. You have the Charlie Sheen of pro wrestling in Jeff Hardy.....yeah I think you have more than enough problems to be dealing with than some ring that looks like it belongs in a zoo.
This is in response to more stuff I had to say about the six sided ring and why I personally wasn't a fan of it. I am only doing this since I obviously touched a nerve with a few people.
I wanted to add this little ramble to the WR like 10 minutes after I posted but was busy for the rest of the day so I didn't get a chance to add this. In fact, this review you are reading right now was written up until Friday morning. If you are here for the review, you can skip this part but I want to address this to anyone who read WR. In general, the six sided ring really benefited the X-Division stars. The ring works pretty well if your a small guy, but to the larger guys there isn't a whole lot of room in the ring. I often felt the ring was too small and was difficult to be mobile in there if you were 6 ft 4 inches and weight around 250 pounds. Since TNA mainly has bigger stars and doesn't focus on the X-Divison as much, it makes sense to have a ring that the bigger guys can feel more comfortable in. As for those other promotions that have a ring with more than four sides on them, most of them have small guys as well so it works to their strengths. Somebody brought up AAA and yes the action over there works well for them. Then again, most of the stars are pretty small and more on the lines of a cruiserweight wrestler, or built up like Styles or CM Punk in terms of body type. What may work for one wrestler doesn't mean it is going to work for everyone. I imagine it was difficult for a guy like Morgan to move around in the ring. If you liked the six sided ring, that's fine but I personally didn't care for it. Still, don't know why people took my rant about the six sided ring so seriously and being very defensive about it? It is my opinion and I am entitled to it. Plus, when I became the WrestlingNerd, I was doing this for fun and because I enjoyed laying out my thoughts on pro wrestling. I still enjoy doing this, even if there are some people that don't agree with me, but not everyone is going to agree on everything, which is what makes these rants a little fun, to see what the other side of the argument has to say about it. I thought we were here to talk wrestling and have some fun doing it and hopefully I entertained you in the process, I didn't realize I had to be so serious all the time? I guess people felt like I touched a nerve when I mentioned the six sided ring. Then again, I knew the IWC was pretty high on the six sided ring so I was very well aware that I was going to get some backlash for that post, but I stand by my thoughts and feelings on the ring. Oh and to the guy with the rap comment, I didn't realize I am required to like rap? I guess Congress just passed a law that stats every person in the states must love rap? Sorry dude, but I am a rock music fan and if you don't like that, well quite frankly I don't care. If you like rap, that is fine but I personally don't care for rap. And the comparison to Cena was a joke for the most part, so I guess you didn't find it funny. Again, people taking things too seriously. I am just trying to have a little fun here. Heck, I thought that is why most people watch reviews or read blogs, to have fun and get a source of entertainment.
Is there too many PPVs in professional wrestling today?
I think a recall a few weeks back in a twitter or facebook post by Bischoff (or an interview, I can't quite remember) that he feels there should be less PPVs in a year for a wrestling promotion. For once, I agree with Bischoff on something. There is simply way too many PPVs on these days. WWE puts on at least 14 PPVs in a year and TNA has another 12. Also with these PPVs, there is usually one month to build up certain storylines. Not only do you have one month to put a card together, but most of the feuds in pro wrestling these days go past a month. Meaning that there will be at least three PPVs that will feature the same two guys, but will be altered since a gimmick match or two will be added. Wouldn't be it simpler to have a two month gap in PPVs? This would give you lots of extra time to build up storylines and even put together some lower card storylines. It would give people like Evan Bourne or Yoshi Tatsu a chance to be given a bone every now and then. Now, am I saying should lower card guys get put in the midcard level or fight a guy like Triple H? No, but what I am saying is it would give them a chance to do something once in a while other than just be the poster child for WWE Superstars. Since there is only a month in between PPVs, you mainly have to focus on the main event and midcard stars and storylines, meaning some lower card guys don't really get a chance to do much. Again, I am not calling for these guys to get a world title match, but have them put in a lower end mini storyline would be nice, that way you are using them since there is a lot of talents on both WWE and TNA that are just there and don't do anything. Over the past few years, the number of PPVs buys has been going down for both companys, so maybe it is time to be doing 6-8 PPVs in a year as opposed to 12 or more. In TNA's case where they have done a poor job in hyping up their last few PPVs (Both AAO and VR cards were slapped together at the last Impact taping, some good buildup huh?), this is where TNA can maybe give themselves a little extra breathing room and maybe play out the storylines as well as they can with extra time? Now, I know that TNA would probably screw this up, but let's try to be optismistic here. The reason I am all for lowering the number of PPVs is the cost. There are a lot of people who simply can't afford to pay for one or two PPVs in a month, and most of the cards aren't that great. If your a person who is low on money and is only going to invest in the PPVs that seem worthy, chances are your going to hold out for WrestleMania or Lockdown and not care so much about filler/less steller PPVs like Over the Limit or Victory Road. Either that or your going to pay for the PPV that has the best looking card and had a lot of good buildup. There are some PPVs that almost have no buildup and almost don't mean anything. Isn't watching wrestling on PPV supposted to be special? Yes, it should but since there is so many of them these days, only a few PPVs stick out and the rest are either average or below average, which is lame and a waste of money because you get average or below average with Raw, Smackdown, and Impact. Let's try to make PPVs special again. Let's cut down the number of PPVs and lets put some extra time and effort into all the storylines that would be on those potentional cards. Chances are this idea will never happen, but if there was an outcry for less PPVs, than I am all for it. Like I said in the last ramble, change can sometimes be a good thing and I would be all for this.
Maybe the Price is wrong, Bobby?
Apparently, TNA star (or possible future endeavors if he is on here) Brian Kendrick appeared on the Price is Right last week. Gosh, the jokes are just too easy here. Kendrick must be desperate for money when he has to appear on a game show. Is TNA really not paying you enough? Well, it is TNA so I shouldn't be surprised at this point. It was strange to say the least because Kendrick's current character on TNA is a Yoda type character where he tries to be all wise and preachy, and yet he acted like a normal human being on TPIR so I thought it was a break from his silly character that is on TNA. Most people would say that it is pretty embarassing on TNA's part for having one of their superstars having to appear on a game show to win some money, but given the Hardy debacle, I think Kendrick appearing on here is the least of their problems. You know what else is sad? If TNA knew about this, why didn't they use this as an opportunity to advertise TNA wrestling? This would have been a golden opportunity, consider there is a decent about of people who watch this show. One of TNA's biggest issues (but not the main overall problem) is advertising. Simply put, this show never gets advertised that well. Spike TV doesn't do a decent enough of a job to spread the word about TNA. I have many friends and family around here that honestly have never heard of TNA but have definitely heard of WWE. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if 60% of the WWE audience or more has never heard about TNA. Freaking advertise your own product. Put a damn commercial on another network, sell some things, promote OUTSIDE of Spike TV. Yeah, I am betting dollars to donuts that WWE is clearly advertising their product while TNA really needs to improve on this. If you watch tv throughout the week, how many TNA commercials do you see? Now, how many WWE commercials do you see? This is also why I think it is time for TNA to leave the Impact Zone more often. There are ton of small venues across the US and I am sure taking the product on the road will help out. . As far as how Kendrick did on the Price is Right, he didn't really win anything except for a popcorn machine. This popcorn machine costed around $3000, heck I wouldn't be shocked if Kendrick made more money with that damn popcorn machine than a year's worth of working for TNA. Kendrick was wearing a Seattle Sounders shirt as well, which is always great to see a little love for the Pacific Northwest (Where I live), so it is just great to get noticed once in a while. Still, couldn't Kendrick get a Seahawks shirt? Just sad........really sad. Oh, and to make this whole thing even more hilarious, the guy standing next to Kendrick on contestant's row had the hair style of Carlito. Irony!!!!
NXT Redemption or NXT Rejects?
The latest season of NXT is called NXT Redemption. This is a season in which they showcase losers from all the past seasons of NXT (except for 3 because it was only divas and it was a trainwreck). In case you haven't found out who is on the show, we have Bryan Saxton, Conor O'Brien, Darren Young, Jacob Novak, Titus O'Neil, and.........Lucky Cannon (This guys still has a development contract with WWE?). But wait.......oh there is so much more. Look at the "pros" (We have to put this term loosly because......well you know) that are on this show. The pros are Chavo Guerrero (Who is arguably the best pro for this season), JTG, Vladimar Kozlov, Yoshi Tatsu, Tyson Kidd, and.......Hornswoggle..........HORNSWOGGLE. The f***ing little person who thinks he is a leprachaun is now fit enough to be giving advice to the NXT stars? Oh, gosh is this not going to look pretty at the end of the day. To add insult to injury, the winner doesn't win a title match like the past winners, instead they win a ticket to be on NXT Season 6 and chose their own pro (Striker "You can chose any WWE pro...except Cena, Orton, Triple H, Punk, or any of the major talents because they are too busy to deal with this crappy show). What.....that's a prize? So, you mean to tell me the show that makes rookie superstars juggle balls, hit pinatas, cut promos about mustaches, and sell programs, is going to have all six guys go through it again and if you win you...... have to do it for a third time? You have got to be kidding me. Not only that, but you couldn't have picked a much blander group of rookies for this season. Conor's gimmick was that he acts like a rat......sounds like something that would happen on TNA. He has dumped that for this season, but now he is boring. Darren was really boring on NXT and he really was the weakest from all of the rookies from NXT season 1. I will be fair since Young looks like he is improving with this edition of NXT. I don't know a lot about Novak or Saxton, but I see things from Saxton that work but don't work. Saxton kinda reminds me a lot of David Otunga, to where he has things that work to be a star, but is still green and needs more work. I am kinda glad Titus is being given a second chance, because I think he kinda got a raw deal on NXT season 2. I thought he would have a chance to shine.....until I found out that his pro is Hornswoggle. Somehow, having Zach Ryder as a pro is not sounding like such a bad idea, is it? And there there is Lucky Cannon......the mear fact this guy still has a job is already a miracle on its own. I remember him from season 2, and he was unbelievably boring. This guy literally has no personality, no charisma, no speech skills (He is still flubbing up promos now) and his in ring ability is nothing to wow over. He is now a heel on this show and he looks worse now than when he was playing face. Yes, he is getting more boos but that is because he looks like he just robbed Elton John with his ridiculous ring attire and he is not drawing the type of heat as say someone like Cole or Punk would recieve. The kind of heat he gets is similiar to the Shore gimmick that is on TNA, and I am not sure if that is the type of heat you should be shooting for. Why couldn't we put guys like Percy Watson or Derrick Bateman on this show? Yes, I have heard of Bateman and this guy is a character and a riot. He looks like Andy Samberg if he went to the gym five times a week. Those guys are funny, instead why did we get stuck with the combined personality traits of the cast of Yu Gi Oh? In fact, the characters of Yu Gi Oh already have more personality than these guys. It is also pretty bad when the only pros that speaks the best english is the Mexican American and the Canadian. Does anyone understand what the hell JTG is saying half the time? Ok......well when it comes to things like this, I try to find some things that are a positive, and there is a few positives. William Regal is on commentary with Todd Grisham for this paticular season, and I watched parts of this and I thought he was enjoyable. Maryse is also a co host with Matt Striker. I can't stand Striker as the host sometimes, so at least Maryse can be there to make it easier on the eyes. Then again, maybe I am judging this too soon? Maybe this could be one of those shows that is so bad that it is just awesome to watch, or awesomebad if you will? I will definitely be checking out this show ever now and then. I still don't think I will review it, but maybe I can leave some feedback here and there on the Wrestle Ramble once in a while.
Main Headline of the Week: Jeff Hardy
Now it is time to talk about the Jeff Hardy situation. I know there is a lot of TNA topics today, but TNA really made a lot of headlines.....and most of them for the wrong reasons (During a Impact taping, Hogan made a reference to a tsunami during one of his promos......I shouldn't have to go into detail into how disrespectful this is. He did apologize for it.......but come on Hogan, you should know better than that at this stage of your career). Now, there have been a ton of headlines that have been pouring the last couple of days with this matter, so I will try to break it down as best as I can. First of all, how the hell could TNA go forward with this match? Based on the thought that Hardy was on something prior to the match, why would you run the risk of even sending him out there.....even if it was only for a match that was under two minutes? Think about this for a second TNA creative? Hardy was swaying back and forth going to the ring, he almost tripped up the steel steps, and he was playing with his shirt and probably had no idea what he was doing. Think of all of things that could go wrong in this situation? Hardy is on something, so he could have jumped into the live audience and started attacking people. He could have injured Sting, and even himself. Yes, it is Hardy's fault for wanting to start the party early, but it is the creative staff that is at more of a fault for going through with this match. Are Russo, Bischoff and Hogan this stupid? Anyone who gave Hardy the green light to go and compete in this match should either be fired or resign from their position, because this is unacceptable. I don't even care what TNA's excuse is for sending Hardy out there, cuz quite frankly any excuse TNA would give you wouldn't be good enough. I guarentee if the WWE was in this situation, they would have pulled Hardy and made another match at the last moment. It makes no sense that they would go through with this match since they already had it planned out for RVD and Anderson to go to a double countout. Here is the simple solution TNA. After the RVD/Anderson match, have Bischoff show up and say Hardy isn't here and make it a triple threat match for the world title between Sting/RVD/Anderson. Heck, maybe they had Abyss or Kurt Angle backstage with nothing to do? Of course, maybe they weren't available but is this creative staff really not that bright? Answer me this Dixie Carter, how do you make it up to people who support your company or watched the event? I am not even sure what the answer to that question is. Now, time to talk about the other Hardy. Matt Hardy was starting to do something useful in TNA with his match against AJ Styles at VR, but his social networking comments quickly remind me that Matt is just as big of a screwup as Jeff is. Matt wrote that Jeff is fine and that he is sorry for losing to Styles at the PPV. WTF is wrong with? Your brother obviously needs a ton of help and your passing it off as if your ignoring the giant elephant in the room? Hate to say this, but Matt Hardy is nothing but a bulls***er. If you had a brother that had a drug problem, wouldn't you try to help him out? Well, apparently Matt is doing the exact opposite here. There was a ton of wrestlers that were pissed off backstage after this match. Not sure how true or untrue these things are, but since it was really embarassing that TNA went through with this idea, I imagine that the locker room is pretty upset about the whole thing. Sting was clearly upset if you saw this part. He clearly didn't want to do through with this match, but it was either that or risk something even worse happening so he was up against a wall here. If you watched the match, he intentially put all of his weight down on Hardy during the pinfall just in case Hardy was stupid enough to try and kick out before the three count. It is sad because Hardy did try to kick out of it. The ref didn't even check Hardy's shoulders, he just made the count and looked down the whole time, as if he was embarassed by the whole thing, and why wouldn't he be? So, now the question comes what does TNA do with Hardy? I would say that Hardy has screwed up so many times that he has eaten up a third or fourth chance by this point (Really, it is more than that if you count is WWE days as well), so they really should just cut him loose. You can either fire him now and get it over with.....or you can suspend him and force him to go to rehab and get the help that he needs. Chances are TNA is going to keep Hardy away from tv for a while and really do nothing, meaning it won't solve the problem. It really seems like Hardy is going to end up like Eddie Guerrero, in which we find out that he is dead in some hotel room. I know nobody wants to think like that, but it is pretty clear that Hardy doesn't want to clean himself up, and chances are he goes into a long sleep that he never wakes up from. Unlike Hardy, Eddie did clean himself up and it was all the prior drug use that caught up with his heart (the performance enhancing drugs had a hand in this as well, but that is a different discussion on a different day), which is why it is still sad to think about Eddie. I miss Eddie to this very day and was taken from us way too soon. Eddie will always be #1 in my book. Anyway, Hardy doesn't want want to clean up and we might feel sad for a while if this happens, but he will also be known as the guy who pissed away his entire career and couldn't keep himself clean. This guy had it made in the WWE when he got semi-clean. He became WWE Champion and was the main guy on SD, but he threw it all away just so he could go back to his old habits. To the Hardy marks that are out there, how can you honestly keep defending this guy? I remember hearing the Hardy marks be behind him when he got the drug charge.....which was weeks after leaving the WWE. The Hardy makes stood by him when he made the CM Punk shoot. The Hardy marks stood by him when TNA had to shorten up another PPV main event because Hardy was "tired". I really would like to hear anyone out there still defend this guy? Face it, he is a screwup and he will always be a screwup. It is sad because I will admit this guy has talent, but he is flushing his career and life down the toilet. Oh and to anyone that actually purchased VR, TNA tries to make it up to you in a way. If you send your purchase info for the PPV, TNA will give you six months of free TNA On Demand. Normally I would say six months to watch MORE TNA is just pure punishment, but it is mainly just wrestling matches so at least they are giving you something. This is a smart move since they basically admitted that VR sucked and are giving you six months of free programming, but TNA should also make sure this never happens again and do the right thing. I don't think it was the best thing TNA could have offered, but acknowledging that Hardy screw up is somewhat of a positive. Plus, I think this PROVES that this wasn't a work and Hardy was under some illegal substance. Why would TNA offer some sort of a package after the PPV if that wasn't the case? I think this is proof enough. Still, this might save money in your wallet, but seeing Hardy fired live on Impact....priceless. If you looking for your free subscription for this if you purchased the PPV, go to TNA's website to find out all the details.
That is going to do it for the first edition of the Wrestle Ramble. I eventually want to have a spot on here in which I will answer questions from YOU that involve wrestling. If you have a good question, chances are it will appear on the show later on down the road, but bare with me if I can't get to it right away. I won't be doing this fanmail or Q & A part of the show for at least a few weeks so I can gather up a decent amount of questions and try my best to get through most of them. You don't even have to ask a question. If there is a topic in pro wrestling that you want me to dig into, I can talk about that as well so feel free to bring it up. I am going to try to update the Wrestle Ramble every week or every two weeks, depending on the headlines/news/questions/theories that are out there. Wrestle Ramble will generally show up on Wednesdays or Thursdays, unless something insane happens and I have to update asap. I hope you enjoyed this edition of the Wrestle Ramble, tell me what you thought about it and ask any questions and it might appear on the show at somepoint. I will see you guys and girls on the next WrestlingNerd show, see you next time.
Friday, May 27, 2011
WrestlingNerd Presents: TNA Impact Wrestling Review 5/26/11
What is up wrestling fans, I am the WrestlingNerd bringing you another written review. Today, we take a look at TNA Impact Wrestling on 5/26/11. Well, they actually put on a fair showing last week, so was change on the way or will TNA resort to their old tricks? Well, let's find out and start the review.
Match #1: Tommy Dreamer and Bully Ray vs AJ Styles and Christopher Daniels in a Hardcore Match
Styles is still selling the neck injury with the brace. I would HOPE that this is a kayfabe injury, or Impact doesn't give a crap about their wrestlers. I guess the slogan goes Wrestling Matters and neiter do Injuries. Ok, joking aside, let's get to the match. The match is about what you expect in a hardcore match. I thought this company was promoting Wrestling Matters, and here they are showing a Hardcore match. Yeah, I know I keep making fun of the name change, but I really see hardly anything new with TNA since they are still doing a lot of the same tricks when they were called it TNA. In other words, despite a name change, what has really changed? Well, I gotta be fair because the show has actually gotten better ever since Jeff Hardy screwed up. Dreamer looks like the long lost pailer version of Super Crazy, except he is even pudgier. The finish comes when Styles hits a Piledriver while Daniels goes with the motion of the Piledriver off of the top rope and 4Tune wins the match. This matchup might be ok with some people, but as I have said in the past, hardcore matches don't really do it for me anymore. How is having a trash can lid fetish qualify as good wrestling? If you want to watch GOOD hardcore wrestling, whip out the classic ECW episodes and don't resort to this obvious substitute teacher. I was fine with this feud having it be Styles and Bully, but when you pull Dreamer and Daniels out of your ass, now your just trying to cram it all together.
Winner via pinfall: AJ Styles and Christopher Daniels
Since this is a show that claims that wrestling matters, we are now joined by......the Scorpion Sitdown. Anyway, it turns out it is Mr. Anderson in his classic Sting get up trying to act like Sting. After making fun of the Stinger, he calls out his guest in the Disco Inferno. Hey, they got the Disco? Wow, that.....MUST have been REALLY challenging on TNA's part. During this segment, Anderson was trying to get the Disco to talk badly about Sting and cut him down while Disco is trying to remain face and mentions how much of an asshole Anderson is. Finally, after bickering like a bunch of chickens that got their heads cut off, Disco says Sting is an icon and we should respect him while he doesn't care for Anderson and calls him a di**. Anderson eventually snaps and attacks him with his own microphone. What was so stupid on Disco's part was Anderson was setting this up for the longest time and Disco didn't even bother trying to leave the ring. I guess he forgot how the wrestling world works? After a blood spot by Disco, the real Sting comes out and Anderson runs away to end the segment. Ok, so I have a quick question. If they wanted to bring back on of Sting's classic rivals or workers, why bring in Disco? Why didn't they bring anyone closer to him like Lex Lugar or somebody like that? I guess TNA was embarassed by this since most of Sting's classic rivals still work with him in this company like Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan. Anderson is a pretty charismatic guy and can make a scene work, but this just reeked of ass and was definitely one of his weaker scenes. I like the idea of Anderson running around like the classic Sting, but he should be a little more creative in insulting or attacking Sting because no matter how you look at it, he is the bad guy in this feud.
Anyway, since this is the show where Wrestling Matters, we are now joined with two backstage scenes and an in ring segment. The first backstage scene was of Eric Young walking in the bathroom (What is it with this company and bathroom scenes? Are they trying to tell us something?) and he confronts Gunner. Young is literally talking a bunch of nonsense during this part. Hey Impact, this isn't funny and is just retarded, get it? The basics of what he was saying was he was willing to give Gunner back the TV Championship, but he would need to give him a TV Title match, to which Young would re-create the Fingerpoke of Doom segment in WCW and just lay down for Gunner....Are you f****** serious TNA? So, you want to recreate one of the moments in WCW that basically showed they just didn't give a s*** anymore, and now you want to do that in TNA? Of course, because casual fans will SOMEHOW love watching this stupid angle again. This Young character is just something I can't really like and don't really care for. I am sorry, but he is just flopping around like an idiot and talks jibberish. In other words, he is Dane Cook....hooray? This is pathetic because I have seen Young do successful comedy, and this is clearly not it. Plus, if Immortal is supposed to be this all powerful group and actually cares about wanting the gold, why don't they just attack Young as a group and just take the title away? It almost makes no sense since it almost shows that Immortal doesn't care about Gunner being their only champion and don't seem to care about Gunner in general since they aren't even bothering him to help him. Yeah, I know it's more wrestling logic, but somebody has to point out the plotholes or else everyone is going to think that nothing is wrong with Impact. Back in the ring where Velvet Sky calls out ODB. She eventually comes out and says the reason she attacked Sky last week is because when they fired her over a year ago, she basically thought it was Sky's fault because of how she poses herself off as a sex symbol and blaims her for getting fired way back when. She attacks Sky afterwords. Eventually, the refs separate the two and it showed that ODB was standing up while Sky (the face mind you) is almost trying to run away. Ok, let me ask a question. If ODB claimed to get fired by the higher ups (Not sure if she was talking about "The Network or Hogan, but who cares), why the hell would they actually go out to her and re-hire her? Based on ODB's logic, the company fired you because you weren't pretty enough, so instead of really having a grudge against the company or management, you have a problem with Sky? This ONCE AGAIN makes no sense and shows more of the laziness that is TNA creative when morons like myself can find the plotholes left and right. It would have made more sense if ODB would have declared war against all the pretty face KOs in the company instead of just Sky because that would make a lot of sense based on how her character is acting. Damn, I think I can write up a better wrestling show. Oh, and the other backstage scene was of Eric Bischoff and Beer Money. Robert Roode is selling a shoulder injury (kayfabe or not, I have no idea at the moment. Most likely a fake injury) and Bischoff is telling them that regardless of their injury, they still have to defend their tag titles at Slam. Bischoff tells them that injury or not, the match will happen and if they don't do it, they will be forced to give up the titles. Wait, Beer Money has an opponent at Slam....who are they? Seriously, did they just book a match without telling the audience who they are facing? This was one of those scenes to remind the audience that Bischoff is an asshole and dislikes the faces of TNA. Well, I suppose we will find out later where this is all going. Oh, and for some stupid reason, TNA felt the need to air a possible developing storyling on Explosion between the Pope and Devon. Apparently, they showed clips of Pope talking to Devon's family and Devon having a problem with it. Wow, the Pope's stock is completely dead if he is getting storylines on a show nobody freaking watches, and with Devon of all people. That would be like a wrestler having a storyline on WWE Superstars with someone like Trent Baretta. How am I suppose to care about this potentional feud when you don't even air the developing feud on Impact and show it on the internet show? That is some "brilliant" marketing TNA. I am actually trying to figure out which feud is more half assed, Pope/Joe or Pope/Devon. If anything, there is more of a story between Pope and Devon because a family was involved, while there was no point for the Pope/Joe feud til this very day. If your going to start booking Pope in meaningless feuds like this, you might as well just give him a pink slip because this is just a waste of talent. Wow, Impact/TNA pissing away talent......never seen that happen before?
Match #2: Jeff Jarrett vs Matt Morgan
Impact didn't explain that Jarrett and Kurt Angle were under the Pick your Poison rules since Kurt picked Jarrett's opponent and vica versa. A little mention to the audience would have been nice....you f******. During the Jarretts entrance, they went through all the trouble to show Jeff helping Karen to get in the ring and pose with the crowd. What was the point of this if she was going to leave the ring already? Think about it, if she is injured, why would she put herself through all that agony to pose in the ring for 15 seconds? Sometimes, the Jarretts are just complete idiots. Before the match started, Jeff got a chair to set up at ringside for Karen. Referee Earl Hebner says that Karen needs to be farther away from the ring because she keeps getting involved. This starts a pointless bickering between the ref and the Jarretts. What was so stupid about this was even though they set up the chair a little further away from the ring, she is already standing up near the ring when the match starts. To add insult to injury, Hebner CLEARLY sees her closer to the ring and doesn't even care anymore. In other words, that opening scene was a complete waste of freakin time. During this match, Karen just kept getting involved. The match could have been good, but with all of the intereference, it just sucked. There was a spot where the ref got distracted, which allowed Karen to hand Jeff a crutch and hit Morgan with it. What was even more ridiculous was Jeff hits the Stroke on Morgan, and Morgan kicked out. Not only that, but later on in the match, Karen causes another distraction. This brings out Scott Steiner to hit a sh**** finisher on Morgan, Jeff picks up the bones and gets the three count. Wait, so Morgan can survive a weapon and a finisher by Jarrett, but can't survive a Steiner facebuster finisher? Yeah....that makes perfect sense..... Well, it appears the Steiner/Morgan feud is still in the works. Karen gets involved in these matches way too often. I realize they are heels and thus should be cheating, but this is overkill. By the way, I think the stupid conservation between the ref and the Jarretts lasted longer than the actual match....wrestling matters huh?
Winner via pinfall: Jeff Jarrett
We are back in the ring with Bischoff talking about how Hogan did awesome at the meetings last week and he has complete control of the company. This brings out Hogan (Isn't this show passed Hogan's bedtime?) and talks about doing well in the meetings and how Bischoff is great for eliminting the X Division last week. Eventually, Mick Foley comes out and says he talked to the executives and convinced him how the X Division put TNA on the map (Considering that casual fans have never even heard of TNA, I don't know how much the X Division put TNA on the map when the ratings are still in the dumps. Was TNA ever really on the map to begin with?). Foley goes on to say that in July, he will be scouting X Division talent to make an Ultimate X Match at Destination X (Oh yeah.....because we have NEVER seen an Ultimate X match? Heck, didn't we have this match earlier this year?). Hogan says that if Foley wants to go to bat for the X Division, he should get in the ring with Abyss and try to take the title. Foley seems to be forward with the move, until Brian Kendrick leads his group of misfits and claims God told him it is his destiny to face off against Abyss and take the title (if that is the case, God much has a sick sense of humor to basically throw Kendrick as bait). Hogan is laughing his ass off at Kendrick's porposal (you would as well) and says the match is official while Foley seems ok with putting a guy who weighs a buck 50 against a monster who is quoting the Art of War book. Again, I am somewhat interested to see where this whole war against the X Division is going, but I almost wonder what will happen after this storyline is over? Will the X Division still have something meaningful going on or will they just go back to what they were doing earlier in the year? Only time will tell...
Match #3: Mickie James vs Winter
There was a quick backstage scene of Winter massaging an almost nude Angelina Love.....I have no comment. The match was very short and it ends with Mickie hits a Delayed DDT for the clean win. The main story here is after the match, Winter was bleeding from the lip. Love sees this and instantly goes coo coo and kills Mickie. How is it that with this whole deal Winter is the minor character while Love is the main character? Shouldn't it be the other way around since Winter is the one pulling the strings? That would be like Frankenstien's monster creating and controlling Dr. Frankenstein. I guess the whole rivalry with Sky just ended, even though that storyline had no real conclusion. I guess it pretty much proves that TNA is really behind Sky on this one since she is getting so much screen time and has rivalries left and right. Any day now, they are going to start treating Sky like a Goddess, and then this will start happening.....
Winner via pinfall: Mickie James
Match #4: Abyss vs Brian Kendrick for the X Division Title
There was a rather pointless backstage scene prior to this match. Abyss was in a cage talking about the Art of War while Kaz shows up and lands a cheapshot on Abyss. Kendrick was trying in this matchup to stand toe to toe, but I guess it proves that destiny can be a bitch when Abyss hits the BHS and wins the match cleanly. See what I mean about the backstage scene being pointless? If a title change would have occured, then it would make sense, but there is no point to lay out Abyss only for him to get up seconds later and still win a title defense.....unless it starts a rivalry between Abyss and Kaz, then that would make sense. The matchup was nothing special. Oh, and I should note that all night long, Impact was advertising Angle vs RVD in what seemed like every five minutes. Based on how much they overhyped this match, you almost expect a 20 minute clinic. Then again, knowing TNA, they will probably do a 6-7 minute match.
Match #5: Gunner vs Eric Young for the TV Championship
I don't know which character is dumber in Young or Gunner? Young actually thinks he is the TV Champ while Gunner actually came to the ring with the old TNA World Title he stole last week. Young tells him to do the Fingerpoke of Doom. Gunner takes the bait and all he has to do is cover him to win the match, but Young pulls out his magic bag of tricks and lands a rollup to win the match and become the new TV Champ. Wow.....just wow. This is almost physically hurting my brain as to how idiotic this all is. Ok, well I have to be fair because this could be a developing storyline for Gunner, since I really don't care about Young. Still, Gunner beats Daniels cleanly but can't beat Santino's less funny distant cousin? I am just amazed to see the TV belt actually getting used. The match lasted about 10 seconds, because everyone knows wrestling matters.
Winner via pinfall and NEW TV Champ: Eric Young
Match #6: Kurt Angle vs RVD
I don't know which blows my mind more, Jarrett asking RVD to do his bidding or RVD actually accepting a favor from an Immortal member? That would be like Bowser convincing Mario to kidnap Princess Peach. It could be shades of a heel turn for RVD, but wouldn't be surprised if this never gets mentioned again. The Jarretts were on commentary for this match, because as you all know, the Jarretts equal ratings....... Now, to be fair, this was the best match of the night, but with the overhype Impact used all night long for this match, the match didn't equal the hype. Sorry, but I saw Christian vs Randy Orton put on a way better matchup this week. Plus, the match was what I predicted, around 5-7 minutes, how disappointing because it was decent for what it was worth, but would have liked to see more. The finish comes when RVD misses the Frogsplash and then Angle hits the Angle Slam (TM, yeah I know the Angle/copyright jokes are getting old, but that's what happens when you say something so stupid) for the clean win. The show ends with Angle staring down Jeff from a distance. What is that, like the 1,000,000th staredown between Angle and Jarrett this year?
Winner via pinfall: Kurt Angle
Overall Impression:
Well, it didn't take long for Impact to go back to their old TNA tricks. Then again, I have to be fair because this is a lot better than some of their other episodes, so does that mean that below average tapings of Impact are better than before? Well, I am not sure about that. There was a decent match in the main event, but there was a lot of stupid moments around. There was more wrestling matches, but the quality of a lot of these matches wasn't really there and most of the matches were uneventful. Really, this week's Impact was just boring. So boring that I almost feel asleep while watching it. It is amazing how Impact is pushing for a new image while they showed tonight that they are still TNA because just a lot of silliness and stupidity is still going around. Why is the zombie storyline between Love and Winter still going on, and what is the point? Why is Young not funny anymore? Why is the Pope all the way in the lower card rankings? Where was Crimson/Joe tonight? In fact, this goes back to what I have said about TNA in the past, too many storylines. There is so much stuff going on that they are literally cramming episodes, and they still don't even get to other storylines that are also established on the show. Why is it that is seems Anderson/Sting is taking a backseat to Jarrett/Angle? They are fighting for the world title, while the Jarrett feud is a fued that just won't die. Impact is almost desperate with how they keep shoving the Jarrett/Angle feud at you since it eats up the most time on the show. I generally find the best episodes of Impact when there is less Jarrett/Angle business going around. Last week's episodes was pretty decent and they weren't on there as much. This feud needs to die, because they need to move on and we need to see something new for both of them. That is going to do it for the review and I hope you enjoyed it. As always, tell me what you thought of my review and tonight's show. A SD review is up in the air for this week, but if it happens, it happens. Also, my little tribute to the Macho Man Randy Savage is now available, so check it out and please share some of you experiences as a wrestling fan of one of the all time greats. I will see you guys and girls on the next WrestlingNerd show, see you next time and WE'RE NOT WORTHY!!!
Match #1: Tommy Dreamer and Bully Ray vs AJ Styles and Christopher Daniels in a Hardcore Match
Styles is still selling the neck injury with the brace. I would HOPE that this is a kayfabe injury, or Impact doesn't give a crap about their wrestlers. I guess the slogan goes Wrestling Matters and neiter do Injuries. Ok, joking aside, let's get to the match. The match is about what you expect in a hardcore match. I thought this company was promoting Wrestling Matters, and here they are showing a Hardcore match. Yeah, I know I keep making fun of the name change, but I really see hardly anything new with TNA since they are still doing a lot of the same tricks when they were called it TNA. In other words, despite a name change, what has really changed? Well, I gotta be fair because the show has actually gotten better ever since Jeff Hardy screwed up. Dreamer looks like the long lost pailer version of Super Crazy, except he is even pudgier. The finish comes when Styles hits a Piledriver while Daniels goes with the motion of the Piledriver off of the top rope and 4Tune wins the match. This matchup might be ok with some people, but as I have said in the past, hardcore matches don't really do it for me anymore. How is having a trash can lid fetish qualify as good wrestling? If you want to watch GOOD hardcore wrestling, whip out the classic ECW episodes and don't resort to this obvious substitute teacher. I was fine with this feud having it be Styles and Bully, but when you pull Dreamer and Daniels out of your ass, now your just trying to cram it all together.
Winner via pinfall: AJ Styles and Christopher Daniels
Since this is a show that claims that wrestling matters, we are now joined by......the Scorpion Sitdown. Anyway, it turns out it is Mr. Anderson in his classic Sting get up trying to act like Sting. After making fun of the Stinger, he calls out his guest in the Disco Inferno. Hey, they got the Disco? Wow, that.....MUST have been REALLY challenging on TNA's part. During this segment, Anderson was trying to get the Disco to talk badly about Sting and cut him down while Disco is trying to remain face and mentions how much of an asshole Anderson is. Finally, after bickering like a bunch of chickens that got their heads cut off, Disco says Sting is an icon and we should respect him while he doesn't care for Anderson and calls him a di**. Anderson eventually snaps and attacks him with his own microphone. What was so stupid on Disco's part was Anderson was setting this up for the longest time and Disco didn't even bother trying to leave the ring. I guess he forgot how the wrestling world works? After a blood spot by Disco, the real Sting comes out and Anderson runs away to end the segment. Ok, so I have a quick question. If they wanted to bring back on of Sting's classic rivals or workers, why bring in Disco? Why didn't they bring anyone closer to him like Lex Lugar or somebody like that? I guess TNA was embarassed by this since most of Sting's classic rivals still work with him in this company like Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan. Anderson is a pretty charismatic guy and can make a scene work, but this just reeked of ass and was definitely one of his weaker scenes. I like the idea of Anderson running around like the classic Sting, but he should be a little more creative in insulting or attacking Sting because no matter how you look at it, he is the bad guy in this feud.
Anyway, since this is the show where Wrestling Matters, we are now joined with two backstage scenes and an in ring segment. The first backstage scene was of Eric Young walking in the bathroom (What is it with this company and bathroom scenes? Are they trying to tell us something?) and he confronts Gunner. Young is literally talking a bunch of nonsense during this part. Hey Impact, this isn't funny and is just retarded, get it? The basics of what he was saying was he was willing to give Gunner back the TV Championship, but he would need to give him a TV Title match, to which Young would re-create the Fingerpoke of Doom segment in WCW and just lay down for Gunner....Are you f****** serious TNA? So, you want to recreate one of the moments in WCW that basically showed they just didn't give a s*** anymore, and now you want to do that in TNA? Of course, because casual fans will SOMEHOW love watching this stupid angle again. This Young character is just something I can't really like and don't really care for. I am sorry, but he is just flopping around like an idiot and talks jibberish. In other words, he is Dane Cook....hooray? This is pathetic because I have seen Young do successful comedy, and this is clearly not it. Plus, if Immortal is supposed to be this all powerful group and actually cares about wanting the gold, why don't they just attack Young as a group and just take the title away? It almost makes no sense since it almost shows that Immortal doesn't care about Gunner being their only champion and don't seem to care about Gunner in general since they aren't even bothering him to help him. Yeah, I know it's more wrestling logic, but somebody has to point out the plotholes or else everyone is going to think that nothing is wrong with Impact. Back in the ring where Velvet Sky calls out ODB. She eventually comes out and says the reason she attacked Sky last week is because when they fired her over a year ago, she basically thought it was Sky's fault because of how she poses herself off as a sex symbol and blaims her for getting fired way back when. She attacks Sky afterwords. Eventually, the refs separate the two and it showed that ODB was standing up while Sky (the face mind you) is almost trying to run away. Ok, let me ask a question. If ODB claimed to get fired by the higher ups (Not sure if she was talking about "The Network or Hogan, but who cares), why the hell would they actually go out to her and re-hire her? Based on ODB's logic, the company fired you because you weren't pretty enough, so instead of really having a grudge against the company or management, you have a problem with Sky? This ONCE AGAIN makes no sense and shows more of the laziness that is TNA creative when morons like myself can find the plotholes left and right. It would have made more sense if ODB would have declared war against all the pretty face KOs in the company instead of just Sky because that would make a lot of sense based on how her character is acting. Damn, I think I can write up a better wrestling show. Oh, and the other backstage scene was of Eric Bischoff and Beer Money. Robert Roode is selling a shoulder injury (kayfabe or not, I have no idea at the moment. Most likely a fake injury) and Bischoff is telling them that regardless of their injury, they still have to defend their tag titles at Slam. Bischoff tells them that injury or not, the match will happen and if they don't do it, they will be forced to give up the titles. Wait, Beer Money has an opponent at Slam....who are they? Seriously, did they just book a match without telling the audience who they are facing? This was one of those scenes to remind the audience that Bischoff is an asshole and dislikes the faces of TNA. Well, I suppose we will find out later where this is all going. Oh, and for some stupid reason, TNA felt the need to air a possible developing storyling on Explosion between the Pope and Devon. Apparently, they showed clips of Pope talking to Devon's family and Devon having a problem with it. Wow, the Pope's stock is completely dead if he is getting storylines on a show nobody freaking watches, and with Devon of all people. That would be like a wrestler having a storyline on WWE Superstars with someone like Trent Baretta. How am I suppose to care about this potentional feud when you don't even air the developing feud on Impact and show it on the internet show? That is some "brilliant" marketing TNA. I am actually trying to figure out which feud is more half assed, Pope/Joe or Pope/Devon. If anything, there is more of a story between Pope and Devon because a family was involved, while there was no point for the Pope/Joe feud til this very day. If your going to start booking Pope in meaningless feuds like this, you might as well just give him a pink slip because this is just a waste of talent. Wow, Impact/TNA pissing away talent......never seen that happen before?
Match #2: Jeff Jarrett vs Matt Morgan
Impact didn't explain that Jarrett and Kurt Angle were under the Pick your Poison rules since Kurt picked Jarrett's opponent and vica versa. A little mention to the audience would have been nice....you f******. During the Jarretts entrance, they went through all the trouble to show Jeff helping Karen to get in the ring and pose with the crowd. What was the point of this if she was going to leave the ring already? Think about it, if she is injured, why would she put herself through all that agony to pose in the ring for 15 seconds? Sometimes, the Jarretts are just complete idiots. Before the match started, Jeff got a chair to set up at ringside for Karen. Referee Earl Hebner says that Karen needs to be farther away from the ring because she keeps getting involved. This starts a pointless bickering between the ref and the Jarretts. What was so stupid about this was even though they set up the chair a little further away from the ring, she is already standing up near the ring when the match starts. To add insult to injury, Hebner CLEARLY sees her closer to the ring and doesn't even care anymore. In other words, that opening scene was a complete waste of freakin time. During this match, Karen just kept getting involved. The match could have been good, but with all of the intereference, it just sucked. There was a spot where the ref got distracted, which allowed Karen to hand Jeff a crutch and hit Morgan with it. What was even more ridiculous was Jeff hits the Stroke on Morgan, and Morgan kicked out. Not only that, but later on in the match, Karen causes another distraction. This brings out Scott Steiner to hit a sh**** finisher on Morgan, Jeff picks up the bones and gets the three count. Wait, so Morgan can survive a weapon and a finisher by Jarrett, but can't survive a Steiner facebuster finisher? Yeah....that makes perfect sense..... Well, it appears the Steiner/Morgan feud is still in the works. Karen gets involved in these matches way too often. I realize they are heels and thus should be cheating, but this is overkill. By the way, I think the stupid conservation between the ref and the Jarretts lasted longer than the actual match....wrestling matters huh?
Winner via pinfall: Jeff Jarrett
We are back in the ring with Bischoff talking about how Hogan did awesome at the meetings last week and he has complete control of the company. This brings out Hogan (Isn't this show passed Hogan's bedtime?) and talks about doing well in the meetings and how Bischoff is great for eliminting the X Division last week. Eventually, Mick Foley comes out and says he talked to the executives and convinced him how the X Division put TNA on the map (Considering that casual fans have never even heard of TNA, I don't know how much the X Division put TNA on the map when the ratings are still in the dumps. Was TNA ever really on the map to begin with?). Foley goes on to say that in July, he will be scouting X Division talent to make an Ultimate X Match at Destination X (Oh yeah.....because we have NEVER seen an Ultimate X match? Heck, didn't we have this match earlier this year?). Hogan says that if Foley wants to go to bat for the X Division, he should get in the ring with Abyss and try to take the title. Foley seems to be forward with the move, until Brian Kendrick leads his group of misfits and claims God told him it is his destiny to face off against Abyss and take the title (if that is the case, God much has a sick sense of humor to basically throw Kendrick as bait). Hogan is laughing his ass off at Kendrick's porposal (you would as well) and says the match is official while Foley seems ok with putting a guy who weighs a buck 50 against a monster who is quoting the Art of War book. Again, I am somewhat interested to see where this whole war against the X Division is going, but I almost wonder what will happen after this storyline is over? Will the X Division still have something meaningful going on or will they just go back to what they were doing earlier in the year? Only time will tell...
Match #3: Mickie James vs Winter
There was a quick backstage scene of Winter massaging an almost nude Angelina Love.....I have no comment. The match was very short and it ends with Mickie hits a Delayed DDT for the clean win. The main story here is after the match, Winter was bleeding from the lip. Love sees this and instantly goes coo coo and kills Mickie. How is it that with this whole deal Winter is the minor character while Love is the main character? Shouldn't it be the other way around since Winter is the one pulling the strings? That would be like Frankenstien's monster creating and controlling Dr. Frankenstein. I guess the whole rivalry with Sky just ended, even though that storyline had no real conclusion. I guess it pretty much proves that TNA is really behind Sky on this one since she is getting so much screen time and has rivalries left and right. Any day now, they are going to start treating Sky like a Goddess, and then this will start happening.....
Winner via pinfall: Mickie James
Match #4: Abyss vs Brian Kendrick for the X Division Title
There was a rather pointless backstage scene prior to this match. Abyss was in a cage talking about the Art of War while Kaz shows up and lands a cheapshot on Abyss. Kendrick was trying in this matchup to stand toe to toe, but I guess it proves that destiny can be a bitch when Abyss hits the BHS and wins the match cleanly. See what I mean about the backstage scene being pointless? If a title change would have occured, then it would make sense, but there is no point to lay out Abyss only for him to get up seconds later and still win a title defense.....unless it starts a rivalry between Abyss and Kaz, then that would make sense. The matchup was nothing special. Oh, and I should note that all night long, Impact was advertising Angle vs RVD in what seemed like every five minutes. Based on how much they overhyped this match, you almost expect a 20 minute clinic. Then again, knowing TNA, they will probably do a 6-7 minute match.
Match #5: Gunner vs Eric Young for the TV Championship
I don't know which character is dumber in Young or Gunner? Young actually thinks he is the TV Champ while Gunner actually came to the ring with the old TNA World Title he stole last week. Young tells him to do the Fingerpoke of Doom. Gunner takes the bait and all he has to do is cover him to win the match, but Young pulls out his magic bag of tricks and lands a rollup to win the match and become the new TV Champ. Wow.....just wow. This is almost physically hurting my brain as to how idiotic this all is. Ok, well I have to be fair because this could be a developing storyline for Gunner, since I really don't care about Young. Still, Gunner beats Daniels cleanly but can't beat Santino's less funny distant cousin? I am just amazed to see the TV belt actually getting used. The match lasted about 10 seconds, because everyone knows wrestling matters.
Winner via pinfall and NEW TV Champ: Eric Young
Match #6: Kurt Angle vs RVD
I don't know which blows my mind more, Jarrett asking RVD to do his bidding or RVD actually accepting a favor from an Immortal member? That would be like Bowser convincing Mario to kidnap Princess Peach. It could be shades of a heel turn for RVD, but wouldn't be surprised if this never gets mentioned again. The Jarretts were on commentary for this match, because as you all know, the Jarretts equal ratings....... Now, to be fair, this was the best match of the night, but with the overhype Impact used all night long for this match, the match didn't equal the hype. Sorry, but I saw Christian vs Randy Orton put on a way better matchup this week. Plus, the match was what I predicted, around 5-7 minutes, how disappointing because it was decent for what it was worth, but would have liked to see more. The finish comes when RVD misses the Frogsplash and then Angle hits the Angle Slam (TM, yeah I know the Angle/copyright jokes are getting old, but that's what happens when you say something so stupid) for the clean win. The show ends with Angle staring down Jeff from a distance. What is that, like the 1,000,000th staredown between Angle and Jarrett this year?
Winner via pinfall: Kurt Angle
Overall Impression:
Well, it didn't take long for Impact to go back to their old TNA tricks. Then again, I have to be fair because this is a lot better than some of their other episodes, so does that mean that below average tapings of Impact are better than before? Well, I am not sure about that. There was a decent match in the main event, but there was a lot of stupid moments around. There was more wrestling matches, but the quality of a lot of these matches wasn't really there and most of the matches were uneventful. Really, this week's Impact was just boring. So boring that I almost feel asleep while watching it. It is amazing how Impact is pushing for a new image while they showed tonight that they are still TNA because just a lot of silliness and stupidity is still going around. Why is the zombie storyline between Love and Winter still going on, and what is the point? Why is Young not funny anymore? Why is the Pope all the way in the lower card rankings? Where was Crimson/Joe tonight? In fact, this goes back to what I have said about TNA in the past, too many storylines. There is so much stuff going on that they are literally cramming episodes, and they still don't even get to other storylines that are also established on the show. Why is it that is seems Anderson/Sting is taking a backseat to Jarrett/Angle? They are fighting for the world title, while the Jarrett feud is a fued that just won't die. Impact is almost desperate with how they keep shoving the Jarrett/Angle feud at you since it eats up the most time on the show. I generally find the best episodes of Impact when there is less Jarrett/Angle business going around. Last week's episodes was pretty decent and they weren't on there as much. This feud needs to die, because they need to move on and we need to see something new for both of them. That is going to do it for the review and I hope you enjoyed it. As always, tell me what you thought of my review and tonight's show. A SD review is up in the air for this week, but if it happens, it happens. Also, my little tribute to the Macho Man Randy Savage is now available, so check it out and please share some of you experiences as a wrestling fan of one of the all time greats. I will see you guys and girls on the next WrestlingNerd show, see you next time and WE'RE NOT WORTHY!!!
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