Here we are tape-to-air for another installment of TNA iMPACT. Will Jeff Hardy appear tonight? Hell, no. But it gets sillier folks, they are apparently planning on bringing him back later as a babyface. While many people questioned him turning him initially, now people are collectively face palming questioning why he is even employed. But enough about that guy, let’s get to the suffering… and an interesting parallel between TNA and a game called Homefront. This is a pretty long article, so keep it in the background as you go through your Friday. Lot’s of goodies, and whatnot. (more…)
Well, last night’s Raw was dismal. Not every episode can be life-changing, but it was just not good. We weren’t at the “Hot Lesbian Action”/Katie Vick/Test calling his fans testicles level. (In my opinion, that was the worst Raw I’ve ever seen.) But the past few Raws blew me away. This one did not. Matter of fact, it almost swung into the bad side.
Good:
-In their defense, the WWE had one purpose last night-Sell Wrestlemania. That part, I believe they did very well. I was ok with the Cole/Lawler build-up (and by the way, I love Cole’s Fortress). I do not like Grandmaster Sexay (or the Man Who Ate Brian Christopher or Ken Anderson’s fatter older brother or whoever that was), and I will pay the WWE money to never have him appear on my tv again. (I have the same agreement with them on Sean Waltman, Ashley Massaro and Hardcore Holly.) But they are selling the PPV. Cole and Lawler will be a nice chance to pop the crowd and let them settle down after seeing a major match like Triple-H/Taker or Edge/Del Rio. Plus, Lawler deserves his Wrestlemania match and putting him against Cole doesn’t hurt anybody. Also, when Austin gives his 9,000 stunners, it’ll be against Cole and maybe a few on Swagger. Austin won’t bury Swagger because he’s Austin. Austin will stun all kinds of people. He’s not beating them. That’s what the crowd wants to see.
I also liked the build-up for the Cena-Miz match AFTER a certain point. If you thought Cena was actually broadcasting from his home, I have some nice ocean-front property in Las Vegas for you. The room looked like a room in an arena backstage. Also, usually, they’ll say “Via satellite: [City he’s in].” That’s what makes it so dumb to actually think he wasn’t at the arena. It was so cheesy and so transparent, and Cena got to talk about how much better he was than The Rock because HE showed up at the arena. (And I don’t see what all the debate is over who paved the way into Hollywood. We all know it was Tor Johnson.) A lot of people hated the Miz turning the WWE logo upside down. I was ok with it. The part I liked the most was the fire that John Cena showed by attacking Alex Riley. Cena is going to put on an intense, focused face. I’ll take that John Cena. Just don’t give me SuperCena who makes poop jokes.
And then there was the Triple-H/Undertaker video package. That was (I think) the greatest video package I have ever seen the WWE do. They interviewed Dusty Rhodes, Ricky Steamboat, Harley Race (He looked like he lost a lot of weight. I said that to my wife, and she responded, “Yeah, he does.” My wife recognized Harley freakin’ Race. That is perhaps the sexiest thing she’s ever done.) and anybody who was anybody in the WWE. I got to see Arn Anderson, who is one of my all-time favorites, if not THE favorite. Any time I get to see Double-A, it’s automatically the greatest Raw ever. Plus, I forgot how good on the mic he was about cutting the cool, collective promo. I marked out for him, to be honest. I cannot echo enough times how good that video package was. I’ve never thought a non-title match should be a main event at Wrestlemania. Until now…
-So I’ve watched around 4 Raws in a row since giving it a try again. Used to if one was good in a 4-week period, we were happy. But I received 3 really solid Raws in a row. I’d forgotten how much I loved it. I’m even watching Smackdown! again. I’m beginning to have faith in the WWE again, which at one point, I had lost all faith in them.
Not-so-good:
-What’s up with Triple-H burying people? Did he go back to the Katie Vick era and say, “Yeah, that seemed to work?” He squashed Sheamus like bug and obliterated Ted DiBiase Jr. The only way this will work is for Ted Jr. to attack him during the WM27 match and cause Hunter to lose. The writing looks to be “on the wall” for Sheamus. I’m pretty sure he’ll be pinning AJ Styles or Doug Williams on Impact! in a matter of months.
-How does Abdullah the Butcher not get a video package? I know he didn’t wrestle for the WWF/E, but surely we can go through some old WCW libraries and find SOMETHING!!!!!!!! He has something to plug (his rib place in Atlanta). Give the man his true due.
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When you’re on the road to WrestleMania, things are going to get shaken up on a weekly basis. And it should come as no surprise that this is what indeed happened this week. (more…)
Coming hot off the heels as possibly the worst PPV of all time, TNA has some problems to deal with. First, Jeff Hardy screwed up again, showing up likely high as a kite and Sting refused to work with him. Second, they gave us a non-finish for the number one contender’s match between Mr. Anderson and RVD. Third, Some Internet Guy had possibly the best match on the card with AJ Styles. What in the hell? (more…)
This week brings a slough of new competitors and grapplers to our online voting project, the Power Poll. Although an episode of iMPACT has already aired, and possibly one from Smackdown, keep in mind the date listed above. Last week didn’t include the win from Sting over on the TNA side of things, and “spoiler,” he somehow didn’t make it this week. However, a sneaky vote by myself (and likely others) vaulted an ROH/indie guy into a spot this week. And when I say “Boom” I don’t mean Kofi Kingston! Also, you won’t believe who is not on the list this week… read on smarks…. read on. (more…)
Last week TNA shot their proverbial load all over my television screen like they’d been free-basing Charlie Sheen all night. What will they have in store for us this week? Did they actually have anything planned for the show other than the Jersey Shore’s Angelina having a match? Do they even remember they have a PPV on Sunday? Doubtful. But there’s only one terrible way to find out. (more…)
This one’s a little late, although I might start shaking up when I put these out as a result of that… see, being a community project by many IWC voters, quite a lot of things create delays. I like to refer to them as “life.” Speaking of life, I’ll animate the gifs for you fine folks… (more…)
This past weekend, I had the opportunity to witness a new experience for me. It couldn’t have been any better. Ring of Honor had a live Internet Pay Per View (iPPV) on gofightlive.tv. It was a wonderful experience. I got to sit on the computer for a little bit and watch some really good wrestling. My wife got the tv and watched so many JFK documentaries, she calls Oliver Stone a poser. It was a nice experience, and we didn’t fight over the remote and both actually enjoyed our evening.
I fell in love with Ring of Honor all over again. I watched it when it was first created, but I had not really kept up with it. As a wrestling fan who despises the very thought of TNA existing, is tentatively getting back into the WWE’s product, can only watch AAA on Galavision for so long before my mind gets tired of listening to Spanish and can only go to so many live wrestling shows per month because I’m a husband and father before I’m a wrestling fan, Ring of Honor (ROH) fills a lot of holes for me. For those of you who haven’t discovered it, here are 10 Reasons to Watch ROH.
1. The price. WWE’s PPV’s are a whopping $44.95, $10 more for HD. Ring of Honor was $14.95. And they didn’t have some length promo bringing out Trish Stratus. I love Trish more than anything, but did she really belong being reintroduced on a PPV? I don’t think there was a single ROH fan tweeting that night that didn’t feel they got their money’s worth several times over.
2. Steve Corino storyline. I think that we can admit that Steve Corino has been one of the best heels of the past decade. The storyline now is that Steve Corino is trying to atone for his many sins. He’s trying to be a good guy. He still feels that urge to be bad. So now there is a kind of Incredible Hulk vs. Bruce Banner struggle.
3. Grizzly Redwood. My theater teacher in high school would always make us come up with verbs for our characters’ motivation. And she said to always go with the most interesting choice. Grizzly Redwood is a little guy. He plays the big burly lumberjack, which is ironic and a fun choice. He’s a great, scrappy babyface.
4. Kyle O’Reilly. The ironic thing is that I was not looking for O’Reilly’s matches. I was searching for Adam Cole, and I found a match where he was wrestling Kyle O’Reilly. And all respect to Adam Cole, but I was blown away by O’Reilly’s work. He’s sensational and worth watching.
5. El Generico. When it comes to chants, El Generico’s makes me happy. I even tried doing it for my local indy and their wrestler Lucha Lucha. The crowd did not appreciate the “Ole!” chant. However the Texas Rangers do “O’Day” for reliever Darren O’Day. He’s a great gimmick and a great reason to watch.
6. Sara del Ray. Most women on TNA & WWE look like they came off the page of a porn magazine. They teach women that they are never anything unless their cup size is double letters or look like the page of a porn magazine. Not that del Ray isn’t pretty or isn’t attractive, but she’s a strong female athletic wrestler. Plus, she’s a great heel and the woman you love to hate.
7. Kings of Wrestling. Kings of Wrestling are a Tag Team that seems like they could be very successful singles wrestlers, yet they are a tag team. They have an amazing swagger and work incredibly well as a team. They own the ring, and they own the Tag Team Division. And with respect to Beer Money and Motor City Machine Guns, they are the best Tag Team in wrestling.
8. TV Title. Most fans probably hate this, but I’ll admit it. I like the title. I’m ok with a DQ or countout. I’m ok with time limit draws. Matter of fact, I wish there were more time limit draws. I used to love the TV title, because Lord Steven Regal always found a way to last long enough. If you wanted that title, you had to win and you had to win in 10 minutes.
9. The Briscoes.I remember watching some early Briscoes matches, CZW, ROH, etc. I’m going to be honest. They didn’t show me anything. They were just two brothers who looked alike and were ugly as sin. This match they had against Haas & Benjamin was the real first time they had ever shown me anything. I think I finally “get it.” They showed me something for the first time. They still aren’t any prettier, but I finally “saw something.”
10. Shelton Benjamin done right. I could write a whole blog of how the WWE dropped the ball on Shelton Benjamin. With respect to John Morrison, he is perhaps the most athletically-gifted wrestler I’ve ever seen. Do you remember that match he had against Triple-H in a time when The Game DID NOT LOSE? How about his match against Shawn Michaels (That one was for bragging rights between me and my then-fiance)? And then they brought in his mother, failed sitcom veteran Thea Vidale. And I saw a great athlete ruined because of poor booking. Ring of Honor understands how to do Shelton Benjamin right. No stupid gold hair. No failed sitcom actress. No reference to his criminal past. Just a great athlete being a great athlete.
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They’ve been hyping this particular episode for a while… there will be a wedding, the result of the ongoing legal issues surrounding ownership of TNA, Angelina from the Jersey Shore, Velvet Sky’s career is on the line… and something else… what was that thing they did last week again… signed the Undertaker? Hmm… no that’s not it… (more…)
What’s up folks? I guess this will be a little different than your normal Power Poll installment. Yes, there will be animated gifs (I made three of them just for you)! But, I did not receive any results from our ringmaster. So… these are only my own rankings, as biased as ever! (more…)
