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Post by "Nature Boy" Ric Moranis on Sept 10, 2007 2:31:36 GMT -5
Unless I read wrong, he beat the living hell out of Christian Cage, got dq'd and continued his tirade. For the record Joe remains winless against Christian Cage. The Joe/Christian match was pretty awesome. Joe kicked Christian's ass for about 15 minutes, and the DQ ending was logical with the storyline, didn't seem like a cop-out finish, and there were no run-ins. Plus, accidentally, or by design, they planted the seeds for an intriguing Joe vs. Matt Morgan PPV match down the line during the aftermath of Cage/Joe.
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Post by "Nature Boy" Ric Moranis on Sept 10, 2007 2:12:11 GMT -5
No, but he could have his best match in about 14 years.
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Post by "Nature Boy" Ric Moranis on Sept 9, 2007 2:21:03 GMT -5
Saget has to be loaded, he still probably makes six digits from his Full House residuals alone. At any time of the day, that show's probably running somewhere in the world, which is a never-ending cash cow for the stars.
Saget's from Philly, BTW. So, he supports his local indy fed.
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Post by "Nature Boy" Ric Moranis on Sept 8, 2007 17:30:06 GMT -5
How could they sign Flair? Unless I missed something, I thought he was still under WWE contract. Who knows? Supposedly, he has quit WWE. But I imagine he probably won't be able to do anything for the remainder of his contract anyway. You're assuming Flair's under WWE contract, and not working on a deal in good-faith with Vince like Hogan, Piper, etc. If Flair were known to be under a rock-solid contract to WWE, none of the news guys would still be speculating that he may be heading to TNA in the very near future. If Flair were confirmed to actually have a WWE contract, all of that type of speculation would've been squashed immediately by Meltzer or somebody.
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Post by "Nature Boy" Ric Moranis on Sept 9, 2007 3:35:45 GMT -5
Bobby Heenan sold 30 minutes of WCW Pro to New Japan Pro Wrestling. Thanks for bringing that part back up, I'd totally forgotten about that. What a weasel.
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Post by "Nature Boy" Ric Moranis on Sept 9, 2007 2:54:28 GMT -5
For as terrible as WCW was in 1995 (see Insane War Games Promo, "It's Not Hot!", and Hogan burning the Observer), it was a pretty ballsy, cool move to have all of those WCW vs. NJPW matches on WCW's biggest PPV of the year.
Bischoff was smart in the way that he'd do stuff like that, fully knowing that Vince McMahon would never try it.
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Post by "Nature Boy" Ric Moranis on Sept 10, 2007 2:20:12 GMT -5
^^ I was too blunt in saying that PWInsider was "wrong". I totally missed that they said the video "should" appear on the telecast. There's a big difference between "should" and "will".
Right now, in apology, I should say that I may or may not have been mistaken.
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Post by "Nature Boy" Ric Moranis on Sept 9, 2007 22:27:52 GMT -5
Banderas isn't the former world champion. They've been showing videos of him on Impact for the past 13 weeks. That TNA mobile alert was this week, wouldn't make sense to hint at negotiating with a guy who's already appeared on your television.
PWInsider was just wrong. Again. Very good PPV, though.
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Post by "Nature Boy" Ric Moranis on Sept 9, 2007 17:49:43 GMT -5
In GM mode, you have to start out playing as Jerry Jarrett on a fishing boat, and it's basically a fishing game until you invent the promotion with Bob Ryder and your son. Then, the promotion's still called "Tuesday Night Attitude" until you wind up with a weekly PPV that's not on Tuesday nights.
Once you secure PPV distribution, you can unlock Randy Savage, Sid, and The Ultimate Warrior's answering machines as playable characters.
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Post by "Nature Boy" Ric Moranis on Sept 9, 2007 3:07:02 GMT -5
After Chris Harris had that run at the end of the weekly PPV era where he almost won the NWA World Title on more than one occasion, I thought he'd be the breakout star of the team as a singles. James Storm proves that theory wrong, week after week.
I still think both of them have huge upside as singles performers. Harris is an old school, kickass, blue-collar babyface and good worker, along the lines of a Ted DiBiase when he was face in Mid-South/UWF (without the push). And Storm's heel persona (beer bottle) would be just as over as a face as it is heel. To me, his character is a smartass just looking for a good fight moreso than a drunk.
Both guys seem like they came straight out of 1980s NWA/UWF/WCCW...and I mean that in a good way. They're just as much of a throwback as singles wrestlers as they were as a tag team. Both are money, and AMW is gonna be balls if/when TNA ever reforms it.
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Post by "Nature Boy" Ric Moranis on Sept 8, 2007 3:32:55 GMT -5
Thanks. But, move thread.
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Post by "Nature Boy" Ric Moranis on Sept 7, 2007 10:55:57 GMT -5
LOL, TNA finally gets two hours, and yet their show is beyond saving.
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Post by "Nature Boy" Ric Moranis on Sept 6, 2007 20:09:10 GMT -5
I was gonna say that I thought Jarrett's mother passed away, but I checked and I was thinking of his grandmother. And he still holds a grudge over the Oleg Prudis thing? Off topic, but what do you have against Ricky Banderas, Ric Moranis? I get everyone else in your sig except him? What did I miss? I could be wrong, but I don't think the falling out was as simple as the Oleg Prudius thing, since TNA wasn't interested in developing him for whatever reason. I think it has something to do with a witch's brew consisting of... -Jerry Jarrett's NWA-TNA book release (where some equally flattering and unflattering things were said about his son's ability as a wrestler) -Dixie Carter coming in -Jerry arguing with her -Jeff never listening to him -Dixie's naivety to all things wrestling (not-involving Jeff Jarrett, who she's known since college) -Dixie/Jeff focusing the promotion almost entirely on Jeff through last Fall (which Jerry, a huge mark for the A.J. Styles's of the world didn't agree with) -Jeff's undying loyalty to Vince Russo, who Jerry thinks is smart and creative, but a "one-hit wonder" (as said in his book). -The overall direction of the product (as of 2005) which didn't mesh with Jerry's creative vision for an "alternative". I'm not sure anybody really knows for sure, but those various angles of the story all appeared in some newzz I've read. As a historical note, Jerry Jarrett began running Memphis by splitting off from the Gulas family after the owner Nick Gulas tried pushing his sucky son George as a main-eventer. Jerry said in the early days of TNA that he wouldn't let Jeff receive favoritism in the ring just because they owned it. That's what continued happening (out of Jerry's control), even as TNA gained more and more world-class talent. Plus, I think the falling-out happened during one of Jeff's particularly obnoxious world title runs in 2005. Whatever happened, it sucks that a father and son can't even talk to each other, even when the father almost dies of heart problems...just over something as inconsequential as the pro wrestling business. And I don't like Banderas because from what I've seen, I think he's boring (and I've DVR'd/watched tons of his AAA stuff), and the last thing TNA needs right now is a 5-foot-9 stocky "monster" that barely does anything set for a push. TNA won't even push their own 5-foot-9 guys, and they have some of the best in the world, but they're going to push Banderas, who has a fifth of the ability of an A.J., Sabin, Daniels, Shelley, Lethal, etc. I know Banderas is listed at 6-0, 242, but if he's six-foot tall, then I'm 6-2. And I'm 5-10. I think he's an inch or two shorter than Konnan (who's listed at 5-10). It's basically like giving a huge push to Alex Shelley, but only if he were really muscular, had an outdated "evil" gimmick, and sucked. He's gonna look pretty dumb fighting Abyss unless he wears lifts in his shoes. Or, wears those old basketball training platform shoes that were supposed to make your calf muscles so strong that you could dunk a basketball after only two weeks.
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Post by "Nature Boy" Ric Moranis on Sept 6, 2007 18:50:39 GMT -5
(credit: PWTorch Newsletter, PWTorch.com)
IMPACT EXPANDING TO TWO HOURS
TNA Impact will be expanding to two hours within the next month or so barring a shocking fallout between the two parties - TNA and Spike TV. A press release is expected to be issued as soon as next week regarding the expansion to two hours. The two hour show will air on Thursday nights. It will be taped in Orlando, Fla. at Universal Studios as it is now. The TV tapings will not be at various venues across the country, as TNA is now doing with more PPVs. The TV show will not be live. It will continue to be taped, but tapings will be held more often. The current plan is run a PPV on Sunday, then tape the following Thursday's two-hour show on Monday night, and the subsequent Thursday's two-hour show on Tuesday night, then two weeks later tape one show per night again on Monday and Tuesday, then repeat that pattern. So the TV dates for wrestlers will go from three per month to five.
Spike TV is not counting on Impact drawing a higher rating when the show expands to two hours. While it would be welcome, there is more concern within Spike over the ratings dropping. There is fear that TNA fans may not watch both hours and thus the rating will be watered down. So holding steady in the 1.1 range would be seen as a positive for Spike.
TNA management has said for a long time they hope the expansion to two hours will help them feature longer matches, more character development, more time spent on the now-practically-forgotten X Division, and hopefully appeal to a wider fan-base, thus growing the ratings over time.
TNA TO BEGIN DRUG TESTING
TNA has decided to begin random drug testing within a few weeks, although the details are being worked out. TNA does want to be able to tell Congress that they have instituted such testing. This is in response to a letter Congress sent to TNA. The following is the press release the office of Rep. Cliff Stearns issued regarding the letter he sent to TNA.
WASHINGTON, AUG. 14, 2007 - Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-FL), Ranking Member of the Commerce, Trade & Consumer Protection Subcommittee, joined the subcommittee's chairman, Rep. Bobby Rush (D-IL), in contacting additional professional wrestling associations regarding their drug prevention efforts. Stearns and Rush requested this information from World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. last month.
"After I called for a congressional hearings on the use of steroids and other drugs in professional wrestling, I have heard from wrestlers that steroids, pain killers, and other drugs are used frequently in the industry," said Stearns. "Trafficking in steroids and other drugs is a felony and their use without a prescription is also a crime. In addition to ensuring that our laws are respected, Congress has a responsibility to protect young people from the harmful impact of drug use in pro wrestling. Some 1 million children under the age of 11 watch pro wrestling and many emulate the wrestlers they see."
The associations are asked to outline their drug-testing policies and efforts to detect and prevent the use of steroids and other drugs. As a result of the numerous premature deaths of wrestlers, in many cases involving drugs, Stearns and Rush have discussed holding a hearing in the fall to look into drug use within the industry.
TNA NOTEBOOK
TNA Impact drew another 1.1 rating (1.05 rounded up, to be precise), opening with a 1.07, dropping to a 0.98 for the next half hour, and then growing 1.05 afterward. Among M18-49, it drew a 0.72 Among M18-49, it drew a 0.60. Average viewership overall was 1.3 million...
Andrew "The Punisher" Martin (a/k/a WWE's Test) is not part of TNA's roster anymore. He is still pictured on the TNA website, but he is not being booked for any future appearances. He was brought in on a trial basis and to get the "pop" TNA often goes for from featuring former WWE wrestlers in cameos or short stints. He, frankly, showed up so jacked that some members of TNA management were put off by it, especially considering the Congressional inquiries currently happening and the type of unwanted attention he would draw. If he wants to be considered for future work, he's been given indications he should come back sleeker and less Flex magazine cover-ready...
Kevin Nash's contract with TNA expires this month. He is expected to be offered a renewal...
Leticia is on a leave of absence from TNA to do some work with the X Games, Maxim, and other side projects. Her replacement was found in an open casting call in Orlando and management is already very high on her early performances...
Pacman Jones has been nothing but a pleasure to work with so far. He dresses with the other wrestlers, not in a separate "big shot" locker room. He has been openly excited about being around other wrestlers and is good at asking respectful questions. "He seems like a wide-eyed mark," says one wrestler. "I mean that in a good way." He doesn't have an entourage with him, just one friend who accompanies him to most of the shows. Once his NFL suspensions is over, though, he's made it clear that he is leaving TNA...
Jeff Jarrett has been more friendly in the past couple months and seems to be dealing with the death of his wife as well as could be expected. He's been more apt to engage in small talk and handshakes with everyone, not just a select few top acts. He hasn't been wrestling in great part because he cannot juggle being head booker and head of business operations and also care for his daughters who lost their mother. He doesn't have as much help as some might assume because he has not allowed his daughters to see or spend time with his father, Jerry, for the last couple of years since their bitter falling out. Only recently has he allowed his daughters to see his mother, their grandmother. He does allow the daughters to spend time with his late-wife Jill's parents...
Those who knew Karen Angle from her showing up at WWE events and hearing stories about her believed she'd be a handful for TNA. So far, though, there are no incidents or stories of her causing any problems or having "diva fits." She's on time, listens well, and seems very eager to please and play her part well...
Samoa Joe was recently offered a restructured and extended contract. He has about two years left on his existing deal and he opted to not renegotiate, instead deciding he preferred to stick to the existing contract. The new contract probably offered more money, but also had more dates or more limitations that Joe didn't want, plus he may want to see where he stands in TNA when this deal expires and have options at that point...
Alex Shelley worked the PWG show over the weekend in Los Angeles, a group TNA hadn't allowed its wrestlers to work for. Shelley, though, was an exception as TNA for some reason offered a talent to the promoter. He is still under TNA contract with a long time left on it, having just recently renewed his deal...
Jeff Jarrett continues to set the agenda for PPV line-ups, feuds, and major angles, and then leaves it to Dutch Mantel and Vince Russo to script and format the TV shows with the wrestlers he chooses getting pushed...
Scott Steiner used to carry a portable cooler and refrigerator with him to keep his supplements and such fresh...
Jimmy Rave is scheduled to start with TNA at this weekend's PPV or the next TV tapings...
Says one colleague regarding why Jerry Lynn was let go: "He walked out moping all the time like he'd rather be dead than at TNA. He brought the morale down"...
(PWTorch.com)
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Post by "Nature Boy" Ric Moranis on Sept 9, 2007 3:30:15 GMT -5
the thought of west getting put through about 30 different submissions is highly amusing to me Just think of how loud that would be. TENAY: Don, it looks like he's got you in Submission #14, a key lock. WEST: HE REALLY DOEZ MIKE (wheeze), AND IT HURTS SO BADDD!!! (wheeze) I think my arm is broken. (wheeze) TENAY: Dammit!!! I think Don West's arm is broken! WEST: It really is Mike! COUTURE on the mic: Now, for Submission #15...I'm going to choke Don West out with his own fluorescent tie!!! TENAY: J'ya hear that!?! Submission #15! I think Randy Couture is going to choke Don West out with his own fluorescent tie!!!! COUTURE: That's what I just said, you tuxedoed smurfing dumbass. TENAY: Randy just put ME in MY place!!!! WEST: (wheeze)
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Post by "Nature Boy" Ric Moranis on Sept 9, 2007 2:36:46 GMT -5
Considering all of the negatives, those being...
1. He hasn't popped ratings. 2. They're probably paying him too much. 3. He legally can't wrestle.
...He hasn't been that bad. I guess. I'm still 100% against this stupid idea, but all things considered, he really could be worse at whatever he's supposed to be doing in TNA. He plays his on-air role better than I expected.
It sucks that after all of this, we'll still never see if he has/had any potential in the ring. Pacman really is one of the best athletes in the NFL (runs one of the fastest 40s, and has a great vertical leap), so he had a shot at being the best, or at least most exciting "celebrity athlete" worker...when compared to the Dennis Rodmans, Karl Malones, Lawrence Taylors, and William Perrys of the world.
Plus, it's gotten Ron Killings some screen time, which is good. In the early days of TNA, heel Killings looked like a future breakout star and major player in the industry. Angry Heel Ron Killings is 1,000 times better than Dancing, Crowd-Ass Kissing, Face Ron Killings.
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Post by "Nature Boy" Ric Moranis on Sept 8, 2007 13:05:28 GMT -5
WWE has the money and time for celebrities on there show. Pacman eats up a big percentage of TNA's budget and weekly time. When K-fed was on RAW, he took up 20 minuts of WWE's 5 weekly hours. TNA on the other hand only has 1 hour and Pacman eats up 20 minutes of it. Yeah, I couldn't believe that Pacman was on the show for twenty minutes this week. I was sitting there going, "Damnit, get this guy off my television screen!!!!!111!!!!!" He was on the show twice. For a total of roughly three minutes, and three minutes is being generous (because it seemed like less than that). He said one sentence backstage, and then spraypainted Angle at the end. That's hardly a fifth of the show.
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Post by "Nature Boy" Ric Moranis on Sept 8, 2007 0:52:23 GMT -5
Can we can the food analogies, please? It's hard to walk half a mile to the nearest fast food place in the middle of the night with no car. You know what, I'll just say this: TNA gets a lot of rightful flak for stuff they do, and gets a lot of wrongful flak for stuff they do. Seriously, it's like every era of TNA had something tremendously wrong with it. Some people take this business too seriously. It's like no favorite can ever lose and no hated guy can ever win. TNA WILL NOT GO OUT OF BUSINESS CAUSE THE MCMG LOST TO VKM IN 90 SECONDS! I'm sorry the guys you rooted for lost, but come on! If your favorites won every time, the show would get goddamn boring real quick. Plus, there has to be someone who likes VKM and may enjoy seeing them win. What makes you better than them? Plus, what is this magical wrestling test that TNA has to pass every week for it to be considered ok for them to say "We Are Wrestling?" as a simple frigging tagline? I don't get, and still don't get, why TNA is considered WWE lite cause they have a few storylines that aren't just "I hate you. I hate you too. I'm gonna beat your ass!" things. Is ROH not wrestling anymore with Project 161 or Jimmy & Lacey before that? I don't anyone would call ROH "Sports Entertainment" for that, so I don't get why TNA gets it cause a few of their things aren't lineal. Oh, right, cause they hired Test for 2 weeks....... I get it: People don't like TNA cause these guys you saw in the indys aren't in the same position or getting the same push they did in ROH, and how some guy who has a WWE background is employed(He doesn't even have to do anything for him to get hated) instead of someone else. Seriously, though, you can't go "The X-Division guys need a push" and b**** when they are given gimmicks to stand out. You can't go "These old timers need to lose to the younger guys more" and b**** about Rhino or Raven jobbing out to guys like Kaz & James Storm. You can't complain about "TNA isn't pushing any young stars" and then b**** when Eric Young, Robert Roode, Abyss or Chris Harris get pushes. You can't complain about WWE silent crowds and then b**** about the iMPACT zone being "too into it". That's all I'm gonna say right now. Well put. I agree with every single thing said in Sinister's post. TNA's often held to an incredible critical standard by the online community, to the point that they can't win on boards like these by anything they do. But technically, they have to be doing something right, because major cable networks don't just hand out two hours of weekly primetime TV to original programming. It's incredibly misguided to assume otherwise. That's a huge investment for SpikeTV. If SpikeTV wasn't happy with Impact, they could just throw two reruns of CSI in their spot. Also I watched WCW in 2000 (Nitro and Thunder), and that was FAR worse on a weekly basis than TNA is, even at their most frustrating. I think now's the time more than any that we should have a little more patience with TNA's product as they re-figure themselves out with two hours. And I'm saying this as a guy with a mean-spirited TNA sig...
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Post by "Nature Boy" Ric Moranis on Sept 8, 2007 17:20:11 GMT -5
Isn't Keller the guy who said in 3 reports that Shelley wasn't gone from TNA, was gone from TNA, or wasn't gone from TNA but was doing PWG shows? ...cause if so I'm not quite sure how right he is. No, Keller never reported three different things on Alex Shelley. That was this board, who turned two posters saying basically the same thing into OMG GUYZ TWO REPORTZZZ, and one report by a poster that was just flat out wrong or made-up. And Meltzer reported the same rating as Keller. Scherer was wrong.
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Post by "Nature Boy" Ric Moranis on Sept 8, 2007 13:01:03 GMT -5
TNA News: This week's TNA rating draws one of larger audiences ever, up a notch By Wade Keller, PWTorch editor Sep 8, 2007, 11:47
TNA Impact on Thursday drew a 1.2 rating and 1.5 million total viewers. That's up from last week's 1.1 rating and 1.3 million viewers. The show headlined with Abyss & Black Machismo vs. Sting & Kurt Angle.
Who's right? Keller or Scherer? Find out Sunday night at No Surrender.
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