The Thread Killer

You know, I would have thought she was implying Vince Russo, and Lord knows that would have made sense if she had been...but sadly she has given interviews - even recently - where she sings Russo's praises, defends him, and even goes so far as to say she won't rule out working with him again. So I don't think that is who she was talking about. I think she might have actually clued into the fact that Hogan and Bischoff came in promising her the world, took her for a ton of money, and contributed only two things to TNA...jack and shit.

The more I learn about Dixie Carter, the more I suspect she may be functionally retarded. My latest favorite is this gem... Dixie Carter on the one thing she would change from her past in TNA: “Oh wow, I’ve never been asked that question before! I think the thing I would change would be to realise that just because someone’s been in this business a long time, doesn’t mean that they have the magic silver bullet that’s going to change everything. People who’ve been doing this successfully in the past, and their experience, doesn’t necessarily mean that that will work today. Times have changed, viewing habits have changed, social media has changed so much about the world we live in today, and how we experience life. I think I would have not put so much stock in that, and would have looked beyond for fresher outside ideas earlier.” Translation: "Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff screwed me and I just figured it out." Here's one question I bet she does get asked all the time, by her family: "What the fuck did you do with all of our money?"

Whats everyones take on this? For years Ive always hated RD Reynolds for making that book as well as the wrestlecrap (His Opinion) stuff as just seems like they just take the piss out of stuff I enjoyed as a kid back in the day. Mind you Ive never read the books just heard about them through reviews and stuff. Might be a misconception on my part but I wouldnt want to read a book that makes me so angry id want to just toss it in a trash. My take is that you might want to actually read the book before deciding you hate the author for writing it. It's a fairly well researched and written book. A lot of it is opinion, but it is well constructed it and the theories put forward regarding the Death of WCW are well presented and hard to argue with. And it's a must have for anybody who hates Vince Russo. (So basically, any wrestling fan with a functioning brain.)

Would that be the "brand" which he has complained he can't find any sponsors for? He has given interviews whining that he can't get big name sponsors like other UFC fighters. Of course he claims that is because they take steroids. I'm sure it has nothing to do with the fact that he's a fat load with a mullet and a beard like a deranged hobo. Yeah, companies should actually be lining up to sponsor him or want him as a spokesperson.

I don't like stupid people who think they're clever, and Roy Nelson is dumber than a box of rocks. Did you not see the season he coached on The Ultimate Fighter? He's not just stupid, he's like...scary stupid. I don't much care for Dana White or buy into 99% of the shit he says, but he's right on the money when it comes to his opinion on Roy Nelson. I believe he has invoked Ron White when it comes to Nelson...specifically - you can't fix stupid.

I saw Tom Magee wrestle live at a WWF show in Brantford Ontario, back in the mid-late eighties. This would have been 86-88. He fought in a prelim match, against a prelim guy. I want to say it was Terry Gibbs, but I can't remember for sure. (I wish I had saved all my programs and ticket stubs from back then, I went to so many shows at Maple Leaf Gardens and the Maple Leaf Wrestling tapings in Brantford at the Civic Center.) I think this was the same show I went to where Billy Jack Haynes fought Hercules in a crazy bloody steel chain match. All I remember is that Tom Magee looked like Kerry Von Erich, and he was very agile, I remember being surprised at a couple of moves he did considering the size he was. I only saw him the once, but among the dozens of guys I saw over the countless shows I went to, he did stick in my memory. I was always surprised he never ended up on TV or anything. EDIT: Hey, look what I found! http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7vyfm_tom-magee-vs-terry-gibbs_shortfilms Yep...that was the show I was at!

If that is true? Wow. Dixie is basically being told somebody would rather work for ROH and Lucha Underground than TNA.

Yeah...that is my feeling too. I don't really want to get into an argument about race, and it seemed like a debate that is going to drag on forever, but I really think you guys are WAY off base on this one.

There was a local Quebec promotor/wrestler named Frank Valois who I thought owned that footage. I used to work for a guy who knew the former play-by-play man Milt Avruskin http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Wrestling/2011/05/29/18209646.html who claimed that the tapes of that territory were floating around. I remember that territory from when I was a teenager. They had TV coverage in the Toronto area on Saturday afternoons. Dino Bravo, Rick Martel, Jaques, Raymond and Armand Rougeau, Steve DiSalvo, Bruiser Brody, Hercules Ayala, Abdullah The Butcher, Dr. D. David Shultz, The Road Warriors, Moondog Sailor White, The Great Samu...there was some good talent there. A couple of great managers too, Pretty Boy Floyd Creatchman and his Dad Eddie "The Brain" Creatchman. If I am not mistaken, it was run by a Montreal area wrestler named Gino Brito with Dino Bravo as a minority partner with the Rougeau family. His son (Gino Brito Jr.) was a wrestler as well, pushed as a Main Event level talent but he did not have Main Event level skills. I remember whenever Gino Brito Jr. would get involved in a big match he would look really out of place. As far as the ownership issue? Interesting question. There were always rumors that Gino Brito was in bed with the Montreal area mob as financial backers. Remember the famous Dynamite Kid/Jacques Rougeau story? One of the reasons DK never retaliated against Jacques was because Pat Patterson and Vince McMahon reportedly warned him that the Rougeau family knew people that could make Dynamite disappear. Also, remember the circumstances surrounding Dino Bravo's death...he apparently crossed his old wrestling partners on some sort of cigarette smuggling deal. If anybody wants to actually know something about that territory, I would suggest getting a hold of Greg Oliver from Slam Wrestling. He is the expert on all things Canadian Wrestling.

Did you see the season they coached against each other on the Ultimate Fighter - which was supposed to lead up to their fight before Rampage bailed out to go and make the A-Team? There was little to nothing likeable about Rampage during that season...especially his relentless bullying of Darrill Schoonover. (Well...maybe his making fun of Roy Nelson was pretty funny and likeable. But nobody likes Roy Nelson.) I think you are off base and reading too much into things with this whole "humble black guy vs. cocky black guy who doesn't know his place" theory to begin with, but at least an argument can be made for the theory when it comes to Jones and Cormier. I just don't see it at all when it comes to Jackson and Evans, sorry. We'll have to agree to disagree I think. Rampage is anything but a "humble black man who knows his place." He is one of the epic shit talkers of all time in MMA. If anything, Evans is the more humble and grounded of the two.

Humble black guy vs. cocky black guy "who doesn't know his place." Who are you speaking about here? Daniel Cormier vs. Jon Jones, but it equally could apply to Rampage Jackson vs. Rashad Evans. I could not disagree more. With Rampage and Rashad, I'm not sure which one would be considered "humble" and which one would be "cocky" since both have shown heaping helpings of both attributes in their respective careers...especially against each other.

There's a lot about that statement I disagree with. There's no arguing WWE is the #1 company, but that's in terms of exposure and finances. In terms of being the only source for pro wrestling in North America, well, that ignores the indies in America, Mexico, and Canada. It ignores CMLL, AAA, and Lucha Underground. It ignores Ring of Honor. It even ignores NXT, which may be WWE's developmental territory, but is a distinct product all its own. WWE may be the #1 company, but they aren't the only company, and there's a lot of great pro wrestling in North America, some of which isn't hard to find. I concede your point, my statement was poorly worded. I meant to imply that WWE is the most well known and easily accessible source for Pro Wrestling for the average consumer, and that for the standard fan looking for Pro Wrestling, the most obvious choice would be WWE. I should not have said "only" source, that was dumb.

You could be a card carrying Klan member and still find at least 5 valid reasons to dislike Jon Jones, without race ever entering into it. Anybody who dislikes him just because he's black is just being lazy and stupid about their reasons. Well, come to mention it...I guess that is pretty much racism defined, innit? But my point stands...there's plenty wrong with Jon Jones and no need for race to even be part of the discussion.

Here's my issue... There's no argument whatsoever that WWE is the #1 and only source for Pro Wrestling right now in North America. The only "alternatives" for any wrestling fan who still wants to watch wrestling, but gets sick of WWE, is either ROH or TNA. So let's say you're a WWE fan who looks up TNA for the first time. You see a guy with dark hair and a beard, giving a rambling "prophet like" promo, and he has a stable of guys who "follow" him. That screams Bray Wyatt imitation to me. If I'm a WWE fan who sees that, I doubt that will do much to sell TNA to me as an alternative - just like having Eric Young with his epic beard win the World Heavyweight Championship doing the classic underdog gimmick - at the exact same time WWE was doing it with Daniel Bryan. To me, it makes TNA look like a cheap copy of WWE, not an alternative. We have been having this same discussion in the Hall of Fame thread about Demolition being LOD knock-offs. In that thread, Loss made the point that even Ric Flair was a copy of Buddy Rogers - in wrestling everybody uses somebody else's gimmick to some degree. Hogan stole some of Billy Graham and Jesse Ventura's gimmicks, the list goes on and on. I don't disagree that James Storm is just as much a Kevin Sullivan imitation - but the problem is that when the #1 promotion in the world already has a underdog with an epic beard, or a crazy cult leader type, it's probably not a good idea to do anything even remotely similar if you want to come across as fresh, new, or especially an alternative. I like stuff like the X Division and the Six Sided Ring because at least it differentiates TNA from WWE. I also like the fact that a bunch of guys on their roster are new faces from places like the UK. Otherwise they may as well be: "Watch TNA: We have characters who either were in WWE or are vaguely like the characters you can see in WWE - only not as good!"

I haven't seen any TNA in years, but tonight I watched some on You Tube. I caught a very recent interview Mike Tenay did with James Storm. Is it just me...or are they trying to do some bearded cult leader thing with him? It really came off like a sad attempt to copy Bray Wyatt but I hope I`m wrong. They couldn`t be that sad and obvious, could they?

I thought it was much better than the similar matches they've had in ROH over the past year - it had more traditional wrestling at times and wasn't just non-stop SPOT-FU~! I don't get the NJPW/ROH fetish lately for 4 Way Tags. Too much going on for my tastes, no time to tell a story, it's just everybody trying to cram their spots in before the inevitable pile up on the outside after all the obvious planchas and suicide dives. I could never see that routine again and I'd live a long and happy life. I guess I prefer my tags either Old School Southern or Kings Road Heavyweight style. Also, I hate the Young Bucks with the intensity of a thousand burning suns. On the other hand, I LOVE the Time Splitters...they have made up for my sadness regarding the loss of the Motor City Machine Guns. Now having said all that - I thought this match was good, and based on it's structure, booking and placement on the card, did what it was designed to do.

My issue with this match was it's length and the abruptness of the finish. I thought it was building nicely, and I was really starting to get into it when - all of the sudden - it was over. I thought it could have easily gone another 7-10 minutes. That's what kept it from being very good/potentially great instead of fair/somewhat forgetable. I loved UWF/UWF-I/KINGDOM and Pancrase, RINGS etc. I had really been looking forward to this match and was mildly disappointed with it's placement on the card and lack of time. I would have prefered to see Saku go over too...Suzuki has always annoyed the hell out of me with his ridiculous facial expressions. He's like a joke I just never got. On a personal note, I would have been even happier to see them bring Kiyoshi Tamura in, if they were doing a UWF-I style match. What ever happened to that guy?

Yeah. I think Demolition were a fair to good team who carved out a half decent reputation in their own right, but they were so clearly LOD rip-offs in their inception. To deny that is just odd. You can easily argue that they rose above being saddled with a cheesy rip off gimmick and became a decent team in their own right. But I don't see any valid arugment for them not being an LOD rip-off initially.

Are you serious? I swear to Jeebus, if she is dumb enough to do that, she deserves to lose her entire family fortune. How anybody could be stupid enough to even think about that, or say it...never mind actually considering doing it? Mind boggling.

Wasn't one of the reasons that Swagger got de-pushed is because he got busted for a DWI? I'm not disagreeing with you though - WWE booking baffles me, it makes no sense whatsoever when it comes to building and maintaining new stars.

So who is in charge of creative as of the re-launch? John Gaburick?

I'm all for it. I know J.R. hate is fashionable around these parts (what with him being a vile human being who uses cringe inducing hate speech and everything) but I like him, and he's one of the reasons I am ordering the show. I was just keeping my fingers crossed for him to get a color guy who will know the NJPW product and actually add some color, and I think Striker is that guy. He's a fan, and I am confident that what he doesn't know, he'll research before the show. I am really looking forward to this.

So El Patron is coming into ROH for two shows - he'll be facing Christopher Daniels and ACH. I have no opinion on this, since the last time I saw Dos Caras Jr. do anything inside a ring, it was when he was legally murdered by Cro-Cop at PRIDE Bushido in 2003. The only memory I have of that event and his participation was that he was wearing a jockstrap over his face, and he got KTFO about 45 seconds into the first round - proving that just because you can do something it doesn't mean you should. (Hmmm. Perhaps CM Punk should pay attention to that.) Regardless, I'm led to believe he had some success in WWE, so maybe this is a good signing for ROH. If they don't screw it up. Which they probably will.

double double post post

Maybe I'm getting too picky in my old age, maybe I remember when ROH used to be a lot better when it was now, maybe I was just in a bad mood, I don't know. But I thought that show was really bad. TTK Bitches and Moans about ROH Final Battle 2014 In the opener, Hanson defeated Jimmy Jacobs, Mark Briscoe, and Caprice Coleman Jimmy Jacobs looked really unmotivated in this match, like he didn't even want to be there. I found Caprice Coleman to be really bland and uninspiring as well. Briscoe worked hard, but he always does. Hanson has some okay looking offense but his selling is...yeesh. I was hoping for an exciting, hot opener and got a whole bunch of meh. In my opinion, it killed the crowd. Roderick Strong defeated Adam Page This was okay. Because I don't get ROH TV here in Toronto, I was glad they showed a video package to explain the back-story, because at the last PPV, Strong was still part of The Decade and I had no idea who Page was. Page is fairly good, and Strong was solid. It was a fair match. And WTF was up with that whole deal after the match with Corino and Whitmer? Whitmer rips Corino's headset off and starts to talk, Corino goes apeshit and charges at him, and security breaks it up while the cameras cut to the crowd. That was either a really weird shoot or a pointless work, since Corino is retired. And he showed more fire and personality than anybody else on the show up to that point, just because somebody ripped his headset off. Michael Elgin defeated Tommaso Ciampa I thought the premise behind this match was weird. Ciampa doesn't like Elgin because Elgin is getting a reputation as the loose cannon of ROH, and that is supposed to be Ciampa's deal? Plus, Ciampa is supposedly a face now, but he is on his last warning for attacking officials. The first problem with this match (and this show) was the commentary. It was bad. Really, really bad. Dreadful. I hadn't heard Kevin Kelly in the booth since 97 and he sure hasn't gotten any better. Nigel McGuiness used to be a fairly good promo, I thought but in the authority role as the color guy he was terrible, high pitched, hysterical and annoying. Kelly is just terrible at calling a match and then he picks a hype point and beats it into the ground - in this case it was the idea that Ciampa might be suspended or fired if he touched an official. Which of course he accidentally did, causing a hysterical McGuiness to rip his headset off and flee into the crowd. The last ROH show I saw, it seemed like Ciampa was getting a push - but I guess that is over. I'll be the first one to admit that I went into this match expecting to hate it because I have no use for Michael Elgin. He always struck me as a wannabe Rhino with a mullet. Well, at least the mullet is gone now. My issue with Elgin is the same issue I had with another fellow Torontonian, Edge. That issue is that he is totally unconvincing and comes across as comical and forced when he is going for "intense." His eyes bug out, he makes strange faces, talks in an odd voice...these things are all intended to demonstrate to us how intense and scary he is, when instead they give the impression that he is trying out for the second grade play, or is perhaps experiencing trouble having regular bowel movements. My attitude is that if it's clear you can't act - don't try. Silence and a deadly stare go a lot farther than bugged out eyes and grunting. Anyhow, supposedly Elgin is doing a watered down Brian Pillman act in ROH, so he fought Ciampa. These guys just couldn't get on the same page and get any sort of momentum going, the match seemed poorly laid out and awkward, and ended in a bad ref bump. Which led to a semi-hysterical Kevin Kelly spending the rest of the night behind the mic wringing his hands and speculating about the fate of poor Thomaso Ciampa. Ugh. The Young Bucks and ACH defeated The Addiction and Cedric Alexander Well, this match woke the crowd up, I'll give it that. I'm not a big fan of The Young Bucks - they strike me as wannabe Hardys, but this match had plenty of action and even though it was sort of spotfu, it didn't offend my old school sensibilities too badly. My one question...The Addiction are great and everything, but wouldn't Christopher Daniels be better used back in his Fallen Angel gimmick higher up the card in a singles match? Lord knows the man has an ROH track record of proven success, and this roster is SCARY thin on talent. Moose defeated RD Evans I defy anybody to watch this abortion and tell me with a straight face that it wasn't booked in the pits of hell by Lucifer himself. RD Evans tried three times to jump onto the top rope and springboard off. He finally gave up and stopped trying when you could literally hear the entire crowd laughing at him because he kept falling. And Moose's idea of selling is to half stumble a step backward and comically wave his arms in circles. I thought his offence was okay but his selling was terrible. No. Just...no. sek is correct in saying that this was "angle advancement" in having Moose, Hathaway and Veda Scott all break away from Evans, but the execution was just so BAD. The booking was terrible...the turn could be seen a million miles away by everybody except two people, RD Evans and Kevin Kelly. And what possible payoff can there ever be? RD Evans looks like the "before" picture in the old Charles Atlas comic book ads, he showed tonight that he can't perform in the spotlight (if at all) and if he is carryable, it sure as shit isn't going to be Moose who does it. My beef is this - I have seen countless matches that were scores better than this at Indy shows in front of a handful of people. I have seen very few matches worse than this, from a technical standpoint. This was a fairly prominently placed match on a Live PPV - only the second ever - for a company that is supposedly the #3 wrestling organization in North America. You have to believe that somebody ordered this show in order to see what ROH was all about and decide if they were worth following. If that was me, and I saw this? I'd not only never order an ROH show again, I'd consider never watching wrestling again. As a paying customer I deserved better than this dreck, and if ROH seriously thinks they can usurp TNA as the #2 promotion, they're going to have to try a HELL of a lot harder than this. And I guess that was my issue. With matches like this, it seems like they weren't even trying. Jay Lethal defeated Matt Sydal Lethal is having a fun little run with the ROH TV title. I didn't mind his rivalry with ACH but obviously I was expecting a ton more from this. They showed a video package leading into this, which explained that Sydal had been offered a spot in "The House of Truth" but turned it down, hence this match. I never saw one Evan Bourne match in WWE, but I remember Sydal in ROH from years past. I have always found Lethal to be a solid, dependable if unremarkable performer inside the ring, so I figured - established high flyer vs. solid heel, should be good, right? Not so much. Much like the Ciampa/Elgin match, these guys just didn't seem to click. The pieces were there, but the chemistry was off and the whole thing came across as stilted and unsatisfying. There wasn't anything technically horrible about this match, but it was entirely forgettable when I thought it had the potential to be more. reDRagon defeated Time Splitters The crowd perked up for this one too. Definitely the match of the night. A bit less old school southern tag style and bit more spotastic than my tastes, but I am big fan of both teams and they worked hard and did a good job. I can't complain about the match itself. Here's where I can (and will) complain... Kevin Kelly casually mentions that this is the rubber match between these two teams, they hold one win a piece against each other. But for whatever reason, there are no video packages documenting this, no pre-match packages of any kind to hype it at all. These guys are 1-1 against each other, the titles are on the line, and it's almost an afterthought. Jay Briscoe defeated Adam Cole Speaking of video packages? So I'm led to believe that this match is a "Fight Without Honor" with no rules, due to Adam Cole attacking Jay Briscoe's dad. I'm told this, it is the motivation behind the Main Event of the PPV, but they didn't actually, you know, bother to actually SHOW US THE ATTACK or anything. It's not like it's the story behind the Main Event that sets up the story! Why would the people who don't get the TV show need to see the motivating factor behind the match that is Main Eventing the show they're being asked to buy? That's just a waste of time! I talked about the match earlier, so I won't belabor the point. I was surprised to see Briscoe go over, since I was under the impression that he was just a stop-gap solution as champion after that whole mess with Elgin's passport. I assumed Cole is their new #1 guy, but hey - a surprise result is always welcome. Once again, I'm so old school they tore the school down - so I wouldn't Main Event a PPV with a garbage match, I'd rather see a solid wrestling match. But it was for the World Championship, and it was blowing off an angle, so there you go. Final Thoughts... I need to see the shoot interview Cornette gave when he left ROH. I don't really like Cornette, he strikes me as an out of touch, stuck in the past, raving nutbar. But after seeing this show, I am starting to wonder if some of his complaints about ROH are valid. Because really? This show just wasn't good in my opinion. ROH used to be a great company and put out a great product. In fact, I found it hard to keep up with how much good stuff they were putting out. Somewhere over the past couple of years, something got lost. Their talent is really weak. I only see 4-5 Main Event potential guys on this roster. And the booking is just flat, uninspired, unimaginative shit. They have good TV coverage and live PPV, and they are literally wasting it. Keep in mind, maybe it's me. I’ve been a wrestling fan for 30 years. I’ve said in the past, maybe I’m outgrowing this stuff, finally. After attending Global Wars in May and finding myself surrounded by truly unpleasant people, I swore off ever attending live wrestling again. After this show, it is highly unlikely I’ll ever pay for a ROH show again. Maybe my standards are too high, I’m not sure. But I am pissed that I paid good money and got this in return. I know damn well I could have waited a few hours and gotten the show for free, but I have always financially supported ROH because they have put out a good product which to me, was a viable alternative to the WWE. Anybody can have one bad show, but this show was crappy on so many levels, I don’t know what to think.