sek69

WCW just learned the secret that made the WWF boom in the 80s when they had Hulk Hogan drawing in the marks and the Bulldogs, Savage, and Steamboat drawing in the people who wanted to see quality wrestling. They maximized their audience by having something for everyone.

People didn't buy PPVs to watch cruiserweights, they bought them to see the nWo, Sting, The Giant, and later Goldberg. The cruisers kept the crowd entertained, but I don't think anyone in the crowd paid to see a hot Juventud match.

Considering her temperment, I was shocked Carmella didn't sue over the infamous swearing segment. I'm also shocked she didn't beat the shit out of the other contestants too, like that chick she karate kicked at that club.

I thought for sure they were leading up to Christian joining the group. Clearly this is a "fuck you" move to TNA. Nash and Waltman have no purpose in the WWE other than licking HHH's ass. This seems like so much dick-waving by the WWE to prove they can sign anyone. Besides, as Marty pointed out, I think just the concept of teaming with those two would cause Flair to lose the last grip of sanity he has left.

It seems like they're *really* afraid she's going to sue them, and that she's dumb enough to sign a contract giving up her rights if they keep offering it to her.

Speaking of Unforgiven 2001, I recently bought the DVD cheap off eBay just to see if I can spot myself in the crowd. Carry on.

He actually copped to having several things wrong on his blog a while back.

Oh Jesus, it's pretty much exactly what I pictured. piggy face with the Lisa Loeb-esque glasses. She must do something right if he moved to Satan's Icebox (Saskatchewan) for her...

Sorry, how's that defending him? You're saying he's capable but chooses not to? That's worse than not being able to, but trying anyway. It's defending him in the sense that he isn't a talentless hack, as his early work clearly showed potential, but he's continuing to write about something he has no interest in anymore. He's spending all his time with his new wife (can't you picture that?) and his budding career in eletcronic retail.

Not that I ever thought I'd be defending SK, but there was a time where he did go into detail about each match and actually offer some justification for his ratings. You didn't always agree, but it was there. Now that he's a net "celebrity" he's become lazy, and clearly only continues to review PPVs because he needs to keep the base that buys his books happy. It's so obvious that his PPV reviews are as much planned in advance as the matches themselves. The Eddy-JBL fiasco was only the most blatant example. The problem is that he's burned out on the WWE product (he doesn't even watch Smackdown anymore) so he doesn't put any effort into it anymore. Arguing over star ratings in general is silly, because it's only the opinon of that reviewer. Most people agree if a match is generally good or bad, arguing if a match is *** 1/2 or *** 3/4 is grounds for a kick in the balls.

I've been watching the DVDs I got via Cam of Wrestlemania 1 thru 4. Haven't had the desire to watch WM 4 in all its ass-numbing entirety yet, but it's amazing to see the evolution the Wrestlemania concept had in its first three years. The first Wrestlemania is mainly just a showcase, outside of the main event there's really no storylines behind most of the matches. It's interesting from a historic standpoint, but most of this card wouldn't make a good episode of Heat today. Wrestlemania 2 is one of things like the all-cage TNA ppv. They decided to experiment with a gimmick, and in this case it really didn't work. Having the card in three different venues might have sounded like a good way to illustrate literally how big Wrestlemania is, but in practice it ended up showing how thin the roster was, as it ended up each venue got a bunch of squashes and one main event. Also having three locations stretched out the commentary roster, leading to each segment getting a horrible celebrity commentator that usually distracted from the matches at hand. I don't think there's ever been a greater difference between Wrestlemanias than there was between 2 and 3. There's no doubt 1987 was the year the WWF got its shit together. Regardless of the debate over the actual attendance, Wrestlemania III was the biggest show in WWF history. The sheer size of the crowd in long shots is overwhelming.

I'd wager one of two things: 1. He's a heel like Hassan, people boo him for basically stating the truth. His gimmick is that he doesn't care for drunks and potheads, and wrestling fans tend to drink and experiment with various and sundry chemicals. 2. Whoever's writing/booking has a bone to pick with Straight Edge people. I know some people don't care for the whole Straight Edge style, maybe that's what's at work here.

It was also established that the Horsemen would run in to prevent Flair from losing the title, so there were cage matches to keep them out and make Flair rely on his own merits to win or lose. Considering how the lazy booking in WWE now has run ins on every *show* let alone every feud, it would seem that the NWA was on to something.

They had the XXX/AMW cage match on On Demand for a while and I honestly feel it was one of the best matches I have ever seen. Definately top ten, and probably top 5. Awesome mix of old school NWA style tag team wrestling with just enough spot action to keep it lively.

What can TNA do? I don't think they can sell a PPV headlined by AJ Styles and Buck Quartermain...

I don't think those listings are accurate, they had Impact airing at 1:30 AM on Fox Sports Pittsburgh when it actually aired at midnight.

Now that I know that Impact has an airing at a time where I'm usually home to watch, I'm going to try to follow TNA more. What I saw was pretty decent. I mean, it's not 1989 NWA quality, but it's easily better than RAW of late.

That reminds me, with all the Dusty bashing in vogue again, Scooter claimed that Dusty's booking killed cage matches after booking run of the 80s. The fact that both WCW and WWF had some sort of no blood policy at varying times had little to do with it, I'm sure....

That line of thinking irritates me, for one, Meltz isn't God. Secondly, it seems to fly in the face of the complaint that doing something different (what everyone is begging WWE to do) is a sign of desparation. Maybe it will end up flopping, but that's the risk you take when you try something different.

I love how Joey Styles is all sorts of offended over what's basically the modern version of the Iron Sheik gimmick. I mean, he worked for a promotion that had a crucifixtion, and almost had a guy bleed to death in the ring so naturally Hassan's the most offensive thing he's ever seen. Personally I love Hassan and Daivari. I love the fact that they're basically saying things that are right and that's why they are heels. I think they're in danger of missing the boat with him since they seem destined to make him a one note comedy heel. When Sgt. Slaughter came out to confront him, that was a golden opportunity to point out that he was once an Iraqi sympathizer rather than doing the usual rah-rah USA is great routine.

I dunno, the matches all seem decent enough, and the all-cage gimmick is something different at least. I watched Impact last night and I was digging the "Saturday Night at Center Stage" vibe the have. Sure they can be WCW Lite at times, but the harsh truth is you can't have a promotion selling PPVs on the back of (to the average fan) no-name talent. The problem is you don't want to overpush the older name talent, and I think they've done as good a job as they can. Booking TNA is kind of like being manager of the Pirates, you can only do so much with what you have. I think they've done a pretty good job putting together entertaining PPVs, they certainly have a better record than the WWE has of late.

Is Sting still active anywhere? I see he made appearances in TNA, and you'd think he might be interested in a WWE run since Shawn's Wrestling For Jeebus now.

I agree with CJ, no Joey Styles = not a real ECW show. I wonder if they'll dig up Paul Ellering if/when they put the Road Warriors in the HOF.