stomperspc

Not sure about the bolded. Progress crowds from the shows that I have gotten generally seem to be pretty good but I wouldn't call them rapid. PCW crowds in general haven't been very good. There were a few matches from there May shows that I thought were pretty good but in no way helped by the poor crowd reactions (and poor announcing, but that's another story). ICW has the best crowds of what I've seen although the insane reaction to Drew Galloway's return is not exactly the norm for there. I know PCW has claimed attendance just under 1,000 for many shows, but it often looks like a little less than that to me on video. In any event, they draw well but not significantly better than your good-drawing US indies. Like ButchReedMark said, they are heavy on fly-ins so what they are drawing relative to the guys that they bring in isn't that great. When you do a weekend of shows with Chris Masters, Juvi, reDRagon, Shane Helms, Al Snow, Low Ki, and Uhaa Nation all as fly-ins, not sure anything under 1,000 qualifies as all that great. Progress is switching to bigger venues but I think we are still talking around 700 capacity per show. Not trying to put down either promotion. I enjoy both and both are doing well, just not sure they re doing *that* well. wXw for my money is the one European promotion that has really been onto something over the past year. They ran an extensive tour this winter and spring, drawing decently (150 - 500 people) per show all around Germany using mainly local guys. They've ran Belgium and are running the Czech Republic in the fall. I think their cards tend to be a little more well-rounded than the many of the UK promotions as well.

So the finals are set. Nakamura vs. Okada in the finals and Tanahashi vs. Styles in the consolation (3rd place) match. I am sort of surprised they went with those pairings. It became evident several shows back that those four would be the "final four" but I figured they were building to Nakamura vs. Okada at the Tokyo Dome and wouldn't do it here first. Those matches are arguably the biggest matches NJPW has left on paper so it is a tad odd they would give them away with such little time to promote them. The show was a fun one. They laid out the card just as they should have with the five matches that did not have potential finals implications before intermission and the five that did after. The first half of the show was pretty fun and felt like my normal under card in the sense that nothing was really at stake. Thought Anderson had his best performance of the tournament versus Naito. I thought Ishii vs. Nagata was better than Ishii vs. Shibata from this year. Both matches were laid out similarly but the Nagata match clicked more. The second half had a playoff feel to it, at least as much as pro wrestling can imitate that. Gallows/Shibata was nothing special. The finish would have been surprising but Shibata more or less had to lose if they wanted Tanahashi and Nakamura in the top two matches at the Seibu Dome. The only other way to get there would have been for both Tanahashi and Nakamura to win their matches and it didn't seem likely that they would play it that straight forward. Nakamura vs. Fale was their usual solid/good match. Nakamura was way over. Styles/Makabe was okay though there were a couple of rough spots and Makabe is not one of my favorites. I thought the final two matches were strong. The work was good but the drama really brought them to another level. I liked Tanahashi/DBS Jr. a tad more. Suzuki & Okada did a fine job creating a sense of doubt that Okada would win with all of the arm work. They worked the match in a way that at least led me to believe there was a chance Okada would be too hurt to hit the Rainmaker and Suzuki would pull off the upset.

Yea, Dustin did a spot-on impression of his dad. I thought this was the best and most fun Goldust "dress up" match on the discs so far because there was a ton actual stuff he could do to continue the "parody" once the match started.

I am guessing Vince didn't actually own the WCCW footage at the time and just didn't care? I was surprised to see those clips show up here.

The fanny pack was the first thing I noticed too, for some reason. It is amazing that Austin got so over as a bad ass while occasionally wearing such an un-bad ass accessory.

Rock was awesome here with his insincere apologies and his "gift that is not really a gift" for Farooq. Also thought the announcers did a good job in letting the angle play out on its own rather than narrating the obvious.

The early Goldberg squahses on this year book have all been fun. I think I might have already said it, but Goldberg does not get nearly the credit he deserves for his work in his early days. He does a lot of fun stuff that not many guys in WWF or WCW were doing at the time. It doesn't hurt being in there with Finlay, but this was about as fun of a squash as you can get. The problem was they kept doing them long after they fit (after Goldberg one the US title they should have been scaled back) but so far these have been perfect and he's getting more & more over each passing week.

It is nice on occasion to see a wrestler change from one gimmick to another with some sort of progression, rather than being hastily repackaged. This was a nice start to Mortis' transition to Kanyon.

Nash trying to lead an "Attica" chant while being led out by police in handcuffs is one of my favorite moments from his career. So funny and so very Nash to come up with that.

Really well done in terms effectively getting mainstream publicity and hyping a match for the existing wrestling fans. I get that being a public company, WWE is probably (and rightfully so) leery of mixing angles into real press conferences, but they could really use more stuff like this today. Tyson was great in this piece and in the entire angle. He came off 100% authentic. Austin did as well which is a large reason why the angle was such a success, I think.

First time I watched this and it is as advertised. Regal was definitely uncooperative at points, making Goldberg "earn" some of his moves rather than working with him him like normal. Regal also throws a couple of odd looking, stiff strikes. I agree that Goldberg handled himself well. Whether it was simply the result of not realizing what was going on or consciously keeping his cool, he held the match together pretty well. They do get completely out of sync once or twice but I've seen worse. It is too bad so Regal was so messed up at this point because if he worked with Goldberg, they could have had some fun, stiff, unique matches around this time.

That would be some head-scratching promoting. I know if I was one of the fans who was at Arena Mexico last year and felt screwed by the entire La Sombra & Volador/Atlantis & UG deal, I wouldn't be all that anxious to pay high ticket prices this year if they even tease the possibility of an Atlantis/UG mask match not happening. Seems like if they re going to run that match, they should just announce it and run it. Doing the same deal as last year might add some intrigue but might also do so at the expense of ticket sales.

The hyperbole and absolute statements surrounding this tournament are a lot to take. It doesn't lessen my enjoyment of any of it and good for the people who are enjoying it that much, but it is annoying to be told that a tournament/match/show is "clearly" the best of all time minutes after it has ended (or before it has ended in this case!) without any sort of deeper analysis behind it. As mentioned, that is unfortunate because it has been a good tournament and there have been good matches, but that is being overshadowed by people making grandiose statements. I mentioned earlier in the thread that there were just a few matches that I might be inclined to watch back again after the tournament is done. With two shows left to go, I stick by that. There are more than a few tournaments throughout history that have that kind of match quality. I wouldn't say that the undercard matches have been the difference maker either as while there have been some good ones, there have also been a whole slew of forgettable ones. When reading Meltzer's recap in the WON last night, there were matches I don't even remember at all that he was labeling as great matches. I just don't see it. Its been a good tournament with some quality matches (which is more than enough for me), but like Chad said I never once felt like I have been watching something legendary. Meltzer also said this: I like Nakamura a lot but again, I wish he'd stop resorting to making these absolute assertions as if they are gospel.

I felt the same away about Shibata/Ishii. I thought they had the right general idea for the match layout. The overall quiet crowd and a lack of execution on some of their ideas hurt the match, though. The one count stuff hurt their 2013 G-1 match for me and they went even deeper into that well this go around. Not a fan of the "I'll let you voluntarily kick me to prove how tough I am" spots either, certainly not when they go on as long as they did here. With Ishii's legit shoulder injury, I was hoping they would just do an all-out five minute match instead of trying to top last year's match. Weakest show of the tournament so far. I missed the parts of the second and third matches because of the U-Stream issues but I assume seeing those wouldn't drastically change my opinion. They set the match order tomorrow. Okada/Suzuki is going on last with Tanahashi/Davey Boy Smith Jr. as the semi-main. Styles is almost certain to win his match to set up Okada needing a win in the main event in order to advance. Either Fale or Nakamura winning puts Tanahashi in a must-win situation so they could go either way there.

In the midst of the talk about the parity booking, going into the final day of round robin things are pretty clear at the top of the each block. It gets a bit more muddled in the middle of the pack but I am not sure that it s a huge deal. Definitely a step up from last year where the one block had like 6 wrestlers tied at the top entering the final day. Block A: Tanahashi (14); Nakamura (14); Bad Luke Fale (12); Shibata (12) * Tanahashi gets 1st place with a win OR losses by Fale & Nakamura. Tanahashi gets 2nd place with a loss and a loss by Shibata. * Nakamura gets 1st place with a win over Fale and a Tanahashi loss. He gets 2nd place with a win and a Tanahashi win. * Fale gets 1st place with a win over Nakamura and a Tanahashi loss. He gets 2nd place with a win over Nakamura and a Tanahashi win. * Shibata gets 2nd place with a win over Doc Gallows, a Nakamura win, and a Tanahashi loss. Block B: Okada (14); Styles (14) If Okada beats Suzuki on Friday OR Styles loses, he advances. Styles can only advance with a win and an Okada loss or draw. They have made it clear already by the way the tournament has played out that the top two Seibu Dome matches will involve some combination of Styles, Okada, Nakamura, and Tanahashi, with Shibata having an outside chance of crashing the party. That could be intentional since they have such a short turnaround time between the end of round robin on Friday and the finals on Sunday to sell tickets. At least this way they are indicating to fans that they are likely going to get two matches involving the promotion's top three stars and the IWGP Heavyweight champion. They usually like to do at least one upset on the final day. I am going to say that both Shibata and Tanahashi lose their matches, while Nakamura wins his. Nakamura advances to the finals and Tanahashi moves onto the consolation match. Suzuki upsets Okada in Block B while Styles win his match versus Makabe to reach the finals. Nakamura vs. Styles in the finals (Nakamura wins) and Tanahashi vs. Okada in the consolation match (Okada wins). Styles defends versus Naito in September before dropping the title to Okada in October. Nakamura defends the contract versus Tanahashi and Shibata (his two G-1 defeats) in the fall. FWIW (and assuming I reading the google translated Japanese correctly) they are also advertising 2-3 special Block A vs. Block B singles matches in addition to the finals and consolation match. So I am guessing guys like Naito, Shibata, Ishii, ect. will end up in singles matches regardless. Theoretically, the could start advertising some of those as early as today. I'd do Shibata vs. Suzuki and Ishii vs. Naito as two of those matches. Both could be announced right away since all four guys are eliminated.

Brief Night #9 thoughts: Opener with DBS Jr. and Honma was fine but not as good as I had hoped. Honma was ridiculously over before and during the match. They did manage a nice near fall but I sort of got the feeling that the crowd realized at a certain point that Honma was not going to win so it was lacking something at the end that some of his earlier matches had. At least, that's how I personally felt watching it. At this point if Honma wins, it will be against a lesser opponent (Gallows, Benjamin) so what's the point? At the same time, its also going to take some of the excitement from his matches. I'd just wait and give him a big win at Seibu Dome (maybe versus Ibushi in a special singles match since Honma was his replacement). I liked the continuity of Yujiro working over Archer's leg after Styles' destroyed it on Sunday. Nagata/Gallows & Tenzan/Makabe didn't do much for me. Okay matches, but nothing memorable I thought. Naito/Suzuki was disappointing. I usually enjoy Naito despite his flaws, but he seemed abnormally off here. He missed rather badly on a couple of moves and just seemed out of step. Suzuki was good but not enough to get this match over the hump. Thought the finish was neat, even if Naito losing kills my VOW contest hopes. Shibata vs. Fale was fun. I dug the ending because it was something they have seemingly been building to most of the tournament. Kojima/Nakamura was good but both guys have had better matches in the tournament. Liked the comedy start to Anderson/Styles as it was both logical and funny. The rest of the match was fine but one of Styles' lesser matches so far. Tanahashi/Benjamin did nothing for me but I was a tad distracted when watching it. Okada vs. Goto is another one of those New Japan main event type of matches where everything builds to a rush of reversals and near falls. Like Naito vs. Okada, I thought this was relatively well worked in that style. I liked Goto and Okada's match from February and have been meaning to re-watch it. Until I do I am not sure if this one was better but I think it might have been. This match had the same general structure as the first with a slower start, some brawling on the outside, and then an extended finishing run. Best match of the night for me.

I think if you watch these matches you can get a good feel of the tournament so far: Night #1: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Katsuyori Shibata; Kazuchika Okada vs. A.J. Styles Night #2: Davey Boy Smith Jr. vs. Shinsuke Nakamura Night #3: Tetsuya Naito vs. Toru Yano Night #4: Tomoaki Honma vs. Tomohiro Ishii; A.J. Styles vs. Tetsuya Naito; Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Katsuyori Shibata Night #5: Kazuchika Okada vs. Tetsuya Naito Night #6: Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. A.J. Styles; Tomohiro Ishii vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi NIght #7: Tomoaki Honma vs. Bad Luke Fale; Minoru Suzuki vs. A.J. Styles Night #8: Lance Archer vs. A.J. Styles; Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Shinsuke Nakamura; Tomoaki Honma vs. Katsuyori Shibata Night #9: Hirooki Goto vs. Kazuchika Okada That's more than ten but the ones in italics are the least essential. That gives at least a glimpse into the main threads of the tournament so far (Styles' performances, Yano's fun schtick, the heavily hyped matches, Honma's underdog run, ect.).

The ability to watch the entire tournament in real time without a doubt has a significant impact on how people feel about it so far. As much as I have enjoyed the tournament, there are only a few matches that I might be inclined to re-watch for the pure fun of it sometime in the future. I haven't given it much thought, but I am near certain that I could come up with several other (if not more) tournaments from the past that had the same amount of high quality, memorable matches. I know I tend to have a different mindset when I sit down to watch a full show live or near-live as it pertains to the under card matches than I have when watching historical shows. If I could only watch this year's G-1 two months from now, I likely wouldn't have watched any of the Yano matches and even if I did, I probably wouldn't have enjoyed them as much as I did within their proper context and in real time. There is also the issue that many tournaments (particularly past G-1's and Champion Carnivals) were never made available in full. It really isn't comparing apples to apples. In general, that's why I at least try to shy away from hyperbole or large, sweeping comparisons. If someone says a match is "good" or "great" and describes it, that's good enough to go off of. Statements like "greatest tournament in history" or "this match I just finished watching two seconds ago is the MOTY" only serve to inflate expectations to sometimes impossible levels and force those that make off-the-cuff statements in the heat of the moment to defend them for all eternity (or else admit that their initial reaction was "wrong"). I'm with you on the even steven booking. This year it seems particularly pointless to book that way because unless they pull out some huge upsets over the final two days, both blocks are already down to being between two guys (Shibata still has an outside chance in Block A). I think there will be some suspense to the final day but not like last year where one block was almost entirely up in the air on the final night. Not sure what the point is in having a bunch of guys bunched up in the middle of the standings when it isn't even serving to create that much suspense for the final day. I saw Meltzer praise the booking for how it has potentially set up a bunch of title challengers. That's good and all, but that could probably be done without doing things like having Fale beating Tanahashi, Shibata, and Nakamura, only to lose to Doc Gallows. I doubt they are running a Gallows vs. Fale Intercontinental title match coming out of this so all we are left with is Gallows getting a head-scratching win that will never be followed up on. I get why they do it, but it doesn't seem to be the best way to go about things. Suspense can be created by having 2-4 guys at the top of each Block in a heated race without giving some guys wins that they would normally never get.

Night #8 was a very good show with a hot Osaka crowd. Davey Boy Smith Jr. & Ishii had a heck an opening match. I am a big fan of Smith’s offense and he showed off his power arsenal in this one by throwing Ishii around for a bit. Also really liked the knee lifts and how he used them to cut off the frequent attempted Ishii comebacks. Ishii’s selling of the shoulder was top notch. My favorite opener of the tournament thus far. Tenzan vs. Yano wasn’t much but was short and fine. Benjamin vs. Nagata didn’t do much for me but like [most] every match in the tournament so far, it was still more than watchable. Same for Kojima versus Gallows. Poor Naito – Osaka just won’t come around on him. He reacted more than he usually does (mainly because the jeering was so noticeable) and it made for a fun dynamic. I am not a big Goto fan but he looked good I thought. His timing seemed better than usual. High-octane match with some solid near falls. Styles and Archer had an awesome match. A.J. is so locked in right now. It is impressive. His ability to have strong but entirely different matches during the tournament has not been matched by anyone else. I loved the leg work. In terms of structure, this was the most “Styles in TNA” type of match he has wrestled during the tournament but obviously at a higher level than what he was doing in TNA. Archer also looked good, I thought. Part of that was Styles making him look good but he executed his big man offense well and sold the leg well, so he more than played his part. Makabe & Suzuki wrestled the sort of match you’d probably expect from them. It was a mix of brawling, some stiff shots, and a few clever spots. Good match. Shibata versus Honma was worked a lot like Ishii vs. Shibata from last year in that Honma was the underdog out to prove he could go toe-to-toe with Shibata. The crowd ate this up. I was not a huge fan of Shibata vs. Ishii (particularly the last several minutes) from 2013 and I thought this was a much stronger underdog vs. dangerous striker match. The one-count kick outs worked a lot better in this match than in the2013 Ishii match. The ending felt a tiny bit flat in that the match did build towards a Honma win that obviously didn’t pay it off. Shibata beat the crap out of Honma with Honma brilliantly fighting from behind like he has been all tournament long. I liked this a lot. Okada vs. Yujiro was good once it going. Yujiro continues to draw some great heat. I liked Yujiro attacking early and getting a jump on Okada. He followed it up by cheating and cutting corners wherever possible to keep the match even throughout. Okada was great at showing his increasing frustration over the direction of the match, before finally putting it away in the end. Tanahashi vs. Nakamura was very good. The reversal spots playing off of how well they know one another were executed and not as heavy-handed as they could have become. Honma vs. Shibata was probably my MOTN but Styles/Archer and Tanahashi/Nakamura were very good as well. The entire show was up there with the best of the tournament so far. The Osaka crowd was way into everything, which always helps.

Didn't mean for it to come off the way. I thought it was a good match and better than Fale/Tanahashi. Honma really gets the underdog role. He doesn't try to do too much to get over. He just bumps his ass off and makes well-timed fiery comebacks. Those elements partnered with a general likableness and very good facial expressions make all add up to the total underdog package. The pained look on his face when he misses the Kokeshi and the look of complete elation when he hits it is a wonderful contrast that works perfect for a guy in his role. I almost hope they only give him one win in the tournament and make it a big won (ie. Shibata) because it will mean so much more that way.

Today's Korakuen Hall card was pretty much a second half show, even more so than usual. A.J. Styles versus Minoru Suzuki is of course getting a lot of hype. The match had a big time feel from the start, as much if not more so than any match in the tournament thus far which was sort of surprising. I won't spoil the match for those who haven't seen it, but will say that it has a unique intensity to it that really works. They did not necessarily lay out the match as one might expect but the layout they did go with was very good. Both Styles and Suzuki wrestled their style of match for the most part, but were able to blend and adapt just enough to each other's stuff. I want to watch it again at some point, but my initial reaction from the live viewing was that it was the best match of the tournament so far and a MOTY contender. I wouldn't go ***** or anything but it was a very strong match and worth going out of your way to watch. Other thoughts: Korakuen crowd was great, particularly from Goto/Tenzan on. With the exception of booing Naito (though even that was not as bad as it has been at places over the past year), they were way behind the faces and/or underdogs. Nothing very memorable on the first half. As has been the case with the tournament so far, nothing was downright terrible but the first four matches weren't much. Teznan vs. Goto was the only noteworthy pre-intermission match. The Korakuen crowd was way behind Tenzan which helped a lot. Tenzan moved slow but worked as hard as he good. Fans really wanted to see him win which elevated an okay match into something slightly more memorable. Honma continues to be way over in the underdog role and also continues to put on very good matches. He and Fale had the exact match they should have had. Fale was a bit more on his game tonight. Honma's bump on the Bad Luke Fall is worth seeing/ I didn't care much for Makabe/Naito. Thought the match was unfocused and while there were solid parts to it, the match as a whole didn't do much for me. Nagata vs. Shibata was hard-hitting as expected. There were some really good parts but also Shibata's more annoying tendencies (no selling, forearm exchanges, jumping up from backdrop suplexes, ect.) were also on display. Fine for what it was. Ishii vs. Nakamura tried to go all epic and for the most part succeeded. Definitely the second best match of the night. Ishii kicked out of a bunch of stuff but it generally flowed well and didn't seem out of place. The execution was more or less spot on.

Solid show today, but nothing standout. So much wrestling in a short period of time leads to everything blending together in my head, so I am not sure where I would rank Night #6 relative to the other shows, but it was definitely below the best couple of shows. The Gallows & Fale match had no heat. I think they had some strong ideas for what was ostensibly a "friendly" big man vs. big man match. The heat hurt and the execution was not quite there either. Not a very good match. Nagata vs. DBS Jr. was solid. Liked the first minute of the match. Middle part was only okay, but I thought they did a strong job over the last several minutes. Smith's offense looked very good yet again. Kojima versus Shibata was good. Shibata's instance on popping up from a back drop suplex in every single match is really annoying. His annoying tendencies aside, I was indifferent to Shibata coming into the tournament but he has had a very solid run thus far. The crowd (which was fine, but down from previous nights in terms of response) got into this match more than any of the other matches on the card to this point. There were some good near falls down the stretch that the crowd bought. Shibata likely has a couple of losses coming his way soon. I am thinking he beats Ishii for payback from last year, loses to Fale, and Honma scores his one upset win of the tournament by beating Shibata Sunday in Osaka. Karl Anderson loves his complicated finishing sequences. I didn't think the overall match was that great, but it wasn't terrible. If you are annoyed by finishing sequences that are overwrought with reversals, you probably won't like the last minute or so. Nakamaura & Benjamin was solid I thought, Benjamin's 2004 WWE-style submissions and reversals feel out of place in New Japan at points, particularly against someone like Nakamura. I enjoyed the match though for what it was. Styles looked very good once again, this time versus Tenzan. Styles kicked the guardrail in frustration after bailing from the ring. That's my favorite heel pouting spot. The segment at the beginning with Styles' Mongolian chops being ineffective on Tenzan was a lot of fun. Another (at least) solid Styles match to add to the list. Okada vs. Yano was in the same vein. Some fun and creative spots that played well off of the natural dynamic. Ishii vs. Tanahashi felt like it was missing something. If you break the match down into two or three minute segments, there were more segments I liked than I disliked, but it just didn't really come together for me on first watch. A little too many forearms for my liking, particularly considering that neither guy has great looking forearm smashes to begin with. The crowd was into the near falls and there were some pretty strong ones. I kind of want to watch this again, but I thought it was "just" good the first go around.

It is certainly possibly and TNA has staved off near certain death before so who knows. There are two reasons it is highly unlikely though: (1) There is evidence that the market for wrestling programming right now is slim. WWE couldn't find takers for Saturday Morning Slam or Main Event after they were canceled by the CW and ION, respectively. As far as we know, Jarrett has had no luck securing a TV deal. WWE got lower than expected right fees for their TV package just a few months back. All of that points to a poor market for any promotion trying to get on TV. (2) If there are TV networks out there that will entertain the idea of carrying wrestling, it seems unlikely that they would flock to a promotion that has shown almost no growth after eight years on Spike. TNA has demonstrated an inability to expand their viewership in any meaningful way. If I am a network executive and I am thinking about adding wrestling programming to my network, I am going to go with a promotion that at least has not yet failed rather than the one that has. Its also worth noting that TNA's financial situation is such that they not only need a TV deal, they need a good one. Their relationship with Spike kept them alive for years. Maybe they could find a TV deal well below market value, but that wouldn't suffice given their current situation (according to Meltzer).

The opening minutes of a match tend to impact my overall enjoyment of a match somewhat disproportionately. I love a good opening in the same way some people some love a hot ending stretch. In addition, under "normal" circumstances (ie. there is no feud, gimmick, or story that would dictate otherwise) my ideal match opening in any style of match is a methodical, mat-based feeling out process. It is one of the reasons I like shoot style so much because those matches tend to have those kinds of opening segments (although admittedly, I have just gotten a lot more into shoot style recently). I am not sure why I like those feeling out, mat-based, exchange of holds openings so much but they just really appeal to me. A match that starts that way and builds off of that "foundation work" effectively will usually completely hook me. I should also clarify that by "last couple of minutes" I really mean the last couple of suplexes from Ishikawa before they get to the finish. I enjoyed the body of the match a lot and was just nitpicking the fact that maybe they could have got out a minute or so right before the finish.

On the WON audio update from last night, Dave was confident that the Russo email thing was a factor in Spike's decision to not renew TNA's deal. He stated that Spike might not have renewed anyway, but that it certainly had a negative impact on the negotiations. He said those within TNA knew that if word got out that Russo was still working for them that it would have a negative impact on the TV talks with Spike, but presumably they thought that there was a slim chance of word getting out. Dave did not seem to know for sure whether it was just the fact that TNA lied to them about Russo that was the big sticking point or if it was just that they didn't want Russo around, but he was very clear that Russo still being on payroll played a significant role in Spike's decision. As they discussed on the WON audio, the way the Russo thing got out (by Russo accidentally cc'ing Mike Johnson on an email to Mike Tenay & Taz) was such an unusual set of circumstances that it borders on unbelievable. Russo could have accidentally included somebody else on the email and it might not have mattered. It just so happened he copied a wrestling journalist who was going to run with the story. TNA has had an uncanny ability to stay afloat all of these years. It is somewhat fitting that such a bizarre and unforeseeable series of events would lead to their undoing.