goodhelmet

You are interviewing JJ Dillon?

So are you saying that at no time in TNA's life that there hasn't been any decent stuff or stretches that were fine?

There really wasn't anything redeeming about Russo era WCW... at all. He turned anything worthwhile in that company into an unwatchabe mess.... much like TNA now. Ok, and TNA without Russo was a perfectly acceptable company where everything wasn't complete shit. They had the occasional hot angle, the occasional hot match (maybe not by your standards) and some decent feuds. To say they have done nothing right is really over-generalizing. If you want to say that 2007 TNA is starting off so bad that it could be considered one of the worst wrestling runs by any company, I am inclined to agree with you... and again it leads back to Russo. Russo's early run was absolute shit as well. As for Bix enjoying XPW, knock yourself out. I would take the crappiest overbooked Jeff Jarrett match and watch it until my eyes bled before I ever watched XPW.

OK, and that applies to WCW in 99 and 2000 under Russo just as it applies to TNA under Russo. Like others have mentioned, Joe was booked really strong for a long time. The X Division was something to build on until it became Nash's plaything. Right now, TNA is in the shitter but as a whole, the company has not been a complete wash its entire existence.

Man, when I was listening to it, I kept thinking of all these questions I wanted to ask him. Good job on the interview and it is good to hear Lance's voice. The man could still be on the air today and his voice would never sound tired. If you ever get the chance to talk to him again, Did he ever get a chance to watch wrestling promotions outsdide the area while he was doing Memphis television? What did he think were Lawler's strengths and weaknesses? You taked about Nick Bockwinkel but what does he think about other champs who passed through like Jack Brisco and Terry Funk? Why does he think Memphis was so successful for so long? These may have been answered in his Highspots shoot but these are just a few of the things I could think of.

I think there has to be a distinction between on-air product and business model. If you want to say a company was the worst from a business perspective, it would be WCW in 1999 and 2000 when they lost tens of millions of dollars or ECW that couldn't pay its workers for the last year and a half on a consistent basis. From a television standpoint, it was absolutely dreadful sitting through Nitro in the Russo era... about as painful as it is sitting through TNA in the Russo era. I have also never been a fan of ECW TV from 1997-end. All that magic Paul E. created in the early years was gone. From a match quality standpoint, that is subjecive since the X Division has always received a bunch of praise... except (surprise, surprise) when Russo was booking. The 2005 shows were generally praised as a whole from Meltz and on the net. In 2006, I have more matches on my 2006 MOTYC set than on the 2005 set and I didn't select any of the matches either. I think John's statement about sums up TNA. A company with a buttload of potential that has pissed a shitload of money away. Also, XPW is the worst promotion I have ever watched... just abysmal, Juvi or no Juvi. Whoever said MLW may have a strong case as well.

LAX vs. Styles & Daniels in an Ultimate X was your typical X division-esque match with a ho-hum finish. I can see why people have latched onto the LAX because even I believe in their gimmick. However, after seeing the match, I don't know if Styles & Daniels are the best guys to pair them up with. The other match I watched tonight impressed the hell out of me. I watched Benoit vs. Regal from No Mercy. I don't know if it was the fact that there were no commercial breaks, but I enjoyed it much more than the Velocity matches. Incredibly stiff and one of the better Benoit matches I have watched this year. I really wish the crowd would have latched onto this feud because the dead crowd can hurt the energy level but maybe it is better that way since it really amplified the stiffness of the strikes. The ending was a little abrupt but the 12 minutes that preceded it was incredibly brutal.

Wow, I am glad Tim liked the Rumble tag as much as he did. During the Rumble, I was calling Loss and describing the matches to him after they happened. I remember telling him that the formula used was classic FIP and that MNM were great in attacking the weakness of both Hardys. I want to rewatch the Rumble on tape, but live, I walked out thinking that the Hardys-MNM match was the best match of the show while Cena-Umaga was the best spectacle.

Phil, is this the match I converted for Tim Cooke?

OK, just got back from the Rumble and here are my thoughts on the matches from being there live. The tag match was very good live. Matt played FIP first as they kept working over his face. Loss told me the backstory and it made perfect sense. After a Hardy double-team, Jeff injured his ribs and MNM did a great job of working over the ribs and Jeff working FIP. The finish was creative and I have no complaints at all. Meltz was spot on with the next 2 matches. Horrible to watch. He was also spot on with Kennedy trying hard to make it work. At this point, I was wondering if the show had peaked. Cena-Umaga was entertaining as hell. It was basically a big spotfest with some truly holy shit moments. The gimmicks and blood added to the match live because you are left wondering what they will do next. The Rumble goes by much quicker live than watching on TV. There were some noticable dead spots but the last 15 minutes or so had people going crazy. I was saddened by Benoit's demise but there were several people who lasted far longer than I thought they would (Punk and Finlay). Without a doubt, HBK was the most over guy in the building and I can't complain about him being there in the end at all. The entire arena was deflated when Taker won but then they remembered he was supposed to be cheered and they cheered him on as I was out the door.

Agreed on the Sunny recognition. I still don't see why they don't have one of the girls go for the Miss Elizabeth role rather than the Sable role. As for Rocky, he probably wouldn't have survived the high-five babyface gimmick but he would have been repackaged today as he was then. As for his finisher, John Cena uses a firemans carry for a finisher so a shoulderbreaker would look absolutely devastating in comparison. In WCW, most of what those guys did wasn't actually lucha, rather a lucha highlight reel. On my El Dandy set, I overload the set with Dandy classics. When I get to the WCW portion, I basically left off all of the 3 minute squashes he was involved in. I included some famous matches but nothing that compares to his work in Mexico. I am sure the same could be said for guys like Parka and Juvi.

Or it could be that TNA has killed Joe in their booking and he has lost the aura he once had.

I'll try and post some highlights tomorrow at work.

Just curious, why does Dave include the fighters/wrestlers in the same category but he decides to separate Worked Match and Shoot Match?

I just recieved the Observer and here is how the Top Ten broke down... Wrestler (1st Place Votes) - Total Points Mistico (220) - 2,245 Edge (134) - 1985 Tito Ortiz (261) - 1620 Bryan Danielson (83) - 947 Samoa Joe (60) - 645 Mirko Cro Cop (92) - 625 Matt Highes (78) - 516 Perro Aquayo Jr. (26) - 505 John Cena (11) - 453 Chuck Liddell (41) - 353