El-P

They don't even try anymore, as showed by Episode 26, which was a complete nothing. RVD vs Test was the best match on the match (gasp), rushed and obviously pre-planned, but they kept things moving so it never dragged. Spotty but for what it is and for a RVD TV match, that was fine. Of course CM Punk vs Hardcore Holly was better for the time it lasted, which was too short to amount into anything and had a stupid finish with Holly getting DQed because he wouldn't stop hitting Punk in the corner. Really ? The booking is lame as fuck most of the time. And then, a one minute match between Dreamer and Daivari, which is too long already. How many weeks has this stuff been going on ? A Matt Striker segment with him luring Balls Mahoney in and kicking him in the balls. And yes, Bobby Lashley vs …. Heyman's security. I have no idea who played the part, but like I say, I hate that kind of stuff. This show was about 100% filler. Maybe after firing Heyman they still didn't know where to go, but it felt formulaic and tired like never before.

Episode 25. Okay, I said Lashley was bad but rather fun to watch, but I really don't need to see a 15 minutes match against the Big Show. Of course, it was terrible. Like much of this show was BTW, with yet another Dreamer vs Daivari match. This is the useless feud that won't end. Hardcore Holly & Test vs RVD & CM Punk was pretty decent for the time it went, but it all ended with a shit finish, as Heyman's security jumped on the babyface. Do I need to say again how much I hate non-wrestlers/non characters like these getting so much importance on any wrestling show ? Hopefully we won't get a match with those guys…. hopefully… The best part of the show was the angle following Kelly Kelly vs Ariel, which Kelly won via flash pin. Mike Knox kneels down before Kelly with a bouquet of flowers and begs her to forgive him. I thought that was well done, until the cliché transition of "I'm sorry… I didn't do it sooner.", which was kinda lame, although Knox I thought was quite good here. Throwing the bouquet right in Kelly's face was terrific, and should have been enough, but of course we need some violence against women, so he puts his finisher on her. Remember when Jake Roberts simply slapping Liz got nuclear heat ? Anyway, apart from the rather cliché revelation that he was infact not apologizing, I thought this was pretty well done. Kelly is truly a likeable figure, and Knox is a good psycho boyfriend. (this is everything Brian Lawler and April was not)

Taker "getting his win back" ™ on Brock would be such a stupid idea anyway. There's absolutely no point in doing this.

It is. Pretty iconic of that time period actually. Black Reign however, seems to be forgotten by everyone.

Rusev. (hey, he's better than a bunch of guys nominated already)

Agree on that point, I was actually thinking the exact same thing when I was typing my post. Then again, was Liz that interesting alongside Savage when they were both babyfaces ? To me, Liz's best work came in WCW when she was a heel with Flair, then with Savage in the nWo and mostly later on with Luger in 99/00. I guess Lana, who's hotter than Liz, can find a way to make her interesting as a babyface, although the WWE production and writing style probably would prevent that anyway.

Okay, after his performance on last RAW, can we all agree that if WWE were not complete dumbfucks, they would find a way to turn him babyface and reunite him with Lana and they'll have a superstar couple akin to Savage & Liz ?

This thread will probably seem pretty interesting in one year from now, one way or another.

Or maybe, just maybe, that was Rick Rubin in his hears.

I still enjoyed Windham as a New Blakcjack. Hell, I though he was still a really good worker in 99 in WCW when he was carrying those tag matches and working super well with Malenko & Benoit. That's how much I love WIndham. Hard to get an average placement for him though, but at his peak, he was better than Flair.

I'm a big Valentine fan, and I never understood the hype behind those WWF Garvin vs Valentine matches at all. Yeah, they hit each other really hard. No idea about Garvin, I've not seen nearly enough to have an educated opinion. Better than Jimmy.

Ah Meiko… Back in the late 90's-early 00's I thought she was quite overrated and clearly not as good as Sonoko Kato (pre-injury) and Chikayo Nagashima (for ever). Ah, those debates about *that* Akira Hokuto match (which was not great at all, people)... The good old times. Or not, depending on your point of view. Anyway, I've lost tracks with joshi puro about 12 years ago, so I'll never know how good she has been since, but I wasn't the biggest fan of flailing-arms-Meiko back then, she really beneficiated of being put in big matches with Aja. But like I said, I'm 12-13 years behind on things.

I guess they're dragging Taker's carcass up until Mania, since they won't have Austin.

Does anyone really cares at this point ? Taker has been glue factory material for at least two or three years now. Sting… well… This is some "dream match" from fifteen eighteen (edit : forgot we are in 2015) years ago. If SummerSlam gets the Mania treatment of nostalgia matches with old fucks who can't work anymore, this is no good. Yeah, I'm not grumpy at all, but really… It's like announcing Blackjack Muligan vs Bruno Sammartino for SummerSlam 91 or something.

December to Dismember 2006 I knew going in that this PPV has all awful reputation, so let's see. MNM vs Hardys was a really good match. When they got to the second heat segment, I thought it was going long for the purpose of going long, but it built to an exciting finishing stretch. I'm not a big fan of the Hadys, hate the Side Effect by Matt, but they are solid in their own way. MNM is a great act, the entrance, the look, the music, Melina. Everything is a success. As far as workers, well, Nitro is much better as a heel and he's not as insanely spotty as he is on LU, and Mercury is pretty good. I can't believe that Joey Mercury from late ECW fame actually became this WWE lifer (or so it seems). Anyway, the work is not the crispest or the most compelling during heat segments, but still, good tag match dynamic. Melina is terrific, working like Sherri used to, acknownledging the crowd and flipping them off after a "crack whore" chant (classy), screaming her lungs off, booting guys outside and talking a great bump, in heels and boots too. So yep, liked this quite a bit. Matt Striker vs Balls Mahoney Contested under extreme observation of the rule. Ah ah. Striker is actually very solid, I like his work on the arm there. Mahoney, deprived of his gimmick chairshot, is much better too, and he actually sells well. So this is a fun little transitionnal match. Striker's odd and awesome tights get an hilarious comment from Joey (or Tazz, don't remember) about "Sitting on his own face". Hey, this PPV is perfectly fine… oh wait. Sabu is down backstage. No Elimination Chamber for him. "Bullshit" chants. Ok. Now we get the FBI withe Trinity, who's not gonna do any moonsault in *this* attire, vs Burke & Terkay. Ok, Guido still looks like old Guido, and some parts are okay, but this isn't good. And Terkay looks totally out of place in 2006 WWE (not that it should necesseraly be a bad thing, but in his case, it is), and just isn't very good. So, there's that. And then… oh shit. Tommy Dreamer vs Daivari. You know, Daivari might be one of the worst worker I came across in a long time. He absolutely sucks the life out of LU when he's on, and I see he was just as bad back in 2006. Khali throws Dreamer on the steel platform after the match. Ok, that's a feud I really want to see more of… Back to business. Twilight Fanboy & Ariel vs Mike Knox & Kelly Kelly. I guess because they kinda hint at a feud on TV, but it's the fourth un-built and un-announced match on this card. Knox vs Thorne just isn't very good. I like Knox, but he's not having a good match with the metrosexual vampire. Ariel on the other hand, beats the shit out of Kelly, who's clearly not a worker, but whose facial expressions do a terrific job of creating sympathy. I mean, the poor girl is litteraly crying, to the point I was wondering if she was not terrified for real. I love Ariel. She shows some ass, and I don't mean she's selling for Kelly. And then, Knox refuses to tag back, letting Kelly suffer the torture. And you know, the execution was really good, Knox came off cold, calculating and quite dirtbaggy. After the pin (and Ariel litteraly sit on Kelly's face, in a creepy way), the Sandman beat up Vampire Boy. All in all, not a good match, but a decent, well executed angle. Elimination Chamber match. So, Holly is replacing Sabu. I'm not overly familiar with the gimmick, nor have I any attachment to it, being away from the WWE for ever in the 00's. This is right RVD's alley, since the structure allows him to do some crazy spots like that Spiderman jump on the fences, or a rolling thunder jumping above the top rope to the steel floor. So it was pretty good, if gimmicky, but that's the point anyway, during the first part of Holly vs RVD and then CM Punk. Then Test gets in and works hard, I must admit. CM Punk gets eliminated, then Holly (with a big fuck up from the ref who doesn't count to three but still eliminates him), then RVD in no time (Test's elbow from the top of the pod was quite the spot). Then it gets stupid, with Heyman's guys preventing Lashley's pod to open. Bullshit chants again. Lashley vs Test was bad, of course. Then to the last part, and I'll admit I enjoyed it more than pretty much any Big Show match since the beginning. As far as giant vs green big hoss, it was pretty decent. Or maybe I just enjoy watching Lashley despite, or because, he's kinda "bad but fun". I have no idea if busting up the plastic stuff from the pod is a cliché spot by now or if it was unique to that match, but it sure looked cool (for a while, after the fourth time, it kinda made the pod look like a joke). Anyway, Lashley wins after a soft spear. New WWECW champ. Goodbye Show, you were a godawful champion. Really, I thought it was pretty much a mixed bag, but nowhere near as awful as I've heard it to be. The opener was really good, the Striker match was fun, the mixed match worked as an angle and the Elimination Chamber, bullshit booking aside (replacing Sabu during the PPV, eliminating both RVD and CM Punk, the two favourites of the audience, to let Lashley vs Show work the final) had its moments and oscillated from "blah" to "fun", with some memorable spots. So yeah, a 2 hours PPV with basically two announced match and a bad middle undercard is not what I'd call a good PPV. But I wouldn't call it horrible by any means either. Of course I understand it rightfully collapsed with the buyrates, which makes sense since they didn't announce the card. It was like an old IYH, really. 2006.12.03 : MNM vs Hardys (okay, I'm still saving only one good match out of this PPV, so… maybe super low expectations helped)

Has Rene Goulet been nominated yet ?

Killed Hashimoto's career in NJ. Thank you very much for nothing. Now I hear people talk about how great he was. I dunno. I remember a shitty worker myself, but I haven't followed his career past the Hash debacles, so who knows.

Tamura and Kawada did wonders with this big oaf (better than this)

In the light of Chris Froome, hum…, Armstrongesque performance yesterday in the Tour de France, I just thought about something that has never been done in pro-wrestling : the doping angle. Yeah. John Cena should fail a drug test and then reveal that he always has been using enhancing performing drugs to get his unbelievable stamina and resistance to pain. Then be erased of the history of WWE and come back as a complete evil troll, Lance Armstrong-style. Yeah, watching the Tour de France too much.

No. To 15 I can : 2002.06.26 Jerry Lynn vs AJ Styles vs Psicosis vs Low-Ki 2002.07.17 Sabu vs Malice 2002.07.31 Elix Skipper vs AJ Styles 2002.07.31 Low-Ki vs Jerry Lynn 2002.08.21 AJ Styles vs Jerry Lynn 2002.08.28 Low-Ki vs Jerry Lynn vs AJ Styles 2002.10.02 AJ Styles vs Jerry Lynn 2002.10.16 Syxx-Pac vs AJ Styles 2002.10.23 AJ Styles vs Syxx-Pac 2002.10.23 AMW vs Hot Shots 2002.10.23 Jerry Lynn vs Sonny Siaki 2002.10.30 AJ Styles vs Amazing Red 2002.11.06 AJ Styles vs Jerry Lynn 2002.11.20 Jerry Lynn vs Amazing Red 2002.11.27 AJ Styles vs Jerry Lynn

I guess. Can't get much worse than PPV 23 anyway. I'm actually interested in watching both Raven & Shane Douglas in TNA, since they are old favourites of mine. But clearly not now, and not going through the entire shows (despite the ff), because it's been no fun at all lately. Really, Vince Russo, I'm not going through this again, life is way too short. Basically a comp of AJ Styles, Jerry Lynn & Low-Ki is really the only thing anyone should watch of this promotion in 2002.

So, there goes my list of worthwhile 2002 TNA matches, in chronological order. Because I'm not keeping on watching a product involving Vince Russo. Maybe back later. Much later. One day. If I'm still depressed. Meanwhile : 2002.06.26 Jerry Lynn vs AJ Styles vs Psicosis vs Low-Ki 2002.07.10 Jerry Lynn & AJ Styles vs Slash & Tempest 2002.07.10 Jerry Lynn vs Kid Romeo vs Elix Skipper vs Low-Ki vs Chris Daniels vs Tony Mamaluke 2002.07.17 Sabu vs Malice 2002.07.17 Flying Elvis' (Estrada & Siaki) vs Chris Daniels & Elix Skipper 2002.07.17 AJ Styles vs Low-Ki 2002.07.24 Low-Ki vs Amazing Red 2002.07.24 Jerry Lynn & AJ Styles vs Flying Elvis' (Estrada & Yang) 2002.07.31 Elix Skipper vs AJ Styles 2002.07.31 Low-Ki vs Jerry Lynn 2002.07.31 Jeff Jarrett vs Scott Hall 2002.08.07 Flying Elvis' vs Amazing Red & SAT 2002.08.14 Low-Ki vs Sonny Siaki vs Jimmy Yang vs Jose Estrada 2002.08.14 Jeff Jarrett & Ron Killings vs Jerry Lynn & AJ Styles 2002.08.21 AJ Styles vs Jerry Lynn 2002.08.21 Sonny Siaki vs Jimmy Yang 2002.08.28 Low-Ki vs Jerry Lynn vs AJ Styles 2002.09.25 Low-Ki vs AJ Styles. 2002.10.02 Low-Ki vs Ron Killings 2002.10.02 AJ Styles vs Jerry Lynn 2002.10.16 Syxx-Pac vs AJ Styles 2002.10.23 AJ Styles vs Syxx-Pac 2002.10.23 AMW vs Hot Shots 2002.10.23 Jerry Lynn vs Sonny Siaki 2002.10.30 Jerry Lynn vs Sonny Siaki 2002.10.30 AJ Styles vs Amazing Red 2002.11.06 AJ Styles vs Jerry Lynn 2002.11.13 Amazing Red vs Jimmy Yang 2002.11.20 Jerry Lynn vs Amazing Red 2002.11.27 AJ Styles vs Jerry Lynn

I enjoy wrestlers with odd breating sounds, like Chono or Haku. Don't ask me why, I just always thought it was part of their aura. Chono was one hell of a worker before the injury.

I forgot to mention the "smart acronym" gimmick too, with Sports Entertainment eXtreme. Well, not really an acronym, but I'm pretty sure Russo can't read anyway. It's amazing to me that this guy managed to stay employed by anyone after WCW, let alone stay for so long in TNA after this kind of shit.

How surprising. One week into Vince Russo making himself the focus of the promotion, and I guess gaining power backstage although he contributed to that shit since the beginning, TNA becomes unwatchable. Yep. PPV 23 is where the product officially becomes unwatchable. You got : _idiotic and offensive shooty-shooty promos : check (Piper's was actually pretty decent and focused until the Owen's death mention) _women geting verbally and physically abused : check (Athena's treatment goes straight into sexual assault territory, while Belladonna getting double-teamed by AMW was downright ridiculous, the "babyfaces" end up looking like dirtbags) _stupid stipulations and gimmick matches : check (I still didn't get the concept of the qualifying matches for the bullrope match, which itself ended up in a complete cluster and Belladonna working the thing anyway) _two nazis getting pushed yet again : check (Yeah, the Harris boys are all over the show again, beating on women, injured guys and having awful brawling match) _oh, and how could I forgot the classic swerve : check (BJ James turning on TNA and pretty much his own father) And since it's TNA, we also get the worst of the X-division style with SAT vs Divine Storm, an pathetically bad indy match with four guys working exactly like one another. Trinity hits her moonsault BTW. And a double elimination match involving AJ Styles, EZ Money but also, gasp, Kid Kash and Joel Maximo. The Styles vs Money short match was pretty fun, the rest was garbage because Kash & Maximo are just terrible and drag everyone down. It also took forever thanks to the gimmick which only worked the first time around because you had four good/excellent workers. Oh yeah, and the show ended on the first occurence of "we know who that is". Well, not really, they bluntly said "It's Paul Bearer" before correcting themselves into "he used to be…". Oh, the intrigue. And really, with the limitations of corporate WCW off, Russo's shit is unfiltered and way more smutty and offensive. TNA makes ECW 96 looks like the AWA. So yeah. The mere few seconds of watchability here : Lollipop. So yeah : http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/4730-is-tna-the-worst-wrestling-promotion-in-history/