El-P

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/

Episode 24 RVD vs Sabu was the best thing on the show, a trip to memory lane for the old ECW fan in me. It's striking how most of RVD's stuff looks shoddy compared to Sabu's in term of accuracy. Good little match between the two, the kind of stuff they can do while sleeping. They work one or two interesting spots though, specially the counter to the springboard swinging DDT which looked nice. I really wish Sabu would have been the chosen one to be pushed, but I guess what they gave him was already better than anyone could expect, really. CM Punk vs Test was short and got nowhere fast, ending in a double count out. Punk shouldn't do some of the kick he does, his leg lariat reminded me of Kawada's early stuff, when he was working a bit too much juniorish despite his build. Again, it shows how much opportunity and card placement plays a big role in having good matches, because there's no way CM Punk can't have a much better match with Test than RVD (+ weapons) had. To build the second match for the PPV, which is the following Sunday, we get the Hardys vs Elijah Burke & Sylvester Terkay, who I guess are JTTS. Man, Terkay sure looks like one, with his plain black singlet. He's kinda like the Rip Morgan of ECW. Not particulary good either. I forgot how much Matt's key spots annoyed me. MNM show up, so that's your undercard for the PPV. And then we get an odd main event of Big Show vs Bobby Lashley. I say odd because Show never looked so active and motivated. I guess because he knew Lashley can't do shit so he had to carry the whole match. So he beats up the big hoss who then makes a comeback from nowhere, absolutely no-selling the beating. Lashley is comically bad (that spear, ah ah ah). So, we have a PPV with one undercard match and one main event. What is this ? In Your House ? 2006.11.28 Sabu vs RVD

I guess Matt put it right. They're awful pro-wrestlers.

Is he really a bigger deal than Bret Hart, Jim Cornette or JJ Dillon (edit : or Sammartino !) ? Don't think so. He already did RF, which is beneath everyone at this point. The bullshit detector is needed (as always, but especially there), but this should be pretty entertaining. I will guess the guy he's talking about having pleasure firing is the HTM.

PPV22, and at the risk of sounding like a broken record, this was a one match show again. You have two guesses. So, AJ Styles vs Jerry Lynn was the only saving grace of this stupid promotion. This time they went for a more agressive, brawling style with Kynn bleeding a bit after a DDT on the concrete. They make a lot pf effort not duplicating their matches, and being creative without getting cute or awkward. Major props to those two, whose feud is clearly must-see stuff to me as far as 00's stuff goes. It's not that they deliver a MOTYC every time, I'd call this one very good, but it's the consistency and effort to mix things up, playing off previous matches and familiarity in an organic way. Jeff Jarrett vs Ron Killings was worse than the previous week, with one of the less smooth Eddielenko sequence ever. That's a problem with Jarrett, a lot of his stuff looks uncrisp, flat and harmless. He's probably very safe, but it shows in a bad Lance Storm way, and his tough guy image never worked with me because it doesn't suit his physical skills. Anyway, they do a bunch of cool counters that look way planned ahead, and a not so cool table spot that looked way awkward. Count out, restart, Russo, guitar, swerve, three Stroke (although Killings makes them look better than anyone I have seen) and that's it. A promotion built around Vince Russo as the main heel just won't do it for me. AMW vs Hot Shots was pretty good but never went anywhere as Lee & Slash attacked them again. And afterward, AMW just jumped on Belladonna and threatened to put her in their finisher. Yeah ! Nothing screams babyface more than woman abuse. What else, some crappy indieriffic spotfests in Divine Storm vs The Briscoes (and in case you wonder, Trinity hit a good looking quebrada, while Mark did the stupidest plancha ever, landing on his feet and never even touching his opponent) and Sonny Siaki vs Crimson Dragon (Hammrick in a rather cool outfit), a bad and very boring tag team titme match involving BG James & Curt Hennig, more April nonsense for which I have no time left at this point, Brian Lawler crying then grabbing the ass of a former girlfriend of his father. And of course, a long, drawn out, useless, stupid, shooty-shooty Vince Russo promo talking about old stuff from WWF and WCW. Same kind of shit that was old and stupid in 2000, only even way more irrelevant now. 2002.11.27 AJ Styles vs Jerry Lynn

That's actually the only part that was funny, indeed, especially the fact Hunter put over CM Punk, seeing he was getting loud chants (yeah, about sucking it, it was really sucking the heat of a better guy here, like he did pretty much during his entire career). Micheals was doing the exact same thing with Sunny in 95, when they were both good looking. But yeah, like I said, Micheals, Punk & Nitro was the only good part of it, so Melina gets thrown in too. Thanks. The definite article wasn't necessary though. (damn, I just came back from a course with a hungarian girl, and you make me work *again*)

Sorry but no. "Let's give Finaly a dwarf because ya know, he's Irish", is everything I can't stand about WWE in general. Apart from lucha workers, midgets in wrestling are always annoying as hell, especially when they distract from a super worker like Dave Finlay.

"ECW" matches at Survivor Series 2006 DX & CM Punk & Hardy Boys vs Edge & Randy Orton & Johnny Nitro & Gregory Helms & Mike Knox. Garbage. Mike Knox superkicked right away. The best action involved Micheals, Nitro & CM Punk, but it was just going through the motions. Basically the heels looked like jobbers, including Edge & Orton, which really surprised me. Micheals doing his heartbreak kid gimmick with his scrawny body, balding hair & crooked eye is one hell of a denial case. Highlight were Kelly & Melina's outfits. John Cena & Kane & RVD & Sabu & Lashley vs Umaga & Big Show & Test & MVP & Finlay. Garbage. Umaga DQed right away. Wait, is this going to be the same crap ? Well, not much better indeed. A bunch of flash pins (RVD, Test & Sabu in about one minute), god awful Show vs Kane action. Cena looks clumsy as hell here, but his selling almost makes Big Show looks tolerable for two minutes. Finlay, midget, yaddi yaddi yadda. Those Survivor Series matches were awful, really. The only guy from the ECW brand looking like a future star was CM Punk. Huge reaction from the Philly crowd (who also loved Show vs Kane, so there goes the "most hardcore city in the US") and the nod by Triple H during the neverending (and embarrassing, to be honest) pre-match routine. Lashley is comical. Looked like a horrible PPV BTW.

There we go. PPV21. The one. One match show pretty much again, with Jerry Lynn vs Amazing Red delivering the goods although Red's comebacks during the early part were a little bit rushed to me and short on selling. I thought Lynn almost didn't ground him enough (as opposed to Malenko who would have grounded him way too much), but overall it turned into a very good match thanks to an excellent finishing stretch of big nearfalls and counter-spots, including references to the previous match Red had with AJ Styles. Red lacks the intermediary offense, but he's really turning it up in term of super quick bursting spots à la Rey Jr. And it was interesting to see Lynn work with a smaller guy, which he did very well. The final looked deadly, and Lynn really solidifies his stature as the #1 guy in the company with his latest performances. Meanwhile, AJ Styles was stuck with Chris Hammrick (under a mask) and Jorge Estrada in a clusterfuck of a three-way whose ending was never in doubt anyway, which really makes a whole match about breaking up nearfalls even more pointless. Speaking of pointless, I ffed through the Harris Brothers vs SAT, since it's pretty much a perfect nightmare match to me. AMW vs Brian Lee & Slash was decent, but Lee is Lee, and although it's to the credit of Wolfie D that he reinvented himself, he's rather a generic worker with this gimmick. This time AMW lose it and use the spike on Lee and get DQed. And we get man on woman violence with Storm putting his finisher on Belladonna. Before the match he threatened to "break her neck". What a babyface. And about offensive babyface, BG James said that he was gonna "beat up a faggot" before his match with Lenny. Wow. Seriously ? In 2002 ? And he got cheered for it no less. Before that we had Lenny calling Bruce a "fake homosexual", we had Goldylock say to April that she was disgusting, before actually be all cudly with her after the match and taking her by the hand. Because faggots are bad, but hot lesbian action with two very heterosexual looking hot blondes is always ok for us hetero-trash. This is garbage. Clearly the worst "storyline" of 2002 in this company. The debut of Divine Storm (basically another SAT-like team, all trained together by Mickey Whipreck) was notable only because of Trinity (yeah, the same who manages the FBI in WWECW), who did a moonsault from the top rope to the outside and a hurricanrana off the apron on their opponents EZ Money & Sonny Siaki. And also took a terrific bump from a clothesline, but I guess she had it coming… And of course, Jeff Jarrett vs Ron Killings, in what was quite a decent match for a while. It's funny how much pacing, time and presentation goes a long way into trying to make a title match seem important. Jeremy Borash really killed it with the intros I thought. The dynamic was all bizarre, as Jarrett, after working as a chickenshit heel during the first few minutes, switched to fiery babyface 1/3 into the match basically after a rather pointless figure four spot. The match turned into a bloody brawl, and I just noticed that Killings actually had some excellent punches when he wants to. So Jarrett bleeds his way into the crowd up to an unexpected New Jack table spot. And then, well, it kinda falls apart and gets ridiculous when the referee is actually counting them outside after like five minutes of brawling in the crowd. You know the finish. Mr. Wrestling III, swerve, guitar shot (of fuck, the guitar is back), Jarrett wins the title "not knowing what happened", and the KKK looking like guy reveals himself as, yes, *that* complete idiot. "Hey, it's really like WCW in 2000 now, daddy made me a wrestling company, I won myself the NWA title and my imbecile buddy is back on TV, soon to be unbearable with his shitty shooty-shooty angles and woman-abusing crap and awful performances. Ain't I great ?" 2002.11.20 Jerry Lynn vs Amazing Red

You mean the championship ?

See post above yours. Sano has been good to great for a ridiculous amount of time, both in pro and shoot-style. He's kinda like the 2 Cold Scorpio of Japan (don't ask why, it came from nowhere but I'm sure some familiar with him would understand)

Episode 23. Well, this was better. We get the RVD vs Hardcore Holly rematch, and although it was good, it was not nearly as good as the previous one. Mostly used chairs as far as the extreme rules goes, Holly also using a belt to whip RVD a bit. Much more a "classic" RVD match, which means the early part and the comeback were typical RVD spots without much more to it. ONe strange occurence was Holly almost no-selling the Rolling Thunder with a chair, which was odd. So the best part was Holly getting on top with a nice transition (that anyone could see coming because it was logical) and beating up RVD pretty bad. That was the strongest point of the match in term of pacing and building to a comeback. Too bad the comeback didn't look that good (hey, it's RVD). The Hardy Boys reunited after four years apparently, and semi-squashed the FBI in a solid little tag match. It's sad to see the FBI, who seemed just as good as they were in 2000, in that role. I still dislike some of the Hardys spots, as they were the first ones, along with Edge, introducing those indy-looking like moves that just look a bit awkward for nothing (too many body movements or twists to get to the exact same bump as a basic move for the opponent) in the mainstream. CM Punk vs Twilight Fan was short and pretty much a backdrop so we get Kelly showing up and getting into a batfight with Ariel. CM Punk saves her and they hug, to the dismay of Mike Knox looking on. Well, this is a million times better executed than the god awful Brian Lawler vs April awful storyline in TNA (not hard, I know). But really, what was Andrew Martin was thinking about all this, IRL ? Oh yeah, building toward Big Show vs Bobby Lashley, who squashed Matt Striker. And what's striking about Lashley is how non menacing he looks despite his body. Maybe that's the total lack of charisma and personnality, maybe that's his big round baby face, maybe that's the fact he's a Goldy clone without the intensity. Anyway, this promises to be brutal. 2006.11.21 RVD vs Bob Holly

Episode 22. WWECW in the UK. So this time, CM Punk vs Mike Knox was the match they were supposed to have. Got more time, didn't have to rush things. Knox work on Punk's back was quite solid, as was Punk's selling. Rather crisp action compared to the previous time. I really do like Knox's work with an able opponent. Kelly is bumped accidentaly by Know, and of course Punk is the one looking out for her, so she actively cheers for him. I wonder what Test was thinking about all this… Anyway, this turned out to be really good. Main event was Hardcore Holly vs Bobby Lashley. More good talent coming in I see. Well, it was actually better than Holly's match against Test, although I don't think I can say that Lashley is better than Test, but he's more fun to watch in a big hoss/Goldy clone/trainwreck kinda guy. Considering Lashley's scale of talent (can't even throw a decent clothesline, apparently), this was pretty watchable. Ends with a schmooz and Sabu, CM Punk & RVD all jumping in to save Lashley from a beating by Heyman's guys. I guess they're working some kind of Survivor Series match, but I didn't pay attention to the announcers (Elijah Burke replaced Tazz this week, and wasn't bad). Not much else, as if they really didn't pack much of anything, losing some time at the beginning with a useless segment to introduce Lashley vs Holly, and then with Matt Striker promoting the Elimination Chamber match at the PPV. And a bad Daivari vs Dreamer match ending in a DQ and leading to, I guess, a feud that will without a doubt be extremely useless. Well, at least we didn't get any Big Show main event this time, so that's a plus. 2006.11.14 CM Punk vs Mike Knox.

I thought it was 4-5 years. PPV 20 It's interesting how two guys can have a tremendous serie of matches, then you add an element into the mix, and it totally falls apart. The three-way match has always been a bad idea, and it became more and more apparent with time. It's especially true with modern workers who have some really bad instincts of working for spots and nearfalls instead of building to a climax. So, Jerry Lynn vs AJ Styles is a great pairing, but put them with Kid Kash and it becomes a sloppy clusterfuck with no pace, no dynamic, and totally uninteresting "nearfalls" which really aren't since the entire match consist of spot/nearfalls/kick out or pin break by the third guy. They don't go as much for cute and idiotic stuff as they did in the three way with Lo-Ki, but the level of pure work is also way way below, in part because of Kash who's an horrible sloppy spot monkey (I seem to remember he was better than this in ECW, but maybe I'm wrong). What else, well, a decent brawling match with triple blood between AMW & Brian Lee & Slash, with the new valet Belladona playing a role in AMW finally losing their belt. James Storm already looks like one of the best worker in the company, but Brian Lee is still Brian Lee. The announcers are also extremely annoying trying to sell the idea that Lee & Slash are like robots controlled by the mind of Mitchell. Hum… no. Brian Lee works like good old Brian Lee. Which makes this match one of the best DOA match ever, and a no-so-good PG13 match also. Belladonna rubbing her body with Slash's blood gets point with me, that's the freakiest thing this whole stable ever did. Talking about decenr brawl, Jeff Jarrett vs BG James was just that, for a few minutes before it became a cliché Korakuen Hall like promenade, until they got back in the ring for the predictable finish. Well, James really hasn't impressed me thus far apart from the promos. Stuff no one should watch include SAT vs Rainbow Express, Harris Boys (oh, fuck, they're back already) vs Hot Shots, more Brian Lawler and April nonsense (this time it's obvious she fucks, well, Bruce, in the shower, which allows a nice boob-covered-in-foam shot) and a squash by the returning-but-not-for-long Malice. On the positive side, EZ Money made his debut against Tony Mamaluke. Always liked EZ Money both in ECW and WCW. This was a good little ECW on TNN opener. And thankfuly, Amazing Red vs Jimmy Yang (sporting a classy All Japan jacket), delivered the best match of the show, less spotty than I thought. Red is growing on me, he's really a (way) lesser version of Rey Jr. with a Blitzkrieg outfit, and he brings dynamics in his matches as the undersize super quick and creative guy. Yang was always the best Elvis. 2002.11.13 Amazing Red vs Jimmy Yang

This "promotion" truly is terrible. Episode 22 has a decent CM Punk vs Mike Knox match, but nothing I'd go as far as call "good", because it was too rushed to amount to anything, and was kinda sloppy at times. And yeah, not as good as Sabu vs Thorne as far as complete rush-job goes. Kelly was sent to the back, which makes sense. Apart from that, Daivari squashed Little Guido, which is idiotic since he has nothing to offer (I mean really, no look, no distinct ability, no nothing unique apart from speaking farsi). Yeah, Guido has to bump for Khali too, that's something I really want to see. Tommy Dreamer vs Test was the usual piss poor Test quickie. Elijah Burke & Sylverster Terkay are coming soon. I actually remember Terkay's name from Z1, where he was doing some Brody gimmick. It eluded me that he ever was in WWE. And then an atrocious main event with RVD & Holly vs Big Show & … Paul Heyman. The work sucked, the "storyline" sucked (really, RVD can't do one freaking tag although he succeeded in beating Show twice already in the previous weeks ?) and you could smell the oh-so-not-surprising and Russoesque swerve at the end, with Holly turning on RVD. This whole WWECW stuff in the worst thing Heyman was ever involved with and truly is a black mark on his resume.

Then again, Trip dated Chyna before marrying married to Stephy McMahon. Meanwhile Rusev is dating Lana.

If I were a woman : Rusev. If I were gay : Trip.

Vince's reaction is pretty damn hilarious.

Yep. He looked bloated. PPV19 = one match show. AJ Styles and Jerry Lynn, this time against each other, in yet another terrific match. No gimmicks needed. Played the familiarity well, especially at the beginning and when Lynn tried to do his annoying guillotine spots that was countered (I always love when it happens). They didn't rush things and built to a nice series of nearfalls. I won't go into specifics, but although it's not their absolute best, it's still easily an excellent match. Lynn gets the belt back again. They sure throw this around like a hot potatoe. Rest of the show ? 5 men table match clusterfuck. Bullshit involving the Rainbow Express. A decent AMW vs Brian Lee & Slash match that ended up in a double DQ. A decent beating by bloated Hennig on Jeff Jarrett. A watchable Sonny Siaki vs BJ James semi-final for the 1st challenger tournament (probably the best James has looked thus far, as his selling of the knee injury was fine). But most offensively : Brian Lawler vs Syxx-Pac. During which : April was kissed against her will (that time) by Syxx-Pac, in what basically consists of a sexual assault. April was called a cunt by Brian Lawler after he was all sugary in the pre-match. April was forced to follow Syxx-Pac after he won the match. April got "she's got herpes" and "she's a crack whore" chants led by a fat & ugly white trash woman at ringside. And then Brian has a "heart-attack" and April jumps back at his side. While the announcers basically say that April is the reason of all this trouble. Do I need to say more ? 2002.11.06 AJ Styles vs Jerry Lynn

Episode 21. WWECW is Halloween. And it'll play a part in the show. Best (only good) match of the show is a qualifying match for the Elimination Chamber at December to Dismember, Sabu vs Kevin Thorne. Total sprint, as they weren't given any time, but the action was good and well executed, with some impressive looking spots like Thorne catching Sabu in a short powerbomb or Sabu doing an amazing tornado DDT from a springboard. I like the fact Ariel is active and screaming like Woman or Sherri were. Best Twilight Boy match thus far. We get the debut of, gasp, Daivari with the Great Khali. More quality talent on this show, like it lacked any. Daivari seems to suck just as much as he does these days on LU, but we'll see. Here he squashes poor Shannon Moore. The Sandman canes a clown backstage, because it's Halloween. Return of the Divas, with a costume contest. Well, it was actually pretty well done in that Ariel wore the exact same outfit that she wears everyday, since she's a freak who dresses like it's Halloween all the time. Trinity wears, well, pretty much nothing apart from a yellow crime scene tape over her boobs, so of course she wins. That's also only the third time she appears on this show since the beginning. And the fun part was Kelly Kelly, who actually had a costume, as she dressed up like CM Punk, complete with fake tatoos on her arms and belly. Of course, Mike Knox isn't happy and CM punk comes out to beat his ass, while Kelly just seems half apologetic-half amused. You know, Kelly's character actually grows on me a bit because there's something likeable about her, she looks like a genuine hot 19 year old girl who doesn't see what's the big deal about all of this and just has fun. Which is kinda refreshing. Main event of Big Show & Test vs RVD & Hardcore Holly was pretty bad at first during the long stretch of Test working, then got almost good during the heat on Holly and the finishing stretch after the hot tag, although Big Show did the worst Vader bomb ever (not that he ever did that spot well). So yeah, almost got good for a moment, but the shit finish with Heyman disguised as a gorilla costing RVD the match was really stupid. Ah, those wacky Halloween wrestling shows... 2006.10.31 Sabu vs Kevin Thorne

Hulk's selling was goofy as shit, and the way he registered the shots or bumped was not exactly state of the art selling either. Pretty much. Hogan didn't become a superstar because of the way he sold. He became a superstar because of his charisma, presence, body, promos and over the top act and maneurisms. And because he never lost. As opposed to say, Ricky Morton, or Ricky Steamboat. So of course, when he sold he got the crowd in his hands. But only because he was already Hulk Hogan. The crowd supported him because they wanted him to hulk up. And hulking up is pretty much the worst concept of selling, ever. It's a thousand times worst than any delayed selling if we're being honest. Not to mention hulking up after a finisher, which was Hogan's idea of "compelling". Yeah, it drew shitloads of money, for a while. It still sucked.