Fire Up the Brand

Brands are important in wrestling. I'm not talking about the Hardy's and their pals putting the word at the end of their Twitter name. I'm not talking about John Cena wearing Nike sneakers, either.

Many wrestling fans are amazingly loyal to the wrestling organisation they prefer. ECW is a classic example of this. ECW had it's own style, it's own ethos. You can say what you want about your preferences and whether you liked ECW or not, but the fact is there was an aura which surrounded it. And continues to.

Four years after the company closed it doors and promoted it's last official card, a DVD of it's Rise and Fall broke merchandise records. It was successful to the extent that a Pay Per View event was commissioned, which was a critical success. The ECW brand was revived to a lesser degree, and fairly obviously was not such a success.  Just last year, TNA produced a PPV, Hardcore Justice, dedicated to the memory of ECW.

Although not all of the above was financial, critically or morally successful, the fact that almost a decade removed  from the death of ECW it's ghost still haunts wrestling is a remarkable example of brand loyalty and awareness.

You can see a similar thing with many small wrestling organisations. From ROH to Dragon Gate to CZW, small wrestling companies have core, loyal audiences that have a devotion to one organisation as opposed to the wrestling business or an individual wrestler.

And then there is TNA.

I would liken TNA's brand identity to that of the opposition party in politics, or a local rival team in football. If I was being particularly brave I might even compare to people from Scotland or Wales. Let me explain why.

I am an Englishman, and a proud one. I have many, many Scottish relatives, and I have friends who are from Wales. There is, though, an undeniable dislike, or perhaps disdain, for the English from these nations. Whatever those reasons are, I think getting caught up in how much they dislike us stops people appreciating their beauty and positives traits. Both Wales and Scotland are fine countries, which great traditions and values, but too often their national characteristic is hating the English. I can't make them like us, but I wish they'd promote themselves rather than bash us.

Politics is the same.You seldom hear a Labour politician talk at length about how great his or her party is, extolling the virtues of their manifesto and explaining why their collective outlook is best. Instead, their rhetoric is far more likely to be comprised of cheap shots and attacks on their Conservative counterparts and where they believe their faults to be. And before anyone brings it up, the opposite is true. The Liberal Democrats haven't typically been embroiled in this to the same extent, but they are exempt from blame either. In short, it isn't "look at us, we are awesome", it's "don't look at them, they're awful".

And it goes on with football. Pick your team and listen to the fans songs during one game. There will probably be just as many "We hate Arsenal" songs at White Hart Lane as there are pro-Tottenham songs, and the pattern is repeated whether the teams are Wolves and West Brom, Southampton and Portsmouth, Burnley and Blackburn or any combination of heated rivals.

I don't think it is necessarily TNA as a company that provoke the reaction, but I see a lot of TNA fans as not particular pro-TNA but anti-WWE. They dislike Vince McMahon's juggernaut of a corporation and see something they hate, whether it's the cheesy comedy, PG tone or flat out bad wrestling. They might not have the access or the inclination to seek out more niche products like ROH or similar, and TNA have international reach, so it's a bandwagon to hop on.

If you are a major WWE cynic then it's not the worst bandwagon in the world, I guess. TNA have things WWE don't have.. Individuals like Kurt Angle, Rob Van Dam and Jeff Hardy, who fans are familiar with and respect, wrestle in TNA. There are big-name stars like Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan, WWE midcarders that didn't get a run like Elijah Burke/D'Angelo Dinero and Matt Morgan. There is blood and bad language and raunchier girls. In short, it's everything WWE was eight years ago.

It's one of the reasons I worry about TNA. If they had any identity, ever, it was with the X-Division and the Knockouts. I'm not saying the way to overtake WWE is with that, but the niche they used to at least try to occupy still exists.

I went to all three of their UK tour shows last week. They were great fun. I had loads of people say to me that they had been to WWE house shows, and the TNA ones were way better. And I endorse the view. However, there was nothing on these shows that had me thinking "TNA are different". Back in the day, if you'd seen an ECW live event, you'd have left knowing it was different. I am absolutely not endorsing gratuitous violence and danger, but it was different. If you get to an ROH show, you'll leave thinking you've seen some of the best wrestlers in North America, or the world. Similar could be said of a Dragon Gate style organisation, with the inclusion of Japan in the unique selling point.

Taking out any frustrations we (mostly) all have about TNA's booking, what are the differences between them and WWE? Take an episode of Impact and an episode of Raw. Are they really that different? They share lots of the same conventions. The shape of the ring; a pair of announcers; hype videos for matches; backstage segments; music to greet a wrestler; a pose on the ramp; numerous belts; match length; monthly PPVs; a ring announcer; similar rules of matches and outcomes of matches; in-ring promo confrontations; and more. Now I am not saying that they should scrap all of those things. Quite the opposite - wrestling has survived for decades on many of these staples - but they need, I think, to differentiate themselves in some many other ways, to make them feel special.

They have tried with the use of more violent matches and stronger language. I don't so much have a problem with them doing this, but to me the execution of them is so poor it makes them look second rate. Washed up has-beens like Ric flair or never-beens like Tommy Dreamer bleeding everywhere all the time cheapens the moment when ten minutes before the end of a crucial title match on a major PPV RVD bleeds to sell jeopardy.

As for the language and edgier content, I think they may have a slightly better job than with the blood, but it feels like it is there for the sake of it. Steve Austin, if you talk to him in real-life, drinks beer and cusses when he talk to you. That's the way he was built. He's a brash Texan who likes a good time and says what he feels. Stone Cold worked because of it. It felt organic and it felt natural when Austin told you he "couldn't give  damn about the some bitch. I'll kick his ass, the rat bastard.

But Eric Bischoff is an executive. He's a smooth talker and a clever businessman. He may be a foul-mouthed guy in real-life - I haven't met him - but his on air character has been a smarmy heel for his whole career, virtually. I don't feel it when he swears. It just seems like it is being forced.

And enough already with Velvet Sky saying "bittch". That's not a typo, she stresses two 't's in the word. "Where's Winter? I'm going to make that 'bittch' pay". And then there is a Abyss who is such a cartoon you can't take him seriously anyway, so his use of 'bitch' (one T for him) also feels like it is being placed in the show to attract people who like swearing. The stress on the words is so ultra deliberately it makes the show feel low rent.

Anderson I can deal with. Ken has developed a way of talking in and out of the ring that means I can live with him calling his fans 'assholes'. I think it's kind of funny. It works for him. And I know it is his idea because he used the "nice guys finish last, thank God I'm an asshole" line on Wrestlecast in about 2006. But because needless cursing all over the show simply waters down what he says.

Perhaps TNA finding a brand identity might have to do with what their ambitions are. I can't speak for anyone at ECW or Ring of Honor, but I imagine that, certainly to begin with, their intentions were not to attempt to be the number one wrestling organisation in the world. They had different visions. Ring of Honor was to be a product which catered to "wrestling" fans. They brought in the 'pure' title and showcased technical wrestling that wasn't on show anywhere else. Not on national television in the US, anyway. ECW wasn't just about hardcore wrestling. Their underground success was just as much about the featuring of great wrestling, such as that demonstrated by Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit, and the import of wrestlers from Japan and Mexico.

Even somewhere like Shimmer was founded on the basis of giving female workers somewhere to ply their trade, since they were not being appreciated on the biggest stage. The founders of Shimmer were, I'm sure, not doing it to become millionaires or to take over the wrestling world. I'm sure if they make a few bucks from it they'll be happy. But the point was to offer something new. Something different. A brand that has it's place in the world.

It wouldn't hurt TNA to take a look at a bunch of the smaller, niche, but interesting indy promotions that exist. Study how they draw fans in a different way, what makes the viewer tick and the ticket-buyer view. Don't copy one, but use some of those methods to help your own product.

An example? Look at how ROH makes wrestling matter. ROH is not an major international wrestling company for many reasons, including but not limited to lack of funding, substandard (compared to the big guns) production facilities and an in built lack of appreciation in the general populous for the art of pro wrestling. They are not big enough to re-educate, but they can provide a service to those and want it. And what a service.

ROH take care to make their guys look as though they care about what they do, that they have a reason for being in the ring. TNA have Shannon Moore spreading the word of DILLIGAF and Robbie E pretending to be Jersey Shore. That's fine in their own world, but tell us WHY they are in a wrestling company and not on a reality show. Shouldn't they want to be the best, to win titles, or at the very least earn money? ROH is somewhere that tries desperately hard to make it's matches count, and often delivers. If TNA took a quarter of the energy ROH does and put it into making wrestling matches count, they'd start getting something back from their audience. It would take time, but they can do it.

This doesn't mean having way more wrestling matches on the show. The opposite, in fact. Rather than having 5 x four minute matches and one ten-minute main event to total half an hour of wrestling, have just three matches and have two go eight minutes and one of them go twelve. Twenty-minutes of action, but so much more meaningful. Talk about the importance of those matches the week before and talk about the consequences of those matches the week after. It wouldn't be hard. It fact it would cause them less stress because there would be less to book.

And make the matches simple. No need to for throwaway gimmicks to pop 0.02 of an extra rating point. Using a ladder match stipulation randomly on Impact without hyping and with no real need, storyline-wise, for it to occur, means that people will simply not pay for this down the line. Why should they? You've told them it doesn't matter. You're always telling them it doesn't matter.

(TNA aren't the only ones guilty of this, by the way, as WWE can fall foul occasionally, but WWE are not the ones kicking unbelievably hard just to stay afloat. They are still making millions of dollars each month, just not as many millions as they were a few years ago.)

They could put more emphasis on X-Division action by occasionally theming a show to feature more X-Division wrestlers, including matches and profiles. Maybe even flashbacks to classic matches. They could do the same another week with the Knockouts. They could sign X-Div style wrestlers and female indy workers to one week contracts and simply bring them in to work a match here and there. It would indicate that it was the most prestigious belt of it's nature that people flocked to try and win. It would be different, it would make TNA stand out.

Perhaps you could got the same route with Tag Teams? You could even diversify into different weight classes (Though that's a blog for another day.) The point is to develop a television product which people put on their TV and say "I've never seen that before." It's what happened when Scott Hall walked into Nitro for the first time. No-one had seen a wrestler from a rival stroll in and take over. It was compelling. It happened when Austin starting flipping off Vince McMahon and raising hell. Wrestling had been homogenised for decades, and when this uncouth redneck told his boss where he could stick and did what he wanted to do it struck a chord.

TNA can't switch to a new style and double ratings overnight. Hell, they may even lose a few viewers to begin with, and this is I think is they main reason they wouldn't do it, because Spike would freak out if they experimented and dropped to below 1.0 again, like they did by going to Mondays. But that is the entire point in a nutshell. TNA went to Mondays and failed to offer anything different. The novelty of seeing Ric Flair and Ken Anderson and Jeff Hardy and Hulk Hogan in a different environment soon wears off, and while some will stick around for some blood and cursing, many more will flip back to WWE and watching something that is often very ordinary but occasionally displays class and logic, something TNA almost always misses the boat on.

I find myself getting into blogs like this with such passion because I actually care about TNA. I spent loads of time with them last week. They are nice people almost to a man and woman. They make you feel so welcome, and make you want to see them succeed. Which I do. And which is why I find myself making pleas to them to change because Impact simply doesn't work. Not as a viable, long-term alternative to WWE which is what they claim to want to be.

The audience for them is there. They have seen spikes in ratings on January 4th, the night after Bound for Glory and other times when they have announced a surprise or booked something intriguing. But they always lose that audience, because that audience wants to see something remarkable. Either the same as WWE but better or something different and equally as interesting. They won't still about for something which can't touch WWE in some ways, and is infuriatingly illogical in others.

TNA's brand identity could be so much. You could go two ways with it. It could be that TNA is the place to go to find the most diversity in wrestling. We got high-fliers, we got technical wrestling, we got funnymen, we got legends, we got girls, we got it all. In some ways they probably think they already have it. But they don't they. They have watery versions of each of them, which collectively add up to very little. If you don't think you can have X-Division style action and more, then ditch it. Forget it. Consign it to history. I think it would be a mistake but you may as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb. Don't go half-heartedly, give it your all. If you don't think it draws, bin it.

But I don't think they need to. As long they treat something - anything - with respect, they can get it over. Don't pretend the other brand doesn't exist, then in the same breath say it sucks. Do the opposite. Acknowledge WWE's existence. Even go so far as to publicly say the WWE is great. But then make you can say "WWE is great, but in our opinion we something a little different, and a little better" and then PROVE it. Because at the moment it is all words.

I wonder if TNA have a mission statement, or a constitution which defines who they are and why they are in the wrestling business. And I wonder how accurate it is. Because right now there is no way in the world a loyal TNA viewer could explain to you why they watch the show without referring to WWE. "I watch TNA because it is better/different than WWE" as an opinion statement is fine, but when you try to put meat on the sandwich there is nowhere to go. I'll be willing to bet that the follow would include either "I'm a huge AJ Styles/Jeff Hardy/Samoa Joe fan" or "I hate the fact that WWE is PG". Neither would be able, I'm sure, to say what they like about TNA. Both statements suggest that if something minor changed they'd be off like a shot. If WWE signed AJ or scrapped the PG thing, those fans would have their head turned.

But if you create an environment where the whole show has an exciting, fresh, different feel, and use this to create some top individual stars which can draw money (real money, not Impact Zone pops) then people might start saying "I love TNA because you know you'll get a great match every week" or "TNA is the best because they never phone it in" or "I never miss Impact because there are so many guys I care about" or "My whole family watches Impact because there is something for everyone".

As it is, TNA might as well be called NWWE, as in Not World Wrestling Entertainment. And the sad thing is that with a Brand vision there is unlimited potential for a company that makes fans care again, and has the finances, exposure and production set up to capitalise.

There is only one wrestling organisation that can do this.

We're still waiting.

TNA No Surrender "As Live" notes

Just settling down to watch No Surrender. I'll comment as I go along, so you get an as-live, stream of consciousness style commentary from me........

Long opening video. Set the tone for the evening well. Clearly Angle is positioned as the star. It does put into question the booking of Hardy, mind you.

Gen Me replacing London Brawling is a big disappointment for this writer. Nothing against the Bucks, but I wanted to see Nick and Nigel (Dah, I mean Desmond and Magnus) get a chance to shine. I don't know that the problem was. Hopefully nothing too serious.

The match was ok. Some fun high-flying stuff, but for the most part it was stuff we've seen before, and recently too. A couple of times the commentators said that the crowd were so into it, but I thought they seemed particularly quiet for an opener. There was absolutely no heat on the match, so it felt a little empty.

I question the heel turn on Gen Me. It was almost like they wanted to do something different in the opener because of the pullout of London Brawling, and they felt they had to make up for it. Generation Me had a long segment on Impact or Reaction (I forget which) where they talked passionately about their beliefs and style. It was a good segment which gave some them such much needed background. Now they are suddenly heels. It also doesn't help high flying wrestlers to be heels (see AJ Styles) Strange decision.

Doug v Sabu was ok. I'm not crazy about chairs being used like that (if you didn't see it, Sabu basically did a load of his usual springboards from them, but theoretically that wouldn't be allowed) I guess that is the only way of getting Sabu through a passable match, though.

Velvet v Madison - fine, I guess, but nothing special. Just felt like a TV match, in reality. That story is now dead, because Velvet has won cleanly. It has to be time to reintroduce the likes of Daffney and Hamada to offer some variety. I like the BP gimmick, but it isn't new anymore, and they are endangering it's longevity by confusing the issues.

Rhyno v Abyss wasn't my thing, but for what it was it was ok. 10-10-10 is the new May 19th. Abyss had to win, but I wish they hadn't have had Stevie beat him on Impact. Abyss needs to destroy Richards on a TV show soon. Did the announcers say anything about no-one interfering in Rhyno v Abyss? Wouldn't EV2 have had a big run in?

The tag match between Sting/Nash and Jarrett/Joe was terrible. Slow, boring, achieved nothing. I guess the only consolation is that Joe won looking strong, and wasn't booked like an idiot. But it was still very dull. Tenay being made to say that Sting and Nash are protecting their spot is ludicrous. Does the audience know what that even means? And if they do, wouldn't they realise that protecting their spot is a real-life, not a kayfabe, issue.

Once again, with Dreamer v Styles, this is a match not aimed at me. That's not my kind of wrestling, I don't see Dreamer being a semi-main event wrestling in 2010, and I want AJ showing his athleticism, not wrestling in hardcore matches masquerading as submission technique.

To be fair, though, this was probably as good a match as it had a right to be. They tried to tell a story, they didn't overbook, and they had the right finish, which was AJ going over.

I've been pleased that we haven't seen too much in the way of screwy finishes. I was expecting EV2 and Fortune everywhere, but there haven't been those kind of run-ins, and it's only really been Doug using a title belt that has been a finish with shenanigans. Oh, and Jarrett using a bat, I suppose, but I'm blocking that match from my mind.

Onto Jeff v Kurt. I type this some eight minutes in. Good so far, although Jeff maybe half a step off. Good work from the commentators making it seem big time and even Tazz acknowledging Jeff missing a move slightly.

I am getting annoyed with Tazz saying "Fustration", though. IT HAS TWO R's in IT!

Right, I'm at the end of Jeff Hardy and Kurt Angle. The very end, after a couple of restarts. You know what - fantastic. Absolutely superb. I had in my head that Kurt Angle had to win because of the retirement stipulation, so didn't really buy any of the Jeff Hardy pin attempts, but I really didn't consider a no-contest in this manner.

There will be plenty that didn't care for that, because it might be considered a BS finish, but to me it felt like sport. I like the aspect of realism, and although there were plenty of points that I didn't care for (more in a sec) I thought overall I could put them to back of my mind and really enjoy the match.

In fact a lot of the problems with the match were not actually problems with the match, if you see my point. They were problems with TNA over the past few months. A twenty-minute time limit is pretty ridiculous in a match of this magnitude, and the short matches which have plagued TNA for so long distorts the viewer's attitude towards the match. There should have been matches on Impact which went to a 10- or 15-minute limit, to put over that this kind of thing happens.

The blood is an interesting issue, too. Kurt's bleeding was necessary to this match's conclusion. Yes it looked a bit extreme, yes I'm not usually a fan of wrestlers blading a great deal, but once in a great while it is effective - Stone Cold Steve Austin at Mania 13 springs to mind. The trouble is TNA have had Flair bleed all over the place every week; an EV2 v Fortune battle where everyone bled; and plenty more examples of loads of blood. So when Angle started bleeding, it meant so much less than it should have done.

My final gripe is Bischoff adding five more minutes twice. It's not too big a gripe, and it's even less because he went to the floor manager to 'talk to the truck' (that was a REALLY nice touch, by the way), but if Eric and Dixie were so keen there should be a winner, why not just say either no time limits or unlimited overtime? I get that the logic behind it was that they didn't want the PPV to run long (I'm talking in the story, here) and so if they said it was unlimited it could go forever, but it just seemed a bit contrived there.

I'm being picky. It was a very good WRESTLING match, backed up by some high, high quality storytelling by the wrestlers. Add in the little extra touches, and I think that's very possibly TNA's match of the year. In the top five, without a doubt. Congratulations.

Anderson v Pope concluded the show, and I thought it was a fine match, maybe a good match, but not a great one, and it certainly suffered from some outside factors. Frankly, Angle v Hardy being on before it killed it in some ways. I think I might have used the old technique of a buffer match between main events. If they had have put the Beautiful People match in between the semi-finals to let the crowd have a distraction before getting back up for the finale. I don't blame them for having Angle v Hardy on first, because of the time restraint issue, but it affected Anderson and Dinero.

There was another problem being that Angle and Hardy kicked out of finishers galore, and it meant that when Pope and Anderson starting hitting their big moves, there was no pop because the crowd didn't buy the finishes. I don't think being both babyfaces helped, because the crowd were not solidly behind one wrestler or the other.

Overall, though, I'm pleased Anderson won, because he has, for me, the more potential in terms of stepping up and being the World Champion. I look forward to either Kurt v Ken again, or Anderson v Hardy which would see out a storyline. I don't know how they get to that without beating Kurt though, so I can definitely see a three way dance.

Good PPV this, overall. One bad match (Jarrett/Joe v Nash/Sting), one largely insignificant (Knockouts), a couple that served a purpose but not up my street (all the EV2 v Fortune bouts), a decent tag opener (c'mon, work that out), a reasonable closer and a stonking MOTY candidate for good measure. Better PPV than average for TNA. No comes the interesting part - can they build for BFG............?

Monday Night War reactions: 2 - the Impact negatives

Yesterday I addressed a great many of the things that I liked about the Impact from Monday night.

In the interests of fairness I ought to take a lot at some of things I didn’t think worked at all, and a bunch of other things which I didn’t think work on the night, but I’m willing to sit back and watch to see how it comes together over several weeks.

I thought the biggest problem TNA had all night was that there were a lot of major errors of judgement or elements that made the hour hard to watch. I watched Raw live then Impact later so I can’t be a proper judge, and I am a Bret Hart fan so that would cloud me more, but I’m fairly sure that after the first hour of Impact I would have switched to Raw.

Obviously, as many have already said, the X-Division match was a bit of a disaster. If the whole point was to have Hardy start a programme with Homicide, surely they could simply have had a three way with Homicide, Red and Sabin, for example, and when Red retained Homicide goes crazy with the baton, with Jeff making a save. I guess the point was to have the visual of Jeff Hardy sitting on the cage, but to have an eight man match go to a DQ after four minutes was ludicrous, then there was the very dull bit where Homicide climbed anyway – badly. To round all this off Jeff Hardy landed a clean chair shot to Homicide’s head, and that wasn’t the only time that would happen during the night.

Off on a tangent before I come back to the dodgy first hour, I think the Jeff Hardy acquisition is a very odd decision. I know the guy is a major star, but I think it sends a bad message that this guy with many, many obvious problems and a possible custodial sentence hanging over him can walk into a job. I would be delighted, to tell you the truth, if that was a one night deal for now while Hardy sorts out his legal issues. Let Shannon Moore on Impact and have him talk about Jeff every week. Have Moore wrestle Homicide and have the Notorious 187 pick on Shannon, but then Hardy comes back to make the save at some point, should he be free from any major legal issues.

Also, if you are going to have a major star like Jeff Hardy, I’d make more of him than what they did. He was lost in a bit of a sprawl, and frankly both his and Flair’s appearance would have been bigger had the other one not happened. I think there was enough going on in the three hours to suggest that it would have been plenty of a success without Flair or Hardy, and that either of their returns could have been held back a couple of weeks to make the ongoing Impacts interesting.

Back to the problems with the opening hour, and I’d suggest that there were two other major problems with the opening match, aside from the four minute nonsense and the fans’ distain. One was that the red structure of the Steel Asylum looked awful. It shook when people climbed it and one section looked like it may fall down.

Also, and I’m not sure how they rectify this problem apart from moving to a much later timeslot, but the crowd’s “bullshit” chant had to be partially bleeped out, and it was embarrassingly hard to watch. I guess the first thing is that they need to not produce segments that make the crowd chant “Bullshit” (they did it again when Hogan dissed Jeff) and then it isn’t a problem. Going forward, I’d be interested to find out where they can take this, because if they were to end up going head-to-head against Raw, it would be odd to see a kid-friendly wrestling and a teen/18-40 wrestling show going out at the same time.

I didn’t at all care for the section of the fans saying “TNA is better than WWE” and “I want to watch wrestling, not kiddie comedy”. That to me was self-defeatist, because anyone agreeing knows that anyway, and anyone partially DISagreeing may well have just been reminded that WWE was on later that night.

Leaving the first hour aside for now, I’d say that the element of the show which I disliked the most was the talk of “the format”. Eric and Hulk ripping up “the format sheet” and then later Eric telling a runner to cut down a segment because it was running too long. I hated that. Wrestling (or Sports Entertainment) is a unique type of television show, I realise, but basically it is an amalgam of Sport and Soap Opera. You don’t watch a major sporting event – an NFL game, a Champions League football (Soccer) game, anything – and see them talk about ratings. Neither would you watch Eastenders or ER or CSI or any drama and have a character talk about doing something for ratings or to change the product. It’s ridiculous. How can you have a format for a sporting event full of a series of matches? You don’t know if that match will last twenty minutes or two minutes. How can you schedule that?

The biggest thing that has ever happened in wrestling was Scott Hall showing up on Nitro and the nWo beginning. They played that as “is it real, is it not real?” but they didn’t talk about a script or a schedule or a format. They let people’s imagination run wild and played it as though it was real. Austin was a wildman running roughshod over Raw and terrorising his boss. If he had stopped to say he was only doing it for ratings it would have bombed. If TNA never mention ratings again I’ll be delighted.

I’d also be happy if they didn’t use so many insider terms. I didn’t like Christy telling JB that if he let Foley in the building he’d “get heat”. I didn’t care for Hogan explaining that wrestlers would “get the push”. I hate that. If it’s a sport, then no-one “gets a push”. The guys that win more often get successful. They don’t get a push from management. Or at least they shouldn’t.

Some other minor points from the opening hour – I thought the Tara v ODB match was poor considering both girls are reasonably strong wrestlers. I thought neither of them had any character developed or explained, considering there may well have been new viewers. I didn’t like that AJ Styles, Kurt Angle and Samoa Joe were barely mentioned, if at all, in the first hour. I didn’t like that basically no big matches were announced. Two of the matches that were announced didn’t even happen (Rhino v Abyss and Beer Money v British Invasion).

A criticism I had early on in the show which was addressed as it progressed was “who is in charge?” It was very confusing in the opening ninety minutes or so as to who had any power. I understand that Hogan would be in a position to be an authority, but for quite a while Bischoff was spouting off without any real reason to. Then there was Foley and Jarrett. At least they addressed it all eventually.

I’m not crazy about TNA announcing “First evers”. They said it was the first ever Joe v Abyss. Hmm, I wonder who those two people I saw wrestle in Liverpool in June 2008 were. Looked like Joey and Abby to me.

The Nasty Boys. Hmmm. I actually thought that they were a fun addition to the show, and would although it wouldn’t be my type of wrestling, I think Team 3D v the Nasty Boys might be interesting to section of TNA’s audience.

Orlando Jordan? That is ridiculous. There is a point where more returns actually make things worse and not better, especially if they are wrestlers who haven’t been seen for a couple of years and made absolutely no impression when they were around. Perhaps they have signed him because of his first name, considering where Impact is filmed.

Considering they had three hours, there was not nearly enough wrestling for my liking, but to be fair they a lot of plot to fit in.

I didn’t care for Dinero beating Wolfe. The former Nigel McGuiness is a very talented wrestler who put on two awesome matches with Kurt Angle but jobbing to Elijah Burke? I don’t know, I thought that was poor. I’ll be honest, I have no love for the “Pope” character. I’m not offended by it, personally, but I couldn’t see why people might be. I just think it’s a bit over-the-top and doesn’t really work. Plus Wolfe is way to talented to be losing in three minutes.

Finally, I have one other point to make. The character blurring was an interesting aspect to the show, but there was probably a few too many “tweeners” (I hate that word, but I can’t think of anything better) all over the show. Foley, Jarrett, Hogan, Bischoff, Hall, Waltman and Nash were all played as tweeners. So was Flair, come to think of it. And maybe Sting.

Fans like people to cheer for. I know it is a Russo thing that characters ought to be grey rather than black or white, but you can’t have too many of them because the fans will be struck dumb. This is not a soap opera which you watch in a armchair. At least, you don’t watch others watching it from an armchair. As much as the wrestling, the atmosphere is generated by people watching a live spectacle, and for that to be effective, as it often is in the Impact Zone, people need to be booed and cheered.

I’m sure, though, this will be rectified. Actually no I’m not, but I’m sure they’ll try to rectify it. The hope is just that they do it right.

Good luck, TNA.

Monday Night War reactions: 1 - the Impact positives

Wow. Quite a day.

It’s taken me until now to get a look at both Raw and Impact, and its fair to say the combination of both shows being on at the same time has led to probably the biggest day in wrestling since Vince bought WCW back in 2001. Make no mistake, this is momentous. Not necessarily notice given that TNA will take over, but enough to suggest to me that they can be, and indeed perhaps already are, a player.

My thoughts, initially, soon after digesting both the shows and the fallout are that there is no clear winner here. I would think both sies are happy with their output. TNA debuted a raft of new stars – maybe too many – and got a great deal of people talking about their product. From what I hear of their rating – a rumoured 1.5 – they must be ecstatic about that too. They were never going to beat WWE on Monday, but they have drawn bigger than any point in their history. They now know that they CAN go on a Monday night.

WWE produced one of their best shows in a while as competition. Not just the Bret Hart stuff, mind. Bret’s exchanges with Shawn Michaels and Vince McMahon were captivating, but you can’t base a whole show on that. DX had a great match with JeriShow (anyone else see Hunter give something to a front row fan? Possibly a cheeky dig at Bret?) and Orton continued his character development, first with a great exchange with Vince, before his Legacy brethren put him in his place. The wheels are really in motion for DiBiase v Randy again.

I’ve talked about WWE aplenty in my review at The Sun – CLICK HERE - so I’ll get down to a much more detailed appraisal of Impact in this blog. Stay tuned – there a lot of things to get through.

I’ll start with the positives, because there were many, and although numerically the negatives are going to probably win the day, I’d say a great many of these positives re more important.

I’ll start with what I felt was the most important thing of all, and suggest to me that Eric Bischoff had a HUGE amount to do with the TV show, and that is that the show felt chaotic. That is absolutely not a criticism, and is a huge piece of praise. I loved that old-school Nitro (and I mean early, successful Nitro) feel for the show. It felt live (well it was live, but Raw doesn’t even feel live any more, it is so sterile) and it felt as though anything could happen. That is why Nitro took over Raw because the WWE’s offering was taped at the time and the hook of Nitro was shocking happenings.

I particularly liked the cut during a match to the backstage area to show that the Motor City Machine Guns had been laid out. It showed that things could happen at any point. That a potential assailant was not pausing for the end of a match before attacking was great.

The show had Bischoff fingerprints all over the thing, and that’s great. Here’s the thing that is never said about WCW – what if Bischoff had more power? What if he hadn’t been shackled so much by the corporate environment? Admittedly he wouldn’t have been able to spend so freely, but that now doesn’t become a factor, since they have the talent they need available. I think Bischoff is a very intelligent man who will have learned about everything that ahs happened to him over the years. I’d reign back his on air performance as much as I can, but encourage him to get involved backstage as much as humanly possible.

Let’s note a couple of other things I really loved. Obviously the main event has to be respected. A fantastic match between two brilliant wrestlers with top notch quality. It was a good decision to have a seriously good match to close the show. No-one really knows how many typical Raw fans saw it, but that was probably better than any match which took place on Raw in 2009. It would help cement TNA as wrestling, not sports entertainment.

I liked the Sting cameos. I know it is old, but as long as he doesn’t stalk Hogan for a year and attack him like he did in WCW, then its fine by me. Sting can’t be expected to be one of the guys or to wrestle every week. Everyone knows his rafters gimmick, so can buy into it quickly. Do this for a month or so and then have him rappel at some point for a big angle, whatever it may be. Sting is talented enough on the mic to be babyface or heel – I’d make him a heel. Has Sting ever really been a heel? Not often, if ever. If there is going to be a Foley/Jarrett stable of sorts to fight Hogan and co. then I’d side Sting with them. Have him call the people idiots for cheering Hogan and saying people like him come to TNA, give them blood sweat and tears and then get kicked to the curb.

I loved Flair getting out of the limo. That felt major. In fact I liked the intrigue surrounding Flair full stop. Ric Flair is a promo guy par excellence who should be allowed sufficient time and focus to make his first verbal gambit. Not lost amongst a sprawl of tons of stuff. I have no idea how Ric Flair will be used, but I hope they find something useful for him, because he will be earning plenty of dollars.

I also liked Flair taking a look at the main event and nothing more being made. I like that kind of segment which isn’t explained. It suggests that things are in the pipeline.

I liked the initial comment by Nash that Hulk Hogan was coming “but not alone”. There was then someone switching limos to join Hogan. I assume that was meant to be Bischoff. It wasn’t clearly explained, but I really liked the build that Hogan’s arrival was a big deal. He made it look stupid by saying “I’ve been in the back all day” when he was supposed to be arriving by limo, but I guess you could explain that away by saying that he was, then disappeared to pick Bischoff up.

I am keen on the fact that there were plenty of questions to be answered throughout the show and indeed plenty still remain. I might have liked my announcers to play them up a little more, but think of: Who is the guy in black that attacked AJ? Is Hogan siding with the (former) nWo? What will happen with Foley and Jarrett? What are Sting’s intentions? Will Jeff Hardy stick about? Lots to think about, and more besides these points mentioned.

I liked Foley trying to get in and being thwarted. In fact more than anything else I liked that they had a spot with Christy Hemme as an interviewer talking to a generic fan but interrupted it so she could, run and talk to Mick. I’m sorry that Christy’s body is in a bad way, but I think she’ll be a very, VERY good backstage interviewer. Back on track, I felt that Mick’s spots throughout the show build nicely from a polite wish to get in the building to a furious drive to see Hogan. I especially liked parts of the last segment where Mick talked to Sean Morley (more on that later) and (gasp) logic came to the fore. Morley mentioned an office “down the hall on the left” and Mick commented that there was only one office “down the hall on the left”. The underlying meaning here was that Morley didn’t know whose office that was, and Foley knew that he meant the office that he (Foley) once occupied.

I liked Hogan being on the show at the top of the hour. It made great sense, and showed me that TNA understand the scheduling of a head-to-head show. That may sound obvious, but it was a boneheaded mistake WCW used to make.

As long as they don’t hang about for three years and take up loads of TV time, I liked the Nasty Boys’s involvement. Ignore the fact that they are Hogan’s buddies, they are interesting, they have character, and a tease for a brutal match with Team 3D is exciting.

I really enjoyed the Girls tag match. The initial Tara v ODB match where a title changed watered down the tag title switch, but the match itself was very good.

I know it was a bit derivative, but I liked the Beautiful People segment. Look, WWE is going PG, so it behoves TNA to go down the opposite path. Therefore, if you have three hot women whose gimmick is being beautiful, and at least one of them (Lacey) can’t really wrestle, it makes sense to me to have them strip down a bit. The show will lose credibility quickly if there is nothing but scantily clad girls dancing about, but if this supposed to be an adult show it doesn’t hurt to have to sexual content. And actually this isn’t even sexual content, it was just slightly titillating.

The former Val Venis, Sean Morley, is a solid hand, and it really would not surprise me that his return is as much as an agent as a wrestler. Either way, it’s a solid acquisition.

Krystal did a great job on Bobby Lashley’s behalf. I have met Bobby Lashley and Krystal, and they are genuinely nice people. Bobby is a hell of a guy and I hope he does fantastically well in MMA. That said, I always thought he was overpushed in WWE and that his TNA run has been poorly received, at least compared to the hype. I was in California for Bound for Glory, and Lashley got booed out of the building trying to play babyface against Samoa Joe.

I’ve now seen the ratings – I’m not going back and editing, because I can’t be bothered. I like the fact that this is stream of consciousness, and it gives you a flavour of how long this blog post has taken me so far.

In fact, I’ve gone on for plenty enough time. That’s pretty much it for the positives aspects of TNA. I have plenty of negative points which I’ll come back to in a post very, very soon.

Stay tuned.

Summerslam Live Notes

00.58am
Summerslam is upon us folks. We're in LA. Glitz, glamour, razzmatazz.........and Khali v Kane

01.01am
Many will fart all over that opening, but it was original as hell. Mind you, Shawn saying he could fix the camera.....he should have superkicked it.

01.04am
Straight in with Rey and the IC strap. Poor Rey has to go so early on PPVs. I wonder if it is because WWE are thinking of his fan base being kids and putting him on before they have to go to bed. Anyway, he's out here to face Dolph Ziggler. I wonder if Mum, before she puts little Frankie to bed after this match answers his question.
"Mum, why is that guy called Dolph Ziggler?"
"Well, there's this film called Boogie Nights....."

01.10am
Only a minute or two in, but two stunning moments. Rey hits a phenomenal moonsault after a balancing act on the top rope that needed to be seen to be believed. Then, a diving huracanrana to the floor which catapulted Ziggler into the barricade and the cameraman, making Ziggler look like he was falling into your living room (well, I'm in my office, but you take my point.)

01.11am (Nelson)
This match is the best advert for 7-11, since they seem to spend the whole time showing replays because of various spots.

01.12am
JR bigs up Kane v Khali?! Only an idiot would mentioned this match firs......oh wait....my bad.

01.22am
Now that was very, very good. Everyone on top of their game here. The fans in LA, presumably with a large hispanic portion cheering on Rey all the harder were loud as anything; JR and Todd were excited and incisive in the right moments; most importantly, though, Mysterio and Ziggler were on fire.

That was a really sound match. Fast, exciting, told a reasonable story, and I think had the right outcome. To me, Ziggler didn't lose anything by, well, losing. He gained status, I think. You don't always have to win to get over. Terrific start to the show.

01.25am
MVP and Swagger next. Nice backstage promo by both men - can't help but think it would have been better on Raw, and cut out 90 seconds of Hornswoggle and Chavo playing the fool.

01.33am
Can't say that one really clicked. It was ok, there was nothing wrong with it, and it probably suffered mainly from having to follow Rey and Ziggler. I'm mainly disappointed with the result, because it seemed more apt for Swagger to win for me, but I'm happy for MVP, who is a solid hand too.

01.39am
Coincidence that the Tag Champs emerge after all the talk about Guest Hosts? I think not. Second title encounter up next. Nice remix of Show and Jericho's themes, by the way.

01.54am
I probably shouldn't have built my hopes for Shaq. That was a very average tag match, with very little going on outside of traditional two-on-two action.

01.57am
Pretty interesting, I think, that CM Punk's promo is one I completely agree with. More to the point, it'll convince a lot of people who needed convincing to boo him. Good stuff.

01.58am
Kane v Khali now. This is almost a lost cause, so it will be very interesting how they pick the pace up afterwards. An awesome start to Summerslam, almost too good, and a gradual deterioration since.

Maybe these two will surprise me........

02.06am
Reasonable enough. I'm glad Kane won, since to me he is worth far more than Khali in my mind.

DX next, apparantly. So no main event for them. C'mon Shawn, chin him. Drop Hunter like he was Chyna and you were doing the boss's daughter. OK, that was a little cheap, but if Hunter insists with the shoot comments every week. I'm sure he'd dig that.

02.21am
Tanks huh? Quite the entrance. I guess the tanks were there to remind us of the PPV buyrate which has been tanking for the past couple of years. OOOOH, have that one. There's just something about Triple H that drags these comments out of me. And I actually like the guy.

02.41am
I guess the key is to be patient, am I right? It'll be fun to someday see HBK turn on Triple H, but I have to concede that it's probably more in WWE's short term interest to have DX as a united force for a bit. Never mind.

Good match though. Basic tag team match which then developed and grew an extra seven or eight minutes. Legacy got to go for a long time on an even keel. I definitely think we'll get a rematch with a stip at Breaking Point.

02.47am
While I was typing that last entry the ECW title match came and went. Here's what pisses me off. Actually two things. Firstly that pathetic little two minute segment with a seven second match was immediately succeeded by a video package hyping how awesome WWE are. Don't get me wrong, I think the stuff WWE does for their fans and most importantly for charities is genuniely awesome. I'm serious here, not joking. WWE's work in charitable fields is amazing and is genuinely good hearted.

But, that section was longer than an actual match I wanted to see. They could show that clip of charity and Axxess on Raw to a larger audience. In fact, they'll probably show it again then anyway. I was looking forward to Regal and Christian, but I got duped. So Christian got slammed by Zeke and Vlad. Big deal.

Did we have to have Kane and Khali go six minutes and that match get nothing. What about that pointless shit with Nancy someone and Freddie Prinze junior speaking but saying nothing. I'll actually let the tanks and stuff go because you need spectacles like that. The live crowd deserve something to differentiate their experience, and I remember the entrances of HBK, Taker and Cena from Wrestlemania very vividly. It was awesome to be there and see great matches, but those entrances remind you that this is special.

Seven second matches do not, especially when those involved are people I want to see wrestle. Really disappointed.

03.11am
Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. Poor Lillian. And in her last week. Called the "I have just heard word...." then said "NEW Champion" as a giveaway that Cena will win, and finally mumbled her way through saying that Mr McMahon has ordered the match to start again. The second "I just heard word..." was just sad.

03.16am
A count-out, reversal of decision, feet on the ropes, pin, reversal of decision........the sign says "This is why I watch Smackdown" Ahem.

03.18am
Seriously, what the f... is going on? Was that a real intruder from the crowd? I guess it was. But wasn't Cena winning and Orton tapping before that guy came in? So was that scripted? That was seriously bloody weird. Maybe they called it on the fly. I have no idea at all.

I tell you what, say what you like about the quality of the match, that was damn sure memorable. I can only think that the guy that ran in - who is a grade A moron, by the way, if a real intruder. An epic, f'n idiot- wasn't part of the plan.

I know that more than once announcers have pretended like it's shoot and then it turns out otherwise, but that felt eerie. When they cut to the guy being dragged backstage I thought for sure he had to be kayfabe, because why show him. But if it was planned, it would be in the replay package, right?

Jesus that was strange. Newsworthy and remarkable, but not in a good way, really.

03.26am
Now JR's headset isn't working. What the hell is going on here? I reckon Vince might be hyperventilating right now. JR calls Punk the Second City Saint, which is a really cool callback to an old alliance with Cabana (and Ace Steel) but I am fairly certain there is deeper irony here.

Chicago (remember I'm English, so I'm nto certain about this) used to be the Second City of America, and cultivated this as an image. When I was in Chicago for Bound For Glory I even went to the Second City Comedy venue. I think that Chicago no longer has this title, and it is now.......LA. I may be wrong, though. Sorry for wasting your time whichever way is true. Back to the car crash that is Summerfestslamtime.

03.55am
Sorry for the lack of quick updates in that last half-hour. I'm just a bit shell-shocked with all that's gone on.

Punk v Hardy is over, and Punk has the belt back. It was a good but not great match. I am glad they ended with this, and you can see why after the chaos of Orton/Cena and also the post match activity.

Before we get to that, though, it has to be noted that it was the best ending for Jeff. It'll be interesting to see if they acknowledge his disappearance for a bit, either by saying he's off or by faking an injury. I wondered if they were just going to wheel him out on that stretcher for a bit, and not bring him back, allowing Punk to climb the ladder unopposed. That would have been creative, but Punk deserves to win and claim a legit title reign after sneaky MITB wins. How ironic he should now reign after a clean win as a heel, while his earlier sneaky ones were as a face.

Post match, there was a brief light flicker, which Punk sold but the announcers didn't, which I initially thought was going to be one of many for a long while. Not to be though, as a gong soon sounded. Taker was beneath Punk when the lights came back on in one of the more creative visual effects I've seen in a while. I spotted it was Taker when they cut to a wide shot, but many won't have. Cleve booking to push Punk straight into a programme with Taker and let everyone forget about Jeff Hardy.

Overall, an odd show.

Great opener, really good DX tag match and pretty good closing bout. Jericho/Show v Cryme Tyme average, same for MVP/Swagger. Kane v Khali and ECW matches a joke for different reasons. Orton v Cena is one of the strangest matches I have seen, for about twenty of the oddest minutes I have ever lived. Just crazy. Bizarrely it actually helped the finale of the night.

SummerFest Preview

The Hottest Night of the Summer is upon us, so are you feeling like this is the little brother of Wrestlemania?

WWE have shown indications that they want the August PPV to become second only to their flagship event, but this is hardly a stellar card that makes you salivate and feel excited in a way that Wrestlemania does, that usually the Royal Rumble does, and even events with a hook like the Elimination Chamber do.

For this reason, I’d like to stipulate at this point that this predictions piece will be littered with elements of hope – suggestions of turns of events that may occur in the Staples Center this evening that will give this ordinary looking show a degree of excitement to match it’s alleged billing.

Before the predictions start, let me remind you that I’ll be doing my usual live notes blog tonight during the PPV, so be sure to stop by and keep refreshing your page to see what I’m making of what’s unfolding at Summerslam.


MVP v Jack Swagger
To be honest, when you look at this feud, it begins to explain to you a few things that don’t make sense......I was going to say in WWE, but mainly on Raw.

It is Raw that has the depth problem, and Raw that has three guys on top we are al bored of. Therefore, exceptional effort ought to be going into these two getting over. However, since one face-off on the VIP Lounge which was captivating, this feud has been stop start. It looked like it was ending, with speculation that Swagger would be Jericho’s mystery partner, but has been resurrected. Even then, they had about thirty seconds on Raw to wrestle to a DQ, “setting up” this match.

To me, the logical man to be progressing is Jack Swagger. I think his presence in the ring – both as a talent and a character – is very good. You really feel he can handle himself, and although he has an element of cowardly heel about him, he has won enough matches cleanly to be taken seriously.

There is also the match he had with John Cena in March/April time to take into consideration. I personally remember not caring for the match too much, but I will bow to a) the majority who did and more importantly b) those in the business (including John Cena when I spoke to him) who were mightily impressed with Swagger. I get the feeling that Cena could do a lot more for Swagger, seen as a legit athlete, than he did for The Miz, whose strengths lie in a similar area to that of Cena. Swagger would be able to dominate Cena in a wrestling sense, definitely helping his cause.

Whether this feud is Cena v Swagger for the title or simply as a semi-main, I think it ought to happen. For this reason, I’ll take, and I want Jack Swagger to win this one.

Prediction – Swagger.


The Great Khali v Kane
A match we’ve seen before, but with roles reversed (a theme I will come back to later). We all know roughly what we are getting here. I think they’ll know well enough to not let this go too long, and just have a couple of the usual big man face-off spots.

I hope they let Kane get a clean victory. I don’t really see the value of Khali winning this, because they surely realise that his value is not as a serious contender, whereas Kane, while I’m not saying he ought to be world champion, is more suited to a spell near the top of the card in proper feuds.

Prediction (although it’s hope as much as anything): Kane


ECW Title – Christian v William Regal
I think this could be a little hidden gem on the card. You have a couple of wrestlers who, while neither has been hugely critically acclaimed, rarely have a bad match.

I wouldn’t think this will be one for the ages. They’ll likely be given a nothing spot on the card and no exciting plot twist, but I would expect a well crafted ten-minuter with some nice chain wrestling and decent psychology, culminating in Christian getting the better of the man from Blackpool.

The contrary argument, of course, is that Regal now has a couple of big dudes in tow, and there is an out for having Christian drop the title due to interference and then have him chase again. But I’ll stick my original thought.

Prediction – A solid, if unspectacular event. And Christian to win it.


Intercontinental Title - Rey Mysterio v Dolph Ziggler
It seems rather odd to book this twice in successive PPVs only to have Dolph lose again, so it’s easy to simply say he’ll win this time. However, we mustn’t forget that in WWE’s eye simply being in the ring with established superstars is enough of a rub, and in reality what Ziggler needs is to give Mysterio a close match. If he looks like he might win, it’ll help him. That was the old Flair philosophy.

Maria is a major factor to bring into play, here. She is, I guess, Dolph Ziggler’s girlfriend, but she is still ostensibly a babyface. Maria has been in WWE for over five years, and although she has largely dropped the ditzy gimmick of asking stupid questions, she is still essentially the wide eyed, innocent, good girl next door. It might be fun to see her be the bad girl. That was one of the great attributes, among many, that Trish Stratus had. She was a easy to get behind (steady...) as a babyface, but also a really believable, sexy heel.

They may well be feeling that this is a time for Maria to make this transition. I can see her being the story of the match. Perhaps appearing to rebel against Dolph, making taking a bump which draws Rey’s attention to see if she is okay, and then Ziggler nailing him while his guard is down. Maria then celebrates, showing it was all a ruse, while Grisham plays along like a chump.

Or, Mysterio will win in seven minutes.

Prediction – Rey Mysterio. I think they’ll simply have Rey win. But all that speculation on Maria and Dolph’s win was fun.


Tag Titles - Chris Jericho and Big Show v Cryme Tyme
(I’m sick of saying Undisputed Tag Titles, so to me this is just the Tag Team Championships now. )

I can’t help but feel a little sorry for the participants in this match, because the underlying seam of gold under this match’s surface is Mr Shaquille O’Neal. Rumours of Show v Shaq have refused to go away, and with this show taking place in the Staples Center, home of the LA Lakers, O’Neal’s former team, it would make for an enormous news story if he were to emerge and get involved.

I want to believe something like this will happen. It would be a major fillip for the show, and for the audience. It isn’t by any means certain though, so we need to look at how things may pan out either way.

If Shaq does appear, it may be to cost Show and Jericho the belts, but I’m not sure that would be wise. For one it would mean that if they did look for a Show v Shaq showdown at any point the mainstream build wouldn’t feature a belt. That means a lot when you are trying to attract a non-traditional wrestling audience. Secondly one of the benefits of having undisputed champions is that they can appear on two shows. Think of Miz and Morrison’s versatility, The Colons wrestling prowess, and then the star power of Jericho/Edge/Show and what that gives all brands that use them. Would all brands really benefit that greatly from having Cryme Tyme on the show? I don’t think so.

Maybe Show and Jericho win, beat Cryme Tyme down afterwards and Shaq comes out to save. But why? If he has travelled to the show, wouldn’t he help before this stage? He could be in the crowd I guess, and then be invited in. There are multiple ways of doing it. I just hope they use one.

If there is no Shaq, it seems pointless having the match at all, but assuming he isn’t there, you just can’t see Cryme Tyme winning. Therefore.....

Prediction – To make it simple, Big Show and Jericho to win. And then we hope Shaq gets involved, not because a Show v Shaq will rule, but because there are multiple benefits including the spectacle and simply the element of something different.


Legacy v DX
Here we go, this is my almost monthly major PPV theory, and it has to be said these are normally absolutely miles off the mark. The best one I had, in terms of it playing out in reality, was Matt Hardy, not Christian, being Jeff’s attacked, but I wanted Edge and Matt to be in cahoots and for Christian to help Jeff, mixing up the old E&C v Hardys battles.

Since then, I’ve periodically come up with a big idea ranging from Christian as Jericho’s partner to JBL buying Raw. All have come to naught. Now, though, this really will be it.

Essentially, what I’d like to happen is for HBK, at a crucial point, to Superkick Triple H’s face off. Not because I have the bizarre hatred for Triple H that most of the net does, but because if Michaels really is going to call it a day soon then I think he ought to have one more go round with Triple H at the top of the card, and for HBK to be the heel and Triple H the babyface has not been done, to the best of my knowledge.

The turn could occur in many ways. We could simply have a regular match for while before Michaels simply kicks him. He could do the old Owen Hart at the Calgary Stampede injury and disappear for ten minutes before emerging to help Trips, although that would mean the same old handicap match we’ve already seen.

Perhaps Triple H could be seen on camera wondering where his partner is, because he is late. He then arrives mid-match to cost Hunter the bout. He might get ‘injured’ backstage then emerge midway through, selling an injury, before BOOM! A little chin music.

Whichever way it occurs, I think it would awesome. Yes we’ve seen these two wrestle before, but I’d seen Jericho wrestle Mysterio plenty of times, it was still brilliant when they did again.

Of course, this may not happen. If it does not, then I would anticipate DX winning. I don’t see that as an overly negative thing, as long as Legacy are allowed to wrestle an even fight, and not just roll over.

Interestingly, the UK tour later in the year is called the DX Reunion Tour. It would be really interesting if they were battling each other on that trip.

Prediction – Yeah, what the hell! HBK turns, and Legacy win.


WWE Title - John Cena v Randy Orton
It is hardly a new observation to say that these two wrestling again is the same old stuff. I will offer a slight counter-argument that they have often had very good contests, so let’s hope that they can really raise it tonight.

It’s worth having a look at who these men may move on to feud with after tonight, if indeed this is a one-shot deal. If you assume that even if DX don’t split they carry on battling Rhodes and DiBiase, then Cena v Swagger becomes the possibility mentioned earlier. That leaves Randy Orton with several options. He could assist Legacy in a battle with and we get a three-on-two handicap match, maybe in a Cell or something. He could battle a stepping-up Mark Henry or MVP, with the former being more likely in my eyes. Or, if DX are a-feudin’, then they may push the button on the Legacy break up and have Orton v DiBiase sooner than we thought.

I think that the better option of the two is to keep the belt on Orton. As maligned as Mark Henry has been over the years by critics, including me, his babyface turn has been reasonable, and he would be a legitimate contender for Orton. It would also be a welcome chance for Orton to win a title match cleanly. I don’t see Swagger v Cena being as good a prospect for title bout as Orton v Henry.

Prediction – Via that blatantly flawed and questionable process of logic, it’s Orton to win. Presumably by foul means.


World Title - Jeff Hardy v CM Punk – TLC Match
This ought to be the main event really. It’s certainly the one most people will be excited about, certainly above Cena and Orton. The main talking point, as it has been for a couple of months, is the imminent disappearing act of Jeffrey Nero Hardy. He’s the champ going in, with CM Punk chasing his former possession, the Big Gold Belt.

Firstly, you feel this ought to be a cracker. These two have been tremendous in their programme, some great matches, solid promos and an effective turn by CM Punk. The blowoff match, with two passionate an innovative competitors, ought to top it all off.

Logic would dictate Punk winning. They may well try and throw things up in the air by having a surprise win, but it does seem more likely that Punk will take it, and quite possibly via a rather sizable fareweel bump by Jeff.

If Hardy does indeed do a runner after this, then it will help Punk immensely. They could make Punk an enormous star in the next two months if they choose. They have him go over Jeff, the gloat at getting rid of him. “I’m the man who retired Jeff Hardy,” he’ll say, and talk of his pride of being the clean-living Straightedge guy prevailing over the flawed hero. Punk has the ability to be very self-righteous and smug, and this will definitely help his cause as a major heel.

So who to face Punk? Well how about him being forced to have a title defence, maybe against Matt Hardy or John Morrison, in which he prevails. Then, at the height of his gloating.........BONG! Back comes Taker in due time to scare the living daylights out of Punk, and if they feel like it Punk can get the better of Taker. He’d be the biggest star in the company.

Leave the title on Punk for the foreseeable, and then when the time is right, from the perspective of both parties, get Jeff Hardy back to take the title back from Punk, maybe at the Royal Rumble.

Prediction – CM Punk. Tonight, and hopefully for the future.


Well, I’m looking forward to this slightly more now. Hope you enjoy it, and don’t forget to join me just before the show starts, and I’ll be providing you with my thoughts live.

Night of Champions Live Blog

00.58am
I'll admit to you now, I'm ill prepared for tonight. I haven't got my normal PPV gear on (Tracksuit bottoms and WWE T-shirt) and I've forgotten to stock up with masses of Junk Food. I'll struggle on though.

01.00am
Short intro promo, and I think I saw a clip of Orton, Cena and Trips from back at last year's Mania, not even a current one. You can tell by the t-shirts.

01.02am
Oh for goodness sakes. This is the one match I was looking forward to. And it's on first?? That doesn't bode well for the level of the surprise does it? Jericho is on his was to face Legacy. Does Jericho have a curfew on a Sunday or something. His matches with Mysterio went on second or third, and now he jerks a curtain despite the build up for this. This basically rules out Christian, Ziggler or anyone else not on the show already, doesn't it?

01.06am
Jericho with the mic. And its..........Edge explaining why he got hurt.

01.07am
Small pop for the video, more bad words for Edge and its.........

01.08am
THE BIG SHOW???? OH COME ON! I don't mean to swear, but the fucking Big Show?

Seriously, who thinks this is a good idea? Anybody? Big Show hasn't had an entertaining match in five years. Jericho has been providing gold at every turn, and now he has this big lummox to deal with.

What does this achieve? What in the hell does it achieve? It makes matches worse; it lets down people expecting an exciting mystery partner; it drags Jericho down; it elevates no-one. Absolute bullshit.

01.15am
Crowd are basically dead. Imagine how they would be if this was Christian.

A small chant for Y2J. He is the best heel in the business, and yet people are chanting for him. That's not because the rest are great heels, its that Jericho is the only one over.

This is a heel v heel match. I can't believe the amount of idiocy involved in this booking.

01.17am
A couple of move notes - Legacy did the old Cade and Murdoch high-lo move, and Cody just broke out a gorgeous moonsault to a standing Jericho. And Teddy hit a powerslam, not as good as his old man's. And Cole called it a scoop slam. Because he is an idiot. Or because he told in his ear to be one.

01.20am
I have to be fair, the crowd popped nicely for the finale. They got into to it as it went along. It wasn't a bad match by any means. But it will not be remembered for very long.

01.28am
Top promo by Punk (except the single parent line, which was uncalled for). Remember the theory about the heel believing what he says, or at leats feeling it could be true. Everything Punk says could make sense. He delivers it tremendously. This is a proper heel turn. Don't turn on another midcarder no-one cares about, call the fans on their love for a top star. This live crowd will be hugely behind Hardy in the title match.

I wonder if they did that because Punk has been mega over in Philly before, and since they are a notoriously raucous crowd, his pious promo would turn them completely against him.

01.29am
ECW now. This could be fun. Dreamer back in Philly, we could get quite the split crowd here.

01.30am
OK, that was a pretty cool pop for Christian. Maybe he's the favourite.

01.41am
I quite enjoyed that. Hard to get a face v face match going after a heel v heel one, but it was done reasonably. Crowd were slightly in favour of Christian, but it was tapered because of their liking for Dreamer.

As an aside, I really enjoy listening to Striker. He is a great analyst. He'll not go much highly up the ladder, because he isn't a big enough name, but he adds far more to an individual match than King does. Matt actually talks abouot why moves happen, and what effect they have. King can do this, because he used to. He should be allowed to do it more. I miss the (even vaguely) heel colour commentator.

01.46am
Six pack challenge next. I wish they'd get Sean Waltman to at least make a cameo.

Swagger out first, followed by Carlito and a pretty decent reception for Miz, I think. I've predicted Kofi, but I'd love to see Miz win this by sneaky, foul means.

Primo out next, so he's replacing The Big Letdown. Then MVP and.........my TV has just gone black..........

01.49am
Shit, I've just realised what I typed. I didn't mean that to sound bad. My TV genuinely lost signal, and came back just as Kofi entered the ring. Please don't think I've started talking like Bill Watts or something.

01.55am
This one is like a TNA X-Div opener. You can decide for yourself if that is a positive.

01.57am
Great exchange of nearfalls with Kofi, Carltio and Primo. Well deserved round of applause.

01.58am
I quite enjoyed that. I always think each PPV should act like the old circus theory. You know, if you don't like the clown, you might like the juggler. (I don't mean 'insane clown' and 'juggalo') I mean that it might not all be for you, but something will be. And you need variety. Three hours of the same stuff gets boring. I see no problem with throwing out six guys and having some fun.

No-one looked weak. Swagger got some good dominant spots in. MVP build the crowd up some. Miz was sneaky. Carlito backstabbed his bro. Kofi looked athletic. All fine by me.

02.04am
I am not a Michelle McCool fan. I was not looking forward to the McCool v Perez match.

But that opening spot was f'n awesome. Great stuff.

02.12am
I tell you what, I'll give them credit for that. I enjoyed that match. It was way better than I expected - far exceeding my expectations. I didn't care for a touch of Melina overselling (noise) and then underselling (taking a DDT on the barricade then fighting back seconds later) but it was creative, it was intense, featured some innovative spots.

I am very pleased to be wrong. Very well done, ladies.

Favourite part of the match, though, was Todd forgetting the divas marketing slogan "Smart, sexy and.....whatever the other word is." Unintentionally hilarious - but I think he might get a little telling off for that.

Four matches, one title switch so far. How many more?

02.13am
Triple threat next. Interesting positioning. Cole says it all started a few short weeks ago. No it didn't, it started years ago, and hasn't bloody changed. That's the problem.

02.49am
I may sound like Mr Predictable, but I'm afraid I didn't care for most of that.

I'll start with some postives. I liked the opening where Cena and Triple H worked together to get to Orton. I liked the fact that they addressed the double tap-out and the ref didn;t know what to do. I like the creative RKO to finish.

BUT......

I didn't like Orton winning but Triple H and Cena having claims at the title still - suggests we won't get rid of them yet.

I didn't like the double run in prompting a comment that it was no DQ. If it is no-DQ why don't they use low blows and weapons and all kinds of shit?

I didn't like the pace of the match. It was very slow, featured little or no creativity, and had the standard one man outside, two men in format.

I didn't like the hokey Cena fightback. That legdrop/leaping fameasser move is horrible.

I didn't like the length it was given to achieve very little indeed.

Apart from that it was fine.

02.53am
Nice backstage seg with Maryse and Miz. I like the fact they are developing this relationship in a slightly different manner to the usual wrestling romances. Miz actually showed a small element of babyface in his comeback to the French Canadian. Maybe he'll start to court another diva, with Maryse getting jealous?

03.04am
That would be title switch number two tonight, then, as The Divas Title joins the ECW Championship in jumping to the challenger.

Mickie James being champ is fine. I like Mickie, and I would like to see her be given enough time to work with Gail Kim. That would be great. Also a possibility that they may look at the stupidity of having two female titles and unify them, especially now that both champs have been Diva's and Women's champions, for what that is worth.

The match itself was ok. Maybe. It certainly wasn't as good as Michelle v Melina, which I'm surprised about, but I have to go with the evidence of my eyes. To me, this was the match the girls should be allowed to have on Raw from time to time rather than their crappy little three minute tag matches.

03.28am
Really, really good match. Best on the show by a country mile, and without a doubt Ziggler's most impressive outing to date. It has to be. Massive credit to Mysterio, who is a terrific seller, especially given the fact that he cannot use facial expression to help him.

I thought the outcome was correct. Mysterio is over with the kids and having a belt helps his image. It also helps the IC strap, because it needs star power and stability. The result is also the right one, because it underlines my point that I made last month (about Miz and Cena) that you don't have win to be put over, and you don't always get over if you win.

Ziggler will have gone up in many folks (on sofas and backstage) estimations, and will come back again. Great job.

03.30am
Interesting promo for the Tag Team DVD. Billy and Chuck getting a viewing was incredible, and interesting that Championship wrestling from Florida and WCCW got mentions, but ECW didn't. No Public Enemy?

03.33am
One to go then, and just two title changes thus far. I think we'll get one here though.

03.53am
Did JR just call Jeff Hardy a "High risk junkie"? Ouch. Shouldn't have said that, Jim.

Anyway, the aforementioned Jeffrey Nero Hardy is the World Champion. The ending was a little anti-climactic. I thought Punk deserved a little more than a rather limp finish where he was dragged back to the ring and beaten.

The match in general was good. It wasn't spectacular, but it was plenty solid, and I would suggest this issue may not be finished. I still spy a gimmick match blow off for these two at Summerslam.

Credit to Punk here, I think, for his facial expressions, really helping to convey emotions and his character. Credit also to the cameramen and directors for picking this up. Not easy, that.

Overall, that's an ok show. A couple of missteps, but mostly a parade of stuff which was a touch above average. Three title changes is a reasonable amount, and plenty of viewers, especially the young, will go home/switch off happy with Rey and Jeff picking up wins in the last two matches.

Night of Champions Preview

Every title on the line in one night. What a fantastic opportunity to explain to the entire “WWE Universe” (yes I used that sarcastically) that the company has too many titles and too many title holders that don’t hold the public attention.

You can see why they turned me down for that marketing job with WWE can’t you?

By the way, if you go to the WWE website and get asked to do a survey, it’s all about Gillette. I just went there and expected to be asked searching questions about their TV shows and storylines, but instead it asked me about my Razor.

“What do you think about the Razor?” it said.

“He was awesome in his ladder matches with Shawn, but I didn’t care for the Goldust programme” I replied.

Anyway, it is Night of Champions tonight, where there is a possibility that I have opened up the prospect of looking forward to something which will likely be a massive letdown. The old mystery partner thing. More on that later. Let us now run down the card.


Michelle McCool v Melina (Divas championship, I think) (Frankly, Who cares?)
Oh dear God I have to sit through another Michelle McCool PPV match. When you have about 12 divas in the company, and about 4 of them can actually work, it is so pathetic having two title. Have a unified one like the tag titles, and let one of the talented girls work all brands.

Melina is the kind of worker who can add to a match with a talented worker. In fact, her matches with Beth Phoenix have been some of the best women’s matches of recent times. McCool, though, is torture to watch. I hate saying things like this sometimes, because she may well be a very nice person, and I’m sat behind a computer screen slagging her off. Well, I’m a jolly nice chap, and she may hate my writing style. I don’t care. Her prerogative.

Anyway, this match is not going to be the highlight of my evening. I think they’ll spin Maryse v Mickie out for another month (I’m giving away my future predictions here, aren’t I?) with a Maryse win, so I’ll take Melina to have this one to balance things out.

Prediction – Melina



Maryse v Mickie James (the other female title, probable the Women’s one)
Err, I’ve already said, haven’t I?

To be fair, this has been a tidy little programme, at least giving the impression they’ve given some thought into it. I still want to see heel Mickie again, because she was really awesome, but I’m glad that her babyface character is back in high profile again. Lord knows what Beth has done to piss someone off.

I’ll take Maryse to win by foul means, foot on the ropes or something similar.

Prediction – Maryse

And another thing.......All participants in female matches at Night of Champions have names beginning with M. And I believe they are all their real names. There you, hard hitting wrestling journalism at its very best.



Christian v Tommy Dreamer (ECW Title)
I’ll have to view this as though my theory that Christian could be Chris Jericho’s mystery partner is incorrect, I guess, because it is admittedly unlikely.

The thing to look at with this match is really how long they want to run with Dreamer as champion. Fair enough that they didn’t get rid of him as champ straight away, because they needed to give the run a bit of credence, but if they have him as the top man for too long, the pudgy fellow who has been a jobber for about five years will start to make the rest of the roster look bad.

In multi-man match it makes sense to have Dreamer go over, but in a one-on-one, it just makes no sense to have Dreamer best Christian.

But then, am I seriously thinking that Christian will be looked after by WWE?

Perhaps I’m being naive, who knows? It just seems highly unlikely to me that Dreamer would be booked to cleanly defeat Christian. I hope that is the case, anyway.

Prediction – Christian



Rey Mysterio v Dolph Ziggler
And here is another candidate for the Jericho partner. No, no, silly, not Rey Mysterio, but Mr Ziggler.

Ziggler has rather suddenly been given a sizable push, but could be really be put over Rey Mysterio? I wouldn’t think so, but I am suddenly looking forward to this match, so credit to WWE for positioning Ziggler as a genuine threat. After all, that is actually what wrestling is supposed to be about. Not Leprechaun embarrassing Mexicans, but two WRESTLERS competing and the audience having an interest in who wins.

I think that Ziggler is more likely to be given the spot as Jericho’s number two than the IC Champ, however. I just hope that this match is a good one, because it has the potential to be.

Prediction- Rey Mysterio



Kofi Kingston v Big Show v Miz v Carlito v Jack Swagger v MVP – US Title, six pack challenge
Firstly, apologies for calling Kofi the IC champ and not US champ this week.

But will he still be champ after tonight. I think he probably will, because I don’t see a lot of value in swapping a title in a match like this. To me, a wrestler should win a title to either underline his dominance, or to add value to his character. If the former, then you don’t really want to show how rubbish the opponents are.

To me, the only man who can win to show dominance is Big Show, and since a) no one wants to see that and b) it would ruin the rest of them it would be a pointless step.

Anyone else wins they are basically getting a bit lucky, due to the nature of the contest. You have four wrestlers in the match who you could make by giving them a title. Miz, Swagger, Carlito and MVP (especially the first two) would all benefit from a title win, but surely winning it in a straightforward one-on-one contest would hold more sway, and give them a better rub.

Anyway, that’s a convoluted way of saying that I don’t think they’ll switch the title. I can see the finish being Big Show destroying Swagger, Miz, MVP and Carlito, and then walking into a spinning Kofi Kick (I always forget its name – is it trouble in paradise?)

Prediction – Kofi Kingston to retain.



Tag Team title match – Chris Jericho and his mystery pal v Legacy

I’m not going through a big long look at the possible partners again, but realistically it’s Swagger, Christian, Miz or Ziggler, I would think. Somebody suggested Punk, but I don’t buy that. Can’t see it being Kendrick after his squash by the King.

A returnee? Chris Masters perhaps? Or Eugene? That second one is a joke, but surely Masters could be possible.

After that, it’s left field stuff, including Rick Steamboat and Shawn Michaels. I’m not saying they are likely, but they are possible.

These, though, would need a leap of faith that Jericho would turn face again, and this make so little sense it is untrue. Having lost Edge as a top heel, Jericho has to keep him place I would think. Even more so with the promise of Edge to come back as a babyface to feud with Jericho, possibly to Wrestlemania.

I think the most likely candidate, realistically, is Swagger. He has the smart-ass persona that would ingratiate himself to Jericho. I don’t see why they blew off the MVP feud as quickly as they did unless Swagger was lined up for something else. Perhaps even the Swagger Raw debut was with this in mind (although that probably falls down, since I think it was before Edge got injured). Character-wise Swagger simply compliments Jericho the best, and the fact that he is an up-and-comer who will benefit from the association would be even more reason to give him the gig.

Miz is possible, and I wouldn’t complain. It’d be entertaining. I hope it’s not Ziggler. I don’t see him as deserving as the last two mentioned. I’d love to see it be Christian, but I’m not overly hopeful. Not as much as I was when I tipped him nearly two weeks ago.

Oh fuck it, it’ll probably be bloody Great Khali, won’t it?

As for the match, I would assume that Jericho and partner win. Makes no sense otherwise.

This may well lead to Legacy being rebuked by Orton, and a further DiBiase babyface turn tease.

Prediction – Jericho and Swagger to win


World Heavyweight Title – Jeff Hardy v CM Punk
I thought there might have been a stipulation attached to this one, following on from the match last time. Because if CM Punk wants to get DQ-ed again, what is stopping him?

Here’s what I forsee happening. I will take Jeff Hardy to win the World Heavyweight Title this very evening, and he will do so after another restarted match.

This time, as opposed to Hardy defeating Punk only to see his foot under the ropes, we’ll get CM Punk once again getting disqualified, but since Teddy Long is still trying to impress Vinny Mac, he’ll controversially restart the match, saying to Punk that he doesn’t away that easy. Hardy hits a Swanton, new champion.

We then get Punk bitching about the decision on Smackdown and telling Long and Hardy what a cheap way to win a title that was, with the obvious irony being that he won it cheaply in the first place.

We then book Hardy v Punk III, perhaps in a cage or simply no DQ, for Summerslam.

This would tick all boxes. You’d have a victory and a title run for Hardy before he has a hiatus. You have Punk getting a couple of comeuppances, but still maintaining his stance of doing nothing wrong.

Prediction – Hardy to win, eventually


Randy Orton v Triple H v John Cena

I’ll give you the prediction I’ve had in my head for ages, but I’ll temper it at the end with a new thought.

I’ll go with Cena to win the title here. The fact that Triple H said that as long as Orton loses he’ll be happy might have been more important than we initially realised. I’d say Cena wins and becomes champ, opens Raw, and is cut off by Triple H, demanding a shot at him. This would eventually lead to Game v Cena at Summerslam. It’s been brewing, and although we’ve been there before, I actually think it would work right now.

To add a little bit of spice, I’d have a guest host (Maybe Shaq tomorrow) book Orton v Cena in Randy’s mandatory rematch on Raw to have a hot main event on TV. Cena can win this reasonably clean, after DiBiase screws up a run in, and then Randy has no logical claim to have number one contendership.

That’s how I projected things last week, but suddenly I realise that leaves nothing for Orton at Summerslam. He is too big a name to leave off the card, but has no logical opponent. You can’t suddenly have him wrestling MVP for no reason, and they best not pull out DiBiase v Orton now and have a Lergacy break up. They could roll this all the way to Survivor Series or even beyond.

Perhaps it makes more sense for Orton to retain, and Cena v Triple H to just be a grudge match. Orton could then face a new challenger for the belt (Oh God it would be Mark Henry, wouldn’t it?) with less need for a backstory for the match.

I wouldn’t like to see Orton win, mainly because it would mean the same winner that came from the Wrestlemania 24 match between this trio. WWE are getting enough grief (some of it from me) for rehashing the same old stuff, they need to make sure they don’t tread even closer to the line they have already drawn.

Prediction – John Cena.......I think

Enjoy the show folks, I’ll be back with my patented Live Blog for this one.



LATE UPDATE – I’ve seen on Chris Jericho’s Twtter page that he says his partner will be EVIL. That hints towards Kane.........or Taka Michinoku.

Smackdown Thoughts - July 03

· I like the idea of Punk explaining to everybody about what went wrong. He is talking sense, but he is doing it a whiny sort of way, so he may get booed.
· There was a masterstroke of a line in there – Punk telling Jeff that they had to be on the same side otherwise Jericho and Edge, their opponents for the evening, would tear them apart. That makes sense on a couple of levels. One is that is gives proper credit to Edge and Jericho for being good. I hate it when one wrestler run another one down, because if you beat them, what have you beaten? The other was it was perfect sense. ‘Hang on, we need to wise up here’ in effect.
· I thought for a while that Ziggler was going to be a bit of a joke for the company, but it seems they may be getting behind him a little. A win over RK-Kwiktruth and a tease of an alliance with Maria suggest there are plans for him.
· Not sure if you get From the Vault stuff elsewhere in the world, but we do. We’ve now got Batista v Finlay from Smackdown, with Khali wandering to ringside as champion. Wow, things were bleak on SD then, weren’t they? Is their way of saying to us to appreciate what we have now?
· Cryme Tyme were hunting “wangstas” and saw the Asian Redneck. But they didn’t go for a Wang Yangsta joke? I actually thought that segment was quite humourous.
· Rey and Kane? Again? Oh please......
· Ads for Raw in the Sheffield Arena advertise Batista on them, if you are interested. But not Shawn Michaels......
· The Hart Dynasty need to have plenty of mic time and character development. They have a story to tell, and are on a new show. There will be Smackdown viewers who haven’t seen them before, they should be introduced in a deeper way.
· I’m not sure I agree with the Harts being beaten in their first Raw match. Cryme Tyme didn’t need the win as much, and could easily get their heat back elsewhere.
· Bad? That Teddy and Morrison segment was not just bad, it was terrible.
· Decent closing match. It’s nice that SD are in a position to load the main event with high-quality fresh matches.