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Thoughts on 03/08/2010

March 10th 2010 00:46

Sting Photo from Wikimedia Commons user Mshake3

The first regular Monday night iMPACT proved to be a combination of good, bad, and ugly. The good could be highlighted by three elements- Sting beating the crap out of everyone, the X-Division Title match, and the Knockouts Tag Team Title bout. My only complaint about those segments would be that Hamada and a tag team partner of her choice should have replaced the team of Tara & Angelina Love. After all, as one half of the champions who were stripped of the titles, Hamada should have been allowed to pick a new partner, now that Awesome Kong is no longer with the promotion.

Two examples of the bad include The Band segment and Jeff Jarrett/Beer Money handicap match. In regards to the Band segment, Kevin Nash said Hogan would permit Hall and Waltman to wrestle this one time at Destination X, obviously forgetting Waltman already wrestled at the Final Resolution PPV in January. Then, five minutes after Nash said Hall and Waltman could wrestle one time at Destination X, Eric Bischoff books Waltman in an impromptu match against Eric Young. WTF?

The Jeff Jarrett/Beer Money bout demonstrated poor booking. Beer Money, the number one contenders for the TNA Tag Team Titles, already have something going on, therefore don’t need to be dragged into the Eric Bischoff/Jeff Jarrett feud. Several teams would have been better choices, including Lethal Consequences and the makeshift team of Amazing Red and Shark Boy. Either team would have demonstrated the same point without putting Beer Money in a vulnerable position.

The ugly mainly involved how bad Hulk Hogan was. The Hulkster seemed to run out of breath just walking to the ring. He really needs to stay out of action, as he can barely move, as demonstrated by the fact he could barley stand up out of his chair in the back. However, I have a feeling we are going to be treated to a Hulk Hogan/Sting match somewhere in TNA’s near future, which to be honest I have no problem with as long as Sting brutalizes Hogan in the same fashion he did last night.

Overall, yesterday’s iMPACT proved to be a huge improvement over the January 4th broadcast. Still, the show featured too much talking, and not enough wrestling. For instance, the Kurt Angle/Ken Anderson segment which was pretty good, left me feeling indifferent because there was already so much talking on the show. Hopefully next week TNA will live up to their name and provide a little more action.

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Posted By: Zachary Fenell - Category: No Category

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Thoughts Heading Into Monday iMPACTs

March 7th 2010 22:22

TNA Coming to Monday Nights! Photo from Wikimedia Commons

We are on the eve of what many wrestling fans are considering the start to a new Monday night war. Starting tomorrow night TNA Wrestling will be permanently moving iMPACT to Monday nights to go head to head with the WWE’s flagship show, Monday Night Raw. While many fans are considering this the start of a new wrestling war, I’m not. As I stated in my “TNA iMPACT Moving to Mondays” post, from a few weeks ago, a war infers two companies on relatively even ground facing off, and the truth is TNA has a lot of growing to do in order to be considered competition to the WWE.

In fact, I’m actually very concern for TNA. Overall, the quality of TNA’s product has been lacking recently. Eric Bischoff can come out week after week and make big title matches as the show’s main event, but that is doing more harm than good. Despite the four-way title match main eventing the last Thursday iMPACT I still turned off the show halfway through. I’ve seen AJ defend his title against the likes of Desmond Wolfe and Kurt Angle on iMPACT and I know he isn’t going to lose, so why should I care to stay tuned into the show?

TNA has some great talent, like Jay Lethal, The Motor City Machine Guns, Beer Money, Hamada, Sarita, and Christopher Daniels, but yet these wrestlers are barely getting camera time, if any. Rather, the future of the business is being overshadowed by pointless segments, such as between Eric Bischoff, Mick Foley, and Jeff Jarrett. In many ways, TNA hyping Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair’s in-ring returns in 2010 is pathetic. Hogan and Flair are both 20 years past their prime, and that is the best TNA can do? I know TNA’s slogan is “Cross the Line”, but I didn’t realize they meant a timeline.

I could go on and rant about the forced natured of AJ Styles’ push, or the lack of promotion for Destination X, or the lack of follow-up on Samoa Joe’s kidnapping, but I’ll digress. I’ve gone on the record, in previous posts, saying TNA will need to give me a reason to watch on Monday nights, given the other shows on at the same time- Two & a Half Men, Big Bang Theory, 24, and Monday Night Raw. While I’m defiantly not high on TNA’s current product, I will give them the benefit of the doubt for the next few weeks before I finally decide to give up on the organization.

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Posted By: Zachary Fenell - Category: No Category

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Bret Hart Returning to the Ring

March 2nd 2010 21:03

Last night on Raw Bret Hart versus Vince McMahon was confirmed for Wrestlemania 26. Bret Hart wrestling at Wrestlemania makes me very nervous. Knowing Bret Hart’s career ended after an injury suffered in WCW and that since his retirement he had suffered a stroke I can’t help but wonder if Bret Hart is in any condition to wrestle a match. While the prospects of Bret Hart wrestling one last match in order to end his career on a satisfying note is a dream come true for wrestling fans like me, you have to ask “At what costs should Bret Hart wrestle?”

Bret Hart. Photo By Damone Rhodes of Wikimedia Commons

Thinking about Bret Hart’s physical condition, I get reminded of Cactus Jack’s anti-hardcore promos from ECW 15 years ago. In these interviews Cactus Jack ran down wrestling fans for being blood-thirsty and selfish. One example he cited to make his point included Dynamite Kid, who sacrificed his body to the wrestling business, only to be left without a pot to piss in. As much as you and I may not like the words Mick Foley, as Cactus Jack, stated 15 years ago, you can’t deny there is some truth to them. As wrestling fans you and I encourage wrestlers to commit violence, without giving a second thought once the wrestling broadcast ends, to the human beings performing these acts.

So with that in mind, I have to ask “Why is Bret Hart going to put on the pink and black again?” Is it because of the wrestling fans? With all sincerity, I hope not. Because, truth be told, no wrestler’s health and well being is worth being risked in order to satisfy wrestling fans. With equal sincerity, I hope Bret Hart isn’t strapping the boots back on for Vince McMahon. Bret Hart should only be wrestling because HE wants to. 12 & ½ years ago Vince McMahon stated “Bret screwed Bret.” Now, Bret should only be doing things for himself, in essence “Bret for Bret” because ultimately, Bret Hart has nothing to prove to anyone in the WWE Universe.

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Posted By: Zachary Fenell - Category: No Category

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Ric Flair Coming Out of Retirement

February 27th 2010 20:09

Ric Flair Photo: Wikimedia Commons user Chalk4002

This past week on iMPACT Hulk Hogan announced he would be teaming up with Abyss to wrestle AJ Styles & Ric Flair in a tag team match on the March 8th iMPACT. The March 8th iMPACT match will be the first time Ric Flair has wrestled on a televised broadcast since being retired by Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania 24.

Ric Flair’s return to the ring has left me with mixed emotions. I’m excited to see Flair back inside the ring, as, even at the age of 60, Ric Flair can still go. However, I can’t help but have a bitter taste in my mouth regarding Ric Flair coming out of retirement. The WWE had treated Ric Flair’s retirement with the up-most respect, something they didn’t have to do, especially when you consider Flair spent the bulk of his career wrestling for the NWA and WCW. Ric Flair coming out of retirement to wrestle for TNA seems to be a disrespectful slap in the face to Vince McMahon, Shawn Michaels, Triple H, and everyone else who made Flair’s retirement so special

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Posted By: Zachary Fenell - Category: No Category

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The Best Two Hours of Wrestling Every Week

February 27th 2010 16:15

Over the past month I’ve had the opportunity to start watching Smackdown again. From what I’ve seen, Smackdown seems to be the best two hour wrestling show on TV each week. I’ll be honest, I don’t watch enough Raw be able to make a fully informed decision, but part of that is because Raw fails to capture my attention, especially when a guest host segment opens the show. Guest host segments like the Jerry Springer one from last week (although to be fair that didn’t open the show) and the Bob Barker one from a few months ago make me embarrassed to be a wrestling fan.

Impact on the other hand varies too much week to week to be considered better than Smackdown. Some weeks Impact features good in-ring action, while other weeks Impact has too many interview segments. However, even when Impact features good in-ring action, the undercard matches don’t usually get the time they deserve. This is sad considering the TNA roster has enough talent to go toe-to-toe with the superstars of Smackdown
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Destination X- Destined to Fail?

February 24th 2010 20:26

Picture Courtesy of Gordon Woolley on Wikimedia Commons

For being a long-time fan of TNA Wrestling (been watching since 2004), you would think I would be filled with excitement in regards to this year’s Destination X PPV featuring the stars of the X-Division. However, instead of excitement, I’m nervous for the X-Division wrestlers because TNA is setting up Destination X to fail

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Posted By: Zachary Fenell - Category: No Category

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TNA iMPACT Moving to Mondays

February 22nd 2010 03:10

Hulk Hogan, photograph taken from DOD employee, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

I may be a little late jumping on this, but I just finished watching the complete press conference from last Monday, where Hulk Hogan and Dixie Carter announced iMPACT will be moving to Monday nights to go head to head with WWE Monday Night Raw. Wrestling fans are quick to refer to this move as the start of a new Monday Night War. However, I believe this to be wishful thinking. A war would require two relatively equal companies competing with each other. Truth be told, TNA has a long way to go before they can be considered competition to the WWE

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Thoughts on 02/18/10 iMPACT!

February 19th 2010 15:46

This week’s iMPACT! went from decent in the first hour to absolutely horrible in the second hour. The show started out fine with the AJ Styles/Pope confrontation. The confrontation proved to be a nice change of pace from the standard openings we usually get from the out of touch, “no gaga” Hulk Hogan. Seriously, do you listen to what Hogan says when he speaks? But, anyways back to this week’s iMPACT! The highlight of the first hour was the return of Beer Money to television. Robert Roode and James Storm have tremendous talent and their lack of use over the past month has been unfortunate.

Picture Courtesy of Simon from Wikimedia Commons

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WWE DVD Review: The Rise & Fall of WCW

February 18th 2010 17:20

DDP with the WCW Title. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

“The Rise & Fall of WCW”, a three disc set, was one of the most anticipated wrestling DVDs released in 2009. The general consensus by wrestling fans seemed to be “The Rise & Fall of WCW” fell short. Many felt the documentary, on disc one, lacked depth, especially compared to WWE’s 2004 release “The Rise & Fall of ECW.” In regards to the match list, fans had mixed reactions. Some found the match list satisfactory, while others felt the match selection could’ve been stronger.

Overall, I found “The Rise & Fall of WCW” to be satisfying. The documentary definitely had some holes. For example, Sting versus Hollywood Hogan from Starcade 97, arguably the biggest match in WCW history, didn’t receive one mention on the documentary. However, I thought the documentary’s biggest weakness was the lack of fresh insights. It seemed half the documentary was taken from interviews done during the first half of the decade. “The Rise & Fall of WCW” documentary helps to teach fun facts about World Championship Wrestling, but if you want to learn about WCW’s history I would recommend reading “The Death of WCW” by RD Reynolds and Bryan Alvarez

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ECW Eulogy

February 15th 2010 20:11

On Tuesday, Feb. 16th, 2010 the last broadcast of ECW will air. Since its fulltime resurrection in June 2006, ECW has been amidst controversy. Many Internet fans felt outraged about the direction Vince McMahon took ECW in. While I was disappointed about how the fulltime return of ECW went, I must say, ECW, as a WWE brand, did have its moments. ECW launched the careers of current WWE Champion Sheamus, as well as CM Punk and John Morrison, both of who are currently major players on the Smackdown brand. ECW gave many young wrestlers, such as The Hart Dynasty, Jack Swagger, Evan Bourne, and Yoshi Tatsu, a chance to perform in front of millions. Overall, ECW on Sy-Fy gave many wrestlers and talents (i.e. Matt Striker) opportunities that otherwise might not have existed.

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