wrestling / Columns
Scripted Through Sin 4.29.08: A Royal Pain in the Kaiser
Last week garnered me some positive reception despite how negative I was throughout that article. Should I be surprised that people flocked to my opinion once I explained my stance about things? Now if only more people would actually take the time out to intelligently and articulately explain themselves maybe we could all come to agree with one another about things, even if the agreement was to disagree.
Another week of wrestling has passed us by, and even more opportunities were missed while creating some interesting ideas that could have been so much better than what they actually ended up pulling. The WWE crowned a new king despite having some better options that lost along the way, and once again made me look a damned, crazy-assed fool, TNA has a Dueces Wild tournament to crown new Tag Team champions and already took a wrong turn at Albuquerque, ROH seems to have two outs between the Aries/Lacey/Jacobs storyline that might just be a fix to the issue of Mark injuring himself again, plus possibly more if we can squeeze it all in.
So while we’re on this roll at the moment we might as well jump right on into a few things.
Blog-for-All
Before jumping into some actual topics, I’m going to continue to banter on for a bit as I bring up the topic of my blog here, at 411mania.
I was going to start blogging about my viewing experience of the weekly television shows, and possibly even air out some of the reviews I’ve done for some shows, but have gotten off to a horrible start. Last week I was to start with the 4/17/08 edition of iMPACT! followed by the 4/18/08 edition of SmackDown!, which aired in my area on Saturday the 19th, instead thanks to New York Mets baseball preempting it on its usual night. Well, so far, that’s not going so well for various reasons.
To make the long story ridiculously short for all’s convenience, I’m going to try and start that up this week, as I really want to try and focus more on writing than chopping up videos. So I’m really going to sit down and try and focus more energy and time on this blogging project, along with these articles, as these should be my accentuated strengths – not my horrible “acting” if you could even qualify it under such a category.
In the meantime, feel free to go back to my blog section and read up the latest TNA Revised entries, which included a completely revised 2005 Bound For Glory.
(Weekend Note: I didn’t get around to pumping these things out over the weekend, so I’ll try and cram it all for a Tuesday/Wednesday release, whenever possible.)
Columned Under Misunderstood
Welp, while I keep referencing Ari Berenstein‘s latest Column of Honor (4.26.08: Disarray), there was a part I almost missed – his response to my talk of ROH‘s lack of build around number one contenders.
Ari believed I was referencing the characters the sort of Aries or Danielson who have a storied past going into most, if not all of their title matches. That wasn’t the case, nor do I want people to think this. I was mostly referencing the instances of the Takeshi Morishima’s, or the Claudio’s and Steen’s of the world who seemingly get a title shot out of nowhere for a single weekend event, and then go back to whatever story they were mostly being focused on. Much in the way like Tyler Black had his shot at Take No Prisoners.
My issue is that lately, pretty much anyone and everyone under contract with ROH has gotten a title shot just for the sake of filling in title matches on cards that don’t necessarily need to have them. This is, again, my argument against the spoiled fans of this company, who seemingly take everything for granted. Yeah, I should probably hold my breath on such a topic as someone like Mitch Franklin hasn’t gotten a shot yet, but that’s not to say the field set-up now doesn’t have its faults and flaws. I know the Field of Honor would also house some flaws, but they would be far more minimalized in comparison to the current option of crowning number one contenders.
As much as I enjoy a match, especially a title match, for the sake of the in-ring action, sometimes I do want more. A reason to care and a reason to believe an outcome is likely. I don’t mind if it’s a predictable ending so long as I have a reason to care and believe that that ending may not be all that predictable as the opposite rears its head. All I’d like to see is more build into some of those matches, namely those weekend shows in a smaller market that gets to indulge in all of these big time feeling title matches, such as Albright and Morishima’s clash.
A King for Thought
Last week on a 3-hour special edition of Monday Night Raw, the WWE brought back the tradition of the King of the Ring tournament for one night only, as an eight man single elimination round bracket was set-up to determine the new King of the Ring of the entire WWE. Featured on this tournament was Intercontinental Champion Chris Jericho, United States Champion M.V.P., Mr. Money in the Bank C.M. Punk, Matt Hardy, The Great Khali, Finlay, Raw General Manager William Regal, and Hornswoggle.
Before we head any further into the known we might as well make a pit-stop in what I thought would have been done, and by most rights should have been done:
- For starters, how about we just kill off Khali and Hornswoggle from this field, and interject some fresh blood? I know we needed a legitimate excuse to weaken up Finlay to keep Regal fresh for the later rounds, while Punk would have to struggle, fight and claw his way to the top on that mountain, but wasn’t there anyone more suitable to take out Finlay without actually defeating him? Oh, I don’t know, like a certain bulldozer of the Samoan variety? You clearly had him on hand to destroy (the) Barack and Hill-Rod, so why not use him as the fluff to this tournament to take out Finlay, and then blow off some steam by taking out these caricatures?
- As for Hornswoggle, as much as I love to see the little guy, and as entertaining as he is, I’m through with midget abuse for the time being and could have done without his presence in a match. Again, if you needed an easy feeder for Regal to defeat, you have Colin Delaney! Utilize him. You might even get fans to start rallying behind him – and the set-up around his entry could be a cruel joke from ECW General Manager, Armando Estrada. Simply feeding Delaney to Regal could be his way of establishing a working relationship with the Raw General Manager for a possible talent exchange, which could further break down the silly, non-existent barriers between the brands, thus killing, in the fans minds, the brand extension; or better yet, this being his ploy to try and sweeten a deal to try and get a better position in the upcoming Draft. Either option sounds more enticing that feeding little Horny to Regal for the sake of baiting Finlay out for one more shot to the bum knee.
- Or how about this for a concept: you try and utilize this entire tournament to build around some legitimate stars who you, the company and creative, have fucked up along the way. Remember when Elijah Burke was to be the biggest star and representative to ECW? Yeah, neither can I considering you jobbed him out to Festus at one point, for almost no reason! How about you rebuild that “C” Show main event star by giving him a nice rub in this tournament?
- Hey, remember when John Morrison was a relevant singles wrestler? Maybe another shot at singles glory could do him some good as I’m getting a little irked at the fact that you broke him away from the tag veteran Matthews (Mercury) to try a solo career with a mediocre start, only to have him act at Miz’s Mercury! Soon both will be on the same pace and page, and neither will look really great for a single’s run as you continue to show a lack of care for building actual tag teams for a tag division.
- Here’s a thought: you’ve got a slew of young guys on the roster, why not try and give them some shine just by being mentioned as qualifiers to this tournament? Or perhaps, WWE, you should’ve built into this a little more and actually had qualifying matches rolling into this event? Heaven forbid you have a tournament with qualified athletes and superstars who earned their way into this event.
Of course, for those who witnessed the results, or simply read them, William Regal is the new King of the Ring and many are a bit upset over such a decision. Personally, while I kind of like the idea, I was completely rooting for two alternative options, one of which being C.M. Punk, the King of Punks.
 Imagining what could have been: a king with a radically different look that would leave any royal shielding their eyes from the crude design of one King of Punks. |
While Punk is already guaranteed play in the main event thanks to his victory at Wrestlemania 24 and getting a guaranteed World title shot anytime within a year’s time since Wrestlemania 24, this tournament victory would have been even that bigger a deal for him as he demonstrated that he had the seasoning of a veteran while still holding the youth of a young stallion. It also would be helpful seeing only as the WWE and its creative staff refuses to give Punk an opportunity to get himself over with his words as they insist on building him up only through his matches. Taking that into consideration, giving him more victories and a new title to go along with his briefcase may have given fans the idea that he was going to be a huge star, real soon, within the company giving them all the more reason to believe he’d be a victor in his World title match challenge, making his loss all that much bitter sweet. After all, he’s not as seasoned as the veterans of the Edge’s and John Cena’s are, so him winning this early into his career would only taint him and the glory of seeing him grow into the role of a true main event player.
But coming so close to tasting the victory of such a prestigious role as this, despite already tasting great success on the grand stage in Miami, Florida, still makes him look all the more credible a threat to the main event scene. Either way the WWE was going to win with this build as C.M. Punk looking so dominant as to walk into the finals of this tournament, fought so hard to overcome the odds of such well-versed athletes in Matt Hardy and then in Chris Jericho, in the second round, only to be stone walled by a still fresh William Regal. Considering the build, and considering how strong Punk was selling the aches and injuries of his previous matches, him coming that close to winning only to succumb to the reality of his own mortality made him look that much stronger in his efforts to try and overcome the odds that were clearly stacked in Regal’s favor. |
Walking out of that finals, win lose or draw, Punk looked tremendous in his efforts and looked like a true candidate to dethrone any champion walking out of Backlash, last Sunday night. This only further helps him, though what would truly establish that he stands out above IWC favorite candidates such as Shelton Benjamin, John Morrison, or even Elijah Burke. Being one of the very few talents the WWE has signed up with a strong in-ring sense and presence, along with strong psychology and storytelling abilities and a natural charisma and knack for handling words and pulling emotions out of the crowd, it’s about time the WWE really utilize Punk to the fullest and get their money’s worth.
On the other hand, though, the WWE really missed an opportunity on yet another superstar who could’ve utilized this to add to their character and to back them up in their feud.
| Montel Vontavious Porter becoming the King of the Ring would have aided him in his current feud with Matt Hardy, and would have maintained his strength walking into their title match at Backlash. Losing the United States Championship would have easily been okay by M.V.P.’s status as he would merely shrug off the title as being beneath him now that he’s a King figure within the WWE. While Matt Hardy would look strong winning the United States Championship, M.V.P. would maintain his own credibility just because of his newly found King status.
Again, not to knock on Regal here, but this was an opportunity to build some depth into a character that already held the egotistical and arrogant view of being better than everyone he encounters. Losing a title match after going so long without being pinned or submitted for the championship, while building up his credentials on his résumé, would have made the loss of that championship acceptable by his own standards. Looking upon the exchange, M.V.P. would feel that Matt can take the petty championship so that he can venture off to where he truly belongs – a star amongst the big dogs of the SmackDown! main event scene, and a true contender to the World Heavyweight Championship. While these words could bury the meaning of the title and the likes of someone like Matt Hardy, but as was stated on one of my previous articles (Scripted Through Sin 4.08.08: A Week of Build) Hardy in a program with Randy Orton could escalate Matt’s status and credibility, especially if he gets some big wins over Orton without taking the WWE Championship, and credibility is restored with the United States Championship and in Matt Hardy, furthering the feud between M.V.P. and Matt over who truly is better. At that point the feud could elevate to without the title in the mix, to determine which of the two athletes is better suited to take on a World Heavyweight Champion in an upcoming event of some sort, making these two a storied rivalry that could be viewed on the same scale of Shawn Michaels versus Bret Hart. Something that can be relied upon and utilized again down the road, after so much time has passed – leaving these two to always be enemies, and never friends. |
 Visualize the unknown: a champion of high credentials who holds no inhibitions about his own character. One who knows himself to be better than all others, and a true regal who decorates himself with the decorative of champions – the outfitting of gold – making him a truly Most Valuable King. |
The opportunity to further build upon characters, both M.V.P and C.M. Punk seems like a downer considering the unknown investment going into Regal’s character. It’s easy to see what could’ve been done with these two mid-card athletes as this tournament could have built up their characters on a long term basis, whereas Regal seems to be a short term stint that may have only been utilized to give reason for William’s want and desires to return to full-time active service. But only time can tell where the WWE opts to go from here with the Raw General Manager, as nothing seems to be evident for his character, long term. In the meantime, let’s just all be grateful that we never got to even think of seeing King Khali.
But in all of this speak of what could have been; let’s focus on what actually became:
Historically Royal, A King to Remember
While Andrew Clark‘s The Fink’s Payload 04.24.08: The King of the Ring That Could Have Been pointed out the trend of the televised events for the King of the Ring tournaments, what gets lost in all of this is the storied Kings of past who fought on live cards without the glory of a televised audience watching and keep track of how long before they’d become stars due to the tournament’s victory. In fact, lost in Clark’s article are the stories of Don Muraco, Harley Race, Randy Savage, Ted DiBiase and Tito Santana. Also missing is the fact that Bret Hart is a two time King of the Ring victor, and much like some of the past Kings, he already had a mountain of success before him going into this bracketed iron man challenge.
I know some don’t care to look too far into the past to support their claims for how things in wrestling should work, especially if the precedent has changed in that time frame – or in the worse scenario, how these fans only started watching the precedent unfold before them – but the story here is that the King of the Ring doesn’t always, nor was it designed to, propel new stars into the main event scene. Its purpose was to add another event to the catalog of shows you, the fan, could purchase and view, and it was to add a layer of story to some characters and their feuds. With Bret Hart, the first time around, much in the way Randy Savage’s first victory of the King title, wasn’t played up on so much. In fact, it was the second win, on the 1993 pay-per-view event, that saw it played up as it focused a feud around Jerry “The King” Lawler, and elevated tension between Bret and Owen as to who could accomplish the most in their respective careers. In fact, Bret’s 1993 victory was necessary for the build around Owen, and while Clark notes him as a tragic King, the story there added a depth to Owen – it showcased his worth was just as valuable as his older brother’s.
Regal doesn’t have to follow the trend set-forth by the previous, well known victors of this tournament. In fact, trends are meant to be both followed and ignored. Trends cycle and much like it was in the past to celebrate and decorate a contender for their in-ring ability, Regal could be just a King for the sake of providing evidence to his technical prowess and abilities, rather than as the rightful contender to a title. The trend of Kings turning into champions could be on the fade, much like the ideal of this tournament being a tool to propel a mid-carder into the main event could be a trend that fades along with it.
Regal for champion? It’s not necessary – just ask “The Rock”, Don Muraco.
(Post Backlash Thoughts: On second thought, I hope Lord William Regal destroys the shit out of the supposed King of Kings, just for a nice touch of fantasy and to play up to [their] history.)
Forethought of a Coronation
Every week I write about the Raw edition that airs the night before this article goes live, and thus far, it’s always bitten me in the bollocks. At some point I’m just going to stop trying to write about what I’m not seeing p, and can’t comment upon in a timely fashion before my 11PM (Eastern) deadline, but this won’t be that week.
As a matter of fact, keeping in line with the banter about the King of the Ring theme of the WWE, it just occurred to me, skimming through the news section of this site, that Regal will hold his coronation ceremony this week (last night when you read this). But noted last week (RAW: 4/21/08) that Mr. Kennedy would be making is return upon this very same night (RAW: 4/28/08).
Some have already guessed to a linking between the two, assuming that there is no such thing as coincidence in the wrestling world, that Kennedy would potentially hold a face run heading up against King Regal (redundant, ain’t it?) Some are already fearful of a potential face run from Kennedy, as right they should considering the character just works so much better as the bad guy we all love to hate much in the same regards we hold The Rock. For me, I think this could be a test for Kennedy much in the way a test to see how creative holds such a storyline.
But diving away from that, I think I’d much rather focus on another man who should be focused on here – C.M. Punk. Call me a mark for the guy, but he’s on the cusp of being a main event threat and what better way than to try and cause a ruckus at the crowning ceremony of Regal’s coronation? If you’re really fearful of a face Kennedy, this could be his moment to further implement his cunning as a character as he begins to form an alliance with the Royal General Manager, in hopes to try and strip Punk of his Money in the Bank title contract. Think of how one could unfold this – Punk trashes the coronation and sets the scene as though he was a rambunctious invader to this “private” ceremony, only leading to Kennedy attacking the (alleged) Chick Magnet (as I’m slowly running out of nicknames to call him by, as Punk gets repetitive) out cold. Form the relationship between Regal and Kennedy slowly, and building upon trust as Punk looks to exact revenge on Kennedy for his blindside attack, and attempts his hand at seeking redemption over Regal in hopes of showcasing that the black-blooded Englishman probably would have a tougher fight on his hands if the two started tangling while fresh – no prior matches or opponents to stack up odds in any favors.
Kennedy lending the hand to Regal leading to a bond building and a trust forming, all so Kennedy can seek out a favor from the Regal GM to force Punk into a match with the Greenbay blonde for the Money in the Bank title contract. This establishes the feud I suggested previously, and sets up the process of these two men getting a chance to work with one another and establish each other as main event threats down the line. Long term booking could play into all of this if you do it right, especially considering the Draft should be coming up particularly soon after Backlash, assuming it didn’t occur at this last Raw.
While I clearly oppose the idea of Punk working on Raw, this would be the way to do it and secure him, and Kennedy’s spot as top tier talents who rest high up the upper-mid-card. Though I’m sure if you wanted to think a little outside of the box, with a heel General Manager on SmackDown!, you could move the two over there and allow Vickie Guerrero to run the ball of what Regal started – though this would mean the Draft taking up a long proceeding much like with the 2005 draft. So sticking the two to tough it out on Raw will be a challenge for them as they’ll simply get lost in the shuffle unless a lot of moves get made, with Raw getting the general list of their superstars moved off the program.
But what does it matter? All of this will be moot by the time it goes to print, as Vince and company love to shit on what I have to suggest for these articles before I even have a chance to air them out. Go on, Steph – go drag Gerwitz out of that closet, wind up the little monkey, and watch him fling as much dung at the post-its on the wall to see what you run this week that only further deviates from what I suggest, and probably wouldn’t stick if you actually had gotten a proper monkey to fling the poo in the first place.
A Fall From Grace, An Age of Uncertainty
To be honest, it took me a while to get around to reading Ari Berenstein‘s piece about Jimmy Jacobs (Column of Honor 4.12.08: Life in Progress), but I have to admit, reading it in the context of the now, versus in the context of then makes it a hell of a lot more intriguing and revealing of the layers to Jimmy Jacobs’ character. It also paints the picture of where to lead Jimmy’s character down the road, while the Age of the Fall is left to wander off without a true leader anymore – though Tyler Black seems more than capable of doing this.
Ari’s piece really did a fantastic job of depicting a life unfinished, and a character in progress, as Jimmy continues to evolve and grow as a person. It does such a great job I almost have to rethink some of my own thoughts along with some of the whisperings I receive from a certain individual who spoils me rotten with ideas of what could be (Project 161 being a cast of ECW originals, for example). To say the least, I almost don’t want to travel down this path after reading what Ari had written there, but I’m going to go for it anyway – after all, this is the arm-chair booking article, after all.
| To say, at the very least, that the latest ROH VideoWire is in better shape would be a tremendous understatement. While, still, mostly rough footage that isn’t properly cut together, the video and audio quality is greatly improved, and a lot of it is easier to see and read, when necessary.
But that aside, this video may have planted a few seeds of doubt about this revolutionary stage in Jacobs’ life being over, at least in the sense of Jimmy maturing enough to understand how flexible his love for Lacey can become. This video, coupled with the knowledge Ari later laid down about Allison Wonderland and Tyler Black’s implied involvement in their relationship, as was noted in the Honorarium of Column of Honor 4.19.08: One Steen Nation, Under God, Indivisible. Having not seen Reckless Abandon just yet I’m going to go only on Ari’s word on this segment implying the flexible nature of Jacobs’ relationship with Lacey, and it would be a step back in character for Jimmy to be fine with this foursome (orgy) but be bitter and upset over Lacey’s involvement with Aries – I guess the rationale here would be that Jimmy shared Lacey with Allison and Tyler, where Lacey didn’t share Austin. You look at that any way you want, actually. |
Could Austin Aries just be a pawn for the Age of the Fall? |
So with all of that in mind, one could come to the conclusion, especially thanks to awkwardly weird circumstances planted in that same weekend, that this is part of some diabolical master plan. That Jimmy has conjured up some strategy to defeat the Briscoe’s, grow his stable one more in ranks, and destroy the foundation of ROH by taking, once again, the tag titles they never should have lost in the first place.
Let’s look at the circumstances:
It seems things are in place to allow Jacobs to pull off the greatest swerve in the history of this business, let alone in Ring of Honor history. Right now, everyone is firmly behind the idea that Aries and Jacobs are going to clash and will eventually have to kill one another over the affections of Lacey, but what if that was all just a rouse to pick apart the Briscoe’s and leave them in a vulnerable, and overly trusting position – a position that leaves them exposed for the Age of the Fall to attack and destroy? And not just the Briscoe’s but the entire company for this matter. Everyone is set up to experience a fall here, except the Age of the Fall. Perhaps their name is far more fitting than we initially thought?
But also, I know on Ari’s latest Column of Honor (4.26.08: Disarray), that he’s wanting more out of this storyline than the same old “ha, we tricked you” route that we’ve seen before in the Horsemen, but there’s a way to do that through this set-up: have Aries and Lacey eventually come to terms of telling Jacobs the truth.
Right now, they can play it all off as that’s what they wanted us to think, that Jacobs’ plan called for deceit and lies and heartache and that Lacey and Aries played up on it to give off the right illusion to the whole world. A few months come to pass and the truth becomes the ugly burden they don’t want to carry anymore, especially after Aries grows to become so fond of Jimmy, looking to him as the younger brother he never had. Treating him so tenderly like that of a loved family member, even taking in some of the brunt of abuse that would befall Jimmy if he didn’t step in to protect him. Lacey grows to be strained and distant; hating that she’s carrying such a secret – a betrayal of her own that plants the seeds for a new, bitter rivalry. This can do two things: one, it pulls the titles away from the Briscoe’s long enough to create a fresh new aura around them for when they come back later on in the year, and it allows the Age of the Fall to establish themselves before the ultimate crumble of it as Jimmy finally gets a chance to evolve into the next stage of life, that I’m presuming Ari wants to see [almost too soon].
We get the both worlds out of this scenario and all that is lost is a potential summer of Steen, and a summer of Jacobs. We could settle for a fall of Jacobs, if that pun isn’t witty enough on its own merit.
The big reveal could be that they lived out the lie Jimmy wanted them to feed us, and that they tried to hold off on their feelings for Jimmy’s sake. They didn’t want to hurt him, but holding in such a secret is tearing them up as they truly hold deep feelings for one another. The words from Lacey, “I love you Jimmy, but I’m not in love with you – anymore” would hold that much more meaning and hurt that much more. Being relegated to a dwindled flame? To be a past love that is now insignificant? To be the runner-up in the heart of the woman you bled for, and died for? To have gone through all he has, only to lose it to his own diabolical ingenious, and to a man he has come to know as brother? A man he looks up to and treats with better regard than his long time friend, Tyler? That would hurt oh so much more, because he’ll be torn with even more emotions than the ones he houses now, and it would be that much bitter considering it was his own doing. And all of this plays out for a scene where the ROH World Tag Team Championship really are in jeopardy, as a team is now split – Black and Jacobs would cease to function like they should, and all because Jacobs is troubled by his own doings.
For the most part, most of what he’s going through is very similar to what I’m writing, but to play it off this way would add much more pain to the words, especially considering that while it was his idea to try and persuade Aries to join him, even through Lacey, that it would have been him that pushed these two together thanks to his own plan. His idea sparked that love, and his persistence that they stay together for this act insisted that love to bloom and bud. That would be almost too bitter a pill for him to swallow as his anger would be turned inwards for his own insistence upon what would become the very thing that has betrayed him.
Booking Wild!!!
Dueces Wild tournament: 4 tag teams qualify through bouts on iMPACT!, heading into Sacrifice, where 8 singles competitors are then randomly paired off to form 4 more tag teams, leading into yet another melee scramble for the TNA World Tag Team Titles, as if this needed to be confusing for the sake of crowning new champions through an intricate tournament bracket, of some sort.
The TNA Knockout Make Over Battle Royale: a TNA Knockout’s over the top rope battle royale, with the final two participants then fighting in a ladder match, with the winner getting a number one contenders shot at the TNA Knockout’s Champion (when being the only question left to ask), while the loser gets a “make-over” by having her head shaved. So 4 stipulations rolled into one, or 4 gimmicks to a single match for the sake of furthering the idea that the Knockout’s division is far superior to the alternatives – the WWE Divas division.
I’m going to avoid really ranting on them for this, but I do have one question: how does Jim Cornette continue to sell this without his head exploding from the sheer nonsense he has to try and sell? I’m surprised he still wants to work here considering the Dueces Wild set-up made him look stupid, as any authority figure of his position should have been able to handle the Eric Young/Super Eric situation in a more intelligent manner, such as exposing the fact that there’s only one contract for Eric Young, and as such, Super Eric claiming to be a different person would constitute that he’s involving himself in matches that risks the company, and needs to be removed from the building, and clearly barred from the building at every show until he signs a contract with the company.
And speaking of contracts, is it about time I opt to forget about Cornette never getting Joe to sign that contract like he was supposed to? You know the one that Joe opted to get instead of that offer to get a title shot at the next pay-per-view?
General Thoughts and Comments
As per usual, the readers have their comments they wanted to share with me for my article last week, and we start off with guest to the site, Travis:
| I personally hope that the X-Division title change will lead to this…
A) A feud between Devine and Petey over Petey stealing his thunder and title… |
I guess that’s an upside, but from what I’ve heard some fans wanted, or would have preferred to see Lethal and Dutt’s feud be over SoCal Val and the X Title. I guess we could see something decent out of Devine and Petey, but I guess what upsets me the most about the way they went about moving the title to Petey was they blew an opportunity to build from Destination X to try and further elaborate a storyline there and add some value behind the title in the process. To me, it just felt like bad booking led to the decision of having an overly gimmicky cage match for the sake of keeping up a “tradition” while keeping out a number one contender such as Petey, for apparently no reason.
On a completely different note, bighustle opted to drop in with a rather lengthy comment of his own:
| This was a damned good article this week. I must say you’ve outdone yourself. You explained your gripes and they all made sense.
I too hate going through some of the comments on this site. I really like how u drove home the point that tna fans need not be complacent and actually give a damn about the product. I guess I can be guilty of it too sometimes and I would really like to see the company improve vastly from where they’ve been. Truth is, they’ve been on spike for 2 and a half years now and they’re audience hasn’t grown that much since the initial boom. They need to do a better job of selling the ppvs and tna fans actually need to get off of their asses and buy them. I also agree that it is absolutely ludicrous that some fans want so much for one company to topple the other. You’re absolutely right that WWE is an unstoppable juggernaut at this point and while ratings have decreased, profits have gone up tremendously since the attitude era. tna should focus on being a viable competitor, but I think the wrestling business will suffer if one company puts the other out of business. I think the need for making their ppvs seem significant is definitely something they should be concerned with. While it’s nice to see some twists and eventful happenings on impact, their ppvs should offer a larger level of excitement and intrigue. Watching Lockdown was painful at times because a lot of the matches seemed so meaningless. They did a poor job of selling and executing the fact that Lockdown is supposed to be the ppv where feuds get settled. Instead we got more exhibition style matches than actual grudge matches that fans could get emotionally attached to. And the matches that did promise a score to be settled under delivered. These are the type of basic kinks that TNA booking should know about by now. I also thought you were spot on when it comes to Number 1 contenderships in wrestling. ROH seems to give away their title shots like water, WWE has no logical ranking system and TNA uses the bait and switch tactic so often that it doesn’t matter who the number one contender is b/c you know they’re not gonna end up with the title or even the title shot for that matter for a considerably long time. This was a really good read, and set me back about half an hour, but it was well worth it. Keep it up. |
While guest Orlando had his own, small message to share with us:
| Great article Jarrod! Face it WWE marks, do you really want to see HHH have another 3 years of dominance and no story lines should TNA go out of business?
TNA fans, do we really want a world in which there’s only one main federation and it’s being booked by Vince Russo? With the rise of ROH we could seriously see wrestling on the rise again in a few years if people will stop with the Monday Night Wars crap. It’s over, time for a new era to begin! |
This was a similar consensus to guest lightning116 who had this rather large rant to showcase:
| I find it extremely hilarious how TNA fans are going “the WWE is going to go out of business” and “TNA is taking over wrestling” and “TNA is the future.”
Does TNA have a chance at running the WWE out of business? Do they? Not when they’re still gaining a profit. How much profit has TNA made……..one? Yeah, they’re gonna run the WWE out of business, all right. WWE already has their cash cow in John Cena (ACCEPT THE TRUTH, HATERS), TNA has one in Samoa Joe which they almost threw away. Joe is the champion, so what? If he was champion last year or 2006, then yeah. Now? No. And this article in a way made me miss WCW. If not for them doing tons of bad business ideas, not pushing the right people and not listening to their fans, they would probably still be running right now. And as for WCW made the WWF a lot better, that is a false statement. The same thing that killed WCW, is what almost KILLED the WWF back in the New Generation Era, along with the steroid scandal in 1994. WWF was at their WEAKEST when WCW took over from there. So, for TNA to take over the WWE, it must happen at their weakest……..which they sure as hell are nowhere near at the moment. And finally, what good would it be for a promotion to die? Did none of these wannabe smart marks not learn from WCW or ECW? Who loses more, the workers or the fans who enjoy the product? And that’s all I have to say about that |
And in my inbox over my e-mail account, a regular reader of mine, Greg Papanicolas only had this question to ask:
| Don’t see how the general consensus is everyone will hate TNA more than they like it. Did you do a poll I wasn’t aware of? |
The general consensus would be found in the figures and numbers surrounding the product, both real and estimated. I’d say more upon this subject, but there are limits to these articles, and I really am testing them with these new, long-winded novels that Ashish continues to generously allow on his site, while Larry Csonka continues to edit and judge my work to the standards of the site. So far, I think I’ve tested both of their patience much in the way certain people test my own.
And finally, rounding out the inbox for this week, reader and contributor to the TNA Revised, Steven Lavender had this to add to the article this week:
| I agree with you on the state of the fans in this great industry that I love. Most of them behave well (seeing as half are kids, that’s bound to be true right), but others show themselves to be the grade a assclowns that they are. It wouldn’t piss me off so bad if they gave an actual, you know, logical reason behind their hatred. If you can give me a good reason, then I can respect your opinion.
Also, I regret to inform you that I will not follow you to the new blogging format, but i will continue to read your article on this website. Thank you for the “job” opportunity. I will, however, still give you thoughts on your article. I would like to see a Chris Jericho/CM Punk feud over the Intercontinental Title/Money in the Bank match. I wouldn’t like to see him feud with MVP over the United States Title. I just want to see Matt Hardy get his due. I would like to see him feud with Edge over the Smackdown Title. I missed the Sean O’ Haire phase, but he does look like money. I was there for the rape of Matt Morgan’s career though. The sad part is I could do nothing to stop it. I thought Edge was a great heel before Lita. or at least a good character. Let me explain my rationale. Ok, he is determined, nay, fucking insane, about getting that title. He ties a battle royal with Chris Benoit. They do the pin tap out schtick. This next part is crucial. They hand Edge the title first. His eyes light up like he just got KISS tickets (big Edgehead, read the book, loved it). Then the ref comes over…takes the title right out of his hands….and gives it to Chris Benoit. And you can see his soul die through his eyes. So he just wants it that more. He gets in the elimination chamber, where Shawn Michaels gets in his way again. Money feud. After that, feud with Chris Benoit, slightly less money, but good enough. Then he rolled until Lita bailed him out. I’m a big fan of the wrestling doctor to. His ass has been thoroughly kissed by me as well Jimmy Jacobs as ROH Champion. I can dig it. That is all. Keep fighting the good fight sir. |
I never saw any fanfare in Edge’s first heel run on Raw, along with a lot of other fans who really never got behind him too much as he didn’t receive nearly as much heat as he would get when paired up with Lita.
More Bookings of TNA Sacrifice 2008
Last week I started out this section with a video from YouTube wrestling vlogger, Arman10701, with his video about booking Sacrifice coming up this May, and this week I had a lot of responses and comments with their own bookings for the TNA pay-per-view set to house the main event of Samoa Joe vs. Scott Steiner vs. Kurt Angle for the TNA World Championship.
But before I get to some of the actual comments, I know a lot of people hate these guys and think they’re useless in their own rights, but for this week I’m going to feature rvdtito4life‘s video that features some commentary about Lockdown and fantasy bookings for TNA‘s Sacrifice. Both Bill and Doug go off on their idea of how the Sacrifice card should look, with some interesting twists away from the reality, something that other readers of mine tried to stay as closely true to.
|
Petey Williams © vs. Jay Lethal Sting vs. James Storm vs. AJ Styles vs. Christian Cage LAX vs. Motor City Machine Guns Samoa Joe © vs. Booker T |
In addition to their card, they also made reference to the Kurt Angle and Samoa Joe World title match from Lockdown. And those are basically the same sentiments I held about the Angle and Joe match, the MMA start was an interesting idea but was done poorly for the fact that for every time they locked up, the fans would get into it, only for a rope break to be made thus killing whatever momentum was built up. I would have loved to see more strikes from Joe when standing, and that the two should have traded counters and mounts before any rope breaks rather than simple holds that would lead only into the rope breaks. It felt as though the two would simply rest up their energy when locked up on the ground, rather than really trying to tell a MMA styled story on the mat as they simply struggled with one another rather than struggling to reach for a break. Personally, this match could have felt that much better with a stronger opening to the action that would lead to the climax.
On the opposite spectrum, some of the reader fantasy cards look closer to what’s been planned than anything else, as demonstrated first with scipio2009:
| Nice to see an acknowledgment of the potential Punk/Kennedy feud being a potential star maker. 🙂
Fantasy Booking: TNA Sacrifice 2008 -TNA World Heavyweight Championship: -TNA World Tag Team Championship: -TNA World X-Division Championship: -Last Man Standing: -Sting vs. “Cowboy” James Storm -Streetfight: -Velvet Sky/Angelina Love vs. Traci Brooks/Roxxi Laveaux -Raiesha Saed vs ODB (Kong and Gail Kim as respective managers) |
Mordecai X chimed in with this card listing of his own:
| My TNA Sacifice 2008 fantasy card
-TNA World Championship -TNA X-Division Championship -Clockwork House of Fun Match -Best 3 out of 5 Tables Match -World X Cup showcase -Ultimate X match -Bunkhouse Brawl Match -Women’s Elimination Match |
And courtesy from the e-mail inbox, Joe Fino has contributed his vision of Sacrifice with this card:
| This is what i think should be the TNA Sacrifice 2008 Card.
TNA World Heavyweight Championship: Samoa Joe (c) vs Scott Steiner vs Kurt Angle |
Different tastes for various people, but hey, the constant theme of wanting to see the young stars catch a break should be something this company look to push a little more as there may be money in there.
And that’ll do it for this edition of Scripted Through Sin be sure to add your own thoughts, and check out all of the articles here on 411mania to keep yourself informed.
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