This is TBL and you are reading a special pure news edition of Headlines and Scrutiny. My email address is trevor@thebalrogslair.com so be sure to send everything pertaining to this column there, I certainly welcome your thoughts good or bad.
Johnny Swinger had a ruptured appendix on 9/24 for which he had an appendectomy on 9/25. I don’t imagine he will be back until at least the 10/15 show… Sonjay Dutt is being booked by TNA next month… Erik Watts did an interview with my good friend Wade Needham and Kyle Johnson over at world-wrestling.net. There wasn’t much of note except a part where Watts of all people said that “young guys” don’t tell a story in the ring. OK Troy… In a wrestlingobserver.com interview CW Anderson said that he doesn’t understand why TNA hasn’t contacted him, “…I have no idea why. I represent the NWA in Japan but they have no use for me in America. Steve (Corino) and I must not have carried their bags or something because I have no idea why they won’t use me.” Well, you don’t have to be hostile about it… Rash crap with a lot of announcements, none formal… Borash had a picture of some redneck with a race car that said NWA-TNA. I thought to myself, what are the chances that those letters assembled there by coincidence or accident…. Borash says the announcement on the video game deal, high definition TV, PPV pre-show is coming soon. “As far as the PPV pre-show that starts this Wednesday, it should be noted that not every market will be carrying it from the onset. With time, we expect full marketplace clearance, but it will be a gradual process to get everyone on board.” That sounds a lot like carny for “we got Bill Mahered.” But here’s the real crap. “The premiere broadcast will be seen in at least half of the iN Demand households nationwide. This is the equivalent of TNA getting a free national TV time slot for to promote our PPV broadcasts.” On what planet? If it was, then WWE wouldn’t have made Free for All another Afterburn/Bottom Line… TNA is stealing a mix between the Fanatix Series and Confidential now for Comcast VOD users (Video on Demand). It airs free in Baltimore, MD, Richmond, VA, Boston, MA, Harrisburg, PA, New Jersey, Philadelphia, PA, Detroit, MI, Indianapolis, IN, Atlanta, GA, Charleston, WV, Huntsville, AL, Mobile, AL, Savannah, GA and eventually in Hartford/New Haven, CT (I’m going to move to Connecticut to find out why these two places are always connected), Albuquerque, NM, Denver, CO, Portland, OR (Yay! Piper), Seattle, WA, Jacksonville, FL, Knoxville, TN, Nashville, TN, Los Angeles, CA, and Sacramento, CA…. TNA Xplosion is also soon going to be availible on the DirecTV sports package. So while you’re watching MLW and IWA, you can watch Xplosion. More next week… Response on Xplosion in high definition is supposedly good. Really, you cattle, it’s just another toy that you’ll ignore in a year… Borash said that he expected Kid Kash/Abyss vs. AMW to “steal the show.” But Abyss and Kid Kash suck… Blackshirt Rick Santel, no pun intended, suffered a shoulder separation, and will be out for some time… Borash says TNA officials sat next to Donna Summer on a plane and she’s fat. Hmmm didn’t he say something a few months ago to the effect of she was a fan. Oh look at me I’m Jeremy Borash. I namedrop and was in a Chris Rock movie for a fraction of a second!… Christopher Daniels had a baby girl.
The Interactive Interview did an interview with Scott Hudson, who now is officially full time with TNA. Thank God they got rid of that bitch Goldy. Well, she wanted to be in an angle, and they gave her one, the good ol’ kidnaping. Hudson turned 39 recently and he’s been watching wrestling for 33 years back when he liked Bob Armstrong. Hudson is a criminal investigator for the government and he has several degrees in criminal justice but, and I’m quoting the release here “a DJ in college.” He’s upset that the GWF crashed and burned. And says that if it came in 1987 or 1997 it would’ve worked. I’m not sure if that’s true. The argument is that GWF was smarter than WWF was in the early 90s. So was Crockett but it didn’t work. WWF was successful because of marketing, business savvy, and most importantly business risks. That’s why people bought Hogan-era slow wrestling instead of fresh, fast wrestling. Plus it was too southern. And what was that other technique Vince used. Ah yes, bombardment. Credibility is extremely important and I’ve sung the praises of people like Lance Russell (who’s worked in Memphis wrestling for 600 years and still does) and Gordon Solie for years but let’s understand why WWE is where it was in 1999 (a certain image of what wrestling should be) and in 2003 (the long effects of having no credibility, among other things). Says hes been with GWF, WCW, and North Georgia Wrestling Alliance (a small Georgian promotion that used local guys and early New Jack and Disco Inferno, they lasted from 1991 to December of 1997). Hudson announced his affection for live television. That’s fixing to be a new psychological disease. He says that the biggest problem of WCW was creative control. It really isn’t simple enough to say in a sentence or two. In fact, Bryan Alvarez and RD Reynolds, and Dave Meltzer are writing books about it. Hudson says it’s the same as giving Jennifer Anniston creative control on Friends and having her be able to say “I don’t thing I wanna do that.” She already has the power to say that. He says the nWo Souled Out PPV was as unscripted as it seemed. That entire PPV was disgusting. He says black Sunday was where Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko, Chris Benoit, and Perry Saturn jumped to WWE and how that should have signified more. A lot of things should have… He said a huge night in his life was the April 10, 2000 Nitro where Russo and Bischoff came back and stripped the titles (“where are your scissors, Sid?”). That show was a lot of fun. Vince and I really would share in the joy of sitting down with a beer (and I don’t even drink beer) and watching all those old Nitros together (see the RAW-Nitro simulcast). Hudson respects Jim Ross the most in WWE. He also adds that “Michael Cole and Tazz should buy each other huge Christmas gifts as they compliment each other so well.” He said that he had his tryout with them with Michael Hayes and passed their tests but couldn’t quit his federal job to work for them. He speaks about that awful Bagwell/Booker match where Bagwell just couldn’t wrestle and Booker T was having a hard time working the WWE ring. You know, you all should write a column like this, you’ll be surprised how much you remember. Borash musing over. He talks about Don West improving. A lot of that is just familiarizing himself with the product but, like feta cheese, he’s still an acquired taste. I consider him a plus. Hudson thinks that Orton and Cena getting pushes is directly related to TNA’s success with younger people. I wish WWE payed attention to TNA that much. Those moves are largely internal. A gimmick was thought up for Hudson in the early 90s where he’d be a parole officer manager. Luckily, that never got past Russo’s underwear drawer. Hudson said he was a quasi-heel in the South Georgia Alliance. Hudson the one major change he would make if he had the book would be to use the women more. That wouldn’t be my first choice. Hudson told a nice story of Jeff Jarrett, whose wife Jill, has been through breast cancer and talked to his mother when he got it for over thirty minutes, comforting her.
That’s all again for this week, you’re support in reading this column is greatly appreciated. Stay tuned to the site throughout the week for the best in news, news analyses, and commentary. Shalom.
Matchmaker: Trevor Hunnicutt
trevor@thebalrogslair.com
– Feedback in regards to the above article may be emailed to THunnicutt@aol.com. With the amount of time each author puts into an article, your responses are appreciated.
