Welcome to H&S and thanks for reading. Inside you’ll find the usual weekly recaps as well as a huge news section below on both ROH and TNA. I will be putting up a detailed ROH report very soon. Enjoy, and be sure to check the TNA/ROH blog throughout the week for the latest news.
TNA on PPV (8/4):
After all the bickering since last week between Vince Russo and Dusty Rhodes, Rhodes said that everything had been worked out, so the practically two hours of bickering between the two on television wasn’t for naught. David Young said he was done with the company, which was the stipulation for his loss to Mike Posey.
1. Raven over Sabu in 11:55. This was billed as the main event, so TNA took a page out of WWE’s book putting it on first. Overall, the match exceeded expectations but fell short of all the talk. They brawled and bladed for good measure. I have to give TNA this: they tried.
D-Ray 3000 and Shark Boy are working for Goldylocks since she obtained their contracts last week. They don’t have writing like this anymore, and for good reason. Alex Shelley was mad because Shark Boy didn’t take the tails off of her shrimp. The neglected Abyss was in the trunk of the car and angry. This led to…
2. Abyss over Sonny Siaki in 7:35 meaning that Siaki is now owned by Goldylocks. I was expecting Abyss to turn this week, but no such luck for him. Deisre attacked Goldylocks again, and Shelley saved her. This distracted Siaki, who lost. They ignored Abyss again after his win.
3. Kazarian and Michael Shane (co-X champions) defeated Jerry Lynn and Chris Sabin in 8:22. The match was not as good as you would think. Shane did the sweet chin music on Sabin, upon whom was done a sunset flip by Kazarian to win. A.J. Styles died for this?
Vince Russo did his long awaited promo, and they are back to pushing him even though they had scaled back on it several weeks ago. He talked about backstage politics and overcoming them and not leaving TNA like he did WCW and WWF (although I’m under the impression that’s the plan since he wants to become a man of the cloth). He announced the creation of the long awaited championship committee (who will decide when Hardy will fight Jarrett). He announced Harley Race (although I’d say its 50/50 that Race actually knows he made this commitment), Larry Zbyszko, and a former world champion, one of the greatest wrestlers ever, and the greatest of all time in Texas. As Rhodes stood up, he announced Terry Funk. When Rhodes came out, Russo explained that Rhodes is too emotional and close to the situation. Jeff Jarrett came out and fought with Rhodes. Why does this feel so… old? Jeff Hardy ran in to freshen things up as most people had already predicted how this was going to go. Rhodes was about to hit Jarrett with the guitar but Brown came out and gave him the pounce. Then Ron Killings ran in. I’ll give them this: they have diversity. You’ve got an old man, a soon-to-be minister, two blacks, and a hick.
4. Pat Kenney over Vito in an Irish hardcore thing in 6:41. To give you the necessary glimpse into this, I’ll say that it was worse than the one two weeks ago. This was patterned after Let’s Make A Deal, except in this case Monty Hall was Satan (Dutch Mantel). You had to get a ball, which had a key in it and there were three trunks, two with nothing in them, and the other with weapons. This reminds me remotely of a tournament TNA had last year where you got points for putting people through tables and hitting them with irons that was just as bad. New Jack and Sandman got to the finals. It’s telling that neither work here anymore. Anyway, they fought over the ball. Both of the empty trunks were opened. Glenn Gilberti (the man who had the brilliant ideas of an alien and nascar driver-like characters in wrestling) ran in and stole the ball, so that makes the match a no contest or something. David Young, who quit or was fired, beat him up and gave the ball to Kenney. Kenney opened the trunk and there were green lids and chains. Trinity interfered and ended up helping Vito. Kenney won. Ugh.
5. AMW over Team Canada in a country whipping match in 8:32. The whips were attached to the ropes. This was a good match and these are the two best teams in the company right now, mainly because they are reliable in the ring. After AMW won, they had D’Amore but the rest of Team Canada ran in and then Triple X ran in.
6. A.J. Styles over Kid Kash in 14:20. Good match to finish the show. Dallas interfered but Styles still kicked out of a pin attempt.
thumbdown (0k image) It has been said that Jerry Jarrett thought that this was an example of the ideal episode of TNA. In a sense it was, all of the matches made sense, had been built adequately, and were aimed to be climactic finishes that paid the PPV crowd off for paying. However, this show was emblematic of a wrestling show that books consistently but that has wrestlers and characters that mean nothing to the customers, and most everything on this show fell flat. The last match of Styles vs. Kash (because it was good and the feud itself wasn’t bad) and Harris and Storm against Team Canada (because the match was good) were the only exceptions. With the Vince Russo and Dusty Rhodes debate over Jeff Hardy it was obvious that TNA was trying to create an atmosphere for people to care about Dusty Rhodes feuding with Vince Russo, but they simply did not. Russo went out to give his promo where he would rectify all of the problems in the company, and no one could have cared less. Pat Kenney and Vito didn’t work because no one cared about either of them, Vito is horribly untalented, and their last match was horrible. This rematch managed to be worse. There’s nothing like a losing streak to make people stop caring about a wrestler and that can be multiplied several times for David Young.
The ongoing Goldylocks saga isn’t necessarily booked poorly, but Goldylocks is uniquely great as a turn-off factor. At least they announced the gauntlet match for the X title next week. The match with Lynn and Sabin was somewhat disappointing. The most disappointing thing on the show was the feud between Raven and Sabu. Out of all of the matches on the card, it had the most build and the end was a disappointing brawl that failed to get over with the fans. TNA still has a lot of work to do before these PPVs are at the level they need to be on a week-to-week basis, which further illustrates the need to a schedule that more resembles what has been a proven success in PPV.
This is the latest card for next Wednesday:
—Jeff Jarrett vs. Jeff Hardy, not the match, but the announcement as to when it will happen will be made by the new championship committee (Harley Race, Terry Funk, and Larry Zbyszko)
—20-man gauntlet match (similar to the Royal Rumble) for the X-Division title. Michael Shane and Kazarian must decide who goes first and who goes 20th. The announced names are A.J. Styles, Kid Kash, Sonjay Dutt, Amazing Red, Jerry Lynn, Nosawa, Miyamoto, Petey Williams, Psicosis (first booking in a long time), L.A. Park (the original La Parka), and Nigel McGuinness (who works in Ring of Honor and will be making his TNA debut). There is more on the Psicosis and Park booking in the news section.
—America’s Most Wanted (Chris Harris and James Storm) vs. Triple X (Christopher Daniels and Primetime) for the #1 contendership to the NWA World Tag Team Championship in part one of a best of three series for the title
—3Live Kru vs. Team Canada for a “future shot at the NWA World Tag Team Title
—Another contract vs. money challenge: Alex Shelley vs. a mystery opponent to be chosen by Desire
—David Young (0-89) vs. Glenn Gilberti in a “final gutcheck challenge.” Young was supposed to quit the last two times he lost, but this is supposedly the final match he can lose before he is fired.
Impact on Fox Sports Network:
*America’s Most Wanted over Antonio Banks and Sal Rinnauro in 2:43.
*Monty Brown over Bruce Steele in 1:58. Somehow this led to Raven coming out and getting attacked by Sabu, so I assume that feud isn’t over like I was assured by the advertising last week.
*A.J. Styles over Jason Cross in 3:38.
*Jeff Hardy over Gabriel in 2:03. After Hardy won, they showed a lot of women in the crowd cheering.
*Kazarian, Michael Shane, Kid Kash and Petey Williams over Christopher Daniels, Primetime, Sonjay Dutt, and Chris Sabin in 9:42. Everyone brawled to close the show.
thumbup (0k image) Jeff Hammond’s segment this week was tips on how to win the 20-man gauntlet match for X-title and there was nothing to it at all. There was nothing noteworthy on the show, but they did a good job promotion Wednesday’s show with the video packages.
Impact on 7/23 did a 0.26, a hundredth of a point below the current average.
ROH NEWS SUMMARY: The Chicago Sports Review reviewed the Chicago Ridge Ring of Honor event two weeks ago.”Words will not do justice to what happened in this match,” wrote Luis Arroyave. “The events were so shocking and terrifying that I at times question my ability to truly enjoy all of it. Yet there is no questioning the ambition and heart of the participants. The competitors tested every level of the human body leaving everything they had in the ring. Ring of Honor promised a street fight, but delivered a massacre. You would think a match involving chairs and ladders couldn’t get any more brutal, but then you’ve never seen a man get knocked into a board covered in barbed wire. It wasn’t so much seeing him fall into it, rather seeing him getting off of it with wire still clinging to his skin. Now do you understand my Pulp Fiction analogy? The night truly hit its peak when one fan decided to throw their chair in the ring. Stunned, I noticed a second fan throw their chair, then another followed, and then another. Suddenly chairs were showering the ring from nearly every direction. While those in attendance roared with excitement at the scene, tapes may show that I ran a good 25 feet away from my seat fearing a riot. Tapes will also show that I left my date behind, but that’s simply not true. Being the showmen they are, the wrestlers continued the match stepping and falling on the steel chairs until C.M. Punk & Ace Steel scored the victory. If the battle of Gettysburg had taken place in a wrestling ring, this is what the aftermath would have looked like. The ring was decorated with puddles of blood, dented chairs, and bloodied barbed wire. Somewhere in this crazy universe, Satan was smiling.”
On that July 24 main event, ROH booker Gabe Sapolsky told the Torch defended the hardcore style of the match. “It was a violent, hardcore fight and one of the wildest matches in ROH history. The fans were chanting ‘ROH’ instead of ‘ECW’ when the chairs where thrown in and the barbed wire were used and that says a lot about the identity and brand we’ve established…. We’ve always had a violent product. We had barbed wire boards on our sixth ever show. We had a no rope barbed wire match last year. Those are just a couple of examples. We don’t have violent matches for the sake of violence, it’s always built up to. The match on Saturday was almost a year in the making. When the guys have a feud that escalates, it needs a violent conclusion sometimes and that’s what we saw on Saturday.”
The inaugural class of the C.M. Punk-led Ring of Honor wrestling school is coming to a close, and the next class is scheduled to begin in fall. They will be conducting two tryouts for the next class, which will occur on the afternoon of August 29 and September 12. It costs $50 non-refundable to tryout. You can email ROHhelp@aol.com or call 215-781-2500 for more information… In an update on the possible use of Christopher Daniels and A.J. Styles, no deal has been reached. It’s unlikely that anything will happen soon because both are booked on weekends for awhile.
Cards and tours: The September 11 (and talk about not being able to write that date without thinking about the connotations) ROH date in Elizabeth featuring Mick Foley will be dubbed “Glory By Honor III.” The card will also feature C.M. Punk vs. Austin Aries, the first time that confrontation will happen… IWA: Puerto Rico did a tour called Ring of Honor Invasion in Coamo and Yauco on 7/30 and 7/31. On the former date, Homicide and Bad Boy Bradley lost to Ricky Banderas and New Jack; and Chicano and Slash Venom went to a draw with Dan Maff and B.J. Whitmer. The next night saw Chicano and Venom go over Homicide and Whitmer; and Banderas over Homicide… The card for 8/28 in Boston (Braintree) is Samoa Joe vs. Homicide vs. C.M. Punk; Tag titles: Ricky Reyes and Rocky Romero vs. the Briscoes; Pure title: Doug Williams vs. John Walters; and the Scramble Cage… Loc and Devito of the Carnage Crew have been added to the lineup for Scramble Cage… The reunion of one of the greatest tag teams of pro wrestling history—Midnight Express—will occur at the promotion’s next Philadelphia show. The 10/2 show will feature Jim Cornette, Bobby Eaton, Dennis Condry, and Stan Lane… Pure champion Doug Williams will be in England defending the Pure title on 8/14 for the WXW promotion.
ROH booker Gabe Sapolsky posted a letter on his website’s forum where he said the Scramble Cage gimmick on the 8/28 show was created to oppose H2Wrestling’s competition (although he didn’t mention them by name) and that after intense debate, since the match was announced and people had purchased tickets, that the dangerous match would be kept on the show… Teddy Hart would like to come back, now that H2Wrestling is out of business, but he’s not wanted… The website Declaration of Independents reported that Tommy Dreamer had interest of leaving WWE and coming to work for ROH, possibly as a booker. Tommy Dreamer is one of the few people in that company who I would believe had such an interest, especially when considering a consistent paycheck vs. indies. The report suggested that his link to the company was Rob Feinstein, so when that collapsed, so did his interest.
TNA NEWS SUMMARY: For the past few weeks, Bert Prentice, who promotes wrestling in Nashville and works with TNA in the box office, would not sell tickets to fans who attend the shows of his competitor. That competitor, Tony Falk, also works for TNA. TNA has let the situation continue unchecked and those consistent fans are now using freebie tickets instead, which are the majority of the tickets that are given out. Scott Hudson, who works for TNA as well as both promoters, has removed himself from the Prentice promotion.
It is now being reported by multiple sources that TNA is planning to take a page out of WWE’s book in both live events promotion and PPV promotion. Management is said to be leaning toward possibly doing touring live events in strong markets for the TV and PPV. The Pro Wrestling Torch is reporting that those markets include Cleveland and San José, CA. That would be a huge mistake, especially considering they are bleeding money at this point. A better decision they are contemplating is scratching the weekly PPVs in favor of television promotion for a monthly Sunday supercard. Apparently, they might be pulling the trigger on this in November.
There is a lot of background on this, but the partnership between TNA and the inconsistent Antonio Peña’s Asistencia Asesoria y Administracion (AAA) promotion. The last few issues between the two have been over Hector Garza (who TNA continually would like to book, but he had a nasty split with AAA) and Jeff Jarrett not being booked on the promotion’s biggest annual event Triplemania. From now on, TNA will be booking independent Mexican talent, who are in high demand right now. The original Psicosis and La Parka (L.A. Park for legal reasons) will be brought in for the X-Division tournament next week. Hector Garza is a free agent right now if you ask him (claiming being owed a lot of money on AAA’s part), but Peña believes he is breaching contract… Combat Zone Wrestling now is on DirecTV PPV.
Talent: James Mitchell, who technically is still under contract with TNA but hasn’t been used in months, appeared at last Thursday’s Impact tapings where he met with Jeff Jarrett prior to the tapings and left. Mitchell lives in the area. It has been rumored that when Dutch Mantel was brought in from IWA: Puerto Rico, he said it was time to get rid of the vampires, a thinly-veiled shot at Mitchell. The idea is to reform his tag team, the New Church, with Slash and Lex Lovett (who has been used on Impact, and must have made an impression)… Johnny Fairplay, whose troubles have been well documented, doesn’t look to be brought back to the company… Brian “Spanky” Kendrick, who works with the Zero-One promotion in Japan and recently worked with WWE, was backstage at one of the TNA tapings this week and is expected to start working for the group very soon… Jeff Hardy’s behavior has improved. There have been no incidents with him for the past two weeks… There was another situation with Vito, with TNA telling him that he wasn’t needed for his normal date with them, so he made arrangements to appear on another indy show. The day before his appearance at that show, they changed on him and said that he was needed, and he said that he wasn’t willing to no-show the other promotion.
TNA has some upcoming DVD releases. In about a month they will be releasing “Phenomenal: Best of A.J. Styles” and “Best of America’s Most Wanted” in September. Both will feature comments from the profiled and are about five hours in length. You can pre-order both for $24.95 at tnawrestling.com.
That’s all for this edition of Headlines & Scrutiny, thank you for reading. Look for an update this weekend on the Ring of Honor show here at TBL and also at the TNA/ROH weblog.
Matchmaker
Trevor Hunnicutt
THunnicutt@aol.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.
