Yeah baby, Impact Spoilers. The first one makes me so f'n happy:

Credit: PWInsider

YES! Joe beats bitchboy Daniels down and gets his title back.

And YES! Eric Young v Sting! Kick fuckin ass. They finally woke up.

Rhino, Killings, and Styles seems like a pretty fine team represenative of TNA too. Just thank god it wasn't Luger or something.

HOLY FUCK! STING WRESTLING ON FREE TV!

(sets timer)

And wow, Joe is X-Champ again. Way to go with that eelvation, TNA. (sarcastic clapping)

The first week does look great. I'll definitely have to record that one.

Scrooge, sometimes you amaze me. Apparently you don't realize that elevating someone isn't something you do quickly. The slow burn is what works..............that's why they are doing it.

Why is Sonjay on "Team USA"? Or was that the recapper's made-up name for "random X-division guys slapped together"?

Crap, Team Canada and AMW look like the biggest wussies around if they have to bail out of the ring when MATT HYSON comes out! What's his name now, "Brother Spike"? The Network would love him.

No, Sonjay qualified for Team USA in the World X Cup. Even though he is billed from Bombay, India, he is a U.S. citizen.

They covered this on air too, so kudos to them.

Okay then...I'm still thinking of the World Baseball Classic where Americans suddenly became "Italians" and what not.

You make a good point, but how about this...

Joe has already gone over every possible threat in the X-Division, and in some cases, several times. There's nothing for him to do, which proves my theory correct because he's wrestling SABU of all people, instead of being in a title match.

Well, wrestling nowadays is like that all of the time Scrooge. The WWE does this more than anyone. How many fucking Angle/Cena matches have we had to watch over the last year and a half to two years? Plus, your argument holds no weight. Joe/Daniels feuded for a while, then they brought AJ into the mix. Joe never convincingly beat either of them. Do you realize that in all of their three way matches they fought (3 all together) that AJ, Joe, and Daniels all won one of them. So to me, that's pretty even. The only reason why Joe is fighting Sabu is that it's a challenge for Joe. He's never faced a guy like Sabu that is fucking out of his mind. It's to put Joe up against a guy that's not even remotely intimidated by him. IT'S GOOD BOOKING.

Did that at least bring up a different perspective for ya?

Kinda, but I still see Joe as someone who has nowhere to go but up, and TNA keeps sticking him in X-Division matches, where he's already proved dominant since last Summer. Yes, I'm defending Samoa Joe for not being pushed to where he belongs.

He's had far more character development than Christian, Rhino, Monty Brown, and Abyss (to name TNA's current crop of highly pushed guys). Brown and Abyss have been one note characters for years now (give Abyss the damn belt though!), and TNA keeps using Christian and Rhino as if they were still in WWE, except higher on the card with no explanation why. No changes were made to them other than a new way of spelling or a last name added on.

Well, Joe is someone who has nowhere to go but up. Although, why push him to the top when it'll just cause a "traffic jam" of sorts in the main event picture. You already have Jarrett, Sting, Abyss, Christian, Rhino there...............why push someone else up there. Joe will get his push, and it'll be at the right time. NOW, however isn't that time.

He HAS had more character development, but the other guys that you mentioned are going to be less developed because more people generally know who they are..............especially compared to Joe. They wrestled in the WWE and Joe is from the Indy's. Plain and simple, they are trying to attact the casual fan.....

Which brings me to another point...

By constantly using former WWE midcarders in their main events (Christian, Rhino*, Raven*), doesn't that look a little lazy? The 'established' stars should be used to bring in the casual fans (like Sting and Jarrett, or even, god help us, Scott Steiner), and the new stars TNA has made should be the hook to keep them, like Styles, Joe, and the aboved mentioned Abyss and Brown.

*-Yes, both were "big" stars in ECW 6-10 years ago, but ECW can hardly be compared to WWF or WCW in terms of main-stream success, plus Rhino and Raven were never much higher than the midcard in either of the big 2.

It WOULD be considered lazy, but they are doing that shit to keep Spike happy.

Spike TV is apparently ran by idiots. TNA does everything they want like signing 2 big names for a lot of money (Sting and the no talent hack*), and they still stick them in the death time slot of 11 p.m.

*-From 1989-1994, Scott Steiner was between the "very good-great" zone, but the guy has been a real chore to watch for the lasy 7-8 years.

Coooooool. :D

What's really sad is, since Steiner's been around, Jarrett is noticably bad on the mic. More than usual. Watching Impact, I thought, "Why is Jarrett speaking? Steiner's so much better on the stick."

Maybe it's just me, but Jarrett was never that good of a talker to begin with. he doesn't scream personality other than "pissed off hick."

He's never been that good, but Steiner being bearable makes Jarrett unbearable.

Jarrett's main problem is that he repeats someone's name about a million times when he's talking to them to try to get them to pay attention to him. Which is hard when the crowd is yelling and the laser lights are flashing and there are about ten people in the ring.

I've really thought that they'd be much better suited to just doing interviews backstage, without interruption. Sting's interview last week would have been MUCH better had it been backstage/pre-taped.

I thought Sting's interview in the ring was okay, but it screamed "canned heat". I saw all these people just standing there, and all this loud reaction going on.

Oh, and in regards to DK and Scrooge's little discussion, I would hardly say Joe has went over the entire X Division. They just need to book him into more things in the X division. Its like they don't trust anyone but Styles and Daniels (who are both feeling REALLY stale to me lately) so they just keep booking Joe with them.

Sonjay is over, Sabin is over, Shelley is over. None of these guys, and a host of others, have ever sniffed the X Title since Joe has been wearing it.

Part of the reason it would have been better as a pre-taped segment. The "canned heat effect" makes it look like the crowd isn't listening, while the flashing lights distract everyone watching from actually hearing what has to be said.

GOOD JOB TNA!

This is a good point here. I'm not saying they have to have anyone actually going over on Joe, but if they built someone up for a bit just to take a loss to Joe..........it would do wonders for whoever would be put in that position.

Joe has mauled Sonjay at least once since he became champion, and having Sabin be this big threat against Joe doesn't feel right, especially since he's been treated as a JTTS for the last 6-7 months.

Shelley is a heel, so it just wouldn't work. TNA still is obsessed with heel vs. face, despite the crowds not playing along 99% of the time.

Weather Sonjay was mauled by Joe or not..........they COULD do a really good underdog type deal with him. It would be better for Sonjay in the long run, but it's not like they'd do much with him though.

To be honest, I don't buy Sonjay as a threat against someone heavily protected in the booking like Joe. Maybe against Styles and Daniels, since they're about the same size and they have been booked to be flawed at times. To make Dutt look believable with SJ, they'll have to make Joe look considerably weaker, and right now, Joe is the biggest star TNA can have that wasn't made by WCW, WWF, or ECW.

Not necessarily Scrooge. They could build Sonjay up as a underdog threat. It's kind of like having Joe kick the shit out of him in a match. The next week Sonjay could come out and challenge him. Then in the match have Sonjay do surprisingly well, maybe get a DQ win or something. Therefore, Joe isn't hurt by it and Sonjay gets the rub just for working with Joe.

But TNA's booking of the X-Division guys not named Joe, Styles, or Daniels has always been questionable at best, so I doubt even if they did do something good with Dutt, they'd fuck him up a week later. Let's run down the current X Guys...


- Shelley is just now getting a minor push after being used as the fall boy for Tag teams in most of 2005. I know he's being pushed because he now has colorful non-Indy Jobber Tights™.
- Sabin went from one of my favorite champs in 2003 to pathetic loser 2 years later
- Aries and Strong get pushed one week, buried the next, and back to being pushed, and buried again.
- Elix Skipper has been even worse off than all of the above after having a fairly good run as a tag wrestler with Daniels and Low Ki from 2003-2004.
- Petey Williams is doing what exactly?
- Sonjay Dutt is probably the Barry Horowitz of The X-Division. He's a good worker that's rarely allowed to do anything but 2-3 signature spots before being squashed... and he jobs all the time.

Shelley has been consistantly pushed since he was thrown with Aries/Strong. After they were depushed/suspended though, he was the "director" gimmick with Team Jarrett.

Pathetic loser? I highly doubt that. He was pushed to the tag titles with Sonjay a few months back as a makeshift tag team. He's positioned better than everyone in the x-division outside of Joe/Daniels/AJ.

They'll be pushed again once they are off of their depush/suspension.

Skipper is fucking terrible. I might even be so bold to say that I've never seen a wrestler digress so much EVER...............at least without injury issues.

He's a member of Team Canada who is constantly involved in everything. Petey has been used as more of a tag member recently and will be heavily involved in the whole X-Cup thing they have going on.

He jobs to the main guys, but is pushed against the curtain jerkers. He's simply a case of he'll eventually get his shot. His matches on PPV have been good and that's who they debuted Joe on PPV against..................and he did well in the match.

Alex Shelley: he's perfect in the role he is in now, though I really hope his push continues to increase. I would really love to see the X title on him sooner than later.

Chris Sabin: Sabin's biggest problem is that he's been there for so long and newer talent keeps coming in and getting pushed. However, Sabin is still portrayed as being a strong force in the X division.

Aries and Strong: I agree with Scrooge. They were getting a really inconsistent push before the suspension.

Elix Skipper: is fucking useless. I wouldn't bat an eye if he was fired tomorrow.

Petey Williams: his part in Team Canada keeps him busy, so I'm not depressed if I don't see him gunning for the X title every other month. Besides, his awesome X title match with AJ Styles from Genesis is still fresh in my mind.

Sonjay Dutt: I agree with DK on this one.

Has Skipper really gotten that bad? In 2003 he was one of the highlights in a (at the time) poor roster. All I've seen him in for the last year was being squashed.

Yes, he's horibble now. I was a big suppoter while in WCW and in his changeover to TNA. It seems like ever since that match he got a concussion against AMW, he's just lost his confidence or something.

I never thought he was that good to begin with. Put him with Norman Smiley and bury their asses*.





























* I mean, literally bury them. As in stick them in caskets and put them six feet under

Well, since the feeling is mutual here........have you guys EVER seen anyone that you can remember go downward so fast and get soooo bad as Skipper has?

Sean O'Haire looked terrible in his 2003 WWF Run compared to what he was doing in WCW when he was greener, but that was probably the imaginary WWE Style holding him back.

It was frustrating watching O'Haire in 2003. I mean, really, O'Haire, along with Mark Jindrak and Chuck Palumbo, were better in their green WCW rookie days than they were in their respective WWE runs.

Yeah, but O'Haire didn't get to the point where he was screwing up big moves and generally being careless in the ring. O'Haire just plain wasn't a good worker. He was better without the reigns, but if the WWE would have let him do the stuff he wanted, we could have had Elix part 2: Electric Boogaloo on our hands.

Let's see how many people here DON'T get that reference.

I know whenever people use the term "Electric Boogaloo", it's far from a good thing.

Seriously, RVD is getting close.

I'll admit, since his return he's pretty much been the shits................but I wouldn't say he's gotten that bad......YET.