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| Sacrifice Notes Sacrifice was the expected good show and almost all the matches were above average, though it lacked the one killer match. The crowd was a problem, as they had to show up at 3pm to get the best seats and, with waiting out in the hot sun, it drained them. TNA will attempt to do PPV’s away from Orlando, with talk of the first one held away being the September PPV. Response to the PPV to the Observer, which has mirrored the buy rates, were like Lockdown in that they were both down 27% from Destination X and Against All Odds and down 33% from Final Resolution (Sting’s return, and it got 50,000 buys) Says TNA has created or lucked into it’s first intense angle with Joe vs. Steiner. Said you could see it was a different kind of heat while the fans chanted “Joe is gonna kill you at Steiner”. Dave attributes it to the fans liking and believing in Joe, but Steiner’s portrayal is such that they aren’t sure (I presume he means they aren’t sure Joe can take Steiner). Also said there was a crowd intensity that showed it could have the potential to be something different than anything the company as done since coming to Spike. Said the angle saw the crowd come alive in a big way, after being tired for a while, whenever Joe and Steiner were in together. Said Joe was portrayed as a big star in the company, which he called a breakthrough. Joe didn’t work a lot with Steiner has they are saving it for the singles program. Says the long term plan appears to be Joe becoming the top face, but they are building it up slowly. Said Christian vs. Abyss died after the tag match, saying it showed the match order was wrong. Dave thinks TNA will do what WWE does, and put a filler match on to give the crowd time to get their wind back before the main event. Says Christian is a good talker, but this reign seems to show that he is not a viable face World champion. Dave doesn’t think it’s the midcarder perception from WWE holding over but that Christian lacks that main star presence. Thinks that while hardcore fans believed he was better than he was treated in WWE, it hasn’t helped TNA to have a world champion who got beaten so much on Raw and Smackdown. Thinks his ultimate, as in what would eventually be, programs with Joe or Sting would fit into what he’s best at, but they are months away. Says turning him heel is the right move, but it might not be the right time, and it might not even work still. Dave thinks there are for viable candidates to put the belt on if they want to take it off of him; Jarrett, but it’s the wrong time, Monty Brown, but needs to improve a lot and get over more, Abyss, who might be the right type of champion but fits in with the contenders, and Steiner, who looks good on paper but would self-destruct in his first title match (I assume Dave means he’ll be exposed). Dave thinks Joe is the guy who should have the belt eventually, but that it many months down the line. Says Christian is lacking a believability aspect, and while a good worker, isn’t outstanding or charismatic enough to overcome his lack of being physically intimidating force. Says Christian was set for a long babyface run as champion, and it’ll be obvious on 6/18, the next PPV, if they’re sticking with the plan or changing things. For 6/18, there is talk of Joe vs. Steiner in a singles, and probable rematches with Styles and Daniels vs. AMW and Team 3D vs. The James Gang in a Last Man Standing match, and Rhino vs. Bobby Roode and Scott D’Amore in a handicap match. Dave also guesses at a Raven vs. Larry Zbyszko hair match, and that Cornette is scheduled to debut as the new authority figure. Dave rips into the Kevin Nash angle, saying it’s blowing up in their faces. Says Nash will do the job but will do it in the manner he usually does, in that it won’t get the other guy over a lick. Says Nash can put over Joe and it’ll mean something but Nash putting over Sabin won’t help Sabin any more than Hurricane was helped when he beat Rock. Says Nash is making it cool for people to laugh at the X-Division. “If you even joke that these little guys really aren’t tough, people pick up on it. If you expose in an angle that management pushes this stuff that shouldn’t be more than filler, you bury the company in the way you killed the last one. If you make the announcer out to be uncool, you’ve basically killed him, which was another way they killed WCW.” Says the funny part is that when the angle was first suggest people laughed at how stupid it was and what it did in WCW and yet are doing it anyway. References to how WCW would bury the cruiserweights for a while then give one of them a fluke win that nobody would buy. Says that angle came out on TV as everyone should have seen it; Nash came across a cool babyface and was cheered while the X-Division as a unit was buried. The New Japan and TNA relationship is on shaky ground. The plan was for a three-way tie with Japan, Canada and the US to set up a three-way match on Impact with Liger, Williams and Sabin. Liger was set to beat Williams and a Japan guy would come second in the rumble. Then New Japan told TNA they didn’t want Liger wrestling two straight days, so New Japan was taken out of the playoff. New Japan insisted Liger’s win come due to interference, but TNA wasn’t happy as they felt Liger was going to be the babyface. They argued that they had booked a number of screwjob finishes already and felt the opener should end clean, but agreed on CTU being at ringside, and then the Japanese did their finish anyway. Ratings: Liger vs. Williams: **1/4 AMW vs. Styles and Daniels: ***3/4 Raven vs. A1: ½* Roode vs. Rhino: **1/2 James Gang vs. Team 3D: **1/2 (Dave joked about Kip being gassed out by the finish when he looked in the best shape, while Bubba, who doesn’t look in shape, wasn’t tired at all) The Rumble: ***1/4 Joe and Sting vs. Steiner and Jarrett: ***1/2 Christian vs. Abyss: **1/2 Other news Cornette had his knee operation on 5/9 and the damage was much worse than originally thought. He had to have torn cartilage reattached and be given a full ACL transplant. His recovery time will be longer, but he’ll still appear on the 6/18 PPV. Cornett was told that if he hadn’t been injured and got the surgery then he was a year away from needing a full knee replacement. Goldberg got his first money offer from TNA this week but turned it down. With his son just being born, it’ll be unlikely to get him to do anything, as he’s not only received offers from all over the place, but he still sees his market value as it was in 1998. They are going an angle with LAX complaining about working conditions to play off the Latin worker issues making the news. Homicide should be getting a chance to show off his stuff soon with his shoulder now better. There is talk of a Homicide/Sen She vs. Daniels/Styles match or program so they can see Homicide working with good people. Juventud Guerrera has been calling for work again. The TV main events for 6/1 and 6/8 will either be Sting vs. Jarrett and Steiner vs. Raven or Sting vs. Steiner and Raven vs. Jarrett. Dave thinks the latter two matches more likely, as Jarrett will almost certainly be in KOTM. The loser of Sting vs. Steiner would likely face Joe, making Steiner the obvious winner, though that may change if Joe can’t wrestle in time. Brian Lee was backstage looking for work, claiming to have been clean for over a year, and looking much bigger than when he was last here. |
| QUOTE (The Last Free Voice @ May 23 2006, 10:23 AM) |
| Ki/Cide vs. Daniels/AJ? Sign me up. |
| QUOTE (SamoaRowe @ May 24 2006, 10:16 AM) |
| Not much good news for TNA this week, but I'm glad Joe is getting the push and that they will be heading outside of Orlando for a pay-per-view soon. |