Wrestling Thread Feb 8-14 | 2/14 TNA Against All Odds - Styles vs Joe | Angle vs Anderson

[4wrestling]

I need to be brief now, but I will be around for tonight's show.

Last week William Shatner made a Unified Tag Team Title Triple Threat Match between DX, The Miz Show, and The Straight Edge Society.  Considering DX doesn't even carry the titles and they don't have to lose this match to lose the titles, I'd bet my life we have new tag team champs tonight.

Last week John Cena, Randy Orton, Kofi Kingston, HHH, and Ted Dibiase won qualifying matches for the Raw Elimination Chamber to face Sheamus.

Bret Hart cut a great promo last week on Vince McMahon.  Vince cut a pretty good promo as well.  It looked like Bret would get the better of Vince until Batista attacked Bret allowing Vince to spit in Bret's face.  It became painfully clear from this segment that Bret Hart cannot endure any type of physical punishment, thus making sense why Batista and John Cena are getting involved.  In an interesting move, the WWE acknowledged what happened after Raw went off the air.  That isn't a move we've seen since the Nitro days.  Maybe that's a bad sign.

We were supposed to get Maryse vs Gail Kim last week for the vacant Divas Title, but it didn't happen and there was no explanation.  Maybe we'll get it this week.

 

[je ne sais quoi]

What is going on in that center pic, with Hart's pathetic face to Vince's questionable pose

?

 

[alandutch]

Alright so pretty much DX's gonna drop the title..but to who?
I hope SES gets it

and brings it back to what it was when Jerishow had it

 

[D Fly]

Either HHH is gonna Pedigree HBK and leave, or HBK will SCM HHH and leave. Bet.

 

[je ne sais quoi]

Originally Posted by Mr DragonFly Jones

Either HHH is gonna Pedigree HBK and leave, or HBK will SCM HHH and leave. Bet.

HHH recieved 3-4 SCM right? So it's def time for some retribution. Although I don't want to see it happen seeing as I'm a DX mark.

 

[yardfather]

The tag match should be good tonight, I hope SES takes it so we get to CM Punk on both shows.

Looking forward to more of the Bret/Vince saga. Batista is so much better as a heel and has been a pretty good one line. Cena getting involved is good for him because he's always better when he is in a serious angle and most likely won't be cutting any corny @*$ joking promos.

This is probably a huge reach but I think it could be cool. Jericho wins the EC and Edge challenges him to a match at Wrestlemania. HHH wins the Raw EC and wants to give Shawn a title shot at Mania but Shawn still only wants to fight Taker so HHH challenges Taker and Shawn to triple threat. Taker isn't going to turn down a title shot so everyone gets what they want. HHH vs HBK vs Taker would be a damn good match.

 

[jdcurt2]

Wonder if Bret will be there tonight?

 

[hombrelobo]

Excellent interview with "The Franchise". Don't be afraid to read this one.

ECW Original Douglas 'Positive McMahon Would Screw Up' Brand

There are a handful of guys that you must mention when telling the history of the original ECW. One of them is Shane Douglas. With his cocky demeanor and slick tongue, his transformed into "The Franchise" and knew how to play the part.

He was never afraid to push buttons to drive wrestling fans into a craze. Outside of the ring, he was never afraid to share his real thoughts on his peers and the wrestling business either.

Douglas spent seven years with ECW during which he was a four-time world champion and a key character as it built a devoted following from diehard wrestling fans who wanted an alternative from the WWF and WCW at the time.

Recently, Fanhouse spoke with "The Franchise" to get his thoughts on Vince McMahon's decision to end the ECW brand and much more about those three letters.

Brian Fritz: Were you surprised last week when Vince McMahon made the announcement that he is ditching ECW?
Shane Douglas: No, not surprised at all. In fact, I'm surprised it lasted as long as it did. My personally opinion – and I think the opinion of a lot of fans – is that Vince McMahon simply wanted to stop fans from chanting "ECW" when they saw someone they either didn't like or they did like and one of the most difficult things to sanitize on tape is crowd sound. So if you see the crowd chanting "ECW" and their fist is pounding three times and they try to sanitize that with crowd cheers, it's very obvious. So, from a production standpoint, I think Vince McMahon thought he had an agenda that he had to adhere to.

What never made sense to me was with the brand that was so strongly identifiable by its fans and the fans were so loyal to, why not utilize that to the company's advantage? Why start a Florida Championship Wrestling or whatever their quote-on-quote minor league or feeder system and have it become ECW? And they had the vast majority of the key talent necessary to work it and could have probably got the most of the rest of us as we have had no problem passing the torch to the guys and teaching them to make it a very viable ECW. I think in the end it shows Vince's lack of being able to see beyond his periscope. I mean, he's made a lot of money with what he's done but as his market share dwindles further and further downward, I think a strong ECW would have been very valuable to him. It didn't surprise me but I do think that it was a really bad move on his part.

Brian Fritz: Are you even surprised that he decided to go with ECW in the first place after the original incarnation which you were a part of? He had the rights to it for several years before he decided to start his own version of ECW.
Shane Douglas: No. I think what I said before is what his philosophy was, to stop those chants and there was no better way to do it than the way he did it. It was effective. It stopped the chants but it, no pun intended, disenfranchised millions of fans that were ECW fans. I'm sure those were fans that he would love to have back right now and I doubt he'll get back.

Brian Fritz: Were you as frustrated watching or hearing about what was going on with this new version of ECW that Vince McMahon was doing or were you able to put it behind you and not think about it?
Shane Douglas: Well, sort of 50-50. My affinity for ECW will always be there because that's where I cut my teeth so to speak and became the main event talent that I would later become. So from that standpoint I was extremely frustrated with what they were doing because, again, I think they could have pushed it as a viable product. It's like the old Jim Crockett thing where he bought the UWF (United Wrestling Federation) just to close it down. If the bank account at the end of the trail is mine, I could care less if it's called Timbuctoo wrestling. If it's drawing money into my account, I'm going to push it. Jim Crockett made the mistake of doing the same thing with UWF and he literally lost his tail on it and I think it started his downward spiral and he finally had to sell to Turner and be out of business. And Vince did the same thing with ECW. He bought it to dismantle it or put it on the air to dismantle it.

From my affinity of ECW, I was extremely frustrated but the veteran in me said that it's pretty much what I expected and if you go back and look at interviews at the time I said as much. I knew that Vince was short-sided. If there was one thing I could be positive of was that he'd screw that up. And sure enough he did, sadly he did. I don't know what the general consensus is but my feeling on it is that it done nothing to damage the real legacy of ECW. If anything, it made it stronger. I would think that if anyone would have the wherewithal to bring the original ECW back – I'm not sure if it could be done today with the parameters and restrictions on TV but if someone could do it – then it would be interesting to take a second go-around at it. It's funny to me where wrestling it back to exactly where it was in 1992, '93 that gave rise to ECW in the first place. We're right back there again so who knows. Stranger things have happened but I think there's a pretty strong possibility that somebody is going to try to do something with wrestling to bring it back away from what it's become and where it's gone.

It's clear TNA's (Total Nonstop Action Wrestling) foray into wrestling has been vastly underachieving and WWE's has been amazingly dwindling. It's a shame. I think (TNA President) Dixie Carter and her dad (Bob Carter) have made an amazing monetary investment in the company that has produced nothing. And the WWE, on the other hand, is trying to figure out how as a company to stop hemorrhaging fans. I think in this month's Harvard Business Review there's something about reinvention and back to the future and I think that's exactly what wrestling has to do if it's going to just survive. It has to go back to some semblance of... I don't know if ECW is the answer. I think it's part of the answer but I think fans want to see something more realistic with the storylines, force them to think a little bit and get to something that's a lot more old school. That's one portion of the formula that Vince has steadfastly refused to try and Dixie Carter has been unwilling to try. They've tried everything else. They've tried ever flip-flopping move, every kind of iron cage they can build, every tower they can build, every kind of storyline and vignette that can do off of "sports entertainment" and we're down 10, 15 million fans over the last 10 years. My belief is that old school is where it has to go to bring some of those fans back and create new fans.

Brian Fritz: When ECW originally went out of business, if Vince McMahon and WWE had decided to do something with the brand right then and let it continue in the same genre it was but put it more on a national scale, do you think that could have worked?
Shane Douglas: Absolutely. Absolutely because I think Vince could have put his business acumen into it which is the only place that ECW was built on sand. I mean, our foundation was built on sand. Paul (Heyman) was a horrible businessman and none of us knew it. Had we known it, we certainly would have tried to make some sort of an interjection to stop it. But it you had taken Vince's business acumen, which there is no argument there, he is a great businessman, and put that to ECW and done the one thing Vince has never been good at and keep his nose out of it and not try to make it what he wants it to be – allow it be what it was. Those are two gigantic ifs but I think if those were done, then ECW would have been very successful and continued to thrive and much bigger than it ever did.

Brian Fritz: In your opinion, what made the original ECW so special?
Shane Douglas: First and foremost, you have to put it in context of the time frame. Wrestling at that time had become extraordinarily cartoonish, incredibly mundane, incredibly silly in the storylines and the characters. Guys like us on a Friday night, we had two or three choices: we could go to wrestling when it came to town or we could go down to the bar of the strip club or go dancing or something. Most of the guys in 1992 our age were heading to the bar or down to the strip club. There was no one going 'well, let's try wrestling and go there' because wrestling had chiseled those fans away, turned them away in droves. ECW catered right to them. I remember it being said that way. What do we need to do to bring those guys back? What does the 18-34 male want and what are they getting? The first thing we came up with was realism. I think ECW brought that at the timeframe in bucketfuls. The characters were all believable. The characters were all strongly defined. The storylines were all incredibly well written, mature in thought. When I say mature, I don't mean X-rated but adult, certainly not for kids. It was violent at a time when wrestling had become so hokey and cartoonish. There was suddenly a human train wreck on the television that was pretty damn cool to watch.

The last thing was – and I haven't seen this again anywhere in wrestling – we catered to our fans. We shoved nothing down their throat. If there was something they didn't like, we quickly jettisoned it and went to the next thing. Initially when we came out, there were heels and babyfaces and when the fans stated getting used to the heels and babyfaces, we became tweeners and then when they got used to us being tweeners, we all became clearly defined babyfaces and heels again. So we were always juking when the fans thought we were jiving. When they thought we were going right, we were going left. We tried to. We didn't always succeed at it but I think that's the reason it was very entertaining to the fans was because they could never figure us out completely.

When you walk into a movie and you spend $10 and $8.95 for a popcorn and $5.95 for a drink and you sit down and in the first 3-5 minutes you figure out whodunit, it's not entertaining. At the end of the movie you walk out dejected. I don't think it was very often the fans figured out what ECW was doing. They would try. But the fans also played the sixth man on the bench. They would bring the weapons in, they knew the chants, they would interact with the boys in the ring. I always think back to the night that we threw Gary Wolfe down with a broken neck. Those 1100 fans in that building were about as smart as any fan in the world. They had seen everything, they had witnessed everything; every kind of storyline, every kind of violence and physicality. Yet, when I threw Gary Wolfe down that night, 1100 fans rioted and I think the reason for that was that they thought maybe Troy Martin (his real name) got a little bit too much into his character or maybe Paul was a little overzealous in his writing or somebody screwed something up someplace.

But the bottom line was 1100 fans that night gasped and then began to pour over the railing to beat me and Francine (his valet) because they thought we had stepped way over the line. You will never see that in wrestling again until some of those things I spoke about earlier are brought back. When you present it as a cartoon and tell them up front what you are about to watch is BS, there is no reason for them to have an emotional investment. Until we see some of that come back, I don't think you'll see anything changing in wrestling and we'll continue to see a downslide and the fans dribble away until it becomes either the next roller derby or somebody does begin to bring it back.

 

[rko2004]

^Nice interview so far, I always like Shane Douglas. He was a great performer to me. Dare I say He's comparable to the likes of HBK?

 

[D Fly]

WWE NXT Show Format Details
Posted by: Wrestling-Radio.com
Source: PWInsider.com


Fans have been wondering what exactly WWE NXT will be since VinceMcMahon announced that ECW would end its run on Syfy and be replaced bythe "next evolution" of WWE.

The word going around is that the NXT concept will be portrayed as a"reality" based series featuring new wrestlers who viewers will be ableto follow inside and outside of the ring. Fans will be able to followwrestlers from day one and get their personal insight, their backgroundand goals, creating a different sense of deeper insight, etc.

As it stands now, the concept appears similar to WWE's former ToughEnough series with talent not only feuding with each other, but for theopportunity to become the "next" big WWE Superstar and move onto Raw orSmackDown.

WWE has been pitching different concepts for the series and formalizingplans since the fall, but all signs to point to this concept being thenucleus of NXT.

Sounds lame.

 

[jch3]

Hopefully SES wins the tag team titles tonight. Anybody but DX.

 

[hellaones]

PWInsider.com is reporting that Scott Steiner is 100% gone from TNA Wrestling.

other stuff that got lost towards the end of last weeks thread

More on Mercury's WWE Return

We recently reported that former WWE star Joey Mercury will be returning to WWE, and Mike Aldren is now reporting that one possible plan for Mercury's return is to have him join CM Punk's straight edge society. Because Mercury was released from WWE back in 2007 due to an addiction to pain killers, the story line would play on his past drug use and how CM Punk "saved" him from his problems.


Big Update on Jeff Hardy's Current TNA Status

According to a source within TNA, Jeff Hardy is telling people that he's still "supremely confident" that he will get out of the current legal mess he's in, and if he does, he's headed to TNA.

When Hardy debuted with TNA back on the live, January 4th Impact special, the deal was for one night only despite reports claiming that he had signed some type of extended contract with the company.

However, Hardy's agent is still negotiating with TNA, and Jeff fully expects to be a full-time member of the TNA roster if/when his legal situation clears up.


one of Jericho's tweets yesterday

IAmJericho: Just heard that Americans will eat 8 million pounds of potato chips today. Fat Bastards.


Plans For Christian & The ECW Championship

The Wrestling Observer is reporting that there may not be any immediate plans for Christian and the future of the ECW Championship. At this point, the early talk is that the title will cease to exist and Christian will be moved to another brand, most likely Smackdown, but that has not been confirmed. As we reported before, WWE NXT debuts on February 23rd.


Tara's Wardrobe Malfunction

Several WZ readers have sent in word that Tara's recent "wardrobe malfunction" on Impact was NOT edited out in The UK broadcast of the show. The TNA Knockout commented on the incident by posting the following on her Twitter account: "TNA was nice enough to keep it classy and blur out my malfunction. My parents would have been upset. Torrie Wilson was the first to call me."

 

[je ne sais quoi]

Originally Posted by JCH3

Hopefully SES wins the tag team titles tonight.

I want them to win so we can have Punk preach on raw and SD

, shaving peoples' heads.

 

[jch3]

I know this isn't rocket science or anything but I hate the fact that the only 2 PPV's that get more than 2 weeks of story lines are Mania and the Rumble. If the 'E just took the total PPV's from 12 to 10 the story lines would have so much time to develop.

 

[rko2004]

Originally Posted by JCH3

I know this isn't rocket science or anything but I hate the fact that the only 2 PPV's that get more than 2 weeks of story lines are Mania and the Rumble. If the 'E just took the total PPV's from 12 to 10 the story lines would have so much time to develop.

Yeah but they want that money

.

BTW its 13 PPV's

 

[jch3]

Originally Posted by RKO2004

Originally Posted by JCH3

I know this isn't rocket science or anything but I hate the fact that the only 2 PPV's that get more than 2 weeks of story lines are Mania and the Rumble. If the 'E just took the total PPV's from 12 to 10 the story lines would have so much time to develop.

Yeah but they want that money

.

BTW its 13 PPV's

Even more sad. I would take 8 well produced PPV's instead of 13 rushed, crappy PPV's. Anyone would! If it weren't for my cousins ordering every PPV, I would only pay to see Wrestlemania and MAYBE the Royal Rumble.

 

[hombrelobo]

My favorite way to kick off Raw. Hornswoggle and a NASCAR driver.

 

[airuphere23]

Originally Posted by JCH3

Originally Posted by RKO2004

Originally Posted by JCH3

I know this isn't rocket science or anything but I hate the fact that the only 2 PPV's that get more than 2 weeks of story lines are Mania and the Rumble. If the 'E just took the total PPV's from 12 to 10 the story lines would have so much time to develop.

Yeah but they want that money

.

BTW its 13 PPV's

Even more sad. I would take 8 well produced PPV's instead of 13 rushed, crappy PPV's. Anyone would! If it weren't for my cousins ordering every PPV, I would only pay to see Wrestlemania and MAYBE the Royal Rumble.

I think alot of people would. I don't think it's any coincidence that wrestling back in the 80's and 90's was overall better because there was less ppv's, thus making storylines that much better and compelling.

 

[D Fly]

Son got kinda high with that backflip

 

[jdcurt2]

The worst 10 minutes to open up raw ever?

 

[hombrelobo]

WHAT?!?!?!?!?!

 

[grizzly hebert]

Can't even be upset with that backflip.

That *@!! was kinda impressive.

 

[airuphere23]

Dolbuhya Dolbuhya E Champion...

 

[jch3]

Originally Posted by jdcurt2

The worst 10 minutes to open up raw ever?

Can't wait to catch Raw tomorrow on the DVR.

 

[the warehouse 13]

YESSSSSSSS