WON News & Notes Nov 27
Nov 27, 2006 12:42:09 GMT -5
Post by Highway61Revisited on Nov 27, 2006 12:42:09 GMT -5
The story of the week is that TNA delivered a lot of good wrestling, but the questionable booking left a bad after taste which took away from the product.
When Sting was told he was going to lose the title on a DQ he said it was stupid and asked to lose the title clean as he felt that was best for business. He was told no - he had to lose by DQ.
TNA worry too much about the ratings. UFC have proven that even with a 1.0 rating you can get big, big buyrates if you're actually any good at promoting your PPVs. The Thursday special did not do a record viewership, but the PPV a few days later did do a record buyrate, or at least came very close.
The ratings pattern for the two hour special was;
Nash vignette, Team 3D vs Naturals = + 83,000
VKM vs VKM = + 70,000
Cage vs Rhino = - 59,000
AJ vs Daniels vs Sabin = - 12,000
Angle vs Abyss = + 140,000
The Angle vs Joe match went 13:31. However, the plan was for it to go at least 20. Everyone on the undercard had it made very clear to them that they could not go long under any circumstance. However! During the match, Angle just decided that that they'd gone on long enough and made the call to go to the finish. Angle refusing a handshake and heeling wasn't a bad idea, but would've been much better if they hadn't already done two handshakes earlier in the show. The match itself was great for what it was, but wasn't long enough to live up to the hype fully.
Meltzer says that they probably did the right finish. The build to the match was based around finding out 'the best wrestler in the world', and seeing as that's how Angle is being marketed, and how he's the face of the company he really did have to win the mythical 'best in the world' title in his first major PPV match.
Genesis Star Ratings
VKM vs Movement = *
Naturals vs Lethal and Dutt = **1/4
Daniels vs Sabin = ***1/2
Hoyt + Killings vs Shelley + Starr = *1/2
Cage vs AJ = ***3/4
LAX vs AMW = **1/2
Abyss vs Sting = **1/4
Angle vs Joe = ****1/4
There was a press conference on 11/14 in Monterrey to promote the 11/25 show at the Arena. Abismo Negro was there since he was due to be working on the show and Konnan attacked him. The promoters are very worried as at press time they've old sold 1,000 tickets in a 14,000 seat arena, which is bad even for a Mexican advance. The promoters are desperate to try and get Sting on the card in the hope he'd sell some tickets, but it's very unlikely to happen. The blame is that Impact has only been on TV there for a few weeks and despite getting strong ratings most fans aren't familiar with the characters. AAA has pulled Cibernetico, Negro and La Parka off the show, so there's no AAA talent to help draw.
Nash has been telling friends he has an eye on Cornette's figuehead commissioner as the feeling is that Cornette won't last long with Russo and there's a race to see who quits first between Jim and Vince.
Christian Cage is listed as one of the top three stars of a horror movie called 'Dark Rising' from director Andrew Cymek.
There is more undercard unhappiness than ever before, pretty much all thanks to Russo and his booking of them.
Lance Hoyt and Christy Hemme have suggested to the bookers that they get their hair braided and go with Ron Killings as a tag team and manager. Killings himself has asked for a release but Terry Taylor told him they won't let him go so he can go to the WWE.
Because he hasn't been used much they were talking about taking up a collection of $10 each to fly A-1 into the next tapings so he can see everyone.
Johnny Devine may be getting a new name.
Angle told Sabin he was a great wrestler but didn't like his look, and suggested he should have food and dirt all over him like 'Pig Pen' from the Peanuts shorts. A lot of people who were initally excited about Angle's creative involvment were shaking their heads at that one.
Jeremy Borash has been removed from doing the interviews. There was a problem with his look and some people didn't like his style. He has been replaced with someone named Letitia; described as 'a worse Rebecca DiPietro'. To quote Meltzer, "Has the world gone mad? Why does the interviewer have to be a pretty girl if she's incompetent and doesn't know how to do the role. She was super nervous aside from not having a clue how to do the job..."
They're doing a storyline where when Abyss was a child something really terrible happened to him, and Tomko knew him as a child and knows the secret and has told Christian. They are so scared of calling Tomko 'Problem Solver' Christian can only refer to him as 'the man who solves my problems'.
The card for Turning Point
Joe vs Angle II
Abyss vs Sting vs Christian for the NWA title
LAX vs AMW for the NWA tag titles and the winners get their flag raised and national anthem played
AJ Styles vs Rhino
Daniels vs Sabin for the X title with Jerry Lynn as ref
Traci Brooks vs Eric Young in a bikini contest. In case you missed that, it's Traci Brooks vs Eric Young in a bikini contest
CREDIT: The Decemberists @ TSM
What? First off, Meltzer's ratings are awful. Secondly, Vince Russo is an idiot. Third, PIGPEN?
Take it from someone who has done A LOT of drugs. Kurt Angle is still on them.
These are the reasons I've quit watching TNA.
When Sting was told he was going to lose the title on a DQ he said it was stupid and asked to lose the title clean as he felt that was best for business. He was told no - he had to lose by DQ.
TNA worry too much about the ratings. UFC have proven that even with a 1.0 rating you can get big, big buyrates if you're actually any good at promoting your PPVs. The Thursday special did not do a record viewership, but the PPV a few days later did do a record buyrate, or at least came very close.
The ratings pattern for the two hour special was;
Nash vignette, Team 3D vs Naturals = + 83,000
VKM vs VKM = + 70,000
Cage vs Rhino = - 59,000
AJ vs Daniels vs Sabin = - 12,000
Angle vs Abyss = + 140,000
The Angle vs Joe match went 13:31. However, the plan was for it to go at least 20. Everyone on the undercard had it made very clear to them that they could not go long under any circumstance. However! During the match, Angle just decided that that they'd gone on long enough and made the call to go to the finish. Angle refusing a handshake and heeling wasn't a bad idea, but would've been much better if they hadn't already done two handshakes earlier in the show. The match itself was great for what it was, but wasn't long enough to live up to the hype fully.
Meltzer says that they probably did the right finish. The build to the match was based around finding out 'the best wrestler in the world', and seeing as that's how Angle is being marketed, and how he's the face of the company he really did have to win the mythical 'best in the world' title in his first major PPV match.
Genesis Star Ratings
VKM vs Movement = *
Naturals vs Lethal and Dutt = **1/4
Daniels vs Sabin = ***1/2
Hoyt + Killings vs Shelley + Starr = *1/2
Cage vs AJ = ***3/4
LAX vs AMW = **1/2
Abyss vs Sting = **1/4
Angle vs Joe = ****1/4
There was a press conference on 11/14 in Monterrey to promote the 11/25 show at the Arena. Abismo Negro was there since he was due to be working on the show and Konnan attacked him. The promoters are very worried as at press time they've old sold 1,000 tickets in a 14,000 seat arena, which is bad even for a Mexican advance. The promoters are desperate to try and get Sting on the card in the hope he'd sell some tickets, but it's very unlikely to happen. The blame is that Impact has only been on TV there for a few weeks and despite getting strong ratings most fans aren't familiar with the characters. AAA has pulled Cibernetico, Negro and La Parka off the show, so there's no AAA talent to help draw.
Nash has been telling friends he has an eye on Cornette's figuehead commissioner as the feeling is that Cornette won't last long with Russo and there's a race to see who quits first between Jim and Vince.
Christian Cage is listed as one of the top three stars of a horror movie called 'Dark Rising' from director Andrew Cymek.
There is more undercard unhappiness than ever before, pretty much all thanks to Russo and his booking of them.
Lance Hoyt and Christy Hemme have suggested to the bookers that they get their hair braided and go with Ron Killings as a tag team and manager. Killings himself has asked for a release but Terry Taylor told him they won't let him go so he can go to the WWE.
Because he hasn't been used much they were talking about taking up a collection of $10 each to fly A-1 into the next tapings so he can see everyone.
Johnny Devine may be getting a new name.
Angle told Sabin he was a great wrestler but didn't like his look, and suggested he should have food and dirt all over him like 'Pig Pen' from the Peanuts shorts. A lot of people who were initally excited about Angle's creative involvment were shaking their heads at that one.
Jeremy Borash has been removed from doing the interviews. There was a problem with his look and some people didn't like his style. He has been replaced with someone named Letitia; described as 'a worse Rebecca DiPietro'. To quote Meltzer, "Has the world gone mad? Why does the interviewer have to be a pretty girl if she's incompetent and doesn't know how to do the role. She was super nervous aside from not having a clue how to do the job..."
They're doing a storyline where when Abyss was a child something really terrible happened to him, and Tomko knew him as a child and knows the secret and has told Christian. They are so scared of calling Tomko 'Problem Solver' Christian can only refer to him as 'the man who solves my problems'.
The card for Turning Point
Joe vs Angle II
Abyss vs Sting vs Christian for the NWA title
LAX vs AMW for the NWA tag titles and the winners get their flag raised and national anthem played
AJ Styles vs Rhino
Daniels vs Sabin for the X title with Jerry Lynn as ref
Traci Brooks vs Eric Young in a bikini contest. In case you missed that, it's Traci Brooks vs Eric Young in a bikini contest
CREDIT: The Decemberists @ TSM
What? First off, Meltzer's ratings are awful. Secondly, Vince Russo is an idiot. Third, PIGPEN?
Take it from someone who has done A LOT of drugs. Kurt Angle is still on them.
These are the reasons I've quit watching TNA.
:)Hey be easy on Dave. In the years I have read his stuff he never seems to let the truth get in the way of a good story. He also seems to have a HUGE grudge against the WWE/VKM.