Hive

Hilariously stupid: Source: http://www.ewrestlingnews.com/headlines/Do_Not_Call_WWE_A_Wrestling_Company_-_Details.php

You really believe TNA should prevent Hardy from working elsewhere? I see legal troubles for TNA if they seriously tried something like that. And why should they? If Hardy wants to **** up his life, that's really no business of theirs - as long as he's not ****ing it up on their time and money.

I love the ending.

I doubt even TNA would pull off a 'work' like that for the main event of a PPV. Even they can't be that stupid. Also, Jeff Hardy clearly tried to kick out of the pin with Sting holding him down legitimately. Why would Hardy do that if it was a work? It seems to me that some people these days would rather claim something legit is a work than risk being worked.

What else does he have in his arsenal, really? He's the kind of wrestler that should never have been given a solo run, as he's much better in a tag team with the right partner. Like Homicide. Plus, he's not exactly the safest worker around. I definately think Morgan has potential, but a new Hulk Hogan? Never. Noone can be a new Hulk Hogan. Why? Because someone like Hulk Hogan wouldn't get as over doing what he does today as he did in the 80's. Times have changed, and Hogan could never get to where he is today if he had to start all over in 2011. Also, while Morgan is good, he has nowhere the level of charisma that Hogan has. He's a better worker though. I definately agree that Abyss is a cross between especially Mankind and Kane and, to a lesser degree, The Undertaker. However, he's a watered down version inferior to all three. That's not to say he can't be useful, but TNA already tried pushing him to the stars... and failed. He's fairly interesting, but he's not *that* interesting. And he's not exactly spectacular in the ring. Common for all three above is that they would have to be built for a while before being anywhere near the top heel spot of TNA... and TNA desperately needs one NOW. Can't disagree with you here. I love Joe. But the way TNA has been treated him in later years, would the crowd buy him as the top heel just like that...? Anyway, he's still a face and in a feud with Dinero... isn't he? Would take time. In complete agreement here. Except the part about giving him a "run for the gold" anytime in the future. His time has past, and while he's still somewhat over he doesn't quite have the star quality of Sting. He could be the top heel eventually, but like with others above he needs time. And TNA does not have that time right now. I would prefer not seeing Flair embarrass himself in the ring anymore than he already has at this point in TNA. And to be honest, I thought the Sting vs. Flair match of the last Nitro was pretty damn average... and that was 10 years ago! I can't imagine such a matchup would be anything but a disaster now... Really, the more I think about it, the more I feel they have only one choice: turn Van Dam heel. NOW. ...but knowing TNA, they'll probably just push Matt Hardy or Abyss.

Hernandez, Morgan and Angle has been turned so many times already in recent years that everyone in the Impact zone must be dizzy from it by now. Other than that, Hernandez will NEVER be the top heel in any promotion. Morgan might have the potential to be, but he's not there yet. Angle could do it, of course, but his current feud with Jarrett as the loveable face would make it extremely weird and wasteful. Matt Hardy is not up for it, Anderson hasn't been face long enough for another turn, Styles just turned himself... so that leaves what, Van Dam? Or possibly Samoa Joe, if they start treating him right again? Jeff Hardy really screwed TNA with this on so many levels. Then of course, TNA partially screwed TNA for being dumb enough to run with him for so long in the first place...

Yeah... I really did wish he had signed with WWE. Not that I'm a huge fan of their product either, but at least they're professional - and it would have given Sting the sendoff he deserves. TNA can never do that.

Thanks for the link. This was every bit as terrible as people had said. On the positives however, I think Sting looks in his best shape for years. And his reaction and professionalism during this only made me respect him more.

Wow. Read the match reports. I'm shocked. I knew TNA had fallen deep below previous standards, but this finish in the main event... just wow. This is why they're still, and will likely ever be with this management, a minor league thing. WWE would NEVER have let something like this happen. EVER. Why didn't they just throw Anderson and Van Dam into the main event to compensate? Make it an elimination match where Hardy still is outed early. Of course, it wouldn't garner the same kind of heat... Van Dam and Anderson both being faces (as far as I know)... but this thing was dreadful. Do they even have another main event heel to replace Hardy with? Or will they just throw in his fat brother? R.I.P. TNA... it's about time.

Exactly. It would give Triple H something to do that doesn't involve him having to wrestle every week and it could do wonders for Sheamus.

If Triple H doesn't retire after the match, which he will obviously loose, they should have him mentor Sheamus... who is storyline-wise on a losing streak and needs to change his ways to move forward, slowly turn him face and finally give him the push he deserves. Triple H could occationally team up with Sheamus in this role, but otherwise have a light schedule mostly doing mic work.

I love The Miz. He's got great charisma and is a natural heel that plays well to the crowd and has a love relationship with any microphone. Sadly though, I grew up with wrestling in the 90's when main event wrestler = jacked up roid monster, and sad as it is I still have a bit of a hard time shaking that feeling. Funnily enough though, it's often the smaller guys that are the most interesting to me: Jericho, CM Punk, Morrison, Danielson and of course Miz himself has been some of the biggest highlights of WWE in recent years to me. But for them to work as the promotion's biggest and best wrestlers, you really have to present them in the right way. Cowardly heel works well for The Miz, for example. He obviously can't play the Superman Cena bit.

I just watched an entire episode of Impact for the first time in a very long time, and I'm utterly shocked at how bad it has become. It was virtually nothing but boring brawl-based matches with no interesting spots, though the opening tag match was not half-bad. That's something TNA at least still has got going: a fine tag division with real tag teams. Kudos for that at least. But the rest... meh. How come a promotion such as TNA with such great talent on the roster can only produce boring, slow paced brawls? Even watching Sting win the title was a huge dissapointment, as the match was crap and poorly executed. I expect more from a title match between two greats of their caliber. And if they can't go better than this, they shouldn't be main eventing. And the segments/angles... what the hell? That whole Jarrett/Karen Angle wedding thing is grossly inappropriate, boring and awkward. Hogan and Bischoff spending all show being lame and trying to figure out who Hardy's opponent was going to be rather ruined the "surprise". Why didn't they just assume it was Anderson, take him out right before the match and then get hit by the surprise when Sting appeared instead? And why did noone from Immortal try to interfer in the match? Also, what the f... is up with Flair's voice? I can't stand listening to the man, he sounds terrible! Send him to retirement already (again), before it gets even more embarrasing for him... As terrible as I think WWE is, this was even worse. Which depresses me.

Nash had just recently signed a new contract with TNA, but then got the offer from WWE - which presumably was a LOT better than what TNA was giving him - and asked Dixie to release him from his contract. And, according to Nash, Dixie being way too kind granted that wish just a few days before the Royal Rumble.

I don't believe it either, but the way TNA is run nowadays it wouldn't be the biggest surprise ever to me if Dixie agrees to release Sting so he go to Wrestlemania. After all, she did it for Nash for the Royal Rumble... and I'm sure they wouldn't mind putting the title back at Jeff Hardy. Preferably the day before he's sentenced.

Of course they will, just like they did with his quiz show. Huge success that was.

I agree fully with Jericho. TNA has so much potential, but throws it all away with illogical decisions that go against anything that makes even remotely sense. I'm not a big fan of WWE's product these days, and think they make some horrible booking decisions... but the sad truth is that TNA is even worse, which is quite an accomplishment.

The WWE alone is to blame for them not being bigger than they are right now, for doing their pushes half-heartedly. Had they booked Sheamus as the monster consistently, he would have been over now. Had they given Barrett a win against Cena in singles competition, instead of letting Cena take out 7 man all by himself, he could have been somewhere now. Maybe not as far as Sheamus could have been, but that's why they could make it a 3-way between Undertaker, Kane and Barrett.

I understand why the WWE would want a high profile match like Triple H vs. The Undertaker, career vs. streak... and it does make sense in regards to Triple H seeking revenge for Shawn Michaels. Maybe throw in Michaels as special referee, and it would be a very interesting setup. However... it makes little storyline sense that neither Triple H nor The Undertaker wants to gun for the guys who took them out of action long time ago in the first place, before anything else. A king vs. king Triple H vs. Sheamus match would have been obvious, and could have gotten amble heat if not for the illogical jobbing of Sheamus (while not exactly one of the greatest performers of all time, I could see Sheamus being much more than he currently is). And The Undertaker should want revenge against either Barret or at the very least Kane, perhaps even both in a triple threat match, as it could be argued that Barrett is not (yet) a worthy Wrestlemania opponent for Undertaker. I think both Sheamus and Barrett could get much needed rubs from this, and if Triple H is as high on Sheamus as rumours say, he could let him end his carreer. But eh... maybe it will all make sense in the end.

Really? Then the rest of them can't have been anything memorable. I still think they would gain more by letting him go over someone else than Lawler, who could be his grandfather. This whole Lawler business reeks of "we need to kill a few months time before we'll have Cena ready to feud with him". But do you really see that happening? No I'm not saying that other people should have won than those who did. Given the circumstances, these people really *had* to win... though Rey winning the EC match, making it either him vs. Del Rio or a 3-way with Edge could have worked as well. But I'm not complaining about the results per se, I'm complaining about WWE booking matches that have the results given in advance. That's fine for TV, but for PPV I expect some more unpredictability. I expect to be able to feel that the matches can go either way. But apart from the tag team match, which I didn't care for at all due to WWE having destroyed the tag division long time ago, no other match really could have ended in another way. Letting old man Lawler take the belt off Miz would not be as dumb as bringing in Arquette to win another world title, but it would be damn close. Letting Kingston win against heavily pushed Del Rio, who they claim will main event Wrestlemania (as someone else said, that just seems unlikely in reality) would make no sense at all. Having begun building an Edge vs. Del Rio encounter, added the possibilities from Del Rio taking out Christian several months ago, it would make little sense to let anyone but Edge come out of the match as champion... except maybe for Rey Mysterio, as previously mentioned. Cena winning was a clear given as well; although Morrisson vs. The Miz could be great, they are quite naturally not going to experiment with it for Wrestlemania. Orton vs. The Miz has been done several times lately, and Orton has been set up for a CM Punk match at Wrestlemania. R-Truth was clearly just filler, and Sheamus has neither the popularity nor right allignment to be an opponent for Miz. CM Punk is involved with Orton and lacks the right allignment as well. And if all that isn't enough, there's the fact that The Rock more or less spoiled that The Miz would face John Cena at Wrestlemania.

Watched Elimination Chamber. The two EC matches were entertaining enough, though I'm not quite seeing why people are going nuts about them. But eh, compared to the usual RAW/Smackdown stuff they were probably outstanding. The rest of the card was nothing special, could just as easily have been ordinary TV matches. Mysterio and Morrison stood for most of the best entertainment on the show, with honourable mentions to Edge, CM Punk and Randy Orton. The Miz entertains me a lot as well, but being stuck in a stupid feud with a 100-year old fatso does nothing for him. NOTHING. I think it's time the WWE either does something drastic to create new superstars (unlikely to happen) or merge their brands. There, I said it. They do not, in my opinion, have enough interesting wrestlers to run two brands anymore. And with The Undertaker, Triple H and Edge retiring soon (with Big Show probably not all that far away either), something needs to be done. And I don't see bland and boring people like McIntyre, Barrett, R-Truth or Sheamus filling those shoes. At least not the way WWE uses them. Also, the results were all horribly predictable. Except maybe for the tag team match, which noone could have possibly cared for anyway. Who did NOT see Cena facing The Miz after The Rock's promo? Who thought Edge would not face Del Rio after the previous build? Who thought they would actually be dumb enough to ruin The Miz by having him lose? Who thought Kingston would go over-heavily pushed and Wrestlemania main eventing Del Rio?

I find it more likely that they'll just repeat the Batista formula with Batista 2.0 aka Mason Ryan, with him eventually turning face against The Nexus like Batista did against Evolution.

Same here, and I was likewise impressed. No wonder the crowd popped insanely.

The fact that wrestling is 'fake' (though I don't really like that wording) is actually something that appeals to me. Why some people enjoy watching boxing or UFC or whatever more than wrestling because the fighters are trying to hurt each other legitimately is beyond me. I'm not entertained more because people start bleeding or get legitimately hurt or injured, the fact that wrestlers try to keep each other relatively safe while performing is a plus to me. As long as they make an effort to have it look real, of course. I don't want to see too much stuff like David Taylor throwing himself to the ground 5 seconds before a latter would have hit him...

That would make sense. It should probably be noted that I haven't seen RAW yet myself, and that I'm basing my comments on what I've read in this thread and on wrestling news sites about what The Rock said in his promo.