TNA: Analysis after Genesis

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TNA Genesis was in the books and what a mixed bag of nuts it was. The PPV was being both praised and ridiculed for various reasons, some of which were very valid concerns. In the Pre-Show Eric Young defeated Robert Rhoode with his foots on the ropes for leverage after the match was restarted by popular request of the fans with Rhoode teasing a breakup with his manager, Miss Brooks. The Voodoo Kin Mafia defeated Raven’s Movement which lead to a show of direction for both teams and a new look for Raven. The Naturals defeated the thrown together team of Dutt and Lethal to continue their build up. Christopher Daniels retained the X Division Title against Chris Sabin but Sabin got the last word in attacking after Jerry Lynn forced a handshake. Nash yelled at his golden boys Austin Starr and Alex Shelley after they lost to the mismatched team of Ron Killings and Lance Hoyt. Christian Cage proved to be able to defeat the “Phenomenal” AJ Styles afterwhich Rhino buried the hatchet between the to wrestlers and kept Daniels and Styles from “going down the same road” as him and Christian. LAX defeated AMW after some shenanigans only to be stripped of the NWA Tag Team Titles afterwards by Jim Cornette for “un-American” acts. The dual main events of the night proved to be the most surprising. Abyss defeated Sting by DQ to become the new NWA World Heavyweight Champion, a stipulation that many had forgotten still existed in TNA. Finally, the “Olympic Hero” Kurt Angle ended Samoa Joe’s undefeated streak by making him tap to the ankle lock. On paper everything seemed solid, in execution it came of a bit unusual. Some of it was gold, and a lot of it seemed unfocused or just wasteful. To many the direct TNA had taken after Bound For Glory and Vince Russo’s addition to the booking team seemed chaotic at best and nonsensical at worse. It was time for an analytical look at where TNA intended to go and what they were going to do. Panda Energy took their primary corporate data analyst, Jason Woods, who also happened to be a wrestling fan, and put him on the creative team. His job, assist Dixie Carter in determining business decisions as well as plan for the long term. While not the only force behind creative he would provide a buffer between the ideas of Jeff Jarret and Vince Russo and present the facts as clearly as possible to Dixie Carter for the final approvals. He realized he had a tough road ahead of him; he was a corporate addition to TNA and was worried on what exactly "da boys" would think of him. Not only that but Jeff Jarret and Vince Russo both have great reputations for huge egos. Heck, Jarret's might even be deserved considering the amount of times he's held the World Title in TNA, a company he is part owner in. Vince Russo's finding God could have done much to humble him though, only time would tell. And with such egos floating around he knew he was in for something of a big challenge. ===== ((Okay I'm not sure how well this is going to go, it's my first Dynasty attempt in a very long time... like TEW 04 long-time. My goal is to update it once a week the Wednesday before the actual TNA show since I'm running it in the same time period. During the week I'll be putting up a "diary" of sorts to go over what exactly this new addition to the Booking Team goes through each week.))

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[b]Meeting "Da Boys"[/b] [i]11-20-06[/i] I arrived in the meeting a bit early, Dutch Mantel was already there with Dixie Carter. Dixie introduced me to Dutch and we waited for Vince Russo and Jeff Jarrett to arrive. When they did get in the meeting started pretty much right away. Dixie officially introduced me to everyone and told them my role as Analyst for the creative and business ends of TNA. She did assure them that I was not their boss, just another advisor to the team. The only special treatment I was to receive was that my voice probably carried a bit more weight considering my background was in understanding business and making ideas work. For all my initial fear it was actually a very nice meeting, both Jeff and Vince were rather nice and helpful and before long we we're working on what was going to be the next two episodes of TNA Impact! With some good ideas (and some bad ones, geez what's with these guys midgets?) we started to work on exactly what order things would occur and how they should be emphasized. I made my first suggestions in regards to the company that Vince Russo didn't much care for. I suggested that we needed to avoid the sports entertainment crap that the competition up north did all the time and focus more on in-ring feuds and the "reality" of wrestling. I felt this could lead to catching some more of the UFC fans who were already tuning in to Spike TV. Vince thought that any way to tell the story of the feud was the best and Dixie calmed us both down by saying we'll try both and see what works best for the company. After a good four hours we had compiled the shows and were ready to go and press it into a format for the Agents and the Workers to see. I'm actually very excited about tomorrow, being backstage at the Impact Zone and meeting these guys who had been larger than life for me until now. [i]10-21-06[/i] Got to the Impact! Zone around noon and was a little upset to see that one of my better ideas didn't make the show (I wonder why it got dumped, Mz. Carter seemed to like it.) Ah well, I suppose these thing get cut for time and all that... for a taped show that seems odd though, since you could just cut it post. I decided if I ran into Vince Russo I would ask him about it. However right now I wanted to meet "da boys." I went around and found AJ and Christopher Daniels were already there and I got to shake hands and talk to them about everything. They weren't booked for the shows tonight but were cool enough to show up and check out what's coming up. Before Impact Tapings got started I got to have a bit of a one-on-one chat with Kurt Angle, which was nothing but a thrill for me being that I have always been a huge mark for him. I did get a few more meet-and-greets with the wrestlers before the show but it wasn't long before it was time for everyone to get ready for the tapings. However while everyone was getting ready I got to meet up with Jake "The Snake" Roberts who happened to be backstage as a guest to Raven, he'd been on the an episode of Impact as well as having been the referee of the Monster's Ball at Bound for Glory. Despite his appearance of drunkenness at both those events I had been told it had more to do with him being out of shape and that he had passed a blood test before both those events. He was a bit of a rambler, I think part of him is kind of ashamed of his past but he presented some interesting ideas that I was going to talk to Mz Carter about. [i]11-22-06[/i] The show went off really well, the fans were hot as always. Many people think TNA needs to tour full time to be considered "Big League" but fans at the Impact Zone are just to great to abandon and are as much an entity for TNA than any wrestler that was on the roster. The follow up booking meeting started around 2 pm and I already had a list of things to go over. Alot of it had to do with the Voodoo Kin Mafia and where Vince Russo told me he wanted to go with it. I had another disagreement with him as I thought attacking the WWE on screen to get ratings was silly, especially since TNA and Panda Energy don't make money from TV Ratings, only Spike TV does. Russo disagreed of course and the argument really went no where at all. After the two hour meeting I had an additional meeting with Mz Carter. She asked me what my preliminaries were, I told her it was obvious that Russo loved his ideas and needed a filter. Mz Carter reminded me that was the reason I was there. I did point out one thing, TNA was very baby face heavy. Not many bad guys or heels on the roster to give them people to face. We talked about some potential changes to the dispositions of the roster and that was all. I really have my work cut out for me.

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[B]Non Spoilers for TNA Impact! 10-23-06[/B] The Naturals versus Lance Hoyt and Ron "The Truth" Killings Christopher Daniels and an Open Challenge for the X-Division Title Christian Cage versus Sting for #1 Contendorship [B]Also:[/B] LAX responds to being Stripped Watcha a Paparazzi Production The Voodoo Kin Mafia take the War to a new Level Samoa Joe challenges Kurt Angle to a rematch

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[SIZE="5"][B]TNA Impact! 11-23-06[/B][/SIZE] [B]Welcome and Recap[/B] We are at the Impact Zone as the fans cheer on for the beginning of Thanksgiving Day’s Impact! The announcers quickly go over the issues that occurred at the Pay-Per-View, specifically the title changing hands, as Abyss is now the NWA World Heavyweight title thanks to Sting’s attack on a referee. But also, the Samoan Submission Machine submitted to Kurt Angle’s ankle lock and then snubbed Joe’s offer of hand shake and congratulations. [B]Grade:[/B] B+ [B]LAX is Being Held Back![/B] We start right away with Latino Gunfire and LAX come out their own special entrance way as usual. They have the NWA Tag Team Titles with them still as the announcers mention that they we stripped by Jim Cornette this last Sunday for their repeated attempts to defame America. Konnan gets right on the mic spewing out hatred in Spanish closing that statement, “And if you can’t understand that, it’s not for you!” He goes on to call out Jim Cornette calling him a racist who wants to take more away from the Latino warriors who no one can beat. He says that the only reason Cornette stripped LAX of the titles is because he can’t stand that Latinos are better than gringos. This prompts Jim Cornette to come to the ring with four “security officers” with him. He starts to talk as he comes down the ramp telling Konnan to shut his mouth and give up those titles or have them taken from you and get fired. Konnan laughs as does Hernandez and Homicide. Konnan challenges Jim Cornette to step up to the ring and take them from us. “You can stop one man, but not a Revolution. That’s what you got on your hands, Cornette.” Cornette signals the security officers forward and marches behind them as they come into the ring. Hernandez and Homicide take right to them knocking the various men for a loop as a full out brawl happens between them and the security officers. LAX start a full fledged beat down when America’s Most Wanted and Gail Kim hit the ring and start to change the flow of the fight. The brawl escalates as the two tag teams and managers beat on each other, Konnan taking a Hurricanrana from Gail Kim. The fight however starts going LAX’s way again when Petey Williams charges in immediately hits the Canadian Destroyer on Homicide. AMW has got the tag team belts and Cornette moves up to the ring apron to claim them back for TNA Wrestling. As he takes them out of the ring some one else has slide into the ring. It’s SENSHI! He nails James Storm with a rolling wheel kick. Storm is down! Petey charges his fellow X Division wrestler and gets a lariat from Hernandez for his trouble. Its not long before LAX is standing tall thanks to Senshi’s interference. Konnan smiles at the carnage that has been caused over the Tag Team titles and holds out his hand to Senshi. Senshi takes it as the announcers speculate that Senshi has just joined LAX. [B] Grade:[/B] C- [B]The Naturals vs. Lance Hoyt and Ron “the Truth” Killings[/B] Naturals come out with Shane Douglas as usual still fresh and happy over their win at Genesis and their recent defeat of Team 3D. Hoyt and Killings look pretty excited as well coming off a victory against Alex Shelley and Austin Starr. The two teams lock up with a quick set of back and forth moves before the Naturals took control. Sleek double team moves kept Killings on the ground until eventually a desperation move allowed Killings to get the tag to Lance Hoyt and he cleans house on both Naturals. Shane Douglas jumped up on the apron and got hammered by a big boot from Hoyt. But unseen he threw a chain to Andy Douglas who walloped Lance Hoyt behind the referee’s back and got the three count pin. [B]Winners: [/B] The Naturals by pinfall in 7:24 Rating: C [B]Team 3D drops the Bombshell[/B] The Naturals don’t get long to celebrate though as Team 3D makes a return charging into the ring and dropping them both. Brother Ray nails the Bubba Bomb on Andy Douglas as Brother Devon nails Stevens with a neckbreaker. Ray has the mic and says “We’re baaaacccckk! Devon! GET THE TABLES!” Shane Douglas finally gets back up from Hoyt’s big boot but finds himself put through the first table with a 3D. Two more tables are set up and the Naturals get power bombed through both of them. [B]Rating:[/B] C [B]Thanksgiving Shenanigans[/B] Eric Young is in the back with Jeremy Borash and for some reason he is dressed up as a pilgrim. He tells Jeremy that it’s Thanksgiving today and that means that we have to all talk about what we are thankful for. When asked what is he most thankful for he replies: ”To have a job!” Young suggests that he and Jeremy should do the “Gobbledy Gook” dance together to celebrate the grand tradition of Wrestling Thanksgivings and starts to dance before Robert Rhoode and Miss Brooks interrupt. Rhoode reminds everyone that him and Eric used to be part of Team Canada together. Eric smiles and nods, “And I’m thankful to be a part of that” Rhoode ignores him and goes ahead to state that Eric being part of Team Canada is proof that Team Canada had become a joke. “And it was a fluke that you pinned me at Genesis! So next week I want to take you on and prove to everyone that Rhoode Inc can take on a loser like you, any day any time!” Rhoode walks off with Miss Brooks and Eric shrugs, “That was weird, he needs to learn to relax.” [B]Rating: [/B]C [B]The World Champion lead by his own personal Devil[/B] James Mitchell and new NWA World Champion Abyss have come to the ring to discuss the future of the new champion. Mitchell talks about how Sting has fallen to the dark side once again and that there is now saving an evil man like Sting, “No Savior or God can make someone like Sting redeemable.” Christian Cage comes out at this point, “Would you please shut the hell up!” He points out that Sting is not the end all be all of TNA. He points out he’s never been pinned or submitted and had his title stolen from him by Jeff Jarrett. He also points out that if Abyss were really as amazing and great as James Mitchell makes him out to be, “He could have actually pinned Sting instead of winning on an obscure rule clause.” As Christian makes his case for being #1 Contender Sting comes down from the rafters with a baseball bat. He doesn’t say anything he doesn’t have a conversation he just nails Abyss and then nails Christian with the baseball bat. He comes in on Mitchell ready to take him down to and Mitchell starts laughing, he can be seen telling Sting to do it, “Prove me right Sting, Prove me right.” Sting stops considering his options and then drops the belt. Which allows Christian to catch him in an Unprettier. Christian laughs about it all and spits on Sting. [B]Rating: [/B]B [B] A Paparazzi Production[/B] Kevin Nash, Alex Shelly and Austin Starr are bowling. Big Kev is talking about how he’s really getting sick of the two of them fighting over his affections. Alex Shelley utters the line, “It’s just, ever since he came along I feel like you don’t love me anymore!” Nash and Starr look at Alex Shelley like he just said the scariest thing ever. Shelley covers up for the line by deepening his voice and saying, “In a manly way.” Starr sucks up to Kevin telling him that give them a chance against Hoyt and Killings again and they’ll prove that they can do it. Nash however doesn’t say anything for a bit still looking shocked at Shelley. “Well I think we could all use some time to think about why alcohol and Alex don’t mix. Why can’t I have some friends who don’t profess love to me every time they get drunk.” “I’m not drunk Kev,” Shelley says “First Scott now this.” Nash says somberly [B]Rating [/B]B [B]Christopher Daniels makes an Open Challenge [/B] Christopher Daniels and AJ Styles come to the ring together with Daniels wearing the X-Division title around his waist. He and AJ thank Rhino for helping them realize their differences were very shallow indeed. He goes on to say that by defeating Chris Sabin it was time to see who wanted a piece of him next. He was calling for an open challenge to anyone here for the X-Division title. Unfamiliar music hit and the former Billy Kidman who Mike Tenay identifies as now being known as Peter Kidd comes down to the ringside. The bell is rung and it looks like we have a match [B]Rating[/B]: C- [B]X Division Title Match: “The Fallen Angel” Christopher Daniels © w/AJ Styles vs. Peter Kidd[/B] As the match starts up Mike Tenay goes over the accomplishments in Peter Kidd’s career specifically the multiple Cruiserweight titles he’s held in his days in WCW and the WWE. Kidd looks a little sloppy in there especially when they get started. It’s more than a bit obvious that he’s lost a step or two from the lack of wrestling over the past couple of years. However testimony to the greatness of Christopher Daniels he starts to carry the match a bit until Peter is more ready to step up and get the match going. The finish comes when Daniels goes to power bomb Kidd but Kidd reverses it into a face buster. Peter Kidd goes up to for the Shooting Star Press but AJ keeps him distracted long enough so that Daniels can get his knees up and counter it. Daniels with a quick roll up gives him the three count. Winner: and still X Division Champion, “The Fallen Angel” Christopher Daniels by pinfall in 9:43. [B]Rating:[/B] C+ [B]Taking the War to the Homes[/B] Voodoo Kin Mafia is on a pre-taped vigilante of them in Connecticut after the canceled TNA house show. They say that now that they don’t have to wrestle, they have a lot of free time on their hands. The camera pans to reveal WWE headquarters in the background, “Let’s go to work” Camera cuts to the VKM standing in front of WWE headquarters and knocking on the glass doors of the closed building. They giggle like little schoolgirls or something when no one comes and they start writing a note to Vince Macmahon. They say out loud what they are writing, “Hey Vince, Do you remember Us? We used to carry a certain faction on our back. Be seeing you soon. VKM” The hijinks have attracted the building Security that have come out to talk to them about what’s going on. They announce that they are old friends of Vince’s and they’d really appreciate it if the guard would give this note to him when he came in the next day. The guard confusedly agrees and BG looks at the camera as they leave saying, “That’s just the start!” [B]Rating:[/B] B- [B]Joe vs Kurt – Match 1?[/B] An amazing TNA video production shows scenes from the Joe/Angle feud including scenes from Genesis. It gives each man equal time and seems to put over that either man could have won the match. The voice over was as follows: “Two men. Considered by some to be the greatest that professional wrestling had to offer. Kurt Angle, World Champion, Olympic Gold Medallist, Wrestling Machine, Irresistible force. Samoa Joe, Undefeated Samoan Submission Machine, Hunger, Unstoppable object. Two men. Two Titans. Only one stood triumphant. But as the crowds die out and the dust clears. Was it truly the end?” [B] Rating: [/B]B [B] Joe wants a Rematch[/B] Samoa Joe’s music hits and he’s out with a microphone in hand dressed in street clothes. The crowd cheers for the most part but a sizable portion has begun to chant, “You tapped out!” Joe goes to speak and he admits, “Yeah I tapped out. But I'm still the better man." He goes on to say that Angle has no balls, he thinks just because he won one match on one night that makes him better, "That makes you lucky!" Kurt Angle comes out and tells Joe there will be no rematch, that he proved that he could beat the best TNA had to offer and so now he could focus on finding better challenges and winning titles. Joe just shrugs and bull rushes Kurt Angle on the ramp slamming him hard into the steel ramp and then pounding on him again before Security comes and makes them separate. "It's just beginning Kurt!" Joe is screaming as he's pulled off Kurt. [B]Rating:[/B] B+ [B] NWA World Heavyweight Title #1 Contender’s Match: Christian Cage vs. Sting[/B] Christian comes out first with a ****y grin, like he knows something someone else doesn’t. Sting follows suit moments later looking serious and conflicted. It seems his attack on everyone earlier has left him a bit shocked at himself. The two men lock up and Sting keeps an early advantage going. It isn’t until Sting gets intense that Christian looks at Sting and drops to his knees, begging Sting to not attack. Sting hesitates worried about losing control once again when Christian hits a low blow on Sting to change the momentum of the match. Christian gets a good flow going keeping Sting down so that he doesn’t have a chance to regain his advantage but it’s all thrown off when Sting no-sells and pumps back up. Sting is like a man possessed hitting the Stinger Splash on Christian followed by the Scorpion Death Drop. Rather than go for the pin, Sting instead locks on the Scorpion Deathlock to add insult to injury. However someone slides into the ring and delivers a seriously harsh lariat to Sting. Tenay and West can’t tell who it is until he stands up and yells at the camera. It’s Tyson Tomoko! The referee is throwing out the match and it looks like a no contest. [B]Winner:[/B] NO CONTEST due to Interference at 11:32. [B]Rating:[/B] B+ [B] Christian welcomes Tyson to TNA[/B] Christian gets back to his feet with the help of Tyson and laughs. He points at Sting and they both start putting the boots to him. Sting can’t get up and is getting utterly punished by the duo. Tenay and West plead for someone to come in and save Sting but no one shows as TNA Impact goes off the air. [B] Rating:[/B] B [B]Overall Rating: [/B]C- [B]Watched by: [/B]483,380 people on Spike TV

[Rob4590]

Very nice first show - the Nash/Shelley segment absolutely had me in stitches :D and Senshi and LAX - you could definitely see that in real life too. So how come the C- overall rating - not enough matches I presume ?

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Not enough matches is right, I had to hcange some of my future booking when I realized I hadn't been booking the right amount of matches for the Fed type.

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[b]After the Show[/b] 10-23-06 Thanksgiving day was a day of anticipation for me. I had to drive to Tampa to see both my family and Denise's (my wife's) family and off course I had to make sure to fit watching Impact in there. I was rather impressed with how the show came off to be honest. I was really worried about the VKM segment but it came of decently well on TV. The one thing I noticed was that it seemed to lack wrestling. We had three decently long matches in there but I got a call from Vince Russo around 11pm asking me if I liked the final cut of the show. I told him I did but that I had a few concerns that we would go over at the next Meeting on Friday. He seemed more interested in making sure I wasn't going to bad mouth him to Mz Carter. I assured him that I liked the show and only had a few things to discuss with them all. To be honest I meant it, I've never been a fan of Russo-rific booking but so far I hadn't hated anything he'd done since he came on board, even before I was working with him. 10-24-06 The booking commitee met with Mz Carter again today to discuss the next TV tapings (we had changed our tapings from three hours every other week to about 1 1/2 hours a week giving some dark matches to the fans but let them come back for more every week). Mz Carter started right off with me, she wanted to know what I thought of how everything was going. I could feel Vince and Jeff sear their looks into me. "Well I think we need to have more matches, our fans really are just as much wrestling guys as sports entertainment guys." Mz Carter seemed to agree with me and we started to focus on what to go on for the next week. Vince Russo can really churn out the ideas, but he really needs to get focused because it seemed he had already decided to ignore that Sting and Christian are both going for the NWA World title at the moment. Suggesting that we should push Abyss into a feud with AJ Styles. We worked for about 4 hours before we had filtered through the ideas enough to come up with a decent show. After all that I talked to Mz Carter in private, we discussed an idea I had that Jake Roberts and Raven should join us at these booking meetings since they both have a keen mind for wrestling and for more edgy material that may be able to help focus Vince Russo's off the wall ideas into something better. She told me she'd think about it but she was unsure if they needed that big of a team. I gave a phone call to Raven to tell him that I asked her about it but she wasn't sure and he told me about the fact that ECW's Ariel aka Shelly Martinez had been let go earlier in the week. He apparently wanted her to add to his new Movement faction rather than have So Cal Val go from Innocent Ring Girl to Gothy sexy beast. I told him I'd talk to Mz Carter and get the ball rolling. 10-27-06 The next tapings were getting ready to run when I got to meet Shelly Martinez, we are talking on putting her on a Pay-Per-Appearance deal so that Raven can use her in his new little group. She was very nice and very glad to be backstage at TNA, seems she's more than a little upset that she got dumped by the WWE out of nowhere. I'm still a bit worried about picking up another "WWE Reject" but Raven is sure that she'll add to the group and I have to say she fits TNA's idea of a Knockout by not looking like ever other bleach blonde that the WWE normally uses. She met with Mz Carter who seemed to like her as well. Well know more this week. Besides that both Tyson Tomoko and Peter Kidd are glad to be on the Roster and to have such a good level push, dealing with some of the best that TNA has to offer.