83 Weeks - TNA Victory Road 2010 [Show Notes] (Patreon)

TNA Victory Road 2010

Coming off the 8th anniversary PPV of Slammiversary TNA started on the path to Victory Road.

At Slammiversary we saw the end of Roxxi who put her career on the line against Madison Rayne and lost.

Wrestling Observer 6/21/10

“The show featured the end of Roxxi with the promotion. In a situation that a lot of people were very negative on management with because of how it was handled, she arrived in Orlando and was told that the stips in her match had been changed to title vs. career against Madison Rayne. They were added at the end with no build-up. She was also told she was losing and that would be it. Worse, she ended up busted open badly from a mic shot.”

Tommy Dreamer debuted to attack Bubba Ray Dudley costing him a match against Jesse Neal.

Rob Van Dam retained the TNA title over Sting.

“Scott Hall was officially let go due to the arrest getting out. While some were talking double standard because Jeff Hardy has far more major charges, the thing is that aside from Hardy being a bigger current star and there are always inconsistent standards in wrestling, Hall really is in a lot rougher shape than Hardy. They decided to strip The Band of the tag titles as opposed to having Kevin Nash & Eric Young defend them and lose them.”

How much of a liability was Scott Hall at this point in time?

“ODB, real name Jessica Kresa, 32, quit TNA on 6/14. She had made a lot of noises of late about being unhappy with what had happened to the women’s division. She was not a favorite of management and hadn’t been used well with the new regime which valued television model looks above unique charisma, the same reason she was never signed by WWE even though she was the most over woman in OVW when it was their developmental program. She’d been with the company for a little over two-and-a-half years. In recent weeks, she talked about loving wrestling but it being time to make a change, and wanting to get into acting.”

Was ODB right to be unhappy at this point? What was she lacking?

“The Sports Business Journal covered pro wrestling and had a significantly larger article on TNA than WWE (likely because of greater cooperation). Dixie Carter claimed TNA would be gaining market share from WWE this year due to more television exposure, more live shows, and the buzz created by having Hulk Hogan. The article was weak because they didn’t even examine how adding so many high profile stars has led to diminished ratings and average house show attendance. The article said TNA is presenting rougher wrestling than WWE by using thumb tacks, broken glass and barbed wire. Carter claimed in the article TNA has been profitable the past few years. WWE, on the other hand, pushed its move to PG. Donna Goldsmith said WWE is looking at gaining sponsorships from quick service restaurants, insurance companies, package goods and auto company. I know that for the past decade, it’s bothered Vince McMahon about how no auto companies would advertise on WWE programming (they haven’t done MMA either). Goldsmith also said that the celebrity guest hosts on Raw attract new fans to the show and bring back lapsed fans who no longer watch. The article noted WWE not revealing its price points for its sponsors. TNA was also vague, claiming revenues have grown significantly but not saying what the numbers were.”

Dixie doing PR sometimes had to be a nightmare right?

“Stephanie Yim, described as a unique looking Korean/African American woman with huge implants had a tryout at the recent tapings. She used the name Mia Yim, and lost her debut to Taylor Wilde in a dark match on 6/15.”

11 years ago working on NXT.

“While some people note WWE trademarked the name Tommy Dreamer, Dreamer has been using the name long before not only his WWF days but before his ECW days. No matter what WWE trademarks, if you can show prior usage before WWE, you can still use the name. That’s why both WWE and TNA are trying to give new people new names. That’s the same reason Taz can use his name. The reason The Dudleys name isn’t used is that they were given the name in ECW and WWF bought the intellectual property of ECW in bankruptcy court.”

How was Tommy Dreamer to bring in?

“The reason they are doing the ECW revival stuff is because the TNA focus group showed that people they asked when they asked what period they liked about wrestling, many responded with ECW. That was the impetus to try and get a Paul Heyman led reunion. Heyman may tell different people different stories, but he’s pretty consistent in that he doesn’t want to come in the way things are set up now.”

Is this true? Was Heyman close to coming into TNA?

“A lot of changes at the 6/14 tapings. The show opened with Bischoff announcing that The Band had been stripped of the titles because of Hall, without elaborating as to why, or making sense why Nash & Young simply couldn’t defend. He said they wanted to help Hall (they did try and intervention) and hoped at some point Hall could come back to wrestle for them. They announced a four-team tournament with 3-D, Beer Money, Shannon Moore & Jesse Neal and Kevin Nash & Eric Young. There wasn’t even an attempt at an explanation as to why Nash & Young were stripped and then in the tournament that started a minute later. The winners of the tournament then faces the Machine Guns, who were the top contenders, for the titles, on Victory Road. In a match that ended up not airing on Impact, Magnus returned after a few months to beat the new Suicide (Not positive about this, but was told it’s Kazuchika Okada of New Japan Pro Wrestling instead of Kiyoshi who is the far more experienced of the two). After winning, Magnus issued a challenge to Rob Terry for the Global title. They got into a brawl but it was announced that at the next TV’s, Terry first defends against Homicide. Moore & Neal beat Nash & Young when Moore pinned Young after Morgasm, which is Neal with a Samoan drop and Moore coming off the top rope with a blockbuster. Flair came out with the group of Beer Money, Wolfe, Kazarian and Styles. The group is now called Fortune. Lethal came out and got into an argument with Flair, which set up Wolfe vs. Lethal. This saw Flair and Lethal go back-and-forth doing Flair mannerisms and Flair lines from the 80s. 

This was one of the most entertaining segments on wrestling this year. Both guys were on fire. Flair basically called the group the Horsemen, even though there were six of them in total. He then in the strangest of twists to the promo ran them down. He said Styles wasn’t worthy of being Arn Anderson, that Kazarian wasn’t worthy of being Barry Windham, and that he liked Beer Money, but they weren’t as good as Tully Blanchard and Ole Anderson. I was waiting for him to say he wasn’t as good as J.J., but it never got that far. He did compare Wolfe to Lex Luger. The segment ended with Flair saying that Wolfe had to beat Lethal or he couldn’t be in the group. They all but said they wanted to be called The Four Horsemen but WWE owned the mark, but said they would still hold up four fingers. Douglas Williams beat Max Buck with a tornado DDT, I guess pushing the idea that Williams says he hates the flying moves but then uses them to win himself. Brian Kendrick ran out and choked out Williams. Samoa Joe pinned Hernandez thanks to interference from Morgan. Morgan then attacked Hernandez after the match, but then Joe attacked Morgan, making the save. Lacey Von Erich beat Angelina Love via DQ for doing a DDT on a chair. It was weird because Love worked the match like the heel. Crowd didn’t know how to take this. The program is Love gets DQ’d against Von Erich, then against Sky, and that earns her a title shot at Madison Rayne at Victory Road, which has already been announced. Beer Money beat Team 3-D in the other tournament semifinal. Neal & Moore came out to ringside and Bubba chased them. That left Devon alone and Storm blew beer in his eyes and Roode pinned him with a schoolboy. Lethal pinned Wolfe. Chelsea was still with Wolfe even though she turned on him and helped Abyss win the PPV match. Earlier in the show Abyss told her to go back to Wolfe because the 30 days were up, in a total about face of where they were going. Wolfe was treating her like dirt and she didn’t want to be there. Lethal won quickly, but Flair and Wolfe beat down Lethal until Hogan ran out. Hogan put over Lethal as a new superstar and announced Flair vs. Lethal at Victory Road. Even though Flair is putting one of the younger guys over by working with him, which should be his role, to me it’s the same problem as with Mick Foley in that he should be wrestling sparingly and only in situations with major meaning, as opposed to just a mid-card match. Tommy Dreamer was sitting in the crowd watching the match. 

The main event was Abyss vs. Hardy vs. Anderson with the winner getting RVD for the title at Victory Road. It ended up as a triple count out. Abyss then snapped, and turned heel on both guys, beating them with kendo sticks. He gave Anderson a black hole slam on broken glass which is just stupid and then and choke slamming Hardy off the stage and through a table. This led to Hogan coming out again and they started the build for Hogan vs. Abyss. The plan was that match at Bound for Glory, but this seems like shooting the angle early and like they are rushed for time to get into it.”

There’s a lot here to break into. Creative being all over the place. Why Nash & Young were stripped then put into the tag team title tournament?

Okada being Suicide.

The debut of Fortune.

Flair vs. Lethal in that classic promo.

Chelsea still being with Wolfe after turning on him at the last PPV?

Hogan putting over Lethal.

Abyss turns heel here to setup the eventual run against Hogan?

:On 6/15, on the show taped for 6/24. Terry pinned Homicide in the Global title match with his usual uranage spinebuster finisher. After the match, Magnus attacked and laid out Terry, posed with the title belt and left. Match sucked. Terry vs. Magnus for the title is likely at Victory Road. Hogan came out and announced that since the Abyss vs. Hardy vs. Anderson match had no winner, the PPV main event would be RVD defending against all three. Wow, a Fatal Four Way match. If there’s like any month to avoid that kind of main event, this is probably it. Abyss then came out. Hogan asked Abyss what happened to him last week. Abyss said he attacked Anderson and Hardy because “they” told him to. He said when “they” come, they will be an unstoppable force and that Dixie Carter can’t stop them and Eric Bischoff can’t stop them and even Hulk Hogan can’t stop them. Oh God, the creditors are mounting an offensive. Hogan asked who they are. Well, if TNA had actually trained people, instead of them bring guys from the 90s who make the promotion only look more aged and out of touch, they could copy WWE and do an NXT angle and a fatal four-way at the same time. Abyss said that he knows, and that everyone will know soon enough. Abyss said with them backing him he doesn’t need the stupid fans. Hogan argued that everyone needs the fans. Abyss said he no longer needs the stupid jacket and he no longer needs the stupid ring. Abyss attacked Hogan and tried to shove the ring down his throat. He then pours out more broken glass to put Hogan into but RVD ran in for the save. But Abyss laid out RVD with a power bomb. Anderson then came in and went to hit Abyss with a chair shot but Abyss punched the chair. Everyone backed off as since Abyss is being groomed for Hogan, everyone’s job is to set Abyss up now. Rayne and Sky were in the women’s bathroom (not sure the deal with Russo and girls bathrooms) where Rayne made fun of Von Erich and how she’s always on her back. Sky beat Love via DQ for a DDT on a chair. Rayne came down and held up the title belt in front of Love and said she’d never get it from her. Morgan did a promo talking about how he came out of Slammiversary victorious. He the called out Hernandez. Hernandez didn’t come out and Morgan made more fun of him. Homicide then ran out and attacked Morgan, but Morgan kicked his head into the post, the same thing he did to Hernandez, so Homicide will probably be gone. Flair started yelling at Styles for losing to Lethal. Lethal pined Kazarian. Flair backstage beat up Lethal’s brother and started making fun of him. A Jarrett vs. Sting match saw Jarrett beat up Sting, but it turned out to be the fake Sting. Then the real Sting attacked and choked Jarrett with a bat. Angle beat Wolfe with an ankle lock. Angle then put up eight fingers to note that he’s facing the No. 8 contender next. Williams did an interview. He said he has to give everyone in the X Division a lesson in professionalism. He called out Kendrick. Kendrick makes fun of the way Williams talks and then choked out Williams after an argument. Neal was attacked backstage but an unknown assailant. Maybe it’s the same guy who laid out Pacman Jones. Moore attacked Bubba until Devon and security broke it up. Devon told Bubba that he embarrassed himself last week. Beer Money beat Moore & Neal in the match to determine who faces the Machine Guns for the vacant titles at Slammiversary. Neal was selling the injury from the video clip the entire match, and ended up double-teamed and pinned. During the match, Dreamer, Raven and Dr. Stevie were in the bleachers sitting together to form their ECW group. 

Abyss beat Anderson in a falls count anywhere match with the torture rack. After the match, Abyss choke slammed Anderson off the stage and through a table. Hogan then ran in for the save and hit Abyss with a chair, but Abyss did the no-sell spot. Security ran in to separate Hogan from Abyss. Abyss threw some security guys around.”

What do you think of Meltzer’s criticism about not having a developmental system as during this time the Nexus angle happened and a bunch of fresh young blood was pushed high on WWE TV?

Did it really make sense to make Abyss and Hogan’s whole feud over his WWE Hall of Fame ring?

Dreamer, Dr. Stevie & Raven...ECW! ECW! ECW!

Bryan Danielson is released by WWE from the Nexus angle and the choking of Justin Roberts. Did you reach out? Were there attempts to get him into TNA?

Wrestling Observer 6/28/10

Another deal is that Spike has given them more of a green light to go more hardcore, whatever that is supposed to mean. The last thing they need to do is more blood and more weapons, because they don’t use weapons in telling stories and it ends up just mindless weapons shots when they do it. Weapons matches are so passe, because if they weren’t, Abyss would be a superstar, and he’s not. The whole positioning and this does make sense is to try and be what WWE isn’t, and WWE being tame means them going the opposite. But the problem is a hardcore direction limits your audience greatly.

Do you agree with this? Too much hardcore doesn’t mean as much as sometimes hardcore yes?

Dixie Carter wrote that she and Scott Hall decided he needed time away to focus on his personal issues. From what we understand, Hall is beyond being a mess, being in worse shape than ever before.

Is this a save face from Dixie or was it legit?

“Carter has been calling Paul Heyman about coming in for the ECW angle and taking creative control of the company. The pitch is that if he comes in, Vince Russo will walk away from creative, but stay with the company (in other words be there to replace him when things go South). Bischoff would be there to help create new programming. Spike has been involved with talks. Right now Heyman is working on marketing Brock Lesnar, has two book projects he’s working on, and has a creative agency. He has not been offered the Dana White position (full control plus 10% ownership), although he would not want to be the public face of the company and up front like White, but the behind-the-scenes guy (that’s if he would do it and odds are right now not strong that would happen). But the issue isn’t the booking. Booking alone may make TNA better, but it won’t turn the company around. You’d need a complete turnaround when it comes to branding, positioning, marketing as a viable alternative product (very hard fighting an incumbent in the marketplace that has probably a 90-92% market share, and you would have to clean house and have both a new concept of pro wrestling and an ability to both find new stars (recruiting and strong developmental, and the fruits of those labors would be a minimum five years and these days people in wrestling don’t even have five weeks of patience), create new stars and get them to cross over.”

How close was this to a reality? Were you kept abreast of it all? Was Russo?

“Lisa “Tara” Varon is expected back. From what we’re told, she was leaving when her contract expired and they did the retirement stipulation in her match. Then, actually before the match took place, she and Dixie Carter either cut a new deal or at least were close on it. But since they had the stipulation out there, they had her lose, leave as scheduled, and are trying to come up with an angle to explain why she can come back.”

Was this something that happened a lot in TNA? Creative just changing out of nowhere with things not making sense?

“The morale here was said to be at all-time low at the last set of tapings and the PPV. The explanation was Dixie’s twitter. Wrestlers hate when they are being kayfabed because they think the office treats them like they’re the marks, so to speak. This is why I always say how short-sighted it is when promotions try and work their own talent on angles, because wrestlers are largely paranoid and not believing anything they are told to begin with, and once you do that, you justify the paranoia. Here the deal was that she said on the PPV they would make an announcement that Kevin Kay of Spike agreed would change the face of wrestling. That’s how everyone read what she said including the talent. Then two days later, she backtracked and did the “I never said it would be on PPV, it would be slowly revealed,” and all they had at the PPV was the debut of Tommy Dreamer, which hardly changes the face of wrestling. Then, when the week was over, she still didn’t tell them so the basic idea is either she spoke about a deal she didn’t have and had to backtrack, it was a cheap stunt to garner interest in the PPV that wasn’t going to work anyway (those angles never work on PPV) and just made the company look cheesy in the process.”

The thought process of this isn’t wrong. The level of distrust between an office and the workers has always been there in wrestling. Why is that? Will that ever change or is a company like AEW more likely to push away from that with most of the wrestlers being the “office?”

“The 7/2 show in Brooklyn at MCU Park is going to draw one of the biggest house show crowds in company history. They’ve already sold 4,000 tickets in advance, which would be the best advance for a house show in company history. The two key points is the Mets organization is promoting the event heavily, and it’s a unique venue, the idea of seeing pro wrestling at an outdoor baseball stadium on Coney Island. It’s similar to the boxing show at Yankee Stadium which drew well and did big TV numbers more for the location than the actual attraction.”

Were there attempts to make more deals like this across the United States or was it just because New York was such a hotbed for wrestling it made more sense for a place like this?

“Right now, they know they are doing an ECW angle but don’t know the framework of the angle. Different ideas are being batted around, including the idea of eventually creating a second ECW-like promotion with its own TV show. The deal is, the more television they have, the more they can charge Spike for television, and that’s what keeps the company afloat. There is a lot of divisiveness on this one, and already there is a lot more of a feeling that Hulk Hogan is a phony who is taking the company for a ride and Eric Bischoff has nothing to offer past being a great television performer. They’ve already done an ECW angle in the past that meant nothing, and now it’s many years later and the talent is older. Those in charge are all gung-ho based on that focus group survey from months back where their audience stated that they were big fans of ECW.”

What say you Eric?

“Mick Foley is expected back full-time in a month or two.”

Was Foley worth the money at this point?

“There was no real reaction to ODB leaving. When it came to Roxxi, everyone felt bad for her, basically because she showed up for work the day of the show and was told about the stip and that would be it. There’s a lot of questioning of it with the feeling the women’s division has gone to hell and she was one of the better in-ring performers they had left. Right now there is no interest in marketing women’s wrestling, really only just pushing The Beautiful People and Angelina Love.”

Fair?

“They are very serious right now about pushing Jay Lethal to near the top. Regarding Desmond Wolfe, he’s right now out of favor, which is why at least for right now he isn’t going to be in Fortune because of the loss on TV to Lethal. Basically the decision came down to Kazarian over him for the No. 4 spot, said to be because Kazarian is easier for management to work with and the decision makers see Kazarian as a bigger potential star. I don’t share that view but it’s clear right now you’ve got people who only see “television face” and Kazarian is a good looking guy, but simplifying who can be a star based on television face or body as opposed to how they actually get over is taking a very simplistic and unbelievably shallow view of what makes for an effective wrestler. Not sure who came up with the name Fortune, but it was not creative. It was one of the members of the group itself. Creative came up with The Flair Four and F-4, but the group didn’t like either name and someone in the group said Fortune.”

How good was Jay Lethal at this point and why the de-push to Desmond Wolfe (Nigel McGuiness?) Who came up with the name Fortune?

“Angle did an interview with the Miami Herald and was critical of booking. “I like (creative to look at an individual and say all or nothing. In other words, push him to the moon or don’t push them at all. No halfway. Let’s ride them as far as you can ride them, and then maybe get somebody else. Once they rise to stardom, God willing, then maybe we can do another one as well. It’s going to take a little time. We need to follow through with our characters. We were getting there with A.J. Styles. He was just at that elite status. He was very close. Then we kind of pulled the title off. A.J., in my mind is still the best wrestler today. His championship run was a little short.” He called Batista the most improved wrestler of the past three years and he wants Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas in to bring back Team Angle as a babyface group, and then build to feuds from there.” .”

When someone like Kurt says something like this does he get heat? Does it get listened to more because of who he is?

“Gregory Helms has been telling friends he’s headed in here with the Hardy connection. That was something expected. His 90-day non-compete ended last month so he can come in at any time.”

Is the criticism of past WWE guys just walking to TNA at the time fair?

“Brooke Adams (Miss Tessmacher) has been training to wrestle.”

Roll tide.

Wrestling Observer 7/5/10

They’ve gotten more aggressive over the past week or two regarding Paul Heyman. It would appear that the “they” that Abyss talks about as far as taking over would be the ECW group (unless they are going to do two different simultaneous outside forces taking over angles, and as crazy as that is, nothing would surprise me) and Heyman would be key in getting it over. He’s been offered a head of creative slot but he’s wanting a Dana White type of role where he’s the guy running the entire ship, noting that creative may be a problem but that it’s not the biggest problem.

How close was this to really happening?

We don’t have details at press time, but it has been confirmed TNA fired Ed Ferrara last week, who was Vince Russo’s booking assistant. It was the hiring of Ferrara that led to the firing of Jim Cornette several months back, because Vince Russo wanted Ferrara in and because of a confrontation years back when Cornette spit on Ferrara in an argument, Ferrara wasn’t going to come in with Cornette in the company.

Why the move on from Ed Ferrara at this point?

Kevin Sullivan, 60, did talk with Dixie Carter when Carter was in New Jersey several weeks back expressing interest in getting back in. Sullivan has spoken with people he knows in the company as well and is said to have booked out an entire year.

Any real consideration for Sullivan here? Looks counter productive to be talking with Sullivan and Heyman while having Russo still booking doesn’t it?

Velvet Sky has signed a three-year contract extension.

Roll tide?

Hulk Hogan wasn’t at the 6/29 tapings because his back was in really bad shape, which is not a good sign considering he just had surgery, may need another operation, and they are building everything long-term around his match with Abyss.

Was this the first time there was fear of Hogan vs Abyss not happening?

Notes from the 6/28 tapings for 7/1. The show opened with an Abyss promo ripping on Hogan. Hogan came out but Bischoff tried to talk him out of attacking Abyss saying he’s there to be behind the scenes. Hogan still went after Abyss and Abyss no sold. No truth to the rumor he whispered, “That’s for popping up after Vader’s power bomb.” Hogan then nailed Abyss with three chair shots which he also no sold. Okay, if that’s the case, why did Abyss sell Anderson’s chair shots last week? Jeff Hardy came out and gave Abyss a twist of fate and swanton. The Machine Guns beat Moore & Neal when they pinned Neal. Bubba Ray Dudley went after Neal, but Devon stopped him. They started arguing. Finally Devon went into the ring to help Neal. There are two obvious outcomes, either Bubba feuds with Devon, which sounds bad, or Bubba & Devon tease a break-up then do a swerve and together turn on Neal. And if that storyline was only done once a year it would be great, but in TNA, that’s a groaner. Samoa Joe beat Styles clean. After the match, Kazarian yelled at Styles for losing. So did Flair. This led to challenges back and forth for Kazarian vs. Styles for the next taping. The Pope returned and did a hot promo. Kurt Angle came out and they officially announced Angle vs. Pope for the Victory Road PPV. Kendrick beat Wolfe with the cobra clutch submission. Chelsea was in a bad mood and walked out on Wolfe during the match. Lethal came out and he wants Flair and Styles. Where was he earlier in the show. He’s mad about them beating up his brother. This leads to Matt Morgan coming out saying he wants to be part of Fortune. This ends with Lethal vs. Morgan. Morgan destroyed Lethal almost the entire match, but Hernandez interfered and used a low blow on Morgan and Lethal got the pin. Madison Rayne pinned Taylor Wilde. The match was a backdrop for the ECW crew of Dreamer, Raven, Richards and now Rhino sitting at ringside. They only sat out there for one match and left. Sarita attacked Wilde backstage. Well, we haven’t teased a tag team breaking up in at least 45 minutes. 

Dixie Carter went up to the rafters to confront Sting and tell him that he’s suspended for 30 days. She told Sting that he was a cancer in the locker room. Not only that, the people who told her were Hogan & Bischoff. Oh the irony. Sting threatens Carter until Bischoff gets security to remove Sting from the building. Main event is Abyss vs. Hardy with RVD as referee. Abyss went for a chair but RVD took the chair away, and in doing so, Hardy was able to take control and pin Abyss after a swanton. Post match saw Abyss go crazy, attacking Hardy, and giving RVD a black hole slam. Abyss then had a 2x4 with nails sticking out and went to use it when Anderson ran down and hit Abyss with a chair. As he went for a second chair shot, Abyss moved and Anderson hit Hardy. Abyss then laid out Anderson with the shock treatment.

Rhino is added to the ECW group. Was it just finding ECW guys at this point to stick in there?

What was the payoff for the Sting, Hogan, yourself and Dixie cancer angle.

WHY DID ANYONE ALLOW DIXIE TO PUT HERSELF ON TV? GOD ALMIGHTY.

Wrestling Observer 7/12/20

“TNA ran its highest attended non-PPV domestic event in history drawing 5,500 paid and nearly 6,000 total on 7/2 at the Brooklyn Cyclones baseball stadium on Coney Island. The company also set its single-event merchandise record on the show.”

Had to feel good for this type of show to happen.

“Management put on the full court press this past week to get Paul Heyman to debut on Victory Road. As of the weekend, those in the company noted that they believe he is coming but that the sides don’t have a deal. Heyman said that they’ve come to him, but noted they gave Jim Ross a low-

ball number and he wants a deal similar to what Dana White has with UFC or he says he’s not interested in coming back. Heyman has been insistent that they have to revamp the product marketing. Heyman did an interview over the weekend pushing the same line of thought, that he’s not looking to come back, but if he was given the kind of a deal that White has (full control of the promotion and a stake in the company) then he would be willing. But he said that he won’t be appearing at Victory Road. TNA wanted Heyman to be the television leader of the ECW invasion group. Heyman had said he doesn’t want to be a television character. Those at TNA say the deal is close enough that Heyman has started working on ideas and that while turning down being a regular television character, he’s willing to at least make one televised appearance just to show publicly that he’s there on what would be another “restart” style show.”

Paul Heyman & Jim Ross. What happened with both?

Douglas Williams and Magnus were signed to multiple-year contract extensions.

What were and are your thoughts on both of these guys?

Notes from the 6/29 tapings for the 7/8 Impact show. The show opened with Mr. Anderson and Jeff Hardy talking at the start of the show to build up their main event. They talked about the accidental chair shot from the previous week. Styles and Kazarian went to a double count out. Ric Flair brought up them having a tag team match at Victory Road and said they had better work together. Angelina Love beat Daffney. She then called out Madison Rayne. Rayne told Love that she should put up her career like Tara and Roxxi. Love agreed to do it, but with the terms that if either Lacey Von Erich or Velvet Sky interfere and it causes a DQ, that Rayne will lose the title. Devon came out and told Bubba to come out. Bubba started cutting a promo on what a punk Jesse Neal is. Devon stuck up for Neal. Bubba started questioning his loyalty. This all builds for Bubba vs. Devon vs. Neal in a three-way on the PPV. RVD pinned Samoa Joe in what was apparently a great match. All the ECW guys were watching this. After losing, Joe laid out the ref with a muscle buster. Jeremy Buck beat Douglas Williams in a ladder match where he took down the X hanging from the ceiling. Also said to be good. Matt Morgan & Beer Money beat Motor City Machine Guns & Hernandez. Jay Lethal and Ric Flair had a confrontation built around Flair insulting Lethal’s mother. Main event was another strong match with Hardy pinning Anderson. After the match, Abyss attacked both men. RVD ran in and Abyss laid him out as well. However, the three faces made a comeback, ending when RVD used the Van Terminator on Abyss.

Devon vs. Bubba didn’t work in the WWF. Why here?

The Buck Brothers...Generation Me...think they’ll ever amount to anything?

Wrestling Observer 7/19/10

For the second straight month, in the days leading to the TNA PPV, Dixie Carter started talking about an industry changing surprise. Last month, she backed off at the end, and then tried to twist words saying she didn’t mean it would be at the PPV, but would be slowly obvious.

And for the second straight month, there was no surprise, other than an ECW reunion angle people could clearly see coming.

The surprise in question was an attempt to bring in Paul Heyman to book the company. Mid-week, when Carter talked about how you would never guess who I just met with, she had actually just met with Heyman, and clearly, based on everything being said internally, they believed a deal was imminent. Jeff Jarrett even began giving hints about the identity of a new person coming in. The plan was for Heyman to arrive as the leader of the ECW contingent on the PPV, but Heyman stated a week before at UFC 116 when he said that wasn’t happening, it didn’t happen.

The game is still in play, and there are two major impasses involved. The first is that Heyman doesn’t believe a booking change alone can turn TNA around, and he doesn’t want to be a part of failure. He already turned down both the IFL and Yamma promotions when they wanted his involvement, and probably could have hooked up a consulting job with WWE if he wanted to stay in the business. He wants the power to bring in his own crew, both wrestlers and front office, but was not offered that power.

TNA is in many ways the most unique wrestling company ever. It has lost tens of millions since its inception, although did have break even and even profitable years in 2008 and 2009 before spending got out of control this year in an attempt at expansion that backfired. But company president Dixie Carter has a lot of loyalties to some people. The company has fired people to cut costs in recent months, so the stories she doesn’t want anyone fired aren’t true. Some are perplexing, like Christopher Daniels coming off a string of good main events, and nobody could even get answers as to who made the call or why. But others are sacred cows, such as Vince Russo, just as an example.

Heyman has said that if he is going to come in, he wants to be in the position the Feritta Brothers put Dana White in when they bought UFC in 2001, with the ability to succeed or fail on his own. He wants to hire his own crew, both because he’s not impressed with many on the office staff or the results TNA has, and, if he brings in his own people, those people will be loyal to him, and not to Jeff Jarrett, or Eric Bischoff, or whoever got them in, and won’t politically undermine him in an attempt to get him out of power. There’s no guarantee he can turn it around and it may not be possible to put big numbers on the board for pro wrestling if you aren’t WWE today.

There are a lot of different ways you can interpret his run as the person in charge of ECW. It was successful in some ways, but ultimately it went out of business. It didn’t lose money at nearly the rate TNA did, and even with far less talent, less money, and far less television support, created a product that did the same ratings, and did far better on PPV. He also gave careers to a number of wrestlers who would have never had a shot at making it in wrestling otherwise, and made them popular enough to where they became major favorites even after leaving ECW, something TNA has never been able to do with anyone home grown. Of course, it also was around during a period when pro wrestling was far more popular, but also had the disadvantage of competing against two national companies with far more exposure, instead of one, although the reality is TNA is also competing against even stronger companies than ECW ever had to contend with. It was also during a period where there were a lot of concepts of pro wrestling that were being done well around the world, but not in the U.S., to draw from, and ECW was kind of a melting pot of those ideas. There were also a lot of American wrestlers who became stars internationally but weren’t signed to the major promotions.

Today, the styles aren’t new, and the 90s concepts have been repeated to death and are overdone. Most agree for TNA to make it they can’t be like WWE, even though they come across as the low-rent second rate version of WWE much of the time. You can say nobody has been able to come up with another viable concept for pro wrestling, but it’s also a different era. The fans of the past are gone and probably aren’t coming back. A lot of the icons made in the 80s had great staying power in the 90s. But the 90s icons, the Hogan, Piper, Savage, Flair and Road Warriors of that era which were the aging names that brought back an old fan base to ECW, guys like Austin, Rock and Bill Goldberg, moved out of wrestling. In addition, the setting of 90s WCW television was more first class than 80s television. The setting of TNA television simply can’t match the atmosphere of the traveling Nitro shows. And wrestling simply isn’t in, although you could make the point wrestling was even more down and out in 1995 than in 2010.

Heyman also, in wanting to be in the Dana White role, wants ownership points in the company. He made clear his goal, which would be to make the company viable, increase its market share and eventually have points in a company that does an IPO, which is how the McMahon family went from being wealthy to filthy rich.

Heyman has talked with a number of people with the idea of bringing them in if he gets power, so he’s at least very much entertaining the idea that he would come in. Flying to Nashville showed interest, and enough that people in TNA were claiming they had a deal almost completed, even though the fact was, money terms had never even been discussed.

TNA’s idea was to bring Heyman in as the head of creative, with Vince Russo moving to a role in television production. They wanted to have an ECW faction where Heyman would be the on-camera leader, a role he seems to have little interest in. Even before this week, those with knowledge of the negotiations said Heyman made it clear he didn’t want to be a television character, but was open to doing one TV appearance just to make it clear he was coming. Heyman on the other hand, said he was not in favor of the ECW angle, feeling TNA’s big problem was the idea it’s a promotion out of touch and with an aging roster. Bringing in the ECW cast of the 90s is not a way to build the future, and if Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair didn’t have legs, most likely this concept may pull ratings up for a few weeks, possibly deliver a buy rate above the usual anemic levels, but it’s not curing any problems. Whoever is in charge of TNA needs a three-to-five year plan. The key is extensive scouting and recruiting, a developmental program which in a best case scenario would include experienced workers working with the younger talent and teaching them hands on in the ring in front of paying customers and in different types of settings. The problem with the current regime is they were living in the past and not preparing for the future.

On 7/12, TNA shot the ECW angle, but instead of Heyman as the main person, it became Mick Foley and Tommy Dreamer. The next night they announced that the 8/8 Hard Justice PPV would be similar to the 2005 ECW One Night Stand show. As a one-time deal, there’s nothing wrong with it. It should do considerably better than anything TNA would put on could do at this time. But it solves none of the problems and even if successful for a night, may dig the hole deeper because it perpetuates to feeling to onlookers that this is the home of aging guys that were WWE discards.

The ECW angle started with Abyss and Rob Van Dam coming to the ring and Abyss said it’s time to reveal the big secret about how they are going to take over TNA and there’s nothing Dixie Carter could do about it. But Van Dam turned on Abyss and laid him out with a belt shot. Abyss made a comeback on Van Dam, and went to use the board with nails until Jesse Neal and Shannon Moore came out, but Abyss laid both out. Mick Foley came out and Dreamer, Raven, Stevie Richards and Rhino all attacked and laid out Abyss. Security came out but the ECW contingent laid them out. The first round of wrestlers ran in like Douglas Williams, Kazuchika Okada and Magnus, but they were left laying. Brian Kendrick and Desmond Wolfe were the next sacrifices. Pat Kenney, now as Simon Diamond, and Al Snow, join the ECW group, since both were ECW characters. This led to TNA’s other agents, D-Lo Brown and Terry Taylor coming out and getting beaten up. Jay Lethal and Matt Morgan ran in and were next to be beaten down. Devon ran down, but joined the ECW group. Bubba Ray Dudley did not join the ECW group, and actually was involved with Dreamer, who it is believed suffered a knee tear in the angle when he landed badly as he was knocked off the stage by Bubba. Jeff Jarrett came out and they also beat him up. Carter came out and made it clear she invited them, but another brawl continued. It was a wild scene, but Dreamer and Carter on the next night’s television came out together, and Dreamer said it wasn’t an invasion, but they were all working with TNA. When the dust cleared, the ECW group was Foley, Raven, Richards, Rhino, Dreamer, RVD, Simon Diamond, Devon and Snow. Putting Foley and Dreamer as the focal points and shooting the angle without Heyman seem to indicate they are at least going with the idea he’s not coming in.

While all this was going on, neither Hulk Hogan nor Bischoff were at television. Hogan was against Heyman coming in. Bischoff claimed days earlier that he was putting family in front of business this week, but would return at the next set of tapings. During the Victory Road PPV, their names were only mentioned in passing.

Hogan had another back operation and there is talk that he’s not going to wrestle again, so the long planned matches with Abyss at Bound for Glory in October, and later with Sting, are off the books.

There’s a lot here. How close? Why would Dixie continue to do the same thing over and over and expect different results?

You were focusing on family here. Was it the Heyman talks? Hogan being away? Tired of the product and wrestling in general?

TNA VICTORY ROAD PPV POLL RESULTS

• Thumbs up 33 (37.5%)
• Thumbs down 10 (11.4%)
• In the middle 45 (51.1%)

BEST MATCH POLL

Motor City Machine Guns vs. Beer Money 68

WORST MATCH POLL

Angelina Love vs. Madison Rayne 32

Brother Ray vs. Brother Devon vs. Jesse Neal 23

Hernandez vs. Matt Morgan 12

TNA’s latest PPV offering, Victory Road on 7/11 from Orlando, was the latest in the pattern of average shows.

The show had some strong matches, but just as many weak ones, including a subpar main event that the crowd wasn’t into. The crowd was up and down, but seemingly burned out by the main event. Booking a four-way weeks after WWE had just built a PPV around the concept came across as second rate, and more importantly, the match felt like something nobody really cared about. Plus the dynamic of three faces against one heel is difficult for a match to overcome.

The show drew the usual full house of 1,100 fans to the Impact Zone, with about 100 more turned away. There were two title changes. First, Angelina Love beat Madison Rayne via DQ in a finish that was beyond perplexing. Two days later it was announced at the tapings that Love had to give the title back due to an incorrect ruling by the referee. The Motor City Machine Guns won the vacant tag team titles beating Beer Money. The two teams are now doing a best-of-five series that will conclude at the 8/8 Hard Justice PPV, or at least was originally set that way.

1. Douglas Williams retained the X title beating Brian Kendrick in 10:03 in a combination Ultimate X and submission rules match. The match didn’t seem to click. The Ultimate X cables were only used once, at the finish. They did a gimmick from TV where Williams was afraid of heights, which came off so lame it badly hurt the match. Early, Williams started climbing, got scared, and came down. Kendrick kept going for the cobra clutch but Williams would escape. Kendrick climbed but Williams came after him and brought him back to the ring with a backward superplex. Kendrick went for the cobra clutch again. Williams made the ropes and Kendrick held on until Williams fell off the ramp. Williams put on climbing gloves and I guess they also eliminated fear. After slapping Kendrick with the glove, he put them on, climbed to the top and used the cable. Kendrick was right behind him. Kendrick went for a cobra clutch while both were hanging from the cable. They lost balance and both came tumbling down. They sold it that Kendrick was knocked out from the fall. Williams then put on the cobra clutch and the ref checked Kendrick’s hand three times, it was limp, and it was stopped even though Kendrick didn’t submit. **

Wow this match. A lot going on here. Two really good wrestlers and than they’re really handcuffed to do anything.

2. Brother Ray beat Brother Devon and Jesse Neal in 5:55. Bubba did a big interview before the match telling Christy Hemme that Jesse is a failure, “Just like your edition of Playboy.” Back to the Russo woman-hating interview verbiage with Ed Ferrara no longer scripting interviews. Ray also said that without him, Devon was nothing and would have never survived in the industry. Honestly, that’s probably true. Bubba attacked Neal as he was coming to the ring. Devon’s music played, but he never came out. A camera man showed the door was locked from the outside and Devon couldn’t get out. Of course it’s backstage, everyone knew it, there is a camera guy there, and they just keep him locked in for several minutes. Dreamer, Rhino, Raven and Richards came out and the crowd was chanting “ECW.” Bubba was distracted and Neal speared him for a near fall. Bubba brought in a chair. Shannon Moore came out. This distracted ref Slick Johnson and Bubba hit Neal in the back with a chair. Devon finally arrived at the 4:50 mark of the match. He and Bubba did a staredown. They did a double swerve. First they teased they were going to go at it but didn’t. Then they teased they were going to double-team Neal. Then Bubba attacked Devon, and Devon fought back. Neal went to spear Bubba, who moved, and Neal speared Devon. Bubba then pinned Neal after a Bubba bomb. *

What is it with Vince Russo hating women promos? It seems like it happens a lot. The camera guy shooting Devon because he can’t get in the door airs and it’s just loss of a semblance of reality right? Too many swerves.

3. Angelina Love beat Madison Rayne via DQ in 4:40 in a match where Love put up her career, Rayne put up the Knockouts title and also if there was outside interference by The Beautiful People, there would be an immediate DQ and forfeiture of the title. Rayne grabbed the chair that SoCal Val was sitting in. Before she could use it, Love kicked the chair in Rayne’s face. The mystery biker chick (Tara) came out and threw Love into the post and then threw down ref Andrew Thomas. Thomas ordered a DQ, and claiming that since it was due to interference, per the pre-match stip, Love was the new champion. What made even less sense is Rayne and the biker chick left together, even though the biker chick had just cost her the match and title. A nothing much with a terrible nonsensical ending. 1/4*

Does this read worse than watching it or vice versa? I’m not sure which.

4. A.J. Styles & Kazarian beat Rob Terry & Samoa Joe in 8:08. The action was real good whenever Joe was in the match. It wasn’t terrible when Terry was in, but when Joe would tag Terry in, the crowd was boo. Terry threw both guys over the top rope, and tagged Joe, who did a tope, nailing both guys on the floor. Joe ended up being worked over for a few minutes. He used a uranage on Styles had tagged Terry. Terry sold nothing, and pressed Styles and threw him halfway across the ring. Terry used a suplex into a powerslam on Styles for a near fall, as Kazarian saved. Joe tagged in and was about to give Styles a muscle buster when Wolfe came out and pulled Joe to the floor. Terry clotheslined Wolfe, but Styles used a springboard forearm to Terry. Kazarian followed with a springboard dropkick and a springboard legdrop. Styles tagged in and did a springboard 450 for the pin. After the match, Joe laid out Wolfe by giving him a muscle buster. ***

How good are 3 of the 4 guys in this match? Was there something to Rob Terry that was missed?

5. Hernandez beat Matt Morgan in a cage match in 10:43. Hernandez crotched Morgan on the top rope and hit a springboard dropkick. Hernandez nailed Morgan two with body blocks, knocking Morgan into the cage. Hernandez missed a tackle and flew into the cage. Morgan, whose back was bleeding by this point, then threw Hernandez three times into the cage. Morgan nailed Hernandez with the carbon footprint. Morgan showed he could leave, was just about out the door, but decided to come back in and deliver more punishment. Hernandez was bleeding. Morgan kicked Hernandez’s face into the cage and scraped his ace on the cage and kicked his head into the cage. Morgan was punching the cut. Hernandez came back, and twice went for the Border toss and Morgan was so big and long, Hernandez couldn’t get him up. The second time they both fell down trying the move and Hernandez was clearly not happy. But he still laid Morgan out and climbed to the top of the cage. He went for a splash, but missed, as Morgan moved. Morgan then pulled out handcuffs he had hidden in his T-shirt. He handcuffed Hernandez into the ropes. Morgan, instead of going out the door right in front of him, he decided to climb to the top. At least he wasn’t afraid of heights. Hernandez broke the handcuffs. He then did a running shoulderblock into the door, which flew open and Hernandez was on the ramp before Morgan could climb over. *¾

Too big men in a cage. That’s really it.

6. Jay Lethal beat Ric Flair in 12:03 with the figure four leglock. Solid match. Flair looked old and ridiculously tanned in there, but could do enough of his bumps and even minus blood, had a good match. Crowd went wild when he did the face first bump. Lethal gave Flair a top rope superplex, but missed the follow-up moonsault. Flair started working on the legs with a figure four leglock. But ref Earl Hebner caught him holding the opes for leverage. Lethal used a schoolboy for a near fall. Later Lethal used Flair’s flip into the corner move and landed on his feet. Flair, who hasn’t done the move in years, acted all mad. Lethal went for a sunset flip and Flair blocked it, and Lethal pulled down Flair’s trunks for a pop. Lethal used a crossbody off the top, a reverse splash onto Flair’s knees and the figure four. Flair tapped out, and then Lethal in he ring started crying because Flair put him over clean. This wasn’t at the level of Flair’s best matches of 2007 or 2008, but better than most of what was on the card. **¾

How unselfish was Ric and was it to a fault? What happened to not being able to capitalize on this for Lethal?

6. Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley beat Robert Roode & James Storm in 15:55 to win the vacant tag team titles. This was the highlight of the show. Crowd was quiet early following the strong reactions to the Flair match, but eventually they got the crowd back. Shelley was worked over and Sabin hot tagged in, using a tornado DDT on Roode and punting Storm’s head on the apron. Shelley used a shiranui on Roode but Storm saved. Storm used a hotshot on Shelley. Sabin used a huracanrana on Storm, and went for it on Roode but was blocked. Storm used the Eye of the Storm (Whirly bird) on Sabin for a near fall. Shelley gave Storm the codebreaker and Roode went for the pin on Shelley, who kicked out. The crowd got into it there. Sabin did a Silver King style dive onto Storm on he floor, and Roode did a plancha on Sabin. Shelley then did a tope on Roode. Crowd was really hot. Storm spit beer into ref Brian Hebner’s eyes when Sabin ducked. They did a double-team move where Sabin did a neckbreaker on Roode while Storm came off for a crossbody at the same time. Earl Hebner ran in to ref and counted a pin, but Roode kicked out. Sabin used a tope on Storm. Shelley used a crossbody on Roode, who rolled through for a near fall. Shelley did a series of slaps to Roode’s face. Shelley pinned Rode while Storm pinned Sabin, and each Hebner counted three and the match ended. Brian and Earl started arguing about who won. Earl then ordered a restart. Less than a minute into the restart, Shelley superkicked Roode and gave a backstabber to Storm. Sabin then gave Roode a neckbreaker at the same time Shelley came off the top with a crossbody and Sabin pinned Roode. ****

Why can’t there be just a clean finish? Do these things hurt or help?

7. Kurt Angle pinned Pope D’Angelo Dinero in 12:05. Same thing as the prior match where crowd wasn’t into it early coming off the prior hot match. A second handicap was the stips, as Angle said he would retire if he lost (yes, they had two retirement stips on the same show, amazing considering nobody believes retirement stips). Because of that, nobody bought Dinero as having a chance which hurt the heat. Angle used a belly-to-belly overhead suplex which woke up the crowd. Pope used a vertical suplex, followed by a German suplex, and then an STO for a near fall. Pope missed his double knees in the corner. Angle came back with three German suplexes. Later, when Pope recovered, he went to the top, but Angle climbed to the top rope and threw him off with a belly-to-belly superplex. Angle spent the next few minutes working around the ankle lock. Dinero used a codebreaker and nobody bought the near fall. Angle used an Olympic slam out of the corner or a near fall. Finish saw Pope go for a sunset flip, and Angle blocked it and grabbed the ankle lock in the middle, and Pope tapped. ***½

Angle could have a great match with anyone but Dinero seemed to be a unsung worker for a long time. Why doesn’t he get the credit he should?

8. Rob Van Dam retained the TNA title in a four-way over Jeff Hardy, Abyss and Mr. Anderson in 12:27. Match was flat. They had trouble following the ending of the prior match, but never got the crowd. Hardy looked bad, sloppy and like he didn’t care. The dynamic with the three faces didn’t work and people didn’t really care about Anderson. If it wasn’t for Van Dam, the match would have been pretty bad. Hardy did a flip dive off Van Dam’s back onto Abyss. Anderson dropped down for Hardy to jump onto his back for a dive, but then got up and body blocked Hardy and went for a pin, but RVD saved. RVD did a dive over the top onto Abyss. Crowd was deathly quiet here. RVD used a split legged moonsault on Anderson but Hardy saved. Great spin kick by RVD on Hardy. There was a Tower of Doom spot where Abyss threw everyone off the ropes. RVD used a Rider kick off the top onto Abyss. He went to the top for the frog splash but Anderson shoved him off the rope. RVD crashed onto he ramp in falling. Hardy started punching Anderson but the punches looked like crap. Crowd at this point stopped reacting to Anderson. He used the mic check on Abyss, to no reaction, and Hardy saved. Abyss with a black hole slam on Hardy. Anderson pulled ref Brian Hebner out of the ring so he couldn’t count the fall. Hardy and Anderson traded moves, looking sloppy. Hardy finally hit the twist of fate on Anderson and went to the top. Finish saw Hardy hit Anderson with the swanton, but Abyss choke slammed Hardy right on top of Anderson and covered. RVD then came off the top rope with a frog splash onto Abyss’ back. With everyone down, RVD covered Anderson for the pin. Abyss then attacked RVD after the match and was putting the boots to him. He pulled out the 2x4 board with nails and pointed to RVD. RVD rolled out of the ring and that was it. **

Was motivation an issue with Hardy a lot during his TNA run? Why wasn’t Anderson the main eventer that everyone assumed he would be?