83 Weeks - TNA Victory Road 2012 [Show Notes] (Patreon)

This week on 83 Weeks we’ll take a break from WCW from 25 years ago as we talk about what happened 10 years ago in TNA.

We covered Against All Odds last month so be sure to check that out to keep up!

Dave Lagana is named the Director of Creative Writing after Vince Russo leaves. Was the goal of bringing in Lagana from ROH months before to replace Russo?

This is the last time you worked with Russo. Is that accurate?

Through it all…what is your lasting opinion on Vince as a creative force?

What are some of the main differences between Lagana and Russo?

From the Observer: “Lagana, who worked on the tV series “Friends” in the 90s, and was later head writer for Smackdown and ECW while working for WWE, will be the main scriptwriter, writing the interviews, filling out the shows and doing the nuts and bolts work on television with Matt Conway, who had been Russo’s sidekick. Prichard and Bischoff are still the people who are making the big decisions regarding who to push and what angles to do. Whatever major differences people were expecting would be the changes already made months ago when Prichard started in the role.”

What is it like working with Bruce from the creative standpoint?

Coming off the trip to England and after Against All Odds an interview with Hulk Hogan in the Sun in England comes out and Meltzer speculates it will hurt morale. In it he said the company lacks guys who are the complete package like a Rock and Cena type. He says there are a lot of guys who can do 5-star matches and flips and crazy things but that’s only 10% of wrestling. They don’t have the other 90% which is talking to the media and doing national TV commercials. He also says the TNA originals are so used to having 5-star matches and their mindset is so screwed up they are going to have 5-star matches ten years from now and never draw any money and that they’re all second tier players. He ends the interview by talking about how he hopes Spike will keep TNA when the contract comes up later in the year.

A whole lot to unpack there Eric. Hulk’s views on the talent…is that shared with you as well?

Is there talk in the company about the renewal with Spike coming up at the end of the year?

TNA is in talks at the time with Jason-Pierre Paul about appearing in TNA. Pierre-Paul is at the time a defensive end with the Giants and in fact TNA tells Alex Marvez, of Foxsports.com at the time and today with AEW and Marvez posts the story. Well the deal isn’t quite complete according to Meltzer and Pierre-Paul pulls out and Brandon Jacobs replaces him. Is this just a LOLTNA moment when you leak something before the deal isn’t done and it pisses the original person off?

Now from the Observer: “When Jeff Jarrett was running things a few years back, there were constant complaints about him pushing himself and the direction, and now almost everyone who was around then looks at those days as being the good days because of the heat on Eric Bischoff, with the idea he's on a power trip, and because of the natural heat from pushing his son. Now people talk about the Scott D'Amore booked days as when things were the good days. Well, at least when it came to PPV, those were the good days.”

What do you say to that Eric?

There’s talk in the Observer of Katie Hebner, the daughter of Earl and sister of Brian trying to get a job as a wrestler. Do you remember Katie?

Coming out of Against All Odds Bobby Roode survived the 4-way to retain his title and talks about how great it was that Sting had to count the pin after all the times Sting has tried to screw him. Sting comes out and says it was his fault he got overzealous and cost Hardy the title so he’s announcing Roode vs. Hardy with no time limit, no DQ and for the title. Is it Sting who wants to work with Roode as you can tell that’s what you’re building towards?

You have to tape two of these matches due to not liking the first finish. The first finish features Angle interfering and throwing Hardy off the top rope when he’s going for the Swanton. The second finish is Angle doing that plus throwing Hardy into the steps. Do you remember who made this call?

There’s a #1 contenders match also taped between James Storm and Bully Ray. Storm gets the win clean but Ray jumps him afterwards. Brandon Jacobs makes the save and gets into a stare down with Ray until Ray spits beer in his face. How did Jacobs do in your opinion and what was he like to work with?

To follow up on Gunner destroying Garett on the pay-per-view you, Gunner and Flair come out for a promo and you warn your son not to come back.

Sting comes out and announces that since Storm won the #1 contender match he’ll get his shot at Lockdown in April in the cage. Roode comes out and hits Sting with a low blow to lead to their match at Victory Road. Is this too much for Roode to be involved in to focus on?

From the Observer: “Mike Tenay voiced over a piece about Sorensen. As noted, this was handled perfectly. They told the truth about what happened, didn't try to exploit it, nor give a whitewash version of the story. They gave the information and didn't pass over it like it's not our storyline and it's an unwanted intrusion, and often serious injuries, particularly when they aren't major stars, are treated like that.”

Is this a Dixie call?

Meltzer actually puts over this TV show and that he thought it was strong. Obviously you got two good matches in Roode vs. Hardy and Storm vs. Ray. He does talk about how bad the women’s battle royal is though. This is a far cry from when the Knockouts were a central part of TNA. What changed over the years?

Who’s idea is it for this?

Jesse Sorensen was released from the hospital on February 15th. That has to be of great relief to everyone does it not?

After the TV taping without Russo Meltzer would have this to report in the Observer: “The general feeling is that it's business as usual and no great difference when it comes to creative with Vince Russo gone. Nobody was celebrating his departure, nor was there any great depression over his leaving, even though he definitely had his supporters among the wrestlers. When it came to Russo, Bischoff and Bruce Prichard, most wrestlers seemed to like Russo more because he was a better people person. Bischoff rubs a lot of people the wrong way. Russo had been there for a long time and the newer talent didn't have the negative feeling for him that people who had been around wrestling a long time did. The changes, as noted, with slowing down the pacing and concentrating on a few angles instead of a million angles were done months back per the directive of Bruce Prichard. Creative right now is Prichard, Eric Bischoff, Lagana and Matt Conway, so it all ended up exactly how it was expected.”

Is the creative process easier without Russo?

Russo would release this statement regarding his leaving TNA: “Vince Russo wrote this about his leaving the company: “Despite the continuing rumors, speculation and hearsay surrounding my departure from TNA Wrestling, in an effort to set the record straight, I was not fired, terminated, released or let go from the company–it was my decision to walk away and from there the separation was mutual, amicable and professional. It simply makes good business sense that where someone of my talent and ability was not going to be used to their capability or capacity, that a parting of the ways was inevitable. In closing, I’d like to thank my fellow writer and friend, Matt Conway, for giving me purpose, my friend and brother, Jeff Jarrett, for hiring me, Dixie Carter and the entire Carter family for keeping me employed, but, more importantly, every man and woman in the locker room for giving me the opportunity, and ability, to work in the professional wrestling business for the past 20 years. Without their blood, sweat and tears I would have not been able to support my family and make a living. My greatest loss by far is leaving them behind. And truly, from the bottom of my heart, I wish TNA all the best in their future endeavors.”

What do you think when you hear about that?

Brian Kendrick was released by TNA around this time. What was it about Kendrick that just didn’t click in this run?

Kendrick would say this after his release: “Brian Kendrick talked about leaving the promotion saying that he kept pitching ideas that were ignored. He said he asked for them to bring in Paul London and have them be a tag team. He asked them to bring in Shelley Martinez and do a Kurt Cobain/Courtney Love duo. He said he initiated asking to be released but noted it seemed they were happy to release him since they weren’t using him anyway. He noted that he had signed a per-appearance contract, so when he wasn’t being used, he wasn’t getting paid, and blamed himself for signing such a deal. He also said that in a meeting he got Russo to say that the wrestlers should unionize. The way he explained it was Russo had a meeting with talent a long time ago and noted that there are people who have contracts (probably the per-appearance type) that he couldn’t believe they would sign, saying they must love wrestling to prostitute themselves out like that. Kendrick said when Russo said that, he directly asked if he was suggesting or endorsing the idea of a union. Russo said he’s going to get in hot water, but yes, that is what the wrestlers need and we all know it, but he said the problem is to make it work the top guys would have to be involved, which is basically the reality why it’s been decades (1986 to be exact) when the last time there was anything resembling a major movement to unionize in the U.S. Mexico and Japan do have wrestlers unions, but the ones in Mexico have never seemed to work.”

Would a wrestlers union work?

(I understand if you want to skip that question considering his current situation)

Ken Anderson has pretty much disappeared from TNA at this point. He’s going to be brought back around this time. What were the up and downs of Ken at this time in TNA? Personal issues?

At the time Eastbound and Down with Danny McBride is hitting its stride and if you’ve watched the show you know Will Ferrell … Ashley Schaeffer … is completely based around Ric Flair. Was there ever a connection about getting them involved with TNA?

Sting puts up on Twitter that he was done with wrestling after Roode attacked him. Roode puts out that he’s done what no one else has done and that’s run Sting out of wrestling. Is this…too soon after Hogan doing a similar thing just a few months ago?

From the Observer: “The best part of this was this show was taped several days before Sting put that twitter post up and they had all these TNA guys like Hogan and Dixie Carter then go on twitter to put over the angle. Doing anything once or twice is good and you should always use Twitter to market your angles. But when it comes to putting over the real fake retirement stuff, it comes off really pathetic the second time you do it. I expect this to become a regular part of the TNA approach, which is to have guys do the “did you just see that” kind of posts and use that to kick off storylines because David Lagana is really into social media and Eric Bischoff had that mentality a dozen years ago with the working the Internet storylines. The problem is, and history has borne this out, they almost never work. If they’re done twice a year, it’s one thing, but if it’s a weekly thing, it becomes annoying to the average viewer who isn’t engaged enough to follow and you take them out of it, and for a show built on TV ratings, that’s your audience. Should guys use their accounts to further their angles in character? Sure, it’s part of marketing. Should you try and shock people with things you say on twitter and build storylines out of it. If it’s done twice a year, sure, and if it’s done weekly, you turn into WCW at the end.”

Go ahead Eric. Have at it.

Sting comes out later on in the show to retire but Roode interrupts first to be able to say he will stand next to Sting when he announces it. Sting starts putting paint on his face and Joker Sting emerges. Sting says that the beating just woke him up and he’s going to take on Roode at Victory Road. This transition to Joker Sting…it’s well needed at this point in Sting’s career right?

Crimson and Matt Morgan are teasing breaking up. Are these just two big guys that couldn’t get over?

Regarding Jacobs and Bully’s promo battle on Impact this is from the Observer: “Brandon Jacobs came out for an interview. Boy did they luck out with him. It’s very rare a guy with no wrestling background can walk onto a wrestling show and be as good as this guy is, plus he was willing to do whatever they asked. And the fact he came in as a replacement on one day notice and pulled this off makes it even luckier. He said that after you win the Super Bowl, you come to Impact Wrestling. That doesn’t sound like a positive career trajectory to me. He said he was friends with James Storm because they both like to drink beer. He said how he may have been out of line last week when he crossed over the rail because then you’re in no man’s land and he said he shouldn’t have been there, it was his fault, but that Bully Ray shouldn’t have spit in his face. He said he came back to Bully’s backyard and that the two of them have unfinished business and called him out. Ray came out. He called Jacobs “Brenda.” Then he pointed to his calves. He said he and Jacobs have a lot in common because both are world champions, only Jacobs has only been world champion twice and he’s been world champion 23 times. Fans were totally behind Jacobs here and gave him that “a real star came to the Impact Zone” reaction that a lot of celebrities who you would think have bigger names don’t get. Ray said that he would love to beat the crap out of a Super Bowl champion but he’s got a tag team match later in the show and he’s not going to waste his time on a guy who only gained 59 yards in the Super Bowl and didn’t even score a touchdown. Jacobs came out of the ring after Ray and Ray ran off.”

This is great shit is it not Eric? How lucky are you to stumble into Jacobs after Pierre-Paul backs out?

Garett and Hulk are backstage and Hogan is telling Garett he needs to get out of the business. I understand we’re building to something but like Hulk was just training him 3 weeks ago. Why the sudden shift? Is that a missing element of the storytelling aspect?

Hulk tells him that his father is going to do everything he can to run him out of his business. We’re going to delve into this in the future…but do you know at this point you’re going to be writing yourself off TV?

“They did a piece on Jesse Sorensen showing him in the hospital in a neck brace talking. They also had his mother talking about watching the incident on TV, not knowing what to think, and then getting a call from Jesse’s cell phone number and being relieved that he called her only to find out Dixie Carter was using the phone to call and tell her he couldn’t move. Sorensen talked about how he couldn’t feel his legs and no matter how hard he tried, couldn’t move his arms, and being scared to death. They ended the piece noting he was at home recovering but indicated there was no way of knowing if he would wrestle again. They gave a twitter account to send letters to him. My impression is they are going to keep updating his condition, which if they do from this point, is very classy of them because in similar situations that isn’t what wrestling does.”

This is one of those rare moments where a wrestling company is classy and even Meltzer puts it over. This is good stuff Eric.

Christopher Daniels & Kazarian attack AJ Styles during a match he’s having for the TV title against Robbie E. This is just getting some good workers married up with each other right?

Storm & Hardy defeated Ray & Angle in a No DQ match with Brandon Jacobs at ringside. Jacobs comes in for the finish and puts Ray through a table and Storm gets the pin on him. Jacobs tells him “Sorry about your damn luck” which gets a big pop and even Meltzer comments that it’s too bad the NFL had rules that pretty much prevents players from doing pro wrestling because Jacobs is damn good here. Why do you think there was nothing with Jacobs after he got done in the NFL in 2014?

The next week on TV Austin Aries, Bully & Roode come together because of they feel like Sting has been unfair to them. This…is quite the random mix here. Is the hope to elevate Aries?

Roode, Bully & Aries have a sit in to hold up the show until their demands are met. Sting comes out and says he won’t negotiate with terrorists and if they don’t leave the ring they’ll be stripped of their titles and they would be fired. It’s odd to see a babyface authority figure stand up to heels. Is that something that was missing a lot in creative?

From the Observer: “They announced the Angle vs. Hardy match for Victory Road. Angle came out with cue cards saying he needed them to remember everything he needed to say about Hardy. He said he hated Hardy because Hardy had lots of hair, and he doesn’t. He said he doesn’t like how Hardy dresses, that he wears makeup on his face, and dresses with socks on his arm and it’s embarrassing. Then he said how girls love Jeff Hardy, and girls were screeching. Angle said girls love him too except he’s a one woman guy. I guess that’s supposed to be comedy. But he said what really bothers him is when he’s at a house show signing autographs, and then Jeff shows up, late as always, everyone runs from him to get autographs from Jeff. Then he talked about how his son has Hardy action figures, Hardy posters on his wall, and dresses wearing a Hardy T-shirt, has purple hair and wears socks on his arms. Between the words and delivery, this turned into a pretty good comedy routine. I can’t say it got me excited to see them wrestle. He called Hardy out. Hardy showed up and Angle challenged him to a match. The crowd gave it a lukewarm response, so the comedy was doing the same for them as it was for me. Hardy slapped Angle in the face and started pounding on him until Al Snow and Pat Kenney moved in to break things up. Hardy accepted the match.”

Is this a comedy routine? I know Kurt enjoys being goofy but could this had been put together better do you think?

The main event sees Samoa Joe, Magnus & James Storm teaming up to defeat Ray, Aries & Roode.

The whole Ric Flair going to the Hall of Fame for the WWE is still a conversation. How awkward is this whole thing?

Doug Furnas passes away at the age of 52 on March 3rd. Did you ever have any dealings with Doug or memories?

WWE at the time is building Cena vs. Rock for WrestleMania in Miami and promoting it as “Once in a Lifetime.” Considering they probably already knew they were running it back again the next year…what did you think of that marketing?

Ronda Rousey becomes an instant MMA star in Strikeforce by main eventing against Miesha Tate and becomes Strikeforce’s women's bantamweight champion. Here we are 10 years later and Rousey is again scheduled to be a part of a main event at WrestleMania. Is Rousey on your radar back then?

Ric Flair appears on commentary for the Los Angeles Lakers on March 3rd. There are no TNA cameras there to film the appearance. Is this something TNA just wasn’t good at?

According to the Observer a decision is made to not have Mike Tenay & Taz be at TV as TNA wants commentary to be done as close as possible to the actual airdate. Is this to remove a travel expense or to make the commentary more relevant?

Also from the Observer: “They are doing an angle where Abyss has disappeared. They claimed his family has recently contacted TNA and can’t find him. They haven’t used him since his PPV match with Bully Ray. Perhaps they should check India. Or his Twitter. Think about this for a second. Here’s a company that is all into Twitter. They do angles on Twitter. They promote their personalities on Twitter. Yet they run a storyline that Abyss is missing while Abyss every day is on Twitter.?”

I mean…is this a nitpick?

Is there a thought process with WrestleMania being so close to TNA of the impact that it will have on a buying public?

There’s rumor and innuendo at the time of a Hulk Hogan sex tape being shopped around. How devastating is this to Hulk at the time?

The Giants end up releasing Brandon Jacobs - not because of TNA - so it frees him up to be physically involved at this point. Do you know if there were any talks when this happens?

And for your enjoyment and entertainment Eric: “Vince Russo is now marketing himself doing seminars on writing professional wrestling television. In his press release, Russo claimed he wrote shows that achieved some of the highest ratings of all-time (true), helped create stars like Stone Cold and The Rock (funny that they never have good things to say about him). The points he’s emphasizing in the seminars are: How to get started in writing for a major company; How to get your foot in the door; How to create larger-than-life personalities (everyone would love to know that secret today); Writing effective dialogue for specific characters (this was one of Russo’s strengths in TNA); How to format a wrestling show; How to generate new ideas 52 weeks a year; How to sell your ideas to talent (a super underrated trait that a creative guy needs that nobody talks about); How to create a successful working environment between talent and writer; Dealing with egos; Overcoming writer’s block; Avoiding the pitfalls of politics; How to generate ratings; and The difference between writing and booking.”

And then you on Facebook write this… “Just had a beer here in Nashville. Bartender asked me if I worked for the boss, Jeremy Borash. When I asked WTF was that supposed to mean, I was told emphatically that Jeremy has represented himself as an owner of TNA. Jeremy is a low rent bit player who should be fortunate he has a job.” As best we can tell this is not an angle, although I don’t put anything past anyone. Nick Aldis (Magnus) in the probably not the smartest thing for your career move of the week, defended Borash, saying he’s a great guy and that he’s one of the hardest working and most loyal people TNA has and said, “Aren’t people supposed to be more mature as time goes on, not less?”

Eric - what do you remember of this?

The March 8th TV show features Sting fully embracing the Joker gimmick. Are you worried it might get too goofy or is this a wait and see approach?

You open the next episode of TV with Gunner & Flair and announce that later on that night Garett with a mystery partner will take on Gunner & Kurt Angle. Having Kurt in there with your son has to be a test on where Garett is at right?

That match is supposed to be taped on the first set of tapings and Jeff is scheduled to be the partner but he’s violently ill. How bad was Jeff to not tape the match on the first set of tapings?

From the Observer as well: “The reaction to Garett Bischoff is that he’s a cool guy, but there is still the resentment that he’s getting a ton of TV time before he’s ready only because he’s Eric’s son.”

I mean that’s only natural right Eric? That’s not exclusive to a higher ups son, that's anyone getting TV time right?

Eric Young & ODB defeat Gail Kim & Madison Rayne for the Knockouts tag team titles and to add insult to a man being ½ of the Knockouts tag team champions…Young proposes to ODB to marry. Meltzer even calls this “Russo level shit.” Why Eric, why? Is there even a point to doing this stuff when Spike has a ban on man on woman violence?

Bully demands a title match and of course Sting schedules it against Roode. You just put this “group” together and already they’re being forced to wrestle each other. This too much?

“Backstage, they introduced Joseph Park, Esquire, which was Abyss, playing the role of the brother of Abyss. They cut his hair, gave him a make over, had him speak softly, wear glasses and was dressed up in a suit and tie like he was a lawyer in David Otunga’s firm. The idea itself is ridiculous but the execution was really good as far as Abyss playing a completely different character. The problem here is that it’s a Mick Foley like deal where once people saw Foley was a normal guy, his aura was for the most part gone as far as being able to come across as nuts and dangerous. Not completely, because Foley was a great actor and promo. For Abyss, he becomes well-groomed Abyss which doesn’t exactly fit into the character, unless the idea is to make him into the new Garett Bischoff.”

Eric - what can you tell us about Joseph Park, Esquire?

From the Observer: “A.J. Styles came out for a promo and said he had a surprise. He talked about how it was the 10th anniversary coming up, and he’d been there from the start. Christopher Daniels and Kazarian came out. Daniels said that he was Styles’ best friend and closest ally in the company, and returned to the company to stand by his side. Daniels said that my friendship helped you get fortune and fame, but your friendship got me reprimanded, punished and fired. There is something to that. When Daniels & Styles & Joe & Kazarian would complain, Dixie would never do anything to Styles because he was the favorite, the bookers would bury Joe & Kazarian and Daniels would get the brunt of the punishment and was even once fired. But given that nobody knows this, well, it made no sense. So Daniels explained he decided to put himself first and told Kazarian to do the same thing. By the way, the whole secret thing that has forced Kazarian to go heel seems to have been dropped. Now he’s just a heel. Kazarian said that everyone has turned on Styles because he’s transparent and gullible. So he’s Casper the Friendly Ghost. They both noted that with all the people over the years who have turned on him, maybe the problem is him. They noted Styles probably didn’t even think of that because he thinks he’s never to blame for anything. Styles said that between those two, Roode and Storm, he’s not going to associate himself with friends anymore, and instead he’ll associate with assholes. Then Mr. Anderson returned. He’s back to bleaching his hair and they did a four-way brawl”

Is this too much inside baseball?

Is Anderson a square peg in a round hole for these 3 guys in the ring?

“Main event saw Hardy & Garett Bischoff over Angle & Gunner in 14:24. The entire match, as in the first 13:30, were the heels beating down on Hardy. Normally you’d have the young guy being beaten down for sympathy and the main event star getting the hot tag. But in this instance, it was far better the way it was put together. The crowd was very into cheering Hardy on to come back. Finally Bischoff got the hot tag. You could see he was green but he was in there short enough that it was no problem. The finish saw Garett hit a double clothesline on both guys, and then Hardy tagged in, and hit the swanton on Angle for the pin.”

Having Garett in there with these guys to lead him through this was smart booking even with Hardy taking the heat. How proud are you after the match for Garett’s performance? Did Jeff or Kurt give you any feedback on his performance?

March 19th the beginning of the transition from FCW to NXT begins and it comes out of nowhere. Do you hear about this and does any of the talent down there reach out to TNA because they’re unsure of their position?

So on the go-home Impact…there’s this Austin Aries promo we need to talk about. “Austin Aries came out and said in the history of the X Division, there have been 25 different champions and 53 title reigns. That’s not too bad, considering when Vince Russo booked WCW in 2000, it felt like there were 53 title reigns in that year alone. Aries said that he has beaten the all-time record for the longest reign of 182 days (it was Christopher Daniels from March 13 to September 11, 2005). When he did the interview he actually hadn’t, but when it aired, he had. He talked about how they were going to make a video of his record title reign and thanked all the other X Division champions for being good, but not great. He was drinking champagne while this was going on. Zema Ion came out and Aries congratulated him for winning via DQ saying that Ion had beaten him at his own game. Ion didn’t like that, saying, “I didn’t beat you at your own game, I beat you at my game, and you’re not as smart as you think you are.” He then told Aries that what happened to Jesse Sorensen could happen to you. The fans chanted Jesse. I know that they can’t help themselves but try and use it to get heat because it’s not like there’s anything else they can come up with for Ion. But it’s a real groaner. Aries wanted a toast which Ion said was to the end of your title reign, and then threw the drink in his face. Aries then poured the bottle of champagne in Ion’s face and threw him over the top rope. Aries was clearly the face in all of this. Another new face without a turn. That’s the TNA way.”

The Jesse stuff isn’t as bad as Meltzer makes it out to be but Aries all of a sudden is not with Roode and he’s acting like a babyface. It also comes out in the Observer that Aries contract is expiring and so far no deal has been made. Is this a talent relations thing considering how many times this happens?

Joseph Park is on the search for Abyss. This tickled me Eric did you enjoy it?

“Kurt Angle did an interview being mad that Garett Bischoff caused him to lose the tag match last week. He kept calling him “Bitch-off.” Angle said he’s offering him a 5:00 challenge because he talked to Garett’s wife and he said that Garett can’t go three minutes. I’m surprised they would want to let it out that he’s married since you always want the new pretty boy babyface to pretend to be single.”

Go ahead Eric.

“Garett Bischoff lasted 5:00 with Angle. I’m not sure what the point of this was. Nobody got over. Angle beat him up almost the entire way, except for a few spots. He kept picking Bischoff up at just before three, so it was established he could have won at any time. Time ran out. Angle was so frustrated he decked ref Brian Hebner. He also attacked Garett Bischoff after the match and put him in the ankle lock until Hardy made the save.”

I mean Eric does this make sense? He’s a heel but ends up being a stupid heel. I feel like this was pitched as a good idea but execution not so much. What say you?

The go-home segment features Roode & Sting in a contract signing. The highlight is the end. “Roode said how Sting isn’t as quick and doesn’t get around as good as he used to. He said Sting has to wear face paint to mask that he doesn’t have what it takes to hang with the top guys in the business anymore. Sting turned over the table, kicked the chair and started putting face paint on, and rubbed face paint all over Roode’s face. This was a good segment and the best thing on the show.”

Is it Sting’s ideas and creativity to get Roode over as an ultra heel or who is putting this together because it really is some great stuff.

Let’s talk about ratings Eric before we get into the pay-per-view.

Coming off the previous pay-per-view the viewership is 1.5 million, the next week is 1.52 million, the week after is 1.58 million, 1.33 million, 1.40 million for the go-home show.

In contrast last week’s Monday Night Raw had 1.75 million viewers, AEW Dynamite had 966,000 viewers, NXT had 551,000 viewers, Rampage had 473,000 viewers and SmackDown had 2.114 million viewers.

Does TNA get a bad rap all these years later about how successful they are?

Well Eric we’re finally here. The show gets a decent reaction from Observer readers - 64% thumbs up and even Meltzer puts it over. “TNA’s Victory Road on 3/18 in Orlando before the usual 1,100 fans at the Impact Zone, was a step up from some of their recent PPV efforts, with several good matches, and one nearly great match.

The big plus that made a difference was the Orlando crowd, which has been dead for recent PPV shows, was at least more into it. It wasn’t a killer crowd response, but they were good enough that they didn’t hurt any of the good matches. Another big plus is that unlike with recent shows, they didn’t rematch the top matches on TV right away, making people feel silly for buying.

The big negative was TNA took the most annoying part of WWE’s presentation of months back, which WWE itself has dropped, and gone into the let’s ram twitter down your throat campaign. I want to make clear I am not anti-twitter, well, at least when it’s in the hands of reasonably intelligent people who haven’t had too much to drink. Considering how few people buy TNA PPVs, it exposes how meaningless trending on twitter is, but as far as putting up a graphic of something trending, it’s a gimmick but there’s nothing wrong with playing into it. TNA should try and make themselves appear to be as important in the real world as possible.

But when Taz was put in a position to read tweets, and they were pushing what people on twitter were saying while announcing matches, it completely killed the flow of announcing the matches.”

Twitter is sort of fresh at this time as a live medium for instant reaction. Who’s idea was it to start introducing and pushing Twitter in this format?

“The show opened with Bully Ray coming out. Things were good from the start because he got a strong amount of heat. He demanded that his match with Storm be a No. 1 contenders match and would not leave the ring until Storm agreed to that stipulation. He said that he would beat the crap out of anyone who came to the ring to remove him, including the “pig police.” Storm came out, said Ray wasn’t “Calfzilla,” and called him “Chicken Legs,” which got a chant going. Storm said he would remove Ray himself after he knocked him out with his foot. Storm said they were going to have the match now and agreed to put his No. 1 contender spot up.

1. James Storm pinned Bully Ray in 1:10. Ray was supposed to grab Storm’s beer bottle and drink from it, but before he could pick it up, he accidentally knocked it over and most of the beer spilled out. But he got it, drank some beer, walked into a superkick so he could spit the beer everywhere, and was pinned. Storm had minor surgery to remove bone chips from his ankle six days earlier which explains why they did what they did.”

This is making the best out of a bad scenario right?

“Regarding Eric Bischoff’s facebook post where he ripped on Jeremy Borash, Borash was doing an interview and Bischoff bullied him and took over the interview to try and turn it into an angle nobody wanted to see.”

Is this your pivot Eric on how to smooth everything over with JB or was this the plan all along?

This is your only appearance on the show and Garett isn’t on it. There was a lot of TV time devoted to all of you and here on the pay-per-view…very little. What’s up with that?

“2. Austin Aries pinned Zema Ion to retain the X title in 11:08. Ion slapped Aries in the face and jumped out of the ring to stall to establish Aries as the face. It worked, since fans have been wanting to cheer Aries anyway. So much for Ray & Aries & Roode as the new top heel group. While Ion was selling, Aries went to SoCal Val, grabbed her phone, and was tweeting during the match. If this was isolated, it was kind of funny, like a guy taking photos during his match. But in the context of this show, it just becomes another layer of annoying. And at about that time, the crowd suddenly died. Ion came back to do the same moonsault off the ropes to the floor on Aries that he did last month to Jesse Sorensen. It got no heat at all. Aries was selling it far more than you usually sell a dive. He was acting like he was momentarily knocked out. Ion threw Aries’ limp body in the ring, went for the pin and Aries kicked out. This led to a small “Jesse” chant. Ion again grabbed his hair spray bottle and put it in his trunks. Ion did the hair spray in the eyes but a semi-blinded Aries kicked out. Aries came back to win using a brainbuster and got the submission with the last chancery. **¾”

I like all the stuff with Jesse as a call back. These two told a good story. But Aries being one week off a face turn makes it hard doesn’t it to get this story over?

“3. Samoa Joe & Magnus retained the tag titles beating Matt Morgan & Crimson in 10:12. This match was really just a backdrop to the Morgan & Crimson split. The problem is that the crowd doesn’t really like Morgan. Crimson should be a heel, and Joe & Magnus should be faces. And they were, except when Morgan was in, Joe & Magnus were giving Morgan the face comebacks. So the crowd was mostly confused and indifferent, aside from some funny chants. Joe was charging at Crimson and Morgan threw Crimson down to where Joe missed, and then tagged Crimson himself and came in. Morgan was then doing hot tag spots with Joe & Magnus reverting to heel selling. Crowd had no idea what was going on. Morgan set up the Carbon footprint but Crimson tagged himself in by slapping Morgan’s back. They argued. Crimson then walked off and nobody cared. Joe & Magnus were beating on Morgan. Crimson didn’t leave, and was just hanging out. Morgan fought his way to the corner, went to tag, but Crimson refused the tag. Morgan flipped him off. Crimson then started talking about how he was a winner and Morgan was a loser. Morgan was cleaning house when Crimson got back in the ring and speared Morgan, then left and at least was booed this time. He said, “I’m the undefeated one, you’re a loser.” Joe hit Morgan with the enzuigiri, followed by the snap mare and Magnus came off the top rope and pinned Morgan. It was nice that they tried to tell a story, but that didn’t stop it from being a bad match. *¼”

Is this some of the cute psychology stuff that doesn’t work? Did you think you had something with Crimson as a heel?

“4. Devon pinned Robbie E in 3:00 to win the TV title. E first teased that there was nobody backstage to wrestle him. The crowd started chanting “RVD.” Oh well. Then he said with no wrestlers, he’d give a fan in the audience a shot. That was how they debuted Crimson and Taylor Wilde. He pointed out three women in the audience and said they were 400 pounds each. Then he challenged Val, and said that instead of wrestling now, they’d wrestle later tonight in his hotel room. Then he said that nobody deserved a shot and that this challenge was officially canceled. Devon then came out of the crowd. Robbie claimed that a fan had just hit the ring and told security to remove the fan. Robbie said the challenge had been canceled. Ref Brian Hebner said he was the one who issued an open challenge and somebody accepted, so he’s ringing the bell and the title was at stake. Quick match. Robbie grabbed a chair and was walking around outside the ring with it when Brooke Hogan tried to take it away from him. Finish saw Devon knock Robbie T down, and then pinned Robbie E with a spinebuster. *”

Once again good story to set up the match but then the bell rang. Was it just time to move on from Robbie E? Not that he was bad in his role but just played out?

“5. Gail Kim pinned Madison Rayne in 7:09 to retain the Knockouts title. In this one, nobody played face. Crowd was dead except for some dueling chants that also came off as pandering. Taz was having to read twitter questions while this match was going on and was clearly annoyed. He wanted Mike Tenay to be reading the questions in the middle of the match. Came off bad. Match went too long and was the worst thing on the show. Rayne blocked eat defeat the first time, but Kim hit it a second time for the pin. 1/4*”

Is it tough to do so many things at a time with Twitter and this match and everyone being a heel?

“6. A.J. Styles & Mr. Anderson beat Kazarian & Christopher Daniels in 13:59. Daniels had tape under his left eye from stitches after he got busted open in a TV match taped a few weeks back. Anderson had noticeable swelling under his left eye as well. More teasing of Kazarian and Daniels not getting along. Cool spot where Kazarian monkey flipped Styles, who landed on his feet and clotheslined Daniels, and then hit the Pele kick on Kazarian. Styles made the hot tag to Anderson. He put Kazarian on his shoulders and did the forward roll with him right onto Daniels. Styles went for his quebrada spot into the reverse DDT, but since Daniels knows his spots so well, Daniels got out of the way and Styles crashed. Styles also missed a pescado. Finish saw Anderson shoulderblock Daniels out of the ring and both were on the floor together. Styles went for a springboard into the ring, but Kazarian caught him and went for his fade to black, but Styles reversed into a sunset flip and right into the Styles clash on Kazarian for the pin. This was good. ***¼”

Anderson more than held his own and it’s good to see stories for these guys. But you got a lot of heels here not getting along. Is it just redundant stories?

“7. Kurt Angle pinned Jeff Hardy in 19:07. Very good, close to great match. Hardy went for the poetry in motion on the floor and crashed into the barricade. Hardy was limping around, selling the punishment from the match. He went outside the ring and slammed Angle’s head into the steps three times. Angle didn’t block it at all, and came up with hardway juice. Not a good thing. Angle went for another belly-to-belly superplex but Hardy shoved him off the ropes and went for the swanton. Angle got his knees up. This is a common spot but it was done just perfectly. Angle hit another Olympic slam for a near fall. Angle then pulled one of Hardy’s arm sleeves off that he complained about in the interviews leading to this match. He tried another Olympic slam, but Hardy reversed into a twist of fate for the third time in the match. Hardy used a clothesline and went to the top. Angle was halfway across the ring and Hardy went for the swanton. Angle was about a foot too far so Hardy landed on him in an awkward way. Angle subtly moved to the ropes. Hardy went for a pin but Angle cradled him and grabbed onto the ropes and got the pin. What was bad here was the replay being shown. The ref, who couldn’t look because he couldn’t see Angle’s hand holding the ropes, was looking the wrong way when counting three. Angle cradled Hardy so much that he lifted Hardy’s shoulder way off the mat. The ref wasn’t looking at Hardy’s shoulders or Hardy when counting. It happened so fast I don’t think anyone would notice but then they showed the replay, and Taz even had to say that Hardy’s shoulder was up. This led to a “Bullshit” chant. ***¾”

Why show the replay do you think? Does a finish like that ruin the match in your mind?

“During the show, they kept pushing fans to tweet questions to the wrestlers that they would ask in the interviews. But in every case, a question was asked, and then the wrestler wouldn’t answer it and would just cut his pre-planned promo. It finally climaxed before the main event when Sting came out and was asked his first twitter question. Sting, the face, then not only didn’t answer, but said he was sick of twittering and facebooking and wanted to get to wrestling.”

Does this make the whole show pushing for this sound silly at the end of the day?

“8. Bobby Roode pinned Sting in 16:40 in a non-title no holds barred match. While it was no holds barred, they really didn’t do as much with weapons or brawling, and worked a Flair-Sting match until the usage of chairs for the finish. Sting really did a good job here. Crowd was chanting “You still got it” after he hit a dropkick. Roode was stalling. When they were outside the ring, Roode came after Sting with a chair aimed at the head, but Sting moved, and Roode all out assaulted the post. However, Roode started working over Sting’s knee, wrapping it around the post, clipping him and other moves. He then put Sting in the figure four and the place went–dead. Nobody buys that hold as a finisher anymore, or at least they didn’t here. Mike Tenay talked about Sting having a counter. I think Taz got mad at him saying that, since Sting always counters it and said something like just because Sting has been in the hold a lot of times in the past doesn’t mean he has a counter. Of course, in the last 1,000 Sting matches when the figure four has been put on, he always reverses it. And then he did. They would show Dixie Carter at ringside acting concerned. Roode went under the ring looking for a chair. He looked in the wrong place and there was no chair, so then went for a second spot under the ring and found his chair. He threw the chair in the ring. The chair was set up and Roode went for a piledriver but Sting powered out. Sting came back and hit the scorpion death drop, but not seeing the chair, the back of his head hit the chair and he was knocked out for the pin. ***1/4

Roode then went outside the ring and got in Carter’s face at ringside. He grabbed another chair and went back into the ring. He then went back out, picked Carter up out of her chair and threw her in the ring. He pointed to what he did to Sting and she started yelling at him and he was badly disrespecting her. Sting made a comeback and started beating on Roode and Roode bailed. Carter was then hovering over Sting and you thought it was over, but Roode came back and nailed Sting in the back from behind with a chair. He then teased attacking Carter, saying “Shut your mouth, bitch”, although he never did. Carter was acting scared. Roode then used duct tape and taped both of Sting’s hands to the ring ropes, so he couldn’t move. Roode then grabbed Carter by the hair and screamed, “Kiss my ass, bitch.” He then went for another chair shot on Sting but Carter jumped in the way. I thought he was going to nail Carter, but he backed off. That’s when he put his hands on Sting’s face to rub the face paint on Dixie’s face, but that didn’t work because the face paint went completely dry. Carter then untaped Sting from being tied in the ropes and the show went off the air with nobody coming out to save Carter. The idea this could go on so long with nobody coming out to save is something that needs a major storyline explanation, particularly with Storm earlier in the show saying he wanted to get at Roode. I don’t know if it was addressed on the TV that airs this week or not, but it really needs to be.”

The match is good as Meltzer says as they based it around the Sting vs. Flair matches but the angle afterwards…even now 10 years later is pretty heavy. What did you think of this overall presentation?