My World w/ Jeff Jarrett - Against All Odds 2009 [Show Notes] (Patreon)

We’re on the Sting retirement tour we want to get back to 15 years ago, TNA Against All Odds 2009!

We covered Genesis last month and the Torch has a report of the fallout of that match with Sting…

“TNA World Champion Sting was struggling to get around before, during, and after his TNA Genesis match with a knee problem. Multiple sources report that he underwent surgery on both knees last month and there has been some consideration to taking the belt off him since it’s become painfully obvious that he can’t work pay–per–view caliber title matches.

Sting’s latest injury fuels speculation that he is nearing the end of his in–ring career. He’s insisted on signing a series of one–year contracts with the company since he started work with them, and the assumption of people within the company is that they are building toward his retirement later this year. The company had discussions last year about a possible retirement for Sting at the end of 2008 after being inspired by the sendoff that WWE gave Ric Flair. However, he opted to sign another one–year deal with the company.”

Jeff - here we are 15 years later - and we’re on the final Sting retirement tour. Just like AEW & Tony Khan here - you guys were willing to let Sting control that part of his career isn’t that right?

How close do you think Sting was back then?

From the Torch

“Ric Flair is obviously at the top of their wish list for a retirement match opponent, but it seems like a long shot given that Flair has turned down strong financial offers to wrestle in Japan. Flair admitted he was considering the idea during a Q&A session in the UK, then stated in an interview that the rumors of his return were blown out of proportion. For what it’s worth, Flair stated during the Q&A session that he was open to working overseas, but would not return to the ring in the United States.

If the company chooses to go with an in–house talent for Sting’s retirement program, the most likely opponents would be Jeff Jarrett or Kurt Angle. Of course, Angle might not be an option either, as his contract expires in September.”

The story of the Main Event Mafia that’s taken shape is that Sting isn’t a part of the gang attacks, walking away from all the heel tactics. Was the goal to build Sting up to turn on them and have that be his “retirement” match against Kurt or you?

Did you attempt to have Sting and Flair in his Retirement match?

Were you talking with Ric about coming in?

From the Observer

“Christy Hemme suffered two herniated discs in her neck, believed to be from an injury on the 12/15 TV taping . She was advised to get surgery as soon as possible. She went to Seattle for a new procedure called Neuro Cranial realignment. She had rods shoved up her nose and into her head, where they blew up a balloon to move the bones in her temple, which she was told would align her entire body. She said when they were done, she was an inch taller and her scoliosis of the spine was taken care of. She said the idea was to remove pressure off the discs and they would then heal without surgery. She said she’d been bothered for some time and her neck would lock up at times, and sometimes she would get numbness in her arms and legs but kept going. She said after a day of serious training she was in so much pain that A.J. Styles stopped the session until she agreed to get an MRI. She said she wanted to work the PPV but TNA wouldn’t allow it.”

This sounds so painful Jeff - but she tried to push through didn’t she? What were your thoughts on Christy as a performer and a person?

With New Japan - after the Tokyo Dome show you have 3D as IWGP tag team champions and MCMG as the junior tag team champions - it’s reported that New Japan is hoping for more exposure in America…what was the relationship like with them at this point?

You weren’t feeling great after the pay-per-view either were you after that table bump…

From the Torch

“Savio Vega has taken over as the agent for the TNA Knockouts Division. In semi–related news, B.G. James was the agent for the X Division Title match and the six–man main event match at the pay–per–view on Sunday. James is considered by many to be a natural in the agent role. Unlike many of Jeff Jarrett’s friends who have jobs in the company, he is seen as someone who is right for the position.”

Nice words for the Road Dogg! How do you think he did in an agent role?

Also from the Torch

“Coming April 14, 2009 is a four–disc, 12–hour “Jeff Jarrett: King of the Mountain” DVD chronicling TNA owner Jeff Jarrett’s wrestling career. One of the major items on the massive DVD collection is rare footage from Jarrett’s early days, utilizing Jim Cornette’s collection of wrestling tapes that he has allowed to be used on the DVD. The TNA DVD will include Jarrett’s “best TNA matches and moments, a lengthy and candid sitdown interview on his life, career and TNA Wrestling, rare photos, and guest commentary”..

How did this come to be? Was it tough to negotiate with Cornette about this at the time?

The Wrestler is picking up steam, when Mickey Rourke wins a Golden Glove for his role in the movie. What did you think of the movie - and did you see any residual effect from the mainstream acceptance of the movie?

The WWE goes through some more cost cutting and the likes of Ron Simmons, Bob Holly, Val Venis, D’Lo Brown, Sgt. Slaughter who was working as a road agent, a future Shawn Spears in developmental, Tim White, Jim Korderas, Mickey Henson & Mike Posey. Victoria would also go on to announce her retirement as well…were any of these people on your radar to bring into TNA?

Lenny Kean, known mostly as Moondog Cujo - passed away at this time as well. We covered the Moondogs in our archives - but how did you hear of his passing?

The Impact coming off Genesis drew its second biggest audience in the history of the show with a 1.17 rating and 1.8 million viewers. It would solidly beat ECW for the No. 3 wrestling slot of the week. Do you contribute that solely to the Mafia?

The show is not well received though critically by Dave Meltzer.

The show would open with the Mafia coming out and bragging about all the people that were their victims…but here comes Hernandez to cash in his briefcase for his title match from Feast or Fired. The match goes 4 minutes when Booker & Angle interfere before it turns into a heel beatdown…man what a moment Jeff!

Eventually the babyfaces come out and it ends with Bubba powerbombing Kurt through a table and Team 3D would challenge Sting & Kurt for a match at Against All Odds. Not a tag match though, Devon challenged Angle and Bubba challenged Sting for the title and here’s where the Torch goes after the show:

“I’m not even sure people really care to see them anywhere past mid-card these days as a tag team. TNA really lost its way when they stopped promoting young guys because aside from Angle, the older guys provide mediocre main event matches and make the company look secondary. It’s a broken record but they were doing more buys on PPV on FSN than on Spike with 200,000 viewers per week instead of 1.5 million, and with more star power now and the difference is they don’t produce great PPV shows. And this mentality that the only stars are the guys from ten years ago handicaps you to death. A sprinkling of older guys on top mixed in with younger guys works, but they lost their way.”

What say you to that criticism?

There’s more Sarah Palin skits with the Beautiful People and Kip James…did you find any of this entertaining?

From Meltzer

“Lethal & Creed, who are now known as the tag team called Lethal Consequences, beat Morgan & Abyss to get the tag title shot at Against All Odds on 2/8. Match looked ridiculous with the size difference and there were timing problems. Cool double tope spot where Creed & Lethal ducked an Abyss double clothesline and nailed Morgan on the floor. Finish saw Abyss power bomb Lethal but he landed right on top of Morgan and Lethal pinned him. Abyss knew he screwed up, but Morgan started shoving, and Abyss fought back. They did a pull-apart after the match.”

The combination of Jay Lethal & Consequences Creed - now Xavier Woods - what did you think of the tag team because I think they’re super underrated!

Mick Foley only appears for a few minutes doing a promo putting over AJ Styles before the main event as he’s taking on Scott Steiner. Did you have a hard time getting Mick completely involved with the story at the time?

From Meltzer for the main event of the show…

“Styles beat Steiner in 15:00. Steiner was blow up early and Styles at least carried him to a slightly below average match. There was an ugly spot where Steiner went for a belly to belly and couldn’t get Styles over, so Styles landed on his face. Steiner whispered “My fault” at him and then continued. Styles did a Stinger splash in the corner and Earl Hebner got in the middle and taken out. Foley came in, but Steiner hit Foley with a pipe and then hit Styles with a pipe, however Styles kicked out of the pin. With Foley distracting Hebner, Petey Williams returned and came off the top with a missile dropkick on Steiner, and Styles used the Pele kick on Steiner for the pin. Styles and Williams celebrated as the show ended. Finish was good in that it put Williams in a spotlight position, but if he’s just used as a jobber to the stars, and one would think that’s going to be the role, then there really isn’t much of a point to it.”

Were there big plans here for Petey & Scott?

Was it tough to put Scott into a long singles match like this at the time?

The Torch would report:

“Jeff Jarrett and Booker T got into an argument at the television tapings last week. Jarrett had a reputation for micromanaging certain aspects of the product, particularly overseeing matches. He stepped on the toes of agents by getting directly involved in laying out some of the matches. He laid off for a while, but observers say he’s overseeing the matches more closely again.

Jarrett got directly involved in an angle that Booker was working on and it rubbed Booker the wrong way because he felt he should have been given more leeway as a veteran of the locker room. Words were exchanged, but things calmed down quickly. Multiple sources have stated that while Booker speaks positively about TNA and Jarrett during interviews, he’s not a fan of Jarrett’s work as the head of creative. Meanwhile, Booker has a reputation for throwing star fits from time to time.”

Jeff - what can you tell us about this and the argument with Booker?

It’s also reported that Shannon Moore was backstage talking with you, Dixie & Terry Taylor about a possible return to the company. What did you think of Shannon Moore?

The Torch would also report that it seemed like the concentration was getting talent with negotiating contracts extended and resigned compared to hiring anybody. Was that where you were at at this time?

From the Torch

“The third party booking business has decreased in recent months because the company jacked up the booking fees for the top names. It was a conscious effort to weed out smaller bookings, and there was a feeling internally amongst some that top talent appearing on indy shows was hurting TNA house show business in some markets. There hasn’t been much griping by the top talent over fewer indy bookings, though, as those who want to work are generally included on the TNA house shows.”

Was this a constant struggle and battle with indie companies and talent?

From the Torch

“One source pointed out that TNA rarely releases anyone. “Jeff doesn’t like to fire anyone,” said one source. “He just doesn’t work that way.” The source noted that TNA has taken the approach of trying to make unwanted talent miserable enough that they quit on their own. More often than not, they’ll fulfill their guaranteed number of dates and simply not renew.”

Was that your approach Jeff?

The Wrestling Observer reader awards are announced for 2008 and there’s some interesting notes I think you’d find. Bryan Danielson was voted as Most Outstanding Wrestler - and Meltzer would point out that TNA had never expressed major interest in him while in Ring of Honor. Why was that?

Speaking of ROH, there’s reports that they were about to get a TV deal with HDNet. Was this something that came on your radar at the time?

Also from the readers - TNA Impact was voted the worst television show. 520 votes versus the second place Hulk Hogan’s Celebrity Championship Wrestling. TNA was also voted the worst promotion of the year. Do you think Metlzer’s readers just had it out for TNA?

There’s a big European tour that TNA holds, opening in Dublin in front of a sell out crowd of 2000. Foley is on the tour with you, and the second night of the tour in Dublin you would pin Kurt in the main event. From there you went to Manchester in front of 5000 fans which featured Nick Aldis’ debut beating Xavier Woods. Dixie Carter would even make an appearance in front of the crowd before the main event with you teaming with AJ to defeat Kurt & Scott Steiner. The rest of the tour would see Birmingham draw 4000, Glasgow 4100 and the all-time record in London by getting 8100 fans there. What can you tell us about this tour that you remember?

Meltzer would add this commentary:

“It’s a funny thing that you get probably 70% of the house show reports from TNA. The comments are that it was a great show, totally unlike watching it on television.

TNA’s strength is its wrestling, but you’d never know by watching TV, where match time is kept to a minimum. It would be one thing if this philosophy was working, but it’s a broken record. Ratings are inching slightly upward, ironically with most of the key guys who dominate the show, like Mick Foley, Sting, Kevin Nash, Jim Cornette, Jeff Jarrett and others rarely even wrestling on the road. But when you consider the ratings were only slightly lower in a one hour format on Saturday nights with far less “name” talent during the Scott D’Amore booking run, and they were doing better consistently on PPV, I don’t see that as an affirmation of the current direction. There is a lot they are doing right, particularly the top heel group and having a lot of good talkers. But there is too much talking, and they book their babyfaces like crap, to the point the fans cheer the heels. It’s as if they take from WCW 1997 both what did and didn’t work, without really figuring out why it did and didn’t, nor recognizing what the end result was.

But for the past week, as it seems with everyone that goes to the U.K., the American stars are treated as big celebrities.

Mick Foley and Dixie Carter said in almost every city on the tour that TNA was negotiating to do a PPV from the U.K. this year.”

Jeff so much to unpack there. First off - what do you say to the issues that Meltzer referenced between the live events and TV?

Second off - would a PPV in the UK have even been a possibility?

From the Torch

“Former Ring of Honor stand–out Doug Williams, who was active on the UK tour last week, is in the middle of a one–year deal with TNA, which he signed last June to make regular TV appearances. However, Williams has barely been used on TV and he’s hoping the current U.K. tour will convince TNA management to bring him to Orlando for Impact tapings on a more regular basis before his contract expires. “I’d definitely like to be with TNA for as long as possible because it has international television exposure and it’s good for boosting my own profile,” Williams told Kent News in the U.K. to promote tonight’s London house show. “I’m contracted until June, so you would have thought they’d want to use me again at some point.”

This isn’t the best look when Doug is doing promotional work…is there an issue with Doug - and why sign him if not to use him?

From the Observer

“The working idea at this point is to peak for four PPV shows per year as opposed to trying to make each monthly show a big one. That’s why you’ve got Team 3-D in a match challenging for the singles title, because the next big PPV will be Lockdown, and that’ll probably be where the next Kurt Angle vs. Jeff Jarrett match takes place.”

Was that the thought process?

“TNA Impact on 1/22 drew a 1.12 rating and 1.6 million viewers, doing a 0.82 in Males 18-34 and 0.84 in Males 35-49.

Notes on the 1/22 TV show. I thought an average show aside from a good main event. The theme of the show was that all the babyfaces were out to lunch. They said Foley was in Europe (well, on the day, everyone was in Europe), Team 3-D was in Japan, Jeff Jarrett and Samoa Joe were injured (although they were fine in Europe) and Rhino, well, I guess he just doesn’t count because nobody bothered to bring him up. And all those guys like Jay Lethal must no longer be in the Front Line, because when Styles was being beaten up, they never tried to make a save to get beaten down.”

Does this just make the babyfaces look stupid?

There’s a program that begins with Booker and Shane Sewell with Booker offering to make him a driver for the Mafia. Was this the segment you & Booker had a disagreement over?

Team 3D cuts a promo in front of the Japanese flag acting like they were in the Tokyo Dome - but really they were backstage. Team 3D puts over that winning the titles at the Tokyo Dome was like winning titles at Madison Square Garden. I understand the reference - but I mean - doesn’t this make TNA look minor league when making the comparison?

It’s announced that instead of singles matches between Devon & Kurt and Sting & Bubba into a 4-way. Was that always the plan?

From the Observer

“Backstage, the fake Sarah Palin was doing a promo when the Beautiful People attacked and beat her up using a board that they broke over her. They were doing a number on her until security tried to pull them off. Kip James then came out and beat up all the security guards by himself. And then–he pulled Love & Sky off Palin. I kept thinking of that line Kevin Nash told Jeff Jarrett, asking him, we lived through that stuff in WCW, how come we are still doing it?”

Do you think some of this creative was WCW-esque?

The next match would feature Booker & Steiner completely beat the shit out of Eric Young & Petey Williams in an elimination match - which would feature Sewell as referee getting upset that they wouldn’t just pin the guys. Meltzer would add this commentary: “No wonder the heels are becoming the babyfaces when the babyfaces are portrayed as completely ineffective.” What say you?

Matt Morgan & Abyss are trying to mend fences and Morgan blames his temper. The promo ends with them being best friends again and Lauren - Abyss’ girlfriend - and Abyss hugged. You’re attempting to add a dimension to Abyss I get it - but did this wrinkle help or hurt Abyss looking back?

Of course in the next segment - Morgan turns on Abyss in a first blood tag match against Beer Money. A lot of story in 20 minutes Jeff.

Out of nowhere in the main event of the show - Kurt does this promo where he blames AJ for ruining his marriage. Nothing about his match at the pay-per-view now being a 4-way, and they even showed clips of Karen feuding with Kurt - and this had been dropped for months at this point. Was there a plan to re-introduce Karen back onto TV?

The main event would feature Styles losing to Kurt in a tables match and then Pillmanize AJ’s ankle afterwards and no one would save AJ - so Kurt vowed that next week, it would be the end of TNA. This…this is something isn’t it Jeff?

Speaking of things that take place…here’s Jim Cornette discussing Kurt vs. Samoa Joe from Lockdown almost a year ago…

“To me, it was what a world championship contest in professional wrestling ought to be, and also, with its MMA influence, it was so vastly different to what everyone else is doing in the business these days. I think they were ahead of the curve on that one. And sooner or later in wrestling, I think you will see world championship matches being contested in that fashion, if you can find two guys as good as Samoa Joe and Kurt Angle. Whether you can do that is another story.” He said he considers UFC just pro wrestling of 100 years ago. “Unfortunately, they have been able to present our business better than anyone in our business can present our business.” When asked why, after the company had success with the Joe-Angle promotion, that they dropped what worked and went back to what wasn’t working, he said, “It does seem a little odd that this is the way things happened. And I would comment further except for the fact that several armed gunmen are here with 44-calibre pistols pointed at my head. I have to do TV tonight and it would be hard with bullets in my brain.”

That’s just Jim Cornette for you isn’t it?

The next week on Impact is the show where the Mafia takes over and it draws a 1.18 rating and 1.6 million viewers. But Meltzer would point out after 45 minutes into the show - viewers were tuning out. Was it too much heel booking? Not enough effective babyfaces?

I ask that because it’s a show that was basically just like when the nWo took over Nitro. Kurt is in your office saying the MEM had taken over, and some video packages were aired making the Mafia seem like gutsy babyfaces. It felt like you’re two weeks out from the pay-per-view, and essentially all the babyfaces were buried. Its tough to overcome that sometimes isn’t it as a babyface?

Cornette tries to stop it - and TNA security stopped him - as they were also taken over by the MEM. A takeover and cutting all the babyfaces off is one thing - but this is a long way to go to a babyface getting the best of the Mafia isn’t it?

From the Observer

“Booker T, who was the most entertaining thing on the show, and even he got old after about 15 minutes of doing his spoof on announcer commentary, was at ringside as Black Snow, while Kevin Nash was an announcer, billed as Chet Lemon (the name of a Detroit Tigers outfielder in the 80s who was good enough to play in the All-Star game). Booker at most tapings stands by the monitor and does this act backstage for the guys which is where they got the idea of putting him out there. He actually is good at doing commentary as a Gordon Solie impersonation, but the Scott Ferrall deal was way over everyone’s head. I mean, copying the single most annoying voice in the world for two hours gets old. I think it was around the 15 minute mark where my brain said “It’s time to switch the channel,” but I was forced to endure another 1:45. Not exactly the best psychology for any television show. Scott Steiner was ring announcer, which had its amusing moments. But ultimately, the context was such that everyone in the show came across as a geek by association.”

Too much backstage entertainment bleeding to in front of the camera?

From the Observer

Sharmell interviewed refs Andrew Thomas and Rudy Charles, who were facing Booker. Thomas acted like he was scared to death. Charles, on the other hand, acted all cocky, saying that he was an amateur wrestler and to watch out when his back is against the wall. I think this was meant as a spoof on Jim Ross talking about people’s amateur backgrounds during pro wrestling. Surely it was lost on the audience. Charles referred to Sharmell as Mrs. T.

Was it a spoof or was it Rudy Charles going into business for himself that troublemaker?

Booker destroyed both Thomas & Rudy in 4 minutes - just to get Sewell to come out and save them. Did Rudy & Thomas object to this?

Sting is booked to take on Team 3D in a handicap match and the story is that Angle booked the match to make Sting weaker so he could increase his chances of winning the title. Sting - as the heel - works babyface because it’s 2 on 1. Meltzer would point out that all 3 wore shirts, “this looked like a nostalgia promotion indie show.” 3D - essentially beats the shit out of Sting. Who comes out eventually to save him? Of course Angle does. Jeff - what is going on here?

Now - on a show where security stops Cornette - Foley comes out and announces that Hernandez will get another title shot for his briefcase after what happened with his last match. Some logic holes here right?

From the Observer

“Then in the most hilarious thing, they did a video feature on U.K. tour. First off, they mentioned the show in London drawing the largest crowd in TNA history with 8,000 fans. Okay, when I first heard the figure, I was impressed because I know TNA usually draws small crowds. But after every week on WWE hearing about tens of thousands of people, when you go on television talk about the biggest crowd in your history and say 8,000, and you’ve been in business for six years, it’s like telling people you are minor league entertainment, and that downgrades your stars, not for that show, but that you aren’t regularly doing numbers like that for big shows. They never should have given a number figure on television.

Then, in showing clips of the show, they showed Jarrett and Joe wrestling. The whole premise behind this ridiculous show is, Jarrett was injured at the PPV by Angle and hasn’t returned, and Joe is also injured.”

Is this a valid complaint?

Now of course - in a show the Mafia takes over - Cornette & Foley screw the Mafia over by booking Angle in a handicap match against LAX. Hernandez - who just got his title shot back - misses a tackle, flies out of the ring, leaving Homicide to hit all his big moves on Kurt - but when he tries for the Gringo killa Angle gets out, Olympic Slam and 1-2-3. Sheesh.

As Don West would say…but wait…there’s more!

From the Observer

The show ended with a video of Samoa Joe with Umaga face paint on, telling fans now they are going to get to see the real Samoa Joe. So now that they’ve completely killed off the character it took Gabe Sapolsky two years to develop and hand to them, they are making him a dime store Umaga.

Who came up with this idea to repackage Joe? What did Joe think of it?

Speaking of Gabe Sapolsky…with the move to TV he’s removed from ROH booking and Adam Pearce is put in charge. Were there ever any conversations about having Gabe join TNA in a creative role?

The reason I ask is because the critical nature of really everyone - as we’re about to get with Wade Keller…is on TNA creative:

“The backlash, which Vince Russo and Jeff Jarrett need to open their minds to, is that today’s fans really are looking for a product of their own, not a remake of their older brother’s or father’s pro wrestling (an NWO remake with the stars of the 1990s). There are new ideas, or at least much older ideas from the successful stretches of the 1970s and 1980s, that could be used as inspiration for TNA’s diverse talent base. But going back to the previous era for so many of their major storylines and angles feels tired, especially when so many of the actors are the same.

The stars of 12 years ago, which includes the boss Jeff Jarrett, are going to scrap and fight to keep their top spots, and there’s nobody with the wrestling knowledge or power to change that up except for Jarrett, but I just don’t sense he trusts his own ability to create new stars and come up with new ideas, much less admit that trying to relive the WCW Thunder era with him as a top draw just won’t work in 2009.

There was a meeting held within the last two months that involved Dixie Carter and a few top wrestlers. Dixie said she wanted Jeff Jarrett included in the meeting, but the wrestlers talked her out of it. The wrestlers didn’t come right out and say that there are problems with the creative direction of the company, but they definitely hinted at their lack of faith in the current creative team. However, the feeling coming out of the meeting was that they didn’t get through to Carter, who displayed no openness to the idea of making a creative change.”

Jeff - what can you tell us about this?

It’s also reported in the Torch of more issues in the locker room. One source close to the situation told Wade that Homicide must’ve upset someone in power during his recent contract negotiations and the loss to Angle was a receipt. What say you to that?

MCMG is also in the midst of contract negotiations and they were planning on leaving the company due to creative frustrations but that it had turned around as of late. What were those negotiations like with those guys?

Our friend Eric Bischoff discussed TNA with the UK Sun and had this to say regarding himself & Hulk Hogan being interested in TNA:

“Neither one of us were interested in TNA. It’s a small organization that doesn’t have very much vision. The best way to describe it is like WWE–lite. There was nothing exciting there for Hulk or myself.”

Bischoff was dissuaded from working with TNA because of the people in management. He says Dixie Carter is a “nice woman” and “I’m sure very intelligent,” which suggests he doesn’t think much of her management skills or the rest of the company’s ability to lead her in the right direction to run a national wrestling promotion.

“The rest of the people in senior management there are not the sort of people we would like to work with,” he said.

Bischoff says he’s been contacted by TNA, as well as Hogan, but they didn’t want to work with people in the creative process “that couldn’t get a job in WWE or shouldn’t have had a job in WCW.”

He continues: “There’s no vision for that company. They are people who have never been to the dance. They’ve never been a part, really, of any of the decision–making processes that led to the success of the industry.

“Some of them happen to have been working there while other people did it, but have never really done it for themselves. They just don’t have the feel for it. So that’s the reason we wouldn’t want to be there.”

Do you think this is really just about Vince Russo?

There was a big billboard up in Norfolk, Virginia for a house show on February 5th…built around Kurt Angle & Kevin Nash taking on Samoa Joe & AJ Styles. Nash wasn’t cleared in time from his staph infection and at the show, Kurt or AJ didn’t appear either. That isn’t the thing you want when you’re building a live event business was it?

A German tour is announced for late September/early October with Mick Foley pushing the announcement in German. Were you getting a lot of attention from european promoters after the success on the last one?

The go-home Impact sees viewership drop some to a 1.07 rating a 1.4 million viewers. Meltzer would say that as a go-home show, it did nothing to make him want to see the show…as the main event featured Team 3D taking on Angle & Sting in a tag match just a few days before the 4-way main event of the pay-per-view. Not the feeling you want going into the pay-per-view is it?

From the Observer

“Show opened with the Mafia coming out. Booker had a cigarette in his mouth. I don’t know that this is the case, but as each week goes by, you get more and more of an impression that this is turning into WCW. I don’t mean the booking, because that’s obvious, but the attitude of the guys. The top guys clearly aren’t taking it seriously. Do you think Team 3-D if they were in WWE and were up for a main event run wouldn’t be told point blank to get their weight down and get in shape or they wouldn’t get the run? Booker standing there with the cigarette sort of epitomized that feeling. Nash then did his promo talking about what a great backstage politician he is. I’d add that to what I just said, but that’s just Russo writing that stuff for him thinking every wrestling fan is on the Internet and that’ll get them hating Nash. Nash talked about how ever since Joe disrespected his friend Scott Hall, that he’s tried to run him out of TNA, and that in the past, whenever he’s wanted to run someone out of a company, he’s got the job done.”

Was there a reason or point to this in terms of Booker smoking?

Was Russo writing too inside baseball regarding Nash?

There was a feature introducing Kiyoshi - Akira Raijin - with Muta putting him over and even Sting as well. Did you have big plans for him?

From the Observer

“Jay Lethal & Consequences Creed did a promo. Lethal talked about how they had matches coming up with The Rockers, The Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase and Virgil. I do get a kick out of those old-time references, but that should mostly be saved for backstage and is hardly the promo I’d want out of people challenging for the tag title on the next PPV. Beer Money attacked Lethal and Storm as they went to the ring”

Was it too much ha ha with Jay Lethal?

“Mick Foley’s first and only appearance on the show was to tell people that Jeff Jarrett would be back. Not at the PPV, but on Impact next week.”

Did you have a hard time balancing what to promote between TV and pay-per-view?

TNA releases a press release before the pay-per-view and this is the Torch’s coverage:

“TNA is moving to the next hot topic/controversial figure by courting disgraced Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich, offering him a “Chairman” position with the Main Event Mafia so that he has “the opportunity to openly sell chairs, steel chairs.”

Kurt Angle had a storyline quote made up for the TNA press release: “As the leader of the Main Event Mafia, I am a huge fan of the Illinois style of politics. As such, Governor Blagojevich is welcome to join me and the entire Main Event Mafia at any and all TNA events in the future, and certainly is welcome to sell his seat with us should he choose not to accept our generous offer.”

Jeff - chat me up about Rod Blagojevich.

We’re at the show Jeff - and it’s voted 91.3% thumbs down by the Observer readers. Teh show draws 20,000 buys - down 10,000 from the same show the year prior and down half of the 40,000 from Genesis. It is the worst PPV at the time for TNA voted on by the Observer readers.

It’s also interesting to point out that the originally production sheets had this show taking place in Washington, DC but obviously it was from the Impact Zone. Was there a plan to have this show somewhere else that you remember?

Let’s get into it!

“1. Alex Shelley retained the X Division title pinning Eric Young in 13:01. Easily best match on the show. The two traded near falls with the crowd into it. Young dropped Shelley on the top turnbuckle, but somehow wound up arguing with ref Rudy Charles. While this happened, Shelley schoolboyed him and got the three.

Observer ***¼

Torch ***¼”

These two you could just book a match and it was going to be good right?

“2. Scott Steiner pinned Petey Williams in 11:17. Steiner couldn’t do much, looked bad much of the way, and Williams worked his ass off to almost make it decent and his reward was being let go. Crazy. Steiner did his suplexes. Williams went for his plancha into a huracanrana on the floor, but Steiner blocked it and power bombed Williams on the floor. He used the Steiner recliner, which resulted in a rope break. Steiner then used the Steiner screw driver (a form of a sit out tombstone piledriver) for the pin. Post-match, saw Steiner yell at the crowd for cheering him. He then gave Williams a Samoan drop off the middle rope and went for the Steiner recliner again. Samoa Joe’s music played. Joe was nowhere to be found and Steiner got scared of his music. That was asking a lot. They showed Joe on the screen with the new tattoo on his face to set up their program.

Observer *½

Torch *”

We’ll get more into this next month when we discuss Destination X - but Petey was let go just days after this match…and now you’re setting up Steiner and Joe instead of the program of Nash & Joe which was the build all along. Are we just too all over the place?

“Mick Foley was with Sting and Sting acted like a babyface. Later, 3-D was talking with Sting trying to tell him to leave the Mafia. Foley said he would give the belt to the winner and he would announce the main event. Foley shook hands with Sting and Sting said that meant a lot to him and did a face promo.”

Was booking Sting tough at this point in time?

“3. Brutus Magnus pinned Chris Sabin in 6:38. The fans did dueling chants. That used to be for when two guys were super over. Magnus played powerhouse but instead of being a squash, this turned into a back-and-forth match which exposed Magnus for being so green. This reminded me of when Mordecai debuted in WWE after all the vignettes, and his first PPV match was against Bob Holly . The idea was Mordecai would squash him and build for a feud with Undertaker. Instead, Holly took most of the match, Mordecai looked like hell, and within a few weeks he was jobbing and gone. Magnus ended up jobbing on TV the next night. Anyway, he won this with the Tormenta, which is a twisting Samoan drop.

Observer *¼

Torch *¼”

Was this just put together all wrong and hurt Aldis at the time?

“4. Awesome Kong pinned ODB to keep the Knockouts title in 5:39. Jim Cornette kicked the other members of Kong’s stable out of ringside. Kong’s back is hurting pretty bad so they couldn’t do much. We all knew losing Gail Kim would hurt TNA’s women’s division a lot, but this has become ridiculous. They really need to beg Paco Alonso for some dates on Dark Angel and try and get her over and rest Kong until she’s healed. Because of Kong’s injuries, they worked a power match, building to the spot where ODB slammed her. Kong

came back and won with the implant buster.

Observer ½*

Torch ¾*”

Looking back - with Kong’s injuries and Gail Kim leaving - the Knockouts division took a dive fast did it not?

“5. Booker T retained the legends title pinning Shane Sewell in 6:01. Booker mostly stalled and walked around like Sewell was a joke. He was just making fun of Sewell. Finally they got going. Sewell made a comeback until Sharmell tripped him, and then Booker used the ax kick for the pin. Crowd didn’t react like they thought Sewell had a chance when he was making his comeback. I wonder why? Post-match saw threaten to attack Sewell until A.J. Styles ran in. They brawled for a while and Styles clotheslined Booker over the top rope. Styles grabbed the legends belt.

Observer ½*

Torch ¼*”

Why didn’t Shane Sewell work in TNA?

“6. Abyss pinned Matt Morgan in 15:37. Morgan worked this match just a week after having surgery to remove a staph infection from his shoulder. They said he was working against doctor’s orders. He wrestled the match with a shirt on. He was very limited in what he could do as a lot of his offense looked bad because he appeared to have no rotation or power in his right arm. They brawled for several minutes in the crowd. At one point they went all the way up to the top of the bleachers, but this badly exposed just how small the Impact Zone really is. Match was long and sloppy. The match story was that Abyss kept wanting to use weapons on Morgan, but ref Rudy Charles would stop him. Abyss went for a chair shot and Morgan pulled Charles in the way and Abyss KO’d Charles. Abyss used the black hole slam and ref Slick Johnson ran in, but Morgan kicked out. Morgan used a low blow and set up another carbon footprint, but Abyss moved out of the way and hit a second black hole slam for the pin. After the match, with Morgan down, Abyss grabbed a bag of thumb tacks and spread them out on the mat, but Morgan bailed before being thrown on them.

Observer *¼

Torch *½”

We’re 6 matches in Jeff and we’re not getting better. Was this one of these shows that was just snake bit?

“7. Robert Roode & James Storm retained the tag titles beating Jay Lethal & Consequences Creed in 15:41. Not bad, but probably not quite at the level you’d expect. Lethal made a hot tag coming off the top with a missile dropkick with one foot on each guy. He did an enzuigiri on Storm, and an elbow off the top for a near fall and a Lethal combination on Roode. They did a double flapjack on Roode for a near fall. Finish saw Jacqueline giving Storm a chain and he hit Lethal with it. Lethal fell to the ground and Roode pinned him.

Observer **½

Torch **¼”

Beer Money was on a hell of a run here weren’t they?

“8. Sting retained the TNA title in a four-way over Kurt Angle, Brother Ray and Brother Devon on 14:34. Match was so-so, but weak in the main event position. It was largely Angle trying to carry three people, with Sting limited due to his age (almost 50) and a bad knee, and 3-D being out of shape and having the handicap that nobody believed either could win. They did a spot early where Bubba just laid down and invited Devon to pin him, since then Devon would get the title. But Angle saved. However, later in the match, when the ring was clear and they were wide open to do that, they never did. The crowd never bought 3-D as challengers. Crowd died as they expected. So then they started trading punches with the idea fans wanted them to brawl. Crowd was even more dead until they did the double clothesline, both get up and pose which is an automatic clap, clap, clap pop. Sting and Bubba at one point were brawling in front of Dixie Carter (I think, they never focused closely on the woman there). Angle had his left eye busted, supposedly from an elbow by Sting. Several near falls back and forth. Bubba used a rock bottom on Devon and Devon kicked out. Devon kicking out made no sense. 3-D did the Doomsday device on Angle, but Sting saved. Sting used a back suplex on Bubba for a near fall. Finish saw Angle use a belly-to- belly superplex off the middle rope on Devon. Bubba then knocked Angle out of the ring, and Sting came from behind Bubba with a scorpion death drop for the pin. Finish was flat. Foley got in the ring and gave Sting the title belt and shook his hand.

Observer **

Torch *¼”

There was just no way for the psychology to make sense right?

Do you remember walking away from this show thinking - man that was a stinker…because the dirt sheets did…

Wade Keller post show analysis:

“TNA cannot get away with charging for this kind of line–up of matches when they give away so many marquee matches on a weekly basis on Impact that are better (although mostly shorter).

This PPV card had one special match, the main event, that stood out above what is normally on TNA Impact, but that is only because the TNA World Title was on the line. Otherwise, it featured the same four wrestlers who headlined Impact a few days earlier in a two–on–two standard tag match.”

Is that something you agree with Jeff?

Now here’s Meltzer’s take…

TNA badly needs to make some changes. It was only a few weeks ago when the Main Event Mafia angle started, that ratings started to rise, and there appeared to be more of a major league feel to the company and they were gaining momentum.

In the last few weeks, that has rapidly stopped being the case. If there is a way to make heels without destroying babyfaces, TNA has not learned the formula. You can see everything that was wrong with WCW here. Main eventers who have no respect, going out there to entertain themselves, phoning in performances (or in some cases, guys who are good personalities simply being too old to give much in the ring) and the quality of the shows has gone to hell. The belief is they have to put a ton of heat on the heels first, and then start giving the faces wins, but this program has been going for months, and this show featured seven heel wins in eight matches, and the only face win, Abyss, was the one that made the least sense since Matt Morgan had just turned heel and needed some steam put on him, particularly since the Morgan vs. Abyss program is going to continue.

He would go on to say Jeff that when Scott D’Amore was booking - the idea was to make sure it was a good show but when you’re trying to put tell a bigger picture story and that it’s more important than match quality - and Meltzer points out that it is - bad shows on paper and on TV can be a death knell for a promotion…

His final thought…

“The problem is, when TNA PPV’s were doing their best business, it was when they were making a reputation for having can’t miss shows. Now, with more stars, far better television and more viewers, they are generally doing rock bottom numbers. They no longer have the rep for producing good shows, something all their competitors are doing. Plus, the WCW mentality has taken over because you can have great matches or bad matches and it doesn’t matter. You stay in the same place. This encourages people to get cynical, and do as little as possible, and the removal of effort and incentive is a killer to the business.”

Jeff - how do you respond to that?

Last note on news from the Observer:

“There is also a new policy, taken from WWE, where instead of booking well in advance, they only book the top few matches on PPV, and then fill out the show before the final tapings. That’s not necessarily bad since whatever drawing aspect any matches have, and here that isn’t much, it’s only the top matches that matter anyway. But it also means you are doing two weeks of TV, often with no idea where you’re going with anyone but the top guys.”

Was that something you had focused on at the time? Was that the thought process?

Next week we’ll be discussing … February of 2004 in TNA. The America’s X Cup, Terry Funk wrestling CM Punk, ICP, Red Shirt Security, you defend the NWA title against Dustin Rhodes, the NWA tag team titles are up for grabs in a singles match, Brian Urlacher and heat with the Chicago Bears, Johnny Fairplay, Roddy Piper, Chyna, firing Jeremy Borash, Tiny, Sara Lee & Jeremy Borash and more.