Gutcheck results
This week’s show was generally very good. I’m being serious here - TNA is blowing WWE out of the water for the last while. For years people were desperate for TNA to be this awesome promotion so they could still have a weekly wrestling fix that wasn’t WWE and they never stepped up. I feel like these days however they’re really offering a great show as an alternative.
WrestlingOberver.com reports:
“TNA filed suit against WWE and former employee Brian Wittenstein on a number of charges related to contract tampering.
The story in pwinsider.com lists that the lawsuit claimed interference with existing contracts, conversion, breach of contract, civil conspiracy, unfair competition and violatoin of the Tennessee Uniform Trade Secrets Act.
The suit claims that Wittenstein, who worked for TNA and then moved to WWE, gave WWE inside information on TNA contracts.
Wittenstein was recently let go by WWE after he presented thenm with confidential contractual information about TNA talent. But TNA claims WWE did not let them know about this until weeks late, claiming WWE told them on 5/7 that was why Wittenstein was let go.
TNA claims they used that information and have been in talks with Ric Flair, who approached TNA about getting out of his contract (so the stories of TNA firing Flair are not true, it was Flair who asked out of the deal). They noted Flair is wanting to go to WWE, and said it was Flair no-showing all of his recent dates. That also contradicts stories that TNA pulled him from those dates.
TNA filed for an injunction as well demanding WWE and Wittenstein return all confidential material Wittenstein had from his period working for TNA.
The filing of the lawsuit explains why both TNA and Flair had been quiet when it came to his no longer appearing for TNA over the past two weeks.”
May 23rd, as well as marking the anniversary of the death of Owen Hart in 1999, is the day Jeff Jarrett’s wife Jill lost her battle with cancer in 2007. Jeff and Owen were good friends up until the day he died. Shortly after she passed away Jeff, then a heel, gave this candid interview on the 2007 Slammiversary pay-per-view where he discussed the successes of TNA, and how much he loved his wife who supported him along the way.
10/50 Photos of Knockouts. (Current & Former)
(Source: chewgumkickass)
It was genuinely a very good show, with lots of great wrestling. If you’ve got time, I’d recommend catching it at some stage tomorrow.
Austin Aries had a GREAT star making match against Bully Ray - so good I wish it was on a show more people saw. Angle and AJ had one of their better matches, which is really saying something, and everything else on the card ranged from okay to good. Check it if you’re interested.
Trailer for Kayfabe Commentaries’ latest “Guest Booker” DVD - this time featuring Gabe Sapolsky and Kevin Sullivan, who will attempt to book TNA and make it a success.
These DVDs are hit and miss from what I hear. My personal experiences with the few I’ve seen weren’t good, as I feel the guests are a huge x-factor. For example, if you buy the DVD featuring Dutch Mantell you’re likely to get a huge portion of rambling anecdotes about the past before you even get to the crux of the booking. And even when that’s not the case, let the buyer beware - you are essentially buying a DVD of two guys fantasy booking. And unlike actual booking, there is no real world feedback. Basically the appeal is the chance to hear what great booking minds have to say about the current product and this DVD could be the most interesting in that regard. I for one am all for Sapolsky getting a real shot in a major promotion. Given his critical success with the glory period of Ring of Honor, I’d like to see him working in a company with a budget that might be able to support him better.
Rest of the it
Hey folks, I’m back. Was tweeting for the majority of the PPV tonight. No need to talk about the rest of the show right now, but I’ll say this for the main event:
They were doing everything SO right, and it was really enjoyable, until they got the finish SO wrong.
This is one of their biggest shows of the year, and the main event was like six months in the making and they really treated it like that. They had a really great war, it felt personal, it felt important, it felt like it mattered. The crowd was awful for most of the show, and they hurt the main event to an extent but Storm and Roode worked hard and had them really into it by the end.
They did a lot of cool things here. After all this time, after initially being screwed by it originally, Storm kicked out of the beer bottle shot to the head and the crowd went nuts. It would have been an awesome “babyface redeems himself” moment if Storm had won it then and there, but instead we got that lame ass fluke finish, on the second biggest show of the year? Come on man. I know it’s TNA, but even I expected better of them on that one. Like I said, everything was going SO well and that was such a HUGE let down of a finish. If they do a title change on Thursday or at the next PPV, it’s just going to be a major insult to anyone who invested any actual energy in this match.
The opening video package for TNA’s Lockdown PPV this Sunday - with Bobby Roode vs. James Storm for the world title.
