Impact Wrestling: A Haven for Drunks and Junkies in Wrestling

Poster child for Impact's laxity on drug use
Photo Credit: ImpactWrestling.com

There are a lot of exciting things happening in Impact Wrestling. Despite lack of direction, they have young guys who work exciting matches, and usually, shows can have as much good as they have bad. The bad can be really bad. However, as bad as they do in character, out of character, what they do, or should I be more specific, what they don't do is what is so infuriating. Two weeks ago, Matt Hardy was released from Impact ostensibly after getting into a single vehicle car accident, slamming into a tree. We all thought that maybe Impact was on the right track with their treatment of recidivist substance abusers, but then last night, Kurt Angle had his third drunk driving incident in the last five years. What was done? Nothing. Given the swiftness with which they handled Hardy, you'd think they'd have acted swiftly with Angle, right? ESPECIALLY since he was nailed earlier this year for something similar.

They didn't.

Granted, they could, but look back to the North Dakota incident this year. They didn't do anything to Angle at all. Look back at Victory Road too. They acted WAY too late when Jeff Hardy showed up to the arena (again, mind you) "in no condition to perform". Impact's long-term history when it comes to substance abuse is laughable enough that they deserve absolutely no leeway in judgment. So, what message do they send? It's loud and clear. Impact Wrestling is a haven for drug addicts and drunks. The only way you get fired is if creative has nothing for you, or you irritate Dixie Carter or someone above her in the pecking order. Obviously, that's why Angle and Jeff Hardy still have jobs. That's why Matt Hardy doesn't. It's clear as day.

So, why would anyone who toes the line even want to work there? I mean, all you have to do is get on someone's good side and anything you do is alright. What does that do to morale? What does that do to the people who don't do drugs or who don't run afoul of the law, ESPECIALLY when the people who do are the ones who get pushed to the moon? I mean, I hate going on conjectural reports about locker room morale, but when shit like this happens, and Angle isn't IMMEDIATELY reprimanded, then that smoke automatically says to me that there's fire. Absolutely.

The people who suffer aren't just the Austin Arieses and AJ Styleses of the world. It's everyone. For wrestling fans, all the work that CM Punk is doing to try and make this cool again will be undone because Impact will further the stereotype that carnies, junkies and white trash populate the ring, so of course the fans are the same. WWE suffers because no matter how stringent they make their Wellness Policy and no matter how much PR work they do with legitimate entertainment outlets (although Alex Riley and others have shown us this year that WWE has a LOT of work to do re: drunk driving), that they'll be lumped in with the old stereotypes because their biggest competition. Maybe David D. of The Smoking Section had it right with his idea that Vince McMahon needed to buy the company out for his own survival.

I'm beginning to sound like a broken record here, but c'mon son, how many more times are people going to be allowed to give Impact a black eye just because the brass likes them. They need to crack down, yadda yadda yadda. I can't even type it anymore. Hey, if Dixie and her bosses are happy running a fucking opium den, then it's their company. However, someone is going to die in their ring, and the fact that the government hasn't audited them is embarrassing. The wrestlers need to be shown consequence for their actions or else they won't learn. If Impact won't do it, Florida, Tennessee or Uncle Sam should.

Idiotic if True: How an Impact Burnout May Have Screwed over the Young Bucks

Were these guys wronged by the competition?

Cageside Seats has a pretty good summary of the scuttlebutt surrounding the Sin Cara hood and the two men who play it, especially the original. It's a good read, but in describing one of the reasons why Mistico has become persona non grata in WWE right now, they brought up this nugget on a recent controversy involving two decidedly non-Sin Cara related wrestlers:

The Young Bucks shouldn't have bothered turning up for their recent WWE tryout, their chances were shot as soon as Rob Van Dam gave them the rep of dodging veteran's handshakes. In a predictable development, RVD's good friends Booker T and Goldust made sure to concur with his assessment via Twitter that they were a couple of disrespectful young punks and thus the Bucks could kiss their WWE chances goodbye.

First, a disclaimer, I don't assume that this is 100% truth here. Dave Meltzer (the source for the Cageside article) may have an element of truth to that slant on how things happened. He may be talking cynically. I don't know.

That being said, if there is any element of truth to this... what the fuck, WWE? Really? Really? I purported not even to want to judge how the WWE backstage culture was, and if the Bucks did "wrong" Booker T, then it's one thing. It's a personal beef, and they handled it the way that they handle those kinds of things backstage. However, if what Meltzer is insinuating is true here, then it's a clear case of a guy who works for another company influencing policy. Regardless of who the guy is, that seems pretty fucked up to me. The guy basically is using his influence to make sure that two guys who might have a future in the industry can't get ahead. Isn't that kind of blackballing considered unethical at the very least?

Furthermore, let's look into the guy who's starting this bullshit. Rob Van Dam. Apparently, if the insinuation is true, he cares about respect and petty bullshit, which is fine and dandy if you're into having your ego stroked, but let's look at some of the things he doesn't care about. He doesn't care about showing respect, since he mouths off about Impact in the media if he's unhappy (and regardless of whether you agree with him or not, you take care of that shit in house). He doesn't care about following drug policy obviously. He also doesn't care about co-worker safety, since his well-documented sloppiness hasn't abated over the years. In fact, I'd say it's gotten worse since his most egregious offense against protecting his fellow workers happened within the last six months, i.e. his amateur dentistry on Abyss with his foot. So now, WWE HR policy is going to be directly impacted by a burnout working for the struggling competition? That is hilarious.

That also isn't to say that RVD and his cronies Booker and Goldust would be totally at fault here. If WWE really is going to not sign the Bucks due to that backstage fracas without further investigation, then what does that say about them? It's one thing to have a guy in the doghouse in Mistico because of behavior that's widely observed, but wouldn't you think it funny that the Bucks, who apparently shook hands with everyone else, had a problem with only two guys, guys who were friends of a habitual drug user with a massive ego? If the reports are true, then doesn't this make WWE look fucking stupid for siding with a guy who ultimately is part of the organization that's most competing with them, whether they know it or not?

But that's the kicker. I keep going back to the disclaimer. There's no way to gauge whether any of these reports that are based on non-primary sources and conjecture are 100% factual. While I have my reasons to believe Meltzer over anyone, including his colleague Bryan Alvarez, wouldn't have an axe to grind, it's entirely possible that he has a journalistic bias against the WWE. It's not that big a negative. It's human nature. There's entirely a chance that this whole post is bluster, and within six months, the Young Bucks will be in WWE, and who knows, maybe Mistico will be Sin Cara once more. That being said, there's too much smoke in the form of wrestler chatter about this kind of thing for there not to be fire. If it was just something internal, then yeah, maybe I wouldn't have wasted any more words on it than I did back when I reacted to it first. But the fact that someone working for Impact may have something to do with the Bucks not signing WWE contracts seems stupid at least, unethical at the midpoint and illegal tampering/collusion at the very worst. It's so mind-bogglingly awful that even the very specter of it doesn't pass the smell test.

Photo Credit: Scott Finkelstein - Please visit his site to view the plentiful amounts of pictures he's taken for DGUSA, ROH and other indie feds: Get Lost Photography

One Hardy's Gone, Another Hardy Returns

Via F4W Online

Apparently, Jeff Hardy makes his return to Impact Wrestling at the TV tapings in Huntsville, AL on Thursday. Just when you think it's safe to laud the former-TNA for good decision making after firing his brother Matt (and that's even laughable, but if I say too much else, I'm giving away my CCB column for this week), they're bringing back the other brother. Then again, did anyone ever think that Jeff would be the more stable of the two (and that's a relative term)? I dunno. Anyway, like Alvarez, I'm skeptical that Jeff is 100% ready to return, but then again, maybe he is clean and ready for the schedule again. Who knows. I guess we'll find out Thursday.

Matt Hardy Gets DWI, Impact Fires Him

Photo Credit:
ImpactWrestling.com

Via TMZ

In the most surprising move ever *wanking motion*, Matt Hardy was busted for driving while intoxicated in North Carolina today after slamming his Corvette into a tree. He was uninjured. Actually, in the surprising move, Impact Wrestling FIRED him hours later. Impact, a company that has rarely ever fired for disciplinary reasons, has finally had enough.

But yeah, it's not like this was the first offense either. Most recently, he posted a video where he and his brother Jeff and girlfriend Reby Sky all appeared intoxicated, playing with a taser. But yeah, as with everything, here's hoping the guy finally finds the help he needs. Yeah.

Impact Wrestling Growing a Set? (Re: Hardys)

Via Cageside Seats

So apparently, Matt and Jeff Hardy haven't made their way back to Impact Wrestling because management is sticking by their demands for them to go to rehab. In the interest of fairness, Matt has denied those reports over Twitter, but at the same time, he's not the most trustworthy source himself, given that he has such an adversarial nature with "the dirtsheets" that he could urinate in a fountain, have TMZ capture video of it and then deny it anyway after Meltzer disseminated it to his readers.

That being said, if this is true, and Impact is standing by their insistence on rehab, it shows that they're taking a huge step in the right direction. Even as recently as five months ago, when Jeff worked a "match" visibly under the influence of some controlled substance at a PPV main event, the former TNA's commitment to a healthy, safe workplace was called into question. That they'll stand up to the most egregious drug users on the roster is a step in the right direction, because in the past, they hadn't shown a willingness to do even that.

However, if they cave and bring the Hardys back WITHOUT any rehab, then it's an epic fail, but for now, and I stress that these are just reports without any primary sources, this is somewhat good news.

Your Midweek Links: A Massive Missive

NOMNOMNOMNOM

It's hump day, so here are some links to get you through the rest of the week!

Self-Shilling:

- The Wrestling Podcast with Spencer Hall, where he describes CM Punk as antisocial, Les Miles as unaffected and college football in the South as a "blood cult". [Episode 14: Tiny Luchas: Songs from the Mexican Gift Shop]

- My Camel Clutch Blog post last week, in praise of Mike Quackenbush's international approach with Chikara. [Chikara: An Education in International Wrestling]

- More podcasty goodness, this time with Jason Mann discussing Booker T vs. The Rock at SummerSlam, and a not-so-heated debate on the merits of Shane McMahon [Wrestlespective Radio]

Wrestling Links:

- "Punk wrestles so some day so that one day, he won't have to." [Fair to Flair]

- Justin Henry writes a paean to the most unsung bad guy in WWE today, Super Dave Osbourne. Wait, what? [Wrestling News Source]

- NWA Fanfest recap [South Atlanta Wrestling]

- DDS' Leslie interviews Marti Belle [Dirty Dirty Sheets]

- ...and Sidekick Andrew talks up SHIMMER with Dave Prazak. [Wrestlegasm]

- Five good things about Hardcore Justice... even Stephen T. Stone admits this was a hard hurdle to jump [Grapple Kingdom]

- A more fleshed-out look at the show. [The Harrison Analysis]

- Impact is so bad, even hip-hop/music blogs call them out on how bad they are [The Smoking Section]

- A lamentation on the treatment of the Impact TV Title [Camel Clutch Blog]

- Ken Patera no-selling the piledriver... a big deal back then. [Kentucky Fried Rasslin]

- Spear through a flaming table? Spear through a flaming table. [Musings of a Mark]

- Technically, this isn't a wrestling post, but it's a post by an honest-to-God wrestler in Dolph Ziggler about his hockey guilty pleasures. [Puck Daddy]

- A reasoned post about why the low rating Monday isn't exactly the end of the world. [International Object]

- Pictures from the Teen Choice Awards, here because John Cena, The Miz, Maryse and most importantly, Maryse's breasts showed up. Again, I'm all for gender equity and women being treated as equals and such, but I'm a guy, and I like breasts. Don't kill me for this. Please. [With Leather]

- The Best and Worst of RAW, 8/8... you know the drill [With Leather]

- Razor's RAW Live Blog [Kick-Out!! Wrestling]

- More thoughts on RAW [Hitting the Mark]

- Lucha libre beer pong set? Lucha libre beer pong set. [Hugging Harold Reynolds]

- Steve Austin fanning the flames of speculation on a possible match with CM Punk at WrestleMania [Cageside Seats]

- Melina butthurt over a line Beth Phoenix said in character Monday. In other news... water is wet, but not nearly as "wet" as other liquids. Sorry, had to work in SOME engineering/science humor here. [Diva Dirt]

- #IWantIrby [Wrestling Theory]

- Michelle Beadle is cute, loves sports and is a wrestling fan. Okay, why is it she's not getting more and more love from the wrestling nerd community? [I Want Wrestling]

- Lucha .gifs of amazement! [Luchablog]

Jamie Dobson Interviews:

- Dom "The Bomb" Vitelli

- Magical Jarek 1:20

- "The Joverine" Joey Knight

Non-Wrestling Links:

- Patton Oswalt's latest 5 second film. I love these. [5 Second Films]

- House of PUNTE's "Best of" podcast. A must listen for people who don't listen to it but want to get into it. [House of PUNTE]

- Rioting in London... I think the reaction of natives over there calling these rioters the pejorative term for the female genitalia is the appropriate response. I mean, really, you're against police brutality so you loot small businesses? [Uproxx]

- Ron Artest going to play in England. I'd make a joke about the riots, but it'd probably really bad that it'd come off as tasteless, so I'll pass. [The Smoking Section]

- A review of America's first pizzeria, Lombardi's in New York [Doughboys]

- The origin of General Tso's chicken. Stoners everywhere should try to read this origin of one of their staple foods until they get distracted by Nyan Cat in their other tab. [Mental Floss]

- What was omitted? The 78 comment follow-up where everyone flames everyone. [Imgur Gallery]

- This is my reason to wake up and look forward to Monday mornings. Drew Magary's weekly FJMing of Peter King is soul satisfying. [Kissing Suzy Kolber]

- Best of the Conde Elevator Twitter account... yes, people are REALLY that self absorbed. [Buzz Feed]

- A sabermetric argument for why a guy like Ben Zobrist is more valuable to a team than Prince Fielder, even though the latter's counting/average stats are better. [Fan Graphs]

- An open letter to the makers of Cracker Jack [The Oatmeal]

- Texas A&M to stay where they are because buildings are heavy and hard to move, dammit [Every Day Should Be Saturday]

- How to spot authentic Cohibas from fakes [30nothings]

- 16 drinks named for authors and books. Not included is the Alan Moore Watchmen shot, which oddly enough is just a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. [Slosh Spot]

- More alcoholic goodness, only constructive! Why the beer can is making a comeback. [Philadelphia Craft Beer Examiner]

- Jason Momoa writes Conan the Barbarian fan fiction? Well, he's still Khal Drogo to me, so it's all good. [Film Drunk]

- Best fictional workplaces. Not listed: The Isengard Uruk-Hai foundry. [Pajiba]

- Gollum as a ring bearer. Best. Wedding. Ever. [Topless Robot]

- Nothing is written in stone, says the placard written in stone. [Skull Swap]

- Frances Bean Cobain all grow'd up. All of a sudden, Nevermind is only the second best thing Kurt Cobain ever produced. [Jezebel]

- Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle for the first time. Nice. [Blast-o-Rama]

- Making it rain while driving is a bad idea. [Gawker]

- The JAWS/Peanuts mash-up you weren't expecting but will probably love anyway. [NYMag - Vulture]

- Ralph Wiggum .gifs for the whole family! [Mmmm... Simpsons]

- Dana White gives out bounties for guys who take out guys in speedos. Part of me finds this dumb because of all the dick-punching, but part of me wants Dana White to patrol the beaches to take out banana hammocks there too. [Cagewriter]

- Cliff Lee does it all. [The Fightins]

- Portal etiquette [Pants Are Overrated]

- Shipping cars in the King Solomon-approved way [Carpe Diem]

- Things are so bad in Somalia that even the Prime Minister has to work two jobs! [NYMag - Daily Intel]

- Haha, they're making a Gen. Patton cologne. [Holy Taco]

- What if the NBA went tits up? [Deadspin]

- The Canadian Stampede was a rodeo before it was a WWF PPV, and it's still a big Calgary tradition today. [Grantland]

- If Ocarina of Time were a children's book... [Unreality Mag]

- Zune HD review [Aggressive Art]

- Barney Frank ripped one on the air. It's funny because he's old. [Warming Glow]

- Rex Grossman says the Redskins will win the NFC East. In other news... y'know what, I'm not going to tempt fate here, because the last thing I need are mouthy Skins fans throwing this back in my face in December if Grossman turns out to be right. [The 700 Level]

- Movie cliches, in graph form! [Graph Jam]

- The password? brettfavreBOOMtinactin [Hugging Harold Reynolds]

- Five more secrets that only two living people know [Cracked]

- I want to go to The Sharper Image with Ruben Amaro [I Want to Go to the Zoo with Roy Halladay]

- Looking at the most infamous trade in hockey history 23 years later [Puck Daddy]

- Star Wars porn parody... I dunno, I think I'd rather see the one that they were going to do in Zack and Miri Make a Porno than this one. [Gamma Squad]

- Your guide to fantasy football wide receivers, as compared to hot sitcom daughters from the '80s. Not compared to: Kimmy Gibler [With Leather]

- Why you shouldn't get your opinion from pundits [Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal]

Weekend Wrap-Up: Iron Women, Hardly Hardcore and Hollywood Ouster

New Champion, New Heel?
Photo Credit: ImpactWrestling.com

- So, is an event really hardcore if there's only one hardcore spot in the whole thing? I'm not sure people would have cared if Impact Wrestling gave them a good show in Hardcore Justice, but the consensus seems to be that they failed to deliver. Two new Champions were crowned last night, Kurt Angle the new World Champion (after, in many people's view, pointlessly turning heel) and Winter dethroned Mickie James to become the Knockouts Champion. I can get behind the latter because Winter, nee Katie Lea Burchill, is pretty awesome, but the former just sounds more like bad Russo writing. Also on the card, Crimson defeated Rob Van Dam in a Bound for Glory Series match to continue his undefeated streak. Anyone else get the feeling that he's going to main event their signature PPV, only to lose via shenanigans? After the match, Jerry Lynn appeared again and got in RVD's grill, meaning more RVD/Lynn rematches in the future.

- Rey Mysterio apparently hurt his knee at a house show this past weekend, with it being so severe that they ran an injury angle the next night to shorten his match against Alberto del Rio. Some reports are calling it a "tweak", but with his knees, a tweak can still be serious business. He's expected to work around the injury and appear at SummerSlam, which afterwards, hopefully he'll get a fucking vacation. The man needs to just go home, sip margaritas with his wife and relax for a bit so he can come back before the end of the year, refreshed, recharged and ready for the Internet to find new ways to slur him because they don't like his finishing move.

- Speaking of injuries, Daizee Haze has been listed as "out indefinitely" on the official Chikara message board. Circumstantially, it's because of the injuries suffered at the hands of Mima Shimoda and Claudio Castagnoli at Chikarasaurus Rex, Night 2. It leads me to believe it's all kayfabe, but at the same time, if it is legit, here's to a speedy recovery.

- In better news, Sunday's best show arguably took place in Cleveland, OH, with PWO putting on Wrestlelution 4. I really want to give you some results here, but for the life of me, I can't find them on the Internet anywhere. Bummer. However, what I can say is that according to TWB superfan and friend of the blog Jarret Aubry, the Josh Prohibition vs. Johnny Gargano vs. Matt Cross match was SUPER AWESOME. The man knows good wrestling, so take his word for it.

- JSCW's kickoff event was Saturday night free of charge on the Seaside Heights boardwalk. Judging from the picture posted in the results post, they did alright for themselves. The main crux of the show was the Tag Team Championship tournament, which had four first round matches headlined by a tilt between the SAT and All Money Is Legal, won by the latter team. Also on the card, Dan Maff defeated Apollo Star,

- Mercedes Martinez and Lexus set a modern women's wrestling record by going 73 minutes at the WSU tapings Saturday night. Martinez, who already has one superlative in the longest current Championship tenure under her belt (and may be the longest continuously defended women's title reign ever, given that Fabulous Moolah's 27 year reign was very much sparsely defended), now has another big record under her belt. The match was stopped as a 60 minute time limit draw, but the match was demanded restarted, and 13 minutes later, Martinez won with a fisherman's buster. Also at the tapings, Roxie Cotton made her redebut as Gabby Gilbert, taking two matches. The second taping ended with a WarGames match announced for the next iPPV between the newly formed Midwest Militia of Sassy Stephanie, Jessica Havok and Allison Kay and Team WSU, comprising of Martinez, Alicia and Brittney Savage.

- NWA Hollywood got a big shakeup as Joey Ryan was ousted as the head booker AND a contracted talent. I don't know what's going on that caused the coup, but it's a shocker to me. It's also very disappointing as Ryan has been embroiled in a pretty decent feud with Colt Cabana over the last couple of months. It especially sucks given that now, the only place you can find Ryan is on PWG, and that's only once a month. Granted, one show of Ryan a month is better than none, but at the same time, I can't help but feel that Hollywood is dropping the ball here by at least not keeping him on as a wrestler, even if they want to go a different direction behind the scenes.

- Ending on a happy note, according to the PWG message boards (a lot of message board news today, eh?), not only is Finlay scheduled to appear at Battle of Los Angeles this year in the tournament itself, but TJ Perkins and the Super Smash Bros. will appear at their next card after Battle of Los Angeles. Super psyched to see the SSB get some dates outside of the East Coast and Quebec, because they're a really fun tag team. Not surprising to see them touch down in SoCal though, as PWG has been really good about importing guys from Quebec, as seen with their thrusting of El Generico and Kevin Steen into the mainstream. Looking VERY much forward to this.

Amazing Red Gone from Impact

Via Twitter

Amazing Red, the long-time Impact wrestler who's been used very little lately, has parted ways with the company. Apparently, he got the "Creative has nothing for you" line, and he decided to head it off at the pass rather than wait around for no bookings and thus no paychecks. I was never the biggest Red fan, but he was good at Chikara's King of Trios this year. Obviously, the rumors are going to swirl about him signing with ROH, but at this point, who knows anymore.

Anyway, even if you don't agree that Red was a guy that needed to go, at least Impact is shedding some roster members. They're extremely bloated still, although given the choice, I'm sure that many Impact fans would have rather seen Rob Terry, Murphy and the Hardy Boys gone rather than Red, Jay Lethal and the Young Bucks. Them's be the breaks though...

When Announcers Stop Caring: Why Taz and Jerry Lawler Actively Hurt Their Products

"Not for nuttin' Tenay, but I ain't got
the slightest clue what's goin' on!"
Photo Credit: ImpactWrestling.com

I get why people don't like Michael Cole anymore. Trust me, I do, and I'm actually there myself. I hate that he talks over guys like Jim Ross or Josh Mathews who are passionate about trying to get the stories and the action in the ring over. He's entertaining at times, yes, but increasingly he's becoming more and more of a nuisance and a caricature rather than being the guy who tells the truth (which is really where heel color commentators excel... Bobby Heenan and Jesse Ventura ALWAYS told the truth, no matter how sordid it was).

That being said, I'll still take him over Jerry Lawler any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

I also get why people hate on Mike Tenay. I've been doing it ever since I started the blog (unless I was talking about his run in WCW as the knowledgeable foreign wrestling analyst, which was GREAT). A play-by-play announcer shouldn't have the level of knowledge that a regular mark fan does. It's okay to be surprised every once in awhile, but announcers are there to show a little bit of authority at least. Tenay doesn't show that. Plus I hate his tendencies to call moves by their abbreviation and then saying the words right after.

That being said, he's leagues better to me than his broadcast partner Taz. LEAGUES.

I can stomach bad announcing, even if it grates on me. Fine, you have annoying habits, or you call my favorite wrestler "boring". I can deal with that. But the one thing I really can't stand is not giving a shit. Seriously, how hard is it to be enthusiastic about selling the product you're calling? The announcer's job is to make sure things are conveyed and that there's a sense of excitement attached to the things happening in the ring. Generally speaking, if the guy who's there calling the action is apathetic, then why the hell should I feel anything other than malaise? Even worse, if the announcer can't be assed to pay attention to what's going on in the storylines, then why should I?

Big example of this occurred on Impact Thursday. Sting had told Immortal that he was a network executive just so he could cause some shenanigans during the telecast. Towards the end of the show, before the steel cage main event between Kurt Angle and Ken Anderson, Sting revealed that he lied about being an exec, causing a great bit of consternation amongst the main heel faction. There was a big deal made about it by Tenay and to an extent Taz. Minutes later, Taz made note that Sting made the match because he was a network exec. I can only imagine Tenay's off-camera facepalm was epic at the stunning lack of attention paid by Taz. The worst thing about it is that it happened on a taped show. They could have cut that audio out. Then again, it is Impact.

It's the same reason why I can enjoy Booker T even if he has obvious flaws. It doesn't take a critical analyst to tell that Booker really gets into calling the action, and even if his knowledge lacks sometimes, or he states the obvious or he doesn't have the snappy comeback to put Cole in his place, he has a joyful exuberance that makes him a million times better to listen to then even some technically "good" announcers. He makes me want to get into the match he calls.

Why can't WWE and Impact see that? I mean, Lawler is an iconic name, and Taz used to work for WWE, so obviously, he's gold in the eyes of Dixie and Co. But those are things that shouldn't determine who your broadcast team is. Diamond Dallas Page is also an iconic name, but he also seems to be a guy who'd jump at the chance to sit next to JR on RAW and call action. Booker's an iconic name, and he knows how to sell sizzle. Adam Pearce is an iconic name at the indie level, and when he got behind the mic in NWA Hollywood, he was perhaps the guy who did the best job out of anyone who called matches for them. It's not mutually exclusive to be a good broadcaster and a big name.

The broadcast booths of the mainstream wrestling companies need enemas. Even if a guy like Cole is kept, as irritating as he is, at least he gets behind his character. If he stayed and Lawler left, I'd be super happy. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be alone either.

Destination Success: Impact Wrestling and the Power of Margins

Note, I usually don't like to do pieces analyzing the business side anymore. I find that microanalyzing buyrates or ratings can get really pedantic. However, I feel like with this one, there's a great point to be made.

Brian Kendrick, foundation of a better Impact
Photo Credit: ImpactWrestling.com

Anyway, the buyrate numbers for Destination X are in, or as in as they can be for a company that is under no obligation to release its numbers publicly. Apparently, the buys were somewhat dismal, albeit comparatively speaking to their recent forays into PPV, they were par for the course. Conservative estimates place the number of buys at 8,000, about 500 fewer than their previous PPV, Slammiversary. That might sound like a failure, but as K. Sawyer Paul pointed out, it really wasn't in the grand scheme of things.

While the number didn't spike like some of us here might have hoped, I still think that DX was very much a success for the company, or at least a success for the maligned-by-management X-Division. We can very much agree that the difference between 8,500 and 8,000 is almost negligible in the grand scheme of things, right? So basically, DX and Slammiversary did almost the same number of buys. Assuming that the pre-wage overhead for both PPVs was the same, the rest of the costs are going to be determined by the monies paid out to the talent. The biggest name on the show in terms of a wage was Samoa Joe, Abyss or AJ Styles. Most of the wrestlers fall under the pay grade of "might have to apply for food stamps if miss more than one date", which means they're cheap. Meanwhile, Slammiversary had wages drawn by some of the heavy hitters in terms of salary. Ken Anderson, Kurt Angle, Sting, Scott Steiner, Bully Ray and one of the only Knockouts reputed to be making a decent wage in Mickie James were all on the card. Replacing them with guys like the Young Bucks, Austin Aries, Zema Ion, Mark Haskins, Shark Boy and Alex Shelley had to have brought costs down significantly, right?

So while the people who apparently don't like the X-Division in the front office might use this 5.9% as ammunition against putting more of a spotlight on these guys, what they don't realize is that it's very much a condemnation of the actual power the former TNA has in the marketplace, especially that of the supposed "stars" they have in the fold. If Angle and Sting and Anderson are only worth 500 more buys than Aries and Ion and Haskins, then is it fair to say that maybe their drawing power worth the exponential increase in salary, especially given that the former group has expenses taken care of as well while the latter group must self-fund to get from show to show? Looking at the margins, it has to make some kind of sense to people that maybe going cheaper and going younger might just be the road to take.

KSP closes his post with "The X Division guys aren't the ones who should be worrying about their jobs." In a fair world, that would be the case, but Impact Wrestling throughout its history has shown that don't make the best business decisions all the time. However, they really need to take a good, hard look at the way things are run. Maybe that whole "the Network is mandating the push for the X-Division" trope that ran on Impact last week is more shoot than not. Maybe the faith in Brian Kendrick, Shelley and Aries is real and a sign of things to come. But you'd have to forgive me if my faith in a bunch of stubborn men with their minds entrenched firmly in 1998 isn't as strong as it is in other promotions' booking (and I'm not even talking WWE here). If the rumors of spite and thickheadedness are true, then Impact is once again about to react to "bad" numbers in order to submarine change.

The thing is, for me, the best parts of Impact are when the X-Division is featured by itself. Not the bullshit Bischoff-is-trying-to-kill angle, but the one that's featuring Shelley and Kendrick dealing with a marauding Aries. To me, even when they're not wrestling, it's an intriguing angle. The quality's better, mainly because it's an issue among three guys based on a story that involves issues that are wholly in character. No one is shooting. No one is doing it for the respect of "the boys in the back" or for "stroke". All three, especially Aries who's awesome and Kendrick, whose character actually fits him, (key word, CHARACTER) are intriguing to me. The best part is that the blowoff is going to happen in the ring in what should be a match that at least tries to be innovative and entertaining.

I know some of that is subjective. I know that not everyone is going to go for the X-Division, but at the same time, forging ahead with the innovative in-ring stuff while having simple angles out of the ring, but teasing that direction has worked in the past. The Joe/Daniels/Styles stuff wasn't exactly fully capitalized on either. Meanwhile, the warmed over faux-Attitude/Monday Night Wars rehashing has been proving to drive the fan interest into the ground. So, when presented with two numbers that are somewhat similar, shouldn't you want to explore the thing that hasn't been tread upon instead of the thing that has been producing declining numbers over the months?

But again, Impact hasn't been known for its business prowess, especially when the money mark of an owner's representative eternally has a certain Noo Yawker in her ear about what makes good wrestling. It's a shame too, because Impact has a chance to try and give something to the fans while taking in something in return.

And hell, if the business model grew, maybe they could afford to pay Jesse Neal and the rest of the crew enough money so that they would get a paycheck even when they missed dates because of injury, y'know?

Matt Jackson Drops a Blog on Why He and His Brother Left Impact

The Bucks in a happier setting

Via Matt Jackson's Tumblr

Matt Jackson expounded on why he and his brother Nick asked for their Impact releases. Here are some excerpts:

Simply put: If we weren’t wrestling, we weren’t making money…And a guys gotta eat.

---

Earlier this year, we were moved from the tag division, to the X-Division. This was obviously something we weren’t excited about. We felt we were hired as a team and worked best as a team... Soon after, we were told we were being split up. Again, we reached out to the creative team, telling them that this may not be the best idea. Being the ‘company-guy’s that we were, and being reassured that we’d soon be back together and be given the time to “tell the right story,” we went along. Of course we were weary, but we were told to put trust into the company, which we tried to do.

After a couple of hot-shot-booked singles matches between my brother and I, both of us sat at home for awhile, not being booked, wondering why we split up in the first place?

---

A few months later, our main supporter, and man who hired us, Terry Taylor left the company. Right before his departure, we discussed the possibility of a more ‘fair,’ renegotiated contract.

---

July came. We were sitting at home again, watching, as non-contracted wrestlers filled the usual, single X-Division segment on the show. (That’s no shot at the guys who came in for this opportunity. They’re all friends of mine, and I was happy for them. Obviously, I’d of done the same).

---

After a small reminder in New York City, of what we left behind, and news breaking about MORE X-Division wrestlers being hired and added to an already bloated roster, the writing was on the wall.

---

So yeah, it's a combination of all the stuff we've heard or read about the problems plaguing guys who aren't in the main event in the company. I could say more, but at this point, well, I think Jackson said it best himself.

Photo Credit: Scott Finkelstein - Please visit his site to view the plentiful amounts of pictures he's taken for DGUSA, ROH and other indie feds: Get Lost Photography

Impact's X-Division Storyline and Props

A happy ending for Impact... rare.
Photo Credit: ImpactWrestling.com

Back when TNA got its rebrand into Impact and declared that "wrestling mattered", they started an angle about Eric Bischoff hating the X-Division and wanting to get rid of all the wrestlers. It involved him going over Generation Me with the help of Matt Hardy (funny, all three of those guys are gone from Impact, either permanently or "temporarily") and Abyss taking out Kazarian and winning the X-Division Championship, eliciting lulz around the Internet. With Impact's track record of emphasizing and then deemphasizing the division, I was not the only one who was pessimistic about their ability or desire to pay it off in a way that would be satisfying to the great number of fans who cared about the more exciting wrestlers in that subset.

A funny thing happened though, as at Destination X, an event dedicated to that troupe of wrestlers and their brand of exciting fare, they paid the angle off in a very satisfying manner. In the Brian Kendrick/Abyss title match, the former Spanky won when his compatriots came out and thwarted Bischoff and his minions from pulling a screwjob and keeping the belt on Abyss. Afterwards, they all celebrated the title coming back to their own kind, and we actually had a satisfying resolution to the whole storyline.

For a company that is known for start-stop angles with no resolutions, this is not trivial. In fact, it should be applauded. My guess is that one of two things happened to make sure that we had some kind of finality to this angle. One is that Vince Russo actually is changing and made the call for the simple ending. Two is that Russo had nothing to do with Destination X or that storyline, and it was someone else, be it Bischoff, Hulk Hogan or someone wholly different that we're not considering. My guess is the latter.

It's not often that Impact deserves credit for producing a mostly satisfying story, but hey, I guess a blind squirrel can find a nut every once in awhile. I'm not getting my hopes up as to this becoming the norm, because hey, if I did that, I'd just be setting myself up for disappointment. They need to prove they can produce good stories all the time before I can start getting into what they're doing without any skepticism as to whether it's going to turn out alright by me, the viewer.

But that doesn't mean that I can't call a spade a spade and give them credit when they earn it. They've certainly earned it here.

Your Midweek Links: The People's Republic of North Dakota?

A state, territory or THUNDERDOME?

It's hump day, so here are some links to help get you through the week:

Self-Shilling:

- Episode 10 of The Wrestling Podcast. Me and Justin Henry talk shop about Money in the Bank, Destination X and other things. [Tyler Black Sabbath]

Wrestling Links:

- Introducing Cameron Riley's new blog! [Musings of a Mark]

- The Laurinitis boys... this is badass. [South Atlanta Wrestling]

- DDS interviews Kenny Omega [Dirty Dirty Sheets]

- WWE misleading someone (in this case GLAAD)? No, get out! [Cageside Seats]

- Andre Harrison looks at Destination X. [The Harrison Analysis]

- Rey Mysterio clotheslining a woman. Your ar... ah, you know what comes next. [PizzaBodySlam Tumblr]

- K Sawyer Paul talks to Rachel Davies of Wrestlegasm about blogging, CM Punk and why she could be the only fan of Stephanie McMahon on the planet other than Stephanie herself or Triple H. [Aggressive Art]

- John Cena is untouchable [Camel Clutch Blog]

- Scumbag wrestling promoter reaches new, new low. [With Leather]

- Scott Bowden talks about Jerry Jarrett's new biography. [Kentucky Fried 'Rasslin']

- Dear Vince, this is what we want. [I Want Wrestling]

- Women's wrestling mid-year report card. [Diva Dirt]

- Razor's stream of consciousness, scribed-in-real-time thoughts about RAW. [Kick-Out!! Wrestling]

- Impact review in handy-dandy Woo!/Boo! format [Fair to Flair]

- All about Talk Like Randy Savage Day [The Goozle]

Jamie Dobson Interviews:

- Axl Rage

Non-Wrestling Links:

- North Dakota may not be a state thanks to loophole in their constitution. Inb4 the Tea Party invades and makes the secession official. [Newser]

- Patton Oswald makes really good five-second movies. [FilmDrunk]

- Comcast fucks over a dude over data caps, causing some salient inquiries into net neutrality. [Kotaku]

- Who gives a fuck, it's not ginger ale. [The Oatmeal]

- Florida's media guide looks like it was designed by a 12 year old. No, scratch that, I think pre-teens can work Photoshop better than that. Make that designed by a 62 year old then. [Every Day Should Be Saturday]

- This Week in Fuck You: You. Yes, you. Shut up about Netflix, you fucksticks. [Kissing Suzy Kolber]

- Would you kill a stranger to save football? That, and other questions answered by Drew Magary in the Funbag this week. [Deadspin]

- The Critic, ahead of its time for more than just its humor. 10 things it almost perfectly nailed. [Warming Glow]

- Those Zorblaxians had it coming, bastards. [Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal]

- The top 20 minor Harry Potter characters, preemptive withdrawal treatment for youse guys. [Buzz Feed]

- Larry F'n Bowa's midseason report card. Related: Mike Meech of The Fightins will be the guest on The Wrestling Podcast tomorrow. [The Fightins]

- Mind-blowing map of the known Universe, just in case you want to feel insignificant. [Unreality Mag]

- Texting in 1911? TIME TRAVEL EXISTS! [How to Be a Retronaut]

- Teaster poster for The Dark Knight Rises! [Blast-o-Rama]

- Breaking news, the Philadelphia 76ers have been sold. [CBS Philly]

- The Song of Ice and Fire series (read: Game of Thrones) is one wordy-ass novel serial. [Gamma Squad]

- Rutgers football player paralyzed in a game is now walking. Heartwarming story. [Dr. Saturday]

- If the world ran off medieval technology today... [Cracked]

- Want to read some good X-Men trades? Here are 11 essential ones. [Topless Robot]

- Boring NASCAR race plagued by bad traffic. A double whammy. [Hugging Harold Reynolds]

- Tyler Myers breaks the glass retorting to a Flyers fan taunting him. I ain't even mad. [Puck Daddy]

- Diablo Cody is writing the next Evil Dead movie. Nerd boners DEFLATE [AV Club]

- A song for departed Flyers rental forward Kris Versteeg. This isn't homoerotic in the slightest, by the way. At all. Not that there'd be anything wrong with it if it were. Just sayin'. [Flyers Goal Scored By]

- The 25 least valuable players in NFL. Somehow, there are no representatives from the Eagles offensive line here. [Grantland]

- The most unfair video game characters ever. Good list, although I would have put "cheating online assholes who call you a n00b on PSN..." oh wait, they're not characters, they're unfortunately real. [The Smoking Section]

- Did Tom Green invent planking? If so, I think flogging is the appropriate punishment. [Uproxx]

- Charlie Manuel tries to add Wilson Valdez to the NL All-Star roster. Hilarity ensues. [I Want to Go to the Zoo with Roy Halladay]

- Handy flowchart on what to expect in a Little League at-bat. [Sports Pickle]

- Is Brandon Graham's injury more serious than thought? [The 700 Level]

- Fear Itself teaser [Comic Books and Whatever]

Young Bucks and Orlando Jordan Gone from Impact

Peace out, Bucks. Hope you guys didn't make a premature decision.

Via F4W Online

The Young Bucks/Generation Me are gone from Impact Wrestling, one night after the landmark Destination X event where their X-Division brethren had the night to shine. The two were not happy in Impact for awhile, per their Twitter pages, and last night was their "put someone over on the way out" moment, as they lost to Eric Young and Shark Boy. This is somewhat of a bummer in one way as if the critical reaction to last night's event indicates a number of buys and thus a change in direction, well, the Bucks could be jumping ship at the wrong time. That being said, this is the former TNA we're talking about here, and it'll take more than one event for me to be sold on them changing their stripes. Plus, this means they can go back to ROH or do DGUSA if they so choose (but not both). So yeah, I guess this is somewhat neutral news? I dunno.

Oh yeah, Orlando Jordan got axed too. I hate seeing someone lose their job in this economy, but at the same time, he did absolutely jack shit for me as a character or a worker in his time there, so I'm not terribly broken up about this.

Photo Credit: Scott Finkelstein - Please visit his site to view the plentiful amounts of pictures he's taken for DGUSA, ROH and other indie feds: Get Lost Photography

Weekend Wrap-Up: Destination Success

I wonder if A Double demanded So Cal Val as part of his terms before signing his contract
Photo Credit: ImpactWrestling.com

- For once, Impact Wrestling was the buzz of the grappling world for a GOOD reason. Destination X was a critical success, a harkening back to the days when TNA was fun and before it was ruined by Vince Russo's vision for what sports entertainment should be. For the first time, an Impact PPV was talked about for the action rather than how bad it was or how fucked up one of its main eventers was coming out for a match. Brian Kendrick ended our long national nightmare of Abyss as X-Division Champion by upending him last night. Austin Aries won the Impact contract, and hopefully, third time's the charm for A Double. He really deserves a chance to make serious coin and be a national star. Shark Boy appeared and apparently won a match, which is a cool throwback. Alex Shelley won the Ultimate X match. In the main event, AJ Styles defeated Christopher Daniels. Lots of positive feedback for this one. Here's hoping that everyone who watched bought it and that a lot of people bought so as to send a message to Dixie and her cronies.

- NWA Hollywood tapings were yesterday, and as with other tapings, well, it's hard to find results online. However, two notes. One, Tom Ford attended and will most likely have a recap later on today or tomorrow. Two, the Tribe upended Natural Selection for the NWA Heritage Tag Team Championships.

- ROH toured the Mid-Atlantic Friday and Saturday. The Richmond show had somewhat of a skeleton crew working for it, as several talents (the Bravados, Adam Cole and Kyle O'Reilly, Mike Bennett) working two matches. Apparently, Chris Hero got stranded via weather, but it still seems like a light show for the country's top indie. On the Richmond card, Cole and O'Reilly defeated the Bravados (who scored a surprise, TWGTT-assisted win over the Briscoes earlier in the night) for a shot at Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas at a later date. Speaking of the Champs, they retained their titles against El Generico and Colt Cabana. In the main event, the American Wolves defeated Michael Elgin and Roderick Strong. They're really pushing the House of Truth as a major faction. Saturday in Charlotte saw the weather cooperate with Hero enough for him to be able to make the trip. He took out Cabana in his match. There were two non-title matches to headline the card, as Haas and Benjamin defeated the Bravados, and in the main event, Generico bested Strong in a steel cage.

- Site announcement! This week will be Punk Week on the blog. Why? Because this might be the last week CM Punk is in professional wrestling for a good long time. We must celebrate him! Expect some blogs to be dropped with him as the subject and for Punk to be the subject of a few of the features this week. All will culminate in a review of Money in the Bank, the show which may very well be known mostly for the Straight Edge Savior. Enjoy!

Destination X Matters

A Double Matters, Wrestling Matters

I asked Justin Henry on the latest episode of The Wrestling Podcast to sell someone who might not normally order an Impact PPV. He pretty much gave what I thought was the perfect pitch. Hulk Hogan, Eric Bischoff, Sting, Jeff Jarrett, Mr. Anderson and the rest of the regular rabble were not advertised for it. They're building it around the guys you want to see, the "10 percenters" so to speak. For the first time since rolling it out, their slogan of "wrestling matters" actually rings true, not some hollow, trite phrase they use to troll WWE's mantra of "we're an entertainment company".

Seriously, the card is loaded. About the only thing that looks unappealing to me is the existence of Abyss on the card, but at the same time, his feud with Brian Kendrick has been entertaining (even if it's been carried by the former Spanky). There's AJ Styles against Christopher Daniels and Samoa Joe taking on Kazarian, a duo of matches that appeal to the old-school X-Division fans. There's a harkening back to one of the best in-ring feuds in ECW history with Rob Van Dam taking on Jerry Lynn. Douglas Williams has an open challenge. There'll be an Ultimate X match with Robbie E, Amazing Red, Alex Shelley and... ugh, Shannon Moore (okay, two unpalatable people on the card). Finally, in what's probably the most important match on the card, Austin Aries, Jack Evans, Shiima Xion (as Zema Ion) and Low Ki will be competing for a contract.

With that being said, this is the perfect opportunity for you to tell Impact that yes, this is what we want to see. It's this kind of wrestling that will make Impact a true alternative. The only way to send a message to Dixie Carter and company is to order this if you can. Obviously, if you can't afford it, then no, I'm not talking to you. If you're busy with other plans, then no, I'm not talking to you. However, if you've got the money and you want to watch this, then do it.

If you want to see the former TNA actually follow through, then buy this PPV. If more people buy this, then it sends an ultimatum to the people in charge. That ultimatum through your dollar is that you want to see more of this and less of the weaksauce bullshit they were giving you with the other PPVs. If you get the wrestling, you keep watching and buying. If not, you jump off-board. Simple as that. Because let's face it, Dixie and her cronies don't always listen to their fans. I mean, Hardcore Justice did good numbers last year, and it was business as usual within two months.

What you shouldn't do, though, is pirate this. More than any PPV, whether it's WWE, indie or Impact. A pirated view of this show is another voice that won't be heard. It also reinforces the stereotype that all the "10 percenters" don't care about spending money and will just steal everything. Plus, stealing is wrong, but that last argument never, ever stopped someone from pirating anything before.

Seriously, this is the perfect opportunity to send a message to Impact. Tell them that Destination X matters. Tell them that wrestling matters. It's a win-win. If they pay attention, then you get a better product to watch. If they don't, you can write Impact off forever.

Because believe me, if this PPV does good numbers and Dixie and Co. DON'T recognize that this is what people want to see? Then the company deserves to rot.

Photo Credit: Scott Finkelstein - Please visit his site to view the plentiful amounts of pictures he's taken for DGUSA, ROH and other indie feds: Get Lost Photography

The Wrestling Podcast, Episode 10: Justin Henry

Photo Credit:
Justin Henry's Twitter

Episode 10: Tyler Black Sabbath

Tenth episode! Justin Henry and I talk about, of course, CM Punk, as well as Destination X, Eddie Guerrero exploitation, Mark Henry, why Jerry Lawler might not be at fault for his cracks about Vickie Guerrero and a few other things. We also delve into his gig writing at WrestleCrap. Give it a listen.

Direct link for straight download

GraphJam Presents: What Does It Take to Get Fired from Impact?

There was a rumor going around Monday night that Jeff Hardy had been fired from Impact. That rumor turned out to be false, but I believed it at first because hey, if you can't get fired for making an impaired-ass out of yourself on Youtube while you were supposed to be in rehab after showing up high to a PPV main event match, what the fuck can you get fired for? Well, I asked that question to my crack team of researchers at GraphJam Institutes, USA, and got this handy-dandy bar graph in return:

The results are incontrovertible!

The Bound for Glory Series: A Good Idea Towards Establishing an Identity

The first match in the series was a good one
Photo Credit: ImpactWrestling.com

Last week on Impact, the Bound for Glory Series started with Rob Van Dam defeating Samoa Joe. For those who don't watch, the series is a 12-person round robin tournament aiming to decide who will face the Impact World Champion at the titular PPV event. My protestations at calling it "groundbreaking" aside, I really like this idea. I don't know if I've written this or not a lot here, but I love tournaments of all shapes and sizes. You get the potential for different match ups and have several different opportunities to make new stories.

In this instance though, the most important thing is that it provides an opportunity for Impact to establish an identity. Right now, they really don't have anything to make their big PPV event pop. Having the main event spot being something you fight for goes a long way in establishing that, especially in an event that takes four months to conduct. It helps add to the mystique of the event, which is something Impact desperately needs. Right now, the slogan "Wrestling Matters" feels empty. They went a good long way to rectify that this past week with the focus on the X-Division (Austin Aries being the biggest star in that) and launching the tournament.

Now, I know that there's skepticism out there as to whether they'll be able to pull this off. I'm a bit wary myself. Remember last year, when they were going to install a ranking system? Eric Bischoff, the biggest proponent of it in character, sure doesn't. It was dropped faster than a tray of hot soup by an epileptic waiter. The players remain the same here, so it's reasonable to suspect whether this idea will be carried out to fruition, and if it is, whether it'll be executed satisfactorily. Impact doesn't deserve the benefit of the doubt right now; that's the stark truth.

However, that doesn't mean that you can't root for them. I really hope that this thing works out, because it's a killer concept. If they were going to port anything that Chikara or any other indie fed was doing this year, I'm glad it was the round-robin tournament. We already got one really good match out of it. If it produces more good tilts and has a modestly satisfying endgame, then it's a success. And for the former TNA? That's a win.

Remember you can contact TH and ask him questions about wrestling, life or anything else. Please refer to this post for contact information. He always takes questions!

The Economy of Time: Why NWA Hollywood Succeeds Where the Mainstream Fails

The Cutlers taking it to Johnny Goodtime outside the Showcase... a sampling of what you'll find each week
Screen Grab Credit: NWAHollywood.com (pardon the ad!)

One of the big reasons why I continue to go out of my way to watch NWA Hollywood online is because they have so many stories that keep my interest. If it were just wrestling like the ROH on HDNet show was, with very little serial storylines to keep me enthralled from week to week, I might skip it, might being the operative word here. However, not only do I find an outlet for good indie wrestling, they do their best to tell several stories each week.

Their show on KDOC-TV has one hour of runtime each week. Take commercials and other stuff out, and it distills down to between 40 and 45 minutes of "meat" each week, with the term meat referring to matches, promos and angles. In that three-quarters of an hour, NWA Hollywood manages to put over at least four if not more angles. Furthermore, nearly every other story in the company at least warrants a mention throughout the telecast. Contrast that with the other companies.

Impact Wrestling distills down to between 80-90 minutes of meat each week. Most of it is spent on three to four top angles for each show, some of which don't carry over into the next week. Angles are started and dropped with no resolution at times. Guys don't appear on the show for weeks at a time and garner no mention from Mike Tenay and Taz. The WWE is a little better. They have anywhere between 2.5 and 3 hours of meat each week on actual TV, with two web shows that run 40 minutes a piece on average. Those times can be cut into by fluff segments, recaps of stuff that happened barely a half-hour prior or blatant advertising for patently non-wrestling things. Furthermore, many times, their idea of a feud is the face beating the heel cleanly in consecutive weeks with no real rhyme or reason why the story is continuing after the first clean defeat.

With NWA Hollywood, you get the aforementioned 4 angles minimum each week. You also get a sense of purpose for each one, be it through promos, matches or post-match happenings. Often times, it's not anything complex, whether it's Ray Rosas, Rico Dynamite and Peter Avalon cheating to win a match or Candice LaRae walloping Buggy across the head with a chair. Hell, I think the most "complex" thing that happened recently has been the Cutlers and the RockNES Monsters brawling out onto LaBrea Boulevard, with Excalibur noting the next week that no criminal charges would be pursued from the melee. It's all simple pro wrestling stuff, but the rub is that it works. It makes everything make sense.

Now, is the storytelling perfect? No, it's not. Sometimes, circumstance dictates that they have to drop an angle, whether it's Austin Aries signing a one-month or longer deal with Impact that precludes him from coming back to tapings to continue his heat with Scorpio Sky, or Colt Cabana losing his NWA World Championship because the NWA is an antiquated model that doesn't know what's good for it, or because Adam Pearce got hurt and might have to retire. Sometimes, they tell stories that fall flat, but it's not for lack of effort.

It might be trite to talk about effort like this is some grade school exercise, but at the same time, the effort going into making NWA Hollywood what it is right now is certainly appreciated and it makes up for the lack of production values they may have compared to even Impact. Effort doesn't always equal quality, but when that effort is combined with a vision like the one that the folks who run the fed have, it can totally make for a great viewing experience.

Remember you can contact TH and ask him questions about wrestling, life or anything else. Please refer to this post for contact information. He always takes questions!