El-P

She's actually hosting the thing for KC. Whoever she is (yeah, I know, she's "Blue Pants", ok, cool, don't get worked up about it). The stupid "veteran" talk is from the interviewed girl.

That Cornette/Davis shoot could be interesting. Meanwhile, I always get a kick out of some 20some indy worker playing the "these young workers don't know how to tell any stories // I had to pay my dues unlike those newcomers" game. Classic.

Beaver Cleavage > that guy Chaz from New-Jersey > girlfirend beater was precisely everything wrong about WWF's undercard philosophy in 98/99 during its Russoification. That it didn't work doesn't matter. It was there because that's typically the thing Russo & Ferrara wanted to do with the product, as showed later in WCW/early TNA. Stuff like these on WWF TV effectively drove my interest thousands of miles away toward Japan wrestling/

What thye should do is change the entire "Smackdown" brand. It has the B-show-that-doesn't-matter stigma for ever now, and the name evoques a catchphrase from the biggest star of the early 00's. It's like WWE had a show called "Watcha gonna do ?" in 2001, really...

I think the big spectacle LU blood brawls are now my favourite kinda match today. They deliver everytime. Hell, I can even get into a fucking Sexy Star, whom I don't care for and who isn't a very good worker, match. Well, of course, the fact it was Mariposa helped, but still. Super fun match, brawl on the catwalks, creepy run-in (well, "cimb-in") by Mart the Moth and *that* answer on the mic by Star, which I popped for. Adding the vignettes between Cueto & Catrina, and the Famous B character… damn, that TV show.

Melina brings a whole different bag of goodness. But yeah, I agree Taya totally improves Mundo's whole act. Gotta love the fur boots too. She's the greatest Berzerker ever. Honestly, I don't pay that much attention to the commentary, I find them funny on occasion and they have a buddy-buddy weird chemistry that I take over anything on WWE TV (yeah, including NXT). Then again, I think I'd take *anything* over current WWE announcing (except maybe Mark Madden in WCW, and that's maybe). And yeah, Steiner Screwdriver looked wicked. One thing I like about LU, is that despite them doing insane shit, usually, the finisher looks like the finisher, and it's a satisfying feeling.

I don't care about either of those guys, but the cage match between Mundo and Cage (in a cage) was tons of fun. Cage has grown on me a bit. He should probably stop the needle though, it's ridiculous. And that 4-team 4-way elemination match was over the top in its ridiculousness, including an amazing dive sequence and Joey Ryan getting slapped *hard* by Ivelisse, so what's not to like ? Too bad Angelico was injured though. The more I watch LU, the less I care about classic pro-wrestling thinking and "realism", at this point if a woman's offense looks good (by that I mean, not Sexy Star), I'm totally fine with the mix. Not sure Rey Mysterio fits in that well yet though.

I know I probably should. Have seen the MLW part though.

Jeff Jarrett I can’t defend this guy’s work anymore. The Double J Special is the worst kind of main event this side of self-conscious epic. Manage to sink even AJ Styles, who had good matches against Abyss & Frankie Kazarian for fuck's sake. Looks soft as hell (Lance Storm looks like Kawada compared to him at this point), has the worst looking finisher ever but still employs it after years of sucking, including from the top rope (gasp), tries to mimick a tough guy style when he’s a chickenshit at hearts. Stumble onto his words on promo but still gets more promo time than anyone else because it’s his daddy's gift promotion (feel the patterns to come ?). Sorry Jeffrey, but this year in TNA has your stock go way way down. Announcing Yep, it’s bad. Tenay’s overacting and über serious face is often hilarious though. But I gotta say that Don West is improving somewhat, and he tends to make some remarks that actually make sense in a way you wouldn’t except it from a pro-wrestling announcer. Like he’s just a regular guy who just would point out stuff logically. He’s still way too excitable though, but I’d take this announcing over WWE’s current product killing drab. Managers & Valets When they finally gave Jim Mitchell something to say, he sounds super articulate and does a great job with with. Did a lot to help the big Raven feud, which carried TNA’s product in term of angles and heat for a long while. Glen Gilberti's work as a mouthpiece for SEX then as a working manager for Diamond & Swinger was one of the best surprise of the year. If you erase his rise to the N°1 contender and the two matches where he tried to be the worst Kurt Angle ever and of course the first few weeks of Russo shit (with Mike Sanders), Disco has been a really positive addition to the product. Trinity can do moonsaults. And a bunch of other moves. Just don’t put her in actual wrestling matches. The feud against Kid Kash was effective and she was good in it, until they decided to drag it for weeks and weeks and have the woman beater actually win it at the end, then turn Trinity heel for no reason. As a valet for Siaki & Ekmo or AJ Styles, she did good work too. Alexis Laree was the best female performer for the time she was there though. She was taking some incredible bumps to protect Raven & the Gathering and was used well in that Clockwork Orange House of Fun match in which she actually turned things over to the babyface comeback. No wonder WWE grabbed her. Finally, Tracy Brooks' alliance whith Shane Douglas & Michael Shane promises to be excellent, doing her best modern Sherri routine mixed with Francine’s sluttiness and willing to show ass (in every sense of the word). Redeemed her from the awful way she was used by Russo earlier in the year. Lollipop has been the most consistant worker of the year in TNA.

X-division What was the highlight of 2002 went through a huge slump until the end of the year, especially when the division got built around indy spot monkeys like Chris Sabin (who’s got potential) and Frankie Kazarian (who looks like he went through RVD school of working, just awful). Nearly killed the division for me with awful contrived, awkward, bad video-game like matches. Thankfully Micheal Shane and his old-school Shawn Michael’s 93-like work took things a few notch down the ridiculousness scale, although the first Ultimate X was a glorious mess of absurdity. The beginning of the year wasn’t that much better with mediocre and sloppy Kid Kash holding the belt and feuding with Trinity, in what soon became the most apalling feud of the year. Über-underdog style worker Amazing Red was one of the only bright spots of the first half. Sonjay Dutt debuting toward the end shows good promises, but he needs directions. X (aka Carl Oulette in hotpants) was the big missed opportunity of the year, as he looked tremendous in his debut and matches, but he just didn’t last. 2003/02/05 Amazing Red vs Sonny Siaki
 
2003/03/05 Kid Kash vs Amazing Red
 2003/03/19 Kid Kash vs Amazing Red vs Trinity
 2003/04/30 Amazing Red vs Kid Kash 2003/07/30 Chris Sabin vs Micheal Shane 2003/08/20 Chris Sabin vs Frankie Kazarian vs Michael Shane 2003/11/05 X-division Battle Royal 2003/11/12 Chad Collyer vs Sonjay Dutt 2003/11/26 Chris Sabin vs X Random good stuff Saturn & Bart Gunn having a very good stiff brawl, maybe Saturn’s best single match ever apart from the Raven one from WCW. Shane Douglas working all minimalistic and bashing crowds left and right ends up much better than I thought he would when he first showed up in poor physical shape (he puuuuukes !). The stupid and generic Red Shirt Security tag team having some pretty decent stuff thanks to big hoss Kevin Northcutts beating people up. CM Punk in a supporting role, already displaying tons of charisma (and dropping a sloppy elbow). Road Dog, K-Kwik & K-Dawg putting together a dream team of intro catchphrases, interracial gangbanging and gimmick-offensive moves and getting over. Erik Watts looking competent for the time of one match. Yeah. Random and fun. 2003/04/09 Perry Saturn vs Mike Barton 2003/04/23 New Jack, Sandman & Saturn vs Brian Lee, Slash & Mike Awesome 2003/05/21 CM Punk vs Kid Romeo vs Jason Cross vs Paul London 2003/07/02 Shane Douglas vs CM Punk 2003/08/20 Jeff Jarrett & Erik Watts vs Legend & Christopher Daniels 2003/09/24 3 Live Kru vs Glen Gilberti & Simon Diamond & David Young 2003/10/08 Red Shirt Security vs D-Lo Brown & Chris Vaughn. 2003/12/03 Shane Douglas & Michael Shane vs Chris Sabin & Sonjay Dutt 2003/12/10 Shane Douglas vs Chris Sabin

AMW The little team that could. Between the XXX and Simon & Swinger feuds, they easily are the tag team of the year, and one of the most consistent act in the company. They do have the tendency to work too fast and burn through spots though, especially James Storm. Chris Harris looks like a star in the making (what happened ?), although he should not get too close to a mic yet. The Simon & Swinger feud was the best surprise of the year, as I didn’t expect such good chemistry with those guys, especially Swinger whom I never cared for before. Kinda glad Simon Diamond finally got his chance to shine, he was like the « next thing » in ECW in 2000 for a while. 2003/03/26 D-Lo Brown vs Chris Harris 2003/05/21 AMW vs AJ Styles & D-Lo Brown 2003/07/09 AMW vs Simon Diamond & Swinger 2003/07/23 AMW vs Simon Diamond & Swinger 2003/08/06 AMW vs Simon Diamond & Swinger 2003/08/13 AMW & Dusty Rhodes vs Simon Diamond & Swinger & Glen Gilberti 2003/08/20 AMW vs Simon Diamond & Swinger 27/08/2003 AMW vs Simon Diamond & Swinger 2003/11/05 AMW vs Sonny Siaki & Ekmo Fatu 2003/11/12 Tag-team Gauntlet match Jerry Lynn Poor Jerry Lynn, the perennial « underdog » who was put in a stupid « Is he too old ?» angle before his departure. The working MVP of 2002 still looked very good in 2003, having some strong matches against the luchadors from Konnan and some of the up and coming stars of the X-div like Chris Daniels and Amazing Red. Showed again his versatility too by having a blood fleud with Justin Credible, often marred by poor booking but which still delivered a bunch of good brawls. Lynn never clicked that well with Micheal Shane though, maybe he wasn’t motivated working the angle. Still easily a top 5 workers in the company, only not used to his best this year. 2003/02/26 Jerry Lynn vs Juventud Guerrera 2003/03/05 Jerry Lynn vs Super Crazy 2003/04/02 Jerry Lynn vs Kid Kash 2003/04/16 XXX (Skipper & Daniels) vs Jerry Lynn & Amazing Red 2003/04/23 Amazing Red vs Jerry Lynn 2003/04/30 Jerry Lynn vs Christopher Daniels 2003/05/28 Chris Sabin & Chris Harris vs Jerry Lynn & Justin Credible 2003/06/25 Jerry Lynn vs Justin Credible 2003/07/02 Jerry Lynn vs Justin Credible 2003/07/16 Jerry Lynn vs Justin Credible. 2003/07/30 Jerry Lynn vs Elix Skipper 2003/08/27 Jerry Lynn vs Michael Shane 2003/10/01 Jerry Lynn vs Michael Shane

XXX Low-ki, Christopher Daniels & Elix Skipper delivered more memorable matches together and in singles than any other combinations. Skipper was obviously protected in the tag team setting, as he’s still a spotty worker in single, but he’s still part of the legit MOTYC cage match against AMW. This whole feud was by far the best in the promotion in term of in-ring work. Low-ki was absent for a while, working in Japan, but his comeback in the X-division at the end of the year was a big part of the rescue job on a division that had been sunk by bad indy work in the previous months. And of course, the MVP of the team is Chris Daniels. Here’s a guy who doesn’t deserve one bit of the criticism he gets (being robotic, being « video-game »). He showed great character, heeling up or being more babyface-like at the end of the year (when facing full fledge heel Michael Shane), having the best matches with basically everyone he met (Shane, Low-ki, Sabin), putting on superb selling clinics (like in the « head-injury » match) and holding together three-way dances. Great looking offense, excellent selling, character, can apparently do some comedic stuff too and more than hold his own on the mic when giving the opportunity. What more do you want ? From a ratio of very good matches/opportunity, the Fallen Angel is the best wrestler in the company in 2003. 2003/01/22 AMW vs XXX (Skipper & Low-Ki) 2003/02/05 XXX (Skipper & Low-ki) vs Slash & Brian Lee 
2003/02/12 Steve Corino vs Low-Ki
 2003/03/12 XXX (Daniels & Skipper) vs AMW
 2003/04/09 XXX (Daniels & Skipper) vs Shark Boy & Jason Cross vs Jonny Storm & Chris Sabin vs Jerry Lynn & Amazing Red 2003/04/23 XXX (Daniels & Skipper) vs AMW 2003/05/03 AJ Styles & D-Lo Brown vs XXX (Skipper & Low-Ki) 2003/05/10 AJ Styles & D-Lo Brown vs XXX (Skipper & Daniels) 2003/05/21 XXX (Skipper & Daniels) vs Justin Credible, Amazing Red & Slash 2003/06/18 AMW vs XXX (Skipper & Daniels) 2003/06/25 AMW vs XXX (Skipper & Daniels) 2003/09/24 Jeff Jarrett vs Christopher Daniels 2003/10/01 Chris Daniels vs D-Lo Brown 2003/10/15 Christopher Daniels vs Micheal Shane 2003/11/12 Christopher Daniels vs Low-ki 2003/11/19 Christopher Daniels vs Sonjay Dutt vs X 2003/11/26 Low-ki vs Kid Kash 2003/12/03 Chris Daniels vs Low-ki vs Kid Kash 2003/12/10 Christopher Daniels vs Michael Shane 2003/12/19 Chris Daniels vs Chris Sabin 2003/12/19 Low-ki vs Michael Shane

AJ Styles He was the MVP of the promotion the previous year along with Jerry Lynn. And he is even better in 2003. The booking did him no favors though, as his first title chase and reign was totally screwed up by the booking. He had to job clean to Glen Gilberti, he had to tag with Russo, he had to work a bunch of Double J Specials, take a backsteat to the tease of Hogan showing up and to Sting doing appearances. Despite all of this, put anyone with AJ and he’s gonna get a good match without forcing any formule : old Larry Z., brawl with the Sandman, Glen Gilberti in a street fight, X-div awful worker Frankie Kazarian, worst monster ever Abyss. Doesn’t matter, Styles is gonna get something good out of everyone. Of course he’ll also have lots of good matches with D-Lo Brown, whom he feuded with for a while (again, no favor from the booking as D-Lo, as good as he looks, just isn’t a main event playa), and of course Lynn & Low-ki. He also showed he could be a terrific heel. Best overall in-ring performer of the year. 2003/01/29 Larry Zbyszko vs AJ Styles 2003/02/19 AJ Styles vs Jeff Jarrett 2003/02/26 AJ Styles vs Sandman 2003/04/09 Glen Gilberti vs AJ Styles
 2003/04/16 AJ Styles vs Glen Gilberti 2003/04/30 AJ Styles & D-Lo Brown vs Sonny Siaki & David Young 2003/06/03 AJ Styles vs D-Lo Brown 2003/06/11 Raven vs AJ Styles vs Jeff Jarrett 2003/06/18 Jeff Jarrett & Sting vs AJ Styles & Sean Waltman 2003/07/02 AJ Styles vs Frankie Kazarian 2003/07/09 AJ Styles vs D-Lo Brown 2003/07/23 AJ Styles vs D-Lo Brown 2003/08/06 AJ Styles vs D-Lo Brown 2003/08/13 AJ Styles vs Low-Ki 2003/09/17 AJ Styles vs Jerry Lynn 2003/10/22 Jeff Jarrett vs AJ Styles 2003/11/19 AJ Styles vs Abyss 2003/12/10 AJ Styles & D-Lo Brown vs Jeff Jarrett & Kid Kash 2003/12/19 AJ Styles & D-Lo Brown vs Diamond & Swinger

Raven I’m a Raven fan. One reason I wanted to dive into early TNA was to watch his last « major company » stint. And I didn’t expect it to be that good, honestly. He’s easily the MVP of the promotion when you put everything together : star power, promos, angles and matches. Not that he had the best matches, although the AJ Styles one from 08/27 is the best single match of the year, but he was always consistent and his approach was very much one of a very smart veteran. I also love the way he made his character evolved into a total fiery babyface without losing his edge, cutting some of the best promos he ever did in the process. You can see that he had input in his angles because of the usual slow, logical slow build too, and he tried to keep himself the furthest away from Russo during the first few months. His babyface stuff from the Gauntlet match and the James Mitchell feud are tremendous. His stock his going way up to me thanks to this. 2003/02/12 Raven vs Sandman 2003/02/19 Sandman & Steve Corino vs Raven & Low-ki
 2003/03/05 Raven vs Sandman 2003/03/12 Raven vs AJ Styles 2003/03/19 AJ Styles vs Raven 2003/04/16 D-Lo Brown vs Raven
 2003/04/30 Raven vs Jeff Jarrett 2003/07/30 Raven & Julio & Alexis vs Shane Douglas & Brian Lee & Slash 2003/08/13 Raven vs Shane Douglas 2003/08/20 Gauntlet Match 2003/08/27 Raven vs AJ Styles 2003/09/17 Raven vs Shane Douglas 2003/09/24 Raven & CM Punk & Julio vs Shane Douglas & Slash & Sinn 2003/10/22 Raven vs Slash 2003/11/19 Raven & Sandman & Erik Watts vs Red Shirt Security 2003/12/10 Raven vs Abyss

Playing catch up. EP 13 was so grand with a cool trios match, a new meaning to the words "heart punch" in that freaky vignette with Catrina and the Disciples and a monster monsters match ending with a terrific theatrical bump and Dario declaring war to Catrina. I wants it to get even more comic book like at this point. Would love a Japanese version of the shit too.

Considering who's involved and how great they've been over the year (for two of them), I actually look forward to it. PPV 74 Last show of the year, finally. And why not open it with a drab, Nitro 2000 match between Sting and Jeff Jarrett, who’s totally stuck in the Attitude era, complete with backstage vignettes with invisible camera WWE-style. Kinda sad, really, like this match which was nothing. Sting gets over, despite being a part time player at best. Feel good moment for the fans I guess. The X-division has became the best part of the show again, thanks to Chris Daniels who has a very good match with Chris Sabin, still selling his head injury from the week before, having a focused offense and basically giving Sabin his best single match thus far. And to Low-ki, who has a good X-div title match himself against Michael Shane, who’s offense is a carbon copy of Shawn’s circa 93, for better (good base and bumper for the babyface) and worse (kinda dull). Tracy keeps of giving as a very good valet. Elix Skipper wants to put XXX back together. There could be worse ideas, although Daniels & Ki clearly don’t need it, unlike Skipper. Very good match too as Simon & Swinger vs AJ Styles & D-Lo delivered. The winner of the pinfall gets any title match he wants, but in the end it’s Swinger & Diamond who win, as the babyface get screwed by Jarrett. More on that later. AMW vs Gilberti & Young in a good little brawl, although it was not a smart idea to book this match, full of garbage spots including ladders and table, in the same show as Abyss & Redshirts vs Raven & Gathering in a cage + gimmicks too, which seemed kinda redondant then and had no heat despite the fine structure. And too many run-ins at the end, including Jarrett again, who just doesn’t want anyone to get a title shot against him after losing to Sting already. Two sick bumps by Legend, thrown off the cage, Flair style, and CM Punk putting Abyss through two tables with his great looking elbow (yeah, sarcasm). The Gathering wait until Raven is sure to get the victory (and a title shot) to screw him. They really come off as petty scorn lovers. And that ends the year on a major swerve. Well, not really, as it was well built with weeks of frustrations by the Gathering, so it was successful because you could see it slowly coming. Nice show to cap-off the year. Jarrett on top is living his WWE fantasy, but there is enough good stuff in the undercard now. 2003/12/19 Chris Daniels vs Chris Sabin 2003/12/19 Low-ki vs Michael Shane 2003/12/19 AJ Styles & D-Lo Brown vs Diamond & Swinger.

PPV 73 Jerry « Malice/the Wall » Tuite is dead. They were dropping like flies. Once you pass the awful WWE-like clusterfucky opening segment with useless promo by Jarrett and a bunch of people including the return of Roddy Piper and D-Lo Brown, it was quite the decent show. Erik Watts, after channeling DDP’s promo style by adding « ass » to every name (« Don Call-ass », how smart), is now calling Jarrett « Triple J ». Which is fitting, in more ways than one. More X-division goodness with Christopher Daniels vs Michaels Shane in a very good title defense. Daniels bleeds a gusher after hitting the stairs, almost looks hardway, and his selling is excellent, as are Tracy’s antics at ringside, interfering at the right times and looking good doing it. Gotta get rid of that stupid « pie in the sky » name for her bombs away spot though. Daniels almost pulls a Tommy Dreamer on her, but at the end she only showed ass as Shane took advantage of the situation, because he’s on Opportunist. That’s his gimmick, and Tenay like to say it over and over again. But really good stuff. Later on, Shane Douglas had a fun short TV match against Chris Sabin. Douglas at this point is like a mix between Mike Sharp, older Arn Anderson & Larry Zbyzsko. That’s praise, he looks better than he did when he first showed up. That new Franchise is working like a charm. On the Raven front, he manages to have a pretty good match against Abyss, whose cluelessness is comical at points. But he’s got enough mecanical ability to do stuff with him. Ends in a schmooz, but Raven’s babyface selling was nothing short of excellent here. He agrees to tag again with the Gathering, who had a decent match against the Red Shirts, Northcutt looking bad-ass beating on Punk. I like the slow-burn progression of the inevitable clash between Raven and his former guys. AMW vs 3 Live Kru was nothing special. BJ James just won’t put in the extra effort and Killings is a goofball flippy worker. The most interesting thing about the tag situation is the interaction between Gilberti, Young and Simon & Swinger, which at times is legit funny. Main event of AJ Styles & D-Lo vs Jeff Jarrett & Kid Kash was pretty good, Jarrett looking the worst of the four and D-Lo again looking strong in execution. They brushed away the animosity between him and AJ by having D-Lo say he always had respect. Piper costs Kash the match and Jarrett is pissed. Next week : Sting vs Jarrett. I guess that’s a star-power match to close the year. 2003/12/10 Christopher Daniels vs Michael Shane 2003/12/10 Shane Douglas vs Chris Sabin 2003/12/10 Raven vs Abyss 2003/12/10 AJ Styles & D-Lo Brown vs Jeff Jarrett & Kid Kash

PPV 72 At this point, it’s hard to give credit to Jeff Jarrett to be even a *good* worker. AJ Styles had a much better match with Abyss. This title match was a typical Double J Special and probably their worst match together. Bland brawling outside with no intensity. Then switch to sleeperhold spot (?), then to guitar shots and ref bumps and run-ins by : Erik Watts, Red Shirts Security, The Gathering, Abyss, AMW, Jimmy Hart and Kid Kash. Two guitars wasted not to mention my precious time. Jarrett’s idea of a main event comes straight from 1998/99 WWF, and he’s a far, far cry from the guys who could do it back then, not to mention the run-ins galore are just predictable by now and don't produce any credible false finish. So yeah. Jarrett on top will definitely be a painfull road if he keeps his game at that level. On the opposite side of the spectrum, Chris Daniels vs Low-ki vs Kid Kash was another good triple threat match. Damn. Of course Daniels & Ki get most the credit for trying to make sense of of it, but Kash was perfectly servicable here, working on an injured foot to boot. Shane Douglas & Michael Shane vs Chris Sabin & Sonjay Dutt, good undercard match with Douglas looking quite decent working with the quicker guys, and his maneurisms go a long way to compensate the fact he’s way past his prime physically. He's way more compeling to watch than Jarrett for instance (but then again, who isn’t at this point ?). Tracy took an active part in their win, I already like this team a lot. Sabin looks better in a tag team setting too. The tag-team turmoil keeps on going on with Gilberti and Young having issues with Simon & Swinger. Young as the straightforward guy works very well with Gilberti crook personna. The triple threat match against AMW, with a few problems between the two heel teams, had a good little dynamic. Raven & Gathering vs Red Shirts & Abyss (who at times is pretty funny with his overexagerated « monster » body language) accomplished what it was supposed to, forwarding the Raven & Gathering angle (they don’t want to break up, ah… love...) and putting Raven against Abyss, which could be fun if they do a wild brawl. Jarrett is getting way too much mic time considering what a weak promo he is. Now he’s playing Hollywood Hogan with a « you’re either with me or against me » attitude. Roll eyes. BTW, Hogan is now out of the picture for good. Way to waste PPV time with all this build up for nothing. 2003/12/03 Chris Daniels vs Low-ki vs Kid Kash 2003/12/03 Shane Douglas & Michael Shane vs Chris Sabin & Sonjay Dutt

PPV 71 The comeback of the X-division, with a good Chris Sabin vs X Nitro-style spotfu (including an insane summersault from the top rope to the ramp by Oulette, who’s nuts), a pretty decent Kid Kash vs Low-ki match (credit goes to Ki, as Kash really doesn’t impress) and Michael Shane joigning Shane Douglas’ new Franchise along with Tracy. His title defense against Sonjay Dutt was not too good and very heatless, with a useless swerve as Douglas was clapping for Dutt during the match, but the final picture looks good though. Plus, there’s something ironic about Shawn Micheal’s cousin taken under Douglas’ wing. I wonder if this will ever be mentionned. Hopefully not. Raven had a fun gauntlet match against Joe Legend then Kevin Northcutt ending in a schmooz when Abyss, now doing Don Callis dirty work for some reason (MIND CONTROL I would guess), jumped in. The Gathering help Raven and still push him to get them back. Damn, they act like sad lovers after a break-up. The tag titles changing hands in a six-men is always annoying, plus 3 Live Kru work best when Konnan isn’t involved, he just looks terrible especially when he has to bump and sell. So, mediocre match against Simon & Swinger with Gilberti. Not too fond of the Kru getting the belts either, they are just way too formulaic to have good matches. Way too much Jarrett promo time like it’s been the case three weeks in a row now. He really makes TNA is own little WWE and he’s playing Triple H. And he’s even worse on the mic. They are still talking about Hogan. He’s not coming, you know. The match against Dusty Rhodes was fast forward material. Funny how even with Russo gone, Jarrett is sinking the main event scene. 2003/11/26 Low-ki vs Kid Kash 2003/11/26 Chris Sabin vs X

I remember also a worker (don't remember who though, maybe Daffney but I could be totally wrong, it could be someone else) not praising him as he treated the lady as "special attraction". PPV 70 Two minor miracles. A triple threat match that was actually pretty good between X, Christopher Daniels & Sonjay Dutt. Three reasons to this : Chris Daniels directing traffic, never got cutesy with ridiculous spots, simply played around the quickness and brain of Dutt & Daniels respectively vs the power game of X. Oulette and the Angel looked excellent, so of course the green guy won. I like Dutt, but he’s not at this level yet. Second miracle was Abyss being able to have a really good match against AJ Styles. Damn, Styles is close to a miracle worker, he was fantastic here. I gotta give some credit to Abyss, who does some things well, like bumping, which he overdoes, too. He looks less like a monster than like a constipated truck driver with a Halloween fetish though. The tag team scene was still fun with a decent Ekmo & Siaki vs CM Punk & Dinero match, in which Trinity screwing up cost the samoans the match. Ekmo is looking better and better each time. Siaki is not. Then the tag team scene got screwed at the end of a pretty good Simon & Swinger vs 3 Live Kru (Konnan always at ringside, thankfully) tag title match. How to ruin what was a perfectly nicely going feud ? With a double referees count of course, and the titles being held up. So, the refs screwed up and the champs are punished because of this ? Fuck that Dusty finish. Talking about Dusty, he’s playing the savior again at the end of the show and books himself against Jeff Jarrett for the following week in a strap-fans-lumberjack match. Gawd… David Young loses against Chris Sabin because of Gilberti. Tracy & Douglas are taking notes on the X-div guys. Kid Kash has a sloppy match with Shark Boy. Usual business. Raven cuts yet another strong promo with the stricking visual of blood driping from his banded forehead, after a beating following the six-men of him & Sandman & Watts vs Red Shirt Security (with Legend as a recruit), which had some interesting use of handcuffs and a run-in by sexy as hell Goldylock. Nothing nice looking, but a pretty good Clockwork Orange brawl. Mixed bag. Jimmy Hart is showing up every week to confront Jarrett, so Hogan is still kept in the mix, but not coming anytime soon, as AJ Styles & Raven are being built for upcoming title matches. 2003/11/19 Raven & Sandman & Erik Watts vs Red Shirt Security 2003/11/19 Christopher Daniels vs Sonjay Dutt vs X 2003/11/19 AJ Styles vs Abyss

I'm sure it is. I doubt it beats the stories on Herb himself. PPV 69 TNA is Nitro, the follow-up. And likewise, you can get a pretty good show out of the blue. What would a TNA PPV be without a Gauntlet match for a N°1 contender spot ? And this one is quite good too, with five teams taking parts, 3 Live Kru (minus Konnan), AMW, Gilberti & Young, Dinero & Punk, Ekmo & Siaki. Both Ekmo and Punk have tribute to Crash Holly, who just died, on their outfits. Ron Killings wins the thing thanks to Gilberti’s interference, which leads to an AMW and 3 Live Kru face off later on. And while the tag division is looking fun, so does the X-division, with the match of the night in Low-ki vs Christopher Daniels in a battle of former XXX partners. Nice attention to details with Daniels wearing his old XXX tights and doing their old hand gesture to Low-ki, only to have him kick it away. Excellent match, superb selling from Ki, great focused work with a heelish edge from Daniels. These two are above most anyone else save for Styles as far as in-ring work goes. The ROH connection I guess. Chad Collyer vs Sonjay Dutt was also pretty good, Collyer grounding Dutt who worked well from underneath and also showed nice selling. X beats him up after the match, probably angry about these tights jean shorts. Also, Tracy was taking some notes. She’s the hottest assistant ever. I love this new Franchise already, and they are teasing that the next guy is part of the X-division. Nice job. Raven, who had « Crash » painted on his body, is fighting on both front, cutting another good promo on Jarrett but having to choose a partner for himself against the Red Shirts who beat him up pretty badly. Ends up choosing the Sandman, to the dismay of poor Julio & Punk. This is progressing pretty organically and Raven makes sense out of everything he does. The match was also quite decent with a very good Ricky Morton-like performance by Raven. Northcutt is efficient in this setting, kinda like a Bradshaw from APA days. The main event was totally out of Nitro. I amazed Lex Luger did work after Liz’s death. He looked pretty great physically for his age and what he went through. He did a funny mic spot putting down AJ Styles, who was put over big time by his partner Sting. Luger did a few decent power spots, but he can't really move nor bump that much. That being said, all things considered, he did quite okay, with Jarrett carrying the load and Styles making both look much better than they are. Styles got the pin on Luger. Damn, they booked it right (although with mucho assist from Stinger). Raven drags himself in the ring to jump on Jarrett again, and Hogan is looking further away on the horizon, despite Jimmy Hart being there again. Didn’t watch Abyss vs Heavy D., because I'm not that stupid. The Interrogators with Erik Watts & Goldylocks was decent. Goldy’s new style is bitchier. 2003/11/12 Gauntlet match 2003/11/12 Christopher Daniels vs Low-ki 2003/11/12 Chad Collyer vs Sonjay Dutt

Isn't this a bit of an old-school kinda racist gimmick anyway ? The hot white woman and the heel black guy ? It's exactly what Doom were in the days with Woman. It's weird that Jay Lethal and Cedric Alexander have in a way done that in ROH with Taeler Hendrix and Veda Scott respectively but both are not blonde bombshells like a Lana for example and both never really generated racist heat. Times have changed, thankfully. I guess. Unless I underrate the "blonde bombshell" element of the whole picture.

Isn't this a bit of an old-school kinda racist gimmick anyway ? The hot white woman and the heel black guy ? It's exactly what Doom were in the days with Woman.

Damn people, you've been around. No, I won't watch Herb's UWF. And no, I don't wanna watch Abyss' rookie days. But thanks for scaring me. You all deserve another one. PPV 68 Things are taking a peculiar turn. On the nice surprise side, the X-division battle royal was actually good. The return of Low-Ki, the debut of Chad Collyer who looked solid, decent booking with a XXX reunion before the inevitable split, and a new guy getting over as the monster of the division : X. With a goofy outfit including a crappy mask and tight black jean shorts. It took me a few seconds before I recognized Carl Oulette's style of working, and he did look impressive. That gimmick is immediate death as far as ever getting over though. The tag team situation is kinda cool with AMW having a good little match with Siaki & Ekmo, David Young being the goofy and too honest Gilberti gofer putting his boss into problematic situations like a match against 3 Live Kru, which wasn’t too good but now we have three teams gunning for the title, and Roadkill & Doring aren’t one of them. Gilberti is a good old-school working manager, ironically enough. Raven beating up Jim Mitchell was as good as this match/angle could be, with Mitchell bleeding a gusher and looking grotesque as he should. Basically a transition before Raven gets himself back into the main event scene. Oh, and he frees the Gathering too. This almost felt like a lovers break-up. You always hate to hear the words « You’re free now. ». Tracy Brooks, unamed, helped Shane Douglas win a cool little match against the Sandman. I like this association, Douglas always worked well with valet and gives them a lot to do, and Tracy can work. If he managed to get anything out of Torrie Wilson, this can only be really good. Then, and it’s where it’s getting peculiar, Jarrett vs Sting in your typical Nitro main event with minimal effort from Jarrett who used a whole one offensive move, a sleeperhold, and sold for Sting the whole time, getting a hardway blood in the process. Schmooz ending with Callis and the Red Shirts guys, which doesn’t make much sense as there’s no reason given why Callis would protect Jarrett. Lazy booking. Oh, and AJ Styles, and Raven, and Abyss (fuck, they’re already booking this goof into the main events ?). And Jarrett dropping a bomb : next week, it’s AJ & Sting vs Jarrett & … Lex Luger, all while people are still chanting for Hogan during Jarrett's segments. Yes, TNA has officially become Nitro. 2003/11/05 AMW vs Sonny Siaki & Ekmo Fatu 2003/11/05 X-division Battle Royal

Well, his booking doesn't strike me as very good thus far. The Dusty overdose has been painfull. And then, there is this show : PPV 67 When the show peaks with the opener of AMW vs Glen Gilberti & David Young, in a *pretty decent* match, you’re in trouble. Young is Gilberti’s gofer at this point, and they have a good character chemistry. AMW are so efficient that they can have a heated match with anyone. Then another decent match with Micheal Shane vs Sonjay Dutt in a non-title match (thankfully since Dutt lost to Kid Kash the week before). As impressive as he looks doing athletic spots, Dutt needs someone to lead him. Shane is too green to do that but he shows some good instincts. Then, well, show goes to hell. A bunch of nothing matches like Siaki & Ekmo vs Doring & Roadkill, with Trinty not doing a moonsault but apparently leaving the side of her team. Good for her. Another nothing match between Kid Kash & Abyss, in a chair-on-a-pole-first-blood-match. Is Russo back booking already ? Everything about Abyss makes me long for a Kane match. Red Shirts vs Erik Watts & Don Harris (who came back as a babyface, because he’s old-school TNA security, you see) was as bad as it sounds. Raven vs Vampiro in a Gallows of Retribution match. Interesting gimmick in which you have to hang your opponent with a dog collar until he passes out or submits. But there was no way to have a good match with Vamp, who’s clearly one of the worst worker I’ve ever seen. Nothing he does looks remotely decent : selling, bumping, stricking, everything looks terrible. Raven worked hard and had good ideas, but this was doomed. Too bad, as it was good « in theory », including the way the match was laid out. Postmatch sees another undesired CM Punk interference in favor of Raven. And then, the obligatory Jeff Jarrett wankfest including a long promo segment in which he confronts AJ Styles, then Dusty Rhodes (whose presence is really exhausting at this point) and then Jimmy Hart, who’s got a surprise. I really wanted Ed Leslie. ED LESLIE PLEASE !! Well, the result sucked, as most surprise do, but no Ed Leslie. Jim Duggan. In a meta, WCW 94-cosplaying, it actually made sense to see a Hogan croonie getting some airtime at the expense of TNA originals. Match was terrible although Duggan showed some good fire and was better than Abyss. Then another surprise, Rick Steiner. How many « worst worker ever » are we gonna see in this show after Vamp, Heavy D. & Abyss ? Anyway, two guitar shots later, Jimmy hart reveals that next week, Sting is gonna face Jarrett. Yay ! WCW 2000 is back ! Terrible show. Way to many bad workers featured. I feel Abyss is gonna be a torture to watch. A convoluted X-division tournament with battle royal, brackets and thriple threat matches to come, I didn’t even try to understand, but it takes all of this to get to Michael Shane apparently, who put this together by himself. I always love when workers put together matches, especially when you already have two authority figures in the company. Damn, and I thought Russo going away was gonna make things easier, but seems like TNA was just supposed to suck anyway.