Archive for February, 2010

Fuck You TNA Fuck You 2/25/2010

Saturday, February 27th, 2010

Why the fuck does Eric Bischoff want Abyss to take his mask off?

We must ask this question.

Why?

It seems to be really important.

Why?

Flair and AJ set up the whole match versus Abyss and Hogan on the first Monday TNA. I love that this whole angle makes the WWE Hall of Fame bigger than anything TNA can ever do. I mean, even their ring, just their ring, gives super powers. It’d be like Target telling you you get $200 off when you wear a Wal-Mart shirt Into their stores.

Team 3-D. Nasty Boys. Blow off. Jimmy Hart. Jesse Neal. Jesse Neal? Incongruity.

Mick Foley in Eric’s office and well, yeah. Too much. Too too much. Foley came off like a chump here. Everyone does around Bischoff and there’s never, ever any payoff for him looking so good other than he looks so good.

Daffney versus ODB. Daffney loses all her matches by DQ. You know, I’d let her hit me with a toolbox, too. I’d let her hit me with every single tool in that box.

I have no attention span and when they have a match going on and a promo at the same time, I often wonder which screen I should watch. I bet you fans at home feel the same way. To be honest, I hate having my attention split.

Also, Tara comes off like a heel when she talks. I have no idea why she is a face. Except they told me that she’s a face.

Daffney’s broomstick shots at the end were horrible. Comedic. I love her. Stop talking bad about her.

The DNA and the Mexican Super are partners and guess what, they don’t get along. If you use the wrestling that he writes to analyze Vince Russo, here’s something: two people can never get along for a long period of time. One person always wants something the other doesn’t, so any relationship is doomed to failure. Come short, come tall, come one, come all. Matt Morgan continues…doorblasting!…his reign…that’s who we are, that’s how we do…of…line ‘em up, we’ll knock ‘em down…his reign of abject stupid catch phrases in promos.

Beer Money promo. I will do my own version. A year ago, we had a vision. A vision of talking shit on wrestling and saying stuff about porn and piss and getting really fucked up and making podcasts. You can sum up what CTL is all about in one word: pride.

Good lord, I have no idea what this promo is about other than that Beer Money has been around when it was shitty and now that it’s less shitty, they want their just due. And catch phrase. And Super Mex. Big Super Mex. 37 years young. Youngster sensation. He wants a shot for these guys, I bet Morgan says no, they argue, blah blah blah. Talk talk talk talk talk. Let me write up exactly how Hernandez talks: “I’m gonna go straight to hulk hogan offish and at detinasion ecchs, i’m gonna ask for a title shot. (pause) fah beer mon yay! (MUSIC HITS LOUD) Wahyah to wahyah may best tag team win.” Yes, no one taught these dudes that you don’t shout over the enrance music.

Nash cuts a decent promo and then Eric Young gargles the same words back at us. Fuck this.

And then they cut off Nash’s promo with a graphic as we went TO THE BACK.

Seriously, cues, guys. Cues.

TO THE BACK.

Jeff Jarrett in Faded Glory (I buy ‘em too at Wal-Mart, but I am not on an internationally televised professional wrestling program) stalks about. If I didn’t know anything about wrestling, I’d turn the channel right now. Actually, I know a fuck of a lot about wrestling and I would change the channel, but I illegally downloaded this and I can’t turn my laptop. Bischoff has the same phone I have in my house on his desk. They don’t broadcast an internationally shown TV show out of my house. That’s all I’m saying. And now, we get a Bischoff versus Jarrett video package. Show me. Show me anyone that gives a fuck about this angle. Show me the one person that this makes tune in. Show me that person. I don’t think they exist. And I believe in the Loch Ness Monster, God and Bigfoot. But I do not believe that even one person in the entire fucking world wants to watch a show devoted to Jeff Jarrett. The last 7 years of TNA have proven me right. And holy fucktard, we’re doing three segments in a row about Eric Bischoff and Jeff Jarrett. Are they getting this out of their system before they go on Mondays? Because this against Raw, I shudder to even imaginize the numbers breakdown on that one.

There are kids starving somewhere in the world and TNA gave pyro to Jeff Jarrett.

I have said that line before, but that was the most I have ever meant it.

Swerve, swerve. Bischoff is still an asshole. Unlike Pablo Picasso.

Now, Jeff is gonna go back to catering. At least TNA has catering. The crowd? They don’t care. Until they gave Jeff a hairnet. That got heat.

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TO THE BACK. Morgan lecturing Hernandez. He said “It is what it is.” Good lord, he’s like an executive at an ad agency.

Kazarian versus Brian Kenrick spells F-A-S-T-F-O-R-W-A-R-D.

No one else is watching this match. They’re chanting back and forth.

This show got a 1.1 I could get a 1.1 if I had two hours on Spike. Do you realize that? Also, at 9:53 AM on a Saturday, I have started to drink because of this show.

Mr. Anderson just told me to fast forward this segment. This is the first time I have ever liked him. But, you know what they say. Funny does not equal money.

The best thing ever: Anderson is doing a promo and Angle uses his special entrance elevator to sneak up behind him and kill him dead. I’ve watched it 100 miles. So amazing.

For some reason, Anderson inexplicably starts talking about Vietnam. I must go back to a much better man than I to compose my reply:

God damn you! You fuckin’ asshole! Everything’s a fuckin’ travesty with you, man! And what was all that shit about Vietnam? What the FUCK, has anything got to do with Vietnam? What the fuck are you talking about?

Best Rob Terry match ever.

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You want fries with that, Slapnuts?

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TNA is run by a woman unlike WWE, so the sexism does not exist.

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Trying to decide whether you want Eric Young or X-Pac to win is like trying to decide if you’d rather have piss or shit thrown at you. There’s no real winner. Thanks for showing up in your pajamas, Shawn.

That was the most ridiculous idea ever. Until Bischoff shit on Raw, which actually does well. This show is the Bischoff shits on the world show. It’s kind of, again, like working at my ad agency.

They are going to send Mick Foley to an etiquette coach. Just like 1998 all over again. It’s like the last 12 years in wrestling never happened. Wow. Just wow.

And wow. Desmond Wolfe could not wear anything gayer. Other than coming out to Hogan’s old WWE music. Oh Abyss. Will they now call you Ssyba Sullivan?

Good fucking fuck fuck fuck fuck and fuck. Hogan did what I can, at best, call in shuffle in and it looked like, well, it looked like Adam West, that’w what it looked like. Rudy Ray Moore is a more realistic combatant. Fuck me funny, that was awesome. Hogan even got the juice, because, you know. Red means green. No gaga, brother.

Why the fuck is Hogan bumping Flair already?

Why the fuck does Aj act just like Ric and come off as a carbon copy?

Why the fuck did Desmond Wolfe get picked for this angle?

How did Abyss use a ring to break handcuffs?

How can anybody care about Ric Flair after a former Waffle House waitress beat him up and he had to call the cops?

Let me say it again so everyone out there hears me:

This is a TNA angle predicated on a WWE Hall of Fame ring.

OK?

What. The. Fuck.

WHAT.

THE.

FUCK.

Every night is the biggest night in TNA history. Every night. Hyperbole. HYPE PER FUCKING BOLE. BOLY.

When we go big time live, guys.

And Mike Tenay says, “Holy shit. This is how you take over Monday nights.” And he talked over Hogan the whole time. The whole time.

TNA. Never has a company deserved to fail so badly.
-Sam

Smackdown: Way to water down a future PPV

Saturday, February 27th, 2010

No, not Wrestlemania. They’re actually doing just fine building that thing, which I think this year costs somewhere near $1000. And that’s just for the Internet stream! No, no. Instead, they inexplicably added a Money in the Bank PPV to their schedule. I don’t even know where to start with this thing, and I already am having the guilt that I’m complaining because I know Sam’s watching TNA as I type this, already drinking, already cursing, already throwing empty water jugs.

Why would you add a Money in the Bank PPV if you still had the match on the books for Mania? I don’t get this. And if you did plan to make people buy a MITB match again a few months later, wouldn’t you try to assemble an awesome fucking match for Mania with all strong dudes who will have a blow-away match, making you actually want to pay to see another one? That’s my logic, but what do I know?

We got three MITB qualifiers on this show, one of them really good, one dreadfully awful, the other just eh. The first had John Morrison, Dolph Ziggler and R-Truth, who had a really fun little match. In fact, it pissed me off a little because I sort of wanted to see all three guys in the match at Mania because they could probably do some fun stuff. In fact, the commentary was based on talking about all the wacky, daredevil shit Morrison did in the Chamber match, yet they’re sending Dolph Ziggler to the MITB match? The fuck? Dumb asses.

The horrible one was Kane … KANE! … handing Drew McIntyre his first loss. Kane. KANE! Of all people! Either they really quickly lost interest in McIntyre (yay!) or this was just another dumb booking decision (boo!). I mean, they must fight again since McIntyre’s still IC champ … something I dread seeing. It’s been bad every time. Next time will be no different.

The third sent Shelton fucking Benjamin to his fifth MITB match where he can fall off ladders and do that running jump to the top rope that, damn it’s pretty but it sure as fuck hasn’t gotten him anywhere. He beat Punk, which should have been made a way bigger deal since he won the last two, but Todd Grisham was busy being vanilla and Matt Striker was busy making senseless comments and trying to sound smart while also burying the Internet. WWE burying the Internet is like CTL burying the Internet. Anyway, Rey cost Punk the match, which is fine and puts heat on their Mania feud. Oh, remember last week when I said watch Rey pin Punk in the Chamber, thus getting his revenge and nullifying the need for a Mania match in logic? Yep.

Michelle McCool got the women’s belt back from Mickie James … And moving on!

There was another confrontation between Chris Jericho and Edge, where Edge said he would haunt Jericho “all nightmare long.” Great. Now Edge is quoting shitty new Metallica songs. You know, I took a bathroom break while writing this, and the new issue of Spin (avoid that, by the way) was open to the 2009 Spin readers’ poll. And who do you think these astute Spin readers voted as best metal band? Metallica. Natch.  My god, why? I always kind of thought Spin readers were a few pegs smarter than Rolling Stone readers, but I was wrong. They’re the same. To put this in perspective, there are 14-year-old and 15-year-old kids walking around wondering why the fuck people worship Metallica, of all bands.  Of course, these kids also are probably walking around in Slipknot pants, but you get my point. Go listen to some Sunn, for fuck’s sake. Seriously, look at Lars. What an asshole. I’d hit delete on that.

LarsUlrich

By the way, I’m listening to the new Jucifer. It sounds like a monster having a baby, then eating the baby and shitting it on a city he just lit on fire. Yeah, I said “he.” This monster is a man that can have a baby.

In the main, Edge faced the Miz and it was … eh. A little dull. Not the Miz’s best showing, and Edge looks like he needs to hit the gym. That’s G-Y-M. They went back and forth, did a few things, and it was wholly unspectacular. Edge got the win with the spear, which Miz sold just fine. They showed Daniel Bryan, and I’m pretty sure Striker buried him. Look, I’m honestly amused at the build-him-while-burying-him with Bryan because it lets WWE trash indy geeks yet still make the guy a star. But having Cole and Striker be those guys just hits me as … funny in the bad way? I mean, Striker has his job because he got pub for lying to his employers as a teacher to work shows. That’s funny, yes, but also kind of lame. Because WWE loves weird publicity. I’m not sure where I’m going with this.

OK, it’s off to go buy the fucking Xasthur EP and maybe some catalog Ludicra. I might even buy a used copy of “Load” to run over with my car. It’ll probably cause my car to explode because I drive a Toyota! Hail to the Kraken!

– Brian

CTL State of the Union

Friday, February 26th, 2010

Basically…

Sorry for the lack of podcasts. Noah has been in Vancouver as part of the Olympics support team, so that has cut down the amount of time that he had to edit the shows that we recorded.

He’ll be back in a few weeks, so when that happens, look for a whole bunch of shows!

Deek’s new favorite wrestler

Friday, February 26th, 2010

http://www.record.com.mx/tmf/inspiraci-n-alemana-24022010.html

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Translated from Spanish

He is inspired by the tenacity of the Germans to crush the scientific side.

Although Vangellys lost the battle last Sunday’s semifinal at the Arena Coliseo in the hands of Blue Panther, Toscano y Valiente because overconfidence did not help to crush the technical assistance of Euphoria and Nosferatu, he recalled how Hitler made the swastika the emblem of Nazism, in addition to greeting with his right arm raised and the exclamation ‘Heil Hitler’, therefore, expects that as a rudo, the technicos will fold when they face him, just like Europe did against Hitler.

Vangelis said that he will follow the example Hitler set for not giving up. He will overcome and become one of the top stars of the World Council of Lucha Libre (CMLL).

“I’ve always been attracted much attention supremacy that the Nazis had, however I have a fanaticism for that ideology, on the contrary I see the positive side of everything that came to get in so little time. What is amazing is that Hitler was a nobody, he was a private soldier and came to rule an entire nation in such a short time and went on to conquer the world,” he said.

-Sam

NXT 2/23/2010

Wednesday, February 24th, 2010

It’s the newest thing and it’s going to change the whole WWE Universe. That’s right. The design sense of this show looks like it’s straight out of 1998. And music that can best be described as Lenny Kravitz being raped by Nickleback while Seven Mary Three pisses all over the resulting aborted fetus.

This is a show that has no idea what it wants to be. Perhaps because it started as the whim of a man that has no idea what his audience wants any longer. It wants to be a reality show, but it’s professional wrestling that’s run by someone with micro-management control issues. So it’s not a reality show. It wants to be a wrestling show, but it cuts the legs out from it’s own wrestlers. It wants to be entertaining, and, well, maybe it is, albeit perversely.

The show starts by showing the eight guys and instead of letting us learn about them, Miz is out there and challenging Bryan Danielson or Daniel Bryan or American Dragon or, as I call him, the guy that I am amazed is a full head shorter than the Miz. They send him out in the ring and he does fine on the stick. Miz comes out, they go back and forth and it’s fine. Slap to the face, it’s fine. He gets interviewed by Matt Stryker and that’s fine, except they start to subtly bury him. Tonight, he faces Chris Jericho.

In my opinion, and keep in mind, it’s an opinion, this show should be the pros and the rookies only. The rookies should only face rookies, unless it is a tag match or builds to something. Instead, well, we have the hottest guy on NXT losing by submission to the world champion. However, it’s a world champion that up until a few weeks ago was losing to everyone.

And I don’t give two fucks about Bryan Dragonson.

BRIAN’S COMMENT: It’s like me trying to find members for our doom ambient black metal project twin, but I only want the people who make the band to be jugglers and prostitutes, and if I find out they can play music really well, I’m mad as fucking fuck. And even if it’s the guitar player from Gorguts/Krallice, who’s the best ever, I want him to be able to juggle, for fuck’s sake.

Heath Slater does a promo and he wanted to be a WWE Superstar the minute he came out of his mother’s womb. I wish he had been and ended up wrestling Harley Race. The match would have ended with a superplex and the baby flying five rows into the crowd.

LEE’S COMMENT: You’re going to love NXT, Sam. It’s like an indy mixed with pre-Hogan TNA.

The tag match is fine. Again, I don’t really like the NXT rookies working the pros so soon. I know guys have to do jobs, obviously. It just seems soon. A lot of the commentary about Daniel Ta-Gar Lord of the Volcano, how he’s king of the independents. You know who is the real king? Honky Tonk Man. That dude makes more in Polaroids in one intermission than Bryan Crystar has made in his entire 10-year international career. Have you ever noticed how much the crowd loves Christian? Congratulations. You are not Vince McMahon.

Punk and Darren Young are in back discussing David Otunga and R-Truth. I got a great comment from someone that said Punk’s guy is Saba Simba. Punk cut the best promo about why he should even be on this show. David Otunga, well, he did a promo that was “I’m from Hollywood.” Well, dude, Andy Kaufmann you ain’t. Good delivery, though. He’ll do well.

Just a bit of logic here. What do guys win here? A chance in WWE? How many guys win the chance? Just one? All of them? How will this be decided? Can we vote?

This match sucked. Just out and out sucked. Worst spinebuster ever.

Why this show has a Raw rewind, I have no idea.

Justin Gabriel has the worst hair ever.

I like Wade Barron a lot. The dichotomy between being a bare knuckled fighter and being classy is awesome. He did pretty well on the mic, as well. I wish that the rookies actually got music, so that they could have their own identity. I know the Fed thinks that having recognizable music will get them over.

OK, smart marks, I echo you. If everyone knows who Daniel Bryan is, why call him Daniel Bryan?

I hate Michael Cole and he’s always a heel to me, but why is he a heel on this show? Is this supposed to be reality and Raw and Smackdown are entertainment? What is real and what is fake? Did Phillip K. Dick book NXT?

Wait – they just interviewed another dude during the match?

The new camera angles do not equal all brand new look.

Wow, Jericho took that Dragon Screw like shit.

Wow. Michael Cole just said dirt sheets. What is this, 1988?

Wow. Bryan Tiamat just did a crazy fucking dive into getting thrown into the table.

The Walls into the heel hook was rad. And haw haw haw, Bryan Ghidrah looked like an idiot at the finish and tapped right away like a pussy. You know, he could have pinned him with the tights. But now everyone knows where everybody stands. You know, Miz could have tripped Brian after the heel hook, then he walks into Jericho’s finish. Then, Miz says, look, I just taught you a lesson, expect the unexpected.

See what I did? I booked a better angle out of this match that helped Miz, kept Bryan hot and didn’t hurt anyone.

There you go. NXT. First week. It was interesting. I would not call this a groundbreaking event in television history.

We. Are. Wild. And. Young. Someday, I’m going to kill every single person in that fucking band.
-Sam

Best match I have seen all year

Monday, February 22nd, 2010


-Sam

A Raw Diet: Raw is Rodeo

Monday, February 22nd, 2010

Most disturbing PPV ever. Really. That’s how they started. Well, at least when HBK got the superkick, he got the superkick. That looked awesome.

I like Jericho’s promo to start. Cocky and great. Well, then Edge hit him and that’s the match for Mania. Yawn. Here’s how much I give a shit about Edge:

Word life, John Cena wants to divorce you. Go through a lengthy period of personal soul searching. Then, realize what he lost. Then, word life. John. Cena. Is. Gonna. Make. You. His. Wife.

John Cena got the baby part of babyface right. Wah, he got screwed. Wah. He makes his own match and if I knew wrestlers could just make their own matches, my career would be so much better.

SAT test time:
Vince and Cena is to Vince and Austin as Flintstones: The Movie is to The Flintstones.

Wow, dudes talking over one another. This is like TNA. Who wants to see Sheamus vs. Batista? Whomever you are, I will kill you. Now Cena is concerned he will have to fight Batista. Um. That’s what he wants. I’m so confused that I am starting to unthink the wing.

POR. QUA. POR. QUA. EWW. WEE.

I can’t say whether or not Gail Kim and Maryse had a good match, because it was, well, it was fucking weird. The selling was weird. The ending was weird. They tried too much. It was just…I have no idea what it was. I don’t get why smart marks like Maryse. She’s fucking robotic. She moves weird. And she’s not interesting at all. I don’t understand. It was like watching something not very interesting die.

Jewel is selling the figure four that Ty Murray gave her last week. Oh, of course Jewel is going to sing. All twee and shit. This isn’t the Grammys. Wow, fuck man, Jewel is stiff as fuck. A lot of people out there might not know, but her maiden name was Kawada.

Seriously, Cody and Randy are gonna fuck. They are gonna fuck. Fuck hard. Fuck bareback. They’re gonna do crazy shit to each other. Potentially piss play. Weird dominance games. I’m afraid. So afraid.

Yoshi. Koofey. Bourne. Where the fuck is Al Snow to manage these dudes? Well, I don’t know about you but I am having my own tribute to Evan Bourne as I watch this match. CTL has a wellness policy. It’s called buy good shit.

Orton slammed Koofey three times in a row, but to be honest, this is how I would work Koofey, all basic shit he cant blow.

What the fuck. What the fuck Evan Bourne! He heard Cheech and Chong are here next week. No. He didn’t. It was me that did it. My tribute to him. Awesome.

Here’s to Evan Bourne!

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Shawn comes out and let’s just get to the match that everyone but Logan Shulo wants to see. Here comes Taker and hey, the pyro guys toned it down tonight after the Jim Hetfield impression at the PPV.

Jesus is not happy with this.

Oh yes, they call it the streak! WOOP WOOP.

Christian vs. Carlito. Christan has some good punches. Nice finish Good match. Wow, I am in a good mood.

There’s a bullriding competition on Raw. My good mood? Over, son. This whole thing is a shoot. The final round is on Batista.

This is just…Big Show and a mechanical bull. There you go. That’s what I am watching. At least Miz save this segment.

Miz and Show versus the month of February, the shortest month of all. Haha Mark Henry is clumsy. It’s Black History Month. A history of doing jobs.

Man, they are pushing this Daniel Bryan thing, aren’t they?

Remember when Terry Funk’s wife beat him up? Jack Brisco? Harley Race? Yeah, that was great.

Logan just IM’ed me: cole! digsit!

Wendi Richter? In the HOF? What is this, everyone Vince fucked over? Wendi screwed Wendi. Also, i can’t lie, I would fuck the shit out of Cyndi Lauper. True Colors? With that satin jacket? Fuck yes.

Oh Bret, you said it yourself. There’s never a right time to say goodbye.

Batista is doing a Zoltan match. 900 stars.

Cena sells a beatdown like a weakling. Screaming. Crying. Damn me for growing up on southern wrestling.

But I like this Batista guy. He should go bang Jewel. He already did? OK, well, do it again. Make Ty Murray watch.
-Sam

An open letter to Ric Flair

Monday, February 22nd, 2010

Please stop marrying crazy people. Just fuck around. Just be single and fuck. It works really well for me. When you marry someone crazy, crazy is around you all the time. If you just fuck crazy, crazy can leave in the morning. Crazy doesn’t take half your possessions. Yes, girls from the Waffle House will still fuck your 60 year old ass. And then you can pay them cab fair home, they can even use your best cologne, they don’t have to be there in the morning when you wake up. Stay with me. Stay with me. Tonight, you’re gonna stay with me. Woo!
-Sam

Sunday morning. 8:29 AM. TNA Review.

Sunday, February 21st, 2010

Yes, this really is a Sunday morning coming down. TNA Impact! No gaga. As the Hulkster would say. You know, over the last year, Hogan had worked himself into my good graces. He went through some shit. And he had some funny appearances on Stern and Bubba. But now? He’s about burned though it all.

The show starts with Bischoff talking to someone about signing a guy away from that cesspool where he has been. You know, if this was Nitro, I’d say this was awesome and it really could be someone. But no. This is TNA and I know I will be baited and switched.

Highlights of the PPV. First off, Jimmy Hart. Yeah. OK. They at least got it on camera, but that’s the first highlight you show?

This episode is entitled “Lord of the Ring.” Fuck this. Fuck titles. It’s like it’s a real show, with actual drama and things worth caring about. But it so isn’t. It’s TNA.

Let me tell you how I enjoy TNA. First off, drugs. If you are too afraid of that or have some kind of stigma against drug use, do this: TNA is a reality show about wrestling, where things just happen. Bischoff talking on the cel phone? Of course there was a camera there. Or two, you are God. TNA is the world you made and ignored for years and you are an omniscient narrator, however, like in a Phillip K. Dick story, you are inside a dead body watching it and can only see what the dead body sees. You can see everything and nothing at the same time.

As an aside, I would say that the February 16 Figure Four Daily with Jerry Jarrett is fucking amazing. There’s so much insight into wrestling in this interview. I will give you a few brief snippets:

“TNA started because Jeff could not go back to WWE. Ever. He had burned his bridge. WCW was closed. I tried to talk Jeff into just getting out of the business and he wanted to be in the wrestling business. You do goofy things for your kids.”

“I cautioned Jeff about hiring all of the WCW talent and management. They had done a terrible job.”

“If you know the history of the wrestling business, when people from outside the business are in charge, it’s easy to make some mistakes.”

“When the Carters got in charge, I wanted to leave. But Jeff did the whole, “Dad, you’re deserting me” bit. And the stress of it, my doctor said, caused my heart attack. If my wife was causing the stress, he said leave her. If my business was, quit. He said whatever was causing it, quit or die.”

“Vince Russo is really amazing to me. It’s amazing to me that Hitler was almost able to take over the world. It’s amazing that he was able to take over Germany. There are a lot of things that are amazing to me. It’s just one of those things. My logic will not allow me to explain it to myself. It’s illogical. The man…his track record…where has he ever drawn money? Do you know? He absolutely closed up WCW, when they closed, they had a 125 million dollar revenue stream. Think about that. A 125 million dollar income and you close the doors. You can say what you want to do about Vince McMahon, and Vince Russo can say whatever he wants, but logic does not allow you to say that Vince Russo was a wizkid at WWE, he turned the company around and Vince McMahon was stupid enough to let him go. I could tell you that it didn’t happen. But it did. Just watch it. He failed at WCW and he ended up at TNA and I have yet to see that they succeeded. Because a company stays in business does not mean that they are a success.”

“What does Jeff see in Vince Russo? I have asked myself that question more than you can know. I don’t have any idea. When Jeff and I were working together every day, I would ask him that and there was no answer. My guess is that Jeff felt like, remember, Jeff has never been in the inner circle at WWE, so his only knowledge about what went on behind the scenes is what Russo told him. Russo basically spun a story that said if it wasn’t for me kid, you wouldn’t be here. And he went to WCW and made Jeff champion. My wild guess is that some perverted sense of loyalty came out of that. Vince Russo told Jeff in my presence that you are not a main event talent. When we were riding back of Atlanta, Jeff asked what I thought. And I said, I thought Vince McMahon made you a main event talent and I trust Vince McMahon’s judgment more than Vince Russo.”

“Is it overkill to book one TV show (January 4 TNA Impact!) for two months? Jarrett answers, hahahahhhahahahahahaha haw haw haw hahahahahahah did you see it? If you did it, how long would you admit that you spent on it? Anyone with walking around sense would not admit that.”

“Too many writers and bookers make wrestling too complex and too complicated. If you are driving to breakfast and you see a big bully beating up a smaller guy, you watch it. You might even want to stop and help. And then the little guy makes a comeback and you say, alright! And that’s what wrestling is all about. You get emotionally involved in the little guy getting a comeback. That’s how simple the wrestling business is. I would hate to think that I worked for two months on any show. Wouldn’t you? I’d be embarrassed. I would think that I encountered two months of writer’s block.”

“Jeff’s philosophies and mine are diametrically opposed. I can’t think about anything in wrestling that we ever agreed on. You could say I waled away from wrestling. I say that I escaped. The pressure was so intense. The construction business, where I could get onto a bulldozer or excavator, that was like I have an escape from Alcatraz.”

My condensing of the awesomeness of this interview does it no justice. Jerry Jarrett is an amazing man and this is a great, great listen.

Back to Impact!

The Pope is the 8 Card Stud Tournament Champion. Hes a champion?

Alright, fuck Impact! Cornette was also on Wrestling Observer Live and said about the January 4 Impact!: “I can understand why if you are in a room with Vince Russo why it would take 2 months to do a TV show, because all you do is explain to him is why you can’t do the stupid shit he wants to do. If I spent 2 months on that show, I’d commit suicide.”

“How can someone’s life be so miserable that they’d use a stopwatch to see how much fake wrestling is on a fake wrestling show? And then he apologizes and says I’m a New Yorker and I say stupid things. Well, I’m a Southerner and I shoot my mouth off but I never said anything so fucking stupid. I don’t know what astonishes me more. That he was shocked that what he said was offensive to everyone who ever worked in wrestling or watched it, or that he’s under the strange assumption that he has ever produced a wrestling show that anyone can say was real. Because he says that he wants reality wrestling and he doesn’t like fake wrestling. The stuff that he writes is the most preposterous garbage that has ever been belched out in a wrestling ring. Nobody believes it. The guys don’t want to know it and I know that, I set his stupid shit up for three years.”

“I almost feel sorry for the guy, except that I hate his guts. He’s fucking looney. It’s always someone else that gets in his way. It’s standards and practices. It’s the wrestlers. It’s him. He never blames himself and it’s all him. You can’t write goofy dog and pony bullshit in a UFC era.”

“He considers himself a TV writer and I guess theoretically he is. But it’s a bad one. And he’s never been any good at it.”

“TNA does 15,000 buys and they celebrate. Vince sells 200,000 and throws shit all around his office.”

“1% of everyone that watches TNA on TV orders the PPV. You could almost do better by accident.”

But back to Impact! Where the Pope rips off Shane Douglas and calls Ric Flair Dick Flair. And says that Ric Flair will never be as charismatic as he is. Wow. Just wow. I don’t even have a good enough analogy for this. Flair comes out and asks if the Pope can read and write. He then shows him the label in his suit and goes the fuck off about Armani and the crowd goes crazy and he heels off on the crowd and well, he puts this whole thing to rest. His name is Ric Flair, bitch. That’s pretty much what he says. Haha, oh man. The best line is, “When you were six years old, you went to bed and prayed to God at night that you grew up to be me.” Then he puts over AJ in a way that makes people hate him and he does his job and fuck yeah. Fuck yeah, Ric fucking Flair.

They gave the Pope back the stick and Ric fucking pulls out the Cool Hand Luke and wow, holy cow, yeah, Flair said TA FUCKING DOW. AJ’s suit means more than Pope’s parents green stamps. Unbelievable.

Then AJ gets the mic and ah..fast forward the rest.

Dude, Flair took a bump onto a mic. With his back. Man, Ric Flair love week here at CTL.

Good beatdown. I like it.

dafffffff

I also like that a lot. A lot.

And wow. Daffney pretty much kicked the fuck out of Tara until Dr. Stevie grabbed her. Awesome. Just awesome.

Foley. Bischoff. Office. Clothes. 100%. Effort counts for everything.Mick makeover. ATM Eric. Sportscoat. This is custom stuff, man. Shopping. Omniscient narrator. Abyss. In office. Now. Laugh.

elephantI pop for the elephant door.

Orlando Jordan. A girl. A twink. Samoa Joe. Joe lost to a weird looking top rope thingy. This is another have the guy show some weakness so people get behind the face when the people liked the face better when he was strong and kicked ass. A miserable failure this will be.

Abyss freaks out about Bischoff. JB has no clue what it’s about.

empower

Empowering to women? That’s TNA.

fuckman

I only have one way to describe this picture.

Abyss is in Bischoff’s office and it’s just like Sam at his boss’s cube, Sam all nervous pulling out his hair. All nervous. And then my boss sends in a bunch of jobbers to beat me up.

Fucking Eric Young scratchy talk. Blah blaaarrrrggghhh blag blizzacccchhhh blah blah birrraaaahhhhh blah. TO THE BLAAAACCCCHHHHH.

Abyss. Jeff J-A-R-R-E-T-T. Bischoff. Barbed wire bat. Velvet Elvis double wide trailer. Promo promo promo TO THE BLACCCCHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

8 man X Division Kaz back for no reason faces heels don’t matter Amazing Red no Don West sad Suicide is gone and that’s who Bischoff was talking about what cesspool was he in married to a rat who arranges other rats for the boys spots spots spots Brian Kendrick doesn’t matter Brian Kendrick is going to do what is best for Brian Kendrick Generation Me Alex Shelley wacky rollup dudes doing spots spots spots purple handkerchief cool spots bad Irish whips all over the place wacky too much all over the place Matrix kip up head drop remember when Consequences Creed puked in the ring human car wreck “Doug Williams, X Division champ is probably one of the best X Division contenders” well no shit he’s the champ Kazarian back in highjinx bodies flying DDT everyone happy celebrate nothing makes sense.

Abyss running running running and Slick Johnson says, hey, you got a match. The sound on this segment was horrible and…TO THE BACK.

And for the third time, we see Dixie Carter’s press conference. When I get my tax return, I am gonna run a fed and it’s going to be all me talking about my company for a whole show.

Hogan is nowhere to be found, so Bischoff is doing what he wants. OK. Let’s follow that fucking logic. They tape 2 hours of TNA and they do it once a week, in storyline. OK. I get it. There’s 168 hours in a week. And of those hours, Hulk Hogan couldn’t be at the tapings for 2 hours. 2 fucking hours.

This is a face versus face match. Those always get over. Ask me sometime when I won’t be on the record and I’ll tell you exactly how I feel about face versus face matches.

This was a good match until the NWO Black and White did a run-in. Yes, Homicide, Desmond Wolfe, Rhino, Raven, Tomko, shuffle shuffle shuffle.

Hogan swerved everyone. Because he likes Abyss. So there you go.

This show makes no sense. Why is Bischoff a character? Why is Hogan against him already? Flair hates Bischoff. Hogan hates Flair. Hogan likes Abyss. Bischoff hates Abyss. Gray gray gray. All bullshit. So fucking confusing and no one has any idea who to get behind.

British Invasion and Beer Money. Of course the British Invasion is not getting along. Why should tag teams get along?

Nash standing around. TO THE BACK.

Hogan about to whore out Abyss. But no. He wants Abyss to be a bad ass. And then, Hogan begins asking about Superman and Popeye. Hogan does some tough love, brother, and gives Abyss his WWE Hall of Fame ring. The only thing that never left him and always loved him. He’s crippled now but he has this ring. It’s his life. And he gave it to Abyss. Abyss used the word encompass. And then Hogan gave Abyss the ring. The power of the universe. It will make him teh strongest mortal man. The ring will love him. Protect him. Guide him. Holy shit this went all crazy mystical lord of the fucking gay ass rings on me. This promo is my favorite promo of the fucking year. IT’S ALL YOURRRRRRRRS. God dammit, check this promo out. It’s what I imagine being on coke is like.

Daniels 30 second job. Yay. Internet go boom. Angel promo USA.

But oh, Angle. You are too unselfish. You got laid out again. By Anderson. Oh, Kurt. You can’t make everyone. No, you can’t.

To the back! Samoa Joe is sad. And then, Lambda Epsilon Omega pull up in a van and Frank the Tank says, “You tell anyone about this and I’ll fucking kill you. I’m kidding, I’m kidding, we’ll have him home by tonight. Okay, sweetie.”

The show? Well it ended with Nash and Hall facing off. Because that’s exactly what everyone wants to see, those dudes not be on a team and be at each other’s throats. Hogan comes out to watch. And that’s where it ends.

So there. TNA. There you go.
-Sam

Andy’s Top Thirty Wrestlers of All Time

Saturday, February 20th, 2010

Like Sam, Raven Mack asked me to participate in the Thirty Wrestlers write up. Mine took a while to come up with, since I don’t really watch wrestling much anymore, and didn’t really want to take the time to go back and watch a bunhc of stuff. These picks are based on a lot of memories, and how I was impressed etc. the first time I saw a lot of these wrestlers. So there you go.

Unlike Sam, I only did descriptions of the Top Ten, but feel free to ask or comment about anyone on the list. Past the Top Ten, the other 20 you could really put in any order…

I don’t really watch a lot of wrestling anymore. Just don’t really enjoy it. Don’t care much for the current product in the US [never really did]. Don’t really have the time or effort to follow the Japanese scene [which with Youtube and other web access is even easier and cheaper than it use to be]. Hardly ever look at the hundreds of tapes I own. Hell a few years ago when I bought a DVD player that was also a recorded, I figured Id copy over the tapes to DVD. Well I started out copying a dozen of my favourites over. And then copied a few more. And then pretty much stopped. I’d look through a few tapes but it just didn’t seem worth the effort [which consisted of putting the tape in the VCR and a blank DVD in the machine and hit the record button].

I can still watch Big Japan Death matches, because young guys doing crazy high spots into wacky contraptions will never get old. Not that I follow any particular wrestler in the organization, but I do remember watching a 30 minute tag team draw this summer at Sam’s house, and damn near crying when they gave them extra time. I can still watch AAA Lucha from time to time but again it’s all a blur and I don’t follow anyone in particular.

And so here’s the list, mostly taken from memory of similar list done through the years. Really just have a Top 5 and the rest is kind of filler.

JUMBO TSURUTA

Jumbo is #1. Period. Here is the guy who was the glue to the best promotion, worked with the best guys. And the not so best guys [i.e. his run as AWA champ] and always had great matches. And he did it through three different eras. And he did it when other guys came along who were flashier, and more of a “buzz” [like when Riki Choshu’s whole army jumped to All Japan] and when he had to build the new guys up, it was always Jumbo.

DUMP MATSUMOTO

At its core wrestling has always been about Good vs Evil, and no body was better at being bad than Dump, or convincing her audience that she was going to kill them dead than Dump. Something I read that summed her up best—when she would chase the people in the audience, they would run. In fear. She was an innovator in bringing a gang of tough looks girls with her, and bring oil cans [!] and other weapons to the ring, and would beat Chigusa Nagayo to within an inch of her life. And the people loved her. And she never gave up the evilness, up until her retirement match when the people begged to cheer her, and Chigusa demanded they finally join forces. Just an amazing performer.

RIC FLAIR.

For all the criticism on Flair, about how he did the same sort of matches, or stuck around too long, or wasn’t treated with the respect he deserved etc. I’m ranking Flair this high because every time I ever traveled to see wrestling, it was to see Ric Flair. I went to Wrestlemania Eight because Ric Flair was in the main event. I went to Halloween Havoc in 1994 because it was going to be Flair’s “last match”. I drove to Cleveland for Nitro because Flair was there. And while I’ve been on “road trips” to go hang out at other wrestling shows, but the only time I ever spent money to get a ticket and a hotel in advance was to see Ric Flair.

KEVIN VON ERICK

My love for Kevin Von Erick is all about time and place. Started watching wrestling when I was a kid, during the heyday of Bruno Sammartino and studio wrestling, when Pittsburgh was almost a developmental territory. Stopped when my grandfather went to a home [which would have been 1977, just before Bruno dropped the strap to Superstar]. Picked it up again in 1983, which was a steady diet of WWF [aka shitty squash matches] and occasionally Georgia Championship on the shitty UHF channel out of Stubenville OH. In 1985 we finally got Crockett [better squashed, but still] and also got World Class, which to me was just the greatest thing ever. This was my freshman year at CMU, so we had computer message boards, but no real “internet”. And not too many wrestling fans.
But everything about the World Class show was amazing, from the fact they showed main event matches, to the matches themselves, the promos, videos etc. And we got the show with the run up to the Kevin/Flair match and I it changed my mind about what wrestling should be, how it should be worked etc. This really was the promotion that hooked me in, and a lot of my favourite guys were here. But Kevin was the man, with the high flying, wrestling barefoot, the claw hold, and the feud with Chris Adams and Gino Hernandez was great as well.

BRUISER BRODY

See above. Brody was the man. He was the first guy you saw who you thought should have been a heel, but was a face. And man could he move. For a guy his size he flew around the ring. Always had great matches, but very smart matches. When he was a heel he’d go all out but sold in a way that you always thought the baby face could win. When he was murdered it was really disheartening. In fact I still hold a grudge about that, and have been known to scream at Tony Atlas and guys like Savio Vega about Brody’s murder.

JUSHIN LYGER

Again time and place. When I first started getting newsletters, Lyger was the blowing up as the character was new on the scene. Which led me to tracking down a decent tape trader [damn kids have it so easy today] and I started getting a steady helping of Japanese tapes, which opened up all new worlds and the way you watched wrestling. And Lyger did not disappoint. All of his matches were great and innovative. He was one of those guys who you’d read about something coming up, and be anxious to get the tape. Hell I can remember not being able to sleep around the time Lyger fought Negro Casas the first time, and it was at least two months before the tape of the match came around.

AKIRA MAEDA

At the same time as Lyger, Maeda was also blowing up with the restart of UWF. And at the same time I was intrigued by Lyger and the juniors flying around, I was also into these guys in UWF who would do straight wrestling matches. Which were as great and as compelling to watch—which you really didn’t get with American wrestling. Plus learning about Maeda’s history, and how he shot on Riki Choshu in a match that he didn’t agree with, well it might have been a cowards shot but it had my attention. Too bad it burned out so quick.

KENJI MUTO/THE GREAT MUTA

The summer of 1989 really sucked for me personally, but the wrestling was great. The NWA had its best year ever [quality wise] and Muta was my favorite thing about it. Mostly because I was really starting to get into Japanese wrestling, and here was a guy who you could go and see live, having great matches with Eddie Gilbert and Sting. And then he went back to Japan, took off the paint [for a while] and had great memorable matches with everyone in New Japan, and then flipped to All Japan, adapted his style a bit, and had more great matches.

MR POGO

There are better death match workers, guys with better looks, etc but Pogo was always my favorite. And I think because he went and was doing the brawling/death match style in the 80’s in Memphis and Puerto Rico, and then when FMW blew up in the 90’s he went with that style back to Japan. Plus he would go to different promotions, like WING or BIG JAPAN, and he would keep that same style of blood and brawling. Also he once blew a fireball and set Matsunga on fire, and I took that tape into the TV department when I worked at Sears, and put that shit on the loop VCR that went to all the TVs, and we watched that match over and over on a slow Saturday night.

MINAMI TOYOTA

I was a big fan of Joshi in the 90s and had a lot of favoruites, but Toyota had the most memorable match [which says a lot, she had a ton of great matches]. But she had a match called Minami vs the World, which was like a Royal Rumble, except Minami was in first, and everyone’s goal was to take her out. And in the end, Minami still came out on top. It was the most dramatic thing I’d ever seen.

TWENTY MORE TO THROW OUT THERE:

Shinya Hashimoto
Toshiaki Kawada
Kenta Kobashi
Masa Chono
Shohei GIANT Baba
Mitsuhara Misawa
Nick Bockwinkle
Harley Race
Ricky Steamboat
Gentleman Chris Adams
Akira Hokuta
Super Delphin
Atsushi Onita
Eddie Gilbert
Stan Hansen
Kodo Fuyuki
Don Leo Jonathan
The Destroyer
Jun Kasai
Cactus Jack/Mick Foley