Best I can figure from the various rumors is that they're either going to feud Angle with Sting or Joe ... which means either they're going to try to position Angle as a heel OR somebody else is going to have to turn. In any event, if those rumors are correct, then the enforcer bit puts him in the right place to be in the ring with both of them, ready for the confrontation that will kick off the feud.

My guess, as of right now, is that Joe delays handing the belt over to Sting after he wins, Angle snatches the belt from Joe to give it to Sting and voila, a feud is born.

And with Joe already demanding a title shot in return for giving the belt back, a heelish Joe will beat Sting in 2-3 months and then Angle wins the feud with Joe by taking the title from him sometime between April & June. With Angle's contract reportedly containing a title guarantee in 2007, this seems about right for the way things are being paced these days.

It will be absolutely hilarious if Angle cost Sting the title and becomes Jarrett lackey. Sadly with the way Sting, Christian and even Scott Steiner have been used it's not entirely out of the question.

This will be the beginning of the end for TNA if Angle is in anyway affiliated with Jarrett.

I wouldn't put it entirely out of the realm of possibility. A recent rumor (which was really just a more specific claim about something that had been rumored for several months) had Jarrett booked to leave TV for several months & to return as a face. Those plans were apparently scrapped somewhere between Russo's arrival & the signing of Angle, but it wouldn't surprise me at all to see something along those lines still happen over the next few months.

I can definitely see JJ thinking along the lines of "Angle can carry the star load while I'm gone".

That's a big issue with TNA, Jarrett never was a top talent and he still isn't yet he gets treated as if he were the Rock or Stone Cold of TNA.

He's basically a mini Triple-H, minus the wrestling ability and the physique. At least HHH has managed to pass himself off to alot of fans as a top talent, Nobody pays to see Jarrett, if anyone goes to a TNA show it's to see the X-division guys, good wrestling or Sting, Steiner, Christian and now Angle.

They've put months behind this Sting/Jarrett thing and there still seems like no buzz at all for it despite the constant selling on air. More people will pay just to see Angle in TNA and the match will just be a consolation prize.

Random question(s) for the fans:

Is it ever a good idea to have talent be an important part of the booking/storywriting process?

Whether it is a good idea or not, is there really anyway to prevent it these days?

Can it be? Sure, if the talent in question can actually see the bigger picture.

Absolutely. Problem is, the one sure fire way is to only hire talent that has nothing that resembles any stroke.

Similar idea. They had Bret as special referee for the Bischoff/Zybysko match at Starcade 97. Then he was also involved in the Hogan/Sting main event, which was a good idea that went very wrong.

The idea was that Sting (the good guy) was supposed to be pinned by Hogan (the bad guy) and have the referee do a fast-count. Once the fans had had a chance to be outraged and the cheating, Bret was going to jump in, over-rule the decision (since he was technically a referee that night) and restart the match. Sting would win, and it would play off of the Bret/McMahon issue by having Bret prevent a fellow good guy from getting screwed the same way he did.

The problem is that they apparently forgot to tell the ref... so he counted the pin at normal speed. Which made Sting look like a loser for getting beaten clean, and Bret look like a loser for reversing the decision for no reason.

Luckily, this was the only example of WCW ever screwing up something simple, and they're still thriving today.

On the national scale, I can't think of any situations - past or present where it has been a good idea to have a talent as the integral part of booking/storylines.

It worked briefly for the NWO but nobody needs to be told how that ended. HHH, JJ and even Ric Flair, it just didn't work.

Don't forget Kevin Nash's brilliant handling of the Goldberg win streak.

Yeah I know, I was mainly referring to the initial creation and push which was suppose to been alot of Scott Hall's idea. Nobody can deny that it started off great, it just started falling apart about a year in.

Even that could be argued though, since it still involves talent pushing themselves.

TNA Bound for Glory ticket sales are incredibly low according to some people I know. My buddy bought 9th row tickets today (Saturday) for 20 bucks because of such low sales. It's part of a special they're running. They were even giving front row tickets away for free at the Meet & Greet.

Combine that with Game 2 of the World Series tomorrow and it could be a tough day for TNA.

The Tigers run couldn't have come at a worse time for TNA.

its in Detroit isn't it?

Yeah, well Plymouth, but yeah.

I was in Plymouth at the end of Sept running a hockey tournament and hanging around the office a guy there said then ticket sales were slow. But this is all TNA's fault. Their prices were outrageous. Ranging from 20 to 160, but I think after 20 the next cheapest were 45? Absurd.

from tnawrestlingnews.com

Here's your final line-up for Sunday's TNA Bound for Glory pay-per view:

NWA Title vs. Career
Special Enforcer - Kurt Angle:
-Jeff Jarrett (c) vs. Sting

Six Sides Of Steel
NWA World Tag-Titles:
-A.J. Styles & Christopher Daniels (c) vs. Latin American Exchange (LAX)

X-Title:
-Senshi (c) vs. Chris Sabin

Monster's Ball
Referee - Jake "The Snake Roberts:
-Samoa Joe vs. Abyss vs. Raven vs. Brother Runt

8 Mile Street Fight:
-Christian vs. Rhino

Loser Gets Fired:
-Larry Zbyszko vs. Eric Young

Four Corners Tag:
-America's Most Wanted (AMW) vs. Team 3-D vs. The James Gang vs. The Naturals

Kevin Nash Invitational
-X-Division Gauntlet Battle Royal

Don't forget to join TNAWrestlingNews.com for live play-by-play results coverage of the TNA Bound For Glory pay-per view this Sunday night, starting approximately 7:30PM ET / 4:30PM PT.

Austin Starr (TAFKA Austin Aries) wins the Kevin Nash Invitational by beating Jay Lethal. Competitors included Sirelda, D Ray 3000, A1, and a midget. Yes, I said a midget. Afterwards, Nash congratulates Starr while Alex Shelley argues with his Paparazzi partner Johnny Devine & then tries to explain him loss to Nash.

Team 3-D pins Naturals to win the Four Corners Tag. Franchise berates the Naturals afterwards.

Joe wins the Monsters Ball after Jake the Snake DDT'ed Raven (apparently ticked because Raven interfered earlier when Jake stopped him from using the snake to terrorize Abyss). Highlight was probably when Abyss dropped Brother Runt from the scaffold around the entrance onto a platform that didn't give, and then followed up with an elbow drop from the scaffold.

Eric Young beats Larry Z with his (Larry's) own international object. Took about three minutes.

Cornette tries to introduce Angle, Kurt comes down early & tells Jim that he doesn't need anybody to provide a buffer between him & Joe. Just as Angle was about to promise to punk Joe again, cue the Samoan Submission Machine's music. A pull apart ensues, bringing down more than a dozen black shirt security. Separate them, Joe breaks free & tries to get Angle again. Lather, rinse, repeat, this time Angle breaks free & attacks the pile around Joe. Finally separated for good, with Joe screaming "Let me fight. Just let me fight" at Cornette.

X-Division title match, 8 Mile Street Fight, 6 Sides of Steel Tag Title match, and Title vs Career still to go.

Jake the Snake is still alive?

I saw him with my own eyes tonight on the PPV.

No, he is not.

Sabin wins the X Title with an inside cradle.

Cage wins the 8 Mile Street Fight in just under 15 minutes.
Kind of strangely booked IMO. Rhino dominated the brawl early, including a segment where he tried to drive Cage into the ring area atop the zamboni parked backstage, but he apparently ran into something & got it stuck. Rhino beats him pillar to post for a while before Cage takes control & then we get a series of increasingly violent blows to the head (remember, they're playing up Rhino's concussions in the run up to tonight) but each time Rhino kicks out, including twice from the Unprettier. Finally Cage buries Rhino under a pile of chairs, table parts, a ladder, a street sign & then beats the crap out of the pile with another chair. He pulls Rhino out of the rubble, goes for the pin, and 1-2-3. It's over.

Damned if I understand the point of having the multiple false finishes if Cage is going over anyway.
I mean, I get that they were trying to put Rhino over as a tough guy with a lot of heart, but that isn't the lingering feeling I come away with at all.

Also, a really awkward apparent blown spot in this one towards the end. Rhino is supposed to piledrive Cage from the apron onto a table at ringside. They grapple on the apron for a bit & then just suddenly stop, almost like somebody yelled "Cut". They sort of oddly climb back through the ropes, punch, kick, reverse positions left & right, back to the apron & then Rhino hits the piledriver. It looked to me as though the table may have been pre-cut about 1/3rd down the left side and that they had to get into the right position for the move, but it just looked ... strange.

Crowd also booed when the ref helped Rhino out of a straight jacket at one point. Even though he fought back & put Cage down despite the restraints, having the ref get him free was really rather weak IMO (and apparently the crowd agreed).

As far as some of the booking and match layout .. It could be a sign of things to come from the Russo era.

Oh there's definitely signs that Russo is on the scene.
-- the midget (also that's a Nash favorite too)
-- the straight jacket, which was just very ... random
-- the odd Eric/Larry match
-- Homicide "channeling the spirit of Abdullah" (who isn't dead) and using a fork on Daniels. Nothing wrong with that, except that it again seems like a random weapon to choose. (probably is random since Russo admitted that he hasn't watched TNA in over a year before being rehired)

Meanwhile, as expected, LAX are the new NWA World Tag Team Champions.
Have I mentioned how much I hate their gimmick? Words fail me.
Several "that was awesome" moments throughout this one, including a couple from the top of the cage. Booking aside, damn Daniels & Styles are incredibly good in the ring. Hernandez is one of the better beasts I've seen in a while too.

In Homicides defense - The fork is his weapon. He uses it in ROH from time to time (In the Cage of Death vs CZW most recently) so that isn't Russo, that is all 'Cide.

I'm pretty sure he has used the fork as a weapon in the past in ROH as part of his gimmick.

And as far as hating LAX .. wait until BET debuts in TNA (Skipper, Killings, Orlando Jordan and Prince Nana)

Nana is the best manager I've seen in a long time, but if you can't stand LAX you probably won't like BET.

Sting wins with a Scorpion Death Lock, is the new NWA World Champion. He Hulked up after Jarrett clocked him with the guitar. Earilier in the match, Angle, determined to prevent a double countout, ran in & Olympic Slammed the ref, basically making himself the special referee.

This was not pretty as main event's go. Sting appeared to have lost about 20 pounds since we last saw him in the ring, but if anything, his stamina appeared to be down as well. Both men looked pretty blown up within minutes & the crowd was booing during a rest hold & sleeper hold stretch in the middle. I'm usually a defender of the use of the veteran's at/near the top of the card but tonight the age really showed & it wasn't pretty. They cannot let Sting hold the belt very long IMO.

re: Homicide -- Thanks for the info on the history of the fork. Problem is, I've probably seen more ROH than 90% of their audience (which isn't saying much) and I hadn't a clue about it, which means it seemed random even if it really wasn't.

re: the BET faction -- I'm at a loss to know WTH they can/should do with Killings myself, and I can't really blame him for being unhappy with the lack of a role either, so I'm inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt on this angle for the lack of anything better to do with them (although I think the name is on the stupid side). Also, I'd read where Nana might not be coming after all, not sure that's right but I read it in the past week or so. And with his appearance tonight, I'm horrified to think that the Afro of Doom (aka D-Ray 3000) might be added to the stable.

re: BET faction, part 2 -- I figured the Killings approach to Skipper last week made this all but certain, but then tonight he plays the face in rescuing Lance Hoyt (who very clearly does not fit the demo for the new stable ;)), which had me wondering if maybe things would go in a different direction after all. {shrug} Tonight probably meant nothing, after all, Russo is booking & we're usually supposed to forget anything we've seen if need be to suit a new angle.

And, while I'm chattering away -- I was surprised that AMW did not interrupt LAX's celebration, or at least appear on the ramp or something. The "injury" to Gail Kim seems to telegraph an AMW/LAX feud (if you can call something that'll last 1 month a "feud"), it just seemed like a natural way to at least tease that a little bit in advance of the next PPV.

The straight jacket was used on the last Impact, also was when the Eric Young match was announced (and online). I easily found it to be worth the 29.99 and the best ppv of the year from top to bottom.

It had a few issues (like with the cage taking so long to put together) but it didn't detract from the overall experience, and it felt like a big time show since there were no screw job endings. They used Angle well, in addition to making Joe look strong - Sting is set and ready for Christian Cage, and AMW is ready for LAX.

I missed this week's Impact (still don't have a TV down here in my Bat Cave & was following UT-Bama at the time anyway).

re: Eric & Larry -- I knew about the match already, I just didn't like the mini-angle from the get go. It just seemed odd in the sense of putting this throwaway match (3 minutes or so I think) on their "Super Bowl PPV".


I don't know if I agree exactly. I'm not sure what they're supposed to be doing with him (and I'm not at all convinced they know either) but the Olympic Slam on the ref during an NWA title match rubbed me the wrong way to be honest. I guess I've just been following that belt for too long or something, but that smacked of "Sports Entertainment" to me & I would have prefered them to do a standard ref bump or something.

i obviously dont follow TNA or wrasslin' as much as you guys BUT if memory serves me correctly you can be prepared to have all of the luster and prestige rubbed off the gold here shortly under Russo.

I figured the Eric match was just one to slow down the action a little before the next match, and I felt it worked good enough.

As far as Angle, I didn't mind the ref bit, infact I thought it was a nice twist compared to the usual predictable ref bump stuff, and I liked the fact that Angle played it straight instead of picking favorites. They already know there setting up a Angle-Joe fued, and I think instead of your usual heel vs face (I know it works well) it could be something interesting to just have two guys you want to see fight, regardless of who the bad guy is.

Overall it was just nice to watch a show and not know who's going to win, what exactly is going to happen next week ( I don't read the taped spoilers anyway) and see alot of good action. You could tell in every match that the guys wanted to be entertaining, and that's what Im paying for, entertainment.

The JJ Sting match wasn't stellar, but if you look at it for what it was, two heavyweights who never were really *great* wrestlers, I thought it was entertaining. It could have been alot better, but it could have been far worse.

Speaking of wrestling, I hope they can hold some events in Glendale, Arizona, now. They have a nice venue name for professional wrestling.

It's the Jobing.com Arena (formerly known as Glendale Arena).

actually it works our pretty good with the Cardinals stadium name too.

all those people who go to the diploma mill can find a good source to land a job

Ok, that was the most bizarre match I can remember happening, Russo must have booked it.

Stage I- 18 men start outside the ring. At the bell, they try to climb INTO the ring, over the top rope. the first seven in the ring advance to stage 2.

Stage II- An over the top Battle Royale until it's down to the final two

Stage III- A regular match between the final two.

The goal? Well, I think Abyss (who won the final match) gets some kinda bye in the upcoming tournament to decide who fights Sting.. but, wow.. just a clusterF***

I thought the match was really clever and fun to watch, but as the Torch pointed out, the complete absence of long-term selling really dragged it down. You'd think after the opening mayhem that the 7 guys that made it into the ring would be worn out, but alas they were not.

After a second solid commentary on the subject of TNA booking, somebody really ought to consider hiring Lance Storm & making him their lead booker.
http://www.stormwrestling.com/102706.html

As for the 18 man tourney thing, as much as it seemed kind of stupid (considering how many candidates there are for obvious title shots) & as questionably booked as it was, I have to admit that I'm probably in a minority that sort of liked the the opening round "reverse battle royal" idea. It was something different & it didn't detract IMO from the purpose (unnecessary complictated though that purpose may have been).

I think they made it a little more confusing than necessary. With the three stages (first one being the most confusing) and then having the winner get a bye, but I liked the fact that while I expected Abyss to be in the final match - Lance Hoyt was able to be showcased a little and delivered some nice stuff.

Heh.. it'd be interesting.. the wrestling board I hang out at has had a pretty fun run in with Lance and his ideas on wrestling.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_V...r_Video_Review

he brings up so great points. No Joe or Angle as a top 18 contender?
The whole Bobby Roode thing is pretty funny too. TNA has to do better to be considered a player.

I heard about this earlier, but having read it now, I can agree with several of his points - but two things.

I'm not sure I'd call TNA's creative 'atrocious', maybe at times but they have their moments, bad is a bit more fair label.

#2 it's hard to not take his commentary with a grain of salt despite the valid points since he's afraid to take a shot at the 'big dog' WWE who IMO has even worse booking because he still wants to work for them in some fashion.

He rips on WWE quite a bit. In past commentaries as well as in his shoot interview.

I stopped regularly reading shortly after WCW was bought, so I retract that second part if that's the case.

I guess just overall, it's odd to see it getting so much play when the 'professional' product that is suppose to be head and shoulders above TNA can't even make me want to watch their regular free shows, more less a PPV.

Oh I agree. Sadly the WWE will always get mid 3's on Monday nights no matter what they throw out there, so it's frustrating to talk about because they'll never change.

Storm used to book in ECW too. It wasn't Heyman. Heyman gave them direction and some ideas but it was Storm, Dreamer and Raven who put the shows together, so he has a good idea of what hes talking about. Unfortunatley he has no desire to get back into full time wrestling, he could do lots of good.

Just when I think I'm getting a little frustrated with TNA's booking, I have the odd experience of surfing across Smackdown on the CW.

I turn on just in time to see the return of The Boogeyman, worm eating & all. Then it's a backstage promo with King Booker, who manages to accomplish something that few people have done: make Paul Wight look like the articulate part of a promo.

Compared to this, a JJ/Sting main event looks like Flair vs Steamboat.

" x 10

Further proof that ECW is nothing but an additional hour of Raw (not that it's needed)....

Although I'd prefer to see him elevated to the main event regularly (or still paired with Daniels as the top of the tag team picture), Styles winning the X Division Title from a now heelish Sabin was fun to watch.

And, in a very unlikely bit of {gasp} logical booking, the shift of Sabin being born from the regrettable Jackass skits actually makes sense.

edit to add: That was a rather incredible promo by Sting as well. And I would love to have heard the discussion that went on between Sting, Russo, and whoever else was involved in approving that script.

And yeah, I'm seeing all of this for the first time on Saturday night's replay (although I had read all the spoilers two weeks ago).

so was the Dogg's and billy Gunn's thing a shoot? They're acting during that was actually above average.

it was an obvious worked shoot. there will be plenty more of these with Russo on board

The fact that they are taped (sometimes two weeks in advanced) and can edit out anything they want should give you that answer :)

sorry, I thought it was live...that wouldve answered that, although maybe with the timing overlapping a match wouldve been tough to edit out.

My guess would be that we'll see the James boys take a short break ala the Dudleys.

Just wild-ass guessing here, but I sort of expect something like:
-- LAX beats AMW
-- Dudleys go after LAX
-- Dudleys win the titles after one or two PPV tries
-- James Gang returns
-- 3-way dance with the trio of teams
-- James Gang get a short title run

Somewhere in that mess, we'll see the Naturals in the mix but not seriously nor for any significant length until it's time for AMW to be back at the fore of the tag scene (since they seem to bring out the best in The Naturals). And I dunno where/if Raven's new flock nor the BET stable might fit into the picture.