Yeah, I didn’t understand this at all. If they had anything actually signed, they would be taking legal action, not making whiny blog posts. If they didn’t have anything signed, this just makes them look like chumps.
The only thing I’ve come up with, beyond the normal “TNA is run by idiots sustained by Daddy’s money” (which is often the correct answer) is that maybe someone made some assurances to PopTV that they can no longer back up and this is an attempt to deflect blame.
Oh, and if anyone is interested in what’s actually happening there, last Tuesday they did have a title change as Matt Hardy turned heel to defeat EC3 and become TNA champion.
Which means we’ll probably have Heel Matt vs Face Jeff in the future, because Hardy vs Hardy feuds have always done so well (though at least they got the alignments right). It also probably means that EC3 will turn face despite never ever showing any sort of redeeming quality, as they seem to be setting up a feud with Mike Bennet who just moved over from ROH, bring along Maria (redhead from WWE several years ago)
The taping was pretty fun, but the crowd was much quieter than at Full-Sail. Maybe because it was a less smarky crowd? We saw a lot of the regulars though…oh well.
The same problem occurred here that happened at the Full Sail taping…the thing was 4 freaking hours long. By the time we get to the end with the third time we have seen someone wrestle, and after seeing people like Elias Sampson more than once? The crowd just dies. We were talking about it and Ms. Cups and I think we might take a break from tapings for a while because we live an hour away and it makes for REAL late nights for us. Plus I haven’t watched NXT on tv in ages because I’m always there. House shows are still happening though, that’s for damn sure.
Definitely excited for tomorrow! This completes everything Ms. Cups and I can do with wrestling really. For NXT we have seen a house show, a taping and a Takeover. For WWE we have seen a RAW and a PPV (a major one at that…). We would need a Smackdown taping and a live event to REALLY complete the checklist.
I don’t know about anyone else but the Rumble had been virtually unwatchable over the Network tonight. When it’s not frozen it jumps back to five minutes into the Rumble match and is only fixable by restarting the app. If events like this were the only reason I subscribe I would be pissed.
Well, it’s been fun everyone but I’m out. Network subscription is cancelled, Monday nights are now free. The McMahons will not see another dime of my money as long as they make themselves the center of attention. I’ll see ya around other parts of the board.
I only had a couple of brief (no more than 30 second) stoppages, so it wasn’t a network-wide problem.
Now watch Triple H drop the belt tomorrow night on Raw…to either Daniel Bryan or John Cena.
Hopefully, this isn’t part of some long-term scheme to have Triple H be the one that breaks Flair’s world title record, especially as if he does, it gets an asterisk; he was once stripped of the title but then won it back in an Elimination Chamber match without anybody else being champion in the meantime, but it still counted as two titles.
My biggest takeaway from last night was just how loud the boos were for Reigns. I figured the kids would drown out the smarks, but anytime he was shown he was wholeheartedly bood, but then again we are a bit of a smarky bunch down here.
Had fun last night. Seats were pretty nosebleed-y, but we were looking right at the ring with zero obstructions AND we were right on the end of the row AND the people around us weren’t annoying…so overall it was a great night. Both Ms. Cups and I bought the generic (read: not with anyone’s face on it) Royal Rumble shirt that was contracted out to another tshirt company. It looks like I made it myself/bought it on the street, but I wanted a rumble shirt and this was the least stupid. I also bought the Suplex City shirt because it’s blue (Magic colors) and says Orlando on it.
The pop for Reigns getting thrown over was LOUD, and also loved that AJ was thrown out by KO. The smark king was about the only one who could throw out the smark prince and have the crowd NOT go apeshit. I’m busy tonight, but come tomorrow I think we’re going to re-watch just to hear Michael Cole go “OH MY GOD IT’S AJ STYLES! HE’S HERE!”
Worst Rumble ever. At least since last year. Didn’t everybody expect and fear HHH could come out ahead? We all knew Reigns would come back from the locker room, but he couldn’t be a champion after that lame performance, you can’t have a champ that needs to take a break in the middle of a big match.
Don Guy may have it right, HHH turns it over tonight. Well I hope it does because it sickens me that HHH is champion once again. I guess we’re lucky it’s not Vince.
So is it the fact that you had a reasonable guess that made it “the worst Rumble ever?”
When have we, the audience, NOT had a reasonable guess as to who was going to win it? Frankly I think this year had more potential storylines going to for it than in plenty of past years. Just because you didn’t agree with the ending made it “the worst ever?”
Very loud fan to Kevin Owens as he slowly ambled about putting together the two stacked tables.
Sadly, that comment wasn’t directed at Booker T, who adds zero value on any announce team.
You know, there’s sometimes when the announcers need to fucking shut up with the ‘angle’ crap and call the match in the ring. Charlotte is flipping Becky around with that leg lock and the announcers didn’t sell it a bit because they had to push the ‘story’.
KO vs Dean stole the show as I predicted. The ending was perfect, such a Dean thing to happen. I marked out big time. Kudos to the camera crew for keeping the double stack of tables out of view until the KO flip. That was brilliant timing.
ND vs Usos had lots of flying action. ND really turns it on for PPVs. They had a tough act to follow, but they did well.
Kallisto and Del Rio went OK. Charlotte and Becky Lynch went almost to NXT level, but Ric Flair’s presence was a little spastic, with the Jacket of Doom somehow making Becky break her hold. Wonder if Sasha is going to get her cousin Snoop Dogg in her corner when she faces Charlotte.
All Rumble really accomplished was setting up storyline feuds, but it was great to see AJ Styles make his mark. Also glad to see Sami Zayn renew his feud with KO. Otherwise, it was a lot of guys laying around. The run-ins provided more action. Instead of Roman tossing out the Wyatts, it was Brrrrrock. Looks like he’s going to be taking them down one by one until he faces Bray at WM.
Not the first time the boss booked himself to win, so that sucked the life out of the event. I’m not really pissed about it, especially since the crowd wanted Reigns to lose and WWE will further be scratching their heads on how to get him over. HHH had some evident ring rust, adding further to the underwhelming aspects of the oncoming feud. I’ll just go back to FFing my way through Authority vs RR segments until this feud has mercifully run its course.
We’re going to get a repeat of the DBD Wrestlemania, where RR needs to ‘overcome the odds’ and at least one match before being allowed to face Hunter for the championship. And of course, he will triumph at the end and get his Wrestlemania Moment.
And then lose it the next night to overwhelming odds, ending his third championship reign in less than a year and setting him up for YET ANOTHER shot at OVERCOMING THE ODDS!!!
Permit me therefore to declare; I called it, I so fucking called it, screw all you motherjammers who thought Roman or Brock was going to win.
Gotta say I was completely satisfied with this Rumble in a way that I completely wasn’t the last two years, and that I’m genuinely looking forward to Roman vs. Trips in a way that I was in no way whatsoever looking toward Roman vs. Brock or Orton vs. Batista.
I think for me if there was a viable person to give the strap to right now that HHH was blocking with this I’d be upset about it, but I don’t really think this is a case of Paul feeding his ego. I think they literally ran out of options.
WWE has a serious talent depth problem, Cena, Rollins, Bryan are all out. Guys like Taker and Brock are part time. Other guys have significantly failed to generate the right kind of buzz/fan interest to justify putting them in the top spot. The only close to viable alternate I saw was the guy HHH finished the Rumble against (Ambrose.) I mean they’ve been trying to get Reigns over as a face since last Rumble, it’s failed. So he certainly didn’t need to retain.
For better or worse HHH is the only guy left who gets tremendous crowd reaction and who can still wrestle at a moment’s notice. He’s definitely not Triple H of the late 90s early 2000s who actually had some really good matches (I’ve always thought people bashed his in ring career too much and think he’s worked some good matches in his prime) but he’s also not Big Show or Undertaker.
People on the internet and broader wrestling fandom have been saying for a long time now that WWE has a real problem getting new talent over, and I think this Triple H championship is a symptom of that. I think requiring top guys to work 300 shows a year is extremely stupid and a case of Vince being penny wise but pound foolish. They need to find a way to probably reduce the workload by at least 1 appearance per week and structure in a way to get everyone at least a couple months a year 100% off. I genuinely believe with a balanced workload you have a ton more talent right now. I even think CM Punk may still be in wrestling if not for the mental/physical toll and how pissed it made him in relation to who WWE gave pushes to, I think a lot of his resentment stemmed from the brutal schedule and his perceived lack of reward from it. A more life-friendly schedule and malcontents are likely to be happier.
Overall grade for the Rumble without getting into all the matches / Rumble itself would be a C+. Last years I’d give an F, so it’s a major improvement, still not great. FWIW though I’ve never liked the Rumble match format. I am not saying I want it to go away, it’s got great tradition and I especially like the surprise wrestlers (not many of those other than AJ this year), but just the format of itself makes the in ring action subpar. There’s no easy way to avoid having 3-4 guys laying on the mat holding the ropes at various points and that is just not great entertainment value. I think it was a little more entertaining when Pat planned the matches out but still, battle royals in general don’t feature great wrestling as a rule.
Well, as they sold over and over in Breaking Ground, “It’s not a job, it’s a Lifestyle!” That holds true in a lot of ways. Insider ways. Just bizarro assed rules dating back to carney days and similar to unwritten rules in other sports. Pretty much reinforces “Keep your Mouth Shut, Complains are for Weaklings (and will be PUNISHED), Show everyone above you respect and do your job no matter how much shit you’re required to eat without complaint, because you aren’t owed anything, it’s a privilege to be here!!!”
Well, unless you’re a Dwayne Johnson fan, there’s no real reason to watch this week’s RAW.
Actually, AJ Styles and Chris Jericho had a good match. Styles always makes his opponent look good, but I liked his old theme music better. When Seth Rollins comes back, he and Styles should have some awesome matches. No Nakamura yet.
Main Event for Fast Lane has been announced as a triple threat between Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose, and Brock Lesnar. Another situation where Brock doesn’t have to be pinned to lose
Anyhoo, New Day actually managed to make the most of an unintentionally racist moment. When the Rock was in the ring electrifying the millions with his promo, he called out Michael Cole, JBL, and then “Who’s this new black guy?” referring to Saxton. ND came out and said “We’re the new black guys!” They had a funny moment when comparing Rock to LeBron James, in that both of them left Miami in a hurry to make their millions, because they knew they couldn’t do so in this puke-hole town. <local cheap heat> This led to Rock calling out his cousins the Usos, and he got to execute his People’s Nutbuster, People’s Eyebrow Cock, and People’s Elbow. He otherwise spent the rest of his mic time pushing WM. With so many A-listers out from injury, Vince needs all the help he can get selling the event.
How about another Triple Threat? They’re setting up a three-way rivalry between Charlotte, Sasha, and Becky Lynch. In the meantime, Paige is being shunted into Total Divas tie-ins. Sorry, I just can’t get into reality TV. I prefer drama scripted, even badly, rather than coerced and edited. It just strikes me as wrong to push buttons on fragile egos until meltdowns ensue.
