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The Specialists
THE ABSURDITY OF IT ALL - TNA GENESIS PPV 1/11: Card Subject to Change, MOTY Candidates, Rhino and Kip embarrassing, Mr. Socko vs. Mafia Jan 12, 2009 - 2:56:26 AM
TNA creates a hokey "MEM beats up Rhino in the hotel room" bit before his lackluster match with Sting. Guess what? They cheered Sting anyway. Rhino should have just given everybody in the crowd free ice cream sundaes or something.
And remember Carolina: nearly every sports talk radio guy I listened to picked the Panthers to beat the Cardinals.
Hernandez looks good in his random X Division match. I can definitely picture Hernandez vs. Sting. Fans have to keep reminding themselves that Sting is champion, and that isn't good.
I could have done just fine in not watching any of those backstage segments. Cornette pounding on MEM door to find out more about the Rhino angle was just plain bad all around. It was soap opera trash.
The viewer had the feeling that TNA would not mess with the Sabin vs. Shelley match, and what a match it was. I wish TNA would get away from all of the bull and go back to "the old days" of great X division matches (credit to photos-e.ak.facebook.com for pic).
Probably some more of Sewell vs. Bashir in the future. Sewell carries an American flag with him to the ring, Bashir spits on it, etc.
"When you plan the show, make sure that Steiner and Booker get a chance to say something, even though most of the time what they are saying is pointless."
Hey, look at that. Beer Money regain the tag team belts in a monkey crap tag team match. It's an art, this booking and writing. But the silver lining is perhaps a Morgan vs. Abyss hardcore match down the road.
ODB vs. Kong again, but Kong's got some baggage in the form of Khan and Bolt. Instead of adding more, maybe they should take away. Trim the fat.
The top rope curse comes into play once again with the Jarrett vs. Angle match. Enjoyed watching these two. If Jeff is going to be written off of TV and it's just Foley in charge...hmm. When I look at Jeff, I keep thinking about hair products.
Perhaps one day it can be Mike Tenay vs. the guys in the truck. "Play that damn video package now! Now, damnit, now!" Remember TNA, you guys are running a PPV here. And people did pay to see it. You're supposed to be professional.
Then again, remember when TNA showed softcore porn on one of their PPV's last year? How did that slip in there?
I rather enjoyed Rhino vs. Sting, but not really for a good reason. It was a bit heartwarming for me. TNA goes into the bag of wrestling tricks and have Rhino be beat up by the evil MEM before the match. Too bad TNA forgot to remember to gauge the actual feelings of the fans. That little thing of understanding the context of the situation. You just can't plug in certain storyline bits and expect to get the same results every time.
Yes indeed, Cute Kip. You look across the board and Kip was the only heel left on the TNA roster. I'm glad that they didn't bring in Sabin or Shelley, since these guys stole the show on their own terms. I don't know what the hell they are doing with James Storm or Robert Roode. But anybody in the back worth their grain of salt knows that Kip was not a suitable replacement (credit to slam.canoe.ca for pic).
If Kip was announced ahead of time, nobody would buy the match. One of Foley's first promos in TNA mocked Kip as being a joke. Come Genesis time Foley squares off against Kip in the main event. Uh huh. Gee Kip, all of those Beautiful People promos sure made you ready for this match. I wonder who's going to be the next random guy TNA shoves in the spotlight.
TNA goes into the wrestling bag of tricks again and has Kip bring up his championship reigns from 2,000 years ago and throws in that "'insert town here' sport teams really suck" bit.
One could get excited for MEM vs. Foley...if Foley was ten years younger. Now it looks like both TNA and Foley are going for the cheap pops by having Foley do what Frontline never could have done.
To date, Frontline has really all but won pointless matches. Eric Young wins the X Division title belt. Gets stripped of it. Jay Lethal and Consequences Creed win the tag team belts. Lose them three days later. A waste of talent in what they are doing with A.J. Styles.
Presumably Foley was brought in to help nurture young talent. I'm guessing that's why they have Foley picking on Shelley for no really good reason. Brother Ray and Joe being "taken out" didn't really help matters in terms of really believing this Frontline vs. MEM feud. If you look at it now, it's just A.J. Styles and Devon. Rhino is portrayed as a damn joke. He's not the leader of anything.
So it's now Foley vs. MEM now. I'm a Foley fan, but I'm wondering what sort of plan TNA has in place, or if they are just going for the short-term gains (credit to blogs.orlandosentinel.com).
This PPV is what fans could expect. One had the feeling that TNA was not going to mess with Sabin vs. Shelly and Angle vs. Jarrett. Bashir vs. Sewell is hokey but to quote Mr. Kennedy, "things could be worse." TNA succeeded in making Rhino vs. Sting even less appealing. That Beer Money and Knockout match shouldn't have been on the PPV. Maybe Foley is the one who killed Frontline. Who knows.
POSITIVES
-- Hernandez gets a nice push in his match
-- Sabin vs. Shelley
-- Bashir vs. Sewell
-- Kurt Angle vs. Jeff Jarrett
NEGATIVES
-- Backstage segments
-- Rhino injury
-- Childish pouting during Tenay vs. guys in the truck
-- Oh look. Beer Money win back the belts. Yawn. Sure made that Impact tag team match really worth watching.
-- Knockouts. What the hell happened here?
-- Sting vs. Rhino wasn't worth showing for free
-- Main event match. Is Foley really the right guy to push?
This PPV WAS garbage.I always expect a good to great match out of
lightweights so its no surprise to me.Everything else?Eh.Angle always
delivers but I dont understand.Angle the heel says all that about jarrett
and his daughters then he delivers a victory?Isnt the point of a heel
attacking and being a heel that the face will have comeuppance?I reccomend
the saturday articles section.
mr.swagga
12 Jan 2009, 03:17
Not as good as sundays.
Eric Gall
12 Jan 2009, 04:35
OK, I may be beating a dead horse here, but here goes. The only time you
mention "absurd" or "absurdity" is in the title of the column and the very
last line. I find it interesting that you trash 95% of what TNA does, yet
when you were still sending in ECW Reax, you were one of the few people
defending Mike Adamle when he made his historically bad commentating debut.
The photos you put in your columns are awkward, and the credits placed
next to them within the text are distracting and clunky. Guttman created
his own humorous photoshopped pics to great effect when he had his column
here. But used in this manner, it's, well...on the high end of absurdity.
Luis
12 Jan 2009, 06:23
TNA still sucks no matter what!!
steve
12 Jan 2009, 10:56
Luis
12 Jan 2009, 06:23
TNA still sucks no matter what!! You're a doucetard no matter what.
shelley vs. sabin was the best match. I know TNA should have done better
with the six man match. Jarrett-angle was also a positive. the rest could
have been saved for impact.
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