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Friday, June 28, 2013

How I Spent My Unemployment

By Chad Smart
@chadsmart & @my123cents on Twitter

With the shift in focus here at my123cents, I figured this might be a good time to start blogging again.  Dealing with pop culture opens up new avenues for thoughts and means I can go at least a month before I start recycling the same topics over and over.

For those that don’t know me, I freelance in the Reality Television world. This means I don’t have steady employment. Work one show and when it wraps up, I have to hustle to find a new job. Thankfully for the past three years, I’ve worked on a popular network show.  This means when we wrap out we know when the next season is starting. In the past, there was an average of seven weeks of down time. Since we would wrap out at the end of March, beginning of April, I had the opportunity to meet up with Kevin for our yearly Geek Week trips and then spend some time visiting family before going back to work.  This year was a bit different. Instead of seven weeks, we got three months off. That’s not really enough time to work on another show. In fact I had to turn down (technically I was turned down due to not being available through September) the new E! Network WWE Divas show.  That was a heartbreaker. Since I wasn’t working, I needed to find a way to spend my free time. Enter Movie Pass.

If you’re not familiar with Movie Pass, it’s kind of like Netflix for the theater. For $29.99 a month you’re allowed to see one movie a day. Based on movie prices here, that means if I see 3-4 movies a month, I'll break even. The limitations are you can only see a movie once, can’t buy advance tickets, can’t see Imax or 3D and the movie has to be showing at a theater that accepts Movie Pass. Here in Los Angeles, Movie Pass works with AMC theaters and most of the Independent theaters so there’s never a shortage of films to see. Or so I thought.
I returned from a trip to Illinois on April 29 and knew my next trip was on June 6. Since I didn’t have anything better to do with the days in between, I decided to see if I could see a different movie every day.  With the number of multiplexes and different theaters, I thought seeing a different movie every day for 37 days couldn’t be that hard.

Since I had had been traveling most of April, I had only seen two movies in that month. This meant I had a lot of movies to catch up on making the first two weeks easy to pick a movie and see. It wasn’t until the last week that I was running out of movies and going to see films I knew nothing about just to keep the streak alive.  I realized during this time that just because a theater has 15 or more screens, that doesn’t mean they are playing anywhere near 15 films.  In this age where every movie has to have screening in 2D, 3D, Imax, and 3D Imax, on average, a theater is only playing about 8-9 different films. Each week they may have 2-3 new films. So seeing 35 different films in 35 days was harder than I imagined.  Thankfully LA has several repository theaters so I could supplement new films with older films. 

Here is the list of films I saw from April 30 through June 5.
Iron Man 3, Oblivion, Pain and Gain, The Croods, Escape from New York, Oz: The Great and Powerful, The Goonies, 42, Mud, Place Beyond the Pines, Trance, The French Connection, No One Lives, Desperate Acts of Magic, GI Joe 2: Retaliation, And Now A Word From Our Sponsor, The Iceman, Back to School, The Outsiders/Rumble Fish, The Great Gatsby, Ghastly Love of Johnny X, Star Trek: Into Darkness, Free Samples, Cleopatra, Black Rock, Hangover Part 3, Super Mario Brothers, Epic, Stand By Me/Kings of Summer, Fast 6, Stories We Tell, Kon Tiki, Sightseers, The East, After Earth, From the Head, Sirius ,Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani

After a three-day delay from June 6-9, since I still wasn’t working I continued to see movies. Even though I did do another week straight of hanging out in the theater, I haven’t felt the need to make sure I saw a movie a day. If it happened, fine. If not, then that meant I actually had something else to do that day. Since June 10 these are the movies I’ve watched.
Deceptive Practices, The Internship, Rapture-Palooza, This is the End, Frances Ha, Battlestar Glactica, Man of Steel, Now You See Me, The Purge, Dazed and Confused, Monster’s University, Berberian Sound Studio, Compulsion, World War Z

I’m writing this on Friday morning. I’ve got three more days before returning to work. I will probably try and see at least one movie this weekend. Factoring in two months of paying for Movie Pass as well as the three movies I had to pay for due to not being able to use Movie Pass on those screenings, I spent $99 on tickets.  The cost of the actual tickets, had I paid for all of them, is $488.50. So even if I don’t see another movie this year, Movie Pass has paid for itself for the year.

I’d like to say after watching so many movies I had some deep analysis to offer up. I don’t.  I do feel the bigger the explosions in the movie the thinner the plot.  I don’t understand why studios make low budget movies and then don’t promote them or release them for wide viewings. Movies I would highly recommend are Mud, Kings of Summer and From the Head. Simple stories yet wildly entertaining.  Fast 6 is easily the most entertaining film of the summer so far.

That’s how I spent my time on the unemployment line. Now it’s time to get back to work and make some (hopefully) good TV. In the words of the late Siskel and Ebert, the balcony is closed. 

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Way Back WhensDay: You Can't Do That on Television

By Kevin Hunsperger
@kevinhunsperger & @my123cents

(Note: I know I spelled Wednesday wrong, it's a play on words.)

I was about 9 years old when cable television reached our community of High Ridge, a small town about 20 miles outside of St. Louis.  I still remember the dial boxes sitting on top of the TV in our kitchen and family room.  Instead of using a remote to zip through the channels, we had to turn the dial and click through each channel.  Life was so brutal.

I have two strong memories from that time period.  One was MTV and all the music videos that featured the stars I'd listened to on the radio for years.  The other was Nickelodeon, the network for kids.  The show that attracted my attention back then was called You Can't Do That On Television.  For people who have never seen it, if you're older, it was a kid version of Saturday Night Live.  If you're younger, it was the precursor to All That.

Slimed!
YCDTOTV featured a variety of child and teenage stars, telling jokes, doing skits, and getting slimed.  The sliming was always my favorite.  Whenever someone uttered the phrase "I don't know" a bucket of green slime was dumped on their head.  I remember at one point they actually teased a show that would feature different colored slime.  It was monumental in my tween years.  If someone said "Water" on the show, you guessed it, they were doused with a bucket of water.  Some stars had the double whammy of getting slimed and watered.

My friends and I would actually make our own slime and take turns playing dumb and saying those three famous words.  While it wasn't as epic as the sliming on TV, it was a memory of my childhood that stands out to me.

The cast when I watched was great.  I had a crush on the main star, Christine "Moose" McGlade.  Lisa Ruddy, Kevin Kubushekie, and Alasdair Gillis were also favorites of mine.  But perhaps the most talented member was the only adult male on the show, the late, great Les Lye.  He played so many awesome characters including stage hand Ross, Barth (owner of the health code violating Barth's Burgers), and the dad.  Music star Alanis Morissette appeared in five episodes of this Canadian hit.

I wish Nickelodeon would go retro and run episodes of YCDTOTV at some point, or even release the show on NetFlix or DVD.  Everytime I see a locker, I have the urge to climb in and start telling jokes.  Thanks for the memories.


Monday, June 24, 2013

Chris Benoit: Six Years Later

I got to meet Benoit in early 2007, months before his death
By Kevin Hunsperger
@kevinhunsperger & @my123cents on Twitter

It's been nearly two years since I've written a blog specifically about Chris Benoit and the days leading up to his death and the murders of his wife, Nancy and young son, Daniel.  My thoughts have not changed in that time either.  While the last couple of days of Benoit's life were heinous, I still can't look past the fact that he was one of the most gifted athletes to ever step into a wrestling ring.

I really struggle with that mindset at times.  I ask myself regularly if someone who I wasn't a fan of committed the same acts, how would I feel.  This is where the "wrestling hypocrite" comes out in me.  And let's face it, we all have a little (or a lot) of the hypocrite in us.

The WWE has for the most part taken Benoit out of their history books.  I was surprised to see him included in the first volume of the WWE Encyclopedia.  I don't know if he's in the latest edition.  Chad and I have discussed before how the company would have handled things had Benoit faced the Undertaker at a Wrestlemania.  I suspect they'd continue to edit him out of those highlights, just like they do with the first Money in the Bank ladder match.

I found this online, sums my thoughts up the best.
While Benoit seems to be gone from the website and DVD releases, (his name was edited out of Ric Flair's Hall of Fame speech in 2008), I can't help but notice a lot of similarities between Benoit and current WWE superstar Daniel Bryan.  The diving headbutt, the "No (or is it Yes) Lock", and his dives through the ropes remind me of the Rabid Wolverine.

So as I've always done, I won't celebrate the monster who killed his wife and son and then himself.  Instead, I'll remember one of my favorites and continue to wonder "What if" on many aspects of his troubled life.  Rest in Peace, Nancy, Daniel, and Chris.

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Raw Rumblings

The stare down
Courtesy: WWE
By Kevin Hunsperger
@kevinhunsperger & @my123cents on Twitter

It's been far too long since my last blog, and I apologize to regular readers for that.  We're still trying to resolve our Internet issues, and even as I type this, I have doubts that I'll actually be able to post it.

We're a couple of days removed from the June 17 episode of Raw, and I will tell you that I've been pretty impressed with the show over the last few weeks.  Some will likely scoff at that statement, but I have found the storytelling to be captivating and there's a feeling of unpredictability in the air, at least for now.

Several quick thoughts.  When I first read that Alberto Del Rio beat Dolph Ziggler for the World Heavyweight Championship, I was more than a little disappointed.  Dolph is one of my favorites on the roster right now and for him to lose the title so quickly after this nearly year long build bummed me out.  But the picture that was painted at Payback and again Monday on Raw has me more interested in ADR than I've ever been.  As a side note, I love that Antonio Cesaro has taken on Zeb Coulter as a manager.  I think the manager (and tag team wrestling) are the two elements I miss from the "good ol' days" of wrestling.  Hopefully this will help Cesaro and in my dream world, bring Kassius Ohno to the main roster too and the Kings of Wrestling will be reunited.

Speaking of managers, the separation of CM Punk and Paul Heyman has been brilliant in my opinion.  While I loved these two together, I can also see why it's important to split them up.  Let's face it, Punk was way over before Heyman came aboard.  The partnership helped develop Punk a bit further and make him "the bad guy",  but now it's time for the next chapter.  While I'm not a big Brock Lesnar fan, I will enjoy seeing Punk and Brock go after one another.  Plus, I'm glad they're not feeding Curtis Axel to Punk right out of the gate.

Axel and his father, Mr. Perfect are the first father-son duo to win the Intercontinental title.  Mr. Perfect was one of my all time favorite champs.  I just hope Axel is given time to hold the belt and develop as a champion.  I'd hate to see his sudden rise to the spotlight come to a screeching halt.

Christian returns
Photo courtesy: WWE
Christian is back, and that's a good thing in my view.  However, I wonder if he'll soon be in that Chris Jericho role of putting younger talent over.  I don't have a problem with that either, as I think when guys reach a certain point it's important to pass the torch to the next generation.  I also wonder the same thing about Rob Van Dam.  To be fair to TNA, if they'd announced his return, I would have been critical of that decision.  But hey, let's enjoy these guys who can clearly still "go" in the ring.

I can't wait for the Wyatt family to debut.  I'll be curious to see how the WWE Universe reacts to this motley crew and if the company will give them time to develop.  Husky Harris (Bray Wyatt) was my favorite from NXT season 2, and I was sad to see him shipped back to developmental, but perhaps he'll be bigger and better this time around.

Daniel Bryan has succeeded in making me watch a Randy Orton match without fast forwarding.  Bryan's character and performance over the last few weeks has been top notch.  I can't get enough of this guy.  He truly is one of the best the company has to offer.

Guess who's not retiring?
Courtesy: WWE
Mark Henry's "double cross" on John Cena wasn't much of a surprise to me.  I'm always skeptical when wrestlers tweet and claim they're going to do something on TV.  I figured Henry's tweets would lead to something in the ring, I just didn't know who his victim would be until he appeared during Cena's segment.  Speaking of, I know I just said it's important for older talent to put over the young guys, but I wouldn't be totally disappointed in a Mark Henry WWE Title run.  Two years ago, I would have never, EVER said such a thing.  By the way, I loved Henry's suit coat too.

Kaitlyn's nip slip was the talk of the web for a couple of days.  I'm surprised it doesn't have its own Twitter account.  But really, I can't believe these wardrobe malfunctions don't happen more often.

Finally, the McMahon family drama.  Yes, it's a rehash from the late 90's-early 2000's.  But to be honest, I'm enjoying it.  I do think there are too many chiefs and not enough Indians as they say.  Between Vince, Stephanie, Triple H, Vickie Guerrero, Brad Maddox, Teddy Long, and Booker T, who are we to believe is in charge?  Regardless, I'm curious to see where this all ends up, I'm just hoping it's not another match between Vince and Trips, but it seems like the Shield may become a part of this, which I think could be a good thing.

As Nelson used to sing, "Only Time Will Tell" what's next, but I for one am excited and a proud fan of WWE.

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Recipe: Collision Cookies

Collision Cookies, yummy
By Kevin Hunsperger
@kevinhunsperger & @my123cents on Twitter

I recently participated in a fundraiser called 100 Men Who Cook.  It's the third year I've done it, and each year, I try to slip in a wrestling theme.  This year, I made "Collision" Cookies, in an attempt to cross promote Pro Wrestling Collision here in southern Illinois.

Here's the secret on Collision Cookies.  I "borrowed" the recipe from my WWF Cookbook "Can You Take the Heat?"  It's the Rock's Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe.  But here's the other big secret.  That recipe is actually the recipe for Neman Marcus Cookies.  So in an attempt to not look like a total thief, I added a smashed banana to my cookies.  I told people the flavors collide in your mouth.  I should be in marketing, right?

Anyway, here's the recipe if you'd like to try your own.

Don't you love I'm wearing a gym shirt
while baking cookies?

Collision Cookies
1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 mashed over ripe banana
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups flour
2 1/2 cups quick oatmeal, blended to a fine powder in a food processor
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips
4 ounces Hershey Bars, grated
OPTIONAL:
1 1/2 cups chopped nuts (walnuts, pecans or mixture)
Directions:
1.  Preheat oven to 375°F Cream butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and banana.  Stir in eggs and vanilla. Blend in flour, oatmeal, salt, and baking powder. Add chocolate chips and nuts.

2.  Roll dough into 3/4- to 1-inch balls and place them 2 inches apart on a lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake 20 minutes or until browned to suit.

3.  Place on a cooling rack and immediately add the grated Hershey bar to the top.

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

TNA is on a Rampage

Rampage Jackson
By Chad Smart
@chadsmart & @my123cents on Twitter


Last week, Dixie Carter tweeted TNA had signed a BIG free agent. Today it was announced that free agent Quinton “Rampage” Jackson had signed a dual contract with Bellator and TNA. I haven’t read the details of the contract so I don’t know which company is going to be the main focus of Rampage’s career but given his MMA background, I’m going to guess he will spend more time fighting for Bellator than wrestling for TNA.

If you go back a year ago, Dixie Carter announced the signing of King Mo. Mo has a similar Bellator/TNA contract. Outside of being the special enforcer in the James Storm vs. Bobby Roode match at Bound for Glory, and some highlights from OVW, King Mo hasn’t been seen in TNA.

While I have no real opinion on Rampage Jackson other than I thought he was good in the A-Team movie, I question why TNA would sign guys to dual contracts. Maybe there are some behind the scenes dealing with Spike that aren’t public knowledge. TNA does promote Bellator during Impact more than Impact gets promoted on Spike from what I’ve seen.

As a fan, this signing really doesn’t move my give a darn meter in the slightest. Mainly because I’m not an MMA fan in the slightest so seeing an MMA fighter in a wrestling ring doesn’t interest me. For TNA’s sake, I hope I’m in the minority. 

Daniel Bryan: You Are (NOT) the Weakest Link

Daniel Bryan goes airborne
Photo courtesy: WWE
By Kevin Hunsperger
@kevinhunsperger & @my123cents

I've always respected the in ring work of Daniel Bryan, even before he was with the WWE and working as Bryan Danielson in Ring of Honor and on the indy (or is it indie?) scene.   I love when he's actually able to get in there and wrestle.  To say that Bryan doesn't give 110% each time he's in the ring would be a huge understatement.

The last couple of weeks have been interesting for Bryan and his Team Hell No partner Kane.  I really have enjoyed what the WWE has done with these two, painting Bryan as the frustrated loser who can't seem to catch a break.  His matches with the Shield have been stellar.  Monday night on Raw, I feel like he and Ryback had an amazing match too.

While some think Bryan's best days are behind him, or agree that he is the weak link of his team, I disagree.  I think this  is clearly the rebranding of one of the most versatile wrestlers (yes, I said wrestlers) in the company.  He takes every challenge (gimmick) thrown his way and excels.


Monday, June 3, 2013

Thank you, Chris

Me & Chris Hagstrom @ his last Pro Wrestling Collision show
Photo courtesy: My 1-2-3 Cents 
By Kevin Hunsperger
@kevinhunsperger & @my123cents

This blog is long overdue.  For those who have followed my adventures this past month, you know I've been dealing with poor Internet connections.  That has made blogging nearly impossible to do, but we seem to be up and running now.  So I just wanted to say "thank you" publicly to a friend of mine, Chris Hagstrom.

I first met Chris via Facebook and Twitter three years ago.  While we were both in Phoenix at the same time for Wrestlemania 26, we never had the chance to meet face to face.  Nearly a year later, Chris sent me a message, asking if I'd be interested in helping him with a project for his video students at Southern Illinois University.  That project was for his students to produce a wrestling show for television, complete with color commentary and play-by-play.  Chris and I would be filling those roles.

Since it had been my lifelong dream to work in the world of wrestling, of course I jumped at the chance.  Because that first show was recording over the weekend of Wrestlemania 27 and I was in Atlanta, Chris and I met later and did the commentary in post production.  That first day was rough, as I'll admit I didn't know many of the wrestlers on the All American Pro Wrestling roster at the time.  Like I mentioned, I thought this was just for the class project, until Chris informed me of his idea to take AAPW Collision to local TV, not just any station, but the one I was (and still am) working for.

AAPW Commentary team
I thought it would be a hard sell, as public perception of wrestling isn't the greatest.  However, things took off and AAPW Collision debuted on WSIL on September 3, 2011.  By that point we had had two live-to-tape shows under our belts and I was getting into the groove of things.  Eventually Chris was named promoter of the company and worked very, very hard to find a permanent home for AAPW.  That home would be Black Diamond Harley Davidson.

Chris also worked very, very hard to keep the program on the air.  I don't know how much he spent through the years, but I do know it was a significant amount of money.  He did it all not to become a rich wrestling promoter.  He wanted to share his passion and love for wrestling with others who had the same interest in it.  Along the way, we became friends, and others got involved in the process, including Adam Testa.  The three of us nicknamed ourselves the Brain Trust.  We eventually started a radio program on AM 1150 Monster Radio called From the Rafters Radio along with Chad and Aaron Heller.  This was another Hagstrom funded endeavour and I can't thank him enough for that too.

The Brain Trust with Cross, Generico, PAC, & Cabana
AAPW Main Event
AAPW Collision aired every other week, and more fans started supporting the product.  That also attracted more help, guys like Drew Robbins and Nathan Norman became regulars on show days, which lasted 16 hours (or more).  Chris was there the whole time, rolling up his sleeves, hauling the steel and boards for the ring, making sure the audio and video connections were hooked up right, and tearing things down at the end of the night.

Long story short, without Chris Hagstrom, I would have never had the opportunity to live my dream.  I would have never got to be a wrestling play-by-play guy for two great independent promotions.  I would have never had the chance to step into the ring and have a match (which I won, thanks to Chris and Jay Spade), and more importantly, I wouldn't have become friends with a guy who is one of the most selfless people I've ever met.

Back in May, Chris stepped away from Pro Wrestling Collision, a company he helped create and bankroll as well.  It's time for Chris to focus on his personal life and starting a family.  I wish him well and will miss him on show days, but I know that our friendship hasn't gone down for the three count.  (Cheesy, yes, but I had to tie it up with a wrestling reference)




Slammiversary XI Thoughts

By Chad Smart
@chadsmart & @my123cents on Twitter

On Friday, I wrote a blog detailing some of the “issues” I felt TNA needs to address to improve the company. After watching Slammiversary XI, I am still concerned most of those issues will continue to be problems going forward. Because of these issues, I have decided to hold off on purchasing tickets for Bound For Glory as I want to see how TNA proceeds before throwing down a chunk of change for a show that might possibly be equally parts entertaining wrestling and annoying booking. With that said here are my thoughts on what went down in Boston.

I mentioned in the blog on Friday how I have little interest in Aces and Eights because they do nothing but lose. Instead of having a solid showing at Slammiversary, they turned out to be the “pu***es in leather” Hulk Hogan referred to them as early in the show. Garrett Bischoff/Wes Brisco/Mr. Anderson lost a six-man tag match to Magnus/Samoa Joe and Jeff Hardy. D-Von lost the TV title to Abyss. Bully Ray retained the World Title only after Bischoff, Doc, D-Von and Brisco ran in and got beat down by Sting allowing Mr. Anderson to hand Bully a hammer which he used to hit Sting in the head knocking Sting out for an easy three count.

Bully Ray wins with Aces & Eights
Photo by Impact Wrestling
Again I ask, am I really supposed to care about Aces and Eights? If so, what have they done to make me interested? I’m not asking for complete dominance. That would be too extreme in the opposite direction. But is it too much to ask that any member of Aces and Eights get a victory that means something? 

If Aces and Eights really want to win a match, I recommend they take at least a couple of months off from wrestling. In Friday’s blog, I talked about how wrestlers disappear for months at a time. Usually it’s mid-card wrestlers who fans forget all about, then when they reappear fans are in a stunned silence trying to figure out who is in the ring. When a popular wrestler disappears and reappears the TNA playbook is to have the wrestler get the big win.

Chris Sabin wins gold
Photo by Impact Wrestling
At Slammiversary, Chris Sabin won the X-Division title after returning in the past month from being on the injured list for almost a year. Abyss’s return to TV was capped off by winning the TV title. James Storm hasn’t been gone but his tag-team partner last night, Gunner, hadn’t been seen in God knows how long. In their first title match StormGunners won the Tag Team Titles. I don’t know what long term plans TNA has in place so I may be being typical internet wrestling fan nitpicking for the sake of complaining, but none of these title changes seemed necessary. 

Being X-Division champion allows Chris Sabin to challenge for the World Title at some point over the summer. I can see why TNA would rather have a Sabin/Bully Ray match instead of a Kenny King/Bully Ray match but it still feels like Sabin’s victory was done simply because he returned from a serious injury. Abyss’ win was bad storytelling. Abyss replaced his brother Joseph Park after Park was attacked backstage by Aces and Eights. Joseph had been counted out so the match was over. The D-Von/Abyss match never should have happened. Trying to remember why James Storm was inserted into tag match since from what I recall he had been calling out AJ Styles and dealing with Aces and Eights. Putting the tag straps on a new makeshift team instead of an established makeshift team seems shortsighted. We’ll see where it goes.

Taryn vs. Gail Kim
Photo by Impact Wrestling
Since I’ve been negative so far let me dish out some praise. The match of the night and surprise of the night had to be the Gail Kim/Taryn Terrell Last Knockout Standing Match. Anyone who’s followed Gail Kim’s career knows she can bring it when allowed to actually showcase her wrestling talent but who knew Taryn was as good as she is before this match? Either she greatly improved since joining TNA or WWE really doesn’t know how to utilize Divas. This was a more brutal and entertaining match than expected and it was given the right amount of time to tell the story.  If you didn’t see Slammiversary, I highly recommend you track down this match.

Soon-to-be-Hall of Famer Kurt Angle with Kevin & Chad
Photo by My 1-2-3 Cents
Kurt Angle was announced as this year’s TNA Hall of Fame inductee. I am of the belief active wrestlers shouldn’t be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Last year when Sting was announced, I questioned the reasoning. After the Hall of Fame ceremony was over it made sense why TNA inducted him and doing so on the tenth anniversary of the company was meaningful. I understand the significance of Kurt Angle leaving WWE for TNA however I don’t t feel this is the right time for his induction. Not only because Kurt is still wrestling but also in terms of historical importance I feel Jeff and/or Jerry Jarrett should be inducted before anyone else. Kurt going in now also looks like another example of TNA putting ex-WWE/WCW guys over their homegrown talent. AJ Styles, James Storm, Christopher Daniels and even Abyss have been in TNA longer than Angle. Why is Angle being inducted before guys who helped found the company?

I briefly touched on the main event when talking about Aces and Eights. Sting losing means he can never challenge for the World Title again. I don’t know how much longer Sting will be wrestling. I do know this stipulation is a good thing as now TNA might push some new contenders into the World Title scene. If memory serves right, Sting has challenged for the World Title at either Bound For Glory or Slammiversary every year since 2006. Time to mix it up. Now I ask TNA to layout a world title match that doesn’t involve ref bumps and run-ins. I won’t hold my breath.

After reading this you might be thinking Slammiversary wasn’t a good show. To be honest, Slammiversary was a perfectly fine wrestling show hindered only by TNA’s standard booking practices. I am not disappointed I paid for the show. I’m only sad that after 11 years, TNA continues to make the same decisions over and over and over. The TNA locker room is full of talent. If TNA wants to grow they have to stop being TNA.  I forgot to mention this earlier so I’m going to briefly throw it in here. Jay Bradley won a spot in the Bound For Glory series. I’m not saying he should win the series but he should be in the final four. This is a chance to build a new star. Will TNA seize the opportunity or will Jay be the Jobber To The Stars in the tournament? Time will tell.