Post by spawnsyxx9 on May 30, 2008 5:57:20 GMT -5
Fact or Fiction from spam.com
1. The beat down on AJ Styles to close out Impact last week was a great angle.
Geoff Eubanks : FICTION. Admittedly, I've not been committed to enduring, uhm, watching TNA for the better part of a year, due to the ridiculous, wasteful, superfluous nature of the booking. When AJ Styles, one of his generation's most talented performers, started wearing that
ing crown, I wanted to wallop him with a chair myself. An optimistic mind could consider this gang jump a positive thing with respect to Styles' growing back his balls, likely siding with Samoa Joe, Christian Cage and Rhino, but, aside from personal vindication away from Angle, where does this really leave AJ? As far as I'm concerned, I agreed with TEAM 3D & Booker T when they pointed to Karen and proclaimed to Kurt, "THERE'S the problem!" She's been shaking those hooker tits in AJ's face for so long the poor kid doesn't know if Right is down or left is up. Besides a face AJ has really only one singles title recourse, as Joe has a (well-deserved) hold on the TNA Title. While the company totally needs to re-invigorate the X-Division, and AJ *could* be the man to do it, TNA needs to stop pulling AJ out of the main event to help them out every time they up the XD. Just ask Chris Daniels where that gets you.
With all that *could* be done here to benefit Styles and the company itself, I've got a fiver that says all of this is going to focus a damn sight more on Kurt & Karen Angle than it will Styles and his future standing in the company. Or maybe they're setting up Styles and Karen once Kurt kills himself in the ring…(see below)
Jarrod Westerfeld : FICTION. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it and thought TNA did a great job of setting it up and getting me to care, again, about AJ Styles in a big way. It was a very good segment that was built up brilliantly these past few months, and earlier on the show with the confrontations between Karen and Kurt, and AJ with Tomko, but it wasn't great. This beating dragged on for so long that I almost felt uncomfortable at points. It also didn't help that AJ was bleeding profusely from, I believe, a single chain shot, while earlier on the show Homicide and Hernandez had tiny cuts from eating unprotected chair shots to the head. So those little things added up to making what could've been a great segment into only a good one that'll be remised in a couple of months.
Score: 1 for 1
2. Considering his history of neck issues and that he currently has three cracked vertebrae and two herniated discs; Kurt Angle should not wrestle at Slammiversary.
Geoff Eubanks : FACT. MOTHERING FACT!!! For Foley's sake. It increasingly seems to me that perhaps the worst thing Kurt Angle could have done so early in his life was to have managed to buck the odds at the 1996 Olympics and win a gold medal with a broken freakin neck, because, since he did it then, he seems to be eschewing common sense year after year, injury after injury, believing himself to possess a quality of will that supersedes the demands of a fully-functioning body.
Now, true, we all claim to have a better grasp here in the IWC of that which we do not truly understand (some better and more so than others), and, it's true, Angle must certainly know his body better than any of us, but HOW many serious injuries IS this now? THREE cracked vertebrae AND TWO herniated disks?! This scares me for his sake, because it's reminiscent of the "invincible" attitude employed by Eddie Guerrero after he lived through that horrific car wreck that *should* have killed him but didn't. I'm not going to be all sensationalistic and suggest that Angle's going to die or be paralyzed in the ring or anything, but, unless reports over the last six years have been greatly exaggerated, it seems clear to me that Angle's retirement will be a forced one because his body will not allow him to perform any longer…and sooner than later. (One wonders exactly HOW bad off Angle's physical situation must become before Dixie steps in and says no more, as we were led to believe she would when Angle first signed to TNA…?) A permanently sidelined Angle will be miserable because, in his 40s, he still has a college kid's " it all" desire to compete, which would be admirable if it weren't so suicidal; imagine how unbearable the rest of his life will be if he's forced to live the rest of his life in a wheelchair?
Jarrod Westerfeld : FACT. I'm only going to buy Slammiversary for Kurt and AJ, but even I can't root to see this happen so soon after yet another injury to his neck. I've been a loud opponent of Kurt's early entry into TNA for so long now that I have to call, once again, foul on his irresponsibility to himself and his family and to this company for not taking better care of him. The man has been working hurt for way too long. He doesn't want to stop and rest and TNA can't afford to not have him around considering he's the biggest star name they have that could, and by all rights should, bring their name into the limelight. It's too soon to stick him onto a pay-per-view card against the likes of a young blood wrestler, and if something is wrong with (Kurt) to the effect that he ends up hurting AJ, then this company is royallyed for sure. It's one thing to lose a single star, it's another to lose two because of something that could've been prevented by simply sitting one of these guys, namely the limp dog, on the sidelines.
Score: 2 for 2
3. Sting deserves a retirement similar to Ric Flair's.
Geoff Eubanks : FACT. I've followed the progress of TNA Sting (having decidedly been NEITHER a fan of "surfer" NOR "Crow" incarnations) and I have to admit to an almost complete 180 degree turn where my respect for Sting is concerned. Steve Borden signed with the company for all the right reasons (to lend his legendary name to a fledgling franchise and to help both the company and its youngsters grow in a manner that would benefit them all) and has behaved as an absolute class act to be revered and replicated by any and all who respect this business. He's in phenomenal shape, plays ball with management and has been, by all accounts, a hell of a backstage role model, all to be absolutely commended.
In a business where we've become conditioned to saying goodbye to our heroes far too prematurely due to untimely deaths, it's my opinion that those who are still around at their careers' end should receive an appropriate hero's send off. They, the talent, deserve it, the fans certainly deserve it and more such Flair-type send-offs are just plain good for the business itself, IMO. Plus, considering the fact that Sting's TNA contract expires in December 2008, there's still conceivably time for him to sign a WWE Legends contract and be inducted into the Hall of Fame in Houston (presumably by Flair) on the 25th anniversary of WrestleMania, with a career-spanning DVD to follow.
Jarrod Westerfeld : FICTION. I already foresee the hate mail coming my way, but let's be honest here, what is Sting's legacy? He played an ultra cool character during the height of the Monday Night Wars. Anything else? Yeah, that's pretty much what I figured too.
He's a legend, that's for certain, but he's not the caliber of legend that needs some huge send off the likes of which should be remembered for years to come. But I'm not saying he should be shoved out the back door and dragged off to the glue factory, either. His send off should be special and big, but not of the caliber of Flair's – hell, Flair got the kind of send off Harley Race should've had, and a send off that should've been thought about for Bret Hart, but no one else, really off the top of my head, deserves that kind of farewell. A reunion of the Four Horsemen, and the goodbye to a legend that stuck around long after he should've given up the game with so much heartfelt moments and so many people thanking him for allowing them a stage on which to try and live out those boyhood dreams of growing up to be just like him? That's not in the stars for Sting. No one grew up wanting to be him, and what reunion could he have that would be of any significance to him or this industry? Him and "Dingo" Warrior hanging around in the middle of a ring? Yeah, there's some significance in that, alright. Sting should get a proper farewell along the lines of "here's your final match, you go over, get some pretty sparklers, hug a few guys that mean something to you, share the spotlight with your family, and go home with this nice paycheck; thank you, enjoy retirement." Cold, but it's about all his legacy really afforded him.
Score: 2 for 3
1. The beat down on AJ Styles to close out Impact last week was a great angle.
Geoff Eubanks : FICTION. Admittedly, I've not been committed to enduring, uhm, watching TNA for the better part of a year, due to the ridiculous, wasteful, superfluous nature of the booking. When AJ Styles, one of his generation's most talented performers, started wearing that
ing crown, I wanted to wallop him with a chair myself. An optimistic mind could consider this gang jump a positive thing with respect to Styles' growing back his balls, likely siding with Samoa Joe, Christian Cage and Rhino, but, aside from personal vindication away from Angle, where does this really leave AJ? As far as I'm concerned, I agreed with TEAM 3D & Booker T when they pointed to Karen and proclaimed to Kurt, "THERE'S the problem!" She's been shaking those hooker tits in AJ's face for so long the poor kid doesn't know if Right is down or left is up. Besides a face AJ has really only one singles title recourse, as Joe has a (well-deserved) hold on the TNA Title. While the company totally needs to re-invigorate the X-Division, and AJ *could* be the man to do it, TNA needs to stop pulling AJ out of the main event to help them out every time they up the XD. Just ask Chris Daniels where that gets you.With all that *could* be done here to benefit Styles and the company itself, I've got a fiver that says all of this is going to focus a damn sight more on Kurt & Karen Angle than it will Styles and his future standing in the company. Or maybe they're setting up Styles and Karen once Kurt kills himself in the ring…(see below)
Jarrod Westerfeld : FICTION. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it and thought TNA did a great job of setting it up and getting me to care, again, about AJ Styles in a big way. It was a very good segment that was built up brilliantly these past few months, and earlier on the show with the confrontations between Karen and Kurt, and AJ with Tomko, but it wasn't great. This beating dragged on for so long that I almost felt uncomfortable at points. It also didn't help that AJ was bleeding profusely from, I believe, a single chain shot, while earlier on the show Homicide and Hernandez had tiny cuts from eating unprotected chair shots to the head. So those little things added up to making what could've been a great segment into only a good one that'll be remised in a couple of months.
Score: 1 for 1
2. Considering his history of neck issues and that he currently has three cracked vertebrae and two herniated discs; Kurt Angle should not wrestle at Slammiversary.
Geoff Eubanks : FACT. MOTHER
ING FACT!!! For Foley's sake. It increasingly seems to me that perhaps the worst thing Kurt Angle could have done so early in his life was to have managed to buck the odds at the 1996 Olympics and win a gold medal with a broken freakin neck, because, since he did it then, he seems to be eschewing common sense year after year, injury after injury, believing himself to possess a quality of will that supersedes the demands of a fully-functioning body.Now, true, we all claim to have a better grasp here in the IWC of that which we do not truly understand (some better and more so than others), and, it's true, Angle must certainly know his body better than any of us, but HOW many serious injuries IS this now? THREE cracked vertebrae AND TWO herniated disks?! This scares me for his sake, because it's reminiscent of the "invincible" attitude employed by Eddie Guerrero after he lived through that horrific car wreck that *should* have killed him but didn't. I'm not going to be all sensationalistic and suggest that Angle's going to die or be paralyzed in the ring or anything, but, unless reports over the last six years have been greatly exaggerated, it seems clear to me that Angle's retirement will be a forced one because his body will not allow him to perform any longer…and sooner than later. (One wonders exactly HOW bad off Angle's physical situation must become before Dixie steps in and says no more, as we were led to believe she would when Angle first signed to TNA…?) A permanently sidelined Angle will be miserable because, in his 40s, he still has a college kid's "
it all" desire to compete, which would be admirable if it weren't so suicidal; imagine how unbearable the rest of his life will be if he's forced to live the rest of his life in a wheelchair?Jarrod Westerfeld : FACT. I'm only going to buy Slammiversary for Kurt and AJ, but even I can't root to see this happen so soon after yet another injury to his neck. I've been a loud opponent of Kurt's early entry into TNA for so long now that I have to call, once again, foul on his irresponsibility to himself and his family and to this company for not taking better care of him. The man has been working hurt for way too long. He doesn't want to stop and rest and TNA can't afford to not have him around considering he's the biggest star name they have that could, and by all rights should, bring their name into the limelight. It's too soon to stick him onto a pay-per-view card against the likes of a young blood wrestler, and if something is wrong with (Kurt) to the effect that he ends up hurting AJ, then this company is royally
ed for sure. It's one thing to lose a single star, it's another to lose two because of something that could've been prevented by simply sitting one of these guys, namely the limp dog, on the sidelines.Score: 2 for 2
3. Sting deserves a retirement similar to Ric Flair's.
Geoff Eubanks : FACT. I've followed the progress of TNA Sting (having decidedly been NEITHER a fan of "surfer" NOR "Crow" incarnations) and I have to admit to an almost complete 180 degree turn where my respect for Sting is concerned. Steve Borden signed with the company for all the right reasons (to lend his legendary name to a fledgling franchise and to help both the company and its youngsters grow in a manner that would benefit them all) and has behaved as an absolute class act to be revered and replicated by any and all who respect this business. He's in phenomenal shape, plays ball with management and has been, by all accounts, a hell of a backstage role model, all to be absolutely commended.
In a business where we've become conditioned to saying goodbye to our heroes far too prematurely due to untimely deaths, it's my opinion that those who are still around at their careers' end should receive an appropriate hero's send off. They, the talent, deserve it, the fans certainly deserve it and more such Flair-type send-offs are just plain good for the business itself, IMO. Plus, considering the fact that Sting's TNA contract expires in December 2008, there's still conceivably time for him to sign a WWE Legends contract and be inducted into the Hall of Fame in Houston (presumably by Flair) on the 25th anniversary of WrestleMania, with a career-spanning DVD to follow.
Jarrod Westerfeld : FICTION. I already foresee the hate mail coming my way, but let's be honest here, what is Sting's legacy? He played an ultra cool character during the height of the Monday Night Wars. Anything else? Yeah, that's pretty much what I figured too.
He's a legend, that's for certain, but he's not the caliber of legend that needs some huge send off the likes of which should be remembered for years to come. But I'm not saying he should be shoved out the back door and dragged off to the glue factory, either. His send off should be special and big, but not of the caliber of Flair's – hell, Flair got the kind of send off Harley Race should've had, and a send off that should've been thought about for Bret Hart, but no one else, really off the top of my head, deserves that kind of farewell. A reunion of the Four Horsemen, and the goodbye to a legend that stuck around long after he should've given up the game with so much heartfelt moments and so many people thanking him for allowing them a stage on which to try and live out those boyhood dreams of growing up to be just like him? That's not in the stars for Sting. No one grew up wanting to be him, and what reunion could he have that would be of any significance to him or this industry? Him and "Dingo" Warrior hanging around in the middle of a ring? Yeah, there's some significance in that, alright. Sting should get a proper farewell along the lines of "here's your final match, you go over, get some pretty sparklers, hug a few guys that mean something to you, share the spotlight with your family, and go home with this nice paycheck; thank you, enjoy retirement." Cold, but it's about all his legacy really afforded him.
Score: 2 for 3
