Cero Reviews TNA Hardcore Justice 2014

[cero2k]

TNA Hardcore Justice 2014
August 20, 2014
Hammerstain Ballroom, NYC

Stairway to Janice Match
Bram vs Abyss - 6.5/10
Straight up gonna say it, i like the name of the match, it's cheesy, but it work, and more about that in a minute. This was a really really good match for the really really short amount of time it got. Bram is a monster, he's such a psychopath that he makes Abyss look PG, I'm liking a lot the direction and build Bram is getting considering he kinda came out of nowhere. Bram taking the barbwire board without any protection or shirt or anything made me scream out loud! Only small issue i had was that the match was won via pinfall, considering there were ladder match and object on a pole match things going on. But THAT is why it was called Stairway to Janice and not a ladder match or janice on a pole match.

ECII and Co. - Good for what it was.

Bram & Magnus - short but awesome.

ECIII, Spud, and Rhyno Segment - Awesome
Not really liking that ECIII and Rhino are going separate ways, but the idea of them feuding is mouthwatering, Bit worried where Spud is on this, hopefully they don't decide to turn him face, because that would be the most stupid move TNA has done since giving the TNA/NWA title to Ken Shamrock. I also love a pissed off ECIII.

Samoa Joe Promo - good for what it was, but i kinda feel he's been saying the same thing over and over. But he got his match with Ki over.

Hardyz' stuff - ok

X Division Title Match
Samoa Joe (c) vs Low Ki - 8/10
Amazing match, go watch it. it's free.

Mr Anderson Promo - good, but it lead to awesomeness. Shaw interrupts and they start brawling, which leads to

I Quit Match
Mr Anderson vs Samuel Shaw - 7/10
Awesome brawl, loved that it started from the interview and it just continued, yet unfortunately for us, we had a commercial break in between, but it had me cheering for Shaw all the time. I liked that they kept their brawl weaponless, since we already had the Abyss/Bram match. I liked that Anderson used a submission to win the match, and it actually looked quite painful. The Gunner/Anderson stare off at the end was great too, should make up for a good feud later on.

Team 3D/Hardyz/Wolves stuff - So Hardyz and Team 3D want the title, Wolves just said, "OK, we're on". but nothing was set on stone. so bad segment really.

Dixie Carter Interview - I love how delusional she is. Love what she has become as a delusional boss heel. Oh and Tenay should never be that close to the camera, he's just not photogenic. Dixie Whistle for the win!!!

Storm/Sanada thing - Weird, but I like the content of Storm's promo. I have high hopes where this is going. The Great Sanada will be ready for BFG in Japan and it will be amazing!

Knockout's Title Last Woman Standing Match
Angelina Love w/Velvet Sky vs Gail Kim (c) - 6.5/10
"BETTER THAN THE DIVAS!! BETTER THAN THE DIVAS!!" chants and well deserved. Great woman's brawl, some good spots. Velvet's involvement kept me wishing for Terrell to come out and take her out, but unfortunately didn't happen. Gail looked strong as hell defending the title here, there were some points where I really wondered if the title was changing hands.
Side Note: I would really love to see Taryn and Velvet start an actual feud while Angelina and Kim continued theirs. Velvet and Taryn could eventually fight for the No 1 contendership.

Kurt Angle Announces a "Best Of' Series between the Hardyz, the Wolves, and Team 3D. Winner picks stipulation - OH MY FUCKING GOD THIS IS GONNA BE AWESOME!!!
If this is even as good as Beer Money vs MCMG's Best of Series, we're in for a freaking great month of amazing matches!!!

MVP, Lashley, and Kenny King Promo - AWESOME!

Six Sides Of Steel/#1 Contender Match
Austin Aries vs James Storm vs Eric Young vs Bobby Roode vs Magnus vs Gunner - 7/10
Kinda made me wondered why Gunner was there, but I'll let it slip, he had a good showing in the match. Everyone was really hot in this match, and really aside from Austin Aries, I thought everyone had a good chance to win the match since the defense i take will will happen in the No Surrender show. Some cool spots here and there. The finish was perfectly timed, and will either get another No 1 contenders match between Young and Roode, or we get a triple threat match which i'm not opposed to either. Show ended abruptly.

OVERALL THOUGHT:
Just to put it in perspective. RAW had a good main event, TNA had an AWESOME SHOW! The streak continues for TNA. I really don't know why this isn't getting more ratings.

[Big Red Machine]

TNA Hardcore Justice 2014
August 20, 2014
Hammerstain Ballroom, NYC

Grand Ballroom. The Hammerstein is about twice as big.

X Division Title Match
Samoa Joe (c) vs Low Ki - 8/10
Amazing match, go watch it. it's free.

Oh come on! Really? Dude... your standards are drastically slipping. You thought this was better than Ambrose vs Rollins? You need to go back and watch some non-Cornette Era ROH or some 2005-2006 X-Division stuff.

OVERALL THOUGHT:
Just to put it in perspective. RAW had a good main event, TNA had an AWESOME SHOW! The streak continues for TNA. I really don't know why this isn't getting more ratings.

It isn't getting more ratings because they don't have any compelling angles, and have chased off their audience with horrendous storylines and unbearable announcing while totally killing the value of gimmick matches, and wins and losses in general. They have constantly killed up-and-coming talents by burying them in crap once they get over (see: Gunner), and not followed through on their promises to the audience. THAT is why they have no audience.

[cero2k]

X Division Title Match
Samoa Joe (c) vs Low Ki - 8/10
Amazing match, go watch it. it's free.

Oh come on! Really? Dude... your standards are drastically slipping. You thought this was better than Ambrose vs Rollins? You need to go back and watch some non-Cornette Era ROH or some 2005-2006 X-Division stuff.

OVERALL THOUGHT:
Just to put it in perspective. RAW had a good main event, TNA had an AWESOME SHOW! The streak continues for TNA. I really don't know why this isn't getting more ratings.

It isn't getting more ratings because they don't have any compelling angles, and have chased off their audience with horrendous storylines and unbearable announcing while totally killing the value of gimmick matches, and wins and losses in general. They have constantly killed up-and-coming talents by burying them in crap once they get over (see: Gunner), and not followed through on their promises to the audience. THAT is why they have no audience.

(1) better than Ambrose/Rollins at SS? Yes. at RAW? No. This was a good competitive match, Joe looked strong as fuck and Ki looked like a good threat. Yeah, their old stuff was a lot better, but that doesn't make this bad.

(2) It's like you're talking about the TNA of year and a half ago, you're pretty much describing WWE there. TNA is doing everything the fans want to see and it's doing it correctly. The focus is on fresh talent, and everyone who gets to the screen has something going on, everyone to some extent has an angle/rivalry/storyline going on for them, even if it's as simply as "i want the title he/she has". There are no retarded cringe gimmicks like Adam Rose or Fandango or stardust, and yeah, Crazzy Steve is kinda retarded, but at least when he hits the ring, it's an entertaining weird. The Divas division gets soooo much more than the divas, and they're about to bring in one of the best indie girls out there. Their Tag division is about to go through an amazing face, they have strong teams and it's all about the titles.

Talking about content itself, the storylines are great. All their titles mean A WHOLE LOT right now, and the storylines that are not title related are intriguing, one has the psychopath Bram getting into Abyss' head and the Gunner/Shaw/Anderson has been interesting. Even the whole Dixie/Ray/ECIII has been great.

The announcing is bad, i 100% agree. But at least as bad as Tenay and Taz are, they don't turn Impact into a 2 hr infomercial/ass-kissing joke cartoon like Cole and Lawler do. It's as simple as muting them like i do with WWE.

[Big Red Machine]

X Division Title Match
Samoa Joe (c) vs Low Ki - 8/10
Amazing match, go watch it. it's free.

Oh come on! Really? Dude... your standards are drastically slipping. You thought this was better than Ambrose vs Rollins? You need to go back and watch some non-Cornette Era ROH or some 2005-2006 X-Division stuff.

OVERALL THOUGHT:
Just to put it in perspective. RAW had a good main event, TNA had an AWESOME SHOW! The streak continues for TNA. I really don't know why this isn't getting more ratings.

It isn't getting more ratings because they don't have any compelling angles, and have chased off their audience with horrendous storylines and unbearable announcing while totally killing the value of gimmick matches, and wins and losses in general. They have constantly killed up-and-coming talents by burying them in crap once they get over (see: Gunner), and not followed through on their promises to the audience. THAT is why they have no audience.

(1) better than Ambrose/Rollins at SS? Yes. at RAW? No. This was a good competitive match, Joe looked strong as fuck and Ki looked like a good threat. Yeah, their old stuff was a lot better, but that doesn't make this bad.

(2) It's like you're talking about the TNA of year and a half ago, you're pretty much describing WWE there. TNA is doing everything the fans want to see and it's doing it correctly. The focus is on fresh talent, and everyone who gets to the screen has something going on, everyone to some extent has an angle/rivalry/storyline going on for them, even if it's as simply as "i want the title he/she has". There are no retarded cringe gimmicks like Adam Rose or Fandango or stardust, and yeah, Crazzy Steve is kinda retarded, but at least when he hits the ring, it's an entertaining weird. The Divas division gets soooo much more than the divas, and they're about to bring in one of the best indie girls out there. Their Tag division is about to go through an amazing face, they have strong teams and it's all about the titles.

Talking about content itself, the storylines are great. All their titles mean A WHOLE LOT right now, and the storylines that are not title related are intriguing, one has the psychopath Bram getting into Abyss' head and the Gunner/Shaw/Anderson has been interesting. Even the whole Dixie/Ray/ECIII has been great.

The announcing is bad, i 100% agree. But at least as bad as Tenay and Taz are, they don't turn Impact into a 2 hr infomercial/ass-kissing joke cartoon like Cole and Lawler do. It's as simple as muting them like i do with WWE.

1. Well you said this match was amazing and that Raw's main event was merely "great." I'm not just saying that this isn't as good as the old stuff. I think that calling this "amazing" is a ridiculous stretch.

2. Has TNA improved in the last month or so? Yes. But it is a far cry from being particularly good. The main events have been, but everything else hasn't. They really don't have strong teams. They have the Wolves and the Dudleys and the Hardys (and the Hardys JUST lost clean to both teams). The Dudleys aren't a thing anymore, and even if Bully resigns, Devon will be gone in a couple of months anyway. The same might well be true for Matt. This three-way feud is ALL THE DIVISION HAS.

As for the FOcus being on "fresh talent"- who? The Dudleys, the Hardys, Eric Young, & Bobby Roode? Those guys aren't new. WWE is more focused on "fresher" talent than TNA is with The Shield and freakin' Steph!

Not everyone who is on TV has a storyline right now. You're forgetting the giant job squad that is the X-Division, as well the Bro-Mans, Magnus,the entire Menagerie, and probably a bunch of others who are so insignificant I can't remember them. Britney and Madison are doing something... or they were until they've been off of TV for months with no mention. Taryn isn't doing anything right now. If she was, she would have helped Gail this week.
I'll leave your comment about Crazzy Steve being in some way entertaining to a difference of taste, but at least Rose and Fandango have actually WON MATCHES. And even though they have won matches, they are jobbers so they don't get title shots. Steve has been in about eight title matches or #1 contenderhsip match without actually winning a single match! The rest of the division is only slightly less pathetic. That is NOT a healthy division with a title that means something. And it's been like that for a few years now. Same with the tag team division. And now the KO's division is going the same way.
Stardust is dumb, but at least he has a REASON for being there. Cody felt that being Cody wasn't working for his team, so he made a change. There is no kayfabe reason whatsoever that ANYONE from the Menagerie was employed in the first place, and why they continue to remain employed is even more baffling.
The storylines aren't good. They are mediocre at best. Someone wants the title so they win a match and get a shot at it. That's okay. Not particularly good. The best one they've had was Gunner, where they really tried to focus on him and create a journey to the title. A GOOD version of this angle would be something like WWE did with Bryan or like ROH did with Jay in his feud against Adam Cole. TNA never gives you a reason to care about the challenger's journey or a reason to make you think he might actually win.
Most of their storylines that don't revolve around titles are full of plotholes (this has gotten better recently, but to say that TNA has been good for a full year and a half now is a HUGE stretch. They sucked until a few weeks ago).

Shaw/Gunner/Anderson was great until this week, but the Shaw/Anderson/Hemme stuff was embarrassing. If the angle is that Bram is Abyss' head, they need to do a better job of getting it across. Abyss is unhappy that he get hit with Janice, but he doens't seem to be any crazier than normal.

The Dixie/Bully/EC III thing has been sh*t from the beginning because
1. Dixie wasn't suppose dot have power, so how is she screwing anyone
2. Why is Bully a babyface if he STOLE DIXIE'S MONEY, HELPED PEOPLE CHEAT, then BROKE INTO HER HOUSE. He's a giant ass. All of the people he is trying to take revenge for (AJ, Sting) are people he freakin' hated, and in AJ's case, even worked WITH DIXIE AGAINST HIM).

As for the announcing- the WWE announcers might be forced to turn the show into an infomercial... but it was an infomercial anyway! The point of TV was to get you to buy the PPV. The Network is just the new PPV. The Network plugs might be annoying, but at least Cole and JBL and even Lawler come across like they are TAKING THE PRODUCT SERIOUSLY. Tenay comes across like a total moron with the most annoying, unnatural speech pattern I have ever heard, Taz wants to make everything into a joke (and Tenay only encourages him), and together, they seem to bicker just for the sake of bickering, like children instead of grown men doing their f*cking jobs.

[cero2k]

2. Has TNA improved in the last month or so? Yes. But it is a far cry from being particularly good. The main events have been, but everything else hasn't. They really don't have strong teams. They have the Wolves and the Dudleys and the Hardys (and the Hardys JUST lost clean to both teams). The Dudleys aren't a thing anymore, and even if Bully resigns, Devon will be gone in a couple of months anyway. The same might well be true for Matt. This three-way feud is ALL THE DIVISION HAS.

yeah, they may leave, but meanwhile, they'll put on a bunch of great wrestling, and they'll put over the wolves, and by the time they leave, the'll be other teams that are there but not worth bringing up just yet. Menagerie, Bram/Magnus, Sanada/Storm, BroMans, MVP's stable, Gunner/Shawn, Zeke/Snitsky (if they're staying, not sure about them), i don't know.

As for the FOcus being on "fresh talent"- who? The Dudleys, the Hardys, Eric Young, & Bobby Roode? Those guys aren't new. WWE is more focused on "fresher" talent than TNA is with The Shield and freakin' Steph!

ECIII, Spud, The Wolves, Sanada, Bram, Lashley, MVP, and then you combine that with the established talent. From all that fresh talent that WWE focuses on, only ONE is worth watching! Steph/Brie is terrible; Cena/Lesnar makes people talk, but snore; Rusev/Swagger was ok (quite monotonous) at most; they killed Dallas' push, Cesaro's push, they completely ran down Wyatt, the tag division is terrible, Paige/AJ gets shorter matches than Steph/Brie.

Not everyone who is on TV has a storyline right now. You're forgetting the giant job squad that is the X-Division, as well the Bro-Mans, Magnus,the entire Menagerie, and probably a bunch of others who are so insignificant I can't remember them. Britney and Madison are doing something... or they were until they've been off of TV for months with no mention. Taryn isn't doing anything right now. If she was, she would have helped Gail this week.

I'll leave your comment about Crazzy Steve being in some way entertaining to a difference of taste, but at least Rose and Fandango have actually WON MATCHES. And even though they have won matches, they are jobbers so they don't get title shots. Steve has been in about eight title matches or #1 contenderhsip match without actually winning a single match! The rest of the division is only slightly less pathetic. That is NOT a healthy division with a title that means something. And it's been like that for a few years now. Same with the tag team division. And now the KO's division is going the same way.

and what did it matter that Rose or Fandango win matches? nothing at all. They won matches because WWE's MO is that regardless how stupid your gimmick, you'll win matches until we're bored with you and then we'll give up on you. And Steve getting title contendership matches is like giving Fandango a spot in a battle royal for the IC title, there's no difference, they're just there for filler and we all know it.

Stardust is dumb, but at least he has a REASON for being there. Cody felt that being Cody wasn't working for his team, so he made a change. There is no kayfabe reason whatsoever that ANYONE from the Menagerie was employed in the first place, and why they continue to remain employed is even more baffling.

Why would we question the kayfabe employment of the menagerie, while Adam Rose, or the Wyatts have jobs? or Why Fandango, or Sin Cara, or, hell, Why Does Sandow have a job!?

The storylines aren't good. They are mediocre at best. Someone wants the title so they win a match and get a shot at it. That's okay. Not particularly good. The best one they've had was Gunner, where they really tried to focus on him and create a journey to the title. A GOOD version of this angle would be something like WWE did with Bryan or like ROH did with Jay in his feud against Adam Cole. TNA never gives you a reason to care about the challenger's journey or a reason to make you think he might actually win.

See comment above about how storylines in WWE are quite bad. But in addition, the TNA storylines may not be oscar winning storylines, but they're not bad storylines. most of the storylines right now revolve around the titles, and not all title stories need to be about 'the long jorney to the title', they already did that before. Right now it's about 'who can take the title from lashley', they're building him up to the point where we can then introduce the babydace challenger to overcome the odds story, something i'm expecting WWE to start with Lesnar (unless they go full retard and give the title back to Cena). Joe and Wolves are a point too where they're just taking challengers to put themselves and the title over a bit, and Kim/Angelina is an actual hate feud. Those are good stories to tell. And they do this in 2 hrs a week! just two hours. WWE has like what? 9 hours a week? and even then only 1 hr is worth watching.

Most of their storylines that don't revolve around titles are full of plotholes (this has gotten better recently, but to say that TNA has been good for a full year and a half now is a HUGE stretch. They sucked until a few weeks ago).Shaw/Gunner/Anderson was great until this week, but the Shaw/Anderson/Hemme stuff was embarrassing. If the angle is that Bram is Abyss' head, they need to do a better job of getting it across. Abyss is unhappy that he get hit with Janice, but he doens't seem to be any crazier than normal.

TNA has been slightly improving each time for the last year, hands down. Every show i watch, it's been getting better. It hasn't been like WWE or ROH that have high points and then meh points. And are they exxagerating in giving us free big matches and overbooked shows. yeah, they're on a point of no return, if they slow down, they're dead, they're living their 'monday night wars' against themselves unfortunately.

Shaw/Gunner/Anderson/Hemme thing has been cheesy, but it's not bad, it gave us some good Shaw/Anderson matches, and i'm expecting some good Gunner/Anderson and Gunner/Shaw matches in the future.

the Abyss/Magnus/Bram thing has been good too and is doing a tremendous work introducing Bram and taking him to another level. Yeah, Abyss is the same crazy, but this is not about Abyss and his stick, this is about showing that Bram is far beyond crazy. That's what i loved the most about Stairway to Janice, Bram didn't care about Janice, he just wants to fuck up Abyss'


The Dixie/Bully/EC III thing has been sh*t from the beginning because
1. Dixie wasn't suppose dot have power, so how is she screwing anyone She's still the owner
2. Why is Bully a babyface if he STOLE DIXIE'S MONEY, HELPED PEOPLE CHEAT, then BROKE INTO HER HOUSE. He's a giant ass. All of the people he is trying to take revenge for (AJ, Sting) are people he freakin' hated, and in AJ's case, even worked WITH DIXIE AGAINST HIM).
that's how babyfaces are!!! Sheamus steals cars and laughs about it, Fella! Cena belittles people on the microphone, and Lawler laughs about it!! You've been listening to JR a lot, not all babyfaces need to be Captain America, and not all heels need to be the Green Goblin.

As for the announcing- the WWE announcers might be forced to turn the show into an infomercial... but it was an infomercial anyway! The point of TV was to get you to buy the PPV. The Network is just the new PPV. The Network plugs might be annoying, but at least Cole and JBL and even Lawler come across like they are TAKING THE PRODUCT SERIOUSLY. Tenay comes across like a total moron with the most annoying, unnatural speech pattern I have ever heard, Taz wants to make everything into a joke (and Tenay only encourages him), and together, they seem to bicker just for the sake of bickering, like children instead of grown men doing their f*cking jobs.

There's a difference between selling a PPV with good stories and a strong card, and just becoming a whore on the street calling out buyers, they've become an actual infomercial; but it's not just that, Cole and Lawler completely ignore logic sometimes, they're 100% ass kissers, it's all a joke, WWE announcing is an true insult to the intelligence of the fans. I'm not gonna defend Taz and Tenay because they truly suck, one is senile and out of his comfort zone, and the other i've wondered why he's even in the table since day one back in smackdown, but i'm sure that if they also had someone telling them what to say on the earpiece, they'd do a better job. Like i said, all it takes is muting them.

[Big Red Machine]

2. Has TNA improved in the last month or so? Yes. But it is a far cry from being particularly good. The main events have been, but everything else hasn't. They really don't have strong teams. They have the Wolves and the Dudleys and the Hardys (and the Hardys JUST lost clean to both teams). The Dudleys aren't a thing anymore, and even if Bully resigns, Devon will be gone in a couple of months anyway. The same might well be true for Matt. This three-way feud is ALL THE DIVISION HAS.

yeah, they may leave, but meanwhile, they'll put on a bunch of great wrestling, and they'll put over the wolves, and by the time they leave, the'll be other teams that are there but not worth bringing up just yet. Menagerie, Bram/Magnus, Sanada/Storm, BroMans, MVP's stable, Gunner/Shawn, Zeke/Snitsky (if they're staying, not sure about them), i don't know.

OOOH! This color thing is a great idea! I call red because I'm Big Red Machine!

Are Gunner & Shaw even going to be a tag team (and even if they are, I can't see it last very long, because they would Shaw heel and on Gunner, and being in a tag team would be the worst thing or Gunner)? Zeke & Snitzky are gone. Bram and Magnus are a thing. Storm and Sanada might be a tag team after BFG. MVP's stable have made no hint of being a tag team (they really seem like more of a three singls guys thing). Menagerie are jobbers with no hope of getting over as a serious act. BroMans are jobbers, they are stale as an act, and are especially stale facing the Wolves.
TNA has shown an inability to create new stars in the past four or five years. The closest thing to a tag team star they have had recently was Bad Influence, and they did not even TRY to keep them. They might prove me wrong. I HOPE they do. But the outlook is quite bleak. It will be Wolves vs. Magnus & Bram, and that's it.



As for the FOcus being on "fresh talent"- who? The Dudleys, the Hardys, Eric Young, & Bobby Roode? Those guys aren't new. WWE is more focused on "fresher" talent than TNA is with The Shield and freakin' Steph!

ECIII, Spud, The Wolves, Sanada, Bram, Lashley, MVP, and then you combine that with the established talent. From all that fresh talent that WWE focuses on, only ONE is worth watching! Steph/Brie is terrible; Cena/Lesnar makes people talk, but snore; Rusev/Swagger was ok (quite monotonous) at most; they killed Dallas' push, Cesaro's push, they completely ran down Wyatt, the tag division is terrible, Paige/AJ gets shorter matches than Steph/Brie.


And WWE has Ambrose, Rollins, Reigns, Usos, Bray, Rusev, Paige and until just a few months ago, Cesaro. I disagree with you about Rusev/Swagger not being good. Part of that might be that you're not American (I think- and if you are, I apologize), but even without the USA stuff, I was very pleasantly surprised by Rusev's selling. I also heavily disagree about Steph/Brie being bad, but even so, I was fine with it getting more time than Paige vs. AJ because a) it was a special attraction, and b) aside from their Summer Slam match, all of Paige and AJ's other matches haven't been good. Bo wasn't really going to go anywhere anyway. Cesaro's push ending definitely sucks, and even if they were going to wait on his push, they shouldn't be booking him this weakly. The tag division isn't so good right now, but it's no worse than TNA's, and, IMO, has more potential in the short term (and probably the long-term, too)


Not everyone who is on TV has a storyline right now. You're forgetting the giant job squad that is the X-Division, as well the Bro-Mans, Magnus,the entire Menagerie, and probably a bunch of others who are so insignificant I can't remember them. Britney and Madison are doing something... or they were until they've been off of TV for months with no mention. Taryn isn't doing anything right now. If she was, she would have helped Gail this week.

I'll leave your comment about Crazzy Steve being in some way entertaining to a difference of taste, but at least Rose and Fandango have actually WON MATCHES. And even though they have won matches, they are jobbers so they don't get title shots. Steve has been in about eight title matches or #1 contenderhsip match without actually winning a single match! The rest of the division is only slightly less pathetic. That is NOT a healthy division with a title that means something. And it's been like that for a few years now. Same with the tag team division. And now the KO's division is going the same way.

and what did it matter that Rose or Fandango win matches? nothing at all. They won matches because WWE's MO is that regardless how stupid your gimmick, you'll win matches until we're bored with you and then we'll give up on you. And Steve getting title contendership matches is like giving Fandango a spot in a battle royal for the IC title, there's no difference, they're just there for filler and we all know it.

What does it matter that they win? Because it justifies their being there! They might win a match or two a month and wind up being in a 20 man battle royale as a filler, but that happens once in a blue moon, and at least the one or two wins they got justify their presence. Steve constantly gets put in #1 contedership matches- yes, he is filler, but they do it so often that his presence- especially when combined with his big fat zero in the ALL-TIME win column- HURTS both the prestige of the title and the ability to take the entirety of the kayfabe wrestling league they are involved in seriously.

Stardust is dumb, but at least he has a REASON for being there. Cody felt that being Cody wasn't working for his team, so he made a change. There is no kayfabe reason whatsoever that ANYONE from the Menagerie was employed in the first place, and why they continue to remain employed is even more baffling.

Why would we question the kayfabe employment of the menagerie, while Adam Rose, or the Wyatts have jobs? or Why Fandango, or Sin Cara, or, hell, Why Does Sandow have a job!?

Because Knux never had a kayfabe contract in the first place (he was a member of Aces & Eights), so why is anyone working with him in the first place? If he was bringing talented guys in with him it would make some sense, but the guys he has brought in are JOBBERS. And in Steve's particular case, a COMEDY JOBBER. In his very fist match he showed no desire to wrestle and spent the whole thing farting around doing dumb sh*t until he got DQed for PANTSING A REFEREE. I don't think he even made any physical contact with Kaz. He is a joke. At least Rose, Fandango, and Sandow all have serious sides to them, and have WON MATCHES.

The storylines aren't good. They are mediocre at best. Someone wants the title so they win a match and get a shot at it. That's okay. Not particularly good. The best one they've had was Gunner, where they really tried to focus on him and create a journey to the title. A GOOD version of this angle would be something like WWE did with Bryan or like ROH did with Jay in his feud against Adam Cole. TNA never gives you a reason to care about the challenger's journey or a reason to make you think he might actually win.

See comment above about how storylines in WWE are quite bad. But in addition, the TNA storylines may not be oscar winning storylines, but they're not bad storylines. most of the storylines right now revolve around the titles, and not all title stories need to be about 'the long jorney to the title', they already did that before. Right now it's about 'who can take the title from lashley', they're building him up to the point where we can then introduce the babydace challenger to overcome the odds story, something i'm expecting WWE to start with Lesnar (unless they go full retard and give the title back to Cena). Joe and Wolves are a point too where they're just taking challengers to put themselves and the title over a bit, and Kim/Angelina is an actual hate feud. Those are good stories to tell. And they do this in 2 hrs a week! just two hours. WWE has like what? 9 hours a week? and even then only 1 hr is worth watching.

"Who can take the title from Lashley?" is a good story. The problem is that the over divisions aren't like that. The KO's divison has its own thing, and that is fine, but look at the way the other two titles have been booked. It wasn't "who can take the title from Sanada?" It was "Here: Have a random title match/#1 contendership match." The tag titles were so bad that the Wolves didn't even defend them at Slammiversary.
Yes, WWE has more hours a week than TNA, and yes, they don't use most of them well at all (that's one of the reasons I started booking those shows in my fantasy booking). But that doesn't mean that TNA isn't doing a poor job, especially now that they are only doing four PPVs a year. That was part of the reason for going to four PPVs a year; so they had more time to flesh out their stories. But they have totally failed at doing that.

Most of their storylines that don't revolve around titles are full of plotholes (this has gotten better recently, but to say that TNA has been good for a full year and a half now is a HUGE stretch. They sucked until a few weeks ago).Shaw/Gunner/Anderson was great until this week, but the Shaw/Anderson/Hemme stuff was embarrassing. If the angle is that Bram is Abyss' head, they need to do a better job of getting it across. Abyss is unhappy that he get hit with Janice, but he doens't seem to be any crazier than normal.

TNA has been slightly improving each time for the last year, hands down. Every show i watch, it's been getting better. It hasn't been like WWE or ROH that have high points and then meh points. And are they exxagerating in giving us free big matches and overbooked shows. yeah, they're on a point of no return, if they slow down, they're dead, they're living their 'monday night wars' against themselves unfortunately.

Shaw/Gunner/Anderson/Hemme thing has been cheesy, but it's not bad, it gave us some good Shaw/Anderson matches, and i'm expecting some good Gunner/Anderson and Gunner/Shaw matches in the future.

the Abyss/Magnus/Bram thing has been good too and is doing a tremendous work introducing Bram and taking him to another level. Yeah, Abyss is the same crazy, but this is not about Abyss and his stick, this is about showing that Bram is far beyond crazy. That's what i loved the most about Stairway to Janice, Bram didn't care about Janice, he just wants to fuck up Abyss'

Improving? They, too, have had their highs and lows. The last few weeks have been good, but pretty much everything from the show where Magnus won the title until Kurt got control of the show was crap. BFG and the stuff surrounding that was crap, too, as was everything Aces & Eights related. WWE and ROH might have their highs and lows, but their highs are always much MUC higher than TNA's, and their lows (especially ROH's) rarely come close to being as low as TNA's.
If they slow down it won't matter. Their ratings have barely changed in YEARS. They get the same rating when they do all normal matches as when they do all gimmick matches, and they've been like this for YEARS. They have had numerous chances to slow down and rebuild, and they have chosen not to do so every time.

The Shaw/Hemme/Anderson stuff was utter crap. The acting was sh*t, and internal and external logic was non-existent, and the matches were TERRIBLE. I was liking the stuff with Shaw, Anderson and Gunner until this week, when their desire to do a gimmick match for no reason hurt it.

I agree that the current feud is definitely elevating Bram a lot, but I think he'd be just as over if he had done one hardcore match with Abyss than if he had done fourteen or however many they are up to now...and they still have SIX WEEKS to go before BFG.

The Dixie/Bully/EC III thing has been sh*t from the beginning because
1. Dixie wasn't suppose dot have power, so how is she screwing anyone She's still the owner
2. Why is Bully a babyface if he STOLE DIXIE'S MONEY, HELPED PEOPLE CHEAT, then BROKE INTO HER HOUSE. He's a giant ass. All of the people he is trying to take revenge for (AJ, Sting) are people he freakin' hated, and in AJ's case, even worked WITH DIXIE AGAINST HIM).
that's how babyfaces are!!! Sheamus steals cars and laughs about it, Fella! Cena belittles people on the microphone, and Lawler laughs about it!! You've been listening to JR a lot, not all babyfaces need to be Captain America, and not all heels need to be the Green Goblin.

Okay, if she's the owner, why doesn't she have power all of these other times. She and MVP only have powers as owner when it is convenient for the plot, and that is a sign of unforgivably sh*tty writing. That's some WCW level crap right there.

Did Sheamus once steal a car? Yes. And do you remember what happened. We all BURIED WWE for it. Every last one of us (aside from Dozer). Here's the thread, immortalizing it all: http://54.88.31.224/thewrestlingrevolut ... =33&t=8678 Yeah, Cena belittles people on the mic, but Cena is already a babyface. Bully was not. Yes. Not all babyfaces need to be Captain America and not all heels need to be the Green Goblin, but you can't go on a murdering spree and be a babyface. If Bully had given Dixie's money back, that would be one thing, but he didn't. You can't establish someone as turning babyface by having them be a total heel, which was what TNA tried to do here.



As for the announcing- the WWE announcers might be forced to turn the show into an infomercial... but it was an infomercial anyway! The point of TV was to get you to buy the PPV. The Network is just the new PPV. The Network plugs might be annoying, but at least Cole and JBL and even Lawler come across like they are TAKING THE PRODUCT SERIOUSLY. Tenay comes across like a total moron with the most annoying, unnatural speech pattern I have ever heard, Taz wants to make everything into a joke (and Tenay only encourages him), and together, they seem to bicker just for the sake of bickering, like children instead of grown men doing their f*cking jobs.

There's a difference between selling a PPV with good stories and a strong card, and just becoming a whore on the street calling out buyers, they've become an actual infomercial; but it's not just that, Cole and Lawler completely ignore logic sometimes, they're 100% ass kissers, it's all a joke, WWE announcing is an true insult to the intelligence of the fans. I'm not gonna defend Taz and Tenay because they truly suck, one is senile and out of his comfort zone, and the other i've wondered why he's even in the table since day one back in smackdown, but i'm sure that if they also had someone telling them what to say on the earpiece, they'd do a better job. Like i said, all it takes is muting them.

I don't find Cole, JBL, and Lawler to be anywhere near as annoying, and they have already sold me the product they are selling. It's really not much different than them saying "remember to buy Summer Slam- just fifty dollars!" except that instead of that, they are also telling about all of the stuff you'll get that isn't just the PPV.
If I mute Taz and Tenay, I also mute both the crowd and the sounds of the match, which I don't want to do because those (especially the sounds of the match) help me get into the match.