Author: dtm666

I ramble about things.

TNA Hard Justice 2007

For our final day of Kurt Angle Appreciation Week brought about by national tragedy 23 years ago, we’re looking at TNA Hard Justice 2007. Otherwise known as the show where they just gave Kurt Angle ALL the gold.

But yes, the main event for this match sees reigning X-Division and Tag-Team champion Samoa Joe putting his belts on the line against reigning TNA World Heavyweight Champion (and also IWGP Champion… kinda) Kurt Angle in a Winners Take All title bout. Which means everything else beneath that main event means nothing and while my brain tells me that I should just stick with the main event and skip the rest, I feel compelled to watch the whole thing because it’s…

Aw, fuck it. I should have listened to my brain.

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WWE Attempts To Sell Fanmade Friendship Bracelet – Gets Blowback

File this under WTF if you have one, but WWE tried to turn the fan-made CM Punk friendship bracelet that has been the central plot point of his feud with Drew McIntyre into a piece of merchandise for sale on WWEShop.com. This naturally prompted the fan who made said bracelet to comment about it, which led to other fans to comment about whether said fan is getting a cut from this deal.

Well, turns out WWE is not going to be selling fan-made friendship bracelets after all. Common sense prevails, I suppose. Isn’t the point of a friendship bracelet is that you give it to your friends as a symbol of your enduring friendship with those individuals? Why would I want to purchase a friendship bracelet for myself, baring the names of other people’s friends, let alone those of their family?

How sad is it that on the day after news broke of the passing of James Earl Jones, THIS is the topic that’s worth discussing on the blog at six in the morning. Dang.

Gotta run, kids. Review should be up on schedule later today. Bye.

WWF Unforgiven 2001

It’s 9/11. Let’s do something patriotic for the occasion… by reviewing a WWF PPV that took place two weeks after the United States endured tragedy and travesty.

Continuing our week of Kurt Angle spotlight shows, we’ll be touching on WWF Unforgiven 2001, knee deep in the much-maligned Invasion angle, with reigning WWF Champion Stone Cold Steve Austin (still pretty much a heel at this point) defending his title against the patriotic All-American hero and Olympic Gold Medal winner with a broken fricking neck, Kurt Angle… and also other stuff too.

Anyway, let’s jump in and be all patriotic and stuff… even I’m not American.

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RAW (Sept. 9th, 2024) – A Test Run Of Sorts

So, truth be told, I didn’t watch the entirety of RAW – mostly bits and pieces here and there – but there were a couple notes from the show that I wanted to touch upon quickly.

Perhaps the most significant of all is the news that starting in October, which will begin the final stretch of RAW episodes on USA Network before the move to Netflix, will see RAW’s run time be reduced from the daunting three-hour marathons to the usual two hour format similar to Smackdown and NXT. Some people see this as a bad thing – one less hour equals less ads, although considering this is a last minute short-term deal, I don’t think anyone really minded that point – while others see this as a good thing in that more people will be more likely to watch the show and stick with it throughout.

Count me in the latter category. I have seen far more episodes of 2-hour RAWs that I have 3 hour RAWs and even during the 3-hour sessions, I’m skipping through most of it. With two hours, it makes for a more quick paced show and there’s less padding overall. While I’m sure some people are upset by this news, trust me. This is going to be a good move going forward and might be a sampler of things to come when the Netflix era rolls around.

(Scratch that. Word has it RAW will return to three hours when it hits Netflix. So much for that.)

As far as actual happenings on the show? Bret Hart and Gunther’s interaction was fun for a bit, though I’d imagine not as fun as Bret and HHH hugging it out, where I’d imagine Bret told HHH that he’s still a 4/10 wrestler. Jey Uso looks to challenge Bron Breakker for the IC title and fuck knows if they ever pull some kind of trigger on the guy, who was a genuinely hot act last year and now has sort of become just another guy… letting hot guys become just another guy is the other place’s schtick, Hunter. Also, Nattie being a surprise partner in a multi-woman match at a show taking place in Calgary………………………………… Alberta, Canada is no surprise at all. And of course, there was the Wyatt Sicks/American Made street fight that opened up the show, which was a fun little match.

Regarding the Wyatt Sicks, I am largely ambivalent… which means I don’t particularly care for it, but don’t entirely hate it either. Believe it or not, that’s actually a good thing and it tells me that they haven’t completely screwed any pooch with this one. There’s still time, though.

Regarding new announcer Joe Tessitore? I’ll need a few more listens to gauge a proper opinion on the dude, but so far, I’m liking what I hear. Guy’s got a good voice, seems well into the action, and doesn’t come across as a total goof who hasn’t a clue what he’s talking about. WWE has tried other real sportscasters for the RAW role and they never quite worked out, but they got something with this Tessitore guy. He just needs a couple weeks to find a footing (and maybe a witty catchphrase or two), but he’s off to a good start.

That’s about it.

Later.

TNA Lockdown 2010

Dear lord, are we actually diving into the dreaded period of TNA from the year 2010… again?

But yeah, see, they tell me this is a good show… and there’s a really good Kurt Angle match on this show… which is where we’re doing this show as part of Kurt Angle Appreciation week. Let’s dive in and check this show out.

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