Matt Cross discussed Lucha Underground, Tough Enough, and more:
- I really appreciate LU doing something really different from WWE and TNA. I think it's good for them to have their own niche.
- Tough Enough is definitely a reality show first and foremost.
- I remember Matt was completely unimpressive on Tough Enough. It could have just been how he was presented there, but he came across as way too timid and not ready despite his indie experience.
GFW is expected to make some big announcements about its upcoming TV taping in the coming week. I'm ready for it!
Jim Cornette is booked for GFW shows in Tennessee. I'm sure they'll get some good sound bites from him.
Everything else from yesterday is after the break.
Jeff Jarrett will be appearing at some minor league baseball games to promote upcoming GFW live events. I like the ground-up approach to GFW.
Joey Styles teased being at NXT's live event in Philly. That would be great!
Todd Grisham was interviewed:
- Having the leeway to learn from your mistakes is key.
- The dedication to send out that many tapes to that many places is impressive.
- Interns not wanting to do grunt work is pretty telling of how serious they take the opportunities they're given. You have to pay your dues and earn respect.
- Some interesting insight on working for WWE.
- Funny stuff about Byte This. He really buried some people calling in.
- Sometimes working with Vince sounds like it would be pretty entertaining. Mostly infuriating, but also probably entertaining in hindsight.
TNA is now airing in Romania. Getting more clearance internationally was a big deal for TNA going with Destination America.
Billy Corgan talked about joining TNA:
- I'm a little worried this started out with an "All in The Family" reference. That show's 40 years old!
- Is he booking a wrestling show or is he trying to promote social issues? Ultimately his focus needs to be on drawing money through compelling wrestling stories.
- Interesting thoughts about the characters wrestlers play.
- He's right about some of the best wrestling stories playing on classical motifs like loyalty, etc.. Although I think that's true for a lot of art.
- I also don't want to see a bunch of outdated stereotypes regarding homosexuality, race, etc.. I just hope Corgan doesn't lose sight of the show being about wrestling. I like how WWE is handling Darren Young. He's a wrestler who happens to be gay. He's treated the same as he would be as he was straight. They don't stigmatize him, but they also don't go out of their way to promote how progressive they are for having a gay wrestler. I would find that exploitative and condescending toward Young.
- I couldn't care much less about how does the coolest flippy move if they don't know how to tell a story. Neville's Red Arrow is absolutely amazing, but WWE is wisely not positioning him as a one-move wrestler where you're just waiting for him to hit that cool move.
One of NXT's new signings was interviewed:
- I think it's awesome we're seeing more international, diverse signings. I trust they signed her because she can work instead of it just being a grab for diversity.
- I miss Taylor Wilde. I'm glad she helped train Al-Areebi.
- I actually didn't know Breeze was Canadian. I'm glad WWE's moving away from "he's Canadian so his gimmick is that he's Canadian."
Smackdown's audience this week was 2.34 million, the lowest show in their regular timeslot since October and a big drop from the previous week. Are people turning on The Authority being the centerpiece of things? I do think WWE's in a bit of a holding pattern going to the next PPV, and we might not see any big shakeups until the road to Summerslam.
Naomi had Tamina in her corner at a recent live event as she faced NXT's Charlotte. Hopefully WWE is thinking of using both Tamina and Charlotte on the main roster in the coming months.
Jeff Hardy was still expected to do a meet-and-greet for OMEGA Championship Wrestling this weekend following his surgery. Still no word on when we'll see him back in the ring. TNA's got to hope he'll be able to compete at Slammiversary.
Speaking of Slammiversary, TNA has officially announced that for June 28. I'm not sure if there will be another TV taping between the upcoming one and then. I'm also a little surprised they're not advertising it as Slammiversary XIII. What happened to numbered events?
For my take on yesterday's PWInsider.com questions:
1. Yeah, they really need to get on that. I'm confident this won't end up being vaporware, but it's coming time to announce something more substantial.
2. I also don't really see it, unless there's some kind of special where they declare a new champion like the King of the Ring special. As far as I know, it's not any kind of priority for them.
3.WCW in 1990 was very different from WCW in 2000. I really wonder if he would have left for more money. Given his battles with the Kliq, I don't know if he would have wanted to work with the likes of Nash and Hall having a big say in WCW. He was much more valuable to WWF as Undertaker than he would have been to WCW as "Mean" Mark Callaway the biker.
4. I think the writers and everyone else involved are probably pretty burned out producing so much live material every week. They don't have the luxury of taping, say, 12 episodes within a certain period of time where they can focus on a longer narrative. It's something that changes every week.
5. I didn't get to see them in their prime, so I wouldn't be the best judge.
More wrestling tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment