The Death of the WWE

[Guest Put You On The Game]

The show was a rousing success in many ways. The buyrate was tremendous, the attendance was good, and the event was largely well received. The controversy surrounding Flair's speech and Edge's breaking character had fans talking about WWE events like never before - and it was an ideal opportunity for the company to capitalise. But instead, they compounded the lose of Flair by burying Edge on the following night's episode of Raw and sweeping the entire affair under the rug. In a move of collosal stupidity and arrogance, McMahon booked Edge to drop the belt to Brock Lesnar the following night - rushing the gold onto a guy who had been off fan's television screens since 2004 and taking it off a man who had however unintentially endeared himself to the fans on the previous night.

[TheArsenal]

The style that this diary is written in is superb. the story has started fantastically and you have a reader in me.

The storylines you've talked about so far are realistic, and I'm glad the "first jump" wasn't someone from the main event. I like the bits of interview with different workers too. This really is very very good.

[Dynamite]

I just read all of this diary and I've got to say this is one of the best ideas and formats I've seen here. I don't watch TNA and am unfamiliar with most of their wrestlers except the former WWE ones so I don't normally read TNA diaries but this one is something special.

You've left a lot of WWE superstars sounding disgruntled so I'm wondering who you're going to have jump over to TNA. I'm guessing it's not going to be a big name superstar and probably for the midcards although it does seem like this guy is going to fued with Cage. I'm hoping Val Venis comes over soon before he's too old to get the push I've been waiting for for the last 5 years.

Keep on this one and you've got a hall of fame diary.

[Guest Put You On The Game]

I just read all of this diary and I've got to say this is one of the best ideas and formats I've seen here. I don't watch TNA and am unfamiliar with most of their wrestlers except the former WWE ones so I don't normally read TNA diaries but this one is something special.

You've left a lot of WWE superstars sounding disgruntled so I'm wondering who you're going to have jump over to TNA. I'm guessing it's not going to be a big name superstar and probably for the midcards although it does seem like this guy is going to fued with Cage. I'm hoping Val Venis comes over soon before he's too old to get the push I've been waiting for for the last 5 years.

Keep on this one and you've got a hall of fame diary.

[Chris the Human]

Not an update proper, guys, and I apologise if I got your hopes up. But I've found myself in a unique booking situation and think it's only fair to put it to a poll.

While it's a way into the future for my diary, I've found myself in the position where Hulk Hogan's announced his retirement and I, as TNA, have had the presence of mind to swoop on the opportunity to be the company to offer his last ever match live on PPV. Now, understandably, this is a huge coup for the company - and I want to make sure I send him out on the right note. His workrate and politicking aside, you know people would pay top dollar to be at his last ever match.

So, who in the industry should he face for his last ever match? Bearing in mind I can't steal anyone from the WWE to take the spot in the month's PPV (Bound for Glory, for those playing at home) - who would you want to be the last man to ever face Hogan one on one in the ring?

Now, this is an ideal opportunity to post-whore, so I ask that you if choose to nominate a particular worker in this thread - please provide justification beyond 'becuz hes awsum, lol'. If you simply agree with somebody else's nomination or don't feel up to stating a particular worker's case, PM it to me instead. I won't reveal who this opponent will be until the PPV itself - but I'd like to get suggestions from fans of the man himself, as I've never followed his career as closely as I perhaps should have.

[xdavex]

Kurt Angle. The American Hero vs The Olympic gold medalist

[Reflecto Is My Favorite Poster]

Randy Savage- one last time for the Mega-Powers.

Bonus points if Savage does a battle rap on Hogan before the match.

[The Third Dukes]

Gee, at the end of the Victory Road write-up you were mentioning that TNA wasn't sure what to do with Cage, and now you have Hogan's last match and no one to put him against? I smell two birds and one stone. Whatever a stone smells like.

[Meacon Keaton]

I second Randy Savage. I have never ordered a TNA event, but I'd be all over that for one last go around. Their history is so rich. It's gotta be Hulkamania vs. The Macho Man.

[tenaciousg]

I've got an idea for a somewhat cool match.

Hulk Hogan versus... Samoa Joe.

You can't tell me you wouldn't pay to see Joe take on Hogan... even if Hogan politicked to get himself the win.

Besides, even if Hogan sucks to holy high hell, Joe could probably get a decent match out of him.

[Guest Larry the Mole Man]

I wouldn't pay lol. This is simple: Great Khali. Smell the ratings?

No, seriously, Piper. Piper was one of Hogan's biggest rivals in the past two decades, and how fitting to have them finally end the rivalry. I'd pay to see that.

[Guest Put You On The Game]

I'd go for the Hulk vs Joe as well because Hulk could put Joe over in a passing of the torch so to speak, seeming as Joe is the next big thing in professional wrestling in this alternative reality and in actual reality as well.

[nihilist]

First of all, I'd like to just say that the writing in this diary is great, the format is easy to read yet very informative. I like how you've started the ball rolling on TNA guys who I'd not really pick for a push at this time in real life, such as Homicide and Shelley and Sabin as a team. I had the feeling that your first jump was gonna be Carlito (Carlos the Jackal- such an awesome name!) and I understand that he had to be made World Champion for the King of the Mountain match to have any impact but it feels too soon, to be given the title immediately upon his debut. However, the character works...

I believe the next jump will either be Randy Orton, who's been jobbing to Lashley etc and you've mentioned the backstage problems OR Christian Cage is going back to WWE. After all, Cage didn't burn any bridges in WWE as such, unlike Kurt or Hogan lol As for the staff changeover, I'm unsure as to who that will be tho the name Arn Anderon is popping up.

Some thoughts on Hogan's final match: The first, immediate thought was Paul Wight, aka Giant, aka Big Show, giving those who didn't hear about or see the Memphis match a chance to well...see it! lol While the quality won't be all that great, it's a dream match in any promotion and what better way to stick it to WWE than take two more of their established stars and book them in a way WWE creative plainly couldn't.

All in all, a true contender for 2007's Diary of the Year, keep up the good work Misanthrope.

[Blaze09]

I think it should be either Piper or Savage. I think it should be Piper because that is probably Hogan's biggest rival during his WWE run and I think Savage cause the two just hate each other

[Tarheels.]

For the Hogan match I'm leaning towards Sting, Macho Man, or Joe.

Sting had the history with the whole Starrcade 97 deal, and the huge fued with the NWO. Macho Man had history as well, but I'm not going towards him as much as Sting. And Joe would probably benefit from the rub, and it's actually a plausible thing that he could pass the torch on to Joe.

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

Sting.

Hogan deserves to win his last match, and moreover, there is NO chance he would allow himself to lose his final match. He would want a lot of control over the build to the match, and Impact pretty much has to be Hulk Hogan & Friends for the next few weeks. It wouldn't do much good for someone like Cage or Joe to lose to Hogan, especially when Hogan vs. Sting would pull in more casual fans. Also, a loss to Hogan really wouldn't hurt Sting.

[Donaldoholic]

I agree with that. The best worker on your roster would be Sting, but I wouldn't mind the Macho Man or Paul Wight.

Keep up the fantastic work. I'll be looking forward to future updates...

[Chris the Human]

Holding Pattern

In many ways, August of 2007 was a crucial year in the formative years of the Second Monday Night War. In other ways, it was a case of 'more of the same' from TNA as they awaited the move to prime time and the arrival of new faces that would freshen up what was an innovative product on the verge of going stale. It may seem hard to imagine the X-Division or the likes of Samoa Joe, Homicide, and Alex Shelley being 'stale' but TNA had largely been operating with the same roster for quite some time. While the addition of workers such as Kurt Angle, Sting, and Christian Cage to the roster had opened up a number of new possibilities - these had fast been exhausted by Vince Russo's inability to wait for a payoff. Angle, for example, had already expended his dream matches with AJ Styles and Kurt Angle within three months of joining the company.

The coming months would see a string of new faces join the company. Some of them were huge names while others were Mexican luchadores, Japanese strong style workers, and the cream of the independent crop. It wasn't just the fact that TNA had finally begun to turn a profit that allowed for this influx of talent, nor was it this 'grand vision' of a company based around wrestling to take down the company that had made it a dirty word.

It was all of these things, and it was something more.

When World Championship Wrestling graduated from glorified territory parent to full blown phenomenon, it did so by breaking the mould that had defined professional wrestling. Much like Vince McMahon's World Wrestling Federation had taken the risk of ignoring territorial boundaries in the early eighties - so too had World Championship Wrestling ignored the generally accepted 'laws' of professional wrestling. In a time when wrestling consisted of big men fighting big men - WCW brought in dozens of luchadores and Japanese workers. In a time when main eventers rarely fought one another outside of pay-per-view, WCW gave away dream matches each and every week. For a long time, this gave WCW a huge edge in the Monday Night War, and forced the WWF to adapt.

And with WCW dead, the WWF began to make up its own rules. It was no longer 'wrestling' it was 'sports entertainment'. Soap opera with a well choreographed fight sequence in the middle. The top quality matches still came, but for every Money in the Bank or TLC, there were two dozen Boogeyman vs. King Bookers and Viscera vs. Shelton Benjamins.

TNA's greatest advantage in the time to come would be their ability to break the mould that the WWE had cast. Guys like Alex Shelley, AJ Styles, and Samoa Joe would never have been able to get over in the WWE's current format, yet they became superstars in TNA. The X-Division was something beyond the cruiserweights and lightweights that had long been an undercard attraction in the WWE and WCW.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. August was a big month for TNA behind the scenes, but by and large, the television offerings that month were nothing to revolutionise the industry. Neither was the WWE's, as they built to a Summerslam headlined by Cena vs. Umaga, Lesnar vs. Batista, and Lashley vs. Vince McMahon. Guess which match took the main event slot on that show?

The first Impact of the month kicked off with Carlos Colon in the ring to celebrate his 'courageous triumph' over that 'sadistic, half-deranged, psycopath' Rhino at Victory Road. Colon, who had played something of a comedic character in the WWE, seemed a little lost in his new role as public enemy #1. Where he'd been spouting 'Dat's not cool' and spitting apple in people's faces in the WWE, in TNA he'd been booked as a cocky loud-mouth who wasn't adverse to choking somebody out with his garotte if need be. Carlos 'The Jackal' had more dimensions than Carlito, but it would take Colon some time to grow into the role after several years of being the heel people loved to cheer and the face people loved to be ambiguous to.

Colon's celebration hadn't been happening long when 'The War Machine' Rhino's music hit and the challenger emerged to the cheers of the fans. Rhino, like Colon, was another WWE cast-off who had never been given an opportunity to fulfill his potential 'up north'. He cut an intense but rather generic promo demanding a rematch with Colon, which the champion not-so-gracefully declined.

(83%)

The first match of the evening saw Samoa Joe taking on Hernandez, who had gotten involved in his clash with Homicide at Victory Road to end the bout in a DQ victory to the Samoan Submission Machine. While Homicide would ultimately go on to be a star in the main event, spare a thought for Hernandez who, like Abyss, was one of the better big man workers going around at the time. While Joe did his share of carrying, the clash was an enjoyable one - ending with a clean submission victory to Joe before Homicide and Konnan hit the ring to do a post match beat down.

Well, Homicide did a beat down. Konnan, who was still recovering from career saving knee surgery, stood by and shouted obscenities in Spanish.

(76/74/78)

But the title picture was about to get a little muddier, as Christian Cage was backstage with Jeremy Borash to discuss why he was deserving of a title shot. The 'why' of it was a little confusing, given he'd lost to Kurt Angle on the previous week's Victory Road PPV. But this was Russo (who had lost his job as head booker, but would hold sway in the booking room until his replacement stepped in at month's end) and it didn't need to make sense in his eyes. Despite having no real evidence to support his claim as a contender, Cage managed to make it work with a string of smart ass comments questioning Borash's sexuality. Tomko, who had been away for a good period of time with Giant Bernard in NJPW, contributed a few gems of his own.

(89%)

Next up was a Sonjay Dutt X-Division Title defence, taking on Alex Shelley of the Motor City Machine Guns in what was perhaps a disappointing match given the calibre of worker involved. That's not to say it was bad, X-Division matches seldom were, and Dutt looked in control for much of the match until an unfamiliar face approached the ring. Dionicio Castellanos Torres or Psicosis as he was known in his runs in WCW, ECW, and the WWE rushed down to the ring sans his mask and was quick to catch the X-Division champion with a dropkick that sent him stumbling back into the turnbuckle. As Dutt staggered back out and the bell rang, he delivered a Psycho Stunner before coming off the top rope to deliver a brutal Psycho Guillotine from the top rope.

And who stood at the head of the ramp applauding this? None other than Kevin Nash. Nicho El Millionaro continued his beat down until Jay Lethal emerged to make the save, and the Mexican luchadore smartly retreated up the ramp to join Nash - who pointed to the two men standing in the ring and ran his thumb across his throat in a universal gesture of threat.

(78/75/81)

Explanations were the order of the day as Amy Dumas joined Leticia backstage for another backstage promo. AJ Styles, her latest client, stood beside her and stared with what might have been determination down the barrel of the camera. It was off-putting, really. Dumas' speech, grating though it was, did the job of explaining why Styles had attack Angle after his match with Christian Cage. She said that she'd told Styles to go after the biggest dog in the yard, and there were none bigger than the Olympic gold medalist. Styles wanted a match with Angle at Hard Justice to prove that not only was he not afraid of nobody on the TNA roster - he was better than each and every one of them.

(69% - and isn't that ironic?)

The night's main event pitted Kurt Angle and Christian Cage against Victory Road title opponents, Rhino and Carlos Colon. As you can imagine, there wasn't a great deal of chemistry between either side. On one hand you had Cage still disgruntled over his loss to Angle, and on the other you had Rhino straight out hating Colon for twice robbing of what he believed was his World Title destiny. Cage and Angle perhaps made the better team, with their rivalry apparently already gone in order for both men to move onto bigger and better things. But Rhino and Colon seemed intent on winning the match despite their disagreements, and both put in good efforts until late in the match. Colon, having just managed to escape from the Angle Lock, smartly tagged out to Rhino. For a moment the champion seemed content to clutch his injured ankle and watch Rhino dismantle Angle, but then some other notion struck him. He entered the ring, moved behind Rhino, and delivered the Career Killer before rolling out of the ring and backing up the ramp - shouting abuse as he went. Rhino was stunned but not beaten, but wasted time yelling at Colon - allowing Cage to make a blind tag on Angle and roll Rhino up for a quick 1-2-3 and a true opportunist's victory. Rhino couldn't believe it, while Cage celebrated as if the pinfall had rocketed him to the top of the title pecking order.

(89/90/88)

OVERALL: 81%

BEST SEGMENT: Cage’s Challenge

WORST SEGMENT: Dumas’ Explanation

MOTN: Christian Cage & Kurt Angle vs. Carlos Colon & Rhino

RATING : 4.40

ATTENDANCE : 3503

The next week would open with Kurt Angle out in the ring to address AJ Styles and the challenge that Dumas laid down for him on the previous episode of Impact. Angle said he applauded Styles' balls. He said that it was intensity like that that won him a gold medal in 1996. He said that kind of intensity was what champions were made of. But, until Styles pinned him 1-2-3, he wouldn't be anything more than a punk with a big mouth and a slut doing all of his thinking for him. He'd give Styles his match at Hard Justice, but Styles had better be prepared for the beating of his life. "It's real," he claimed, "It's damn real".

And what's damn sad? That the WWE prevented Angle from using the catch-phrase he had made famous (that being "It's true. It's damn true". Petty, perhaps, but TNA would eventually employ similar tactics to ensure their creations weren't marketed without effort.

(94)

The World X Cup

Another of TNA's innovations was a tournament known as the World X Cup, which pitted teams of wrestlers from different nations against one another in a series of matches to decide the #1 nation. Teams were made up of four wrestlers and occasionally a fifth, who acts as 'coach'. In the 2006 tournament, in which four nations participated, each side participated in a tag match (worth two points), a singles match (worth three points), and a gauntlet (featuring all competitors and worth three points to the winner, and two points to both of the last two in the ring). In the event of a draw, the two captains would face off. In the past, the Ultimate X match (another TNA innovation) was used as a round.

The tournament had been scrapped for 2007 originally, but it was decided that it's uniqueness in the sport made it a marketable tournament for TNA to use, and so it was rushed back with the final expected to take place at Bound for Glory in October.

Edited May 28, 2007 by Misanthrope

[chazmers]

great Diary Man, If You Want me to do more Posters and Graphics throughout just gimme a shout and ill be more than happy.

I'm only doing reasons for TNA as the diary is mainly being focused on them. I will predict the WWE but no reasons.

Jushin Liger, Yoshihiro Tajiri, Milano Collection AT, and Minoru vs. Austin Starr, Alex Shelley, Chris Sabin, and Christopher Daniels

I'm thinking that Daniels will somehow not do anything in the match and lead to him being kicked out of Team USA.

Nicho El Millionaro & Joey Matthews vs. Sonjay Dutt & Jay Lethal

Dutt and Lethal will win with a DQ due to another person of Nash's army running in causing the DQ.

Bryan Danielson & Samoa Joe vs. LAX

Joe and Danielson on the same page is definately going to be a stella match especially against Homicide, the only thing which could bring the raiting down is hernandez

Kurt Angle vs. AJ Styles

proof that AJ Styles is a top contender by defeating one of the biggest stars in TNA

Team 3D © vs. The Steiner Brothers for the TNA World Tag Titles

Don't really care about this match which is a shame baring in mind its for the title.

Carlos Colon © vs. Rhino vs. Christian Cage for the TNA World Heavyweight Title

Can see Colon cheating to win, or letting Cage and Rhino beat each other senseless before stealing the pin and retaining the title.

SUMMERSLAM

Chavo Guerrero © vs. Paul London vs. Brian Kendrick for the WWE Cruiserweight Title

Chris Benoit (3) vs. King Booker (3) in the Best of Seven decider

Cade & Murdoch © vs. Val Venis & Viscera for the WWE Tag Titles

Santino Marella © vs. Randy Orton for the WWE Intercontinental Title

Edge vs. Matt Hardy

MVP © vs. Jimmy Wang Yang for the United States Title

Bobby Lashley © vs. Mr. McMahon for the ECW World Heavyweight Title

The Great Khali © vs. John Cena for the WWE Title

Brock Lesnar © vs. Batista for the World Heavyweight Title

Edited May 28, 2007 by chazmers

[tenaciousg]

TNA Hard Justice 2007

Jushin Liger, Yoshihiro Tajiri, Milano Collection AT, and Minoru vs. Austin Starr, Alex Shelley, Chris Sabin, and Christopher Daniels

Team Japan wins when Daniels doesn't show yet again. Fans cheer, yet boo, about Shelley and Sabin losing. HAIL SABE'N'ELLY!

Nicho El Millionaro & Joey Matthews vs. Sonjay Dutt & Jay Lethal

I can see Nash interfering to screw Lethal and Dutt out of the win... or maybe even Lethal turning on Dutt.

Bryan Danielson & Samoa Joe vs. LAX

The Latino Nation and/or Konnan helps LAX get their win over Joe/AmDrag... probably a cheap win over Danielson.

Kurt Angle vs. AJ Styles

I can see Dumas-based interference leading to a Styles win.

Team 3D © vs. The Steiner Brothers for the TNA World Tag Titles

The Deadly Boyz retain their titles in the only clean ending of the night. >_>

Carlos Colon © vs. Rhino vs. Christian Cage for the TNA World Heavyweight Title

I could see Christian get a cheap pin on Rhino to take the belt from Colon without him being pinned.

WWE Summerslam

Chavo Guerrero © vs. Paul London vs. Brian Kendrick for the WWE Cruiserweight Title

Eh... I guess. LONDON CALLING FTW? >_>

Chris Benoit (3) vs. King Booker (3) in the Best of Seven decider

Again... I guess.

Cade & Murdoch © vs. Val Venis & Viscera for the WWE Tag Titles

Because I'd rather see the (now) highly-entertaining Cade 'n Murdoch as champs over V-Squared.

Santino Marella © vs. Randy Orton for the WWE Intercontinental Title

Marella sucks. Orton's somewhat cool despite his attitude problem. Case closed.

Edge vs. Matt Hardy

Vince's revenge against Edge... although I can see both these guys jumping to TNA at some point.

MVP © vs. Jimmy Wang Yang for the United States Title

One, two, I hear the clock tickin'... Wang Yang won't be touching that title.

Bobby Lashley © vs. Mr. McMahon for the ECW World Heavyweight Title

To continue overpushing a horribly green talent.

The Great Khali © vs. John Cena for the WWE Title

Again, same as last PPV... DEATH of the WWE.

Brock Lesnar © vs. Batista for the World Heavyweight Title

Whoever wins, we lose.