Owner: The Wrestling Project URL:http://www.thewrestlingproject.blogspot.com Join Date: Sun, 17 Feb 2008 11:38:58 -0600 Rating:0 Site Description: The Wrestling Project is a blog dedicated to discussing the weekly TV shows and monthly PPV's of World Wrestling Entertainment and Total Nonstop Action. Site statistics:Click here
WWE Raw Review - 3rd March 2008 2008-03-05 16:39:00 The anticipation is continuing to grow in the run up to Wrestlemania and I for one am starting to get in to Wrestlemania mood by watching some of the Mania’s from years gone by. I was looking forward to seeing what the WWE was going to do this week with Raw as I sat down for my weekly viewing.As always there were some good and bad points, I will start with the bad points.Poor ProductionI thought the first in ring segment with Big Show fighting a professional fighter whilst Floyd Mayweather looked on through a live satellite link as he was broadcast on the Raw Titantron. This was a nice idea however was poorly produced as during the introductions of both competitors there were many shots which had other cameramen in shot which is not we are use to with WWE. The when the Big Show got on th Read more:March
Wrestlemania: My Thoughts So Far 2008-03-04 12:26:00 As we are now under four weeks away from the “Granddaddy of them all” I thought it was time to give you my thoughts on the way it is shaping up match by match.Here are my thoughts on the confirmed matches so far and what the WWE could do with them:Inter-Promotional match – Umaga (Raw) vs. Batista (Smackdown)I can’t say that I am all that excited about this match because there is now back story to it and the only back story can be made in the next few weeks. These two guys have never feuded before and have no logical reason to fight each other. Last year at Wrestlemania Umaga had a prime match which was given a storyline thanks to the McMahon / Trump feud as there was no real feud between Umaga and his opponent Bobby Lashley. This is also a step down for Batista who last year lost o
WWE Smackdown Review - Friday 29th February 2008 2008-03-02 06:16:00 After a well booked Smackdown
last week I was looking forward to what the Smackdown creative team and performers had install for us this week. However this excitement didn’t last for long.Too many big guysNow last week I talked about Smackdown being heavy of wrestlers around the 300 pound mark or higher but this week it was evident. Now if you have too many big guys the answers is not to put them all in to two matches. First we had Kane & Batista vs. Khali & MVP and then we had Balls Mahoney vs. Big daddy V. Luckily the latter didn’t last long. There is a place on a wrestling show for big guys but they need to be used well and not all booked together.Slow developing feudsNow the idea of having a weekly TV show is to develop storylines ready for the next PPV. I know it’s harder at th Read more:Friday
, February
TNA Impact Review - Thursday 28th February 2008 2008-03-02 04:24:00 The show got off to a great start with a backstage segment featuring the continuing breakdown of Karen and Kurt Angle’s marriage. Kurt is really doing well at trying to make himself the top heel in the promotion which is hard for him considering how many fans he has. The first in ring segment was the right storyline to push next which was the Booker T / Robert Roode feud. Unfortunately though after Booker T called Robert out it was Payton banks that made her way down to ringside to slap Booker with Traci Brooks making the save. It was a good idea to build the Booker T can’t hit a woman like Robert Roode side of the storyline but it was poorly executed with the segment leaving the focus on the girls and no Booker & Roode.I’m loving the 3D weight loss storyline at the moment. At first Read more:February
, Thursday
WWE Raw review 15th February 2008 2008-02-27 16:44:00 Now that the hype from No Way Out has died down and because we are still five Raw’s away from Wrestlemania it is now time for the creative team to start working overtime. Normally there is only three or four Raw’s between main events so the creative team have to be sure to pace the feuds right to make sure they reach bubbling point just before Wrestlemania. With the importance of Mania and the extra editions of Raw I was interested to see how the creative team were going to work this one.For me this Raw will be remembered for a couple of good matches and some terrible booking which was annoying after witnessing a well booked Smackdown last week.Crazy BookingThere were three booking decisions for me that made no sense and one case of lazy booking. First off we had Jeff Hardy fighting Ch Read more:February
, review
WWE Smackdown Review - Friday 22nd February 2008 2008-02-26 17:10:00 I must say I have only recently started watching Smackdown
again and I have been quite presently surprised. It may just be that the run up to Wrestlemania is making it more exciting or the show is just better than when I last watched either or I’m not complaining.There were many things I liked about the show.Shelton Benjamin – ‘Money in the Bank’ qualifying matchYes like the qualifying matches on Raw the result of Shelton beating Jimmy Wang Jang was predictable but the match was really good. To build a good ‘Money in the Bank’ that people are interested in they need to make the qualifying matches means something and not just be squash fests which the two qualification matches on Raw were. Smackdown is definitely the wrestling show of the two WWE flagships.Chuck PalumboThis guy Read more:Friday
, February
MyNetworkTV CROWNS WWE ITS NEW PROGRAMMING CHAMP 2008-02-26 15:43:00 February 26,2008Network Is the Exclusive Prime-Time Broadcast Home of“WWE® SmackDown®” Beginning Fall 2008NEW YORK – MyNetworkTV and World Wrestling Entertainment® (WWE) have announced a new broadcast television home for “WWE SmackDown,” scheduled to debut in Fall 2008. The announcement was jointly made by MyNetworkTV President, Greg Meidel and WWE Chairman of the Board Vincent K. McMahon.In making the announcement, Meidel stated, “The momentum at MyNetworkTV continues with this major acquisition. We have demonstrated tremendous growth and this partnership with WWE, the premier sports entertainment franchise in the world is a perfect fit for our viewers, advertisers and affiliates.”The two-hour television program will be presented weekly on MyNetworkTV. “WWE SmackDown”
TNA Impact Review - Thursday 21st February 2008 2008-02-26 02:48:00 TNA proved to this week on Impact that consistency is not their strong point when it comes to booking and creative direction of their shows.Last week I praised TNA for the unpredictable nature of their show but this week unpredictability proved to be their downfall. Unpredictability only works when it makes sense in the storyline and for the individual characters. When we have swerves and character turns they only work and make sense if there is some build up to it. This week Impact kicked off with Kip James turning on BJ James and Bob Armstrong and costing them their chance of winning the tag titles from Styles and Tomko. There was no build up to this and no back story to it, the only thing TNA could do to make sense of it was to give Kip James promo time after the match but this incoher Read more:February
, Thursday
Ticket information for TNA’s First Ever UK tour 2008-02-25 15:13:00 America’s fastest growing wrestling promotion TNA will present its hugely anticipated, first ever, UK tour in June of this year. Featuring the top stars from their hit show on Bravo TV, the “UK Impact Tour” will make three stops around the country.* On Friday June 13th the TNA crew will make their first stop in the North of England when they storm the Liverpool Olympia with their debut UK show. Doors will open at 6pm with a 7pm bell time.* On Saturday June 14th the boys and girls of Total Non Stop Action Wrestling will be in the Midlands as they tear the house down at the Coventry Skydome for the largest of the three events. Once again doors open at 6pm with a 7pm bell time. Plans are also in place to hold a special TNA Fanfest event during the day in Coventry city centre with more d Read more:Ticket
, information
, First
Raw Review - Monday 18th February 2008 2008-02-22 12:01:00 Now as I didn’t want to stay up until 4am to watch Raw live on Sky Sports and as I forgot to set the Sky+ I had to wait until Thursday to watch the fall out from No Way Out.Now the show in itself was a tight solid show that did what it needed to do but from an entertainment standpoint I didn’t rate it too highly. The important thing was for the show to set the wheels in motion for Wrestlemania which it did but could have been handled a lot better.One thing to note was the lack of backstage segments in the show with only little bits like Rey Mysertio in the locker rooms with Floyd Mayweather shown with the majority of the action happening in the ring. This is great for the fans in the arena live but from a televisual perspective didn’t make for the most entertaining two hours as it is Read more:February
, Monday
TNA Impact Review - Thursday 14th February 2008 2008-02-19 11:49:00 In all the hoopla surrounding No Way Out I forgot to give you my opinion on last week’s Impact. The weekly wrestling shows which are just before or just after a PPV are usually the best and this episode didn’t fail to disappoint.The one thing that TNA did well through the two hour show was to give the show an unpredictability factor. The WWE recently asked fans attending live shows to fill out some surveys and the thing that fans mentioned the most was how they liked it when things happen which were unpredictable and that seemed spontaneous.Throughout the show we had moments of craziness backstage with Kurt trying to sort out his ceremony to renew his wedding vows, Booker T waiting for Bobby Roode to turn up so he could continue their feud and Christian Cage getting knocked out backsta Read more:February
, Thursday
No Way Out – The Aftermath 2008-02-18 10:43:00 We are now definitely on the road to Wrestlemania after a wild and exciting No Way Out PPV from Las Vegas last night.If you read my preview before you watched the show you wouldn’t have been shocked by many of the results but there was an awesome little surprise in there and some well executed matches and storylines over the course of the longest running (time duration of show from start to finish) PPV outside of the big four for some time.So as I thought may happen it now looks almost certain that we are going to see a three way for the title at Wrestlemania with Randy Orton keeping hold of his title and HHH winning the Elimination Chamber. This also means that at last we have a heel defending the title against a face at a Wrestlemania after a couple of years of Cena defending. The go Read more:Aftermath
No Way Out 2008-02-15 12:00:00 Luckily for us wrestling fans in the UK No Way Out is one of the last remaining free PPV events we get with our Sky Sports Subscription. No Way Out is the last PPV before Wrestlemania and is usually where any major storyline changes or developments happen which will affect the ‘Grand Daddy of them All.’The event is set to make history as for the first time ever we have two elimination chamber matches on one PPV. Like how they use to do it with the elimination matches at Survivor Series they will have one Raw and one Smackdown Chamber match.Because Vince always pushes his Raw brand ahead of Smackdown I am not looking forward to this idea. I think it is just a gimmick to get people to buy the PPV in America and I don’t think we are going to see two great Elimination Chamber matches. I
TNA - Against All Odds 2008 2008-02-14 17:46:00 Last weekend TNA (Total Nonstop Action) presented their annual Against All odds on PPV across America. Us unfortunate souls in the UK had to wait until Wednesday for our first chance to see the show on Bravo with an hours worth of adverts thrown in to boot. One thing I will say though is Bravo are getting better at the positioning of their advert breaks so not to annoy wrestling fans too much.When Bravo first started airing TNA events they would cut in to matches with adverts as regardless of what was happening they would go to adverts every fifteen minutes or so like they would for their standard programming but now they will wait until the match is finished to go to their break. It means now you can have two advert breaks in the space of ten minutes but it beats advert breaks happening d
Introduction 2008-02-14 17:37:00 Hi GuysWelcome to 'The Wrestling Project.' This is a new Blog I have set up to discuss the goings on in the crazy and strange world of Professional Wrestling that we all know and love.Each week I am going to be giving you my views on the PPVs and TV shows of the two major American Wrestling promotions those being WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) and TNA (Total Nonstop Action). On top of this I am going to be predicting where storylines are leading and telling you my thoughts on how I think the two promotions should be booked.This Blog has been set up as a project to see if the writers and creative teams behind these two promotions read what is written on the internet and if anything the fans say actually affects the direction they take the company or a storyline in.Hope you enjoy readin Read more:Introduction
WWE Raw Review - 10th March 2008 2008-03-12 06:50:00 It was Wrestlemania Rewind this week with three rematches from Wrestlemania’s gone by. On top of this it was a three hour special so an extra hour for your money this week. Here are my thoughts on this week’s episode, as we get closer to Wrestlemania 24.Good PointsFinlay’s developmentAfter a not so good start to the feud Finlay did well to put over his character of being pushed over the edge and tormented by the current situation with JBL and Hornswoggle as he laid a beating to Kennedy getting himself disqualified in the process. This feud has the potential to be a very strong and hard hitting contest at Mania.Strong cardThe show had one of the strongest cards a Raw has had in some time. The fans got to see all the top stars from Raw and Smackdown in some matches which have been and Read more:March
WWE Smackdown Review - Friday 7th March 2008 2008-03-09 06:44:00 My expectations weren’t that high leading in to Smackdown
this week after last week’s average showing but I was hoping they could put on a better showing than last week.Jamie Noble getting a pushI am big fan of Noble and loved his backstage stuff and mic work when he first joined the WWE back many years ago when he had Nidia by his side and I also loved his in ring work whilst he was out of the WWE working for promotions like RoH. This week on Smackdown he got two backstage segments which were highly comical and then got the chance to fight Big Show in the development of on of the biggest mania matches. I hope the WWe continue to use Noble a lot better. I don’t think Noble vs. Palumbo is strong enough to be on Mania but I would definitely throw Noble in to the mix for ‘Money in the Read more:March
, Friday
TNA Impact Review - Thursday 6th March 2008 2008-03-09 06:20:00 I was expecting big things this week from Impact as it was there last TV show before Destination X. However as usual what I watched was a bit of a mixed bag with some good and bad points.TomkoThe show opened strong with a good Angle Alliance promo which continued to paint Tomko as an outsider with in the Alliance and getting ready to leave Angle’s group. Then later in the show they built him with a victory over Samoa Joe which is no small thing. Tomko is getting pushed to the moon at the moment, it will be interesting to see what he does when he is given more higher profile single matches.Robert RoodeRobert is doing a great job getting heat from the fans as he got one of the loudest reactions of the night when the fans booed him out of the building. The only problem then came when he had Read more:March
, Thursday
WWE Smackdown Review - Friday 14th March 2008 2008-03-15 09:48:00 We are starting to get the business end now with two weeks to go until the biggest show of the year. This is the time for tight well planned out TV shows and shows which entertain the casual fans in order to get as many people talking about it and buying the PPV a possible. So did Smackdown
do its job this week in getting us ready for Mania.Poor StartMany people will say that the main events and the endings of weekly wrestling shows that are the most important thing but I disagree to me the opening segment of a show is the most important. Unless you are channel surfing the only way you are going to watch the main event is if the opening of the show hooks you. It may be very formulaic but I enjoy seeing a non wrestling segment opening a show to set the scene for the rest of the show. If a s Read more:Friday
, March
TNA Destination X Review 2008-03-14 12:27:00 Last Sunday saw TNA putting on their monthly offering but this time not from the Impact zone but from the Scope in Norfolk Virginia. I can’t wait until all TNA PPV’s are done from arenas which aren’t the Impact zone as I think it makes the PPV’s that much more special. Having a PPV from the same venue as your produce TV just gives the show a TV feel and not something special or worth paying money for.Now going in to this I didn’t think much of the card but it is normally the events where I don’t expect much of the card that I go home enjoying the most so I went in with some hope. So with some hope inside of me this is what I thought of how it all went down.Opening VideoI thought this was a lot better than TNA’s previous efforts with a simple but effective video. With some of Read more:Destination
TNA Impact Review - Thursday 13th March 2008 2008-03-16 16:17:00 After a disappointing Destination X TNA had their first iMPACT since the PPV and the first on the road to Lockdown on April 13th. I was interested to see if TNA would get my enthusiasm back for the product and get me excited about Lockdown.Good PointsSolid OpeningNow as most you know only a fraction of the viewers who watch a weekly wrestling TV show will stump up the money to buy a PPV. Now because of this a lot of fans who tuned in to your product the week before the PPV may not know what happened so to make sense for your TV viewers you have to use your first show back to really convey to the fans what happened and how these happenings have affected the storylines and feuds. So TNA were sensible to use Jim Cornette in the ring to let the fans know what was happening. This lead to him an Read more:Thursday
, March
WWE Raw Review - 17th March 2008 2008-03-19 18:16:00 Two weeks away from Wrestlemania and the last week of Triple Threat Takeover, I was really looking forward to this week’s Raw and it delivered in spades with their best offering for some time. The show with a few minor exceptions was well paced and very entertaining and developed a lot of feuds nicely for Mania.Good PointsA push for JerichoWith only two episodes of Raw to go before Mania it was great to see him opening the show with his Highlight Reel section. His guest this week was the Big Show and after a good war of words between the two a match was made between them for later on in the show for the Intercontinental title. After being poorly handled since his return I hope they continue his push and that he wins ‘Money in the Bank’ at Mania.Good storyline developmentWith a few ex Read more:March
WWE Smackdown Review - Friday 21st March 2008 2008-03-23 13:38:00 So Friday
brought the 2nd to last Smackdown
before Mania and a much needed time for them to impress the audience at home as we get closer to Wrestlemania. Here are my thoughts on the good and bad points of this weeks show.Good PointsThe VIP LoungeHands down the best part of this weeks show. MVP really raised his game on the mic as he and Jericho took it in turn to poke fun at each other. This is great solid common sense booking by the creative team to build a feud within the ‘Money in the Bank’ match and having the host of ‘The Highlight Reel’ feud with the host of the ‘The VIP Lounge.’ WWE just need to be careful not to forget about the other guys in MITB because if they aren’t spotlighted then the fans are going to think they are just to make up the numbers which may be tru Read more:March
TNA Impact Review - Thursday 20th March 2008 2008-03-23 13:35:00 Here is my rundown of the good and bad points of this weeks TNA iMPACT.Good PointsGreat out of ring segmentsTNA are really doing well with these parts of the show. I like the segments with Mike Tenay when he brings together two feuding wrestlers together to air there grievances. It’s different to what the WWE do and brings in a chat show type element to the show. I’m also loving the rough cuts series they are doing with Kip James and BG James. It’s like having a programme within a programme and bring a reality TV style element to the show.Building Kurt Angle for LockdownTNA are showing how the WWE should be handling the Floyd Mayweather / Big Show build up. Kurt Angle got to showcase his phenomenal amateur wrestling skills with a public workout against some supposed mixed martial art Read more:March
, Thursday
Wrestlemania 24 - My Predictions 2008-03-27 13:05:00 The WWE are branding Wrestlemania 24 as “The Biggest Wrestlemania Under The Sun” making it’s reference to the fact that for the first time it is taking place in Florida and from the open air arena known as The Citrus Bowl. The tagline can’t be making reference to the biggest card or the biggest venue for a Wrestlemania and I highly doubt it will do the biggest amount of Pay Per Views buys so it’s only in Florida they can get away with a tagline like this.I know we are yet to see what happens on Smackdown this Friday night but as we stand these are my match-by-match predictions for this years’ Wrestlemania starting from the bottom of the card.ECW Championship MatchWhat a mess this has been. For many years the WWE have put on an inter-promotional Battle Royal as a dark match befo Read more:Predictions
WWE Raw Review - 24th March 2008 2008-03-26 17:54:00 The Raw before Wrestlemania is always the most important Raw of the year. This is when the wrestlers and the creative team should have created a huge buzz by and the show should do the best ratings of the year. The viewing rating for the Raw before Mania is very important at it affects the number of buys the PPV does. All the feuds should be laid out by now and this episode of Raw should just be a preview of what to expect this weekend. So with this in mind I was really looking forward to see if the WWE delivered.Good PointsGreat StartThe first five minutes of Raw were great as John Cena delivered one of his strongest in ring promos for some time. Whatever you think about Cena he knows how to work the mic and get a crowd going. However after this it became a mess which I will talk about in Read more:March
TNA iMPACT Review - Thursday 27th March 2008 2008-03-30 15:08:00 In all the hullabuloo of Wrestlemania week TNA were this week trying to make an impact of their own with a live show instead of a pre-record and the much hyped return of Sting.Good PointsGo live every weekA live iMPACT had a much better feel to it than their pre-record broadcasts they usually put out every week. I know it’s more risky and more costly to go live but for the viewer it adds an edge to a show. There were a few mistakes with bad camera shots and so forth but the positives far outweighed the negatives.UnpredictabilityThe show kicked off with a shot of Booker T and Robert Roode fighting through the crowd. Its an unusual move to a start show mid action but I thought it was different and added an edge to the show. The viewers who were tuning in to the show for the first time may Read more:Thursday
, March
WWE Smackdown Review - Friday 28th March 2008 2008-03-29 08:20:00 Smackdown was the WWE’s last chance to push Wrestlemania to try and get a few more buys for the PPV this Sunday. So I went in expecting the best Smackdown we had seen in some time. I knew that all the major develops would have happened on Raw this week if they were going to happen but I still thought they would pull out all the stops to continue the Wrestlemania buzz.Good PointsWrestlemania themeTo get people excited for Wrestlemania a lot of the matches tonight had a Wrestlemania theme with an over the top rope elimination match between some of the competitors who are taking part in the Battle Royal this weekend, an inter-promotional match for Batista and having the Money in the Bank briefcase above the ring for matches featuring wrestlers who were going to star in that match.Some solid Read more:March
, Smackdown
, Friday
Wrestlemania 24 Review 2008-03-31 07:08:00 As the show kicked off the arena was a sight to behold with hundreds of thousands worth of dollars going in to set up one of the most impressive Wrestlemania sets of all time and I was starting to look forward to a Wrestlemania which had potential to be a highly memorable evening.Here is my match by match run down from last night’s show.Belfast Brawl: JBL (RAW) Vs. Finlay (SmackDown)This match as expected was just a glorified hardcore match. They knew they couldn’t do many big spots and bumps because of the Money in the Bank match happening later but both competitors provided us with a solid start. It was good to see Hornswoggle back at Finlay’s side but no Vince McMahon which showed you how much he thought of his own storyline. Highlight of the match was Finlay’s suicide dive in t
WWE Raw Review - 31st March 2008 2008-04-02 17:39:00 The episode of Raw after Wrestlemania is a very important show. This show sets the scene for what we can expect in the upcoming year until next Wrestlemania. It is also a very hard show to book coming off the biggest show of the year as nothing can compare to it and many of the fans will ether be suffering from burn out or have unrealistic expectations on what is going to happen next.Good PointsFreshnessThe writers did a great job of using tonight’s show to change the direction of Raw. JBL has emerged as the new challenger for Randy Orton’s title, Matt Hardy came through the crowd to beat on Randy Orton, Batista was seen backstage and Cryme Time returned. Now you may think that JBL and Matt Hardy don’t deserve main event pushes but when you are trying to freshen the product up you ne Read more:March
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