theFRANCHISE

I think Alicia Fox is actually pretty decent in the ring, she just needs to work on her storytelling ability. She can put together decent spots here and there, but she has yet to have a "complete" match.

They could've booked the Uso Family a lot better than they've been doing lately. This PPV match should've been their first encounter, not on free TV shortly after they debuted. I'm a bit hopeful that the Uso Fam will have a decent long-running feud with the Hart Dynasty and they might bring back a true tag team division...even if they have to put the same tag teams on both shows and make a so-called roster exemption that allows talent to appear on both shows if they're part of a tag team.

Nahhhh, I'd rather have the real Eve in my arms than on a slurpee cup...lol.

Ohhhh Eve Torres. I love you. Marry me.

As long as they don't reveal Kane as the attacker, I'm cool with this. It'd just be too obvious to make Kane the culprit.

I had to LOL @ the ladder-piling spot. I changed my mind, this match got spades better after the last couple of spots.

The more I'm reflecting on this match during this extended rest period, the more I'm thinking that this match was kinda disappointing, even though I wasn't expecting much out of the two giants and Matt Hardy. lol. The RAW MitB match should be good, though. Anything with Jericho is amazing.

Kofi's leg drop off the top of the ladder onto McIntyre on the table was sickkkkkk. Simple enough move but Kofi got decent elevation on that.

I like how Matt Hardy was referred to as the "sentimental favorite of many long-time members of the WWE Universe" -- in other words, he's not relevant to the younger fans and will probably be phased out soon. Good riddance, I suppose.

Makes sense, but at the same time, it'd just be better for WWE to bring in more Divas that can wrestle, rather than try to keep them split up or unite the divisions. There's only a little over a handful of Divas currently on the roster that can wrestle decently. I like some of the Divas matches and they deserve more of a push, but ever since Trish Stratus and Lita left, there's been no incentive for them to push any of them since a lot of them have no personality. Trish Stratus was perhaps the only Diva to transcend her division and gender to where everyone loved her for both her wrestling and her looks, and she actually got a great crowd reaction that was almost to the level of a mid-to-upper-card male wrestler. She was just that good and had come that far since her early days as a valet. Chyna, Sable, Wendi Richter, and other Divas of the past couldn't touch that. Lita was the closest one, and then Mickie James thereafter. Beth Phoenix could've also been it, had she not gotten hurt again.

^^^ That, in a nutshell, is everything wrong with TNA right now. It, however, all boils down to Hogan and Bischoff recycling old WCW storylines and trying to repackage them. Though there's almost nothing in the wrestling industry that has never been done before, even back in the days of the Monday Night Wars, there still needs to be a level of freshness to the product. WWE had what I like to call a nostalgia trip from 2004-2006, where they would bring back elements of the Attitude Era and the late '90s just to cash in on past successes. They reunited the Hardy Boyz, they reformed DX after teasing it for years, they had APA do a couple of run-ins, they re-did the ECW invasion, they brought back the old Undertaker, they had teased Kane wearing his old mask, The Rock & Sock Connection was temporarily re-formed, Mick Foley revisited his heel gimmick from the old ECW, Stone Cold kept doing his old schtick of stunning everyone without warning, Val Venis went back to his old Big Valbowski gimmick, etc. The Rock even used his old music for his sporadic appearances during that time. Though some of that was overkill, at least WWE had the presence of mind to make it fresh enough so that old and new audiences wouldn't mind, and it worked reasonably well since it got the company out of its slump that began in 2002. TNA, meanwhile, has taken WCW storylines that have either been done to death (the nWo invasion), storylines that failed (the Millionaires Club vs. the New Blood), or storylines that should've been left alone (the Four Horsemen). TNA was gaining steam before Hogan and Bischoff because they were doing their own thing. Instead, they're so intent on being the complete opposite of WWE in every way, that they're losing their creative direction. They're neglecting the most talented and promising members of their roster, in favor of old names who just don't have the same draw as they once did. They're trying to beat WWE at its own game, and they're failing. They need to worry more about themselves than worry about their competition.

What if Shawn Michaels is the mystery GM (he does have a propensity for sarcasm, so the gimmick infringement in stealing other legends' catchphrases would be in line with his personality in the past), and Triple H is the leader of Nexus and it all stemmed from Triple H trying to convince HBK not to wrestle the Undertaker at WrestleMania? The seeds were planted back then for Triple H's heel turn, but then Sheamus got in the way. Triple H could reveal that he wanted Nexus to cement his legacy in WWE by, well, destroying WWE since he never had his WrestleMania moment like HBK and he never stole the show quite like HBK did. He wants to destroy WWE so that he can take it and mold it into his own creation. HBK will be baited into coming back to wrestle, but will refuse every time. Ultimately, he will be a man of his word and would rather step down as GM than go back on his word -- allowing someone like Cena or Orton or even Undertaker to intervene on HBK's behalf and get revenge against Triple H. Or, perhaps, Jericho turns face and realizes that HBK is a more honest man than him (playing off his gimmick of being self-righteous) and fights for the honor of his idol by going after Triple H.

It looks like current plans are to extend this Nexus invasion angle and breathe new life into it by having a major name be revealed as the true leader. Rumors are that Triple H may turn heel upon his return and assume this leadership role. John Cena's name has also been thrown in the hat to turn heel, though that wouldn't explain all the beatdowns that he's received and why he's been targeted weekly. I would love to see a Cena heel turn, even if the logic isn't there. Cena's gimmick needs to be refreshed ASAP.

UD's got a SmackDown live event coming 9/24 (oddly enough, during the airing of Friday Night SmackDown taped the prior Tuesday), and I'm not sure if I wanna go. On the one hand, CM Punk, Christian, and Kofi Kingston should be great to watch in-person. Also, ringside seats are (tentatively) $61.50, which isn't too bad compared to the Wachovia Center in Philly and other venues. On the other hand, if all my favorite stars are on RAW, then I'm not sure if I wanna shell out the cash -- especially if I end up being anti-social and going by myself. I may, however, use this as an opportunity to bring my nephew to his first wrestling show and to see his favorite star, Rey Mysterio. Hmm...

No hints last night, unless you count another instance of the lights flickering when the email chime came in.

The timing of that was AMAZING. Granted, it was lower elevation on the cutter than Orton usually delivers, but that's amazing athleticism and timing on the part of both men. For Orton to have managed to get up just enough to connect in mid-air and then finish the move, especially for how tall he is and how low Bourne had gotten to the ground during the drop, that's amazing.

Just don't post it because that also violates the Code of Conduct.

Yeah, Ted DiBiase is really showing me nothing special lately. His mic skills are mediocre and his ring work is pretty bland, IMO. It's ironic that Cody Rhodes is turning out to be the better solo star of the two, despite DiBiase having been ahead of the curve when they were first paired together. Rhodees has been the complete antithesis of DiBiase (just as their fathers were), and it looks like history will repeat itself in this era where Rhodes will go on to have more in-ring success than DiBiase.

Who said Russo would still be around? The man barely has input in TNA these days, so I doubt he'll be around to see Heyman work his magic. That said, you're probably right, TNA is probably so far gone now. It's amazing how much of a cancerous effect that a marquee name like Hulk Hogan ended up having...

The more I look at the Nexus, the more I realize that almost none of them will be decent solo stars; only Wade Barrett sticks out as the clear-cut, ready-for-primetime star. David Otunga attacking Yoshi Tatsu just now was weak (his mic skills aren't as good as people say they are), and Michael Tarver is merely average. Justin Gabriel could be a serviceable mid-carder but nothing more. The rest are a bit forgettable. I still like the Nexus invasion angle, but most of these guys are destined to fail once the group dissolves.

There are reports that Paul Heyman may be heading to TNA, despite remarks to the contrary that have been published lately. Heyman said that he refuses to go to TNA unless he gets full creative control, and Dixie Carter might be reluctant to hand over the keys after all that she's paid Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff to do in that same capacity. I personally would love to see Heyman in TNA (though I'd much prefer to see him get full creative control over WWE's mega-roster), and I think that the move would be the saving grace of TNA. That said, however, if Dixie Carter keeps listening to Jeff Jarrett and his antiquated ideas, I'm worried that the company will go under even if Heyman turns things around. Though I blame much of their recent missteps on Hogan and Bischoff, Jarrett has to take some of the blame given that he's let his personal issues interfere with his booking and he had been running out of ideas before Hogan and Bischoff were even brought in.

This is random as all hell, but Matt Hardy's gut makes me feel somewhat better about my own. It's a little embarassing for a guy who has main event aspirations to be so out of shape...

If they reveal Kane as the attacker (which all signs point to), then I'll be sorely disappointed in what has otherwise been a good angle for the Big Red Machine. Though it's a bit anti-climactic and "obvious" to have the Nexus be the culprits, that would be a more effective means of getting them over if they were able to take out two "unstoppable" forces in John Cena and The Undertaker. There's also a bit of storyline history there, as the Nexus had faced Kane in a series of matches for a couple of weeks during NXT Season 1, usually ending in a group beatdown of Kane. If they need to set up another Undertaker-Kane match, I'd rather see Kane turn heel by turning on his brother after the investigation is over, rather than have him turn heel by being the attacker. As for the WWE's "savior," if they can't get The Rock to do it and Triple H is out with an injury, then I'd like to see Chris Jericho turn face and lead the charge against them, or have Randy Orton suddenly take a vested interest in the Nexus and take them out one-by-one, Viper-like. Though Jericho is a much more effective heel (he's done some of the best work of his career lately), it would be an interesting twist on the "Save Me/Us" gimmick that he had upon his latest return to WWE. They could write it as Jericho believing that the Nexus is trying to suck the life out of the business, and that even though he doesn't care about the fans, he cares about the business because it's the business itself that makes him the "best in the world at what he does."

Dixie Carter is handling this entire thing all wrong. If Jeff Hardy were in WWE with these charges as serious as they are, he'd either be suspended or buried or taken out with an injury angle. This isn't the right message to be sending to the locker room, even if things end up working out with no jail time and a slap on the wrist. Morale is down for a reason in the TNA locker room, and it's not just the Internet dirt sheets fabricating it. I bet you that, of their massively-talented roster, there's maybe a little over a handful of guys that are happy with where the company is going.

It looked like he said, "Don't do it, you SOB" (not in those exact words) The tears from both men and the handshake was a tremendous show of respect. Great ending to a solid (yet somewhat underwhelming) match.