James Caldwell: This is PWTorch assistant editor James Caldwell joined by PWTorch columnist Greg Parks breaking down a very interesting week of WWE and TNA programming. We'll get to all of that, but you're fresh off covering Smackdown tonight. What's your immediate reaction to the show leading to Sunday's PPV?

Greg Parks: Eh, it was okay, nothing to get too excited over, though. They continue to keep Kane involved in the main storyline, but not in the title match, which is okay with me. The Drew McIntyre segment was long, but he got his heat back after a few weeks of getting kicked around. There were a couple of mid-card matches to put the focus on them, which is nice. And the opening segment was pretty creative, but overall, I don't think this show did much to sell any more buys for those who would be on the fence about ordering (unless you really look forward to Kane getting his vengeance once and for all...even though he already beat up the main eventers tonight).

Caldwell: I thought Kane served as a distraction, especially in the final segment of the show. It seems like WWE wasn't too concerned about the Smackdown brand selling the PPV on Sunday and they have bigger fish to fry later this summer with the development of the Kane storyline, and how it involves Undertaker. They gave away the visual of all four PPV main-eventers in the ring together during the TV main event tonight. And this whole "anything can happen" sales pitch is weak, weak, weak. Where do you think they're heading with Kane's character as the destination for this storyline?

Parks: The first week it looked like a swerve and he'd be behind the whole thing, but really, things change in creative so often, I'm not sure if they even know the destination of the storyline at this point. I could see him and Taker tagging briefly upon Taker's return so he doesn't have to carry the load when he's back from injury. That's one option they have if they stick with Kane on Taker's side.

Caldwell: That sounds about as accurate as a prediction as can be found at this point. Who wins the four-way match at the PPV? Rey got the pin on TV tonight, so that almost rules him out. Does Swagger retain?

Parks: I thought he would, but he is dedicating this match to his father (I'm sorry...his "daddy"). For a heel, that usually means a loss. I could see CM Punk winning, to reward him for shaving his head in the storyline.

Caldwell: I would keep the belt on Swagger. They need someone just to hold the belt for a while instead of playing this hot potato game. Swagger loses so much on TV, too, that he needs to keep that belt to retain some measure of credibility. It's really annoying how WWE books their heel champions to consistently lose on TV - yeah, so the champion looks vulnerable to challengers - but I think it devalues the title, the champion, and the idea of being a champion. Anyways, what do you make of the overall PPV line-up with just the five matches announced? It seems like they're saving a lot of time and room for a big angle, possibly involving the NXT Rookies.

Parks:: I'm with ya, I'd like Swagger to win. I think they do need something big with the NXT Rookies this Sunday. A lot of people think they dropped the ball this past Monday with how things went down (I thought it was OK - I certainly don't think the storyline is trash simply based on what happened Monday), so I'm sure this Sunday will be scrutinized very closely by people as it relates to that angle.

Caldwell: I rated it about a 6.0 or 6.5 on the overall follow-up on Monday. It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't ideal giving away so much of that story in one week. They still have room to make something big of the angle, so we might see an interesting PPV where the NXT Rookies are sprinkled in the beginning, middle, and end of the PPV to fill time in-between the advertised matches. All right, let's work backwards to TNA Impact on Thursday. What did you think of the overall show following the Slammiversary PPV and quickly moving along to Victory Road?

Parks: I didn't like it as much as I've liked the past few weeks. You had the comedic value of Lethal and Flair doing dueling Flair promos, but that was about all anyone will remember from that. Why the Band was stripped of the tag titles since they were going Freebird rules still escapes me. I see Joe is in the top ten despite not being available for online voting. Speaking of which, why wouldn't they just use the online votes to break the tie? And a count-out in a Triple Threat match, with an Abyss heel turn already? So much to dislike in that main event segment.

Caldwell: And to add to that, TNA had an entire month to sit down and think out some of these gaping logic holes since they taped all four of the TV episodes leading to Slammiversary right after Sacrifice. They had plenty of time to sort through the ideas being tossed around by the writing team. The Band deal was the most glaring, obviously. And TNA continues to rush through turns, like you said with Abyss. Kendrick is another example. All of a sudden he's the top babyface in the X Division. Anderson before that. Now Anderson and Angle are teaming together on house shows two months after trying to kill each other at Lockdown. There's a lack of pacing to the storylines. But, I still saw enough on the show to give it a slight thumbs up. It's weird. It felt like more items mattered, even if there are still the usual booking flaws. Like a lot of things in TNA, sometimes it just doesn't make sense, but I thought there was progress overall.

Parks: You are much more forgiving than I, James. What did you think of the Lethal/Flair exchange? Was it more than just comedy filler and did it accomplish something, or did it water down the Fortune announcement? And how about TNA once again running down their own superstars, with Flair telling each guy in the ring, presumably the best of the best which is why he picked them, how the four horsemen would've eaten their lunch. How does that make them look good?

Caldwell: I saw Flair running down his hired henchmen as more of a "motivational tool" pep talk and didn't really think about it as TNA running down some of their stars, but that's a good point. And it shows why TNA needs to RUN AWAY FROM THE PAST. It would be like McMahon coming out to the ring and telling John Cena that Steve Austin is a bigger star than him, telling The Miz that he'll never be The Rock, etc. Why not build up your current stars? One of the top flaws on the program was way too much emphasis on nostalgia. Sting-Jarrett, Horsemen, Hulk Hogan on the TV, etc. ... I thought Lethal-Flair was absurdly entertaining, not good for short-term business because no one will want to see Flair vs. Lethal in a basic ol' wrestling match after their exchange, but it could be good for long-term business if they can make Lethal a legit star and not someone they feature for a bit, then de-push.

Parks: I could see Flair using the speech as a motivational tool if TNA didn't have a history of having an inferiority complex and talking about other companies and putting them over more than their own stars (the HOF ring angle, for example).

Caldwell: Yes, indeed. What do you make of all the emphasis on Jarrett vs. Sting and now Sting sans make-up again? Is it a complete waste of time or is there something tangible to come from this program that could help explain Sting's mysterious heel turn?

Parks: Part of me thought the confrontation was too dramatic by half, but then again, this whole angle has been overly dramatic. At least we seem to have some hint as to what the bug is up Sting's ass: that being Hogan and Bischoff. But, I mean, they DID put him #1 in the championship rankings after all, so how pissed can he possibly be?

Caldwell: Logic hole alert! Exactly. And it was way, way over-dramatic with Jarrett selling this as an epic confrontation that should have been resolved ten years ago in WCW. Plus, there was that girl screaming at the top of her lungs throughout the whole angle. At least TNA found their equivalent of a vuvuzela to be relevant. Or something. Anything else from Impact worth breaking down before we move on?

Parks: Oh yeah, I noticed that too. Really annoying. Couldn't they have post-produced that out? What about Samoa Joe being entangled with Hernandez and Matt Morgan? Where does he fit in there? Does Hernandez pick him as a partner to take on Morgan and a partner of his choice (the running gag in TNA, it seems)?

Caldwell: Well, they have Morgan vs. Hernandez in the cage at the PPV, presumably to blow off that feud. Then, it seems they'll build to Joe vs. Morgan, which they were initially building to before putting it on hold for later. So, it seems like Joe will again be an odd-man out building to Victory Road. Or maybe Joe will just squash someone from the X Division. We still don't really know what his motivations are as a character. Has he had a promo since returning?

Parks: Not to my knowledge. And they haven't explained his kidnapping, though I'm probably the last person on earth hanging onto that angle. I just can't believe they made a big deal about it only to have him return without explanation. Really bush-league.

Caldwell: Keep holding on! You never know when they'll randomly re-visit it with a sit-down video or promo. On TNA's clock, that storyline seems to have happened seven years ago as quickly as they move storylines along without time for anything to sink in, but you never know. ... All right, let's talk NXT and Raw earlier in the week. We touched on the big stuff from Raw a bit and I thought NXT was a big step up from Week 1. What jumped out at you from Raw that wasn't part of the NXT angle?

Parks: The fatal four-way U.S. Title match was solid. I feel like they only changed titles so the announcers could talk about how vulnerable the champions will be at the ppv. Still not sure what they're doing with Jericho. I'm disappointed in the possibility of having seen the last of Virgil. Feel free to pick out any of those for a starting point on your reaction, James.

Caldwell: I thought the four-way match was a good TV match, but I thought they gave away the entire mystique of a potential title change at the Four-Way PPV. I haven't been a fan of the PPV build-up at all, and I thought that match gave away the visual, the finish, and the four-man interaction too much rather than actually enticing viewers to tune in to see more. And you're exactly right on why they changed the title for the announcers to hit that talking point. ... I'm waiting for some break in the story with Jericho on the losing streak and seemingly cast aside rather than being built up as a major star on the Raw brand. I'm wondering if he'll be involved in the PPV somehow on Sunday. Do you think it could turn into him being a Pro leader for the NXT rebels?

Parks: I think it's quite possible. He's near the top of my list. But I don't know what the reason would be for him to do it. Similarly, do you think the limo driver on Monday will become a mystery person in the NXT group, or was that not supposed to be a big deal and it'll never be spoken of again?

Caldwell: I think it's one of those things where WWE didn't want anyone thinking too hard about it. It's like WWE tries to cover for eight out of ten items, but everyone wants to know what's up with the other two out of the ten, which they'll never even attempt to address and just hope not too many people notice. It would be interesting if they did a limo driver angle, especially since Jericho was missing from the line-up of Raw stars on the stage during the main event. I think the reason for Jericho being the leader of the NXT Rookies would be to set up a feud against Cena and Jericho wanting to undermine the show because his character thinks he's better than everyone else. Those are two potential explanations.

Parks: Of course, now that Jericho is hosting his ABC game show, one wonders if there's heat on him for doing something outside of WWE and if he'd really get the chance to face Cena in the main events again. After all, his contract is up this fall.

Caldwell: If there is no resolution to this losing streak and if WWE continues to cool off Jericho, then it would seem like WWE was trying to water Jericho down on the way out. We'll find out if there isn't an elaborate plot revealed to explain this lapse in Jericho's three-year strong run. Let's wrap up talking about NXT from Tuesday. A nice show with Kaval vs. Riley in a featured match, plus I thought a pretty good promo by Cody Rhodes. What did you make of the show and do they have something to build on now for the next ten weeks of the show?

Parks: Having something to build on for the next ten weeks is a stretch, but they at least have something for next week. It's an angle that isn't a repeat from season one, so it does seem fresh. And they're doing it with a guy in lucky cannon who doesn't have as much going for him as a Kaval or Alex Riley or Michael McGillicutty, so it appears they're giving him a chance here with this angle with Cody Rhodes.

Caldwell: It looks like Riley, Kaval, and Hennig are the Big Three of this season thus far. Who else do you think is right there with them so far with a limited look at everyone thus far?

Parks: Honestly, I think Husky Harris has potential. But at least we know the name that WWE would've used for Samoa Joe had he gone to their company at any point. But yeah, those are the ones who stand out to me right now.

Caldwell: Oh gosh! Jolly Joe, Jiggly Joe, Jovial Joe, maybe? Harris has a real quirky personality, so it's one of those things that could help him stand out or be a hindrance where people just kind of raise their eyebrows and aren't sure how to take him. Anything else jump out from NXT worth commenting on? How about the Lay-Cool pairing with Kaval?

Parks: It's already paying dividends. I don't know if WWE did this to get a rise out of the Internet crowd (or even Kaval himself) or what, but a lot of people seemed to be looking forward to it, me included. There's a lot of possibilities with that trio.

Caldwell: It's weird because the whole bit about Kaval being sweet and cuddly and huggable and a little brother could have really taken away his credibility as ever being taken seriously in WWE, but then he looked great in the ring vs. Riley and Lay-Cool's commentary actually enhanced him as a character. I want to see more of this trio, as well. Greg, anything else we need to cover before wrapping it up?

Parks: Predictions for this Sunday?

Caldwell: Ah, yes. I'm convinced there will be a big title change since WWE is trying to hammer home this idea of anything can happen. However, I think Cena retains the WWE Title. I don't like the idea of Swagger dropping the World Title, but I feel a title change. I think Truth regains the U.S. Title, Kofi retains the IC Title, and Maryse regains the Divas Title. What do you have?

Parks: I could see the NXT guys costing Cena the belt, but who would they help? The other three helped beat up the rookies on Monday. In the end, I'll go Cena and I guess Swagger. Unlikely that they'll both retain, so I'd say Punk is my backup for the World Title match. Alicia Fox is my darkhorse pick for the Divas title. Miz retains and Kofi retains.

Caldwell: It will be interesting to see if the Rookies are booked to be involved in the main event. I imagine they'll be involved throughout the PPV, but I think their angle will be resolved for the night before the main event. One thing we can agree on is Gail Kim will not be winning the Divas Title based on WWE's booking.

Parks: Sadly, that's true. I think her role is more to be a good hand in the ring for the models-turned-wrestlers rather than be in the title picture.

Caldwell: That's exactly what her role will be on Sunday. All right, Greg, we'll see how all this plays out on Sunday. Will you be back with a Hangout Report?

Parks: I sure will!

Caldwell: Looking forward to it! And I'll talk to you on the Livecast next week.

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