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CALDWELL'S TAKE
CALDWELL: Befuddled! Flabbergasted! Thunderstruck! Searching for answers to Impact Oct 26, 2007 - 12:27:26 AM
"I have more questions now than when this whole thing started!"
-- TNA temporary play-by-play announcer Don West, 9:59 p.m. - Thursday, Oct. 25
Four weeks of two-hour broadcasts. That's eight hours of wrestling television granted by the good folks at Spike Television. That's eight hours to get some wrestlers over, deliver some quality in-ring wrestling content, and tell a story or two.
After eight hours, three trips to the club for Latin night to spend an evening washing it down with my good friend Jack and his buddy Coke, I have no idea what in the world is going on with TNA.
Seriously, Karen Angle seducing Kevin Nash? Sure, she's hot and all. We know it. But, do they need to spend eight segments each show reminding us? Come on, when has she ever drawn a dime?
Sorry, I'll clarify. When has she ever drawn a dime in TNA?
Ok, how about Black Reign stuffing a rat in a bag, then placing said bag over Abyss's head? Or two referees having a shoving match. Or anything involving VKM.
But, more importantly, what happened to Abyss? This guy was the next (well, the only) potential break-out star for the company and he's fooling around with creepy men who like to wear costumes and make up. And what happened to Abyss's bff, Sting? Where's he been lately to help his underprivileged monster find direction in his life?
Bottom line is that Abyss should be back in the heavyweight title picture. He should be facing Sting. He should be facing Angle. He should be facing Joe. He should be chasing belts, not rats.
And what's with the X Division? My goodness, just release them out of their contracts already to take them out of their misery. Oh, and by the way, who is the X Division champion? I wouldn't even know there is a champion of the young boy's division this week. Which reminds me...
Wednesday night at Booker T's PWA show in Pasadena, I saw a star in the ring. He wasn't 6'5". He wasn't 295 pounds. His pants fit around his waist. It was amazing. He had the audience eating out of the palm of his hand. I saw a guy in complete control of a character. I saw a guy in unbelievable shape.
His name was Jay Lethal. He is the X Division champion. Currently, he is being completely wasted in TNA. And it saddens me.
It also saddens me, but doesn't surprise me, that TNA has failed on their word. Per Dixie Carter mere days before TNA made the move to two hours, the two-hour move was on track to deliver longer match-ups with the wrestlers being given ample time to develop characters.
Longer matches? Where? The undercard matches are the same four-to-five minute spotfests complete with a steady stream of outside interference that takes away from any result to a match. Sure, there's one long match in the main event slot, but that was the case every-other-week during the one-hour shows.
There was a time in this company when the X Division was all they had. When the X Division took them from Wednesday nights to Friday afternoons to Saturday nights. If you would have told me before the move to two hours that TNA would broadcast a 120-minute show with exactly three minutes of TV time for the X Division, I would have said you're crazy. Then, after dusting off an old VHS tape of the Friday afternoon frenzy on Fox Sports Net to remember the good times, I would have sarcastically asked, 'So, what, are they going to fill two hours with Karen Angle screaming at Jeremy Borash?'
Alas, it's come to this point where Karen Angle and Ms. Brooks's cleavage get more attention than anyone in the X Division. Where Jim Cornette's sweat beads get more face time than anyone in the X Division.
Has it really come to this point? It's come to the point where the most entertainment I've had since Raw was watching Mike Tenay put on his stern, mad face and confront, confront! that obviously unenlightened Jim Cornette to demand answers.
I laughed uncontrollably throughout the women's match that followed as Tenay sat silent on the air. I don't know why. Maybe it was the sheer absurdity of realizing the top feud in this company - a company where the former champion (that being Sting) admits in a promo that his title defense has nothing to do with a title - is between the belligerent play-by-play man and the castrated authority figure who can't make a decision on his own.
Don West, you have questions. I have no answers. Mike Roe and I will try to sort it out this weekend, but until then, someone help out Don West.
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