A More Satisfying Day of Wrestling

Today was, all in all, much better than, say, last Tuesday.

-We start with ordering the TNA Slammiversary PPV, which I've watched MOST of by now (ordered an all-day replay, taped it, am watching it kinda out of sequence) and overall it was a good show. Most everything that should have happened, happened. An awesome X-Division 6-way, Chris Sabin got to look more than competitive against Nash and only lost because of interference (thus making the storyline "Nash is full of cr*p" rather than "Nash really IS better than the X-Division guys"), AJ and Daniels won the tag titles in an excellent match, Jim Cornette is the new face of TNA, and Joe beat Steiner in a match that was a hundred times better than it had any right to be. I swear, Joe could pull a decent match out of a mop if he had to. The only problem was in the main event, which is exactly the WRONG place to have a problem if you want folks to think well of your show. The stipulation on the match was rediculously convoluted, it was WAY overbooked, and the REALLY wrong guy won - Jarrett, again. Now, they're acting like all the controversy means something, but I have read the spoilers (warning if you care), and yes, he has the belt again. Now, HOPEFULLY, this is little more than a set-up for someone else (Joe) to win the belt next month (circumstances will become clearer in the coming weeks), but I really fear that TNA really HASN'T learned the lesson - fans don't boo Jarrett because of heat, they boo him because THEY NEVER WANT TO SEE HIM BE CHAMP AGAIN. The fact that folks were LITERALLY pelting the ring with garbage during the finish should have been a clue. This is the exact wrong kind of heat to have, because it could mean that folks start tuning out. Bad, bad move. Resolve it quick, guys, because if he keeps the title, fan interest could drop, and soon.

-And onto ECW, as there was really no place to go but up after last week. Ergo, the show tonight, as relatively weak compared to the true ECW as it was, ended up being pretty good by comparison. Sabu got to destroy someone, Sandman beat up another pointless comedy gimmick, Tommy got beaten up by Big Show, and a very good main event tag with RVD & Kurt beating Edge and Orton. See? Put an actual wrestling match on there and opinions go up quite a bit. It couldn't hold a candle to the AJ & Chris/AMW match, but for what it was it was good. There was still a great deal of bizarre and dumb stuff - Kelly came out and stripped again, killing ANOTHER five minutes that coulda been saved for wrestling, but at least she got her bra off this time and an angle (of sorts) got started with it. But overall, it was a step in a somewhat right direction, at least. Next step: get the frigging Raw guys off the show and let it build stars on its own merits.