Jim Cornette wrapped up everything wrong with the gimmick really succinctly. It’s the wrong type of heat for wrestling. The heel is either too cheap and it becomes offensive or the heel makes good points and it stops being light entertainment.

I think the whole terrorist bit was Vince thinking.

"And then at GAB one of the masked men can RKO the Undertaker and he'll take off his mask and be RANDYYYY ORTONNN"

since he was returning at the time (I believe).

Going to Raw later this month in Detroit.

Have a good time. Hopefully Raw isn’t cancelled by the time you get to go.

Not sure how many people watch EVOLVE, but Jackson Drake was also on NXT this past week. That guy is REALLY talented. He’s like a good Zack Sabre, Jr. He actually does the little things a lot of pushed wrestlers outside the WWE neglect. I loved the spot where he played possum against Ricky Saints, and Saints couldn’t see it, but if you were paying attention to Drake, you could see him setting it up.

And Corey Graves misses the multiple meanings, but I think calling himself the Carolina Reaper is supposed to play off where he’s from and the pepper (he’s hot), but also the Grim Reaper and “sucking souls” playing into the playboy gimmick. One of the best nicknames in wrestling. He’s generally good at naming things. His knee is called “The Unaliving,” which is his Gen Z/reaper gimmick smashed again. On the indies he does an F5 called “The Crown of Dirt,” which is just an appropriate visual. Plus, dirt…he’s the hottest pepper in the garden. And he’s part of the dirty party animals.

Sounds like this should be in the NXT thread.

Is Gen Z really a gimmick when it's just... being in your 20s

lol Jelly Roll

I imagine a future where WWE has very few actual wrestlers and it’s just a rotating cast of celebs. Like a modern day Celebrity Deathmatch.

The Jelly Roll stuff was done beautifully on SmackDown. One of the best things on the show.

Naomi really impressed me on Raw.

Watching some classic TNA. Modern wrestling makes me appreciate what I slept on more.

TNA Turning Point 2009 is on the agenda right now. Only just started.Good opening match between Amazing Red and Homicide. Don West was a gem. The Beautiful People faced ODB, Sarita & Taylor Wilde in a six-woman tag. The Lacey Von Erich version of The Beautiful People. She wasn’t horrible here. Don’t like all the belts being on the line in one match, but the match itself was good. Desmond Wolfe cuts a forced promo with good content and now we’re onto Motor City Machine Guns and Beer Money challenging The British Invasion.

Good show so far.

Watched Angle vs. Joe from Genesis ‘06 before. Great match. The booking of it felt rushed at the time, but in retrospect it is classic storytelling.

WWE ran an angle on Jimmy Kimmel Live to promote SummerSlam.

Saw a few seconds of that, Logan went through a table.

Slammiversary has got me pretty intrigued. AJ Styles is going to be involved. Enzo Amore has been recording some interesting Fourth Rope promos too. I guess they’re a hip hop/wrestling indy thing that seems to be working with TNA. Enzo alluded to Zilla Fatu and The Good Brothers showing up with him. He seemed to take aim at Joe Hendry and Tony D’Angelo of all people lol. He also seemed to reference CM Punk.

Steve Maclin also issued a challenge of sorts. Tom Hannifan said he was looking for a fight at Slammiversary. Maclin seemed to imply it should come from an international promotion.

In other TNA news, Carlos Silva did an interview with Ariel Helwani.

* They’ve been working on a new TV deal since about the start of the year.

* It’s accelerated in the past 60 days. Should be ready to announce something in a 60-90 day window.

* It’d be for the end of the year with plans to go live every week eventually. That seems to be the desire of the entities making offers.

* TNA+ is like their WWE Network and TNA is open to integrating it with the streaming services of potential partners.

* They’re looking for about $10 million a year and expect about 250k-500k viewership wifh a broader platform.

Good for them. :y: