Truths & Lies: TNA ‘World’ Title, News Leaks, Beast In The East, More

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World’s Schlongest Man: Perhaps Dixie and Jarrett have created GFW to give themselves competition and the invasion angle. It’s brilliant, I tell ya.

My response is…

ShaneMcMahonsButler: Nobody will care about the invasion angle because nobody cares about GFW, and barely even TNA.

Pretty much…and…

i8mypants: maybe not everyone, but definitely the majority.

it would be like some obscure indy fed “invading” WCW. how can you become emotionally invested or interested when you’ve never seen them before or know what they’re about?

even if they only chose the recognizable names, it would be unclear to most that they’re GFW and not just another batch of former TNA stars mixed with “WWE rejects”.

There it is! Feels like GFW has nothing going on at the moment, and since TNA never has anything going, they have come together to try and get something jump started. Since the select few GFW fans are already well aware of TNA and Destination America, there is very little, if anything, to gain. Whole lot of nothing in my book.

Trashy: The correct “Ain’t It Fun” music video for the column would be the Dead Boys song (or if you must, the Guns N Roses cover of the Dead Boys’ song).

Good advice.

Cat: ‘Remember though, I am just a “TNA hater” and trolling’

Nice of you to admit it at last 😀

MEOW!

Voice of logic: Hey, you didn’t swear at Watry… I look forward to him not responding to this next week.

If you were actually the voice of logic, you would know I already covered this (on another website).

chucky: I really wish he’d get off his soapbox about the swearing. It’s only words. Otherwise, his observations about TNA are pretty much spot on. I.E. TNA is at this point complete garbage.

You are right on both accounts. My observations about TNA Impact Wrestling are spot on and always have been…and yeah, it’s only words. My point exactly.

Carl Rood: Any sort of TNA/GFW merger makes no sense. GFW is a startup. That means debt and very few, if any, assets. That makes them unattractive to purchase, since it’s too early to say if they will even exist a year from now. It’s also unlikely they’d have the money to buy TNA since, despite their troubles, TNA is still much larger. Also, the way things are going, GFW just needs to wait for the talent they want to become available to them.

I don’t see any sort of Invasion type story making sense since a good chunk of the GFW roster used to be with TNA. The way TNA uses some talent so infrequently (especially with some of last year’s pre-taped PPV specials), it’s hard to know whether someone is actually TNA or GFW.

While GFW might benefit a little from appearing on Impact, I don’t see how TNA benefits from a bunch of guys who either left for they cut coming back and making trouble for them. Even at that, I don’t see it being a big benefit. TNA has pretty much just a hardcore fanbase. There aren’t a lot of casual fans there. Most of them probably know about GFW and have decided whether to give it a whirl.

I love it. You win the big “Comment of the Week!” prize.

*no prize exists

Week In Review

TRUTH: The TNA departures from the past week were NOT surprising. – I am curious to now see which wrestlers get other/better offers and which wrestlers are back at the next TNA-GFW tapings in late July.

LIE: Jeff Jarrett returning to TNA will boost business long-term. – Really struggling to see how 500 fans at a minor league park are going to translate to big money for TNA. Prove me wrong, prove me wrong.

TRUTH: The NXT Title match should main event the WWE Network special this weekend. – Should…and in my case, it WAS the main event. More on that below.

LIE: Matt Morgan returned to WWE last week. – If there is one positive to take from his one-off return to TNA last week, it is that he has not 100% completely shut the door on wrestling again. Even at a 0.000001% chance, it makes you think…

Big Brother 17 Update

Just a tiny update on Big Brother: My three favorites had an interesting week. John earned himself some goodwill in the house by losing on purpose (it made sense in context). Vanessa was in the middle of a controversy but came out of it looking like the ‘winner’ in the argument by catching the other in a lie. Huge plus for her game! Audrey is STILL in hot water with others but may survive another seven days if she catches a few breaks before Thursday. For those curious about the wrestling connection, former NXT star Austin is not in any danger of being evicted this week. Laying low for now. Smooth move.

TRUTH: PWI is right in no longer recognizing the TNA Title as a “World” Title.

I have been saying this for years.

Nice of PWI to finally get on the correct side of the debate. Took them long enough. Look, the TNA die hards are going to defend their company to the death, so reasoning with them is a lost cause in 2015. To everybody else with an open mind, all I ever asked was to simply ask yourself the obvious questions.

Do you consider R-Truth to be a former World Champion? I certainly don’t.

How about Ken Shamrock? Nope.

Eric Young? Chris Sabin? PLEASE! Stop it.

Now let me ask you – how many times has Christian been World Champ?

…

Right, twice.

No, the WWE ECW version doesn’t count either for those wondering.

To further that point, was Chavo Guerrero a former World Champion? Of course not. Ezekiel Jackson? Ummm…no.

How about Jamie Noble? I mean, surely the Ring of Honor “World Title” counts then too, right? Sorry, not in my world.

TRUTH: TNA Impact Wrestling is right in trying to find the source of their news leaks behind the scenes.

A (surely to be accurate) news report online surfaced this week that TNA officials were upset about the production staff-pay story getting out. Apparently, they are now trying to find the source of the news leak. Heck, Dixie Carter even said months ago she would like to use a lie detector test on people backstage to find who is revealing inside information. Believe it or not, I would feel the exact same way if I were her. This goes for the folks in WWE too. The players on football teams that suddenly have all their dirty laundry on ESPN. Television shows with scripts showing up on EOnline before air date. Celebrities with their dating gossip all over the tabloids. Everything in media really.

I would want to find the source too.

Obviously, somebody is giving out personal/inside information to the ‘dirt sheets’ every week.

If Dixie Carter wants to give out lie detector tests to everybody upon entry/exit at every taping, I would love it. See who is willing and who suddenly disappears. Here is the problem with that mentality though:

As the old saying goes – Be careful what you wish for; you just might get it.

Dixie Carter may THINK she wants to find the news leak in her own company…but what if it turns out your best friend is the guilty party and has been for years? Or your most trusted assistant? Or you learn that your top main event stars are the ones spreading lies to different websites? You sure you want to deal with the consequences then? Good luck with that.

Sadly, this issue is not going to go away. Ever. There will always be “unnamed sources” talking to ESPN reporters about contract dollar amounts before they can be made official (recent NBA free agency as an example), newspapers learning of political news early, player trades and releases in sports, celebrities secretly talking to TMZ under the condition of anonymity. Happens all the time in every form of media! Heck, just last week, I exclusively quoted a current TNA talent on all the rumored departures. If little ol’ me can get something like that without much of an effort, imagine others above my pay scale with way more connections. Unfortunately, TNA is fighting a losing battle.

LIE: WWE Network is not offering July free for new subscribers.

If you read my Jay’s Ways column, you know I rip on WWE a lot for this. Like, a lot. Probably too much sometimes. Today, I will kinda-sorta defend them. Just for now though. First of all, let’s take care of the elephant in the room.

The WWE Network is NOT free every month.

It is free for new subscribers.

Netflix uses a similar sales pitch, and I doubt anybody would say they are idiotic business people. NBA League Pass offers up a deal for new customers. Cable companies give special prices to people signing up. I know some of you may groan, but even the CBS Big Brother live feeds offer a free week of service, instead of a monthly charge right out of the gate. Bottom line – it is a way to entice fans to sign up. Give a little, get a little…and hope to keep them as a PAYING customer every month thereafter.

Again, every month is not free.

Yes, there are still going to be clowns who jump through hoops and use every dirty tactic known to man to avoid paying a penny for wrestling. Clowns will always exist in the world. New credit cards, phony email names, different tricks to buck the system, etc. Those folks are clowns for a reason and as noted a few weeks ago, they are just stealing to steal at this point.

A good comparison is going to a grocery store and eating a free sample and loving the product. Common sense says you maaaaybe sneak another free sample, before purchasing the item in full, right? You got your freebie, enjoyed it and now have been convinced to buy…

…only you sit there and continue eating free sample after sample after free sample laughing as if you are somehow “cool” all the while everybody just stares at you in disgust.

It’s $9.99 folks. Who cares if new subscribers get their first month free? Netflix users do, and nobody screams “NETFLIX IS FREE EVERY MONTH!!! WAHHHH!” That is just silly and untrue. You going to complain about that too? Cable companies do it, as I am sure we all benefited from when initially signing up. Want to whine to them as well? I could go on and on with examples. Businesses do it all the time, and for as much great/quality wrestling content given out each month, WWE Network is no different, and you want to know why free months are offered for new subscribers?

Because it works.

Numbers back this up. It is working. WWE offered it up free in November centered around Survivor Series, and grabbed 242,000 taking advantage – 170,000 stuck around. Another 100,000 paid full price on pay-per-view, but that is a totally different discussion. In February, WWE Network was (again) free to new subscribers, and boom! Just over 200,000 tried it out, with 154,000 staying for March. Seems like the plan has been a success so far.

I can argue against the strategy (and I do constantly elsewhere). People can whine, complain, and be upset all they like about the free trial offers. For now though, it appears to be working.

We will see the full results when the next WWE Network numbers are released in a few weeks.

LIE: I watched the WWE Network special “Beast In The East” LIVE!

Honestly, I was not even home at 4:30 am Saturday morning, so I missed out on all the fun as the WWE Network special aired live. Just a reminder of how worldwide WWE truly is and Americans like myself are lucky to get shows in primetime each week, not oddball hours early in the morning. However, I did watch it in the afternoon (avoided all spoilers) before all my July 4th festivities began. Here is a quick review:

Chris Jericho vs. Neville – Lump me in the group of people who had no idea why Chris Jericho won. If this was NOT a WWE Network special and was your typical weekend house show, then fine. Maaaaaybe you could convince me. The fact that Neville tapped out really put a damper on the previous 20 minutes. I am of the belief that wins and losses do not mean much on a weekly basis, but Neville is full-time, on RAW/Smackdown currently, and a young star on the rise…while Jericho is not full-time, is not on RAW/Smackdown currently, and is not a young star on the rise. Cut and dry situation there. Very good opener but wrong finish.

Divas Championship Match – Started off rough. Not even ten seconds in, things fell apart. Luckily, the bout improved. Credit to Nikki Bella, Paige, and Tamina for making the triple threat format work down the stretch. Nothing amazing or truly spectacular. Just a nice Divas Title match on the card. Nikki retains to the surprise of nobody.

Brock Lesnar vs. Kofi Kingston – Not going to write a lot here. Brock Lesnar destroyed Kofi Kingston and The New Day, looked like a beast, and claimed later on in an interview he is coming for WWE World Champion Seth Rollins. Simple yet effective.

John Cena/Dolph Ziggler vs. King Barrett/Kane – Yep, I am talking about this before the NXT Title match. Why? Because after Finn Balor vs. Kevin Owens. I turned the WWE Network off. Yep, you read that right. In my mind, the NXT Championship battle was the main event. Absolutely nothing was going to top it, so why ruin the moment and sit through a standard run of the mill tag bout? That is why I turned everything off…and then came back later to watch Cena and Ziggler win to close the show. Good use of Kane here, but the outcome was never in doubt. Faces win, celebrate, and send the crowd home happy.

NXT Championship Match – Perfect example of how being predictable is not a bad thing. Kevin Owens is moving to the main roster (to become United States Champion?). He is finishing up with his NXT run, while the company has done a tremendous job setting up Finn Balor to become “the man” and new champion. No need for a shocking late twist. No need for shenanigans. No need for Hideo Itami to get involved. No reason for any added junk to SWERVE(!!!) the fanbase. NXT all but told us Balor was winning the belt the past few weeks, and yes – that is exactly what happened. Amazing match and fitting conclusion. Clean 1-2-3 victory for Finn Balor and such a cool moment in Tokyo, Japan.

Summary – At no point did this feel like Raw. At no point did this feel like Smackdown. At no point did this feel like a waste of time watching a WWE produced show. Even during the “down” moments of the two hours, the commentators, camera angles, setting, fans, and everything else told you this was something special. The one minor nitpick is it feels like WWE could have got a lot more hype/build out of this than what we saw (minus NXT). A show like this deserved a much bigger spotlight on RAW/Smackdown for the past month trying to get new WWE Network subscribers with the selling points of Balor/Owens and Brock’s return match. Diehard fans and many casual fans alike would probably want to tune in for that. PWInsider is reporting WWE was very happy with the live streaming numbers, so congrats. I just feel MORE could have been made of the event beforehand on television. Again though, we will learn the new subscriber numbers in due time. Overall, two thumbs up for WWE Beast In The East!

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