I believe Gunner to be the most talented performer of this epoch.

Wouldn't it be funny if a Young-Hervey match were to take place, and then a reminiscing voice would say "it was a match I have never forgotten ..."?

So uhh Kev, what was up with Gunners' promo? He's says likes to help people but he doesn't like anyone. Um, what? And wasn't that brawl in the "parking lot" between Angle and Jarrett reminiscent of Rocky 5?

Uh oh. The dreaded point system. Those tend to get so confusing that no one remembers how many points who got and why. Remember the AWA's team concept? Exactly.

OK, you prolly do, but you catch my point, right? And on a side note, I wanted to congradulate DumbSmark for his remarkable restraint this column. And I agree with his point. Phil "Gunner" Shatter is indeed a most talented performer.

>>In the span of just a few weeks, Gunner has gone from doing a comedy program with Eric Young to pinning the TNA world champion two weeks in a row. Only in the mind of Vince Russo does that make sense.
To be fair, that's not as bad as how the WWE suddenly elevated Jack Swagger into world champion.

When you mentioned Jackie was back, I had to look up wikipedia to find out which Jackie you meant...

The BFG tournament format is very original and compelling. You can have many matches with winners/losers without truly burying anyone.

If they want to push Gunner, he should challenge for lessor belts and have more wins/losses with solid matches; kind of like what WCW did with Benoit. Fans will buy into you as a performer.

I liked the street fight. If Angle is training for the Olympics, I can see Jarrett taking a short time off and then take out Angle for a while.

I like the ODB angle with terminated Knockouts coming back. It has lots of potential. What would be great is if ODB were paired with Steiner.

Totally agree!
Let me add, if they are going to have Sting lose. It needs to be to someone worthy.
When will wrestling learn and send Russo home? He does the same stuff over and over and it never works.

Who would believe I'd only write one line? Sore losers are funny sometimes...
I feel Mr. Eck in not wanting to seem like I'm always getting down on TNA, because I like the talent within the company, and so many of these guys are capable of putting on a good show if allowed the room to do so.
Yet...the Gunner thing is annoying. He has a great look, he has proven himself as far as greatly improved in-ring ability, and his crazy tough guy character is definitely coming into its own. His non-chalance while getting his eyebrow stitched closed was very cool. However, how it makes sense even disregarding the last couple of weeks that he should make Anderson look like a weakling and a lame-duck champion immediately upon the start of Anderson's title run is beyond reason.
Sting had intensity in the promo with Hogan--but I think I recognized that. Just as he adopted the Brandon Lee Crow persona at the end of the 90's, it seems that now he's adopting aspects of the Heath Ledger Joker. I didn't like the Brandon Lee thing either, and it seems like a cheap way to recreate yourself instead of tweaking your own unique character.
It was nice to see Austin Aries, but I still don't understand this Destination X thing---hasn't Abyss already buried folks like Kendrick and Kazarian? What exactly is the build-up for this?
I will say that the Bound For Glory series sounds on the surface like one of the better ideas in a while. It can give at least a spine of a story that perhaps can build into something if not stepped on as soon as it starts to work.
Who knows...I'm getting TNA fatigue. As I said, there are real talents there, but characters are so often diminished for no good reason at all, and some of the storylines make so little sense, that it is hard to invest as a fan in most of the action.
As far as our friend Kelvin goes--I just have to say that it is fairly pathetic that after being whipped like the family mule for his senseless attacks on Mr. Eck and other commenters--the only thing he has left is to post his brain-dead gibberish under my screen name. Personally, I'm just going to ignore him now. He's been deflated, nobody is going to believe anything he posts under my name is really me----and it seems that the pain over that horrible situation he described us regarding his chilhood abuse issues was just too much. We can't even trust his apologies, and he's back at it like an egg-sucking dog. Just know that we all have compassion Kelvin, for all of your pain, and that we love you. Someday, you'll be okay.

"Competitors gets 10 points for a submission win; seven points for a pinfall win; 5 points for a countout win; 3 points for a disqualification win; 2 points for a draw; and minus-10 points for a disqualification loss."

Werent they the same rules during AWA's Team Challenge Series headed up by Baron's Blitzers, Larry's Legends, and Slaughte's Snipers?

Kevin, despite Impact always having more than its share of head scratching moments, I thought that this week was a fairly good show. Definitely impressed with Gunner, although his buildup is a bit rushed.

As to what was on the line in the X Division match, I thought that the winner got a TNA contract. If so, I'm glad to see Aries back. I always liked him.

I've always liked tournaments, so I'm looking forward to the Bound For Glory series. Its a good idea to have matches take place at live events as well as tv and ppv. Maybe this can boost attendance.

Finally, unless Devon has remarried, that woman at ringside is definitely a "tv wife". I have an old ECW DVD, The Best of The Dudley Boyz, and in it they showed their last night in the company in August 1999. After their last match, they thanked their families who were sitting in the audience, and Devon's wife was there. The woman in the dvd was not the woman at ringside on Thursday night.

"Jarrett had said beforehand that if he lost the fight he would move to Mexico – and he put it in writing. After Angle choked him out to win the brawl, a fallen Jarrett said, “Adios.” I’m interested to see where TNA is going with this."

Probably nowhere. Jarrett will be back in short order. It wouldn't surprise me if Jarrett sneak-attacks Angle while wearing a luchador mask at some point.

I think Vince Russo and TNA are just trying to be a little less formulaic and more unpredictable with Gunner bit. Heaven forbid a wrestling program not follow the predetermined and tired wrestling dogma about what is believable and what is not. Even the best athlete can be distracted and taken advantage of in the process. Why is that so unbelievable? Are wrestling fans really that simple mined as to not be able to handle such things?

Kevin, I gotta say you do overthink these things sometimes.

Predictable and logical is not necessarily entertaining.

After all this is pro wrestling not War and PEace.

Lighten up and and just go with the flow, even if it is your pal Vince Russo steering.

Why the booking of gunner might be questionable, I thought he did a solid job in what was his first real promo. He might have said something that didn't exactly fit together when looked at closely, but I thought h ecame across as the intense guy they are portraying his character to be. He didn t stutter or stammer the way that some guys do. I definitely thought he delivered the promo better than some of the other guys who consistently get tv time on tan and wwe, like either hardy, Morgan, Morrison, as examples. I think he has a lot of potential and could, with a lot of improvement and right story, be a breakout star for tna.

While, I may not agree with the booking style at least they are giving someone new a chance to shine. We've seen less hardy, Terry, dreamer, Neal, Moore, and more of guys like crimson gunner. They are trying to create some fresh stars. maybe they'll stumble into the right formula. I don't think diminishing the belts is the way to go.

Right now the only belts that haven't been tarnished are the tag team belts. Abyss with the x, ey with the tv, and the world champ is being booked as a loser every week. If wrestling matters, then book the belts to matter.

A couple of things first of this BFG series is a rip off of the AWA series but also Eric Bischoff was apart of that nonsence. secondly It is getting very annoying every single week someone is beating up Velvet Sky and finally i think in the main event from beginning to end I think Bully Rays talking and throughout was more impressive than Angle & Jarretts lame punches.

I guess Gunner has replaced Tommy Dreamer as the biggest ass kisser in pro wrestling. How else can his push be explained? And don't get me wrong, I like Gunner too, as a good young prospect with an upside, but his character has yet to even be defined. And I don't think he's really kissing that much ass, but obviously he's become somebody's pet project. But as a character who is Gunner? What does he stand for? A few months ago he was a security guard, then became the World TV Champ, then lost to Eric Young's moron character, and now he's pinning world champions? Only in the Bizzaro upside down world that is world that is TNA could this happen. Rediculous.

And poor Ken Anderson goes from being a poor man's Stone Cold to being a poor man's The Miz all in the time span of about a month. His character has been dismantled and destroyed. Not sure what the future holds for Anderson at this point. I guess being a world champion may justify what's going on in his mind, but he came off stonger without the belt in his poor man's Stone Cold character. What a waste.

I like the psychotic Sting we've seen the last few weeks. He doesn't need to be the champion, he should be a dark enforcer, and should only step in the ring on special occasions. This is how you use Sting at this stage of his career. Great segment between him and Hogan. Hogan sporting the Impact Wrestling colors kind of hints to where he's headed. He will take over the Mick Foley role, and Bischoff will will turn on him. It's becoming more and more obvious that at some point Jackson James will be revealed as Bischoff's son, as his actions as a referee recently have been questionable and bias is creeping into how he calls matches. Sting and Hogan's history is real, and Hogan's recent troubles in his personal life are good material to use for compelling story lines. It also gives Hogan a chance to paint himself as a good guy with the real life fued going on between him and The Ultimate Warrior.

The X-Division match is a perfect example of why TNA needs to re-emphasize the importance of the division. If used properly it's a huge asset. Austin Aries looked strong. Perfect execution on that Brain Buster.

I still don't see what the purpose of beating up Velvet Sky every week is. Maybe someone is punishing her for some unknown reason. Or maybe they just don't have anything else for her. But as popular as she is right now, this makes no sense. She should be front and center and heavily promoted, not involved in a quagmire. People want to see Velvet Sky looking hot, and winning matches. That's all she should be doing right now.

I like Eric Young, but they've gone too far with this comedy routine. Atleast Santino Marella gets to maintain his sanity in his comedy routines in WWE. Eric Young was so good in the World Elite storyline. Too bad. The TV Title should be used to elevate young talent not for cheap laughs and bad jokes or a way to get Jason Hervey time on camera. Most people were probably saying to themselves, who the heck is that guy?

Another week of one step up, two steps back for TNA.

Whoa, slow down there Dumb Mark. I could care less about you. I hate KEck. I could care less about you and your weirdo rantings.

Doesn't the point system make the booking for the last week before the BFG PPV obvious? Scenario 1: Wrestler A (heel) leads Wrestler B (face) by 6 points going into the final week, where they are scheduled to wrestle each other. Wrestler B needs a pin or submission to earn the PPV shot. Wrestler B overcomes adversity and gets the match win and the spot.

Scenario 2: Same as scenario 1, except that Wrestler C (also a heel and a friend of Wrestler A) intereferes in the match. The interesting thing is that Wrestler C hits Wrestler *A*, causing Wrestler B to be DQ'd, saving Wrestler A's spot.

Scenario 2B: Same in-ring action, only the face is up by 11 points, and the DQ loss combined with the heel DQ win makes a 13 point swing and giving Wrestler A the spot.

If I were running TNA creative, I'd have this tournament already mapped out. Every match between now and October that was a part of the BFG tournament would already be laid out so that these scenarios can be played out. Would it be interesting to see a face on the edge of turning be the person who causes the DQ, which puts him in the lead?

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. TNA could hire Eck and five or six of us, his loyal readers, and we could do a better job than what is currently being done.

hope TNA sign Aries and dont limit him to the X-division down the line. He would instantly be the best wrestler on the roster and unlike some there he can back it up on the mic and in terms of charisma. In fact I recall Aries having a few matches with Anderson like 8 years ago in IWA mid south that werent to bad and now if it were to happen Aries could completely cover Anderson's short comings.

Just caught up on 6 hours of programming from last week and the number 1 standout of all was Austin Aries. Off the hook performer.

They can't seem to decide whether Pope is a heel or face either. He's been doing heel things, but then during the parking lot brawl he sounded like he was on Angle's side, when the Immortal guys were all cheering for Jarrett.