Bleacher Report - Articles by mike fenton

Observations Of A TNA Fan Part 1: TNA's Love For Their Homegrown Stars

mike fenton — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 04:29:53 -0400

After attending my first ever professional wrestling event, which happened to be TNA Slammiversary, some thoughts of what TNA says and what TNA does popped into my mind. It really seems that TNA likes to contradict itself on a constant basis.

TNA loves to tout its “homegrown” stars’ horns, notably AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, Daniels, etc.

However, what do the “homegrown” stars have to look forward to?

There have been four world-title holders since it became the TNA World Heavyweight Championship on June 17th, 2007. The four champions are Mick Foley, Sting, Samoa Joe, and the newly re-crowned champ, Kurt Angle. Out of the four champs, only Mick Foley has held the belt for a shorter amount of time than Samoa Joe.

When it was the NWA world title, the last “homegrown” star to have it was Abyss in November of 2006, holding the belt for 56 days, and AJ Styles in May of 2005 for 35 days. Rhino (for only two days, according to Wikipedia), Raven, Christian Cage, Jeff Jarrett, Sting, and Kurt Angle, are the others who held the NWA belt since AJ held it.

No love for the “homegrown” stars in the heavyweight division.

What about the Legends championship? It could be the perfect mid-card title for the “homegrown” stars. However, only two men have held the title: Booker T (who conjured the title since he realized he would never be a world champion again) and the current champ, AJ Styles.

Booker defended the title a few times and held the title 143 days; AJ has held the title nearly 100 days now and has defended it as irregularly as Booker T did.

So, after about two-thirds of a year, the Legends Championship’s lifespan, we’ve seen two champions and, what, five or six matches for it? It must be legendary, because few will ever get the chance to even see it in a match.Now let’s go to what I think is the most hard-fought title in professional wrestling, the X-Division Championship. The tagline that goes with this division is “no limits”, and that’s exactly what is in every match where this title is up for grabs.

From Elix Skipper doing a hurricanrana off the top of a steel cage to Daniels jumping from pole to the center of the X in the X-Division’s signature match, Ultimate X, the “homegrown” stars of TNA lay it all on the line every time, not just for the prestige of the belt, but for the fans that know these guys are the future of professional wrestling.

The X-Division title, for the most part, has been for the “homegrown” stars, like Chris Sabin (who has held the title for the longest amount of time), AJ Styles (has won the title the most times), and Petey Williams (has held the title 2 times for 150+ days). Kurt Angle, Jerry Lynn, Sheik Abdul Bashir, and Syxx-pac are the only non-“homegrown” that have held the title, and in my opinion, they at least stayed true to the concept of the title.

What about the “homegrown” stars that aren’t in a title picture? What kind of storylines do they get, and what happens when they don’t get their story “over” with the fans? Ask Petey Williams what happens.

After losing to Big Poppa Pump Scott Steiner, a.k.a. the genetic jobber, Petey became his protégé and gained a new moniker, Little Petey Pump. The story had him going through ridiculous “initiations” and a new look, as Scott Steiner’s Mini-Me. I don’t care who you are, NO ONE can make a Scott Steiner storyline good, not even Brad Pitt as Tyler Durden.

The result of this pathetic storyline was Petey Williams’ release from TNA. Sources say after he met with the TNA officials that released him, he had already shaved the goatee.

So, TNA, I must ask for those who cannot: Where’s the love for your “homegrown” stars that you are so articulate in promoting? It’s obviously not in the money nor is it in the championships outside of the X-Division.

The Rise and Decline of What Could Have Been TNA's Ticket to Passing WWE

mike fenton — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 00:32:19 -0400

So, another week of Impact passed where TNA gave Samoa Joe another chance at making in impact.

In my opinion, he dropped the ball once again, though not entirely his fault. He needs to drop the jacket that makes him look like a Rob Halford tribute band leader, the Mike Tyson face tattoo, and about 50 pounds of fat.

However, I do see one way that this could be turned so that Joe could be a main eventer and stay off the mic a bit while he gets some of his lost intensity back.

Turn Joe heel and join the Main Event Mafia. Make the mafia so afraid of him that they offer him a "deal he can't refuse", and have him turn on AJ.

Then give him the TNA Legends belt at the next PPV, where then Matt Morgan resents the mafia and attacks Joe starting a feud there. A feud with a guy like Morgan that has really improved his mic skills could give Joe a little push so that he won't get overshadowed on the mic and in the ring by the same guy.

This way he could get off the "non-title main event" and get back to par with good secondary storylines and work with new people as well as people he has been proven to have good dialogues with.

Wings Vs. Ducks: Game Eight?, Wait, I Mean Wings Vs. Penguins Game Three

mike fenton — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 23:06:40 -0400

I wish I could say that this was an evenly called game, I can't.

I wish I could say the Penguins decided to play with class and humility, I can't.

I wish I could say I watched every second of game three, I can't.

I wish I could say the penguins were called for penalties on at least half the plays where there were penalties committed, I can't.

I wish I could see five-on-five hockey, but for at least one minute, there were six Penguins on the ice and four referees watching that happen without calling a penalty. And when the Penguins finally realized it, you could see the center ice referee telling the Penguin to go to the bench.

If this is the new NHL, where the better is the team with nine players on the ice, and in this case 10, I want nothing to do with this.

I dare anyone to tell me that Ericcson's interference in the third period was 10 percent as bad as 90 percent of the time Detroit dumped and chased the puck into the zone.

I dare anyone to tell me Pittsburgh was the better team tonight with the five actual players on the ice and not the nine they really had.

If this is the best the Penguins can give, the best the new NHL can deliver, the best the officiating can be, and the best that versus can commentate; I want nothing to do with this series.

I am officially boycotting the rest of these Stanley Cup finals. Everyone already knows, outside of Crosby's delusional fan base, Detroit has won the cup. I can only hope that the rest of Detroit will join me, but our love for hockey is much stronger than any other American city.

Bettman, Campbell, Penguins, the city of Pittsburgh, and the NHL as a whole should be ashamed of what a mockery this Stanley Cup finals has become:

A whore for ratings.

The Subtle Decline In Sports: Players (and Refs) Bigger Than The Game

mike fenton — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 01:00:33 -0400

I, as a sports fan, am flabbergasted over the last year in sports news. From steroids to bad sportsmanship, it seems like the games have taken the back burner to their players.

The topic of steroids in baseball has shed some new spotlights on Major League Baseball's stars, including Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire and Alex Rodriguez among others.

All these players have one thing in common: Home run records. Yet not only do all these players have evidence against them, they have been caught lying about their usage or lack there of.

One of my pet peeves about them is despite their big contracts, most of them are defensive detriments to their team. A lot of people remember Andruw Jones as an all-or-nothing hitter (home runs or strikeouts), but not many remember he won a lot of gold gloves as well.

Baseball is a two-way sport (except for DH) and remarkable defensive plays are much more rare than grand slams, yet grand slams are more celebrated than triple plays.

The officiating in many of the major sports has been detrimental to the overall enjoyment for fans. I understand the officials are human, but when networks show replays where you can clearly see the official staring at the play in question and not making the call is mind boggling.

The way it looks like to me is the leagues understand that games that are close or tied are much more enjoyable to a broader crowd than blowouts are, especially in the playoffs when networks can attract more advertising revenue in a 6 or 7-game series than a sweep.

The NBA has been getting a lot of heat on this topic. Years ago the NHL added a second referee to address this, and the NFL instituted reviews for this reason.

Still every sport has this problem no matter what policies or decisions they make. Watch the last one where Hudler gets cross checked and ends up with the penalty. That video was from one series where it had no right going past five games had it been called properly.

The decline of sportsmanship is appalling. It's customary in sports when you lose to a better team you go out and shake their hands. I remember playing sports as a kid after every game, not just in playoffs, lining up and shaking the other teams hands, win or lose.

I remember the car ride home, win or lose, breaking down the game to your favorite fans. Hell, I remember being on deck watching my teammate strikeout for the final out in the championship game in Little League and being the first to say "nice try man" and then being at the front of the line to shake hands at home plate.

I guess the times have changed but wait, LeBron James is about seven months older than me. My favorite quote that he gave the day after was, "I'm a winner, and when someone beats you up, you just don't congratulate them". What happens after every UFC fight?

LeBron, your job doesn't start and end in 48 minutes, your job is 24/7 as a role model. If frustration gets you out of doing your job, then I should be able to call off work next time someone outperforms me at work.

Thank you guys for your time and leave some criticisms.

Why The NHL Is Full of Itself

mike fenton — Thu, 28 May 2009 00:08:00 -0400

First of all, let’s start with a disclaimer.

This article is an opinion of one hockey fan who has (reluctantly, on Versus and NBC) watched nearly every game on TV.

(Thank god the NHL hates Detroit so I could still watch an occasional game on FSN with real hockey calling with Mickey Redmond thru the first 2 series.)

This is in no way a professional opinion, but it should be.

1. Continually over-advertising certain players.

Has the NHL's marketing team realized yet that maybe five people outside of Pittsburgh like Crosby? Yeah, sure—they have recently given Ovechkin some love, but that's only because he was in the same series as Crosby.

I've heard Datsyuk's name more times in the past few days because of his injury than the rest of the season. Marian Hossa was mentioned every time he got on the ice for Pitt—now that he's wearing red, bah-humbug.

Before the Detroit-Anaheim series I wanted to see more Getzlaf, but now he's just another flash-in-the-pan a la Bertuzzi and Lindros. The NHL could be doing so much better with better marketing.

2. Denying its major problems.

We all know that the officiating has been horrendous (at times, to be P.C.—the rest of the time they are doing the right thing by doing nothing). At least that's been consistent throughout most of the major sports.

However, at times it looks like the referees are trying to get their names on the Stanley Cup by siding with one team.

I can't remember which game or who did it, but I watched Hossa and one Duck go behind Hiller, the Duck grab Hossa, and pretty much do a swinging German suplex into the boards while Hossa had the puck. Result? No call.

Do I even need to bring up the "quick whistle" in Game Three as well? How about the interference call on Hudler when he got tripped and slid into Hiller unintentionally?

I'm not saying Detroit didn’t get away with a few, and I’m not saying Detroit is/was the only team getting the raw end of the stick. What I'm trying to say is that instead of the NHL and Gary Bettman hindering commentators and journalists first amendment rights, they should fix what the aforementioned people—and hockey fans everywhere—have been complaining about.

Wouldn't it be a great publicity piece if the NHL was the first major sport to radically change how its officiating is officiated? That would be the best publicity the NHL has given/done for itself since Wayne Gretzkey first stepped into a hockey arena.

3. No media strategy.

Bettman, get some face time or step down. The only person/people I've seen less of that run a major sport/sport franchise were Matt Millen and William Clay Ford Sr.—and that's far from a compliment. Perhaps, Bettman would get face time if NHL wasn't on a channel that was once called "the Outdoor Channel."

And here’s an idea to save money—fire the Versus and NBC commentators! How about using one commentator from each team in the playoffs? I, for one, have had enough of watching Detroit play whoever and listening to whatever other teams star get a metaphorical butt massage with a reacharound from Mike Emrick every game. Third and fourth liners from either team never get mentioned unless they score or no one else is on the ice.

While listing the injuries to Detroit, Draper, Ericcson, and Kopecky were not mentioned, but Datsyuk and Lidstrom were. After Frazier's two great chances for Chicago, I don't believe I heard his name the rest of the game.

One last thing about the commentators. The only people watching NHL on Versus already know about the game and its rules, I highly doubt hockey being on Versus has brought any new people to the game, since no one watches that channel except when hockey's on or when they have a cage fight worth watching.

So please for my sanity, call the game with clarity, and stop acting like penalties didn't happen just because the ref didn't raise his hand.

This is just my opinion on a multitude of problems that one sport faces but is a challenge for most, if not all the major sports. So until they are fixed, i'll just have to sit back and enjoy with a grain of salt.