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http://www.nwatna.com/columns/inside/2004/2/28/inside.html

02.28.04 | "From The Inside" with Jeremy Borash

The views expressed in the following article do not necessarily
reflect
the views of TNA Entertainment, its employees, or its parent company. 

Although it often fails at doing so, it is meant for the sole purpose
of
entertaining the readers on NWATNA.com, and the author's minimalistic 
group of friendly professional acquaintences. 

Ah yes... After several attempts at rekindling the inspiration for
writing again... I once again feel compelled to attempt to entertain
you with some whitty reparte' and random observations. Here we go...

Styles / Abyss was the best match of the week on any wrestling show in
North America. They tore it up Wednesday. Great stuff.

Luger showing up was certainly unexpected. Styles had pinned the Total
Package back in December.

I eagerly approached Raven with the news that I felt the video package
I did on him Wednesday was some of my best work... A claim which he
argued with later in the evening. Oh yeah Raven? Well, with the vast
array of computer crap I'm learning... Don't be surprised one week to
see your head superimposed of the naked body of the newly engaged Star
Jones. Maybe he'll like that better.

In the realization that wrestling writers are now so paranoid about
being worked that they will call "work" on any
"incident" that happens
right off the bat, I am just going to go ahead and declare the whole
CM Punk/Teddy Hart incident a total work. Now I cannot be accused of
getting "worked" and rest easy at night.

While I am at it, I would also like to call work on last year's
American Idol, the 2000 Presidential Election, and the Brutus Beefcake
Boston subway incident.

I've noticed a lot of veterans call work on almost anything from
hockey fights to politics, claiming that we are all getting swerved on
what is really goin down. I'll never forget when Bam Bam Bigelow told
me "life is a work, kid" before a show at the Canseco Feildhouse in
Indianapolis. I really haven't been the same since.

On the flipside, there are people who come along in our lifetime that
thrive on contriving a good work. Chad Damiani (from WCW live fame)
worked angles all the time. I've written about the time he faked an
injury at a nighclub, only to later come back and perform "one more
dance" for the concerned, but delighted crowd.

My favorite though was when Chad was hosting a party at his place in
Philadelphia. I had to bail early from the party to catch a flight,
and he was growing more and more concerned.... as the party was
filling up with a very conservative yuppie crowd, and this attempted
shindig was getting extremely boring. The party needed some spicing
up, so he contrived an idea that the two of us would get in a very
heated verbal exchange in front of everyone and I would storm out of
the party telling everyone off. Since I had to leave and was not
likely to ever see these people again, I was game. We bid farewell to
each other prior to, and then headed out to the living room where we
started yelling at each other, as I stormed out with my bags yelling
horrible curse words at him
as I slammed the door. The partygoers in attendence were stunned. I
wasn't even out of the complex when my phone rang. After the incident,
he excused himself from the living room, and called me from his
bathroom with the news. Mission accomplished. He even went as far as
to use my verbal tyraid to garner sympathy from the females in
attendence. Good move.

Maybe inspired by a Scott Steiner angle on Nitro, A girl I know very
well once faked being handicapped to get into Nitro at Club La Vela in
Panama City, going as far as to rent a wheelchair for herself and
sister becuase the only good seats were in the handicapped area. You
could
almost say she worked an angle on the nighclub's security. Imagine the
shock when the same girl was seen dancing at the same club later in
the night. Its a miracle!

Speaking of which... on my official top ten ten list of headlines I
thought I'd never see, "Brutus Beefcake causes Anthrax scare" may have
landed the top spot. Unless Kamala wins Olympic gold in figure
skating, or the Iron Sheik gives birth to a horse, I doubt we'll see
an easier shoe-in for the Hot News Kliq's bizarre story of the year.

Hats off to Jake Roberts for clinching the "Can I be a bigger heel?"
He has been accused by authorities of starving his snake Damien to
death. Think of the money that snake brought him over the years taking
Polaroids at the gimmick stand at indy shows. Even worse, think of
where all of that money went. Obviously not towards snake food.

Let's all say a quick prayer for Frankie that Koko B Ware is making a
comfortable living.

I have two snakes of my own... A Python named Pete and a Milksnake
(brings all the boys to the yard) named Dirty...as in, ya heard me,
dirty? That's street lingo I am lead to believe. He's a worker" too,
as his only defense is mimmicking the visually similar, but much more
poisonous Coral snake in an attempt to scare off possible attackers.
That's almost gimmick infringement. He fires up like he's Greg Gagne
and I look at him like... you don't scare me beotch... Just be lucky I
don't starve yo' ass Jake Robert's style. That usually settles him
down.

Many noticed the decision by Vince Russo to take off the dancing
girls. I would say this... I'd much rather have the fans watching our
finishes than our women (no offense to our gals), not to say they
won't have a place on the show. It appears Lollipop has grown a little
star struck with the afro-stylin' Jonny Fairplay.

I read tons of reviews on our show from last week, and the only one I
really agreed with was
Dan Miller's review. Sure I am seeing it from the inside out... But
after reading some reviews. It is obvious to me there are those on the
outside looking in with a more skewed view of things than anything I
am seeing. One guy even recently pontificated his ideas on what needs
fixing in TNA, and as it turns out he doesn't even watch the show.
Bottom line? Wednesday night was a great show with great storytelling
featuring a hot main event between two of our homegrown stars... Now,
back to my skewed views...

More new business folks in attendence Wednesday night. It is no longer
an "if" but more of a "when" to me when discussing TNA
acheiving a
more prominant position in the entertainment world. This summer should
be interesting.

I loved the Russo Jarrett segment from Wednesday. Sure its
wrestling... but like the development of a character, some of the best
stuff comes from real life, magnified. Russo is a different person as
of late and the stuff with Jeff came off great.

I was on hand to cover Jeff Jarrett's successful NWA World Title
defense last night in San Jose. I hadn't had the chance to see much
West Coast talent, and there were some great performers on Kurt
White's Big Time Wrestling show.

I sat next to the inventor of the Garden Weasel gardening tool on the
flight out here. He must not have collected too much ching from his
invention as he was flying Southwest.

A seemingly gascious wrestler I met while out here in Cali declared it
100 percent acceptable to pass wind on an airplane because no one
would realistically ever say anything on a vessel completely filled
with strangers. Futhermore, the statment was made with an even more
bold
follow up declaring it "even more acceptable" on a crowded plane
because there would be more people to point fingers at in case a "Who
farted?" inquiry began. A very coy observation, indeed.

My wonderful mother reads this column faithfully to find out what is
going on in the life of her baby boy, mainly because I don't feel like
talking shop to her on the phone most of the time. I must have gotten
my hereditarily inspired thirst for hot news from her. I'll never
forget the time Vince Russo's mom called into WCW Live to see if he
was ok after Vince got beaten up on a Nitro. Anyway, ma turns 60 in a
few weeks... so I'll take this time to wish her a very Happy Birthday,
with the hope that she enjoys her autographed photo of Father James
Mitchell I had framed, as well as the copy of "TNA's Bloodiest Brawls"
on DVD.

Watched the Monday Night War DVD. I enjoyed it. Contrary to popular
belief about WCW, the only losers in the Monday Night Wars were the
people involved that didn't save their money.

Looking back, we really had it good in WCW, even if I couldn't tell
you who my boss was for the majority of my 3 years in with the
company. I think the whole thing will just make me appreciate TNA's
success in the future all that much more.

The Insane Clown Posse consistantly rave about Chris Sabin, AJ Styles,
and Mike Tenay. They know their stuff. I do my raving too.

Alex Marvez has done a great story on Don West. West has been parodied
by name on Saturday Night Live 3 times by Will Farrell for his amazing
pitchman delivery.

Larry David's agent guy from the Showime's "Curb Your Enthusiasm"
(great show... a perennial favorite of Glenn Gilberti and Raven's as
well) told a story on the Tonight Show last week about doing standup
comedy in a seedy dive bar at 3am on a late Sunday night, only to be
saved from a
ranting lunatic heckler waving around a giant sexual aparatus (his
story, not mine) only to be rescued by none other than King Kong
Bundy, who physically disposed of the heckler in no time. Great story.
I love Bundy. Always have.

Hats off to Team Canada's Petey Williams who filled in for Teddy Hart
with about 15 minutes notice to kick off last Wednesday. I love how
America's X Cup has brought a big influx of talent to the X Division.
My vote for breakout star so far is the incredible Hector Garza. He's
good. Damn good.

Team Japan will debut this Wednesday, likely captained by Nasawa. This
is a concept that will likely continue as the trends have shown a
great response from our fans to these one-night special events.

This Wednesday back on PPV we'll see Abyss and a partner of his choice
taking on AJ Styles and a partner for the tag team titles. Russo has
also promised a surprise for Jeff Jarrett, in addition to another test
for Chris Harris, who gets his NWA World Title shot on March 17th. ICP
returns as well... Plus tons more.

Thanks for reading.. See ya back on PPV Wednesday. 

Jeremy Borash


--- Internet Rex 2.29