If It Ain't Broken...

Rumor has it Vince McMahon and his booking staff are upset with the commentating team of Michael Cole and Jerry 'The King' Lawler.

Which makes me wonder, why do they even bother breaking up JR and The King?

Seriously, they didn't like Paul Heyman and JR together (which is because they spent more time arguing than actually putting over the talent in the ring). They didn't like Joey Styles and King together or even The Coach and King. Here is an idea, just keep the two guys you DO like together...together.

Just to step off the subject for a second, does anybody else believe King is an awful color commentator? He originally got over on his heel tactics in the Bobby Heenan mold which eventually got him over as a 'face' in the attitude PUPPIES era. But seriously, sometimes I question is actual knowledge on the current product...or even his knowledge on professional wrestling all together. In my opinion Tazz, JBL, and now Foley shit all over and in his king crown. I would even go as far to say Don West is better...but Jerry Lawler's empty arena match against The Funker in Memphis saves him of that awesome insult.

But back to the original rant...I have a theory. Vince, for some reason, just enjoys bothering Jim Ross. In fact...I think he LOVES it. From his numerous firings, poking fun of his colon cancer, to moving him to Smackdown without prior warning, there is just something that Vince McMahon loves about picking and prodding at Good O'l JR.

Regardless of the reasons it happens, or what the current opinion of the commentating tandem is...at the end of the day it usually ends up with the black cowboy hat and crown calling the matches on Monday Nights. Will it be different this time? We'll see....

-Mike

Joe Vs. Booker T

Credit WrestlingObserver.com

Samoa Joe vs. Booker T at the Hard Justice PPV on 8/10 will be a Weapons Match inside a Steel Cage.

Booker T Vs. Samoa Joe at the Victory Road PPV was a disaster. Not from a wrestling perspective, but storyline wise it was a mess. TNA knew Booker's hometown fans were going to cheer for him but instead of just dealing with it, they had their top face play heel on a pay per view. That would be the equivalent of John Cena actually playing it up as a heel during a match with Edge...because the fans booed him or The Rock going all out heel against Hogan at Wrestlemania. Guys have to stay in character.

So the PPV had Booker as a face and Joe as the heel. Complete opposite of how things were being built. Then Sting comes out as the tweener THEN Booker T does the heel move by leaving with Joe's World Title. Confused? Typical TNA booking.

But at Hard Justice things "should" be different. No home crowd is going to ruin the booking plans TNA should have stuck to at Victory Road. TNA has done a fabulous job of convincing us that Booker T is inside the head of Joe. Perfect example is this past week on Impact Joe was telling Kevin Nash he threw everything he had at Booker T...and yeah he may have won the 'fight', but he didn't win the match. This element of the storyline is crucial because without the mind games, Joe would murder Booker T.

The involvement of Sting really isn't needed but it does add a nice layer to the feud. Something we haven't seen in TNA (or...ever?) is Sting turning into a vicious heel. That potential character change hanging over this World Title match at Hard Justice gives things just a little more juice along with the involvement of Kevin Nash. Is Nash on Joe's side? Is Sting on Booker's side? Is everyone out for themselves? Can Joe actually pin Booker inside a steel cage?

The more questions asked, the more cash the consumer will put up to get them answered. It looks like TNA has a game plan, let's just hope they stick to it this time.