My Weekly TNA Catch-up, Impact 26th Nov 09 reviewed

I know I'm late for the second week running due to having to request the posting of the show in the newsgroups, normally they are very good there & its up very quickly but for the last 2 weeks I have actually had to ask. Anyway I am done & dusted now so heres the catch-up.

The whole of this weeks Impact card was given over to the TNA Championship Series which is something completely new, basically everyone from every division of TNA was fighting to get the chance to become #1 contender for which ever belt their division contests. Essentially what was on the line here were #1 contender shots for the X Division title, the Tag title & the Heavyweight title.

Round 1 TNA Championship Series, Bobby Lashley (with wife Kristal) vs Abyss - Russo made sure you know he's still running the show with the announcement of the 20 minute time limit for this match. This match was going nowhere fast when Abyss & Lashley were fighting outside by the ring, Kristal tried to stop Abyss landing a punch & was knocked onto her ass but as the bad actress she was grabbed her ankle. Abyss was distracted after realising he'd decked her allowing Lashley to nail him with a Spear then synch in the Dragon Sleeper hold which Abyss tapped out of so the win went to Bobby Lashley & Kristal made a miracle recovery.

Round 1 TNA Championship Series, Suicide vs Desmond Wolfe - There was a big chance of interference for both guys in this match from Kurt Angle for Wolfe & D'Angelo Dinero for Suicide which oddly enough didn't happen. A pretty slow dull match, most of the decent moves came from Suicide & I'm not sure if this was Frankie "Kaz" Kazarian or Christopher Daniels in the costume, it was really hard to tell. Wolfe took the win off the worst Tower Of London he's ever done, frankly I think Suicide was no selling this big time.

Round 1 TNA Championship Series, D'Angelo Dinero vs Kurt Angle - A fairly decent match with most of the action coming from Angle quite surprisingly, Dinero made a nice Russian Leg Sweep that Angle sold well but he missed the DDE allowing Angle to counter with a Roll-up for a near fall but Angle took the win off the Angle Slam.

Round 1 TNA Championship Series, Homicide vs Robert Roode - Very dull match where Homicide pretty much owned Roode from the bell as he jumped him, Roode took the eventual win off a Spine Buster out of nowhere.

Boring backstage segment with JB & Kurt Angle, because they stayed with this we didn't see all the introductions for the following match. Way to show the women you care, TNA!

Knockout Battle Royal - By the time we joined the match Traci Brooks was being introduced & Hamada, Alissa Flash (yet again wearing her black sweater so they STILL haven't bought her a whole costume yet?) & Daffney were already in the ring. Next in were all 3 of The Beautiful People followed by Sarita & Taylor Wilde then came Tara & ODB was special guest referee. For some reason this wasn't completely classic rules as explained by Mike Tenay that you could be eliminated by going over the top or through the ropes getting eliminated when your feet touch the floor.

1st out was Daffney eliminated pretty quickly by Hamada, 2nd out was Alissa Flash eliminated by Sarita closely followed in 3rd by Traci Brooks eliminated by Taylor Wilde - Wilde & Sarita had dropkicked the pair of them off the apron.

During the commercial break Lacey Von Erich was 4th to be eliminated by Tara, 5th out was Sarita eliminated by Madison Rayne & Velvet Sky working together (no shock there really). 6th out was Taylor Wilde who eliminated herself with an overzealous Headscissors on Hamada who was 7th out after actually selling the Head Scissors that Wilde eliminated herself with.

Tara was left to fight Velvet Sky & Madison Rayne on her own but luckily Madison Rayne was 8th out after accidently being eliminated by Velvet Sky who bumped her off the apron after missing Tara, Tara & Velvet duked it out a bit but Tara took the win when Velvet Sky was the 9th eliminated & Tara was last woman standing to earn herself a shot at the Knockouts title @ Decembers PPV.

Semi Final TNA Championship Series, Desmond Wolfe vs Bobby Lashley (with Kristal) - This was as DULL AS HELL! Lashley got the win off a DQ when Wolfe failed to break a hold with Lashley in the ropes, somewhere during the match Wolfe cut his lip or something as he was bleeding from the mouth.

Semi Final TNA Championship Series, Robert Roode vs Kurt Angle - Quite frankly this match was never really going anywhere either, both guys had an even amount of time on top but Russo went crazy & sent Desmond Wolfe out who distracted Angle away from the ring long enough for Roode to take the win by a count out. P**s poor finish!

AJ Styles comes out to talk but is interupted by Daniels, that bad blood was old when they did it about 3 years ago.

TNA Championship Series Final, Robert Roode vs Bobby Lashley (with Kristal) - Lashley had finished previous match getting his arm stretched pretty violently by Desmond Wolfe, it was clearly Lashley was trying for the quick win as he went for the Dragon Sleeper hold but Roode found the ropes easily enough.

With less than 5 minutes of air time left I have zero clue why they decided to take another commercial break so late into the show but Roode was still on top having continued to work Lashleys bad arm during the break. Both guys had a very good end of the match but Lashley took the eventual win off the Spear to earn himself a title shot for the TNA Heavyweight Championship.

Ghost Lab s01e08

GDC Building - San Antonio, Texas.
Clearly not many people trusted or had heard of the Klinge brothers as they've had to return to the site of a previous investigation. During the 1st EVP one of the brothers claims to have heard "like a laugh" but the other brother didn't & neither did I, the K2 meter spikes.

In the accounting office they manage to capture a filing cabinet or something rectangular thinking its a shadow (@13:57), its debunked as a box (heck I sussed that with my own eyes on the tiny thermal screen) but Brad won't believe it. They go to try & recreate it with the thermal camera but really they should be checking the room with lights on with a normal camera to see what was in that spot. Its proved to be a box & Brad eats a slice of STFU pie.

In the day care centre they get another small K2 spike & 1 of them is convinced he's seen a shadow (again?) but they find nothing, Brads convinced something is following them (how? the last shadow was debunked as a BOX!) so you have to question his integrity as an investigator if he gets so het up about a possible shadow. Whatever happened to calm analysis? Even with zero proof of a shadow Brad says "We know your in here, we've established that fact", no we haven't Brad. Facts need PROOF! What you established was nothing with no evidence.

Moving downstairs Brad gets something that MIGHT be the outline of a figure (@20:18) , we know its the 1st time they used a thermal camera & he's already proved he can't be trusted to read it properly after the box incident. It is seen again during the evidence review but quite frankly the outline looks like the other Klinge brother Barry (the one without the hat). One of the team says its a water bottle & an independant expert from the company who made the thermal camera says the exact same thing but he is unable to fully debunk it. I find it odd they never went back to that door to look with the lights on as that would have confirmed 100% what the anomaly was. Barry claims he went back with the thermal to try & recreate it but we never saw that on camera so I call him a liar.

Volo Antique Mall - Volo, Illinois.
Movement is heard above them (its an old wooden building so its probably just settling), An alarm is heard going off (its unreal how slow they are to respond & start moving towards it!) which turns out to be an open door. The weird thing is the alarm by that door is turned off! Back in the lab we are shown the worlds grainest footage of the worlds smallest shadow right on the edge of an image. They try to recreate it with someone walking past inside the building. What they fail to try is someone walking past an exterior door that was shown during the indoor recreation, it could have even been a reflection of headlights through that doors window which is why nothing moved when that shadow was made. They also noted a heat spike on their data loggers when the alarm went off.

During this show they also schilled an advert saying the Ghost Lab dvd is now on sale in the Discovery Shop.

Ghosthunters Academy - S01E03 - Back to Basics

Eastern State Penitentiary, Pennsylvania.

A new team member Jane is introduced which is completely unfair on everyone else, this girl has been given no training on equipment, set-up, tagging or anything. Why introduce a new person in week 3, its pointless. Basically shes eye candy. The students are told they have to train Jane & get her up to their level.

So let me get this straight, students with just 2 weeks of training are expected to teach a complete novice? Have Steve & Tango got that lazy already, or just completely lost interest? And as I said last week Steve & Tango confirm someone is going home this week, they show Heathyr looking worried & quite rightly too as she's the #1 candidate.

Breaking with tradition Heathyr went on the tour, Steve pulls Jane up for not taking notes. Steve rags on Brian Harnois for having run out during his investigation (who WAS with him when he did that?) & they even try to embarrass him further by showing the clip too. Steve, like YOU are SO perfect? If we showed all the clips of you screwing around it'd fill a whole freaking show!

Ben takes control in set-up & everything seems to be going fine until all the cameras drop out & Chris reports there isn't enough cable so Steve gets on his case straight away. Steve pulls the plug without even giving them the chance to fix things & makes them pack up so no investigation gets done on night 1.

Night 2 - Steve takes charge (so yet again he shows he hasn't taught them well enough to set up on their own yet), its a poor reflection on his abilities as a teacher, not their abilities as students.

Chris & Susan in Cell Block 14, Chris hears a footstep but I think it was one of them. Chris mentions something called Active Rewind, yet another technique we never heard of before. Chris finds "fog" (and totally fails to spot the bowl probably full of dry ice set up almost certainly by Steve & Tango to test them - this is revealed to be correct less than a minute later), I debunked it in under a second so even in this show Steve & Tango are STILL pulling pranks but trying to pass it off as "tuition".

Susan & Karl (she calls him Chris, he gets annoyed at that mistake) on Death Row, they end up having to reposition a camera that newbie Jane had placed. Susan tags a train horn.

Newbie Jane & Ben in the Guard Tower, Ben mentions tagging background noises then we get a huge lecture on it from Steve. Jane shows poor EVP technique by not leaving long enough gaps for answers to her questions. They respond to yelling that they can't find the source of. What Ben was doing with Jane is called Mirroring, its a psychological thing you do when you want to show support for someone. I guess Steve isn't any good at using wiki [ look HERE Steve!:- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirroring_(psychology) ].

Heathyr & Chris in Cell Block 12, Chris gets a slight EMF spike off an electrical box even though its not working. During an EVP they hear what sounds like a voice & movement. Steve & Tango rag on Chris for wanting to investigate somewhere new with Heathyr when they knew about activity elsewhere. They also really violently rag on Heathyr for the same reason & manage to REALLY upset her.

Whats so wrong about looking for activity in new places Steve? You knew level 2 had stuff happen there so why not let them see if level 3 did too?

Ben & Karl in the Medical Ward, they react to a sound I never heard but they think was something falling off the ceiling.

After the equipment breakdown Steve rags on Jane for the camera in Death Row, what does he expect from someone with NO training? Little wonder she cried & walked off as he was berating her, she did come back after a brief moment to recover.

Evidence presentation - Ben presents an audio clip of Chris & Susan in Cell Block 14, I can't hear it but they say it was a moan.

Chris presents audio of him & Susan in Cell Block 14, I can't hear anything there either & Steve says its not paranormal.

Tango demonstrates how sounds travel, dance monkey, dance!

Steve narrows it down to Jane & Heathyr for who is getting sent home. He rags on Jane for not knowing how to use a thermal camera (something the rest of the students only learned LAST WEEK!). Steve marks Heathyr down on her mediumship & Heathyr gets booted off the show. No shock there at all as she was my #1 pick from the 1st show.

My Weekly TNA Catch-up, Impact 19th Nov 09 reviewed

Mick Foley & Abyss come out to talk & are interupted by Raven, Dr. Stevie & Daffney. BLAH.

Scott Steiner vs Amazing Red - Why the hell are they booking matches like this? It doesn't help Red & it certainly doesn't help Steiner either. Beyond awful match that ended when Steiner beaned Red with his lead pipe so Amazing Red took the win off a DQ for the use of a foreign object. Bobby Lashley made the save. You know it comes to something when the X Division Championship is considered so lowly as a throwaway in a c***py feud that isn't over with the fans & 1 wrestler involved is on his way out of TNA anyway. Amazing Red is a brilliant worker and doesn't deserve to be treated like this.

8 Man Tag Match, The Motor City Machine Guns vs Beer Money vs Kiyoshi & Sheik Abdul Bashir vs The British Invasion - With all of World Elite involved in this match you had a feeling it was always going to go their way or break down into complete chaos, exactly as predicted this broke down & Alex Shelley took the win off Brutus Magnus from a Crossbody Block. Very poor low quality match, get this feud over & done with soon please? Its F**KING S**T!

Hamada vs Taylor Wilde - A very decent match, Wilde nailing a nice early Headscissors only to be caught by a wicked DDT from Hamada. Hamada seemed unwilling to sell Wildes Armdrag off the ropes but hit quite a nice Thrust Kick that Wilde sold very well, Hamada overcooked her Reverse Moonsault (hitting a lot of canvas & bearly any of Taylor Wilde) & yet again Hamada seemed unwilling to sell Wildes Victory Roll Hurricanrana. Wilde sold Hamadas kick to the head as well as the Spin Kick but Hamada took the win off The Hamada Driver.

Wilde was giving Hamada a lot of signals to execute moves or indicate ring positioning so I'm not sure if a lot of Hamada's no-sells were down to misunderstanding or communication issues. I don't think shes done any interviews yet so I have no idea if she actually speaks any English but you feel she must speak some Spanish if she did all that time in CMLL.

Tag Team Grudge Match, Raven & Dr Stevie vs Abyss & Mick Foley - Shortly before this match we'd seen Abyss blocking Foleys office door with a table so it was no surprise when Foley didn't show at his entrance music, Abyss jumped Raven & Stevie as they stood at the bottom of the ramp waiting for Foley. Abyss & Raven took a hard bump on the floor into the guard rail when Raven hit the Russian Legsweep then this thing finally got going legally. Initially this was Abyss selling the beatdown until he got his 2nd wind hitting Stevie with Shock Treatment, Raven nailed him from behind & was about to use fire when Abyss hit the lighter from his hands so Ref Slick Johnson called for the bell & Abyss took the win off a DQ.

Abyss either didn't trust Raven or refused to sell the Evenflow DDT on the ringside mats & as they choked out Abyss with a cable I am not sure why they left the beatdown to go to "Trash Talk with ODB" with Homicide as her guest. On a point of wrestling history this is a gimmick they did with The Sandman back in the early days of ECW & it really upset Kurt Angle who was visiting them as potential talent at the time.

Alissa Flash vs Sarita - Again yet another match where Flash seems to only have half a costume as she kept her leather jacket on here, are TNA really THAT strapped for cash they can't afford a few yellow lycra crop tops for Flash? This wasn't anywhere near the quality of the previous 2 women as Sarita seemed to be really off her game or unsure how to work Flash but Sarita took the eventual win off a Reverse Thrust Kick.

6 Man Tag Team Street Fight, Team 3D & Rhino vs D'Angelo Dinero, Matt Morgan & Hernadez - This week 3D & Rhino came out of the heel tunnel but Dinero actually came out of the face tunnel with his team mates so it seems he's turned face? Very poor quality hardcore weapons match where Hernandez pretty much had the thing won off a Spear on Rhino when the ref was dragged out & Jesse Neal came out with a mohican, goatee & tattoos (looking like a cross between Giant Bernand & Tomko) then nailed Hernandez with a chair before throwing Rhino over Hernandez allowing Rhino to get the win off interference.

Tag Match, Daniels & Desmond Wolfe vs Kurt Angle & AJ Styles - I'm not sure why they bothered to announce the 20 minute time limit (unless Russo is THAT insecure about his future at TNA) as there was only 7 minutes left in airtime when the bell rang, quite frankly this match was going nowhere until Styles came in to work Wolfe hitting a Pele out of the blue, Wolfe distracted Angle away into the back of the arena but Daniels tagged himsel in and took the win off the BME on Styles.

Now Hulk Hogan has fulfilled his committments in Australia I hope he gets his fat overtanned arse to the Impact Zone to start filming stuff sooner rather than later as the longer they delay his arrival the more likely fans will leave from being jaded off the overly long build-up. Did TNA not learn their lesson with Triton? Clearly it appears not.

Ghosthunters Academy - S01E02 - The Honeymoons Over

Battleship North Carolina, Wilmington NC.

As per usual during the briefing Heathyr acts like a complete kiddy by sticking her fingers in her ears as to not be "biased" & scores herself no points there, she also refuses to go on the hotspot tour & further shoots herself in the foot by doing so. My only issue with Heathyr NOT going on the hotspot tour so she wasn't biased is that this is a location GH have been to before on the show so surely she must have already seen that episode of the show therefore is ALREADY biased. I guess her logic doesn't work that way?

Steve gets annoyed that the students didn't take notes during his hotspot tour & had gone off to go give themselves another tour to establish where they were going to locate equipment.

Steve pretty much tells Heathyr to her face she won't be joining them right then, Susan suggests doing some set-up which earns her brownie points. Chris tries to take charge.

Mess Hall - Chris, Ben & Susan. We hear something metallic move & Chris sees movement but its him wiggling his torch like crazy casting all sorts of shadows. Susan wanders off on her own, I expect her to get chewed out for that.

Kitchen - Susan, we hear something metallic move twice then she realises she is alone.

Steve chews out Karl & Heathyr for not checking a camera that he'd set up.

Chris & Ben find Susan & do an EVP, Susan gets a weird feeling that turns out to be super high EMF from cabling.

Night 2 - Steve & Tango feel they have to show the students how to do set-up again. Why did they think they'd learn to do set-up JUST from 1 previous investigation. Idiots. You have to bet it took both of them longer than 1 investigation to learn how to do set-up. Some instruction is given on the usage of the thermal camera.

Chris hears a noise & Susan catches a figure on the thermal. My guess is it was her reflection which is exactly what it turned out to be.

Heathyr picks up the name Tommy Greenwell & felt he died of some kind of illness.

Chris manages to see yet another shadow that was completely behind the camera filming him, he also manages to hear nonexistant banging just before we hear an actual bang (which may have been caused by either Chris or Heathyr sitting back against the wall).

Analysis, Steve & Tango tell everyone to work alone & not ask each other questions. So they don't want anyone corroborating anyone elses evidence? Thats pretty stupid.

The reveal - For some reason Steve asks the student to talk about personal experiences. Weren't we always taught you can't present those as evidence because you have no physical proof yet here is their team leader telling them otherwise. Again, pretty darn stupid.

Heathyr didn't find anyone with the same name she picked up, Chris presents audio evidence which is debunked as a siren & a sneeze which turned out to be Susan who didn't tag it so Steve castigates her about that. Ben presents audio evidence which is debunked as a noise, Steve & Tango start griping about Tagging audio which quite frankly I have NEVER heard ANYONE ever mention prior to this show airing.

Ben presents a possible EVP of a womans voice which is thrown out because they didn't do this tagging thing we've never heard about ever before this show. Steve says they have to raise their game & do tagging as well as better set-up but no-one is eliminated this week.

Tango tells us someone IS getting eliminated next week though.

Ghost Lab s01e07

Catfish Plantation Restaurant, Waxahachie, Texas.
After bailing on the investigation a door handle is seen to move when the place is empty with cameras on both sides of the door. The door moving when 1 brother tests it is debunked.
When reloading cameras a spoon is found on the floor, its movement was not captured.
Knives & Forks are seen to have been moved, the movement was not captured.
Thinking they can get a Paranormal event on demand the brothers demand something to happen & few moments later there is a bang on the outside of the window (which quite frankly I think was 1 of their team members).
On debriefing the owner a piece of cutlury is heard moving behind them, a knife is caught moving on film. It is debunked as having fallen off.

Hotel Lawrence, Dallas, Texas.
1 brother has trouble with a hotel door but when he knocks & asks to come in it just opens 1st time.
The other brother manages to repeat this, they also catch footprints on the thermal camera which can be replicated but don't fade away like the ones they make themselves.
One of the team volunteers to sleep in the most haunted room in the hotel & catches a "yes" during an EVP.

My TNA Catch-up, Turning Point PPV Nov 09

X Division Championship, Homicide vs Amazing Red - This was an excellent match where both guys had a decent amount of time on top, I think Red winded Homicide when he landed the Standing Shooting Star Press. Red really sold well when he did the Reverse Moonsault that Homicide turned into a Gringo Cutter but Amazing Red took the win off the Code Red to retain his title.

6 Woman Tag Match, The Beautiful People vs Sarita, Taylor Wilde & ODB - All the TNA womens belts are on the line in this match, if ODB gets pinned she loses the Knockout title & if either Taylor or Sarita get pinned they lose the Knockout Tag titles. Fans certainly hate Lacey Von Erich as they were giving her a "you can't wrestle" chant on her 1st legal entry to the match, obviously the match broke down with everyone in the ring but ODB used her power to make the pin off Madison Rayne so all the faces retain their titles.

Tag Team Championship Match, Beer Money vs The Motor City Machine Guns vs The British Invasion - Quite frankly this match had zero spots & was going nowhere fast hence Russo sending Eric Young out to interfere which didn't really help the match in any way but Brutus Magnus took the win off Robert Roode to retain the title for his team.

6 Sides Of Steel Grudge Match, Tara vs Awesome Kong - This match always looked like it was just going to be a scrap, it went back & forth but Tara made a nice Powerbomb then climbed the top of the cage and hit the Thesz Press (which Tenay miscalled as a Crossbody Block) to take the eventual win.

6 Man Tag Match, Rhino & Team 3D vs D'Angelo Dinero, Hernandez & Matt Morgan - In case you all missed the "tell" yet again, Dinero came out of the heel entrance which was further reinforced by him distracting Hernandez in the opening minute. This was always the case of when Dinero was going to betray or turn on his own team, this one also broke down into everyone in the ring as well but Dinero was noticable in his absence for the face team just to prove my point of prediction even further. Morgan took a bad landing when Rhino tossed him over the top rope hurting his knee, Ray distracted the ref allowing Devon to nail Hernandez with the chair so Rhino could take the easy win off a Gore. It seems Dineros betrayal was clearly too predictable so they decided against it?

Falls Count Anywhere No DQ Match, Scott Steiner vs Bobby Lashley - P**s poor quality match where Steiner took all the knocks and got busted open but took the win after nailing Lashley with a steel pipe he took from the stand behind the Spanish announce desk.

Grudge Match, Desmond Wolfe vs Kurt Angle - This was too slow & far too boring, sadly all complaints I'd made about Nigel McGuiness in his past in ROH which he doesn't seem to have learnt from. All this slow mat c**p & technical wrestling might be over with the Japs but it has no place in modern sports entertainment, Kurt Angle took the eventual win off a submission when Wolfe tapped out. Now THAT is a s**t finish, I wouldn't have given this away for free on Youtube, let alone Impact or a PPV.

3 Way World Heavyweight Championship, Daniels Vs Samoa Joe vs AJ Styles - Extremely boring until about the last 10 minutes, Styles took the win off the Springboard 450 Splash on Joe to retain his title.

My Weekly TNA Catch-up, Impact 12th Nov 09 reviewed

Dr Stevie (with Daffney) vs Abyss - Mick Foley came out to sit at the colour desk & they forgot to mention if Stevie lost he leaves TNA forever, this match was going nowhere & Abyss had Stevie pinned off The Black Hole Slam when the lights went out. When the lights came back up both guys were on the canvas & Dr Stevie made the pin. Foley went to save Abyss from a chair & was about to nail Stevie with the same chair when the lights went out again, we saw a fireball & the lights came back up then Raven was revealed as the instigator.

Alissa Flash vs Traci - I have to assume Flash either only had half a costume or suffered some kind of wardrobe malfunction prematch hence her coming out in the rather plain but extremely tight sweater that totally didn't match the rest of her outfit, after smashing one of Traci's arms into the canvas a few times Flash took the win off a rather tame Armbar that Traci tapped out of.

Black Machismo Invitational Match, Jay Lethal vs Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart - Anvil was looking extremely portly (quite frankly he looks like he swallowed The Big Boss Man) but this must be his 1st time in the ring in over 15 years easily? Anvil was on top for all of 12 seconds before commencing the job to Lethal, I did appreciate the Clothesline but he looked gassed once he'd done it. Lethal was on top for a for moments more but Anvil took the win off a lovely Powerslam.

8 Knockout Tag Match, The Beautiful People & Awesome Kong vs ODB, Taylor Wilde, Sarita & Tara - Tara made a nice start with her Chinlock, Floatover & Bridge & Madison Rayne sold it pretty well too, it also seems wardrobe have rethought Lacey Von Erichs tube top making her wear a bra under it so it seems TNA DO read these catch-ups as I expressed that possible flaw a few shows back (Impact 15th Oct 09 to be exact).

Even doing just a few moves sent Laceys top on the way down which I assume is the reason why Velvet Sky was in the ring when we came back from the commercial break, ODB came in flooring half the heel team nailing Rayne with a Fallaway Slam only to walk into a stiff Clothesline from Von Erich stood behind her. Tara made the save but walked into a big right hand from Kong on the apron who finally entered the match legally to Bodycheck Wilde off into oblivion before nailing the Implant Buster to take the win for her team.

Kurt Angle comes out to waffle only to be interupted by Desmond Wolfe on the video screen but its a recording & Wolfe tries & fails to jump Angle from behind, Angle misses a chairshot on the floor but Wolfe connects with the DDT on the mats before flooring Angle with the chair.

6 Man X Division Tag Match, The Motor City Machine Guns & Amazing Red vs Sheik Abdul Bashir, Kiyoshi & Homicide - Super Dave Osborne (whoever the fuck he is) joins the colour desk, essentially this match was Alex Shelley jobbing to the heels until Homicide went crazy & tried to bring a barbed wire baseball bat into the match then got carted off by Black Shirt Security. Amazing Red came in & owned Kiyoshi & Bashir nailing Kiyoshi with a lovely Tornado style DDT but Alex Shelley took the win off a Crossbody Block on Bashir.

Team 3D come out with Rhino & make a heel turn calling out Matt Morgan & Hernandez for a fight, D'Angelo Dinero comes out of the heel tunnel & volunteers himself to be their 3rd man.

Non-title Tag Match, The British Invasion vs Beer Money - Basically the Brits have to win this or Beer Money get to be part of the tag title match in this weekends PPV. This was a really poor match with Beer Money taking the screamingly predictable win with the DWI off Brutus Magnus.

Non-title Match, Samoa Joe vs AJ Styles - Very poor quality match that was only ever going to be 5 minutes long at best, Joe did nothing with most of the match on the mat & Joe took the win off the Rear Naked Chokehold after Christopher Daniels distracted Styles.

Ghosthunters Academy - S01E01 - Web of Deceit

You know a show is going to jump the shark when it subtitles itself "Web Of Deceit", talk about a poor choice of title.

I actually almost stopped watching before the opening credits even finished when after only 1 minute & 25 seconds of opening credits the voiceover described Steve & Tango as "Ace Investigators". I guess thats a new defination of ace that means idiot who messes about, makes stupid bets & damages the property they're are investigating at?

Even Tango doesn't believe in his ability, note his reaction when Grant says "Your lucky enough to be trained by some of the best in the business", he raises his eyebrows in total disbelief. You can even see his hat tilt back the reaction of his surprised forehead is so extreme!

Grant saying "I didn't have Steve & Tango to train me so these guys are lucky", I assume they are all going to learn the guilty secrets of Jay & Grant which allow Steve & Tango to almost constantly goof off without getting fired like Brian did?

Fort Mifflin, Pennsylvania.

Heathyr shoots herself in the foot by not going on the hotspot tour, consider her ghost hunting career over because of that stupid rookie mistake. Steve pretty much confirms she will be getting marked down on that. Steve & Tango totally cloud the students perceptions by telling them everything that had happened to them on their last investigation there. Way to send them in with an open mind guys!

Steve makes an unintentional funny by claiming they are letting Heathyr "investigate alone", so those 3 crew members we can see with her on the control room monitors aren't real then Steve?

Susan gets caught as a liar a 2nd time when she says they were told to stop investigating the Powder Keg Room, she's history too then. Susan also makes her own unintentional funny by thinking she only has 1 strike against her, clearly her very short memory forget being made to do duct taping during set-up.

Karl scores a strike for leaving a digital recorder in the officers quarters, Steve tries to be holier than thou by ragging on Brian Harnois without mentioning his name but you totally know who he is referring to.

When the 2 girls are in the downstairs Officers Quarters where Jay & Grant heard a little girl look at the wooden barrier to the right of Heathyr, you can see some sort of either orb or light anomaly on the legs of it. (@29:54) just before Susan says "Are you picking something up right now".

Susan scored her 3rd strike for keeping it secret that she is an empath, this girl is making friends everywhere! NOT!

Steve & Tango debunk all the evidence presented apart from 2 EVP recordings, they also rag on Susan for lying about being empathic.

No-one gets sent home or fired. Yet. My money is on Susan 1st closely followed by Heathyr to be binned.

Ghost Lab s01e06

Granbury Opera House, Granbury, Texas.
During their 2nd EVP, movement can be heard as though someone was walking through the rows of seats.
They get an EVP saying "No".
After a ridiculous amount of computer processing they claim to have caught another EVP saying "Yes, I'm John Wilkes Booth" but its AWFUL quality. A forensic audio expert confirms there is something being said but he can't make it out.

Garfield Furniture, Enid, Oklahoma.
1 brother feels like he got touched on the back of the neck in what might have been the room "Booth" died in. A noise is heard in the basement.
They catch an EVP that they claim is a man screaming, which quite frankly could be anything

Ghost Hunters S05E20 - Ghost of Buffalo Bill

Buffalo Bills Museum, Golden, Colorado.
With Eddie McClintock (whoever the heck he is) from a show called Warehouse 13 (that I have also never heard of).

Eddie, Jay & Grant in the cafe/gift shop, they debunk dolls "jumping" off a shelf as possibly pushed off by a hot air blower directly above the area. Eddie wanders off from the group & manages to scare himself, Grant gets K2 hits off Dreamcatchers.

Steve & Tango in the grounds, Tango cites slippy sand as a possible reason for someone falling down some stairs. Tango hears a noise which Steve thinks sounds like a duck or a goose (it sounds like a wooden door or gate to me), Steve also hears footsteps both of which are later debunked as a flag in the wind.

Kris & Amy in the museum, we hear a noise of something move way off in the distance which they replicate when they step on the wooden floor & the plastic glass moves (It was almost certainly the floor settling after the hotspot walkthrough or pressure from the airvents causing the plastic to flex), Amy says they were unable to replicate the sound. Short memory, eh?

Eddie, Tango & Steve in the gift shop, Tango explains why he shares their methods with Eddie. Amazingly they don't share why they goof off or how they manage to keep their jobs despite some of the shenanegins they pull. Tango says he learnt everything he knows from TAPS, so he lied about being an investigator before joining them then?

Amy & Kris in the museum office & storage building, they pick up EMF in the 60s & they also show the wall has electrical switch gear on it - possibly a fear cage effect then. We hear a beep then Amy says she thought she heard a voice, does EVERYONE in TAPS have super hearing then? They see overhead vents & debunk the beep as mechanical.

Steve & Tango in the museum exhibit room, nothing happens.

Eddie, Jay & Grant in the grounds, this week its been Jasons turn to advertise their hotel on his hoodie. They check communication masts which turn out to be giving off high random EMF & K2 hits as well.

The Reveal - Grant offers his opinion on the jumping dolls, Jason explains the EMF from the local radio masts, Kris discovers someone hung themselves upstairs in the gift shop area.

Oakland Hall, Eatonton, Georgia.
Steve & Tango in the attic, Tango ask the spirits to make their presence known & Steve freaks out like a little girl at nothing at all. He claims to have heard a growl which Tango says he heard too but nothing was recorded.

Jay & Grant in the attic, nothing happens in the 2 minutes they are there so they bail.

Kris & Amy on the stairs, they do an EVP but nothing happens.
Steve & Tango in the hall, they also do an EVP on the stairs but nothing happens.

Jay & Grant in the TV room, they debunk the tv turning off (what actually happens was they put the dvd player into pause mode & it auto powered off after not being touched for a certain amount of time which most dvds WILL do anyway) but they debunk it as a loose plug they possibly knocked out when they entered the room.

The Reveal - after an inspection by an electrician they debunk a lamp bulb blowing as the plug had arced, they also debunk the tv turning off due to the loose plugs, Jay uses Steve & Tangos anecdotal "evidence" of the noise that scared him but they had nothing recorded so yet another case of TAPS going against their primary evidence principles. They play an EVP that Steve recorded in the attic that sounds like a childs voice.

Ghost Lab s01e05

White Castle, Louisiana - Nottoway Plantation.
One of the brothers sees a black form as they are setting up.
The blonde tech girl reports a cold spot (seconds before I was certain I heard what sounded like someone exhaling a breath).
They catch an EVP of a voice saying "What" very slowly.
They discuss the idea that the Mississippi river might be creating energy for ghosts, a datalogger test seems to back it up a little.
On a data sweep someone catches a "face" (taking a digital picture of a window that was wet outside in the dark with a flash on)

Reduced 81% 382 x 516 (92.52K)

A reflection of the person taking the picture

Reduced 84% 624 x 352 (396.68K)

What THEY want you to see.

Reduced 84% 624 x 352 (238.68K)

Highlighting the reflection of the guy taking the picture

Reduced 84% 624 x 352 (357.33K)

Maybe if they put a line around it'll convince you?

Reduced 68% 234 x 313 (42.09K)

Thats its NOT a reflection of this guy

Reduced 66% 286 x 289 (33.87K)

I even flipped the image so its the same layout as their "ghost"
but again they were really reaching, my screengrab of the guy who took the picture says it was his reflection.

Chicago, The Metro Club.
The brothers shoot themselves in the foot before even starting off to this location by asking "whose haunting it & why". So you aren't even going to bother asking IF its REALLY haunted? You must be real sure or real shit. I guess with the way I've debunked you each week we know which of the 2 it is. We get noises (like doors shutting) then they go downstairs & hear more noises when 1 brother thinks he hears a kids voice say "mom" then saw someone but the camera didn't get it as well as a torso that unsurprisingly the camera ddin't get either. Brad gets an EVP that says "what do you see now".

Whats quite annoying as they are doing their evidence summary they use a lot of personal encounters not caught on camera as actual evidence.

My Weekly TNA Catch-up, Impact 5th Nov 09 reviewed

Merry Bonfire Night! Yes, its a bloody stupid outdated British tradition where we gather to let off fireworks & burn bonfires to celebrate the fact a Spaniard FAILED to blow up the Houses Of Parliment.

Just in case you missed it last week we get the Hulk Hogan joining TNA press conference again before the credits ran, show opens with Dixie Carter addressing all ( read most of, they weren't ALL there) the TNA roster & staff about her feelings on what she wants for TNA. Keen eyed fans might have spotted Vince Russo (hiding in the dark) Scott D'Amore, Simon Diamond & D-Lo Brown sitting behind Dixie.

Tag Match, Eric Young & Big Rob vs Beer Money - The fact that Rob Terry is working a match on Impact means one of several possible things, either he got some training, he complained until they gave him a spot or they trust him more now. This match wasn't going anywhere at all, Young nailed his own partner with his title allowing Roode to take the easy win.

Desmond Wolfe vs Cody Deaner - Oh dear me, how have the mighty fallen. Within the space of a week Nigel McGuiness has gone from the main event with TNAs top guy to a midcard bout against one of TNAs resident jokes. Wolfe took the win in seconds off a Clothesline in this joke of a squash match.

Non-title Match, Daniels vs AJ Styles - Or rather the match that wasn't. With Samoa Joe as the special guest referee this was an interesting idea in who has been jumping AJ Styles over the last few weeks, Joe came out to the ring first followed by Daniels then they cut to JB backstage about to interview Styles when the mystery man jumped him again. Daniels was about to go to his friends aid when Joe nailed him with The Musclebuster. No decision to call because no match ever took place. Classic Russo at work really.

Tara vs Hamada - This was really slow in getting going until Tara nailed the Standing Reverse Moonsault then business picked up a little, Hamada is clearly a fan of WWE's Undertaker as she copied his "old school" rope walking gimmick before nailing Tara with an excellent Enzuigiri. Hamada failed to pin off a Headscissors so went high risk with a Reverse Moonsault but Tara got her knees up, Tara took the eventual win off The Widows Peak. Not a bad match but it could have been a bit quicker to get started. Query, has Jethro Holliday been relegated to working Black Shirt Security because I could have sworn he was one of the guys holding Tara back (look at the left hand guy holding her).

Mick Foley comes out to give Abyss a gift, the Impact Zone mark out for name checks to The Dynamite Kid, Bruiser Brody, Harley Race & Terry Funk.

Homicide vs Bobby Lashley (with his wife Kristal) - As soon as Mrs Lashley walked out you knew they were planning a run-in by Scott Steiner or a gimmick finish so this match had no hope before it even got started. It seems Russo wants to try to kill TNA before Hogan ever gets here. Earl Hebner made the right move sending Kristal back to the locker room so we might get a semi-decent match, Lashley took a very quick win off a high Single Arm Chokeslam.

Post match Steiner tried to abduct Kristal but got his ass handed to him on a plate when Lashley ran backstage to protect his woman. Homicide slapped Earl Hebner & Amazing Red ran down to give Homicide a sweet lesson in when not to jump someone, to be honest Reds short program was better than Lashleys whole match!

Madison Rayne vs Taylor Wilde - A bit too short but still a nice match where Wilde took the win off a Roll-up into a Bridge. ODB had to save Wilde & Sarita from a beatdown off The Beautiful People (Are they about to be repackaged under the new name of The Meanest Girls?) & the pink foreign object Taz couldn't identity was a police night stick.

Non-title Match, Daniels vs AJ Styles - The second attempt. Again with Samoa Joe as the special guest referee, Daniels seemed determined to keep this on the mat in the realms of technical wrestling so it was left to Styles to do a bit of aerial stuff but considering the skill of Daniels & Styles throwing Joe into the mix as the ref this match was total s**t. Styles took the eventual win off the Styles Clash.

Non-Title Tag Match, Team 3D vs Hernandez & Matt Morgan - This match started badly and became miles worse after Devon injured his own knee, the interference from Rhino didn't add anything to the match and the stupid finish with Ray coming in to nail Morgan with a chair getting himself DQ'ed was complete and utter s**t. A match like this certainly shouldn't be getting main event status as it did nothing for Team 3D or the 2 faces, I wouldn't have even set this as a curtain jerker to be honest.

It seems TNA thinks Hogan is their Ace In The Hole (well that sounds pretty close, he is an A** Hole) as they are holding back on announcing when he will appear on Impact. I'm guessing they will do nothing until the next PPV then have him do a run-in (if he's wrestling) though its hard to think who Hogan would want to save on the roster and if TNA want him as a face or a heel. I guess until he makes his appearance and how we will be left in the dark.

My Weekly TNA Catch-up, Impact 29th Oct 09 reviewed

Otherwise known as the Catch-up that almost wasn't. Between the end of Impact last week & the tranmission of this weeks show announcements were made that Hulk Hogan & Eric Bischoff were coming to TNA. At first I didn't believe it thinking it was just a hoax, a scam or a joke. But reports from reliable sources & a bit of Googling revealed it to be completely true that the Suntan on legs with his evil wrestling Badger truely ARE coming to TNA.

Hearing this I instantly vowed never to watch the show again until Hogan & Bischoff had gone. Time has passed, 7 days have been and gone. I have had time to reflect and my feelings about Hogan & Bischoff haven't really changed but my passion for TNA hasn't changed either. You don't just abandon something you've supported for more than 4 years so I am going to carry on writing the Catch-ups but I will not give Hogan or Bischoff 1 iota of mercy.

If mistakes are made I will mention them. Anyway, with that said its onto this weeks review:-

Show opens with Desmond Wolfe mouthing off.

Alissa Flash vs Tara - With the announcement of the 10 minute time limit it seems Russo is still firmly ensconced in TNA, this was a seriously excellent match & I think Tara hit the back of her head off Flash's Pump Handle Slam but Tara took the win off a wicked Firemans Carry Sideslam.

Tag Match, The Motor City Machine Guns vs Team 3D - I'd read from taping news Chris Sabin got injured in this match & I assume it was taking the Single Arm Chokeslam from Ray as his landing looked very nasty, Alex Shelley took the win for his team off a Single Leg Boston Crab on Devon who the ref thought tapped out but it was a bad call and he wasn't tapping. I guess they went for a muddled finish so as to get Sabin medical help quicker.

Legends Championship Match, Eric Young vs Bobby Lashley - As soon as we saw Lashleys wife in the crowd you knew Steiners entrance wasn't far away, predictably enough he came out & interfered causing the ref to throw the match out so Young retains his title. P**s poor match with an even worse super predictable run-in. You have to hope Eric Bischoff can write better stuff than this.

World Elite bore us on the mic, Eric Young "retires" the Legends Championship renaming it the Global Championship stating he'll never defend it on American soil or against an American wrestler.

6 Woman Tag Match, The Beautiful People vs ODB, Christy Hemme & Hamada - Are there some issues with Lacey Von Erich getting in-ring & working because she spent all of about 10 seconds inside the ring in this match, is it legal or a trust issue or is she not considered ready or medically fit or what? Ah, it was made painfully clear when Von Erich won off the Mandible Claw Chokeslam (possibly the worst executed move I've seen in TNA & I've been watching a LONG time) to take the win for her team, now I know why they are keeping her out of matches - she's too green. I guess we will have to rename her the Mr Kennedy of TNA.

No DQ Match, Dr Stevie vs Abyss - This was supposed to be a handicap match with Daffney on Stevies side but due to the nasty bump she took at the PPV it means she isn't fit to take part here. Nothing to speak of went on here, Abyss took the win off Shock Treatment. Mick Foley saved Abyss from a post match beatdown.

Rhino vs Matt Morgan - If there were ever 2 guys you really don't want to see work each other its Morgan who can't decide to bump against Rhino who can't decide if he's a heel or a face, Morgan took the win off The Carbon Footprint in this staggeringly poor match.

Kurt Angle vs Desmond Wolfe - Wolfe (AKA ROH alum Nigel McGuiness) has really fallen on his feet in his 1st proper Impact getting not only the main event but one against a star like Angle too, this was Wolfe jobbing to Angle in no uncertain terms with a little back & forth until Wolfe just flattened Angle with a Clothesline out of nowhere. No result was announced for this as Wolfe didn't pin Angle but Angle was unable to continue so I have to assume Wolfe got the win.

Exclusive news conference announcement, Eric Bischoff introduces Hulk Hogan who introduces Dixie Carter, Hogan seriously puts Dixie & TNA over.

No-one can know if Hogan will tether his notoriously MASSIVE ego & put over any of the younger TNA talent, it is also uncertain what position Bischoff will fill. Granted Bisch has a good mind for wrestling as he is the guy who pulled the carpet from under WWE's feet by announcing results on Nitro so no-one would watch it. If he can come up with some decent ideas and not totally s**t on the female talent then things can only get better we hope.