The Katz Files – Arnie Katz
My Weekly (5/20) TNA Notebook

The Kingfish Arnie Katz provides insight and analysis based on the 5/27 episode of iMPACT.

Life After Retreat
The show has improved significantly since losing the Monday Night Showdown and the 5/17 episode represented continued advance.

The show had a couple of excellent matches, including the main event. The rest of the matches weren’t nearly as good, but still graded out in the B/C range, as opposed to the D/F range. (I’m strongly opposed to the D/F range, a rating that all matches on the TNA and WWE shows don’t always escape.

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The Katz Files
My Weekly RAW Notebook: The War Begins!

The Kingfish Arnie Katz delivers his and analysis of the 5/24 episode of RAW.

The Monday Night Skirmish is rapidly receding in the WWE’s rear view mirror as the promotion tries to tune up the product while tightening its corporate belt in light of uncertain revenues.

It appears that RAW is now benefiting from the extra effort and planning that the show got as a result of the head-to-head competition with iMPACT.

This definitely doesn’t mean that RAWis perfect. There’s still plenty of room for better plotting, tighter writing and hotter wrestling, but RAW has shaken off a lot of the listlessness that plagued it last winter.

Let’s look at some of the good and a little of the bad….

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The Katz Files
Ring Rants: Part Two

The Kingfish Arnie Katz presents the second, and final, part of his survey of one of the most fascinating aspects of pro wrestling, the rant.

Is There Too Much Talk?
The two major promotions devote less than 25% of their shows’ air-time to wrestling. At time, the action accounts for as little as one-sixth of the total package.

In light of that, it’s natural to wonder whether there is now too much talking. At one time, rants did little more than provide separation between matches and advertise upcoming house shows. As anyone who has watched the first 20 minutes of RAW, Smackdown or iMPACT can readily attest, the days when big-time North American pro wrestling depends largely on ring action are gone, gone gone.

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The Katz Files
Ring Rants: Part One

The Kingfish Arnie Katz presents his survey of one of the most fascinating aspects of pro wrestling, the rant.

I saw my first televised pro wrestling match around the age of four. I was a Baby Boomer, born in mid-1946, a suitable interval after my father returned from World War II.

The boots-and-trunks, pseudo-sport matches that predominated at that time didn’t interest me as much as Hopalong Cassidy, Tom Corbett, Space Cadet and Howdy Doody. I watched wrestler when nothing else was on.

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.The Katz Files – Arnie Katz
Nobody Asked Me about TNA, But…

The Kingfish Arnie Katz continues a “Katz Files” tradition with hard-hitting answers to some ticklish questions inspired watching the 5/13 iMPACT

TNA presented its first in is new series of Thursday night iMPACTs and the familiar surroundings had a revivifying effect on the show. Despite some flaws and a bad audio glitch, iMPACT proved to be a strong two hours and a very good lead-in to Sacrifice.

A number of questions occurred to me while I watched the program. Rather than wait for someone else to ask them, too, I’ll share them with you and give you my answers as well.

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The Katz Files
The War Is Not Over

The Kingfish Arnie Katz believes that the battle between TNA and WWE is not over. He takes advantage of what he terms “a pause” to reflect on the struggle so far and where it could go next.

Pro wrestling journalists, including my esteemed colleague Jay Shannon right here at Online World of Wrestling, have written columns about the end of the war between WWE and TNA.

I understand the thinking, but I reject it. The war between WWE ad TNA will not end until either Bischoff and Hogan drink Vince McMahon’s blood in a victory toast at WWE headquarters or Vince gets the chance to bungle both the ”TNA Invasion” and “Promotion Unification” angles.

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The Katz Files
TNA in Retreat

The Kingfish Arnie Katz analyzes TNA after the retreat to Thursday he predicted on Monday morning came true by Monday night.

Bubba the Love Sponge, it was widely reported, attacked TNA’s Dixie Carter. Among his complaints is that she listens to Internet journalists instead of Hulk Hogan.

How I wish that were true! Still, perhaps Dixie likes to read “The Katz Files.” If so, the best advice I could give her would be to do as Bubba the Love Sponge said and listen to Hulk Hogan.

Specifically, listen to the show-closing segment with Sting from the 5/3 iMPACT. that featured the confrontation between Sting and Hulk Hogan. So much of what is wrong with TNA is encapsulated in that segment that I don’t see how TNA (and Spike TV) executives could watch it and not immediately start to develop an exit strategy.

Let’s review the ways in which that segment represents a wrong-headed approach and a failure to reach TV’s standards for The professional entertainment.

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The Katz Files
Monday (3/29) War Journal

The Kingfish Arnie Katz takes a hard look at the current state of the competition between WWE and TNA. The den of professional wrestling journalists lets it rip without fear or favor.

The Kingfish says: Looking for a segment-by-segment comparison? Check out HeadLocker’s “Monday Night War Analysis.” Jay does an outstanding job and our ringside philosopher is one of the most observant and knowledgeable columnists on the Internet.

Can Both Sides Lose a War?

The Second Monday Night Pro Wrestling War continues to sputter along uneventfully. It has lacked the fireworks that fans hoped the competition would inspire.

The product hasn’t benefited only a little. WWE has risen from the depths of its January-March dullness, but it still could sand a lot more improvement. The Hogan-Bischoff team has made some improvements, but they’re also brought in some questionable performers and set up a few rotten storylines.

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The Katz Files – Arnie Katzenjammer
Post-Draft Analysis

The Kingfish Arnie Katz looks at WWE’s latest talent shuffle and its consequences.

This year’s WWE roster shuffle is now complete with the release of the supplemental draft. It put a period, or at least a semi-colon, at the end of some long-running programs, but it also paved the way for some potentially entertaining match-ups.

The Roster Changes

Let’s look at each of the wrestlers who’ll be performing on a different show, unless WWE middies the waters with too many crossovers:

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The Katz Files – Arnie Katzenjammer
The Draft: Myths and Reality

The Kingfish Arnie Katz doesn’t blink in his hard-edged commentary on WWE Draft Day.

Here’s a genuine pro wrestling riddle: What is the worst RAW of the year and is also the most compelling and important RAW of the year?

The answers, which I could probably hear you all shouting if I opened my office window, is: “The Three-Hour Draft Show!” The realignment of the rosters is a major event that will affect RAW, Smackdown and the pay per views well into the fall. Yet the show is also light-years from “must see TV.”

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