You CLEARLY never saw him in WCW. New fans know nothing so I don't know why they comment. If you started watching wrestling aftwr 2001 its too late for you you'll never know wrestling properly.
The true national treasure of a promo would be if it could ever work out so Scott Steiner could ever cut a promo with R Truth. That would be some bat shit crazy talking! Only thing that could top it would have been if it were possible for Randy Savage to add some Macho Man Madness to the mix, that would be your hookup, and that's the Truth, the whole Truth, and nothing but the Truth.
The issue with the MEM is less on them and more the booking. The TNA Frontline never felt like legitimate threats to the Mafia meaning these old guys were just curb stomping the current generation of talent week after week and they had to rely on the Mafia fighting itself for them to be challenged.
Recently, I have heard a Bryan and Vinny episode where Bryan said, the main problem with Bischoff and Russo is they have great concepts and beginnings, but then they don't have the slightest clue on how to end. Given the fact that Russo was still secretly booking for TNA, this sounds like a classic Russo storyline, a great concept and beginning with no pay-off. "Let's have the Ministry of Darkness be led by a Higher Power, let's have Steve Austin get run over by a car, let's reset WCW, let's have a group of established WWE and WCW world champions rule TNA with an iron fist!" "Ok, and how is it going to end?" "Errr..."
Sting’s character in the MEM could be because, according to Jim Cornette, Sting really didn’t want to be a heel. So this could’ve been Sting meeting in the middle with this character
And nobody really wanted to boo Sting. There’s a reason he’s been a baby face basically his entire career. Except for a failed heel run in WCW which was also written by the same guy…
The main Event Mafia were awesome I'd actually take the original Incarnation over the 2013 Incarnation during the Aces And Eights storyline and I'm glad that old episodes of TNA impact from 2008 are finally getting added to impact plus.
I'd love to see WWE take the Main Event Mafia concept, and crank it up to 11. What I mean is that instead of consisting of only former world champions, they should also add main eventers, NIL athletes, charismatic wrestlers, part-timers, and even a celebrity or two (Logan Paul and/or Bad Bunny), basically anyone that stereotypically fits Vince McMahon's image of a WWE Superstar. Their goal would be to rid the WWE of all the "bingo hall dwelling, flippy-floppy vanilla midgets" who they think do not belong in the wrestling industry, let alone the WWE.
The original MEM was the best incarnation and for the first 6 months I loved it. Because it was just fun to this the ridiculousness but by the time they kicked sting and Joe joined I was pretty much done with the group. But at the their peak they were my favorite thing on the show. I enjoyed the in fighting. The biggest issue is no new stars were made out of this. I wish the mafia would have helped build new stars. I love the mafia as group but as a story it wasn't executed to right. Overall I would the mafia good-fine between oct-june but bad anytime after.
Tbf, the storyline never went through as planned because Jarrett was sent home and there was a backstage regime change so all the plans for MEM putting over the originals in the end didn't get to see itself through
Original MEM was great. The theme, the serious attitute of all MEM members. Steiner verbally and physically assaulting the young wrestlers and the epic HE'S FAT! promo all made me fan of MEM.
The MEM was great. Sadly it also proved how incompetent TNA was on pushing news stars. As soon as Rhino became the leader of the originals, I knew the whole angle was a huge flop.
That was really the story of the Dixie Carter years. She seemed like she so passionately wanted to run a wrestling show, but didn't know how and never learned how. Such wasted potential. Ironically enough, TNA's best management at the time was when it was still under the ownership of JJ.
The problem with them was they buried and squashed everyone and got no one else over. The only people who ever got the better of them were the likes of Sting and Mick Foley, not exactly guys who needed establishment as superstars.
What you call a squash was a build up to fortify them as a threat. The way MEM was built up was how Aces & Eights should've been built up to look like a threat.
This is fair. They beat all the younger guys and won all the belts. And most of the time when they’d lose a belt it would be To another veteran. Sting lost the world title to Foley and Foley lost it to Angle. Eventually towards the end of the MEM Angle lost it to AJ who was a multiple time world champion in TNA by that point. But beating Angle helps you look bigger. But that doesn’t lead to going with AJ as your top guy when you figure he loses the title to an incoming WWE guy like RVD. Same deal with the Legends title. Eventually lost to AJ, who loses it to Foley, who loses it to Nash who at the very end finally loses to a young guy in Eric Young. This is something that could’ve worked if you had them losing to your younger guys to build them up but instead they beat them most of the time and when they would lose it would usually be to another older veteran. And when the Original MEM split up it wasn’t because they got beat or anything. It was because some of their members left the company. So something that could’ve been pretty good and ended up just being a year of the older guys taking all the titles and beating the younger guys who never got their just due. When you hear stories about the younger/original TNA guys being upset about the MEM it makes a lot of sense. All of those guys were part time (even for TNA), making more money than you, and they’re beating you the entire time. I’m listening to Jarretts pod talking about them and he’s saying how none of these guys were on TNA house shows besides Kurt so you can only imagine how pissed your younger and/or TNA original contingent had to have been at this time. But would’ve been a real nice gig to have as the dudes who were in the MEM.
As someone who watched the whole MEM storyline while it was happening, it was another case of TNA not knowing when to pull the trigger on something. It always felt like their biggest problem was that when they had something, and it was hot and building momentum, they'd let it play out for a couple of months until it lost all its steam, and THEN try to recapture it. Sting should have turned during the MEM/Front Line storyline. They shouldn't have had Sting wear his facepaint at all as an MEM member. They should have had the other MEM guys run him down behind his back and make it plain to the audience that they were using/gaslighting him. Have the Frontline remind him of how much the young guys respect him, and how much he's forgotten. Then, during a crucial moment between the Frontline and MEM, the lights go down, the music hits and Sting's there on the ramp with full costume, make-up and baseball bat. Cue Don West going apeshit.
I disagree, Nash's reasoning was clever. At the time of his association with Joe, he made it a point to scold Joe for letting his emotions dictate his thinking. Waiting for the match where Joe'd get the biggest payday possible made Nash consistent and calculating.
Yes, it was a total rip off of the New Blood vs. Millionaires Club in WCW (you can thank Russo that as well) but in this version everyone is aligned correctly. He had the new guys as the baby faces instead of having the veterans and it worked out so much better.
It was a bit more promising, because first of all, they were all world champions in WCW/WWE, they weren't just "the old guard". Also, at the beginning there were only five of them, meanwhile the Millionaire's Club was pretty much everyone who was in the main event picture in the '90s. The problem, like with most of Russo storylines, is that he had no clue of how to end it, he just wanted heat, heat, heat, heat and more heat, with no payoff in sight.
@@tafua_a What's worse is that when Dutch Mantell and Jim Cornette left TNA because Dixe was a jackass, Russo had full control over the MEM storyline which led to Samoa Joe joining the MEM and Jenna Morasca.
I hadn’t watch TNA or wrestling for that matter for years and I didn’t know what to think about this emaciated, strung out version of Angle with sunken in eyes and disheveled countenance. I’m glad he got help, but man he put on some tremendous matches as “perc” Angle!
Yes, MEM should have always been Angle, Sting, Nash, Steiner, Booker T. Lashley, AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, and Rhyno all sound like great people to form together to feud with MEM.
Main event mafia the originals were the best faction in wrestling at the time. All world champions join forces and collect all the gold and demanded respect from the young and future prospects. It was amazing. Scott Steiner was world class in this faction. The wars the MEM had in TNA was awesome. Each episode of TNA back then had a riot. Great story telling. Miss the original MEM. The second main event mafia it was ok but nowhere near as the originals. Back when TNA was great and had shows sold out. Can’t believe how great TNA was with everything from the crowd, the wrestlers, the storylines etc. compare TNA then to the IMPACT now is night and day difference. How did TNA go from touring the world to now impact being shown in a shoebox with only 100 in attendance. Such a shame. Screw you Hulk hogan and eric Bishoff you bastards. Ruined everything.
Couldn't agree more. TNA had everything, sometimes they had those Cornette and Russo turns that we could well live without but the atmosphere was great. Still it's good to know they are still doing business although it's not actually the same it puts a smile to my face knowing that talent like Kaz, Daniels, MCMG, Lethal, Dutt, Joe and Styles are still going and showing their craft to large audiences
Ps, I don't agree that hogan and bischof screwed tna up. They were doing great until Jeff hardy showed up to one of the biggest matches in tna history drugged up. Dont get me wrong,I love Jeff hardy and hope he can get things together,but it was Jeff hardys fault that that didn't work out
@@bluelantern5241 So it's Jeff Hardy's fault for TNA sinking as a whole? They had already screwed it up when they turned Hardy heel and created that crap faction. But the major wounds were already delivered by then. Signing guys like the Nasty Boys, Bubba the love Sponge and if you wanna talk about junkies Hall and XPac we were clearly not in condition to compete, and stealed tv time from their home grown stars like MCMG, Jay Lethal, Daniels, Kaz and many others. It was around this time guys like Joe, Daniels and Kaz left for ROH. Also putting Hogan and Abyss on a tag team never made any sense, or hiring their sons and daughters (Garrett and what's her name)
Funny thing is there were less overbooked main events in TNA during that era Bobby Rhode and Austin Aries and AJ Styles we're world Heavyweight Champion during this time. Russo was the problem not them.
Great video! Ball was dropped in my opinion for not having AJ, Daniels, motor city machine guns and Eric young properly get put over. The Mike Morgan bit was brilliant!
I've scene everyone of your videos, great content. I'm hoping you'll look into doing a Tatanka 2005-2007 run on Ring of the Hawk and the Mexicools tag run
I'd like to see both Tatanka and The Mexicools aswell. Tatanka's 2005 return was so random and The Mexicools who were great in ECW never stood a chance when arriving in WWE with such a racist gimmick.
Main Event Mafia holds a very special place in my fandom, it's my favourite faction, I was so entertained as a kid but as long as I still got my AJ Styles Samoa Joe MCMG's I was also happy, it's clear watching this the faults but I was still entertained
The problem with the MEM angle is they did it backwards. They should have won all the belts first. Then they can beat guys like Jarrett and Foley to retain their gold. After that, you have the Sting/Kurt infighting which leads to the demise of the group. At the end, guys like Styles and Joe should take back the gold for TNA.
Agreed, though I'd also add a couple of months building the MEM up on jobbers and low carders first, so you don't bury your top future talent while you're getting the faction established, with your JJs and Mick Foleys thrown in as they're aging veterans at the end of their careers so you can pass them off losing to them getting older and not being as good as they used to be. Totally agree that Joe and AJ should have relieved them of their singles titles, I'd say probably somewhere between 9 and 12 months into the MEM run. Then maybe have the Motor City Machine Guns or Beer Money take the Tag gold from them, with the world title being taken as the coup-de-grais that begins a 1-2 month downfall infighting story line as the group starts blaming each other and fractures with some turning face.
Big Show vs Big Boss man. Not sure if you covered their feud, or if you would, but I think it deserves a video. It might be a short video so that's a plus
I liked the Main Event Mafia. In a way, it felt like they were doing a rewrite of Millionaire's Club vs. New Blood where the heel/face roles actually made sense.
I loved the Main Event Mafia and I still do. I think it was an excellent idea and it made a hell of a lot of sense when the group was Sting, Angle, Nash, Booker and Steiner. I wasn't a fan of them adding anyone to the group that wasn't on that level and it should have stayed just the five of them.
It would’ve made sense had they used the group to elevate their younger talents. Instead the group dominated the younger TNA guys and whenever they would lose it would be to already established veteran guys (sting, Foley). They didn’t really lose to any younger TNA guys until the very end of it (AJ won the world title about a month before they disbanded and Eric Young won the Legends title less than a week before they disbanded. They lost the tag titles less than a week before they disbanded). And when they disbanded it wasn’t because they’d gotten beat. It was because some of the members were leaving the company. It was indicative of one of the major problems in TNA always was. They always deferred to booking the older stars from other places on top and never used those guys to elevate their younger TNA guys. The only exception to the rule that ever really occurred was AJ Styles. That’s why I always laugh when people get upset about Hogan and Bischoff coming in and bunch of WWE guys following them. People tend to forget that Hogan and Bischoff weren’t the beginning of that. At least in the world title picture TNA always relied on the older guys and made them champion.
I get why they relied on Kurt for so long and don’t really fault that. Angle was a full time TNA guy when he came in and I believe he’s said TNA paid him $1M a year when he came in. So for that it makes sense why the world title stayed with him for a good chunk of time. But it would go to Sting and then he’d usually lose it pretty quick after because they always had him on a limited dates deal. But outside of AJ and Samoa Joe TNA pretty much didn’t go with anybody besides former WWE guys and/or legends until 2011 with the James Storm and Bobby Roode runs. And in the end it’s a big part of what stifled them from ever becoming something bigger. They were always viewed as the land of WWE castoffs because they never went with anybody else until well last time people had a bad taste in their mouth about the company. Short-sighted on their part.
I think the reason the MEM seemed to go off the rails and have weird swerves is i think during its run was when Dixie fired Cornette and Dutch Mantell which left Russo in sole control of the booking. Would explain the weird Samoa Joe swerve at the very least.
Yes. They were far and away the best wrestling story line of that period. TNA was a lot better than WWE during this time period too, for obvious reasons.
@@themadrapper101 Well that's debatable. In 09 you had cena poopy jokes and the whole show revolving around him. But then the superstars came off as more larger than life and the style of matches/presentation was a lot better to watch. Now it's just the whole show revolving around Reigns and him saying ''acknowledge me''. But you also have slightly more edge. It's really comparing which turd smells the worst imo. The last years I somewhat enjoyed were 2006 and 2011/12. 13/14 Was okay too with Bryans rise.
@@themadrapper101 Cena was boring af. He came out and made the same jokes every week and became unbearable. Roman Reigns and the bloodline faction is much entertaining. WWE did right by turning Reigns heel because he feels fresh imo Cena needed a heel turn to stop him from being so stale.
@@kob456 They aren't selling near as much merchandise as Cena in his prime. That's all of them as a group, tag team and individuals solo combined. Roman main evented more Wrestlemania's in a row than Hogan, Austin, Rock, Taker, Bret, Shawn Michael's.. And I never once seen, know or ran into anyone ever wearing one of his shirts. Maybe Roman mania is running wild somewhere else or in another world but even now you'll see more people in the crowd wearing Austin 3:16 and nWo shirts more than Roman Empire or Bloodline shirts. Like The Hurricane used to say, What's up with that?? He's not even over like a real goat. 1995 had higher ratings
Your video editing shows somebody is really a fan...around the 10min mark "also featuring the Dudley Boyz" (with a cool promo clip of the Dudley boyz where Bubba looks into the cam)... Great stuff bruh
Should've been a group of 5 established TNA originals vs the mafia in a back and forth storyline that resulted in pushes for the younger guys. AJ, Joe, beer money and abyss or somebody.
Generally it seemed like they had the core idea, but it just kept getting more contradictory as it went on. And then the MEM were supposed to be veteran world champions feuding with the rising stars. But everyone they feuded with were also multi-time world champions. As "veterans" go, Angle has about the same veterancy as AJ Styles (although Styles was always portrayed as the "young up and comer" for a decade or more.), and Jarrett and Foley were also ancient. One of the old-boys club going against them and mentoring the younger wrestlers would've made sense, but instead you had multiple people who should be aligned with the MEM as the main opposition.
Somoa Joe should of stayed out the Mafia and have been the one to take the title off Kurt Angle. Bound for glory could of been an ten man tag to disband the group... Although we wouldnt of got those funny Scott Steiner promos
Main Event Mafia was TNA NWO version I actually thought it was pretty good You need dominance early on to establish character If they keep getting there ass kick who where It was better than Aces and Eights It ran out of steam of course
The Main Event Mafia was a great faction BUT it didnt make much sense for Sting a baby face champion to be in the top heel faction. This did bring us some of Steiners best work though
Papa Pump ripping on the TNA originals about being geeks who only care about video games and Dave Metzler ratings also easily works for a decent amount of AEW. Especially The Elitists, loved to see Old School Pump crush those Elite J.O.’s!
Truthfully, I wasn't really a fan since it reminded me of WCW with the Millionaires Club who were faces VS the New Blood which was led by Bischoff and Russo who were heels, but TNA switched it by making the young talent faces and the veteran's group heels.
The original Main Event Mafia was legit underrated and great, meanwhile the 2013 version was far from it used to be given that Samoa Joe and Nick Aldis (fka Magnus) were in it and it was against the Aces & Eights
Loved the M.E.M but they definitely needed better opposition if I could have picked 5 guys to stand up to them i would have chose AJ Styles,Samoa Joe,The guns,abyss and Jeff jarret. I know Double J isn't the best face but if he used the "I want my company back angle it could've worked"
personally i liked the idea anc concept of MEM. Their rise to power and domination of tna was perfect. face mafia return to fight off aces and eights was a good run as well.
The Main event Mafia were great, but the problem was they had no opposition because the front line consisted off a bunch of X-division no bodies should have just been Aj Styles, Samoa Joe and Beer Money
It had its moments and it’s downfalls but it was great to see some big names in pro wrestling get a faction and be taken seriously even if it was just for a moment
Let's not forget when you add Kurt Angle to the mix Steiner had a 141 and two thirds percent chance at beating Samoa Joe at Sacrifice
the #'s don't lie and they spell disaster for you.
drastic go down
Lmaooooooo bye
But Kurt Angle knew he couldn't beat Steiner and he wasn't gonna even try
You got 21? Steiners got 22
Scott Steiner was at his peak in terms of mic skills during the MEM storyline too, extremely funny.
“He’s FAT!!”
Scott Steiner is probably the funniest wrestler in the world due to having no filter and all that roid rage 🤣
When he announced the matches that one time I totally lost it lol 🤣
“Hailing from the great state of Dunkin Donuts!”
You CLEARLY never saw him in WCW. New fans know nothing so I don't know why they comment. If you started watching wrestling aftwr 2001 its too late for you you'll never know wrestling properly.
I don't care what he talks about just give Scott steiner a microphone and I'll forever listen anything he says he's a national treasure
True Steiner its fucking great
The true national treasure of a promo would be if it could ever work out so Scott Steiner could ever cut a promo with R Truth. That would be some bat shit crazy talking! Only thing that could top it would have been if it were possible for Randy Savage to add some Macho Man Madness to the mix, that would be your hookup, and that's the Truth, the whole Truth, and nothing but the Truth.
Booker commentating as he gives a beat down is one of the greatest moments in wrestling.
For me it was TNA originals Vs ex. WWE and ex wcw
Isn't that just another rock bit he tried to steal?
The height of The Main Event Mafia was Booker T beating up jobbers while doing his own commentary 😂😂
🤣🤣🤣😭
That's all this guy does? He just cries about TNA?
Ahhh, I'm black snow!
@@Zert_McGertit’s kinda his niche
@@Zert_McGertcriticize = crying? Moron.
The issue with the MEM is less on them and more the booking. The TNA Frontline never felt like legitimate threats to the Mafia meaning these old guys were just curb stomping the current generation of talent week after week and they had to rely on the Mafia fighting itself for them to be challenged.
Yeah I like concept, it was entertaining, but the booking was bad, like it made the original TNA guys look weak.
Recently, I have heard a Bryan and Vinny episode where Bryan said, the main problem with Bischoff and Russo is they have great concepts and beginnings, but then they don't have the slightest clue on how to end. Given the fact that Russo was still secretly booking for TNA, this sounds like a classic Russo storyline, a great concept and beginning with no pay-off. "Let's have the Ministry of Darkness be led by a Higher Power, let's have Steve Austin get run over by a car, let's reset WCW, let's have a group of established WWE and WCW world champions rule TNA with an iron fist!" "Ok, and how is it going to end?" "Errr..."
@@tafua_avv
You can tell they gave creative control to the old guys and it stopped the organisation from truly growing
@@tafua_agreat concepts is a bit of a reach😂
Sting’s character in the MEM could be because, according to Jim Cornette, Sting really didn’t want to be a heel. So this could’ve been Sting meeting in the middle with this character
And nobody really wanted to boo Sting. There’s a reason he’s been a baby face basically his entire career. Except for a failed heel run in WCW which was also written by the same guy…
@@Nessrox444
He was a heel here though.
@@Nessrox444
You're right about no one wanting to boo Sting. He was too charismatic
@@JayJackson1981 he was borderline at first. He didn’t join in with any attacks and seemed hesitant with the actions of the mafia.
@@Markyd123
Yeah, you're correct. He didn't seem fully committed but may I ask you this... wasn't he a heel as "Joker" Sting.
The Steiner promos alone makes them great! Especially the one when Steiner cut angle off by yelling “he’s fat!” 😂😂🤣🤣
Black Snow and Chet Lemon on commentary and Steiner as Ring Announcer made for one of my favourite first hours of Impact
The main Event Mafia were awesome I'd actually take the original Incarnation over the 2013 Incarnation during the Aces And Eights storyline and I'm glad that old episodes of TNA impact from 2008 are finally getting added to impact plus.
Got a future idea for a possible Ring Of The Hawk episode: Willow in TNA. Jeff Hardy only wrestled as this character for 15 matches in 2014.
Agree
Hootinanny
Why though? Willow wrestled exactly like Jeff. Other than the look, there was no difference.
Willow was cool!
@@yourfavoriteentertainment The character, that is partially what the show is there for, for the storytelling & characters.
Crazy to think Sting being the oldest member is the only one of the group to still wrestle in 2022, who would've known
Not anymore.
I loved the concept of the Main Event Mafia. I wish they lasted longer.
I'd love to see WWE take the Main Event Mafia concept, and crank it up to 11. What I mean is that instead of consisting of only former world champions, they should also add main eventers, NIL athletes, charismatic wrestlers, part-timers, and even a celebrity or two (Logan Paul and/or Bad Bunny), basically anyone that stereotypically fits Vince McMahon's image of a WWE Superstar. Their goal would be to rid the WWE of all the "bingo hall dwelling, flippy-floppy vanilla midgets" who they think do not belong in the wrestling industry, let alone the WWE.
@@SuperNitroZ64 I could see this happening in AEW
Reminds me of a more amped-up version of AEW’s Jericho Appreciation Society
@@raging_raccoonhd6994 except AEW consists to 90% of these geeks
@@DasNordlicht91 If that stable hadn't been dead on arrival
The original MEM was the best incarnation and for the first 6 months I loved it. Because it was just fun to this the ridiculousness but by the time they kicked sting and Joe joined I was pretty much done with the group. But at the their peak they were my favorite thing on the show. I enjoyed the in fighting. The biggest issue is no new stars were made out of this. I wish the mafia would have helped build new stars. I love the mafia as group but as a story it wasn't executed to right. Overall I would the mafia good-fine between oct-june but bad anytime after.
Huh? MEM put over Joe and Styles. They weren't main event at this point. The MEM putting them over made them verified stars.
Ok with AJ Styles... but Joe? He made a non-sense turn. First he wants to kill all the members of MEM, but later hands the title to Kurt Angle. WTF?
@@nachopena7563 blame on whoever backstage control the script and booking, Etc.
@@nachopena7563 Joe was supposed to kill the MEM from the inside but once Jarrett got booted out of TNA, all the plans went down the toilet.
Tbf, the storyline never went through as planned because Jarrett was sent home and there was a backstage regime change so all the plans for MEM putting over the originals in the end didn't get to see itself through
Original MEM was great. The theme, the serious attitute of all MEM members. Steiner verbally and physically assaulting the young wrestlers and the epic HE'S FAT! promo all made me fan of MEM.
The MEM was great. Sadly it also proved how incompetent TNA was on pushing news stars. As soon as Rhino became the leader of the originals, I knew the whole angle was a huge flop.
To quote OSW, "The state of your stable, mate."
That was really the story of the Dixie Carter years. She seemed like she so passionately wanted to run a wrestling show, but didn't know how and never learned how. Such wasted potential. Ironically enough, TNA's best management at the time was when it was still under the ownership of JJ.
The problem with them was they buried and squashed everyone and got no one else over. The only people who ever got the better of them were the likes of Sting and Mick Foley, not exactly guys who needed establishment as superstars.
What you call a squash was a build up to fortify them as a threat. The way MEM was built up was how Aces & Eights should've been built up to look like a threat.
This is fair. They beat all the younger guys and won all the belts. And most of the time when they’d lose a belt it would be To another veteran. Sting lost the world title to Foley and Foley lost it to Angle. Eventually towards the end of the MEM Angle lost it to AJ who was a multiple time world champion in TNA by that point. But beating Angle helps you look bigger. But that doesn’t lead to going with AJ as your top guy when you figure he loses the title to an incoming WWE guy like RVD.
Same deal with the Legends title. Eventually lost to AJ, who loses it to Foley, who loses it to Nash who at the very end finally loses to a young guy in Eric Young. This is something that could’ve worked if you had them losing to your younger guys to build them up but instead they beat them most of the time and when they would lose it would usually be to another older veteran.
And when the Original MEM split up it wasn’t because they got beat or anything. It was because some of their members left the company. So something that could’ve been pretty good and ended up just being a year of the older guys taking all the titles and beating the younger guys who never got their just due. When you hear stories about the younger/original TNA guys being upset about the MEM it makes a lot of sense. All of those guys were part time (even for TNA), making more money than you, and they’re beating you the entire time. I’m listening to Jarretts pod talking about them and he’s saying how none of these guys were on TNA house shows besides Kurt so you can only imagine how pissed your younger and/or TNA original contingent had to have been at this time. But would’ve been a real nice gig to have as the dudes who were in the MEM.
The 2013 Main Event Mafia isn’t as great as the original, but their “funeral” of Aces & Eights at the end of that angle was funny and amazing.
Nah it was mostly Ken Anderson
This is easily one of the top 3 wrestling channels on TH-cam. Such easy watching. Well done, sir. 👏
Thanks brother
As someone who watched the whole MEM storyline while it was happening, it was another case of TNA not knowing when to pull the trigger on something. It always felt like their biggest problem was that when they had something, and it was hot and building momentum, they'd let it play out for a couple of months until it lost all its steam, and THEN try to recapture it.
Sting should have turned during the MEM/Front Line storyline.
They shouldn't have had Sting wear his facepaint at all as an MEM member. They should have had the other MEM guys run him down behind his back and make it plain to the audience that they were using/gaslighting him. Have the Frontline remind him of how much the young guys respect him, and how much he's forgotten.
Then, during a crucial moment between the Frontline and MEM, the lights go down, the music hits and Sting's there on the ramp with full costume, make-up and baseball bat. Cue Don West going apeshit.
I disagree, Nash's reasoning was clever. At the time of his association with Joe, he made it a point to scold Joe for letting his emotions dictate his thinking. Waiting for the match where Joe'd get the biggest payday possible made Nash consistent and calculating.
Yes, it was a total rip off of the New Blood vs. Millionaires Club in WCW (you can thank Russo that as well) but in this version everyone is aligned correctly. He had the new guys as the baby faces instead of having the veterans and it worked out so much better.
It was a bit more promising, because first of all, they were all world champions in WCW/WWE, they weren't just "the old guard". Also, at the beginning there were only five of them, meanwhile the Millionaire's Club was pretty much everyone who was in the main event picture in the '90s.
The problem, like with most of Russo storylines, is that he had no clue of how to end it, he just wanted heat, heat, heat, heat and more heat, with no payoff in sight.
@@tafua_a What's worse is that when Dutch Mantell and Jim Cornette left TNA because Dixe was a jackass, Russo had full control over the MEM storyline which led to Samoa Joe joining the MEM and Jenna Morasca.
I hadn’t watch TNA or wrestling for that matter for years and I didn’t know what to think about this emaciated, strung out version of Angle with sunken in eyes and disheveled countenance. I’m glad he got help, but man he put on some tremendous matches as “perc” Angle!
I'd love a video on the NWA invasion back in 96/97, definitely a lot of prime Slapnuts material
That was more 97/98
Tetsuya Naito wrestling Kevin Nash. Who would have guessed that guy would end up being one of the biggest stars in the industry about 5-6 years later
I cannot stress enough how much I love the slapnuts Pokemon thing you do in your vids. Gets me every time
Yes, MEM should have always been Angle, Sting, Nash, Steiner, Booker T. Lashley, AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, and Rhyno all sound like great people to form together to feud with MEM.
Next ones should be:
Pope D’Angelo Dinero in TNA
Tara (Victoria) in TNA
Mickie James in TNA
Chavo Guerrero Jnr. in TNA
The Authority in WWE
Main event mafia the originals were the best faction in wrestling at the time. All world champions join forces and collect all the gold and demanded respect from the young and future prospects. It was amazing. Scott Steiner was world class in this faction.
The wars the MEM had in TNA was awesome. Each episode of TNA back then had a riot. Great story telling. Miss the original MEM. The second main event mafia it was ok but nowhere near as the originals. Back when TNA was great and had shows sold out. Can’t believe how great TNA was with everything from the crowd, the wrestlers, the storylines etc. compare TNA then to the IMPACT now is night and day difference. How did TNA go from touring the world to now impact being shown in a shoebox with only 100 in attendance. Such a shame. Screw you Hulk hogan and eric Bishoff you bastards. Ruined everything.
Couldn't agree more. TNA had everything, sometimes they had those Cornette and Russo turns that we could well live without but the atmosphere was great. Still it's good to know they are still doing business although it's not actually the same it puts a smile to my face knowing that talent like Kaz, Daniels, MCMG, Lethal, Dutt, Joe and Styles are still going and showing their craft to large audiences
Don't forget dixie.
Ps, I don't agree that hogan and bischof screwed tna up. They were doing great until Jeff hardy showed up to one of the biggest matches in tna history drugged up. Dont get me wrong,I love Jeff hardy and hope he can get things together,but it was Jeff hardys fault that that didn't work out
@@bluelantern5241 So it's Jeff Hardy's fault for TNA sinking as a whole? They had already screwed it up when they turned Hardy heel and created that crap faction. But the major wounds were already delivered by then. Signing guys like the Nasty Boys, Bubba the love Sponge and if you wanna talk about junkies Hall and XPac we were clearly not in condition to compete, and stealed tv time from their home grown stars like MCMG, Jay Lethal, Daniels, Kaz and many others. It was around this time guys like Joe, Daniels and Kaz left for ROH. Also putting Hogan and Abyss on a tag team never made any sense, or hiring their sons and daughters (Garrett and what's her name)
Funny thing is there were less overbooked main events in TNA during that era Bobby Rhode and Austin Aries and AJ Styles we're world Heavyweight Champion during this time. Russo was the problem not them.
I personally enjoyed the Main Event Mafia. Them and the Beautiful People are my factions from TNA.
The Mafia was the greatest collection of world champions assembled ever!!!!!
Great video!
Ball was dropped in my opinion for not having AJ, Daniels, motor city machine guns and Eric young properly get put over.
The Mike Morgan bit was brilliant!
I've scene everyone of your videos, great content. I'm hoping you'll look into doing a Tatanka 2005-2007 run on Ring of the Hawk and the Mexicools tag run
I'd like to see both Tatanka and The Mexicools aswell. Tatanka's 2005 return was so random and The Mexicools who were great in ECW never stood a chance when arriving in WWE with such a racist gimmick.
Main Event Mafia holds a very special place in my fandom, it's my favourite faction, I was so entertained as a kid but as long as I still got my AJ Styles Samoa Joe MCMG's I was also happy, it's clear watching this the faults but I was still entertained
Main Event Mafia was great one of my favorite storylines in TNA
This was the era of TNA was just wacky and fun
I enjoyed the Main Event Mafia, Steiner completely buried Samoa Joe was peak Steiner
The Wild Slapnuts always gets me 😆
The problem with the MEM angle is they did it backwards. They should have won all the belts first. Then they can beat guys like Jarrett and Foley to retain their gold. After that, you have the Sting/Kurt infighting which leads to the demise of the group. At the end, guys like Styles and Joe should take back the gold for TNA.
Agreed, though I'd also add a couple of months building the MEM up on jobbers and low carders first, so you don't bury your top future talent while you're getting the faction established, with your JJs and Mick Foleys thrown in as they're aging veterans at the end of their careers so you can pass them off losing to them getting older and not being as good as they used to be. Totally agree that Joe and AJ should have relieved them of their singles titles, I'd say probably somewhere between 9 and 12 months into the MEM run. Then maybe have the Motor City Machine Guns or Beer Money take the Tag gold from them, with the world title being taken as the coup-de-grais that begins a 1-2 month downfall infighting story line as the group starts blaming each other and fractures with some turning face.
Big Show vs Big Boss man. Not sure if you covered their feud, or if you would, but I think it deserves a video. It might be a short video so that's a plus
Yo thank you so much I recommended this a few times 🔥🔥
I liked the Main Event Mafia. In a way, it felt like they were doing a rewrite of Millionaire's Club vs. New Blood where the heel/face roles actually made sense.
I loved the Main Event Mafia and I still do. I think it was an excellent idea and it made a hell of a lot of sense when the group was Sting, Angle, Nash, Booker and Steiner. I wasn't a fan of them adding anyone to the group that wasn't on that level and it should have stayed just the five of them.
It would’ve made sense had they used the group to elevate their younger talents. Instead the group dominated the younger TNA guys and whenever they would lose it would be to already established veteran guys (sting, Foley). They didn’t really lose to any younger TNA guys until the very end of it (AJ won the world title about a month before they disbanded and Eric Young won the Legends title less than a week before they disbanded. They lost the tag titles less than a week before they disbanded).
And when they disbanded it wasn’t because they’d gotten beat. It was because some of the members were leaving the company. It was indicative of one of the major problems in TNA always was. They always deferred to booking the older stars from other places on top and never used those guys to elevate their younger TNA guys. The only exception to the rule that ever really occurred was AJ Styles. That’s why I always laugh when people get upset about Hogan and Bischoff coming in and bunch of WWE guys following them. People tend to forget that Hogan and Bischoff weren’t the beginning of that. At least in the world title picture TNA always relied on the older guys and made them champion.
I get why they relied on Kurt for so long and don’t really fault that. Angle was a full time TNA guy when he came in and I believe he’s said TNA paid him $1M a year when he came in. So for that it makes sense why the world title stayed with him for a good chunk of time. But it would go to Sting and then he’d usually lose it pretty quick after because they always had him on a limited dates deal. But outside of AJ and Samoa Joe TNA pretty much didn’t go with anybody besides former WWE guys and/or legends until 2011 with the James Storm and Bobby Roode runs. And in the end it’s a big part of what stifled them from ever becoming something bigger. They were always viewed as the land of WWE castoffs because they never went with anybody else until well last time people had a bad taste in their mouth about the company. Short-sighted on their part.
Nash beating naito and takahashi in a handicap match might be the most egregious thing on the list
I think the reason the MEM seemed to go off the rails and have weird swerves is i think during its run was when Dixie fired Cornette and Dutch Mantell which left Russo in sole control of the booking. Would explain the weird Samoa Joe swerve at the very least.
The timeline works. Joe joined the MEM in late June 2009 and Russo became head of creative in July 2009.
@@Matt-cr4vv I blame Dixie for this.
i love how Steiner says “Smoa Joe” 😂😂
Yes. They were far and away the best wrestling story line of that period. TNA was a lot better than WWE during this time period too, for obvious reasons.
And WWE around that time period is better than WWE now
@@themadrapper101 Well that's debatable. In 09 you had cena poopy jokes and the whole show revolving around him. But then the superstars came off as more larger than life and the style of matches/presentation was a lot better to watch. Now it's just the whole show revolving around Reigns and him saying ''acknowledge me''. But you also have slightly more edge. It's really comparing which turd smells the worst imo. The last years I somewhat enjoyed were 2006 and 2011/12. 13/14 Was okay too with Bryans rise.
@@earzy9729 I prefer Cena over Roman.. Cena carried the company the creative team carries Roman
@@themadrapper101 Cena was boring af. He came out and made the same jokes every week and became unbearable. Roman Reigns and the bloodline faction is much entertaining. WWE did right by turning Reigns heel because he feels fresh imo Cena needed a heel turn to stop him from being so stale.
@@kob456 They aren't selling near as much merchandise as Cena in his prime. That's all of them as a group, tag team and individuals solo combined. Roman main evented more Wrestlemania's in a row than Hogan, Austin, Rock, Taker, Bret, Shawn Michael's.. And I never once seen, know or ran into anyone ever wearing one of his shirts. Maybe Roman mania is running wild somewhere else or in another world but even now you'll see more people in the crowd wearing Austin 3:16 and nWo shirts more than Roman Empire or Bloodline shirts. Like The Hurricane used to say, What's up with that?? He's not even over like a real goat. 1995 had higher ratings
Your decisive Christmas video drunk, thats got me still here
Will do mate not looking forward to that though
12:34 I think this is the closest I'll ever get to seeing MarkyD do a video on No Limit in TNA
Fun fact when Booker T debuted the Legends title that was also the first episode where TNA was was broadcasted in HD
I liked the Main Event Mafia tbh. Certainly were more interesting then a lot of what was going on in WWE programming at the time.
I loved the mafia due to how unique it was. All world champions in 1 faction all in suits
Your video editing shows somebody is really a fan...around the 10min mark "also featuring the Dudley Boyz" (with a cool promo clip of the Dudley boyz where Bubba looks into the cam)... Great stuff bruh
4:43 Kind of reminds me of EVPs of a modern wrestling company
The hd Vegas impact zone looks so different and 100000x better than any other set and lighting they’ve ever had
It certainly stands out!
MEM was the only reason I watched TNA during these years
The TNA legends titles could’ve easily been the new TNA world title. It looks way better than the second version of the title with the silver letters
Should've been a group of 5 established TNA originals vs the mafia in a back and forth storyline that resulted in pushes for the younger guys. AJ, Joe, beer money and abyss or somebody.
The MEM was the only example of TNA dwelling on the big 3 of the 90s actually being good.
The best ever of TNA. Damned good TV on Spike Tv. Had more viewers than AEW too.
Thanks MarkyD, you're hilarious and my favorite TH-camr
Perc Angle, Booker T beating jobbers while commentary, Scott steiner announcing lmao good times.
Generally it seemed like they had the core idea, but it just kept getting more contradictory as it went on.
And then the MEM were supposed to be veteran world champions feuding with the rising stars. But everyone they feuded with were also multi-time world champions. As "veterans" go, Angle has about the same veterancy as AJ Styles (although Styles was always portrayed as the "young up and comer" for a decade or more.), and Jarrett and Foley were also ancient. One of the old-boys club going against them and mentoring the younger wrestlers would've made sense, but instead you had multiple people who should be aligned with the MEM as the main opposition.
I never understood why TNA wanted to convince their fans to thinking AJ Styles was this early to mid 20s guy when he was over 30 in prime TNA.
Somoa Joe should of stayed out the Mafia and have been the one to take the title off Kurt Angle. Bound for glory could of been an ten man tag to disband the group... Although we wouldnt of got those funny Scott Steiner promos
For the most part...yes, yes it was!
Plus, the theme song was F***IN AWESOME!
The concept was great and Scott Steiner was awesome! Way better than the crappy Memphis midcard mafia, aka Planet Jarrett!
This all just goes to show how Incredibly awesome that Scott Steiner WAS/IS :-)
I loved it! The best faction in TNA history!
That OG run was something else I loved it "nobody messes with the main event mafia yeaaahhh!
So in essence, this whole storyline felt like an inverse of the New Blood/Millionaires Club feud WCW did in the mid 2000s.
Yes
Best TNA content on TH-cam 👏🏻
These TNA videos are hilarious man! Reinvigorated my love for rasslin. Keep it up ⭐️
That riot was actually one of my favorite moments in Impact history. A bright moment in a dark period for them
Main Event Mafia was TNA NWO version I actually thought it was pretty good You need dominance early on to establish character If they keep getting there ass kick who where It was better than Aces and Eights It ran out of steam of course
The Main Event Mafia was a great faction BUT it didnt make much sense for Sting a baby face champion to be in the top heel faction. This did bring us some of Steiners best work though
I’ve always been a huge supporter of Big Poppa Pump. And his work in the MEM is some of his best in TNA, especially that beginning promo
Main event mafia is one of the greatest things tna made
Are we all going to pretend that this storyline did not have an empty arena promo where Scott Steiner cut the "He's Fat." Promo on Samoa Joe?
I actually loved this and this era of TNA not even mad about it
Best thing they were involved in, was the Lethal Lockdown match of 2009, that was badass.
Papa Pump ripping on the TNA originals about being geeks who only care about video games and Dave Metzler ratings also easily works for a decent amount of AEW. Especially The Elitists, loved to see Old School Pump crush those Elite J.O.’s!
I LOVED the Main event Mafia. I know they get a lot of shit but I really enjoyed them. Any faction with Scott Steiner is gonna be GOLD!
Truthfully, I wasn't really a fan since it reminded me of WCW with the Millionaires Club who were faces VS the New Blood which was led by Bischoff and Russo who were heels, but TNA switched it by making the young talent faces and the veteran's group heels.
The original Main Event Mafia was legit underrated and great, meanwhile the 2013 version was far from it used to be given that Samoa Joe and Nick Aldis (fka Magnus) were in it and it was against the Aces & Eights
MEM was awesome. However looking back at it older now, I can see why it was bad for the young guys lack of getting over
agreed. It became an inside joke to them actually burying their younger talent. I bet the younger guys only made 1/3 of what these old guys made
@@luisestrada4443 fax hkmicide was super disrespected. Man has the ultimate finisher
Danielson, Punk, Christian, Joe, with Regal could revive this idea in AEW and I think the Marks would hate it… which is good.
They had memorable moments so yeah.
I just stumbled across your channel, and I gotta tell you. I love your breakdowns!
You are like a TNA historian.
I think the original MEM was great but than again I'm a huge fan for all those guys way before TNA
The concept of the MEM was great, a stable of former world champions
I was hoping you played the “respect” clip in the first promo
Loved the M.E.M but they definitely needed better opposition if I could have picked 5 guys to stand up to them i would have chose AJ Styles,Samoa Joe,The guns,abyss and Jeff jarret. I know Double J isn't the best face but if he used the "I want my company back angle it could've worked"
Good for the old guys, bad for the young guys.
Any Scott Steiner promo equals success 💯
personally i liked the idea anc concept of MEM. Their rise to power and domination of tna was perfect. face mafia return to fight off aces and eights was a good run as well.
Scott Steiner should've stayed as a ring announcer more often.
The Main event Mafia were great, but the problem was they had no opposition because the front line consisted off a bunch of X-division no bodies should have just been Aj Styles, Samoa Joe and Beer Money
with the original mem, they had gold on their hands, but with not presenting a credible opposition, they took all the piss out of it.
It had its moments and it’s downfalls but it was great to see some big names in pro wrestling get a faction and be taken seriously even if it was just for a moment
I didn't watch TNA, but I did tune in to see the MEM. So it did its job to get to me to watch when nothing else did.