Okay, that’s a bit of an exaggeration. There’s no chance (no chance in hell) that TNA is going to beat out WWE in Nielsen ratings tonights. The war is for one night only (for now), but pro-wrestling hasn’t had this kind of excitement since WCW went under. For better and for worse, it all stems from Hulk Hogan signing with TNA. Just look at some of things that will go down tonight:
– The Outsiders will reunite on TNA Impact. Scott Hall and Sean Waltman are reuniting with Kevin Nash to reform one of the most dominant factions the business has ever known. For years, fans ate up The Outsiders/Wolfpack/NWO. It’ll be huge for (at least) one night.
– Bret “The Hitman” Hart will return to WWE for what should be the start of a three-month angle. From what I understand, Hart signed a contract the runs until WrestleMania. Whether he’s used to feud against Vince McMahon or Sean Michaels (or both!), this is tremendous. As an HBK mark, I’m anti-Bret, but there’s no denying that this is a pretty big deal. Too bad Goldberg’s lack of wrestling skills ruined The Hitman.
– Along with Hulk Hogan taking up a bunch of time on TNA, there are rumors that he’ll be joined by Ric Flair, Jeff Hardy, Rob Van Dam, Ken Anderson (Mr. Kennedy), The Nasty Boys, Shannon Moore, and more. I’m surprised TNA didn’t do a better job hyping some of these “surprise guests”. Perhaps some of the deals went down to the wire, but the company needs all the juice it can get going into tonight.
– Rumored guests for Monday Night Raw include The Rock (he has that Tooth Fairy movie, after all) and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin. Imagine Hart, The Rock, and Austin being on the same show again? That would rule!!!
The bottom line is the competition is good for both companies. Everyone will be bringing their A-game tonight, which will be brilliant for wrestling fans. I’m definitely sticking with Raw, but I’ll surely flip back and forth a few times. Stuff like this is what DVRs were made for.
What show are you most excited for tonight? TNA Impact? Or WWE Monday Night Raw?
I want to see what Hogan can bring to the table for TNA. I think it's only fair that he gets a chance to show us if he can still bring in the crowds and maybe show off some of his much-touted "creative control". Besides, I think that there is enough wrestling fans to support both TNA and WWE. It's kind of like the 360 and the PS3.
Your DVR comment is dead on, Mr. Padilla. This is what they were intended for, indeed.
-M
Wow… I gotta tune in.
Ah glory be the power of TiVo. Watching one, recording the other … and hey, PIP is nice to have too.
Hrm. I think the TNA talent and crew tried harder tonight. A lot of tonight's Raw felt like just another show.
I agree hat TNA tried harder, but the whole Bret/HBK thing at the beginning was awesome.
I hope he comes back next week and excellently executes the sharpshooter on Vince. Plus… Mike Tyson! Muhammed Ali should come out too and get knocked out by Tyson and then Robin Givens rushes out and gets slapped down. The Tyson reconciles with Don King and… well I'm stretching.
The last match on TNA was amazing…but I am such a freakin' Bret Hart mark. I am sised he is back…even if he sucks on the mic.
I have to agree with you Rpad, it seems like TNA was like watching something special where in Raw was like watching Raw. It seems like they really didn't treat have Bret Hart back as anything special but maybe that's because they are going to have him around for a couple of more months. I'm interested where this angle goes because once again evil Vinny Mac was at it again by "reconciling" with Bret Hart and you could see the hesitation on Bret's face and then at the end he gets kicked in the balls.
As far as TNA goes, i'm not sure if anyone noticed but Hogan had his Hollywood Hogan 5 o'clock shadow; So, i don't see this Hogan for the people and giving the people what they want to see angle going for very long until he turns on them. It's going to be interesting. I wonder if they are going to bring back the Macho Man, as well. He can finally confront Black Machisimo and they can wrestle over Machisimo supremacy in TNA. Oh last note for people that don't have DVR's Spike is going to re-air the 3 hour special on Thursday as well.
@TheJediRevan Yeah, Bret does suck on the mic, but at least he's distinct. My friend Jose and I love mocking him in front of our friend Joey (huge Hart mark).
@tokz_21I was talking about this with @jpkemets. Even though TNA put forth a better effort, I also thought it made the bigger mistakes last night.
I've brought back the Hogan & Pikachu avatar one more time in honor of Hogan jumping the shark on TV again last night. Not that he did anything particularly more annoying last night than just being Hogan. But let's face it, the guy couldn't really wrestle when he was younger and now he's nothing but a punch and kick fest. ::YAWN::
@rpad
i'm interested to hear what other mistakes you think they made, besides too many commercials, especially during the last match when they said they got word they will continue with this match until it ends and cut to commercial. Twitter was a flutter on this one. Also, did you catch Showtime airing the Marquez v. Vasquez trilogy, it was brilliant even though they did misspell Rafael Marquez' name with a "ph" instead of the "F".
@tokz_21 Hardy and Flair should have been used better. Hardy used to be THE most over guy in WWE, but he came off as a popular mid-carder that hangs out with a jobber in TNA. Flair was basically a prop — at this point in his career, it's a waste if you don't give him extended mic time. I don't care who The Nasty Boys or Orlando Jordan is friends with — nobody cares about them and they wasted time that could have been used on new additions or younger talent. Joe/Abyss should have been better considering that both of them can work.
Like the actual Nasty Boyz? The dudes that turned the armpit into a wrestling hold? Aren't they like 50? Are they still like 400 pound punks?
@rpad Maybe they couldn't use Jeff Hardy because they haven't officially signed him. I'm thinking once they sign him; they should find his place as a main eventer. I totally agree with your Flair viewpoint, eventually he is going to get into the ring though and it's going to be a sad day for him and wrestling. The Nasty boys weren't necessary but for some reason the crowd seemed to love it. I guess I would love it too if i was watching wrestling for free.
I agree with you that TNA lets the young talent grow but for some reason it won't or the story lines don't do it. I've been a Jay Lethal fan and the black machisimo angle should stop now. He's shown flashes here and then but i don't think they're going to let him shine.
@Raymond Padilla
I enjoyed seeing the Nasty Boyz more than I did the young talent in TNA. If the young talent in TNA were good enough then they wouldn't need 50 and 60 year old has beens to make a good show.
@RRODisHere I completely disagree with your last sentence. Pro-wrestling has never been just about talent. Certainly talent and charisma are part of the deal, but so is the writing and the booking. TNA, particularly under Vince Russo, has amazing talent that is booked poorly.
If anything, TNA has gotten worse since it has been emphasizing older guys that can't "go" anymore, such as Nash, Sting, etc. I enjoyed the show way more when it was emphasizing the X-Division and wrestlers that could actually work.
I only really caught the last few minutes of Raw last night. I haven't really watched consistently in a long, long time. Brett looked really old though. And I used to really like Brett. But I just can't be brought to care about 12 year old angles and 50 year old wrestlers. The little bit of the Orton/Kingston match I caught was a lot more intriguing to me than the entire endgame of Raw between Vince & Brett.
@Nightshade386 The dude had a heart attack. What did you think he was going to look like?
@Ray: I realize that Ray. But having now seen it in action, I think it's ultimately not a very good idea. What little I saw came off as Vince grasping at straws. Doesn't make me wanna tune in again next week.
@Nightshade386 Sure, but it's not like he's going to be in an iron man match or anything. He's similar to Hogan at this point in that he's extremely limited physically. He'll talk a bunch and take a bump or two — that's about it.
As for the angle, people are still drawn to it. HBK is still popular and was involved in Montreal. And Vince…well, I was never a fan of the Mr. McMahon character.
@Ray – I completely agree. Proper booking/good storylines/writing can often make up for lack of talent, but superior talent cannot make up for a lack in the rest. I think this has been wrestlings major flaw since McMahon bought out WCW. Everything has been allowed to slip.
@Ray: The difference is HBK can still go for the most part. If this is going to be a two month series the builds up to a couple of bumps, then I'll pass. If that's all it could ever have been, then there was no point in doing it. They might as well have a "diva pillowfight match." as a time-filler at Wrestlemania instead.
I just don't get this stuff. This is why Vince can't sell his new guys, because he's constantly reaching outside his core group to do some stupid angle at Wrestlemania that does no one on the roster any real good.
@Raymond Padilla
I hear what you're saying but the charisma and mic skills are paramount. Take Chris Jericho for instance, he's at the top of his game but he was never any good in the ring. Even if you have the best writers there's just nothing you can do with Christopher Daniels and Sonjay Dutt.
@Nightshade386 You're missing the point. To use industry terms, Bret still gets the rub from Shawn by association. WWE has actually been doing a good job with younger talent lately — Kofi Kingston, The Miz, Drew McIntyre, and Sheamus are getting great pushes. Miz and Sheamus have been getting great heat, while Kofi has been getting over with help from Orton, who isn't exactly an "old guy".
@RRODisHere Chris Jericho was never any good in the ring? Are you nuts?!?
@Ray: I'll be missing the point all the way to Wrestlemania then, because I don't see the point in revisiting a 12 year old angle with guys who can't deliver a payoff at this point in their lives.
@Nightshade386 Ultimately, I hope the point is to get Nattie, Tyson, and DH over. Tyson is incredibly talented, but needs some help getting over. Nattie is horribly underutilized. She can hang with Mickie and Beth today, with a good chance of surpassing both in a few years.
Again though, you missed the first point. Bret still gets a certain amount cheers because his career is associated with HBK, who is still way over with the crowd.
@Y2J – Jericho is an incredible worker in the ring. Solid fundamentals and a great style. Wish the Liontamer (I don't think I will ever officially call it the Walls) was as tight as it used to be, but he is always a pleasure to both root for and against.
@Bret/Shawn – are they revisiting the Iron Man match? F*ck Vince… really? I love HBK, and the Hitman is the Hitman, but do we really have to go back down that road to sell something. No one in that writing department tries anymore. Can't you kick down the door, Ray, and slap some sense into them? Hell, while your at it, give'em a good old Tajiri style boot to the head.
@Ray: I'm not missing your point at all. But there's nowhere for this to go in the long term. I mean, what's the payoff gonna be? 2 months of average promos leading up to a poor (and hopefully really short for the sake of Brett's health) match which ends with Brett getting to put Vince in the Sharpshooter? Then Brett goes away and nothing's really been gained for the guys who could really use the rub.
@Raymond Padilla
I meant technically. His execution is sloppy in ring like John Cena.
@ RROD
I disagree on the Jericho bit. Even last night when he scooped the Pedigree, put HHH in the Walls, and then got hit with the Sweet Chin Music… the way he sold Sweet Chin Music was outstanding.
@ Nightshade
You are to dates as I am with names… Bret Hart spells Bret with 1 T.
@LarcenousLaugh I don't really stretch anymore, so my kicks would be waist-level at best. Ha! WWE has always done things that…are just plain stupid. I don't mind this angle.
@Nightshade386 What about his "family"? They could use the rub and they will certainly be involved in the angle.
@RRODisHere I still think you're nuts. Jericho is pretty excellent. Comparing him to Cena is a major insult. In fact, Jericho was one of the few guys that can carry Cena to a good match. Most agree that he worked better with Cena than Angle did. When you match him with a good wrestler, he can put on five-star matches. Remember, he learned in the Hart Dungeon. He's several leagues above Cena and I believe he's one of the best in the ring today.
@ R Pad
His family will be used… except for Owen. I don't think they'll bring up Owen.
@N8R Ouchie….
@ R Pad
That's what Owen said (rimshot/cymbal crash)… is it STILL too soon?
@Ray: Don't they have to sign someone in his family for that to be a good long term move for WWE? Is there someone on the roster currently that I'm not aware of?
@RRoD: Jericho is one of the best in the business in the ring right now. He has fabulous matches with the other great wrestlers, and he can even make Cena watchable. I mean, if you're judging him based on matches with The Great Khali, you couldn't expect anyone to get something watchable out of that…..
@N8R: It might always be too soon for that one. Watching someone die live on pay per view is a little different than hearing about it.
@ Nightshade
I hear, I was watching that night too. What's crazy is that right after it happened I knew people who actually said "That's what he gets for breaking Stone Cold's neck!"
Maybe it's just people in Pittsburgh… but I grew up with alot of tasteless people.
Whether or not they bring up the circumstances around Owen's death (I was tempted to say "fall from grace"), I think Owen would be mad about being COMPLETELY ignored if Bret's whole family is involved in an angle and they just ignore Owen.
He should have a memorial in the HOF.
That's a really tough deal to pull off tastefully for a company that had HHH have sex with a dummy in a coffin.
I guess I'm the only one who sees it my way. Jericho sells his opponent better than anyone but I just think his execution isn't good. I cringe every time I see him do that bulldog.
@N8R
Oh, that explains it about Jeff Hardy. He goes back and forth between the 2 companies.
@N8R Nah, not too soon. You have to laugh about it or you'll cry. My theory is that if you can't make a joke about it then it's not real. Also, Owen can't have a memorial in the HOF because it doesn't have a physical location (yet).
@Nightshade386 They're not blood relatives, but the Hart Dynasty is close enough. DH Smith is Davey's son, Nattie is Jim Neidhardt's daughter, and Tyson Kidd was the last student of the Hart Dungeon. Those are the peeps I mentioned earlier.
@ RROD
Continuing a question about Jeff Hardy from Coffee Talk, he recently got arrested for having painkillers and steroids… possibly dealing them. WWE frowns on that kind of thing more than TNA. However, WWE tends to forgive in time.
Either way, Jeff Hardy tends to have some issues with drugs.