Tuesday Morning Booker

Hey I'm only a week late! Haha... I honestly just haven't found time to sit down and write until now. But it also allows me to get in the last word.

Anyway... We are now a week removed from the first battle of the New Monday Night Wars. Well what one can only assume now is going to be the new war.

I like every die-hard wrestling fan tuned into both shows and flipped to both shows like it was the late-90s all over again. And I think without going into the quality of the programs. I believe that we all can agree on this... It was a fun night. I was texting, IMing, tweeting, etc, etc, etc. to my friends and it was just a fun night overall. Which I think was the one major victory that Monday January 4th had.

With that being said, last Monday it was TNA's chance to prove that they have the ability and the know-how to take on WWE. TNA was the one with something to prove on Monday night. But did they? Personally I did not fully care for the show. I think it was mainly due to the fact that the opening match, a CAGE match, ended in a No Contest. WHAT?! And on top of that Homicide, and I don't blame him at all for what happened, was stuck at the top of the cage for well over a minute almost rubbing salt into the wounds. Once I saw that, I just felt like it was the same old TNA. And I really feel bad for the X Division guys in the match as they are truly one of the shining parts of TNA, and it just made them all look like idiots! I kept watching TNA though, hoping that they wouldn't make another stupid mistake. But they made TWO more. First Hogan took an hour long drive across Orlando to get to the iMPACT! Zone?! I've been to Orlando, it takes like 30 minutes to drive across and that was with stops! And then Hogan went on to say "I've been sitting in the back tonight..." WHAT?! You were just in a limo driving across the city! And honestly that's when I was completely turned off.

What I saw during commercial breaks on RAW, seemed to be the same old TNA... An Adult Characature of Wrestling. They believe they are presenting an edgy product, I don't see it... I just see a cartoon version of wrestling. The storylines are okay at best. Much of it seems to lack logic too. And as great as the Angle/Styles and Pope/Wolfe matches were said to be. I think even they could not save the show. However, what made the show watchable is the surprise factor. They were getting the news out there that they has some tricks up their sleeves. Some were obvious... Nasty Boys, nWo, Orlando Jordan, Sean Morley, and Shannon Moore. But they pulled out the big guns with Ric Flair and Jeff Hardy. It is nice to see these faces. But at the same time... They added 9 familiar faces. Plus, I believe they have Angelina Love and Brian Kendrick waiting in the wings and they added The Young Buck. Plus of course Hulk Hogan. That's 13 new people! And as of now they still have the same amount of programming time. So I can see people being released. And who will be released? The "TNA Originals." The people that built the company that probably deserve to be there. So what do we have 13 old faces replacing fresher faces. Again nothing changes.

One think I will say is no matter how I felt about the show. TNA got their best ratings ever. And that you cannot take away from them. However their ratings went down as the night went on. And I believe they tuned into see Bret Hart.

RAW was nothing special really, outside the Bret Hart stuff. But WWE had a strong rating still. Not as strong as I would have though but if you think about it. They stayed steady, which is good for WWE. Plus, they didn't promote the show as something special really. They weren't really threatened by TNA. And why should they be? It was a one time thing for TNA. And TNA really didn't take a bite out of the WWE audience. Was RAW the better show? Honestly I think it was a solid show, but nothing great. But I wasn't insulted either. I don't see WWE really doing anything over-the-top until someone really challenges them to. Right now, WWE is happy with their programming. And why shouldn't they be? Of course, I agree with the masses saying they have just as much work to do with their product as TNA. However at the end of the day, WWE is the better overall product.

Monday also showed one major flaw in TNA... Their ability to stand out in the American public. Their advertising for the show was bad. Unless you are an avid wrestling fan, I don't think many people knew of the show. And those who found out about the show thought it was just starting up. I also agree with Sean The Mic from DOI... On Thursday they replayed Monday's show. So why give people the option to catch the replay? They could have kept riding the wave into Thursday. Instead they give the people 9 days to cool down. The true success on Monday will be if they can maintain the rating into this Thursday and beyond. And if they do that, then I will give TNA credit.

And really in the end what did Monday mean? Nothing... Well nothing yet. TNA made a statement. I was talking to Jake Black that night and he said (and I agree) "Where TNA is on 01/04/2011 is what matters." He's right. We can analyze the hell out of this show. It was one show, some liked it others didn't (like me). Some saw it as TNA changing its colors, others didn't (like me). I will say this though... I hope TNA can pull through it and give WWE a fight and jumpstart the entire wrestling business. However, after Monday I don't see TNA doing it... At least with Hulk Hogan at the helm. It all goes back to what I said months ago... The same people have been in charge for years and until someone new comes along we aren't going to see much of a change.

Alright well its a week late, but I got it in... Check out WXW-C4 Blast TV this week, as the format has changed a bit and yours truly is back on camera... Little rusty, but great to start back up with Blast TV. And I'm going to try and make Mondays the night for new Chronicles.

Until next time... You stay classy.
Dan "The Phan"