Jan 4th: RAW vs. Impact

[D]

Tonight, WWE bores the tears out of everybody, AJ and Kurt put on one of the greatest matches these two eyes have ever seen

Hulk HOgan comes out looking fit,bad ass and as awesome as ever... I genuinely felt terrible for Bret Hart and I don't know... was kind of sad seeing him knowing he can't wrestle anymore etc.

TNA wins big time IMO of course.

not gonna spoil it cause i know u guys don't get it till Saturday but HOLY ****, so many ZOMG moments tonight on Impact and they left me hanging! I mean holy ****, I cannot wait till Next week to see what happens.

Note to TNA: Go live NOW.. no more taped ****.

[Yankee1012]

I enjoyed RAW much more than TNA. Sure TNA can put on good wrestling matches from time to time, but I can careless about the guys TNA brought in for the show. Most of them are all washed up anyways. Bret Hart had not been on any WWE show in 12 years.

RAW won this battle hands down.

[D]

WWE won't have a match this decade as good as Angle vs AJ

[More Cowbell]

TNA is playing a Big Game of poker without alot of chips. I hear talks of going live all the time? The give away tickets for impacts. This was an all in shot for them, they lost money tonight for the hope of growing their company they are in no position to go live everyweek. Sure It was a pretty good episode, I really don't need to see Ric Flair, Nasty Boys, NWO, Kevin Nash talking about getting paid lots more money, most ever in his life, because no one was buying that ****. Im all in favor of seeing TNA give WWE a good battle, but the money aint there to go live every week. They need to use their old stars in good fueds with their homegrown talent.

They don't need
Sting in the Rafters.
Kevin Nash claiming to be about to make lots of money.
Ric Flair, seriously, dont let him wrestle, manage/ be in the business ok, but wrestle?
NWO formation. Never understood what the orginal NWO wanted and dont need it 15 years later
Nasty Boys. Which one is the blonde guy who services Hulk Hogan's waist high pants warrior?
Not a fan of Bubba either,

What there is to love/appriciate.

Jeff Hardy, it should take him 12 seconds to take over the x division. great treat tonight.
Hogan being that look at me Mr Big Shot role, i think everyone agrees Hogan should see limited in ring action, but keep him on the sidelines.
Got to love a screen full of ass from Tara getting rolled up. Bad Ass chicks wrestling instead of divas who should be valets is nice.
Angle Angle. He always delivered, Main eVENT WAS PRETTY GOOD,

[D]

Thing with TNA is.. it felt fresh even though they used some older guys but the show had that spontaneous feel to it............ its hard to describe but I honestly had no clue what was gonna happen next and they left with a cool cliffhanger.

it felt energetic,alive and real.. even though like I said, a lot of that **** is rehashed and nostalgia, Hogan said it best... we learned from our mistakes and won't make them again.
WCW crushed WWE and WWE didn't beat WCW on its own.. Stone Cold and the Rock sure did their part but WCW killed their company through mismanagement, bad contracts, turner,Time Warner merger etc

If they can learn from that and pick it up from there.. it is gonna be a nice war.

Dixie already said, Spike is happy with the same 1.0, so no pressure on TNA.

[Gnrfan]

Dixie already said, Spike is happy with the same 1.0, so no pressure on TNA.

And with 1.0 there will be no pressure on WWE either.

I'm still to watch TNA from last night and will reserve judgement and i am looking forward to Angle/AJ as i always would. However only Jeff Hardy stuck out to me as being progress as far as the people they brought in.

Jeff with the X-Division, MCMG with the Tag, Joe or Morgan with the Legends (but rename it) and AJ with the World and you have 5 champions worth watching.

I have to say i hope TNA kicks it up a gear because thats only gonna be a good thing for wrestling fans of both promotions.

If anyone knows where i can get a torrent of TNA from last night. Please let me know.

[Gnrfan]

Ok i watched TNA impact today. There is good and bad like any company and i was making notes while watching it so i could remember everything. I hope everyone understands these are just my opinions and they are completely unbiased. I am not telling anyone what they should watch... just my personal feelings.

Best Bits:

1/ Hogan - Much like the Bret return you really felt you were watching something special, a legend of the industy (i'm not getting into best ever or not) speaking really well and you believe that he believes what he is saying, which is great and promising for all wrestling fans. A massive asset but he should have been on right at the start IMO.

2/ Jeff Hardy - Jeff is a bonafide star and the type of guy they want to steal from WWE. He automatically becomes one of their top 5 talents along with Angle, AJ, Joe & Morgan. It will hurt WWE that he isn't coming back and many die-hard jeff fans might be tempted to see Jeff rule the X-Division for a year before taking on bigger fish.

3/ AJ vs Angle - Put simply this is what TNA is all about. I don't think it was a AMAZING match (and by that i mean all-time classic) but it was very good. They will need to put on matches like this on a monthly basis to make ground as no one wants to miss matches of that quality.

4/ Crowd - The crowd was good and better than the average WWE crowd but it has to be like that everywhere. ECW fans set the standard for consistancy and TNA fans have to match that. They also have to match the respect and Knowledge that the ECW fans had. Chants like "Who Needs Bret" are dumb and show complete dis-respect. Chants like "This is Wrestling" are fine but to chant "Who Needs Bret" shows they are thinking about WWE.... Stupid. Not that its TNA's fault mind.

5/ Matt Morgan - The guy is gonna be huge. Even in his brief match he stood out as being the real future for TNA. They need to look after him, i wouldn't mind a winning streak from the guy leading to a Legends (please rename it) title run that could last indefinatly.

6/ Women Wrestling - Its miles better. Their female roster just destroys WWE IMO. I even like the beautiful peoples promos.

7/ General In-Ring Quality - Its no secret that WWE holds talent back in terms of excitment they can deliver as to make the top guys not look inferior. Well TNA doesn't do that (and they can't afford to) and i like that alot. I don't think matches like Pope vs Desmond are better than WWE's average matches but with the X-Division excitement levels and guys like Angle, Joe, AJ, Daniels etc you know that come PPV time there is potential for a very good match in almost every match.

8/ Viable Option - They have made themselves a viable option now. Guys who are unhappy in WWE will want to go there and it will just make WWE think about how to use unhappy talent. Before they just dismissed them, but does WWE really want to let guys like Evan Bourne, Matt Hardy go and join TNA.... the answer is NO. On top of that you have guys like RVD sitting there who might now look at it and think you know what, i won't be held back there in anyway plus i can work less dates....hmmmm.

Now the Bad Bits:

1/ nWo - Having Nash-Hall-Waltman-Bischoff together is a very bad idea. I though the worst part of the show was once Hall-Nash-Waltman interupted Hogans promo. It was terrible. Hall looks like he has put on about 50 pounds in his face alone and seemed drunk. Get rid of it and get rid of it now. You're supposed to be fresh. This is not the way to do it!

2/ Storytelling - They are just not as good at it as WWE IMO. In-Ring and out of ring. There are exceptions Angle is obviously good at it and i think Joe is too.... but in the main they struggle with the Psychcology aspect of it and that is what WWE for all their faults are very good at. Maybe Hogan can make it better but they really lack at it IMO.

3/ Stupid propaganda - Maybe it was just coz it was a supershow but the fans they showed talking about TNA were idiots bordering on moronic. Also i think their announce team must have said 20 times "You won't see better wrestling on TV tonight".... its over-zealous and makes you seem desperate. Yeah get competitive with WWE but by referencing them all the time you stifle your company a bit. This sort of thing will not sway true wrestling fans. What happens next week when they don't say it? or do they just keep repeating themselves every week now.

4/ Steel Asylum - from what i saw of the match ot was very good, however the camera work was horrific and 2nd rate at best. The cage restricted the view far too much. I also love the fact that you can have a DQ/No Contest in a match inside a metal cage. Add that to the electric cage match which is TNA kicking themselves in the nuts. And also was it me or did Homicide look like an idiot getting out of the Asylum.... i think my Nan could of climbed out of there quicker.

5/ Abyss - A great opportunity to restore Abyss's Monster charecter.... oh no he has tapped out.

6/ Random beat-ups - I'm assuming that nWo are responsible for beating up MCMG, Rhino & Beer Money... Not needed!

7/ Jay Lethal - GET RID OF THE MACHO MAN GIMMICK THING!!!

8/ Foley - God i get it he's not allowed in.... don't have to show me every 20 minutes

9/ Disapointing Suprises - Only Jeff Hardy was a good suprise the rest were "Meh". I was hoping to see RVD, Kennedy etc even if its for just one night.

All in all it was a good night for Wrestling. My personal highlight was Bret back but no doubt TNA has arrived but they need to keep their shows on Mondays and maybe even Live. Spoilers kill TNA IMO by the time i get to see the show i've known whats happening for two weeks so whats the point?

The fact of the matter is this WWE programming does the storytelling and Psychology part way better than TNA and TNA does the consistant in-ring performances better than WWE. However still at present i feel TNA feels unpolished and hectic once they sort that out and get some decent feuds going we will have ourselves a war.... and i just can't wait.

[D]

WOW, excellent write up GNRfan. very well done and yeah I agree totally

I think Hogan though, is going back to old school wrestling.. no script writers, no rehearsing.. u get in the ring and u make it up and u come up with your own **** to say.

if u can't,GOODBYE

thats what pained me about Bret Hart as Hammy or somebody mentioned.. u could tell he was reading scripted **** lines so it seemed less authentic and like he was reading what WWE wanted him to say instead of speaking from the heart.

Bret didn't even respond or tell Shawn his side of it and why he was pissed. He didn't really say anything.

[Gnrfan]

WOW, excellent write up GNRfan. very well done and yeah I agree totally

I think Hogan though, is going back to old school wrestling.. no script writers, no rehearsing.. u get in the ring and u make it up and u come up with your own **** to say.

if u can't,GOODBYE

thats what pained me about Bret Hart as Hammy or somebody mentioned.. u could tell he was reading scripted **** lines so it seemed less authentic and like he was reading what WWE wanted him to say instead of speaking from the heart.

Bret didn't even respond or tell Shawn his side of it and why he was pissed. He didn't really say anything.

I agree. I have no problem with scripting people, but if someone is good then give them guidelines and let them get on with it.

I found the Bret thing authentic aside from the Hug. I think if Bret had started to go into what HBK did wrong then there would be a danger that it might hurt HBK face charecter. I think at one point they started to chant "You screwed Bret" when HBK was talking and i think that said it all really.

Both guys are marked with this incident and both want it off their back and i think that although they'll never be friends they can respect that the other man wants it forgotton and i think it means quite alot to both of them.

[D]

I don't know what I expected... but I think I expected just something else... I thought Shawn would apologize... just seems nothing really got settled. HBK after all these years, still doesn't understand why what he did was wrong in Bret's eyes.. so the makeup wasn't 100 percent authentic in my opinion.

Also, Seeing the greatest in ring wrestler of all time, in that type of condition just made me feel bad.. knowing how many are still wrestling and the fact he can't... just bummed me out. I am one of the biggest Bret Hart fans u will ever meet.. i remember buying his wrestling with Shadows VHS  when it came out and I'd watch it twice a week.

but it just didn't feel like Bret Hart. he just looked like a caricature of himself


U turn it to TNA however, and Hulk Hogan looked just like he did when he debuted on Nitro.. lean,cut, fit and just amazing on the mic. He had nowhere as bad as a stroke, but a few spinal/back surgeries is nothing to take lightly either.

[BlowUpYourVideo]

We don't know what was said between Hart and Michaels backstage. They must have met when planning the in-ring meeting, and they must have got some stuff out of the way then.

When Michaels hugged him, I originally thought Bret didn't look 100% genuine, but I think it was because Michaels was saying something into his ear and he was listening. I don't know, I'm not a master body-language-reader guy.


We'll probably never know all of what was said backstage, but even if the on-screen truce was scripted, it kinda represents  'real' end. (I kinda know what I mean, but I don't know how to say it )


And I didn't think Bret looked too bad for a 52 year-old who's had the injuries and stroke etc. that he's had.

[Gnrfan]

And I didn't think Bret looked too bad for a 52 year-old who's had the injuries and stroke etc. that he's had.

Yeah he has been through alot.

but it just didn't feel like Bret Hart. he just looked like a caricature of himself

U turn it to TNA however, and Hulk Hogan looked just like he did when he debuted on Nitro.. lean,cut, fit and just amazing on the mic. He had nowhere as bad as a stroke, but a few spinal/back surgeries is nothing to take lightly either.

Also you have to remember that Hogan has not had a stroke and Hogan can still work out to his liking. Bret can't due to his back back that he has had for close to 6 years. So when you consider he has had a stroke, not needed to step into a ring for 8 or 9 years, and hasn't worked out for 6 years he aint looking too bad. Anyone would have a gut after that.

Obviously he didn't look like he did 12 years ago and of course Hogan is in shape coz he still is around wrestling.

As far as the make-up between HBK & Bret i guess its all a matter of opinion it all looked really authentic to me up until the hug.... but who knows. All i know is having watched the Bret segments again since i think they just get better. Hogan was also brilliant but if i compared Bret's segments with HBK & Vince opposed to Hogans with Hall-Nash-Waltman i'd watch Bret's again anyday.

I'm just really excited that TNA have arrived. I hope it stays this way and TNA force WWE to up their game in the ring.

[D]

I wasn't necessarily meaning his physical appearance as far as weight.. just seeing a guy who was so dominant and great broken down etc... makes me sad. Hogan though, just still really had it.. Bret had kind of a look in his eye etc that just broke my heart and it was kinda tough for me to watch him that way.

kinda like listening to Bobby Heenan talk now.. it just tears u up.

[Gnrfan]

I wasn't necessarily meaning his physical appearance as far as weight.. just seeing a guy who was so dominant and great broken down etc... makes me sad. Hogan though, just still really had it.. Bret had kind of a look in his eye etc that just broke my heart and it was kinda tough for me to watch him that way.

kinda like listening to Bobby Heenan talk now.. it just tears u up.

I didn't really get that. I got a guy that was so happy to be back and misses it. I think Bret's story is a sad one. After Montreal it kinda went wrong for him. He was consumed by it, it seemed.

I think guys like Hogan, Bret, Rock, Austin will always have it.... i just think it went really well. But thats whats great aboout opinions i guess

I thought that Scott Hall looked drunk and like a bomb had just gone off on his face and i kinda got the same sad feeling that you got with Bret... so i understand what you're saying i just didn't get that.

[Hammy]

Rob Van Dam has a new blog up on his MySpace, talking about the Monday Night War from this week between WWE and TNA. Here’s what he wrote:

Monday night wrestling, let’s talk about it. Many people have called,texted or emailed me to get my opinion of the live wrestling shows that competed for our viewership earlier this week. I can critique just like you, but let’s talk about what we liked. I switched back and forth between both shows, just like you did. It was cool seeing the crowd reaction for Brett the Hitman Hart. I know he has wanted to step back in the ring for a long time and I have no doubt that the “welcome back” felt like a warm blanket in Canada. On the other show, the NWO appearing was a nice surprise, as was Jeff hardy in a big way. I was a little concerned since all the pre-Monday advertisements just said “We got Hogan”. They had a lot of ex-WWE’ers-whether money drawers or not-so the element of change and hope was in the air. I thought that was nice. They also had some good matches. fans like that. I’m still confused on the schedule for TNA’s Monday night shows.

I thought this was going to be an every-Monday night thing but I’ve heard I’m wrong on that. Anyone else confused with me? Anyone know what they’re doing?

Do we tune in again next week or next quarter or WTF?

I’m sure that wrestling had it’s highest ratings in awhile so that’s good and TNA must’ve had their largest viewing audience. Many people have told me that they were glad I wasn’t on Monday night. I don’t think that I feel more inspired to return than I did before Monday, for that matter. I do hope that public interest in wrestling does grow as it would be good for everybody…except that guy that tried to blow up that airplane in Detroit. He’s ****!

I probably feel the same way that you do about Monday night. It intrigued me to watch, which I normally don’t, and I believe I’ll watch again next week…if it’s on.

Stoner! 

He thought they were on EVERY monday now, and to think people thought he was close to signing with TNA, clearly he's still quite distanced from the business.