Wow, I can’t believe I haven’t posted here in almost a year! I also got behind in watching the many hours of wrestling I watch every week. That didn’t happen until around October though. What brought me back to wrestling? It wasn’t hearing that Bret Hart was returning to the WWE, or that The Undertaker got burned during his ring entrance at a pay-per view. It was hearing that Hulk Hogan was coming to TNA.

When I heard that I rushed to get caught up with watching every TNA weekly show, and pay-per view since October. It was a week filled with A LOT of wrestling. I never did watch each week of the WWE. Instead I watched a pay-per view or three, then skipped ahead to Wrestlemania XXVI this past week. Of course by this point I was addicted again. So, I had to watch the Raw after Mania so I could see Shawn Michaels’s “farewell”. Then I also watched the rest of the Raws up to this past week. I also watched this week’s NXT and Smackdown shows. I was then glad I didn’t spend the many hours it would have taken to watch the rest of the Smackdown’s I had missed.

So, now for the actual purpose of this post. I have decided that once a year I will post about the current state of professional wrestling. It will always come about a month after Wrestlemania since it is the “Super Bowl of Pro Wrestling”.

The current state of wrestling is looking better and better I think. Now that there is actually a chance for there to be some competition. Granted the TV ratings aren’t looking too promising for TNA head to head against Raw.

The Whole F'n Show!

I love how TNA can actually get WWE talent to head south, and that they are giving some a chance to get back in the ring. Especially one of my all-time favorites… Rob Van Damme. RVD and Jeff Hardy as a tag team would be amazing if they could have stayed together. RVD as TNA Champion so soon after his return to the ring is nice though.

The WWE seems to be heading in the wrong direction. I mean I realize they are such a huge juggernaut that things can’t and won’t come crashing down, but if it weren’t for that it just might have. In the few Raws, pay-per-views, and the one Smackdown and NXT shows I did watch to get caught up, I must say it was mostly disappointing. Smackdown was totally unentertaining. The one point I thought the show was looking up was during Edge’s farewell before he heads to Raw. When Christian came out I was hoping they would become a tag team again, just like many others probably were. Instead it was for Edge to become a heel again, and for Christian to sort of disown him.

One thing that upsets me very much is McMahon’s insistence that if your name isn’t Ric Flair then you are NOT allowed to talk about any world title that doesn’t belong to the WWE…and even some that do belong to the WWE. On that Smackdown when Christian came out he was back to “never being a World Champion ever”. Sorry Vince, not only was he TNA World Champion, but you know that company/brand you pretty much ruined…ECW? Like I said, I missed a few months, so what actually happened to ECW? You killed it for this NXT rookie crap? Whatever happened to a guy proving his worth in Ohio or down in Florida? I haven’t seen the ratings for the show, but I am willing to bet they suck, and are probably worse than ECW ratings were. I am sort of happy to see Vince’s bastardized version of ECW is gone though. There was NOTHING extreme about ECW. I love how they would make a huge deal of the occasional match that was contested under “extreme rules”. Now if they would just kill off the Extreme Rules pay-per-view too.

The Raw shows I saw weren’t much better either, although they did have a few interesting matches. I really don’t see how they are beating TNA in ratings week in and week out. I just don’t see how Shaemus can get into the title picture. He should be wrestling Santino Marella and Carlito…not Triple H, Randy Orton, and John Cena. By the way, I got excited to see Cena and Orton as a tag team. Only to be let down when Orton left him alone in the match. You can turn Batista back into a heel, but can’t make Orton a fan favorite? Sheesh.

Now as for TNA… I know there are rumors of “politics” going on backstage and people being upset with how Hogan and Bischoff are running things. So much so that people are leaving the company over it. But really, Awesome Kong hadn’t been on TV for a while before they arrived, and Christopher Daniels has been on the outs for a while too. Now Tara is most likely leaving because they wouldn’t give her what she considered a small raise. This doesn’t surprise me a bunch. I mean if Hogan and Bischoff are in charge the Knockouts division is going to me more like the WWE Divas. More like The Beautiful People than the Litas and Gail Kims of women’s wrestling. To explain that comment a bit…yes they are all hot, but Lita and Gail can WRESTLE too, as can Tara.

The fact that TNA can sign talent like RVD, Jeff Hardy, and Mr. Anderson, not to mention keeping people like Kurt Angle, Samoa Joe, and a lot of the talent that was in place before the change is a sign of good things to come for TNA. Sure they will lose a few that won’t get along with Bischoff, or even Hogan, but the benefits outweigh the losses they will have. That is of course as long as they realize that doing things like bringing the Nasty Boys along for the ride just won’t work. No one wants to see Saggy Nobs hanging all out in the ring! They need to limit Ric Flair’s in ring time too. Sure he is a legend, and should be allowed to do just about anything he wants, but no one wants to see him in the ring against Abyss. Use his mind (which at times he has obviously lost), not his beaten and battered body.

I even have the perfect way to let Flair bow out of the ring in a spectacular way. Have a Legends Battle Royale to set the seeding for a Legends Tournament. The entrants will be all the Legends they have on the roster, and however many more they can pull out of retirement for a month or so. People like Flair, Hogan, Nash, Hall, Sting, and Angle. They could surely get a few others who are just sitting around enjoying retirement. Then add in two or three “Future Legends” to the mix. Either pick them, or let them have their own mini-tournament to decide who gets in. Then if Flair wins he can walk away from the ring (yet again) and just stick around as a manager and front office guy helping drive the company in the right direction. (See my note later for one more additional Legend to join this match.)

One thing I am unhappy about since the beginning of the Hogan/Bischoff era is that entrance ramp. First you take away the Six-Sided Ring that had become TNA’s trademark. Then you add that elevated entrance ramp. There are a number of reasons the ramp is a bad idea. First, someone is going to get injured badly when they go out of the ring on that side unexpectedly and hit the ramp the wrong way. Second, it takes away the only real space outside the ring, now that it is square again. This pretty much kills like 85-90% of the excitement of the X Division…yeah that other signature thing TNA had going for it that no one else could touch. Some of the most exciting matches ever in TNA were those X Division World Tournament battles. Lots of guys you had never heard of putting it all out there risking injury and even their lives to do the crazy things they would do, at the speeds they did them. Bring more of that back and maybe the ratings would go back up.

Obviously TNA can’t just pull out of Monday nights. Vince would have a field day with it if they did. They need to find a way to do more live shows. they ratings are better for the live shows. They also need to find some way to move the show around. Sure having a dedicated crowd sitting in The Impact Zone is great, but if they moved around to some different locales it would help in a few ways. You would get more money in ticket sales, which could help offset the traveling and production expenses, and it would probably in turn increase the TV ratings. Even if it is the 10,000 people at the live show TiVoing it to see if they got on TV.

Ratings will improve greatly simply by making one rumor come to pass. IT has been rumored that the legendary Jim Ross might be joining TNA. That would be incredible! His wrestling mind, his commentating in a seat between Mike Tenay and Taz, and the pull he would give the company could be what they need to put them over the top. By pull I mean, if Jim Ross is in TNA there will be more talent interested in coming into TNA. Ross is well respected just about everywhere, especially the locker rooms. Many would gladly join the company knowing Good Ole J.R. could help them along.

Anyway, now one last comment and my ratings to finish up this post.

HBK to TNA?

During last week’s TNA Impact! Hall and Nash were asked what they would do now that Six Pac/Shawn Waltman was hurt. Nash made a comment about how maybe next week they would have someone else with them. So, here is my thinking on the matter. “The Band” as they have been being called needs to be “tuned up” a bit. Adding some Sweet Chin Music to their set list would be a great improvement. Shawn Michaels had his WWE Farewell speech a little over a month ago. The WWE Draft just happened, which usually coincides with talent contracts running out and being renewed. So, is The Heartbreak Kid free to head south and join The Kliq/The Band, whatever you want to call it? He would also be joining Sting, with whom he had done a TBN (Trinity Broadcasting Network) show with, and friend Ric Flair whom he retired a little over two years ago at Wrestlemania XXIV. They could just pull Sting into the group and start calling themselves The Wolfpack again. HBK would fit nicely into my Legends Tournament that I mentioned earlier too.

My Ratings:
Show/Company – Grade
WWE Friday Night Smackdown – D

WWE Superstars – F
I have watched this show all of about 5 times since it debuted. It just isn’t interesting.

WWE NXT – F
Watched this once and most of it was on fast forward. lol

WWE Raw – B
Needs more improvement

WWE Pay-Per-Views – B
They still manage to mix in 1-3 matches in between the waste of time matches that make the shows entertaining.

WWE Overall – C-
If TNA can find the right formula before the WWE can find a way to make things more nteresting the McMahon Empire could take a bit of a hit.

TNA Impact – B
It is still an exciting show each week, unlike the WWE shows usually. However, they need more X Division mixed in, and probably less Hogan/Bischoff storylines. Just like the McMahon storylines and every week appearances it can get old real quick.

TNA Pay-Per-Views – B+
They can really put on a great 3 hour pay-per-view. There are times when the filler matches can get annoying, but overall they are slightly better than the WWE PPVs.

TNA Overall – B
They are headed in the right direction despite what TV ratings show. They still just need to convince more people to try the brand. Once they do they could quickly become fans. As I have said numerous times – MORE X Division again. Let them fly! You have some of the greatest wrestling minds in the company, use them.

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