ECW Invasion Hogan's last hope for Abyss?

[The 1-2-3 Killam]

When he came to TNA, Hogan gave Abyss the ball (and by ball, I mean Hall of Fame ring) and told him to run with it. Why he did so, I will never know, but that's not the point. Abyss obviously didn't work with the fans as the face of the company, and Hogan probably noticed, because they quickly cut the crap. Now, with Abyss still in the main event, he's back to his old Monster self, taking out guys left and right. He's claiming that "they" told him to do it, and in the Victory Road promo, you can clearly see Rhino and Tommy Dreamer flash across the camera when Abyss is talking about "them". So the ECW Invasion is going to involve Abyss, and they're using him to take out the trash? I'm not trying to predict what will happen with the angle, but I do see it as Hogan trying one last time to give Abyss the ball. He doesn't want to look like a completely fool, so he's turned Abyss heel again, kept him in the main event, and is bringing in an entire faction of guys to get his character over. But what happens if this angle falls through?

Do you think Hogan is using the ECW Invasion angle as a last ditch attempt at keeping Abyss as the company's main event?

Personally, I hope this doesn't go too far with Abyss involved, because I really don't want to see him win the TNA World title. If he wins at Victory Road tonight, with the help of ECW, it would be predictable and set up an annoying reign with the Monster as champion. And that's something I just don't want...

Your thoughts?

 

[gd]

I don't think the ECW Invasion as much as turning Abyss heel. He's clearly not a face. Certainly not a top face. At least as a heel he makes some sense as World Champ, which he's likely going to be after tonight. You gotta admit he looks legit when he's throwing stuff around and running about with pointy objects. Scary stuff.

Letting him go on his own as a heel makes much more sense than using guys like Dreamer or Rhyno to get over. At least it does to me.

 

[hardy8778]

I cold see him being in the ecw type stable but world champ not really for some reason I see RVD retaning and turning heel with the rest of the ECW stable and with the help of both Abyss and Bischoff they will be the top stable for a little while untill fourtune comes together. And if he does become champ I see The stable turning face and feuding with him.

 

[It's Damn Real!]

Hard to say. It's not as difficult as most would presume to presume to push a guy who was once a main eventer back to the main event – all it really takes is two things:

1. Time

2. Patience

Look at someone like Kane, for example. When he debuted, he debuted against one of the biggest names in the company – The Undertaker – and was clearly a main eventer, so much so to the point it was often said he'd be a future World Champion. Fast forward a decade and he's stuck with X-Pac working in the tag division, and a little further and he's feuding with Chavo Guerrero in the lower-mid-card. Fast forward more and he's back to a level where he's again in a program centered around his brother, and quite capable of working the main event if you ask me – especially on the very listless SmackDown! program.

No different for Abyss, if you ask me.

 

[Grizzly0u812]

he is something right out there, I know they have had the ECW originals hanging around, when he keeps saying they are coming, you think maybe james michelle might be coming back, did he not manage Abyss for a while, could be a combo of both, they really need the x-division back up and running and some of the original TNA guys to come back

 

[mvalley]

I guess it would make some sense that "they" would be the ECW invasion. Part of me thought of Raven and Stevie Richards immediately when I heard the word "they". It would also be a nice way to get around the whole "ECW invasion" deal which has been done in the WWE and the independents more than enough.

Having Abyss be the "next Hulk Hogan" is as bad as Styles being the "next Ric Flair". There is only one Hogan and there is only one Flair. I respect that both guys have tried to give the to their respective proteges but Abyss and Styles have already carved out their characters. Furthermore, Hogan and Flair can't say "X is the next me" -- the fans need to decide that and Hogan / Flair will then need to get their approval.

Focusing back on Abyss....the heel turns is what he needed. He was stale as a face and didn't have much else to go. I can't see another world title reign, especially with the obvious setup between him and Hogan. The LAST thing TNA wants is Hogan winning that belt because Hogan, despite being the draw that he was, and despite his name recognization, is hurt very bard and would be hurting himself as well as the company if he went through another title reign. In addition, if they really are going for Abyss Versus Hogan, they should do that without the title because having the title on the line would remove another potential "special" match that would be for the title.

My feeling on Abyss' last hope? He needs to beat Hogan clean. Hogan has almost always toppled the "bad guy". When he loses, it's rarely ever clean. In fact, the only man who has beaten Hogan cleanly has been Kurt Angle. Abyss needs similar treatment. He needs to come out the victor with a clean pinfall to shock everyone. He can then move on to be another acceptable top contender for the title. However, he needs the win first...

 

[UFOcalling]

Even though Hogan sometimes can seem senile (and downright ******ed sometimes), I think he knew what he was doing all along. I think that putting the red & yellow on Abyss was only a stepping-stone to getting him back to his "monster" persona, and it was done relatively well. At first it seemed like Hogan just wanted a "Hulkster-Clone" of his very own that he could live vicariously through, but now that Abyss is a heel again I think I can see the big picture that Hogan saw all along.

We don't even know for sure that Abyss will be aligning himself with the ECW guys, although it seems likely. I think it would be better to have "they" be someone else (Paul Mitchell, please!)...but with the way that Taz and Tenay haven't even MENTIONED the possibility that "they" could be the ECW guys, it's more than likely them.

I don't necessarily think that this is Hogan's "last-ditch effort", or whatever...I think that everyone (including Hogan) knows that Abyss works better as a heel. I think that they're giving him this push because he's a big guy, a good worker and they know he's loyal. There really aren't a lot of main-event heels right now, so who else would/could they use? I'd love to see Wolfe in that spot, but he's not there yet...but I think he'll eventually make it.

Abyss (as "The Monster") is PERFECT to be TNA's #1 main-event heel right now, and I really don't see anyone else on the roster that would be a better choice. TNA really needs to elevate another heel, or turn someone (Anderson, perhaps?) asap so that they'll have another heel they could turn to.

 

[Honkey_Kong]

Focusing back on Abyss....the heel turns is what he needed. He was stale as a face and didn't have much else to go. I can't see another world title reign, especially with the obvious setup between him and Hogan. The LAST thing TNA wants is Hogan winning that belt because Hogan, despite being the draw that he was, and despite his name recognization, is hurt very bard and would be hurting himself as well as the company if he went through another title reign. In addition, if they really are going for Abyss Versus Hogan, they should do that without the title because having the title on the line would remove another potential "special" match that would be for the title.

My feeling on Abyss' last hope? He needs to beat Hogan clean. Hogan has almost always toppled the "bad guy". When he loses, it's rarely ever clean. In fact, the only man who has beaten Hogan cleanly has been Kurt Angle. Abyss needs similar treatment. He needs to come out the victor with a clean pinfall to shock everyone. He can then move on to be another acceptable top contender for the title. However, he needs the win first...

Hogan is still a draw? I think that's very debatable, but I'll agree with you giving the belt to a man who is getting close to 60 years old and is in very poor physical shape is a bad idea. I also think a potential match between Abyss and Hogan would be a very bad idea, because of that very reason. Obviously their match would be to put Abyss over, but how can Hogan put Abyss over when Hogan can barely walk, let alone wrestle.

As far as beating Hogan clean, I can recall a match where Ric Flair beat Hogan clean in wcw (a heel Hogan) and I can recall Wrestlemania 6 when the Warrior beat Hogan clean... The only thing I can see Hogan doing is recruiting somebody to fight Abyss.

But in all, the face Abyss is just boring. He need's his manager back and he needs to be pure evil.

 

[Pepe Silvia]

I'm getting really tired of saying this. Hogan turned Abyss into TNA's "John Cena" to get the smarks to hate him, and then turned him into a loved face (Hardy) crushing heel to make the casual fans hate him. He's not a stupid man.

Do you know anyone who likes Abyss now? I guarantee that 90% of people groan when he's on screen. Look in the TNA Live Discussions on this forum, no one ever gets excited when he shows up. This was an intentional scheme to get him over as a heel, and the ECW Invasion was a coincidental angle that Abyss can possibly join, while strill having the opportunity to be a monster heel.