iMPACT! v. Monday Night RAW II: March 8th 2010

[Jack-Hammer]

According to the latest reports, Jeff Hardy is scheduled to appear on iMPACT! tonight as is Sting and we can almost certainly expect RVD to show up.

Jeff Hardy showing up unannounced on January 4th was pulled off quite well, but they really needed to hype his presence on the show tonight. Once again, the only thing that's been hyped for tonight's show is the main event and I've got little to no interest in it. A ppv is coming up in the next few weeks, Destination X, and has received virtually no hype as well.

If tonight's episode of iMPACT! pulls a 1.5 or better, nobody is going to be more surprised than me.

 

[Hulkamaniac]

TNA is opening with a surprise in the first five minutes of the show, as has been teased. Raw is opening with a promo from the Undertaker. No offense to Undertaker, but I know which one is more intriguing to me at this point. The stakes for Undertaker-HBK are already as high as they're going to get, as is the tension. At his piont they're just trying to maintain. TNA is trying to ratchet things up. What do you guys think?

 

[Four Flat Tires]

I'm not a TV ratings expert, and I know it's likely that we won't see TNA ratings anywhere near WWE ratings, but I wonder if Tivo/DVR will have any effect on the new Monday Night War ratings?

I plan on DVR'ing both shows tonight, and most likely watching neither of them live. Do the ratings represent households that DVR rather than watching live? Back in 1997-1998, this obviously wasn't even a discussion topic.

 

[The_Evil_Empire]

Well, the night has come and gone. I don't want to go back and count how many people thought TNA was making a terrible decision going h-2-h with WWE in the thick of March. Well, they did. This is all just my opinion, but tonight, two weeks before their biggest even of the year, WWE gave us a standard, semi-boring WWE Monday Night Raw that did very little to interest me. HBK and Undertaker's promo was the same thing we've been hearing this year, and heard last year. We had more annoying Guest Host promos with Santino, the Belle twins, and the midget. We had a few brawls, and the rest of it was generic and obvious. We knew Sheamus and Triple H were going to go at it. It was alright, but not surprising. We all knew what Cena and McMahon was going to do.

All I'm saying is that TNA took on WWE in March, and WWE gave me nothing. TNA gave me Hogan and Flair promos, Sting returning and going absolutely insane, RVD premeiring with TNA, a good X Division match, some great brawls, and a half way decent Knockouts tag match. WWE was all promos, and all bland. Even when TNA was giving promos they were all action, wrestiling, and brawling. Anderson/Angle, BM/Jarret, RVD/Sting, etc.

I'm a big WWE fan, but I"m starting to love TNA. They gave us a great show tonight, and I"m hoping they continue on. This is WWE's biggest month, and their product was normal and bland, and they allowed TNA to be the better show for at least one night. But WWE fans are WWE fans. They will always be fans. I will always watch Raw, even when the give me crap like tonight.

 

[WWE Manster03]

Well, the night has come and gone. I don't want to go back and count how many people thought TNA was making a terrible decision going h-2-h with WWE in the thick of March. Well, they did. This is all just my opinion, but tonight, two weeks before their biggest even of the year, WWE gave us a standard, semi-boring WWE Monday Night Raw that did very little to interest me. HBK and Undertaker's promo was the same thing we've been hearing this year, and heard last year. We had more annoying Guest Host promos with Santino, the Belle twins, and the midget. We had a few brawls, and the rest of it was generic and obvious. We knew Sheamus and Triple H were going to go at it. It was alright, but not surprising. We all knew what Cena and McMahon was going to do.

All I'm saying is that TNA took on WWE in March, and WWE gave me nothing. TNA gave me Hogan and Flair promos, Sting returning and going absolutely insane, RVD premeiring with TNA, a good X Division match, some great brawls, and a half way decent Knockouts tag match. WWE was all promos, and all bland. Even when TNA was giving promos they were all action, wrestiling, and brawling. Anderson/Angle, BM/Jarret, RVD/Sting, etc.

I'm a big WWE fan, but I"m starting to love TNA. They gave us a great show tonight, and I"m hoping they continue on. This is WWE's biggest month, and their product was normal and bland, and they allowed TNA to be the better show for at least one night. But WWE fans are WWE fans. They will always be fans. I will always watch Raw, even when the give me crap like tonight.

So you are telling me you were more entertained by the 15 segments featuring Hulk Hogan/Bubba/Brooke or any combination of them then anything that happened on Raw? I'm not saying Raw was a great show, because it wasn't. It was average. Here's the thing though...WWE doesn't have to impress us. They have to keep building their storylines and filling up the card for their biggest PPV of the year. TNA had to pull out all the stops tonight, and sorry to say they didn't do it. The Sting turn was the highlight of the night, but it felt like a psuedo Bash at the Beach re-hash. Then, IMO they killed any momentum he had by having RVD beat him with ROLLING THUNDER...Really? Rolling Thunder? I love RVD and Sting as much as anybody, but a 20 second match? Why waste your time. The beatdown after was fine until Hogan came out and sold the batshot that clearly missed terribly. The Knockout match was fine, with pretty good work all around. They did advance the Daffney/Tara fued which I like. Why does Scott Hall keep getting put on TNA PPV? He doesn't need to be anywhere near a wrestling ring, and I'm pretty sure he was a little drunk tonight considering how much he slurred during his promo. EY was good as always, but Waltman screwed up the spot where he was supposed to be clotheslined over the ropes. Also, why in the hell are they pushing Shannon Moore into a title match the second he debuts? It's Shannon Moore for christs sake? Is Helms gonna help him win the belt at Dest. X and then they will dance to the old 3 count music? And finally, why the hell did Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan work 90% of the main event tonight? It was sloppy and at times laughable. I love both guys, but they need to never wrestle again, especially Hogan. Like I said, Raw wasn't perfect tonight by any means. They didn't have to be. TNA did. And IMO they failed.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

The reaction from the internet is probably going to be similar to what we saw on January 4th. TNA popped up some surprises, some big names showed up and made their presence felt, some fans are going to be impressed by what they saw and some things TNA did are no doubt going to be blown out of proportion by some to seem more significant than they really are.

For instance, Sting turning heel is a bit of a shock but it's hardly a huge deal. It's not the first time Sting's been a heel and while this could lead to something interesting for him, it's not some huge game changer.

 

[Suneeboy]

So you are telling me you were more entertained by the 15 segments featuring Hulk Hogan/Bubba/Brooke or any combination of them then anything that happened on Raw? I'm not saying Raw was a great show, because it wasn't. It was average. Here's the thing though...WWE doesn't have to impress us. They have to keep building their storylines and filling up the card for their biggest PPV of the year. TNA had to pull out all the stops tonight, and sorry to say they didn't do it. The Sting turn was the highlight of the night, but it felt like a psuedo Bash at the Beach re-hash. Then, IMO they killed any momentum he had by having RVD beat him with ROLLING THUNDER...Really? Rolling Thunder? I love RVD and Sting as much as anybody, but a 20 second match? Why waste your time. The beatdown after was fine until Hogan came out and sold the batshot that clearly missed terribly. The Knockout match was fine, with pretty good work all around. They did advance the Daffney/Tara fued which I like. Why does Scott Hall keep getting put on TNA PPV? He doesn't need to be anywhere near a wrestling ring, and I'm pretty sure he was a little drunk tonight considering how much he slurred during his promo. EY was good as always, but Waltman screwed up the spot where he was supposed to be clotheslined over the ropes. Also, why in the hell are they pushing Shannon Moore into a title match the second he debuts? It's Shannon Moore for christs sake? Is Helms gonna help him win the belt at Dest. X and then they will dance to the old 3 count music? And finally, why the hell did Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan work 90% of the main event tonight? It was sloppy and at times laughable. I love both guys, but they need to never wrestle again, especially Hogan. Like I said, Raw wasn't perfect tonight by any means. They didn't have to be. TNA did. And IMO they failed.

Stop being a goddam nerd and sit back and enjoy wrestling. So what RVD won with a rolling thunder, so what Waltman missed a spot, so what Shannon Moore gets a title shot. Its fucking wrestling, not real life shit man. They are out there acting on live television. They can only do so much with a certain amount of time. Every spot cannot be 100% every single night. If they miss a spot, they gotta keep moving. Botches happen. You've never seen people debut to title shots before? Carlito did it, Santino did it, Brian Kendrick did it on Genesis 2 PPV's ago.

Hogan and Flair wasn't a technical masterpiece, but it was an emotional match. They put it ALL out there, and risked their bodies tonight. What was going on over on RAW? Same. Old. Shit. I'm not saying RAW was bad, but RAW didn't do anything to keep me on that channel. It was my commercial break from TNA.

So let me get this straight? RAW can put up mediocre shit and its fine, but TNA can pull out all the stops and its not ok? You're contradicting your argument.

 

[eraseall]

TNA had a chance to show old school hardcore wrestling fans that we still have a place in sports entertainment. Instead they chose to showcase two old farts who couldn't even pull off a single wrestling move. Not one. Not even a body slam for christs sake. And they made us watch this garbage match twice!!

RVD agreed to come back to be treated like this? Are you kidding me? No five star and I have to watch him get hit with fake bat shots about 37 times? Really dude? Really? They didn't even give him a chance to show off for at least 5 minutes. RVD and Sting could have had a great match that could have ended the same way. At least we would have been able to say "good match". But instead he wins with a cheap shot and then gets jobbed to a fake bat. Brilliant!

And who for gods sake decided that Abyss is a headlining hero? This goof is a mutant mankind ripoff and needs to be put in his place before this company loses their TV deal. AJ is too good for this guy. AJ is too good for these old farts and I don't care how many belts flair won, THE CHAMP LEADS THE WAY TO THE RING WITH HIS MUSIC. HIS MUSIC!! Not Flair's!

I am insulted and ashamed by TNAs show tonight. It was a boring, disjointed, incoherent, disorganized mess and Hogan should be ashamed of himself for ruining this once-promising company. WWE sucks, TNA sucks. Wrestling is dead. Long live WWE classics on demand.

 

[tha_icon85]

I'm watching TNA right now, and it has not impressed me yet, poor production value makes it hard to suspend disbelief and get sucked into the storylines. I also alway here people that support TNA complain that wwe doesn't have enough wrestling on its programming, TNA had a billion promos tonight and every match you wanted to see was either drawn out or 20 seconds. the X division segment was bad, if your making your second appearance on mondays in hopes of stealing viewers from wwe, can we please know who the hell is on our TV, it took five to ten minutes for you to figure out who these guys are and if im channel surfing that needs to be a quick thing. People wanna know who theyre watching and why. AJ is a great wrestler, but ric flair he is not, they should really rethink this move of trying to make him the next nature boy is a bad decision. NO Charisma. But im a goal oriented person and if they want me to buy into Styles being the next ric flair, have him make brooke turn on hogan, and turn down being so damn jumpy in promotes. THis show really reminded me of why I didn't like WCW, nothing made sense and things never fully developed, it reminds me of wcw saturday night. Develop the anderson/ angle storyline but letting them go back and forth on the mic, give RVD a good showing people wanna see him to his thing, if hes gonna win anyways let his at least hit the flog splash. Let the pope cut a promote without getting attacked every time I turn around he's getting attack during a promote. Who cares about JJ.WHo cares about Shannon MOore and why should he get a title shot over all the talent in the X division. RAw was decent it had it share of problems, but like someone said, it's not WWE job to compete against tna they need to focus on building to wrestle-mania, tna brought this fight to mondays so they need to impress, wwe had the fans and ratings and money, TNA wants that so they can't slack. It's not suppose to be even or far,WWE didn't ask for this war, TNA did and they are gonna be judge on a harder scale because of it.

 

[WWE Manster03]

Stop being a goddam nerd and sit back and enjoy wrestling. So what RVD won with a rolling thunder, so what Waltman missed a spot, so what Shannon Moore gets a title shot. Its fucking wrestling, not real life shit man. They are out there acting on live television. They can only do so much with a certain amount of time. Every spot cannot be 100% every single night. If they miss a spot, they gotta keep moving. Botches happen. You've never seen people debut to title shots before? Carlito did it, Santino did it, Brian Kendrick did it on Genesis 2 PPV's ago.

Hogan and Flair wasn't a technical masterpiece, but it was an emotional match. They put it ALL out there, and risked their bodies tonight. What was going on over on RAW? Same. Old. Shit. I'm not saying RAW was bad, but RAW didn't do anything to keep me on that channel. It was my commercial break from TNA.

So let me get this straight? RAW can put up mediocre shit and its fine, but TNA can pull out all the stops and its not ok? You're contradicting your argument.

Why am I not suprised I would get this reaction? Well, let me give some intelligent responses since I'm such a "nerd".
1. No, I don't expect them to hit every single spot every single time on live television. To expect that to happen would be laughable and show complete lack of respect for what they do. What I DO expect, however, is for people that are being put in one of 3 primary fueds on a show looking to make an impact(pardon the pun) to be able to take a bump that you learn how to take your first month in the business. Waltman has been wrestling on television on and off since, what , 1994? I'm pretty positive he knows how to take that bump, but he isn't in ring shape to be able to take it. Thus why they do NOT belong on television.
2. Yes, I have seen people debut to title shots, and I didn't say I enjoyed it. On the contrary, I actually can't stand it. Carlito didn't deserve it, Santino didn't deserve it, Kendrick didn't deserve it, Undertaker didn't deserve it when he beat Hogan his first night. It's not something you do. Yes, the fans will pop for it, but is it smart? People give Sheamus shit for getting the strap because he hangs with HHH and didn't pay his dues, but if Shannon Moore gets the X belt after being in the company for less than a month, people will praise them for it. It is a double standard. I wouldn't be shocked if Moore got the title, because if his buddy gets a push maybe Jeff will stay around longer.
3.Emotional match? What match were you watching? There was no story being told in the ring. All it had was 2 legends in the business effectively beating the shit out of each other. Flair bladed around 1:30 into the match. They did it for effect. The only person that had emotion during the match was Brooke Hogan. It was a match that didn't deserve to happen, because it accomplished absolutely nothing. Both segments with those 4 accomplished 2 things. Allowing Sting to turn heel, and Jeff Hardy to come back to the impact zone(2 months since we have seen him the first time).
4. I can tell you exactly what was happening on Raw. Undertaker/Shawn Michaels is now No DQ. That is something that wasn't expected. HHH/Sheamus was confirmed for Mania with a pretty decent promo by HHH, which is good because he can do good work when he decides to. Evan Bourne took the 8th spot in MITB. John Cena got beaten up by Batista again, which we have seen before but they are trying to put over how dangerous Batista is. I get it. I think they could of done without the McMahon involvement in the "match" but I understand why they did it.
5. If redebuting people that aren't part of the FUTURE of the company is pulling out the stops, then I feel really bad for TNA. They have a ton of potential and I want to see them succeed. I don't contradict myself when I say TNA needs to put on a perfect show. WWE is established. They will pull a 3.2-3.6 week in and week out for their ratings. When they start dropping down to 2.7-2.9 then I am going to start bitching that they need to become perfect. TNA is struggling to break 1.2, and the people they headlined the show with and opened the show with were their lowest drawing segment last week. WWE has a base that is in place, and TNA doesn't. So, in short, TNA MUST be perfect to get the attention to draw people away from WWE. I will watch both. If I was given the option to only watch 1 for the rest of my life, I would choose WWE. I can trust that they have the ability to put on a show at any time that can blow my mind. As of right now, I don't have that faith in TNA. I hope to one day, because it will just make both companies better.
So, I have given reasoning behind my opinion, without attacking anyone personally. Hope my answers aren't to "nerdy" for you.

 

[Slowdude]

Instead of bitching about one product, the other or both I'm going to say I enjoyed both products. I watched both at the same time (Two streams open). From now on I will continue to watch both shows at the same time. Today both companies had their ups and downs. On the Raw side I enjoyed seeing The Orton/DiBiase/Rhodes match, Bourne vs Regal, That main event while making no sense was nice a nice clusterfuck. On TNA's side, Sting's return and Hogan hate was nice, That triple threat X Division Match worked out well, RVD made his expected debut then got the living shit beat out of him, Knockout tag match was meh and Jeff's return was surprising as I didn't think he would be there until after his court date.

Bad parts about both shows. Raw faults, the Diva's match, the constant Promo's that show what happened last week, Taker and HBK's promo wasn't that great and I don't care about Criss Angel. TNA's most annoying part was while Sting was fucking RVD up and Hogan tried to make the save officials stopped Hogan and left Sting to keep destroying RVD, I mean holy fuck Sting is trying to kill RVD in the ring and officials would rather stop Hogan from making the save?????

Both shows had good and bad parts. I missed some parts. Instead of bitching about everything why not try to enjoy it, you might be surprised that wrestling can be entertaining when you don't have such high expectations of everything.

 

[fullxcircle]

I was looking forward to TNA's debut on monday nights and I can honestly say that I have mixed emotions on the show. Let me first say that I watched TNA first and foremost but flipped over to Raw just to see what was going on and nothing ever caught my eye over there, so I will assume that Raw was mediocre at best.

When they opened Impact with the AJ/Flair vs Abyss/Hogan match, I was actually excited because I was really not looking forward to that match and I was wanting to get it out of the way. I do agree that the Sting heel turn was a great move but when I realized that the match was going to restart later on in the night, I wasn't too stoked on that.

I thought the X-Division match was pretty good. Didn't blow my mind, but compared to most matches you see on Impact, this was solid. I thought Doug Williams was pretty boring to be representing the X-Division Championship. I didn't really care about Shannon Moore showing up and was surprised to see that he is getting a title shot so early. I am not too familiar with him, I really have only seen him job in the WWE but I am not going to write him off and I'm sure he can put on a good match.

The Knockout Division match was good. No real opinions on this. Except I think they are building Daffney as a real solid heel.

I thought the whole situation between Kurt Angle and Mr. Anderson was kinda stupid and it really didn't hold my attention. I think Mr. Anderson has been kinda boring since coming to TNA, but hey that's just my opinion. I think bringing in the US Army is a cheap way to get a pop or an easy way to get heat, but that's wrestling and I guess I can't complain too much about that.

Beer Money and Jeff Jarrett was alright. I think Beer Money are a great tag team but I can't keep up if they are heel or face, it seems to keep changing. I think it's pretty obvious that they will be winning the belts soon especially since they keep hinting at Hernandez and Morgan splitting up. I think the angle that Jarrett is working with Bischoff is pretty stupid, he seems to be working an underdog/sympathy angle and I'm just not buying it. I also hope that Jarrett and Foley will not be forming a tag team because I think that TNA needs to focus on keeping a really strong tag team division. WWE has thrown tag team wrestling to the side and TNA has a chance to capitalize on that. They have plenty of strong tag teams, there is no need to put throw two veterans together for a tag team.

I was real stoked to hear that RVD was making his debut tonight in TNA. They didn't do a very good job at making it a surprise when Dixie said Sting would have a mystery partner and with Taz mentioning 4:20, but that's not a big deal. The pop was awesome and he looked good with the rolling thunder. I would honestly have to say that they did rush RVD's debut and to me it seemed that he took a backseat to Hogan when Hogan came out and pretended to want to go to the ring for what seemed like 20 minutes. To me it seemed that they are building up Sting vs Hogan more so than Sting vs RVD. I'd prefer the latter. RVD rules.

As far as the Nash/Young and Hall/Waltman situation goes, its entertaining but I think everyone knows that Hall isn't going to be able to wrestle so I don't think that match will be too good. I do enjoy watching Nash and Hall on the mic. Waltman and Young are the two to watch in this feud, when Waltman slapped Eric, man that was a good spot. But as someone mentioned, I could see Young turning on Nash.

Main event part 2.... I like Hogan. I like Flair. AJ is a great wrestler. Abyss was good when he didn't talk. As most people would agree, the whole scenario with Hogan/Abyss and the ring is just stupid and annoying and makes me want to change the channel every time they are on. I understand why they booked this main event and I think its cool that Ric and Hulk got to wrestle again, but it was boring. Jeff Hardy coming in seemed to be another way to just let you know that he could still possibly be signing on with TNA. By him showing up, it just seemed to cluster things, is he really going to be apart of that whole scenario?

All in all the show was good. But I feel that TNA has a long way to go, but I'll be watching them as they do.

 

[Kenny Powers]

Why am I not suprised I would get this reaction? Well, let me give some intelligent responses since I'm such a "nerd".
1. No, I don't expect them to hit every single spot every single time on live television. To expect that to happen would be laughable and show complete lack of respect for what they do. What I DO expect, however, is for people that are being put in one of 3 primary fueds on a show looking to make an impact(pardon the pun) to be able to take a bump that you learn how to take your first month in the business. Waltman has been wrestling on television on and off since, what , 1994? I'm pretty positive he knows how to take that bump, but he isn't in ring shape to be able to take it. Thus why they do NOT belong on television.
2. Yes, I have seen people debut to title shots, and I didn't say I enjoyed it. On the contrary, I actually can't stand it. Carlito didn't deserve it, Santino didn't deserve it, Kendrick didn't deserve it, Undertaker didn't deserve it when he beat Hogan his first night. It's not something you do. Yes, the fans will pop for it, but is it smart? People give Sheamus shit for getting the strap because he hangs with HHH and didn't pay his dues, but if Shannon Moore gets the X belt after being in the company for less than a month, people will praise them for it. It is a double standard. I wouldn't be shocked if Moore got the title, because if his buddy gets a push maybe Jeff will stay around longer.
3.Emotional match? What match were you watching? There was no story being told in the ring. All it had was 2 legends in the business effectively beating the shit out of each other. Flair bladed around 1:30 into the match. They did it for effect. The only person that had emotion during the match was Brooke Hogan. It was a match that didn't deserve to happen, because it accomplished absolutely nothing. Both segments with those 4 accomplished 2 things. Allowing Sting to turn heel, and Jeff Hardy to come back to the impact zone(2 months since we have seen him the first time).
4. I can tell you exactly what was happening on Raw. Undertaker/Shawn Michaels is now No DQ. That is something that wasn't expected. HHH/Sheamus was confirmed for Mania with a pretty decent promo by HHH, which is good because he can do good work when he decides to. Evan Bourne took the 8th spot in MITB. John Cena got beaten up by Batista again, which we have seen before but they are trying to put over how dangerous Batista is. I get it. I think they could of done without the McMahon involvement in the "match" but I understand why they did it.
5. If redebuting people that aren't part of the FUTURE of the company is pulling out the stops, then I feel really bad for TNA. They have a ton of potential and I want to see them succeed. I don't contradict myself when I say TNA needs to put on a perfect show. WWE is established. They will pull a 3.2-3.6 week in and week out for their ratings. When they start dropping down to 2.7-2.9 then I am going to start bitching that they need to become perfect. TNA is struggling to break 1.2, and the people they headlined the show with and opened the show with were their lowest drawing segment last week. WWE has a base that is in place, and TNA doesn't. So, in short, TNA MUST be perfect to get the attention to draw people away from WWE. I will watch both. If I was given the option to only watch 1 for the rest of my life, I would choose WWE. I can trust that they have the ability to put on a show at any time that can blow my mind. As of right now, I don't have that faith in TNA. I hope to one day, because it will just make both companies better.
So, I have given reasoning behind my opinion, without attacking anyone personally. Hope my answers aren't to "nerdy" for you.

You are really just dissecting too much to enjoy any show. I mean Shannon Moore receiving a title shot at Destination X is going to give you a fit and complain about the show? Do you think the majority of people that watch TNA or WWE give a damn about one blown spot, botched move, or Shannon Moore wrestling in an X Division match?

You saying WWE doesn't have to impress us is the same mentality that most WWE fans have since they watch Raw out of habit. Its not that interesting but its the number one show in town and its what I'm used to mentality. How did TNA fail when you watched it and praised most of it? I think the reason the majority of us like TNA aren't because its not WWE, but it is a good adult product that we love watching. I used to feel the same way about WWE, but haven't for a long time.

In my opinion WWE has been a huge letdown over the years. It has gotten better, and TNA hasn't been perfect. TNA has gotten better too. Fans shouldn't settle for mediocre. I don't care if WWE or TNA was number 1. If a show is mediocre and continues to be mediocre because they can get away with it, it doesn't make it better then a number 2 show that actually tries.

 

[Davi323]

The Hogan/Abyss vs Flair/Styles match is exactly the reason why TNA will never be taken seriously by the WWE. McMahon vs Cena wasn't good, but you knew exactly how that was going to play out before they ever started it. It was, however, much, much better than watching Hulk Hogan attempt to wrestle again. That was simply awful. TNA knew that though, that's why they had to "injure" him earlier in the show, to try to explain why he was so slow. It didn't work. TNA's main event featured two guys whose best days were gone over a decade ago. And it showed. Please, TNA. For the sake of all that is good and holy, Hogan, NEVER wrestle again. I love the man, my avatar is of him, but, the man wearing the yellow and red last night, was not Hulk Hogan. It was an empty shell, a hollow version of a former legendary wrestler, insisting on tarnishing his once golden reputation. Just stop.

 

[The Doctor]

Last night was quite the exciting experience. I started with RAW, occasionally flipping the channel to Impact. Before long, it was the other way around. Impact was much more exciting to me last night. That can be attributed to one thing: Energy.

Impact seemed "bigger", somehow. It probably helped that I only had a vague idea of what the storylines were with the exception of Angle/Anderson. That allowed me to be surprised with anything that was happening.

RVD was an awesome moment. I knew he was coming, but I still marked out. And by the sounds of it, so did the Impact Zone. That pop was insane! And I marked again when Jeff Hardy ran in at the end of the show.

However, one thing that had me changing the channel was the main event. I flipped it to see what was going to happen with the McMahon/Cena match and was pulled into the story of that match. Gauntlet matches are always something I like, because they're unpredictable. You can piss and moan about false advertising all you want, but the fact remains that it caused me to watch until RAW went off the air.

Both shows were very good, but I'm giving the edge to Impact in terms of pure excitement.

 

[Tastycles]

TNA was the better show last night, but not so good that McMahon would have cried himself to sleep. There was still too much Hogan, but it was toned down, and it actually contained most of the things people have been having a cry wank over for the last few weeks about there being no knockouts - there were seven there tonight, and no X division.

The trump card that TNA held though was very simple, development. We saw Angle finally outfox Anderson in their feud, but more importantly, we saw that Pope and Wolfe will continue their feud, Wolfe has seemingly joined with Flair and AJ, Sting turned heel, Jeff Hardy debuted, RVD debuted, the Hall and Waltman situation reached a point, Daffney made clear her intentions, and the Beautiful people finally won the titles made for them in the first place.

On Raw, the only storyline that developed was Triple H and Sheamus. It was a good promo by Undertaker and Michaels, that added a stipulation, so you could maybe make an argument for that, but the main event feuds gained nothing. Legacy are splitting, but the position they are in is no different to last week, Orton's still a tweener the other two are still disliking him. Cena got beaten down by Batista again. If it was the second time, it'd be driving home the point, the fourth time is lazy. Vince is evil. Big deal, he's been evil for a long time now. And that's it. They have given nothing to whet the appetite next week, whereas TNA have, and if I had a choice of which to watch live, they'd have my vote for next week.

 

[WWE Manster03]

You are really just dissecting too much to enjoy any show. I mean Shannon Moore receiving a title shot at Destination X is going to give you a fit and complain about the show? Do you think the majority of people that watch TNA or WWE give a damn about one blown spot, botched move, or Shannon Moore wrestling in an X Division match?

You saying WWE doesn't have to impress us is the same mentality that most WWE fans have since they watch Raw out of habit. Its not that interesting but its the number one show in town and its what I'm used to mentality. How did TNA fail when you watched it and praised most of it? I think the reason the majority of us like TNA aren't because its not WWE, but it is a good adult product that we love watching. I used to feel the same way about WWE, but haven't for a long time.

In my opinion WWE has been a huge letdown over the years. It has gotten better, and TNA hasn't been perfect. TNA has gotten better too. Fans shouldn't settle for mediocre. I don't care if WWE or TNA was number 1. If a show is mediocre and continues to be mediocre because they can get away with it, it doesn't make it better then a number 2 show that actually tries.

Actually, I didn't praise most of the show. I found both products last night to be lacking. What everyone is failing to realize, I'm not biased to WWE. To me, they are a better OVERALL product. I don't like the guest hosts, but to ME the storylines are better and they do a much better job of keeping things moving throughout their show. I guess to point Im trying to make is that both shows will continue to be watched by me. I'm a fan FIRST. I grew up on this business. I have been watching for 23 years, and I know what makes sense and what doesn't. I have a problem with them booking Abyss to be a Hogan wanna be because he has his HOF ring. I have a problem with people coming out at random points in the evening, because I don't think Hardy will be involved in the storyline and just came out then so they could fit him on the show. The biggest problem both shows had last night is there wasn't enough actual wrestling. I think both shows comibned for under an hour of in ring work in 4 total hours. That is ridiculous. The difference is, WWE added more to their best PPV of the year and the guest host segments didn't absolutely piss me off like Cheech and Chong last week. Wasn't great but wasn't awful either. Also, biggest show in history, but where the fuck was Samoa Joe? He was kidnapped, what, 3 weeks ago? All I'm saying is why are they keeping him off tv for so long? Are they remaking his character again? He was fine before they made him a MEM stooge, and even then he was fine before they made him represent his Nation of Violence, which I liked but it wasn't 100% necessary. He was over HUGE with the whole " Joe's gonna kill you" thing. If he comes back as a part of a bigger group that will bring something positive to the table,then good for them. I'm skeptical though

 

[bryanv21]

What does Impact do now?

TNA gave us a few shockers. Mind you, they weren't necessarily "good" shockers (and no, I'm not referring to Orlando Jordan using his fingers to violate his partner).

RVD's debut downright sucked, just like Jericho said in his Twitter post..."The beat down of RVD 20 seconds into his debut in TNA was mind boggling. I dont [sic] understand how so many talented people can be so clueless".

Shannon Moore has never been anywhere close to a main eventer, but he gets a title shot right away? Way to push the X-Division! TNA has been dumping on the X-Division for a long time now and it's one of the biggest problems that company has. The X-Division is the biggest difference between them and WWE, because WWE doesn't even have a cruiserweight division that may parallel the X-Division. So why the hell should I take it that seriously when a low-carder (not even a mid-carder) from WWE will wrestle for X-Division title on PPV? Pathetic.

Jeff Hardy is back? I'm sorry, but weren't Moore and Hardy carrying "contracts" on the January 4th show, making their appearance on last night's Impact a little less surprising? How about explaining why they haven't been seen in 2+ months? I don't mean bringing up the legal issues Jeff has had. But make something up! Jeff debuted big on that 1/4 show and then...nothing. WTF!?!? Not to mention that TNA effed up the time of the show because we never even saw Jeff's Swanton Bomb since the show was cut-off. Another horrible job.

Sting's heel turn, while not totally predictable to me (others said it was to them), was nothing to get all excited about. Heel/Face turns are all about the "why"...not the "how". At another site people were going nuts over this saying the turn was "amazing". We've seen hundreds of heel/face turns over the years. The problem with this one was that Sting hasn't been around for so long, therefore there was no build-up to make the final turn more exciting. So if the reason for this turn isn't really good, then the heel turn will be seen as the exact opposite of "awesome". TNA still has a chance to make this part of things good at least. Unlike the RVD, Hardy, and Moore stuff.

TNA doesn't get it. It's not about getting a bunch of popular wrestlers. Pro wrestling is about the writing. You've seen a number of good movies that had unknown stars. You've seen a number of bad movies that had plenty of known stars. How the script is written is by far the most important thing. TNA doesn't get that. On the surface it may be cool that they brought in RVD, Hardy, Moore (who I actually used to like, as I'm a mark for CW wrestling), and others. But the way they are used is questionable at best.

Hey...enjoy the show if you want. That's fine. I wish TNA was really good, so that WWE would have to up their own game. But that didn't happen. Vince is not trembling with fear after last night. And there's no reason what-so-ever for him to either.

So I'll end this post with the same question as I started it with...what does TNA do now?

 

[zWe]

Ok, this is my first time posting... I've read these threads a lot over the last few months, and I kept reading that we had to "give TNA a chance". So, I have been doing exactly that. I keep DVR tna and always "skim" through it. However, last night, I taped WWE and watched the entire TNA show. I can honestly say I have given it more than a fair chance....

Last nights TNA show was just too much for the sake of being too much. I know they wanted to come out and show the casual fan why they should watch. But I just felt that everything was rushed. They have good talent, and they have big stars. They just need to not be WCW and have a million guys in each segment. The RVD & Sting thing was the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen. Even when sting had his heel turn, I saw that coming as soon as his music hit. But, ok, I can get over that. Having sting lose to rvd in 15 seconds was moronic. Then having him destroy rvd, while rvd basically no sells. Then having hogan come down and take the attention away..... ahhh, idk....just tooo many mistakes imo

 

[elaire26]

I pulled into a bar Monday night and was able to actually watch the first night of MNW II head to head. I wanted TNA to do better, but IMO, RAW won.

Why?

Sting heel turn? Shwhat?
All about Hogan.
RVD quick win, then beat up?
Old guys desperate for money in the main event.
BROOKE HOGAN EVEN GOT A CHECK THIS WEEK? Double-U Tee Eff???
Not good, TNA. You let me down.

Dixie, please. Release Hogan, Bischoff, The Nastys, Jordan, Bubba... stop blowing money on garbage...