The Gorilla Press: Monday Night World War II Review
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Sunday, January 10, 2010
THE SHEET
RAW/iMPACT! Ratings breakdown [PWTorch]
Ric Flair Comments on his TNA Debut [Post and Courier]
Bret Hart Comments on his return to the WWE [Calgary Herald]
Jeff Hardy Formally Indicted with criminal activity stemming from September drug chargers [PWInsider.com]
WWE Performers Drew McIntyre (Drew Galloway) and Tiffany (Taryn Terrell) engaged. [Wrestling Observer Newsletter]
GORILLA CLIP OF THE WEEK I
After RAW went off the air this past week, various WWE performers came out to salute Bret “The Hitman” Hart after his appearance on RAW for the first time since November of 1997.
GORILLA CLIP OF THE WEEK II
TNA kicked off its highly anticipated live Monday Night debut with a shocking return by Jeff Hardy.
SHOWSTOPPER
THE MONDAY NIGHT WARS
HIGH SPOTS
RAW’S Opening Segment. Although many believe that this segment was given away too soon, it was a rare, surreal, and real moment that has escaped WWE television for the past decade. Bret Hart looked good considering the fact he had previously suffered a stroke and was twelve years removed from his last appearance in the WWE. The hug at the end was a big awkward and it now seems that the possibility of a Bret/Shawn feud, which we believe has more big money potential than Hart/McMahon, has become an afterthought. However for all intents and purposes this was a very well done segment to kick off Hart’s hyped return.
iMPACT Delivers on ‘Surprise’ Promise. The onslaught of surprise appearances in the iMPACT! Zone this past week gave that show a truly nostalgic feeling not only because of who had made the surprise appearances, but also because you didn’t know what to expect next. The unpredictability of iMPACT! was refreshing and somewhat validated their ‘close to the vest’ build, as not only was the show itself unpredictable, but many did not see it going on to do such an impressive number.
The returns of Jeff Hardy and Ric Flair were among the more notable returns as Flair had been given such a brilliant sendoff by The WWE (although the plan was not to send him off to the rival company) and Hardy reportedly had a verbal agreement to return to The WWE (Now where have we heard THAT before?).
RAW Takes its Time. With the exception of the return of Bret Hart, this week’s RAW was widely considered a ‘by the books’ RAW as nothing spectacular happened in comparison with the ubiquity of shock in which iMPACT produced. However last year’s disappointing Wrestlemania 25 was largely panned for a having a weak build which was a byproduct of the creative team being kept in the dark about many of the programs to be featured on that show, and a lack of new stars at the top.
This week’s RAW, a January show, slowly laid the groundwork for what should be an impressive Wrestlemania 26 card (a March show). McMahon’s nutshot to Bret Hart began a build to what is expected to be some sort of street fight between the two, The Miz (and his new theme music) continued to receive a push, and Legacy’s eminent split looks to culminate with some sort of match between the three of them come Mania. RAW was used to build to its biggest pay-per-view of the year, and the TV doesn’t have to knock you out of your chair to do that as long as there is a payoff at the end of the day.
iMPACT’S Main Event. One of the ultimate goals of iMPACT’s biggest shows ever was to showcase its young talent as some of the best in the world. This was accomplished in the case of A.J. Styles as he put on an incredible match with Kurt Angle. This show started with a bang (once it got past the finish to that Jungle Gym Match) and ended with a bang, and with A.J. Styles on center stage during the company’ finest hour to date, TNA looks to be headed in a positive direction for now.
Eric (Bleeping) Bischoff! GOD we missed Eric Bischoff. And not the watered down Eric Bischoff who was forced to hug Vince McMahon, but the real, arrogant, slimy, mini-Vince heel Eric Bischoff who scoffed at EVERYTHING intended to threaten him.
A looming problem with this new Hogan regime is that it runs the risk of creating a ‘too many cooks in the kitchen’ effect with Bischoff, Hogan, Jarret, Russo, and even Dixie Carter all considered authority figures (compared to only Vince McMahon and an in-over-their-head celebrity on a week-to-week basis who assume an authority figure role on RAW). If any one person should be an authority figure outside of Hogan, who will obviously be on television to sustain positive ratings in the short-term, it should be Eric Bischoff. Bischoff’s impeccable delivery and natural charisma serve as a glimmer of hope for TNA’s new era to actually mean something going forward.
(FROM SMACKDOWN!) CM Punk, Charles Manson Much? Anything CM Punk has done as a heel has been gold, and his smooth transition into a cult figure has been no exception. Punk’s brilliant segment where he slowly and rather convincingly told a young man from the audience to shave his head and live the ‘Straight Edge Lifestyle’ had me praying that The WWE does not drop the ball with this guy, making him but a casualty of The Wrestlemania 26 Build-Up picture.
LOW SPOTS
iMPACT’S Jungle Gym Spectacular. After a month-long build towards their January 4th Spectacular, which included a central message of change, TNA took us to Lego Land for its opening contest. iMPACT! decided to ‘showcase’ its young talent by blending them all together and having them pull off impressive spots in a red, life-size red Lincoln Log Playset making it even more difficult for onlookers to distinguish who was doing what. If this beehive upheaval of a match wasn’t enough to confound you, the consumer, the finish to this poor man’s Jakk’s Pacific Mattel Elimination Chamber was a disqualification.
Mick Foley once fell off of a cage (Hell in the Cell) and died. He eventually came to and finished the match via pinfall.
Kane once took a cage apart and tombstoned The Undertaker during the first ever Hell in the Cell match. After Kane left, The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels eventually finished their match via pinfall.
Homicide takes out a stick and the referees proceeded to Vince McMahon the timekeeper into ringing the bell.
I can’t the remember the last time I saw a cage match end in a disqualification, can you? (And Lex Luger scaling a cage and running for his life against Bruiser Brody was NOT a disqualification. It was Lex Luger scared shitless).
RAW thinks Jericho is gone for good. With DX, namely HHH, so eager to get Jericho off of RAW from both a storyline and shoot standpoint, The WWE really needs to sit and think if this is a good idea going forward. DX’s victory over JeriShow ensured that we will never see Jericho, or a decent rating, on Monday Night Raw again. Really?
We have already applauded The Fed for taking its time in building towards meaningful storylines come Wrestlemania. However Jericho is sure to be in one of the biggest drawing programs of that card, and it would be an abject mistake to keep any sort of build for a Jericho Wrestlemania program off of the flagship show so that DX gets 2 extra minutes to find a new and forcibly uncomfortable way remind us that Hornswoggle is below the average height of a grown man.
Art imitates life on iMPACT! So how many of you, the consumers, became increasingly nervous as more and more of these superstars Hogan said that it was ‘all about’ were found laid out in the back while Bubba The Love Sponge, Scott Hall, Sean Waltman, Brutus Beefcake, The Mysterious Masked Man, and, yes, The Nasty Boys got the TV time. Hogan can talk all he wants about how it’s not about the party anymore and how they have to do what’s right for business, but seeing all those egoes (Hall, Pac, Nash, Bischoff, Hogan) in the ring and knowing many of those egoes will have some hand in what goes on creatively scares the shit out of me.
(FROM SMACKDOWN!) The Undertaker…does…something to Batista…and Rey? It’s been obvious for weeks that there would be a triple threat match for The World Heavyweight Title at The Royal Rumble, but the ‘finish’ to this past weeks number one contender bout between Rey Mysterio and Batista was straight up weird even for pro wrestling. The lights go out and The Undertaker lays both men out by the time the lights turn on yet he doesn’t show up. So now we’re supposed to just imagine that he did all that damage and wait until next week when he is back from resting up that bummed knee has magically appeared by using his powers from the darkside so we could pick up this storyline? Hm. Interesting.
THE SHOOT
You want a war? Here’s an idea, an idea which we spoke with Mike Johnson of PWInsider.com in an interview to be posted next week. Given TNA iMPACT’S impressive 1.5 rating (higher than most predicted), a rating which obviously stole viewers away from a RAW show that did a strong yet disappointing 3.6 (lower than most predicted), The WWE should utilize its advantageous resources the next time they go head to head with TNA iMPACT! By that, we mean the one resource that has allowed The WWE to consider itself the dominating force in sports and entertainment. Money.
Hulk Hogan and TNA impressed in the first battle of the second Monday Night Wars on January 4th.
The next time TNA iMPACT! Decides to go head-to-head with WWE RAW, The WWE Should simply go to ‘the network’, pony up a bit, and request a special Monday Night RAW for that night. Three hours. Commercial Free. This would neutralize the channel-changing and audience stealing that effects The WWE rating, and would be sure to do a strong number as the last time The WWE went commercial free it did over a 4 and only produced the best rating of 2009.
The next Monday Night iMPACT! may not be too far around the corner. The weeks leading towards Wrestlemania always give outside promotions great incentive to suckle from the pro verbal teet of The WWE as mainstream interest in pro wrestling is at an annual high during this time. TNA and ROH typically run shows in surrounding Wrestlemania cities as they shrewdly try to maximize on the residual value of The strong buzz that Wrestlemania creates. It would not be surprising for TNA to decide to air a Monday Night iMPACT! show to compete with The WWE’s go home show for Wrestlemania or one of the two or three shows before.
The WWE could kill two birds with one stone by airing a special three hour Commercial-Free RAW leading up to the big show, resembling the fantastic build in which ‘The War to Settle The Score’ Special (aired on MTV in ’85) created for the first Wrestlemania. By airing this special, The WWE would not only have the potential to create a fantastic build for Wrestlemania not seen since the spectacles first showcase, but they can also crush the competition by using the resources at their disposal as those who are successful in War so often do.
FINISHERS
We leave you with some more of The Pro Wrestling fan’s favorite unofficial drug. Speculation. Jeremy Borash, always acting as the consummate TNA diehard disguised as an employee, recently hinted at a ‘big name’ coming to TNA at The Genesis Pay-Per-View (shouldn’t this have been used on TV to build towards your PPV?). We posted some pretty big names who could be showing up on iMPACT! last week and nailed almost all of them. Now, let’s have some fun and take a shot at who we think the next ‘big name’ in TNA could be.
RVD. RVD has recently blogged and tweeted that he’s been enjoying the new Monday Night Wars at home and wants nothing to do with mainstream pro wrestling, but he has been rumored be headed to TNA for what seems like months now and the light schedule and blind eye towards marijuana usage in TNA would fit his family-man potsmoking lifestyle.
Ken Anderson. Jeremy Borash stated that the individual in question who will debut in TNA would be a ‘big surprise’ to the viewing public. I don’t know how much of a ‘surprise’ a Ken Anderson debut would be in TNA as this jump has been speculated since he was unceremoniously excused from his WWE contract.
Shane McMahon. Anything is possible. TNA has a lot of billing to live up to with a big surprise appearance following all the names we saw on iMPACT! this past week. McMahon has been ho-hum about going to The UFC and nobody knows what Shane-O-Mac’s future holds at this point. Shane McMahon in TNA would be the surprise to end all surprises. But don’t hold your breath.
Brutus ‘The Barber’ Beefcake. The man has followed Hogan to virtually every promotion he has gone to the same way DJ Jazzy Jeff seemed to be built into all of Will Smith’s contracts (I still don’t understand why Jeff couldn’t have at least had a cameo in Independence Day). Upon seeing the build of that masked man who was attacking A.J. Styles, I thought he looked out of shape and sort of clunky. Have you seen Brutus Beffcake lately? Sure this would be a disappointment, but TNA has had a history of announcing a potential earth-shaking surprise only for it to turn out to be something you didn’t want and never agreed to watch in the first place.
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Tags: Commercial Free RAW Rating, Gorilla Press, Hulk Hogan TNA, iMPACT!, iMPACT! Rating January 4th, Monday Night Wars January 4th, Pro wrestling blog, RAW Rating January 4th, TNA, TNA News, WWE, WWE News
