Tonight… It’s On!

Now I know there was one mini battle that’s occurred already, but today is day one of the official return of the Monday Night Wars!  TNA from this day forth will be going head to head against WWE’s Monday Night RAW product.  It’s a mix of emotions for me when I think about tomorrow and what the future will hold for the professional wrestling industry.  It could bring about some great competition and story lines, but it could also show the failures in the armor of the respective companies.

When you look at the possibilities of Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, the sky is the limit… or at least that’s what I’ve thought for the longest of times.  That is until Hulk Hogan & Eric Bischoff took over.  Before the new regime came in, I LOVED TNA.  You can ask people I’m friends with who watch wrestling.  I’ve said many of times that I was getting to a point where TNA was slowly becoming my favorite promotion to watch.  I loved watching guys like Petey Williams, Chris Sabin, Alex Shelly, Samoa Joe & AJ Styles fly around the ring and do their thing, not having to be under the watchful eye of a meticulous script or an overbearing producer.  The somewhat reckless style, younger talent, and different look of TNA was what drew me in.  Enter Bischoff and Hogan at the beginning of 2010, and the style changed.  In what used to be a two hour show with eight matches and minimal talking, TNA overnight became a two hour show with four matches and way too much talking!  The key question when it comes to tonight’s head to head match up is will TNA be successful with a similar format to WWE?  My gut reaction is no!  If TNA tries to beat WWE at it’s own game, THEY WILL FAIL!  It’s bad enough that they’re going against RAW on it’s own night, where it’s been for well over a decade, but they’re going into it with mediocre ratings.  TNA has barely held its weight in comparison to WWE’s now defunct ECW product and hasn’t topped WWE’s Friday Night Smackdown in the ratings, what makes them think that they can compete against RAW?

On the flip side, what can the WWE do to keep TNA at bay?  Well, right now WWE’s RAW product feels very stale to me.  If you follow my blog here on Daily DDT, you know I have my moments where I absolutely HATE the RAW show, and there’s some times where I can bare it, but there aren’t many times where I go “Oh my God!  That was amazing!”  With TNA in direct competition to RAW, the WWE will have to keep pushing product in a positive direction.  They cannot let it continue to stay stagnant.  Yes, WWE will probably dominate in the ratings week in and week out, but when it comes down to it, WWE cannot, repeat CANNOT, become complacent again.  They made that mistake once with WCW and they paid for it in the ratings and when it came to their talent roster.  WCW lured a lot of top names away and WWE started to flounder.  Now, in the scheme of things, I don’t think that TNA could steal talent away from WWE, but the one thing I know, and most wrestling fans know, is that Vince McMahon has an ego the size of Texas and has stated multiple times that he does NOT consider TNA Wrestling a threat to him or the WWE.  If he takes Bischoff and Hogan lightly again, he could end up with a fight on his hands.

So what could possibly be in store for tonight?  What can the fans expect?  Well, from what has been floating around on the internet, TNA has leaked a signing of former ECW and WWE superstar, Rob Van Dam.  There are also rumors that Sting will be making his return, as well as the possible return of the “Suicidal, Homicidal, Genocidal, Death-Defying” Sabu.  We also know that there is going to be a tag team match between AJ Styles & Ric Flair against Abyss & Hulk Hogan… ugghhhh!  There is also a video going around on TNA’s Youtube page that is trying to generate buzz about the opening five minutes of Impact!  On the WWE side, we know there’s supposed to be a match between Vince McMahon and John Cena in preparation for the Chairman’s match at WrestleMania with Bret Hart.  Other than that, the only thing really announced for RAW is the fact that it’s hosted by illusionist, Criss Angel.

The key question on everyone’s mind, what will I watch first?  Well, plain and simply, I have a DVR so I’m going to watch them both, but when it comes down to it, I am going to watch Ring of Honor on HDNet first since it starts earlier.  That is real wrestling.  The matches are must see TV, and the story lines happen like they used to, in the ring through competition and on the mic in a short interview.  If I have to choose between RAW and Impact, I think I’m going to watch Impact mainly because I really want to see RVD again in action.  I hope that they use him properly because I would eventually love to see him in a Five-Star match against AJ Styles.

So when the dust settles and the equipment trucks are packed up, who will be the winner?  The fans!  This resurgence of the Monday Night War could absolutely bring out the best in both companies in a best case scenario.  I hope and pray that each company will take this seriously and put out a brilliant product for the fans to consume.  If they do, I can only imagine the heights the business could reach once more.