TNA/Hulk Hogan vs. WWE/Bret Hart - Head To Head Live Next Week

Welcome to the “it’s TNA and Hulk Hogan vs. WWE and Bret Hart live next Monday night” edition of The Wrestling List. Hope everyone had a great Christmas!!!! This week, I have recaps of Raw, Smackdown, previews of TNA and WWE’s head to head battle next Monday night, and more.

Don’t forget that next week will be the big wrestling night on Monday night, January 4. TNA and WWE do battle with both shows being live. TNA Impact will begin at 7-10pm central time on Spike TV with a three hour show. Hulk Hogan will be making his first appearance in the Impact Zone. WWE Raw will run from its normal time of 8-10pm. Next week’s guest host will be Bret Hart.

Tonight’s WWE Raw was all about setting up next week although tonight’s episode was much better than recent weeks. There really wasn’t anything on this show that I couldn’t stand. I will say this though. WWE is paying attention to that TNA show next week. Bret Hart and they have two other big matches announced including Kofi vs. Orton and then DX vs. JeriShow. Anyway, let’s get to tonight. Yes, Bret Hart will be the guest host on next week’s Raw. Vince McMahon made his way to the ring to address the “rumors” of Bret coming back to WWE. A video was shown highlighting Bret’s career and then it went into Survivor Series 1997. Vince is still playing the “Bret screwed Bret” story. He talked of how he put the fans first and let Bret come back for the Hall Of Fame. Vince says that he offered a handshake that night and the feeling from Bret wasn’t mutual. He then said that he would put that aside and do it for the fans but then can’t get the words out announcing Bret as guest host. He then says that Bret will not be back and starts to walk out. Shawn Michaels arrives and talks about rivalries being bigger than the business at times and how you can’t deny the fans. Then, he starts talking about Undertaker instead of Bret. Shawn talked of still wanting his rematch for WrestleMania 26. Vince responded by saying that he had learned not to mess with Undertaker and said that Shawn would have to get that from Undertaker. Shawn then turned the talk to saying that he could understand being scared of Undertaker but couldn’t understand why Vince was scared of Bret. Shawn said that maybe Vince needed to close the chapter on one of the few open chapters that he has left in his life. Shawn then promised that “only good things were going to happen”. Vince said that he wasn’t afraid of anyone but did take note of what Shawn had just said. Shawn also added that he’d be more than happy to see Bret one more time. Vince then made the announcement that Bret will be the guest host next week. The main event battle between John Cena and Sheamus continued throughout the night. Cena opened the show getting a table from under the ring and calling out Sheamus for their match right then. Cena wanted a tables match. Sheamus arrived and said that he had nothing to prove to Cena cause he had won a tables match. He wanted a straight up match for later. Sheamus went to walk away. Cena leaped over the table off of the turnbuckle in the corner which looked mighty impressive. He picked up Sheamus and hit the adjustment through the table. Later, Cena was being interviewed and was attacked by Sheamus. That made them even on attacks. The match closed the show and you knew it was going to be a strange finish just by looking at the clock. Cena goes to hit the adjustment and Sheamus hangs on to the rope. Then, as Cena pulls him away, Sheamus grabs the referee and pulls him down. The ref rings the bell for the DQ and Sheamus saves his title. Sheamus went to leave and Cena ran down the aisle. Cena throws him back in the ring but catches a foot from Sheamus as he gets back in the ring. Sheamus follows with another one and then stands with his foot on Cena’s throat just before the show ends. Chris Jericho was outside picketing the event with a petition wanting signatures to get back on Raw. It was stuff straight out of his WCW days. Loved it. Big Show walks out there at one point saying that they had a great relationship and team but that it was over and time to move on. One was on Raw and the other was on Smackdown and long distance relationships don’t work. This was funny stuff. Show gives Jericho an envelope. We later find out that it was event tickets in the envelope. DX was set to take on Big Show and a partner of his choosing. His partner, Chavo Guerrero. Ok, didn’t expect that one. Jericho arrives and watches from the front row looking very jealous. The finish has Shawn taking Show out of the ring. Hornswoggle arrives and tries to hit a pedigree on Chavo. He gets it countered but Triple H lands it to win the match. Jericho jumps over the rail furious over the loss. He gets up on the apron and takes a superkick from Shawn. Triple H gets on the mic and says how tired he is of Jericho’s antics saying that he’ll give him one more chance. A rematch is set for next week between DX and JeriShow for the tag team titles and Jericho is off Raw for sure this time if they lose. Orton was shown backstage with Legacy talking about breaking up the group. He talked of how they had been beaten by three guys that had never teamed before last week. Two matches were made with Dibiase and Rhodes in singles competition. To remain in Legacy, they had to win their matches. Dibiase faced off with Bourne. It looked like Dibiase was set to put Bourne into the turnbuckle but misjudged where he was. Dibiase then hit dreamstreet for the win. Orton watched these matches from ringside. Next, Rhodes took on Mark Henry. Henry landed his move over the ropes and then went to the floor hobbling. They played up that Henry was hurt and Rhodes took advantage taking out his knee. Rhodes picks up the win. Orton looked pleased with the wins. The Miz took on Kofi Kingston. Timbaland was tonight’s guest host and he made the decision to have two matches between them if Kofi won the first one. The second would be for the US title. Kofi won the first match when Miz jumped off of the top rope into the trouble in paradise kick. The second match ended when Kofi hit the kick again but was pulled from the ring by Randy Orton. Orton put him into the post and hit the RKO. Orton made the challenge for next week’s Raw saying that he was going to land a kick on Kofi. Maryse defeated Kelly Kelly following a DDT and then bragged on herself to Melina saying that she was coming to get the championship.

Other notes from Raw. How awesome was it for retro’s sake to see Chris Jericho holding a “conspiracy victim” sign again??!! When he was out there, I was thinking how it reminded me of that WCW storyline and had that sign in mind. Then, minutes later there is he is holding the sign. LOL. I loved it. Jericho in the front row was great. Did you hear the fan yell at him "Jericho, down in front" when he stood up? That was funny. Do you think that WWE would do Shawn vs. Bret at WrestleMania 26? There were little subtle hints tonight that made me wonder. Did you see the guy in the front row with the old school 1988 Bret Hart shirt on? Wow, that brought back memories. Vince McMahon talked about how much that we are all enjoying his ingenious idea of the guest host every week. Two points. Are we really enjoying it? The other point, wasn’t Donald Trump the storyline reason why we’re here? Would it surprise you that he had forgotten that? LOL. I can’t be the only one that gets a laugh out of Vince getting the “what” treatment. How stiff was that knee from Dibiase to Bourne??!! Wow. I’m still wondering if that finish went wrong as far as the setup into dreamstreet. Ok, I laughed at Hornswoggle and Triple H playing bowling with Jillian. If you missed it, Triple H duct taped him to a skateboard and rolled him across the hall into a singing Jillian which got approval from Timbaland.

Last Friday’s episode of Smackdown was a Christmas night episode. The main event featured DX taking on The Hart Dynasty. Earlier in the night, Jericho talked to The Hart Dynasty and said how they needed to make an impact adding that they hadn’t earned anything yet such as a tag team title match. DX appeared on the screen mocking JeriShow and also the Harts. The Harts then made their impact by hitting their finisher on Jericho. The match later took place later and the Hart Dynasty hit their finisher on Triple H. Shawn broke up the count. Smith’s running powerslam was countered when Triple H sent Smith running into a superkick from Shawn from the corner. Triple H then hit the pedigree for the win. After the match, Hornswoggle came out and he and DX all did a Christmas celebration. The Undertaker took on Rey Mysterio for the world title. After Undertaker hit a chokeslam on Rey, Batista did a run in and did battle with Taker. The two went back and forth. Rey then nailed Taker with a dropkick to the back followed by a 619. As Rey jumped off the top, he was caught in a choke. Batista then hit a spear on Taker. Batista then went for Rey and fell into the ropes. 619 and springboard to Batista and Rey took off from the ring. The team of R Truth, Matt Hardy, John Morrison, and Finlay defeated the team of CM Punk, Luke Gallows, Drew McIntyre, and Dolph Ziggler when Morrison pinned Ziggler with the starship pain. Mickie James and Maria teamed up against Beth Phoenix and Layla. Michelle McCool was doing commentary during the match. Mickie was visibilly upset throughout the match wanting to get at Michelle and Layla. Mickie got the hot tag and was hammering on her opponents. Mickie nailed a spin kick on Layla to win the match and pointed right at Michelle. Mickie rolled out and went after Michelle. Beth nailed Mickie from behind and fired her into the announce table. Michelle talked trash on the way out as Beth looked to be sizing up Michelle. Cryme Tyme won a squash match and also handed out presents to the crowd. There were some Christmas party segments with Teddy Long and Vickie Guerrero that were funny. They also involved Hornswoggle.

TNA will air this Thursday night on Spike TV for New Year’s Eve. Four hour special that will run from 6-10pm central time. Featured on the show will be a one night Knockouts tournament to determine the number one contender for the championship. Taylor Wilde and Sarita, the Knockouts tag team champions, will also be in action. TNA will also air the top PPV matches of 2009 which was voted on by the fans.

I haven’t remembered to do this this month so here we go. The fan voting on WWE Classics On Demand for the month of January is between Starrcade 1987, WWF In Your House: D-Generation X, and WWE SummerSlam 2005. For me, this is a clear winner on which I would pick of the three. However, I’ll just talk about each one. Starrcade 1987 had the event moving up to the north into Chicago. The main event featured the Ric Flair vs. Ronnie Garvin title match, a Road Warriors vs. Anderson/Blanchard match for the tag team titles, and Dusty Rhodes facing off with Lex Luger for the US title. This show also has the scaffold match between the Midnight Express and The Rock N’ Roll Express. Moving on to IYH: D-Generation X. This is one of the most played PPV events on the Classics On Demand. I think this airs every year so I’m really tired of it. The show is from December 1997 and had a main event of Shawn Michaels defending against Ken Shamrock. There is also the Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. The Rock Intercontinental championship match which is one of the first in their great rivalry. Those are the two most memorable matches off of this event. WWE SummerSlam 2005 was really a mix of both worlds. The main event was Hulk Hogan taking on Shawn Michaels in what was an epic encounter in history. Really good match between the two. We have the good with that but then let’s get to the bad. This was the first match between Edge and Matt Hardy in their big feud that was set up off of personal issues between the two. I’ll never forget the reaction of all us to the quick finish of this match. WWE blew this match big time. This feud was the hottest thing going at the time and people were talking about it all summer. Then, they put them in the ring and WWE booked a really lousy quick match that pretty much stopped the buzz for that feud. The show also featured a fun John Cena vs. Chris Jericho match. Yeah, SummerSlam was a good show for the most part but my vote goes to Starrcade 1987 as an old school fan. It was the better of the three shows in my opinion. That is where my votes goes.

So, now we wait. Next Monday will be big. The biggest night in wrestling in a very long time. We’ll have head to head live competition against each other. TNA brings their show to Monday night for a three hour show beginning at 7pm central time and running until 10pm on Spike TV. Hulk Hogan will make his debut for TNA and I would not expect to see Hogan until after 8pm. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see him right at 8pm. I mean this is the guy that used to sit in the locker room in WCW and watch the monitor to see what WWE was doing and be strategic on when to send out the nWo. I fully expect to see some surprises as well including debuts. I just hope that TNA starts announcing matches this Thursday. They need to get some matches out there. There have been teases of AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe which would be great but we’ll see. TNA needs to build a big show and really showcase their talent and not do anything dumb. I do not expect this show to do a big rating. Like I’ve said, I think if the show even did a 1.5-2.0, that would be a win. I think if they bring their whole audience over from Thursday night, that is a win. The fact that TNA has gotten the wrestling world talking is a win. WWE obviously has TNA on their radar with this special based on the fact that they have Bret Hart announced and also two other big matches. Bret Hart will return to WWE after 12 years not including the Hall Of Fame appearance to guest host Raw. DX will face JeriShow in a rematch. Kofi Kingston will also have a rematch with Randy Orton. This is going to be fun!! Make your plans to watch, record, or whatever you have to do. I will be going old school Wrestling List with the format next week. If you were a reader of the List back in the era of the Monday Night Wars, the format will look familiar.

Talk to you soon. Take care and God bless!!