What a night!! That is all that can be said. If you didn’t tune into the Monday Night battle tonight between TNA and WWE, you really missed out. Wrestling was really fun again. Remember how fun that it used to be? Well, tonight brought back those memories of just how fun it used to be to have competition. Tonight was fun. I had chats going, text messages coming in, and it was clear just how many people had tuned in tonight. This was a very fun night and I had a blast watching it. I’ve taken about six pages of notes on both shows so this is how I’ll recap it. I’m going to cover each show from beginning to end as it happened. Then, I’ll go into some random thoughts and then go into my overall feelings on each show. How did I watch the shows? Well, just like always. I never channel flipped back in the day and I didn’t tonight. I watch one straight through and then the other. I stayed with TNA Impact through its duration. Then, I watched Raw. There were rumors and news coming out all day about who was backstage at Impact but I avoided all of it. I wanted no spoilers on this amazing and unpredictable night of wrestling. Tonight, we had debuts, returns, Hulk Hogan debuting for TNA, and the chills of seeing Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart in the same ring for the first time since 1997. Ok, I should also point out that it is 1am and I am not going to proofread this beast of a List. LOL. If there are any misspellings or anything, I apologize.
Let’s start with TNA Impact. Impact kicked off at 7pm. Hot crowd in Orlando at the Impact Zone. Many matches were promoted. The show opened with the steel asylum match for the X-Division title. In the match were the Motor City Machineguns, Jay Lethal, Consequences Creed, Suicide, and The Amazing Red. Hot opener with a lot of action. The way to win the match was to climb out through the hole in the top of the cage. The finish had Homicide getting a baton and then started nailing everyone with it. The bell was rang and the match was declared a no contest. Homicide went to climb out as everyone went after him. The fans were going nuts over the finish furious with it and they were having to drop the audio on one word of what they thought of it. Then, some familiar music hit. I found it funny that not many reacted or knew the music. Shot number one fired at WWE. It’s Jeff Hardy’s music. Jeff arrives through the crowd. He jumps over the rail and Homicide goes after him. Hardy takes out Homicide nailing him with a chair on the ramp and also nailing a twist of fate. Hardy climbs to the top of the cage sitting atop looking at the fans. Hulk Hogan’s limo is shown on its way to the building. Kevin Nash is interviewed by Christy Hemme. Nash says that he got a phone call from Hogan that he was on his way and that he wasn’t alone. He talked about how Hogan is always with the number one promotion and how this will be a great thing for him all around. His friend will be there and it will be more money for him. Tara defends the Knockouts title against ODB. ODB ends up winning the title after a handful of tights. After the match, Tara laid out ODB with the widow’s peak. Backstage, a limousine arrives and shot two at WWE is fired. Ric Flair gets out of it. Later, Mike Tenay says that Flair is in AJ Styles’ locker room. We are shown footage of Mick Foley arriving at the venue but being denied access. He is barred from the building but Foley promises to not disrupt things with Hogan saying he just wants to see it live. Bobby Lashley and Kristal arrive in the ring. Kristal announces that Lashley has an announcement. He got a big babyface reaction from the crowd and then it turned to a heel reaction quickly. Kristal makes the announcement for him that he is going to pursue MMA and wants his TNA release criticizing wrestling. The reason given is that he has better things to do. Backstage, we see The Beautiful People playing poker. Also backstage, we see Scott Hall and Sean Waltman being denied access into the building. They started to choke the security staff. We see Hogan’s limo arrive but then a second limo arrives next to it. Someone jumps out of it and then gets into the Hogan limo. After the commercial, we see that Hall and Waltman have gotten into the building and are in the crowd. To no surprise, Hulk Hogan walks out at 7:55pm. 5 minutes before Raw goes on the air. It reminded me of the WCW days. Big reaction for Hogan and he arrives in black along with the black beard. Hogan gets in the ring and hypes up TNA and how excited that he is to be there. Hall and Waltman try to get over the barricade but are stopped by security. Hogan sees this going on and gets security to back off. They make their way into the ring. Hall and Waltman talk about how they had to be there and how they were there ready to make the big money once again. Hogan then said how that wasn’t how things were going to be. Things were different now and that it was time to grow up and make things right for the business. Hall and Waltman weren’t happy with this at all saying that things were going to change with or without Hogan. Kevin Nash arrives and says to let Hogan have his role. Hogan says that it isn’t a role but is instead what he promised Dixie Carter, change. Nash says that sure is different from the phone call conversations that he had had with Hogan. Nash asked when Hogan went so corporate? This brings out Eric Bischoff as things were starting to get testy between the sides. Bischoff says that communication is the new style of how to do things learning from the past. Bischoff adds that everyone is going to have to earn their position in the company. Nash says he understands that and says they’ll see Bischoff later. That leaves Hogan and Bischoff in the ring. They talk of how everyone is under a microscope and how it is time to take the company to the top. Dixie Carter was shown at ringside during this. Bischoff asks for the format of the show from someone in the back and then tears it up. He hands out a new format and says changes begin now. As they finish up, the camera points up and we see Sting up in the rafters. Another match as the Knockouts tag team titles are defended with Taylor Wilde and Sarita defending against Awesome Kong and Hamada. This was a really fun match. Oh, and during this match, we see that the Machineguns have been knocked out backstage. The finish of the match has Wilde being put into the post and knocked out by Hamada. Kong lifts up Sarita in a powerbomb position. Hamada jumps off with a dropkick to Sarita as Kong lands it in a powerbomb. Kong and Hamada get the win and are the new champions. Back to the poker game and in walks Val Venis. He joins in saying that he is taking the game to the next level. Yeah, it was a strip poker game. Yeah, whatever to these segments. Back to Mick Foley trying to get into the building. Security won’t let him in and he says that he has another plan. Then, The Nasty Boys try to get in and won’t be let in either. Next, we get a squash match with Matt Morgan and Hernandez defeating Raven and Dr. Stevie when Stevie just gets destroyed and pinned by Morgan. Christy interviews the Pope backstage and he is interrupted by Orlando Jordan who says that he was invited by Hogan to the show. The Pope competes next against Desmond Wolfe and gets the win!!?? Pope wins with a small package. We then see two things. Jarrett arrives in the building. Rhino is shown knocked out backstage. AJ Styles is interviewed and says he is excited to see what is next from Hogan. Bischoff walks in and says that the match with AJ and Angle won’t be happening at the PPV but will instead happen tonight on Impact. Jeff Jarrett does a promo in the ring talking of the company’s history and how he built it. He talks of the critics and how no one gave them a chance. He says that yet here he is standing in a TNA ring on Monday night and how the best was yet to come. Hogan then appears on the screen saying that he was tired of hearing Jarrett say “I” to everything. Hogan says that Jarrett ran the company into the ground quickly and that Dixie Carter was the one that resurrected the company. Hogan points out that he is now Dixie’s business partner. He tells Jarrett to get ready to compete in the future and earn his spot as well and that it was time for the young guys to get a shot. Daniels is interviewed but it is stopped after Jeremy Borash is shown panicked on the phone. It’s from Mick Foley and he is trying to get into the building. Borash goes to stop him. Jeff Hardy is shown backstage painting and hanging out with Shannon Moore. Moore says that it is time for them to go meet with “the big man”. Next is Samoa Joe taking on Abyss. Really solid match. The finish has Abyss shoving the ref away which gives Joe an opening to nail Abyss with a chair without the ref seeing it. Joe then hooks the choke for the tap out win. Kristal is shown backstage talking to Bischoff as she demands a meeting with Hogan over Lashley wanting out of his contract. Beer Money is shown knocked out backstage. Cut to the door again and we see the Nastys still trying to get into the building. Their buddy and Hogan’s buddy, Bubba The Love Sponge shows up to try and help them get in. He distracts the door guy and sneaks them in behind him. Jeff Hardy and Shannon Moore are shown leaving the building with envelopes which I assume was contracts. Girls swarm Hardy and he gives them the painting that he had done. The Nasty Boys are shown destroying Team 3D’s locker room including spray painting their pics. Team 3D is in Japan which is why they aren’t at the show. Main event time as AJ Styles defends the TNA title against Kurt Angle. What a match that this is!! First, the masked man attacked AJ near the beginning of the match. Angle then threw the guy out of the ring cause Angle wanted his shot at the gold. He helped AJ up so they could get the match going again. Lots of counters and reversals. Angle kept kicking out of repeated Styles Clash finishers. He also kicked out of a 450. Styles continues to counter the anklelock. He also kicks out of repeated Angle slams including one off of the top rope. Great fan chants during this one including “this is wrestling” and “who needs Bret?” Ric Flair walks out on the stage near the end of the match. Before the finish, he walks to the back. AJ hits the Styles Clash followed by the 450 to get the win. The two embrace after the match. Hogan arrives on the stage saying how the two of them were the two best wrestlers in the world. Hogan’s words are cut short when someone whispers something in his ear. It was about Foley getting into the building. Foley is shown interrupting the poker game and gets sent down to Hogan’s office. Instead of seeing Hogan, Foley runs into Bischoff. Foley said that he had always said that there was no way that he’d ever work for Bischoff again. So, he was going to get fired by punching Bischoff. Foley is attacked by Nash, Hall, and Waltman. Hogan walks in and pauses the action. Not sure if he was wanting it stopped or what and the show goes off of the air.
Other notes from Impact. Spike TV ran a countdown on the screen throughout the day in the corner promoting Hulk Hogan’s debut for TNA. TNA was the number one trending topic on Twitter for a while tonight. After they announced it on TV, I did check and sure enough there it was. I thought that was a very cool moment and a sign that people were watching. I called all along that we would not see Hogan until 8pm. Hogan walked out at 7:55 pm. I laughed at the whole Lashley thing cause he had this announcement but yet Kristal was making it for him. My thought was ok, that has to be a heel move but he was getting the face reaction. About that time, the fans turned on him. I just thought that was bizarre to have a babyface doing that sort of thing but it all made sense in the end. I’m hoping that Bubba The Love Sponge isn’t going to be taking over for Jeremy Borash on interviews. The Nastys trying to get it was pretty funny and, come on, you knew we were going to see them as close as Knobbs is to Hogan. Interesting that Hogan came out to the old nWo mix. Let me fill you in on this. WCW released a CD over ten years ago that was a nWo CD with different mixes of the song. That was one of the versions on it and I assume that Jimmy Hart owns it if they’re using it. Jimmy owns a lot of that music. I really was surprised at just how few of people in the Impact Zone knew that Jeff Hardy music. Wow, you book a lame finish with that steel asylum match and the fans let you know about it. At least Hardy’s arrival was a nice payoff. I liked Lethal’s really classic Savage look with the red tights and yellow boots with the white stars.
Overall thoughts. Very happy with the show. Lots of fun and the first hour was awesome with all the surprises. It just gave you this feeling right off the bat that this was going to be an unpredictable night and they were ready to make some noise. AJ and Angle was awesome!!! Incredible match. Did I like everything on this show? No. There were some finishes that had me annoyed. When the show opened with the no contest in the cage, I thought uh oh. Good match and lousy finish. That has been a problem with the company so that had me a bit concerned. The whole Hogan, Hall, Nash, Waltman, Bischoff thing is interesting and I’m into that. The squash on Raven and Stevie was annoying to me. What was up with Wolfe losing to the Pope? That baffled me and concerned me a bit. Jeff Hardy and Ric Flair’s arrival to TNA was great. Loved the knockouts matches especially the tag match. Abyss and Joe had a really fun match too.
WWE Raw opened right up with Bret Hart being introduced to the crowd. Big ovation for Bret. Bret talks of how, yep, things are a little frozen now with him back there. Bret says that Vince has always find a way to stop his return. He thanks the fans for not forgetting him and says he owes everything to them. He goes on to talk about how he won the 1993 King Of The Ring in that building and mentioned how Jerry Lawler attacked him afterwards. He says hi to Lawler which was funny. Bret then says that he has 12 years to get off of his chest and calls out Shawn Michaels. Shawn arrives and seeing the two of them face to face was just wild. Talk turns to burying the hatchet and moving on. Shawn said that Bret deserved what happened in Montreal because he disrespected the business and disrespected Shawn. Shawn says that, yes, he was in on it while Bret adds that he rests his case. Shawn says there is a part of him that has no regrets but also adds that he has changed. Shawn added that he always respected Bret but there were times when he couldn’t stand the sight of him. Shans says that when he thinks of Bret, he doesn’t think of Montreal but instead thinks of Anaheim and WrestleMania 12 cause the two of them did what people thought they couldn’t do with the ironman match. Shawn does say that he is ready to move on and asks Bret if he is ready too? Bret says that Shawn is right and it is time to move on and that their careers shouldn’t be remembered just for that moment. Bret offers a handshake and Shawn accepts it. Shawn goes to walk out but then pauses. Shawn walks back and the two hug in the ring. Shawn leaves but then Bret calls out Vince McMahon. No Vince. After the commercial break, Josh Mathews talks to Vince and Vince says that he was in a meeting and that was why he didn’t respond. Vince adds that he knew nothing of what had just happened but wasn’t going to be called out. The news is told of Melina’s injury and there will be a tournament to crown a new Divas champion. First round match is held with Maryse taking on Brie Bella. She is accompanied by her sister and they do the switch in the ring. Maryse sees the switch happen and it doesn’t make a difference as Maryse wins with a DDT. Miz arrives and talks to Maryse about how he might just call her back if she wins the title. Miz does commentary on a fatal four way match to detemine his number one contender. MVP is able to defeat Mark Henry, Jack Swagger, and Carlito. MVP faces off with Miz after the match. Jericho is shown trying to work a deal with Bret Hart. Jericho says that Bret can get his ultimate revenge by ringing the bell early as a special ref when Jericho hooks the walls on Shawn. Bret says that he is over it all and not into it. Bret points out that Jericho was the one that screamed the loudest in the dungeon years ago. DX takes on JeriShow for the tag team titles. Hornswoggle interferes and Jericho takes him down. The pedigree is countered into the walls by Jericho. Jericho turns to sit down on it and gets superkicked. Triple H gets the pin and Jericho is gone from Raw once again. Randy Orton goes to Vince McMahon trying to get a deal done. Vince says that he isn’t doing a deal with Orton as he sees as what Orton did to him as worse than what Bret did. Orton’s deal was that he would kick Bret later on and he wanted a number 30 entry into the Rumble. Vince wanted nothing to do with it. Orton runs into Legacy backstage where they tell him that he has to win against Kofi tonight or they’re kicking him out of the group like he did to them last week. Sheamus goes to the ring and calls for a new challenger. He calls out anyone and Evan Bourne accepts it. Sheamus says that if Bourne can beat him tonight, he’ll give him a title match at the Rumble. Sheamus is able to kick out of the airbourne after Bourne nails it almost a minute in. Sheamus wins with the celtic cross. Next is Orton taking on Kofi. Kofi’s trouble in paradise kick is blocked by Orton as he puts his arms up. Orton then nails the RKO for the win. Legacy watched sitting at ringside and didn’t look thrilled that Orton had won. Vince McMahon arrives in the final segment saying that he doesn’t have to call Bret out since Shawn and Bret had buried the hatchet. Vince said that he had too. He goes into promoting next week’s guest host, Mike Tyson. However, Bret walks out to the ring and takes his jacket off. Vince says that he isn’t there to provoke Bret but does say that Bret did Montreal to himself. He says that he never forgot about getting spit on and getting punched in the locker room or the disrespect at the Hall Of Fame. Vince adds that he’s just being honest and wants two words from him, I’m sorry. Bret says that he has two words for him but they aren’t I’m sorry. Bret says that he is halfway to closure and is ready for the other half. Vince said that he thought he’d want to kick Bret in the guts when he came face to face with him but that he didn’t. He puts over Bret’s career and how great that he was. Really talks Bret up big. Vince offers a handshake and Bret accepts it. Vince then raises Bret’s arm to the fans. After the last one, Vince kicks Bret low and leaves Bret laying in the ring. Vince walks off and then Bret gets up looking at Vince from the ring. The show then goes off the air.
Other notes from Raw. Where was John Cena tonight? Well, he was previously booked to appear at the Fiesta Bowl flipping the coin for the game. You have to think that they regretted that. It was nice to see WWE pay tribute to Dr. Death Steve Williams. Well deserved. Yes, that new Bret Hart shirt is available at WWE Shop if you’re wanting it. Ok, I did laugh at the DX segment backstage with Hornswoggle. Shawn asking Triple H why he treats Hornswoggle like a kid was hilarious especially pointing out that “he has a beard!!”. I laughed out loud at that line!! Wow, Carlito and Mark Henry get no entrances at all. Then, when they come back from commercial, Henry is nowhere to be seen. Did I miss this SOS move from Kofi? Cole was calling it like it was a move that he has been doing. After the show, the roster came out and paid tribute to Bret including carrying him around the ring. WWE.com has already posted footage of it which you can check out at this link: http://www.wwe.com/content/media/video/vms/raw/2010/january1-7/13169622
Overall thoughts. I thought this was a solid show for the most part. It didn’t have as much fireworks as I thought it would. I really expected more out of Shawn and Bret. I honestly didn’t expect the whole truce thing especially so early. When the truce happened so early, I thought we’d see Shawn in the final segment. They definitely left the ending with Bret and Vince as a possibility for the future. The rest of the show was just business as usual. I will say that after watching Impact and how adrenaline packed and fast paced that it was, it was hard to get back to a slower pace with Raw.
How much reaction was this Monday night battle getting online? I’ve mentioned about TNA being the top trending topic on Twitter. Well, at 8:20pm, I looked again. TNA, Bret Hart, and Jeff Hardy were all top ten trending topics. So, you have three wrestling topics in the top ten on Twitter. Also, WWE was a trending topic in the last hour of Raw as well but TNA had that top spot all night of wrestling topics.
The strategy between TNA and WWE was fun. Here comes Hogan at 7:55pm and out comes Bret Hart right at the beginning of Raw. TNA planned things out well making a couple of big surprises known with Hardy and Flair in that first unopposed hour. Then, you close with a great AJ and Angle match for the last 30 minutes of the show.
Show Of The Night: Definitely giving this to TNA Impact.
Match Of The Night: AJ Styles vs. Kurt Angle on Impact. Great match!!
Line Of The Night: “He has a beard”. Shawn Michaels to Triple H about talking to Hornswoggle like he is a kid.
Sign Of The Night: On Impact: “Hey Vince, This Means War”. Yeah, the signs just aren’t as good as they used to be.
Moment Of The Night: Seeing Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart standing in the same ring together for the first time since Montreal in 1997.
Melina suffered a major injury at a house show in New Hampshire. She tore her ACL which will keep her out of action for a very long while. What a hit that is to the women’s division. One of the few really good in ring performers that WWE has in that division.
Paul Heyman has written an excellent blog on his preview thoughts of tonight’s head to head matchup of WWE and TNA.
http://heymanhustle.craveonline.com/articles/news/37888-paul-heyman-the-real-story-behindqthe-monday-night-war-2010q
A really classy sendoff for Tommy Dreamer last week on ECW. Dreamer has finished up with the company after asking to be let go. I saw the spoilers for ECW and that Dreamer was going to be getting a tribute and tuned in. I watched his last match with Zack Ryder with the storyline being that if Ryder won, Dreamer would leave ECW forever. So, Dreamer did the job and put over Ryder. Dreamer then got on the mic afterwards and spoke to the crowd about the second time that he had ever seen WWF wrestling was in that building and quoted the exact seats that he was in. He added that there was a Piper’s Pit on that show. He talked about how much the letters ECW meant to him and how the fans were family to him. He talked of the respect that he had for everyone backstage. Tommy finished up and then took off the ECW shirt. He kissed the logo and laid it down on the mat. Such an incredible moment and it really was that final ECW moment. The last of the ECW originals leaves and he knew that it was the end of an era for him. The letters that he fought so hard for all these years coming to a close. It was a very emotional speech from Tommy and his wife, Beulah McGuillicutty, and two little girls were in the front row. He went and hugged them. Tommy then took his two girls back up the ramp with him. Just an emotional moment to watch and if you’re an old school ECW fan like myself, it really was this amazing finale moment to see. ECW never has been what it could have been since being resurrected by WWE. The old ECW has been gone for a long time now. However, this moment brought it all back and Dreamer was able to say a great tearful farewell to something that has meant so much to him and so many people. It really was the feeling of that this was the last ECW moment that had any ties to what it was. Thank you Tommy. This isn’t the last of Tommy Dreamer though. I just know that we’re going to see him again soon and he’ll be in a locker room full of his ECW friends. It doesn’t take a genius to see where I’m going with that. I’d be surprised if Dreamer didn’t end up in TNA. If it does happen, I just hope that TNA uses him to his ability. If you’ve been a Dreamer and ECW fan like me back in the day, you knew what Dreamer was capable of and is still capable of. WWE just never used that. Why? I don’t know. We could go over the list of ECW original names that WWE did not use decently and we’ll all be confused over what they were thinking. Tommy Dreamer bled ECW. That guy loved that company and fought for it all the way. Even over the resurrection of it by WWE, you would often see comments online from Dreamer that voiced his frustration over what it had turned out to be. When you think of ECW, Dreamer is going to be one of the first names that you think of. He gave so much to making the company happen and seeing it progress. Thank you Tommy for all the incredible ECW memories!!
Closing out the List this week is the sad news to talk about as Dr. Death Steve Williams passed away. Williams had recently had his cancer come back on him after beating it years ago. He had an awful, awful battle with it. You talk about a guy that put up an incredible fight against it. Williams was 49.
That is it for this week. What a fun night to be a wrestling fan again. Hope you all enjoyed it!! I know that I did. Have a great week!! Take care and God bless!!
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