SlamZilla

The Hogan and Eric Bischoff era is here.    It was with a lot of fanfare that these two men arrived in TNA, with promises of taking the company all the way to the top.  They wanted to move  Impact to Monday nights and challenge RAW.  They did, and they failed.  They also made a lot of other moves that didn’t please the fans, such as bringing in their running buddies.  Scott Hall, Sean Waltman, Sean Morely, and the Nasty Boys.  These men  took up space that was better suited for younger, up and coming talent.  Another thing that seemed to happen was the X-Division, the Womens Division, and even the Tag Team Division, seemed to be put on the back burner.

         There were of course a couple of other minor changes.  Getting rid of the 6 sided ring, in favour of a traditional 4 sided one.  This initially got a negative reaction, but that faded fast.  And of course there is the ramp that goes all the way up to the ring.  That disappeared for the Hardcore Justice Pay Per View, and was still missing during the “Whole F’n’ Show” on Thursday.  We can only hope that those in charge decide to be rid of it for good, as it gives the high flyers much more room to do their thing.

     And that brings us to what is going on in TNA right now.  It seems that somebody in the head office is actually starting to listen to the fans, or at the very least has a better grasp on what we want to see.  Lately we have seen the tag team action heat up, with the best of 5 series between the Motor City Machine Guns, and Beer Money Inc.  Hopefully they can keep that momentum going and start building the sort of division that used to  boast some of the best tag teams around. 

     The Ev2.0 angle looks like it will continue into a feud between that group and Ric Flairs, Fortune.  Not a bad Idea at all considering the popularity of the former ECW wrestlers.

     The removal of the dead weight, i.e. Hall, Waltman, etc…. and the focus being put back on the people that can deliver, such as Jay Lethal, Mr Anderson, Jeff Hardy and A.J. Styles.

    The return of Abys, as “The Monster”  Face it, not one person liked this guy as the ultimate Hulkamaniac.

    But what else can TNA do to continue this forward momentum?   For starters, they need to get the X-Division back in action like they did with the tag team.  Get that Title off of Doug Williams, and put it on somebody that can excite the crowd.  They learned this lesson with Rob Terry, the former “Global Champion”  Now they need to do it with Williams.

     They also need to go on a hiring blitz, and re-boot the Knockouts Division as well.   Getting Awesome Kong back would be a good start, but overall they are very thin in the talent department.  Adding 6 more Knockouts would certainly shake things up.  Either familiar faces such as Micky James, if they could get her, or Maria Kanellis, or even some women from the indies.  Either way, they need to inject some new blood into the mix.

     For now though, I am happy to see that TNA is actually starting to improve.  Slowly but surely they are getting their swagger back, and its a good thing for all us fans.  We can only hope that this trend continues.

By Bruce Shearon

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Sunday March 21′st is the date for TNA’s Destination-X, pay per view.  It has been said that since Hogan and Bischoff have been running things, that a lot of people have been getting the short end of the stick, and that the X-Division isn’t being used to its full potential.  Well now is the time to show off what they’ve got.  Looking over the card we have 3 matches featuring X-Division wrestlers.  First up is a ladder match with Amazing Red, Kazzarian, Brian Kendrick, and Daniels.  This could easily be the best match of the night with these guys in the mix.  Then we have an ultimate-X  tag match between the Motor City Machine Guns, and Generation Me.  Again, another potential show stealer.  Unfortunately though, the last of the X-Division matches is my least favourite.  Doug Williams takes on Shannon Moore.  Why Moore was given a Title shot this fast is beyond me, but I don’t see him winning this one.  Hopefully this match is early, so we can forget about it fast.  Of course the Tag Titles are on the line.  And I  predict that Beer Money will finally get the gold again.  This will also allow Hernandez and Morgan to finally have that feud that we have all seen brewing.  Moving along, we have the Knockouts Title match between Tara and Daffney.  It seems that Tara can never hold on to that belt for very long, so we might just see an upset.  But I doubt it.  Now we come to the Global Championship.  I posted earlier about not really knowing where TNA stands with this Title, but putting it on the card is a step in the right direction towards defining it. Now if Brutus Magnus beats his former partner, Rob Terry, then we will have a Champion who can at least wrestle.  Now rounding out the rest of the card, we have some lousy match with Kevin Nash and Eric Young, facing Scott Hall, and Syxx Pac.  I seriously hope  “The Band” doesn’t win. I’m already tired of their antics.  One match I AM looking forward to, is Mr Anderson and Kurt Angle.  They have done a nice job of building this one up, and both of these guys can go.  This might turn out better than the main event.  Actually, unless something amazing happens, I don’t see Abyss and his magical ring, pulling off a good match with A.J. Styles.  That one may be the main event, but It’s far from the best match on the card.  In all though, this one shapes up rather well.  I for one am looking forward to it.

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So here we are only one week after the fiasco that was the re-creation of the Montreal Screwjob on Impact, and It appears that a little bit of back peddling is going on.  Yes, the incident  was highlighted.  But for the most part It was explained away quickly, and thus we got back to the show.  In a nut shell, Earl Hebbner took the blame and said he was paid off by Ric Flair to do It. Kurt Angle appologizes to Hogan for spitting on him, and Hogan tells Angle if he ever does something like that again, he’ll be fired.   All wrapped up nice and neat in just a few short segments.  Somebody, somehow, must have noticed the reaction to this little bit, and decided to get it done and over with as quickly as possible.  I for one am very glad that this happened, especially since the rest of Impact seemed to be back to normal.  Which typically means, more actual Wrestling.  The start of a new tournament to crown a number one contender for A.J.’s World Title, and a new ranking system in TNA, should make things more interesting for a while.  And straight from the rumour mill, there are rumblings of an all X-Division Pay Per View.  Now that would certainly be something to watch.  And It would show that the new “powers that be” aren’t about to brush the X-Division off.  Now if things can build more along these lines, I think Impact will continue to get better.  But we will just have to wait and see.

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So, the word going around right now is that starting March 1st, Impact will start airing on Monday Nights again.  One will be live, then the next night they will tape an episode for the next week.  Meaning that every other week will be live.  Either way, the move to Mondays looks to be a permanent one, thus starting an all new Monday Night War.  As exciting as this sounds, and as much as I loved the original battle between WWE and WCW, I don’t think this is a good idea.  At least not yet anyway.  As we have seen in just a few short weeks with Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff running the show, things can get mighty strange.  TNA right now is in a transition phase.  They are adding new talent, and trying to streamline their product.  I really think that this is way too soon to be going head to head with the WWE.  Looking back on the original Monday Night War, you have to remember that WCW was in a much different position.   They had been around for quite some time, had many established stars who were big names, and were selling out arena’s.  Of course It wasn’t until the whole NWO thing, that the company really starting taking it to WWE.  But the point is, they were in the right position to do it.   I do remember a time when WCW also used to tape out of Universal Studio’s in Orlando.  They wouldn’t have tried competing with the WWE head to head back then.  And this is very close to where I think TNA is at right now.  They are close to breaking out, and perhaps in time they would be ready for this battle, but not right now.  Now I know that the three hour special did great ratings, but is that the kind of thing they can keep up week after week?  The other part of this, and It’s something that bothered me about the first Monday Night battles too, is why compete at all?  Yes It was exciting, but at the same time It hurt both companies.  WWE by their own admission, almost went under, and eventually WCW did !  So really, I would be perfectly happy to see TNA keep getting better, and growing, and staying on Thursday nights un-opposed.  But for now, Its a matter of playing wait and see.  Hogan and Bischoff have until March to fine tune their strategy, and then we will all get to see the new Wars begin.  Should be interesting.

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So, here we are only a couple of weeks into the new era of  TNA, with Hulk Hogan, and Eric Bischoff at the helm.  They say you only get one chance to make a first impression, but in this case I beg to differ.  These two are going to be judged each and every week for quite some time.  Just using the first two weeks as an example, we have seen some changes, some good, others not so much.  Personally I enjoyed the Genesis Pay Per View.  Not all of it was great, but It did have It’s moments.  The debut of Mr Anderson was certainly a highlight, even if his match wasn’t the greatest.  Seeing a traditional 4 sided ring will take some getting used to as well, and thus far the fans in the impact zone have been very vocal about their dissaproval of it.  I’m sure that will fade in time though.  But what about some of the other changes taking place?  We have new faces popping up.  Scott Hall, Sean Waltman, Orlando Jordan, Brian Kendrick, Sean Morley, The Nasty Boys, Mr Anderson, and Jeff Hardy.  And from the sounds of it, there will be more to come.  Now of course not all of these people are new, or at least not new to TNA.  And this raises the question, what about the original talent?  As nice as it is to be surprised, and see somebody new on the scene, the wrestlers who have been there the longest, and have already established themselves, better not get lost in the shuffle.  It’s a bit too early to tell how this will work out, but I am hoping to see a good mix of the old and the new.  That being said, I did get that old familiar feeling while watching impact.  It felt like I was watching the WWE.  Opening the show with an interview that just seemed to drag on and on, and for a two hour show I don’t recall seeing as much actual wrestling as I’m used too.  Then It happened.  At the very end of Impact. The rematch between A.J Styles and Kurt Angle.  They re-create the infamous Montreal Screwjob.  Seriously, what the hell are they thinking?  We have Angle playing the part of Bret Hart, right down to spitting in Hogans face (Hogan playing the part of Vince McMahon of course)  Up to this point I was giving Hogan and Bischoff credit for shaking things up, and trying to make TNA look, and feel like a bigger and better show.  But this was just plain laughable.  I guess It will get attention, which is the whole point, and I am curious to see where they go with it, but I would rather they come up with something original.  Because THAT is what set TNA appart from the competition in the first place.  So for now, I will say that the job being done thus far has been good, but stunts like that last one will turn people off in a hurry.  But we’ll just have to wait and see.

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