SlamZilla

The battle lines have been drawn, and the time for talking is over.  The new Monday Night Wars are about to begin.  This is the first week of head to head competition between the WWE and TNA.  So what all is the same, and what is different this time around?  Well, the first and most obvious of course is, this is TNA, not WCW.  Yet oddly enough, it kind of “Feels” like WCW.  I see Hulk Hogan, Eric Bischoff, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, 6-Pac, and the rumour mill has  it that Sting will show up.  And of course we also have Ric Flair.  Then again, It also feels a bit like ECW, with Taz around, and Team 3D, Rhino, and if all goes according to plan, Rob Van Dam.  But this definitely is neither of those two.  It may have some of the old talent, and even some of the attitude, but with fresh talent on the roster, and a different set of people running things behind the scenes, I think this group will succeed, where others have failed.  And what exactly will measure this success?  When WCW went up against the WWE, the goal was simple.  Put them out of business.  That was a bad idea, and they ended up going under in the process.  I think in the case of TNA the goal and the measure of success will be much easier.  Get higher ratings than we ever did on Thursdays, thus making our company look better, and in turn, Spike T.V. will have even more confidence in us, and we can grow, and attract even better talent.  For them, an epic failure would be if their ratings either do not go up, or even worse, they go down.  If that is the case, then eventually they would just get moved back to their original date and time, but still continue to put out a show, and hopefully do better later on.  Now on the WWE side of things, it would be a tad different.  Vince and company have clearly stated over and over that they do not view TNA as a threat.  But a curious thing has been happening lately.  When TNA did its big 3 hour special. They got Bret Hart on the show.  Now on the eve of head to head competition, they book a decent guest host, and “the boss” himself is set to step into the ring with John Cena.  There are also little things, like creating a rip off, of the beautiful people. (Michelle McCool and Layla….aka…Simply Brainless….er…Flawless)   These things sound like the actions of a company that actually is, looking over its shoulder.  But are they a threat?  No.  TNA is not going to put the WWE out of business.  And for all their cheap shots, that isn’t what they are trying to do.  They do want to steal some of the WWE’s audience, thats for sure.  And that in turn would hurt the WWE, and its bottom line.  But not to the point that they would be in fear of shutting down.  It would just be more of an annoyance.  But the thing it will most certainly do, that is what we all hope for, is that it will force the WWE to stop being so damn boring.  The thing we all loved about the Monday Night Wars, was that the competition made each company step up its game, and deliver some of the best shows we have ever seen.  So in all, this new “War” will mean only one thing.  A better product for us, the fans.  And quite frankly, we are long overdo.

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We have all heard the rumours, and RVD himself has all but comfirmed it. It looks as though when Impact goes live on Monday, kicking off the new Monday Night Wars, that Rob Van Dam will make his debut with TNA.  But what does this mean for the company?  Just how big is RVD choosing to be with TNA?  Well, the simple fact that he had the option of going back to his former home, the WWE, and decided not to should just about say it all.  Really though, this shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, considering where RVD gained his popularity.  As one of (if not the biggest) star to come out of the original ECW, he knows all about being a part of a small company, trying to make a name for itself.  That ECW (the non WWE owned version)  took risks, and did things that were amazing, and at times downright scary.  And RVD had it all. The looks, the charisma, and the talent.  So naturally when it went under, the WWE snapped him up.  Then pretty much had no idea how to use him properly.  With the exception of giving him his Title shot at the first One Night Stand PPV against John Cena, which tore the house down.  But after that, he just sort of drifted until parting ways with the company.  Fast forward to today, and he is about to rejoin some of his old ECW running buddies in what can be loosely described as a hybrid of EWC and WCW in some ways.  It will seem like familiar territory, and in my opinion, RVD should fit in like a glove.  This will certainly be a big moment for TNA, and a big loss for the WWE.  I for one am looking forward to Mr Monday Night, locking horns with some of the best new talent in wrestling today.  Let the Wars begin.

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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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Last night I got a chance to watch The Rise And Fall Of WCW, and I would have to say for the most part I enjoyed it.I had heard some discouraging reviews, so I was somewhat prepared for a rather dry and uninteresting story.  Granted, if you weren’t around for the Jim Crockett Promotions days when Wrestling still consisted of minor territories, then I can see how the early part of this story would be boring.  I grew up watching Wrestlers come and go from different areas, and learned about many of the names that would become big stars later through magazines.  So to me, this part of the story was actually more interesting on a personal level.  Of course the second half of the story we know all too well.  Once the NWA became WCW and started to grow, and rival the WWE.  Pretty much the rest of THAT story was covered on the “Monday Night Wars” DVD.  This did add a few new insights and interviews, but there were others that were recycled directly from the MNW’s DVD.  As such, this is a good companion piece to go along with it.  But the real reason for owning this disc is for the matches.  It states that these are 20 of the greatest matches, and that itself is debateable.  But there are some very good ones that are worth seeing, and keeping.  In all I would recomend this DVD to anyone who as a fan of the old WCW and even the NWA.  It wouldn’t be for everybody, but it brought back a lot of good memories for me.

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