TNA & WWE: Random Wrestling Recap
By John Pitroff
Hogan & Flair confirmed to wrestle: Oh, god. This should be interesting, to say the least. I might pay attention just to see how terrible these two are in the ring. And, it has been announced that they will both be wrestling on the debut edition of Impact on March 8. Attempting to sell your new generation of wrestling by having Flair and Hogan wrestle on the show more than a decade past their prime is like the NFL trying to stay hip while making us watch The Who perform 35-40 years past their heyday. As my good friend, comedian Mr. Goodnight said, “Who Cares?”
Not only will both be wrestling on the show, they will be in the same match! What we have on hand for the new wrestling company of the next generation is Abyss & Hulk Hogan vs. AJ Styles & Ric Flair. There is somewhat of a generation gap here, and it seems to show the confused nature of TNA as a whole. They realize it is important to make new stars, they also know the importance of big name talent, but they don’t know how to put them together properly. Why Hulk Hogan and Abyss are teaming is beyond me. How anyone ever dreamed of Hulk Hogan and Abyss as allies is smoking better stuff than RVD was getting at the time of his run as WWE Champion.
Despite all this negativity, I guess something has worked here for TNA, because whether or not I like to admit it, I will be paying attention to this come March 8th. This booking decision might work. I know one thing, it will work better both Flair and Hogan will be able to work come March 8th.
NXT to follow wannabes around like Tough Enough: We all know how well Tough Enough worked, so why not do it again? Let’s look at this situation with some logic: The only talent to come out of Tough Enough are John Morrison and The Miz. And, both of whom are not known as being “Tough Enough” guys. The announcers never mention their history on that show. Why? Because it is bush league and once a star reaches a certain level, it only makes them look bad when you see where they started. They lose that star power quality when you see them bickering amongst friends inside a house fighting over orange juice while wearing pajamas. I know that never specifically happened, but it was pretty close.
How WWE thinks this type of concept is going to work again is beyond me. How many Tough Enough’s were there? I admit that I had to look it up because I stopped paying attention after the first season, but there ended up being a total of four seasons. The best thing to come of Tough Enough besides John Morrison? Jackie Gayda and Charles Haas’ two children.
There are only two wrestlers still involved in WWE from Tough Enough, one of them who didn’t even win it. WWE also signed a ton of the wrestlers from Tough Enough that didn‘t win. What happened to them? I don’t know, and nor do you. And if you do, you watch too much wrestling and read too much about it online. If you have been following whatever happened to Ryan Reeves, seriously, get a life.
The only thing that Tough Enough did was expose the wrestling business and put WWE in a weird position of admitting where wrestlers come from at the same time of having to ignore all of that once one of the alumni became a “WWE Superstar.” What is going to happen with NXT? Will we see the same things happening to a lot of these already established stars of the independent scene? Will it ruin more careers than it makes, will it put WWE in that same awkward position of admitting, “Yeah, this guy is just some dude, he is nothing really special, but we will totally ignore our own show once he reaches that certain level of and has that aura of a star?
One last thing about this before I move on. Why not just call it NEXT? WWE already has enough trouble with stupid three letter abbreviations. WWF, anyone? Get the “F” out? How about get the “NXT” out? WWE needs to stop trying to be so hip and just go ahead and call this show “NEXT,” before they get themselves into even more legal trouble for stealing someone else’s brand name again.
Destination X perhaps an all X Division PPV: I keep hearing that TNA’s Destination X PPV might be an all X Division show, but I seriously doubt it. With Hulk Hogan at the helm of TNA and his love for big name talent and characters as opposed to great in ring work I doubt we will be seeing an all X Division show. Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff both know better than to have an entire thirty five dollar show with no name, no character talent jumping around the ring as if it is a jungle gym.
I have never been a big fan of the X Division. I know I am an online wrestling writer, and I will most likely be killed for a such a statement if anyone ever finds out where I live, but I live with my statement. The X Division is totally overrated. If you don’t hear from me within a few weeks, I have probably been abducted by some 15 year old TNA mark who is torturing by making me watch TNA X Division spotfest after TNA X Division spotfest. I stopped caring about spotfests in 2001 when I saw it perfected at WrestleMania in the TLC match. And, when I had a better spotfest in my backyard at the same age as my kidnapper with my two friends in the backyard of my dad’s house.
I hate to keep agreeing with Hogan here, who, oddly enough also agrees with Vince McMahon on this situation. But, the fact remains that X Division wrestling, or cruiserweight wrestling (which, mind you, is leaps and bounds above X Division wrestling) doesn’t really sell Pay-Per-Views. So, therefore, attempting to sell and entire PPV with all X Division matches is just insane. I will retract all statements and take a Styles Clash off the top of the Ultimate X structure that always seems to botch if I am wrong about his whole concept.
Please, Hogan & Bischoff, know better than to try to sell the wrestling audience to the idea of an all X Division show, especially if you want us to pay for it. If it is really something you want to try that bad, try it out on free television first. Then, go from there.
Wrestling is about having characters that people care about. Wrestling is about making people care enough about who is in the ring. Anyone can jump around like an idiot for 15 minutes. Hulk Hogan, a man who has never been one to have a lot of wrestling moves, knows that it isn’t always the moves that matter, but the character, the man, that is using the moves. Let’s hope he isn’t so old that he has forgotten what made the idea of Hulk Hogan so amazing in the first place. I’m not totally sure what that idea is, but I know what it is not and that is X Division wrestling.
Steve Austin says he will not come back for a match: Thank you, Steve Austin. I have always respected Stone Cold for his in ring work, his character, and his ability to mold them both into what a wrestler should be all about. His treatment of his wife? Not so much. I totally respect the fact that he does not want to come back for another match. He is one of the few wrestlers that realizes once it is time to hang up the boots, it is time to hang up the boots. That does not mean you hang them up for a few weeks, months, or years and then put them back on. His remark that, “I definitely do not have any interest in delivering anything that would be second-best to what I’ve done before” is what it should be all about. When you can no longer give your best, why give the second rate to the fans?
Austin also remarked that it would never live up to the expectations of fans if himself and Hogan were to ever have a match. I am totally with Austin on this one. It is about time a wrestler was real about his ability once he has retired. It is about time a wrestler put aside the money, the attention, and the fame so that he could come back for one match that will only taint his own legacy. The best thing Austin can do is stay out of the ring and let his work from the past speak for itself, and the best a lot of these other wrestlers can do is learn from someone as amazing a performer as Austin and stay out of the ring once the prime of your career has come and gone.
Jeff Hardy TNA situation: In the epic saga that is the Jeff Hardy TNA situation and my obsession with it, the latest piece of news is that he in fact did not sign a contract the time he appeared on the Monday night Impact special. Apparently, he has a contact waiting for him once he clears up his legal troubles and once he stops being a drug addicted psychopath as opposed to just a regular old psychopath. I have always been a fan of Hardy and think he is the big name that TNA needs to really push themselves to the next level. Read my column on Jeff Hardy and TNA if you really want to know how important he is to that company. It seems as though TNA keeps messing this situation up. Having him debut, attack Homicide, become a painter on the show, never be heard from again, and never be mentioned on TNA television since. It is all just so ridiculous. Let’s hope that this news is true and in fact TNA has him in their back pocket with a contract ready so that he can be what TNA needs him to be.