Professional Wrestling's Big Day - A Colossal Disappointment
Eric E. Jenkins
January 08, 2010
Well, a few days have passed, and I am tired of hearing and reading all of the "everything wrestling is great" marks talk about how good TNA and WWE acquitted themselves on January 4th. In all honesty, neither group put their best foot forward, and it was absolutely pathetic. So much was expected but so little was delivered.
TNA had the opportunity to show that they were the anti-WWE and that they had the best roster of talent in the business. It had always been a fact that anyone who came into TNA was someone who could perform in the ring, and that is still the case. That being so, someone explain to me how Christopher Daniels could not only not get any ring time, but have his only screen time cut short so that Jeremy Borash could tell Christy Hemme that Mick Foley was on his phone, and trying to get JB to let him into the building, and as bad as that was, that was not even the worst part of the night.
During TNA´s three-hour show, The Nasty Boys got more camera time than Desmond Wolfe, who just came out of a tremendous, albeit short, feud with Kurt Angle. Bubba the Love Sponge was on screen more than Samoa Joe, Abyss, Hernandez and Matt Morgan were combined, and these are the young guys that Hogan keeps talking about. There were good matchups, but 3-5 minute matches do not truly showcase what the federation is about, and how can they book an X-Division match where Homicide is supposed to climb out of a cage without being absolutely sure that he could accomplish it? Just because he said that he could do it, it would seem to make since that someone in management would have seen him do it so that there would be confidence in his ability or at least a rewrite of the finish that would still have began the feud with Hardy.
Most disappointing of all was the fact that whoever is in charge, despite all of the preaching about the young guys, TNA and the powers-that-be expect us to care about the appearance of Orlando Jordan, Sean Morley, The Nasty Boys and, dare-I-say, The Band. Everyone wants to be careful not to compare this to the surge that WCW made, but when the Hall & Nash and The Nasty Boys already have pay-per-view matches and Samoa Joe, Daniels, The Motor City Machine Guns, Amazing Red, Hernandez and Matt Morgan do not, then we ignored the past, so we are doomed to repeat it.
With WWE, January 4 was business as usual. What that means is that they put on the same matches with the same guys, showed the same sketches, and made it appear that Vince McMahon is the only draw in the organization. With the knowledge that TNA was putting on two women´s matches, common sense would have dictated that WWE showcase the best workers in their women´s division, and not just the prettiest. Melina is hurt, but Gail Kim, Beth Phoenix and Mickie James were available and would have given fans a reason to consider watching the segment instead of giving the fans Maryse versus Brie Bella, two women not known for their wrestling ability. However, knowing that the TNA women are much better performers, it was not going to happen.
Bret Hart & HBK was a tender moment, but after so many years, nobody cared anymore. Sure, there were a ton of fans cheering the union, but that moment was going to happen at some legends event eventually anyway. Bret and Vince was sadly predictable, because Vince likes to put himself over on anyone that he can, and Bret was, as Taz would say, just another victim. In terms of great matches, WWE beat TNA 2-1 with the tag title match and Randy Orton against Kofi Kingston, but these feuds have been done to death, and it is good to finally see them end. The only truly compelling match that TNA offered was AJ Styles against Kurt Angle, but with a clean win by Styles, how appealing now is the "rematch" at the PPV?
All week long, people have been lauding both federations, talking about how great the shows were by both federations, but for real "wrestling" fans, neither show did enough to separate themselves from the other and if this is the new "Monday Night War", call me when the DVD comes out, so I can fast forward past the beginning and hopefully get to the good part, if there is one.
TNA had the opportunity to show that they were the anti-WWE and that they had the best roster of talent in the business. It had always been a fact that anyone who came into TNA was someone who could perform in the ring, and that is still the case. That being so, someone explain to me how Christopher Daniels could not only not get any ring time, but have his only screen time cut short so that Jeremy Borash could tell Christy Hemme that Mick Foley was on his phone, and trying to get JB to let him into the building, and as bad as that was, that was not even the worst part of the night.
During TNA´s three-hour show, The Nasty Boys got more camera time than Desmond Wolfe, who just came out of a tremendous, albeit short, feud with Kurt Angle. Bubba the Love Sponge was on screen more than Samoa Joe, Abyss, Hernandez and Matt Morgan were combined, and these are the young guys that Hogan keeps talking about. There were good matchups, but 3-5 minute matches do not truly showcase what the federation is about, and how can they book an X-Division match where Homicide is supposed to climb out of a cage without being absolutely sure that he could accomplish it? Just because he said that he could do it, it would seem to make since that someone in management would have seen him do it so that there would be confidence in his ability or at least a rewrite of the finish that would still have began the feud with Hardy.
Most disappointing of all was the fact that whoever is in charge, despite all of the preaching about the young guys, TNA and the powers-that-be expect us to care about the appearance of Orlando Jordan, Sean Morley, The Nasty Boys and, dare-I-say, The Band. Everyone wants to be careful not to compare this to the surge that WCW made, but when the Hall & Nash and The Nasty Boys already have pay-per-view matches and Samoa Joe, Daniels, The Motor City Machine Guns, Amazing Red, Hernandez and Matt Morgan do not, then we ignored the past, so we are doomed to repeat it.
With WWE, January 4 was business as usual. What that means is that they put on the same matches with the same guys, showed the same sketches, and made it appear that Vince McMahon is the only draw in the organization. With the knowledge that TNA was putting on two women´s matches, common sense would have dictated that WWE showcase the best workers in their women´s division, and not just the prettiest. Melina is hurt, but Gail Kim, Beth Phoenix and Mickie James were available and would have given fans a reason to consider watching the segment instead of giving the fans Maryse versus Brie Bella, two women not known for their wrestling ability. However, knowing that the TNA women are much better performers, it was not going to happen.
Bret Hart & HBK was a tender moment, but after so many years, nobody cared anymore. Sure, there were a ton of fans cheering the union, but that moment was going to happen at some legends event eventually anyway. Bret and Vince was sadly predictable, because Vince likes to put himself over on anyone that he can, and Bret was, as Taz would say, just another victim. In terms of great matches, WWE beat TNA 2-1 with the tag title match and Randy Orton against Kofi Kingston, but these feuds have been done to death, and it is good to finally see them end. The only truly compelling match that TNA offered was AJ Styles against Kurt Angle, but with a clean win by Styles, how appealing now is the "rematch" at the PPV?
All week long, people have been lauding both federations, talking about how great the shows were by both federations, but for real "wrestling" fans, neither show did enough to separate themselves from the other and if this is the new "Monday Night War", call me when the DVD comes out, so I can fast forward past the beginning and hopefully get to the good part, if there is one.