Professional Wrestling (WWE, TNA, ROH, etc)

[Andrew]

I guess it was supposed to be another potshot at WWE, given Bret Hart's appearances.

[Lean]

Pretty big news, WWE is done with "Survivor Series" and wont be using that name anymore.

Why would they even kill the Survivor Series name? It's one of their oldest pay-per-views. Can't they just add an event between Backlash and Extreme Rules?

[Andrew]

Apparently Vince told investors during a conference call that he believes that the team concept is no longer popular and hence no longer profitable. He's got a point, though I don't think they've given the concept much chance to survive with the cards in recent years. Nevertheless, buyrates and dollars are the bottom line and Survivor Series obviously wasn't cutting it, so they're looking for something new.

[JaoSming]

they also used it last night to have Easy E Bitchoff to be the special guest referee for the AJ Joe match at the PPV

Hogan said on bubba's radio show that he's going to have a true heel turn soon but Eric is still running 50/50 on heel face characters. Basically he's just screwing everyone over, faces and heels.

[Andrew]

Hogan said on bubba's radio show that he's going to have a true heel turn soon

Which basically means he'll be an on-screen character for the forseeable future. Fair enough, they're going to do whatever they can to compete with WWE, but again so much for Hogan coming in to be behind the scenes. As I've said before, hopefully they've learned from their mistakes but so far I'm not so sure.

[JaoSming]

Another quote that is relevant was he mentioned that he needed to do the Australia tour to clear his mind after the divorce but realized that him being in the ring is a really bad idea performance-wise.

[Andrew]

Probably why he's yet to step into the ring. I don't blame him, he's pushing sixty and apparently he's in pretty bad condition from his in-ring career, reports from the tour here in Australia mentioned that he wasn't even doing the leg drop and was labouring to work the matches at times. I'd say he'll give it one more shot though, they're probably saving it for a future PPV event which isn't a bad idea.

[koberulz]

His big boot in Perth was almost a low blow.

TNA, after drawing 1.19 last week, is expected to announce a permanent move to Mondays at their next taping, and go out of business two weeks later.

[Andrew]

I don't know about that, they'll probably keep going for a while yet but the gap probably won't be as small as Hogan and Bischoff will make it out to be and RAW's ratings will still be in the 3-4 range. Going head to head isn't a bad idea in itself, but if they're not doing anything to distinguish themselves from WWE's programming and putting on a better show - the quality of some of their workers aside - then it's going to be wasted effort.

[JaoSming]

Jimmy Hart is the latest to jump to TNA. He's going to be managing the Nasty Boys

[Andrew]

I reckon WWE will survive that one.

[JaoSming]

agreed, the TNA PPV hasnt been that bad though. Great wrestling going on IMO

[JaoSming]

So, Impact is officially moving to Monday nights permanently starting March 8th. It's going to be a Live show, then tapings the next day for following Monday and then Live again on the 22nd, so alternating between Live and Taped.

Good concept IMO since TNA seems to be trying to give the wrestlers the best possible chance to work for them. Hell, work for 2 days then fly back home? That'd be nice. I know that there are house shows and stuff but for people like RVD or even Dreamer who've complained about the strenuous WWE work schedules, it just makes the TNA jump that much more practical to current WWE'rs.

There were rumors on WZ about more WWE guys being laid off a few weeks ago after Eric Escobar got released. No one else has been released yet though.

[Andrew]

Alternating between live and taped shows does seem like a good, cost effective plan. Now all they need to do is ensure that their programming is worth watching, which means Hogan and Bischoff better have learned from their past mistakes (as I said before, so far I'm not sure that they have). Bischoff doesn't have Ted Turner's money to throw around this time though and if they're not taking TVs and PPVs on the road too much then they can't lose a lot of money through that expense.

[JaoSming]

Well in the conference they did today for this announcement Hogan said a few times that they aren't there to repeat history, but to make history. That they've again learned from their mistakes and won't be making them again.

So far so good though IMO. Hogan and Bischoff have had a lot of on-camera time and have been playing both heel and face roles but it's been working and has been believable. For instance we got Eric screwing over Jeff Jarrett and then 20 minutes later getting on heel AJ's nerves.

If I knew that Bischoff and Hogan had become a part of TNA creatively, I think it would piss me off more if they weren't on TV rather than what they are doing now.

Anyway, they are building the Nasty Boys/Team 3D feud nicely, the X-Division is still having epic matches when they do get air time, the Knockouts are 10x better than the Divas (story and wrestling-wise), and they still have the impending returns of Sting (family emergency) and Jeff Hardy. Sucks that Beer Money, ODB and some other old-TNA regulars aren't on TV as much anymore, but considering how easily they could have done NWO vs WCW, I mean The Band vs TNA again and didn't shows they are trying to improve the product IMO.

[Andrew]

Maybe. I can't shake the feeling that their approach may work short term but get run into the ground very quickly. Hogan and Bischoff are saying all the right things, but I just don't know. Hopefully it works out so that WWE lift their game.

Meanwhile, The Undertaker is now officially in his longest reign as a world champion.

[JaoSming]

On the topic of Hogan and Flair getting back into the ring

they will be in a tag match on the Live TNA Impact March 8th.

Hulk Hogan and Abyss vs Ric Flair and AJ Styles.

[buzzy]

ugh

[JaoSming]

reading the taped spoilers for March 4th

both Hogan and Flair get busted open

Im a little edgy now that they are getting more involved but I'll wait and see how it plays out on TV before I judge

[Andrew]

No such thing as retirement in professional wrestling. It's a shame after that huge sendoff WWE gave Flair a couple of years back, of course it's his right to work matches if he still wants to but it did seem like such a great ending to his in-ring career.

[JaoSming]

WWE Replaces 3 more PPVs

bye bye to Backlash, Judgment Day, and The Bash and welcome Wild Card, Fatal Four Way, and Money in the Bank



from http://forums.wrestlezone.com/showthrea ... ost1825826

[Andrew]

Sounds like they're going with the random tag teams idea; I'm not a huge fan of that idea, but making Money in the Bank a gimmick PPV isn't too bad a move. Thumbs in the middle on Fatal Four Way as a PPV concept.

[JaoSming]

i'm hoping to see war games in there somewhere since I've never really understood the concept in the WCW vs NWO days

[Lean]

Sucks that they sacked Backlash and Judgment Day as well, is it too PG-offending?

[Andrew]

Probably not, probably more in line with naming the PPVs after the new gimmicks.