Our friends at TNA wrestling have set their sites on surpassing the WWE as the world’s biggest wrestling brand, and we’re going to get our first showdown on Monday, Jan. 4. Hulk Hogan, who is now part of TNA, announced Saturday night that TNA is going up against WWE’s Monday Night Raw. And while he was cagey when asked if he’s going to step into the ring, his presence at the event will be a big draw. Either way, TNA is advertising matches that night with Kurt Angle and Sting, both with strong followings. We hope TNA can pull off the upset!
Wrestling fans everywhere are mourning the death of popular wrestler Umaga, who died of a heart attack over the weekend at the age of 36. I hope all those kids thinking about steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs read that over and over: Dead of a heart attack at 36. We don’t know if his heart attack was because of past steroid use, but we do know the premature death of other athletes and wrestlers have been due to the drug use. Kids, it’s just not worth the risk.
on Dec 7th, 2009 at 3:37 PM
Good luck TNA. You need it. They’ve been on Spike for a number of years already, using new and old talent. So what will change? Running a show up against Raw, one of the top rated cable shows every week? Sounds more like ratings suicide. I honestly like their product and the small atmosphere they have in their little arena. That is also partly why the top names wrestlers went there, so they were working less. If they want WCW Part Two, they are doomed to failure. There is a reason WCW failed. They got too big for their britches and threw money around like it was nobody’s business. Time Warner saw the writing on the wall and sold it to WWE for cheap. Is the same going to happen to TNA once Panda Energy sees its profit margin go into the shitter?
Sad to hear about Umaga as well. That is what happens when you have past drug abuse, especially steroid, growth hormone, or pain killers. Your heart explodes. It probably didn’t help his case being over 350 lbs. Look at the long list of dead past wrestling stars and the ages they died, and cause of death. Eddie Guerrro, Rick Rude, Kurt Hennig, Andrew Martin, etc.
on Dec 7th, 2009 at 5:36 PM
I think it’s WAY too soon for TNA to start up the Monday Night Wars again, but with Hulk Hogan’s massive ego what do you expect…
TNA has some great wrestlers (as well as some old ones who need to retire already), but the wrestling industry is not just about wrestling…it’s about production, TV deals, mangement, etc… and TNA is lagging in these areas. After watching the level of production on some of there PPV’s I’m almost scared to see how a LIVE broadcast on cable TV will come across.
If there able to pull this off more power to them, but I think there’s quite a few wrinkles to work out before TNA can be successful in competing head-to-head with WWE…
on Dec 7th, 2009 at 8:55 PM
One good thing that should come out of this is it should light a fire under WWE. They have appeared very lethargic the past couple of years and many of their shows have been downright boring. Having DX come out and hawk their silly merchandise products for 20 minutes each show is such a turnoff. I can barely remember when those guys used to come off as cool. And most of the RAW guest hosts have been horrendous!
TNA will be hard-pressed to mount a serious challenge, considering their TV production is nowhere close to WWE. I just hope they are only bringing in Hogan for name recognition and not to listen to all his advice. To see how destructive that can be one only has to reflect back on the desmise of the WCW.
At any rate, this should make it fun for the viewers for awhile.
on Dec 8th, 2009 at 3:48 AM
hmm TNA would b bit interesting after Hogan’s arrival.. Wwe is no more interesting now days. Best of luck TNA
on Dec 8th, 2009 at 4:55 AM
Anyone else notice Hogan on RAW tonight, during DX’s segment? There was a poster of him above their Christmas tree? Are they in competition or not?
on Dec 8th, 2009 at 4:58 AM
P.S. RAW and Nitro fed off of one another back in the day. It made both shows step up their game and be better.
Maryse and Kelly Kelly need to get it on Sable/Torrie style, too.
on Dec 8th, 2009 at 2:39 PM
Hostile,, WWE still owns the video rights for all of Hogan’s previous matches having bought WCW and also many other leagues footage such as AWA. So they put out a DVD recently, which I think was recently prior to Hogan’s announcement he was teaming up with TNA. I am sure they would have put it out anyway. And he honestly can’t be mad, because he still gets royalties I am sure based on his old contracts. I can say the man certainly is not stupid when it comes to making money. Ditto for Vince McMahon.
on Jan 5th, 2010 at 9:38 PM
What I think is weird is that Hogan is now trying to destroy what built him. Then again, he helped to build it. When you look at the crowd size at both events, WWE’s is much bigger. That’s just that much more money flowing. If WWE could bring back The Rock, TNA would be wiped out. Period.