Pro Wrestling Power

This might be the most exciting week of the year in pro wrestling, and both WWE and TNA delivered with entertaining shows, although TNA’s live Impact this week was a little disorganized and had its ups and downs. But Raw came through big time once again with a clutch show that will leave people anxious to see Wrestlemania 26 this Sunday. Unfortunately, not that many people saw it, as Raw did a surprisingly bad 3.2 in the ratings, compared to Impact’s 0.9, which is pretty standard for them, and not that bad considering the time of year.

Here’s my comments for Raw:

I’m glad they finally put Kofi Kingston in the money in the bank match. His athleticism could really add to the match, but I worry about it being kind of a mess with 10 participants. I’m hoping Christian gets the win and waits to cash it in sometime this summer.

It’s good to see the tag division actually getting some attention and some build up. It was a good idea to have John Morrison go over Miz too, not just for Sunday but for Morrison’s post Wrestlemania push.

The WWE also did a nice job of promoting both the Triple H vs. Sheamus match and the Legacy vs. Randy Orton triple threat by having a solid tag match on Raw.

The Shawn Michaels vs. Kane match, with Undertaker’s interference, was very good. There’s not much more they could have done to hype this match, and by all rights, it should be last on the card at Mania. I also love the interaction between Pete Rose and Kane. I just wish there was another tombstone or chokeslam delivered. Rose could have been an awesome heel in the business when he was younger.

For as much as I don’t care for John Cena or Batista, this is another match that has been built up extremely well. Batista is much better as a heel. Actually Cena is too, but he’s been more tolerable as of late. That match will probably be the last match main event at Wrestlemania, and I can’t argue that, given the popularity of both men and the audience demographics. All in all, that was a very good, heated ending to Raw. That match will help to sell the PPV in a major way, along with Michaels vs. Taker, Bret Hart vs. Vince McMahon and Edge vs. Chris Jericho.

Impact had one of the most strange beginnings I’ve ever seen on a wrestling show. But you’ve got to admit two things: 1. It was very unique and made you wonder what the hell was going on. 2. Eric Bischoff actually is really good on guitar. I never thought I’d write that sentence on a wrestling blog, but hey that’s TNA for ya.

Having said that, I don’t think the Bischoff/Jarrett/Foley angle is strong enough to open or close a show, but it’s fine for what it is, a good midcard angle involving three guys who are usually main eventers, Bischoff of course in a non wrestling capacity.

As corny as the Abyss/Hogan angle has been, there was some pretty entertaining, and also comedic stuff that went on Monday night. First of all, I don’t think it was supposed to be funny, but Ric Flair in the wheelchair was freakin hilarious. The bump he took when Abyss clotheslined him out of it wasn’t so funny though. I once again feared for the health of the 61 year old legend, but I guess he can still take it. Having the Pope run down and save Hogan was a good move, as it starts to put the focus back on him as the number 1 contender to AJ Styles’ TNA title at Lockdown. The team Hogan vs. team Flair feud has a chance to be interesting as well.

Later in the night we saw that the Foley/Jarrett stuff is actually starting to go somewhere, but I hope Foley isn’t taken off TV for an extended amount of time like Somoa Joe, even though in the storyline he is fired. Though another nice touch was having Jeff Hardy and Rob Van Dam come down to save Jarrett from Beer Money.

I didn’t know that Hernandez was legitimately hurt from his brawl with Matt Morgan until reading the results online. Hopefully he’ll be alright. This feud, and Morgan’s heel push, was just starting to get interesting.

The tag team main event between Beer Money and RVD/Hardy was a good match, although I don’t think it’s such a great idea for Beer Money to job cleanly right now, even if it is to two of the most popular wrestlers in the world today. The post match set up for next week’s show was exactly what they should have been doing the past couple weeks, but I’m not sure how much interest there will be in this one: The Band (Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Syxx-Pac) vs. RVD, Hardy and Eric Young. Umm, first of all, Eric Young is really out of place in that match because he is NOT a main eventer. Not even close. And as far as workrate goes, it could be pretty ugly, but there will be some casual fan interest with all the big names involved, minus Young.

Dixie Carter and TNA made a wise decision to move Impact to 8-10 p.m. on April 5, as the entire Impact show would have had to compete not only with Raw as usual but also the college basketball championship game. That was a 0.5 waiting to happen, but now I could see it being a 0.9 or 1.0. Next week will be brutal though, because the night after Wrestlemania is usually one of the highest rated, if not the highest rated Raw of the year. Like I’ve been saying all along, the true measuring stick for the Hogan/Bischoff regime will be Lockdown and the live Impact the night after. And they should seriously consider permanently moving it to the 8-10 p.m. time slot.

But WWE delivered a great lead in show to Wrestlemania, which leads me to my next post, my Wrestlemania 26 preview. Look for it soon!