Triple H jokes and tells the crowd not to suck up to him because he’s the only RAW guy here. Triple H talks about the volcano erupting in Iceland and the travel issues around the world. Triple H with some comedy here. Triple H says the entire RAW roster is stuck in Europe. Triple H cuts a promo on Sheamus and their Extreme Rules match this coming Sunday. Triple H goes on when CM Punk’s music hits and out comes the Straight Edge Society.

CM Punk, Serena and Luke Gallows enter the ring. CM Punk says New Jersey sucks. He says with the Draft next week, he may no longer be a part of the SmackDown crew. Punk says if he comes to RAW, he’s bringing the Straight Edge Society with him. Triple H mocks them only having two members besides Punk. Triple H asks why doesn’t Punk have to shave his head like Serena and Gallows. Punk says he is the leader and asks why Triple H is questioning him. Punk says his hair is special, no foreign chemicals has ever touched his hair. Triple H says he must mean shampoo and soap. Triple H brings up Punk’s hair match against Rey Mysterio at Extreme Rules.

Punk says he is going to crush Rey at Extreme Rules and then, everyone else will fall in line. Punk says Triple H needs to let some straight edge into his heart. The crowd starts a “you suck” chant. Triple H says he doesn’t believe in what Punk believes in, he believes in freedom. Triple H goes around ringside with the fans and talks about one guy being able to buy as much beer as he wants because he’s free. Triple H finds two older guys sitting together and jokes about them being gay together. Triple H points out Lilian Garcia at ringside and says if she wants to come back to WWE for just one night to “horse around”, she can do it. Triple H says that’s the beauty of a free country – people can do as they choose. Triple H says if he wants to beat the crap out of Punk, he can. Punk says he doesn’t want to be here tonight. He thought he could come out here and Triple H would want to be a part of something big. Punk thought Triple H would shave his hair and join the Straight Edge Society. Punk says he’s not asking, he’s telling. Gallows attacks Triple H but he fights them off and goes for a Pedigree. Punk stops the Pedigree with a kick to the head and they start beating down Triple H. Serena even gets some shots in. Punk hits Triple H with a series of shots while Gallows grabs a chair. Serena grabs some clippers and they go to shave Triple H’s head. Rey Mysterio’s music hits and out he comes. He takes out Gallows and Punk. Triple H gets up and they send Gallows to the floor. Rey grabs the clippers now. Punk turns around to a right hand from Triple H. Triple H holds Punk while Rey shaves a little bit of Punk’s hair off. Punk flees from the ring and heads up the ramp with Serena and Gallows. Rey holds up Punk’s hair in the ring as we go to replays.

- Cole plugs tonight’s hosts, the cast of MacGruber. Lawler says we will hear from John Cena via satellite next. We go to commercial.

Drew McIntyre vs. Matt Hardy

Back from the break and Matt Hardy is already in the ring with the WWE Intercontinental Champion Drew McIntyre. The bell rings and Hardy goes to work on Drew. Hardy hits a neckbreaker and clotheslines Drew over to the floor. Hardy comes after him and continues the offense.

Drew kicks Hardy in the gut and then back into the steel steps. They bring it back in the ring with Drew in control. Hardy counters with a side effect and a 2 count on Drew. Hardy with another neckbreaker and a 2 count. Hardy goes for the Twist of Fate but Drew counters and goes for his DDT. Hardy counters it and they go back and forth some more. They collide and both go down. Drew pulls Hardy off the top rope, causing him to hit his head on the mat. Drew gets the pinfall for the win.

Winner: Drew McIntyre

- We go to ringside with Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler. They show us a satellite video of WWE Champion John Cena from Belfast, Ireland. Cena apologizes for he and the RAW crew not being able to be there tonight. Cole asks about Extreme Rules. Cena says he is ready for Extreme Rules regardless. Cena talks about Batista and says he will be the last one standing and be the WWE Champion on Sunday. We go to commercial.

- Back from the break and we get a replay from last week of Vladimir Kozlov talking about the cast of MacGruber. Kozlov is in the ring now. He tells Jerry Lawler to come in the ring and read a statement he has. Kozlov’s statement says he is protesting the unfair treatment he has received from the RAW hosts. He says he is an elite athlete who deserves elite competition. Kozlov says they are all spoiled Americans. Lawler reads Kozlov’s statement that starts ripping on the people of New Jersey. Kozlov takes the mic back and says he wants proper competition. The MacGruber theme plays on the big screen and out comes two of the characters from the movie. The MacGruber guy is holding a large American flag and the Vickie character is holding a smaller one. Vickie says that Chris Jericho will team with CM Punk and Luke Gallows to take on Edge, Triple H and Rey Mysterio tonight. MacGruber defends the state of New Jersey. MacGruber insults Kozlov. Kozlov threatens him if he insults him again. MacGruber starts ripping on Kozlov’s mother and her uterus. Kozlov says he won’t et angry, he will just destroy MacGruber later tonight. MacGruber informs Kozlov he will be wrestling R-Truth tonight. Out comes Truth rapping. MacGruber talks about rigging the building with explosives. He and Truth exchange “what’s ups” when a huge explosion comes from the stage. R-Truth has just been blown up. All we see is Truth’s shoes smoking. Kozlov tells MacGruber he will see him later tonight and will destroy him. MacGruber seems scared now. Kozlov’s music hits and he heads to the back as MacGruber and Vickie look on.

- Lawler says we will hear from Randy Orton via video after this next commercial. Back to break we go.

- Back from the break and we see MacGruber struggling to get out of an exit door. Triple H walks in. He points out that MacGruber has pissed in his pants. MacGruber says it’s just water. MacGruber is nervous about his match with Kozlov tonight. MacGruber says a friend of his actually pissed his pants and MacGruber volunteered to wear his friend’s piss pants, being a good friend and all. Kane walks in. MacGruber says that’s his friend. Blah. MacGruber walks off to end this segment finally.

- Lawler and Cole talk about Randy Orton vs. Jack Swagger at the Extreme Rules pay-per-view. We go to Randy Orton on video from Belfast, Ireland. Orton says wherever he ends up in the Draft is where the World Title will be at because he’s winning at Extreme Rules. We see Jack Swagger walking backstage as we go to commercial.

- Back from the break and out comes the World Heavyweight Champion Jack Swagger. Swagger tells Randy Orton that talk is cheap when you’re 3,000 miles away. Swagger says if Orton was here tonight, he would show him. Swagger calls for a referee and tells Orton he better be paying attention. Swagger issues an open challenge as the referee comes down. Nobody comes to accept Swagger’s challenge until the lights go out and here comes The Undertaker.

Jack Swagger vs. The Undertaker

Undertaker makes his way out to the ring to a nice pop. Swagger stands at ringside looking a bit worried. The bell rings and they lock up. Swagger strikes first. They go back and forth until Taker hits Old School on Swagger. Swagger turns it around and starts stomping on Taker. They go to the floor. Taker uses the steps on Swagger. Taker goes to throw Swagger into the steps but Swagger reverses it and throws Taker’s knees into them. Swagger gets back in the ring.

Taker comes back in the ring but Swagger keeps control of the match. Taker sends Swagger through the ropes and back out to the floor. Taker lays Swagger on the apron and hits the big running leg drop. Taker continues with the offense and gets a 2 count as we go to commercial.

Back from the break and Swagger is working a submission on Taker. They go back and forth on the mat. Swagger starts dropping elbows on Taker’s leg. Another submission on the leg by Swagger. Taker counters and kicks Swagger out to the floor. Swagger pulls Taker down and uses the ring post on his knees. They come back in the ring and Swagger gets a 2 count. Taker and Swagger trade right hands now on their feet. Taker gets the upper hand until Swagger goes back to his legs. Taker hits a big DDT on Swagger for a 2 count.

Taker hits Snake Eyes and a big boot on Swagger. Taker with the leg drop for another 2 count. Taker goes for the chokeslam but Swagger fights him off. Swagger runs the ropes but gets hit by another big boot from Taker. Swagger counters Taker but hits a sloppy DDT. 2 count by Swagger. Swagger goes back to stomping on Taker’s knee. Swagger goes for the big splash out of the corner but Taker grabs him for a chokeslam and hits it out of nowhere. Taker is noticeably favoring his knee here. Taker hits the Tombstone on Swagger for the pinfall and the win.

Winner: The Undertaker

- Taker poses in the ring as Lawler and Cole plug tonight’s main event. We go back to commercial.

- Back from commercial and we get the trailer for MacGruber featuring several WWE stars.

- We go backstage with Chris Jericho and the Straight Edge Society. Punk is wearing a towel on his head. Jericho says if they stick to his plan tonight, everything will go just fine. Jericho walks off and sees Vickie and MacGruber from the movie. They say he was the best part of the movie. Jericho says the directors are looking to do a sequel with him in the title role. Jericho sings his own theme song for the movie. MacGruber asks Jericho for advice on his match with Kozlov tonight. Jericho tells MacGruber to go in the ring and shake Kozlov’s hand but smack him in the face. MacGruber hugs Jericho and thanks him for the advice. Vickie and Jericho flirt before they walk off. We go to commercial.

Vladimir Kozlov vs. MacGruber and Khaluber

Back from the break and Vladimir Kozlov is in the ring waiting. We see a replay from earlier where R-Truth was accidentally blown up by MacGruber. Out comes Vickie and MacGruber from the movie. They come face to face. MacGruber extends his hand but smacks Kozlov. Kozlov grabs him and starts hitting him with headbutts to the chest. Kozlov lifts MacGruber up but actor Ryan Philippe comes out and stops things. He says he got this match changed to a handicap match and introduces MacGruber’s partner… Khaluber. It’s The Great Khali in a blonde wig. Khali comes down and goes at it with Kozlov. Khali works Kozlov over until Kozlov fights back. Vladimir comes off the ropes and gets decked by a big chop from Khali. Kozlov goes to the ramp holding his head. Khali comes after him and they’re both counted out as they head to the back. MacGruber and Khaluber are announced as the winners by countout.

Winners: MacGruber and Khaluber

- After the match, MacGruber celebrates in the ring with Vickie and Ryan Phillipe. MacGruber talks about how good the United States is and plugs the movie. We go to commercial.

Triple H, Edge and Rey Mysterio vs. CM Punk, Luke Gallows and Chris Jericho

Out first for tonight’s main event comes Triple H. He enters the ring and Sheamus appears on the big screen from Belfast, Ireland. Sheamus says Triple H missed the attack on Kofi Kingston last week so he’s going to repeat it for him. Sheamus kicks a WWE crew member in the head and starts stomping on him. We go to commercial.

Back from commercial and out comes Triple H’s partners Edge followed by Rey Mysterio. Out next comes Serena, CM Punk and Luke Gallows followed by Chris Jericho. Jericho starts the match out with Mysterio. The bell rings and Jericho strikes first. Rey goes for a 619 early on but Jericho slides out to the floor. Triple H dumps Rey over the top rope onto Gallows, Punk and Jericho as we go to commercial.

Back from the break and Punk goes at it with Mysterio. Gallows comes in and then comes Jericho back in. Rey fights back with kicks to Jericho. Jericho catapults Rey into the corner. Rey comes back again and hits a moonsault for a 2 count. Edge and Gallows are tagged in. Edge with a big boot and a shoulder off the ropes. Edge counters Gallows and drops him with a DDT. Edge goes to spear Gallows but Serena gets on the apron and distracts the ref. Jericho knocks Edge off the apron before Triple H comes to make the save. Edge is selling the ankle injury now. Punk is tagged in now and goes to work on Edge’s leg. Jericho and Punk are tagged in and out with the focus still on Edge’s ankle. Gallows comes back in but Edge fights him off and tags in HHH. Punk is also tagged in. Triple H unloads with clotheslines and the usual for a 2 count. Triple H hits the spinebuster.

Triple H goes for the Pedigree but Gallows makes the save. Everyone comes in and Jericho ends up on the floor. Rey hits 619 on Punk. Triple H grabs Punk and hits the Pedigree for the pinfall and the win.

Winners: Triple H, Edge and Rey Mysterio

- Triple H, Edge and Rey Mysterio pose for the fans as RAW goes off the air.

Keeping with the storyline, Shad wrote the following on Twitter later: “MY TYME!!!! MY TIME!!!! MY TYME!!!! MY TIME!!!! MY TYME!!!! MY TIME!!!! MY TYME!!!! MY TIME!!!! MY TYME!!!! MY TIME!!!! MY TYME!!!!”

- CM Punk challenged Rey Mysterio to a rematch on last night’s SmackDown, putting his hair on the line. It’s possible the match with Punk’s hair as a stipulation will take place at the Extreme Rules pay-per-view.

- With his big WWE Title win on Sunday at WrestleMania, John Cena won his 9th World Title in WWE, tying with The Rock.

- WWE will tape SmackDown and NXT tonight from the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas. The dark main event advertised is Edge and The Undertaker vs. CM Punk and Chris Jericho. No matches for TV have been announced yet but WWE is teasing more between Vickie Guerrero & Beth Phoenix for SmackDown. Tonight’s NXT will see the first votes on the Rookies by the Pros.

- Two of the feuds that are scheduled to continue from WrestleMania are CM Punk vs. Rey Mysterio and Edge vs. Chris Jericho.

WWE Title Match
John Cena vs. Batista

World Heavyweight Title Match
Edge vs. Chris Jericho

Career vs. Streak Match
Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker

No Holds Barred Match
Bret Hart vs. Vince McMahon

WWE Unified Tag Team Title Match
John Morrison & R-Truth vs. The Miz & Big Show

Triple Threat Match
Randy Orton vs. Cody Rhodes vs. Ted DiBiase

Street Fight
CM Punk vs. Rey Mysterio
If Mysterio loses, he must join the Straight Edge Society.

Money in the Bank Ladder Match
Dolph Ziggler vs. Kane vs. Christian vs. Shelton Benjamin vs. MVP vs. Jack Swagger vs. Matt Hardy vs. Evan Bourne vs. Drew McIntyre

Triple H vs. Sheamus

- The dark main event after last night’s SmackDown tapings saw Rey Mysterio, Triple H, Edge and John Cena defeat CM Punk, Batista, Sheamus and Chris Jericho.

- In some news that may have been missed in WWE’s press release this week on Gorgeous George entering the Hall of Fame, the company will be producing a movie about George’s life and legacy in early 2011.

WWE Title Match
John Cena vs. Batista

World Heavyweight Title Match
Edge vs. Chris Jericho

Career vs. Streak Match
Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker

No Holds Barred Match
Bret Hart vs. Vince McMahon

WWE Unified Tag Team Title Match
John Morrison & R-Truth vs. The Miz & Big Show

Triple Threat Match
Randy Orton vs. Cody Rhodes vs. Ted DiBiase

Street Fight
CM Punk vs. Rey Mysterio

Money in the Bank Ladder Match
Dolph Ziggler vs. Kane vs. Christian vs. Shelton Benjamin vs. MVP vs. Jack Swagger vs. Matt Hardy vs. Evan Bourne vs. Drew McIntyre

Triple H vs. Sheamus

- WWE is promoting the new FX series Justified by adding one of the characters, Raylan Givens, to the RAW roster page.

- The dark main event after last night’s RAW saw Rey Mysterio defeat CM Punk with the 619 in a 10 minute match. Mysterio celebrated with the fans after the win. The match was made official after CM Punk came out during the commercial break before the Bret Hart & Vince McMahon contract signing to challenge Rey.

- Kentucky Fried Chicken will be the official sponsor of April’s WWE Extreme Rules pay-per-view from Baltimore, Maryland.

- To go along with WrestleMania 26, the April issue of WWE Magazine will feature twenty-six different covers featuring Bret Hart, Chris Jericho, Triple H, Undertaker, The Miz, Ted DiBiase, Evan Bourne, Edge, Batista, Big Show, Christian, CM Punk, Cody Rhodes, Drew McIntyre, Jack Swagger, John Cena, Kane, MVP, Kofi Kingston, Randy Orton, John Morrison, Rey Mysterio, R-Truth, Shawn Michaels, Sheamus and Santino Marella.

- It appears Goldust may be up for some kind of push on the SmackDown brand after a good match with Chris Jericho on Superstars
recently. Goldust has recent wins over Dolph Ziggler and Mike Knox. Jericho wrote the following on Twitter after the match with Goldust: “I really dug the match with Goldust last night. Hes in the best shape of his life and is as good as anybody in the WWE. Very underrated..”

- WWE has registered the trademarks for “NXT Rookies” and “A-List.” The WWE Pros may be changed to A-List here soon. WWE has also registered the name “WWE Brawl” for use as a video game title.

First off a fond farewell to the little company that could…ECW. After years of lingering in a persistent vegetative state and making a miraculous recovery like Steven Segal in “Hard To Kill”, time caught up it and it died a peaceful yet uneventful death last week.

I think it’s only fitting that ECW is laid to rest in a Kiss Kasket. I mean sure you could get something made out of fine wood or perhaps something you could store nuclear waste in…but why not go out in style. ECW had a long tumultuous life and it’s time for it to finally be at peace. The company that was officially born when Shane Douglas threw down the NWA Title and told them all that they could kiss his ass is now finally gone. To be safe it might be smart to take it out to the Joshua Tree Park and torch ECW like Graham Parsons was by his best friend. All it could take is Vince having a mood swing and thinking to himself “YOU KNOW WHAT, WE HAVEN’T BLED THIS FOR ALL IT’S WORTH YET”. But for now it appears ECW is going into deep storage in the WWE vaults because the brain trust have come up with a “new and exciting concept” called WWE NXT.

NXT is supposed to be sort of like Tough Enough and The Ultimate Fighter…only scripted. There are eight pros and eight rookies all vying to make it to the WWE.

So far these are the parings for the show.

Chris Jericho & Wade Barrett
Matt Hardy & Justin Gabriel (probably Justin Angel with a new name)
William Regal & Skip Sheffield
Carlito & Michael Tarver
The Miz & Daniel Bryan
Christian & Heath Slater
CM Punk & Darren Young

R-Truth & David Otunga

The most interesting paring is The Miz and Daniel Bryan a.k.a. The American Dragon Bryan Danielson. You could hear the collective groans from some when Danielson was renamed, but you would think a war crime was committed when he was paired up with The Miz. Of course all the haters are missing the big picture that it’s all about story telling and Bryan as the Indy tested rookie being paired up with The Miz who will show him how to “make it” will be all kinds of fun.

On the WWE Universe site, The Miz posted a MONEY blog about all of this and if you haven’t read it you really should.

http://fans.wwe.com/themiz/blog/2010/02/18/mentoring_daniel_bryan_on_wwe_nxt

If this were on television it would be a promo of the year. Miz put in place everyone who thinks this is a bad idea. I think it was a brilliant idea to put The Miz with him. It’s all about television segments and considering how on FIRE The Miz has been for the last year I have no doubt he’s segments will be the highlights of the show.

Another sure to be highlight is the pairing of William Regal and Skip Sheffield. Skip is the former Ryan Reeves. He is one of the people from the last Tough Enough who are still around simple because he’s a giant muscle head. Originally in FCW he was doing some sort of Terminator gimmick but as things tend to be in the WWE, someone got bored with that and said “hey why not have him as a goofy singing cowboy”. So Ryan becomes Skip and he has some gimmick where he gets the crowd to chant YIP YIP YIP with him. Just picture Regal and the look of disgust after the first YIP is uttered.

CM Punk has an interesting guy in Darren Young. I say he’s interesting because well look at him.

The guy looks like a black John Cena or at least John Cena if he was in a tanning bed that was set to oven roast. I was hoping the first thing CM Punk would do is “guess what kid your joining the SES” and breaks out the clippers. No one ever said being straight edge had to be a voluntary thing. It was hilarious though to see the look of distain and contempt that CM Punk had for this kid. The “I don’t even know why I’m here” promo he did was awesome. Punk becoming the prick everyone knows that he is has been so awesome for Smackdown and I can’t wait for what’s going to happen next with him and Darren Young.

Punk: Come on guys just ignore him

After watching the show, if there is anyone who will be a break out star for the WWE it has to be David Otunga. My God this guy gets the kind of publicity Vince would kill for with anyone else. The “I’m from Hollywood, Went to Harvard, and Met the President…Twice” bit was really awesome. I just hope his skills in the ring match up those outside the ring. His match with Darren Young was short and sweet which is how Vince likes it for guys he obviously sees dollar signs in. I don’t know about the rest of the guys on this show, but they really have their work cut out for them to compete with Bryan and Otunga.

The only thing I didn’t like about NXT was there was none of the innovative & revolutionary concepts that they kept hyping. It was pretty much any other WWE show just with new people on it. There’s supposed to be “a unique combination of heart-stopping entertainment and gritty behind-the-scenes reality” but like I said, I haven’t seen it. If they wanted to do reality they could have probably just taped it down at the Florida Championship Wrestling facility. It sure would be cheaper then taking everyone on the road but I’m not complaining. The dynamics between the pro’s and rookies have been good so far so that’s all you can ask for. I just wish Fit Finlay were involved with this instead of say R-Truth. The Truth looked so damn ridiculous doing that stupid rap and his equally stupid dancing to the ring. I just can’t take Killings seriously because of that stupid intro of his. I can only hope at some point this season Otunga gets annoyed with The Truth dragging him down and he beats him senseless.

One thing that everyone will enjoy on this show is the glory of Michael Cole as a prick. We got a taste of it during the Daniel Bryan/Chris Jericho match where Cole was running down the Internet and mocking Daniel for being a star in front fifty people.

There are people within WWE right now who are trying to say that the interaction between Michael Cole and Josh Matthews on WWE NXT this week was a shoot but some are skeptical. Joey Styles backed this up on Twitter as he “assured us” that the commentating between Cole and Lawler was “very real.” Styles said that Cole “lives in the WWE bubble.”

Credit to PWInsider.com

It’s really great to see the WWE using this for fodder on television. Michael Cole as he is on RAW is one of the most boring announcers ever. You can tell the guy has no passion for what he is doing and I only imagine he does it because the money is pretty damn good. Well of course the money is good…that goes with out saying. But Michael Cole as a prick and putting down the Internet and the Indies was just great. I can only hope he brings this to the table during RAW. It would finally make RAW somewhat interesting again.

Speaking of RAW, it has been very hit or miss lately. While there has been some great stuff like the feud building with HBK and The Undertaker, the rest has been so-so to be honest. It doesn’t matter what show HBK/Taker is on because it will be amazing no matter what. But the rest of the show has been very hit or miss. What should have been the biggest angle with Bret vs. Vince seems to have lost its steam. Now I only hope this is a temporary thing, but it appears they are building to Cena vs. Batista with Bret and Vince in the respective corners. I won’t mind if that does happen, but honestly I saw no need for the WWE title to be involved. I might be in the minority here on the Internet, but I was enjoying the hell out of Sheamus’s run as WWE Champion. Yes it was to soon for him to be champion…but he was making the most of it. So now with the WWE title on Batista, Sheamus is S.O.L. so to speak. Rumor has it he and Triple H will be having a match at Wrestlemania, but even if Triple H does like him it still will be a kick wham pedigree…thanks for coming.

With Bret and Vince that was at least something a lot of us thought we would never see happen. Personally I think too much is made of Bret Hart and his condition. People at like Bret would have to work a match at 200% or something. First off if there is some sort of match with Vince…HE’S FACING VINCE. All of Vince’s matches revolve around punches, kicks, and occasional wrestling moves so Vince can pose and strut to the crowd. I think it’s been so long that people have forgotten the miracle worker Bret is even in the worst of circumstances.

Bret Hart had a match on a Monday Nitro against Will Sasso. Yes fat guy who used to be on Mad TV…That Will Sasso. Bret managed to make that five minutes of weirdness on Nitro work so who is to doubt him here. No one is expecting him to do superplexes off the top rope or anything major. It’s like I said before, all Bret really has to do is kick Vince right in the balls and then lock on the sharpshooter. Bret gets to end the wrong of Montreal and everyone goes home happy.

Speaking of Batista, it’s amazing how much of a 180 he has done since become a full fledged heel again. I like to refer to him as Kanyetista since it’s pretty clear Batista has become the WWE’s version of Kanye West. The outlandish fashion sense he has only confirms this theory for me. I am all for Batista being an egomaniacal bastard. As a face to say he was bland would do a disservice to the word bland. Batista’s heel turn could be one of the best things for the WWE in a while.

Now one of the best things that might happen to the WWE in the long run is TNA moving to Monday nights on March 8th. Yes the egos of Hogan, Bischoff, and Carter believe TNA can compete on Monday nights and to tell you the truth I think there is the potential for them to do so. As I mentioned before when it comes to Monday Night RAW, most of the show is hit or miss. If one were to break it down into percentages I would guess about 70% of the show is miss right now. It’s boring as hell and equally predictable no matter what. TNA while going full force into recreating WCW in the late 90’s is at least not boring. All the pieces are dare I say finally in place for TNA to prove the doubters wrong. There is potential for TNA to chip away at the RAW audience. While I doubt we’ll see any ratings wars like in the good old days, it’s not out of the question for in a few months time for TNA to reach the illusive 1.5 mark if not higher.

RAW has been on cruise control for the last decade. McMahon is way past the point of taking the audience for granted. People just show up and watch with out question for the most part. Well TNA have all the tools for people to take a look at it and say, “hey you know this isn’t half bad, at least Cena isn’t doing his superman act”.

I know a lot of people are pissed with the pairing of Ric Flair and AJ Styles, but to be honest this has been the most interesting AJ has been in years. Flair has breathed new life into him as AJ is a low rent version of Flair. Some say Flair is becoming the new JJ Dillon well if that’s the case then AJ is the new Tully Blanchard. It would be cool if TNA got Tully to come in and do something. I mean if your going to bring in some old guy then why not bring in someone who can work some magic. Tully has his head on straight after years of living the lifestyle. How awesome would it be to see Tully come in and cut a money promo on AJ talking about how Flair is going to destroy him with the path he’s leading him on.

I’m sure I could fantasy book it from there, but I don’t like giving away my good idea’s for free. My point is though there is a lot that can be done with Flair and AJ and the current feud that is being built with The Pope has been pretty damn good. Dare I say TNA might actually build up a World Title match on a PPV that people are going to want to buy and see.

That’s been TNA’s biggest problem for the longest time now. They for the life of them cannot get people to order their ppv’s. We ordered the Against All Odds PPV and I thought it was actually pretty damn good. I think it’s a mistake that they charge $34.95 but aside from that it was a rather solid show. TNA has always had solid PPV’s for the most part, but they just can’t get anyone to order them. Uncle Eric probably has a plan to work on this problem and I really hope they do because there have been some great matches on these PPV’s and it’s a shame no one ever sees them.

Since I brought up the topic of PPV prices, the WWE’s are now up to $44.95. I have one small issue with them if they are going to charge this much and expect people order these shows.

Can you people please put some damn effort into these shows? By effort I mean book them in advance and not throw together half the damn card three days before the show or have unannounced matches during the live show. It’s just a little issue I have with them. I mean The Miz and MVP had been building up to a title match and the WWE throws it on the PPV with out even mentioning anything. The Miz has been on fire the last few months so maybe it would have been nice to use that to ones advantage to have him build a match on the show.

It would just be nice to know what’s on the card in advance. Of course this would mean they would have to abandon the three-week crash and burn system they have going now where it’s a PPV then three weeks of TV and another PPV. I do find it funny that the WWE is naming all their PPV’s after gimmicks on the show now. The Survivor Series is gone but in its place is WWE INSERT GIMMICK MATCH NAME HERE.

On the plus side since Vince is running out of ideas some old WCW ones will be coming out of mothballs including possibly Battlebowl, Spin The Wheel…Make The Deal, and War Games. Personally if you are running out of PPV names why not just bring back Starrcade? It would be a lot better then WWE Tables, Ladders, and Chairs in the month of December.

Its ironic War Games might be finally coming back and it’s in an era where there can’t be a drop of blood. It was like that in the mid 90’s as well and for the most part those War Games matches sucked. Maybe we can get a War Games retrospective DVD if it does indeed come back. It would be nice to see all of the War Games matches in one collection…especially 1997’s War Games. I’ve never seen that one and I would like to. I don’t know if any tape exists but it would be cool if some of the ultra rare house shows War Games matches were some how included. Apparently back in the late 80’s and early 90’s NWA/WCW would do War Games matches in some markets so those must have been fun to see live like that. So who knows but maybe buried deep in the WCW archive might be a couple of those matches. The promos for them exist, so one can hope for those as well.

Well I think I am done for this week. Honestly I do try to write these things sooner but sometimes it’s hard to keep on a regular schedule when you don’t find anything interesting. But Chris Jericho is taking on Edge at Wrestlemania so at least Smackdown will continue to be the best show in all of wrestling. CM Punk continues to be amazing as he dances a fine line of blasphemy and I hope he goes into Wrestlemania with something more this year then being in Money In The Bank.

Hopefully I will be back sooner rather then later with my next column. So until then take care and remember someone has to give you this information and it DAMN well has got to be me.

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