TNA Impact goes live against RAW

[DB]

From tnawrestling.com -

The biggest name in professional wrestling history, Hulk Hogan, will make his first live appearance on Total Nonstop Action (TNA) Wrestling’s “TNA iMPACT!” in a live 3-hour special on Spike TV Monday, January 4, 2010 at 8:00PM ET/PT. Hogan and TNA President Dixie Carter attended “The Ultimate Fighter Heavyweights” Finale in Las Vegas where Hogan made the announcement in an interview with Joe Rogan.

“TNA iMPACT!” will be going against “WWE Monday Raw” on USA Network, the first time two wrestling companies have broadcast live head-to-head since the “Monday Night Wars” in the late 1990’s between WWE and WCW. This “iMPACT!” special will broadcast live from the TNA iMPACT! Zone at Universal Studios in Orlando, Fl.

Hogan’s first appearance inside the six-sided ring of TNA Wrestling will follow weeks of speculation after Hogan and Carter announced their partnership on October 27 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Hogan has hinted in various media interviews that he’ll have multiple surprises in store for TNA Wrestling fans.

“I knew when I signed with TNA, that it would be important to make a statement with the first episode. Going head-to-head on January 4th, makes the statement loud and clear: Game on!” Hogan said.

“TNA is kicking off 2010 in the biggest way possible with the biggest name in the history of our sport. Hulk Hogan is a pop culture icon, and his arrival will change not only TNA, but the entire professional wrestling landscape. We’re firing that first shot,” Carter said.

Joining Hogan for the three-hour live “iMPACT!” will be TNA World Heavyweight Champion “The Phenomenal” AJ Styles, Olympic Gold Medalist Kurt Angle, Mick Foley, Kevin Nash, “The Samoan Submission Machine” Samoa Joe, “The Boss” Bobby Lashley and “The Blueprint” Matt Morgan.

 

[Broncodr01d]

This should be good. A step in the right direction for TNA.

 

[jc155776]

Stupid.

Very Stupid.

Cannabilising its own genre. Why try and Kill off WWE? Why even attempt to battle it? Hogans ego needs stroking it seems.

 

[pennywisealfie]

This was great for the industry in the 90s it made 2 mediocre brands awesome and it brought upon Wrestlings glory period. Both TNA & WWE suck balls atm, I cant stand to watch either show, so hopefully the same thing happens again.

 

[KeepingTheFaith]

This was great for the industry in the 90s it made 2 mediocre brands awesome and it brought upon Wrestlings glory period. Both TNA & WWE suck balls atm, I cant stand to watch either show, so hopefully the same thing happens again.

This pretty much sums things up for me.

 

[joel caine number 1 fan]

so these are the rumors so far

Flair/rvd are about to sign contracts with tna
sid is advertising tna on hes my space page,and he might be on the tna
nash on tna hinted hes getting the band back together which im sure means hall who is also away in germany with bret hart and sid
Jarrett is suppose to appear on tna next week dunno if its full time but it would be great to have him back
dlo brown im not sure if he was a one night only

 

[Baron Vo Mandor]

TNA last couple of weeks has been as weak as water I hate to admit, I am hoping they are just biding their time til the new year and are going to really kick it up a gear then.

 

[KeepingTheFaith]

If Nash is getting the band back together then that has to mean Scott Hall and possibly X-Pac (hopefully both of them clean and sober if it does happen)

Flair and RVD seem to be a matter of when not if at this stage.

Sid said he was on his way, but he's come down injured recently which would put him out.

D-Lo is part of the backstage crew with TNA isn't he (Road agent?)

Jarrett looks to be getting re-introduced to story lines, maybe as a temporary thing until Hogan takes over full time.

 

[The Colonel]

Oh yay...... Nash and Hall, Flair, Jarratt, Sting, Vicious, Hogan. When will the nWo, Nasty Boyz and Brutus get a run? F**k me.... WWE is getting a little less ridiculous but I'm sure that might change but TNA sounds like its turning into WCW: The Reunion.

 

[Baron Vo Mandor]

I have to admit I am starting to get pissed off over them bringing in so much old Talent.

 

[The Colonel]

They have some great young talent that if they let them compete regularly would easily do in the WWE. Storylines that are just rehashed versions from WCW and WWE focusing on aging superstars who can't even run a good match for more than two minutes is really dragging them down.

WWE may be using the same people in the main event circle but at keast they aren't rolling out of the ring every two minutes and taking a breather..... Nash is probably the best example at the moment. He struggles to carry himself around the ring let alone loading someone up for the jackknife.

Hernandez, Joe, AJ, Motor City Machine Guns..... the list of good young talent that is over is near on endless. They even have women wrestlers capable of good matches that are less about gimmicks and tits & arse and more about the in ring capabilities of the people involved. Hogan and his mates were done about ten years ago....

 

[Baron Vo Mandor]

Hogan will add something and I believe Steiner and to a lesser dragger add something, however they should be used sparingly.......... Steiner V Lashley @ the last PPV was a cracker IMO.

TNA really need to get a second show, maybe only an hour long show were they can put younger/2nd string talent, they have to cram so much into the two hours and it really detracts from the quality of the product.

 

[The Colonel]

They need to psuh some of this older talent to their second show and headline the blokes that really helped the company in the first place. They were the reason I started watching it...... not because Mick Foley, Angle and Booker T were on the show. Main Event Mafia = nWo. It's been done.... the Joe angle lasted two minutes and that was the biggest twist in the whole thing. The title holder is effectively being used as a mid carder.

 

[Baron Vo Mandor]

I hear you there story lines are just confusing me ATM to be honest with you..... Seem to be really lacking in direction for mine, and half arsed.

 

[Manurewa_Marlins]

I think they'll compete well enough in the ratings, and I'm sure most people will just tevo "the other" if they watch one of the shows live.

I expect TNA to move to Monday Nights, and I dont see it hampering or boosting their ratings or PPV buy rates, simply because of the advent of on demand media. They dont have the draws to get people to tune in automatically, Hogan is a name sure, but a Shawn Michaels or Rey Misterio Jr would add a whole point imo. They also do not have the booking team to draw figures on a consistant basis.

 

[joel caine number 1 fan]

well with the rumors of hbk and taker retireing soon and the boom in the ratings tna got around last years wm i believe in march/april is the best time for tna to strike
now there just testing to see where they are at and what draws

and i dont mind the older guys,i mean sting can still work and steiner and hogan can still go on the mic
x-pac and hall are usually ok esp x-pac who can still go
so i dont get what the problem is AJ is still the main guy and daniels is still getting the push

also most of the fans who made wwf/wcw popular dont want to see just wrestling matches thats not what made wcw/wwf big it was the characters/storylines that made it huge
tna already has most the net fans its gotta go after the fans who turned away from the product cause of what wwe has become

 

[bartman]

If they go head to head on a Monday say once a month, they will be able to see/test how much they are dipping into Raw's rating figure, and whether it's worth going head to head on Mondays later in the year.

It's an interesting tactic, and Hogan does bring general publicity around with him. People will be tuning in for the first time to see what it's about, so they'd better be on their game for the show in Jan.

 

[joel caine number 1 fan]

i saw a rumor steve austin was gonna be on tna but than the rumor was shot down when apparently hes still contracted to wwe
which seem weird cause they asked him a while back to be a gm but he rejected,now if he was still contracted im sure austin would of been made to do the show

on x-pac and hall,someone told me apparently nash said on hes twitter that they are both in so its looking likely

 

[joel caine number 1 fan]

some wwe news

John Cena will miss the January 4, 2010 Monday Night Raw taping in Ohio because he'll in Arizona doing the Fiesta Bowl coin flip to promote Wrestlemania XXVI. from rajah

 

[KeepingTheFaith]

Hogan has come out and said that he expects TNA ratings to triple when he debuts.

That's completely delusional and makes me very concerned about whether or not he has a true grasp on the time and effort it will take to make TNA a viable alternative to WWE.