This week has been a monster week for wrestling news. Coming off of a very entertaining 'Bragging Rights' pay per view, both WWE and TNA has been put to the test for the next quarter. In WWE, we witnessed the heel turn of Batista, the Undertaker successfully defending his title, John Cena going a full hour to defeat Randy Orton and end the fued, And Smackdown winning the 'Bragging Rights' competition to win the trophy until next year. This seems a lot like what we've been watching for the past 8 months, but if you went on into the next night, we learned that the WWE has taken an aggressive approach to pushing new stars and allowing the current ones to get a refreshed look at the WWE Universe. Batista's heel turn should have happened MONTHS before his last injury. Cena and Orton went probably 3 matches too long. The Undertaker and CM Punk was the only one that went the distance it should have gone. Give credit to WWE creative for making Smackdown the flagship show while only doing what they have been since it's inception. They let the wrestlers wreslte and the entertainers entertain. The mixture of the two is a rarity, and when it does take place it's usually works. Keep in mind I said usually, because nobody will ever forget the Al Wilson debacle. Then again...

So, Monday night we saw Kofi Kingston take a march to the forefront as he began a new feud with Randy Orton. Kofi is doing it right as he's shown his ability to give a promo backstage while also showing signs of pure brilliance in the ring. He's fast paced, unafraid of taking chances, and works with just about anybody at a high level. Now, those of you who see my twitter posts, you know I cannot stand the antics or in ring technique of Randy Orton. You might wonder why but the answer I give is simple. There is no mystery in Randy Orton. There is no real drama for his character. The character prides itself off a kick to the skull and his 'loose cannon' attitude. I'll give this word to Randy, it worked for Brian Pillman back in the late 90s because he really was a little off balance. You aren't and you would be better to just do something more than a punch and a stomp in that ring rather than try to come off crazy. It doesn't work, and it only shows a weakness you have hidden since you turned heel. That weakness is the inability to really work. If you're not sure of that you can check with CM Punk or Shawn Michaels, they seem to still understand that part of the game pretty well. We also watched DX and Jerishow continue their feud while also watching Jericho and Big Show further their story. The best part of this is watching how the spotlight moves from old stars to new names so quickly. Swagger and Miz could end up being a good feud, my only hope is that Miz goes back to his style where he wore his own ring attire instead of trying to copy Jericho. Yeah, it really doesn't look good to use a move Jericho used back in the day as a finisher while Jericho is STILL actively wrestling.

I think the main event for Survivor Series could end up as a pretty exciting match, even though there a lot of folks out there who crapped on it from the start, Shawn Michaels vs Triple H vs John Cena gets three top tier stars of the show and forces them into a situation where even if Cena comes out on top, we could see dissension and anger in the DX camp. This isn't bad here, because at least while these three are in the ring together, we'll get to see more of the new blood come into play. Once this match is over we should see a new challenger entirely. As always with WWE, we have to exercise some patience because their storylines never end as sudden as some of the competition's.

Over on the Smackdown side of the fence, we got to watch more of their usually excitement. John Morrison continues his feud with Dolph Ziggler, and even though I am not a big Ziggler fan this works because both are extremely aggressive in the ring. The fast pace and hard hitting action they display keep it entertaining. I expect this to keep us involved for awhile. The Batista turn has some good sides to it, because people really don't like him right now as it is. Maybe it's the steroid accusations, maybe it's the frequent injuries, no matter what it is, the man is getting bored more and more regardless of his stance as heel or face. Turning on Mysterio made this a good move, because now they'll work against each other and serve the purpose of occupying each other's time while more people can get into the spotlight. Like Cryme Time and the Hart Dynasty. Would it be such a bad thing if either team got a title run? Split the tag titles again please and let's get some tag action on both shows. My word of advice to the creative folks is to get this done before Mania, because when you have as much on the line right now, every match should count and the titles make it more entertaining. Not to mention, it puts some organization to the clutter of tag team wrestling in WWE. The main event structure right now is really pushing the Undertaker to the limit. You figure if any of the rumors are even close to true, he's working a lot harder than before to keep up with his opponents. That being said, his match with Jericho and Big Show will allow him to maybe slow down a little and let Jericho direct traffic. That's not a bad thing by the way, THAT is a GOOD THING! (Thanks to DDP!)When we diagram how we want a match to look, there's few people out there that can keep a match going like Jericho can.

Over on the TNA side of things, we really get a big deal to discuss. The man who has been credited for helping make the industry grow from the cult to the acclaimed has signed a deal with TNA wrestling, and he's bringing his friends with him. Who is this man? Hulk Hogan of course. He's bringing Eric Bischoff with him and this begins the hottest time of the Internet Wrestling Community since Bret Hart's 1997 screwjob. There are more rumors flying around right now about who is going to make their way to TNA, we hardly get a chance to remember that AJ Styles has done an AWESOME job as TNA World Champion. If you're in TNA right now, I have one question for you. Are you worried? If you're not, maybe you should be. If we let history be our guides here we can remember just how much Hogan and Bischoff did during the Monday Night Wars that put a lot of excellent workers on the back burner while a lot of top stars from Hogan's entourage got a huge push into the spotlight. This was one of the things that made WCW explode from the high school gyms to the Georgia Dome, so it's not all bad. We could be witnessing a rebirth of massive proportions here. Look at who has talked about making their way to TNA. DDP, RVD, Ric Flair, and even GOLDBERG has commented that they have an interest. The big thorn in their sides right now tends to be Vince Russo. So many people have pointed out Russo's past failures that it is hard to really get around that. When you figure that in the past Russo has really stuck it to Hogan, Flair, and Goldberg, not to mention WCW as a whole, it's hard to argue with the desire to see him go. The problem is, who do you put into creative in TNA if he IS released. We already know what happens when Nash runs things. We've seen how Flair has done it. So who gets to take control? Jarrett sure can't, that was probably the best decision they've made so far to take him out of the mix. It is an exciting time, but the guys who have been there since day one have got to have their own set of doubts. AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels, Abyss, Samoa Joe, Sabin and Shelley all have a legit reason to be concerned. These guys have pushed hard to get their spots cemented in TNA and it would be a real shame to see that go away. As with everything though, change is inevitable. At this point the only question remaining is, 'What's next?' Sounds like it could be anything goes with TNA for awhile. We may even get to see the rebirth of the Monday Night Wars as supposedly, TNA has pushed to get a show on Monday nights. All I can say is I have high hopes.

History tells us that nothing last forever. WWE has been the stronghold for wrestling for so long, maybe TNA is going to be the company that finally puts it out of the #1 spot and takes the reigns. If it does, I for one can't wait. We need the spotlight to shine on new faces and in new places. The six sided ring has been an innovation that has gained a lot of interest as well as the Ultimate X and the X Division itself. There's a lot in TNA that could be what makes us finally change the channel. Used to be it was Nitro that had use wondering who was next to jump ship, now it could be Impact that makes us question who will be the Champion and who will lead the way.

With the hopes of millions on their shoulders, it's safe to say both WWE and TNA have their work cut out for them.

That's what I got for this week, thanks for reading and I'll see you next Saturday!

--Stan Grubb--



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