Thoughts on the Bret Hart WWE Raw vs Hulk Hogan TNA Impact

I try to stay away from giving too many of my opinions about things going on in the business because I don't want to alienate anyone from playing here because you disagree strongly with my thoughts..  but this is a pretty huge topic at the moment, definitely will go down as a huge moment in wrestling history, so I thought I'd write about it.

First off, I'm a WWE fan through and through.  I've been watching since around 1989-1990.  I never cared for NWA/WCW (though now I can look back and enjoy many of the matches) and only started watching WCW in 1998 (although always side-by-side with Raw).  I watch TNA PPVs because I have to for the site, but I usually enjoy the shows.  Some things I've always hated, but they have a batch of wrestlers who I certainly enjoy watching perform.  So keep this in mind while reading my thoughts, because I'll admit to having a WWE bias for sure.

So this past Monday night, I tuned in to the first hour of Impact.  As a lot of people were, I was very skeptical of the benefits of bringing Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff in (as well as their recent decision to make Dixie Carter an on-screen performer).  I'll go in order of what I remember happening -

• Show kicked off with a lot of fan interviews.  I thought this was an awful way to put over TNA.  Not only did the people they interviewed not seem like the type you really want to push to a new audience as a group you would want to join with, but the quotes were a little unbelievable to me.  First, the one guy who said something like - (paraphrased) "I want real wrestling.  Old school wrestling.  Like the days of Andre vs Hogan, and The Ultimate Warrior."  Really?  The "old school wrestling" is one of the things TNA had been doing a fairly good job with - matches with Kurt Angle, AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels, and recently Desmond Wolfe are what I would say are the "old school"-style matches of today.  Andre vs Hogan and The Ultimate Warrior was more sports entertainment - and very similar to WWE's current product today.  So that blew my mind right from the start.  And then all the constant mentions of WWE, Vince, and how TNA is #2 now but will be #1 soon - huh?  Why wouldn't you say on the show you're going to get the biggest audience on that you ARE the #1 company.  Word it as the "#1 professional wrestling company" if you want, since the difference between wrestling and sports entertainment seemed to be a theme TNA tried to play up all night. 
• The first match was in that incredibly awful cage.  I was really shocked that that was how they opened the show.  Not only is it incredibly hard to see any action going on in it, but even when they could get good shots up close it was tough to tell what was going on elsewhere in the ring.  And then the no contest finish - I was BAFFLED at that.  The crowd reaction was perfect for that.  Then seeing Homicide attempt to crawl up the cage - I really thought he was going to fall.  I still don't know if it was planned that he wouldn't make it, and would fall down and then have to escape another way, but it seems to me the better situation would have been he made it to the top and raised his arms - and THEN have Jeff Hardy appear and climb the cage to give him the Twist of Fate up there.  I have to wonder if that's what they wanted to do, because that would have made a lot more sense in my opinion.
• And as mentioned, the Jeff Hardy debut.  I was definitely surprised at it - at first I wasn't sure if they were just showing him joining the audience, but when he jumped the rail it was obvious it was something more.  The problem I had with this is, why is he debuting in a way where it appears he'll be feuding with Homicide?  Shouldn't he be in the main event picture immediately?  Especially when no one really knows how long he'll be able to stay out of prison.  Get him in the main event immediately so that if he does have to disappear, at least you got a good draw from him first.  I'm sure they'll still get a good boost from him, no matter his role, but seemed like a poor choice to me.
• When they showed the white limo coming, I knew right away that was going to be Ric Flair and not Hulk Hogan.  Flair has always come in a white limo as far as I can remember, so that was my gut reaction.  And what's up with the late arrival?  Both for Flair and Hogan.  For such an important night in wrestling history, wouldn't they be there before the show began?
• Nash's promo did nothing for me.  It was too inside and didn't really get anything across to me, except that he couldn't wait for Hogan to arrive. 
• ODB vs Tara was not a good match.  I don't like ODB's character and while I get that they probably think it sets them apart from WWE by having this edgy female wrestler, it comes across as trashy to me. 
• At first I was excited when I saw that Scott Hall and Sean Waltman were denied entrance.  I was hoping that meant they were showing all of us that our fears of Hogan bringing the past back were wrong, and there would be other cameos of people not allowed in who would never appear on TNA again.  A small payday for all of them just to get across that Hogan coming in wasn't going to translate to a bunch of old Hogan buddies making it onto the roster.
• I started watching the Hogan promo but Raw was about to start.  Besides noticing how poorly he looked walking to the ring, it felt like he was also saying TNA is #2 but "would be #1" - tell me it's #1 already!  Say you've got the talent, great wrestling, etc., so you ALREADY ARE the #1 company.  And that all that this big moment in history means is that more people around the world will be able to come to the realization that TNA is the top company and has been for some time.

So of course Raw began, and sorry, but I wasn't going to miss a second of the opening.  I'm not going to run down Raw with bullet points because there wasn't anything I can point to and say they did badly.  The only part I was disappointed with was Kofi Kingston losing to Randy Orton.  I felt that would have intensified the hopefully new direction they're taking with Legacy, and I guess they still did that partially by not having Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase Jr celebrate with Orton after..  but I'd have liked to have seen Kingston pick up the win and at the same time further the Legacy storyline.

Everything with Bret Hart was absolutely incredible.  I haven't been as glued to my TV as I was during his segments in a LONG time.  I was watching in 1997 so having what was in my opinion the truly biggest moment in wrestling history have some continuation was great to me. 

The direction TNA is going, bringing in all these old guys, maybe you may think I'm a hypocrite for disliking the direction it seems like TNA is headed but enjoying what WWE is doing with Bret Hart.  But WWE is taking something from the past and building on it, it's not just a complete rehash of what we've seen before.  TNA, on the other hand, seems like they're copying things from the past, with guys who don't even look like they belong in a ring anymore, and I struggle to think of a positive way they can go with all these former stars.  It's not like Bret Hart is here to wrestle a match - well, I think he'll have a "match" with Vince McMahon at WrestleMania - he's here to add a final chapter to one of the greatest storylines/shoots in history.  The old guys TNA is bringing in seem to actually be coming in to work - The Nasty Boys vs Team 3D?  The Outsiders vs a much younger team?  nWo-style beatdowns?  TNA was different to me because they had talents that can put on incredible matches that you rarely see on WWE.  Now it's like they feel that wasn't what could set them apart.  That worries me, for sure. 
So I'm not going to completely trash TNA yet, because I want to give them a chance.  They may just be starting things off this way to draw attention and then move back to pushing the talented wrestlers.  I'm hoping for that.

It was just funny to me that that night, WWE put across their younger talents, with the Bret Hart storyline sparsely hit on (and even if he is an old guy, it's pure storyline and it had a great start), while TNA threw out old guy after old guy, showed us their talents in really bad ways (the red cage, ODB vs Tara, Joe vs Abyss), and made it look like all of our fears of Hogan bringing in his crew to put them over TNA's talent.  Styles/Angle was a decent match, but I preferred Kingston/Orton because there was a story to it.  TNA does so many of the "let's wrestle because it's what we do and we want to show off" matches now that it doesn't do as much for me as it used to.

And no, I really didn't watch much of the final two hours of Impact, I only read the reports after.  I switched to it a few times but other than Styles/Angle, nothing kept me from going right back to Raw - even if Raw was still at commercial.

I'm also shocked TNA didn't run a NEW episode of Impact last night, instead of just repeating Monday's show.  So anyone who might have been intrigued by the Monday night show now has to wait well over a week to see what happens next. 

Hopefully those TNA fans of you out there don't get pissed off at some of the things I said.  I've been really enjoying the past TNA PPVs, especially with matches like Angle/Wolfe and Styles/Joe/Daniels - but my gut feeling is the changes that are coming mean we'll see less of that. 

And can I say one more time, BRET HART!  Haven't marked out that hard in forever.  I guess if I had caught the moment on Impact when Hall said "Hey, yo" I would have marked a bit, too, but I can say now there are only two things that I think would get as close of a reaction from me:  1) Sting coming to WWE and 2) The Rock coming back to wrestle HBK (who, after Bret and Shawn hugged, may be a possibility now?  HOPE!).