Monday, January 4, 2010

WWE in Iowa!

Tonight was a very exciting night for both the WWE and TNA.

On WWE, Brett "The Hit Man" Hart made his return to Monday Night Raw. In November 1997, amid speculation that Hart was leaving for then-Monday night rival WCW, there was a screwjob ending to Hart's match against Shawn Michaels. Per the Internet, there had been legitimate 'heat' or hard feelings between the two leading up to the match. In the end, Hart lost his title and it was his last appearance in the WWE. So, tonight, Hart strutted to the WWE ring and called out Shawn Michaels. Hart told Michaels that he wanted to bury the hatchet and be friends and have closure to what happened 12 years ago. At the end of that segment, Hart and Michaels shook hands and then hugged in the middle of the ring. There was no sideways kick from Michaels and there was no backstabbing. While that was entertaining, *another* Kofi Kingston / Randy Orton match and *another* Big Show/ Jericho v. DX? Seriously? A rival company is going after you and you give the viewers matches that have been done so many times before? Serious? Foolish. I give WWE a C- and that's only because they did manage to not screw up the HBK / Hart reconciliation.

Over on TNA, Hulk Hogan made his long-awaited debut on the show, which went head-to-head with WWE. He came to the ring and announced that he was going to change the business. His former NWO cronies, from the WCW days, came to the ring and Hogan stuck to his role of being a face, or good guy. He told his cronies that this was a different time and that he was going to help make TNA the best company in the business. At the end, the WCW cronies (Hall, Nash, and Syxx) attacked Mick Foley immediately before the show went off the air. The last shot of the camera was weak, a close-up of Hogan acting as if he didn't know what to do about his former NWO-mates. Prior to that was an excellent AJ Styles / Kurt Angle matchup with a lot of mutual respect. A guy dressed in all black came out and attacked Styles and Angle fought him off and threw him out of the ring. Previous to that, Sting was shown in the rafters observing the action in the ring. I give TNA tonight a B+. The Styles / Angle match has been done before but it was actually entertaining, moreso than anything on WWE. I don't know where they are going with Hogan's persona but it does have my interest. I will tune in next week.

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