HeadLocker — Jay Shannon
Who Won the Monday Night Fight?
Our resident philosopher takes a special look at the January 4th battle between TNA and Raw.
It took me almost six hours to go through the two shows from Monday. After a little break to change out the laundry and grab a sandwich, I wanted to compare the two shows and pick a winner.
Guests
WWE brought out Bret Hart. He was the only non-roster member on the show. Over at TNA, they had Hulk Hogan, Eric Bischoff, Bubba the Love Sponge (why?), Scott Hall, Sean “X-Pac” Waltman, Ric Flair, Sean “Val Venis” Morley, the Nasty Boys, Jeff Hardy and Shannon Moore. The only one missing was Brutus Beefcake. TNA definitely takes this category.
Winner: TNA
Matches:
WWE had another Kofi Kingston v Randy Orton match. D-X faced Jeri-Show to defend their Unified World title. The “main event” was the confrontation between Bret Hart and Vince McMahon. Over at TNA, the undercard was Tara v ODB for the Knockout title, Sarita and Wilde v Kong and Hamada for the Knockout Tag titles. The main event was one of the best TNA World title matches, Kurt Angle v A.J. Styles. The WWE product was just ever so stale, in comparison. Easily, TNA wins this one.
Winner: TNA
Crowd Enthusiasm
The crowd popped huge for D-X and Bret. Other than that, they were somewhat sedated. Down in Florida, the ear ringing will probably lasting for days. The crowd busted loose with “T-N-A”, “Who Needs Bret?”, “This is Wrestling” and other chants that had to be the nightmare of the audio guys in the truck
Winner: TNA
Comedy
WWE brought out Santino to make fun of Chris Jericho. D-X also ridiculed Jericho after their match. Hornswoggle, of course, got his share of giggles. TNA had the whole Bubba the Love Sponge tricks the doofus security guards so The Nasty Boys can slip into the building. The Strip Poker game had a few guilty smiles.
Winner: WWE
Announcer Team
It was Taz and Tenay v Lawler and Cole. Both teams did well, although Taz and Tenay pushed the enthusiasm a little harder. Lawler and Cole did show major excitement during the Shawn/Bret confrontation. This one is too close to call.
Winner: Tie
Final Winner: TNA
Final Thoughts: When it’s all said and done, TNA just produced a better show. The Montreal Screwjob angle is just too old to garner that much heat, these days. The arrival of Hogan and his troops will dramatically change TNA. Bret’s arrival didn’t really change anything, although it was nice to hear that Stu Hart is going into the WWE Hall of Fame.
Peace
–Jay Shannon
TheHeadLocker@SBCGlobal.net
(1/5/10)