WWE “Raw” has been revitalized with an invasion angle that should have happened years ago. NXT, the struggling Syfy show, brought out its rookie class to invade “Raw” the past several weeks; first with a gangland beating of John Cena, only to follow it up with another attack featuring “Raw” main-eventers and Bret Hart.
The NXT wrestlers headed by first season’s winner Wade Barrett flexed their muscles by holding their own in the ring with the likes of John Cena and Randy Orton. And the WWE audience responded with higher viewership. “Raw” has gained almost .5 million viewers since the invasion angle began. Will it hold up? Only time will tell.
TNA is about to change forever, but what is changing is anyone’s guess. CEO Dixie Carter has stated in several Tweets over the last two weeks that big changes are about to happen in TNA. There are several rumors out there right now that need to be discussed. One of them has Paul Heyman coming in as creative director.
Another scenario is that TNA will no longer be doing monthly PPVs, but instead give away free PPV specials on Spike TV. An interesting option, but the Sixshooter is not quite sure how that will equate to money for TNA. As for the Heyman rumor, it does have some legs. Two of Heyman’s favorite performers are now in TNA (Tommy Dreamer and Rob Van Dam). Add to the fact that it seems TNA is now doing an ECW invasion angle, it just makes sense.
Scott Hall’s nine-lives have come to an end with TNA. Hall was arrested before last month’s PPV and charged with disorderly conduct. He reportedly did not inform TNA about the transgression and was then released by the company. This is a convenient reason, but TNA was looking to trim payroll. Also gone from the company is ODB, Roxxi, and there may be more to come.
The WWE held on to the services of long time announcer Jim “JR” Ross. The legendary voice of wrestling will no longer be used in an on-air capacity. Instead, Ross will become more of a talent evaluator. TNA pushed hard to sign Ross, but in the end the WWE was just too much of “home” for the good old Oklahoma Sooner.
Brian Danielson was abruptly released from the WWE after the NXT attack on John Cena. The reported reason is because Danielson used a choking motion on the ring announcer. The WWE has been very conscious of this type of thing since the murder suicide of the Chris Benoit family.
It is a pretty ridiculous reason to fire someone, but apparently the wrestlers have been told enough about this issue, so Danielson was made an example of. TNA has already been in contact with the former NXT contestant, but a return to the WWE in 90-days is not out of the question.
Booker T. returned to TNA several weeks ago during a house show. Do not look for this to be a full-time return however. Booker’s wife has become pregnant with twins, and the former five-time WCW champion will not be coming back to any promotion on a full-time basis. He has discussed the possibility of coming back as a backstage agent, but there is no telling when that would happen.
Abyss is about to return to his evil monster roots in TNA, and not a moment too soon. There are some rumblings that he will be a part of the new ECW group, but either way it is nice to see that TNA recognized that Abyss as a good guy…just was not working. When you are supposed to be the top face and you end up last in a top 10 contender fan voting poll that is a very telling stat.
That is it for this month Sixshooter-a-holics make sure to check me out daily over at http://www.garden-state-of-mind.com or over on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/matthew_guerra. As the great Roddy Piper used to say,
“Just when you think you know the answers, I change the questions.”