The Monday Night 'War' that wasn't

Many wrestling fans had hoped it would be the beginning of a new decade of the Monday Night Wrestling Wars.

But, ultimately, it just wasn’t in the cards. At least for now.

Monday night’s announcement that TNA will be returning to its old Thursday night time slot was a disappointing, but necessary, move that had to be made.

Less than two months into TNA’s bold venture of going live against the WWE juggernaut on Monday nights, the company is headed back to the more comfortable — and less expensive — Thursday evening spot.

The return to Thursdays will mean that all shows will once again be taped. Although there are no current plans for live Thursday episodes, TNA hasn’t ruled out more live Monday night specials in the future.

But considering how poorly Impact fared against Raw the past two months, it looks like TNA has a lot of work to do before it invades enemy territory again.

The good news is that Spike TV has added a one-hour magazine-style show called TNA Reaction that will lead into TNA Impact on Thursday nights. The show reportedly will feature interviews and promos, and will build for upcoming pay-per-views and episodes of Impact.

The TNA staff tried its best to sugarcoat the situation. Announcers claimed the company had “listened to the fans” in making the move back to Thursday nights. In reality, however, it wasn’t the fans who called for the move. It was the lack of fans. Ratings were dismal, much lower than expected, and Spike just wasn’t willing to watch the numbers continue to fall.

The wrestling crew was told that TNA — not Spike — made the decision to move back to Thursday nights. Market research, conducted by TNA and Eric Bischoff and Jason Hervey’s production team, reportedly indicated that fans overwhelmingly wanted Thursday to be established as TNA’s “night.”

From the beginning problems abounded for TNA on Monday nights. One of TNA’s best shows to date two weeks ago, going up against the WWE draft, drew a disappointing .050 Nielson rating. Not only was it below average for a Monday night, it broke the all-time record low for the show on Spike for a first-run episode.

Raw that same night drew a 3.1. When the Thursday night replay of Impact earned a .69 rating, higher than Monday’s first-run episode, the Spike brass knew it was time to sound the retreat.

Despite all the bravado coming from Hulk Hogan and company, TNA is a long way from WWE. While TNA does have potential and a decent roster, the company continues to be plagued creatively. Eric Bischoff and Vince Russo, the top creative influences in the company, have never been a coherent team, and it’s showing in the TNA product. Unlike WWE, where for better or worse the shows have become predictably formulaic, TNA appears to be desperately searching for an identity.

And it doesn’t seem to be getting any closer to finding one.

Hopefully, for the sake of wrestling fans at large, TNA will regain its footing and take the steps necessary to move forward with its product. Egos will have to be left at the door, and creative decisions will have to be made for the betterment of the company.

One was made last week with the termination of radio shock jock and on-air TNA “talent” Bubba The Love Sponge.

The firing came in the wake of an ugly confrontation with former TNA Knockout Kia Stevens (Awesome King) that was broadcast on the radio.

The fact that Hogan brought his longtime friend on board in the first place only raises questions as to Hogan’s ability at the helm. While TNA boss Dixie Carter may get a pass on some of the sleight of hand political maneuvering so common in this business, there’s no excuse for her allowing Bubba to denigrate the product.

Bubba, needless to say, hasn’t gone away quietly.

He announced following his dismissal that Carter had made “a knee-jerk reaction,” and “she will feel the wrath of Bubba.” He added that TNA was “below him,” but went on to say “thanks for the money.”

The usually volatile Jim Cornette, exiled from TNA last year, was uncharacteristically reserved but blunt with his recent take on the situation.

“He (Bubba) disparages the wrestling fans, calls the product crap, when it is a crappy product, but he was one of the crappiest parts of it, and then knocks the people in the company he hasn’t really known long enough to form an opinion.”

Cornette believes Carter was misled by the same people who brought Bubba into the fold.

“How can they not know that by hiring these type of people who disrespect the wrestling fans, look down their noses at the wrestling business, and say now that it’s beneath them, they bring this guy in and give him television time while other people languish in obscurity that could be the future generation of the wrestling business.”

TNA went up against big odds when it jumped into the Monday night picture, and its timing presented an even greater handicap as WWE was heading into Wrestlemania. The long-term outlook was even bleaker when faced with the prospect of Monday Night Football in the fall.

There’s no question that TNA has upgraded its product over the past few months, and was willing to invest a considerable sum of money to compete on Monday nights.

But going back to Thursday night, at least for the time being, will give the company time to naturally evolve its brand and pick up new fans along the way.

Former TNA writer Dutch Mantell probably summed up the “Monday night war” as well as anyone when he recently questioned if “war” was even the right term to use.

“What a war this has turned out to be. This hasn’t even been a border skirmish yet. How can you have a war when one side doesn’t even know it’s going on?”

-- Perhaps TNA should have moved its show to Friday nights. With the loss of such stars as Shawn Michaels and Jeff Hardy, time off for Triple H to film a movie, and the impending departure of Batista, WWE is sporting its thinnest roster in quite some time. Friday Night Smackdown, which is moving to Sy-Fy in the fall, is particularly vulnerable after being virtually raided in the draft.

Smackdown clearly is WWE’s No. 2 brand with a roster not much stronger than ECW prior to the cuts at the end of the company’s run. Out of the company’s six top-tier stars, The Undertaker is Smackdown’s lone major draw, and he, too, is taking his usual time off over the summer. Rey Mysterio, the brand’s top babyface, has been putting off major surgery for months.

-- WWE’s NXT show, which Vince McMahon claimed would be “the next evolution of not only WWE, but of television itself,” also is bombing in the ratings.

Last Tuesday night’s show, which scored a 0.8 rating with one million viewers, continued its downward spiral.

-- Speaking earlier of Jim Cornette, who was released last year by TNA, the fiery orator is now working his magic with Ring of Honor. His official title is “executive producer,” but Cornette has been working tirelessly since last November to enhance the exposure of the company.

The recent ROH pay-per-view in Charlotte, while unfortunately not as well attended as it should have been, was off the charts in quality, and it’s easy to see why Cornette is so committed to this growing organization.

The Philadelphia-based group has spawned the likes of WWE’s C.M. Punk and Daniel Bryan (Bryan Danielson), and TNA’s Samoa Joe and Desmond Wolfe (Nigel McGuinness), and is home to current phenoms such as Tyler Black, Davey Richards, Jay and Mark Briscoe, Roderick Strong, Austin Aires and a considerable list of top-flight performers whose work rate rivals any promotion in the world.

If you’ve never seen an ROH event, particularly a live show, you owe it to yourself to do so. It may not be WWE or TNA, but in this case, that’s a good thing.

“UFC and MMA fans can get into it because it’s young guys who look like athletes, who lay their bodies on the line and hit each other hard. It’s not just spot monkeys, no hardcore BS, nobody’s going to wrap themselves up in barbed wire,” says Cornette.

In other words, it’s good old-fashioned wrestling, with the main-event stars selling athleticism.

Cornette realizes it’s going to be a growing process. The company is increasing its live event touring and opening up new markets. Cornette, with his years of experience in the business and relationship with local promoters, is a key to future growth.

“I’m not looking at this like we have to do something by June. I’m looking at it like in the next two, three, four years, this is really going to be something that grows and evolves.”

“We don’t have the billionaires backing us, we don’t have the Texas oil millionaire,” says Cornette. “We’re going to let the fans decide. The fans have no choice now. They basically have to go to one or the other of two places to get their wrestling. And they’re not really happy with either one of them.”

Cornette says he believes the pro wrestling business in general has lost its vision for the future.

“We have just really lost track of what sells. Remember when there always had to be the new young star. Ric Flair was a new young star. Ricky Steamboat was a new young star. Magnum T.A. was a new young star. And if the veterans had not brought these guys in and put them over and mixed in with them, where would our business have been in the ‘80s, much less now? And that’s what’s happening.”

“Vince Russo believes himself to be a television writer instead of a booker,” adds Cornette. “Vince McMahon employs television writers, and his executive producer, Kevin Dunn, thinks that they are an action-adventure series instead of pro wrestling. The big-funded companies are not only ashamed of being in the wrestling business, but they have pretty much said that they have a monopoly, so you’re going to like what we want you to like. TNA, instead of trying to provide an alternative, has said we’re going to do what Vince does, but we don’t have the budget or know-how, so we’re going to do it worse.”

Cornette says he feels many fans just don’t watch wrestling anymore.

“They don’t watch because it’s silly, in bad taste or it’s blatantly phony. You pick the reason. They’re not interested anymore because, as great as Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair and everybody else were in their day, they’re 60 years old now.”

Cornette realizes it’s an uphill battle, but he likes the fact that ROH is lean and mean, and hungry.

“We’re in a situation now where, if we were the music business and there were two giant music corporations that owned all the record labels, nobody could make a record unless they permitted them to. And along came an independent, underground record label that found the best musicians but didn’t have any money, but said we’re just going to let them make the best music they can make and hopefully word of mouth, over a period of time, will grow it. That’s where we’re at.”

-- How good was Jay Lethal in that skit with Ric Flair on last week’s TNA Impact show?

As good as it gets, according to a number of those who should know, including Naitch himself.

“He does me better than I do me,” laughed the 16-time world champ. “That kid is extremely entertaining.”

Eric Bischoff also praised Lethal’s show-opening promo imitating Flair.

“Watched Jay Lethal on the replay last night,” Bischoff posted on his Facebook page. “He came across even better on screen than he did live. Great performance by an extremely talented guy! Way to go Jay!”

The 25-year-old Lethal, whose real name is Jamar Shipman, got his first big break in the business with Ring of Honor.

-- Flair’s mug is now gracing the cover of scratch-off tickets in the state of South Carolina.

The $5 “Whooo!” scratch-off tickets, which were among North Carolina’s best-selling lottery items last fall, went on sale last Tuesday in this state, breaking all records first day out.

Flair was scheduled to appear on behalf of the lottery Saturday at NASCAR’s Southern 500 race in Darlington, and will make an appearance June 5 at the Sun Fun Festival in Myrtle Beach.

-- TNA star and former WWE champion Jeff Hardy is scheduled to return to court Monday stemming from his arrest late last year.

Hardy is charged with six different counts highlighted by felony possession of cocaine and two counts of felony possession with intent to redistribute a Schedule III controlled substance.

-- Beth Phoenix suffered a minor ankle injury last Tuesday night at the North Charleston Coliseum in a match taped for Superstars against Rosa Mendes. She isn’t expected to miss much time, but was pulled from a tour of Mexico.

-- NASA astronaut Buzz Aldrin is rumored to be hosting the commercial-free May 17 Raw from Toronto.

Aldrin was the Lunar pilot for Apollo 11 and was the second person to step foot on the moon.

Bret Hart is expected to make his final scheduled WWE appearance on that show.

Reach Mike Mooneyham at (843) 937-5517 or mooneyham@postandcourier.com.