The Monday Night Wars

From Vince Russo's Facebook page, regarding this past Monday's "war":

"I sat in the production truck and I wanted our show, side-by-side to Vince Monday night. It was great to see Bret --I love the guy--always have. But as our show went on, and as I watched his, I just kept asking myself--'where's the effort?'"

"Does Vince think that little of TNA that he felt that he could just produce 'another show' on Monday night? I mean, you take away that first segment and that last segment, and you had a wrestling show that wasn't even mediocre at best. Again--going back to the 90's--that NEVER, would have happened if Eric, or I were in Vince's shoes--NEVER. Resting on your laurels is the worst mistake that anyone can ever make--no matter what type of business you are in."

Does anybody remember that episode of South Park where the government is asking Michael Bay for ideas, and he just keeps spewing out various scenarios that end in explosions? And the government agent says, "Mr. Bay, those aren't ideas, they're special effects." And Michael Bay admits that he doesn't know the difference?

Well, I feel like that sums up Vince Russo's writing mentality. In his mind, McMahon refusing to submit to TNA's short term booking, by writing as many twists and surprises possible in a two or three hour span, is "resting on your laurels" and completely devoid of any effort.

Was Monday night's Raw a perfect show? Of course not. In fact, there were more than a couple of flaws, and some might argue that it lacked excitement. But, for the most part, the booking made sense, and there was a definite build towards some new feuds storylines. In fact, they showed some wonderful restraint. While they could have easily crowned a new Divas Champion, they instead opted to begin a tournament. They also could have ended the show with a tag team title change, but instead they decided to stay on course with their original plan (one would assume).

So Mr. Russo, having three drug addicts, two legends who are so far past their prime that they can't even wrestle anymore (and certainly shouldn't be), and, er, Val Venis (?????) return does not make an action packed, exciting show. Nor does numerous title changes. I commend TNA for their ratings increase, but most of that average has to do with their unopposed first hour. After the first hour, their ratings went down. And Raw's ratings went up in their second hour. Which means most people stopped watching TNA once Raw came on the air. And, presumably, even more of them switched over as the two shows ran against each other.

Raw wasn't perfect, but I definitely give them the nod this week.