Welcome To The iMPACT Zone

Monday nights will never be the same! Sure we have heard that before but it will sure be nice to see 2 competing rival and separate companies compete head to head in the world of Professional Wrestling. Total Nonstop Action (TNA) wrestling’s flagship series will air live every other week from Universal Studios in Orlando, Fl.

"TNA iMPACT!," Spike TV’s highly-rated two-hour weekly series, is moving from Thursday nights to Monday nights beginning Monday, March 8 (9:00-11:00pm), it was announced by TNA President Dixie Carter and legendary pop culture icon Hulk Hogan at a press conference. The TNA Brand has been around since 2002 when it was founded by Jeff Jarrett and Jerry Jarrett. TNA was established after the fall of WCW and the sale of the company from Ted Turner and his media companies to the WWE and Vince McMahon. It was a nice little alternative to WWE but had a low budget and not a huge following. As the company grew it soon has become the world’s fastest growing professional wrestling company, currently airing in over 120 countries worldwide.

The first ever Monday live "TNA iMPACT" ran as a three-hour special head-to-head against WWE RAW on Monday, January 4, 2010. It managed to draw a franchise-record 2.2 million viewers. Two wrestling companies have not broadcast head-to-head weekly since the "Monday Night Wars" in the late 1990’s between WWE and WCW. A lot of names you will recognise for either past work in the WWE and some older names that fans have seen back in the WCW days. For example,"The Icon" Sting has signed a new contract and will be involved in tonight’s broadcast. If that wasn’t enough to make not only the wrestling fan flip over at lest for a peak the main event is slated to feature Hulk Hogan’s return to the ring as he teams with Abyss to face TNA World Heavyweight Champion "The Phenomenal" AJ Styles and the legendary "Nature Boy" Ric Flair!

What TNA also has going for it is a solid group of youth sprinkled with some vets with name recognition to draw in the fans that may have been lost from the WCW days and also they have a Women’s Knockout division which are not only decent on the mic but for the most part can handle themselves decently in the ring.

This comes at a much needed time for the sports entertainment world. The flagship show for the WWE - RAW has become uninteresting of late using guest hosts that are on to pimp their upcoming projects and except for a very select few have been big flops that are uninspired and attempt to be funny but fall well short. There seems to be more crap and filler then actual matches and decent plot lines. Hopefully the WWE is using this time to set up some good storey lines as they may need it if the new Monday TNA Impact lives up to it’s name and actually makes an Impact. Cool Pyro and a nice set can only keep the viewer for so long.

It will be interesting to see how a head to head showdown will push both WWE and TNA Products and take it back to a time when it was so strong.

What Cha Gonna Do Brother?

Late last week former pro wrestler and reality tv personality Terry Bollea aka. Hulk Hogan was giving an interview where he, during the course of the interview stated that he could understand OJ Simpson. This is not a good thing to say by anyone let alone a famous wrestler. After what has happened to many before him and the circumstances surrounding Chris Benoit’s death and link to roid rage coming out with the comment "...I totally understand OJ. I get it" is chilling at best.

Hogan told Rolling Stone that his wife Linda dumped him, forced him out of his $18 million mansion, allegedly started spending his money at the rate of $40,000 a month and dating "some shaggy-haired pool boy 30 years her junior,"

Hogan allegedly said "I could have turned everything into a crime scene, like OJ, cutting everybody’s throat," "You live half a mile from the 20,000-square-foot home you can’t go to anymore, you’re driving through downtown Clearwater and see a 19-year-old boy driving your Escalade, and you know that a 19-year-old boy is sleeping in your bed, with your wife . . . I totally understand OJ. I get it."

It is bad enough that he may feel this way but to say so publicly not only shows bad judgement but also shows that he may not be thinking clearly. Perhaps he has taken the high road to this point but with these comments he will not help his own case going forward both legally and in the eyes of the public.

Hopefully this was just a one time outburst and not the result of any calculated ideas or anything that he would ever consider doing. It is sad just on its own Merritt but for someone who was once revered by millions of young children to be in this position is really a shame. We want the Hulk that reminded us as little Hulkamaniacs, to say our prayers, take our vitamins and we will never go wrong.

I just hope that Terry gets some professional help and can put this whole thing behind him for both the good of himself and his family only question now is... "What Cha Gonna Do Brother??"

"Test" Failed - Former WWE Wrestler Found Dead

Well I guess that it was just a matter of time. Yet another pro wrestler has died at a very young age. Canadian Andrew “Test” Martin was found in his Florida apartment March 13th after a neighbor noticed that he hadn’t moved in several hours. Test was one that may not come as as big a surprise that he passed so prematurely. When your ring name is a short form for “Testosterone” there is little left to the imagination. Although there has not been an official cause of death, foul play was not suspected. I guess that is up for ones definition of foul play. Martin failed a drug test and was suspended under the promotion's wellness policy in February 2007 and that could be construed as foul. He was arrested on a DUI charge near his Tampa home in April 2008. Clearly Test had many demons, and it would appear that they eventually caught up to him.

Despite all his troubles he has had his share of success in the ring holding several titles and romances with Stephanie McMahon and Stacey Keibler and outside the ring with a real life romance with Keibler and most recently with Kelly Kelly.
He must have been a decent guy in real life because he sure came off as a real douche as a wrestler and really not a very good one. He was just big, not overly talented.

Martin joins a long list of young wrestlers who prematurely died, most from causes stemming from substance-abuse. Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, Mike "Crash Holly" Lockwood, Bryan "Crush" Adams, Davey Boy Smith, Rick Rude, Miss Elizabeth are among Martin's WWE contemporaries who have passed away. Just remember as well, this is a very small portion of the list of wrestler's who have passed very early. The list is just too long to get into in its entirety.

It is sad that this Male Soap Opera has such a dark side and takes so many so young.