Wrestling news: Decade, part 3
brian henke
- WWE became a friend of the military this decade. It all started
with the Smackdown show that aired live from Houston on September 13,
2001 on UPN. It was the first non-news program to air on TV since the
terrorist attacks two days earlier. After US forces were sent to
Afghanistan and Iraq in the wake of the attacks, WWE started the
Tribute to the Troops where each Christmastime wrestlers entertain in
front of the troops. The Tribute shows have aired on Raw, Smackddown
and the last two years as a one-hour special on NBC. In addition, WWE
offers military members free tickets to their shows. (I still think
Vince did it after the Sgt. Slaughter Iraq sympathizer storyline
during the Persian Gulf War which upset many, including Bob Costas.)
- In the spring of 2006, WWE fans were excited to learn that ECW!
ECW! ECW! was being resurrected as a one-hour weekly show on SciFi.
This version of ECW was going to have many of the original's stars
like Rob Van Dam (he won the WWE Championship over John Cena at WWE
One Night Stand), Sabu and the Sandman, and the involvement of Paul
Heyman. How could it fail? The debut hour of ECW was probably one of
the worst wrestling hours ever, featuring a Zombie whose promo was
worse than a Warrior one. RVD and Sabu were soon busted in Ironton,
Ohio. RVD was stripped of the title. A December to Dismember PPV
produced under the ECW banner flopped so badly that Heyman was sent
home. Finally, your new ECW Champion...Vince McMahon. Nothing says
Extreme more than a 62-year-old billionaire. ECW continues to air on
what's now Syfy, where it gets around a 1.0 rating.
- After WCW's downfall, a number of wrestling promotions tried to
fulfill the vacuum. While Hulk Hogan's XWF and others failed, Jeff and
Jerry Jarrett's Total Nonstop Action Wrestling was the first national
contender to be WWE's rival since WCW's demise. Their show got on to
weekly PPVs first (even one was offered for a penny!), but a TV show
called iMPACT was launched on Fox Sports Net in 2004, eventually
signing on with Spike TV after WWE returned to USA Network the
following year. TNA (originally NWA-TNA, but TNA broke all ties with
the National Wrestling Alliance) has brought in stars like Sting the
Crow, Mick Foley, Kurt Angle, and Booker T, but the show still gets a
1.0-1.4 rating. Today is a pivotal day in TNA, as Hulk Hogan makes his
debut for the promotion on a live three-hour iMPACT . However, the
people blamed for WCW's demise - Hogan, Eric Bischoff and Vince Russo
- have signed for TNA. Will Jan. 4, 2010 be remembered as the day a
new big wrestling era started, or be like Jan. 4, 1999 (Fingerpoke of
Doom et al) as the start of TNA's demise?
Cincy...@aol.com - RATV's pro wrestling ambassador
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"I'm so drunk I don't remember!" - David Letterman
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