This past Monday night marked the first time in history that TNA Impact went head to head with WWE Monday Night Raw. This was an altercation that TNA had put loads of effort into hyping and labelled their biggest big show in the history of the business. There is absolutely no doubt thus far this was TNA's biggest night ever and their chance to begin a new year, not only with a bang, but to possibly lure in some frustrated WWE fans as of late. The real question is, did TNA do their job in showcasing their product, in a first time ever Monday night 3 hour super show head to head altercation with Raw?, or did they drop the ball?. Among that I will give you my full analysis on what show did the best with whatever hits and misses there were.

Let's start of with TNA Impact:

Miss: TNA started off their 3 hour show with a cage match steel asylum, with the idea of the match being that you had to climb to the top of the cage and out circular hole at the top to win the top. The match seeemed to start off as a spot, but the camera was all over the place and seemed to being having trouble following the action. For whatever reason they seemed to think that viewers were more interested in watching the match from outside of the cage instead of in, as we saw plenty of that, what were they thinking?. Continuing looking past the horrible camera angles and shots to this match, after some descent from what we actually saw clearly Homicide loses it, only to have the match end up a no contest. TNA did you really no contest your very first match with such a stupid reason only leaving viewers to be let from the beginning? I see Vince Russo is on the ball again like he was in WCW!!. After the match is declared no contest Homicide continues to make his attempt out of the circle at the top of the cage while the others in the ring also continue to wrestle. Why are they still wrestling what is the point they have nothing to fight for, it just made no sense.

Hit: Long story short no winner, no contest and eventually Homicide is left standing outside of the ring and out comes Jeff Hardy in a surprise appearance coming through the crowd. Jeff goes through the crowd and towards the ring entrance of the cage where Homicide is near and he gets attacked right away by Homicide. They battle for a bit with Hardy nailing a twist of fate on the ramp way he heads towards the cage climbs to the top and sits posing to the crowd. This was a great surprise Jeff Hardy back in TNA instead of the WWE, this some what makes up for the opening match and gives the first 20 minutes of the show some thing of relevance actually happening, but the fact that they no contested their very first match on their very first head to head altercation was not a smart move and who ever made that choice is very low in brain cells!!. While TNA earned their this is bull**** chants during this match, obviously the ending the whole match was focused on the former WWE champion making his return to TNA. This had to be a low blow to WWE whether or not they claim to be worried about TNA at all this is going to draw attention and Hardy being a former WWE champion may take some fans with him. Big hit, but the no contest still didn't have to happen and shouldn't have.

Miss: Okay so after the steel asylum and Hardy's return we see a viedo package of Hulk Hogan's limo heading to the Impact Zone surrounded by cops? Did my eyes really see correctly?, what is Hulk Hogan the president of the United States Of America?. The cop cars really are not necessary, although it's not a really big deal just seemed a little stupid, odd and funny to me.

Hit: A limo ends up arriving to the Impact Zone later in the show and out comes a good shock in the "Nature Boy" Ric Flair. A good addition to the previous arrival of Jeff Hardy, it'll be interesting to see what part Flair plays as he was seen going into A.J. Styles dressing room and later on comes out to watch the match. Another who can draw a lot of good attention to TNA despite his age, it's surely a good thing for TNA that they got him instead of the WWE.

Hit: The second match was the women's championship was a descent match, with the title changing hands which I didn't see much point considering Tara only won it at the last pay per view. I guess TNA figured at least one title had to change hands that night. Was a short match but was a good enough filler. I will give it a hit despite the disappointment of a title change that I think was too soon.

After the match they show Mick Foley trying to get into the arena but being told that there are specific orders not to let him in. Foley is displeased, but says he's gonna get in.

Miss: The Beautiful People do some sort of strip poker thing and later Val Venis joins the group. It was what it was and I really didn't care for it. The return of Val Venis is really nothing to care about and a strip poker event on wrestling really doesn't in "wrestling" in my opinion. Those girls are truly fine no doubt about it, but they can find better uses for them, it's not a sex show and the truth we all knew no matter what that we weren't going to see it result in anyone getting naked, surely not on Spike TV and at 8:30ish. Among a show that TNA is trying to express as "we are wrestling" this didn't exemplify anything that had to do with it and they dropped the ball in this attitude era of WWE booking that should no longer be a part of any show these days.(even though the attitude era was great, times have changed). Sex sells true, but I don't believe it does in my opinion.

Hit: Hall and Waltman are trying to get in and security tells them they are not on the list, they rough up security to try and get in to no evail. Right away a show of classic NWO, I kind of thought it was pretty cool. Later they are shown entering front row in the audience, i guess some how they bought front row seats to a already sold out show, where some how the tickets were conveniently available. None the ended up being there. It was a good start to the arrival of Hall/Waltman.

Hit: Hogan's limo has arrived and shortly after he's arrives in the Impact Zone to similar to N.W.O it was seem, but in fact it was N.W.O music for those who didn't know, the nWo Japan used that exact music in WCW. Can't you make new original music for Hogan TNA?. Any ways Hogan comes out to an expected electrifying entrance as the Impact Zone was going crazy. Hogan talks about how happy he is to be here, he's going to make this company the best company around in time. Hall and Sean Waltman are trying to get into the ring but security won't let them Hogan says let them go, if they have something to say it. Hall says he wants there here to make money and party like before with Hogan. Hogan says things are different this time and it's not like it was before. The whole segment was pretty much about how Hall and Waltman to come in and take over the show, with Hogan basically getting at the fact that it's not their time anymore, but the younger guys. Nash comes out and says Hogan has a role to play, let him play it and Hogan expresses it's not a role and times really have changed. Bischoff than comes out and pretty much tells the same thing to Hall, Nash and Waltman as Hogan did, telling them times have changed and everyone has to earn their spot. Hall, Nash and Waltman leave pretty much with thoughts of "whatever", it's still all about us and leave Hogan with Bischoff in the ring. I enjoyed the segment and it's interesting to see where they go with and if Hogan is going to part of it eventually or standing against them. I really hope from this angle it really becomes all about the young guys, with the nWo trying to earn steal their spot in the business without success. This angle could work with the right approach and without the old guys taking over, because than it becomes WCW before it's death. All in all good promo and it served a good purpose with loads of potential to end up being a great angle in the future.

Moving on Bischoff and Hogan talk a little more about change and than rip up a script for the show saying it was all good, but we are shaking things up type of deal. Before commercials Sting is shown in the rafters, but barely any of the fans in the Impact Zone even noticed, because there was really no reaction. The whole angle despite the fact that TNA did a poor job of making it reconizable that Sting was in the rafters to the live audience, thus not getting much of a reaction, was good. If they actually go through with Hogan making all about the young stars with the TNA's version of the n.W.o stepping to try to claim the spot they had in WCW, resulting in an angle with younger guys who get a push from it, it will be a hit storyline in my opinion, we'll see if it goes this direction.

Hit: Next was Hamada with a partner of her choice Awesome Kong vs Taylor Wylde and Sarita for the TNA knockout tag titles. I really enjoyed the match and what this match really showed is that TNA's women division of wrestling is actually wrestling and is much better than the WWE. Hamada is one of the best women wrestler's I have ever seen, but I still think two women's titles are too much. They are doing a good job with their women's division, but it is unfortunate that the women's tag division seems of more importance or better action than the single's championship. Either way great women wrestling is alway a good addition to the show without having to use women as sex objects.

Miss: Foley tried to get in again and wasn't able to. The Nasty Boys showed and were trying to get in but weren't able to get in. Eventually the Nasty Boys got in and didn't have a room so took Team 3D's room because I guess on this night they were in Japan. They trash the room. I guess we see a the washed up Nasty Boys vs. a getting old and boring as well Team 3D. One thing I am not looking forward to. Foley trying to get in, but being denied is good for continuing the whole angle they have been doing with him, but the addition of old timers the Nasty Boys bring back some old time wrestling that we don't need to say and shouldn't see and them squaring off against a stale Team 3D has no part in wrestling today.

Hit and Miss: Dinero and Wolfe had a short good match with Dinero winning. The ended was a small package with Wolfe seemingly shocked and looking a bit angry at the loss afterwards. It looks like they are creating a feud which should be very good, two of the better wrestler's in TNA and I can only anticipate great matches. Was a good match, but only given like 5 minutes, way too short of a match for two of there better wrestlers, should have been at least 10 minutes or 15. Was all in all a good outcome and good match setting a backbase and buildup for a future feud, but the unacceptable to me that it was that short and disapointing. The short match was a big miss for me, because as I said two of the best wrestler's in TNA deserve more time to shine. However the ending was a hit because it can lead to the beginning of a enjoyable feud with a strong heel vs strong face.

Miss: Machine Guns are knocked out just like Beer Money was earlier(who we didn't see on the show). Announcers are questioning who did this?. Thousands and thousands of names pop in my head, but some how I am assuming its TNA's version of the n.W.o, just a hunch!. The Machine Guns and Beer Money really had no relevant parts on this show and TNA did a horrible of making two of their best tag teams in the company look like they mean nothing not being a big enough part of the show.

Hit: Jeff Jarrett comes out talks about how he founded TNA and was told it was going to be amount to nothing and but that it became something great. Fans are on his side he's really over with the crowd. He mentions names that have made this company mention Styles as the great champion and Beer Money as the greatest tag team, so why isn't the great tag team on the show tonight, in a match?. Any one who tries putting over the younger stars with his words and puts over Hogan. He's interupted by Hogan and tells him to stop talking about himself, he held back talent, that Dixie Carter had to bail him out and that he's also here to help repair some of Jeff's damages. Not sure how this supposed to come off but Hogan ended up getting some boos and came off as the heel, which I read on PWtorch.com that wasn't supposed to be the case. Despite it mind not have went as planned still ended being a short but segment, doing it's job making you wonder where they are going with this. Even if the angle may not have turned out as completely planned Jeff Jarrett's promo was still pretty good and Jarrett being a part of this show made a lot of sense.

Hit and Miss: Hernandez and Morgan beat. Raven and Richards in like a minute. I don't like squash matches pretty much under any circumstances, but I will say this one did make some sense. Stevie Richards really isn't much of the future of TNA nor should Raven, but Morgan and Hernandez surely are. So putting them over like that was effective for me and acceptable, still i rather see them both being a big part of the show given more time on TNA's biggest show "so to speak". A short match for me is always a miss, especially one around the minute range, but Hernandez and Morgan getting a push and made to look strong is a good move.

Miss: Hemme is interviewing Daniels where he says something about not losing notice despite everything that's going on, but it interupted by JB who is unsure of what to do about Mick Foley trying to get in. He tries to stop him, but Mick pushes through on a search for Hogan. So Daniels one of TNA's best wrestler's is given no more than 5 seconds, wake up TNA and don't over look talent like the WWE does, Daniels should have been a bigger part of this how, like Beer Money.

Hit: Samao Joe beats Abyss in a competitive match given descent time, but I'm questioning why more than Dinero/Wolfe. None the less a good match with the right guy going over and hopefully leading towards a serious Joe push.

Miss: Earlier in the show Krystal asked for Bobby Lashley's release saying he is too big for this company and after this match she demands to talk to Hogan to Bischoff, who tells us to get in line. She tell Bischoff he has no clue who he's dealing with. We have already seen an angle where a wrestler quits, another where a wrestler gets fired, so why must we see one where someone wants his release. Everything has failed with Lashley and he's not looking good for wrestling anymore. Since TNA has no good idea's for him, why not just let him go and let him focus on his MMA career and not even bother with this angle that has been already done or something similar to has been done. No point for this on the show, although i will say it's better for Krystal to talk for Lashley cause he is not a good speaker.

Big Hit: AJ vs Angle was the main event. This was a great match, in fact a pay per view type match given pay per view time. I though this was a great idea and smart move by TNA. If you want to be recognized as a wrestling company this is the way to do it on a very important night going head to head vs Raw by giving two your best a long match in the main event. The fans chanted "this was wrestling" during the match and it most certainly was. Hogan came out after the match and gave praise to Angle/AJ saying how they are both the best, he put them over until he was interupted by someone whispering in his ear. He ran backstage to to eventually his/Bischoff's office not sure which it is, but before he does Foley enters looking for him finding Bischoff. Bischoff says his stock holdership means nothing any more and Foley says I never wanted to have to work you and says I should give you a reason to fire me, grabbing Bischoff who tells him not a good idea. He's attacked by the n.W.o. reapeatingly until Hogan arrives with an "oh brother" look on his face after seeing everything that happened. I liked the whole thing, but would have rather it had happened before the main event, so TNA could have ended the show with Styles/Angle finish instead. Regardless was good and again left you wondering what's going to happen next.

Moving here are some thoughts on Raw.

Hit and Miss: Bret Hart debuts and comes out. He is praised by fans and given a great reception and "welcome back" chants. Bret Hart has always been one of my favorites and I was very pleased to see the great response and how happy you could see he was from getting it. He seemed a bit rusty on the microphone and not nearly as good as before, maybe he was just nervous or just uncertain of how he wanted to say things who knows. He talked about how he was glad to be back in the ring again and got to the point where he is back to get closure. He calls out Shawn Michaels and says he wants to bury the hatchet as he held a lot of hard feelings over the years. Michaels pretty much said he wasn't really sorry for what he did at Survivor Series or his part played in the role, but in his whole speech goes on to say that he always respected Bret's ability and puts over the ironman match they had together as one of the greatest. They both share feelings of particular dislike for each other back than, but share a respect for each other for their respective abilities and talents. Eventually they hug and become friends, burying the hatchet?. I understand that maybe Bret has forgiven Michaels, but for Michaels to say he doesn't really regret the Survivor Series incident and them to hug despite that, really was dumb to me. If they were going to hug why couldn't they have just left that part out. It wasn't a bad segment by any means, but I personally was disapointed with the outcome, as I would have loved to see Bret and Michaels have some heated rivalry at least for a while and maybe burying the hatchet on television at some point later. A hit because it was great to see Bret Hart again, a miss because I think it was done poorly.

Miss: Sheamus(champion) fights Evan Bourne. Sheamus wins making short work of Evan Bourne who has a little bit of offense but is quickly squashed in the end. It was what it was in a squash match, pretty meaningless destroying one wrestler to make another one look dominant. Unfornately for Bourne he's another very good wrestler on the WWE roster who isn't taken seriously and this match clearly displayed what the company thinks or has planned for him. He should not be a jobber and it's one thing that continuously turns me off from shows a good wrestler used for nothing.

Hit:Orton threatened to kick Debiase and Rhodes out of Legacy last week if they didn't win their matches and this week Rhodes and Debiase told Randy that if he doesn't beat Kingston they are kicking him out. I like this approach for both last and this week, kind of like their way of motivating each other to win. It's something different, but I'm just wondering if they using the angle to continue to display and build tension between the group to eventually disband or are going to use it to end making them stronger. I kind of like the faction, but either way Rhodes and Debiase are going to be gold.

Hit and Miss: Orton beats Kingston to stay in Legacy. Okay I like how Randy was determined to win because of everything going on, but i would have rather seen Kingston going over because he is a good wrestler deserving of it. So I must wonder with the loss, is this the end of the push he was getting?. If the WWE decides not to push Kingston in the future than I am displeased. It will big miss if Kofi loses his chance.

Miss and Hit: A number one contenders match for the U.S title. Wow I am surprised that they actually have this match for the U.S title. It's not a bad thing it actually means that maybe they are giving another title some focus that it needs to make it of more importance. M.V.P beats Jack Swagger, Mark Henry and Carlito. I thought it was a pretty good match all around and the best guy really did win, although I would not have been disappointed had Swagger won either. Despite a good winner, descent match and a future good match between M.V.P and The Miz for the title. However there were two people in the match I knew would not win and I hate when you tend to know things like this. Carlito has not been given a push for a long time and is not in favor from management and Mark Henry really is no better than any guy in the match so it would have surpised me if he win. Henry is boring and should not be on television or any wrestling show and Carlito given no direction is a waste being in this match or even on show if they are going to nothing good with him and if you know he's going to lose. Good match all around, but i would have chosen different participants.

Miss: Women's match Maryse vs. Brie Bella. I had no interest in this match and I barely paid attention, I did watch a bit,at that point though I was watching TNA on my computer. From what I did see of the match it only displayed to me how much better TNA's women division is than the WWE's. The WWE does have some good women matches from time to time and some good women wrestler's but neither of these two are it, while almost every women's match TNA does put on is good or at least descent, this match was neither. Hot women in a ring are not enough for me, you see hot gals any where on tv, internet or in the real world, fans want a good wrestling match and WWE failed to bring it.

Miss: DX vs Show and Jericho. We have seen this before and I really was into it than. I really can't stand the Big Show anymore, he truly is the "Big Slow" meaning he is boring, very boring. Jericho is still good, but I am unsure if it's because he's aligned with Show or in a feud with the "I don't care about with a stale DX", but he seems to be some what of a shell of what he used to be. I didn't watch this match from the beginning as I flicked to the hockey game, while watching TNA at the same time. TNA had Angle vs Styles on and Taz says "your not going to see wrestling like this on any other wrestling channel" so switched from hockey to Raw on my television to see this match and Taz confirmed what he said was right at that moment. This match from what I watched did nothing for and every wrestler involved are no longer appealing to me in the angles they are in. The turned my focus to TNA programming. On a night of TNA suprises the WWE gave us something we've seen before and something not fresh, that only gives TNA more momentum for there suprises to mean more in the end.

Miss: The final segment was Bret Hart confronts Vince McMahon. Bret wants to make ammends in burying the hatchet with Vince and Vince really showed no interest in doing so. Long story short Bret says things that seem convincing enough to Vince that might make him think they should let things be of the past and move on. They shake hands, hug and Vince raises Brets hand in the air celebrating with him, but eventually kicks Hart in the groin before he leaves the ring. "I didn't see that coming."(not). This was too obvious Vince at first was reluctant to bury the hatchet with Bret and than suddenly decides its a good idea to?. If Vince was interested in burying the hatchet he would have done it from beginning, so when it actually seemed to happened, it was well predicted in my mind ahead of time. This seems be a regular thing these days for the WWE, predictable outcomes. The much anticipated Bret return went sour for me in the end. Don't get me wrong it was great to see Bret Hart, as I'm a long time fan and its great to see him back to get his deserved closure on his career. Despite that, plain and simple I'm not pleased with how they did things and was left disappointed.

Personally with the whole Bret angle I would have much rather been interested in a Michaels/Hart rivalry with Vince and Bret burying the hatchet. Regardless if anything I would have much rather seen Bret strike McMahon or Michaels than the other way around, I think it would have been better television and more rewarding for a fan to see, it'd be like a form of "redemption". Nothing I would have liked to see done or hoped to see done was and I feel the WWE ruined the perfect return, watered down the possible of the angle, despite the great reward of seeing the return of Hart, it just was badly done and booked in my opinion. The truth we don't have to see the hatchets buried on television to know if they were and even so, if Bret is going to be around for a bit why not do a Michaels/Bret rivalry for a while where they eventually bury the hatchet and Shawn ends up turning Bret against Vince in the end. That's how I would have done, as it would lead to plenty of possiblities, where kind leaves more dead ends.

So with every thing being said, what show was the best? and who had a more sucessful night all around?.

For me TNA even with a descent amount of misses did the best job and had some very good hits. Those hits were a great main event, they did things on the show that made you wonder what's going to happen next, which is exactly what a show should do, because a fan left wondering or having curiousity about something usually means a fan who will tune next week to see what happens next. TNA delivered where they needed for most part and really when they had to. There were plenty of surprises for TNA and they were done at good times, while WWE really had no surprises and just a return Bret Hart that was done poorly, is not good enough. Even with the poor booking for the WWE, the Bret Hart segments were still very much worth watching even with my disappointment of the end happenings, the rest of the show was subpar with not a whole lot other than a good match between Kingston vs Orton.

TNA had to deliver on this night and even with some weak moments on their show, they delivered with the most important thing and that's build up for the future and making you look forward to seeing what's going to happen next. The WWE didn't do that even with Bret Hart being back, because everything else besides Bret wasn't really much of anything and next week I will more than likely tune into to see what happens with Bret, but end up some how disregarding the rest of the show if its subpar like it has been.

Lastly who all around had the more sucessful night? The WWE won the ratings which was surely no surprise and was expected. But just because they won the ratings war, it doesn't mean they won the Monday night war all around. Here's my perspective on that.

Raw drew its regular number even with the return of Bret Hart. That's a very bad negative considering the were hoping and even anticipating a 4 point rating or so up from the usual 3.5 - 3.7 range. With Hart's long awaited return to a WWE ring you would assume the numbers would go up but they didn't.

So the question is, what does that mean? It means that TNA's Hogan n.W.o segment that aired briefly around the same time frame as Hart's/Michaels kept some fans away from watching Raw and kept them watching TNA. Hogan's segment drew a reportingly 1.9 which is very high considering it was around the same time frame as Hart's big return. So while the WWE still won the ratings TNA obviously did a good enough job stopping the WWE from gaining a higher rating than they've been so.

Continuing, TNA drew while going head to head with Raw, it's highest rating ever at an overall 1.5 for the night. Apparently there were not very high expectations from Spike TV and they would have been happy to draw even it's regular number on that night, so on a positive note they are very pleased with the number. This has also resulted in speculation that Spike TV is willing to consider putting TNA reguarly to Monday Nights in the future, thus creating a possible regular head to head war with Raw. So the higher rating while not coming close to Raw at all has brought some good attention to TNA regardless.

TNA was not expected to beat Raw according to Hogan, Dixie, Jarrett and we fans knew that is was not likely to happen either on this night. This night was about letting the WWE know TNA is here and ready for a fight in the future. What TNA was hoping for was progress and with their highest rating ever they got it. It's a big deal they got their highest rating ever and they did it while on air at the same time as the biggest wrestling company in the world, who has plenty more exposure than them.

All in all TNA gained progress in more area than one with plenty of build up and hype for the future, while the WWE only maintained its regular numbers and really other than the Bret Hart return failed to deliver anything more than a subpar show. WWE did not leave us which much hope or build up for good future storylines, but TNA did.

On a closing note, one can only hope that TNA takes the momentum and puts on pretty strong shows in future and if the WWE continues to put on either lackluster or subpar shows on a weekly basis, TNA will have a chance to slowly steal viewers and maybe even over the coarse of the year recreate a ratings war. It may be wishful thinking, it might be a great possibility, who knows, but we can always hope and we can always dream. A ratings war can only once again make wrestling the best it's been in a long time, maybe even the best ever, who knows....time shall tell.

Till next time wrestling fans
God speak and have a great week!.

I am interested in others views on the Monday Night War or anything in general, so....

Feel free to comment if you anything to say in regards to wrestling or my column at andrew_vincent@live.com, I'm happy to hear your thoughts and opinions.