Hopefully it happens, so January 4th could be just the beginning, and Never Never Land can reopen every Monday Night.- Never Never Land (Part II)
Wish granted. Never Never Land (Part I) (Part II) won’t be a state of feeling young again on one specific Monday Night - it will become weekly, it will become the norm, it will become another part of history, and it will become real. Tonight was the final night for TNA iMPACT on Thursday nights before it moves permanently on March 8th, going head-to-head every week with WWE’s Raw.
It seems like not too long ago I found my self posting an import from tnawrestling.com discussing TNA’s (then) big move to prime time on Thursday nights (Import: A Beginning of a New Era Thursday Night). As a true fan of the company that watched since its beginning on a summer’s night in 2002, TNA has grown tremendously in the face of doubters, and even the constant criticism it receives today, into new heights.
On the other hand, WWE keeps on moving. The big machine keeps getting larger and larger with additional TV hours, larger venues, and expanded opportunities. Despite my deep investment in the TNA product, it was the WWE that I grew up on and what got me into this addiction called professional wrestling.
Nine years almost to the exact date that wrestling fans saw the end of the old Monday Night Wars, where Vince McMahon finally purchased WCW, a new war is set to begin. TNA vs. WWE. Raw vs. iMPACT.
It almost seems too good to be true. Quite frankly, I don’t believe it has hit wrestling fans as of yet. And as WWE gears up for Wrestlemania XXVI in 24 days with the likes of Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker, and TNA iMPACT begins their quest for professional wrestling world domination beginning with a main event including Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair, one has to think they are young again.
How can they not?!
Like any other industry, competition improves everything. And as stated in previous Never Never Land posts, the fans are the biggest winners in this. While I somehow enjoyed all shows being free from competition, which allowed a fan to see and witness everything, from the good to the ugly and all of the up and coming talent, this has proven to be the best format in the past, and it will be so for the future.
Things are looking up again in the world again of professional wrestling. It is often said the wrestling business goes in cycles which include boom periods, and as history has shown, we are on the precipice of another, and I personally believe it is here.
March 8th, 2010 – let the war begin…again!
If my tag-team partner thought my addiction to this business couldn’t get any worse (as evident in my title for her), like most significant others of wrestling fans, she hasn’t seen anything yet.
She should just count her blessings that our cable provider doesn’t carry HDNet, which airs Ring of Honor (ROH) Wrestling …at 8pm…on Mondays.
Now that Never Never Land seems to be open again full - time, hopefully, it opens up its wonderful gates, and spoils us rotten.