TNA is turning into WCW

I think everyone is noticing this and I am not the only one watching wrestling that is old enough to remember World Championship Wrestling. I mean, the main at TNA Genesis 2007 saw 3 wrestlers that were high on the ladder of popularity in WCW: Sting, Kevin Nash and Booker T. Everybody I think realized that Booker T was Sting's mistery partner so I am not going to discuss that. TNA told enough to let everybody know who he was but without actually mentioning the name Booker T. Kurt Angle is the only one that is true WWE in TNA and this says a lot. WWE managed to get Jeff Hardy but that is about it. I can not think of any other wrestler that WWE got from TNA while the other way around is much more obvious. It is enough to mention Dustin Rhodes, now transformed into Black Reign. He will probably never get inducted in the WWE Hall of Fame for this move. We also have Kurt Angle, the wrestler that is probably the best in the world one it comes to how technical he is. I mean he almost delivered a perfect 450 degrees splash on the last pay per view and that says a lot. Then Christian Cage came to TNA, another blow to WWE and at Genesis he was in a ladder match. We all know the Edge and Christian ladder matches. We see Kevin Nash, good old Diesel, looking a little old but I still think he can wrestle and this is just a gimmick.

Then we are talking about the former Dudley Boys, who doesn't remember them? The Steiner Brothers. I still remember the feuds between the Steiners and the tag team of Sting and Lex Luger. What more is there to say? We are clearly witnessing a revival of World Championship Wrestling through TNA. We even had Scott Hall in (remember the Outsiders and the New World Order). It seems like good wrestlers are leaving the WWE and coming towards TNA. The wrestlers with more experience are coming to TNA. The main event at Genesis meant that the 4 fighters held over 40 belts in their careers. Only one thing would be more of a shock than Jericho possibly appearing in TNA and that would be somebody like Shawn Michaels or the Undertaker joining TNA, although that will never happen. Too bad for Jeff Hardy though, he might be a champ now but he is more suited for the TNA style. Well, as I said before, WCW is coming back to life through TNA and I am curious what will happen next.

TNA Genesis 2007 Black Reign vs Abyss

I don't think many people know this but just in case you do not, Black Reign is actually highly experienced wrestler Dustin Rhodes (just in case you missed the transformation). Well, this is how TNA's Genesis 2007 started, with a Shop of Horrors match between Black Reign and Abyss. It was of course a no disqualification wrestling match that should have been interesting and I thought that Abyss was going to win (I just like this wrestler more). We saw the two wrestlers going at it in the crowd and then an interesting suplex delivered by Black Reign on Abyss. Then something like a stunner on Abyss, then Abyss with a nice kick to the groin and putting Black Reign through a chair set up in a corner and then Abyss brought in the highly popular weapon, the baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire. Then we got to see the same Abyss with a cholkeslam on the top of the stage, not that spectacular but the fans loved it. The next interesting moment came with the interference of Mitchell and Black Reign's finisher executed on a set of rat traps. As expected, it was not enough for a win as this wrestling match, if we can call it that, just started. Well, it ended soon afterwards after Abyss delivered a Black Hole Slam that leveled Black Reign. Pretty interesting match from two big guys although not much wrestling in it. Would have loved to see some wrestling moves but hey, decent opener for TNA Genesis 2007. As the match was over we saw Abyss open the box and a masked wrestler attacked him. The similarity in masks is obvious but this new guy truly has a great body and seems interesting enough. It would be interesting to find out who he was.

PS: I really love Abyss' entrance theme, very good track for his character and I can not stop loving to listen to it.

What is The Monster's Ball Match

Well, in professional wrestling, the Monster's Ball match is a special multi competitor hardcore match. It was created by TNA with a name derived by the 2001 movie, Monster's Ball. The idea of the match stands in the fact that those that enter the ring are kept alone in a locked room without food, water or light for 24 hours before the match starts. As you can imagine, this is just stipulation and it is aimed to motivate, and make the wrestling match more interesting. It also explains the use of weapons and various extreme hardcore moves in the match. Victory is achieved when one wrestler is pinned or submits, kind of like a first fall wins. Because of the nature of the Monster's Ball match, the hardcore wrestling implication, there will be many pre-planned high impact moves that are aimed to draw reaction from the plan. For instance, at the last year's Monster's Ball we saw Raven execute an elbow drop from a high place in the arena on Abyss, who was placed on a table. This was a pre-planned high spot in the match.

Up until know we saw 6 Monster's Ball Matches and one wrestler was involved in all of them. Abyss is that wrestler and the interesting fact is that he only won one of them, this year at Bound For Glory when he executed a Black Hole Slam on Raven on tacks and pieces of broken glass. The first Monster's Ball wrestling match was held on November 7, 2004 and Monty Brown winning over Raven and Abyss. The second saw Rhino defeating Sabu, Jeff Hardy and Abyss on October 23 at Bound for Glory 2005. The winner of the third wrestling match of this type was Samoa Joe, winning over Abyss and Rhino on June 10 at TNA House Show 2006. Number four had only two wrestlers compete in Rhino and Abyss at the 2006 TNA house Show on August 24. Rhino won the second Monster's Ball match of the career then. Monster's Ball number 5 saw Samoa Joe win his second wrestling match of this type after defeating Brother Runt, Abyss and Raven on October 22 at Bound For Glory. This year we saw Abyss winning his first ever Monster's Ball match after defeating Raven, Black Reign and Rhino at Bound for Glory.

The Monster's Ball match is high end profile for TNA and as you can see, it was held at Bound For Glory, the company's largest pay per view, 3 out of 6 times. Samoa Joe and Rhino both won two matches but the difference between the two wrestlers stands in the fact that Samoa Joe won each of the Monster's Balls he participated in.

Since Abyss won the last Monster's ball, I invite you to take a look at a quick promo by TNA about one DVD. Hope you like it!