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Look, TNA is taped tonight, and it sounds like an awful show (call me a WWE mark, I don't care). Like I say every time, I want TNA to succeed. TNA doing well benefits everyone. However, after last week's debacle, it looks like they are back with more of the same crap this week. Seeing how their ratings tanked in the main event last week (down to like a .75), I would be honestly shocked if they topped a .8 rating this week. A taped show + what sound like bad spoilers + declining interest last week + what should be a stacked Raw = bad news for TNA. The sad part is at least publicly, all of TNA's major names said how thrilled they were with last week's show. I mean, seriously, c'mon. It was crap. TNA just throws 1000 things at the wall, and maybe one of them stick. But there is so much crap that doesn't stick that it makes the show unwatchable. Until TNA decides to focus on all of the talent they have in their organization instead of focusing on washed up WCW and WWE talent, they are doomed to fail.
Can any wrestling fan honestly tell me they enjoyed watching TNA last week, AND are interested in Sunday's PPV? If you say yes, please back it up with some logic, because I can't see it.
And to be fair, Raw was pretty bad last week as well. They hit a bump after putting on a few excellent Raw's in a row. Tonight's show on paper certainly looks like it will get them back on track as we are just 13 days from WrestleMania.
The biggest news is that Stone Cold Steve Austin is returning to the WWE to host tonight's show. I really thought Austin may have been done with the WWE after last year's WrestleMania. Maybe his post-wrestling career hasn't taken off quite as much as he would have liked (which certainly seems to be the case), or maybe he still has a genuine love for the business (ehhh), but regardless, the Texas Rattlesnake is back tonight. If I have just one request from Austin, it will be to tell the "WWE Universe" that they are never allowed to use the "WHAT?" chant again.
In addition to Austin's return, we will have the official contract signing between Bret "The Hitman" Hart and Mr. McMahon (Vince McMahon and Mr. McMahon are clearly two separate people). While I'm still interested in seeing the match, my intrigue has really fell off since the car accident angle. We've said it before, but this went from a real life feud to just another silly WWE storyline. And I won't lie, I find Mr. McMahon's character to be hilarious and hateable at the same time, but I think he is taking this too far over the top, but I guess keep reality to this program was thrown out with the car accident. Vince has continually gotten the better of Bret each week, and I think that should continue until WrestleMania. Having Bret get the best of Vince before that will take away the effectiveness of Bret eventually making Mr. McMahon tap out to the Sharpshooter. I'm a little worried about the fact that Bret is reported to be sticking around after WrestleMania. If this leads to a disputed finish at WrestleMania, it would be a huge, huge, huge mistake.
We also get three WrestleMania Rewind matches tonight: HHH vs Randy Orton, Chris Jericho vs Shawn Michaels, and John Cena vs The Big Show. Take a guess which one I am excited for. Honestly, how many times have we seen HHH vs Orton? I have zero interest in this match and can almost guarantee it ends with some type of interference from Legacy and/or Sheamus. Cena will probably beat The Big Show. But then we have Chris Jericho vs Shawn Michaels. I am PRAYING this isn't the match that starts at 11:01 tonight. Please give them 20 minutes and two commercial breaks like they did for Orton vs Legacy last week. If they do that, there is practically no way Raw can be bad tonight.
And speaking of Orton/Legacy, where the hell are they going with this? I guess tonight we'll find out what their match will be at WrestleMania, but we've already seen them fight each other multiple times, so I can't think of any match that won't come off as stale. Especially considering how boring their handicap match was last week. The WWE has done a poor job of getting Rhodes and Dibiase over and at the same time, Orton has lost a lot of the juice he had going for him.
There will be one last Money in the Bank qualifying match tonight, and it is expect that the spot with go to Kofi Kingston. If the MITB was happening four months ago, I would say it was a shoe-in that Kofi would be winning the match, but now, I don't think he has much of a shot.
So that's it for right now. I'll be back later to update with any new developments as well as a brief TNA preview.