Hart’s war
WWE would have been wise to post this link to the documentary feature Hitman Hart: Wrestling with Shadows to their Web site in the last week, especially since they’ve done a lousy job on TV explaining the history of the Montreal Screwjob in the weeks leading up to tonight’s reappearance of Bret “the Hitman” Hart to Monday Night Raw. (That said, the WWE PR machine is in full gear with radio ads and e-mail blasts promoting Hart’s return.) For me, tonight’s WWE show offers far more intrigue than what will most likely be a TNA trainwreck with the first appearance by Hulk Hogan and his cronies. (To give you an idea, Bubba the Love Sponge, Val Venis, Scott Hall and X-Pac are all reportedly backstage, with the Sponge reportedly the new interviewer. On the bright side, Shannon Moore and Jeff Hardy are also there, but I’d be stunned if the latter wound up anywhere but WWE when he decides to return.) Granted, like most trainwrecks, I’ll have to look, I suppose.
In the last 10 days, I’ve had a lot of casual fans around my age (38)–mostly men who were big WWF fans in 1997 but stopped watching less than three years later–ask me about Hart’s return. No one has mentioned Hulk Hogan and his band of outcasts taking over TNA –not a single e-mail. Hart is signed through WrestleMania, so obviously tonight’s show will be the first step toward what will hopefully be a well-crafted, well thought-out scenario for Hart on the biggest card of the year. (In other words, I’m hoping McMahon and Hart are hands-on in writing this program–not WWE Creative.) Shawn Michaels is already in the mix, so that should make things interesting from the get-go tonight.
In my opinion, TNA has been in a tailspin the moment they got away from their attempt at some semblance of a realistic sport and tried to emulate WWE’s hokey, camp approach. (Y’know, around the time TNA hired Vince Russo.) Although not a fan overall of WWE’s current direction, there’s no arguing they do what they do best. You can’t beat them at their own game. You’ve got to come up with an aggressive new approach that’s different to distinguish your product (something more than a six-sided ring). And with the popularity of UFC and MMA, you’d think that new creative direction would be obvious. Hogan clearly now fancies himself as the Vince McMahon of TNA, the man who will bring some old-school psychology and sensibility back to the business. Or has he put it, “breathe some life into these characters.” Maybe I should be more optimistic. But I guess the memories of post-1998 WCW are wounds that still run pretty deep. Second coming of the Monday Night Wars? I seriously doubt it. But I hope I’m wrong.
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