From 1995 to 2001, the Monday Night Wars electrified the wrestling world, and even pop culture. Ratings went through the roof, millions of dollars were made and stars were born. The last two years of the war were more like a massacre, but most fans that lived through that time period still look back upon it fondly. Apparently so do the wrestlers themselves and those in charge. Theyve actually been kind of obsessed with the idea of recreating it. This is something that just cant be forced. TNA sure tried, though, in 2010. With Hulk Hogan, Eric Bischoff and Jeff Jarrett calling the shots, they felt it was time to really take it to the WWE. They finally got their precious Monday Night time slot and went head-to-head with Raw for the shows first two hours every week. Well, for 10 embarrassing weeks that is. While TNA was usually drawing around a 1.0 to 1.2 rating, they dipped all the way down to a humiliating .5 before Spike decided to mercifully end the experiment. TNA went back to Thursday nights with their tail tucked between their legs. Unfortunately for them, not all the fans came back. Their initial ratings were lower than before they left and took months to just get back to where they were before.
As Rust Cohle from True Detective said "Life's barely long enough to get good at one thing. So be careful what you're good at."
Sadly, I can't solve a murder like Rust...or change a tire, or even tie a tie. But I do know all the lyrics to Hulk Hogan's "Real American" theme song and can easily name every Natural Born Thriller from the dying days of WCW. I was once ranked 21st in the United States in Tetris...on the Playstation 3 version...for about a week.
Follow along @AndrewSoucek and check out my podcast at wrestlingwithfriends.com
TNA went back to Thursday nights with their tail tucked between their legs. Unfortunately for them, not all the fans came back. Their initial ratings were lower than before they left and took months to just get back to where they were before.