The Triple Threat 03.14.10: The 180th Edition - Money in the bank, TNA, Stone Cold, More

Posted by David Martell on 03.14.2010

This week we talk about RVD debuting in TNA, TNA's Impact rating for Monday night, Sting returning to TNA, the MITB ladder match, and Stone Cold Steve Austin possibly being a part of the Vince/Bret storyline. Our Superstar Highlight this week is CM Punk. Please enjoy!



Topic # 1 RVD debuted in TNA this past week. How do you feel about this?

David Martell: This was definitely no surprise since the internet basically told everyone he was going to TNA. RVD's debut in TNA just makes me realize how stupid TNA really is. RVD squashing Sting in his first match was incredibly stupid. First off, this is a big money match, why waste it on free TV. Second, why have ANYONE squash Sting like that. It has been a long time since Sting has been in a TNA ring and they just waste it. The entire segment was just a waste of time and a waste of money for TNA. If TNA ever wants to become credible, they need to learn how to book a debut at least. If RVD came in wrestled a fifteen minute match with Sting, although it would be on free TV, it would have been a much better debut and it would of made both men look a lot stronger. Yes, making RVD squash Sting does make RVD look extremely strong but then again he got murdered with a bat after the match. With all that said, I am glad to see RVD back in the ring, I just hope he can produce some good matches in TNA.

Jacob San Antonio: I'll start by saying good for him. It doesn't do him any good to stay off of TV, and hopefully TNA will get a really good run going for him. Alright, with that out of the way, I'd like to ask TNA what the crap kind of debut was that? "Hey everybody, it's RVD! We're giving you what you really want!" One squash match later, and RVD gets beaten around for who knows how long. As many have pointed out before, I have a tendency to not see the big picture. Yet I seriously can't wrap my head around why TNA would bother setting RVD's return like that. Okay, he's awesome enough to squash Sting in less than a minute. However, he's not awesome enough to avoid a beat down after that first initial minute. Hey, let's have Hogan rescue him while we're at it! I'm sure TNA has something better planned for the guy, I'd just rather they didn't stumble around with bizarre moments like this one. Good luck out there RVD.

Zach Brown: It makes sense for RVD to be in TNA. I've actually been expecting it for a while now, and I'm surprised that it took this long to sign Mr. Monday Night. Why he went over Sting in like 20 seconds is kind of puzzling to me. It was exciting in the moment to see RVD suddenly enter the Impact Zone and attack Sting, but pinning him was just silly and came off weird. RVD can add a lot to TNA. In my opinion, he is one of the few ex-WWE guys besides Kurt Angle that can actually add to the quality of the show. Rob Van Dam is exciting to watch in the ring. Towards the end of his WWE run, he was kind of phoning it in. But hopefully, being in TNA and it's competitive nature will make RVD want to try once more. I'm interested to see what TNA will do with him.

Topic # 2 TNA Impact only got a 1.0 rating this week going head to head with RAW. Do you think this is a bad sign for the company?

David Martell: This has to be a pretty bid disappointment for TNA. They have the debut of RVD, the return of Sting, and Hogan and Flair in a wrestling match. With all that, they were only able to pull in a 1.0 rating. Unfortunately, I think the mystique of TNA being an alternative of the WWE has passed. This last episode of Impact just shows you how TNA isn't really ready to go head to head with the WWE. They don't even know how to book a debut right. TNA first needs to get their product together where it is something worth watching. The problem is that they are bloating up their roster with old guys and forgetting about the young ones. When the Nasty Boys are getting tag title shots then there has to be something wrong. I just don't want TNA to have the same fate as WCW but right now it is looking like that more and more every week.

Jacob San Antonio: I was expecting a lower rating than the week prior, I'll admit, but I didn't expect TNA to barely reach a 1. My guess is people were seriously not looking forward to Hogan/Flair, but that doesn't really explain the ratings for the entire show. When TNA can't snag some ratings from a WWE hosted by Criss Angel, I'm seriously worried about how they're going to rebound. With Stone Cold hosting tomorrow's RAW, that's probably going to hurt TNA's ratings for this week as well. It might just be an adjustment phase as TNA gets settled into Monday nights, but it seriously couldn't hurt for TNA to pull out all the stops in their next couple of weeks. The appearances of Sting, RVD, and Jeff Hardy shows me they understand this, so I guess things might pick up as the months go on.

Zach Brown: Upon hearing this news, my first instinct was to just point and laugh at TNA. But that's a little insensitive of me. Maybe TNA just wasn't ready for the big time yet. I have to say, Raw was pretty mediocre. All WWE is doing right now is waiting around till Wrestlemania. The feuds are set now, and there's really nothing new or exciting. And Criss Angel is not going to put butts in the seats. So in terms of show quality, there is no discernable reason as to why WWE is doing so well in the ratings. TNA did feel like they were giving their all. A lot of the character interactions and promos were good, RVD debuted, it felt like anything could happen, and the Triple Threat for the X Division Title was a good match. Even though I didn't care for the other matches, those positives should have made TNA more competitive with WWE. But for some reason, it just didn't. Maybe TNA just doesn't have enough brand awareness? Both Raw and iMPACT are guilty of not having enough actual wrestling on their shows, and yet Raw is consistently in the 3s and 4s for ratings. I'm not totally sure about what TNA can change to make things more competitive. I guess they just need a lot of positive word of mouth about their match quality. If people keep talking about amazing matches they saw on iMPACT, that could definitely help things out for TNA. But that's all that I can come up with. Unfortunately for TNA this past week, the Monday Night Wars have not returned. At least not yet.

Topic # 3 Sting made his return to TNA this past week. Your thoughts?

David Martell: It is always good to see Sting on TV but they made him look like crap on Monday Night. Losing to RVD in what seemed like less than a minute was overly ridiculous. Sting is a legend. You don't see the WWE jobbing out the Undertaker in less than a minute. It is fine if Sting loses matches to credible people but do it in a credible way. I am still surprised that Sting is still in TNA. I figured by now he would swallow his pride and head over to greener pastures in the WWE where he might actually get treated as a legend. Wrestle for the WWE for a year, retire, and live a long happy life. Seems like something Sting would want but instead he decided to continue rotting in TNA. I don't mind Sting being a heel because that is actually pretty cool but I hope they redeem him somehow to make him look better.

Jacob San Antonio: I think a better topic to consider is "Can Sting succeed as a heel?" Impact managed to shock me three times in a small timeframe as Sting's comeback, Sting's heel turn, followed by the RVD squash match blew my mind. I didn't expect to see Sting in any sort of capacity, but a heel Sting just makes the idea even more ludicrous to me. TNA tried to push the issue with his backstage segments, his allying with Flair and Styles, and his beating of RVD after a quick squash match, but I'm having a hard time buying it. I've never really considered Sting to be a decent heel, and while he could seriously take this angle places I don't expect much to come from it. Still, the line has been drawn in the sand between Flair and Hogan, and maybe we might see some more last minute allegiances in this growing feud.

Zach Brown: So what was with all this talk of retirement these past few years? Sting just seems to be constantly in TNA over and over again. Not that I have a problem with Sting. It's just that he keeps going on hiatus and coming back and then leaving again. It's getting old. I wish he'd just stay on the active roster. That being said, I am of course glad to see Sting back. He is one of TNA's greatest assets because he is one of the few people that Vince can never have. And he's one of the best workers that TNA has. He took an awful storyline with Abyss and made almost all of the matches entertaining. Except for that casket match at Destination X. Damn that match was bad. Like I said earlier, RVD going over Sting was random and confusing. But it should lead to a solid feud, and it establishes RVD as a main event threat instead of an X Division guy. Sting as a heel is not something I'm totally behind because the face paint has never given me a strong heel vibe. But all in all, I'm glad that Sting is back, and I can't wait to see what kind of matches he can put on.

Topic # 4 How do you feel about the MITB ladder match having more than eight participants this year?

David Martell: How do you make the MITB ladder match more of a spot fest? Add more wrestlers! I hope this isn't a big mistake on the WWE's part. I am wondering if they can still produce a good MITB ladder match with that many competitors. I get that this is an easy way to have all their major talent being featured at Wrestlemania but man this is going to be a clusterfuck. Wrestlemania is really shaping up and even with ten people in the MITB ladder match, it should be very interesting to watch. I just hope that we see Shelton power bombing MVP out of the ring one more time. That was brutal.

Jacob San Antonio: I've said time and time again how much I like chaotic matches, and I can't see how having more participants in the MitB hurts it at all. It might be a tad too frantic for the cameras to catch all the action, but that's one of the appeals of the match itself: it's one of the few matches I can think of in wrestling where seeing it in person gives you the vantage point the TV viewers can't see. I remember seeing the MitB match at Wrestlemania 25 and then watching the same match later on DVD: you saw a lot of the important stuff on DVD, but you missed a lot of the crazy stuff going on at ringside and at various spots throughout the arena. This year's MitB has some solid participants, and I can't think of a reason to exclude any of them from the match. It's gearing up to be yet another solid match at Wrestlemania.

Zach Brown: There definitely are a lot of contestants in Money in the Bank this year. But Money in the Bank is a great chaotic match, and whether it's 8 or 9 people, it's not going to be too terribly noticeable that you have that extra person in there. As for why they have nine people this year, that concept is really beyond me. Sure, a lot of these guys need a spot at Wrestlemania, but this should not be the match they should be in for a few of them. I really don't think that Kane, Drew McIntyre, or Matt Hardy should be in this match at all. Everyone else in the match is either a great choice for this kind of match, or deserving of a main event push. Kane is terrible and adds nothing to the match. Drew McIntyre has the IC title, and shouldn't even be in this match. He doesn't add anything interesting, period. And they simply didn't have anything for Matt Hardy, so they stuck him in this match. The cap was raised to 9 to include these three guys? How about John Morrison, Kofi Kingston, and R-Truth? Aren't those significantly better choices for a unpredictable multi man ladder match!? Sure Morrison and Truth are in a Tag match, but that match should have gone to The Hart Dynasty or Cryme Time, not a randomly thrown together team. All in all, raising the participants to 9 doesn't bother me. It's when they raise it to 9 and three people don't even belong...that's when it's just dumb.

Topic # 5 Would you like Stone Cold Steve Austin to be a part of the Bret Hart/Vince McMahon storyline at Wrestlemania?

David Martell: I would love to see Stone Cold be a part of another Wrestlemania. I thought it was ironic that they showed the Goldberg vs. Lesnar match on the Wrestlemania rewind since Stone Cold actually was the ref of that bout. I can see him playing the same type of role here as well. Steve Austin has a great deal of past with both of these guys and it would be interesting to see what side he would choose although him being against Vince is the obvious choice. WWE is really trying to stack the card this year into what seems like a super card and having Stone Cold on the card in any fashion just added to the excitement. This will be a Wrestlemania for old and new fans and by making the card into something that is truly grand it will bring in more viewers and overall I think this would be an excellent way to bring back the old fans to the WWE.

Jacob San Antonio: I'm actually split on this issue. On the one hand, the Attitude Era in me says that you can never have too much Stone Cold. On the other, I find the Bret Hart/Vince feud to be a bit too much of a personal matter at this point to allow outside interference. This completely contradicts my predictions from weeks ago where I expect the two of them to be at Cena's/Batista's respective ringsides, but as the feud has developed I've come to terms with what looks to be one last match from Bret Hart. I'm surprised to see this, since I didn't think he was in any shape to go through with a match, but if it's going to happen I want it strictly between Hart and Vince. No interference. This feud has been waiting to escalate into a fight for the past 13 years, and I think it would be best to just let these two have at each other. On a side note, I'm a bit concerned for Hart's safety, and not just due to his health. Is Vince really the best guy to trust with this? He's never been a good wrestler, and even though he's willing to do some downright insane spots to get the fans going, I'm not sure if he can carry the match if something happens to Hart. I suppose we'll see.

Zach Brown: Meh. I could care less if Stone Cold was at Wrestlemania or not. I saw him last year at Wrestlemania and that was definitely special. And it was special because it felt like Stone Cold's last appearance for WWE. Now he is hosting Raw, and it's clear that Stone Cold will have a relationship with WWE for several years to come. If Stone Cold gets involved in the Vince vs. Bret feud, it would obviously be as a guest referee. And that's something that Stone Cold is no stranger to doing. If Stone Cold feels inclined to get involved in the story at Wrestlemania, so be it. I won't be offended. Stone Cold could make a thousand more appearances in WWE, and it wouldn't bother me in the slightest for obvious reasons. I just hope Austin realizes that the storyline is piss poor.






Our thoughts on CM Punk.

David Martell: CM Punk is wrestling gold. If you haven't seen his promo this past week on Smackdown, find it on youtube and watch it. It is by far one of the best promos I have seen in a long time. CM Punk continues to evolve himself into a super heel. He is definitely the one to watch in the WWE right now. WWE is very lucky to have gotten Punk in the first place and thank god they let him run with his own gimmick. He is one of the best talkers in the business today and he is also a pretty damn good wrestler when he wants to be or when he is given the chance to shine. His match at Wrestlemania with Rey should be one of the best matches of the night if given time. It will definitely be a sleeper hit if nothing else. It is only a matter of time before Punk is a World Champion again and I personally can't wait.

Jacob San Antonio: Man, CM Punk has had a neat time in the WWE. He's managed to play baby face for so long that simply turning heel has been enough for some fans to lose it whenever he's on TV. CM Punk has always been a pretty talented guy, cutting some nice promos and being a solid wrestler overall. He's been given plenty of opportunities to stand out, and thanks to this he's part of one my favorite moments in the WWE, with his last laugh as Crazy Mariachi Punk against Chavo Guerrero. His first MitB win in Wrestlemania XXIV came as a complete surprise, and his cash in on Edge led to a title reign brought down by an abundance of JBL and the lack of personality Punk's face character really had. His run as tag champs with Kofi Kingston wasn't too terribly exciting either. It wasn't until CM Punk's second MitB win that the gears started turning and Punk got another shot at being a serious champion. I don't think I need to remind everyone of his feud with Jeff Hardy, one of the highlights of the summer of '09 and by far one of the best feuds of that year. Since his heel turn Punk has revitalized his character and found himself a nice second wind in the WWE, getting some awesome heat with each promo and putting on some fantastic matches in and out of PPVs. CM Punk's had a pretty awesome career in the WWE, and he's still got a lot of years ahead of him. I can't wait to see where he goes from here.

Zach Brown: Lately, I am hot and cold on CM Punk. I am a big fan of Punk's wrestling, his promo ability, his character, and his storylines. He is the total package in my eyes. But I am not a fan of the way he is being used right now. He has a solid stable, and I love that at both The Royal Rumble and Elimination Chamber, he got chances to spout off on the straight edge lifestyle. They were great opportunities to give CM Punk some much needed spotlight. But none of it has been going anywhere. At Royal Rumble, he was set to have a Royal Rumble match as epic as Stone Cold did back when he was eliminating everyone and constantly checking his "watch."And then he was eliminated way too soon. The Straight Edge Society needs some gold for me to take them seriously. Whether it's the tag titles or one of the big belts, something needs to happen. They need to capitalize on Punk's savior gimmick, plain and simple. WWE just needs to give him the ball again, and we will have another epic few months of wrestling. So yeah, I am a big fan of CM Punk.


Thats all for this week. Feel free to comment at the bottom of the page and have a great week in wrestling. CYA!