Monday night heats up with Raw vs. TNA

The resumption of the Monday night wars, the death of a former wrestling star (and father of a couple of other stars) and a wide assortment of other tidbits from the world of pro wrestling highlight this week's column as we celebrate 10 years of bringing you the latest in pro wrestling news.

Raw goes head to head with TNA tomorrow evening after the January experiment resulted in TNA achieving a record rating when the Hogan era officially got underway against the return of Bret Hart to WWE. Raw pulled about triple the TNA numbers that night, but Dixie Carter's crew and Spike TV were thrilled with their rating and have subsequently committed to going to Mondays every week.

Unfortunately, the recent Thursday Impact numbers were down and that does not bode especially well heading into tomorrow's confrontation. Sting and RVD are reportedly in the lineup, along with the advertised tag team match with Ric Flair, and A.J. Styles taking on Hulk Hogan and Abyss for TNA.

Raw counters with Vince McMahon taking on John Cena and the continued build toward the upcoming WrestleMania pay-per-view. Actually, Styles versus Cena would be the most interesting pairing of the entire crew, as McMahon, Hogan and Flair ages add up to about 180 years.

Yes, they are the icons of the industry, but they need to be passing the torch and giving the young talent the rub by putting them over. That needs to happen before one of them cripples themselves or each other. Don't hold your breath.

Sad to report the death this past week of Angelo Poffo, who passed away in his sleep at the age of 84. The long-time wrestling star and promoter of territories in Kentucky and Alabama once held the world record of 6033 consecutive situps and wrestled for over 30 years. He would be more famous to the recent crop of wrestling fans as the father of Randy "Macho Man" Savage and the Genius Lanny Poffo.

WWE released Maria, Shane Hurricane Helms, Paul Burchill, Charlie Haas and ref Scott Armstrong this week. Maria would seem to be the biggest surprise of the group. Awesome Kong declared on Twitter that she was no longer with TNA over her flap with Bubba the Love Sponge a while back. Bubba was also claiming the ratings for TNA were down recently because he was not on the shows, but that he would be back in a prominent role this Monday. Can't wait.

WWE announced Maurice Mad Dog Vachon will be inducted into the Hall of Fame this year. Vachon comes from a rather famous Montreal wrestling family that included brother Paul the Butcher Vachon and sister Vivian. Mad Dog was a holy terror for his diminutive size and starred in Canada and in the AWA for most of his career. His highest profile bout would have been his match with Olympian Chris Taylor that was taped for Wide World of Sports because it was Taylor's pro debut.

While jogging along the highway late in his career, Mad Dog was struck by a car and had to have his leg amputated. This was well after his physical prime and led to his prosthetic leg being used as a prop in a WWE title match between Diesel and Shawn Michaels that could go down as one of the more tasteless angles in wrestling history. Pat Patterson is expected to induct Vachon, now 80, as he helped Patterson get his start in the business many years ago.

Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli are working a tournament in Germany this weekend for WXW. The promotion will actually have a show in Philly later this month. Sorry to say a scheduling conflict prevented me from catching the Brawl at the Schuylkill Mall last Saturday, and I have yet to get any results. PCWA will be returning to Mount Carmel for a card on April 10. More details as they become available.

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