Chris Shore and Marvin Hermanstyne hang out around the DotNet water cooler and discuss the topics of the week. Today, they discuss the head to head WWE Raw vs. TNA Impact.

Shore: Well Marv, the Monday Night Wars have officially returned. Raw featured an epic Undertaker/HBK interaction and Vince McMahon vs. John Cena in a no disqualification, handicap, gauntlet match. TNA countered with Ric Flair's return to the ring and the debut of Hogan as a wrestler, plus the return of Sting. How do you think each show fared?

Marv:The first round of the Monday Night Wars Part Two will have to go to TNA in my opinion. I watched TNA live and watched WWE on the DVR and I was satisfied with TNA's approach to give WWE some legitimate competition. Most of the segments on Impact felt rushed, but overall it was a better show than Raw. Criss Angel as a guest host for Raw did ZERO for me and Cena vs. Vince doesn't necessarily scream Must See TV (copyright NBC). Impact was great because of the RVD debut (which I have strong feelings about and I will explain later), Bischoff continues to be money as a GM of the show, and the heel Sting was definitely a fresh thing that gave me something to look forward to. Raw was somewhat a throwaway show because the Legacy storyline is weak, Cena vs. Vince did nothing, and Eve Torres getting a push in a decimated division is forgettable. Evan Bourne getting into MITB was one of the few highlights of a forgettable show (besides the Taker and HBK interaction). What are your thoughts on both shows?

Shore: Well I did just the opposite of you, I watched (and covered) Raw live and taped Impact. I thought Impact looked better than it had in a while. Everything is still too rushed, but I felt like they spent extra time on topics where needed, i.e. the Sting heel turn and the Beautiful People’s title win. I thought Rob Van Dam's arrival was nice, only to have Sting shit all over it. And I felt like Impact put over the areas it needed to. I don't feel it was better than Raw, but I think they did a decent job of laying groundwork for moving forward. Let's pick each show apart shall we? With Raw, the best segment of the night was Undertaker and Shawn Michaels. They added the no count out, no disqualification stipulation to their Wrestlemania match, and set the stage for the night. What do you think about this feud and this segment?

Marv: The feud is white hot, but the stipulation...eh, I'm neutral on it for these reasons. One, they are both over 40 years old and with this type of match, they are going to be taking a LOT of bumps with this match maybe 20-25 minutes long. If they are trying to top last year's match, they are trying REALLY hard to do so. Two, it’s pretty obvious now that we will NOT see any of these guys after Mania for a while because they are both reeling with nagging injuries and the babyface scene in WWE is already watered down as it is. I would have been fine with a 20-30 minute standard wrestling match, but maybe that's me because I'm old school. But the segment overall, was the strongest of the show because Raw had a ton of short, meaningless matches except the Legacy handicap match which was an eyeroller. Thoughts?

Shore: Of course it was the best segment of the night. It's probably the best segment on Raw since Orton kissed Stephanie McMahon. I think the stipulation for their match opens the arena up for them. We know these guys aren't spot monkeys, so I'm not too concerned of it degrading into a spot fest. It is the main event of WrestleMania, whether it goes on last or not. You mentioned Legacy, and specifically their match, as an eye roller. I thought the match was pretty good, but regardless of who is right, where do they go from here. They've done singles matches, and now the handicap match. With only two Raw episodes left before Mania, how do these guys get on the card?

Marv: You have officially stumped Marv here. This storyline bores the hell out of me to be perfectly honest. There is money in DiBiase but Rhodes will eventually become like his brother, an all around midcarder. Rhodes, to be honest, needs to be repackaged because his character blows like the wind. Orton as a babyface is OK, but I still prefer him to be a badass heel. But as far as being on the WM card, I'm still confused on what they should do with them. I don't wanna see a triple threat at all because we can go one Wrestlemania without a triple threat match. In the end, Orton will be a top babyface, Dibiase gets some cred as an upper mid-card heel and Rhodes will job to one of these guys and get lost in the shuffle. Legacy dies at Mania. Agree or Disagree?

Shore: Yeah, Legacy is done at Mania if not before. The only other moment of note was McMahon vs. Cena. This match felt so contrived. A no disqualification, handicap, gaunlet match? Are you kidding me? Who comes up with this garbage?

Marv: Maybe Vinny Ru pulled a Nomar Garciaparra and signed a one-day contract with WWE to create this epic No DQ handicap gauntlet match. All kidding aside, this was bad and all the heels who were involved looked absolutely weak because Cena cannot sell moves or finishers. The only time he really laid down is when Batista beat the crap out of him. Mark Henry lost the little credibility I had for him because he was made to look weak when he didn't want to beat on Cena, sigh. But enough Raw let's carve into Impact. The best segment of Impact was obviously the Sting heel turn because no one saw that coming at all. What did you think about Sting having batting practice on Monday night?

Shore: I had mixed feelings to be honest. I looked up, and their stood Sting and Hogan in the same ring with Sting wielding a baseball bat, and my first thought was Starrcade 97. My biggest concern with TNA is that it will end up WCW 2.0 and I think we all know how that will work out. The Sting turn was creative and surprising, but it also led to RVD getting buried a bit. I'm taking a wait and see attitude. What about you?

Marv: I disagree for the moment because I want to see where this goes after a couple of months. If the storylines start to get similar to what we saw in WCW then I will agree with you. RVD getting buried is another disagreement because I'm pretty sure he will bounce back and get the best of Sting. He's like Jericho, he can get beatdown but it won't hurt his cred. Look at how many jobs Jericho did prior to winning the world title. RVD is an established star and he'll be fine. The Beautiful People won the vacant Knockout Tag Titles in a triple threat match. Buy or Sell?

Shore: Sell. I have lost all interest in women's wrestling. TNA had done very well making their women credible, now it's all T&A for them as well. I want to see a credible women's division, I really do. But neither one of these companies seems committed to having one. But we have to get to my biggest problem with Impact. And this is not TNA's fault directly. I sat in my living room and cried like a baby when Shawn Michaels superkicked Ric Flair into retirement. I know I shouldn't have thought it was the real end, but I had hoped it would be. And now we get his 80 year old ass bleeding like a stuck pig while Hogan's 80 year old ass beats on him in the friggin main event. Don't you have a real problem with that?

Marv: There’s nothing like old geezers bleeding and beating the hell out of each other to get your weekly wrestling fix, hooray! But come on, I understand you are trying to get the older demographic, but why the hell do you feel to need to blade each other every 1.9 seconds? Flair in a wrestling ring basically proves my theory when I say I can't take wrestling retirements seriously at all. Hogan could barely move his damn self and as a bonus with get a dose of Brooke and her twins. These guys would be fine as characters but stay the hell out of the ring. Their primes were years ago and they don't know when to let it go. Flair should continue to manage Styles and Hogan should stick to the GM role to be honest. What other storyline intrigues you on this show?

Shore: I like the Mr. Anderson vs. Angle feud, I like the re-emphasis of the X division, and I like the Beer Money heel turn. But I think the thing I am most interested in seeing is Hall and Waltman getting off of my TV. I hate to repeat myself, but all I see is WCW on this show. TNA has, arguably, a superior wrestling locker room. So please let these guys wrestle and get the old farts off the screen. Even Jeff Hardy arriving smells like the old WCW in that they took an established star away from WWE. I know it's not exactly the same, but I think you get my point. Ultimately, I want to see the old guys put over the TNA stars and get the company headed in a different direction than WWE Jr or WCW 2.0. Go ahead, blow me up.

Marv: The Anderson/Angle feud would be much better if Kurt Angle wasn't so damn beat up. Anderson is basically going to get the best of this feud. Angle will go away and come back stronger than ever. The old guys obviously don't want to collect SSI so they continue to raid our TV and bury the young guys, sigh. Jeff Hardy does nothing for me as you know, but they are going to shove him dead into the main event anyway. I'll give TNA until May to continue their massive improvement or I will end up declaring TNA, WCW 2.0...if they can even reach a 2.0 ratings.

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