Twilling's Blog: Taking a look at the major happenings of 2010, including WWE WrestleMania 26, NXT, and TNA Impact moving to Monday nights

Wednesday, MARCH 17 - 4:49 P.M.

-2010 has been a big and noteworthy year thus far. With TNA Impact moving permanently to Monday nights and the additions of several big names, WWE shutting down ECW and replacing it with NXT, and WrestleMania just around the corner, wrestling fans have a lot to sink their teeth into.

-WrestleMania 26: Most people point at WrestleMania 3 as the biggest Mania in company history and WrestleMania 17 as the best. However, Mania 26 might go down as the most noteworthy and memorable. For the first time ever (in my opinion) since WWE has hyped the undefeated WrestleMania streak of The Undertaker, they have successfully and legitimately put his streak at risk.

Taker vs. Shawn Michaels at last year's WrestleMania was arguably the greatest match in the history of WrestleMania. This year, Michaels is putting his career on the line and one has to wonder if this is the year that Taker goes down. In the past, it's been said that someone who "needs" the rub should end the streak. I couldn't disagree more. If anyone is going to end the streak, it should be Michaels. As of right now, I say he will not do it and Taker will go 18-0.

The biggest story of the year (or longer) has been Bret Hart returning to WWE and his WrestleMania match with Vince McMahon will be a series of surreal moments. Any longtime wrestling fan should feel thrilled to see this match and more importantly, as I've said before, Bret finally achieving peace with everything that happened over the past several years.

With John Cena vs Batista and Edge vs. Chris Jericho, as well as the other matches on the card, this year's Mania could prove to be the most talked about ever. Last year, WWE did a poor job of building Mania in the weeks leading up to the event. They did not make that mistake this year.

-TNA Impact moving to Monday nights: Sure, the ratings have not been what they have wanted and the show loses viewers during the broadcast, but the move is still a very positive thing. I know television executives want to see results right now and new shows sometimes get pulled right away after earning dismal ratings, but TNA should stick with this.

Monday night has a built in television wrestling audience and TNA can and should piggyback off of that. They need to focus on their product and make it the best it can be so when fans do tune in, they do not decide to tune out. The additions of Hulk Hogan, Eric Bischoff, Ric Flair, Jeff Hardy, and Rob Van Dam, as well as renewed attention to the undercard divisions are all positives for TNA.

-WWE NXT replacing ECW: ECW was finally given the opportunity to rest in peace and NXT took its place. The NXT concept seemed rushed to me and so far, that is exactly what the show seems to be. I like the idea of the show but WWE doesn't seem to know exactly what they are doing with it.

First of all, what exactly are the rookies in competition for? Will they get a "contract" for one of the two main brands? Will they get fired if they get eliminated from the show? What do the veterans get and what is their motivation for being there? It would be nice if WWE cleared up these questions at the beginning if they do this again.

Secondly and finally, why are the fans supposed to care about these guys? Usually, when someone new comes in, they come in with hype and the fans have an idea who they are. These guys, outside of Daniel Bryan and David Otunga, are pretty much unknown to the audience and WWE needs to give us a reason to get emotionally involved in these guys.