Twilling's Blog: TNA's decision to put their World Championship on Rob Van Dam on an episode of TNA Impact

Wednesday, APRIL 21 - 4:49 P.M.

-On Monday night, Rob Van Dam won the TNA World Heavyweight Championship by defeating incumbent champion A.J. Styles. Earlier in the night, Van Dam defeated Jeff Hardy in a number one contender's match. The question is: did TNA jump the gun or did they make the correct decision?

You can argue both sides, so let's do so. Rob Van Dam vs. Jeff Hardy for a TNA World Championship shot would be a great semi-main event at a pay-per-view. Styles just defeated D'Angelo Dinero the night before at Lockdown to retain the belt. Lockdown is one of TNA's biggest shows. I doubt a WWE Champion would drop the title the night after WrestleMania.

On top of that, Styles, along with Ric Flair, were in the process of assembling a damn good stable with Beer Money, Desmond Wolfe, and Chelsea. The leader of a stable holding onto his championship with a proper babyface being built up is usually the way to go. It makes the title change more meaningful.

In 1998, WCW hot shotted a Hulk Hogan vs. Goldberg championship match on an episode of Monday Nitro. WCW was desperate and they were out of business a couple of years later. I wouldn't put this title change on the same level, but one could argue that TNA rushed this because they were desperate.

Looking at it from the other side, TNA made the right decision. Sometimes you have to create buzz in order to create buzz. Sure, a long program with either Hardy or RVD chasing Styles may have been good television, but who would have seen it? A couple of weeks ago, people were saying it was time to can the Monday night project.

TNA found themselves at all time low ratings, so they had to do something. They took a chance and I think it was the right chance to take. Monday's show did a better rating and WWE Raw really struggled. People on the TNA fence are going to be very interested in seeing what will happen next with RVD as the champion.

Jeff Hardy is still a top babyface. Samoa Joe is back. Styles is still the top heel with Mr. Anderson right there with him. Hulk Hogan has put a lot of emphasis on the importance of the World Championship. RVD won the title and it was treated as a very big deal. Sure, they could have waited for pay-per-view, but that may have been waiting too long.