Just about everyone everywhere has been buzzing about the “Late Night TV War” between Conan O’Brien, Jay Leno, & David Letterman. If you’ve been living under a rock & don’t know what’s going on, long story short, NBC wanted to move Late Night with Conan O’Brien to a 12:05 AM time slot & move Jay Leno back to 11:35 PM to compete with David Letterman.

O’Brien was given only 7 months to establish himself to go against Letterman. He started strong, then proceeded to drop in the ratings game once Letterman decided to make a snide comment about Sarah Palin’s daughter; Letterman’s ratings went way up after that. NBC seems to feel they’d have better luck putting Leno back in his spot & then Conan after Leno. In doing so, NBC has managed to anger the loyal fanbase now known as “Team Coco” as well as O’Brien himself. In fact, it’s gotten to the point where O’Brien is openly tearing NBC a new one on his program & NBC is considering paying him between $30 – $40 million to walk with the ability to host his own late night program on a different network again in the fall.

Enter WWE. The weekly guest host gimmick has been, for the most part, successful for the company. And as we all know, just about anything serious in the real world or anything involving the world of entertainment is easily spoofed in the world of pro wrestling. Remember the Donald Trump/Rosie O’Donnell war, the match between “Barack Obama” & “Hillary Clinton”, the battle for the Staples Center, or even the Billionaire Ted skits of old?

If Raw was hosted by O’Brien, there are ton of ways it could go. Bring in Andy Richter and some of Conan’s band too. Play the show’s theme music & bring out some of what makes Conan’s old and new shows funny (In the Year 2000, staring contests, the Gaseous Weiner [imagine that with DX], etc.) Heck; you could have Conan O’Brien refereeing a match between “Jay Leno” & “David Letterman”. If the deal can be done, WWE stands to gain in the ratings for that episode; many of O’Brien’s fans will follow him to see his antics in WWE for one night, especially if a new show on a different network is a possibility.

The only problems I can foresee are these:

1. Would WWE risk jeopardizing it’s relationship with NBC if they wanted to bring back Saturday Night’s Main Event again? Conan revealed the other night that he cannot talk badly about NBC as part of his buyout from the network (but he could sing about it). This could place limits on the creative team on how do write out the show. However, since parody is commonplace in the wrestling industry & is something you really cannot be sued successfully over (i.e. WCW suing ECW for the bWo parody of the nWo), it is possible to still put on an entertaining show.

2. The rights to some element’s of Conan’s show are rumored to be up in the air as well. If O’Brien was to host Raw & to make the program feel like his, it would be odd not seeing things/characters like Triumph the Insult Comic Hound.

If a deal can be worked out between the two that would not damage WWE’s relationship with WWE, I honestly think O’Brien could be the best Raw host since Bob Barker.

Check out the book The Late Shift: Letterman, Leno, and the Network Battle for the Night

While most wrestling fans have been buzzing about the Monday Night Wars for weeks, there was actually a second war that took place this week. The UFC presented a UFC Fight Night on Monday which went head-to-head with WWE RAW. There has been a lot of talk over the last several years in regards to MMA and the UFC stealing pro wrestling fans. If Monday night’s ratings are any indication, the only ones that should be charged with theft should be the World Wrestling Entertainment.

The cable ratings are in and wow, this is quite a story here. The WWE smashed the UFC right in the mouth on Monday night. WWE RAW came in at a 3.7 rating for the night, with 5.45 million people tuning in to see pro wrestling. The UFC Fight Night produced a 1.1 rating with 1.7 million people watching. Even more shocking are the numbers of adults 18-49 that watched both shows. The WWE came in with a 2.1, while the UFC came in at 0.9. I guess some adults still prefer that “phony rasslin” to the smash-mouthed “real fighting” in MMA.

This has to be a big success for the WWE, while a very disappointing number to the UFC. Granted, the UFC didn’t have any real marquee matches but the brand itself should have been able to steal some audience in theory. The WWE countered the UFC attack by booking Mike Tyson as the Guest Host. Tyson also wrestled at the end of the show, which is still something of a big deal even in 2010. Unlike the TNA vs. WWE battle last week where viewers tuned in and out, it looks like the WWE was able to sustain its audience throughout the night even when Tyson wasn’t on camera. That means even in the most boring spots on WWE RAW (and there were plenty), nobody was checking out the UFC.

There are a few other stories that come out of these numbers that are also rather interesting. Last week’s TNA Wrestling had 2.02 million viewers in the 9-11 PM time slot. So not only did the WWE beat the UFC, but TNA Wrestling also grabbed more viewers than the UFC did in the same time slot. I think that Spike TV dropped a ball here and should have done a little cross promotion last week on Impact, similar to what the UFC did when they had Hulk Hogan on its show. It is one thing to lose out to the WWE, but a whole other story when TNA Wrestling beats out a UFC event in the same time slot a week earlier.

The WWE number is also real interesting in comparison to last week. The 3.7 is actually up from 3.6 the previous Monday night. The story here is that the WWE drew a better rating with Mike Tyson than they did with Bret Hart. Bret likely has his enemies working against him in the WWE locker room. This is not good news for him and his fans. The number is also an indication that last week’s TNA vs. WWE showdown was a great thing for the pro wrestling business overall. I would presume that the increased number this week is a bit of a carryover of the fans who watched TNA last week. It is obvious at least in the short term that the battle sparked some fan interest and may have even brought back some old fans that haven’t watched wrestling on Monday nights in years.

Ever since the UFC exploded in 2005, many pundits jumped on the bandwagon and predicted the demise of pro wrestling. Personally, I never quite understood the crossover and still don’t understand why some pro wrestling news websites carry MMA news. I think the audiences are entirely different. I think most of the crossover comes from old wrestling fans that stopped following wrestling years ago and found something new to latch onto. As successful as Brock Lesnar has been in the UFC, I don’t think it has as much to do with the pro wrestling crossover as people think. If that was the case, than Bobby Lashley’s fights would be doing huge numbers, and Lesnar’s Dynamite!! USA fight would have done record ratings on Showtime. At the end of the day I think these two audiences have as much in common as football and hockey fans.

Dana White has made big claims about where he expects the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s business to be over the next ten years. White proclaimed last month, “UFC will be the biggest sport in the world by 2020.” He specifically talked about the NFL and how the UFC would blow away the NFL and everything else globally.

If he can’t even beat out two pro wrestling events on a Monday night, the UFC’s chances against the NFL are laughable.

Order the WWE: History of the World Heavyweight Championship DVD set by clicking here

Order the UFC: Ultimate 100 Greatest Fights DVD set by clicking here.

From the ring to your wall – WWE REAL.BIG Wall Graphics on sale now at Fat Head!

The question has been answered and we now know when Bret Hart will return to World Wrestling Entertainment TV. Vince McMahon officially announced that Hart will make his return next Monday as a WWE Guest Host. This will mark the beginning of a Hart storyline that is expected to culminate at WrestleMania 26.

The news leaked last week of Hart signing a contract with the WWE. However, while his January 4 debut was expected it was never confirmed. Some speculated that the WWE may hold off Hart’s return for a few weeks and begin a slow build. Others like myself speculated that it would be a given that Hart would appear on January 4. The WWE finally announced Hart’s return and he will be running the show on the first WWE RAW of the new decade.

The news came in a Vince McMahon promo and angle on this week’s WWE RAW. The promotion around the show centered around Vince McMahon addressing the Bret Hart rumors. McMahon came out and teased the crowd by coming close to announcing Hart, but changing his mind. Hart’s rival, Shawn Michaels came out and told McMahon that, “Good things will happen” if McMahon brought Bret back. McMahon pondered Michaels’ words and then officially announced that Bret Hart will be next week’s WWE Guest Host. 

The WWE also did a good job of re-introducing Bret Hart to their audience. Remember, the WWE’s target audience is kids. Bret Hart hasn’t been a part of the WWE in over a decade. During Vince’s promo, he played a Bret Hart video compilation that showed the best of the Hitman from his days in the WWE. In the end the crowd was chanting, “We want Bret” so it looks like there won’t be too much of a disconnect between the two generations of wrestling fans.

Off the top, the move tells me something more than Vince McMahon cares to admit. Vince McMahon and the WWE are sweating TNA Wrestling. The company line from the WWE is that they don’t see TNA as competition and would proceed with business as usual. This is hardly business as usual. This is one of the biggest shots that the WWE could fire and having Hart on WWE on January 04 while TNA Wrestling is live is anything but a coincidence.

Bret Hart’s last appearance on WWE RAW was November 03, 1997, prior to the Survivor Series. To put this into perspective, Bret Hart hasn’t appeared on WWE television in over decade, and not once in the new century. Hart will be returning as the Guest Host for the night and will run the show. It will be interesting to see Hart interact with the RAW roster. More specifically, it will be most interesting to see what Shawn Michaels and Triple H’s roles will be that night. As the undisputed champions and up against TNA Wrestling, I would be shocked not to see them involved in the show. At the same time with Hart as G.M. I would find it hard to believe that he wouldn’t interact with them from a logic standpoint at some point as well.

At this point TNA Wrestling looks like a dead company promoting. Any hopes that TNA Wrestling had of making a dent in the WWE’s audience are gone. Scott Hall reportedly signed a deal to return to TNA last week. It looks as if TNA will answer with yet another N.W.O. reunion. Hall and Nash have reunited before in TNA and it meant nothing. Yes they have Hogan in the mix this time which certainly means more. But in the end you have an N.W.O. reunion which has already been done against another chapter in one of the most memorable pro wrestling stories of the last twenty-years.

Judging from my website traffic that the Bret Hart stories have generated, I think his return is going to be bigger than people expect. I have gotten more of a reaction from people who don’t watch the WWE anymore, but will tune in. That is the key here. Both of these companies have their loyal fan base, but they need new fans to tip the scales. The indication I get through emails and traffic is that a lot of people who haven’t watched pro wrestling in years will be checking out WWE RAW that night.

As for TNA, well there’s always Thursday.

Order the WWE DVD WWE – Bret “Hitman” Hart: The Best There Is, The Best There Was, The Best There Ever Will Be by clicking here.

Read more about Bret Hart in his autobiography – Hitman: My Real Life in the Cartoon World of Wrestling by clicking here.

From the ring to your wall – WWE REAL.BIG Wall Graphics on sale now at Fat Head!

Mike Tyson will reportedly return to WWE RAW almost eleven years to the day of his first RAW appearance. Iron Mike will Guest Host RAW and attempt to give the WWE the punching power it will need in a head to head battle for ratings with the Ultimate Fighting Championship on January 11.

The UFC will be taking their shot at the WWE on January 11 as it will broadcast its first live television special of the year on Spike TV. The UFC Fight Night isn’t very star-heavy, yet will assuredly cut into the WWE audience.While most pro wrestling fans have been raving about the Monday Night War on January 04 between the WWE and TNA Wrestling, it is the UFC that will pose the biggest challenge to the WWE in January. The WWE will answer their challenge with one of the most historical figures of the original Monday Night Wars, Iron Mike Tyson.

Mike Tyson made his first appearance on WWE RAW at the height of the original Monday Night Wars between the WWE and WCW. Tyson’s appearance that night has become legendary. I don’t think there is a WCW moment that anyone could name from the January 19, 1998 show, yet most wrestling fans will never forget the moment that “Stone Cold” Steve Austin gave Mike Tyson two middle-fingers and the two had to be pulled apart in a brawl. The moment has become so memorable and pivotal to the WWE’s success, it was named by WWE.com as the fifth greatest moment in WWE RAW history.

More importantly on that famous night, the WWE had big success in the ratings. WWE RAW generated a 4.0 rating as opposed to WCW Nitro’s 4.5. While the WWE did lose the battle that night, the event is credited as helping turn around the war. It was the first rating above a 3.6 in close to six months. It was less than three months later that the WWE finally beat WCW on a Monday night in the ratings. This moment was also critical to elevating Steve Austin and garnering mainstream interest for the WWE. All in all this one of a handful of moments that helped turn the corner and the fortunes of World Wrestling Entertainment and Vince McMahon around.

The move also signifies how seriously the WWE is taking UFC’s threat on January 11. Let’s be honest. Bringing back a former WWE star including The Rock will bring back wrestling fans, but probably wouldn’t chip into the UFC’s audience that night. However, Mike Tyson is someone that a non-WWE fan who watches the UFC may still have some interest in. Sports fans are still generally fascinated about what Iron Mike could do on live television. Hell, Mike Tyson attended UFC 98 and the place went nuts when he was put on camera. I give the WWE a lot of credit. This was a very astute strategic move from the Vince McMahon playbook.

I don’t know if Tyson would impact the WWE in 2010 the same way he did in 1998. After all Tyson was still boxing, just a few years out of jail, and more importantly less than a year removed from the Evander Holyfield fight where Tyson was disqualified for biting Holyfield’s ear. I highly doubt that Tyson has that same mainstream intrigue in 2010, but he could be the perfect cross-over star that the WWE needs to counter the UFC and Dana White’s Monday night effort. The last time Tyson was on WWE RAW, it resulted in him participating in WrestleMania as a special guest referee. I wouldn’t be surprised if this appearance is the beginning of Tyson’s involvement in WrestleMania 26.

Overall, professional athletes have generally been the best non-pro wrestling WWE Guest Hosts. There have been some misses like Johnny Damon this past week. However, most fans seem to agree that the WWE RAW episode hosted by Shaquille O’Neal was the most exciting WWE RAW of 2009. Tyson is a huge pro wrestling fan and reportedly had a lot of fun the last time he worked with the WWE. I have talked to several ex-WWE stars who worked with him during that time that have raved about how nice of a guy he was and how easy he was to work with back then. Tyson follows Floyd Mayweather, Jr. and Ricky Hatton as the third pro boxer to Guest Host WWE RAW since the concept began over the summer.

As of today, the WWE looks to be red hot entering 2010. If the rumors are true of Bret Hart hosting January 04 followed by Mike Tyson guest hosting on the 11th, then the WWE will have a ton of momentum coming into the new year. If this is a sign of things to come, 2010 is going to be one hell of a year for the WWE and WWE fans. It is quite possible that TNA and the UFC woke up a sleeping giant that has been thirsting for competition for over eight years.

Then again, Jon Heder and Don Johnson will be Guest Hosts on January 18. Enjoy the fun while it lasts WWE fans.

Update: WWE.com has updated their website and currently lists Mike Tyson as the Guest Host on January 11, 2010.  Click here to see it for yourself!

Mike Tyson on WWE Raw 1998

Check out a collection of great Tyson knockouts

Thanks to Prowrestling.net for the tip!

Order Ringside – The Best of Mike Tyson on DVD by clicking here.

Order ESPN Inside Access: Tyson by clicking here.

See the documentary Tyson on DVD by clicking here.

To purchase the boxing video game Fight Night: Round 4, click here.

Something that I discussed with last week’s “week in WWE wrestling” article, and that’s Bret “the Hitman” Hart. To me, and any other’s surprise, he signed a four month contract with the “Double-Double-E.” So with this week’s “week in WWE wrestling,” I would like to discuss how I would like to see Bret used in the WWE.

Monday, January 4th, 2010-Monday Night Raw-Vince McMahon is in the middle of the ring to start the show, going off on that the past several months, the guest hosts have been challenging him to a match the night that they were on Raw. Right then, Bret Hart’s theme song hits, and the “Hitman” Guest Host make his WWE debut since November 1997. Bret comes out, grabs a mic, walks up to McMahon, and knocks him out with one punch. With one punch, DX would run out to help protect Triple H’s father-in-law, and Bret announces: “Tonight, DX will defend their Unified Tag Team titles against Jeri-Show…. And the Hart Dynasty!”

Later in the show, Bret would “screw” over DX for the Hart Dynasty would win the tag team titles from DX, and that would set up a feud and a match with DX against the Hart Dynasty for WrestleMania XXVI. But with that match, it wouldn’t be a normal tag team match. No, it will be a 6-man tag match for the tag team titles.

Sunday, March 28th, 2010-WrestleMania XXVI-For the Undisputed Tag Team Championship, DX and Vince McMahon against the Hart Dynasty and Bret “the Hitman” Hart! You have to agree, that this match would be huge, and probably would be the main event for WrestleMania. [Side bar, I got this idea from the Wrestling Observer.] And just imagine what it would be like if at the end of the match, McMahon and Hart would be the two legal men, and the other four are brawling outside of the ring and aren’t paying attention to what’s going on in the ring, then Bret and Vince start battling it out. And at the end, within five to ten minutes, Bret slaps the Sharpshooter onto Vince, and the ref hollers out “ring the bell!” How much would that make news in the wrestling world, and maybe even outside the business?

I believe that if that would happen, and creative would set up the perfect storyline for this whole feud would go from January 4th to March 28th, this WrestleMania may become the biggest grossing WrestleMania ever…. And if so, I am sure it would be the biggest grossing pay-per-view, or any wrestling event in history of the business, period.

But do I think this would happen? In ways, I would be surprised. But would I love seeing this happen? Darn right I would. I hope that Bret Hart gets used the right way. Why do I say that? Bret’s been out of the business for ten years. He had a stroke a couple of years ago. He can’t do what he could do anymore. Yes, he’s in his early 50’s, but because of why he had to retire and because of the stroke, he is limited to what he could do. And if he does wrestle, I hope they don’t push him and I hope they would let him go for about ten minutes, but not much more than that, because we do not know what he can or cannot do. But that’s me.

But another thing that happened this week was at the Slammy’s, the match at WrestleMania XXV with Shawn Michaels and the Undertaker won the “Match of the Year.” During HBK’s acceptance speech, he challenged the Undertaker to another match at WrestleMania, but at WrestleMania XXVI, saying that he knows that he can beat the Undertaker, and the Undertaker knows Michaels can beat him. So if that match would happen as well, that would be awesome. Yes, the Undertaker will win, but it would be interesting if they can outdo their match from this year’s WrestleMania.

To wrap this up, that’s my opinion, and I’m sticking to it. This is this week’s week in review. This is Eric Darsie from Minnesota, have a good and safe holidays, goodbye!

Check out more of Eric’s blogs at http://jericholic2009.blogspot.com.

Order the WWE DVD WWE – Bret “Hitman” Hart: The Best There Is, The Best There Was, The Best There Ever Will Be by clicking here.

Order the new DVD WWE: Jeff Hardy – My Life, My Rules by clicking here.

From the ring to your wall – WWE REAL.BIG Wall Graphics on sale now at Fat Head!

The unthinkable has happened. Bret Hart has reportedly signed a short-term contract to return to the WWE. Reports indicate his contract begins on January 1 and runs through WrestleMania. There are even some reports that speculate Hart may actually wrestle one more match. Yes, hell has frozen over in pro wrestling!

This could turn out to be the biggest pro wrestling story of the year. This goes well beyond Hulk Hogan’s deal with TNA Wrestling and almost makes the deal futile. As big of a surprise as this is, it was just a few days ago on WWE RAW when Bret Hart’s name was brought up as a WWE Guest Host. The terms of the contract would indicate to me that Bret Hart will be guest hosting WWE RAW when WWE and TNA Wrestling go head-to-head on January 4. It was nice knowing you TNA!

I don’t know what is more surprising about this situation, the fact that a contract is involved or the fact that Bret Hart may actually wrestle again? Hart is 52-years old and hasn’t wrestled in almost a decade. Bret retired shortly after suffering a concussion against Bill Goldberg in 1999. The final death blow to Bret’s career came in 2002 when he suffered a stroke. Bret has made a miraculous recovery since suffering the stroke, yet has never talked about wrestling again. The only times a possible match comes up is when Bret has said that he would like to wrestle Kurt Angle. Other than that, nobody has ever expected Hart to wrestle again.

Hart hasn’t appeared in a WWE ring since the infamous night in Montreal at Survivor Series 97. Hart signed a 20-year contract with the WWE a year prior to the match. Vince McMahon informed Bret that he was releasing him from his deal at the time and Bret was free to go to WCW. Bret signed a WCW deal while holding the WWE belt. In a match with Shawn Michaels at Survivor Series, Vince McMahon, Michaels, and several others corroborated an effort to falsely lure Bret into doing a job for Michaels. Bret’s brother Owen died in a WWE ring a couple of years later in a tragic accident, which almost surely closed the door for any potential WWE return for Hart.

Hart started doing business with the WWE a few years back. Hart first returned to work with the WWE on producing a DVD documentary about his career. Hart participated in interviews and helped pick matches for the DVD. Hart was later inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2006. Unlike most Hall of Fame recipients, Hart did not appear the following day at WrestleMania. Hart has recently talked about a potential return, but nothing seemed concrete until now.

There are many possibilities here for Bret Hart and the WWE. At a time when older fans are losing interest in pro wrestling, this is exactly the kind of move that can give WWE a noticeable boost in ratings and business. The obvious questions surround Bret’s relationships with Triple H and Shawn Michaels. Bret has softened a bit on HBK over the years, although he did request that Michaels not appear at his Hall of Fame induction. Hart has never softened on Triple H and has repeatedly bashed Triple H over the years in interviews. I would imagine that all parties sat down at some point to clear the air before signing a deal with Bret Hart.

It also looks like there is a very strong possibility that Bret Hart could be wrestling at WrestleMania. There are really only two choices in my mind that make any sense. Vince McMahon or Shawn Michaels are the obvious opponents for Bret Hart. I can’t see them bringing him back and going any other way than one of those two men. The history and back story will be enough on top of any new angles to put the WWE in a position to shatter records with either match. Michaels challenge to the Undertaker at the Slammys could have been a diversion now that the news about Hart has gone public.

I don’t know if TNA’s shot had anything to do with this, but if so…thank you!

Thanks to Prowrestling.net for the tip!

Order the WWE DVD WWE – Bret “Hitman” Hart: The Best There Is, The Best There Was, The Best There Ever Will Be by clicking here.

Read more about Bret Hart’s side of the story in his autobiography – Hitman: My Real Life in the Cartoon World of Wrestling by clicking here.

Read more about Shawn Michaels’ side of the story and his confession in his autobiography – Heartbreak & Triumph: The Shawn Michaels Story by clicking here.

From the ring to your wall – WWE REAL.BIG Wall Graphics on sale now at Fat Head!