Who will topple Immortal?

In the past few months, since their formation at last October's "Bound for Glory" PPV, Immortal has dominated TNA both in and out of the ring. Despite Mr Anderson's unexpected world title triumph over "The Anti-Christ" Jeff Hardy at this month's "Genesis" PPV, the huge heel stable holds the TV, Tag Team and X Division belts.

With most of TNA's gold around the waists of Immortal and with Bischoff stacking the odds against Mr Anderson, in order to ensure a speedy transition of the World Title back to Jeff Hardy, who will rise up and topple the despotic supergroup?

The first option I would instigate to garner fan interest would be to have cracks emerge between Hogan's boys (Bischoff, the Hardy Brothers, Jeff Jarrett, Abyss) and Flair's Fortune (AJ Styles, Kaz, Beer Money). With Fortune now holding all of Immortal's gold and with Styles clearly begging for a chance to be the "top dog" in the company once more, a division would be easy to accomplish storyline wise and could be further fuelled by Flair and Hogan's long standing bad blood. This option would accomplish many things in TNA: elevating Fortune to be THE dominant group in the company; prove the younger guys have the edge on the relative veterans of Immortal; and a great way to remove Hogan/Bischoff from the company (at least from an on-screen role).

The second option I could see TNA more likely to go with would be the return of another powerful group: Main Event Mafia. With the brilliant storyline that is straying between real life/fiction between Kurt Angle and Jeff Jarrett, TNA seems to be edging towards a full blown war between Angle and Jarrett's "security blanket" Immortal. As Kurt is heavily outgunned at the moment, it would make sense for him to call on people he trusts to have his back and assist in the destruction of Jarrett/Immortal. Who better to fit this criteria than Scott Steiner, Sting, Booker T, Kevin Nash (?) and maybe even Samoa Joe? With this option TNA does run the risk of undermining the abilities of its younger stars like Styles, Matt Morgan and the MCMG, but the stable battle would be extremely entertaining and could open the door for Samoa Joe to return to the main event scene and even for Fortune to assist in Immortal's downfall, maybe at this year's "Lockdown".

One thing about the Immortal formation however, is that TNA has given itself a plethora of story strands it could choose and a mulitude of "dream" matches/mic showdowns that could occur (Steiner/Flair "shoot" promo anyone?!).

Val Venis Shoots on the Hardy's and More

For those who are unaware, former WWE star Val Venis has been on a crusade as of late to tear apart and trash Matt Hardy and virtually everyone he is associated with, including his brother Jeff.  Val has been voicing his opinions on his Twitter page on Matt's talent, his background, the way he presents himself online, and everything else about the Hardy's careers. 

Now Val has taken things a step further, as he posted the following video tonight, where he once again trashes the Hardys, and even head Smackdown writer Michael Hayes who was influential in the early WWE careers of the Hardys.  Val has also trashed the Hardy's "OMEGA" promotion that they ran in their years prior to WWE, and has been rumored to possibly start again in the future.  Val has endorsed the promotion "Elite Xtreme Wrestling" that he works for in Arizona, claiming it features real pro wrestling unlike OMEGA's "trampoline backyard wrestling." 

Matt Hardy has yet to comment directly about this situation, claiming he won't respond to negativity, but Venis has been in a war with Hardy fans for over a week now, and things are sure to heat up once this video makes the rounds across the net:



For Val Venis fans in Arizona, he will be appearing at the big EXW "Bad Intentions" show taking place this weekend in Prescott, Arizona.  Venis will be challenging for the promotions heavyweight title.  Also on the card are former WWE star and Tough Enough Trainer Bill Demott, and former TNA star "Rellik."   More information on the official Elite Xtreme Wrestling website.

Don't Miss Out on Ring Of Honor

Not much is mentioned about Ring of Honor and it's a shame because ROH deserves better. If you have HDNet and have never checked out ROH, take my advice and do yourself a favor and see some of the best in-ring action the sport has to offer.

From Daniel Bryan (Bryan Danielson), to Desmond Wolfe (Nigel Mcguiness), to CM Punk, to Samoa Joe, to Christopher Daniels (who has returned)to the newly signed Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas, the ROH product is about one thing - wrestling.

ROH will be criticized because the product is almost TOO wrestling oriented. Recently ROH has tried to add more interview time and develop storylines but it largely has not changed, and that is a good thing.

In a two hour WWE or TNA show we hardly get more than 30 - 40 minutes of actual in-ring action. ROH usually surpasses that number in a one hour time frame. The guys to really keep an eye out for, if you want a five star match, are Roderick Strong, Eddie Edwards, and Davey Richards. Richards reminds me of a Benoit/Lance Storm combination in the ring. If you get a chance to see either Richards vs. Tyler Black (WWE development talent Seth Rollins in FCW) match in 2010, they are as good as, if not better, than any match you saw in '10.

The reason why I'm saying all this is because time is running out for ROH on HDNet, and therefore running out on you to see ROH. The contract is up in April and ROH will be without a TV home. Hopefully they will get a new network and continue to be on the air, but if not, use the last few months to catch ROH, if you can. You won't be disappointed.

Shawn Michaels: First Inductee into 2011 Hall of Fame

It was announced Monday Night that Shawn Michaels would be the inaugural name for this year's class of Hall of Famers. No one deserves this honor quite like the Showstopper, the Main Event -- Mr. Wrestlemania himself, Shawn Michaels. He has a 20-year storied career like no other, and trying to list why he should be inducted into the WWE's version of Cooperstown is bound to leave out some of his amazing stats. But here goes nothing: Grand Slam Champion. Winner of Wrestlemania XII Iron Man Match. DX Founder. Was in the first Hell in the Cell match. The list goes on.

All you really need to know is that when Shawn enters the ring, he will give you a show that you have never seen before. Why? Because he can.

Congrats, Shawn, for an amazing accomplishment to an even more stellar career. Can't wait to see you make another Wrestlemania moment in April.

Matt Hardy Debuts, Mr. Anderson Wins Gold at TNA Genesis

TNA Genesis felt like a bit of a reboot/fresh start for the company as every title changed hands and the much anticipated debut of Matt Hardy took place.   I personally was surprised that Hardy debuted with such little fanfare, as there wasn't a huge amount of buildup for RVD's mystery opponent.  I knew Hardy might be an option but I figured he would come in with a lot more hype,and a lot more intrigue surrounding if Matt would side with or against his brother Jeff.  As it stands now, Matt (with a new dread locked look) defeated RVD and will side with Jeff for now in Immortal. 

The other big occurrence was the impromptu match between Mr. Anderson and Jeff Hardy for the TNA Title.  Anderson defeated Matt Morgan to become the number 1 contender, but Eric Bischoff came out following the match to tell Anderson that his match would take place right then.  Jeff Hardy came out in street clothes and smoking a cigarette (to no doubt once again put across to fans how bad of a heel he really is) and made it look like he was in for an easy win.  Anderson kept kicking out and coming back, and eventually scored the pinfall with the "Mic Check" after multiple run ins from Mick Foley, Ric Flair, Matt Hardy, RVD, Bischoff, etc. and is the new TNA Champion.

TNA starts 2011 with all new champions in Beer Money as the new tag team champs defeating the Motor City Machine Guns, Abyss (who replaced AJ Styles due to injury) winning the TV Title over Doug Williams, and Kazarian as X-Division Champ over Jay Lethal.

Now the questions begin as to where they go now.  Will Hogan be back in the picture soon?  Immortal seems to lose some steam without Hogan as their main leader.  Will Matt Hardy spark some interest?  And can Mr. Anderson do the job as the top face and champion for the company?  We will begin to see some answers as TNA tapes Impact tomorrow in Orlando which will begin airing this Thursday on Spike TV.