What Better Time Than Now?

Cliche? Absolutely. But at this point, I don't really care anymore. I've never been more excited to be a wrestling fan in YEARS than at this point in time. The past few months have seen more than its share of "Holy Shit" moments, not just on-screen but off as well. But the most important thing is, these events have gotten people talking...and tuning in.

I had not too long ago thought to myself just what it was about professional wrestling that was lacking from its glory days of 1997-2001. It certainly wasn't match quality. WWE has really stepped up its game in the quality department from those years. It wasn't a lack of talent. You can argue that this year's and last year's talent rosters on both shows were as deep as they could get. Nope, something else was missing. Something much bigger than all those other problems.

WWE was missing those moments of complete surprise that make you go, "Holy shit, I have to watch next week!"

Even Ring of Honor, sad to say, was starting to lose some steam. Sure, they were putting on great matches (some of the best in the company's history), but in 2005, that same thing was missing that made people have to buy tickets for the next show, no matter how far away the venue was. Yes, the Rave/Punk feud was exciting, but not near the levels of the Punk/Raven feud. And certainly not exciting enough to be a "must-see."

But the events of the months of June and July 2005 have turned the wrestling world upside down on its head, and I'm loving every bit of it. There have been many different events that have made it very fun to be a wrestling fan these past two months.

The Draft Lottery and Vengeance
It officially started with the draft lottery. Having Cena come out on Raw as the first pick, putting the two World Champions on the same show, was a VERY smart move, because it created a true "Wow. When they say anybody, they mean ANYBODY" reaction from the fans, and made the subsequent picks mean more. It also generated a lot of interest for Vengeance, which I believe was the greatest brand-specific PPV since they started them in 2003.

The ECW Pay Per View and The Internet
And everybody at Vengeance turned their game up because of the ECW PPV that took place earlier in the month. It was a form of competition, something that had been missing in professional wrestling since 2001. The WWE stars did not want to be outdone by the excellent PPV that the ECW stars put on, so they upped their game and came through in a big way.

The ECW PPV also showed Vince McMahon that the internet wasn't as small of an audience as he actually thought. The JBL-Blue Meanie situation that occurred at the show generated a lot of internet buzz, so Vince decided to capitalize on it and bring it to the WWE home website. This led to an on-screen storyline involving JBL and The Blue Meanie. This meant the return/debut of the bWo on Smackdown, making Steven Richards not one of the next to be cut, dragging Mike Bucci away from the horrible Simon Dean character, and giving The Blue Meanie a home on Smackdown. To me, these are all good things, and they're getting people talking.

Matt Hardy's Return
Paul Heyman's bringing up of Matt Hardy at the ECW PPV, along with the chants for Hardy week after week on Raw, made Vince realize that Hardy was worth bringing back. And now, we have one of the best angles WWE has done in years by having Hardy act like this renegade against Edge and Lita. Hopefully, the rumors aren't true about Summerslam, and they'll keep their match one-on-one, instead of involving Kane and Snitsky as part of a tag.

I said months ago that Hardy's firing and relationship troubles would end up being more of a blessing in disguise than a curse. It would springboard Hardy to come back to the WWE and be more popular than his Hardy Boyz days and his Mattitude days combined. And it has so far. The pop for Hardy's theme music at Edge's wedding and the reaction the fans gave for seeing Hardy the past two weeks is indicative of how much fans want to see him. Another case of Vince McMahon giving the fans what they want to see, something he hasn't done in quite some time.

Shawn Michaels's Heel Turn
One week prior to Hardy's return to the WWE, the writers pulled out another ace. It seemed like a normal, predictable ending to Raw. Hulk Hogan had just squashed another of Raw's top heels, and the celebration begins with Shawn Michaels. It almost seemed like a carbon copy of their tag match the week prior with Cena. But then Hogan turns around, and eats a superkick from HBK, and the wrestling world we knew completely changed. It virtually came out of nowhere. Nobody predicted it.

And all the signs were there. Shawn had said right around Wrestlemania time, "I'd love the chance to work with Hulk Hogan." And we all assumed that meant the Backlash tag match. Looking back on that, that was either a complete accident or pure genius that made us say, "Okay, Shawn got to work with Hogan like he wanted to." Our thoughts (and worries) about Shawn vs. Hogan were allayed. And then this happens completely out of the blue. Again, one of those "holy shit" moments that make us come back and watch next week to see what happens. A wonderful ending to a pretty abysmal Raw.

And now Shawn Michaels is a heel, getting ready to take on Hulk Hogan at Summerslam. I'm as excited now as I was back in 2002 when Shawn returned after four years to take on his best friend who turned on him. The way they're going about this story is very old-school, as Hulkamania (much like the United States right now) is trying to make a comeback after suffering a tough attack. This is no different from when King Kong Bundy tried to kill Hulkamania, or Sgt. Slaughter. But then you look at what's standing in Hulk's way. It's the Heartbreak fucking Kid Shawn Michaels. The sheer magnitude of this match is absolutely off the charts.

Black Wednesday
A couple of days later, as sad as it is to say now, the internet was abuzz from (and actually took some joy in) "Black Wednesday" when nearly 20 superstars were either released or didn't have their contracts renewed. The Oratory Forums had as many people as they usually do for a live episode of Raw, waiting for another name to pop up on WWE.com. Was it horrible that we were relishing in the misery of others as one-by-one they lost their jobs? Absolutely. But was it interesting, and did it have us talking? You bet.

The events of Black Wednesday are also going to have our eyes turned on ROH and TNA. Who is going to show up next in either promotion? Rhyno showed up in TNA (even though he was fired after Wrestlemania), and Charlie Haas showed up in Jersey All Pro Wrestling, and there's talks of bringing him into ROH.

Lesnar's Return
On this same day, it was announced that Brock Lesnar was returning to the company. Lesnar's departure had brought about a whirlwind of discussion on both sides (he was right or he was wrong), and we're starting to discuss again. When will he come back? What show will he be on? Will he be a heel or a face? How will the other wrestlers treat him? Again, we're talking, and we're watching, and we're waiting. All of this is very good for the wrestling business.

Muhammad Hassan - The Terrorist
And just as soon as the smoke cleared on Black Wednesday, the WWE writers decide to give Muhammad Hassan some terrorist buddies to basically act out an execution on The Undertaker. Now, we've heard many different takes on the matter. Personally, I'm more upset at how they fucked up Hassan's character of not BEING a terrorist than I am about their indecency. Wrong or not, it's given them headlines, and publicity. And if you're Vince McMahon, the only bad publicity is no publicity.

WWE has stated on their website (again, catering to the internet crowd) that they are considering dropping the Muhammad Hassan character tonight at the Great American Bash (possibly by having Undertaker "kill him off"), and this was after rumors that Hassan was going to main event Summerslam against Batista in his hometown of Washington DC, and may actually WIN THE BELT! A lot of people now are going to order the Bash just to see what they end up doing with Hassan. I personally believe that they're going to change him to his real name of Marc Copani, and have him say that he won't "die" because he was told to. This would make for the type of "must see TV" that WWE is going for these days.

CM Punk
Things are really cooking over in Ring of Honor as well. As I already mentioned in my CM Punk column last month, it was an amazing sight to behold having Punk become champion and then turn on us. It's made for four very interesting shows that happened this month. The World Title matches weren't announced until the week before, or even the night of! People bought tickets to these shows not expecting anything! Would Punk drop the belt tonight? Damn, he didn't. Maybe he'll drop it next week.

Because of the announcement of Punk vs. James Gibson for the title in Connecticut on the 16th, I was told by many of my Oratory friends to screw the JAPW show in Jersey and take the train all the way into CT to watch the ROH show. The matches aren't on the level of the Joe/Punk series last year, but they're better for the company, becuase they're making the fans talk, and generating a buzz about ROH like it's never seen before.

The ROH/WWE relationship
The cat is out of the bag now. At least on a minor level, WWE and Ring of Honor have a relationship. CM Punk, who is now officially a part of the WWE roster (I think...) is continuing to work dates for Ring of Honor. Matt Hardy also signed a WWE contract, and was allowed to work his ROH dates. This could be the start of something very big, as people were talking about the possibility of seeing Edge when Hardy wrestled on the 16th.

TNA gets a TV deal
WWE is leaving Spike TV and going back to the USA Network. Spike picked up TNA to air in Velocity's old timeslot. It's a baby step, but WWE may finally get the competition that it needs to put on an even better product. The evidence is right around the ECW PPV. Competition brings out the best in WWE, and they need it desperately. I hope for nothing but success from TNA, because it will make WWE that much better.

We've also seen talent exchanges between the two. Kazarian and Kid Kash get out of their TNA contracts and show up in WWE. TNA picked up recent firees from WWE like Billy Gunn and Rhyno. While this may not ever reach the magnitude of the old Monday Night Wars, at least it's better than WWE having no competition at all.

It truly is a great time to be a wrestling fan. I thought back to the old Attitude era, and in that era, WWE and ECW had a small relationship, and WWE talent were showing up in ECW. Also, WCW was on cable TV, and there were talent jumps between the shows. Now switch ECW with ROH and WCW with TNA, and you have a small version of what's going on right now in the world of pro wrestling. Nevermind that over in Japan, NOAH had a Dome Show that has no rival in the past four years with Destiny 2005.

Mick Foley said in his ROH shoot that wrestling needed to have that "water cooler" effect, where people get together and actually discuss what they had just seen the night before or the week before. It's that willingness to tune in next time that makes pro wrestling really work. So far, WWE and ROH have done that, and TNA is well on its way to doing that.

The resurgence of pro wrestling had to start somewhere, and it had to start sometime. What better place than here, and what better time than now?