Two weeks into the WWE's new era on USA Network and the product is already beginning to smell stale. How else do you explain the circa 1997/98 attempted rebirth of the WWE Attitude era. Yes we all know that Vince and Stephanie McMahon are heels, but this Attitude era gets kicked off with family matriarch Linda having the honours of blustering the words “Your fired” at good ole fat boy J.R., and then giving him a nut job with a well placed pointy shoe kick to the groin. Nice. Now wrestling fans will be treated to these three stooges hogging up camera time on a weekly basis on RAW. Look for the camera shy Shane McMahon to play their foil over the next few months.
Internet rumours are swirling that J.R.'s “firing” has more to do with colon surgery that J.R. supposedely went in for on Thursday, and not the WWE looking for a hipper look. Time will tell though.

Speaking of stale, three or so months off the show and now Cripple H is back and boring me after two shows. Not that I hate Cripple H, the guy can wrestle, but his promos go on forever, and what takes him 15 minutes to say can be said in five. I'll enjoy the build-up to the feud he will have with Ric Flair over the Intercontinental title, as Flair still works a great mic, but WWE please cut Cripple's mic time to something more acceptable and less mind numbing. Cripple reminds me of the way the Ultimate Warrior used to cut a promo, a pompous windbag.

Speaking of Warrior, I haven't had the opportunity to see the supposed hatchet job the WWE has done on him. If you have or haven't seen the DVD or just want to read a real funny rant I suggest you surf over to the Warrior's webpage at http://www.ultimatewarrior.com/ or directly to the rant at http://www.ultimatewarrior.com/09.27.05DVDII.htm. His response to the DVD shows some serious twisted thinking, but a lot of it smacks of truth as well.

I know some of you are looking forward to casting your votes in the eventual Taboo Tuesday pay-per-view, but there won't be any shocks when the fans vote on what they want to see because like lemmings, the WWE will direct you to vote in subtle ways. Like we'll be seeing Flair vs Crips, John Cena vs Shawn Michaels or Kurt Angle, Chris Masters vs Big Show and on and on.

Wouldn't you love to see Matt Hardy pop back up on RAW under a mask? He could torment Edge and Lita some more. The funny thing is everybody could be thinking is it or isn't it Hardy, and different guys could show up under the mask to keep it fresh. Hardy could also show up on Smackdown as himself denying any charges that Edge says Hardy's under that mask, because he's wrestling on Smackdown. I know the concept is just too much for WWE writers, but it would be refreshing.

Speaking of great writing, we get another fan/stalker angle with Trish Stratus and the girl who helped save her from a beat down in Mickie James. The women's division is horrible and there is no light at the end of the tunnel. There once was a day when the women could wrestle and look good, now most of these women couldn't even execute a drop toe hold. GLOW (Gorgeous Ladies Of Wrestling) federation where are you?

I haven't had an opportunity to see TNA on Spike TV just yet, but I have seen the product previously and if you haven't yet you should give it a try. Their Saturday night 11pm time slot isn't great, but they do replay it on Monday's at midnight. The X-Division has incredible action and just like the WWE, there is plenty of Canadian talent on the show. The only thing that bothers me is that they are pushing a Jeff Jarrett vs Kevin Nash match-up at their coming ppv…and that's a train wreck waiting to happen, but I'm sure just like in the past the X-Division will save the day.