By Shane McKinley, PWTorch specialist

If you missed TNA's Hardcore Justice, it featured this:



(URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfsoqoepjOY)

And this:



(URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVHnnzgQlG4)

There was a certain amount of dumb glee to be found in FBI's dancing and (I can't believe I'm writing this) the epic light saber duel between Brother Ray and Balls...I mean, Kajones. (Someone should have come down the ramp in a Darth Vader costume to top this off.) But, that was because I had no emotional investment in the PPV. The ECW wrestlers could have come out in chicken suits and blown bubbles at each other and it wouldn't have fazed me. I was just looking to be entertained and I was...at those points.

If you wipe away the cover of feel-good nostalgia, the majority of the matches were boring and the interviews were even worse. True, Too Cold Scorpio can still go, and such, but Hardcore Justice spent a bit too much time on nostalgia and just-okay matches...and then Brother Ray started to do the best comic selling of all time. Like Shawn Michaels would see it and Tweet, "Well, you got me! You're the king!"

-I liked how the PPV gave a shout-out to the late ECW wrestlers as well giving massive love to announcer Joey Styles (nice to see an announcer getting love for what he contributed). But, I could have done without the butt-kissing by TNA wrestlers. The next Impact boasts that it's going to get rid of those "boring interviews." What did I pay money to see at Hardcore Justice? Boring interviews. Hmm.

The purpose was to get the ECW rub on these TNA wrestlers, but all it accomplished was lulling me into a nice Sunday afternoon nap. I understand that TNA couldn't use ECW footage, but my goodness, I didn't need five minutes of Kaz sleep-promo'ing. Yes, I'm very entertained about these probable future-endeavored guys and girls babbling on about "how super awesome ECW was." I should be thankful that some TNA wrestlers showed up backstage...or maybe TNA just used footage of guys backstage watching a ballgame. TNA's locker room morale ain't exactly at a high point right now.

-The heavy emphasis on nostalgia was fine to kill some time, but there's probably a lot of newer fans out there who purchased the PPV feeling that they just watched a "meh" PPV. Hardcore Justice only appealed to the Hardcore TNA fans (and even then, Hardcore Justice couldn't match up to One Night Stand 2005 that featured the infamous John Cena vs. RVD match).

-Dreamer vs. Raven was good, but flawed. The idea to use Dreamer's daughters sitting in the front row as well as the decision to handcuff Dreamer while Raven bashed his head in with a chair reminded me a lot of Mick Foley's "I Quit" match with the Rock. Even right down to the extremely uncomfortable use of the daughters to elicit an emotion from fans that feels cheap. I hate it and I turn away from the TV whenever wrestling does this. Hey, Dreamer, only Jeff Jarrett can use that "daughters" trick.

-After that hardcore match, RVD vs. Sabu went past me. I also felt that the PPV should have featured way more ads for "The Whole Effin Show" Impact. (The PPV only featured one advert.) TNA in this situation looked like a little boy. To put it in perspective, ECW was New Jack and TNA was Jeremy Borash being taken away by Jack to be sexually assaulted. They tried to connect TNA with the glory of ECW, but it wasn't very effective.

It seemed the effort was there, and the old ECW wrestlers felt genuine in their performances, but the PPV still felt flat. I'm not sure what Dixie Carter and her company called TNA gets out of all of this. Higher PPV buy rates than normal? What if the PPV buy rates are poor? Was all of this worth it to shove aside the TNA product?

It's time to let go. I'm not sure what Hardcore Justice proved anything. Perhaps these guys found closure...or maybe they just had a fun time and a nice PPV paycheck. On my end, I'm not sure what I should have taken away. If Hardcore Justice wasn't closure for ECW, it
should be. I'm hoping to see New Jack in "Step Up 3D" locking and popping. "Look at that violent homicidal psychopath dance!"

Email is mckinley.torch@gmail.com

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