Sorry faithful readers, but I have been a little consumed by the Olympics. In fact, I'm still a little upset Bret Hart wasn't the great Canadian athlete to light the Olympic cauldron. So, in honor of Bret no longer screwing Bret, and everyone admitting to screwing Bret, I am calling out Wayne Gretzky for screwing Bret out of being the final torch bearer.

More things to call out in TNA/WWE/Olympics...

- So, Abyss, how does it feel to be looking at your future? I mean, being buddies with Hulk Hogan means you get to be part of his baggage someday, like Brian Knobbs, Sean Waltman and Scott Hall. These three will always have a career as long as Hulk is ticking, so protect him well when you team up with against AJ Styles and Ric Flair on March 8 (you know, that day the Monday Night Wars return, again).

- Speaking of Hogan's baggage, Waltman and Hall beat the crap out of Eric Young and Kevin Nash, but not without Waltman doing the crotch chop and telling both of them to “S**k it!” twice. So I ask, with several wrestlers having tweaked their ring names and catch phrases after leaving WWE, isn’t the whole DX catch phrase thing just as much an intellectual property of WWE? They’ve been using it for 15 years, so that is something to think about.

- Amazingly, it appears I was wrong last month when I said a little something about John Cena having no one to compete against at Wrestlemania... apparently I should have predicted Triple H... When everyone is healthy, someone has to be the odd man out, and Triple H gets to be that man. My question is, how do you promote a Wrestlemania with Triple H as one of your three top stars, and don't put him in a match?

- Does anybody else think one of the Bobsleigh announcers sounds little like Matt Striker?

- NXT was, to say the least, interesting. The pairings we saw featured look like they are going to work and really get the personality part out, which is really what appears to need the most work. I really liked Heath Slater, even though his dancing seemed a little forced at times...

Last night, we saw the end of ECW, but let's face it, the end of "Extreme Championship Wrestling" was long before last night. For a while now, the show has been a stepping stone for the next generation of Superstars to prepare them, and us, the fans, for their arrival to the main stage, with a smattering of familiar stars to make it look legit. Next week, WWE is making it official and bringing us NXT, which they admit is a stepping stone between FCW (Florida Championship Wrestling) and Raw/Smackdown.

However, they are switching it up a bit (because, rumor has it, SyFy has not been happy with the ratings lately and requested something be done) and making the show a sort of reality show, and I say sort of, because something tells me it won't be as pure as "Tough Enough."

As WWE explains in their press release, "NXT is a hybrid live event/reality show featuring eight well-known, popular WWE Superstars ('Pros') mentoring eight WWE 'Rookies.' These Rookies, who are learning the ropes, are athletes who epitomize pop culture and personify strong attributes – they are opinionated and aggressive – which means inherent conflict between Rookies and other Rookies, conflict between Rookies and Pros, as well as, conflict between Pros and Pros."

“As we introduce this brand new franchise exclusively on Syfy, WWE NXT will have a completely different look and feel from our other WWE television programming,” WWE Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon said.

The Rookies/Pros thing is a little different from the rumors that were going around about what the show would be, and I think even a little different from what Christian said on Raw a couple of weeks ago, but perhaps that's because they were still working out the details on how the show would work.

The Rookies are all FCW guys, like those (Jack Swagger and Sheamus, for example) who came through ECW before them. Eventually, the Rookies will "graduate" to either Raw or Smackdown (no, they aren't competing for a contract as was the situation in Tough Enough), and a new crop of Rookies will make up the roster of NXT. From what I understand, the Pros will all continue to compete on either Raw or Smackdown.

The Rookies are:

Wade Barrett, an English wrestler who signed a contract with the WWE in in 2007 and worked in OVW before FCW. In FCW, he held the Florida Tag Team Championship with Drew McIntyre. His mentor on NXT will be Chris Jericho.

Justin Gabriel will be better known to FCW fans as Justin Angel, the South African wrestler who is the Florida Heavyweight Champion. His mentor will be Matt Hardy.

Skip Sheffield is not new to reality wrestling-- he was one of the finalists on Tough Enough 4, the one held during Smackdown in 2004 which also included the Miz. Sheffield's mentor will be MVP.

Michael Tarver is from Akron, Ohio. Tarver signed a contract with the WWE in early 2008. He will be mentored by Carlito.

Daniel Bryan (aka Bryan Danielson) is a former Ring of Honor champion who has only been with the WWE for a few months. Personally, I think this guy may be the one to watch. He will be mentored by The Miz, but I have a feeling he won't need much mentoring... (btw, isn't it a little strange Miz is a mentor to a group of guys that includes someone he competed with to get a job in the WWE in the first place?)

Heath Slater is an former FCW Champion and Tag Team Champion (with Joe Hennig, yes, Mr. Perfect's kid). He will be mentored by Christian.

Darren Young, a Jersey native, has only been working with the WWE since May, but has been making the rounds in the business since 2002. He will be mentored by CM Punk.

David Otunga is another not new to reality television. He was one of the contestants on "I Love New York 2." Somehow, he went from loving New York to loving Jennifer Hudson. He will be mentored by R. Truth.

The WWE certainly has worked to make this new installment of Heat/Tough Enough sound interesting. I liked the original Tough Enough, and I hope NXT will have enough ingredients from the original to make it work for the long term.

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Starting March 8, TNA iMPACT! will move to Mondays in direct competition (9-11 p.m.)with WWE Raw. The show will even air live from Universal Studios in Orlando every other week.

“On Jan. 4, wrestling fans showed us they’re ready for a new professional wrestling alternative on Monday nights, and we’re answering that call. Bringing ‘iMPACT!’ to Mondays is our most exciting move yet in a year that’s already been filled with huge milestones for TNA” said TNA President Dixie Carter in a press release.

According to TNA's press release, the Jan. 4 iMPACT! drew a record 2.2 million viewers.

"Monday nights are now officially the best night of the week to be a fan of professional wrestling," Hulk Hogan said. "My mantra has been 'change is coming' since partnering with Dixie Carter and TNA Wrestling. This change is great for the business and all fans of professional wrestling will benefit because of it."

Okay, Brother, we'll see...

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From the WWE:
The anticipated winter storm has once again postponed the upcoming WWE professional wrestling event scheduled for the Wachovia Center on Thursday, Feb. 11 at 8 p.m. The WWE professional wrestling event is now rescheduled for Sunday, Feb. 14 at 3 p.m. at the Wachovia Center .

All tickets from the originally scheduled date (Friday, Feb. 5) will be honored on Sunday, Feb. 14. Also, tickets are still available at ComcastTIX by visiting ComcastTIX.com or by calling 1-800-298-4200.

If you had tickets to the WWE Raw Live show in Philadelphia Friday night, you can still use them. The show was rescheduled (you know, because of that little snow storm we were getting) to Thursday, Feb. 11 at 8 p.m.

According to the WWE, fans who cannot attend the rescheduled date
should go to their point of purchase for refunds.

Mr. McMahon announced on ECW tonight that the show would be going off the air in three weeks. He thanked the staff and talent for their work, and then said a new program would take its place in the same time slot on SyFy.

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