The Heat and the Shine

The ratings are in for the July 18th iMPACT-as-PPV experiment, and it was a success.  The two-hour show, headlined by Chris Sabin's first World Championship win over Bully Ray, drew a 0.5 18-49 demo rating (up from 0.4 the week before) with 1.49 million total viewers (up from 1.19 million). It's great news all around.  A relatively large audience saw their new torchbearer get his win.  The result was unpredictable .  The show was well received .  TNA won the night, and that is good for them. But what of the future?  Conventional wisdom is that WWE is number one, and always will be.  And that TNA is struggling and that Spike TV is the only thing keeping them alive and a half dozen other problems piled on. If there is one thing that fans and followers of the wrestling business can agree upon, it is that TNA must start doing something different to survive and (some day) thrive.  It must be better or cooler or more fun than WWE.  It must be 2001 Apple. Apple is the largest

Against all odds, they did it.  The twenty-nine year-old with a thin resume is a threat to the Greatest.  Betting odds on Anderson Silva have fallen.  The whispers that Chris Wideman could win have become boasts that he will.  All for a man without the impressive string of victories that so often precedes a championship win. This bridge has sold before.  Cooney was a threat to Holmes.  Spinks was a threat to Tyson.  Tito was a threat to Chuck.  The public wants to think that the dominant champion is vulnerable.  The people want to suspend disbelief. But what if the truth mirrors the hype? When a twenty-four year-old Manny Pacquiao challenged Marco Antonio Barrera in 2003, HBO play-by-play announcer Jim Lampley warned the world of what was to come.  Pacquiao was 37-2-1 with an unimpressive list of victims.  His first thirty-four fights were in Asia against names that were unfamiliar to the mainstream of boxing.  Five of Pacquiao's next six fights would end by knockout, but hi