Would a New Monday Night War Spark Professional Wrestling?

Professional Wrestling television ratings are taking a huge hit in recent months. Monday Night Raw posted its lowest rating in nearly 5 years, a 2.8. Particularly grim was this show was the night after a pay-per-view broadcast where ratings usually nudge upward. Raw has rebounded a bit, up to 3.3 for the 10/22 broadcast, but it is a far cry from the ratings it pulled in a mere two years ago.

ECW, the third WWE "Brand" recently got an extension from the Sci-Fi next work through 2008 despite having seen its ratings plummet from a 2.79 for its debut episode down to a 1.2. Smackdown is drawing somewhere in the high 2's.

Meanwhile TNA Impact, depsite expanding to a two hour program, hovers at around a 1.0, the same number they were doing at 1 hour. At least they have more ad revenue to sell now which cushions the blow.

How did pro wrestling get in such a slump?

Some would blame the death of Chris Benoit and the shocking double murder of his wife and young son. Just this week, WWE has filed paperwork with the Fayetteville Superior Court responding to discovery motions from the estates of Chris Benoit and his wife and son. The WWE answer calls request for information about WWE's drug policy "a wholesale fishing expedition". WWE attorney Jerry McDevitt told the Atlanta Journal Constitution that the company plans to resist efforts to tie the company to the murder suicide and said, "If somebody wants to take a shot at us, then go ahead, and we'll see you in court."

Certainly it is having an impact, but wrestling has survived tragedies in and out of the ring before and survived. Steroid scandals? Vince McMahon has battled the US Government in court before, and won.

Injuries? Certainly having John Cena, Edge and Bobby Lashley out for extended periods hurts, but again it is something that can be overcome.

Lack of star power? Big money draws like Steve Austin, The Rock, Mick Foley, Hulk Hogan, and Randy Savage are retired. Nothing lasts forever. But there is plenty of talent on both the TNA and WWE rosters.

The real problem is competition, or lack thereof.

Rewind to 1995: WCW launches WCW Monday Nitro. Despite all critics claims, this show didn't split a wrestling audience, it expanded it. By 1998, nearly 7.5 million homes were tuning in to a pro wrestling program on Monday nights. However WCW would slump in 1999 and never recover and by 2001, Vince McMahon himself bought WCW.

Vince won the war and there was no Ted Turner or no Eric Bischoff left to fight. But without the competition, the excitement waned.

It worked once. Could it work again?

TNA wrestling right now is in no worse shape than when WCW launched Nitro head to head with Raw. WCW was losing six million dollars per year. House show (non-televised) attendance was down. TNA right now is probably in better shape fiscally in 2007 than WCW was in 1995. TNA already has the two hour time slot. Why not take the risk and move Impact to Monday nights?

Wrestling needs a spark. Can you imagine the buzz if TNA Impact went on the air the same time as Raw? WCW provided the blueprint, all TNA needs to do is follow it and not make the mistakes WCW did to lead to its demise. And Vince McMahon and WWE need the competition whether they would admit it or not.