Thoughts on Hulk Hogan's Celebrity Championship Wrestling

Photo courtesy of CMT.com

For the last several weeks, Country Music Television (CMT) has been heavily advertising the premiere episode of Hulk Hogan's "Celebrity Championship Wrestling," which premiered this past Saturday night. Now, I hadn't planned to watch it because the show didn't seem that appealing and didn't seem to be that entertaining.

However, I got a call from my parents Sunday morning, who said I had to check out the show because, as my mom said, I would be surprised with the show and who was impressive. My mom was right on both accounts and I found myself enjoying the show and was greatly impressed with Trishelle Cannatella, who showed great ring presence and potential in her match and Danny Bodaduce, who I think missed his calling as a professional wrestler.

For those who didn't see the show, allow me to give you a quick synopsis...there are 10 celebrities on the show [Dennis Rodman, Bodaduce, Butterbean, Cannatella, Dustin Diamond, Erin Murphy, Frank Stallone, Tiffany, Nikki Ziering, Todd Bridges] who are split into two teams. One team is coached by Brutus "the Barber" Beefcake and the other is coached by Brian Knobbs.

The way the show works is that the celebrities are shown several wrestling holds and moves in training and have several hours to not only learn the moves and holds, but to also incorporate those moves into a match they will put on in front of a live crowd. However, the matches are not Team Beefcake vs. Team Knobbs. Rather, the matches are inter-squad and the coaches decide who will be the faces (good guys), heels (bad guys) and managers.

At the end of the two matches, both of which are judged by Hogan, Jimmy Hart and Eric Bischoff, one team is selected as the winner and for the losing team, one celebrity will be sent home based on the judges decision. The last celebrity left standing will win the "Celebrity Championship Wrestling" title belt.

I didn't think I would say this but I am a fan of the show and can't wait to see next week's episode, as long as I remember that its on, which shouldn't be too hard since its the only show CMT is advertising right now.

My only gripe is that Rodman is on the show and while Rodman was my favorite NBA player, I don't think its fair he's on the show since he's had prior ring experience by wrestling for WCW in the late 1990's and a few independent shows.

Other than that, I like the approach the show has taken, having the celebrities put on mini matches after training rather than attempting to make the show a legitimate wrestling promotion with the celebrities, and hope that ratings are strong enough for a second season.