Listen up! Class is in session.

It's lecture time, and the topic is honesty. This week, I interviewed by phone the great Mike Tenay, announcer for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, better known as TNA.

Let's be clear. This little column is a bit of an act for me. I call myself Professor Wrestling for the fun of it. I know my fair share of stuff, but I'm no Mike Tenay, who is regarded by everyone backstage as "The Professor." I tip my mask to him, and his encyclopedic knowledge of the history of the squared circle.

Tenay, who spent years as an announcer for World Championship Wrestling, is completely jazzed about TNA, now in its third year of operation. He hopes the Nashville-based promotion -- with its six-sided ring -- will someday air a show opposite World Wrestling Entertainment on Monday nights, ushering in a new era of Big Dog competition. "The ideal for us is to go head-to-head with them," Tenay said from his Las Vegas home. "If we had a competing product, it would light a fire under WWE as well."

That would be nice. Perhaps Booker T would get a world championship run? Perhaps Vince McMahon would treat cruiserweights like the showstoppers they are? Don't get me wrong, WWE does a lot of things right, but when two promotions stare each other down, it forces the performers and writers to work harder, and the fans win.

"If you're tired of the wrestling product that's out there now, we offer a fresh alternative," Tenay said of TNA, which is now seen nationally on Fox Sports Net on Friday afternoons. In the few short weeks in the 3 p.m. timeslot, he says "TNA iMPACT" is one of most highly rated shows on the network. While TNA is still second to WWE in terms of recognition and ratings, Tenay says "iMPACT" reminds him of WCW "Monday NITRO" at its best.

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"There was really something on that show (Monday Nitro) for everybody," Teny said. "We're approaching that level. The X-Division (for example) ... you'll be absolutely blown away."

The X-Division is TNA's reverent spot for cruiserweights, talents such as A.J. Styles, Petey Williams and Chris Sabin, who are treated with the utmost respect. The heavyweight division has names you'll remember: Scott Hall, Kevin Nash and the current champ, Jeff Jarrett. That trio took on Styles, Jeff Hardy and Randy Savage in the Dec. 5 pay-per-view, "Turning Point." But Tenay says it was the tag team steel cage match that took his breath away in that show. Chris Harris and James Storm met Christopher Daniels and Ellix Skipper in the "Six Sides Of Steel" with the losers -- Daniels and Skipper -- forced to disband as a tag team afterwards.

"Turning Point," said Tenay, "is one of the greatest shows I've ever been involved with. When you've been part of the greatest, it's not overstating the case." That, coming from a ring historian, is saying something. Tenay was also the announcer (his first big gig) for what's considered the greatest pay-per-view of all time, a show called "When Worlds Collide." That 1994 show -- produced independently -- basically introduced Mexico's Lucha Libre style of wrestling to U.S. audiences, with breakout performances from Rey Mysterio, Konnan and Eddie Guerrero, to name a few. It's that level of excitement that Tenay wants to see again. "There are so may fans that have gone away," Tenay said of the post-WCW wrestling scene. "We're looking for that fan base."

It sounds like TNA may have a chance. The next big show, "Final Resolution" is January's pay-per-view. If TNA can build on the buzz of "Turning Point," maybe a new Monday Night War is right around the next turnbuckle.

Tenay's opinion?

"It's really a just matter of time," he said.

And with that declaration, this class ... is dismissed.

Comments, questions, complaints, compliments? Send 'em right here.

(Professor Wrestling is a masked employee of Internet Broadcasting Systems. Your assignment: tune into Fox Sports Net to catch TNA iMPACT Friday's at 3 p.m. Go on, give it a try. Skip work if you have to. It's OK.)