I should probably warn you guys off the bat that this one may contain some....okay a LOT of bad language. Just covering my ass.
Boy the wrestling world changes a lot when you take a break, and yet a lot of it has had opinions stated on it already. Plus I'm in mourning that My Penguins ran into a fucking Human Wall (Blah can feel free to commence gloating here) in the playoffs. [Hah! Hah I must contractually say.] And yet I do have something I want to bring up.
You see up until last night, I was wholly intending this column to be on the reasons why Mickie James should think twice about joining TNA and how the entire Knockouts division has gone to shit, but I'm forced to put that on the back-burner this week. Oh don't worry, I'm sure I'll find another reason to bitch about the Knockouts sooner or later and I'll bring it back from the trash bin.
So why the sudden change? What could change my thought process so much in the past 24 hours that I would bin a pretty much completed column and actually start from scratch?
Well if I could break kayfabe again, it's because recently I celebrated my 29th year on this earth (Or as I call it: One more year till I have to start lying about my age again) and as part of my presents, my brother bought me a wrestling set, not just any wrestling set. The TNA Cross The Line 3 Pack, with Victory Road, Hard Justice and No Surrender of last year. That was about two weeks ago but I never got around to actually start watching those DVD's, last night here at the office as I finished my column, finished my cases and decided to reward myself with some wrestling so I popped in and watched Victory Road.
And that's when I realized I'd have to change my column.
And believe it or not it's not because of That Fucking Match
No it's actually because while watching this show, it made me realize just what I hate so much about TNA right now. NOTHING MAKES SENSE. Even since the move to Monday night it's been all hotshot bullshit; the decision to put the belt on RVD (Which I actually liked, that episode of Impact was the best wrestling television program the Big 2 have put out this year), The nonsensical Sting Heel turn, that FUCKING STUPID Knocklockbox thing. All of it has been done for one reason and one reason only - the failure to gain an audience higher than they got on Thursday night, all of it failed, all of it polarized an audience and in the end it meant nothing as less than three months later TNA are right back where they began, on Thursday nights.
Compare this to Victory Road - for those who don't remember this was at the peak of the Main Event Mafia storyline and the night ended with the heels having seemingly all the power in TNA, as they held all the major titles. Say what you want about Vince Russo, but after watching Victory Road again I just can't get how anyone can say he's a bad writer. The show was classic Booking 101. Build your heels to a position of power and make it look like the babyfaces don't have a hope in hell of even keeping their jobs, let alone take down the heels. Result? It makes people want to see the babyfaces overcome the odds and claim the glory, and because this is wrestling and good must always triumph over evil in the end, that's exactly the way it would eventually happen and it created a buzz. That buzz led to Turning Point and Final Resolution, in my opinion the two best wrestling shows of the year from the Big 2, the shows that for the first time since the death of Eddie Guerrero made me proud to be a wrestling fan again... A pride that was shattered when Hogan and Bischoff came into TNA.
Let's compare Victory Road with TNA's last offering, Lockdown and the shows of recent weeks, The main angle was Lethal Lockdown, Team Hogan and Team Flair, with the stipulation that if Flair's team won Hogan would leave TNA. It was a stipulation they didn't even think highly enough to add till the night of the pay per view and of course the heels got destroyed.
AJ Styles, the World Heavyweight Champion, is constantly made to look weak by Abyss and barely escaped with his life at Destination X. He couldn't get a clean pinfall and was constantly beaten down by Abyss and/or pinned every time they were in a tag match. Now maybe I'm crazy but I always thought that your world heavyweight champion was supposed to be....I don't know.....THE FACE OF YOUR FUCKING COMPANY! And by extension if he looks weak, your brand looks weak.
Now before people start mentioning guys like Flair in the 80's there's a very significant difference. Flair didn't get pinned week after week like Styles did and the fact that they hotshotted the belt onto RVD the night after Lockdown just proves how bad they fucked up. One or two beatings is fine but if he's made to look weak week after week the heel champion loses his drawing power.
Which brings me to Abyss. Oh how I could started here (Blah what is the limit on swear words per column here?) [There is none. Swear away.] but he's in a position that basically no one wants him to be in, and the poll on who should be given a title shot is proof of that. Yet he's constantly pushed on TV and constantly forced down the fans throats whist a guy who the fans actually WANT to see, Desmond Wolfe, is treated like a second rate jobber and squashed in a three and a half minute title match as a huge Fuck You to anyone who DARED to vote for him on TNAWrestling.com.
Why? Because Abyss works well with Hogan, isn't that obvious?
So what must TNA do to try and repair its image? On Thursdays they have a chance to build something....IF Hogan and Bischoff just allow themselves to be shown as human, not the almighty saviors of TNA. If they show that they can be gotten to, whether it's by Styles or Wolfe or Anderson or even a Samoa Joe then TNA can start to regain some interest by building heels the fans will pay to see get beaten up. By putting aside ego and using their star power to give the "Rub" to the next generation of heels to match up with the top babyfaces they already have like RVD, Pope and to a lesser extent Jeff Hardy (potential incarceration not withstanding) Hogan and Bischoff have the opportunity to build the platform to do what they said they came into the company to do: Take TNA to the next level and provide real competition for the WWE.
But since that's never going to happen, I hope you're all going to enjoy another six months of Hogan-Flair-Abyss-Styles with the occasional RVD great match. It doesn't have to be this way and believe it or not the guy who can save them is the guy they're wanting to get rid of....Vince Russo.
Clarence "Showstealer" Mason
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