I have received comments about my last article from people telling me that I am wrong about the “IMPACT” Booker T will make on TNA. I sincerely hope that I am because I have never heard a bad word about Booker T. I will not even dispute that it’s possible that the first week’s ratings may go up from curiosity seekers tuning in. My opinion is based not as much on Booker T; I was a fan of Harlem Heat. In general I enjoy tag team wrestling a lot. My comments about Booker T are based on this; I do not believe that he is a big enough star to drastically swing the ratings. I do see him as a solid part of an ensemble that won’t hurt the program at all. I do not believe that he is a big enough star to overcome the poor decisions that TNA makes. I am not a fan of the booking or the production of the show. I still don’t see TNA focusing on the things that will make their program better. The latest news is that they have added Mike Tenay to the booking team and Abyss as well. I can’t even believe that there was one minute spent on a decision like this. I don’t know if Mike Tenay has the capacity to book an angle or not. As a matter of fact I can’t think of anyone who knows less about that topic than I do. However, I do believe that throwing even the most competent person in to the cloak and dagger meetings that TNA holds can only lead to complication. I do not now nor will I ever believe in the committee theory in Wrestling. It should be a sole person who is responsible. I am sure almost anyone in that position would ask for input from people and then make his or her decisions. In the past that’s how things were done, and they worked, a sole leader is the only thing that makes sense. If you put more than one person in charge its normal for them all to want to lead the way. They believe they have equivalent power that can only lead to problems. How many of them have the capacity to rationalize out that the other guy has a better plan when they hear it presented. I implore Dixie Carter for the good of the wrestling business please get your hands around what its going to take for your company to get to the next level. I will give you one hint Dixie for you to accomplish your goal some of the people in your employ now need to be released or managed a lot better.
I am not sure how popular this opinion is but if I was running WWE I would find a way to give Ric Flair one more run with the title. I believe the fans want it and truth be told is I don’t believe that the title would mean anymore around anyone else’s waist. In previous matches when Flair has had a shot at the title it appears the fans have really been into it. They were all hoping the veteran could pull one more victory out of his bag of tricks. What does WWE have to lose by making this move especially now when John Cena is out? It might be an idea to put the title on Flair and leave it there until Cena comes back and than let the legend pass the torch to the man WWE is looking to have carry them through the rest of this decade and perhaps farther. I am sure some of that could change if they find the “next big thing”. The next big thing doesn’t appear to be on the horizon anytime soon. In the mean time get Flair back on TV put the belt on him and for the sake of wrestling fans everywhere let him cut his own promos.
It was August 26th, 2005 we were in Valley Forge, PA it was a Friday night and I had gotten an email from Stacy Papachristos, Associate Counsel for World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. The email indicated that Bubba Ray and D-Von Dudley could not appear on WrestleReunion using the Dudley’s name etc. It went a lot more in depth then that referencing tables etc. I found it to be quite a petty maneuver. You see Paul Heyman had indicated to the Dudley’s that they had the right to take the name with them. I was told this by Bubba Ray and I am sure that he told me what he believed to be the truth. You see at basically 12:00am on the morning of the 27th the Dudley’s contract with WWE expired and they were free to work for WrestleReunion LLC. In this case WWE knew for quite awhile what we were planning to do and they contacted us at the last minute. I had to get with the Dudley’s and come up with an alternate plan and that’s how Team 3D was born. I have to say that the Dudley’s were very cooperative and a pleasure to work with in this situation. At the same time I got a call from Matt Hardy saying that he had to pull out of WrestleReunion to work on some shows in Puerto Rico for WWE. I will tell you how that situation got settled in my next article.
The picture’s with this article is from a show that I promoted in Yonkers, NY for the benefit of the Yonkers PAL. I wrestled “Gorgeous” Gary Royal who was being managed by Jimmy the Geek and I was managed by Terri Runnels that night. I had asked Bruno Sammartino to make an appearance that night as a special referee. It was a match between George “The Animal” Steele vs. Nikolai Volkoff vs. Thunderfoot #2 (Gene Ligon) in a three way dance.
This has been a piece of my mind
"The Big Cheese" Sal Corrente
