There have been comments recently made by Kurt Angle about TNA being "too complicated" . I agree with him. It all started with the six sided ring and has grown into stipulations beyond stipulations. Is it so hard to understand that sometimes keeping it simple is the best approach? How would you feel if someone walked up to you and said Congratulations I’m glad to see you celebrating the anniversary of your birth? Isn’t it better to just say Happy Birthday? The secrets to this business aren’t really secrets. I don’t understand the thought process involved and I don’t believe that it’s helping the company.
The recent promos made by Sting really don’t make any sense either. Hey I got a call from Vince McMahon and I could have made millions of dollars but I chose to come here instead. So you can’t make millions in TNA? Why bring that up? Why make the company look like a minor league company? If you are going to create a strong brand you have to treat your company like it’s the best.
We all want and need TNA to succeed but to get to the next level they are going to have to change their paradigm, They have to really think and present things to the public that present a symbol of excellence.
There is talk that C.M. Punk is going to the tag team division. I would be a big supporter of this move if it is being done with the true intent of making it a “real” division again. I grew up surrounded by tag team wrestling and I enjoy wrestling in tags more so than single matches. The WWE can really do something good here they have a guy who can make this work, if they give him the right partner I think it could happen. I see C.M. Punk as the new Rob Van Dam, a guy that the people support and will continue to support no matter how WWE books him. The WWE has to get over itself and listen to the fans when the people select someone, you need to run with it.
I have no idea who they are going to use to team up with C.M. Punk and there are several good choices. If I had my way, I believe it is time to bring back Deuce. In the current tag team division there is a big focus on second generation stars. This is the time to introduce the son of the original phenom Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka. It could really get over in a big way if handled properly and Snuka is used properly to help the team. I know there are many choices but this is how I would handle it and who I would use as C.M. Punk’s partner. I think it gives a lot of possibilities now and down the road as well.
One guy that I enjoyed working with was Al Perez. He was very easy to referee for but his style was very limited. I can remember one day in the Baltimore Civic Center, standing with Lex Luger and Nikita Koloff. We were watching Al Perez wrestle Dusty Rhodes; it was time for Al to get a push. Well it didn’t take them long to figure out that Al was wrestling Dusty the same we that he would wrestle anyone else. He didn’t know how to make Dusty shine. It was pretty clear that the push for Al would come to an end that night. It didn’t matter who it was from Flair, to Luger, to Nikita Koloff you wrestled Dusty Rhodes (the booker) and you better know how to make him shine.
I always thought that Al was a good talent but probably didn’t get as far as he could have. I was in the ring with him and Nikita one time he gave Nikita his whirlybird move. When we got in the dressing room Nikita told him that he was uncomfortable with the move and that he didn’t want to take it anymore. It was not well received by Al who informed Nikita that he felt he was there for everything with him.
It was a few weeks later we ended up in the ring again and, sure enough, Al went for it. When he did Nikita basically just sat out on him and wouldn’t go. Of course it looked horrible. Al looked at me and said "son of a bitch". What did he expect?Anyone who knows Nikita, especially in those days, should know that he wasn’t going to go for it? In this business, it is about cooperation and Nikita isn’t the type of guy to go along just to avoid headaches. It could be argued that the kind of things I mentioned here about Al are the reasons he didn’t achieve more in the business. Al Perez was a good talent/ But if you don’t “get it” in this business you won’t reach the top of the industry.
The picture with this article is of Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat, Ricky Steamboat Jr and Rick’s parents “Mr. and Mrs. Steamboat”. In reality this is the Blood family out supporting Richie in one of his matches near his home in the Carolinas. It does look like Richie is working hard to achieve his goal of getting to the wrestling world’s biggest stage. The credit for this photo goes to Liana Catoggio.
This has been a piece of my mind
