Friday, October 03, 2008
A Piece of my Mind Oct 3rd 2008 by "The Big Cheese" Sal Corrente
At this stage of the game, when you announce a mystery partner for Shawn Michaels, and that partner ends up being Triple H, were the people cheated? Is there a benefit to promoting an event the way that they did? Did they think that saying that Degeneration X was reuniting for a night would mean less than a mystery partner? I can tell you that the days of the mystery partner meaning something are long gone. The company needs to worry about credibility and gaining the trust of the audience. In the world of professional wrestling, things happen that are understood and defendable. If one is injured and can’t perform that really can’t and shouldn’t be questioned.
What can and should be questioned is straight forward jerking people’s chains. Where is the mystery in bringing Triple H over from Smackdown. The company doesn’t respect the brand division any better than Government respects a budget. I could live with the Triple H and Shawn Michaels tag team. What I can't live with is being insulted on a regular basis. In the days when I was growing up, once a wrestling fan always a wrestling fan. I wonder how long someone stays a fan when they discover WWE in this millennium?
It wasn’t that long ago that we were celebrating Kurt Angle jumping over to TNA. It wasn’t much longer after that they got Booker T. We are now excited to see Mick Foley over in TNA. If Mick is happy being there I am happy for him. The one thing that is consistent and won’t change is aside from a few people who have no intention of going to TNA one talent is not going to help them all that much if at all. The biggest talent that they have won’t even do house shows for them. It is time to set Sting aside. Even if he cut a deal to finish his career in WWE who really cares?
The paradigm at TNA needs to change. They have a solid talent base. The talent can always be improved but that isn’t going to drastically help the company. The age old question of "what came first the Chicken or the Egg?" appears to be just like "who’s on first?". I don’t imagine that either of those questions will ever be answered. In the world of TNA where what comes first is everything but talent. They need to work on all other aspects of their company. It does take time and focus to run a company and build a brand. I don’t believe that TNA has the right mix of people in the company. The biggest problem with the company right now is that the management team was born out of nepotism. It is up to Dixie Carter to challenge each employee to check their ego at the door. The gppd of the company has to be their primary thought.
Who is really held accountable in TNA for the decisions that are made? If no one is held accountable, and people decisions aren’t being challenged, the company will have a tough time getting to the next level. The company can make a move now while WWE seems creatively challenged to say the least.
The WWE recently mailed out Hall of Fame rings to members of their Hall of Fame. I think it would have been great for the fans to slowly, but surely, bring all the legends to RAW and or Smackdown and present those rings. The fans would have loved it. But then again why start worrying about the fans now?
This photo was taken in Japan and was provided to me by my longtime friend Samu "The Wild Samoan #3" Anoai. It is of Yokozuna, Bam Bam Bigelow, Samu and Chris Benoit. It is tragic how the life of these three men ended. We can only hope others learned a lesson for the end result of these three men. In the background is Sato a friend of Samu's for many years.