The country is in turmoil right now as those that "have" in the world are, in many cases, losing it. It is also a time of great opportunity for a new breed to step up and become the leaders of the pack. The WWE is in need of a face lift, reorganization and a humbling. The time is ripe for TNA to make their move and it can be done. As is the case in most business, the difference between success and failure is minimal. The hardest thing to do is look at yourself in the mirror and clearly identify your challenges.
The powers that be at TNA need to understand that Spike TV, on its own, is not going to help you draw at house shows. When they go into a town there has to be a more than reasonable advertising budget. You must invest on the front end to get a pay off in the long run. The message has to be clear to everyone at TNA that this is not a sprint it is a marathon. I understand that the faucet cannot be turned on full blast and that responsible decisions need to be made in regards to budget items. At the same time things needs to be done. TNA is full of young talent that should go into towns ahead of time and make as many FREE appearances as possible. These things need to be set up by the office and the local promoter. They cannot sit back and count on Spike TV alone. In the old days, when I was working for Jim Crockett Promotions, they were on TBS. If you are a true wrestling fan you know how powerful wrestling was on WTBS. I can tell you for a fact that Jim Crockett didn’t want to go into any town where they didn’t have local broadcast television. In no way shape or form can Spike TV be compared to the power of TBS. Yet TNA is trying to draw off of just that TV. The time is now for TNA to either gain velocity and momentum or continue to be stagnant. The only other hope for their company is to catch lightning in a bottle and have the next Hulk Hogan, Rock or Stone Cold Steve Austin fall into their lap.
I do have to touch base on one other issue ... the talent in TNA has to be assessed and dealt with. You can’t have all these high powered names taking up valuable TV time and not be on house shows. In the case of the recent house shows in California, it has to be pointed out that Sting resides no more than two hours from any of the three shows the company ran. I have worked and traveled with Sting in the past. This is not a personal issue. I have never had a problem with Sting. This is a direct business opinion. Sting should have, at the very least, made an appearance at each of those events. In reality he should have wrestled on all of them, but at the very least, made an appearance. The TV ratings are what they are hovering right around a 1.0. So clearly Sting, or anyone else, is jump starting the ratings. The guys that are making the big money have to follow the lead of The Dudley’s and Kurt Angle. They need to get out and go to work. At this point if a specific talent is not committed to helping the company grow than they need to leave the company and/or retire. I could be much more understanding if these people were driving high ratings but they aren’t. In the end Dixie Carter is responsible for letting this happen. It needs to stop and stop right now. I mention Sting by name but this isn’t his issue alone check out the house show lineups and check out the TV show.
I have heard a lot of talk about Mae Young’s last wrestling appearance on RAW. I have seen Mae do some pretty crazy things over the last several years. I can’t imagine how she has pulled it off. At the same time, from about everyone’s perspective, enough is enough. If Mae asked to be allowed to wrestle for some personal goal I'm not sure that she should have been denied. She has given enough to the business and, truthfully, I'd rather watch someone like Mar give everything they got in there then some of the garbage that RAW has turned into. So if Vince was doing Mae a favor then good for him she deserves it. But if he is asking her to work for any other reason it can only confirm how lost he really is. If you want Mae Young on television I am all for it and enjoy it when she makes her appearances. As a competitor, for her own good, draw a line and keep her on the safe side of it
This picture was taken by Bill Apter the woman in the picture is Mandy Koloff. She was Nikita’s wife; she passed away from cancer close to twenty years ago. When I moved in with Nikita in Concord, NC she was still alive. It was her that drove me to my tryout with Nelson Royal to be his referee. That tryout changed the direction of my life and brought me from NY to the Carolinas for twelve years.
This has been a piece of my mind
