It’s been awhile since I have written anything but it’s that time for sure. The Monday Night “Wars” begin this week but sadly unless something serious changes it won’t be a war it will be an ass whipping. If your plan is to take a company like TNA to another level it can’t be a short term plan it has to be a long term one. I want to be clear that I am a friend and fan of Hulk Hogan always have been and always will be. I am not now nor have I ever been a fan of Eric Bischoff. If you are watching what’s going on at TNA it truly seems like the same old thing with a few new faces. As I have stated many time the faces in front of the camera weren’t TNA’s problem it is the team behind the camera. The fact that Eric Bischoff who seems to be running things placed himself in SEVEN segments last week should be enough to let everyone see that he is far to self absorbed to ever have the best interests of the company at heart. I hope he at least has plans to start making house shows and headlining pay per views or why shove himself down the public’s throat? One also has to also wonder why Bischoff is attempting to run some sort of wrestling league for midget wrestlers when SPIKE TV has its own programming coming up for midget wrestling.
I originally thought that Hulk was to be running TNA and Bischoff and Hervey were to be working on other programming for TNA. It is clear at this point that Bischoff and Jason Hervey are running TNA I have no idea what qualifies Jason Hervey to try and take a major wrestling company to the next level. Who can even fathom the back stabbing and double dealing going on between those two and Vince Russo in putting together a show.
If you’re a SPIKE TV executive that is lending support to the TNA project because of the acquisition of Hulk Hogan you have to be scratching your head right now. You have to wonder how much time Hulk Hogan is putting in to this project on a weekly basis. The reason I say that is there is no way that I can see SPIKE giving a renewed push to the project based on Eric Bischoff’s involvement and if they did they should be fired on the spot. In light of Hulks personal issues which have to be very time consuming, dealing with a midget wrestling league which Bischoff has gotten him involved in. He also spends time with his children helping them start careers and running around the country promoting TNA since they don’t really have anyone else the media wants to talk to how can he be having much if any influence on the infrastructure of the company? The other project Bischoff has going for Hulk is this A&E reality show where is the focus on TNA?
The other person who seems to be on a mission for the spotlight is Dixie Carter, she is so busy facebooking and twittering and being on the air sitting with fans how can she take a stagnant company to the next level. I then hear that she is booked for a shoot interview at a wrestling convention to be filmed in front of a live audience. If this is an idea she thought had legs why not film it at one of your own events and include it on a company DVD?
I can only imagine the political tug of war going on backstage between the Russo and Hogan teams. They say that you shouldn’t be critical if you can’t do it better well one thing I am sure of is I could do it better than it’s being done right now at TNA. The company has been around quite a while with some of the same guys in top spots clearly the company attempted to make some BIG changes since the people they had weren’t making them enough money. I don’t know who is supposed to be watching what’s going on and making sure the ship is straight but what I do know is that the direction things are going can only lead to more mediocrity for a lot more expense. The inmates are still running the asylum at TNA there is just a new bully on the cell block in Eric Bischoff. If I was Bob and or Dixie Carter and I brought in Hulk Hogan I would want to be sure that Hulk Hogan was making the decisions and either live or die with him if that was my choice which in this case it clearly was. The Bischoff Hervey team must have lost its momentum is Hollywood since Scott Baio isn’t 45 and Single any longer Bischoff had to come back to wrestling. The approach that he has taken will do nothing but keep the company floundering where it is and continue to address the personal agendas of people given power. I am told that BischoffHervey got over $100,000.00 to produce that micro wrestling program. I have heard that it was a production train wreck which goes to show what a product Bischoff produces on his own turns out to be. I can only imagine how much they lined their pockets after spending minimal amounts to produce the event. I don’t have direct knowledge of the expenses but all reports and information make it sound like an amateur production at best.
The entire company backstage and in front of the cameras is filled with people trying to push their own personal agenda’s that has got to stop immediately. If you don’t want to make house shows and do whatever else it takes to take the company to the next level then they don’t need to be there. If there was ever a company in which every employee is expendable its TNA does anyone believe that if any one star left the company the ratings would drop?
Another thing that just really irks me is that TNA is promoting surprises for Monday Night. The days of the surprise appearance are over. You either give people what they want to see or they don’t watch that’s it. If you have the Jeff Hardy’s or Rob Van Dam promote it let people know about it. If someone on the booking committee really thinks that surprises are the way to get people to tune in they should be fired immediately. Who goes to a movie and doesn’t know what’s playing or who’s in it? I mean come on get in two thousand and ten.
It was just the other day that someone asked me if being with TNA would hurt Hulk Hogan and I said no that people like Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair are beyond that type of thing. There are certain people who have reached a level where they can’t really lose the celebrity that they have and I believe Hogan and Flair are at that level. I hope Hogan takes serious control of the company very soon for one reason if it fails it’s going to be his fault one way or the other he will get blamed for it. He should at least be the one calling the shots then win lose or draw it’s on him. I don’t know why Hulk has handed the ball to Eric on this one but the results speak for themselves. If you take all the major free agents and sign them to TNA under the current infrastructure it won’t help one bit this company needs to change from the inside out.
The problem in a nut shell is this no one in TNA gets it. They don’t know how to connect with people from the inside and out and until they do they will be on the outside looking in.
The picture I am using with this article comes from WrestleReunion 4 in Los Angeles. If you weren’t there you missed a rare opportunity to meet two great international superstars The Great Muta and Jushin Thunder Liger. This photo is me with Liger before one of the two matches that he had at WrestleReunion 4.
This has been a piece of my mind
