Pro Wrestling Ponderings

Welcome back to the best column not only on Pro Wrestling Ponderings, but on all of the internet. Yeah, I’m that damned cocky.

Zane Thornsberry:

Undoubtedly, we’ve all heard about the Kurt Angle arrest by now. If you haven’t, Kurt was arrested for stalking his girlfriend Rhaka Kahn, driving on a suspended license, and a few other charges. While any other time this might not be that big of a deal, it’s happening during a crucial time for TNA. Not only is Kurt Angle the TNA World Champion, but he’s also trying to gain more control of TNA. As you all may know, Jeff Jarrett and Karen Angle are now “an item”, which has infuriated Kurt beyond belief. Kurt has went to Dixie Carter (majority owner of TNA) to get control of the booking staff away from Jeff, and give it to Kurt. In response, Dixie Carter has fired Savio Vega, and Dutch Mantell who were two guys close to Jeff and in the “inner circle” of TNA. After these firings, Vince Russo is said to be worried for his job as he too is a close friend of Jeff.

Now while the firing of Russo might be a good idea, it’s certainly not a good idea to support a man whom is self destructing (Angle). Having him as your champion is not only bad publicity, but bad for business if he dies or gets incarcerated. It’s been reported that several TNA wrestlers have went to Dixie asking her that if she fires Russo, to hire either Paul Heyman (former booker/owner of Extreme Championship Wrestling), or Gabe Sapolsky (former booker for Ring of Honor). Dixie has reportedly been saying that she does not intend to hire either man, but instead someone with a Hollywood background.

Of course, hiring someone with a Hollywood background is not the best move for a wrestling company. For one, the majority of the time these writers don’t know a thing about the business or the product they’re getting into. If they do know what they’re getting into, it’s still not going to do the company any good as they don’t know what works and what doesn’t in wrestling due to them never having drawn a dime, or worked closely with a booker.

It seems that the days of one man being in charge of “the book” of a company is on its way out. People who couldn’t cut it in the tough world of Hollywood, and are now looking for a paycheck are replacing it. Ultimately, it’s not just the company, who suffers, but all the wrestlers, their families, and the fans.

If TNA wishes to be taken seriously by the world of Professional Wrestling, then they need to cease trying to become a carbon copy of WWE, and instead strike out on their own unique path. Instead of several writers fromTV shows that got cancelled because the writing sucked (or who got let go because THEY sucked), have a few older guys in the business work on the creative staff. They need to have one guy who knows what he’s doing (someone like Jim Cornette, or Raven) at the head of the booking team, with everyone else doing what he dictates.

TNA needs to get back to the basics in every aspect. Instead of doing complicated, unfunny, boring feuds, they should be doing easy to follow feuds with a clear-cut reason why they’re feuding, and not have it be over some “therapy” sessions. Enough of the zany characters, enough of the over the top gimmick matches, and enough of the tag team matches for a singles title. Get back to what brought you to where you were, and that’s good old-fashioned wrestling. If they do this, they’ll undoubtedly pull in more wrestling fans, and be able to break even (or turn a profit) each and every month.

When it boils down to it, TNA is a wrestling business. Therefore, they should focus on the wrestling, and not “comedy” skits. All I’m saying is you don’t see Ben & Jerry’s (who make a fine product) selling health insurance do you? No, because they know Ice cream is their thing, and they need to stick to that. Will any of what I said happen? Who knows, we’ll have to wait and see. However, if I were a betting man, I wouldn’t put my money on it.

Jerome Cusson:

Still can’t believe we’re so close to Summerslam. I think the card looks like decent, but it just doesn’t feel like the second biggest show of the year is coming in a week. WWE spent the week in Canada, and they made their distrust of the country very clear. First on RAW, they had Sergeant Slaughter teasing the crowd all night and Jericho turning on his home country. Then on Smackdown, they edited out the many cheers Tyson Kidd and D.H. Smith received before the main event. If I lived in Calgary or Edmonton, I would never ever want to see WWE again. Why spend 50 bucks on seeing a show when I’m simply going to get picked on for two hours. Pass.

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