rovert Posted February 15, 2012 Report Share Posted February 15, 2012 Mark's column on Wrestlezone. Cocky and self assured even for Mark: HOGAN VS. DIXIE: THE FINAL CONFLICT Hulk Hogan’s contract with Impact expires in the fall. Impact’s contract with Spike TV expires in the fall. Uh-oh. When they were in the ring at WrestleMania 18, The Rock didn’t stand a chance against Hogan. Hogan used every trick he knew to turn the crowd his way. The Rock was overwhelmed. He gave in. Hogan is the master manipulator. Hogan conned his way into a ‘Mania moment. Next up: Hogan cons his way into running a Spike TV-branded wrestling promotion in place of Impact. Hogan and Eric Bischoff take the time slot away from Dixie Carter and use Spike’s money to run the company. ATM ERIC RIDES AGAIN! Impact folds, or fights with ROH over scraps. Dixie doesn’t stand a chance. DEAD MEAT. The wheels are already in motion. Hogan is still a BIG STAR to middle-aged TV executives. His way would work better than Dixie’s, brother. He’s a BIG STAR, dude. Who knows more about wrestling than the Hulkster, brother? He tells Dixie what to do, but she just won’t listen, dude. Dixie never should have re-signed Hogan and Bischoff. They haven’t helped Impact one bit, and now they’re poised to give her the boot and take over, a real-life version of the idiotic angle they did. That was just a dry run. MONEY MARK. I’m rooting for Hulk. I want to see what Hulk Hogan Wrestling looks like. It couldn’t be worse than Impact. Actually, it probably will be. Garrett Bischoff as world champ, Hacksaw Jim Duggan as “B” champ, Nasty Boys as tag champs. One more run for Brother Bruti. It’ll be old home week, emphasis on the OLD. X Division? What X Division? Bigger is better, brother. This isn’t a rumor. The process has already started. Can Dixie outmaneuver Hogan and Bischoff? Sure. All she needs is ratings and revenue. HAW, HAW, HAW, HAW! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdw Posted February 16, 2012 Report Share Posted February 16, 2012 When they were in the ring at WrestleMania 18, The Rock didn’t stand a chance against Hogan. Hogan used every trick he knew to turn the crowd his way. The Rock was overwhelmed. He gave in. Hogan is the master manipulator. Hogan conned his way into a ‘Mania moment. Really? Has Mark watched the match recently? Hogan didn't do anything to get the crowd going his way. He started heel, Rock started face, and the fans in the stadium decided they wanted to root for Hogan. Rock "got it" as much as Hogan did, and willing shifted to more heelish. It was a brilliant performance by Rock, and actually a damn good one by Hogan as well. Mark has seen one of those before: Freebirds vs Douglas & Ace at Havoc '89 where the Philly Fans just decided to heel on Douglas & Ace, root for the Birds *before* the Birds reacted... and then Hayes finally had to say, "Fuck it... if they're going to root for us, that's how we need to play this." John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted February 16, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2012 That complicates his narrative. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdw Posted February 16, 2012 Report Share Posted February 16, 2012 Otter: "Germans?" Boon: "Forget it, he's rolling." John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goodhelmet Posted February 16, 2012 Report Share Posted February 16, 2012 I love Animal House references. Good times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kjh Posted February 16, 2012 Report Share Posted February 16, 2012 Also complicating the narrative is that Spike TV were pushing Dixie to bring Paul Heyman into TNA in 2010. Hogan and Bischoff have got the inside track, but it wouldn't surprise me if someone like Heyman would try to throw a spanner into the works. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted February 16, 2012 Report Share Posted February 16, 2012 From the Outlaws shoot interview, about Dixie : "She's super sweet, but she's a lamb thrown to a pack of wolves. (..) Wrestlers are horrible people, they will take all they can from you and leave the bones for the buzzards." Indeed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted February 16, 2012 Report Share Posted February 16, 2012 Edit : double post. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted February 16, 2012 Report Share Posted February 16, 2012 Also complicating the narrative is that Spike TV were pushing Dixie to bring Paul Heyman into TNA in 2010. Hogan and Bischoff have got the inside track, but it wouldn't surprise me if someone like Heyman would try to throw a spanner into the works. Has Heyman lost a meal ticket with Brock's retirement? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Morris Posted February 16, 2012 Report Share Posted February 16, 2012 Madden's silly analogy about Hogan and Rock aside, underneath that bluster is a valid point: Hogan is still using his "star power" to manipulate people who don't know any better. Sure, it might mean the end of Russo in TNA, but that doesn't mean things are going to get better -- more likely, things are going to get worse. Especially if Bischoff is still on board and still trying to capture lightning in a bottle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdw Posted February 17, 2012 Report Share Posted February 17, 2012 I don't disagree with the notion that Hulk is smart on all this. You have a pyramid of workers who are able to scam their way to a crapload of money. Hulk is at the top. Someone like Nash is very good... but Hulk is the king of it. He knows that he is Pro Wrestling to an entire generation of people in this country, which gives him an incredible amount of "credibility" with those who don't know better. Add in that's he's a great bullshitter and con man... and he's just great. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Death From Above Posted February 17, 2012 Report Share Posted February 17, 2012 I have developed a bizarre fandom of Nash because he turned being a dude that can frame a slow motion elbow smash, and pretend to be cool while dropping an Eddie Money reference in 1998, into millions of dollars. Plus he didn't turn out like Scott Hall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted February 17, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 17, 2012 Nash's dated references were great. When seeing all the NWO t-shirts in the crowd once, he commented that he hadn't seen that many black t-shirts since Foghat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dooley Posted February 17, 2012 Report Share Posted February 17, 2012 Not to mention his constant Kennedy assassination references. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted February 17, 2012 Report Share Posted February 17, 2012 And he was 39/40 in 1999. That's not exactly old either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strummer Posted February 17, 2012 Report Share Posted February 17, 2012 Nash referencing the "How Much Ya Bench" SNL sketch from 1994 from one of the early NWO propaganda ads had me jump out of my chair back in 1996. It's a rather obscure sketch that most people don't necessarily know about Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kostka Posted February 17, 2012 Report Share Posted February 17, 2012 Yes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdw Posted February 17, 2012 Report Share Posted February 17, 2012 I like that he thought he was the smartest guy in the room... except Hogan was. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cm funk Posted February 17, 2012 Report Share Posted February 17, 2012 HOW MUCH YA BENCH LEX? HOW MUCH YA BENCH?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cox Posted February 18, 2012 Report Share Posted February 18, 2012 I think it's worth pointing out that this thread was started five years ago, and if anything, TNA has only made their case stronger since this thread was started for being the worst wrestling promotion of all time, and it had a pretty damned strong case for being the worst promotion ever five years ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricky Jackson Posted February 18, 2012 Report Share Posted February 18, 2012 TNA pre-2007 looks like the golden age of Memphis wrestling compared to TNA post-2007. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Death From Above Posted February 19, 2012 Report Share Posted February 19, 2012 I'm of the opinion the case has gotten kind of air tight, in terms of long term companies. There have been plenty of crummy promotions over the years, or major companies that have had crummy/disastrous periods. The difference with TNA is that you really have a huge collection of bullet points, any of which you could probably break down into a thesis if you were really willing to subject yourself to total immersion in TNA: - A lot of the wrestling has stunk. - TNA couldn't execute an angle from start to finish to save their lives. Someone here once said they'd never done an angle successfully from start to finish in the history of the company. It is possible years later that the point still stands. Those are both bad, but really I find them secondary, or symptomatic, of the other weight you can pile on. - The company has a distinct minor league feel of being built around either old guys, or WWE rejects. - The name is really stupid, and clearly pegs the company into a niche that doesn't sound bigtime. - Inability to sign talent that is supposedly liked by wrestling fans that are not seen as nostalgia acts and build any lasting momentum. Kurt Angle, Samoa Joe. Etc. - Ineffective, clueless ownership in over its head due to a lack of understanding about the wrestling business. Manipulation of said ownership by professional con artists. - Related to a couple of the above, massive amounts of money being sunk into guys that are clearly nostalgia acts. I have nothing against nostalgia acts in wrestling at all but you can't really build a company around them long term. - Infighting among the staff resulting in a sub-par product. Lack of overall direction. - Lack of influx of new ideas. Rehashing of a now long-dead era. - Handling of substance problems by employees that stands out a lot more in the 21st century, in some cases directly impacting the quality of the product. - Inability to move TV ratings in a positive direction no matter how much stuff is thrown at the wall. - A baffling business model that, at best, is difficult to decipher exactly how the company expects to be viable in the long term. - TNA employee Ric Flair's growing list of legal shenanigans would be hard to dismiss in most other industries. Doesn't really reflect on TNA to the average fan but you add it to the file for the know-it-alls. - Kurt Angle being insane seems like it could be its own thing, though again I don't think it reflects badly on the company publicly to anyone but the hardcores. I feel like I missed something really noteworthy, but even trying to get TNA straight in my head is hard work. There's probably a long post on any of those in relation to TNA (other than the name being a bad high school joke which is a self evident one liner), due to the fact that through whatever means the company has simply outlasted a lot of other novelty acts that weren't very good. There are companies that you could take some of these points and apply them to. I don't think there's been one where all ring true beyond TNA. I would love there to be a tell all, objective book about TNA someday once it all implodes. But wrestling being full of the characters that it is I am not sure that is possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jingus Posted February 19, 2012 Report Share Posted February 19, 2012 I feel like I missed something really noteworthyTheir approach to human resources is certainly worth several bullet points. In an age where all other big wrestling companies fund the medical bills for anyone who gets hurt in the ring, TNA still forces the talent to pay for their own surgeries to fix injuries that happened in a TNA ring. They're said to charge extortionate rates to loan their wrestlers to most indy companies, preventing some guys from getting booked as often as they otherwise would; but also take a large fraction of those few payoffs that the wrestlers manage to get. They've got essentially no Wellness Policy at all. This includes two important parts: firstly, the nonexistent drug testing... except for those couple of times where they tested people and many pissed dirty but the company did nothing at all in response. And secondly, a total lack of all those medical tests and physicals that the WWE makes everyone get nowadays. TNA has an awfully cavalier treatment of risk compared to the WWE, commonly insisting on more dangerous spots and sometimes putting people into positions where it's almost inevitable that they'll get hurt. They often don't seem to give a shit when they employ a dangerously stiff or sloppy or green wrestler, doing little to lessen the risk to their opponents. Then there's their completely random approach to hiring and firing people (Nikki Roxx/i Laveaugh, anyone?). And probably many more things I've forgotten. When even friggin' Vince McMahon treats his employees a lot more humanely than you do, that's a big fucking problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kjh Posted February 19, 2012 Report Share Posted February 19, 2012 - A baffling business model that, at best, is difficult to decipher exactly how the company expects to be viable in the long term. They've got no business model. After the weekly PPV concept inevitably failed, the goal was always to build the company up to the point where it could go head to head with WWE on Monday nights. That was equally disastrous, which left them up shit creek without a paddle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Dog Posted February 19, 2012 Report Share Posted February 19, 2012 - TNA couldn't execute an angle from start to finish to save their lives. Someone here once said they'd never done an angle successfully from start to finish in the history of the company. It is possible years later that the point still stands. I disagree with this. They have booked 2 angles successfully from start to finish and they were both in 2006 right before Russo came in. Sting vs. Jeff Jarrett and LAX vs. Styles/Daniels were both good angles. If you go back, they had a solid year of booking in that first year of Spike TV. The Sting angle worked, LAX was gaining some steam and people were interested in the Angle/Joe rivalry. The company was headed in a pretty solid direction and then someone, somewhere hit a panic button and brought Russo back. Bound For Glory 2006 ended up being the pinnacle for the company booking wise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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