Since Hogan has been with the company, ratings have gone up; ratings have gone down. PPV buyrates have gone up; they've gone down. One step forward; two steps back. Just like before Hogan joined. Hogan's "fervent supporters" say Hogan isn't to blame, that it's the rest of TNA with its crappy booking and wrestlers who can't get over.
Despite how much I disliked your statements on this thread, I've taken a more composed stance towards posters like yourself. In the past, I've been an acerbic asshole, and who knows if I'm reading a post on a bad day, I might very well go back into that mode. However, that's not to say that people like yourself don't justify the vitriol that you get on these forums. I'm not going to do that in this case though, I understand you in your own words "hate" Hulk Hogan. All well and good, while I think hate's a strong word, I guess it's more or less your prerogative to state that, if that's of course how you really feel.
I just think that if you wanted to have your point taken a little more seriously, you'd probably have wanted to rephrase your statement a bit. I mean when I think of the word "hate", I use it in phrases like "I hate when I think of all the bad that goes on in the world.", "I hate the fact that my grandparents didn't get to see my grow up." But to use the phrase towards an entertainer, someone that you don't even know on a personal level. I just don't know what that says about you, man. I mean don't get me wrong, there are performers I strongly dislike the characters that they portray, i.e. "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan and Rey Mysterio, Jr. but I'd never go so far as to say I hate these men. And I especially wouldn't use their birthnames to express that point. In fact, as far as I am concerned, I do my best avoid using a wrestler's real name unless it also happens to be his ring name.
The fact that you used the name "Terry Bollea" in one of your posts shows that you are probably the one with the bigger problem. I've stated it before, and I'll state it again, I miss the 80s boom into the Monday Night War era of professional wrestling. But even though I don't follow wrestling like I used to, I will still tune in from time to time, and I know TNA offers something that doesn't compare to what the promotions of the past offered. But if it makes a select group of people happy, so be it. I mean TV is so vast and abundant these days that a place like TNA can still have its niche audience and do well. As I said in my previous post, I am going to have to see it to believe it, in regards to Hulk Hogan becoming the TNA World Champion. If you want my personal opinion, I don't think it should happen. And it seems many of the posters agree with that sentiment too.
One thing that separates The Hulkster of 2013 from 1993 (going into 1994) was that he was still a young guy who could perform. And people often forget to give the WCW organization the proper credit it is entitled to, Hogan just didn't jump into some new product that didn't have its own rich history prior to its arrival. As the Jim Crockett Promotions, there was an infrastructure and roster of wrestling legends and rising stars that were in the organization. Sure, the Crockett family fell onto hard times in the late 80s, and Ted Turner had to bail them out by buying the promotion. But prior to that, Jim Crockett Promotions was an entertainment entity that was around for over 50 years prior to that point. It really is no different than when Vincent K. McMahon bought the World Wrestling Federation from his father, Vincent J. McMahon/Capital Wrestling Corporation. Granted, I know that they were family members, but the younger Vince's mindset was woefully different from his more traditional father, and with the purchase of the promotion, a history and infrastructure was bequeathed to Vincent K. McMahon. That's not to discredit what he evolved the organization in to, but let's not be so quick to forget how Vince just didn't start the World Wrestling Federation from scratch, there already was an organization there.
Therefore when Hulk Hogan went to World Championship Wrestling, he was the beneficiary of a great roster of talent, the very idea of a name like Hulk Hogan clashing in the ring with Ric Flair, Vader, and Sting was enough to get people buzzing. Sure, it took a couple of years and the returns of Scott Hall and Kevin Nash to the organization to truly revitalize the organization but it still happened. These aforementioned facts about WWE and WCW's histories are things that TNA does not have, and it will take time to see if they ever will go beyond their current level. But I will say this, and as I've said before on countless occasions, TNA has made it farther than a LOT of organizations that have tried to spring up in the wake of WCW's acquisition by the then-World Wrestling Federation. World Wrestling All-Stars and the XWF are two fine examples of said failures, and those organizations weren't even around a fraction of TNA's time.
For what it's worth, I feel the organization is trying, the reduction of pay per views is a great start, they do treat their fans well for live events/meet and greets. I still think they are lacking a certain spark, but that might just have to keep developing with time. Hell, Dixie Carter and company have proven that if they were to close tomorrow, they've done a hell of a lot better of a job into crossing over to wrestling than Vince McMahon ever could with football, something that a lot of anti-TNA fans always like to gloss over when they attempt to discredit Dixie Carter as a mere money mark.
