Bruce Prichard Gone From TNA

[SpecialFNK]

from TNAinsider.com, From PWInsider;

TNA released Bruce Prichard and D'Lo Brown from their backstage positions earlier today, PWInsider.com has confirmed.

Prichard was working as Senior Vice President, Programming & Talent Relations, a position he had held since October 2011. In that role, Prichard oversaw talent relations, talent scouting and development, as well as, overseeing the creative direction of the company. As noted yesterday on PWInsider.com, there were fingers being pointed at him regarding recent issues with talent contracts expiring without new deals being signed and/or talents being signed so close to the end of their existing deals.

D'Lo Brown had been with the company since 2009 as an agent and was in charge of the promotion's Gutcheck tryouts and talent development. We noted yesterday that he was fired shortly after agreeing to a pay-per-appearance deal.

Prichard and D'Lo gone from TNA.

today is a good day for TNA. finally Prichard is gone.
people used to comment on how bad Russo was. IMO Prichard was worse.

I have some questions.
what does TNA do now?
who can take over creative now?
do the story lines change soon? and when?

TNA basically just started the summer long BFG series.
TNA basically just started the new Main Event Mafia, to feud with Aces and Eights. this is a major story line. how is this effected?

 

[ABMorales787]

I don't see the effects taking place for a good while. If there's one positive of the Prichard days of TNA it was the long term planning. He always had long stories with their ending designated since it started. A's & 8's and Storm/Roode are prime examples of that.

The real interesting thing is who takes charge now? With Cornette wrecking more bridges than Indianna Jones, Vince Russo seemingly retired, who's left? Eric Bischoff is too busy with side projects to take full charge and if Hulk Hogan would be good with his planning, he wouldn't have a divorce or a wreck of a son under his resume.

 

[SpecialFNK]

I don't see the effects taking place for a good while. If there's one positive of the Prichard days of TNA it was the long term planning. He always had long stories with their ending designated since it started. A's & 8's and Storm/Roode are prime examples of that.

I think this was one of the things about Prichard that I hated. I think his story lines just took way too damn long. I think the audience can get bored.
I think back to the story line from last summer (?) with AJ, Dixie, and whatever her name was. that story line just seemed to drag on and on and on. thankfully it got to a point where whateverhernamewas wanted out.
I think the audience wants it to get to the point quicker.

 

[ABMorales787]

I think this was one of the things about Prichard that I hated. I think his story lines just took way too damn long. I think the audience can get bored.
I think back to the story line from last summer (?) with AJ, Dixie, and whatever her name was. that story line just seemed to drag on and on and on. thankfully it got to a point where whateverhernamewas wanted out.
I think the audience wants it to get to the point quicker.

That one definably terrible. But the problem with that one was more the execution than the story itself. It was AJ vs Daniels for the thousandth time and put the usually not-so-stelar promo cutter in AJ on the lead. He was just not the guy to do it. It did give us Bad Influence and their matches with Angle and Styles so it's not a total loss. But as for fans getting to the point quicker, I think that had more to do with the PPV's.

 

[savage29]

After the Bobby Roode fiasco, I'm surprised it took them this long to get rid of Brother Love. It's one thing to let Doc and guys like that have their contracts expire, but Roode is one of the top guys in the company.

 

[Lowdown]

I know they're making cost cuts, especially with the release of Tara, but it makes me wonder what the plan is moving forward. Prichard's tenure wasn't well received by a lot of folks, particular in regards to the KO's, but there had to have been a few bright spots, right? I hope TNA can regroup, I mean Prichard and D'Lo won't be missed much, but still. Does this mean Al Snow and Taz are next?

 

[Sting's Stinger]

Way i see it with Pritchard gone, you promote Dave Lagana to Head booker then promote Al Snow to the Director of Talent Realtions, problem solved and save money rather than findong someone else from the outside

as far as the next releases go, its a business you need to do what you can with what you have.

So guys that havent been used will be gone soon but maybe brought back as a paid per night appeance, for example most of the x division guys will be released and brought back for a regular booking so they are aloud to work some place else

so i wont be surprises if King, William, Dutt, Ion, Spud get the axe, but be brought back for by one day appearance.

PS when the Aces and 8s story line ends i expect most of them to get the axe as well.

 

[WWWYKI]

TNA have to be careful releasing these guys to re-hire as them pay per appearance because if these guys sign with WWE or ROH they can't use them at all.
unless ROH gives them freedom to work other shows but WWE sure as hell won't!

We all know how things went down with RVD...
They need to work out who they want and where they want to take that person, and cut the rest.
no fire and re-hire as temps because these guys and gals need a solid income and will go where they can get it.

 

[ヒュー　G.　レックション]

I think it's very unfortunate that he has gone, I enjoyed the majority of the storylines when he was over creative, and nw I'm worried it's going to all go downhill from here. I wonder who will take his place.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

As far as Pritchard goes, I have to agree with KJ that Pritchard does seem to be someone who plans for the long haul. It may not have always went as smoothly as some would have liked, but I certainly preferred him to Vince Russo for the most part. All in all, I think Pritchard helped make 2012 TNA's best year in terms of quality in a very long time. This year...well, for the most part, I think he's taken TNA back a few steps, in my opinion. He's taken TNA back to the worn out, bland and extremely rehashed faction wars/power struggle storyline as the main angle that we've seen dominate the TNA landscape for years. I've found this particular rehash lousy all the more due to the general mediocrity of Aces & Eights as a whole. Before Bully Ray, they were a group comprised almost entirely of no name and/or mediocre mid-carders and they still are with Bully Ray. Ray's the only bright spot in the entire group and has NEVER needed to be part of them. It's like Ray just put on about 3,000lbs of dead weight.

Some big negatives regarding Prichard in the past year or so include the general decimation of the Tag Team & Knockout Divisions along with the mid-card title scenes. I will say that the X Division has gotten more hype & general meaning over the past few weeks than it has in about a year, but I've got little confidence it will be sustained to any appreciable degree after the Destination X episode of tonight's Impact Wrestling is finished.

As for D-Lo Brown, no big loss in the least. Guy was a nobody in WWE whose most memorable career moments include his trademark head shake and paralyzing Darren Drozdov.

As for who could possibly replace Pritchard, maybe TNA should try reaching out to Jim Ross. It's probably a long shot that he'd accept, but I think he's someone who could do the job. Bischoff has other things going on right now, Jeff Jarrett has been all but exiled from the company, Jim Cornette is stubborn to a fault and believes that a wrestling company in the modern age can & should be run as if it was still 1985, I've got little confidence in Hogan and it wouldn't surprise me if he started booking himself as the central focus of TNA, as we've seen happen frequently in the 3.5 years since his debut, Russo is more or less retired and wouldn't be a good choice anyhow in my opinion.

 

[Clutch]

As long as Russo doesn't come back...

However, Pritchard,bad or good did have more logical storylines and booking then TNA had during most of it's tenure. However Pritchard was always going to be disliked as he was going to be forever associated with WWE.

This cost cutting is a pretty bad sign of things, but maybe with a lighter budget and fresher blood in creative situations.....maybe this can do the impossible and actually boost ratings

 

[The Roadie]

Should we not be concerned? Could this be a sign that things are not good with TNA?
Hopefully this cost cutting will keep them in business, & I'd say having toured with numerous theatrical productions over the years & knowing what it costs to move cast / crew & equipment between venues, maybe they should go back to the Imapct Zone rather than tour. Has going on the road actually been of a benefit to them at all? I'd say no as since its happened we've seen all the cuts.

 

[SpecialFNK]

if Prichard was responsible for Gut Check, I think that is a huge strike against him. Gut Check is an absolute waste of time. giving air time to these wrestlers was a joke. if they were good enough to be in TNA, then sign them to TNA or sign them to OVW.
Prichard is responsible for the booking? then a huge fails goes to how Aces and Eights were booked. they were supposed to be this new group, but they lost so often prior to Bully being the leader that the entire group looked weak.
I really liked how Roode and Storm were established so big and had some great time, especially Roode being a dominating champion for so long. but then Storm fell off so far.

I preferred Russo and his swerves. at least you knew you had to watch Impact often in order to keep up. now you can miss 2 to 3 weeks of Impact in a row, and still know almost exactly what is going on.

 

[justinsayne]

Does this mean Al Snow and Taz are next?

I don't know about Snow, but I doubt Taz is gone any time soon as he's just signed a new contract recently, although Pritchard was still there when he got the contract, & I'm sure he's the one who put it together so who knows.

I really really hope this in the end of Gut Check though.

 

[Clutch]

I preferred Russo and his swerves. at least you knew you had to watch Impact often in order to keep up. now you can miss 2 to 3 weeks of Impact in a row, and still know almost exactly what is going on.

Really?

I'm surprised you can write a coherent sentence after hearing that

You are completely aware of the 6 years of failure of russo booking in TNA PLUS his WCW run?

Wow...

 

[FitFinlay4Life]

As long as Gut Check vanishes, I'm happy. A two hour slot a week should be based around what you have, not around what you may or may not add.

D-Lo is no real loss, there is any number of road agents these days and he was never going to be returning as a substantial in ring player. GC aside, I have been a fan of the methodical logical booking in recent times and I do hope that this continues especially when the odd banana skin throws itself in the road (ex; DOC's contract expiring).

Don't really see why it shouldn't really be business as usual (but without GC!).

 

[SpecialFNK]

Really?

I'm surprised you can write a coherent sentence after hearing that

You are completely aware of the 6 years of failure of russo booking in TNA PLUS his WCW run?

Wow...

I'm not necessarily saying I love Russo. I'm just saying I prefer Russo compared to Prichard. I haven't liked many of the creative/booking TNA has gone through.
the whole Claire Lynch story line was just a horrible idea from the start.
I never liked the idea of Gut Check.
I don't even really like the BFG series, think it goes on for too long. you take almost the entire summer with wrestlers wrestling one another in a series without much storyline for each match. this is worse when you factor in Open Fight Night where the participants call each other out. what's the point of wrestler 1 calling out wrestler 2 from the BFG series when they all wrestle each other anyway?
there have been numerous times where a wrestler would get a little push, and then seem to just be dropped like nothing. Crimson, Morgan, Storm.
sometimes it seems like creative/booking has a long term plan but ends up taking way too long to get there for what I like, and other times it seems like they haven't thought past a few weeks as to what they're doing. they had Rob Terry break away from Robbie E, dominate a few matches, and then he hasn't been seen since.

now I also don't know specifically what role Prichard had in all of that.

 

[Cereal Killer]

I agree with you. Bruce Pritchard has been an awful head of Talent Relations. He almost let Bobby Roode's contract float up in the air. Hulk Hogan, a major TNA investment had even said the Pritchard was about to do the same to him. I haven't really seen any talent progress since he took command, and whoever the replacement is, can only mean good things for the roster.

The only thing is that some of his creativity was pretty good as KJ mentioned. The Bobby Roode and James Storm fiasco is one of the greatest storylines that have happened in TNA, as it built to TNA originals, it had a year build-up, they were a tag-team for four years and the two PPV matches they had were amazing. Then we have Aces and Eights. It may have some flaws, OK a lot of flaws, but what if the gang members weren't who they are now? What if they weren't made look so weak? Didn't you get absorbed into this storyline when it kicked off?

For the most part I am glad for this decision, but a replacement in the creative is needed immediately, to keep things running, unless Dave Lagana can pull something off himself.