... strength ... positions .... weakening ... causes ... discussion ... what is this, a competition? Some people take these forums are as a freakin' battle field it seems. I'll discuss and call anybody whatever I want to call them, because I bet you 9 times out of 10 that's exactly what they are. You can't tell me half the WWE marks in the IWC don't act like this guy. And it's not just the WWE marks, it's marks in general.
"BULLY RAY BOTCHED" to me sounds like the kid in the video saying "HOW CAN FOLEY BE A NETWORK EXEC, HALF OF HIS EAR IS CUT OFF!". It's that attitude, that ignorance and stupidity that screws Impact Wrestling up so frequently. Half the fight is you busting your ass and making a nearly flawless product (which no company has ever done, by the way), the other half is getting the fans on your side, but how in the world can Impact Wrestling grow and attract more audiences when people like THAT walk freely on God's Green Earth? People who clearly hate Impact Wrestling for all the wrong, fabricated reasons, and no matter how good it was they'd still not watch it simply because it's not the WWE. That's my issue, and we all know those *******s exist, and as scary as it is - they're the majority. It's stupid "fans" like that who ruin the business and allow McMahon to keep putting out this absolute dreck of a product week in and week out. It's fans like that who continue to watch DESPITE the fact that he's drilling a big red or blue dick up their ass, depending on whether it's Monday or Friday. They give him the freedom to do anything he wants, booking wise, and get away with it because it's the WWE and they grew up watching it, they can't turn away. "Fuck you, I'll have Cena and Orton dominate the shows and give nobody else equal time and attention. Fuck you I'll remove wrestling from our name. Fuck you, where's that midget, I want him to beat some people up. Fuck you, let announcers wrestle in bubble wrap. Fuck you, The Rock will have his birthday and we'll waste the entire show on him instead of actually having a show. Fuck you, Christian will lose the belt in 2 days and no one will say shit about it because they're sheep. Fuck you, bring in David Arquette and have him wrestle. Fuck you, let's have mediocre people swarm our Main Events. Fuck you, we'll not build them up we'll strap belts and huge wins on them because we're lazy to book them consistently over a long period of time so they get over with the fans. Instead we'll shove them down everybody's throats before they get a chance to taste them." If Impact Wrestling did ONE of these things they'll get all the shit in the world and it makes it "unwatchable". When WWE does it it's A-okay! A lot of fans are like that, and it hurts not only I.W but the busniess as well, and that's the sad part.
Wow. Glad you got all of that off your chest. Now let's talk about it. The WWE has for years been building characters. Hulk Hogan, Ultimate Warrior, Randy Macho Man Savage, Big Sexy Kevin Nash, Kurt Angle, The Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Bret The Hitman Hart, Owen Hart, The Hart (original) Foundation, Junkyard Dog, Yokozuna, The Undertaker, HHH, Shawn Michaels, and on, and on, and on. These aren't characters created alone by WCW, AWA, or TNA. These are characters that the WWE massaged, built, and made household names in the wrestling business. They've also built extraordinarily successful pay per view events like Summerslam, and Wrestlemania. Hulk Hogan helped to make pro wrestling mainstream during his tenure with the WWE.
Over the years things have changed and WWE has had to change with the times. Their business model has changed and they've shifted their focus to a different aspect of how they want their company viewed. To date, they are still enormously successful in that they continue to sell thousands of tickets for weekly Raw and Smackdown tapings, and thousands of ppv buys. As successful as they'd like to be? No business ever is right?
Does any of this mean that all WWE does is golden? Of course not. But by and large they remain a very successful business in the world of professional wrestling.
I think what bothers people so much is that they continue, despite all their failings among avid fans, to be more successful than a company in TNA that people actually believe are giving them what they want. Now I submit to you 2 things for your consideration.
1. TNA isn't giving you what YOU want, but what THEY want you to have. They signed Eric Bischoff and Hulk Hogan, who, like it or not, were at the epicenter of the collapse of WCW. They've brought them in and to date, their 'impact' has been minimal at best. If we're to say it's been any more than that, then TNA must have been at death's door when they came on board. Fact is, ratings haven't increased a significant amount since they arrived. Hogan and Bischoff are putting out what THEY believe will work and base it on their "experience" over the years as proof that they know what they're doing. Problem is, this is different from WCW. This isn't Ted Turner v. VKM. It's Spike TV v. USA network.
2. I continue telling you guys that the comparisons of TNA to WWE/TNA need to stop. It's apples and oranges. WWE is much larger and operates on a different level than TNA and that isn't likely to change. TNA is, unless someone with huge money comes along, will always be smallar than WWE meaning that it's never going to be a fair fight. They'll always work in smaller venues, always have to sign cast offs for less money, and work shorter deals with most of their talent to allow them to have 'open to buy' dollars to offer to new talents or more cast offs of WWE.
Either TNA can stand on its own as its own product or it can't. Continually falling back on the "yeah but WWE...." commentary shows how weak the product truly is. It's the tactic in debating that's always used when one party knows they're wrong and can't extricate themselves from it. Instead, they change the subject, turn it on the opponent, and hopefully the opponent forgets what the original subject really was.
So if TNA is changing their mantra to more wrestling, then starting next Thursday we should see a LOT more wrestling than we have to date this year.
We'll see. Given how they started this weeks episode off, I'm not inclined to believe there's been any real change in attitude or structure.
