Since this thread is about TNA, I care not about the issues with WWE. I WILL remain focused on TNA and THEIR decision-making. So let's do that shall we?
1. Hulk Hogan - Multiple back surgeries, multiple off-screen issues, and most of his 'it' factor gone.
2. Ric Flair - 62 years old, now with a torn rotator , but along the way used in squash matches with Jay Lethal, as Lethal ripped his clothes off of him. Great way for a 16 time champ to go out. (not to mention his penchant for blading these days.)
3. Jeff Hardy - Do I really need to go into this decision? Really?
4. Scott Hall - Ditto on that one.
5. XPac - Starting to sound like a broken record.
6. Chyna - Wow, I see a pattern emerging here.
My point continues to be that while they ARE making good strides, i.e. the Impact Zone changes, more wrestling, shorter promos, more focus on the X division, they KEEP on making these stupid moves in hopes of getting a pop or a push for PPV buys. Surely there is enough available wrestling talent out there they could bring to tv and build instead of relying on addicts with personality disorders. Are you telling me Chyna was the "best available" to them? Really?
I just think it speaks of the poor decision-making skills of those in charge of talent relations that they keep on throwing good money after bad with some of their choices. Either that, or there really are no talented wrestlers out there anymore. So which is it?
1. Hulk Hogan - Love him or hate him, is still the icon of professional wrestling (and yeah I said professional wrestling and not sports entertainment, I can't wait till someone shows up at my door with a cease and desist order to challenge me on that). To be fair to Hogan he has only wrestled ONE match and that was OVER a year ago. And on top of it, he didn't even go for the glory in that match, it was an attempt to get Abyss over and obviously it didn't work to the extent Hogan and TNA wanted it to, but they tried.
Prior to his back surgeries he could have wrestled a lot more and have asked for a World Title run and probably gotten it, but he didn't. And since he's yet to wrestle since his back surgery, let's reserve judgment on what he's going to do until he actually tries to do it. As far as his personal life goes, irrelevant does that mean that Stone Cold Steve Austin should never be allowed on television again or have anyone invest in him after he went to court not once but TWICE in domestic assaults on not ONE but TWO different women? So Hogan chose not to give up certain creative freedoms by going back to WWE, I don't blame him.
2. Ric Flair - I will admit him wrestling is not a pretty sight but like Hogan he doesn't have the belt, and he's not dominating the scene, do I think him wrestling is necessary, I really don't think so. So on this point I can see where you're coming from, but in comparison to Hogan I think you're splitting hairs.
3. Jeff Hardy - He fucked up, plain and simple and obviously he's paying the price for that, but hey WWE took the same risk when they resigned him in 2006. Things happen, but it seems as if TNA is handling the situation now by not having him on TV. It would be one thing if you still saw him on there.
4. Scott Hall - He's gone too, I'm sure it didn't break the bank that TNA signed him in the first place to come back and they found a way to get rid of him without it affecting anything major. Again it's not like he was invested in any main event storylines, the Earth was not revolving around his presence.
5. X-Pac - Same thing and if I remember right rumor has it that the "E" signed him back, so what do you have to say about that?
6. Chyna - I said all I had to say about her in my initial reply to you.
I'm not saying that I disagree with you on how they use some of the legends in the company, but at the same time the only guys from WWE that have won the World Title have been people that are not in their 50s or 60s yet. Anderson, RVD and Hardy are all guys that could still go, well the latter is showing what the drugs are doing to him now, but at one point Hardy still had a little bit of something until it all hit the fan.
But guys like Hogan, Flair, Hall and X-Pac all stayed away from competing for the TNA World Title and I think that should say something. Chyna was a one time deal as far as we know, and it wasn't bad in some respects for a spike in nostalgia, considering her history with Jeff Jarrett.
There's only so much that a company that's only 9 years old can do because even with a guy like Hulk Hogan who's pushing 60 there's no way you can even recapture what he was able to do in WCW. And for those that think WCW was a young company when Hogan jumped there, it wasn't anyone that really knows wrestling knows that WCW really started when Jim Crockett, Sr. established his territory. Jim Crockett Promotions was to WCW much like what WWWF was to WWF/E. Both of the respective organizations had major followings and established roots before Ted Turner bought the company from the Crockett Family and Vince Jr bought Capital Wrestling Corporation from his father. TNA does not have that luxury of history. For all its good and bad TNA has been around for almost a decade and for what it's worth the Carters have done a much more respectable job into jumping into a venture that is not their business specialty. I think that deserves some credit too.
Overall though, I can respect your strong feelings on this point and can understand where you're coming from on some points, but not on all of them.
