Tito Ortiz is August1Warning Do You Like it?

[pepentorresHHH]

Since no one wants to do this might as well be me.....

Last Night to end Tna Impact, Tito Ortiz came out and revealed himself as the man TNA has being hyping as as August1Warning during the fight between the Main Event Mafia and Aces and Eights.....

Suffice to say,.... NOBODY saw this coming..... Is that a good thing? Did you like the fact that tito is back on TNA? What potential does this have? Will he wrestle?

As for me? HUGE dissapointment, because this does nothing for TNA in the long run.... Tito Ortiz and Rampage Jackson will fight in November on PPV and now it seems TNA will be used by Spike to promote the fight too... These 2 will NOT fight at Bound for Glory cause none of them are trained wrestlers, and more importantly why would they fake wrestle when they will fight for real a month later...

Also, whos paying this man's salary is what I'm wondering..... I REALLY hope that Spike and/or BELLATOR are paying his full salary.... Because if this was the reason so much of TNA's talent was released recently, i see it as a massive waste and a spit on the face to wrestling in general.... You fire people that bleed wrestling and fight for your company for a guy that wont wrestle, and wont move the needle ratings or money or match wise?

I will give the angle a chance i guess but they hyped his return waaaay too much....

What do you think TNA fans..... Did TNA got it right by bringing Tito Ortiz back?

 

[#TheSkipper]

I don't see how this is going to help TNA in the long term. It might add a slight bump in the ratings for those who are interested in the fight but, personally, I can only see this working to the detriment of TNA for a couple of reasons:

1. Not all wrestling fans are fans of MMA. So by promoting MMA fighters over TNA wrestlers you are alienating a proportion of your fans and you're making your wrestlers feel second rate.

2. If there was any real money to be made by bringing in MMA fighters to advertise a fight or to use with your talent roster, the Vince McMahon would have been all over it a long time ago. Brock doesn't count because he's no longer in UFC.

All I can see are problems in what TNA are doing. They're cutting talent and rather than bringing in a wrestler who could help the show and the company, they're bringing in an MMA fighter who won't be on every week and will not be having many wrestling matches (if any at all).

But, I could be wrong. This move could be the launch pad that TNA have been looking for. But I doubt it.

 

[Suikervrij]

Honestly, i don't care about Tito Otiz. Can't even remember the guy's face. This is in NO way a good move for TNA and i recon they were pushed by the network to do this and they didn't choose it themselves.

 

[closet_fan]

This doesn't benefit TNA in the least. All it does is make them one huge advertisement for a fight that isn't even going to take place in TNA.

Unless these guys are all of a sudden getting wrestling training and will eventually wrestle a match, this seems more like Spike's way of getting advertising out to the masses without actually having to pay more money.

People bash WWE for bringing in part-timers to take away time from younger wrestlers, but at least they are using REAL WRESTLERS. How would you feel if you were with the company a few years, thought you had a shot through hard work and the only thing that happens is you get bumped for guys who don't even have a wrestling background? That's a huge slap in the face.

Backstage moral has to be at an all-time low.

 

[SpecialFNK]

damn. so I guess I'm the only 1 who likes this?

I'm surprised the reaction has been almost all bad. what were people expecting?

I personally love it. I've never even seen Tito Ortiz or Rampage, but I know there names.
I think what TNA wants to do is add MMA fans to watch wrestling. if Tito and/or Rampage can get involved in some wrestling and have even a few spot moves they can be great. when former football player Bill Goldberg started in WCW he wasn't a great/good wrestler, but he had a great look and a few moves. he became a star. I think that's all you need in professional wresting where IMO an image and storyline are more important than great wrestling ability.

based on who was available for TNA to bring in, this was gold. who else was an option and speculated as to who this was? Bob Holly? DOC? Adam Pearce? Low Ki? bleh, all low mid card at best. none of them would do much of anything and be any better than those who have been recently released. if these are the guys out there available, damn that's terrible. you think reaction is bad to Tito Ortiz? people would be laughing so hard if any of these guys were the big reveal. that would have been a joke.

there wasn't a big name WRESTLER available to come in and make a big splash, at least not that I know of. I would have loved for it to have been Batista, but that wasn't happening.

I think most would have/could have hated on TNA regardless of who they brought in. it's like that almost all the time. the times I have checked twitter during/after Impact it's almost mostly negative comments like TNA sucks, regardless of what TNA is doing. TNA could bring back Jesus Christ himself and people on twitter would say TNA sucks. too many WWE boys that just don't want to give TNA a chance.

TNA can still add WRESTLERS. I think I heard TNA was talking to wrestler Davey Richards. but I had never even heard of him before all this hype, so he wouldn't need any type of hype video before coming in.

even after Tito Ortiz showed up last night, we still don't know why he is there. so there is still a reason to watch next weeks episode to find out why Tito Ortiz is there. I imagine he is there to be opposite Rampage. so does that mean Tito Ortiz is going to be joining Aces and Eights?

now I didn't really care for the reveal. I think that could have been done better. Anderson's reaction was more like he was confused than stunned/surprised at who was there.

 

[BeastFromTheEast]

This was just terrible all around. Great build up lead us all to think either a powerful new wrestler was debuting or someone we all love from the past was coming back. It was totally ruined by the actual reveal. The reaveal itself was terrible not just because of who it was but because he didn't do anything as well. How should we have reacted?

His teaser videos should have said "be warned, I'm going to show up at impact and just stand there with my arms crossed and do nothing at all for your entertainment or to boost TNA."

We all know the story of the boy who cried wolf....this logic can now be applied to TNA because now anytime they have a "big" reveal or "big" announcement, I am going to believe that is complete BS.

I've got a question for #askDixie....DO you like to create buzz over nothing at all and bury this company in a shallow grave?

 

[dman1373]

damn. so I guess I'm the only 1 who likes this?

I'm surprised the reaction has been almost all bad. what were people expecting?

I personally love it. I've never even seen Tito Ortiz or Rampage, but I know there names.
I think what TNA wants to do is add MMA fans to watch wrestling. if Tito and/or Rampage can get involved in some wrestling and have even a few spot moves they can be great. when former football player Bill Goldberg started in WCW he wasn't a great/good wrestler, but he had a great look and a few moves. he became a star. I think that's all you need in professional wresting where IMO an image and storyline are more important than great wrestling ability.

based on who was available for TNA to bring in, this was gold. who else was an option and speculated as to who this was? Bob Holly? DOC? Adam Pearce? Low Ki? bleh, all low mid card at best. none of them would do much of anything and be any better than those who have been recently released. if these are the guys out there available, damn that's terrible. you think reaction is bad to Tito Ortiz? people would be laughing so hard if any of these guys were the big reveal. that would have been a joke.

there wasn't a big name WRESTLER available to come in and make a big splash, at least not that I know of. I would have loved for it to have been Batista, but that wasn't happening.

I think most would have/could have hated on TNA regardless of who they brought in. it's like that almost all the time. the times I have checked twitter during/after Impact it's almost mostly negative comments like TNA sucks, regardless of what TNA is doing. TNA could bring back Jesus Christ himself and people on twitter would say TNA sucks. too many WWE boys that just don't want to give TNA a chance.

TNA can still add WRESTLERS. I think I heard TNA was talking to wrestler Davey Richards. but I had never even heard of him before all this hype, so he wouldn't need any type of hype video before coming in.

even after Tito Ortiz showed up last night, we still don't know why he is there. so there is still a reason to watch next weeks episode to find out why Tito Ortiz is there. I imagine he is there to be opposite Rampage. so does that mean Tito Ortiz is going to be joining Aces and Eights?

now I didn't really care for the reveal. I think that could have been done better. Anderson's reaction was more like he was confused than stunned/surprised at who was there.

First i must say i completely disagree with you on almost everything. Let me first start with the Goldberg comparison. Goldberg was trained before he ever came on tv. He was built up for like a year before he won the was thrust into the main event. He didn't just show up and get put into the main event. Also goldberg had way more charisma then tito. So to compare him to goldberg is insane.

And your comment about it being the best case scenario. If a low ki or adam peirce came in, then people wouldn't have shitted on it as bad, because they would know atleast it could lead to some really good matches out of it(it still would have been over hyped). But Ortiz has nothing to offer. No one in the mma community really care about him anymore as he has won 1 match in the past 7 years. He doesn't look like a badass, hasn't trained in wrestling (or just started), and he is 38 years old. He is almost worthless to tna.

That being said I think this shows how in trouble tna is in right now with spike tv. Spike is definitely pulling tnas arm, so spike can get this bellator off the ground. And tna is letting them because they haven't been pulling in 1.0s and they are afraid of getting droped.

 

[Dagger Dias]

I don't like it. Hate is a strong word, but I REALLY disliked this. It didn't feel like a big deal AT ALL upon revealing that it was Tito Ortiz. My initial reaction was "That's it....?" This was such a stupid decision. TNA have made worse decisions before, but I was hoping that they would come up with something that made sense for once. That's what I get for letting myself get my hopes up on any type of announcement or revelation in this federation. I understand that given his MMA background he'll be able to bring something to the table in TNA, but I'm not particularly interested in seeing him work a match. It could be so much worse though. It could have been Hardcore Holly.

 

[Mantaur Rodeo Clown]

Shit reveal, laughably late pop culturally.

Still, he's twenty years younger than Hulk Hogan, so I can get behind the youth policy they're enforcing.

Depends on who foots the bill for it all though. If it was Spike TV who paid for it to get some cross-promotion with Bellator, then they can fill their boots.

If TNA fired their lower-card wrestlers to make room for Ortiz, that would be ******ed and truly befitting of TNA.

 

[kenvin100]

I guess this explains why TNA laid off so much talent lately. To meet their budget, specifically-to afford the contracts of two individuals who aren't wrestling. I wonder if TNA's name will be mentioned in the Bellator event. If they don't this was an awful deal, and marks the unofficial start of the sinking ship that is TNA.

Bob Holly hit the nail on the head. How will this benefit TNA? At least in WWE, the part timers actually got involved in a wrestling capacity. What are these guys gonna do besides stand around and taunt one another?

I do hope this silences the Brock/Rock hate that's occurred for the last little while. In TNA, you have two highly paid individuals who are gonna perform in a lesser capacity than Rock and Brock. Here's a company that's struggling to stay on the road and these two "problems" will def make things worse for TNA, from a financial standpoint anyway. I just hope the lay-offs start. There are many guys/gals on the roster who dreamed of wrestling, and now it's being taken away from them...

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I can't say that I care one tiny bit about Tito Ortiz being revealed. I admit that it was a surprise but, in my eyes, just because something is a surprise doesn't mean it's good. I'm not really a big MMA fan, I'll watch it every so often if I catch it on or if there's nothing else worth watching, but, all in all, don't really give a shit about it. Until Mike Tenay said his name, I had absolutely no idea who he was. It's been a couple of years since I last laid eyes on Tito Ortiz, he looks a little different, but, all the same, I never cared enough about the guy one way or the other. Judging by the response of the crowd, I'm guessing most of them felt the same way.

It looks as though Spike & TNA are resting some future hopes on Bellator being a success. With King Mo, Jackson & now Ortiz, I think they're hoping that the crossover between TNA & Bellator ultimately leads to momentum. Maybe it will for all I know but, if it was a race, it's one horse I wouldn't bet on. Jackson & Ortiz are scheduled to fight at Bellator 106 on November 2, so I'm guessing that TNA will try to work all that into an angle between the two and help Bellator build up the fight in the hopes that they'll catch some residual momentum. I might be completely wrong, I'm not going to pretend I know all the ins & outs, but I know a lot of MMA fans hate pro wrestling and are going to be turned off by having two such well known fighters as part of a major pro wrestling storyline.

I'm also starting to wonder if TNA is going to adopt the strategy of becoming a haven for MMA fighters past their prime just as they've spent the past several years being a haven for pro wrestlers past their prime. As legit fighters, at ages 35 & 38, Jackson & Ortiz are pretty old for the fighting game and their most recent fights seem to suggest that. Jackson's win/loss record is 32-11 and has lost his last 3 fights. Tito Ortiz is 16-11 and has lost 7 of his last 9 fights with one of the two he didn't lose ending in a draw.

I'm not going to come right out and say that there's no way these two can be of any significant benefit to TNA in the long run. I'm not psychic, so I don't know. Using TNA's past history employing similar strategies as a reference point, however, I won't hold my breath.

 

[King Patrick Star]

To me, this is a great idea. TNA is doing everything they can to move up a notch. Some of you are just complaining just to get your post counts up. Look at it this way, it could be worse. We could have no TNA at all. As long as their alive and kicking, let them live and kick. This cross-branding TNA and Bellator can only lead to one thing…cross-branding WWE and UFC!! Think about it.

 

[SpecialFNK]

guys like Adam Pearce, Low Ki, Bob Holly, ect, would be nothing more than mid card guys at best. they would be right there with say Chavo Guerrero.
I'm not totally against these type of guys coming in, but no way do you hype them before.
Adam Pearce was someone I was totally against coming in with this type of hype. look at the Gut Check guys that were in TNA that just ended up being released because they weren't that good.. Joey Ryan, Christian York. Pearce was used in Gut Check, and couldn't even get a developmental contract for OVW. so what does that tell your audience? here's a guy who was so bad we didn't even want to sign him to OVW, but surprise he is a big reveal? that would have been a joke.

I do think that whatever type of success these guys could have is based on how they are used. I could understand disappointment if all they are going to do is stand around in very limited on air time between now and when they (Tito/Ramapge) fight in November. I hope both these guys are used more in the near future than say King Mo has been used. he's only had what 1 appearance as a special enforcer. but if these guys can get in the ring and do some moves it will be a plus for TNA.

 

[SpecialFNK]

if one or both of these guys had gone to WWE I think people would be eating it up like it was the best thing ever. OMFG IT'S MIKE TYSON AS A REFEREE, THIS IS AWESOME!!!
..but it's TNA, so it has to suck because TNA sucks and can't do much/anything right.

 

[GelBrache]

NOBODY saw this coming

People have been shouting Tito since the first video.

What do you think TNA fans..... Did TNA got it right by bringing Tito Ortiz back?

You don't have to be a TNA fan to know this was just an absolute terrible attempt of gaining exposure. It backfired in a huge way. This was worse than Mordecai

 

[Spack]

if one or both of these guys had gone to WWE I think people would be eating it up like it was the best thing ever. OMFG IT'S MIKE TYSON AS A REFEREE, THIS IS AWESOME!!!
..but it's TNA, so it has to suck because TNA sucks and can't do much/anything right.

The difference is that when Tyson was a referee he was A) still relevant at that time and B) HE WAS A REFEREE! Tyson wasn't brought on by Vince to be a full-time competitor. Tito Ortiz is in NO WAY comparable to Tyson. At least people who watched WWE during the "Attitude Era" knew who Mike Tyson was. When I saw the #August1 reveal I had to wait for Mike Tenay to say Ortiz's name before I even had any idea who the f*** I was looking at. Disappointed doesn't even come CLOSE to describing how I felt after seeing this.

 

[GelBrache]

if one or both of these guys had gone to WWE I think people would be eating it up like it was the best thing ever. OMFG IT'S MIKE TYSON AS A REFEREE, THIS IS AWESOME!!!
..but it's TNA, so it has to suck because TNA sucks and can't do much/anything right.

How come every time TNA has a flop, TNA fans try to make a hypothetical scenario insinuating that WWE fans would embrace the same flop if it were in WWE.

 

[BeastFromTheEast]

To me, this is a great idea. TNA is doing everything they can to move up a notch. Some of you are just complaining just to get your post counts up. Look at it this way, it could be worse. We could have no TNA at all. As long as their alive and kicking, let them live and kick. This cross-branding TNA and Bellator can only lead to one thing…cross-branding WWE and UFC!! Think about it.

You can't be serious bro! No TNA at all is what all of this will surely lead too. Firing wrestlers to pay contracts for two guys that don't wrestle....yeah what a great way to do business. This leading to WWE/UFC cross branding? Dude, that started like 20 years ago. Who cares about a post count? The people complaining are ones that were hoping for something good for TNA business and this certainly was not it!

 

[Rayne]

Jesus, folks. Get out of the professional wrestling bubble. TNA didn't sign Tito Ortiz to a contract.

What happened is that there is a promotional agreement between TNA, Bellator, and SpikeTV. As an advertising platform for Bellator, this likely costs TNA nothing except a segment every week. (If you think this is a way to draw MMA fans into watching TNA, you do not understand MMA fans one bit. The overlap between MMA fans and professional wrestling fans is entirely one-sided; there's a reason why Impact performers aren't all over Bellator programming.) While there are plenty of examples of TNA bringing in people for large sums of money who haven't done anything to justify that expense (Helllllllooooo, Hogan family), this isn't one of them.

On the other side of the coin, this won't do a damned thing for TNA. MMA fans who didn't start out by watching professional wrestling simply are not interested in professional wrestling as a product. They are not going to tune in for Tito Ortiz, then stick around for Brooke Hogan. It allows TNA to continue to maintain the illusion that they're a high profile promotion for another month, if anything.

 

[BrianFNPillman]

And people laughed when I said Bob Holly wouldn't be bad.

But Tito Ortiz, Tito fucking Ortiz? I'm sorry but it's laughable. Sure it's designed as part of the promo machine to get folk to tune into his big MMA match and that...but it's not even that big of a match is it really. The only claim to fame this dude has is he managed to TKO Ken shamrock a few times, and the last time he won a UFC contest was back in 2011, before that it was 2006. To put things short, this won't help budge TNA out of the 1.1 zone, and it certainly doesn't build my interest, if anything it makes me think of them more as WCW lite again.

Just when they were doing so well, we get this. A dude who can't cut a promo, doesn't have that impressive of an MMA record, and is only really famous for railing Jenna Jameson, but at this point who hasn't done that? He brings nothing NOTHING to the table apart from the fact he's going to have a mediocre contest against Mr. T II at Bellatore. So what? It's backwards promotion, him being on TNA won;'t make more MMA fans tune in to their product.

MMA Fighters and Pro Wrestling don't mix. Shamrock at his peak couldn't break the mid card. Tank Abbott was a flop. Daniel Puder...well he nearly snapped Kurt Angles arm in half, but apart from that what? Flop after flop after flop.

Lesnar doesn't count.

If TNA really wanted to sign a legit MMA fighter to their company to do some cross promotion and ultimately "wrestle" a match, they should've signed Bas Rutten. At least we know he can talk and entertain on the mic, his official record is better than most. And (based on meeting him a few times) he's a pretty cool guy.

 

[MrPlatano1989]

this will benifit TNA because whenever someone looks up details about their fight in November countless segments from TNA will pop up and chances are they will be clicked on. TNA will be able to air footage of the fight after november, and who knows, they can even have something huge between rampage and tito at Bound For Glory, I love all of this.

 

[Lancer]

No. One. Cares.

Any true professional wrestling fan, if they're a total mark or not, could care less about any has-been MMA fighter in a wrestling promotion. I know I personally didn't blink twice when Rampage Jackson was announced as a member of the Main Event Mafia. And no positive thoughts ran through my head last night when Tito Ortiz walked out. No negative thoughts either. I just felt numb.

And the live crowd couldn't care less either. This was met with apathy, as it should have been. This will do nothing to increase ticket sales or boost ratings. King Mo didn't, Rampage didn't, and Tito will not either. When will pro wrestling organizations realize that crossing pro ("fake") wrestling and MMA over, never works? It just doesn't fit.

I realize this was most likely a Spike decision, and TNA probably didn't have a choice. But as a wrestling fan, it's hard to sit back and watch and wonder how morale is backstage after several releases and late paychecks. And then all of a sudden we're supposed to give a shit about two (or three) irrelevant MMA fighters who are just going to end up fighting on a different show?

No. One. Cares.

 

[neildittmar]

The only positive thing I can say about the Tito Ortiz reveal as August1Warning is that the buildup only lasted a week. At least this prevented a let-down of Gobbledy Gooker proportions, but unfortunately that remains the best thing I can say about the situation.

First Rampage, now Tito. During a recent altercation between MEM and A's&8's, poor Jackson looked like a deer caught in the headlights for the most part. Now he's expected to... ahem... wrestle at Hardcore Justice. Tito will likely be the special guest referee for the bout, costing Rampage his "spot" in TNA. That keeps everyone else involved safe (at least until BFG) and adds fuel to the fire of the upcoming Rampage vs. Tito MMA bout.

As a wrestling fan in general and a TNA fan specifically, can somebody explain to me why I should care about all this? The more I think about it, please don't try. There's no long-term upside to this for TNA. There might be a short term gain with MMA folks tuning in for the Rampage/Tito factor, but I doubt it. The MMA crowd knows that pro-wrestling is "fake fights." They're not going to tune in, hoping that Jackson and Tito shoot with each other... they'll just wait for the real fight if they're that interested. They certainly know that Rampage and/or Tito won't really engage with any of the wrestlers either. So what's the gain by having a mini-feud of sorts between Jackson and Tito commence in TNA? I'm not sure either.

As to who it should have been instead? I don't know. It's not my job to know. TNA's creative department is supposed to make the various angles and storylines fun and/or interesting. The Tito reveal was surprising to me sure, but not in a good way. I was expecting a wrestler, as I'm sure most folks were. From that standpoint August1Warning was definitely a disappointment. Instead we got an MMA fighter, essentially back to back with another MMA fighter to ultimately further their upcoming MMA bout... on a pro-wrestling program.

 

[dwith]

Did I like the reveal? Not really....

I would have enjoyed it more if Tito came out, and got into the face of Rampage Jackson, and maybe they started a fight, and have Aces & Eights hold Tito Back, and MEM hold Jackson back, and they could have built something more memorable than Tito coming out and crossing his arms for 2minutes.

But I'm not going to shit all over TNA for the weak reveal. At least they are trying new things constantly, whether we like all of it or not.

If they aren't getting over with mid card wrestlers coming in, then maybe they should travel different avenues and see what they find. See what works.

I definitely like seeing Tito show up than BUZZ ALDRIN, The cast of McGruber, Jerry Springer, Al Sharpton, and the scores of all the other non- athletic entertainers. At least Tito Ortiz is a athlete that could add some value to a athletic show. Do you think thousands upon thousands of actors tuned in to watch raw when there were actors as special guests on RAW? I don't think so.

All I want is for TNA to at least let these two MMA FIGHTERS have a couple of good MMA brawl's and throw in a couple wrestling moves to make it worth while.

The more people shit on TNA and run them down, is more of a chance to get a fan or would be fan to tune out of TNA WRESTLING, and if your a wrestling fan you don't want that.

 

[Zeven_Zion]

People are acting like TNA missed an opportunity with this. Fact is, regardless of who they signed it would get an almost identical response from the fans, unless it was John Morrison.

Bob Holly - Oh my God, another WWE reject. He is too old. He has never been important. All of this hype for him? I saw this coming.

MVP - Oh my God, another WWE reject. He's always been average. All this hype for him? I saw this coming.

Chris Masters - The guy who bounces his pecks? Oh my God, another WWE reject. He's always been average. I saw this coming.

Bill Goldberg - Oh my God, another WCW/WWE reject. He is too old. Nobody cares about him. Push young talent.

Don't act like these wouldn't be the reactions such wrestlers would get.

However, am I blaming the fans for these reactions? Partially, when they're being idiotic. Most of the fault goes to TNA.

Mystery reveals have flopped in both TNA and WWE for the past decade. If not more. it just never lives up to the billing because regardless of how cool or uncool the mystery hype is, we tend to hype it up 50 times more to the point that there is literally no way for it to meet our expectations.

Therefore, if you thought it would be someone amazing and shocking, it's your fault for creating this illusion. Think of it logically - WHO could TNA possibly sign that would match your insanely high expectations? There are no free agents out there, aside from JoMo, that would work. None. Matt Hardy? Young Bucks? Raven? Masters? Who?

Everyone has an answer when it's bad, but no one can give you a logical choice of who it could've been that would've garnered less heat. Even JoMo is questionable since it's not like he was the hottest damn thing on the planet.

As far as THIS reveal goes, I didn't have my expectations high (because I know who's available and none of them interest me), therefore I damn near fell asleep during Tito's reveal.

I don't care about Ortiz. I don't care about Rampage. I don't care about Mo. I care about them as much as I would if a NASCAR driver joined the roster. I don't give a shit, they're not wrestlers. I don't care about POTENTIAL, I don't care about their background. In this point in time these men are not wrestlers, they cannot perform like everyone else therefore they are useless to me.

Even if King Mo, Rampage and Tito managed to pull a match off, I still wouldn't care. This MMA invasion bullshit doesn't interest me in the least. These guys have no mic skills, no charisma (aside from Mo), they look weird as fuck in a wrestling scenario and they're just not ready for it. I don't care if they MIGHT be, I don't care to wait for them to grow a talent.

All three of them are not in TNA to stay. They'll keep doing MMA, they have no future in pro wrestling. They're there for cross promotion and that's it. If they really wanted to be wrestlers they wouldn't be fighting in Bellator or UFC. TNA is a side project for them and THAT makes them look second rate. For any viewer out there these men are MMA fighters. Seeing them on a wrestling show makes them MMA fighters who showed up on this wrestling thing before going back to Bellator. Bellator and MMA are bigger than wrestling in this scenario. This isn't a huge deal for TNA, it's a huge deal for Bellator. They get to promote their fighters and their brand to TNA's audience.

When's a TNA wrestler going to go Bellator and fight someone? How about they promote Samoa Joe or Kurt Angle like TNA promotes Bellator fighters? Then I get it. Then both companies are all square. However, what's happening? Bellator rents out its fighters while promoting the shit out of them as well as making TNA promote the shit out of them. In return TNA gets to have them on the screen for three minutes. Also, TNA is mentioned sometimes on Bellator. However, that's it. No promo packages, no hype, no nothing. TNA is getting fucked in this deal for the sake of Tweeting about Tito showing up on Impact.

Which brings me to this next point. This seems like a big clause in someone's contract or in TNA and Bellator's partnership. It feels like something that wasn't sprung in a creative meeting. I don't think the writers sat down and went "You know what, bringing Tito in would be cool". I think they were told to figure out a way to bring Tito in, because Spike wanted Tito on TNA to cross-promote.

All of THAT, I fear, was originally initiated by Dixie Carter. It looks like the whole cross-promotion thing is her idea. She specifies in marketing and all those things, that's why she's always on social media interacting with the fans and all that crap.

In the end, all we got is a dumb reveal that does not interest me at all. I will skip through the Tito segments if I could and move on to things relevant to the show and to professional wrestling.

Fuck MMA.