Vince Russo speaks on Hogan/Bischoff

[TNARICK]

It's Thursday morning, mountain time, as I sit here still trying to recoup from the series of events that lead up to that monumental Monday.

As I sit here there is a staff meeting going on back at the TNA offices in Nashville that I am missing. Look, I'm going to be 49 in 17 days--I don't bounce back as quickly as I once did--both in mind and body. Right now, I can't mentally sit through a staff meeting--I'd much rather be sitting here in my office, listening to some Joe Cocoker vinyl, and talking to you.

So, here I am--sorry Dixie, but I think I earned a pass on this one.

Before I write another word, I can't go any further without thanking all of you. A 1.5 is a tremendous, tremendous rating going head to head with "Raw", and nobody can take that away from us. Keller, Meltzer, all the other dirt sheet writers that some of you may know, can critique all they want--the bottom line is--TNA WON--PERIOD. However, the reason we won is because all of you came out. You came out and you watched TNA. Whether you were a channel changer, or not, you spent some time with us on Monday night and that's all we wanted. I can't thank you enough--I really can't. Without your support, Vince Russo does not do what I know I was born to do. Without your support--quite frankly--I don't know what I'd be doing.

We learned a lot, on Monday night as a company--a lot. We hit some home runs, but also struck out once, or twice--but that's OK. What really mattered is that we took risks. We gave you everything we had--and didn't play it safe. That's what Eric Bischoff and Russo/Ferrara both did back in the mid-to late 90's. Nothing was safe--NOTHING. The programing, wheteher it was WWF, or WWC was DANGEROUS. Never one time, no matter how hot we got--did Ericv or I EVER rest on our laurels--NEVER. I can't tell you how long Vince has been resting on his . . . I honestly can't.

I sat in the production truck and I wanted our show, side-by-side to Vince's Monday night. It was great to see Bret--I love the guy--always have. But as our show went on, and as I watched his, I just kept asking myself--"where's the effort"? Does Vince think that little of TNA that he felt that he could just produce "another show" on Monday night? I mean, you take away that first segment and that last segment, and you had a wrestling show that wasn't even mediocre at best. Again--going back to the 90's--that NEVER, would have happened if Eric, or I were in Vince's shoes--NEVER. Resting on your laurels is the worst mistake that anyone can ever make--no matter what type of business you are in.

I remember back in the mid 90's--before Eric and WCW started killing us--the mentality of the WWF was simply--"Whatever we put out there--good, or bad--the fans are not only going to eat it--THEY'RE GOING TO LIKE IT!!!!" That's what brought about the era of Freddy Joe Floyd, the Goon, TL Hooper, The Mastadon, and of course--fake Razor and fake Diesel. That was Vince's attitude because there WAS NO competition--that's where Eric Bischoff and Hulk Hogan came in--the rest was history.

Vince McMahon is at that same place again. There was no effort on Monday night--because in his mind--there is no competition. Man--how can yoiu be a "genius" and not learn from mistakes of the past. Now, I know there are probably many of you out there saying, "Vinnie Ru--why do you want to wake a sleeping giant?"The truth--he may be sleeping--but I don't really think he's a giant any more--maybe 6'7", or 6' 8", but not a giant. The truth--I don't think the creative team over there has, or ever did have, the creativity and the spauldings that a younger Vince Russo and Eric Bischoff ever did. The truth--I'm almost a 49 year-old man right now--and they STILL don't have the passion that I do. Look at the WWE history there since Ed and I left--where are the great angles? Where are the "Bret screwed Bret", stories? Where are the ones where DX pull up to the enemy's camp driving a missle launcher, or the one where the Rock joined the corporation? WHERE ARE THEY? Now don't get me wrong, Triple H putting a midget on a skateboard and rolling him around backstage may be entyertaing to some--but I have to say--it fails in comparision to Stone Cold Austin vs. Mr. McMahon.

Now, have guys gotten over themselves over there--yes they have--John Cena is a tremendous talent--Randy Orton may be the best I've ever seen--but where's the meat and potatoes--the stories. Now, you can say whatever you want about me--love me, or hate me, but you watch any TNA show and there are stories going on for everybody. Stories that build "character"--the same stories that built the D-Lo Browns, and the Mark Henrys, and the Kanes and the Val Venuses. EFFORT goes into everything we do--EVERYTHING. Our challenge has been that we have so many young , inexperienced guys to get over at once--but that just takes time--we WILL get then over. But we're trying--we're trying for you the fans.

Which brings me to Monday night. On record here I will say that I have NEVER workd on a show any harder then that one you witnessed on Monday night. That show was being crafted for 6 weeks--every, single day of the week. We never stopped--NEVER. We tweaked, and tweaked, and tweaked until we couldn't even tweak anymore. We ran young Matt Conway, the junior creator of our staff--into the ground--he will never be the same again. Ed took time away from his elderly parents, who need him more then anything now--and I took time away from the thing I love most--my family. We didn't come up one, single day for air--not one. Eric called me on Christma day--not to exchange pleasentries--but to work--and he did the same New Year's day. IT NEVER STOPPED!!!

And that's the point of this article. I'll be the first to say that Ed, Matt and I have been spending so much time in trying to help get the younger talent over--that we might have gotten ourselves in a rut. Even though we knew that it takes time due to our earlier history at the WWF--we were starting to feel like that gerbal that goes round and round in that wheel. That was until Eric Bischoff came along.

No, Eric and I did not like each other, yes, it is all documented in my new book. We were oil and water, we were just two different guys with two different mindsets and two different styles. At WCW we were BOTH put in positions that neither one of us wanted to be in. We were forced to work together--when we couldn't. Well--the truth is that Dixie Carter forced me to work with Eric Bischoff again. I didn't want to--but I had no choice. Dixie is the boss--I'm an employee--and I have to give the boss what she wants. I dreaded the day. I rememeber a few months back when I had to go meet Eric--with Dixie--the day following the Hulk Hogan press confrence. It was the first time I would see him in ten years. Man--I swear to you--as the hours grew closer--I would much rather have had to go to the dentist and have him tear every tooth from my mouth--NO novacane. To me--this was the meeting from hell.

So I flew to New York. Dixie put me up in some hotel that was so out of my league--that it made me feel even more out of my skin. Then came the monumental breakfast. I walked away thinking--"Has anything really changed here? 10 years--has anything changed?"

Then there was a phone call, or two, then Eric came in to Nashville to work with Ed, Matt and myself.

There's a lot in there to talk about--and I will at a later time--but let me get to the end of the story because I really don't have the time to write my third book right now.

The more, and more I worked with Eric--the more, and more he started to remind me of somebody. A guy that I worked very closely with some 10-15 years ago. A guy that was once so driven so determined and so MOTIVATED that he had me giving my life to him on a silver platter. He had me putting him . . . before my entire family. A guy--that oozed bravado--his favorite word. Eric reminded me so much of Vince McMahon 10 years ago that it was surreal.

But I'm not exactly talking about the "real" Vince, the egotistical maniac who loved no one more then himself--who treated everyone he worked with with the emotion of a cyborg--I'm talking about the Vince McMahon who had the passion to win at any cost. The Vince McMahon who didn't want to rest on his laurels. Eric made it clear to me by his actions--early one--that he wasn't there to take Dixie Carter's money--he was there to win. Love him, or hate him--he lite a fire under me. A fire that I really hadn't had for sometime. Eric provided HOPE--hope that TNA could be the #1 wrestling company in the world. And, when he talked about it--I believed it. I believed it because of his passion--the same passion that you witnessed Monday night--the same passion that "Raw" greatly lacked--the same passion that Vince McMahon lost a long, long, time ago.

And Hulk Hogan was no different. Again--put the personal feelings aside--that's not what this is about--this is about what those two guys--Eric and Hulk--came to do . . . AND THEY DID. They didn't just talk about it--THEY DID IT. Hulk sat in on production meetings, Hulk was a leader in the back--Hulk was the last to leave. You have to respect that regardless of what happened 10 years ago.

So on this night--Monday, January 4th, 2010, I publically give Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff the respect they deserved . . . and the respect they earned.

But remember--it's just the first page of what looks to be a very, interesting, third book for me.

And one more thing--c'mon, Vince--get back in the game--even if it's just for old times sake. Let's have some fun!!!

Peace,

Vince


----

Great to see the old Vince Russo is really back. I think he is spot on everything.

What is everyone elses thoughts

 

[baken1942]

I have never liked Vince Russo because of that crap he pulled off in WCW (ie: The Hogan/Jarrett Bash as the Beach, The Goldberg walk out etc)

This guy just didnt seem like he was all there.

But this makes sense. Everyone has gotten older and realized what they might have done in the past, was wrong, but most importantly its the past.

Russo put his personal feelings behind with Hogan, Bischoff etc... I was kidna worried that once this all got going again Russo was gonna pull something off with Hogan and we'd have the downfall of TNA like WCW did.

For the first time in a very very long time (Since the last WCW Nitro to be exact) I was exciting to tune into wrestling on Monday Night. Like they are saying, Fans had a choice....WWE or TNA, the first time fans have had a choice in a long time. It was awesome, to come home and being antsy to watch wrestling, not knowing which I was gonna watch more.

Hopefully these guys put all their feelings aside and put their minds to TNA not against each other, and this is going to be really cool once again

 

[jellmoo]

I agree with his assessment of Vinnie Mac and WWE as a whole. They are playing it safe and comfortable. I disagree a bit with the implication that this is negative based on TNA competition, but think that WWE certainly needs to do something to get fresh and give the fans something more than the cruise control they've been in for the past few years.

That being said, I take exception with the following:

Now, you can say whatever you want about me--love me, or hate me, but you watch any TNA show and there are stories going on for everybody. Stories that build "character"--the same stories that built the D-Lo Browns, and the Mark Henrys, and the Kanes and the Val Venuses. EFFORT goes into everything we do--EVERYTHING. Our challenge has been that we have so many young , inexperienced guys to get over at once--but that just takes time--we WILL get then over. But we're trying--we're trying for you the fans.

-and-

And that's the point of this article. I'll be the first to say that Ed, Matt and I have been spending so much time in trying to help get the younger talent over--that we might have gotten ourselves in a rut. Even though we knew that it takes time due to our earlier history at the WWF--we were starting to feel like that gerbal that goes round and round in that wheel.

My issue here is that the events of Monday night go directly against this. Of the "young guys" or "TNA originals" or whatever you want to call them to come out looking good, there was only AJ Styles. Everyone else on the roster took a back seat to far older wrestlers just introduced.

Can TNA turn that around after a single show? Of course they can. Will they? That is the question that remains to be seen. Monday was a massive step backwards in this regard.

I seriously hope that Russo is sincere in everything he said. I hope that Hogan is 100% behind making TNA better. I hop that Bisch is bringing his A game. I hope that the company builds and uses the talent they have, rather than relying on WWE castoffs and Hogan's friends. I want TNA to be a success, light a fire under the WWE, and give us 2 amazing wrestling products.

But... I am skeptical.

 

[BladeRunner]

A very interesting post. You can tell the guy really has a passion for the business. I'm glad there's people like that in TNA who really try their best to put out the best product possible.

And you and I can only benefit when you get a bunch of people together who really love the business and want to put out a great show.

Even if you hate Russo and TNA and love WWE, the TNA people putting all that effort into their work could possibly help WWE step up it's game a bit as well.

WWE trying to prove it's the best by putting on great shows I have no complaints about. And with TNA doing the same thing, I think this year's going to be awesome.

 

[neildittmar]

In regards to TNA "winning", I completely agree particularly in the context that Russo put it in. Last Mondays "war" was much less about TNA competing head on with the WWE specifically and more about TNA competing with itself. The question asked Monday was "Can TNA raise their game, take a step into the major leagues, and still carry a viewership against a more established program on the same night and time?" The answer to this question was an undeniable yes.

I also agree that Vince McMahon has rested on his laurels... for far too long in my opinion. WWE is definitely a solid program. Unfortunately, that's both its blessing and curse. There's no true dynamic, no fluctuation, no fluidity in the programming model. Everything tends to repeat itself... over and over again with such little deviation that if you blink, you'll miss it. An underdog (this time, Sheamus) winning the title at one PPV to (presumably) lose it at the next is nothing new. Though it was certainly a moment for old-time wrestling fans like myself, bringing Bret back has no future post-Wrestlemania if they carry it out that long. He's going to fight Vince? Really? Why? A Michaels/Hart match would be much more interesting... had it happened before Hart's multitude of concussions and subsequent stroke. Other than in a verbal capacity, I don't want to see Bret in the ring anymore. As for Evan Bourne, what a waste of time and talent. Vince has somebody on the roster with tons of athleticism willing to literally put his life on the line everytime he goes out there... just to get squashed by the current flavor of the month transitional champion before said champion does the J.O.B. to Cena at the next PPV. So he got some offense in... big deal. The second part of the "match" looked like he didn't have a heartbeat. Way to kill the kids momentum.

As far as TNA not being competition for WWE, that's absolutely correct for now. Monday was a big win for TNA, but it was no lose to WWE. RAW maintained the same ratings it always has (doing double what iMPACT did) and with the exception of Hart, put out the same kind of show that they have for at least the last few years. Nothing changed at WWE in the face of a "rival" TNA. Look at how long McMahon neglected to consider that WCW even existed during the first Monday Night War. It won't be until TNA is actively and consistently stealing viewership from WWE that Vince will act or react. My opinion? That won't happen for quite some time. TNA has to solidify its standing as a big player first and foremost. Monday was a step, but that's all it was. WCW didn't do it overnight and without a number of ups and down. I predict the same roller coaster for TNA.

Russo's words about Bischoff and Hogan were somewhat surprising, but not all together unbelievable. For the most part I think he's being sincere, but there's that little speck of him that knows if he steps out of line, says the wrong thing, or is anything other than a dedicated team player, he'll be hitting the unemployment line post haste. I'm not saying that's right or good or just, but it remains fact. During that press conference following iMPACT on Monday, ol' Vinnie Ru said something in regard to "his" company. He very quickly changed his tone and said "their" company. Russo knows the score and he knows who's effectively working for who right now.

Generally speaking though, I share his feelings about Monday night. It's good to hear that TNA, having had a very successful night, isn't planning to rest on its laurels. I still think it's crazy that iMPACT will NOT be on Monday next week (why begin "competing" only to kill the momentum and not compete a week later?) but expect next Thursday's show to be even better than Monday. Sure, all the "new" stars won't roll out, but with so many jumping off points set up on Monday, they have loads of opportunity to develop something next week. The way I see it right now, it's TNA's "ball game" to win or lose. How they handle things from here will ultimately tell the story.

 

[Bowzer]

"Which brings me to Monday night. On record here I will say that I have NEVER workd on a show any harder then that one you witnessed on Monday night. That show was being crafted for 6 weeks--every, single day of the week. We never stopped--NEVER. We tweaked, and tweaked, and tweaked until we couldn't even tweak anymore. We ran young Matt Conway, the junior creator of our staff--into the ground--he will never be the same again. Ed took time away from his elderly parents, who need him more then anything now--and I took time away from the thing I love most--my family. We didn't come up one, single day for air--not one. Eric called me on Christma day--not to exchange pleasentries--but to work--and he did the same New Year's day. IT NEVER STOPPED!!!?


If they worked for 6 weeks straight, tweaking and tweaking and tweaking as much as he says they did, and the best they could come up with was a limo driving to the arena (which according to Hogan himself was empty because he was "in the back all day with the talent", and the fat, old, out of shape Nasty Boys destroying Team 3D's locker room, then I cringe at what the next 6 weeks worth of Impact will be.

He makes fun of a midget on a skateboard (which I agree is pretty bad), but is it really that much worse than the "strip" poker we got to see 3 times? Or Mick Foley REPEATEDLY trying to get into the arena? Or a "no contest" ending to a cage match???? If you take away all the filler of the old guys coming back (and it's going to get old watching them every week. The nostalgia wears off quick), this was not much different than any other edition of Impact I've seen with the notable exception of an excellent main event match. But I don't think Russo or Bischoff can take much of the credit for that. All that credit belongs to AJ and Kurt.

 

[LokiCobain]

That post is the ray of hope that I've been looking for for years now. Wrestling has gone so far in the hole quality wise that it's embarrassing. When TNA got their TV deal, I was immediately drawn because the product was better. Even that MTV wrestling show was more interesting to me (with Vampiro and Waltman as the big names). In the 90s, I had the same feelings until Nitro. WWE was getting goofy and ridiculous and stale. The staleness comes because there's no more fire, and it's great to see Russo and the rest of these guys bringing the passion back to the sport.

I saw in a higher post that it didn't seem like TNA was really spotlighting the younger talent, but I think what they did do was lay the groundwork. It looks like what Russo and everyone else has been working on is how to elevate the younger talent for this year, not simply the 1/4 show. AJ got the biggest push because he wrestled with Angle and seems to have been aligned with Flair. But match wise, we saw Steel Asylum, which made me very worried as I thought it was a terrible opener, not concept wise, but execution wise. It's hard to follow camera-wise due to the cage, and the finish was pretty terrible as well, putting Homicide over as this monster heel, but then having him fail to actually climb out of the cage (you can see someone open the door for him so he would be out there when Jeff came out). But this puts Homicide up against Jeff, something to do down the road and making Homicide a bigger heel. ODB got put over Tara, who was recognizable and legitimate from her days as Victoria in WWE. You saw Awesome Kong and Hamada, the two biggest opposites of the WWE Divas win a title that doesn't exist in WWE. You saw Matt Morgan and Hernandez destroy Raven and Stevie Richards, who although aren't the greatest wrestlers who ever lived, are still legends in their own right. Then Pope vs Wolfe but on a great match, with Pope coming out on top (which was a huge shock, but after the Angle feud, Wolfe can offer a bit of a rub), perhaps due to possible recognition from his Elijah Burke days. Then Samoa Joe makes a guy twice his size (Abyss) tap out, and that makes him look good. The bit with the Nasty Boyz calling out 3D could be to show them as better than they are, and allowing them to end up helping Jesse Neal elevate (along with the alliance with 3D).

Despite the hype of all these returning legends, all the matches circled around "originals", and the air time spent on the old-timers were laying the groundwork to elevate those who didn't get the time. What does Sting want? Lashley's heel turn would be a great opportunity to have someone prove himself for the company. Who was the masked man (which we know, but it's still something)? Who attacked those people in the back? Who do we cheer for: Foley and Jarrett or Hogan and Bischoff? All of these questions show that this has been thought out for the long-term, and I'm excited to see how it all plays out. I think TNA did a great job with having the matches focus on the younger talent, while Hogan and company provided the over-arching storyline of "each person has to earn his or her spot". WCW had similar structure, where the action was in the Cruiserweights, but as long as the goal is to elevate the younger talent and not to stroke egos, 1/4 is really going to be the historic day it was hyped as being.

 

[Kenny Powers]

That was a really good article. I'm glad to see that no matter what their differences may be, Hogan, Bischoff, and Russo can put everything aside to work on what is best for the company. I agree with Russo that not everything TNA does is great, they have a few problems. One thing is that at least they are trying no matter how many people hate TNA just for hating them.

I would rather see something new and exciting that doesn't work then the same old crap we see every week that gets the same reaction. This is like the mid 90's all over again with TNA being a young company with more edge and desire to compete, and WWE being the mega giant that puts on any show because they know they can get away with it.

That's one thing I respected about the old ECW. They didn't have the big name talent or the production values, but they busted their asses to give the fans a good show. I would rather watch a low budget show with excitement over a high production show with nothing special to offer.

TNA has the talent and passion to go to the top. If Vince Russo is a believer in Hogan and Bischoff's passion for TNA, then they have to be on to something. Vince may not have big stars like The Rock or Austin, but he has the money, the talent, and the drive to give fans a real show.

Unfortunately, until TNA really steps it up, I don't think WWE will change anything.

 

[LokiCobain]

He makes fun of a midget on a skateboard (which I agree is pretty bad), but is it really that much worse than the "strip" poker we got to see 3 times? Or Mick Foley REPEATEDLY trying to get into the arena? Or a "no contest" ending to a cage match???? If you take away all the filler of the old guys coming back (and it's going to get old watching them every week. The nostalgia wears off quick), this was not much different than any other edition of Impact I've seen with the notable exception of an excellent main event match. But I don't think Russo or Bischoff can take much of the credit for that. All that credit belongs to AJ and Kurt.

As pointless as that strip poker thing seemed, it provided a huge contrast to WWE, while showcasing the Beautiful People as beautiful, and quite skanky. It was also edgier, the way the women were portrayed in the 90s, so in a way nostalgic yet new.

The Hogan/Bischoff vs Foley/Jarrett is completely gray at the moment, and that makes it amazing. Hogan and Bischoff were cheered when they were in the ring, but when Jarrett was there, and also being cheered, Hogan was boo'ed when he called Jarrett out. Foley being not allowed in the arena adds to that. Are we supposed to be glad that Hogan didn't let him in, and then beat him up, or should we see it as an abuse of power by Hogan? Who do we trust has the right intentions? It's the over-arching storyline for the younger talent to follow, being that now people have to earn their spots. It's a blatant attempt at righting what went wrong in WCW, and it'll work if they keep it up.

I do agree with the cage match though. I understand they wanted Jeff to debut, but I would've had Red win the match (as he is completely bland right now), only to have Homicide go nuts and knock everyone out with that night stick, and then once he leaves the cage, Jeff comes out. The DQ was a terrible finish in my eyes, more so because Homicide couldn't get out of the cage and whatever heel heat he would've gained was lost by him looking foolish. A feud with Jeff Hardy though would be good for Homicide's heel run, though.

 

[wolvdog316]

The one thing Russo if failing to see, is it's hard to have great angles without the great talent. Yes I agree the midget shit should be stopped as its atrocious. But he makes money so I doubt it.

Russo asks where are the great storylines in WWE? They need great talent period. It was so easy to make great storylines 10-13 years ago when you had Rock, Austin, Taker, HHH, Mankind, Kane, Dudleys, E and C, Hardys, Corporation, Ministry of Darkness, Stephanie McMahon.

Those are GREAT names and they produced GREAT angles. Right now WWE doesn't have that. There is no Rock, there is Austin, there are no great stables and no great tag teams.

Could you picture Cena going after Vince? As soon as he opened his mouth and spewed those corny lines the angle would be dead.

If DX tried the same stunt they pulled on WCW years ago today, they might be arrested for Terrorist threats. Not to mention CNN, Fox would grill McMahon on how he could show kids that "shooting" a tank would be cool.

TNA has it a lot better right now than WWE in the sense that they don't have anybody breathing down their neck. If Kurt pulled the same crap he did in TNA, in WWE CNN would be all over them. "Benoit 2.0", blah blah. But since it happened in a company most people don't care about it was ok.

If we want to blame somebody for WWE being PG, it's more to do with Benoit's actions than anything, along with his top stars just moving on.

I mean to put it in perspective, Rock Austin would NEVER work in a PG WWE. Could you see Austin not flippin the bird or not cussing? Or Rock not talking about poon this, and up your ass that? No.

If anything, this PG crap has proved Vince can adapt. Wether you or me or anybody likes what this PG crap has churned up, fact is he is making money in a time not a lot of people are. He is bring in record merchandising, he is selling out arenas and getting decent buy rates for PPVs. And his cash cow, Cena, thrives in PG. So Vince isn't going to change. Just like if I was Hogan I wouldn't change, If I was Vince I wouldn't change. Sucks for us, but he runs a business that demands a nice profit, and we don't.

It is funny though that Russo attacks Vince's creativity when Russo hasn't been creative in years. Bischoff is the key, he's the one that is creative, Russo has NEVER done shit, except maybe a few good ideas but the talent never seemed to believe Russo was the reason behind them.

In fact why they would Russo on the payroll is beyond me. Bischoff was the one who turned WCW around, went head to head with Nitro, beat Vince for 80+ weeks. All Russo did was run WCW into the ground along with Hogan and Nash.

 

[wolvdog316]

And another thing..(wouldn't let me edit my post)

Why is everyone so confident that A)TNA will ever become big with what they have now and B)If they do that Vince could just magically turn on the PG-13 and everything will be fine

I don't like Cena, he is corny, he is crap, he can't wrestle. I don't like Orton that much, he is bland, does the same shit blah blah. Jericho is awesome, but HHH and HBK are stale so you turn them heel and people are gonna whine its not creative, it's been done.

Vince, right now, could use Brock Lesner. He was the star, he was the next big thing. When he left it hurt Vince. Now Vince needs that next big thing. Where it comes from or when who knows. But remember, HBK was putting on a clinic with great matches after great matches in 95. Mankind, Diesel, Sid, Vader, Bulldog. He wasn't drawing crap. Stories were there, the angles were good. Just wasn't drawing.

Who could ask for better matches than Bret and Owen. But they didn't draw a lot of people in that they didn't already have. And that was great emotion and excellent matches.

Just like I think TNA won't take off until they have that "1" great superstar, I don't think WWE will change "until" they have that 1 superstar that will demand they change. Hogan was it, Austin was it, Cena is now it. Who will be next? Hopefully for our sake he comes pretty damn soon, cause I'm really tired of midgets and nWo

 

[Bowzer]

The Hogan/Bischoff vs Foley/Jarrett is completely gray at the moment, and that makes it amazing. Hogan and Bischoff were cheered when they were in the ring, but when Jarrett was there, and also being cheered, Hogan was boo'ed when he called Jarrett out. Foley being not allowed in the arena adds to that. Are we supposed to be glad that Hogan didn't let him in, and then beat him up, or should we see it as an abuse of power by Hogan? Who do we trust has the right intentions? It's the over-arching storyline for the younger talent to follow, being that now people have to earn their spots. It's a blatant attempt at righting what went wrong in WCW, and it'll work if they keep it up.

I'm not really saying anything about the storyline itself. I hope as much as anyone that it turns out to be the greatest storyline of all time and gives McMahon a run for his money. But did we really need to see Foley trying to get in the arena half a dozen times? As far as the storyline goes, I don't think Hogan had him beat up. Hogan showed up after that, and I think in the future, it's going to turn out that Hogan will be the ultimate "good guy" and kick the old NWO to the curb and stand behind the younger guys. He just didn't seem all that happy that Hall and Nash and Waltman were beating up Foley.

I'll admit, I don't watch TNA regularly, but I guess my main gripe is that, aside from the nostalgia, I didn't really see anything on this Impact that really made me say "oh man I CAN'T WAIT until the next episode". And if it really was that much better than any other episode of Impact, that's not saying much.

With that said, aside from Lex showing up, I couldn't tell you what happened on the first episode of Nitro, and that turned out pretty good. So here's hoping that over then next few months Impact can do the same thing.

 

[gd]

Glad to see that Ed ignored the needs of his elderly parents in order to give us a decent wrestling show.

 

[Coco]

It's nice that they're motivated. That doesn't mean the show was great or anything. Vince needs to step up his product as well, but I refuse to accept stunk booking and shock TV the likes of which Russo goes for are sustainable. Do some guys need characters? You bet. Give them some. But everyone in TNA need to forcused on bringing things to the point where wrestling sells and anything on top of it actually feels special. This has been getting away from people for years and it's nothing this crew will solve, IMO.

Also, another industry insider on Randy Orton's cock. This is getting absurd.