A closer look at TNA president Dixie Carter

[Galaxy]

http://www.cagesideseats.com/2011/5/18/2177424/a-closer-look-at-tna-president-dixie-carter#storyjump

This will go down well with Bill, I'm sure.

Loved the point about how Vince has actually proven he takes cares of wrestlers, unlike Dixie, but always gets treated like some evil guy.

[Hondo]

One question....

Who's Bill?

You mean B's Bill? Because I'm pretty sure THAT Bill is still in prison.

[Adam Wrong]

Jack - I think he means Ian as his forum name is Bill-E Mitchell

The thing for me is, I have read an article by this site before and they are quick to jump all over anything negative to do with TNA.

For me, I am pretty much a neutral and see myself as somebody jaded with wrestling in general. The stories are weak in both shows, they don't make sense for the most part and certain things are pushed too much down your throats while the things that matter are ignored.

For me, the Knockouts were brilliant and TNA do focus too much on the old people. Things like the number 1 contender will either be a man never over as midcard talent in WWF and a former WWE star who was released to heal up due to apparent painkiller addiction. They will face either a man released by WWE die to the Wellness policy who was frankly dull in the ring while over on the mic, a man who has retired countless times and appears to be going through the motions during every match in the shape of Sting or another Wellness policy failure who I personally find monotonous and awkward in the ring.

WWE on the other hand at least do try out different people in the main event slot whether they are popular or not. People like R-Truth (admittedly in his 2nd WWE run) or people like ADR, Swagger etc get a push to see if they can run with it.

To be honest, out of the two, I know what I would rather see...

[Hondo]

Ah.

That makes sense. I kinda forgot about him changing his screen name.

But I'm like you, I'm pretty much in the middle BEGGING one or the other to draw me in. And neither of them really are.

Both have their problems, of course. In the E, if you lose your push, it's highly likely you're NEVER getting it back (eg. Chris Masters, Sheamus, Punk, Jack Swagger, etc.) We tend to get the same Main Events over and over again, usually involving some combination of Cena, Orton or Miz. And outside of a guy who is popular and highly entertaining on the internet (Ryder) and a guy who may be the best WRESTLER in the world, but will probably never be booked to suceed (Bryan), there's no one to rally behind.

TNA is essentially WCW 2.0. The egos of a few tend to get in the way of smart business. Those in power are sure to cling to their "spots" and when someone gets the slightest hint of heat, BOOM! Buried. It's a carbon copy of post-1999 WCW. And we all know what happened to them. Not to mention all those people who ran WCW into the ground (Hogan, Bischoff, Russo, etc.) ARE IN POSITIONS OF POWER AGAIN!

But I'm here for the taking. No biases. No judgements. I want SOMEONE, ANYONE, to draw me to their product. An no one is.

But as pertains to the article, I take it with a grain of salt. Their are TNA haters out there, as well as TNA marks. You can't really take the opinion of either as the gospel.

[Ian "Wolfie" Trumps]

Loved the point about how Vince has actually proven he takes cares of wrestlers, unlike Dixie, but always gets treated like some evil guy.

Did a great job with Owen Hart now didn't he...

I have a lot of time for Vince McMahon as a businessman, but let's be honest he is a complete piece of shit and sees his wrestlers as just assets to help make him money in the majority of cases. Vince only looks after people who have made him money or will make him money and I don't begrudge him that because that is what wrestling has always been about. You on the otherhand...well...lol.

[Ian "Wolfie" Trumps]

Adam here's a question.

Do you truly believe that guys like Swagger, ADR and Truth have been given legit pushes to the Main Event. I mean yes Swagger won the title, but as I said at the time when me and B were discussing it they guy hardly if ever won a match clean as Champion and against anyone credible, ADR got buried after his Rumble win by Edge and then by Christian and as for Truth, they seem to have allowed him to dip his toe in the main event water before telling him you will just face uppermid card guys like Morrison and Rey (the later is seemingly in my eyes what Rey has become). Sheamus, Bryan and Barrett I'd also throw in there as well. Sheamus outside his world title, then went to king of the ring which was dropped after a few weeks and then US title holder then dropped to Kofi...Bryan...who knows what the fuck they have done to him and Wade Barrett its just sorry what has happened to that fella.

All of these guys just seem to be given a small glimpses in some sort of spotlight before having the rug pulled. I'd be interested in your view on that mate.

[Adam Wrong]

The thing these days is wrestling faces a number of problems:

Wrestling is not catering for the older generation and is trying to appeal to the younger market as they believe it has the longevity to it. The downside with this is it alienates the older fans.
 
With it appealing to a younger market, Vince feels that he needs to find characters that instantly appeal to people. That is why people only get a very small window to appeal to the market / Vince and if they don't cut it in that window then they might as well go home.

In Vince's opinion, he doesn't have the time nor the patience to invest in somebody who needs moulding into something even better. Orton got months as a cocky heel recuperating and being (x)% healed up while Cena got hugely over as a heel and his face transition was built over time. This doesn't happen anymore and it takes somebody who can instantly click with the crowd to really get a decent push. That is what happened with The Miz. The fans fucking hated him from the start because he was from a reality show, he was irritating and you couldn't help but hate him. He had the something that Vince was looking for.

Look at all the guys given a chance to shine in at least one PPV main event in recent years. Guys like Kozlov and Khali fucking died on their ass as kids didn't buy into the monster thing while the older guys just didn't buy it at all and could recognise that neither of them had any degree of ring presence.

ADR is a bit like Marmite. The kids just didn't really buy into him at all, the older kids just think JBL got a tan and shrank and then amongst the older generatiog of wrestling fans (ergo us) he is a man who has divided opinions which is not the sort of thing you want for your apparently top level heel.

This is where the problem with guys like Swagger, Bryan, Sheamus and Morrison. While most of them may be over with us old fools, the kids don't get them and it is almost having to go to an 80s level of pushing somebody like Cena in order for anybody to give half a flying fuck about them.

The kids don't care if somebody can or can't wrestle to be perfectly honest and that is part of the reason why WWE don't care for the wrestling aspect any more. Their enthusiasm lies with the action soap opera part where people want Cole to get his come-uppance and want to see the good guy shine through.

I am a huge Wade Barrett fan from what I have seen but if you look at it like you were a kid and you can see why they don't get a huge push for very long because the kids don't care.

Ask most of us who their favourite wrestlers were as a child and I can guarantee that most will go for Hogan or any other of the big characters whose persona and charisma were far more sought after than his in ring ability. Most will always go for the Hogans, Savages, Warriors and Stings rather than a Bob Backlund, Dynamite Kid or Paul Orndorff.

As much as I like his ring work, John Morrison is dull as fuck and it just doesn't sit well with the younger market to whom Vince is appealing to and like in any audition, if you don't make the impression withing the first few minutes then you are done.

So in essence, I think that the guys mentioned don't get a big enough chance to shine in the main event but they don't make the chances that they do have count. Sure Swagger had a losing streak but he still failed to let his charisma shine and they lumbered him with a fucking eagle. The man is the next Kurt Angle but sadly, the kids don't care...