One Count Kickout – Please Dixie

onecountkickout@gmail.com

Apparently we’re currently living in 1996.  Actually, I wish that were true, because then the new heel faction of TNA would be comprised of people who can actually do things in the ring rather than a guy with a bad back, a guy who can’t wrestle, a guy with no charisma, a poor man’s Kane and a guy up on drug charges.  Apparently TNA sees dollar signs here, I have to disagree.  I think I see a potential, all be it short lived, ratings bump from this.  My problem with this is, 10 10 10 was built up to be this huge, dramatic “TNA will change on every level” kind of a thing.  I suppose I agree, TNA did change on every level, into WCW.

I wanted to love Bound for Glory, I really did.  I was hoping if nothing else the main event would make the PPV worth seeing.  It opened with a fantastic match and then went down faster than an escalator in high gear.  I’m very curious if they will see a bump in their buyrate since the hyped the hell out of 10 10 10 but again they failed to pay it off.  I’m sure there are some people out there who are excited about the whole heel turn of Jeff Hardy, a terrible idea I will get into in a moment, and Hulk and Bischoff being heels again.  I don’t mention Abyss and Jarrett much because I find it hard to believe that anyone actually gives a damn about these two.

The Jeff Hardy turn I consider a tremendously horrid idea.  First of all, Jeff is not a heel.  He doesn’t talk like, act like or wrestle like a heel is supposed to.  Also, typically, you want the audience to dislike the heel and it was remarkable to note that fans cheered when he hit RVD with the title belt last night.  So it is already failing.  Now, I don’t think this guy can cut a heel promo so I’m curious if the other guys will be talking for him.  Also, heels are supposed to guide the rhythm of the match.  What does Jeff Hardy do in every match?  Get his ass kicked, sell sell sell and then make an overwhelming comeback.  In a heel match, you’re not supposed to play it that way.  Is Hardy going to dominate matches now, and stop his high flying?  I sincerely doubt it.  As soon as the fans start cheering for his Whisper in the Wind and Swanton Bomb, he loses a little more heel credibility.  This is a potential trainwreck in trustworthy, creative hands and TNA hardly has that.  Frankly I’m not even looking forward to watching the collapse.

Another important angle, pardon the pun, involving last nights PPV was that if Kurt Angle did not win the world title, he was going to retire from wrestling for good (of course this comes on the news of him signing an extension with TNA so go figure.)  Now one way in which wrestling promotions build up trust with their fans is to honor their commitments.  How many times has TNA promised something and not delivered it?  So are we going to see Kurt Angle retire from wrestling now?  Hell no.  We’re going to see a loophole here.  My guess is one of two things will happen:  Kurt will say something about how technically he wasn’t the one pinned so he didn’t technically lose the match, or Dixie Carter will come to Kurt and beg him to stay and help defend TNA from this new heel faction that is planning to steamroll everyone.  Unfortunately, the best thing Kurt could do to help TNA is punch Bischoff, Hogan, Russo and give Dixie Carter a spanking.  This is just atrocious booking.  Your new big bad heels involve two guys who aren’t worthless, old bags and your other top heel faction just jobbed out to a bunch of worthless, old bags.

Can you tell that I’m frustrated?  Well, I damn well am.  I LIKE TNA.  They have a lot of talent, they have so many guys there who could be doing, and have done, some amazing things and they’re either being relegated to horrible storylines, terrible writing or jobbing out to guys whose importance went down with the sunset over a decade ago.  Kevin Nash goes over Samoa Joe, when Nash has already announced he is leaving TNA.  That is great, put this old, broken down, worn out guy over someone who has been at the core of your company for all these years, on his way out.  If I were Samoa Joe I’d be pulling a Matt Hardy right now and doing whatever I could to get out of my contract (which is probably nothing since they think guys who are up on pending drug charges make great world champions and that Eric Young playing a character with brain damage is funny in a post-Benoit world.)

This is a personal plea to Dixie Carter:
Please Dixie, wake up and smell the coffee here.  Start pushing your young guys, start letting go of the old ones.  You’ll find you get better ratings and save some money.  Don’t let Hogan and Bischoff to tell you they know how to make a company successful, because all they’ve proven is they know how to take a company that seems unbeatable, in WCW, and drive it straight into the toilet.  Look at your best match last night, it involved four young guys.  Now I love AJ Styles and Beer Money Lethal Lockdown was terrible (also don’t call a match ‘lockdown’ when it always involves people exiting the thing they’re supposed to be locked in.  Thats like having a backstage brawl in the middle of the ring.)  Look at your fans Dixie, listen to what they are saying.  Hire someone to work for that company who is in a position to find out what works and what does.  You’re selling this company down the river, putting it in the hands of a couple of guys who are proven to destroy things, and if you don’t get a grip on this quick you’re going to lose control.  I don’t want to see TNA die, but if I’m going to have to suffer through it brain dead on life support, I’m going to pull the plug.  On my television.