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ISSUE 3373
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Mark R
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Nov 02, 2009 15:49 PST
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+++ HOGAN & TNA UPDATE. Hogan has been making media rounds telling
everyone that has a listening ear on that he has decided to go back to
pro wrestling and work with TNA to 'run the company'. What is not known
is if he is saying that as part of an ongoing storyline where he winds
up as the on camera figure head general manager/boss or if he is being
100% serious. What is known is that Hulk Hogan signing with TNA was the
first of a series of moves that will take place over the next few weeks
and months to change the face of TNA forever.
And that change forever is not 100% guaranteed to be for the BEST
interest of the organization moving forward but simply something that
has to be done to bring in Hogan to the company and try and soak his
name value for whatever it is worth. The Australian tour that Hogan is
conducting likely will be all over TNA TV and they might even wind up
sending TNA talent on the tour to make it appear that TNA is that
popular in other countries. Some of the talent working the Hogan tour
may end up pulling out if they don't want to burn a bridge with WWE and
appear on TV working with TNA in any capacity and yet others will relish
the idea thinking they'll turn their appearance on the Hogan tour in to
a full time gig with TNA (and some will and some won't).
Right now there are rumors abound that talent like Brian Knobbs will
wind up working with TNA in some capacity and beleive that to mean that
the fear is that most of Hogan's friends are going be able to get work
in TNA if they are looking for it. What that specifically means for TNA
and the current roster working for TNA is that the spots underneath and
above are going to be re-examined and some of them are going to be given
to Hogan's buddies no matter how good or bad they are in the ring in
2009. Some of the talent that Hogan brings in with him that are not
going to work in the wrestling ring will wind up soaking up road agent
spots and obviously since those spots are limited it might mean some of
the regular road agents will either be let go or given different duties.
Jimmy Hart likely returns to a front office position within TNA and
appears on camera with Hogan in some capacity and maybe even begins to
make knock off theme music for the talent again. I don't see him being
used in a creative capacity unless he is put on a committee with
Bischoff & Hogan leading the charge in that respect.
What it means for talent like Booker T, Kurt Angle, Jeff Jarrett, Sting
and guys like Ric Flair is that if they are/were in favor with Hulk
Hogan during his WCW days or have recently made up with him (in Flair's
case) is they likely are secure. For Booker T who fell out of favor
with the last TNA regime and was hell bent on leaving the company to
return to WWE it might mean he can examine his options again and remain
with TNA with a new management regime in place that doesn't have heat on
him. Jeff Jarrett likely loses most of his influence and power with
this move and since he was a Vince Russo guy in TNA & WCW he might be
punished for Russo's sins if he stays with TNA. For Sting who was going
to actually all it quits and retire it might mean he examines that
decision again because the theory would be that a Hogan v. Sting match
in 2009 might be a big match for the company moving forward. A guy like
Kurt Angle who has his contract running out soon will be hit hard when
he tries to negotiate a new deal to get top spot and top dollar with TNA
because now that Hogan is the top attraction, that means TNA doesn't
have to bring Angle back or fear that he may leave to go back to WWE.
And that also means his best bet would be to play TNA against WWE and up
WWE's contract offer and take it quickly before WWE realizes that TNA
isn't concerned about losing him back to WWE. My gut tells me that
Angle doesn't have much left for him in TNA now that Hogan is on board
because it is not as if Hogan is going to cater to building up Angle in
TNA like he had to do during one of his last WWE runs because Angle was
the top fish in WWE at the time and now Hogan is the top fish in TNA and
Angle has been turned in to a basic tad pole with the Hogan deal.
Ric Flair now has an option to kill his career nationally in the U.S.
using the theory that he can turn his success on the Australia tour in
to a U.S. mini program in TNA v. Hogan. I think if he does that the
matches largely are going to expose that not only is Hogan horrible in
the ring but that Ric Flair in 2009 can't carry Hogan to decent matches
and the audience it caters to will make them know the matches are
horrible. The big question here is whether or not Flair wants to do
that to his legacy in the U.S. I mean going out against HBK at WM in
the U.S. seems a lot wiser then trying to do it v. Hulk Hogan in TNA in
2009 but what do I know?
How does it effect the way TNA tv is produced or even the announcers
being used? Time will tell. Obviously if JR becomes avaialble they'll
make a serious play to get him for TNA and that means that he will
replace Tenay. Obviously with Russo in power that may not have happened
since Russo did make fun of Ross years ago in WCW. But with Russo
virtually castrated by the Hogan move that means that JR only has to
worry about his status with Eric Bischoff. My gut tells me that VKM
could make a huge mistake and think that JR's days are done with and let
him go to TNA and I think JR has five more years to go in the business
as an announcer.
And lastly I want to talk about the status of Vince Russo & Dixie
Carter. If Hogan gains total control of creative then it means Russo is
done because Russo is not going to remain with TNA if he does not have
control. It is that simple. The odd thing about that is that Ed Ferrara
just left a lucrative job to return to pro wrestling and work with Russo
on TNA creative and now as the cards have been dealt he might have
screwed himself big time by doing that. If Russo goes, there is no place
for Ferrara in TNA. Now you might be wondering if Russo has a place
with WWE? Some are going to scream that he has absolutely no place or
value going back to WWE. I don't agree. I could see VKM doing
something idiotic like bringing in Russo if he was available and putting
him in charge of either ECW or Smackdown with the theory being that he
is taking someone that had marginal sucess in the past away from TNA.
Dixie Carter isn't going to be effected at all by this move because if
anything she just brought in a ton of money to TNA and that is going to
offset any of her families losses by doing the same. All she has to
worry about is if the move works or fails miserably. If it fails right
off the start (and signs point that it won't) then she could be
questioned. But the thing with pro wrestling is that marginal success
can be manipulated and since the recent rating spiked 20% anyone that is
in Hogan's camp is going to claim victory. Time will tell if it was or
wasn't. I think it wasn't. But who am I to say it was or wasn't.
The last thing this thing does with Bischoff & Hervey involved is gives
TNA the ability to sign talent they had no ability to sign before and if
Bischoff has enough money to play with he can try to do what WCW did
with Turner's money. Now lets be honest he doesn't have that much
money. But what he could do is bring in some high priced players like
Goldberg by giving them BIG TIME deals that Vince is not willing to pay
them and make it appear that TNA is bigger then it actually is, like he
did with WCW. The question here is whether or not he has enough money
to buy off some of the top stars that WWE currently has and re-create
the dynamic that happened in WCW when he did that with Turner's money.
And I somehow think that in 2009 if that began to happen Vince McMahon
would spend the money to stop it right away because he has more money
available then Bischoff & Hervey combined. But in some cases it might
be a godsend if some of the talent was bought off by Bischoff and WWE
had to re-create top talent, so its a win-win situation either way for
WWE and likely a loss waiting to happen either way for TNA.
+++ RAW AT 9PM ON USA NETWORK HAS OZZY OSBOURNE AND SHARRON OSBOURNE
HOSTING. That ought to be surreal to say the least. Build towards
Survivor Series and I hope they announce some of the survivor matches
this week so they can build them up strong.
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