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ISSUE 3375
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Mark R
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Nov 05, 2009 19:06 PST
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+++ MY OPINION ON THE HULK HOGAN-TNA SAGA. First of all, Hulk Hogan
needs the money so he had to either strike a deal with Vince McMahon or
TNA. He wasn't going to get a lot of interest in WWE with his health
issues (he hardly can walk - barely can do the leg drop these days die
to hip replacement and isn't getting any younger). So he went to TNA.
He has been making the rounds telling people that he 'taught' Vince
McMahon everything about the wrestling business and when he went to WWF
during Vince's national expansion, Vince had no idea about weight
lifting and or promoting pro wrestling and Hogan paved his road with
gold (that is kind of hilarious since VKM came up in the wrestling
business being groomed by his father Vince Sr. who no dount taught him
about the pro wrestling world, only Jr. did not agree with that ideal
and changed it drastically). Hogan has also been making the rounds
saying that he is running "TNA". Whether that be the case or not has
yet to be determined but earlier indicators are that HOGAN does have
creative control over everything and everyone within TNA. Hogan was
going to (may still be) bring in Kevin Sullivan to lead the charge as
the main idea man/booker and that isn't terrible news if it happens
since Sullivan has incredible ideas and is an absolute great booker.
The only problem is that Hogan's deal with TNA and having so much power
means that he is going to bring in his crew to work in the company with
the idea being they'll give the company name recognition and talent
depth (which is hilarious because in most cases the depth of talent will
be stricken with non quality workers top to bottom and that isn't what
you want).
The Nasty Boys likely will get a job with TNA and that means we could
see them as an active tag team in 2009 and they were horrid the last
time they had their WCW run. Ed Leslie (Brutus Beefcake) is certain to
surface at some point as is Bruce Prichard (Brother Love) and even some
old names from WCW you did not expect could be headed in. Then there
are the big names free agents that are likely to be brought in and I
mentioned some of their names. Goldberg would do it if the money was
right aned Russo wasn't involved and it appears more and more that
Russo's days are numbered inside TNA. Ric Flair already is inked to a
three year deal with Bischoff & Hogan but he has not wanted to do
anything to upset HBK or VKM and no doubt wrestling for TNA would fit
that bill so it is going to be interesting to see if Flair tries to get
out of the contract or just goes with the flow and joins TNA. The
real question here isn't if Hogan v. Flair has name recognition or value
left in the 2009 market place, because on some levels it does and others
it falls short on every level but the real question here has to be why
does TNA think that Hogan v. Flair is going to appeal to their fan base
that has bought every one of their shows from day one? It won't.
And why does Dixie Carter think that Hulk Hogan working in TNA and
turning TNA in to WCW in 2009 with the same people in charge that
murdered it is going to appeal to their current fan base? It isn't. So
now you have to ask yourself why this deal was struck by Carter and it
is obvious. Hulk Hogan, like him or hate him, is the one acquisition
that Carter could make that makes it appear as if TNA has hit a major
home run and is on the map in pro wrestling simply based on Hogan's
name. And then when getting him nets you others like Ric Flair or
potentially Bill Goldberg then the signing of Hogan was looked on as a
must and godsend deal. But what isn't being mentioned or talked about
is the current age of all of those stars and the fact that this isn't
going to be the top stars coming in to TNA to put them on the map but
the has beens that were sent packing by WWE who are signed by the nearly
60 year old former multi time world champion to try and re-create
something magical that happened nearly 15 years ago.
What does Hogan actually mean to TNA? I can tell you right now what it
means. TNA has a guy that doesn't know reality. Tells lies to everyone
that listens to him speak, has been more in the news over the last few
years because of his personal life dissolving due to the reality of who
he actually is and a guy that has no reason to care about establishing
anyone in TNA but himself. Hogan knows this is his last hurrah in the
business and he has set himself up as the main attraction on his own
tour - that tells you his mentality. He could have brought up some
young talent on his tour and used his status to put them over but
instead he wanted to prove that "Hulkamania" is still alive "brother".
So in the end, Hogan brings TNA name value for sure but the value of
the name is not the same as it once was and no doubt business isn't
going to sprial upwards based around this acquisition. Now business
could move up if they bring in the right guys with Hogan but if he just
brings in his crew from WCW then TNA is in major trouble.
+++ CHRIS JERICHO. TMZ slammed Jericho for using the word "fag" during
a recent appearance at the Sacremento Horror Festival. Basically what
happened was Jericho was being a heel and joking around and used some
colorful language. Jericho issued an apology already and GLAD is
already on his case. Yeah I am rolling my eyes because people are way
to sensitive.
+++ WWE THIRD QUARTER RESULTS. Big news is they made more of a profit
this time then the smae period last year but the PPV numbers were down
quite a bit. I think it isn't the theme of the PPV that is the problem,
I think it is not the creative end either. It is that they are too
expensive and there are too many of them. But Vince won't budge on
reducing the overall number of PPV shows they run in a given year.
Live attendance was up, which just proves my point. If fans go to the
live events and don't order the PPV's then obviously the value is not
there as a consumer and that likely is the hefty price tag.
WWE is looking to grow 15 to 20% over 2009 through 2012.
+++ WWE IS NOT A FAMILY BUSINESS, ACCORDING TO VINCE (SHOT AT SHANE?).
During an investor conference call Vince made it clear that all of the
employee's of WWE are evaluated on their merits and that WWE is not a
familiy business, suggesting that his children are treated as simple
employee's and not special due to their heritage. Vince downplayed
Shane's exit and said their management team is the strongest and if your
name is McMahon or not, decisions are always made on your abilities, in
terms of what position you hold now or will in the future (the main
thing was Shane beleived he should be running WWE and that was simply
never going to be the case because it was determined that he did not
have the abilities to do so and keep WWE viable. There is a lot that
has to be said about the strength and kahona's that Jr. has to do that
to his son. Understand JR. loves his son but if he really thought the
business would not be viable with Shane in charge and thought it would
be with Stephanie in charge, from a strict business stand point he had
to make the tough decision to skip Shane and go to Stephanie. The one
pit fall that has killed off most family run pro wrestling empires is
the father doesn't see the reality of the truth regarding one of his
kids and rams him down the market places throat and that kills business.
In this case that happened behind the scenes and it would have been
easy to fall in that trap and JR. didn't. Some read that JR. did that
to Shane and think he is a monster and relish in the thought that Shane
left WWE and is going to compete against them in some capacity. But the
short comings of Shane McMahon when it comes to realizing his dream to
run an empire like WWE will be evident if he fails and if he does not
fail then he will be able to make his mark on his own merits. But the
thing that everyone has to understand is that the concensus feeling
within WWE (amongst the non McMahon's) is that the right decision was
made because the business will be better off being in Paul Levesque's
hands and sister Stephanie's then in Shane's.).
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