TNA: We musta took a wrong turn at Albuquerque

Once upon a time there was a big announcement in the WWE's back yard, Madison Square Garden. Hulk Hogan made an announcement that was supposed to change the face of modern wrestling. He had signed, along with Eric Bischoff of course, with TNA. Together they would make TNA the dominate force in Professional Sports Entertainment.

Upon this blockbuster (and I use that term with tongue firmly planted in cheek) announcement I immediately had visions of Hogan's mediocre Australian Wrestling effort come to mind. I saw Flairs, and Nasty Boys, and Anderson's, and Morley's and Jordan's. Then I saw Nash's and Waltman's. Then fading in the distance were the crop of talent already in TNA. I hoped I was wrong and for a minute I believed that I was. I made the one mistake I haven't made since I saw Hogan as a youngster, I believed what he said. I know, you think I would have known better. I listened to Hogan talk about the young guys being the future of the business. I listened to him talk about getting rid of the six sided ring. I listened to him talk about not relying on scripts. I listened to him say that if you can't wrestle and if you can't talk, then you can hit the door, because everyone will earn their spot, brother.

So here we are a month after the grand "Live" debut of Hulk Hogan on Impact. I was happy to see Impact's live rating near a 2.0. I've been happy to see that they have managed to keep some of that initial influx of viewers with the recorded shows on Thursday, they are at a 1.3 which is a 33% improvement over old ratings. I watched the live show, and I told myself, "this isn't like watching WCW in the 90's at all. Nope not one bit". I watched Impact each week, telling myself, "man they are just getting better each week". Then last week I realized that I had been lying to myself. I wanted to see a new Wrestling War so bad that I gave allowances where none should be given. I made the unforgivable mistake of "drinking the Kool-Aid".

Let's take a look at the changes so far. We have Scott Hall and Sean Waltman. Le sigh. Hall looks like he's half drunk or stoned, six of one half a dozen of the other. His speech is slurred and hey yo, I'm delusioned guy. Hoping for one last stand in the limelight. Sean Waltman just looks like slime. Whatever happened to the 1-2-3 Kid? Or better yet, just what the hell happened. Is that what happens when you spend one night in China? (See what I did there?) Then we have Sean Morley and you know everytime he comes to the ring I can just picture the production van screaming to find the one chick in the audience who looks like she likes what she sees before she realizes it's really not that good. Orlando Jordan. Really? I mean, really!? He wasn't that good when he was in the WWE. he wasn't that good before he decided that the reason he was fired was because he was gay. Well he did suck, but in an entirely different way. That brings me to the Nasty Boys. You have got to be kidding me. Nobbs looks like he's about to keel over and who in the wide world of sports believes that he only weights 270 pounds? I don't know the answer to that, but I know the scale will tell you different. Then we have Ken Ander.......oh yeah wait, excuse me, that's Mr. Anderson. You know I was glad that he signed. I miss his mic work, if not his ring work, but really this is the major aquisition you brought in to face Abyss. Dear Lord. Last but not least we have Jeff Hardy and Shannon Moore. Hold on, let me check my notes, well hell, I'm not sure if they've signed the dotted line or not. We haven't seen them since January 4th. No mention of them either. And by the way, where are all of the young talent that Hogan praised as the future of the business? Oh yeah, they are all sitting in the back pissed off or asking for their release. OR their storylines were dropped. OR they're being used to put over Hogan's friends. You know what else has changed? Can anyone tell me where the wrestling went? I've looked for it and it's gone. I don't see it no more. All we see are segments with Bischoff and Hogan.

Against better Judgment I gave Hogan the benifit of the doubt. I thought with him not in the ring, worried about his ego and getting the World Title that he would be true to his word. I should have known better. It's impossible for him. For all his talk at the end of the day it's the same as it ever was for him. It's all about Hogan, his friends, and what you can do to make him look better. I don't understand what he's doing at all. With the talent that's already on the roster, a little tweak at writing, fine tuning the production losing the WCWstyle walking to the ring snippets between commercials and they could have something that would really give WWE a run for their money. It's too bad that Dixie didn't see it, because now it's too late.

Looking at the roster there are sixty three wrestlers on the books. If I woke up tomorrow with more money than I could ever spend I would buy the company and kick Hogan and Co. right out on their collective asses, then I would carve the dead weight. Bye bye, Hall, Waltman, Saggs, Nobbs, Jordan, Morley, Shark Boy, Steiner, Tomko, Raven, Von Erich, Rhino, ODB, Jesse Neal, Terry, Lashley, Bubba, D-Von, Dr. Stevie, Nash, and even Sting.

So my roster would look like this. AJ Styles, Brian Kendrick, Generation Me, Motor City Machine Guns, Beer Money, Eric Young, Abyss, Amazing Red, Suicide, Samoa Joe, Mr. Anderson, Matt Morgan, Jeff Jarrett, Jay Lethal (without the Macho gimmick), Kurt Angle, Kiyoshi, Desmond Wolfe, Daniels, Hernandez, Homicide, Doug Williams, D'Angelo Dinero, Magnus, and Consequences Reed. Then I would go out and work a deal to trade talent with one of the Japan Companies. Bring back Austin Aries and Petey Wiliams and go after the Brisco Brothers. Go after a few of the top Indy guys. I'd go with what brought me to the dance. the X-Division and Wrestling. I'd keep Flair around as a manger and Foley to manage Abyss as a heel. I'd keep the rest of the KnockOuts as well. I don't mind women wrestling, when they actually wrestle. Russo would be gone and I'd bring in Cornette and Heyman.