The members of the Four Horsemen – Arn and Ole specifically – used to talk about how they loved being the first match on a card. They ‘jerked the curtain’ because it allowed them to turn in such an effort that the rest of the guys on the card would have to then work harder to not look foolish. The result was a better product and happy fans. Well, with the efforts Mark Madden and Marty Nolan are putting in, I just had to add one more position peice. Thanks, guys.
For those who haven’t heard or seen the link on Wrestlezone, Hulk Hogan is apparently warning people that TNA is ‘ready to shoot.’ Here’s the link: http://wrestlezone.staging.vip.gnmedia.net/news/article/hulk-hogan-claims-tna-is-going-to-start-shooting-soon-115443
We live in a TiVo / DVR world, folks. The best part about that is being able to fast forward just about anything. Tape a football game on a 10-minute delay and skip the commercials. Watch Charles Bronson’s masterful performance in "Death Wish 3" in only 4-and-a-half minutes, skipping all the useless crap and watching only the quality wasting of punks. You get the idea.
If TNA is going to go to a shoot-style, then I’ll officially drop my "give TNA the benefit of the doubt" stance and state, for the record, that they are WCW on fast-forward.
Going shoot style is an AWFUL idea. It worked for a cup of coffee in the Attitude Era, but save for guys like Shawn Michaels and Triple H breaking the 4th wall to make some inside jokes (usually about the McMahon family or HHH’s and Steph’s babies), shooting massacres the integrity of the business. To quote the film Halloween, ‘everybody’s entitled to one good scare.’ Well, let’s hope for the sake of the talent in the TNA locker room that a ‘scare’ is all Hogan is seeking, and that he isn’t serious.
Shoot style with a divided locker room is a nuclear bomb ticking away. There are already concerns about politics. If talent is given free reign to go into buisness for themselves, then nobody will trust anyone else, and nobody will know which way is up. This is the same stuff that happened in WCW when they pressed the panic button, and it led to guys like Chris Jericho, Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko, Rey Mysterio, and Perry Saturn jumping ship to the WWF. While we’re fast forwarding, why not just toss AJ Styles, Robert Roode, James Storm, Chris Sabin, and Alex Shelly on the WWE roster right away?
Hogan’s faux tough guy twitter video reeks of panic. He just backed Kryptonite in the big race only to learn that Eddie Mush bet the horse too. "We’re real, and we’re going to get more real." This is professional wrestling – it was not built on being real, it was built on pretending to be real. I watch wrestling at age 29 to be entertained and to allow my willing suspension of disbelief take over and become interested in everything they give me, from the days of the Ultimate Warrior vomiting pea soup after being cursed by Papa Shango to anxiously awaiting what John Cena gets sick of first – Wade Barrett or the fans. Hogan’s decision to further destroy the mystique of pro wrestling – the very mystique that once had an entire generation believing he was a real-life superhero – is nothing but frustration with the product he’s trying to toy with not working. He’s taken the creative cartridge out of the console and is blowing into the bottom of it. (Happy 35th birthday, Nintendo Entertainment System.)
Notwithstanding the stupid "evil genius laugh" Hogan tries to pull off at the 45-second mark, I fear that Hogan is serious and believes his own hype. I am not sure whether he’s trying to cash in on MMA’s growing popularity by trying to be ‘real,’ but all he’s going to do by going shoot style is divide an already skeptical locker room. But it’s a TiVo world, and if Hogan wants to watch late 90’s and early ’00’s WCW, he’s doing a great job with the fast-forward button.
I, on the other hand, just hit "power." Think I’ll read a book.
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Happy Halloween,
Chris "IrishCanadian25" Fitzpatrick
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