MVP Working on a Handshake
Former WWE star MVP made his Impact Wrestling debut last week, revealed as the mystery investor that will be making some big changes in TNA. This week, MVP cut a scathing promo on the status of the TNA product, verbally berating Dixie Carter for putting her company in the toilet. Great stuff. Whether it's true or not, Dixie is a heel on television, and the internet fans more or less already believe her character represents an extreme version of the truth.
Impact Wrestling has been really good for the past few weeks. The UK crowds have certainly helped, but it's more about the way the show has been booked overall. Sources say Vince Russo is back in the creative process, which could lend itself to the improvements, but that's speculative at this point. Impact has had some of its biggest ratings in years lately; not a huge deal, since WWE has been up in the ratings too. We're in WrestleMania mode, and the NFL season is over. There's not a lot in the way of competition, and everyone is going to benefit from that. But as somebody who doesn't care about ratings in the least, I still think TNA is better than it has been since prior to last summer. Bringing in the Wolves and MVP was a great move. They have a ton of money now with the recent departures of Sting, Jarrett, Styles and Hogan, and it's time to start using it.
Apparently MVP is working on a handshake, while they work up a final deal. This shocked a bunch of people, since TNA decided to put him on television without an actual contract in place, but you'd be surprised how commonplace this is in the wrestling industry. WWE isn't going to grab him at the last second. There's always a chance negotiations could fall through, but TNA would have never put him on TV in such a big storyline if they didn't have every intention to give him what he wants. But mostly, when a wrestler "signs" a handshake agreement, he also puts his reputation on the line. MVP stands to lose more than he could gain by going back on his word at this point, and TNA can't afford to scrap plans so late into the game.
