DAVIO MORROW OF CLEVELAND ASKS:

What's up with all the criticism of the reunion of the Wolfpac? What's the difference between it and WWE giving DX a lengthy run ten years after it was formed? If booked properly and reintroduced to the audience, the Wolfpac could be a good thing. It's fair to say that TNA looks in the past, but WWE does the exact same thing, yet they aren't criticized as harshly for it. Hunter, Undertaker, Austin, Michaels, and certainly Bret Hart aren't new superstars, and name one star (other than John Cena and Batista) who became a major superstar after the Attitude era that was not wrestling for WCW, ECW, or the WWE during that era?

WADE KELLER ANSWERS:

The difference is that Triple H and Shawn Michaels are in great shape. Triple H is still arguably in his prime. Michaels's "prime" has been his whole career, basically, and he's without question still a world class wrestler.

That said, the premise of your question is inaccurate. DX was criticized, too, for being a flashback to a bygone era rather than looking forward.

It is possible for the Wolfpac to be reintroduced and be a valuable part of the show. But not a show that also features so many other 1990s acts. It's just too much of living in the past and sends the wrong message to viewers.

Steve Austin was in for one week. Bret Hart isn't being pushed as an active wrestler and he isn't on TV every week and his program has a start, middle, and end that encompasses a few months. That's the right way to use a nostalgia act in most cases.

Undertaker's gimmick is ageless. Michaels seems ageless. Both put on the best matches of their careers last year and are primed for another great one this year. Nobody in TNA is anywhere close to being able to perform at a high level like WWE's older wrestlers.

WWE, unlike TNA, has also established over a half dozen new acts in the past year who are treated as serious stars. Ted DiBiase, Kofi Kingston, Sheamus, Drew McIntrye (sans his getting squashed by Undertaker last Friday on Smackdown, but that's another issue altogether), Cody Rhodes, The Miz, Daniel Bryan, and on and on. In TNA, they've invested more time in Eric Bischoff than Desmond Wolfe, Samoa Joe, and The X Division put together since Jan. 4.

So the Wolfpac reunion could be a nice sidebar nostalgia act for a promotion that is otherwise in stride in pushing relevant new acts who can still wrestle at a top level.

As for who besides Cena and Batista are pushed as major stars in WWE who weren't part of the WCW, WWE, ECW era? How about Randy Orton, C.M. Punk, Ted DiBiase, Cody Rhodes, John Morrison, The Miz, and Sheamus? And Edge, Rey Mysterio, Christian, and Chris Jericho were lower card wrestlers in the WWF or WCW during the late-'90s and have been elevated to top tier stars since.

I liked Nash as a mentor to Samoa Joe. I'd like to see Sean Waltman compete in a serious tag team or show what he can still do in the X Division. Scott Hall has clearly worked hard to get himself back into shape, and Nash is right to have Tweeted today he's proud of him. Unfortunately, they collectively still give off the vibe of an act that is well past its freshness date. They need to reinvent themselves or be in a role that's more fitting their current skills or be the only nostalgia act in TNA rather than one of so many.

And it sure wouldn't hurt for anything regarding anyone in TNA to be booked coherently.

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If you have a question or issue you'd like me to address in this feature, please send it to kellerwade@gmail.com. Thanks!

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