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GUEST EDITORIAL
By Harris Thatcher
PWTorch.com reader

The Dixie Carter TNA experiment of "change" can now officially be declared dead on arrival. TNA is bleeding buckets right now. The ratings have tanked, the PPV buys can't be good, and Impact is a complete train wreck. The buzz about TNA is nonexistent. I've watched TNA for a long time, but after seeing that mess on Spike last week, I'm f'n done. Thanks to Dixie Carter's decisions, the show sucks on so many levels. The show was much more entertaining before Carter made any changes.

Change for the sake of change is self-defeating and TNA is doing a great job of beating itself. When the president of the company makes bad choices, it is the president of the company who should shoulder the blame when those decisions fail. There is nothing wrong with making changes but when those changes have failed and continue to fail, how long will it be before Dixie Carter realizes her very serious mistake and tries to fix it?

Carter's basic mistake was firing people who weren't the problem and in keeping the one person who is. That one person is Vince Russo.

Here's the bad decisions that Dixie Carter has to take responsibility for.

Vince Russo. This should have been sack number one. With Jeff Jarrett gone, Russo's talent, or lack thereof, has been exposed for the world to see. For Dixie Carter to allow Vince Russo to remain in charge of the creative team and then allowing him to bring in his buddy, Ed Ferrara, is asinine. Obviously, Carter isn't a fan of wresting history or she would be aware of what killed WCW. The ratings will be their first victim and that victim has already reared its head. A look at the ratings support that assumption. All Ferrara will do is to serve as an official enabler for Russo to continue his erratic and unrealistic writing. Two bad decisions. One for keeping Russo and the other, hiring Ferrara.

Now on to Don West. If Carter had replaced Don West last year, I would have applauded her. But Don West suddenly came alive and became one of the best color announcers in wrestling right before Carter yanked him off commentary. Mike Tenay and Don West had turned into the best commentary team in wrestling and Dixie, in her haste to change, killed it. Those two announcers were one of the high points of Impact for several months. Note to Carter: People are replaced when they're under-performing, not when they're doing their best work. Bad decision.

Onto Taz. Taz is not the answer. After listening to him for several weeks, the commentary is back where it was when West was bad. His commentary isn't bad. His commentary isn't good. Therein lies the problem. It's just there. It's just another voice in the crowd. Taz is not entertaining nor does he bring one thing different to the table other than boring. I can now see why McMahon screamed in his ear because left alone, he is what he is. Mediocre. Bad decision.

Then there is Jeff Jarrett. Bring him back. NOW. I never thought I would be saying that six months ago, but after seeing how Russo has completely trashed the company, that's the major change that should happen. Jarrett, at least, served as a speed bump to stop some of Russo's bizarre ideas. At least when Jarrett was active, Impact's ratings were a consistent 1.2 or 1.3. Now they're down in the 0.9s or 1.0 range thanks to the "wise" booking of Russo. Impact's ratings have dropped 30 percent from just two months ago, and who is to blame for that? One man and that man is Vince Russo. TNA is starting to resemble WCW all over again and if TNA continues along this path, Russo could book TNA completely out of business. Bad decision to have sent Jarrett home and a bad decision not to bring him back.

Another bad decision that Carter made was when she let the entire agent staff go. Getting rid of all the wrestling minds at the same time like Jim Cornette, Dutch Mantell, Savio Vega, and B.G. James only guaranteed that TNA is completely void of any veteran leadership. The replacement agents are all Russo's friends which means their main job is to say yes to him. Those guys along with Ferrara will give the green light to anything Russo wants to do which up to this point has proven to be a total disaster. Bad decision again.

What happened to the Knockout Division? The bloom is off the rose with the Knockouts now. They are hitting on zero and even they can't amp up the ratings anymore. The Knockouts were the best thing going in TNA until turned completely over to Russo and the results are in. The Knockouts have tanked, too.

The X Division doesn't even resemble the X Division of a year ago. Please tell Russo that a reason is needed for a five-man ladder match and it should last more than four minutes.

The whole Dixie Carter "change" experiment hasn't worked and will not work until she realizes that the first change she should have made was to fire Vince Russo. The other firings were only the excuses that Russo could use for the failure of the company not performing. The problem with that logic now is that the company was performing better, BEFORE THE FIRINGS, than it is doing now. As long as Dixie Carter allows Vince Russo to remain as the head of creative, ratings will flatten and it will get worse, not better. Vince Russo needs to go and FAST.

TNA's ratings can't go much lower. But it can almost be guaranteed that they won't go higher under Russo's watch. After watching last week's show and Russo's sophomoric attempt at writing and booking, the show is beyond saving under the present regime. I am just a member of the anonymous Internet, but Vince Russo is treating me and others as if we are invisible. This Thursday night, I will be invisible. I am done with TNA until Dixie Carter makes the change that she should have made months ago. Dump Vince Russo.

I hope that Dixie Carter has developed a taste for crow because she's going to be eating a steady diet of it as long as Vince Russo is in charge of her company.

I'm Harris Thatcher, a long-time wrestling fan who is done with TNA.

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[Vince Russo photo credit Wade Keller (c) PWTorch]

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