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GUEST EDITORIAL
By Stephen Lance, Torch reader

What happened to TNA? They used to have a good show, Impact, but watching them now is like watching them dissolve in front of my eyes. I quit watching WWE over two years ago when I found TNA. I thought that finally here was a wrestling show with potential.

I started following TNA and enjoyed it very much, but since Vince Russo took over by himself, the show has taken a strong hit in quality. The show definitely is not holding my interest since he's been in charge. Too much talking and not enough wrestling. The wrestling that is there is quick and meaningless. Then it's on to a commercial and when TNA comes back, more talking. It's frustrating, but it's vintage Russo.

Russo has been in charge for three months and the results are disastrous. With Russo heading the ship, TNA has spiraled out of control and ratings have dropped significantly. Ratings drop and come back. You don't need to be a ratings analyst to see that TNA is not attracting new fans and some of their fanbase has even given up on them. That's a dangerous sign.

Jim Cornette, who was fired by TNA after being accused of not being 100 percent behind Russo, probably said it best when he did an interview about Russo and TNA. His comments were funny and true in my opinion.

Cornette said, "Russo does not get people over. He's the only booker I've ever seen who gets people under. At TNA, I was basically tired of working for a big company and watch it get smaller. I wanted to go to a smaller company and help it get bigger. The matches are made meaningless so Russo can see his comedic lines and dramatic scripting spring to life. There's a bunch of great athletes, but they're not very good actors. They're even worse comedians."

Ouch.

Recently, even Steve Austin got in on the Russo incompetency debate. "Vince Russo was good as long as you kept a rein on him and kept a limited dose of what kind of ideas you let him implement," Austin told the U.K. Sun. "Him with restrictions on him, he's okay. Him by himself, forget about it. I don't think he knows a damn thing about the wrestling business."

It's plain to see why Cornette would trash Russo. Cornette's dislike for Russo has been well-documented. My question is why would Steve Austin trash Russo? He's not in TNA nor does he want to be. He has nothing to gain or lose. All I can see is that Steve is a guy who owes his whole existence to wrestling and he merely hates to see a company like TNA screw it up with a hack writer like Russo.

If you have Cornette on one hand and Austin on the other saying what the entire wrestling world has been saying all along, what is Russo's defense? Who can Russo blame now since all the scapegoats like Cornette have been fired?

Better than that, who will Dixie Carter blame? How long will she wait to make changes while her company is spinning out of control around her? It was her decision to implement change but those changes aren't working because she didn't make the right change. When Russo was in charge of WCW, it wasn't long before the doors closed. History does and can repeat itself.

Ratings are supposed to go up or at least hold a steady average. TNA's rating has done neither as they've dropped to levels not seen in years and aren't showing signs of moving up. Doing a lackluster 1.0 rating after being in business for seven years is embarrassing. If WWE had this problem, heads would roll.

There's only one head to roll in TNA.

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