By James Caldwell, PWTorch assistant editor

"Since tonight is Open Fight Night, I want to call you out. I want to call you out, Hulk. But, not to fight. I want to call you out to talk."

- Bully Ray promo, opening segment of December 27, 2012 TNA Impact.

What happened to the fighters? The wrestlers? The grapplers? The brawlers? The men who wanted to fight with their fists, not their words? The men who settled their differences inside the ring, not carried on middle school love fantasies on cable television?

This week's Impact - one of the most heavily-promoted, buzz-generating episodes of perhaps the last year - scored a decent 1.15 rating, but drew the lowest male 18-34 rating in over two months.

One year ago this week, Impact scored a 0.66 household rating in m18-34. This week, Impact scored a 0.42 rating in the demo, a drop-off of 36 percent.

At the center of this week's episode was a big wedding ceremony right in the middle of the wrestling ring, with one of the toughest, roughest, meanest wrestlers of the last two years smiling, laughing, and playing husband-to-be. It doesn't matter what the eventual pay-off is, the image is burned in viewers's minds.

In an effort to apparently expand TNA and Spike TV's reach beyond males 18-34 & 18-49, TNA has gone soft. WWE is not immune to this, either. Heels dance like idiots for heat, faces don't take things seriously, and announcers act like it's all just one fun party.

But, TNA mainly has fighters and scrappers on their roster; WWE is heavy on six-pack, model-types. Bully Ray, James Storm, Bobby Roode, Austin Aries, Matt Morgan, Daniels, new-guy Jay Bradley, Hernandez, Kid Kash, Magnus, Kenny King, and perhaps some others in the right role have potential to bring toughness and grit to the show.

Then, there's the incompetent Aces & Eights group. In sports, coaches often talk about fake toughness vs. real hustle. Fake toughness is looking like you're scrapping for a loose ball when you're simply trying to look like you care. Real hustle is putting your body on the line and making a difference for your team. A&E is fake-tough that the audience is seeing right through. Now at the center of A&E is a once-tough announcer named Taz, but now he has a chance to re-vitalize his career.

A&E is not alone, with many roster members having see-through, fake-tough personalities because they're either dopey faces, bumbling heels, dancing idiots, or lose steam because of incompetent announcing.

If TNA wants to build an audience that can last - not for one week, but for one year - then it's time to put some real toughness, grit, fighting, and scrappiness back into this product that has a chance to differentiate itself from WWE.

Put Jay Bradley at the center of the promotion. Have him run through faces like a buzzsaw - not in a Fake Streak kind of a way like Crimson - but with Shield-like attitude to back up his killer look and personality that blew away half of the roster Thursday night.

TNA has gone soft with too much gooeyness, overly-choreographed X Division matches, and top faces like James Storm who are booked to take their ball and go home rather than stand up and fight. Right now, a good chunk of the 18-34 male audience has decided to peace out, too. Time to end the talking on Open Fight Night and Hogan Family Therapy Sessions and Anger Management knock-off skits and get back to what draws on pro wrestling television. Simulated fights inside a wrestling ring between people the audience cares about.

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