Email This Article - Contact Us - VIP Sign-Up - Back to Home Page

|

By Wade Keller, PWTorch editor

On Impact last night, a clip aired of Dixie Carter addressing the "entire roster." On two levels, the speech was flawed.

"Since I was named president six years ago, I've had a lot of people tell me how to run a wrestling company. While I appreciate their contributions, it's time for a change." She told the wrestlers there will be more changes in coming weeks and months. "Nobody likes drastic change, nobody likes big moves, I understand that, and it affects different people in different ways." She said there may be some differing opinions of what to do, she expects them to be supported 100 percent. "When you question things in this company, you're questioning me, and I cannot allow that to happen."

She said she has made the choice to put her money and passion and love behind everyone on the roster and she expects the same from them. "You have a choice to make. You can choose to support me and the direction TNA is going, or you can choose not to. But you'll need to find another place to work. It's time for us to swing for the fences. It really is. No great success comes without risk, and I am great with that. I hope you are, too. Now is our time. I look at the faces who have helped made this company and you've made me very proud. This is a test. I'm asking all of you to step up in every way possible and let's do this thing together. Now is our time. You need to believe it. If you don't believe it, you are hurting the person sitting next to you. You are hurting me, you are hurting the fans. If you do believe it, let's do it together and show everybody what we're all about."

First, what more can be asked of most of those wrestlers? Should they take more stiff chairshots to the head? Should they take more pointless highspots that get a "This is awesome!" chant but are otherwise taken for granted by the bookers and forgotten about within a few minutes while cutting years off of their careers? Should they stop protesting behind-the-scenes obviously horrendous booking that everyone (except Dixie Carter and those with something to lose if things change) seems to see is stunting TNA?

Second, what is this "let's do it together" line all about? Isn't a wrestler's job, in the context of how a pro wrestling show should be presented on TV, to try to win their matches? This is not a team sport, yet that's a halftime "rah rah" speech as if all of those wrestlers are on a team. Each wrestler's job is to try to win matches, just as each heart surgeon's job on TV is to save lives not try to earn ratings. Can you imagine watching the start of a show about fire fighters where the director told all of the actors to "step it up" and "work together" and stop questioning his or her decisions? Or, can you imagine Dana White being shown before a UFC PPV telling his fighters to "step it up" and "work together" to make the company better? Whether you believe pro wrestling should be presented as a simulated sport with a straight face or openly acknowledge it's scripted entertainment, this speech doesn't make sense either way.

Until the people at the very top of the hierarchy get that pro wrestling fans don't care about "new beginnings" and "taking TNA to a higher level" and instead want good wrestling matches between wrestlers they care about (like or dislike) which play out in as realistic a way as possible with a mix of compelling hype and strong follow-up, there's going to be trouble.

I get that TNA is trying to convey to its fanbase that TNA is making changes and hopefully upgrading the product, and they want the fans to feel like they're part of a team, but I don't think it's a strategy that resonates with the four-million-plus fans who watch Raw each week but not TNA. Again, fans want wrestlers who are good at what they do in and out of the ring and placed into a context where they are in wrestling matches that are dramatic and athletically exciting which lead to ramifications such as settling grudges and earning titles or title shots. It's not any more complex than that.

So with that in mind, here's what she should have said: "Thanks everyone for your contributions and hard work in bringing TNA to the level it has achieved. By adding Hulk Hogan to our team in a role yet to be announced (or determined), your profile and the profile of this company will be raised. I am personally excited for more fans than ever to witness the best brand of pro wrestling out there. All I ask of all of you is continue to try to be the best wrestlers you can be. If you try to win your matches, I will do my best to create an environment where the best wrestlers get rewarded and that cheating and unsportsmanlike conduct is not tolerated. Those who are the best at what they do will be rewarded with title matches. We will continue to seek out the best wrestlers in the world, and if you lose too many matches, you'll be out and replaced with someone who wins. Because we want our fans to know be rewarded with seeing the best wrestlers in the world competing on the best stage anywhere."

===

Wade Keller is the editor and founder of Pro Wrestling Torch, which began as a weekly insider newsletter in 1987 and is now among the widest read and most trusted sources of news and analysis on pro wrestling on the Internet worldwide. Over 1,100 weekly issues of the Pro Wrestling Torch Newsletter have been published featuring in-depth exclusive news and analysis plus "Torch Talk" interviews with pro wrestling's biggest names.

Send feedback on this article to pwtorch@gmail.com and we'll regularly publish reader feedback in the "Torch Feedback" category on the Main Listing.

For more BREAKING NEWS on WWE, TNA!
VISIT OUR AFFILIATE - PROWRESTLING.NET

For UFC & MMA NEWS & BLOGS:
VISIT OUR SISTER SITE - MMATORCH.COM

Upgrade to PWTORCH VIP: DETAILS & SIGN-UP INFO

(c) 1999-2009 TDH Communications Inc. - All rights reserved.