Dear Dixie,
I hear you've been having some internal problems with your wrestling promotion lately. The guy you had in charge shacked up with an employee's ex-wife in the middle of a bitter custody battle. Not a very good situation for locker room morale, I know. I won't comment on that, because what happens between two consenting adults and a third party is none of my business. However, you do what you have to do for your company. I find it curious though that because of these indiscretions in the home life, you've decided to clean house and get rid of anyone associated with that old boss you had running things. Not that I think it's particularly wrong for you to do what you're doing, but because it's the move you should have made a long time ago.
You see, I've never been a fan of Jeff Jarrett. Granted, he could be the nicest guy ever to you, but as a booker, a wrestling personality and a wrestler, he's always left me flat, and it's always stood in the way of me enjoying your promotion. I mean, look at what happened under his and his cronies' watches. Your hottest assets, the stars being built in the X-Division, have turned into jokes. Sure, AJ Styles is still over, but his head is hitting the glass ceiling so much that it might cause brain damage. Oh, and don't even get me started on Samoa Joe. This guy could have been your answer to John Cena. Instead, he looks like a moron with a dick on his face.
Nevermind that the only person who holds a TNA Championship that you can truly say is someone built by TNA is the X-Division Champion, Homicide. The IWGP Titles don't count because they belong to New Japan. Your company is really at the forefront, pushing people that the WWE used up and spit out over guys you plucked from the indies and thought could draw you money.
Okay, sorry for the sarcasm, I really am just trying to help you out. See, you've got a huge decision ahead of you. You just fired the lead writer, Dutch Mantell, and the lead booker, Jarrett, is at home with Karen Angle, choosing pussy over career. You have a chance to start fresh and really make a statement with whom you're going to pick as the successor or successors to those people. I'm going to make a plea.
Hire someone fresh.
I know that you haven't given the heave-ho to Vince Russo yet, and that you actually think highly of him. Also, you're actually considering giving Kurt Angle the same position of power with the book that you let Jarrett have. Furthermore, some corners of the Internet will call for you to place a call to Paul Heyman or stay with one of the guys you already have on your payroll in Jim Cornette. All of those names may sound big, but they're not optimal.
For one, Russo's schtick is tired. He tries to be edgy, but he's lost on the fact that what was edgy in 1998 isn't edgy anymore. What's actually in style now is old-school wrestling build. You want proof? Look no further than MMA. They are getting ahead on the same model that the WWF, NWA and later, WCW used to get ahead. They promote the action in the ring while letting their personable, flamboyant and charismatic superstars show their personalities outside of the octagon/cage/whatever in order to draw people in and promote the product. Lame comedy doesn't sell on sitcoms. What makes you think it'll sell in the sports entertainment arena, where people still primarily watch for the action? Russo is like Old Yeller. He needs to be put down. Well, not literally, but you need to pull the trigger on him. Even if you don't want to fire him, you shouldn't put him in a position where he can book. He has value as a promo coach, but not as a booker or writer.
But if hiring Russo would be a mistake, giving Angle the booking power would be an unmitigated disaster. Giving wrestlers creative control has been a disaster in the past. Hulk Hogan had Vince McMahon's ear, and it prevented the building of a legitimate new babyface star to take over when Hogan left for WCW. Yeah, there was the Warrior, but pushing him was a mistake from jump. They could have had Ricky Steamboat. They could have build Savage a little better. They could have gotten started on Bret Hart's face push earlier and in more earnest. But Hogan wielded too much power and never put over either Savage or Hart. Hart himself was outright given creative control in his contract, and it ended up putting egg on his face and the company's face in Montreal that fateful November in 1997. And the list goes on. Dusty Rhodes, Shawn Michaels, Triple H, Kevin Nash, Jeff Jarrett. They all booked/had influence and wrestled at the same time, often to the detriment of the business.
So, given that track record of disaster, you want to give that much influence to a possible drug addict? Yeah, Angle says he's clean, but can you believe him? Even if he's clean, do you really want to give booking power to a guy who's used his former company as leverage to you in the past, someone who's threatened to leave for the world of MMA if he didn't get what he wanted? Do you want this guy to have a stranglehold on the main event of the company and watch it sink as people turn off en masse at Angle's masturbatory pushing of himself? Yeah, I thought so.
Of course, Cornette and Heyman aren't bad options either, but don't you want someone without an ego? Someone that you can work with instead of have them lord over you with their seniority. Besides, don't you want to be fresh? Don't you want to get the next hot booker? The strategy works in the NFL all the time. Andy Reid, Mike Tomlin, John Fox, Tony Sparano and John Harbaugh are all success stories from the coordinator/asst. coach ranks to head coach. Of course, there are failures there too, just as there are successes and failures in the retread department. However, when you've found someone, discovered a diamond in the rough, you can claim bragging rights, you can be the person who says you set the trends.
And thus, I give you a short list of names you can give the booking ball to and let run with it.
- Lance Storm: Freshly retired and old-school like a mutha, Storm is the perfect candidate to give the book to for a struggling fed. Storm knows the formula, he understands how to protect wrestlers, push wrestlers and give compelling stories inside the ring while letting the wrestlers tell the stories out of it. He's been around ECW and ROH, being the perfect bridge between the old edge and the new one. He represents balance, and that balance can bring TNA to prominence and relevance.
- Scott Levy: The man known as Raven was reputed to be Heyman's right hand man in ECW and a guy who bucked the norm and booked a lot of his own angles without really screwing with the integrity of the fed. Since Raven was one of the most compelling characters in wrestling history, I'd think he has a few ideas to get people over to the point where people will care about them, tune into Spike week after week to watch them and plunk down money to see them wrestle on PPV. Yes, he has a checkered past, but unlike Angle, he has a better mind for the business and will be kept away from the ring.
- Matt Conway: Conway is your guy, a 20-something who knows what the demographics want and who will have your interests in mind. He may not have the name, but if he can produce, why not?
Of course, there are scores of other guys out there with fresh ideas and new looks on a company that for the most part has the pieces in place but not the leadership at the wheel. Direction is as important as cast. Anyone knows this, and you should too, Dixie. Truth is, I want your company to succeed, and I want it to challenge the stagnancy of the WWE. Your company being healthy would be great for wrestling, and thus would make it a player in a world where people can watch anything they want, from MMA to baseball to caber tossing to curling. I love wrestling and want to have as many accessible alternatives as possible. You can help me and everyone else out here clamoring for something different, for something new, for something fresh.
All you have to do is not retread. You can do it. I know you can.
Sincerely,
TH
Banner by K. Sawyer Paul
