Oh Dixie Carter, When Will You Learn?

The Shore
Photo Credit: TNAWrestling.com

So yeah, you've got a new act, and this act, they've got promise. What do you do to maximize that promise? Well, you could bring them along slowly and see if they get a reaction from the crowd, moving them along accordingly. This is the one that makes the most sense. You could hotshot them in a baptism by fire and have them be jobbers to the stars, something the WWE does from time to time. Maybe if they catch with the crowd or get enough of a rub while getting jobbed to high heaven, then they can get over on their own accord. Then, there's what TNA is doing with The Shore.

You see, the worst thing you could do is feed an up-and-coming group to a person or act that isn't in the business and has no intentions of sticking around. Yet, that's exactly what TNA is doing with The Shore. It started with J-WOWW punking out Cookie within a week or two of The Shore's debut. Cookie fumed over it for a few weeks before it was dropped. Now, Angelina, the exiled cast member, is in serious negotiations for a "real fight", whatever that means. So we're going to get an extended match between Cookie, who has experience, and Angelina, who is Jenna Morasca mk. II. What are the benefits of this though? How is this going to make a new star? Well, odds are it probably won't.

The idea is to bring a famous entity into the fray to give a rub to the unknown wrestler. However, what rub can Angelina give, one? She was the least popular cast member by far, so how many new viewers are going to be drawn in? Secondly, how many of those eyes will be averted when the match takes place? Unless it's a catfight-style brawl, I don't see any match featuring the two combatants being good. Third, well, what can be built on this? Cookie wins, and it's the heel giving yet another unsatisfying result. Angelina wins, and okay, it's probably over, and what star is built? If Cookie and Robbie E are given a good faith push afterwards, then yeah, it could work, but c'mon now, when was the last time anyone who hasn't been employed in another established company been given a good faith push?

This is once again Dixie Carter trying to take a shortcut and trying to get viewers through flash and sizzle instead of substance and steak. Angelina coming to TNA might get a few extra redirects from TMZ.com, but will it generate a buzz among the people it SHOULD be grabbing? The answer is hell no. Rather than trying to build Robbie E and Cookie into an act that has momentum, they're hoping a cheap ploy can get them viewers.

Too bad for them, it won't work. Just like Jenna Morasca and Johnny Fairplay and all the other shortcuts didn't work. But hey, if Dixie's satisfied with throwing her money away, then hey, I guess it's alright.

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