It's Time for a New Number Two

Her company is bad, and she should feel bad.
Photo via Kayfabe News

Remember the Wrestling Retribution Project? I do. I was reminded of its existence today, when Ben Muth, whose main job is writing about football intelligently, was announced to be joining SB Nation. Muth's interests also included making his wrestling debut for the long-in-mothballs project. This project was announced almost two years ago. Filming has been in the can for more than a year, but Jeff Katz has either had trouble finding distribution for it, or he lost interest in it in a baffling manner. I don't know why this interesting project fell by the wayside, but it has, and it makes me sad. Obviously, there were names involved in this show that piqued my interest, including Chris Hero, Joey Ryan, MVP, Chris Masters, and Colt Cabana, and some of the promotional stills, especially for Dr. Luther's Father Dante, looked phenomenal. This had the potential to be one of 2012's best wrestling-related projects, and it not only hasn't seen the light of day yet, it may never.

The main reason why it bums me out is that the model, a season-based on-demand service, had the potential to shake things up. It was the kind of idea that could have caused a boom in the wrestling business, and even if it didn't overtake how wrestling was distributed for consumption, it could have at least provided a viable alternative to WWE, something that hasn't existed on the mainstream/corporate level since Vince McMahon bought out WCW. Let's face it, TNA is not in WWE's league, and I'm not even talking about just in the ring or in distribution, either. They are trying to overtake the market leader by being exactly the same as it in some areas, and being markedly worse in others.

Everything about its distribution models and in-ring product are similar or exactly the same as WWE. They run weekly television to set up pay-per-views as the main mode of resolution (and a hefty chunk of money via at-home sales). Obviously, that model has been scaled back this year with their cutting back to four live events, but that's merely a cosmetic change. They tour, just like WWE. They poach a good bit of talent who made their name in WWE to varying degrees of success. Obviously, they've reinvented some of these wrestlers, especially Bully Ray, but for everyone like him, there are at least two Kurt Angles. Even in storytelling mode, they are remarkably similar to what is offered from Titan Towers. They recycle a lot of old stories using flimsy covers on the basis of identity, and they continue to rely on authority figures and edgy anti-hero faces as major mechanisms.

However, the area where they are dreadfully worse than WWE is in the way they treat their talent. McMahon didn't get to the level that he got to by being a philanthropist, that's for sure. However, if a wrestler suffered an injury on his watch, he made sure that performer was taken care of. I'm not sure if there are any examples of McMahon paying for treating sicknesses unrelated to the ring like cancer (ETA: As mentioned in the comments and corroborated by cursory checks, both MVP and Great Khali had problems corrected on WWE's dime that were both found via the Wellness Program), but the fact that he has provided rehab for wrestlers who were long past their employment dates is far better than anything Dixie Carter and TNA have done for most of their contracted talent.

The Zema Ion incident is but the latest in the many black eyes for TNA, but one might argue that since it came out of the ring, that it's out of their purview. In a sense of personal responsibility, one arguing in TNA's favor here might be technically correct, even if the attitude is colder than nights on planet Mercury. However, how can anyone be in their corner when it comes to how they treated Daffney? Her injuries stemmed from being forced to go into the ring against a barely trained Rosie Lottalove, and TNA balked at paying her medical bills to the point where she had to sue. Her career ended because of those injuries. She lost her livelihood, and TNA pulled the independent contractor card on her to refuse any financial responsibility for her hospital bills.

We all know the shitty nature of other dealings TNA has had with its talent, whether its lax response to the Austin Aries situation or the fact that Taylor Wilde was recognized as TNA Knockouts Champion while at her day job at the Sunglass Hut or the fact that one of their contracted wrestlers had to apply for food stamps while injured because they paid him such a low rate for per-show appearances or the swirling atmosphere that promoted sexual harassment. Those are all areas where they're either similar to WWE or below it. I'm sorry, but if you're looking to surpass the market leader, you can't settle with being "just as awful" as it when it comes to human resources.

We've come to the point where TNA has been proven as completely worthless from nearly every standpoint as a major wrestling company, so much so that I am rooting against wrestlers like Sugar Dunkerton and LuFisto to win their brackets for their Gut Check Challenge. It's not that I don't want them to succeed. I do. I wish everyone I like who works on a level where there isn't as much money flowing around can get to one where they can work for a wage better than $20 a show and the entire take from their merch sales. But that ain't happening in TNA. Sure, they might get higher wages, but is the mental abuse and slipshod corporate atmosphere worth the bump in pay and the slight chance that you'll be part of meaningful TV time for an extended period?

Rather, if Katz had been successful at/bothered to getting distribution for WRP going, it might have faltered, sure, but the ceiling was a hell of a lot higher than TNA's ever was. Wrestlers would have had shorter schedules with less travel. They'd get residuals from DVD/streaming sales. They'd have true independent contractor status at the most lucrative levels for them that would have allowed them to pursue other opportunities, whether stateside or in other countries for extra cash. And hey, who knows, maybe the shift to completely studio-taped wrestling for release at a later date than live would have shifted the paradigm of pro wrestling from "staged live sport" to what it really is, "scripted action drama," which in turn could've finally meant SAG cards and health insurance for wrestlers who aren't lucky enough to get regular work in movies.

Of course, all of that is a leap to imagine happen right away, but it's a start. WRP and the ideas behind it were more than TNA ever was, an honest attempt at changing the game and providing something new and fresh to a stagnant wrestling mainstream. WWE has no prodding to change. If they did, do you think they would still be on Attitude Era autopilot, or even more damning, do you think they'd be as financially successful while being on Attitude Era autopilot? The answers to that are "fuck" and "no." Even if WRP's ship has sailed, they at least provided some kind of blueprint to what needs to be done to shake up wrestling at the corporate/widely-televised level. TNA, as a company, needs to die a quick death, because they are not helping anyone except maybe Carter herself in terms of getting her Twitter followers up and pocketing profits that are going to anything except the well-being of the average TNA wrestler.