In case you didn't know, Vince Russo, by accidentally emailing somebody in charge of a wrestling news site instead of Mike Tenay and Taz, exposed a fact that TNA didn't want out - that Russo was, in fact, working with TNA again as a consultant. Where this becomes a hilarious story is not just that TNA management lied to the wrestlers and lied to others in the industry, not just that it knew that Russo's reputation was so bad they made him sign a confidentiality clause so nobody would know, but in the fact that Spike TV, the single most important aspect of TNA's existence, was bold-faced lied to, and told Russo wasn't working there.
Spike doesn't like Russo’s work. Most people with a functioning brain don't. His run as TNA writer from 2006 to 2012 was utter shite, and at a pivotal time for the company, he helped eviscerate any chance for the product to catch fire and for the company to make money on Pay-Per-View. Spike knew he wasn't good for the wrestling show they air, so they didn't want him back.
Don't worry, said Aunt Dixie, it's all bullshit.
TNA's television contract expires in two months. Spike doesn't usually let things slide this late, and the fact they are this time is not a promising sign. The company has been in dire straights for months and months, with financial cutbacks changing the roster and look of the television drastically. Sale rumours have been floating since late last year, all of which Spike is surely aware.
Then they get lied to. Not only is it indicative that Dixie Carter will truly never learn a single thing about wrestling by bringing back the guy who failed to get the job done before, but it's a massive, arrogant slap in the face, especially considering that without Spike, TNA is dead. And I don't mean that to be dramatic, it’s true. There is no TNA Wrestling if Spike TV drops them. It's over.
Despite what its defenders may say, the product has never been firing on all cylinders. It was never a great show. There were times when certain things happened of merit, a great match, a good character, a bit of momentum gathered for something. But it almost always fell short. And typically, the bad far outweighed the good.
And that comes down to Dixie Carter's fuck awful decisions regarding who runs the show. Decisions that have bitten her time and again, but through her almost admirable stubbornness and award-winning inability to open her doe-eyes (well, Worst Promotion Of The Year is an award in the Observer Newsletter), have replicated themselves to the point of comedy. Remember in the early 90s, how WCW relied on a steady-string of people to book, one after the other, all either completely unqualified, or guys from the past who had no idea of wrestling in 2014 and beyond? Dusty, Ole, Herd, Frye, Watts. And oh yeh, Russo.
Sometimes I feel bad for Vince Russo. He doesn't seem like a bad guy, really. It's got to be tough to get constantly joked about and insulted for doing something he wanted to do all his life, a dream job that most of us would take if we had the chance. And hell, I’m not afraid to say it, a job that Russo was actually successful in for a brief period of time in the WWF. So in fairness to Vince, this isn't about him this time. He took a job to help, and do it to the best of his ability.
Granted, he wasn't right for the job at all. But the fact he was kept for so long is not his fault, nor is it his fault that the company lied to its business partner. We may be about to witness a sad moment in wrestling - I want a healthy number two promotion to thrive, it only benefits us as fans, and TNA, which has always struggled to fill even modest expectations for "number two", may soon be a thing of the past. It’s all in Spike’s hands, and it may all depend on much that slap stung.
If that is the case, maybe Dixie will finally learn this lesson - You don't shit where you eat. But given her track record, I just don't have the faith in her learning a single thing.
But at the very least, you'd hope they'll use this as a chance to learn how to put the right name in the fucking email.
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