AS I SEE IT 4/9: Another walk in the e-mail forest...

AS I SEE IT
Bob Magee
Pro Wrestling: Between the Sheets
PWBTS.com

It's Monday, which means it's time to take a walk through the e-mail forest again.

Oh look, deep in the forest...is another troll. Let's go look.

From Michael Elias:

"I'm responding to your articles. Yes, I’ve read them, and it is obvious that you’re against TNA. Instead of bad-mouthing TNA you should do it to WWE and make a list of addresses of the products from their commercials. It amazes me that you took the time to make to look up each and every advertiser and made a list of it, from every and all commercials that appeared on Impact. That looks to me like you want to cause trouble for TNA....

No, I'm trying to get them to remove an inappropriate and possibly illegal arrangement with one of their independent contractors where they restrict him from taking jobs with a particular company desiring to employ him as an independent contractor...solely because TNA is jealous of the Internet success of the other company.

"....Why? You bad-mouth and nit-pick like those WWE fans/marks who will agree with everything WWE comes up with. Why don’t you talk about the stupid Ron Simmons gimmick? Only Vince McMahon thinks it’s funny. Gee lets have him walk around saying the same thing every time....

You've obviously not read my column over the last year. Let's see...I've complained about the following items within WWE: lunchtime suicide skits on their website where children can view them, Vince McMahon "booking God", Vince McMahon's WWECW, Paul E. pretending again he's Jesus Christ (or at least Jim Jones) with his cult leader crap, the selectively enforced Wellness Policy and WWE's "non-suspension suspensions", and the Wrestlecrap classic of "Rosie" vs. "The Donald".

As for Ron Simmons, he earned his chops a long time ago. After all these years, if he can get over with a catchphrase, good for him.

"...When you have Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler going to the hall of fame even though they’re still on Raw every week...

If you have any doubt whatever that Jim Ross belongs in any Hall of Fame anyone chooses to put him in, you're a stark raving troll.

"...Don’t you guys think John Cena sucks? Get rid of him already. Enough is enough. TNA does more in one hour than WWE does in two. Why does Raw have to go over-time? Can’t those idiots finish everything by 11? Maybe if they’d stop replaying everything that happens every couple of minutes. At least Triple H isn’t around to do those 45 minute promos anymore. Oh yeah, but Vince is. At least TNA is trying hard to reinvent wrestling...."

Re-inventing wrestling? Snicker....chuckle....Bwahahahahahaha....

They are? By re-using every gimmick WWF/E has used over the last 30 years? For example, Jay Lethal playing Randy Savage? Yup...that's a 100% adrenaline rush for me. In truth, its cheaper and more effective than sleeping pills if you ask me. Plus no one will die from watching too much Jay Lethal. Before someone writes me to tell me, yes, I know Jay did Savage impressions with friends before and after shows. Forget Lethal becoming Savage. Give me the Jay Lethal I see in Jersey All Pro Wrestling. He's a damned good talent and a nice young man who deserves better.

"I'm sick of the term sports entertainment. It’s WRESTLING! The X Division has done a lot of good things for wrestling. At least TNA doesn’t have the stupid Kennedy gimmick. Gee, a wrestler who wants to be a ring announcer. Wow. (Sarcasm.) Don’t get me started on The Boogey Man. I don’t have a problem with ROH. I think it’s great that you support them. Instead of being upset that TNA is popular and ROH isn’t, perhaps you should suggest to them about putting on a Pay-Per-View event. The fans would like that."

Yup, there's sure something wrong with the "Mister Kennedy" gimmick. It's actually over with fans. As for the Boogeyman, I've made clear how many times I hate the gimmick. But you apparently didn't read that column, since it didn't have the letters T-N-A in it.

"I was a big WCW fan and the bisness that people like you had towards the WWF/E was around back then.

Might want to try a dictionary before you write. The word you were looking for, instead of "bisness" (which itself is misspelled) is actually "b-i-a-s-e-d".

"An example, David Arquette and Vince Russo both win the WCW World title, you 'wrestling journalists' complain. But months earlier, Vince McMahon won the WWF World title and nobody complained.

That’s not fair. They’re disgracing the ECW name. If Vince McMahon is such a genius then how did he mess up on the WCW vs. WWF storyline? Any fan off the streets could’ve booked it better. Lock Down is an all steel cage match PPV. Nobody has done that. Plus tag team wrestling has always been better at TNA than in WWE. America's Most Wanted, Triple X, The Naturals, 3 Live Kru, so many good teams. So many good matches. You should start giving credit where it's due."

Again, if you've ever actually read my columns, beyond looking for any set of 10 words strung together that dares to suggest that anyone from TNA is a lesser lifeform than Jesus Christ himself... you'd see that as an original ECW fan, I've been all over WWECW from the very beginning. Try reading a few columns, dipshit, and see for yourself.

Again, if you had ever bothered reading my columns, you'd also see that I hate the Boogeyman more than you do. You'd also have seen...if you'd ever read my columns, you'd see that I bitched about the way McMahon's ego made him ruin what could have been the more lucrative angle in wrestling history...WCW vs. WWF/E.

So for God's sake, stop being so selective and actually read a column that doesn't have the word TNA in it.

From Australia's Adam Porrett:

"I come from Australia, I don't get a lot of wrestling promotions available on cable down here compared to you guys. We only get RAW, SmackDown!, ECW, and some TNA PPV'S every now and then. So naturally I am one with the WWE and I always will be.

The people that send hate mail to you because they think you have no right to express your thoughts on wrestling are assholes, nothing but assholes. They fail to understand that the wrestling business is different from other businesses. The promoters are big people in the business, the wrestlers are big people in the business, but we the fans are perhaps the biggest people in this business. Because we are the people who buy the tickets, buy the PPV'S, and watch the shows.

People must understand that the fans are the people that make or break wrestling promotions. We are a major part of the business and it is our right as the people who watch the stuff to express our opinions on what we think is good, and what we think is crap. It doesn't matter whether you've actually wrestled before, it doesn't matter if you're an expert, if you know what you're talking about, and you care for the business, say what you want. If anyone doesn't like that they can kiss my ass."

Perhaps you'd like to offer some help to the above reader....know a good reading teacher or a therapist he can consider?

From Jeff Costa:

"I got a bunch of ROH DVD's and with the exception of some undercard guys that maybe shouldn't be on the shows they seem to have a better product than TNA in my opinion (for what it's worth). Maybe some of the guys they use underneath help with the ring and do other things to keep the budget down a bit and I can understand that, so they use them on the shows as a favor in return (I figure) as they looked pretty green.

But otherwise the use of talent and some was the same, but looks better in ROH. I'll have to agree with your assessment that TNA protecting Joe's bookings in the way they have done it may not be in their best interest when pushing Joe.

I understand the mentality of protecting the talent but that is simpler to do by discussing his use with the bookers and coming to reasonable terms that Joe himself is happy with as it is his career ultimately and I'm sure as a professional he is capable of making the right decisions as far as his 'use' and 'finishes' as his career building had gone fine already without interference or having an exclusive booking arrangement with any part-time promotion such as TNA which does not provide him with full time work.

Unlike one of your other readers I do have qualifications in the wrestling industry to make this assessment and appreciate your view as a writer/long time wrestling fan and having promoted hundreds of shows through the years understand the value of the customers satisfaction with the product. I think the situation in TNA is one of needing control but not providing enough work to provide an atmosphere for the talent to be comfortable giving full time control to a part time situation with no guarantees and an unstable booking atmosphere with low TV Ratings. That would make anyone uncomfortable in an already unstable work environment that pro wrestling provides."

I couldn't have said it better myself...and see, folks, before the TNA trolls send me more hate mail next week, you can see that yes, people that ARE in wrestling (not the backyarders who write me to impress me with their "credentials" I can't finds anywhere online at all) who agree with me at least somewhat, or who disagree with other elements of it, but can do so in a literate manner.

From Jason Frost:

"While in alot of ways I can understand your frustration, there is pretty much very little you can
do to change TNA even if they did get rid of Russo. You see the strategy you seem to want both them and the McMahon version of ECW to go for is good for a company like ROH whose only form or revenue is DVD sales and live attendance but both companies are driven by Pay Per View buys and TV ad revenue so they are actually doing things right. It might be bastardizing the business in the minds of the IWC but that's just the way it goes.

You made the comment that TNA needs the ROH fan base to survive. The fact is TNA already had that fan base, as did Wrestling Society X when it came out. The problem is: there aren't that many of those and most of them don't have Neilsen boxes so they don't matter too much in ad revenue.

The WWE last night filled a football stadium with 80,000 people last night for Wrestlemania on a card
which on paper generally was not that exciting. WCW did it for years by playing off of the WWE's success.

The key to success in the TV wrestling business is making those people who watch sports entertainment but might not know everyone's name on the roster or the lineages of the titles front and back to sit on their butts and stop flipping through the channels. Most of those people still consider TNA to be just 'minor league WWE' and never even heard of Ring of Honor. TNA is attempting to draw those fans on name recognition, unfortunately most of the names TNA had
were on downturns in their WWE career so it made a slight impact but not a huge one. If TNA does ever get on the level of fan base as WWE it will not be on the in-ring action and the brass of the company knows that as does Spike TV. It will be on either getting a huge ex-WWE main event star in their prime (which I don't see happening) or on some crazy publicity stunt giving the company main stream exposure. It might be a sad reality but that's how the TV business works.

Sure helped them a lot with Kurt Angle, didn't it?

Since TNA hasn't given in and given fans what they want as of yet...If you feel that TNA is acting in a manner contrary to what you want them to do...just like any other company...with any other product... let TNA know that you'll no longer be spending the money you used to spend on TNA products; and will now be spending that money on Ring of Honor DVDs, live shows, and other revenue sources for that company.

It sounds like at least SOME people already gave up watching their much-ballyhooed two hour Spike TV special given the 1.18 rating/1.5 million viewers. If that's not enough, The Wrestling Observer reported that a special Thursday edition of TNA iMPACT! drew 0.6 cable rating. This ties TNA's lowest ratings for iMPACT! dating back to November 2005 and April 2006. Many regular TNA viewers were obviously watching RAW that week.

To contact parties concerned:

Contact TNA to express your thoughts on this matter at http://www.tnawrestling.com/contact/index.html. Make clear to them that you will also be contacting Spike TV and Universal Studios.

Contact Spike TV at their feedback site at http://www.spiketv.com/interact/feedback/feedback.jhtml

* Debra Fazio/Spike TV - 212-767-8649 debra.fazio@spiketv.com

* Salil Gulati/Spike TV - 212-767-8705 salil.gulati@spiketv.com

Point out to them, as has been said before, that NWA-TNA needs Ring Of Honor's fan base to survive. and that those online and smart mark fans that have kept them alive until they were supported by their current backers. Without that fan base, they might well not survive.

You can also contact NWA-TNA via snail mail at TNA Wrestling, 209 10th Avenue South - Suite 302 Nashville, TN 37203.

If you use the snail mail method, send TNA copies of your recent cable bills that show you are now ordering their PPVs. Remind them that they will be losing a customer starting with their February 11 PPV.

Finally, since the last few weeks hasn't gotten anyone to back off, here's a list of the advertisers that ran ads on last week's IMPACT and their contact information:

  • Taco Bell
    Taco Bell feedback

  • Campbell Soup Company (Swanson) - CampbellSoupCompany.com

  • Burger King, 5505 Blue Lagoon Drive,Miami, FL 33157
    (305) 378-3000

  • Quizno's Quiznos.com

  • Subway's Subway.com

  • Snapple Snapple.com

  • Proctor and Gamble (Old Spice), The Procter & Gamble Company, One Procter & Gamble Plaza, Cincinnati, Ohio 45202

  • Ubisoft.com Ubisoft.com

  • SEGA of America SEGA.com

  • Electronic Arts Inc., 209 Redwood Shores Parkway, Redwood City, CA 94065
    Phone: 650-628-1500/Fax: 650-628-1422

  • Sony/Columbia Sony.com

  • Monster.com Monster.com

  • Gamefly.com Gamefly.com

    If you're moved to respond, tell the advertisers you're acting in support of a company you say you support. Tell the advertiser you won't be seeing their ads, since you won't be viewing the show they appear on. Tell them you're going to put your money where your mouth is, and tell a company like TNA that's made a business decision that you in turn have made a business decision of sorts; and you'll no longer support them as long as they continue with the "business decision" they've made.

    Until next time...

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    (As always...this column represents the view of this writer and not necessarily of the website on which it appears).

    _________________________________________________________

    If you have comments/questions, or if you'd like to add the AS I SEE IT column to your website, I can be reached by e-mail at bobmagee1@hotmail.com)