Back in 2009, I watched as the folks of TNA Wrestling were finally starting to gain traction. They had an excellent roster of men and women who truly seemed to care about putting on a great show for the fans. AJ Styles was sitting at the top as their World champion, and was showing everyone why he was one of the top wrestlers this planet had to offer. Then an announcement was made that Hulk Hogan was coming to TNA Wrestling, and as a life long Hulkamaniac I will admit that I was very excited. I also felt that his presence in the company could only help to enhance TNA as a national wrestling promotion. I will admit that my fandom had blinded me in this case. And soon enough, the wheels fell off the wagon as the new year began. When January of 2010 hit, TNA set up to have a special live edition of their flagship show "Impact" go head to head with Raw while featuring the return of Hulk Hogan. When Hogan first hit the TNA ring and made his speech about making TNA better, I fell for it hook, line, and sinker. Soon not only was Hogan in TNA, but it seemed like he was also going to bring in any one who was once a star in either WWE or WCW within the past 15 years. Heck, even the Nasty Boys showed up! Hogan truly felt that he made wrestling what it is (go ahead, ask him and he will tell you this himself). Hogan felt that TNA could go head to head with WWE on Monday Nights simply because he was there, and instead we got crash and burn moments for TNA that came along with a failed attempt at a Monday Night War. The booking and story-lines came straight out of 1997, the 6-sided ring was gone simply because Hogan didn't like it, and he took the title off of AJ Styles probably because he felt he was too small, BROTHER! It was clear that Hogan was simply there because of his name and because of the Carter Family's deep pockets. By 2012, a lot of the faces of failure were gone such as Vince Russo and slowly but surely TNA was starting to show improvement with Bobby Roode as champion and Austin Aries making the X-Division relevant again. Also, Hogan didn't seem to be on TV as much as before and the focus was on getting younger talent over. And once again just as TNA is starting to gain traction, we once again have to deal with Hogan in the form of his talent-less daughter Brooke who somehow is in charge of the Knockouts Division despite never competing in the wrestling ring. And we now have a storyline revolving around Hulk not wanting his daughter to have a relationship with Bully Ray. Bully Ray has shown to be one of TNA's top heels and best talkers, and now we have to see him having stare-downs with old man Hogan to end a wrestling show. It appears that once again, the goal is to get the Hogan's over instead of focusing on the things that make TNA great in the first place. They have the best roster of athletes in mainstream wrestling, but it's all getting wasted in exchange for more Hogan. So soon, Brooke is gonna turn on her dad and we are going to have to see more air time dedicated to this garbage instead of airtime dedicated to getting their young talented stars over. Plus, TNA is supposed to be in the middle of a battle with Aces & Eights! Why put that on the back-burner for relationship story-lines? Leave the convoluted and senseless relationship story-lines for WWE creative. Dixie, Hogan doesn't know best! Once you get rid of the Hogans, things will only get better. It's 2012, not 1987, and the Hulkster should no longer be a focus in mainstream wrestling. As Jim Cornette once said "Hulk Hogan, you may be a household word, but so is garbage and that begins to stink after a while too!" As always wrestling fans, you can follow me on Twitter @whosantcox or you can email me at invidwarriorz@gmail.com.
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