In TNA, there has finally been some form of turnover. Within the past few months, quite a few folks have either been released or they have asked for their release. The big thing that has been going on is that TNA has finally decided to treat wrestling like a business and not as some project founded by a clueless money mark. If you read my columns then you know that I have said multiple times that the goal of a wrestling organization is to make money. This stands the same regardless of if we are talking about wrestling or any other business in the world. In TNA, it looks like the practice now is when your contract is up, either take some form of a pay cut or leave the company. I can’t fault the folks at TNA for trying to save money. I am sure that within the past few years that they have lost a whole bunch while paying the salaries of washed up stars from both WWE and WCW such as Hulk Hogan and Sting. I am an 80’s baby making me a fan of both guys, but both of them probably collect more money than they bring in for the company. It’s time for TNA to simply do a roster revamp. As of October when Bound for Glory is finished, it will probably the time to pull the plug on Aces & 8’s and crown the new champion as someone from the TNA roster such as AJ Styles or Bobby Roode. And everyone will be glad when it is done because tell me the truth, do you really care about an angle where a bunch of washed up has-beens in Main Event Mafia takes on a team of washed up midcarder and Bully Ray in Aces & 8s? As you can see, I omitted Bully Ray from that crew. That is because I consider him the best heel in the business right now. The angle has run its course, and it is time for some new material. Hogan’s contract is up soon, so why not just let him go? If Sting is truly thinking of going to WWE, then let him go and cash out with his DVD and Hall of Fame induction. Ratings will remain the same regardless of who is on TV while money will be saved. There will be plenty more folks reaching that status of their agreement expiring. Lowball them too! This is wrestling not the March of Dimes. There is a perfect combination of people that TNA can revamp their current roster with, the first group is the indy dreamers who are willing to take some small payoffs so that they can be on TV every week. The other group happens to be some of those NXT dropouts floating who are out there. I can assure you that there are enough of them available! Why not get 2-4 of each kind to add to the roster? There are benefits to revamping your roster with both types. Let’s start with the independent guys. Imagine one week you are wrestling at some VFW in front of 150 fans (or less….sometimes a lot less) and the next you are wrestling on a show in front of a couple thousand fans broadcasted weekly on Spike to the tune of a million viewers. From looking at the list of people who sent in their stuff from the Gutcheck Challenge, I can assure you a lot of guys and gals on the indy scene would love a spot in TNA. These guys are used to pretty shitty payoffs, so just pay them a little bit more. If the person gets over then you can revisit that contract. If not, go ahead and swap them out because there will be plenty of others waiting for that chance. Then there is the other group of wrestlers who I had mentioned, and those are the NXT dropouts. NXT dropouts have some name value while still in their prime but will still be unfamiliar to a good segment of the TNA audience because not a lot of people follow NXT unless they spend time on Hulu or YouTube. You have the best of both worlds with these types, folks who have experience in a weekly episodic TV while still being a bit raw at the same time because they didn’t fit the “WWE Style”. The “WWE Style” should be irrelevant because TNA has more of an emphasis on the in ring product anyhow. Can they really be a WWE reject if they spent of their time in WWE developmental and are probably new to a majority of the TNA audience? Not every fan is as dedicated as you and I are, so not all of them spend so much time watching multiple wrestling companies both on TV, the internet, and on the independent scene. In conclusion, the main goal for TNA should be to make a profit. Not to make sure that unproductive people in the wrestling business have jobs. The goal shouldn’t be to even catch up or be on the same level as WWE because they will probably never reach that level. TNA should have bigger fish to fry at this point. They shouldn’t even be paying attention to WWE right now. Despite what everyone thinks about TNA, the fact remains that TNA has a little over a million fans who watch Impact each and every week. One million people who are committed to the product. The goal should be to expand on that loyal audience and to keep them happy all while making a profit at the same time. TNA should be the ultimate form of money ball right now! Get rid of the egos and the big salaries and just get back to the basics of what make professional wrestling work. Those things are excellent wrestling and logical storylines. With Thursday Night Football on the horizon, now isn’t the time to put out a garbage product because we all know that Thursday Night games can possibly bite a huge chunk out the TNA wrestling audience. If the episodic television is engaging enough, the people will continue to watch. Let’s see if TNA begins to revamp the roster after more releases take place. As always, you can follow me on Twitter @whosantcox, and I can be reached by email at invidwarriorz@gmail.com. Questions, comments, concerns, thoughts, opinions, I respond to ALL of them! I promise you that! See you next time, wrestling fans!
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