Normally on a Thursday night, I'd be doing a report on TNA Impact as it airs on Spike. Not anymore, not after the events of Bound For Glory. Not after Eric Bischoff & Hulk Hogan, aided & abetted by Jeff Jarrett (and, behind the scenes, Jarrett's pal Vince Russo), decided to turn back the clock to 1996 and reinvent the NWO all over again, as if that was really necessary.
What were supposed to be "termination papers" for Abyss last week turned out to be a hostile takeover, with Dixie Carter signing away her control of TNA to Hogan & Bischoff, less than a year after Hogan had signed on with TNA and sent the company's---and the industry's--fanbase into a frenzy. TNA's ratings have not changed one iota since moving back to Thursday nights in the spring. Oh, sure, there was a minor uptick with last week's live show and the return of Mickie James (this time under her own name) to TNA, but it'd really be news if Impact actually beat other programming for a change. They get routinely run over by college football on ESPN this time of year.
Kevin Nash & Sting were painted as villains for the last several months, but it turns out they were really right all along, warning everyone of the inevitable power play of Hogan and Bischoff. They turned down the Smiling Serpent (Bischoff) and his invitation to be part of the "new regime". Nash reportedly has decided to follow his buddy Shawn Michaels into retirement, if his Twitter posts are to be believed. Sting has not signed a new deal, but I'd not be surprised if he does re-up one final time, this time with Kurt Angle, as well as Pope D'Angelo Dinero, riding shotgun. Angle was forced to "retire", even though he wasn't the one who jobbed in the 3-way on Sunday. All that does is give Kurt time to make another DTV movie or two, and then he'll be back, probably no later than February.
I for one would rather watch college football and/or the baseball playoffs than have to watch a bunch of has-beens (Hogan, Flair, Bischoff, et al) lead a stable of TNA stars who should be at the top on their own merits (Beer Money, Styles, Kazarian, Williams, et al) into the wilderness, never to return. If anything, they should be reading the works of Santayana before the next taping to get a better understanding.
I get Jeff Jarrett being part of the group, but he's going about it the wrong way. He's let Dixie Carter take control of the company, but it was because of 1) personal issues on Jeff's part and 2)Dixie being too much of a mark to realize she didn't understand how the business really works. If this is leading to the last days of TNA, it won't surprise anyone. If Sting doesn't come back, he's likely to end up in WWE's Hall of Fame in April, as part of a WCW-themed class with Wrestlemania 27 in Atlanta, where Sting made most of his early successes. He's better off doing just that.
As for this writer, like I said, I'd rather be watching other sports than sitting through 2 hours of Hogan/Bischoff/Russo/Jarrett recycled drivel every Thursday. I'm done with TNA. End of story.
