After last night’s public lynching of me on Wrestling News Live, I’d be very smart to stay low key and hidden for a while.
Problem is, I’m not smart.
Let’s get something straight here.
As of this moment, right now, I have no intentions on watching TNA. I think and I stress the word think that talents that I am very fond of, and have followed for years, are going to be buried due to the influence of Hogan and/or Bischoff. I’ve feared this in the past with other signings, but not as much as this one, because the Hogian name is such a more reknown name that TNA is foolish not to try and use it to its fullest extent.
Now, I KNOW that there are people that say I don’t watch it anyway because of my schedule, and that is correct. However, I follow the results religiously, and I catch the video replays on spike.com when I can, as well as the vid highlights from the TNA website. Is that the same as watching the show live, of course not. But, it’s something, and it can provide me with some assemblance of a basis to form some opinions.
It was suggested last night that I keep quiet about the TNA product for the forseeable future due to the fact that I am imposing a self boycott of the product, and after this column, I intend on following that advice.
Before I end this portion, I have this to say.
If the situation arises on Impact that I see Hogan working WITH and not against the talents that I follow on a regular basis, I will come to this website with written word, and say I am wrong with what my opinions were when I published the initial reaction column after I read that Hogan had signed. I am so fearful of Hogan burying the talents that I believe deserve the time inside the ring and on television that I did overreact significantly.
It’s what I do. People don’t like it, some do, so be it.
I do want to address something I tried to bring up in the email I sent to WNL last night. I said that Hogan has the same disease that Jericho was using in his storyline with Flair, Piper, Steamboat and Snuka prior to Wrestlemania 25. That the legends don’t know how to get out of the way.
I still believe that. But, I want to amend what I was trying to say last night.
I believe that personalities like Hulk Hogan and/or Ric Flair, if given the chance, can be major players in the wrestling business for eons to come. The name recognition, and the microphone skills are such with both talents, okay, maybe not so much with Hogan, but with both talents per se, that these men could, and SHOULD earn a living for a lifetime based on simply that. It requires a lot of pieces to a puzzle, but I could see Hogan as a commissioner of TNA on screen, or Flair doing a similar authority role in either TNA or WWE.
What I am scared to death is, we’re going to get Hogan wrestling more than the so called plans of mice and men are reporting. I’m disappointed with Flair returning the ring, although not surprised, but with Flair, he has some more physical mobility than Hogan does, and he could probably get the job done. Hogan’s skills are long since gone, and to join up with a company that needs that magic bullet, to use Hunter Golden’s words, you need a complete player. Hogan is not complete. And if Spike or TNA try to shove it down our throats that Hogan is a complete player, personality, and athlete, it’s going to be the quintessential bomb I had said previously.
Saying that the man needs to step away from the business was harsh. I’ll admit that here and now. The response I got was a bit harsher, but I guess that’s the nature of the beast when you put yourself out there for public consumption. It’s fine, I can take it. But, when I’m wrong, I’ll say I’m wrong, and I was wrong to say that this man should not be able to earn a living doing what he loves to do. And if this set up is such that Hogan can make the impact he is likely to make, and not force himself to be overly physical, then there’s a chance this could work for TNA.
One last thing, I believe this is also the case with Mick Foley. Foley is someone who should step away from the physical aspect of the business, and focus more on the personality aspect. I don’t bitch about Foley as much however because I am a fan of his, and, well, bluntly, I like ‘hardcore’ wrestling. Yes, I put it in quotes, because it’s not truly the hardcore style that was so prevalent back in the day.
Ok. I’m done. No more TNA talk in my columns for the forseeable future. My boycott begins now.
Wrestleview’s resident teacher, Anthony Valvo has a tremendous idea of booking a fantasy 32 man ‘dream’ tournament involving talents from all across the globe. I’ll admit, I’ve thought about doing that idea for some time, but Mr. V has taken the reigns and went with it. I’m looking forward to seeing how that pans out.
I’m going further in WWE Smackdown vs. Raw’s gameplay. I just finished the C.A.W. Road to Wrestlemania. The last match is definitely a nice twist, a gauntlet match followed by first blood matches against all three opponents… Ouch. I’ve also done my C.A.W. in some heavy duty career mode work, getting his overall ranking to a whopping 98. I only need to do the WWE and World tag team championship paths, and then he should be a hall of famer.
It was virtually impossible for me to win the Rumble match last year from a low number. This year, I’ve already won the Rumble from spot #4. I am really proud of that achievement. (Enter cornball reference here.)
I haven’t dabbled in the storyline editor piece yet, but I will. SO far, I am very pleased with the gameplay. I haven’t upped my level of gameplay to normal, but when I do, the game will take on a whole new meaning for me.
There’s only one thing that I have noticed that’s missing from the game that was there last year. Stats. I’m a numbers guy, and I loved seeing win/loss records, title holders, royal rumble wins, inferno match wins, etc. I wish that the stats were still there.
Oh, I know this is Hogan based, but can I ask this website a question. Can we stop printing anything out of the mouth of that walking waste of oxygen who calls himself a radio discjockey, Bubba the Love Sponge? Jeez, if he’s a credible source, then I’m an expert journalist.
By the way, Adam, Hunter, that was a rhetorical question.
Something else that came out of WNL last night I want to talk about. Kurt Angle apparently is going to be cleared of all the charges against him levvied by Rhaka Khan. Ok, I’m wrong, I thought he was guilty, and so on and so forth. But, that doesn’t change my opinion on the issue that Kurt Angle is in desperate need of assistance with his physical and mental well being, before something terrible happens to him in the ring, or outside of it.
I gotta give some credit to the WWE. Cena vs. HHH vs. Michaels for the WWE title, and what should be revealed later tonight during Smackdown are pretty good triple threat mains for Survivor Series. If for no other reason, it’s going to likely kill two tag teams in the division that WWE said they wanted to focus on at the present time. Hypocrites.
I’m kind of nervous as to what’s likely to happen to Bryan Danielson after seeing Nigel jump to TNA wrestling. I want to see Danielson debut in WWE really badly. I think Danielson would be a tremendous addition to any brand in WWE, and he should have been brought in already. I wish I knew what the delay was.
I’m fishing for topics. Let me get out of here. I have a LOT of emails from the Hogan rant from the other day, I am going to print them all on my blog at mikesiciliano.blogspot.com. I hope you check them out.
Click here to email me.
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