From my limited perspective as a fan of TNA, I could think of a few people who should be blamed.
Jeff Jarrett for picking his buddies over business.
Dixie Carter for choosing to ignore problems and act like every thing's fine when it isn't.
And Vince Russo, of course, for his wacky, inconsistent, senseless booking. His "push someone this week, forget about him the next" and "if people aren't expecting it, we should do it'' philosophies keep talent from getting over and take away credibility from the show as a whole.
Of course my views may be totally ignorant since the truth is I have no idea who's running TNA (and sometimes I think that happens to their employees too), but while I'm on this rant I'd just like to get something out of my system.
I don't know if anyone remembers the whole Eric Young/Kevin Nash feud/tag team fiasco from a couple of years ago. It's the perfect case study to analyze when observing why Vince Russo's booking is completely idiotic and bad for business.
It all started during Eric Young's days as leader of World Elite (a stable with potential that got booked into oblivion with too many wrestlers joining in and getting treated like jobbers) and Kevin Nash a member of the Main Event Mafia.
Their paths crossed when they got booked to face off in a Triple threat match for Nash's Legends championship at a PPV (who memorizes TNA PPV names anyway?). Because the Main Event Mafia and World Elite were both heel stables and the third man in the title match was a babyface, Mafia and World Elite created an alliance (which is what ALWAYS happens in TNA when there are two heel stables, which leads to stables including over ten members, which as you can imagine makes each individual look like a meaningless turd).
For the finish of the match, Young backstabbed Nash and took the belt. This was the first betrayal in this "feud". You'll probably lose count so you better start writing it down.
Nash was seen as the babyface for being more popular and the guy who got backstabbed. iMPACT! hyped up Nash's response to Young's actions, and finally it was time to see what Big Sexy had to say. Facing off against babyfaces, Eric Young started to back up the ramp, not knowing that Nash was behind him. The crowd started getting behind Nash, hoping to see him clobber Eric Young. And then Nash hits a boot on the guys who were attacking Young, thus revealing he was joining forces with Showtime.
In a backstage interview, Nash was asked to explain his actions. He told the interviewer that everything would be explained once Hogan would show up (this was before Hogan and Bischoff had arrived to the company, but the hype had already started). Spoiler alert: Things were never explained.
As time moved on Nash sort of became Young's bodyguard/tag team partner/mentor. The team eventually became babyfaces, confronting the new heels, Sean Waltman and Scott Hall, who were trying to get a contract with TNA and at the same time convince Nash to become a party boy like in the old days. Nash would have none of that and the feud escalated to Nash having the shit beat out of him by Scott Hall. Eric Young was also beaten down often, until finally a match was made where if Hall and Walt Pac won, they'd get TNA contracts.
The PPV match started, and soon enough Nash turned on Young to reveal he was still buddy buddy with Scott Hall all along (surprise!). He was such friends with Hall that he allowed Scott to beat him with a belt repeatedly and smack the shit out of him, just to make people believe they weren't friends. What a great plan.
And for whatever reason, Nash felt that instead of telling his protegee Eric Young that Hall was cool, he'd just betray him instead.
Now Eric Young was ready to get his revenge after being humiliated by the 3 veterans. A violent feud began, with Young assaulting his former mentor and his new enemies.
Until of course, he was tagged with a babyface and turned on his partner to join Nash again.
Even though Nash had betrayed him.
After he had betrayed Nash.
So, with no reason ever given as to why they didn't just unite to begin with, they became a stable of 4 who, besides all the drama that lead to their formation, ended up splitting, no questions asked.
Shit like this is what leads to fans not caring about heel and face turns in TNA. It's awful business because fans stop giving a shit, so even IF they are watching the TV show, they wont buy the PPVs because they wont feel emotionally attached enough to give up money.
After witnessing Hall betray his former best friend Kevin Nash and beat the shit out of him, fans may have paid money to see them square off against each other, to see Nash finally get his revenge. What they saw was Nash reveal it was all a ruse and hug Hall. It's fucking with your own audience.
Booking wrestling is not rocket science. Heel turns and face turns shouldn't be used just for the fuck of it. They have a purpose, and that purpose is draw fucking money. Russo accidentally stumbled into the money match of Hall vs Nash, and then said ''fuck it'' and decided to stop making money by making them friends again.
This is because Vince Russo has no idea how to book a wrestling promotion, and the proof is he uses turns when he's out of ideas - as in, all the time.
TNA's PPV buyrates are in the shits, and Hogan and Bischoff use excuses like ''Spike TV isn't available in enough cities". What bullshit. Less than a third of the people watching iMPACT! are buying the PPV. The problem isn't promotion or placement, the product is the problem because it's the booking that's supposed to draw PPV buyrates, not the arrival of new stars which seems to be Dixie Carter's philosophy.
Unfortunately for Impact Wrestling or whatever the company is called (depends on who you ask, I guess), having Sting, Hogan, Bischoff, Nash, RVD, Jeff Hardy and Ken Anderson is giving them the same exact tv ratings that they were getting before throwing shitloads of money at the WWE rejects, and PPV buyrates are actually WORSE with Hogan in the team. This should be completely unacceptable! How can buyrates go down after you bring in arguably the biggest star in the history of wrestling Hulk Hogan, and one of the hottest babyfaces of this generation during his prime, Jeff Hardy? but instead of doing something about it, Carter just answers with more excuses and allows the train wreck to continue.
Sorry for the venting, that is if you even read that whole thing. I've just had this case going through my head for a while.
