Reading Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff's Twitter comments this morning after booking James Storm to win the TNA title this morning, I couldn’t help but laugh.
Reading their comments on Twitter, one would actually believe that the entire push of Robert Roode was all a ruse to get James Storm to the TNA title, an angle that actually isn’t a bad idea since you can now build the same kind of rivalry Ring of Honor expertly has between their champion Davey Richards and the man he beat for the belt, his best friend Eddie Edwards.
From reading about the angle last night and watching the post-match victory speech from James Storm, it was obvious that it was a good segment and a nice swerve, one that leaves open a number of doors for the future (as long as TNA doesn’t book themselves into oblivion, always a legitimate fear) but the comments made by Hogan and Bischoff instead create their own unintentional comedy.
The reality is there was no big, long-term plan here. Six months ago, they didn’t intend for James Storm or even Robert Roode to win the belt. As they came closer to the BFG series (a tournament that lacked no real pattern or sense) ending, it was obvious that Crimson wasn’t ready for a PPV main event match, at which point they considered the possibilities and decided to go with Roode.
While no one would argue that James Storm is the more charismatic of the pair, Roode is a wrestling machine and looks and talks like a top tier star, so TNA began the storyline to build Roode. The weekly video packages and Roode’s promo work was easily the best thing on TNA television is well, forever. Whether Roode would have worked as TNA champion or not is debatable, but the reality was that he was primed and ready for his moment. Everyone knew it, except Hulk Hogan, who decided to admit that if it was up to him, he’d have put James Storm into the position.
When fans reacted negatively to that comment, not as a sign of disrespect to Storm but as a sign of disbelief that Hogan couldn’t see what everyone else obviously could, that turned into Hogan having to defend himself online – at the same time he was also taking flack for comments made about AJ Styles, who has been the poster boy for all that was good and unique about TNA since its debut in June 2002.
So, what happens?
The day of the PPV, Robert Roode is told he’s not getting the belt. That same day, the decision is made to go with James Storm on Tuesday. Bound for Glory goes off the air flat as fans shake their heads at TNA obviously blowing what they had been building for months, throwing away the best storyline build in some time.
They can obviously salvage some of that with the Storm title win, but trying to claim that this was anything but a last minute decision brought on by Hogan’s belief that Storm was a stronger choice isn’t anything but a bold-face lie.
Roode was being sent to Australia for a media tour after the PPV. Partners working with TNA were told Roode was going to be the new flag-bearer going forward. Plans were already in motion and at the last minute, those plans were change. Whether those plans were changed due to egos reacting to criticsm, is certainly a valid concern. The reactions today by Hogan and Bischoff make those concerns even more valid.
Hogan and Bischoff can claim they were working the Internet fans or swerving people, but the reality is that if they are changing finishes and storylines to get “one over on the online fansâ€, that’s more of a sign that their priorities are in the wrong place – and a dangerous place at that.
Company decisions should not be made to show fans “you really don’t know what you are talking aboutâ€. Doing so is pissing on the audience that is paying for the company and the most passionate members of that audience as well. This wouldn’t be anything new for Bischoff, who used to scoff at fans during Prodigy Internet chats that claimed the wheels were coming off the NWO angle – only to see those same fans depart and disappear as WCW crumbled.
For Hogan, however, it’s a new side that he’s allowing the general public to see. While a certain percentage of fans were always aware of Hogan’s manipulative ways and of his need to always be right and prove others wrong (Ric Flair’s autobiography features a number of stories over Hogan’s obsession with newsletters during the WCW run), with the advent of Twitter and other social media, now it’s Hogan trying to show fans who don’t bleed red and yellow that they don’t know what they are talking about.
Yes, Hulk Hogan apparently believes that’s he’s working “marks†by showing them that their criticism is garbage. To do so, he’s changing company storylines and acting like that was the plan all along. Not only would that not be “working the marksâ€, it would show a really scary sense of self-preservation and vanity for someone who should be satisfied enough by successfully returning to the ring, albeit in a diminished capacity due to his physical issues, it would be blatantly lying to the fans.
Welcome to the new work, where the work isn’t getting fans to become emotionally invested in characters and storylines to spend money, but lying to fans and telling them they are marks and don’t know what they want to see at the same time you expect them to spend money on the product. The only problem with that end game is that every time you try to pull the work again, you get more and more exposed as running in circles, something that sadly, TNA has been doing since Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff came to town.
But that’s OK, right? Now, we have James Storm as the champion – and everyone (myself included) loves James Storm! So, what happens if Storm doesn’t click and the ratings don’t take off and suddenly, it’s the same old story? Does Hogan go on a radio show and tell everyone how, like AJ Styles, the numbers for Storm didn’t click and his suggestions weren’t used? Does Storm become another scapegoat and cast aside just like Robert Roode was on Sunday?
What happens then? Does it become another swerve – Frankie Kazarian, come on down for your run with the title! – to buy time and tell fans that see the stupidity in the statements that they are marks and don’t know anything?
At what point does the hard working TNA roster and the fans that are still loyal to the company become the priority again?
Or, am I just another person who worked myself into a shoot, like some “jabroni mark†who’s had the same five star match over and over, according to Hogan?
It’s great James Storm is your new TNA champion. The idea of Robert Roode getting into a rivalry with his best friend and longtime partner, is a viable one – but for anyone to claim this was a long-term plan is absolute garbage – and as long as those making decisions remain focused on lying and trying to show fans that they are idiots for caring (because that’s what the message here truly is), they only people they are working are themselves – and not for money, but for ego.
And we know where those egos got them a decade ago, don’t we?
