TNA… Cross the Line again

[mrtrickio]

9 minutes ago, RedTwoster said:

I'd like to see him stay with AEW, although the fact his contract has expired makes me think that's unlikely.

He's still listed in the official roster and as in the opps so it's not out of the question just yet...

[WyattSheepMask]

43 minutes ago, RedTwoster said:

 If the opportunity ever arises to reform The Acclaimed, it's a bit of a no-brainer for me that you might want to do that. 

They had them both under contract two weeks ago and were doing fuck all with either of them, when would they have a better opportunity?

[garynysmon]

He must be thick as shit tbh.

In this day and age he must know that mocking people dying in an airstrike is beyond the pale even if you’re meant to be an edgy rapper?

Any barbs about WWE and Saudi are irrelevant in that context really.

[TheScarlettChad]

2 hours ago, RedTwoster said:

According to who? Given that he left WWE after being asked to take a pay cut, the odds of him joining a company which would pay him even less seem extremely low. 

Anyway, TNA have now formally confirmed that Caster is no longer with them (link to Fightful). 

I'd always wanted to see AEW do more with Caster, but incidents like this help you understand why they didn't - he's an absolute liability. Referencing an attack that resulted in multiple deaths is stupid in itself, but given TNA's links with Saudi money-superfans WWE it's down right idiotic to do something like that. 

He obviously has form for this - referring to a real-life rape during a rap on Dark and (to be honest, I've only just learned about this one) forcing them to cut a rap on Rampage that referred to the Luigi Mangione case (link to Sports Illustrated) then complaining when they cut it. 

The other thing I've learned from this incident is that he's 37, making me think he perhaps doesn't have it in him to learn from his mistakes. 

https://wrestlingnoticias.com/sheamus-was-tnas-first-choice-for-mooses-open-challenge-not-max-caster/

[Merzbow]

 

[RedTwoster]

From that apology, I can kind of see why companies would be wary of him. "If I get a reaction, as far as I see it, I'm doing my job" - stupid logic that people often apply to wrestling. If it were that simple, everyone would go out there and say the most extreme things they possibly could every week and the audience would be fine with it. What you say needs to have purpose behind it beyond 'getting a reaction'. 

"I can't apologise if I offended you, but just know, I'm trying to entertain." - again, really dumb logic. "But...I was trying to entertain" isn't a get-out-of-jail-free card when you mess up. 

If he's stubborn to the point he's sticking to that way of thinking after crossing the line several times in multiple companies, it has to make the prospect of working with him extremely challenging. And that's a shame, in spite of those flaws he's a talented guy. 

[tiger_rick]

Dunno if it's related but Talksport came on and they were asking for stories of times you've been fired in double quick time.

Presume Leroy Rosenior will be on later.

[Arch Stanton]

Given how brutal the business used to be, I'm certain there are tonnes of great examples of wrestlers being fired after just one appearance (Buff Bagwell springs to mind), but to be sacked for something you've said within the first ten seconds of your debut is really quite the feat.

I like the guy. He clearly understands he's fucked up a big opportunity here, despite the somewhat botched apology. I hope he does well on the indies, it'll probably be a while before he gets another shot at a major promotion.

[Lorne Malvo]

1 minute ago, Arch Stanton said:

I'm certain there are tonnes of great examples of wrestlers being fired after just one appearance

There's a half-decent thread in this, I reckon.

Hade Vansen only had the one vignette on Smackdown before he got binned, didn't he? And I can only remember Kizarny making the one appearance before he got dumped, but might be wrong on that one.

[Carbomb]

9 minutes ago, Lorne Malvo said:

There's a half-decent thread in this, I reckon.

Hade Vansen only had the one vignette on Smackdown before he got binned, didn't he? And I can only remember Kizarny making the one appearance before he got dumped, but might be wrong on that one.

Kizarny had two match appearances. Apparently he was in a segment too (I don't remember that, but it's on Wiki).

[Big Bully Busick]

22 hours ago, garynysmon said:

I mean, I don’t like it personally but business-wise its probably one of the best decisions they’ve ever made.

Nowadays 2,500 is considered a poor attendance for a TNA PPV but the product under Scott D’amore (which I much preferred on a personal level) would have given anything to have regular four figure attendances.

Also likely that having any kind of link to WWE talent opened the door the AMC and Canadian TV deals.

Short term wins

 

Long term I think it's be the death of the company one way or another 

[garynysmon]

53 minutes ago, Big Bully Busick said:

Short term wins

 

Long term I think it's be the death of the company one way or another 

Heard that one before!

Like I said, the current incarnation of the company, booking-wise, is far from my favourite and I barely watch it at all nowadays (or any current wrestling for that matter).

But its also right to concede that TNA has settled into a holding pattern of pretty decent TV ratings and arena attendances being significantly better than at any point in their history (other than a year or two ago).

Not long before the pandemic, Impact was being recorded in really dark high school gyms in front of dozens of fans where you could awkwardly hear one or two poor sods pathetically trying to get a chant going.

Fast forward to now where we’ve reached the stage where online tribalists on the other side of wrestling’s ‘cold war’ think its hilarious they could only get 2,500 into a building.

If nothing else, the expectation level is significantly higher these days.

TNA Impact is getting around a third of AEW Dynamite’s weekly TV rating, while clearly TNA doesn’t have even a third of AEW’s talent budget, for instance.

I may not agree with the company’s direction but its hardly a brand on life support either, and now seems to live within its means.

Any remaining WWE links really aren’t clear at all in terms of the on-screen product.  Barely anyone shows up any more.

You could fairly argue that if any links with WWE were scrapped tomorrow, TNA would still be coming out of it in a more robust shape than they did going into it.

 

Edited Tuesday at 06:42 PM by garynysmon

[Chili]

I don't watch it because I just don't care for TNA anymore, but that company is only dying by WWE hand or something. The resilience of that company to not go under regardless of how LOLTNA is can still be is amazing. I don't want it to go under either. I rather admire how it's kept chugging.

[Big Bully Busick]

2 hours ago, garynysmon said:

Heard that one before!

Like I said, the current incarnation of the company, booking-wise, is far from my favourite and I barely watch it at all nowadays (or any current wrestling for that matter).

But its also right to concede that TNA has settled into a holding pattern of pretty decent TV ratings and arena attendances being significantly better than at any point in their history (other than a year or two ago).

Not long before the pandemic, Impact was being recorded in really dark high school gyms in front of dozens of fans where you could awkwardly hear one or two poor sods pathetically trying to get a chant going.

Fast forward to now where we’ve reached the stage where online tribalists on the other side of wrestling’s ‘cold war’ think its hilarious they could only get 2,500 into a building.

If nothing else, the expectation level is significantly higher these days.

TNA Impact is getting around a third of AEW Dynamite’s weekly TV rating, while clearly TNA doesn’t have even a third of AEW’s talent budget, for instance.

I may not agree with the company’s direction but its hardly a brand on life support either, and now seems to live within its means.

Any remaining WWE links really aren’t clear at all in terms of the on-screen product.  Barely anyone shows up any more.

You could fairly argue that if any links with WWE were scrapped tomorrow, TNA would still be coming out of it in a more robust shape than they did going into it.

 

 

 

We've all heard it before 

 

I think this time around they've made themselves look so incredibly inferior with the WWE partnership it'll eventually be gobbled up when times inevitably get hard again 

 

I get your points, I really do but I see them as short term gains but with potentially disastrous long term results