Bully Boy

Bully Ray has become TNA’s new chief heel, turning on his storyline father-in-law and wife (Hulk and Brooke Hogan respectively). He’s also been revealed as the boss of the Aces and Eights gang (pipping long time favourites Jeff Jarrett and Eric Bischoff to the post) and become the company’s world champion into the bargain, unseating the popular Jeff Hardy.

All of this happened in the space of one match at Lockdown. It was a busy, some may say frantic, evening for TNA and for Bully. But then the company has never been known for their well-paced stories.

 

I remember watching Hardcore Heaven '99, headlined by Ray versus Taz for the ECW championship, and thinking Bubba would never win a world title. Looks like I was wrong...

 

I wrote on Sunday afternoon that I wouldn’t be averse to a Bully Ray world title reign. I’m still not. I think Ray as a performer is easily good enough to be the top guy in TNA. I’m less thrilled by his heel turn though. He’d become a popular act for TNA, and I think fans would have been willing to embrace him as a top line babyface far more than they were James Storm. By switching him back to bad guy mode TNA have short-changed themselves.

It’s the situation we have though, and while I’m not especially interested in the dealings of the alleged outlaw biker gang and their newly revealed miscreant leader I am interested in seeing who Bully is pitted against in his new role. At the top of his challenger list will obviously be Jeff Hardy. As the wronged former champion ‘The Charismatic Enigma’ is the clear choice to be Bully’s first challenger.

The question of when is an interesting one. TNA’s next pay-per-view will be June’s Slammiversary XI (celebrating eleven years of abject nonsense). That’s a long time to wait to book a rematch. The time could be padded out with Bully originally refusing to grant Hardy his return bout, and then eventually booking it for an episode of Impact and having it end in a disqualification. Even with those tricks it’s a long time to wait.

With three months to play with TNA should really be planning on wrapping up the Hardy v Bully feud (and the Aces and Eights v TNA for that matter) earlier than Slammiversary. If built up for several weeks beforehand the rematch could get Impact a strong rating. That’s what the plan should be.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Sting and Hulk Hogan were booked in challenger roles too. Both men gave their storyline trust to Bully and were betrayed by him. Booking Bully against either man at Slammiversary seems fairly likely. If I had to pick between the two I’d go with ‘The Stinger’. He may be fifty-three but he’s more spry than Hogan.

Of course ‘The Hulkster’ is the bigger name of the two and the entire Brooke-Bully marriage plot has started to look like an elaborate setup for a Hogan v Bully match since Lockdown. Couple this with Hogan’s talk since late last year that he wants to return to the ring and be TNA champion and the fact that he’s involved in the promotion’s booking and a Bully v Hogan match looks inevitable.

 

Bully Ray's next pay-per-view opponent?

 

Will Hogan beat Bully for the gold? If ‘Calfzilla’ is still champion when the two clash I think there’s a strong chance of that happening. However, it’s also possible Bully will drop the belt over the summer and headline October’s Bound For Glory in a non-title outing with Hogan.

The man that should be used as the next challenger after Jeff Hardy is James Storm. He’s someone who was being promoted as one of the leading forces of TNA early last year. Sadly his push cooled and he’s done very little of interest for the last year. Portraying him as the outraged, loyal TNA guy and having him target Bully for messing with the company could help to rehabilitate him. Something needs doing, or he may as well be released.

Kurt Angle, Samoa Joe, and Magnus would all make very good television opponents for Bully. In the case of Angle the match should be built up far in advance so that it can attract a good TV rating. ‘The Cyborg’ shouldn’t be wrestling regularly with his dozens of nagging injuries. If he appears on TV it should be a big deal.

We’ll have a better idea of who will challenge for Bully’s gold next after Thursday’s Impact. Whoever it is I don’t think it will convince me that Bully leading Aces and Eights is a good thing. Turning Bully has come at the cost of a popular act that had plenty more to do. He would have been of far greater benefit as a face. But then short-sightedness is nothing new for this company.

Countdown to Lockdown

Tonight’s Lockdown pay-per-view is a peculiar point in TNA’s history. It’s their first supershow since January and will mark as the final one until June. This is all a part of the promotion’s move to shed themselves of the well-worn twelve PPVs a year format. The bigger news is that they’ve made the decision to begin with: Lockdown will always be a the footnote as the first show after a month being skipped but that’s minor in the grand scheme of things.

A far more important point is the contract status of Bobby Roode.

‘The It Factor’ hasn’t been on IMPACT much over the last few weeks. It’s also been revealed that he’s been absent from this weekend’s TNA-themed festivities (put on by TNA themselves, natch) in San Antonio (host city of Lockdown). Roode’s contract expired several weeks ago and it’s clear he’s not signed a new one.

It’s a typical TNA situation. They’ve pushed the guy to the top and he’s proven himself to be a reliable headline talent. Re-signing him should have been (and still should be) an absolute priority for the group. Roode has been a massive success story for the league, proof that hard work can be rewarded with a prime slot. His story could be used to convince others to re-sign or join the company to begin with. Losing him to WWE, which is a very real possibility looking at recent signings by the sports entertainment outfit, would be a tough blow for TNA.

On another level it seems stupid and amateurish to allow someone’s contract to expire while they’re recognised as a champion. Why put a belt on a guy who’s working without a contract or whose contract is about to expire?

 

Will the tag champs be reunited at Lockdown?

 

Hopefully TNA can work something out with Roode so that he appears as scheduled at Lockdown. Losing him would be harmful to their product and their image. If he were to leave I wouldn’t be surprised to see him on NXT within a couple of months.

The final point of interest going into Lockdown is the main event. TNA world heavyweight champion Jeff Hardy defends against Bully Ray. That’s the same Bully Ray whose storyline father-in-law is Hulk Hogan. The same Bully Ray who’s storyline “brother” Devon is an important member of heel faction Aces and Eights.

Could all of these facts be linked? Very possibly.

Going into the event Ray is a good guy. It’s very easy to envisage him revealing before or during the bout that he has secretly been the man orchestrating the Aces gang’s antics all along. It would set up programmes for him with Hogan (who we’re told wants to make another one of his many comebacks to the ring this year) and Sting (who has vouched for him several times over the last six months) and reunite him with his former Team 3D/Dudley Boys partner. It would also establish him as the promotion’s chief heel, a role he seems well equipped to play, and kick off what would surely be a boring story about Brooke Hogan choosing between her kayfabe husband and her real life father.

I’d like to believe TNA will resist the urge to have Ray affiliate himself with A&E. Not only is it a predictable swerve turn but it would also waste a guy who’s become a surprising hit as a top line face. ‘Calfzilla’ has taken to the role of good guy very well after his extended run on the dark side. He may be very good as a villain, and the group may be short of a clear lead heel, but the temptation to put Ray into that role should be resisted. Have him stay a face while there are fresh things for him to do and concentrate on building someone else up for a run as a top

heel.  

A more interesting swerve turn, but not one I’d particularly recommend, would be Brooke revealing herself as a power player in Aces and Eights. There’s no logical reason for this to happen but it would keep Brooke prominent, which seems to be a priority for TNA. It could be interesting for a week or two but the entire Aces story is old hat now. They should do whatever swerve turn they’ve got planned and begin wrapping the plot up.

 

Next world champ?

 

Whether or not Ray will walk out as TNA champ is anyone’s guess. He’s well placed to dethrone Hardy, especially if the ill-advised heel turn ends up going ahead as he could then go into potentially big defences against ‘The Hulkster’ and ‘The Stinger’. Should he capture the gold and remain a face then there are considerably less intriguing defences to be made against the likes of Devon and Mr Anderson, as well as Austin Aries and Bobby Roode (if he sticks around). Putting Chris Daniels back into the challenger role would be a shrewd move too.

Ray is one of the few guys in TNA that comes across as a genuine threat to the reign of ‘The Charismatic Enigma’. I think the match will be very good. As far as a winner goes I’m torn, which is how wrestling should be. I’d like a Ray title win though. He’s worked hard to get to the top and I think he’s an asset to the company. I’ll be rooting for him.

Don't Blink

Don’t blink when you’re watching IMPACT Wrestling. So much happens so quickly that it’s easy to miss plot developments.

A perfect example is the recent booking of Mr Anderson. After not doing anything notable since failing to capture the vacant (and worthless) TNA television championship in September he returned to the company on the final broadcast of the year. For no discernible reason Aces and Eights offered him membership. Anderson accepted, seemingly swayed in his decision by two women who appeared from nowhere to cling onto his arms.

Just like that Anderson had returned to TV, become a heel, and joined a faction. Any viewer who had missed this episode of IMPACT, or even that one backstage segment, would have missed several weeks’ worth of progression.

No logical reason has been offered for Anderson joining A&E beyond the aforementioned women. It’s not that him joining the gang is a bad idea. If TNA’s booking team had nothing else lined up for him then it’s as good a use for him as anything else, and a far better use than paying him to sit at home. But it was a rushed job. For all the praise that’s been heaped on TNA regarding the pacing of their stories over the last year this demonstrates that they still haven’t mastered that area.

If Anderson’s move to the Aces clique was rushed then the A&E story in general is painfully slow. The bikers (that’s what they are remember) first showed up in TNA in June of last year. Seven months later we’re only just beginning to see members of the troupe revealed. We didn’t discover the identity of the first member for four months. While I agree that keeping people waiting for reveals is the best way of approaching things that was far too long.

As things stand right now we know the identity of seven members of the group. Of those seven names only six are active wrestlers. The non-wrestling member is Taz, a man who nobody was crying out to see elevated to anything even resembling a position of prominence. The reveals are proving a painfully slow process. It has sapped the initial interest in the group by simply being allowed to wallow in its own self-importance and hype for too long.

We know there’s still more to come from the Eights too. We still don’t know what their aim is or who’s in charge. At the current rate neither revelation is going to be made until at least late spring. Summer seems more likely.

Something else that falls firmly into the “blink and you’ll miss it” file: the whirlwind romance between Bully Ray and Brooke Hogan. On the surface this story appears worryingly similar to the Stephanie McMahon and Triple H marriage in the WWF back in 2000. A wrestler marries the boss’s daughter (Hogan’s not the boss but he is an on-screen authority figure, so same difference really) against the boss’s wishes.

"Finger Point of Doom, brother!"

It’s too early to know whether this will end with ‘Calfzilla’ turning heel but it wouldn’t be surprising. By marrying Brooke Bully has gotten a (kayfabe) power spot. With his “brother” Devon a member of Aces and Eights it’s all too easy to imagine a swerve turn that reveals that it was “a setup all along” and that the former Dudleys planned this entire ruse to grab power in the Land of Impact.

Or perhaps this is an altogether more subtle plot, one designed to be a parody of the real life marriage between Steph and Tripper. I doubt it though. Even TNA would find it hard to justify that particular brand of nonsense.

The marriage of Ray and Brooke has come about very quickly. Their relationship was only revealed in November. For them to be married two months later feels pretty quick (although in fairness it’s not the first time a wrestling wedding has happened fast). Just as bizarre is the speed with which Hulk Hogan has been won over by the idea of his daughter dating a wrestler, and one close to twenty years older than her to boot.

TNA may have long term plans that they’re sticking to. That’s great. It’s something the company has needed to get sorted for years. But just because you have long term plans doesn’t mean things need to play out over the long term. Knowing what’s going to happen several months in the future is good, but it doesn’t equate to having one storyline stretch out over years.

Long term booking can just as easily be a plan to shift through three or four major angles and storylines across a calendar year. TNA’s getting this right in having one story bleed into the next but their pacing is poor. Title reigns and pushes should be lasting for six months, not stories. It’s an approach that isolates casual viewers and bores regulars. Things are looking promising in TNA but there’s still work to be done.

Anti-Authority

Why is it that every wrestling promotion under the sun (well, the ones in North America at any rate) feels the need to clog up valuable minutes of air time with authority figures? WWE is the prime culprit. This year we've seen AJ Lee become the GM of RAW only to be fired a few months later for "inappropriate relations" with a talent, Booker T appointed as the new SmackDown boss with his assistants (Teddy Long and Eve) bickering and one-upping each other continually, and, of course, the entire John Laurinaitis saga. The latter was a holdover from one of last year's central stories.
 
While authority figure storylines are a WWE speciality they're not the only ones at it. Over the last few years TNA has become a pustule of unsightly continuity plots with match-making power tossed around seemingly at random between Sting, Eric Bischoff, Hulk Hogan and Dixie Carter. Not content to simply rotate established names through an existing job a new role was also created: GM of the Knockouts division. Designed exclusively as a way to get Brooke 'Hogan' Bollea onto television it's a move that hasn't improved Impact at all.
 
Even Ring of Honor, the company all about emphasising in-ring competition and downplaying frivolous stories (supposedly), has seen an above average amount of time dedicated to match-makers this year. Executive Producer Jim Cornette was the main rival of world champion Kevin Steen before being written off TV (because of his real life dismissal from the booking squad) to be replaced by Nigel McGuinness.
 
In 2012 there is no need for these figures to be featured so prominently. Yet they are. Their prominence is a holdover from the days of the Attitude Era, where the Mr McMahon character first gained notoriety and become a money draw. People had filled similar roles before, but never had they gotten over so well. Vince was so fantastically good at the heel owner shtick that the promotion’s writing team (which was installed during the Era’s latter years) became used to writing with such a character.

The man who started the trend

Authority figures have become a crutch to the WWE writers. They rely on them for easy storytelling and eliciting the desired reaction (usually boos or cheers) easily from fans. It’s a habit that needs to stop. Wrestling shows do not need weekly appearances from General Managers, Executive Producers, Managing Consultants, commissioners or any similar fictitious role.

That’s not to say that these roles should be done away with completely. There’s always a need for authority figures in wrestling. A GM, commissioner or owner is someone who can explain the storylines and book the matches on screen. It’s a good way of getting retired or limited performers (or over non-workers) onto television. They just shouldn’t be on every week talking for twenty minutes.

TNA, WWE and ROH are all just as guilty as one another when it comes to this. All three need to decrease the amount of time dedicated to these performers and start focusing on signing and pushing new acts whom they will be able to rely upon in the years to come. People won’t buy a pay-per-view to see matches being made. They’ll buy a pay-per-view to watch matches being wrestled.

Knocked Out

Over the last ten years TNA has managed to do a few things better than their chief rival WWE. One was the innovative X Division. While the X athletes have had some rocky spells over the years they are currently on the way back to becoming an important part of the company’s programming again. New signings are swelling the ranks and the booking team seem determined to make us care about the belt with the X again.

Another area TNA used to outperform WWE in was the booking of their female talent. In 2007 the company became serious about featuring women as wrestlers and established the Knockouts division. Performers such as Awesome Kong, Gail Kim and the Beautiful People were hired to fill the ranks. They did everything the company could have hoped for: they produced excellent matches and got over.

While the TNA Knockouts division is still superior to WWE’s Divas league it is has seen far better days. The recent departures of both Angelina Love and Velvet Sky, two of the promotion’s most over wrestlers and stalwarts of the women’s division since it was introduced, indicates that TNA is no longer serious about promoting the Knockouts.

Mickie James, shown here as Knockouts champion, could still attract viewers if TNA booked their female wrestlers better

Part of the problem is the signing of Brooke Hogan. She has been brought in as the authority figure of the Knockouts division, a move that has predictably lessened the amount of airtime the existing roster receives while also making Hogan’s daughter the focal point of the division, rather than the wrestlers. It’s a pointless role created to give Hogan’s firstborn something to do.

TNA still has some excellent Knockouts on board. Gail Kim, Mickie James, ODB, Tara, Madison Rayne and Sarita are all solid workers and make a great foundation to build a division around. Brooke Tessmacher and Taeler Hendrix are both still rough around the edges but could and should improve if they’re allowed to keep working with such a talented locker room. Meanwhile the creative freedom TNA grants its employees should ensure that the women continue to have their own voices.

Perhaps the best news for fans of the once mighty Knockouts division is that Kharma, formerly TNA’s Awesome Kong, has been released from her WWE contract. If TNA want to get serious about their women’s branch again she is the ideal person to sign.

The question is whether or not that’s actually what TNA wants. Letting talented performers walk away makes it seem as though the women aren’t a priority for the company right now, and the slapdash booking and decreased time backs that up. If that is the case then things need to be reconsidered down in the IMPACT Zone because promoting the Knockouts as competitive athletes and relatable characters is a very simple way of attracting a new audience and differentiating themselves from WWE.

Announcement Wars

Thursday 17^th May saw noteworthy announcements from the western world’s two most notable wrestling promotions.
 
First WWE announced that beginning on July 23^rd Monday Night RAW will be a three hour show, starting one hour earlier than it currently does. Not to be outdone TNA announced that IMPACT will air live on May 31^st and that the trend will continue "through the summer." They followed that up a short while later with the less noteworthy news that Brooke Bollea (daughter of Hulk Hogan and failed pop starlet) has signed a contract with the organisation to appear as the Executive in Charge of the Knockouts Division. She will naturally be using the stage name of Brooke Hogan.
 
Let's start at the bottom and work our way up, shall we? TNA does not need another on-screen authority figure. They already have Hulk Hogan and Dixie Carter. That’s one too many. Plus it's only a matter of time before Eric Bischoff shows up as a TV regular again, at which point he will no doubt have some sort of match-making ability. More to the point there are less than a dozen female performers in TNA. Does such a sparsely populated Knockouts roster really need an Executive exclusively dedicated to it? Of course not. If it did then it would certainly require someone with more credibility in the world of wrestling than Brooke.
 
Brooke's leap into the world of wrestling is not dissimilar to Garrett Bischoff’s. Neither has paid any dues (the time honoured wrestling tradition of grafting for very little or no pay and constantly losing your matches while you work your way up the card in the eyes of your peers and fans) which will create resentment from fans and wrestlers alike. There’s simply no reason or need for Brooke to be appearing in the IMPACT Zone.
 
If she wants to be involved in the wrestling business that's great. Considering who her father there would be interest in her as a novelty act if nothing else. Being in charge of the Knockouts division is not her route to the top though. If TNA wants Brooke to be a boon for them then she should be posted to OVW for a year or two. There she could learn how to wrestle before being called up to IMPACT to be used as an active wrestler. That's what TNA needs, not more people conducting twenty minute promo segments on a weekly basis.
 
WWE's announcement of RAW becoming a three hour show has been expected ever since people noticed the show was being advertised to start an hour earlier than planned from July 27^th. There are rumours that it will be used as a pre-show. If that's the case then it could work out to be a good move, though that will depend largely on what WWE believes a pre-show should consist of. There's potential in that idea and that's what I'm hoping the plan is.

Look on the bright side: RAW getting more time means Alex Riley is likelier to wrestle on the show...

 
If, on the other hand, WWE are simply going to be promoting the same product but with an additional hour this is an absurd move. The creative team are struggling to write two hours of captivating television each Monday as it is. A third hour will only serve to exacerbate the situation. It won’t improve the product and stands a good chance of making it worse. It would have been a better idea to concentrate on improving the quality of the timeslot they currently have before obtaining an extra hour.

I would imagine that Brock Lesnar has indirectly played a part in this decision. By running three hours RAWs every Monday WWE can get more screen time out of ‘The Pain’ without eating up more of his limited appearances.
 
It's also worth noting that RAW routinely features a fifteen minute overrun. That means it actually runs for two hours and fifteen minutes rather than exactly two hours. This may not seem like much but if the trend continues it will mean that RAW runs for a whopping three hours and fifteen minutes. Nobody needs that much wrestling every Monday night no matter how much they like wrestling.
 
Three hour weekly shows didn't do Nitro any favours. Maybe Vince and company should watch some of that videotape library they bought.
 
The best news is TNA’s announcement that IMPACT will be going live. This is something they should have done long ago. The positives should be obvious: live TV means no spoilers, which means it's easier to surprise fans, build interest for big televised matches and increase ratings. It will make IMPACT seem a more spontaneous, exciting product and will hopefully serve to encourage better viewing figures.
 
The next logical step will be to broadcast IMPACT from different locations. Hopefully the company won't wait too long to do that. For now though they deserve praise for finally taking the plunge and broadcasting their flagship show live.
 
It's nice to see TNA giving us more reason to be happy than WWE. Brooke Hogan may not be a particularly thrilling signing (especially on the heels of a man encouraging crossover in King Mo) but lives IMPACTs are great news. If TNA plays things right they could use this as a way to reboot their product. But then we’ve heard that before, haven’t we?