In June 2011, TNA introduced a tournament called the 'Bound For Glory series'. 12 Men, 1 aim, to determine the new #1 Contender for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. 11 men came and went but one stood tall above the rest, Robert Roode. The new #1 contender would face the champion Kurt Angle in the main event at Bound For Glory.
In the lead up to TNA's biggest event of the year, videos showing how much winning at Bound For Glory meant to Robert Roode started being shown, drawing the audience in and making them believe that Roode was primed and ready to be the next world champion.
Day of the big event. The main event Kurt Angle (c) vs. Robert Roode for the TNA World Championship.
With all the build up over the past few weeks, the audience is behind Roode and they know he will knock off the champion.
But he fails. He loses.
During the week after, his best friend and tag team partner James Storm wins in a match with no build up.
What happened???
The story goes that the day of Bound For Glory, the plan that was in place was changed and that Robert Roode would not be winning the title that night. Despite being pushed as being the 'flag bearer' for TNA after Bound For Glory, and a media tour that had been promoted in Australia for quite some time, it was decided that same day, that James Storm would win the title on Impact that week.
Many have said that although James Storm is the more charasmatic out of the two, Robert Roode was in the best place that he could be in terms of his look and his promo work.
"...Roode's promo work was easily the best thing on TNA television in well, forever."
The only person who didn't see this was Hulk Hogan who admitted during a radio interview on Sirius Radio's Busted Open program that he would put James Storm into that position, not Roode.
"I'd go with James Storm all day long. Mainstream brotha'!......if you ask me to choose who to run with', and you gave me those two choices? That's my opinion."
When Bound For Glory went off air, the fans couldn't believe it. TNA had changed their plans and in doing so were ".... throwing away the best storyline build in some time."
Hogan, as Hogan does, went on the defensive via Twitter with his usual rant about it being about the 'dirt sheets' and proving them wrong.
Hogan has been having to get on his defensive alot recently, especially after his remarks about AJ Styles who had missed a fan interaction event due to a death in the family.
Alot of people are angry at Hogan for those comments, as being as insensitive as they are, AJ is and has been the poster boy for all the good and unique qualities in TNA since it's debut in June 2002.
With the latest lot of defense from Hulk Hogan, and talk of plans changing due to 'proving dirt sheets wrong', could this be showing cracks in Hulk Hogan, or that the priorities of TNA are in the dangerously wrong place?
In regards to the Hulkster, the general feeling is that he is starting to show his more horrible side to his personality. He is being shown to be manipulative, he always has to be right and he has to prove others wrong. In this day and age it is easy for him to do that through the use of social media (eg. Twitter).
"....it's Hogan trying to show fans who don't bleed red and yellow that they don't know what they are talking about."
Hogan is trying to make an example of the dirt sheets by changing original plans and storylines so that he can rub it in that that was the plan all along and the dirt sheets were wrong.
"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 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."
In regards to TNA's priorities, they have changed dramatically since Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff came to power.
The company should not be making decisions based on a need to prove the the 'marks' wrong. They should be doing it for their love of their fans and based on what they think the audience would want. Doing it the other way is a way of ".....pissing on the audience that is paying for the company and the most passionate members of that audience as well."
As well as decisions not being well done, neither are situations that arise within the company. The Jeff Hardy/Victory Road saga is one that many TNA fans just shake their head at anytime it's mentioned. Company officials allowed Jeff to go out into a TNA ring when he was in no way able to perform. The word going round at the time was that Jeff Hardy showed up to the Impact zone like that and at that time, officials should have sent him home and sorted out a new plan of attack. Not what happened that night.
This begs the question"At what point does the hard working TNA roster and fans that are still loyal to the company become the priority?"
Personally, I believe that as long as Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff are at the forefront of TNA and involved in everyday decision making, TNA will continue in a downward spiral.
As a fan, I have seem some poor decisions made (eg. bringing the Nasty Boys/Bubba the Love Sponge into TNA, the Jeff Hardy/Victory Road situation) and I have seen the stuff that I loved about TNA either being pushed into the background or being taken away. Examples of this are the X-Division, although they are getting a teeny bit more air time now, and the six sided ring which in my mind made TNA different. It allowed all different angles of attack to your opponent and a whole lot of opportunities for the X Division to really shine.
Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff don't care what the fans think at all. From my perspective, all they care about is feeding their egos and their pockets. Which is unfair to the fans and to all the people who helped build TNA before they came along.
But what do I know? I'm just a girl who doesn't know what she's talking about.....
I hope you guys enjoyed reading it because I know I enjoyed typing it.
Anyway, that is all from me for now.
Until next time,
Ta ta xoxo
References:
PWInsider.com article
Twitter
