February 13, 201213 yr comment_5494908 Is Bischoff's role at TNA purely as "an onscreen talent" or does he have some power too? He's had power since he showed up. It's ebbed and flowed, but he (and Hogan) have Dixie's ear. John
February 14, 201213 yr comment_5494977 Mark Madden posted this on Twitter: Hogan contract expires in fall. Impact agreement w/Spike expires in fall. Hogan will try2 snake deal from Dixie, start Spike-branded co. It's worth noting that Bischoff has Spike TV's ear.
February 14, 201213 yr comment_5494980 Russo gone is good, but as long as Bischoff is still there, nothing will change much, as Russo already lost a lot of imput when Brother Love came in board. And Pritchard isn't the answer at all. They need to get rid of Bisch & Hogan anyway, they are just leeches.
February 14, 201213 yr comment_5494986 Russo may not be gone. Dave is speculating that nothing has been said officially because Russo walked out and Dixie is trying to entice him back.
February 14, 201213 yr comment_5495003 For better or worse, Russo is "her guy". Do you allow your closest ally to be kicked to the kerb when you've got snakes like Hogan, Bischoff and Prichard around? Russo being gone will weaken Dixie's hold on power within the promotion's hierarchy, so it's in her interests to keep him around.
February 14, 201213 yr comment_5495006 She's the damn meal ticket! Isn't everyone supposed to be her 'guy'?
February 14, 201213 yr comment_5495008 For better or worse, Russo is "her guy". Do you allow your closest ally to be kicked to the kerb when you've got snakes like Hogan, Bischoff and Prichard around? Russo being gone will weaken Dixie's hold on power within the promotion's hierarchy, so it's in her interests to keep him around. Isn't she the daughter of the owner ? Which would make her, well, the Boss ? She should bitchslap inept people and fire them all. The thing is, Russo and Jarrett have been piping smoke up her ass for so long, and she knows nothing about the wrestling business, that she's still convinced that Russo is very valuable.
February 14, 201213 yr comment_5495010 My favourite all time Dixie story is when she said if she heard another "Fire Russo" chant, she would fire someone else for being responsible.
February 14, 201213 yr comment_5495012 My favorite all time Dixie story is when she said if she heard another "Fire Russo" chant, she would fire someone else for being responsible.She would have to run out of scape goats eventually!
February 14, 201213 yr comment_5495013 I think the only way to save TNA, and this would never happen, is to hire someone who HASN'T been part of the wrestling inner circle forever and give them total booking control. No more Heyman, Russo, Cornette, Bischoff, Hogan, Pritchard, etc.-- basically nobody who has been recycled through promotion after promotion for the last 30 years. But I have no idea who this hypothetical individual would be. Maybe one of us.
February 14, 201213 yr comment_5495014 I know I brought this up before on this board, but I see the lack of new, solid young behind the scenes talent as a huge reason that wrestling overall has dipped so badly. You have that whole creative group with guys from the major companies through the 80's and 90's... and really, Bischoff, Russo and Heyman are probably the youngest of that group. And after that? Nobody, really. There is a real void where there should be some guys in their 30's, or early 40's, who could bring some revitalized ideas behind the scenes. That is one of the real lasting legacies of the death of the territories, because guys that want to break in really have almost no credible career path into that top level inner circle anymore. So instead Vince is hiring soap opera writers and TNA is just recycling the same people doing the same old thing. Something has to give there in the next decade, you would think.
February 14, 201213 yr comment_5495018 My favourite all time Dixie story is when she said if she heard another "Fire Russo" chant, she would fire someone else for being responsible.To be fair, she was talking about hearing that chant during segments that Russo hadn't written. (Basically she was admitting that some of the other writers on the committee are even dumber than Vinnie Roo.) But yeah, it's a really poorly-phrased line.
February 14, 201213 yr Author comment_5495019 What she never understood was that regardless of who wrote it, it was crap. Talk about not being able to see the forest for the trees.
February 14, 201213 yr comment_5495022 For better or worse, Russo is "her guy". Do you allow your closest ally to be kicked to the kerb when you've got snakes like Hogan, Bischoff and Prichard around? Russo being gone will weaken Dixie's hold on power within the promotion's hierarchy, so it's in her interests to keep him around. She's the damn meal ticket! Isn't everyone supposed to be her 'guy'? Isn't she the daughter of the owner ? Which would make her, well, the Boss ? She should bitchslap inept people and fire them all. The thing is, Russo and Jarrett have been piping smoke up her ass for so long, and she knows nothing about the wrestling business, that she's still convinced that Russo is very valuable. Yeah... I'm very confused by Keith's comments. Is "Spike" the boss? If that's the case, then Dixie shouldn't worry about Russo. She should worry about her relationship with Spike, and getting rid of Hogan and Eric. On the other hand, I would LOVE-LOVE-LOVE to see Hulk & Eric screw over Dixie to lift the Spike deal with a new Spike Wrestling Company where they just fleece the shit out of Spike for their own masturbatory promotion. Could be the greatest thing ever and get me to watch Spike Wrestling again... for a month or so before it's so bad I need to flip away. John
February 14, 201213 yr comment_5495030 On the other hand, I would LOVE-LOVE-LOVE to see Hulk & Eric screw over Dixie to lift the Spike deal with a new Spike Wrestling Company where they just fleece the shit out of Spike for their own masturbatory promotion. Could be the greatest thing ever and get me to watch Spike Wrestling again... for a month or so before it's so bad I need to flip away. I'm thinking this could indeed be the endgame. And yes, it would be the most beautifully horrible trainwreck ever.
February 15, 201213 yr comment_5495048 Yeah... I'm very confused by Keith's comments. Is "Spike" the boss? If that's the case, then Dixie shouldn't worry about Russo. She should worry about her relationship with Spike, and getting rid of Hogan and Eric. Dixie's the Boss, Panda Energy are the owners but Spike does pay for a significant portion of the production cost & kicks in money for some of the higher priced talent like Sting & Hogan. I forget which but Meltzer or Alvarez or someone on the Observer site always puts forth the theory that Spike's support is at this point the only thing keeping the company afloat so that's why TNA puts so much effort into trying to get/maintain ratings instead of doing more to increase PPV buys, house show attendance, merch sales, etc... My favourite all time Dixie story is when she said if she heard another "Fire Russo" chant, she would fire someone else for being responsible.To be fair, she was talking about hearing that chant during segments that Russo hadn't written. (Basically she was admitting that some of the other writers on the committee are even dumber than Vinnie Roo.) But yeah, it's a really poorly-phrased line. To be even more specific they were talking about the Sonjay Dutt vs Jay Lethal tuxedo match from a few years back on one of the PPVs. On her youshoot Dixie tried to throw Dutch Mantell under the bus for that one which I sorta half buy. As a gimmick I could see that being something Dutch might suggest but the horrible "writing" leading up to it and the crappy overbooking of the match itself had Russo's fingerprints all over it.
February 15, 201213 yr comment_5495049 I forget which but Meltzer or Alvarez or someone on the Observer site always puts forth the theory that Spike's support is at this point the only thing keeping the company afloat so that's why TNA puts so much effort into trying to get/maintain ratings instead of doing more to increase PPV buys, house show attendance, merch sales, etc... That's always been Russo's MO, though. He's been pretty open about his view that his job is to pop ratings and that drawing money is "old school" and therefore irrelevant.
February 15, 201213 yr comment_5495052 If Russo's gone and Hogan/Bisch are in charge, I may just give it a chance the way I did the first night they showed up...until they ran me off. If nothing else, hopefully they'll bury the godawful name TNA for good. I can't imagine anyone with any self-respect watching something called TNA Wrestling.
February 15, 201213 yr comment_5495055 Yeah... I'm very confused by Keith's comments. Is "Spike" the boss? If that's the case, then Dixie shouldn't worry about Russo. She should worry about her relationship with Spike, and getting rid of Hogan and Eric. Dixie's the Boss, Panda Energy are the owners but Spike does pay for a significant portion of the production cost & kicks in money for some of the higher priced talent like Sting & Hogan. I forget which but Meltzer or Alvarez or someone on the Observer site always puts forth the theory that Spike's support is at this point the only thing keeping the company afloat so that's why TNA puts so much effort into trying to get/maintain ratings instead of doing more to increase PPV buys, house show attendance, merch sales, etc... Who was the boss in WCW? Even though Dixie is the figurehead of the company, her real power has declined in the last couple of years. Her mother, Janice Carter, now controls the pursestrings of the company after Dixie overspent to compete head on with WWE and Spike TV now deals with Bischoff more than Dixie after they lost faith in her when she couldn't deliver the star power she promised in January 2011 (Nash and Booker returning to WWE instead of TNA). Russo taking his ball and going home is the latest example that she's lost her grip on power and the inmates are running the asylum.
February 15, 201213 yr comment_5495058 Dave keeps dropping hints at the Observer board, including saying that Spike likes to be owners and not renters, implying that they're going to somehow own whatever wrestling promotion is airing on their TV in the fall.
February 15, 201213 yr comment_5495059 It really makes sense on the Carters end too, as TNA are just bleeding money at this point with no hope of a turnaround.
February 15, 201213 yr comment_5495060 What's great is that Spike will quickly find out what a sink hole a promotion run by & for Eric & Hulk is like. Also, as "cost" become a concern for Spike, watch Hogan & Eric start throwing overboard all the overpriced vets so that they themselves can continue to be overpriced vets. It won't be long before it dies if Spike ends up "owning" the company on their channel, especially if they're listening to Eric and Hulk. John
February 15, 201213 yr comment_5495063 Looking at the history of TNA, I can't help but be reminded of the quote about America being the only country in history to go from barbarism to decadence without an intervening period of civilization.
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