TNA: Nearing death, will WWE pick the bones?

I wanted to write something else about TNA but mere lists cannot do justice to the “thing” that TNA has become in the business of professional wrestling. TNA has been on a death watch longer than NBC’s Community — and even NBC knew when to say when.

A week ago, TNA (or “Total Non-Stop Action Wrestling” — ironic title if I do say so myself) was a network with talent that was either green or they were past their prime. They were WCW 2.0, a place where Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff thought they could achieve the ultimate redemption and, at the same time, compete with Vince McMahon and WWE.

The problem was that TNA’s voyage into the vast universe of pro-wrestling resembled less of a flight in a sleek starship and more like a bunch of renegades packed into the Flying Winnebago from Spaceballs. Something like this can work…that is, if the product is successfully in tune with the business side of things.

Unfortunately, TNA couldn’t keep pace with WWE and, in a fit of masochistic self-sabotage masked as a solution, hired Eric Bischoff and Hulk Hogan to “fix stuff”. Of course, this meant that Hogan got to bring in his friends, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Ric Flair, Rob Van Dam, and a few others — all shells of their former selves.

As a result, the same thing that happened with WCW began to happen with TNA: old talent usurping the younger guys, causing those guys to lose any traction and to leave the company. Nothing worked. But, hey, why stop there? Hogan started running the booking side of things which included keeping Hogan and Bischoff on television instead of in the background where they belonged.

Also, Sting became The Joker for a while. So that happened.

Still, I guess that’s better than booking KISS as “The Greatest Band in the World” for a post-show concert.

This all leads up to now. In the last year, TNA has been fairly terrible, the Peter Pan Productions of the wrestling world, shamelessly ripping off whole angles from WWE such as MVP and his brood being authority figures who torment Eric Young, a bearded wrestler dubbed a “fighting champion”.

And they brought back the “six-sided ring” as some sort of artistic statement.

So, after months of speculation, SpikeTV finally said, “enough” and cancelled TNA Impact, leaving the promotion homeless. It doesn’t mean that TNA is done — they’re just homeless — but this is no less than a huge dagger in their back and, at this point, even the Internet folk I’ve seen who spent countless hours tirelessly defending TNA (I swear, nearly every discussion board or forum dedicated to the business has a “don’t trash TNA” rule as if it’s a sacred holy institution) have to admit that this is it and that TNA is about to smash into the mountain.

The saddest part of this entire story is that TNA did this to themselves. WWE really didn’t have to do anything but carry on, as they always did. While Hogan was trying to bloody Vince’s nose, Vince really didn’t seem to react or care much.

Even worse, TNA’s an animal that been hit by a car — and, even though WWE is that hungry vulture ready to indulge in a juicy snack, they’ll most likely do what they’ve been doing: ignoring it and letting it die.

WWE’s in the middle of its own hell storm, hemorrhaging a small fortune every single day to the point of making severe cutbacks, so you’ll excuse them if they don’t go into their Draft Day mindset and start thinking of hiring back MVP and Bobby Lashley when they’ve already been that route. Yes, Lashley’s gone places in the last couple of months, but a “top star” in TNA is a fledgling mid-carder in WWE.

Does anybody honestly see Eric Young or even Beer Money making a run in WWE? Maybe with some major work and years of overhauling and re-shaping, sure…but, not now. Not, “as is”. These guys were what barely stuck to the wall.

At best, you might see WWE eventually purchase their video library for completion purposes…but don’t hold your breath for Shane McMahon appearing on IMPACT! or a “TNA INVASION” angle any time soon.

For now, even with the loss of fan favorites like Daniel Bryan and CM Punk and a television product that, at times, makes one want to headbutt a wall in frustration, WWE has an embarrassment of riches and the means to put on a show that’s worth watching.

That’s more than I can say for TNA — even if they do pull off a Phoenix-like recovery.