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5.21.2010

Who Should Get The Axe In TNA?

One of the hottest stories out there is that TNA President Dixie Carter has been advised by her board of officials to cut 15-20 names off of the active roster. Keep in mind, the current active roster has just over 50 names on between both men and women.

It appears that the two month long Monday night experiment cost the company a lot more than they thought it would.

Word has leaked that Gregory Shane Helms has recently comes to terms with TNA. With contracts like Shelton Benjamin, Charlie Haas, Tommy Dreamer, Maria Kannelis and Mickey James available - TNA can freshen up their roster but has to first make room.

Carter has been public with her feelings that talent who have been loyal to TNA should not be released and she would go to bat for them. That being said - who should be cut? What are the right business decisions to be made? The following is my list of names that I expect TNA to cut in the near future. This is not a list of who I'd LIKE to see released, simply the people that I think make the most business sense and will do the least amount of damage to TNA by moving on.

The Amazing Red - I like Red. You look at him and you think X-Division. He helped launched TNA but to be honest, the X-Division isn`t what it was and in many ways the company appears to have passed him by. He can`t do much about his size, but injuries have certainly slowed down his insane pace. Does cutting Red hurt you? Sorry, but no.

Brian Kendrick - I've always been a mark for Spanky so this kills me to say, but he has failed to get over and has already been relegated to job duty and Xplosion matches. Let him loose and he'll do fine in Dragon Gate with London.

Rhino - Another of my long time favs. Going back to when he was a staple on Michigan and Ontario indy shows. This former TNA World Champion is so lost in the shuffle that the search party got bored and drank themselves to sleep. Hell, they gave his finish to Jesse Neal. He's done.

Generation Me - How'd the Young Bucks get signed in the first place?? Don't get me wrong, I think they have great futures - this just felt too soon for them in my opinion.

Hamada - Amazing worker that has barely had a sniff of TV since the Kong / Bubba incident. It's like it's 1996 and she's Triple H, being punished for something she really had no part of. I think she's off the minds of the creative team and hasn't been around long enough to garner much support. Her inability to politic in English probably doesn't help much either.

Dr Stevie - He's had fewer matches in TNA than Mick Foley did despite being a better worker and in better shape. Stevie Richards has unfortunately been sadled with the label of "good hand" but not "cornerstone". He's been in ECW, WCW, WWE and now TNA...and it looks like his run there has come to an end.

Kiyoshi - When I met Kiyoshi, he was All Japan Pro superstar Akira Raijin. He was brought to me by Scott D'Amore along with (now retired) Brute Issei. I booked the two of them in a 3 way tag against Derek Wylde & Michael Elgin and The Flatliners. The match was a little cluster-fucky but still had some awesome moments. Raijin blew me away. I booked him many times after that and was always impressed by his humble attitude and tremendous work rate. Sadly, the man that hero worships The Great Muta like no other has apparently fallen off the map in TNA. He hasn't been used in ages and my guess is he won't be back anytime soon.

ODB - people will disagree with me on this because ODB is such a great gimmick for the Knockouts. She is. But I think the gimmick has worn thin and without it, she seems a little out of place.

Magnus - The breakup of the British Invasion has led to Rob Terry and Doug Williams cementing solid spots on the singles roster, but the "leader" of that team has been MIA. Word is he was being repackaged, but how many dudes with foreign accents do you need running around on a show based out of Florida? Especially when they aren't all boys and running together! Back to UK Gladiators my friend.

Madison Rayne, Lacey Von Erich and Velvet Sky - The Beautiful People currently hold ALL the Knockout Gold, and to me - that is the biggest problem with the Knockouts Division. That Division was built under the leadership of Scott D'Amore to showcase some of the best in-ring female talent in the world. Velvet Skye is far and away the best worker of the three, and I don't think anyone would ever accuse Helms's main squeeze of being a "good" workers. Lacey is awful and Madison, despite looking great - just shouldn't be having singles matches on TV right now. Her farewell match with Tara was horrible and a vet like her deserved much better. When the Beautiful People were comprised of one chick who could work and two hot keychains - I was fine with it. This is a mess. The Divas are laughing - and justifably

Shark Boy - I first interviewed Shark Boy in 1999. I`m thinking somewhere over the last 11 years he must have evolved into Shark Man and I just missed it. Tenay calls him a `cult favourite` whenever he`s on tv - but when`s the last time that happened?

Tomko - Dante Ross said to me the other day, "poor Tomko. He should be a huge star!" Dante may be right, but the man who excelled as "The Problem Solver" and was a fixture at the top of TNA cards just a couple years ago has failed to get over in two runs with the WWE and seems to have lost his drive. I`ve seen him make comments online that he`s ok with his spot and not upset by it. Maybe if he was upset he could drop a couple pounds, get some aggression back and take his spot by force.

Mr Anderson - I can hear Dan-e-o now: "Anderson? C'mon bro! That's just hater-ish-isness". In the time he's been in TNA, his has had a failed program with Angle that he lost, several mini feuds that didn't take off and really doesn't have anything meaningful under his belt. The only time he gets a reaction is when he goes for a cheap laugh which hasn't made sense because he's been working heel. It appears TNA is turning him now, which to me says they admit he's been stale and needs to be freshened up. If this doesn't work - and fast, he may be done. Keep in mind, Anderson is a bigger ticket guy. If you're looking to save money, you can't just cut scrubs.


7 comments: on "Who Should Get The Axe In TNA?"

Tha Oztralian said...

Hogan
Flair
Sting


Problem solved..

Dan-e-o said...

Not sure why you thought that Don.

TNA giving Kennedy the boot would be fine by me.

Whatever they do, they better do it fast because something TNA needs to change.

Anonymous said...

Wouldn't it be cool if they brought in Father James Mitchell and had him recreate the Whipwrech/Tajri team with Red and Kiyoshi?

As for who should go, here is my short list:

Hogan
Orlando Jordan
Lacey Von Erich
Ric Flair
Scott Hall

Sean Waltman
Kevin Nash
Sting
Madison Reyne
Mr. Anderson

Rob Terry
Raven
Tomko
Eric Bishoff
Shark Boy

kathy said...

ALL of the ass munches (friends) Hogan has let in or brought with him.
But question, how would Tommy Dreamer be freshening things up?

Christopher Casúr said...

One name I'm concerned about is Samoa Joe. He's been scarcely used since Hogan came to TNA, and given that and Joe's build, I doubt that Hogan is very high on him. It'd be a shame if he was let go, but with TNA needing to clear that many people, it's possible that he could be on his way out.

I hope I'm wrong though.

Dante said...

I think its funny we all try and pick and choose who goes when we all know that in a couple months all the guys let go by WWE will be there. But Kendrick should never be let go. That dude fucking rules.

Steve K said...

Getting rid of Hogan, how much pay would that save TNA?
It is quite obvious that the Hogan experiment is not working.
From this list, I absolutely agree with Shark Boy, Stevie Richards, Rhino (even though I like him as a worker), Lacey Von Erich, and I would suggest Raven.
However, TNA should be smart to hire back Raven as a part of the booking team.