Does TNA Need A "Face" for the Company?

Right now TNA is definitely in distress. They've failed in their goal to conquer Monday Nights and are back on Thursday where they will hopefully not have a problem re-establishing themselves. Now that TNA is back on Thursday's they have a chance (at least in my opinion) to start fresh again. Time for them to see where they are and what direction they need to go into before they try anything drastic again.

So on to the topic does TNA need a face of the company. Right now the psuedo faces of the company are Hulk Hogan and Dixie Carter. While there is nothing wrong with this I can't help but feel the company would do better with a wrestling face.

The WWE as a prime example is big on having a face for the company. Hulk Hogan to Stone Cold/The Rock to John Cena. The face doesn't have to be a good guy but someone who can move tickets whether by fans wanting to see them win or lose. Cena is such a huge draw because fans pay to see him win or lose. He gets huge wrestling crowds coming in groups sporting "We Hate Cena" signs and shirts. I'm not a big expert on Ring of Honor so correct me if I'm wrong but I'm under the impression that Bryan Danielson could've been considered the face of ROH.

Before they started the whole AJ Styles/Ric Flair deal he would've been the perfect face for TNA. This whole crappy Ric Flair copy gimmick is ruining his fanbase. These older guys pushing the younger guys out of the spotlight essentially makes it harder to push a face. Right now however it seems they are grooming Rob Van Dam to take that spot. Which is a good idea because he is one of the most popular wrestlers in North America. If they fuck up this RVD push though (which I'm praying they don't) the Pope would be my next in line. They had a great chance to put the World Title on him and cement him as a main eventer and essentially make him a huge star but that loss to AJ destroyed all his momentum. Pope has a great gimmick and far better mic skills then AJ Styles with ring skills to back it up (although his finisher sucks something fierce). I'd even say Jay Lethal could potentially be this "face" for the company but I doubt they will pursue that.

Comment and troll below with whether you agree or disagree on if TNA needs someone who can their "face". Essentially whether or not they need someone fans can come to cheer or boo and someone who can move merchandise.

Until next time (and sorry for not covering Smackdown).

Raw vs Smackdown Rosters After Draft

Let's take a quick look at how the rosters are shaping up for the year.

Raw

Main Event:

John Cena(WWE Champion)

Batista

Sheamus

Triple H

Chris Jericho

Edge

Randy Orton

Tyson Kidd and David Hart Smith (since winning the titles they count but barely)(Tag Team Champions but can appear on both brands so kinda in the middle)

Midcard:

Evan Bourne

John Morrison

R-Truth

Carlito

Ted DiBiase Jr.(Million Dollar Champion)

The Miz(United States Champion)

Divas:

Alicia Fox

Bella Twins

Jillian

Maryse

Melina

Natalya

Gail Kim

Eve Torres(Divas Champion)

Guys Lucky To Get 5 Seconds of TV Time:

Goldust

Mark Henry

Primo

Vladimir Kozlov

William Regal

Yoshi Tatsu

Zack Ryder

Other:

Mr.McMahon

Ezekiel Jackson(injury)

Great Khali and Ranjin Singh

Jerry Lawler

Justin Roberts

Michael Cole

Smackdown

Main Event:

Jack Swagger(World Heavyweight Champion)

Big Show

CM Punk

Rey Mysterio

Midcard:

Drew McIntyre(Intercontinental Champion)

Caylen Croft and Trent Barreta, The Dudebusters

Christian

Cody Rhodes

Dolph Ziggler

JTG

Shad Gaspard

Kofi Kingston

Luke Gallows

Matt Hardy

MVP

Kane

Divas:

Beth Phoenix(Women's Champion)

Michelle McCool

Layla

Kelly Kelly

Rosa Mendes

Serena

Tiffany

Guys Lucky To Get 5 Seconds of TV Time:

Chris Masters(better pad out that pec flexing time)

Finlay

Tyler Reks

Vance Archer

Other:

Theodore Long

Vickie Guerrero

Matt Striker

Tony Chimel

Todd Grisham

The Undertaker(pretty sure he is still taking time off and only came back to Raw cause of the volcano)

First let us compare main eventers. Raw recently got a few main eventers most likely to get more stars to Raw before Smackdown goes to SyFy or to combat TNA (which worked). Raw has 7 (not counting tag team champs) to Smackdown's 4. Look for Smackdown to add a new midcarder to the main event in the coming months.

Next, let's look at the midcard. Raw has 6 only 3 of which I'd say has a shot at the United State's Championship. Ted and The Miz have belts so the only likely choices are Evan Bourne and John Morrison. R-Truth is a possibility however we'll have to wait still his feud with Ted is over to see. Smackdown is midcard Heaven at the moment with 13. Taking away Luke Gallows, Kane, The Dudebusters, and the IC Champ leaves 8 with a title shot. Christian is the only one likely to move up to the main event.

On to the Diva's, Raw currently has 9 Diva's and about 2 who do not wrestle (Melina injury and Natalya because she is a manager). Smackdown has 7 and 1 who does not wrestle (Serena). Diva's are pretty even though I expect the title to go on Kelly Kelly before the year is done.

Lastly the wasted people, Raw has 7 and Smackdown has 4. 5 people on the Raw list were fortunate enough to get some screen time (and some even got to wrestle!). With Smackdown Chris Masters is the only one I can remember seeing on TV for a long time and that was about 10 seconds of muscle flexing.

Overall Raw is looking to keep their top guys at the top. Smackdown has tons of oppurtunity to promote some new stars. On a final note it sucks to see a good wrestler like Santino (yes he can wrestle) be the butt of the joke week after week he is a 2 time IC champion give him some ring-time for god's sake and keep Hornswoggle off TV. Also The Miz and Jericho look to form a tag team so I predict a title drop from Miz and with Jericho in the tag team division again that is one less main eventer. Perhaps John Morrison can take his place.

Comment and Troll Below.

Monday Night Wars Have Been Won

It's official according to Mike Tenay a few minutes ago. The Wars are over Raw has won TNA is going back to Thursday where they belong. We all saw this coming but why TNA didn't try to compete with NXT or Smackdown is beyond me.

Spoiled Spoiled Spoiled!

There has been a LOT of heat between "hardcore" wrestling fans (TNA) and (As our own Random Villain would say) ADHD poster children who watch WWE in the past few months. People ripping on WWE for being PG-TV, others ripping on TNA for lackluster story lines and feuds. I honestly have been a part of the ripping on TNA for constipated thinking but a question has re-entered my head, why is there such a problem in pro wrestling? (Despite the obvious push for different products)

The answer is this: The Monday Night Wars and superstars like Hogan and Stone Cold have put the bar so high that no matter how hard someone works, no matter how talented they may be, the odds are just to great for a replication to occur. We have become a very spoiled group and I am talking to all wrestling fans. How can we expect anyone to repeat the runs that Stone Cold Steve Austin or Hulk Hogan had? Who is going to have the same eerie presence that Sting and Undertaker displayed during the peaks of their careers? Ric Flair is arguably the greatest wrestler of all time, Shawn Michaels is the greatest in ring performer of all time, the Rock the greatest charismatic character of all time......these guys are either retired or desperately clinging to their youth. We all grew up during a time where wrestling had taken off and was the greatest thing going. What many people can't fathom is that people get old and careers come to an end. So you either stick with the business and root for new guys or stop watching. Plain and Simple.

One set of debates going on, (And i wish the anonymous posting was gone) is that "We have seen these matches 100 times already" My friends, this statement has really got me believing that people hate WWE just because they want to hate it. Pro Wrestling is synonymous with repetition. The top guns in the promotions ALWAYS wrestle each other. I recall one comment saying to someone named Ted or Bob (I really hate how the posting comments application works) that the difference between the Rock and Austin feuds compared to today's feuds is that they were actually good. This all beginning with them calling either Ted or Bob a moron. My thoughts on that comment are this: Do you truly understand the business? or are you desperately looking for any reason to hate WWE? How many times have we seen big names feud with each other multiple times?

The four horseman always feuded with the American Dream and Sting.

Stone Cold and the Rock

Hogan and Sting

Flair and Sting

Flair and Ricky Steamboat

Undertaker and Kane

Undertaker and Austin,

Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart

the list is virtually endless and I haven't even gone into TAG TEAMS yet.

Orton and Cena are going to feud many more times before they both call it quits. The two most over guys in the business? It is foolish not to. I'd question the sanity of anyone who thinks that match up isn't good for business.

Another issue is the PG-TV rating. Is it so wrong to have it? Not when you the majority of your audience is "ADHD kids" as Random Villain says. WWE knew that replicating the attitude era is not going to work. The wrestling fans of that time won't allow anyone to come remotely close to Austin or Hogan. So they did what any smart business tycoon can do; they focus on the needs of kids.

What is wrong with that by the way? Why is it so wrong for John Cena being cheered by kids? Teaching them values, teaching them hard work, the guy is an active part of grant a wish foundation and yet all the "hardcore" fans bash him because he does what EVERY WWE WRESTLER IN THE PAST 20 YEARS HAS DONE. 5 moves and boom. Everyone cheered Hogan for it, everyone cheered Austin for it. People sometimes hate just to hate and that is fact I have come to live with. IF you are going to hate on Cena or anyone who you deem "unworthy" remember this. The people you idolized and loved for all those years ditched the companies that made them.....Cena eats breathes and LIVES for WWE....food for thought.

Needless to say, the attitude era, ruined professional wrestling. Why? because of the bar that it set for the future stars. WWE realized this, TNA will realize it sooner or later. We as fans have become so spoiled that all future stars are destined to fail. Because of the narrow thinking, people are missing GREAT performers right now. Randy Orton could be the greatest ever before its said and done. Cena, whether you like him or not, is known EVERYWHERE. Edge and Jericho are still great and the new stars have a very bright future. AJ styles is great, Kurt Angle may be the most pure breed star ever. Please stop looking backward fans. Things change. Move with the flow instead of fighting it because as the old saying goes, "Fighting the wind does not show bravery, it shows stupidity"

WWE Shareholders Meeting

WWE recently held it's annual shareholder's meeting. Some topics discussed:

WWE TV Network
PPV's
TV contents
International Expansion
Films
Marketing
WWE Audience

The Full video can be found here
http://www.wrestlezone.com/news/article/video-complete-2010-annual-wwe-shareholders-meeting-101237