Reality will kill TNA
It was a Friday night just like any other Friday night. I was on my computer, talking to my friends and watching WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) Friday Night Smackdown. Suddenly I felt like Santa’s Little Helper, the family dog on The Simpsons. In that show, there is an episode where the family tries to train the animal. The dog obviously doesn’t understand at first. Everything everyone says to him is interpreted as “blah, blah, blah”. Until finally, Bart keeps talking and finally the dog hears “Blah, blah, blah, sit down”. The dog finally understands and sits down.
On a cold Friday night, I was that dog. He was surfing the internet, talking to someone on Skype and watching Smackdown. Suddenly, from Michael Coles command tone, blah blah blah, I hear “WWE Tough Enough is coming to USA Network”. What? Could it be true? Could one of the most successful reality shows in history return? This is great! WWE Tough Enough was the survivor of professional wrestling or Vince McMahon’s twisted little world, Sports Entertainment. They took average Joe’s and Jane’s, trained them up, and eventually gave one of each gender a WWE contract. It was also like WWE’s own farm system. Take people no one has ever heard of and turn them into superstars. This is pure genius on the part of WWE. Why? Here’s a little secret WWE doesn’t want you to know. THEY DON’T HIRE ONLY THE WINNERS OF THE CONTEST.
In fact, they have latched onto men who haven’t won the competition longer than the actual winners. Guys like The Miz didn’t even make it to the finals. Now, he’s not just in the company, as of this writing, he’s the WWE Champion. What’s even more absurd is that Josh Matthews, who didn’t even make the competition, is now one of the commentators for WWE. This ridiculous practice will not only help WWE, it will also kill TNA (Total Nonstop Action) wrestling. You see, ever since Eric Bischoff and Hulk Hogan took over TNA, the company has become nothing more than wrestlers past their prime or WWE remnants. Meanwhile, in WWE they are getting younger. Between the evolution of NXT being WWE’s showcase of minor league talent in Florida and now the rebirth of WWE Tough Enough, I think WWE is ready for the next ten to fifteen years. Now, WWE has its own version of a major league baseball team. They have not one but two streams of young talent at their disposal.
I was on the Pro Wrestling Illustrated blog the other day and someone was complaining about Tough Enough coming back. The person’s argument was that the show would be compared to American Idol. My thought is what’s wrong with that? Isn’t that the American dream? Take people no one has ever heard of and turn them into superstars? That’s what we live for. That’s what we thrive on as a people. To go after our dreams like anything we think we were born to do. What I think WWE is doing in a sense is keeping the American dream alive for people who want to become WWE Superstars. If they are hired by WWE, great. If it doesn’t work… Hey, there’s always TNA.
