OO Column: Online Onslaught by Rick Scaia (Pro Wrestling News, Analysis, and Commentary... WWE, WWF, WCW, ECW, The Rock, Brock Lesnar, Triple H, Rob Van Dam, Hulk Hogan, Undertaker, Trish Stratus, Lita, Stacy Keibler, Divas, RAW, SmackDown, WrestleMania

ONLINE ONSLAUGHT
NEWSFLASH: Hulk Hogan "Takes Over" TNA
October 27, 2009

by Rick Scaia
Exclusive to OOWrestling.com

In an announcement I STILL can't quite make heads-or-tails of, SpikeTV and TNA Wrestling jointly announced a new "partnership" with Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff's production company today.

While press releases were vague, actual interviews and comments with the principles make this appear to be MUCH more than a simple consultant-type business relationship. The official language was more about "a partnership to help develop additional programming, both for Spike and other outlets," and made a major point about the partnership being done to assist TNA in the global marketplace (where it lags even further behind WWE than it does domestically).

However, the interviews and soundbites all point to a much more overwhelming change of procedure for TNA, not just including the inclusion of Hogan (and presumably Bischoff) as on-screen characters, but extending all the way up to the very top of the TNA power structure, with Hogan/Bischoff essentially being given the reins of the company, both on the business side AND the creative side.

The last time this arrangement existed was in the 1996-1998 era WCW. Circumstances were different then, however: Hogan was still bankable as an in-ring performer (even the most naive don't see any way Hogan would actually dare to darken the door of the six-sided ring more than 6-8 times per year, and not as a cornerstone/champion type performer), and Bischoff had essentially unlimited funds to work with. And even then, the two only presided over a 2 year rise to the top before also being equally accountable for the early stages of WCW's decline.

It sets up a very interesting situation, nonetheless: you have to assume both Hogan and Bischoff will go into this pretty intense and motivated to succeed... Hogan STILL doesn't know if he's really his own man, or just a Vince McMahon creation; Bischoff doesn't know if he's a clever man, or just a fluke of timing and money; in BOTH cases, if they can recreate the success of '96 with TNA, they'll know they're both for real.

Hogan's name still gets attention from any wrestling fan, and more importantly: gets attention from non-fans and lapsed fans. TNA, even at its very best, never has an audience bigger than one-third that of WWE's (or PPVs that draw even one-tenth as well). For better or for worse, this WILL change that.

Us types of fans who always saw TNA's strength as its DIFFERENCES from WWE may not like it, but this will -- in the short term -- make TNA a "better" company (in the business sense) than it was yesterday.

TNA TV is already in the can for this week, but a video-package of today's news conference could be inserted. More likely, if you're looking to see how this genuinely affects the on-screen TNA product, you'll have to wait till next week, or possibly even till the TV tapings in 3 weeks (after the next PPV), before Bischoff and Hogan decide to step in.

I'll get you caught up on all that type of stuff once I have more time to talk to more people, and try to process this huge news. Also: I guess I'll have to sort out and address all the crazy rumors that are already going around about fall-out from Hogan's "take-over".... they range from the plausible (Vince Russo's probably on the outs, now) to the slight-reaches (this might be enough for Ric Flair to join TNA) to the absurd (Hogan is "taking over" TNA as a mole working for Vince McMahon and the plot to destroy TNA will involve a new Monday Night War, which WWE will easily win, and it'll all become apparent only after Shane McMahon -- who DID recently step down from his job with WWE -- shows up to take over TNA from Hogan).

But we can talk about all that another time. For now: digest the mere fact that Hogan's coming to TNA. We'll cover the rest in a column later this week...

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Rick Scaia is a wrestling fan from Dayton, OH. He's been doing this since 1995, but enjoyed it best when the suckers from SportsLine were actually PAYING him to be a fan.