December 01, 2013

Ask FK... 03



When do you think AJ Styles will return to TV?

If I had to guess, I think they'd want him to make his return either on the UK tour or right before it. They usually pull out all the stops on that tour and I can't see them doing it without AJ Styles. Plus, AJ confronting the world champion that Dixie crowned in his absence would be a great selling point, especially if the champion in question is Magnus.


Do you think TNA could have done more before doing live shows on the road like only doing those specials and the rest in the impact zone. and were the roster cuts a good thing?

Well, since the road shows didn't work out, obviously they could have done more. For one thing, they could have made absolutely sure that they could survive on the road before letting the lease on the iMPACT Zone expire. They could have waited until the ratings were up and there was a buzz about the product instead of going on the road when they had no buzz and the ratings were flat. They could have tried doing road shows every other week for 6 months to a year just to see if they could make it work financially. There were plenty of things they could have done, and in retrospect, TNA probably understands, they SHOULD have done, but hindsight is 20/20.

The roster cuts were a good thing. The only cuts I really disagreed with were Crimson, Todd Keneley and Taeler Hendrix. All the others seemed like perfectly logical cuts to make that, IMHO, they should have made a long time ago. Hell, there are still a bunch of additional roster cuts I would make if I were in their shoes.

The bottom line is TNA had a bloated roster full of superfluous talent that either weren't being used or simply weren't worth the money. Keeping these people on the payroll was costing the company money it couldn't afford to spend when all their resources were going into the road shows. They could afford to keep these people when they had the iMPACT Zone and costs were minimal, but things changed.

Frankly, all the belt-tightening forced them to finally make a lot of hard choices that needed to be made. If a talent isn't worth the investment the company made in him/her, then that person needs to go, not sit on the bench collecting a paycheck just because management doesn't have the heart to fire them, or whatever the excuse was.


Do you think Jeff Jarrett will come back with AJ Styles?

Hard to say. I think he's most likely the one behind those "Friends of AJ Styles" commercials, but personally, I hope he doesn't return with AJ. AJ needs to be able to shine on his own in this storyline and bringing Jarrett back with him would just take the attention away from AJ and put it back on Jarrett, which is the last place it needs to be in 2013.

I am assuming Jarrett is going to have a role to play in this angle at some point, but ideally it would be as a background figure, some type of supporting role that would let him contribute to the storyline without monopolizing the show like he would often do in the past.


Would you like to see Jeff Jarrett have one more match on TNA TV?

That's a difficult question to answer. I would be okay with the idea of Jarrett being in a role like Sting is in right now -- veteran mentor figure who only wrestles sparingly and is primarily used in a supporting role to enhance and build up the younger talent; the Sting/Magnus angle is a good example of this.

Jarrett wrestling once in a while (I mean like 2-3 times a year) in angles designed to put over younger stars, I wouldn't have a problem with. That said, it becomes a problem if Jarrett falls back into his old habits of pushing himself excessively and glorifying himself to the detriment of many other members of the roster. To put it nicely, I think it would be in the best interests of all parties involved to not subject Jarrett to too much temptation in that regard.

If he's a part-time character on the show who appears only when he's needed and doesn't eat up huge amounts of TV time, that would be reasonable, but the spotlight would need to remain on the young stars where it belongs.


Why do people think the world title is the most important belt? without the x-title, the world title scene is nothing.

Because it's the world title! It's supposed to be the most important belt and gets treated as such. I don't understand your logic here. How would it mean nothing without the X title? Do you mean because the X-division is a seed division for future world champions? Because a guy using the X-division as a platform to eventually move up to the world championship has only happened 4 times in the company's history (Styles, Joe, Aries, Sabin).

The X-division is a midcard division which is getting very little attention right now, whereas the bulk of the attention on iMPACT is being devoted to the world title. Maybe in the early days it was different, but that was when the X-division roster was stacked and the world title scene had nothing interesting going on. That's not the case anymore.

Sure, I wish the X-division got more love from the company outside of a couple months a year during Destination-X time, but to say that the world title scene would mean nothing without the X-title is inaccurate and unrealistic.


What do you say to people who think pro wrestling is stupid and YOU are stupid for watching pro wrestling? 

Pro wrestling is a perfectly valid form of entertainment; if some people out there think it's stupid, that's their loss. I don't waste time trying to convince them otherwise, though, because I know it's not for everybody. Plenty of people watch shows like Modern Family, Homeland, Agents of SHIELD, etc., while others probably think those shows are stupid. Not everybody is going to like the same things. It bothers me when someone thinks a person is stupid for liking something different from what they like, but if anyone thinks I'm stupid for watching wrestling, then I don't concern myself with those people.


Why are you so hateful and disrespectful towards Velvet Sky?

I am neither of those things. I am honest about Velvet Sky. There is a big difference.

You really need to look up "hateful" in the dictionary. If you understood what it means to be truly hateful toward someone, you would understand what an idiotic question that is. Please get a clue.


Will Matt Morgan end up in WWE?

I have no idea, but I'd be fine with it if he did. I thought Morgan should have gone to WWE last year instead of re-signing with TNA. His TNA run was underwhelming as they could never figure out how to use him right. They seemed to want Morgan to be a top star for them, but something was always getting in the way of them pulling the trigger on him and his pushes always felt rather lackluster for various reasons. Morgan in TNA was just an awkward fit and I thought it was time for them to go their separate ways. Seems to me that a guy like him would be better suited for WWE. 


Where cities should host Lockdown, Slammiversary and Bound For Glory?

If we're assuming those PPVs will be held on the road as they should be, I think Chicago is a no-brainer. They drew something like 6,500 people there for an iMPACT taping earlier this year, so they probably wouldn't have to sweat the attendance that much. Also, Salt Lake City ought to be on the short list just because of how awesome the crowd was for that post-BFG iMPACT.


Do you like how TNA is doing these PPV's on Spike TV?

I do. The PPV industry is in decline and the business is in a slump. It doesn't make much sense to do 12 PPVs a year right now. Besides, they tend to get a ratings hike from the PPV-themed iMPACTs and that's important. The TV deal is what keeps TNA in business and they've always put more emphasis on the television product than their PPVs anyway.

I do think creative needs to do a better job on making those 4 (3?) PPVs a bigger deal because so far they haven't totally felt like really huge, important shows, with the cards being underwhelming or the matches not always delivering or storylines not culminating at the right time, etc. Mentally, I don't think they've quite gotten out of 12-a-year mode yet. They still need to work on making those shows more special, but I think cutting down to 4 PPVs a year was probably for the best regardless.


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