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| Ortiz Photo Credit: ImpactWrestling.com |
What I can't really let pass though are base arguments against fans who hate the move using generalizations. I don't know Andrew Goldstein, but I do know that more than a few people I respect on the Twitters follow him and think what he has to say is valid and insightful. However, his defense of Ortiz's signing to TNA was a bit, I don't know, reactionary if you ask me. It certainly deserves a bit of the FJM Treatment, so here we go:
-- Wrestling fans hate on the Tito reveal because they weren't "smart" enough to predict it.
Yes, we all hate the Tito reveal because we all share one brain and didn't have the computing power in said brain to predict that a company that had brought in two mixed martial arts stars in the last year would bring in a third to help cross-promote the flagging MMA promotion associated its parent network. Or maybe Goldstein right away shows off his hand that he isn't exactly arguing in good faith. I wonder if he had paid attention beforehand, he would have seen more than a few people speculating that it might have been Ortiz, especially after Bellator announced Ortiz/Rampage Jackson the night before. But no, a washed up MMA guy whose biggest claim to fame outside of his sport is marrying and abusing Jenna Jameson is someone every wrestling fan should get up for. Yup.
-- SPIKE is using their highest rated program, TNA, to raise Bellator's profile. Simple cross promotion for a co. in need of name recognition
-- With UFC gone, SPIKE needs Bellator to be a success. It's a no brainer for everyone involved.
I can't argue with that reasoning in theory, but I think TNA is making it on the assumption that everyone who likes wrestling loves MMA. I know I'm not alone in my distaste for the "legitimate" combat sport, so Goldstein will have to excuse me and people who think like me in that single regard for not wanting to see Ortiz, who again, brings not a goddamn thing to the table when it comes to pro wrestling, intermingle with a roster that includes actual wrestlers I in theory would love to see.
I won't comment how much of Impact's audience is like me, though, because I don't have the demographic numbers in front of me. How many of their on-average million viewers also like MMA? And of that percentage, how many of them don't already watch Bellator? Also, does a possibility exist that maybe the better way to draw TNA viewers into Bellator would be having someone on the wrestler roster compete in the MMA company's events? I don't know the answer to any of those three questions except the last one, which feels like a "yes" to me. However, at least I'm asking the questions here instead of trying to forcefeed the answers.
-- PS You'd all pop if WWE brought back Ken Shamrock, so please stop
Again with the hivemind assumptions. Good fucking grief. Firstly, I never liked Ken Shamrock, so yeah, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't pop. Secondly, does Goldstein even care to ponder why fans would pop for Shamrock to return to WWE in a hypothetical scenario? Could it be that he had years of experience in WWE and built emotional cache with actual wrestling fans, unlike Ortiz, who, I repeat, had no prior attachment to wrestling and whose biggest claim to fame outside of MMA was beating his wife? Of course, Shamrock being dragged down to Ortiz's level isn't the first false equivalency here.
This argument posits that WWE and TNA are on the same level and thus deserve to be treated with the same accord and context when talking about business and booking decisions. Nothing could be further from reality. WWE is a media juggernaut that knows how to create stars and has a supply-demand curve that dwarfs that of TNA. The only reason anyone talks about TNA in the same breath as WWE is because folks like Goldstein seem to think that being on cable television means you're a competitor to WWE. Vince McMahon can do things with his company that Dixie Carter can't, and to pretend otherwise is being intellectually dishonest.
And the argument about wrestlers getting cut for mma fighters... Nobody they cut was REMOTELY over.
I would argue Joey Ryan was pretty over for the first part of his tenure in TNA. Why? Because the company actually had a story for them. Sometimes, a fresh look is needed as to why guys are cold enough that cutting them would raise no stink. How many of those wrestlers TNA cut were even given a fighting chance to prove their worth? Sam Shaw and Alex Silva certainly weren't; they won their Gut Check and then were squirreled away in OVW for the rest of their careers under the TNA umbrella. And of course, Taeler Hendrix's only crime was not being a size -1 after getting cancer treatment.
And if Goldstein is arguing that overness is equal to worth, how does he equate Ortiz's tepid reaction to justification for him being hired at the expense of Ryan, who was over at one point, and other people who didn't even get the kind of surprise entrance that Ortiz got? Let's see...
-- Wrestling is spectacle. TITO and Rampage in a TNA or Bellator ring is spectacle. And that's $ for SPIKE.
Sure, Ortiz is a spectacle, but is he a good spectacle? Does he enhance TNA's standing as a wrestling company, or is his debut yet another name that won't mean anything in the long run? I could be wrong, and he could be a boon, but Carter has not been able to turn King Mo Lawal into anything. Jackson hasn't moved the needle. Fuck, the most popular professional wrestler of all-time, Hulk Hogan, came aboard and has meant bupkiss for the company's bottom line in the long run. Maybe adding big "names" alone isn't the solution to TNA's problem.
Then again, Tito Ortiz as a "name" in the wrestling world is debatable at the very least. Again, does the average viewer of TNA really know what Ortiz is all about, and if he/she does, does that name even register anything else but a "meh?" Lack of foresight isn't the issue. Lack of understanding how cross-promotion works isn't either. The issue sits squarely on whether Dixie Carter, Hulk Hogan, and the rest of TNA's braintrust have a clue where to put their fingers in order to register an accurate pulse for what their fanbase wants.
Debate over whether they do or not is certainly warranted and welcome. However, when Andrew Goldstein takes it in a direction that attacks people who don't agree with him by making broad generalizations about what he thinks they want or think, then he can take his argument and get all the way the fuck outta here with it. I don't know whether it's par for the course or whether this is bringing out an anomalous streak in him, but y' know what? The above rant doesn't make me want to stick around and find out what else he has to offer. Sorry.
And as an epilogue...
-- Cena/Brock was match of the year last year bc it blurred the lines between wrestling and MMA. So when TNA tries it, they suck. C'mon!
Man, if that statement isn't intentional misunderstanding for the sake of trolling, I don't know what is.
ETA: As it turns out, Goldstein responded on Twitter, maintaining his POV but without any kind of vitriol. Anytime someone returns volley in a civilized manner is appreciated to me, so I take back the whole part about not sticking around to see what else he has to say.