This Is Alarming

A few months ago, I was appalled to read an article that depicted TNA's treatment of their Knockouts. For a company who is overseen by a woman, it's pretty bad to hear that some of their women are paid so low that they can't afford to make the house shows, or that they have to find second jobs to support themselves, a la former Knockout Taylor Wilde.

At one point, it was safe to say that TNA's Knockouts Division was way better than the WWE Divas division. They outdrew the men in the ratings department. They weren't the typical cookie cutter Divas that the WWE Universe has steadily been rejecting since their golden era of Divas all left and retired.

Then they all left in droves. Awesome Kong, Alissa Flash, ODB, Tara for a short period, Traci Brooks -- for a while, Roxxi. Now we're left with three former WWE Divas in Winter (Katie Lea), Tara (Victoria), Mickie James, Madison, Rosita and Sarita and The Beautiful People.

Several months ago, Shannon Spruill -- known as Daffney -- revealed on her Twitter account that she was no longer a TNA Knockout, and it may have something to do with the fact that she had filed a worker's compensation claim against them over the multiple, severe injuries she had suffered during her time in TNA, including a crushed sternum from overweight wrestler Rosie Lottalove, who wound up getting fired after everything. You can read her story at this link:

http://www.cagesideseats.com/2011/4/21/2125160/the-sad-story-of-shannon-daffney-spruill

If this is true, as a woman, Dixie Carter should be ashamed of herself. She has not tweeted since her Twitter account was reactivated. She's been laying low, amidst rumors of lawsuits and troubled waters approaching. Ratings have been falling; their core demographic are leaving in droves. And at the core of it all are lawsuits filed by all the employees who have been treated sub-par by the company.

At one point, I wanted these guys to succeed. They have great talent in guys like Abyss, Samoa Joe, Christopher Daniels, AJ Styles, Kurt Angle. The thing that even sets them apart from WCW is their ability to build their homegrown talent -- all WCW had really was Goldberg.

Unfortunately, since the influx of former WWE guys and Hogan and Bischoff, this company has gotten so horrible that I just don't care at this point. And if they are going to treat their employees like this, then maybe they should just close their doors. This is sub-human treatment. At one point, Daffney was taking these bumps to a point where wrestling reporters were calling it gratuitous and it was.

Several years back, Konnan filed a lawsuit against TNA, claiming that they were racist. Not only that, but he claimed TNA only took care of their top card talent that were more than likely getting their money from Dixie's father's company Panda Energy. He cited them paying for Scott Steiner's surgery at the time, but refusing to pay for Ron Killings' (R-Truth). Some of the people on the roster are barely making enough to survive, according to reports, let alone pay for surgeries that they would need to get healthy again.

I say good on Daffney for filing a complaint. TNA shouldn't be able to pick and choose what employees to take care of. We keep hearing how Dixie isn't a tyrannical billionaire, that she's just a mother of two from Texas. How TNA is a family. Well, then, why isn't she treating her employees like that?

100th Post...Also...Suspended!

SEScoops is reporting that TNA President Dixie Carter has had her Twitter account, which you can follow when it's back up and running again at TNADixie, suspended for violating its terms of service.

About a month or so ago, Dixie uploaded a backdrop to her page that verified who she was, but was not verified by Twitter, who clearly states that they are the only ones who can provide verification to an account. Several people apparently reported Dixie and as a result, she has been suspended from the social networking site.

There is no word on when she will be allowed back, or how on earth we're going to get our "special announcements" now...she may actually have to start thinking about -- gasp -- advertising!

TNA Tries To Make Up For Sunday

TNA is offering an exclusive deal to fans who felt completely ripped off after ordering Victory Road on Sunday. For those living under the rock, the PPV was full of lame finishes and an 88 second main event between TNA Champion Sting and Jeff Hardy, who was clearly in no condition to compete. TNA has been on damage control since, sending Jeff Hardy home.

TNA is offering those who were angered by what happened at Victory Road six free months of access to their TNA Wrestling online library. They ask you to send your pay-per-view receipt to them. You can send it to TNA OnDemand Offer, 209 10th Avenue South #302, Nashville, TN 37203.

Unfortunately, I really don't think this is going to quell the anger of fans, who have more than likely given up on the product. I'm also stunned it took them five days to come up with this. At the very least, refunds should be offered for those who don't want to take part in the deal. Just because people don't have take them up on the offer doesn't mean that they were happy with the pay-per-view. They could have lost their PPV receipt, or they could just not care about the product. Either way, I guess good on them for trying.

Time For Damage Control

TNA fans everywhere are still infuriated over what happened last night at Victory Road. According to wrestlezone, the TNA locker room is in an uproar that they ignored the fact that Jeff Hardy was in no condition to perform and still had him compete.

All the blame cannot fall on Jeff Hardy here. It has to fall on this woman to my right, and her executives as well. It was their decision to keep Jeff in the main event and not make it a triple threat or anything. Yes, fans regarded Sting and Jeff Hardy as a dream match-up, but the taste in their mouth is so sour right now that they may a) never watch or support TNA again or b) not care enough the next time that Sting and Hardy are in the ring together.

TNA has long been accused of ignoring the problems of their wrestlers. When Booker T was suspended for sixty days following the Signature Pharmacy scandal that rocked WWE, he left. He felt WWE had thrown him under the bus and tried to make an example out of him, when all they had done was what they could to try and alleviate the pressure that was being put on them. He and his wife Sharmell went to TNA. And for that, a long with the signing of Kurt Angle, who had been granted his WWE release under the guise that he would be off fighting his demons, TNA earned some legitimate criticism that this was the company people would go to escape from drug testing.

In a shoot interview, Dixie claimed that she drug tests herself. Calls it a waste of $350, but she does it. Here's an idea: drug test your guys. Punish them if they fail. They could hurt somebody, for crying out loud. If Jeff Hardy was in no condition to perform last night, an audible should have been called and the main event should have been changed. Do a kayfabe attack backstage. Are the fans going to be upset? Sure, but those who are really in the know about Jeff Hardy and his personal demons are going to understand.

We fans are not monsters. And we fans who truly understand the wrestling business understand how important it is for companies like ROH and TNA to succeed. It makes every product better, it employs more people who want to live out their dreams, and it gives the fans some variety. But to succeed, it has to be good, and TNA has not been that for a long time.

Hogan and Bischoff are not fully to blame here, either. Right now, TNA has apparently sent Jeff Hardy home, and they now how to try and figure out some way to make the fans happy. Hardy has put them in a horrible position where they stand to lose a lot of money. Tapings are set to begin tonight; if they are really serious about curbing the damage they inflicted last night, they will either stick to their guns and let Jeff sit and simmer at home, or they will have him come back to Impact and apologize for the match that he had last night. Because we know it's not Sting's fault; Sting wrestled just fine on Thursday. All the buzz going around, again, is about Jeff, whose issues with demons have not been a secret for years.

It's time for TNA to start drawing a hard line with their employees. What happened last night was a travesty and it was an insult to every fan who bought the pay-per-view, who defends the product against its haters, and who supports the product, buying merchandise and attending house shows. For a while now, people have been comparing this company to WCW, and some are just waiting for it to go under. I'm not one of them, but this entire situation is ridiculous. I see a lot of parallels with the Hardy situation to WCW's treatment of Scott Hall, and it's not pretty. Jeff is only 33 years old, a father, and now a husband. It's time for him to start getting things under control as well, before no wrestling promotion wants to touch him.

If You're Not Serious, Pull The Plug!

Could you imagine a WWE pay-per-view main event that goes for all of 90 seconds? The answer is no, right? You know why? Because Vince McMahon understands that the fans would freaking riot!

Dixie Carter, this woman here to my left, and the "brain-trust" she has helping her helm this godforsaken company, gave us exactly that tonight when Sting defeated Jeff Hardy in 90 seconds to retain the TNA Championship. 90 seconds!

People can tell me that Sting was injured, or that Hardy was in no condition to compete, but seriously? When is enough enough? When do we start drawing a line at what we will allow this company to do to us while we are wasting our time on them?

I 'm sure Dixie Carter-Salinas is a nice woman. She seems that way. TNA commentators tell us she's no tyrant; she's just a mother of two from Texas. I want to like Dixie Carter. The feminist in me is enthralled to see a female running a wrestling corporation. But, let's be honest -- among the words floating around about Miss Carter, the words "mark", "airhead" and "idiot" keep coming back into the vernacular by those in the wrestling community.

I started watching TNA in 2004. AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels and Samoa Joe captured my imagination and my curiosity as they were doing things I was not seeing on WWE television at the time. The first time I saw the Styles Clash, I just about died. Fast forward seven years later, and we have the same guys behind the failure of WCW at the helm of this company that once seemed so promising. Now it's like that trainwreck you never want to avert your eyes from.

Tonight was insulting. Lamely booked finishes, double countouts, spray blood and a 90 second main event. Does anybody want to venture a guess as to why TNA can't crack a 2 in the ratings? Why people consider them so second rate that they will never be on tier with WWE? It's because of stupid stuff like this! It's because of their stupid storylines where we see guys running around with nailed two by fours and magical rings. It's because we see children thrown into a storyline that have no place being in the storyline. It's because since we've seen Hogan and Bischoff enter, it feels like the in-ring product and everything has just suffered. I don't want to blame Hogan and Bischoff for all of TNA's problems, but for the most part, their reputation speaks for itself.

Dixie Carter, if you are not serious about making this the great product that I know it can be, pull the plug and walk away. Sure, it may be the hardest decision ever to be made, but seriously? Either the company's going to lose enough money to make the people at Panda Energy look at the books (TNA is a privately traded company, therefore their losses and gains are not public knowledge), or the fan base is going to get sick of being insulted on a weekly basis and just stop tuning in. One or the other. The growing pains excuse is not going to work anymore; TNA has been in business for nine years now. It's time to pull Hogan and Eric into a room and start asking them to show you the results they promised you they would give you. It's time to make them deliver on the exposure they promised they would give you.

The "brain-trust" at TNA can claim to have a huge appreciation for the fans, but quite frankly, if horrible storylines, lousy Impacts and godawful pay-per-views are what you're showing us for our viewership, then stop. Just cut all the losses and walk. Because this is not fair to the fans that pay their money for your pay-per-views. This is not fair to the fans that pay their money to come see the shows (like my boyfriend), and it's certainly not fair to the wrestling journalists out there who have to cover this garbage. Shape up!

Sources report that when fans realized that there would be no restart to the main event, they began to chant "This is bullshit". According to reports at WrestleZone.com, Sting was at the top of the ramp, mouthing, "I agree." Claims are coming out that Jeff Hardy was in no shape to perform. Jeff Hardy's problems are no secret to the wrestling community, most of whom are stunned that Dixie -- yes the woman pictured up there -- put the title on Jeff not once, but twice knowing full well that he is facing a potential jail term from a drug bust in September 2009. If Sting is not well, and Jeff is no shape to perform, then they should have never been in the main event in the first place! For crying out loud, I get promising what has been advertised, but there should be a limit if all that's going to happen is that the fans are going to get insulted in the end.

Time to do some real serious thinking, Dixie. Because I'm going to bet that the pay-per-view buyrates for next month are going to be real low unless you start pulling rabbits out of your hat. And do us a favor, as your devoted fans...make it good.