Powell's Blog The cycle continues in TNA: Tomko leaves the company, Kevin Nash balks at a bad idea By Jason Powell Jul 31, 2008 - 12:43 PM CLICK FOR BIO Email This Article | Printer Friendly Page Send Us News & Results | Back to Main Listing Thursday, JULY 31 - 12:43 P.M. Tomko finishing his run is another case of missed opportunity for TNA. His desire to work in Japan had a lot to do with his decision to leave the company, but that doesn't change the fact that TNA blew their opportunity to make money with him while he was still in the fold. Tomko was one of the hottest acts in the company a few months ago and fans were clamoring for him to turn babyface. Unfortunately, the TNA creative team booked a swerve just for the sake of swerving the fans and kept him on the heel side. It's been all downhill for Tomko since then, and this is just another sign that TNA creative doesn't have its finger on the pulse of its fan base. No one wanted to see Tomko stay heel, yet TNA creative got cute and botched what should have been a legitimate money drawing babyface run. TNA could have taken their time and built toward a singles match between Tomko and Samoa Joe that would have meant something if they booked it properly. Rather, Tomko is no longer with the company and TNA didn't even capitalize on his departure by booking him in a loser leaves TNA match on pay-per-view. Granted, most fans probably would have ignored such a stipulation while assuming it was yet another one of TNA's counterproductive swerves, but such a match would have been appealing to some viewers had it been booked properly. There I go again using the words "TNA" and "booked properly" in the same sentence. What am I thinking? This is the same creative staff that booked Samoa Joe to destroy Booker T in the Victory Road pay-per-view main event to the point that Booker's wife and Sting had to come out and plead with him to stop. I gave TNA the benefit of the doubt on that awkward match and finish because I thought they gave Joe his edge back and found a way to work a babyface Sting into the title picture against a badass Joe character. Yet on the very next television show, Joe was doubting himself because he didn't pin Booker. Never mind the fact that Joe beat the piss out of Booker so severely that two people begged him to stop, the insecure Joe character didn't know if he could get the job done against Booker. What? Does this make sense? And let's not forget the way Sting has been booked in this mess of a storyline. He came out and did his best to restore order by telling Joe that he'd proved his point by beating Booker senseless. Joe stuck his middle finger in Sting's face and said, "F--- you." Sting retaliated by striking Joe with his usual baseball bat shot. Typical Sting antics, right? Not in the mind of TNA creative. Somehow this mess of a storyline resulted in everyone in the company not named A.J. Styles assuming Sting has turned heel. So now we're left with the sniveling, unconfident babyface champion facing the noble would-be-heel, but it won't take place until after Joe regains the belt he lost but didn't really lose to Booker. Does this make sense to anyone other than Jeff Jarrett, Dutch Mantel, and Vince Russo? The creative team dropped the ball on Tomko. They've confused everyone with their big Bound For Glory pay-per-view angle between Sting and Joe. And now they've managed to piss off Kevin Nash, who balked at another one of their stupid ideas and left the TNA tapings early on Tuesday night. Cooler heads will probably prevail in that situation, but Nash was right to complain about the silly idea they came up with for his elimination in the gauntlet weapons match. Yes, that's right, a gauntlet weapons match. You know, because hardcore wrestling is hip and cutting edge right now, and it's always a good idea to feature a bunch of gimmick matches so that you have nothing special left to offer on the pay-per-view. Honestly, I'm just surprised the weapons weren't placed on top of a pole that and there weren't leather straps involved given the TNA creative team's odd fetish for both items. Meanwhile, Dixie Carter continues to stand by her creative team. Confidence in the trio has nosedived in the locker room, but TNA isn't losing money this month and Dixie doesn't like confrontation, so don't hold your breath while waiting for the long overdue creative change to take place. The booking sucks, the wrestlers are frustrated, and the company chooses creative over talent. The cycle continues. The good news in all of this is that TNA officials claim they are making money, and I'm sure that's how they justify choosing creative over talent. I've said it before and I'll say it again. Just imagine how much more money the company could be making if they had a competent creative team in place. Monday, JULY 28 - 12:57 P.M. -It's going to be a newsworthy evening with Shane McMahon appearing on Raw and the Saturday Night's Main Event taping taking place. I think most people assume that Shane will name a new general manager given the recent storyline. I'm still holding out hope that the gig goes to William Regal, who was doing a hell of a job in that role until he was forced to serve a 60-day suspension. -Will Undertaker return tonight? I would save him for Summer Slam, but you know WWE wants to pop a rating for the NBC special, so they could tease his return on the Saturday night show. At the very least, sources within the company expect him to have some presence on the show. The question is whether he'll appear in person or via some type of tease such as the lights flickering and a video appearing on the big screen? Again, I would tease a possible return on NBC, but sell the Summer Slam show by saving his in-ring return for the pay-per-view. -It should come as no surprise that tonight's pairing of Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler on commentary for the Saturday Night's Main Event taping is viewed as a one-shot deal. As I've mentioned before, I don't think Vince McMahon is willing to concede this early in the game that switching the announcers was a bad decision. For that matter, I prefer having Ross on Friday nights. The Smackdown show generally features more wrestling than the Raw brand, not to mention the fact that the Smackdown brand has a deeper talent pool. As such, it's only natural to assume that there will be more Smackdown matches on pay-per-view, meaning Ross will call more matches. -I'll be surprised if ECW has much of a presence on the Saturday Night's Main Event show. I could see them doing a quick angle or a backstage interview with someone from the brand, but the one-hour format of the show will make it difficult for WWE to squeeze in all the top acts. The fact that the broadcast team consists of one Smackdown announcer and one Raw announcer and no one from ECW could be a sign that we're not going to see much or any involvement from the ECW brand. -We're only a few days away from fantasy football draft month, so this is a good time to remind you that the Dot Net Members Forum has a fantasy sports section where my former Fanball coworker Jonathan "Pooch" Lopuch of FantasyFootballChamps.com and I correspond with readers regarding all things fantasy sports. Sometimes the experts need help. I'm still trying to decide whether to keep LaDainian Tomlinson or Adrian Peterson in my main league, so don't hesitate to offer your take on the matter. -Did anyone watch the Elite XC show on Saturday night? I don't watch much CBS, but I spoke with several MMA fans (including some in the pro wrestling business) who didn't see much advertising for the event. I actually forgot they were running a show until a friend reminded me on Saturday afternoon. I have the show on DVR and I'll get around to watching it eventually, but I'm just stunned that CBS and Elite XC didn't do more to promote the show given the ratings success the premier show was. One can only hope that CBS will make up for it by promoting future events during its upcoming NFL coverage. BOOKMARK DOT NET AND ADD US TO YOUR RSS • HELP DOT NET: TAKE OUR ADVERTISER DEMO SURVEY CLICK TO RETURN TO MAIN LISTING OR SELECT A LINK BELOW FROM THIS CATEGORY Powell's Blog Latest Twelve Articles WWE's latest talent cut, no room for managers in pro wrestling, Brock Lesnar vs. Fedor, the newest wrestler on the ECW roster, traditional Survivor Series matches Brock Lesnar is the new UFC Heavyweight Champion, but he faces an uphill battle in a quest to earn the respect of MMA followers Thoughts on UFC 91 at the box office, the Randy Couture vs. Brock Lesnar main event, and the weak undercard WWE cuts five wrestlers in four days, Jeff Hardy shows a mean streak, lame duck Ring of Honor pay-per-view event WWE cracking down on marijuana use, internal frustration over a TNA cut continues, Vladimir Kozlov fan reaction, one week away from Brock Lesnar vs. Randy Couture I lost my precious sticker, more on WWE Raw including thoughts on Stephanie and Shane McMahon, Vladimir Kozlov, the same old Jeff Hardy, and the strangest voter ever