A PIECE OF MY MIND: TNA, THE DUDLEYS, GABE SAPOLSKY, PAUL HEYMAN & MORE
By Sal Corrente on 11/8/2008 11:01 AM
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I found myself in Bakersfield, CA, this week during my travels on the same day
that TNA had a house show in Bakersfield. I have never attended a TNA house
show. I have, however, attended a TNA taping at Universal but never a house
show. I called Devon Dudley and let him know that I was in town. He sent me a
text saying that he and Bubba were close by and to meet them at the arena. I
have to say that I have stated before that the problems with TNA were not within
the ring ropes and that was certainly confirmed for me on Nov 2nd in
Bakersfield, CA.
We went into the building I said hello to the talent that I already had met or
who had worked for me before on WrestleReunion events like James Storm. I was
then introduced to those that I hadn’t met in the past. As I was visiting with
Devon I did consider ducking out early and going back to the hotel. It didn’t
appear that the Dudleys would be staying in town for dinner and I hadn’t watched
a televised companies house show in a very long time. I could not be happier
that I stayed. What I found was a crowd rabid for wrestling. It wasn’t exactly
the wrestling that I grew up with but it was pretty close to the same feel. I
have to say that the crowd was as vocal for the last match as they were the
first match. I found it energizing to know that fans could still get so engaged
in what was happening inside the ring.
I haven’t met a wrestling insider yet, including myself, that didn’t have a
backseat driver type of opinion to any wrestling event. If this was my show to
book would I have made some changes? Of course I would have. I am not foolish
enough to believe that those changes would have made a Richter scale type impact
on this event. I can honestly tell you that I couldn’t hear the person next to
me talking as it was. How much louder could they have yelled and how much
longer? I really believe TNA can make a move beyond their existing status. It
wouldn’t take very many moves to really start energizing this company. It
appears that they may have already started making some of them. We can only wait
and be hopeful if TNA improves the entire industry should improve along with it.
It appears that Vince McMahon can only get the WWE in high gear if he hears
footsteps.
I spoke last week of Cary Silkin and the hard decision that he had to make
regarding the removal of Gabe Sapolsky from the booker position at Ring of
Honor. It is these types of decisions that can make or break a company. It isn’t
easy to make the choice that Cary Silkin made. Most people who have never owned
a company probably cannot even comprehend how he came to the conclusions that he
did. It was not going to be a very popular decision. It is that alone that would
stop many people from pulling that trigger. I don’t know how Cary came to his
decision and what gave him the strength to make this very unpopular decision but
it needed to be made. Even if he didn’t pick the right guy to replace Sapolsky
sometimes the worst decision that you can make is no decision.
It is time for Vince McMahon to make that same type of decision and basically
fire himself from the role of head booker for the WWE. It is the perfect
opportunity for him to take on someone like Gabe Sapolsky and see how he can do
as part of a huge organization with unlimited resources. I can’t judge the
creative team because they aren’t writing for the people or even using their
skills. They are writing for Vince McMahon either to amuse him or not to be
subjected to his wrath.
In the same light as TNA the things that are broken at WWE can easily be fixed.
The impediments to the solutions perhaps are different at both companies. But it
wouldn’t take anything to fix them.
If I was Vince McMahon and I owned the WWE, I would put all pride aside and do
whatever I had to do to get Paul Heyman to run the creative end of the company.
At this point in time Heyman is the most qualified to lead that end of the
company. I realize that Paul can be loose cannon at times. But he has shown
creativity and the ability to know where the ball will be tomorrow. Wayne
Gretzky once said that he doesn’t skate to "where the puck is" he skates to
"where it is going to be".
The one thing that Paul Heyman hasn’t really proven yet is that he is a
survivor. Being a creator and surviving is two different things. He created a
great thing, a legendary thing, with ECW. But it didn’t matter how great it was
because he didn’t have the capacity to keep the company solvent. In truth if it
wasn’t for McMahon ECW might have come to a conclusion sooner than it did. This
is where the McMahon family has proven over the years that they excel. The WWWF,
WWF, WWE and Vince McMahon himself have been in quite precarious situations over
the years and have prevailed to come back bigger better and stronger. If Paul
Heyman had that type of individual coaching, leading and guiding him without
stifling his creativity you might just have the winning formula.
Here is an interesting thought, if you were to hire Gabe Sapolosky isn’t it
possible that, with his relationship with Heyman, that you might be getting two
for the price of one anyway?
I was in the ring with Moondog Spot as a referee one time and he was pulling on
the other guy’s beard. I was still kind of green and didn’t actually “get†the
whole thing. I was calling for the break and of course he wouldn’t break it. So
I came down from as high as I could with a double axe handle to break the hold.
He looked at me and said "you stiff P***k" and that’s when the light bulb went
off. I wasn’t supposed to really hit him on his forearms. I was just to stop
short and he would take care of the rest. I am glad that he wasn’t mad. He knew
I was still learning. I was never trained to wrestle by Afa “The Wild Samoanâ€
Anoai. He taught me the business side of the business. It was the best training
that I could have had. I have had numerous matches over the years and never hurt
a soul and never been booed out of an arena. I learned the part I could on my
own but the knowledge that was passed to me was like a college education. It has
been the foundation of everything that I have been able to accomplish in the
wrestling business.
The picture with this article is from the very first appearance of Team 3D the
former Dudley Boyz. This was taken at WrestleReunion 2 in Valley Forge, PA. It
was the day after the WWE informed me we were infringing on their rights and
that Bubba and Devon had no rights to use that name. It was an interesting day
but we got through it and Team 3D was born.
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