Is TNA Ready for a New War?

On Monday, January 4 at 8pm, TNA will be delivering a live broadcast of Impact going head to head with Monday Night Raw. Dixie Carter claims that TNA is "...firing that first shot".

But that statement was made a few years ago by two members of the TNA roster, Kip and BG James, when they created the Voodoo Kin Mafia, or VKM for short—in reference to Vince McMahon's initials. VKM was on a tirade to start a war with WWE ala D-Generation X from the late '90s. The "war" angle didn't last long, and we never saw much of anything substantial from the two performers afterwards.

Back when VKM was doing its war angle, Jim Ross had made a comment on his blog responding to a fan who asked what he thought about the angle, and whether WWE would respond. Jim Ross replied with a statement implying that TNA should focus on its own product and build the company before trying to compete with a much larger entity like WWE.

I can't do anything more right now other than restate what Jim Ross said in regard to the VKM angle. TNA still needs to focus on building itself and its reputation. Its ratings are clearly an indication of that -- they rarely do better than the weekly ECW broadcast on SyFy, and that show is pretty hard to stomach.

Even though we are seeing some of the younger talent emerge to the front line, and a lean towards more wrestling and less "sports-entertainment," TNA still has yet to produce a package that consistently makes sense. Without going into specifics, the product is still all over the place when it comes to storylines and styles of wrestling. The company has yet to find its true identity.

Bringing in Hogan has some positives and negatives. Negatives in that there is a good chance that some of the younger talent will lose their spots, positives in that Hogan brings name recognition to TNA.

Good or bad, the Hogan train has arrived, and TNA will be pushed into the limelight regardless. The question is—Is the company ready? I don't think it is.