I've never been a fan of Pat Mcneil. I've always found the content of his columns insipid, and sometimes totally off the marker, at best. Compared to strong writers like David Meltzer, Wade Keller, and James Caldwell (who has impressed me over and over with his great write-ups ever since he joined the team not so long ago), Mcneil makes himself seem like he's deadweight. When he does post a write-up (which is somewhat of a rarity), it's almost always unprovocative and leaves me with an "okay, that was extremely pointless" kind of feeling.
His latest piece of work really set me off, and inspired me to write in a response:
The Top Seven: Based on the ESPN Classic gimmick show of the same name, here are the Top Seven Reasons You Can't Blame TNA For Putting the NWA Title Back On Jeff Jarrett.
7) Jarrett's only the transition champion. This is an argument that has been thrown around ever since the move to Jarrett was announced. Sure, Jarrett is almost guaranteed to keep the belt through October, but eventually, after a few more months or so, Jarrett will do the right thing and drop the title before settling into the "permanent heel challenger" role.
Jarret is not the calibur performer for the role of the "permanent heel challenger" let alone shouldn't be anywhere near that belt. It may sound redundant and cliche, but TNA will NOT succeed if it is built around JJ. He simply does not have what it takes across the board to rise to that level. Is he terrible? Not at all. Is he mediocre? Yes. Now should someone who is mediocre in terms of practically everything really be at the helm of the promotion?
6) Jarrett's got a different heel stable idea. Sure, Double J has attempted to rip off the New World Order, The Wolfpac, D-Generation X, Evolution and even the Truth Commission in his previous heel stable ideas, but not once has Jeff attempted to rip off the Four Horsemen. That's what makes his alliance with America's Most Wanted special.
I don't see how this supports his argument at all.... so Jarret has a new stable idea.... that doesn't change the fact that it's still boring old Jarret who is leading the pack.
5) The NWA World Title doesn't even matter any more. Jarrett has that role as a sop to the old school fans, the hundreds that are flocking to see guys like Dusty Rhodes and Terry Funk on Tony Hunter's Carolina Championship Wrestling shows. The hardcore internet fans know that the real action is in the NWA's X Division, with guys like Samoa Joe, Christopher Daniels and TNA's main man, Allen James Styles.
One, i seriously doubt that old school fans are "flocking" to see Jarret, given the fact that Jarret's only exposure was in the WWE as a mid-carder and in WCW during its dying years. Let alone the fact that Dusty Rhodes and Terry Funk's days on top were long before Jarret's career even began in mainstream pro-wrestling.
Two, if your World title is lacking in prestige, that's not something you should be passive about. The World title is usually on the top of the card, and in many ways embodies the promotion in and of itself. If Nash/Jarret embodies your promotion, then your promotion is going to look very mediocre.
4) Name Recognition. Even though TNA's advertising on Spike TV has been all about insanely athletic guys performing incredibly acrobatic moves, that's not what wrestling fans want to see. Wrestling fans want to see familiar faces on their wrestling shows. That's why TNA took surveys at your finer strip malls and determined that Kevin Nash and Jeff Jarrett were the two most recognizable names on the roster, especially among people who aren't wrestling fans. Tito Ortiz scored high on the name recognition survey too, but that may have been due to older fans confusing him with "El Matador" Tito Santana.
What good is "name recognition" if you don't have "big names" that can draw effectively? Kevin Nash and Jeff Jarret have both proven time and time again that they cannot draw on their own. By this logic, you might as well bring in Koko B. Ware, Tony Atlas, or Hercules Hernandez and push them to the moon. Same deal.
IMO, i think it was a mistake for TNA to not push the reset button before the inaugural episode of Impact on Spike. It would've been the perfect opportunity to introduce the fans to the new stars and you wouldn't have to push old stars out of fear that the fans would turn on the new stars if you pushed them right off the bat.
Shouldn't people in the pro-wrestling business have learned by now that the fickle, casual fans who are soley into the entertainment aspect are not going to come back unless the wrestlers start ripping their arms off on television? Here's a novel approach - start catering to people who are ACTUALLY WRESTLING FANS! Marks and internet fans alike. Marks may be fickle, but the bottom line is they are just as much wrestling fans as the internet crowd. It will be quiet at first, but it will cause a rift, which eventually could lead to the creation of new fans. And if it doesn't? So what? IMO, the pandering to the casual fans is all part of a big misconception. To illustrate my point, think of 8 lamps. Now turn some of them off. This, IMO, is a manifestation of the pro-wrestling fanbase today. All you have to do is turn those lamps back on, not necessarily buy new ones altogether.
3) The WCW Factor. World Championship Wrestling has been off the air for nearly five years, yet statistical evidence showed that most WCW fans never made the jump to WWE, or didn't stick around once they got their first taste of Raw and Smackdown. Clearly there are people clamoring to see a rebirth of WCW. TNA doesn't have Chris Benoit, Booker T, Hulk Hogan, Road Warrior Animal and Ric Flair. Scott Steiner is in no shape to wrestle, and neither is Sid Vicious. Sting, Diamond Dallas Page and Bill Goldberg want too much money. But TNA does have Kevin Nash and Jeff Jarrett, which was once a main event storyline for World Championship Wrestling. Plus, they can deliver. Jarrett and Nash had a pay-per-view match several months ago at Against All Odds which has to be considered one of the fifty or sixty best TNA matches of 2005.
This has to be the worst argument of the seven. Yes, Jarret and Nash headlined WCW..... during the time when the company was in its last throes.... not that i necessarily blame that fact on either men or the feud itself, but the fact that the crowds they were performing for were in some cases below the 10,000 mark kind of detracts from his point of immediate recognition among the casual fans.
2) TNA employees are loyal to Jeff Jarrett. Jeff Jarrett is the guy who originally hired most everyone in the TNA front office, including the booking committee. Plus, Jarrett and his daddy run the company and own a percentage of it. Without the Jarretts, people like Scott D'Amore, Jeremy Borash and David Sahadi would have to work at (*gasp*) regular jobs in order to make money. TNA's wrestlers would be in OVW, indy purgatory or grinding out a living under the boot of Vince McMahon. Why not show a little appreciation to the founder of wrestling's number one alternative?
First of all, that was then, this is now. Were it not for Dixie Carter and Panda Energy, TNA might have been dead or in the same place it was long ago. Second, it's obvious that the only reason Jerry and Jeff started pushing TNA forward to the next level was so that it could serve as a vehicle for Jeff to establish him as a key figure in the pro-wrestling business, plain and simple. IMO, the Jarrets deserve no credit, nor any respect from anyone. Scott D'Amore and compnay may have been hired by Jeff, but the same people he hired were the ones that took the ball, ran with it, and made it something, unlike Jeff and Jerry.
As far as loyalty goes.... i'm not involved with the company, but from what i know, it's really only Borash and Sahidi who are the Jarret loyalists in the book.
1) Kevin Nash vs. Raven would just be silly.
...... How about continuing the feud with Rhino? Why does Kevin nash have to be a permanent part of this equation to begin with?
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Which leads me to belive that Mcneil's column is a "work", or a joke played on Internet fans like myself who have a tendency to take things a little to seriously every now and then, and fail to see through the sarcasm. Remember, this is a guy who pimped Dusty's booking, conceived the absolute worst Wrestlemania "dream card" of all time, and is currently trying to help lift some of the blame for TNA's hardships off of JJ, who for the most part, deserves every single bit of it. Smell a little fishy?
If it's not just a joke, well.... everyone can have their opinion, but..... Mcneil is seriously out of touch with a few things.....