Random Reax

Haters please lay off Brooke Hogan
I read a rumor a few days ago that made me laugh. Supposedly there's resentment backstage in regards to Brooke Hogan because her celebrity hasn't translated to a wrestling audience, she's not very good in her role as the Knockout authority figure and she's only there because of her father.

First of all, what "celebrity" are these people even talking about? She's a singer whose career apparently failed so spectacularly that WWE created a gimmick to parody it and gave it to a jobber Diva. Any fame or recognizability Brooke may or may not have came from her being on a crappy reality show with her dad that, as I understand it, went off the air years ago. So if her "celebrity" hasn't gotten her over with the TNA fans... um... what the hell were company officials expecting?

As for her not being very good in her role... well, if I'm playing devil's advocate here, I actually don't think she's done horribly. Aside from falling over on the ramp in a hilarious spot that I'm sure will end up in a Botchamania video sooner or later, she hasn't really done anything to embarrass herself. It's not like she's Jenna Morasca out there; mostly she's been pretty harmless. Sure, she hasn't gotten over, but she hasn't been overexposed either. This is why I don't mind her in this spot.

In fact, I'll go one better: Brooke Hogan is an ideal authority figure for the Knockouts. And why is that? Because she really doesn't do very much. She shows up once in a while, makes a match here, pushes a storyline there, interacts with the women when necessary, and otherwise we don't see her all that often. Hell, there are plenty of times when she'll go weeks without appearing on the show at all. For the most part, Brooke Hogan has stayed out of the spotlight, allowing the focus of the Knockout division to remain on the Knockouts, which is exactly what an authority figure SHOULD do.

Good lord, people... isn't this preferable to what we were getting this time last year when the Knockout division turned into nothing more than a vehicle to put over Karen Jarrett? Would you rather go back to that and have an entire roster of women get shoved to the side so Karen could resume hogging all the spotlight for herself, never allowing any Knockout to get over on her ever?

I think a lot of people are really under-appreciating what Brooke Hogan has done here -- putting ego aside and letting the Knockouts do their thing unimpeded. Besides, as long as Brooke Hogan is the Knockout authority figure, Karen Jarrett can't be; for that reason alone, I say Brooke Hogan can stay as long as she likes.


Who the crap is Taryn Terrell? 
Here's another rumor that had me in stitches. Supposedly, TNA officials were "shocked" that the debut of Taryn Terrell received no reaction from the iMPACT Zone crowd... almost as if the fans in attendance didn't recognize or care about a woman who was in WWE for a little while a couple years ago, did nothing of note, was unimpressive in the ring, never got over or accomplished anything, was uncerimoniously released to the outcry of absolutely no one and has done nothing in the business worth mentioning since then. Imagine that...

Perhaps the more "shocking" thing is the idea that anyone in TNA management honestly believed that fans were going to be excited, or even give a rat's ass about the signing of the sports entertainer formerly known as Tiffany. Not to speak ill of the woman before she's had a chance to prove herself, but come on, TNA, what did you really expect here?

Apparently TNA brass is still suffering from a delusion that I thought they had finally cast aside. Please allow me to clarify something: Just because a wrestler was a WWE star, it does not automatically mean that they have star power.

Perfect example: In 2010, Sean 'Val Venis' Morley showed up and was put in a feud with Christopher Daniels. Daniels was the heel in said feud and was doing his best to turn the audience against him, and yet the fans supported him and took a big crap on Morley despite him being the babyface. And why? Because Sean Morley's career peaked over a decade ago, he's been irrelevant for years, had nothing to offer and everyone knew it.

Now I'm certainly not comparing Terrell to Morley here, but the situation is similar. Why should the fans have popped for Taryn Terrell? Even if they recognized her (which, if they're like me, they didn't), the only thing she did in WWE that was even worth talking about was getting into a domestic dispute with then-husband Drew McIntyre. She wasn't a star in that company, ergo any supposed "star power" TNA officials thought she had is simply non-existent.

I had really hoped that TNA had gotten over their inferiority complex when it comes to the WWE. I hoped that with the elevation of home-grown stars such as Bobby Roode, James Storm, Austin Aries, etc. that they had grown more confident in their ability to create stars on par with those created up in Stamford. Maybe my hopes were premature.

I'm going to give Terrell some time to sink or swim on her own merits, but honestly, this seems like a rather pointless signing to me. Typically you sign a former WWE talent for 1 of 2 reasons:

#1) star power/recognizability (ex. Jeff Hardy, Mickie James).
#2) untapped potential (ex. Brooke Tessmacher).

But if said talent doesn't seem to bring either element to the table in any major way, then you're probably just wasting money on them when you could surely get an independent talent with more to offer for less money to fill that role.

I'm not saying Terrell couldn't turn out to be a good signing in the future like Brooke Tessmacher did, but right now it seems like this signing was based solely on her being in WWE once upon a time even though she had been out of the business for something like two and a half years since then. Also I'm guessing the looks factor had something to do with it. With Angelina and Velvet both gone, they were suddenly lacking hot blondes and, "Hey, Taryn Terrell's not doing anything these days. She's a hot blonde AND she used to be a WWE Diva! It's win win, right? Right?"

It makes me sad if some hungry female talent from the indies got passed up for a job just so TNA could scoop up another former Diva -- one who's viability seems rather questionable right now. If she manages to prove that she deserves this opportunity more than those women, more power to her. But at the moment, I really don't see why TNA officials thought this person was someone they needed on their roster, as a referee, wrestler or otherwise.


A woman I'd much rather see get an opportunity in TNA
Independent wrestler and former SHIMMER tag team champion Courtney Rush recently tried out for Gutcheck when they did a seminar up in Canada. TNA need to snatch this woman up. Rush is a solid wrestler, great on the mic, has loads of charisma and an entertaining personality that is just a riot to watch. If they're looking at any women who haven't been in WWE to expand the Knockout roster, Rush is someone they should seriously consider IMO.






Knockout division lull only temporary?
I share Jason Blade's frustrations with the current status of the Knockout division. Not only has the roster been decimated in recent months, but their screen time has been greatly reduced as well. The other day Dixie Carter mentioned that she was answering fan tweets (yes, she does actually answer them) and I jumped at this. I tweeted her, saying that the Knockout roster was depleted, stale, and needed new talent, and asked if more attention would be paid to the women soon.

She responded with a DM, saying, "Good things coming." Take from this what you will.