A Letter ( AND Sales Pitch) to TNA

To: Dixie Carter, President, TNA
Jeff Jarrett, VP, Head of Creative Dept, TNA

Greetings and Salutations,

Due to a desire to find new and exciting things to write about on my brand new Blog ( check me out http://sss-fromtheshadows.blogspot.com ) I watched your television program, IMPACT, Thursday night @ 9pm, only on SPIKE ( I like to give others plugs,too!) I thought I'd share some of my observations and opinions on what I watch, in an effort to critique, not critize, and to make you aware that I am unemployed, and would relish the opportunity to work in the creative end of your organization.

Mind you, despite my 17 years promoting and booking on the "Indies", I am making no claim to have more knowledge than the highly respected and reputable staff you currently employ; on the contrary, I would like to spend much more time in their company, to gain knowledge and understanding of a big time professional wrestling outfit.

I want it to be known that I, like just about everyone in wrestling, from friends I have in the Indies and friends I have in WWE, want TNA to succeed. There is plenty of room in the national landscape for two national touring wrestling companies, and more than enough talent to fill both those groups.

I dont think its exactly a secret that WWE was a MUCH better show when there was a real competitor for viewership, and I Think that void could be filled quite nicely by TNA- providing that some changes are made.

Talent- I feel TNA has an excellent mix of veteran "superstars" with the name value to draw viewers ( Angle,Sting,Booker,etc) and a quality selection of young upstarts hungry to prove their mettle and earn their way ( Samoa Joe, Alex Shelley,etc) Like anything else, changes could be made, additions and deletions, but overall, its a good crew of talent.

That said, with a multitude of "star power", TNA most weeks cannot surpass ECW, WWE's third tier "throw-away" show, on a third level cable natwork (SciFI) in terms of ratings or televsion viewership. QUESTION: Who would the average fan rather see, Olympic champion/WWE champion/Internationally reknown Kurt Angle, or 15 matches on national television/6 months out of developmental/ great teeth/ virtual unknown ECW champion Jack Swagger ? Well, according to the ratings, Swagger wins. But the real questions are- WHY? and HOW?

This past Monday, CM Punk ( a former TNA standout) faced the WWE Inter-Continental title holder William Regal in their third match in as many weeks. This bout, however had the proviso that, if Regal got himself disqualified, as he had in the previous two bouts, he would lose his title. After a careful build up and intriguing storytelling, that involved virtually no interviews or backstage vignettes, Punk snared the title in a fine bout that featured no blood, no weapons, and no gratuitous violence,with his trademark move, The GTS, in a bout that lasted approximately 10 minutes of tv time.

Contrastly, your Thursday program featured a First Blood Match ( 4 participants), A Table match (4 participants), an 4 man Elimination Tag, & a 4 way X Division title match- All that last a grand total of 14 minutes of tv time; A mere 13 hours since the show concluded, I cannot recall one single finish in ANY of the matches! QUESTION: Do fans react better (ie better ratings, louder responses,etc) to a simple yet logical feud that progresses over the course of a few weeks, or to a host a wild "gimmick" matches with no rhyme or reason?

Helpful Tip Time: Everyone likes to stay topical, and wrestling is no exception. Wrestling loves to parody political figures- its been commonplace for 20 years. However, remember two things: 1) theres a finite shelf life for any character that depicts a "real world" person and 2) it usually helps if the person doing the parody actually looks and sounds like the real deal.

That said, this ridiculous obsession with using "SARAH PALIN" on television is not only nonsensical and passe, it also isnt entertaining. If the goal was to get someone who had neither the look or voice to do this "imitation", than it succeeded; but may I ask, What was the point to begin with? Couldnt you have added another minute to each of the above matches instead?

Well, I think I've illustrated enough points to get to my actual "Sales Pitch" ( Tony, I need your help getting this message to JJ)

I would like for TNA to allow me to sit in on one of their "creative meetings" and allow me to present my points and ideas, from a professional point of view; to map out a logical plan that would help them build to a pay per view extravaganza; and help implement format changes to the current tv show to maximize the golden opportunity tv presents to help bring customers to the "turnstiles"

Heres what I ask in return: TNA pays me what would be the equivilent of "undercard" money-and pay for me to fly wherever it is they want me, for 6 months. I am willing to work on the "merit scale"- if what I do increases ratings, live gates, and pay per views, I get a contract. If I dont, and I turn out to be full of shit, you let me go. Its that simple.

I am more than willing to use whatever talent you wish for me to use, provided that said talent cannot block my effort to help TNA's progress.

I cannot emphasize strongly enough how badly I want to see TNA succeed; unfortunately, it will never reach a fraction of its potential without better attention to detail and stronger focus on wrestling, and less on script writing and nonsense.

Sincerely,
Shane Shadows