When you look back on the general Dumpster fire peppered with shining moments of greatness that is the history of TNA, you’ll find that Vince Russo is the one standing with a gas can and blowtorch, laughing maniacally as the world burns. Whether it’s lying about working for them even though the tone and noticeable quality of the shows plummeted drastically and almost immediately upon his return, or, you know, any results that come from any search of “Vince Russo TNA,” Russo is categorically one of TNA’s greatest mistakes. And they’ve made a lot of mistakes.
In a blog post titled “It’s Hard To Feel Sorry For TNA,” Russo revealed that he offered to save them from their woes by giving them his services for free:
Feeling the TNA situation, I felt driven to do something about it, rather than to just sit behind my computer and let it die a slow death. So I wrote an email to Dixie, John and Billy Corgan and I offered my services to them—FREE OF CHARGE—in an effort to help them from now until September. I told them that if they weren’t interested that there was no need to reply to my email, that I would know in my heart-of-hearts that I did all I possibly could do on my part to help the situation. The only one who responded to my e-mail was Billy [Corgan] — who I understood wasn’t in a position to do anything.
Yikes. Here’s something anyone even tangentially connected to wrestling knows: “Free” is a wrestling company’s favourite word. To turn down an offer to work for free, that company is either incredibly stupid or the services being offered are incredibly terrible. I…well, I think we can figure out which is the case in this story.
Carter/Gaburick are not interested in my FREE SERVICES, based on one having to admit a mistake, and the other simply doing what execs do in wrestling—protecting their spots. Not accepting the services of the guy who helped creatively bring you to your greatest heights is just simply… sad.
I’ve hurled a lot of harsh criticism at people like Bob Ryder and John Gaburick — I’d say most of it pretty justified — but if Gaburick can recognize that the ‘greatest highs’ were what killed the momentum Impact Wrestling had actually built up and bolstered the idea that TNA is a joke, then I’ve gotta give him credit where credit is due.
But that’s wrestling. That’s why so many of us who could help are on the outside looking in. In wrestling, insecurity and paranoia is KING and failure to admit your mistakes will sooner, or later, bring you down to your knees.
So…how’s the view from down there, Vince?
(Via CSR Wrestling)
