Post by Next Manufactured’s Sweater on Sept 23, 2008 13:03:40 GMT -5
I'll check it out... but the thought of an alternate reality where Hogan and Bischoff use this airtime to build a credible main stream wrestling promotion doesn't exactly have me doing backflips to see this.
How could they "use this airtime to build a credible mainstream wrestling promotion"? Firstly, their TV deal was for a reality show featuring celebrities. Not for "an hour a week of whatever you want to do, fellas."
Secondly, the cost of setting up a mainstream wrestling promotion would be astronomical. Neither Hogan nor Bischoff would risk their own money on it, and considering the almost certainty of failure (it's not like wrestling is exactly booming at the moment), neither would any investors.
Thirdly, Hogan learnt his lesson with the XWF or whatever it was called.
And fourthly - and most important - the talent base just isn't there to support it. RVD, Lashley, Hogan, Goldberg, Warrior. Those are the possible main event talents. RVD and Lashley are probably the only ones that are capable of working any kind of wrestling schedule that's not a one-off. And neither of them have the mainstream credibility. And then as you get further down the card, it's even worse. Every American-based wrestler that's worth a damn (and plenty that aren't) works for WWE or TNA. The exceptions like Danielson are extremely non-mainstream wrestlers. So Hogan'd be left with a choice of WWE cast-offs. There are some decent ones in the last round of cuts, and Tomko's still independent I think, so you could essentially build a roster... But not one that stands out from WWE or even TNA. It's a losing venture.
Plus, if they did form a new wrestling promotion, the Internet would just bitch about Hogan being pushed and too much "entertainment" and so on. At least with a reality show, there's only one thread of bitching.