And What About Paige?

When I talked about Impact Wrestling recently, I used a picture of Alberto El Patron and Paige. Those two are obviously in a relationship. Paige has had a bunch of injury and suspension issues in the last year, holding her back in her WWE career. Nevertheless, the WWE is making a movie about her. But then you have her being backstage at the Impact Wrestling tapings a couple weeks ago to support her man. That is the kind of thing that can get you in trouble with the WWE.

There seems to be mixed signals here. How good is the relationship between Paige and the WWE? On the one hand, they are still trying to do something with her. On the other hand, she might not be that interested in being as supportive of the WWE. She might choose her man over the WWE. This sounds familiar. Reminds me of the drama with CM Punk & AJ Lee against the WWE a couple years ago. We all know how that turned out. CM Punk walked out and AJ Lee retired abruptly. Like an RKO in the night, no one saw it coming. There were expectations that it might happen, but AJ Lee retiring when she did came out of nowhere. Will there be a similar end for Paige? 

I have seen some fans say that Paige is throwing her career away. They criticize her because this was her dream and she is just turning her back on it like this. Some say that the WWE should just fire her.

If Paige is not as in love with the WWE anymore, I do not blame her. She didn't debut during the start of the women's revolution era. She debuted during the dying days of the diva era. And her career shows it. She may have won the Diva's Championship in her first night on Raw, but the reign was terrible. Her feud with Tamina was not properly developed at all. Her feud with Alicia Fox featured Fox's crazy gimmick, which really did not serve a proper purpose in the feud. It just took creative investment away from Paige. Her feud with Naomi had to share the spotlight with Cameron and Naomi splitting. It was like they were more interested in putting creative focus on anyone but Paige. And she lost the title back to AJ Lee when AJ returned from her hiatus. She was finally pushed better, but that is because she was working with someone they wanted to be a star. The more you invest in a jobber, the better the star will look working with the jobber. She won the title back on her birthday, but the reign was short and just seemed pointless, as she dropped it back to AJ Lee.

Everything after that was just jobber pushes. The women's revolution era started. Some might say she was the leader of PCB, but she looked like more of the jobber of the group. She got that heated feud with Charlotte, but it was obviously a jobber push. And her career never looked that interesting again since then. Instead of being passed over for eye-candy divas, she was being overlooked for the sake of the Four Horsewomen.

Throughout all that, Paige has done a ton of extra-curricular activities for the WWE. She did Total Divas, Tough Enough, movies, and so on. Of course, these outside activities do not decide what kind of career you are getting in the actual division. And I already talked about the kind of career she was getting. Definitely not being pushed as an A-tier player.

Why should Paige be so loyal to the WWE when they are not properly reciprocating it in terms of how they push her? Even if this was Paige's dream to be in the WWE, it can very well be the case that your dreams don't always turn out how you would have liked. A woman might meet her dream man. Handsome, smart, funny, and all the other qualities she wanted. Problem is, he turns abusive after a while. Why should she stick with him? Because this is her dream guy? No, move on. It is the same idea with working in the WWE. A lot of people are eager to come to the WWE, but then some of them might not be happy with how they are treated. Why should they force themselves to stick around and be as loyal to the company as they might have first been when they came in?

Look at Mickie James. During her first run in the WWE, she took the career of a credible jobber and fooled many fans into thinking she was the centerpiece. She had the overness and talent to deserve it. She was loyal to the company. She had drive. She was the best option they had. But the WWE was still looking to create another eye-candy centerpiece. And that kept Mickie James as a credible jobber. If I remember correctly, Mickie James was released on a day she was promoting the Raw draft special in Richmond, Virginia. That's loyalty for you. Why was she so loyal to a company that never pushed her as a star and kept using her to put over other women and as filler, not to mention the humiliation? If the women's revolution never happened, I don't think the WWE would have ever given Mickie James a second run.

I am no psychologist. I do not know Paige personally. But I can understand the kind of situation she is in. She comes into her dream job with this idea that she can make something of herself and be great. She does a lot of projects for the company. She has some success getting over. But she gets pushed aside for other women that she might feel have not done the things she has done. It's like a great worker in a company that does a lot for them, but does not get rewarded in terms of getting promoted. Now, I can respect workers that shrug that off and just continue to do their job as best as they can because of a good work ethic, but there is nothing wrong with knowing your worth and not wanting to stick around in a situation where you are being mistreated, might be taken advantage of, or are just unhappy. This kind of mistreatment can just make you lose your drive. Your eyes might start to wander elsewhere. In the case of Paige, it looks like she's given some of that devotion the WWE once got to Alberto Del Rio.

People always talk about the WWE giving workers second or third chances. What about the other way around? What about workers that feel the WWE messed up with them and might not want to go back to them? Should they give the WWE a second or third chance? As I pointed out, Paige has done a lot for the WWE and they did not push her right. You can blame it on the dying days of the diva era being so bad. Okay, but Paige still stuck around. She was there as the women's revolution era got started. And she was not featured that well there. Should she give the WWE another chance and refocus herself into her WWE career? This era is still messed up. Both divisions have issues, although this era is looking like it will be better for women's wrestlers than the diva era. And Paige will likely not get lost in the shuffle like she has been in the past. But that is up to her whether she wants to still be with the WWE. I would say you can argue the WWE has betrayed her trust and loyalty in the past. Even if this was her dream job, they gave her a reason to lose interest. It's not like she turned her back on them after the first depush. She gave them multiple chances to treat her right. And if they don't value her, just let her go.

Does that mean she goes to Impact Wrestling with El Patron? It is an option. I already brought up AJ Lee & CM Punk. It is a very similar situation. AJ Lee was showing signs for a while that she was siding with her man over the WWE, but the WWE kept on pushing her well and still lost her. Paige is showing signs of choosing her man over the WWE. The WWE is showing they might still be interested in keeping her with this movie, but it might be too little, too late.

What would this mean for Impact Wrestling? Well, they need a successor for Gail Kim. She's 40 now and still looks like she is coming back for more. But the company really needs to plan for the future. They just can't keep bringing back ODB and Angelina Love. And I'm sure Velvet Sky will come back sooner or later. Outside of that, they rotate in women from the indies, but they never seem to make anything out of them. I have seen some people say that Jade would be the successor to Gail Kim. Yeah? How did that work out? Paige, who is still very young, can be that successor. Some people might roll their eyes at another ex-WWE performer getting a spot in TNA. You do realize Gail Kim was an ex-WWE performer before going to TNA, right? And she is still the most respected female performer the company has ever had. There is no shame in going from the WWE to Impact Wrestling. If Paige thinks she deserves better than the WWE, she might switch companies.

Last thing to consider, will losing Paige hurt the WWE? Not at all. Even though their depth is terrible, they have a ton of women in NXT to debut. And they just have to learn to be more efficient with what they have. Paige was pretty popular, but so are a lot of women these days in the WWE. No one woman seems to knock it out of the park these days. Paige was definitely someone that should have been pushed as a star, but it might just end up being their loss. That is, if they even care. They are doing a terrible job building stars in the women's division these days. I am not even sure if that bothers them.

The New Direction Of Impact Wrestling

TNA has had a lot of changes this year. They have been re-branded to Impact Wrestling. I'm only going to be here a few more months, so I'll just call them whatever I feel like before I'm done blogging. Aside from changes in name and logos, there has been a change in the roster.

First, the big loss. The Hardys are gone. Last year, these guys had a big hand in TNA getting their best numbers for some weeks. It's not just that they were former WWE guys and very popular. Face it, Jeff Hardy has had his issues over the years and even Matt Hardy was going sour with the fans before his epic gimmick change. But that gimmick and all the crazy segments and matches that came out of it really caused some buzz. Something that easily could have been viewed as Wrestlecrap was actually a hit. And now it is gone.

The big gain? That would be Alberto El Patron. That would be WWE's Alberto Del Rio. He has held multiple titles in the WWE and has already found himself in the title picture in Impact Wrestling. A point I have brought up a few times over the years is, as far as positions go, anyone and everyone is replaceable. But in terms of how efficient and how productive someone can be in a given position, some people cannot be replaced that easily. You might even say there are elites out there that simply cannot be replaced. I am not saying The Hardys were elites, but Alberto El Patron is not going to replace them. I like the guy, but he never reached his potential in the WWE. And this is one instance where most of the blame cannot go on the WWE. They pushed him very well, especially during his first run. Things just could not come together for him. Impact Wrestling gains a guy with some credibility and notoriety, but it will only take them so far.

Of course, there was more to The Hardys' formula for success than just them being liked before TNA. As I said, they were pushed in a unique way. And that is something the company will need to do for El Patron. I think there is definitely potential for that. It may not work, but they can try various things. Don't just push him as a guy that wants a title reign and all that. It was mediocre when they did it with Mickie James in 2010/2011, and it will do El Patron no favors. Develop a good gimmick for him.

I have said before that one of TNA's main issues for years was their failure to retain talent. They just juggle everyone around. They needed to find things that work and stick with it. There are a lot of coaches in sports that will agonize to find a starting lineup that works. Once they have it, they don't just toss it in the trash and continue going all over the place for no good reason. They stick with it as much as is needed to be successful. Wrestling companies need to follow that same idea. Find what works and try to stick with it. Issues might pop up, like injuries, but that doesn't mean inconsistency should be your goal. The WWE's main issue over the years has been trying to force things to work. They don't look for what works. They force things to work. That's not how you give people a proper chance to succeed and earn things for themselves.

Losing The Hardys is another example of TNA failing to retain talent. You can also bring up certain other men, like Drew McIntyre, but I would say The Hardys going is a bigger deal. It just impacts the audience. If the audience was getting attached to something, it is terrible to start depushing it for the sake of something else that will also get depushed in time. And to completely lose it from your company is even worse.

I talked about the impact The Hardys had on the viewership numbers. I felt that 2017 was a year Impact Wrestling could do just as well as 2016, if not better. Let me talk about the company's viewership as it stands now. I get my numbers from here. The numbers do not currently include the viewership for last week's episode, but I calculated that in myself.

For the first 10 weeks of 2017, Impact Wrestling is averaging 292,000 viewers. In 2016, the show averaged 273,700 viewers through 10 weeks. Through the first few weeks of this year, Impact Wrestling is actually doing better than they did last year.

How is it that Impact Wrestling is doing better than last year and WWE Raw is doing worse? Are none of the cord-cutters TNA fans? Is TNA unaffected by that? TNA just has a high ceiling. Just a couple years ago, they were doing over a million viewers. Multiple factors have contributed to their collapse, but there is still room for them to regain their audience, even in this era of many people saying no one watches TV anymore.

Has Raw really reached its ceiling? Is that ceiling really getting lower? I don't believe that. Just 2 years ago, the Raw after Wrestlemania did over five million viewers. I am not talking about a Raw from a decade ago. I am talking about 2015. I am not saying they can do just as well every week, but it is ridiculous to think that the WWE is already in a position where they may never see four million viewers again for their main show.

Back to Impact Wrestling. Even though they are doing better to start 2017 than they did to start 2016, I am not as confident as I was that they can still do just as well as last year for the remainder of the year. Losing The Hardys is huge. What can TNA do? Push people in unique ways. That is what got them good numbers last year. Don't be afraid to look stupid. Something stupid might end up drawing. That doesn't mean they should make stupid business decisions. I am talking about "look stupid" in terms of creative ideas. Most importantly, don't do what the WWE is doing. They do not have a winning formula right now. They are just working off smarks and trying to make as much money off wrestling fans as they can. TNA should just worry about entertaining and being unique.

Lucha Underground

TNA is still arguably the closest wrestling competition the WWE has, but there are these other feds popping up that are picking up stars and might one day make some noise. Lucha Underground is one of those. It started just last year.

It is something different. It has that lucha twist to it. But it does not showcase only Latino wrestlers. It does have some former WWE guys, including Alberto Del Rio (Alberto El Patron) and John Morrison (Johnny Mundo). El Patron is a guy I can imagine being pushed as the top star of that company. He is no spring chicken, but this is not a guy that needs to be groomed to be a star, like Roman Reigns in the WWE. He is a good in-ring performer, he can talk, and he has charisma. With more freedom in Lucha Underground and a target audience that will be drawn to him and his story, he should be great. As for Johnny Mundo, he is obviously amazing in the ring and can help appeal to an even wider audience.

As far as women's wrestling goes, they do not really have a women's division. That does not stop them from having some women on the roster and utilizing them. They have Karlee Perez, who was Maxine in WWE. I liked her. But the true star for their women is Sexy Star, a Mexican talent. Lucha Underground actually has their women wrestle the men. I think that is a great idea. They are not in a position to just feature women's wrestling like TNA does. And they do not need to build top stars at the expense of people they do not want to be top stars like the WWE does. One day? Maybe. Right now? Just make do with what you have. And they are doing that. They have valets and they have women wrestling the men, which I previously mentioned. Although Sexy Star is not the only one that does that, I feel she would be the best choice to really feature as a top star. They have Ivelisse Velez, who was in the WWE briefly, but Sexy Star has been around longer and has had more success.

It seems the promotion does not want to keep their women's division that small. There were reports as recently as last month that Torrie Wilson and Victoria were in talks to join the company. Jim Ross even brought this up. Let's say these two women were to join Lucha Underground. I mentioned that Alberto Del Rio is not a young guy right now. Both Torrie Wilson and Victoria are older than him. Torrie Wilson will turn 40 this year and Victoria turned 44 last month. And yet, signing either one would be great. They have been around mainstream wrestling in the United States longer than any of the other women already on the roster. Torrie Wilson is still beautiful and can be a great manager/valet. I can imagine Victoria being useful in how the company utilizes female wrestlers. She can mix it up with the men.

Can Lucha Underground ever be real competition for the WWE? Or is it just an alternative? Some people might say that it will only appeal to a Latino audience. Keep in mind that it is also pro wrestling and features some mainstream names and good action. That would make it a draw even to wrestling fans. This promotion is not just trying to aim at one demographic. They still have a lot of growing to do, but they can be an exciting promotion that does one day makes some noise. If nothing else, I can buy them eventually taking TNA's spot as the WWE's closest competition.