I see it every once in awhile. Someone comes on either my blog or on this fine establishment whenever I write something that isn’t flattering to TNA/Impact Wrestling and claims that I’m biased against the company, that I hate them because they’re not WWE or that I criticize them because I’m somehow not fair. I shake my head at those comments, and I’ve really stopped taking them seriously.
It’s reactionary, almost like they’re drones sent from Eric Bischoff and Dixie Carter in a quest to shut up the “10 percenters” that Bischoff claims hate Impact. The last time I checked, there was no fairness doctrine in wrestling, and being fair to a wrestling company didn’t exactly mean you had to give them an equal amount of time writing about what’s good and what’s not good. What if I watch the program and find that there’s absolutely nothing redeeming about it? Should I lie? No, because then I wouldn’t be giving you the straight dope, and I think integrity and honesty are way better qualities to have than “fairness”, whatever that is.
I don’t care where I get it, whether it’s WWE, Impact, the indies, puroresu, lucha libre or even the Wrestling Revolution product being developed right now by Jeff Katz. I love seeing two men get all oiled up and play fight in their underwear, or two women dress up in spandex and pretend to do horrible, non-sexual things to each other or any iteration of those two scenarios.
So, why would I want to see a company fail? If anything, I’m so hard on Impact because I see so much potential with their roster, the money backing them and their absolute good fortune that they have national television distribution right now. That’s really important when it comes to the wrestling game. They have all these things going for them, and yet they continually piss that good fortune away like dollar bills at the strip club.
You’re always sternest to the people for whom you have the highest hopes. Did anyone even bother to think that maybe, just maybe, there’s a portion of the population out there that watches Impact each week, shaking their heads in disgust and reacting to their garbage rather than being these trolls who have closed minds?
Maybe that’s the rub. The problem ceases to be Impact producing shit and me actually tuning in each week despite not learning that no matter what kind of buzz is out there, that I’ll probably not enjoy the show. I’ll fully admit that maybe I’d be better off deleting the program from my DVR. Then again, I can’t help it. Like I said prior, I’m a wrestling junkie. I’m the kind of guy who’ll watch bad wrestling like Mystery Science Theater 3000 and just savage it. I have the tolerance to sit through segment after segment of weak shoot segments to get to that one X-Division match or Bully Ray promo or Samoa Joe stiff-fest that will make me drop my jaw in awe. If it’s psychosis (not the wrestler either, nerds), then hey, I accept it fully.
And that’s why I guess I keep watching Impact, even if I’m so clearly “biased”. Then again, I do have a bias. I’m skewed in favor of enjoying good wrestling. If that’s wrong, then I really don’t ever want to be right. And hey, if Impact turns around and starts stringing more than just one good show in a row together, I’ll be right there watching it. Why?
Because I want good wrestling, dammit.
Tom Holzerman is a lifelong wrestling fan and connoisseur of all things Chikara Pro, among other feds. When he’s not writing for the Camel Clutch Blog, you can find him on his own blog, The Wrestling Blog.
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Eric G.
Eric is the owner and editor-in-chief of the Camel Clutch Blog. Eric has worked in the pro wrestling industry since 1995 as a ring announcer in ECW and a commentator/host on television, PPV, and home video. Eric also hosted Pro Wrestling Radio on terrestrial radio from 1998-2009. Check out some of Eric's work on his IMDB bio and Wikipedia. Eric has an MBA from Temple University's Fox School of Business.
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