Critical Rocket reacts to Magnu's reaction to fans saying TNA is dying

Well I thought it would be fun today to basically take a look at a few comments made by TNA wrestler Magnus during a recent interview.  The cherry picked responses are below from the original post over at wrestling edge.

On people expressing negativity towards TNA through social media platforms: “People think because that they watch a few DVD’s that document one part of history and how the business went and they are able to predict what’s going to happen in a completely new set of circumstance and I tend to ignore it and I don’t really give it much thought. These are basically the people that throw something out there with no filter because they are nobodies and I’m not trying to knock anyone. It’s easy to say when you have nothing to lose and to throw out an opinion in the hope that it actually happens and then you can say: ‘See, I was right. I told you.’ For some reason now we live in an age now where all wrestling fans think are obsessed with showing on how much knowledge they have and its either you’re just a fan or you’re in the business.

“Your knowledge is kind of irrelevant unless you are in the industry or unless you are making a living off of our sweat or talking about and I’m one of those people too, I have a column in a wrestling magazine that I get paid to do but the only difference is that I get paid to do it because people read that magazine because they want to hear something’s on the ground that makes for a nice change. I use Twitter as a promotional tool and somewhat as a barometer, it’s like an instant focus group and I think if you take it anymore serious, then you are probably wasting your own time and I tell my fellow peers the same thing especially the younger guys who don’t have as much experience for their age and are bothered and affected by this kind of stuff on Twitter and I said look: ‘This is what Twitter is. In terms to your significance, your life, your career and your psyche, don’t take it seriously then you should do, which is not very much at all.’”

Now in the beginning of this statement I agree with Magnus that some people have an over-inflated opinion on the business because they have watched every official and unofficial documentary out there, but then he goes and calls them nobodies.  He then immediately states he isn't trying to knock anyone, but he thinks they are nobodies?

He then goes on to talk about how people basically cannot have an opinion unless they are in the industry and then says his wrestling column is more trustworthy because he is a wrestler.  Sorry Magnus but that's just bullshit.  Are you saying that game critics, movie critics, sports pundits and more are all unqualified to discuss and give their opinion because they aren't programmers, film makers and sportsmen respectively?  And I am not talking about myself as a critic here, I mean game journalists on the big websites or film critics like Roger Ebert.  Magnus says in the second paragraph that his word has more weight because people buy the magazine he writes a tiny column in.  Hello Magnus, take a look at a little thing called youtube, it's free and there are plenty of people who create content there doing the same thing as you and thousands of people want to hear what they have to say. 

I am not saying we shouldn't listen to guys like Magnus of course, but when he is talking about his employer of course he is going to talk about the critics as if they are all drooling braindead inbreds.  It doesn't remove the fact that TNA has been suffering for many months now with appalling attendance numbers, losing talent left right and centre and most recently running a Bound for Glory pay per view that struggled to reach 3000 fans.  The arena seated close to 12,000 and TNA couldn't fill the place for their biggest event of the year.  It looks like a regular episode of impact, but I will cover that in depth tomorrow.  Back to Magnus and his bull comments.

On giving an inside look at TNA: “Honestly, I am not qualified to answer that. I’m not trying to dodge the question, I promise you. I’m not really qualified to speak on physical matters or anything like that as far as the company is concerned. I will say this that any wrestling fan who claims to be a wrestling fan should get off this bandwagon of: ‘Let’s all talk about the state of TNA’s business.’ Anyone would tell you that and I’m talking about people on Wall Street, people in any industry, particularly the entertainment industry where the reputation of image is very important, that sometimes all you need is the rumor even if there is no validity to it and then the rumor can actually become a possibility. It boggles my mind there are people out there that you read their bio or they will tell you: ‘I eat, sleep and breathe wrestling man. I love it’ but then they are the ones that say: ‘TNA is going to go out of business and yada, yada, yada.’

“Do you want that to happen? Do you want to have less wrestling on TV? Do you want all of these performers that you admire have to go find work somewhere else? I don’t understand that. That to me has always been a strange thing and the irony of it is that these are the people that claim to be the most dedicated wrestling fans and the one who are not paying for the Pay-Per-Views, they are illegally downloading them and they are busy knocking everything at every opportunity and becoming armchair writers or armchair quarterbacks as the saying goes. You are harming the business more then you are aiding it and I don’t understand why would do that if you claim to love it so much. It’s not me trying to say: ‘Oh please, stop expressing you opinion.’ But if you are being overwhelming negative all the time then you should focus it somewhere else and focus it on yourself.”

Yes Magnus I am a wrestling fan, not the biggest but I consider myself to be average in the fan rating system, if one existed.  I am not on the bandwagon of "death to TNA" and yes the company should be getting the same kind of attention that WWE has, but it's being run into the ground by a mixture of issues.  I personally think the entire year of 2010 was a massive blow to the company and has been slowly going downhill ever since.  I don't want TNA to vanish of course and I don't want to see wrestlers out of jobs, TNA management does a pretty good job of that on it's own.  We already see less wrestling on TV because TNA like WWE spends ten to fifteen minutes talking at the beginning of every event instead of you know running a fucking wrestling match.

I don't think my blog here is doing anything to hurt the business or TNA specifically, hell if my words here had that kind of effect Dixie Carter would have been ousted as owner years back.  No the real damage is being done by management in TNA.  The fans are allowed to express their views on TNA Magnus, even if they are negative.  I am largely negative about the show and it's direction because when you look at it and watch the show every week, you see these bizarre decisions playing out on screen and wonder why they thought it was a good idea to say cut more than half of their pay per views to save money only to then go on the road all year round, thus spending the money they saved and possibly costing them more in the long run.

About the illegal downloading comments, like any issue with piracy it's effect is minor.  Much like the games industry and it's piracy issues, people like to make out that X product failed to sell well because of piracy but when you look at the wider issues with X product, piracy was never the sole reason for it's failure.  WWE has been pirated for years now and the company continues to post profits.  People who pirate the shows are smaller in number than those who pay for the shows and Magnus seems to be ignoring the fact that TNA has had a terrible track record of broadcasting their live events.  Nearly every pay per view this year has had some technical issue with certain carriers or other broadcast sites and people have had to get refunds so it's no wonder some fans of TNA are illegally watching the shows.  Fortunately for myself in the UK I can watch every TNA show for free on Challenge so it's never an issue for me, but in the states I can see people really struggling to justify the cost of a TNA pay per view every three months.

Magnus here is towing the company line like he should, but he is talking a massive amount of bullshit.  Personally I am surprised he is still working at TNA, not because he isn't a good worker, but because being a foreigner he is more hassle to keep on every 3 or 6 months with work visa's and the such.  I wouldn't be shocked to read about him being let go of course since TNA have little consideration for their workers as it is despite their whole "TNA family" shtick.  Asking your talent to take pay cuts when they are already on crap money anyway isn't the best way to ensure a calm backstage environment.  We may even see AJ Styles leaving at the end of the year unless they re-negotiate his contract, while Hogan is still a big question mark again due to money.  Really it's a waiting game where the companies future is concerned.  Rumours abound about TNA going back to the old impact zone or a new location Vegas.  Other rumours are circulating about the potential buyout of the company by Spike or other parties.  I think TNA needs new management, fresh eyes to look at the business from every angle and make the necessary changes because as it is the company is going the way of the Dodo.

Tomorrow I will be talking about Bound for glory 2013.  Until then have a good week folks.