TNA King of the Mountain

[bauermann]

Who will take the top spot from Jeff Jarrett?

[LWPD]

I vote nobody. Jeff Jarrett will retain top positioning on the card either as 'Champion' or 'Top Challenger' until the day TNA itself ceases to exist. He founded the company and still owns a minority interest. He works hand in glove with President and former next door neighbor Dixie Carter, who he personally 'hand picked' as his money mark back when he was shopping for a new front company to bleed the cash to keep operating. She is a personal friend of his and he is her closest and most trusted pro wrestling industry confidant. Never forget that when making sense of why TNA positions Jarrett as perennial main event wrestler. The Carters are involved in spending the money because Jeff Jarrett made them believers in his personal vision.

Forget about nonsense like 'a new booker' or a 'creative committee'. Part of the deal is that Jeff has final say and complete creative control regarding how he is used as a talent. Since he gets paid based on his positioning on the card it shouldn't take a rocket scientist to figure out how he will book himself. While in theory developing others 'more capable' of drawing an audience may be better for the company (and ultimately for him as an Owner) in reality we all pay our bills short term and he'd be losing out immediately if he were to downgrade his status and work semi-main event or lower. It's just not worth taking that risk on a gamble that in all likelihood wouldn't make much of a difference to the bottom line anyway.

It's really nothing unique to how owner/wrestler promotions have typically run in the past. To a large degree you see that in WWE with Vince relying on his son in law (HHH) to work in positions of responsibility. It makes sense to sell the 'brand' with someone you can trust leading it as opposed to a particular talent from outside the family, especially since there's really no Hulk Hogan/Stone Cold type of performer who can do any better than the brand as a package does for itself. Playing it safe with someone you can trust is the most feasible option. You don't need to spend the creative time, money and energy to have another Brock Lesnar type muck things up. It isn't worth the risk for TNA, especially with Vince around the corner with the ability to stage a raid and negate all that hardwork. That's one of the things that crippled Heyman in the end, who didn't have much of an option anyway.

I can relate to fans who aren't entertained by Jeff Jarrett but eventually the complaining becomes a ridiculous circle jerk. This is how it is: Any 'new talent' who come in to work at the top of the card will work with Jeff. That program will run it's course and the next talent positioned at the top will then work with....Jeff. It'll be the same with Sting and Christian as it was a year before with AJ, Nash and Raven. Rinse, wash, repeat.

It isn't the end of the world. There's a lot of good young talent on the roster and plenty of ways for them to be used productively entertainment wise sans working opposite Double J. Samoa Joe can light it up working in the X Division. The tag scene is entertaining. They have a deal with New Japan to bring in some great talent overseas. If your into the mile a minute flip flop style there's always that too. Just know, understand and accept 'why' Jeff has a lock on the main event spot now and will continue to going forward. It's a smart move by him personally and I don't blame him for a minute. It's also a decent trade off for the fans in having another pro wrestling product to watch on free TV and PPV, which is better than Jarrett leaving and the whole thing being shut down in the process.


Like Watching Paint Dry (who has seen worse guys than Jeff Jarrett push themselves perennially with much less of a trade off in terms of overall product quality)

[pikemojo]

I voted Christian though nobody will probably be what actually happens. I think that Samoa Joe will be in TNA a full year more before they even start moving him toward the title which is great. A long build will make the crowd love him. There are so many potentially great matches for him on the way and I look forward to each and every one. Abyss is one of my favorites but I can't wait to see him get beat (after a long hard fought, hard hitting match) by Joe.

[gatekeeper]

I say Christian. Although I'd rather see him have to work his way through the fed to get to the top.

I'd personally like to see AJ Styles. Brown is not that entertaining on the mic and nobody else has that "main event" atmosphere about them.