So TNA has recently implemented a very WWE-ish drug policy, which is pretty much a pink slip for Scott Steiner. I didn’t know TNA was that deadset against success.

Think about it, and this goes for WWE’s drug policy too. You’ve got a guy, let’s say Chris Jericho. He’s the World Champion, he’s involved in a serious feud, and he’s got a PPV match coming up. Now let’s say it was revealed that he was taking something, or that a pharmacy he went to was involved in a steroid scandal and thus the worst is assumed simply because he went there at some point in his life (cough-BS). So his punishment is 30 days without pay, and 30 days unable to compete. Now, the pay is a great punishment, but to be removed from the ring for 30 days? In the WWE that’s about 28 more days you can now spend with your family than you otherwise could have. How is that a punishment? That’s like a REWARD. I know if I had to work 1000 out of the past 1095 days I’d be popping a few vicodins to get a month off too.

And look at it from the standpoint of the product. Now Chris Jericho suddenly drops his title, leaves the feud without an ending, and takes one of the top matches away from the PPV. And hey, let’s pretend that No Mercy isn’t tomorrow. Let’s pretend it’s three weeks from now. Those are three RAWs that Jericho is no longer a part of, that HBK serves no purpose in, and that the new champion can try to spark some half-hearted feud that won’t be anywhere near as good for No Mercy as Y2J vs. HBK in a ladder match after this… what has it been, eight months? Or think about Kennedy, yanked for that Signature Pharmacy thing (cough-BS), and because of it we had to suffer through months of McMahon and Hornswoggle. This culminated in Coach pulling Looney Toons moves, Carlito being used as Wile E. Coyote and almost leaving WWE for it, and ultimately Finlay teaming with Hornswoggle, pretty much killing any kind of serious push he once had. Finlay used to be awesome, but now I thank God he’s on ECW where I don’t have to look at him. Thank you, drug policy! The Kennedy as McMahon’s son thing would have been so much better! Thank God we didn’t have to see it.

But at least WWE has enough security ratings-wise to pull off this feud-suicide. TNA may be getting 1.1s week in and week out, but all it takes is a couple hundred thousand and they’re right back in their 0.8-0.9 slump. You end the old vs. new feud because Samoa Joe was found to have shared a joint with Salinas, and you kill everything you’ve accomplished on screen and ruin Bound for Glory. I won’t go as far as to say that TNA can’t survive that, especially since most of their fans are internet smarks who will know exactly why Joe isn’t on TV anymore, but it won’t do the ratings or the quality of the show any favors.

Talent should be reprimanded for drug use, of course, but this current method of it makes no sense. “Oh, we’ll punish you for taking drugs! We’ll yank you out of your storyline and totally ruin our whole product for the next 30 days, and probably longer considering the backlash of all that we destroyed! Yeah, THAT’LL show you!!” The way I see it, cut their pay for 30 days, but don’t give them a 30 day vacation alongside. That hurts the show a hell of a lot more than it hurts the talent. And if the quality of their work diminishes or backstage attitude grows sour during that time? Well, deal with that accordingly. The key point is hurting yourself does not punish someone else. That is, unless of course TNA is trying to go out of business as a means of punishing the offending talent, since now he is no longer employed.

And yes, I know that 30 is the first punishment, then 60, then fired. The end result of this policy is great, but look at that second punishment. SIXTY days without the top star, without the feud, without any payoff from all the buildup? It’s like saying “If you’re going down you’re taking us with you!”

WWE can handle this policy, but TNA is on too shaky grounds to attempt this backwards logic of hurting themselves as a means of punishing someone else. A drug policy is a must, but I’m positive they can come up with a better tactic than WWE’s inane policy of giving superstars vacations as a means of punishing them. Unpaid vacations, yes, but considering WWE’s schedule, yeah, that’s a vacation. 30 days and not having to be on the road for 28 of them? Great, where do I sign?

That’s my view from the Great White North. I’m Roxxi Laveaux Fanboy, may the voodoo be with you.

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 4th, 2008 at 11:05 am and is filed under Editorial Columns, Wrestling News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.