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Wrestling fans right now are dumping all over Dixie Carter, former President and now current Chairman/Chief Strategy Officer of TNA Wrestling. It's obvious why... Since World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) died through the Spring of 2001, TNA was the closest competition that the WWE has had since those 2 promotions closed. Many wrestling fans, myself included, are frustrated with the potential that TNA once had. Lots of big name talents have been through that promotion and they once had a decent TV deal with Spike TV. Now, we're hearing rumors about Debt owed, lawsuits, sale of the company, and possibly closing. But let's ask ourselves a question... Why is Dixie Carter failing at running a pro wrestling company? Dixie has a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration and has spent most of her professional life working in marketing/advertising or representing entertainment/sports acts. That's not bad experience to have, but as history shows, professional wrestling is a different animal. She begins to manage TNA as company President after her family purchased the company. For about 13 years now, she has been mostly in charge of the promotion... Where are we now? TNA loses its SpikeTV deal, goes to the poorly rated Destination America channel and is now on PopTV. They went from having 1 million viewers on Spike to struggling to get above 400,000 now. Most of their top name talent have moved on with WWE grabbing a few key names. It just didn't work out and Carter owns much of the blame for the Creative, Talent choices, and the management of the company's finances. However, aside from financial assistance from her Carter family... What kind of help has she had to run the company? Guys like Vince Russo, Jim Cornette, Dutch Mantell, Bruce Pritchard, Eric Bischoff, and John Gaburick, all with experience at running wrestling promotions or creative ends of things, all had a hand in TNA's position as a company. Why aren't they getting the blame as well? Certainly, the "buck stops here", but those are guys with serious wrestling experience. Lots of WWE/WCW/ECW veterans have passed through TNA's doors and yet many of them seemed to lose their drawing power upon arrival. TNA and SpikeTV invested heavily in Hulk Hogan, just as Turner/WCW did during 1994. What about him? Certainly, he couldn't wrestle like he used to, but he had a lot of creative say in the company. Look, I'm not here to defend Dixie Carter... But she entered a world that she doesn't understand and tried to rely on "experienced" hands to help her out. Furthermore, as time wore on, the blank checks began to disappear and TNA's finances are strained to the dangerous point that the promotion is at today. I have a question for wrestling fans... If you swapped Dixie Carter in for Stephanie McMahon at the WWE, would anyone notice? The World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now World Wrestling Entertainment or WWE) during 1998-1999 grew exponentially. They struck gold in the former WCW wrestlers that they've been picking off WCW for years (Undertaker, Triple H, Steve Austin, Mick Foley) while their developmental territories could create remarkable talents out of thin air like the Rock. As time wore on, the midcard depth kept getting thicker and thicker. By early 1999, they created impressive distance between themselves and WCW to begin to permanently win the Monday Night Wars. WWE would sell out big arenas in minutes and ratings were going through the roof to follow the Steve Austin vs. Vince McMahon saga. Lots of merchandise was moving... Then, during 1999, the WWE became a publicly traded corporation by offering shares of ownership (stock) to anyone who wanted to invest in the WWE. This presented the WWE a nice flow of capital that could shoulder losses (WWE Films, WWE Music, XFL) but also allowing them to research and invest in new things like the WWE Network. During late 1998, Stephanie McMahon who is the daughter of WWE President/Chairman Vince McMahon, received her Bachelor's Degree in Communications. Soon thereafter, she began working for the WWE for various jobs in the office and began traveling more with the WWE during 1999 when Vince made her a regular on-screen WWE character. As 1999 wore on, head writer Vince Russo and his fellow writer Ed Ferrara left to join WCW. Suddenly, the Creative Team needed new members. Another writer named Chris Kreski stepped up and became lead writer but Stephanie McMahon began to have a bigger say in the WWE product through 2000. In particular, her character's importance grew because of the McMahon-Helmsley storyline constantly put Stephanie on camera. By late 2000, she began to inherit the role of lead writer for the WWE (Kreski became a consultant) and the WWE Corporation made it more formal by giving her the title of "Director" of Creative through 2002. During 2000, Monday Night RAW could do up to 6 million viewers and on red hot nights during 1999-2000, the viewership could push upwards to 7-8 million. Now? We're under 3 million viewers for RAW. During 2000, WWE events sold out in minutes and filled big arenas for non-Pay Per View events. Now? WWE has to tarp off parts of the arena and houseshow business actually struggles to get 3,000 fans for shows. Merchandise sales are not as strong and let's not forget how the Pay Per View business began to tank on the WWE before the WWE Network was invented. Besides Wrestlemania, Pay Per Views were seeing all new lows 3-4 years ago. Is there really much difference between Dixie Carter and Stephanie McMahon? Oh yeah, there is... Vince McMahon. Do you know what criticism I often get tired of hearing regarding Vince Russo? It's the usual "Vince McMahon filtered out BAD Ideas". Well, Stephanie McMahon has been involved with the WWE's Creative Teams since late 2000... How many bad ideas were filtered out from here? Actually, there's a good chance that Vince was more lenient to his flesh & blood than to a non-family member like Russo. Better yet, have we seen Stephanie McMahon yet WITHOUT the WWE or Vince McMahon supervising her? Has she tried to make it on her own yet? After all, she graduates from college during 1998 and immediately joins her father's company during 1998. She has enjoyed all of the benefits from the WWE Infrastructure and working with arguably the greatest wrestling mind or manager. In many ways, I could argue that the nepotism has probably weakened Vince McMahon as a leader of his own company. What does Stephanie have to show for his administrative roles in the WWE? Dixie Carter doesn't have a Vince McMahon or a publicly traded company to keep funding losses. Sure, she had great advantages from the Carter family and SpikeTV pumping money into the company along with various wrestling minds that she hired... But in the history of pro wrestling, few have been successful in the pro wrestling business for the last 35 years. Vince McMahon not only dominated territory promoters during hte 1980s but he overcame the Time Warner Corporation giving Eric Bischoff blank checks to steal top stars from the WWE during the 1990s. Vince is exceptional and has built a major brand in WWE that is synonymous with wrestling itself. For example, if you watch ESPN's Sportscenter and you see a brawl in a sport, the announcers will say "it's like WWE out there". Much like elastic strips are called "Bandaids" or cola drinks are always called "Coke", the brand "WWE" has become interchangeable with pro wrestling. Vince McMahon created an empire and Stephanie McMahon just so happens to be related to the guy. Why was Vince McMahon successful? It's SIMPLE... Before Vince McMahon bought the WWF during 1982, Vince worked in the wrestling business since 1969. Vince primarily worked on-screen as an announcer, but he spent years learning from his dad, Vince Sr., on how to run the wrestling business. Vince Sr. would put Vince Jr. in charge of smaller territory promotions that were associated with the WWWF. See, folks... That's called EXPERIENCE. Like Dixie/Stephanie, Vince is college educated but he started out in the wrestling business on the low end of hte ladder and began climbing upward. Vince had to prove himself to his own dad just to get more power backstage. He had to EARN it. Compare that to Stephanie McMahon and Dixie Carter who barely worked in the wrestling business and were given serious management roles within the company early into their careers in wrestling. The way Vince Jr. slowly learned from Vince Sr. allowed Vince Jr. to mature and fully learn the wrestling business to eventually become in charge. He wasn't handed anything. Why is Triple H showing some signs of success as the developmental guy? He spent years upon years observing the backstage operations as a pro wrestler and then when his wrestling role decreased during the late 2000s or early 2010s, he was patiently learning the wrestling business from Vince. NXT is a legitimate touring brand that does really well with its Takeover events and has legitimately changed Women's wrestling for the better. Triple H seems to be making better wrestling decisions because he spent YEARS obtaining EXPERIENCE in the wrestling business. I'm actually confident that Triple H could take the formula he's shown in NXT and make a successful wrestling promotion on his own. I would LOVE to see Stephanie McMahon attempt to run a wrestling promotion on her own. I'd LOVE it. No Vince McMahon to save the day, no WWE stock to fund any losses, and no (are you ready to drink up, Comments section) Ohio Valley Wrestling "Class of 2002" to rely on. That's right, where would she be without John Cena and Brock Lesnar STILL carrying the WWE promotion on their backs as the top draws? After all, it was Jim Ross/Danny Davis/Jim Cornette who pulled them into the WWE and trained them to be ready as superstars. But then it was Paul Heyman who was placed in charge of writing for WWE Smackdown. As you can still see to this day, Paul Heyman is the trusted caretaker of Brock Lesnar but Heyman never gets credit for grooming John Cena. He took a weird Halloween segment during 2002 and converted that into an 8 Mile like rapper who legitimately drew money as a midcarder. As creative lead, think of all of the major storylines botched since late 2000... WCW/ECW Invasion of 2001, New World Order's return of 2002, Triple H dominating the RAW roster from 2002-2004, "Hot Lesbian Action" on RAW, Divas Search, Eddie Guerrero and Rey Mysterio disputing paternity of a child, Vince McMahon's illegitimate son, Anonymous RAW General Manager, Nexus falling apart, "Summer of Punk" and Kevin Nash's involvement, destroying Daniel Bryan, and the MANY MANY World Title changes for both the WWE Title and World Heavyweight Title. Seriously, Edge, Triple H, Randy Orton, and John Cena each have 10+ recognized World Title reigns. Don't forget the many failed World Champions that the WWE has tried to push (Miz, Jack Swagger, Alberto Del Rio, Sheamus, etc.). You can always blame Vince McMahon, for the "buck stops here"... But his backstage through 2000 had lots of former wrestling minds advising him directly (Pat Patterson, Gerald Briscoe, Jim Ross, Bruce Pritchard, etc.) compared to now with family members helping to run the company. Results since 2000 speak for themselves! Stephanie McMahon should try something that is independent of the WWE... Let's see how smart she really is as a leader and management of a company. Dixie Carter, on her own, has at least tried. Sure, she's failing... But Dixie doesn't have the benefit of having one of the best wrestling promoters of all time still active as a manager of the company. Given Dixie's experience in marketing and advertising, she actually might do well in the WWE's Corporate offices. Stephanie in TNA with a much smaller budget and no Vince to bail her out? I don't about that... ---------------------------------- 18 years ago on October 26th, 1998, I wrote my first column as Mr. Tito for LordsofPain.net / WrestlingHeadlines.com. During the mid to late 1990s, I began to frequent pro wrestling news sites to get the latest rumors during the WWE/WCW Monday Night Wars. I remember getting so excited upon hearing of the rumors of Diesel and Razor Ramon's departures during 1996 while being amazed at Raven/Curt Hennig joining WCW during 1997. During 1998, I found LordsofPain.net and LOVED its news board. Packed with more headlines than other websites, it became a bookmark on my NETSCAPE browser. I was all over it... Then, one day, a post came up on LoP about a Daily Columnist and I immediately sent an email to apply. Webmaster Calvin Martin requested a sample to post and somehow, he saw something in me to post and become a daily fixture to LoP. Mr. Tito's Phat Daily Column was born. In celebration of my very first column, I'm going to post it here 100% unedited and I'll add my "Tito 2016 Says" (ala Scott Keith style) for any funny commentary that I can personally add to what Mr. Tito of 1998 said. For some of you who think I'm insane now, you didn't meet the 18 year old version of Mr. Tito: -------------------------------------------------------------- Mr. Tito's Phat Daily Column - 10/26/1998 Hey yo, welcome to Mr. Tito's first installment of his daily column. (Tito 2016 Says: "Phat Daily Column" title would occur after Calvin approved my first column... "PHAT" was used often during the late 1990s, so this was the first thing that came to mind without much thought) Everyday, I hope, I will be looking at the big three(WCW, WWF, ECW) in perspective. I will describe the current conditions of each of the big three and use my opinion to see what could be done to help each federation. WCW. Well, last night, they had Halloween Havoc..zzzzzzz. Hollywood Hogan got the win over the Warrior. Thank God, because maybe that will mean that the Warrior will leave our lives forever! (Tito 2016 Says: Well damn on that point, I feel terrible!) It was good when the Warrior came back to the WWF a couple years ago, but when and how he came into the WCW was pathetic. Everyone wants to see the real Ultimate Warrior, the one who runs to the ring and shakes the ropes, not the one who makes the ring fill up with smoke and appear when the smoke clears. Good riddens Warrior! As for Hogan, he needs to realize that he isn't the top man in the sport anymore. He needs to step aside, and quit controlling WCW and let some young stars or better wrestler shine. The one suffering the most is Kevin Nash. He should dominate the WCW. Now they have him messing with a drunken Scott Hall. Sting is another who should dominate. Nobody can beat the Stinger fair and square. Chris Benoit is another who should get top billing (Tito 2016 Says: Ooops again!), but no, Hollywood Hogan has to have his way. Then you have Goldbore, I mean Goldberg. Mr. I have only two moves! He doesn't deserve the title. (Tito 2016 Says: Ouch on poor Goldberg... But I've consistently said that he peaked when he beat Hogan during July 1998 for the WCW Title) He hasn't fought any real competition yet, and when he fought Sting, Hogan helped him win. But Hogan plays a factor in Goldberg too, because that is how Goldbore won the title, so that he may do the job in the future to Hogan. Bret Hart is another federation killer. Just look at the WWF before they got rid of Bret in the Monday Night wars , and afterwards. Bret is nothing but a cry baby. (Tito 2016 Says: I'm consistently anti-Bret, see!) The only shining point of WCW, in my opinion is Billy Kidman, way to go! (Tito 2016 Says: LOVED me some Billy Kidman back then, especially his badass theme music) WWF. Excellant (Tito 2016 Says: No Web Browser spellcheck back then!) job WWF! You have less talent than WCW, and you are still winning! Also, the WWF is not the senior tour like the WCW is, they create talent. WWF lately has created superstars like the Rock, Kane, Val Venis, and they have re-surged the careers of Mick Foley, X-Pac, and Triple H, who unfortunately is injured at the moment. The also have a new psychopath in Ken Shamrock. The one thing that could shake things up will be the re-entrance of the Heart Break Kid Shawn Michaels. (Tito 2016 Says: Must have been an "HBK Returns" rumor back then... ) Where could you put him? Could you put him in the title race? Would Michaels try to hog the spotlight? I hope not. Michaels shouldn't win the title for a while, so that other wrestlers can rise up and then you will have a some very strong World Title contenders. The only things that need work for the WWF is giving more credit to the European Title, and strengthening the lightweight division. (Tito 2016 Says: See, I consistently say that wrestling promotions need to build their midcards. In the WWE's case, their Tag Team Division would be the one division that would grow instead.) ECW. ECW should worry about their regular cards than their Pay-Per-Views. That is killing them. They are now like the other two because they now have to hype up their pay-per-views now. They also need to keep their talent. When they had their first pay-per-view, Barely Legal, their talent roster was loaded. After that, they lost a lot. They lost Raven, Stevie Richards, Perry Saturn, Terry Funk, the Pitbulls, and now they lost the Sandman, the extreme icon!!! That is killing ECW the most. (Tito 2016 Says: I always said that the 1997 talent erosion put some bigtime nails into ECW. Never recovered) Every ECW card is about the same anymore because of the week talent in there now. Poor ECW. They are now also starting to lose TV coverage. They should go to a television station and ask for a program. Let's see, I hear FOX wants wrestling. (Tito Says: TNN would be the channel during 1999, but that didn't work out) ECW did do a good thing by resigning Chris Candido, and Mr. Monday Night Rob Van Dam. They also signed Justin Credible to an ECW contract. They even got 911 back for a few shows, and they signed One Man Gang. Not bad, but there is a lot of room for improvement! (Tito 2016 Says: You can tell what an ECW mark that I was during 1998... Praising whatever talent they signed at the time.) That's it for today! (Tito 2016 Says: Obviously, the "just chill 'til the next episode" ending phrase would arrive later.) -------------------------------------------------------------- LAST WORD: Wow, I sort of appear to be the same writer (more polished, more educated I believe) than I was in 1998. At the very least, I'm consistent as a wrestling fan and I don't hold back on my opinions. From there, I'd barely miss any dates as a daily columnist for LoP through 2002 when I became a weekly writer through 2006. I retired briefly only to be lured back to the Mr. Tito vehicle through early 2010. And I have been here ever since. I want to thank ALL of my readers for the last 18 years. I appreciate the time that you take our of your busy schedules to read and discuss my columns. I'm very grateful for the support that you've given me and in return, I work hard to give you a quality read each and every time. As I've said before and it's a badge of honor to me... This is 100% voluntary for me and I write these columns because I ENJOY IT. It's fun for me to write and I love to interact with my readers. Thank you once again... I'm HERE TO STAY with at least 1 column per week and those darn Insta-Column Pay Per Views which are a lot of work. SO JUST CHILL... 'TIL THE NEXT EPISODE! Comments and feedback are welcome. Follow and Tweet me @titowrestling or login in below to post comments. © Mr. Tito and LordsofPain.net/WrestlingHeadlines.com - 1998-2016
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