I sent the following email to TNA.  I encourage all fans to write to TNA as well.

Please be polite; emails filled with profanity will serve no purpose.

info@tnawrestling.com

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I just called your offices to complain about yesterday’s PPV, especially the poor excuse for a women’s match, but was told they don’t have anyone to take messages.  They said to write to this email address.  I have mo doubts anyone even reads these, because if you did, you would not have insulted your female fans & women’s wrestling fans two PPVs in a row in such an egregious manner.  I can’t believe a company that would present such misogynistic programming is owned by a woman!   It was bad enough that the “wrestling” consisted mainly of a man running around kissing women, but when you had him win the women’s championship, that was beyond the pale!  It is demeaning, disgusting, and sexist.  I would rather have seen him fighting with the women than forcing kisses on them – at least that would have been legitimate in the context of a wrestling match.  But for him to take the women’s title is totally inexcusable!  You HAVE a very strong women’s division now (despite the fact that you often choose to focus on the women who are the worst wrestlers, such as the Beautiful People), and they regularly get the best rating on iMPACT!  If you keep this up, I can assure you that won’t happen for much longer.  It’s the women who CAN wrestle who get the ratings for you, not these insulting spectacles.  Why didn’t we see Tara, Alissa, Sarita, Kong, Raisha, or Sojourner yesterday?  If someone were to judge only by your last 2 PPVs, they wouldn’t even know you had any women who could wrestle!

I am a long time TNA fan.  I have bought every single TNA PPV since the very beginning, when you used to have the weekly PPVs for $9.95. I watched faithfully through all the growing pains, through the Dupps and the Johnsons, through KweeWee being your “women’s” champion (which I was able to tolerate, since you didn’t have a viable women’s division at the time), through midgets in trash cans, & all the other misfires.  I’ve taken a lot of ribbing and abuse from other wrestling fans over the years for being a strong supporter of TNA.  In a side note, I stopped watching WWE PPVs long ago, and & don’t even watch their tv shows anymore.

I write recaps of your PPVs for my own website & two others, & I have gotten regular criticism from the internet fans who want to be negative about everything, especially all the “Fire Russo” crowd.  I always looks for the positives so I can mention them, but for the past two PPVs, I could not find any positives.

Besides the insulting things you’ve done with the women, this Main Event Mafia storyline has run its course.  Fans are tired of watching the slow, tired old guys run wild over the young exciting wrestlers.  Eric Young can’t deliver a convincing heel promo to save his life, & when he was on the announce table yesterday, he was so bland and monotone that he sounded like a computerized voice.  Let Eric go back to being the clown or the second banana – he does that well.  The idea of the Brits joining with Eric & Bashir just doesn’t work.  The only one among them who has anything resembling a legitimate gripe is Bashir, and he can deliver a convincing promo.  The story of an American-born Muslim who is upset over the way some Americans have abused innocent Muslims living here has some validity, & his excessive reaction to that in blaming all Americans works to make him a heel.  What doesn’t make sense, however, is his joining with Eric & the Brits – couldn’t you find a couple other Muslim looking wrestlers to join with him?  No one even knows what Eric & the Brits are supposed to be so angry about – the storyline makes no sense!  What makes even less sense is that you buried the one angle that does work, and are pushing the ones that don’t make sense.

On top of all that, it looks like you have decided once again to sacrifice the X Division in another misguided attempt to get Samoa Joe over with the fans.  It’s not worth it!  I talk to a lot of fans, & except for the ROH-bots, most don’t like Joe, & they can’t see what’s supposed to be so great about him.  The guy’s finisher is an MMA move that he’s too fat to apply properly, yet you expect fans to believe he’s some unstoppable machine!  It’s ludicrous! Putting him over guys like Styles, Daniels, & Homicide only makes your roster look weak – it doesn’t make Joe look any better.  Fans figure if they can’t beat a fat, out of shape guy who is clearly panting for breath & has to take a rest several times during a match, then they must not be much good.  With so many talented wrestlers around, I don’t know why you even waste money on Joe, but if you must, please leave him in the mid card, where he belongs.  He can’t talk, he has no personality, and he can’t keep up with the X Division wrestlers.  It’s appalling that you waste all that X Division talent trying to put over Joe.

PLEASE do something to fix these problems, especially what you’ve been doing to the women!  It would be very easy to start on the right road there.  Have Jim Cornette or Mick Foley announce that the women’s title cannot be held by a man, so they are holding up the belt and will have a tournament to decide the new champion, & then have Tara, Kong, Alissa, or Sarita win the title, please!  And if you do like any of my ideas, I give them to you for free.  All I want is to be able to enjoy TNA again.

Hoping for a quick turn around,
Karen Belcher

http://www.ProWrestlingDigest.com

Great commentary Karen. I read the recap, and reading what happened in that match just floored me. After some of the great womens matches they have had on TV, they do this on the PPV? If the old guys want to fight for the legends title that makes sense. Minimum age for the legends title should be what, 45? They have quite a few that could fight for it. Insert a weight limit on the x-division guys. I know growing up most promotions had a Jr. Heavyweight champ who maxed out somewhere between 215 & 225. Let Joe fight with the heavyweights. Please, Please, Please can we also have some sort of a split in the MEM? Otherwise they have to balance out the belts. Right now every belt is coming out of the bad guys locker room. This didn’t work in WCW, and still doesn’t work. Alright, my mistake the Women’s title is coming out of the face locker room, but the gender is wrong. I know the line that has to be used by Cody, “I’m a lesbian trapped in a Man’s body, so I deserve this belt!”. Take it easy Karen.

Lance

[...] This is in reference to and support of Karen Belcher’s letter to TNA. [...]

I disagree about Joe completely and I AM NOT a ROH bot. I have seen tons of his matches and before he got the steady check he was not overweight and truly looked unstoppable. Now TNA mocks roh by not even giving Homicide vs Joe a chance that is piss poor planning and I think they knew that could steal the show.

As for the rest RUSSO needs to go and overall TNA is making me think twice about continuing to watch their programs

I’ve seen Joe in person many times too, and I can’t recall a time when he was ever not fat, though he did used to be in better shape than he is now. What matters, though is what he is now, and now he is fat, slow, and completely out of shape. TNA did give Homicide vs. Joe a chance, but Joe is a really heavy load for Homicide or anyone else to carry these days.

I have to respectfully disagree with everything she said except how the women’s division is not used properly.

The British Invasion, Bashir, Kiyoshi (who she left out) & Eric Young are a very good stable of young talents. Eric Young was a laughing stock and turning him heel was the RIGHT decision there is no doubt about that. World Elite teaming with an all American faction when they claim to hate everything America stands for however was defiantly the WRONG decision.

It’s true the Main Event Mafia has run it’s course, but I have my doubts that she is a fan of TNA since the beginging if she is saying Joe is untalented and undeserving of a roster spot. When he was given more time he put on amazing matches with the likes of AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels (by the way quit calling him Daniels just change his look back and start calling him “The Fallen Angel” Christopher Daniels again please). While I agree that there was no point to letting Joe defeat Homicide this early into Homicide’s very first reign, he is a deserving talent nonetheless.

Suicide however deserves to end. I bought, played and finished the TNA iMPACT! video game and I must say while the storyline was good enough for the video game it did not deserve to be brought to life. Also since it’s Kaz behind the mask I must ask when he did wrestle unmasked why on earth you just called him Kaz instead of calling him “The Future” Frankie Kazarian unless he signed off the rights to his own wrestling name during his short stint with the WWE.

TNA has a remarkably stacked roster of talented young wrestlers and veterans. I feel this horrible showcase of wrestling being put out by TNA Wrestling at the moment is not entirely their fault but circumstantal as they would need at least 4-5 hours weekly like the opposition to support such a rich roster and allow them all the proper time to develop.

So just because I haven’t been brainwashed by ROH to think Joe has talent, that means I can’t possibly have watched TNA since the beginning? Maybe you should be more careful about calling someone a liar. FYI, Joe has NOT been with TNA since the beginning. *

Yes, Eric Young has talent as a wrestler – I never said he didn’t, but he does NOT have talent at delivering heel promos. He just drones on and on in that monotone voice that makes everyone tune out instead of listening to him. That’s not what a heel is supposed to do. A heel is supposed to make you angry, not bored. I left out Kiyoshi because he barely does anything, but he doesn’t fit either. Who even cares about Kiyoshi? If he disappeared, no one would even notice.

I hope you wrote to TNA with your opinions about their product, even if you don’t agree with me.

*For those who want the dates:
NWA-TNA had its first show on June 19, 2002.
TNA announced that Samoa Joe had signed a contract with them on June 14, 2005, & he made his official debut at the Slammiversary PPV on June 19, 2005.

[...] This is in reference to and support of Karen Belcher’s letter to TNA. http://www.prowrestlingdigest.com/2009/08/17/an-open-letter-to-tna/ [...]

Valuable thoughts and advices. I read your topic with great interest.

Some very valid points made here…I agree on numerous fronts…however I also offer a much more simplistic solution:

Just watch ROH. Buy some dvds…HDnet every Monday night. C’mon, I gave TNA and WWE plenty of chances to redeem theirselves…they failed. ‘F’ THEM. Ring of Honor is evolving but they still hold on to that wonderful Indy feel. Not to mention any rookie on ROH’s roster can out perform TNA and WWE’s top guys currently running.

i give you my full support. and add to the knockout division by adding a womans tag title.

I’m going to use a word to describe Deaner’s win that a lot of “smartmark” “fans” hate, even though it wrestling always was, is, and will always be about: ENTERTAINMENT.

It’s only “entertainment” if it actually ENTERTAINS.

Judging by the emails I’ve received, & the comments I’ve seen, you may be the only person on earth who was entertained by that mess. You are definitely in a very small minority.

That has nothing to do with being a smark – it has to do with having good taste & good sense. You don’t take a women’s division that’s getting the best ratings for your company & demean & devalue it with BS like that.