Is Hulk Hogan in TNA a positive?

There has been much hand wringing in the IWC since Tuesday, when it was announced that Hulk Hogan would make his return to wrestling for TNA. While the move is not necessarily good, the doom and gloom that have come with this announcement are certainly premature for there lays great value in Hogan’s name, who he brings with him, and what he replaces.

First of all, more people have heard of Hulk Hogan than have heard of TNA. Many people who were at one time wrestling fans have very good, nostalgic Hulkamania memories. This is very important for TNA, because many of these people will tune in to check Hogan out. Though they don’t usually check wrestling sites, Hulk is promoting his new book and so is on just about every media outlet and doing book signings. That’s mainstream exposure the like TNA has never gotten. Many of these former wrestling fans will not care about what’s going on besides Hogan, sure, but at least they’ll be exposed to it, and should they find something or someone else they enjoy, whether AJ Styles, Kurt Angle, Matt Morgan, Samoa Joe or someone else entirely, that’s one more person that might tune into Impact, buy a shirt of the wrestler they enjoy, or tell a friend that’s a WWE fan that they know of an alternative.

Hogan also already has suggestions for who he’d like to be brought in. It’s a safe assumption that many of these people are the same that are on the Australian tour with he and Eric Bischoff (who we’ll get to momentarily). These are yet more WWE castoffs that would replace TNA originals. But these aren’t just any castoffs. With the salary Hulk commands, it’s difficult to envision TNA paying for more than one or two more big names. Let’s say these are two of the following list- Ric Flair, Umaga, Rob Van Dam, and Ken “Kennedy” Anderson. The first and third on that list are the rare legitimate draws in the current wrestling landscape, but more, they draw in a different segment of fans than Hulk would. Flair, especially, had his last match with Shawn Michaels so publicized that he’d be a great draw to long time southern fans were he to work with Sting again. Umaga and Anderson both would get incredible rubs from being brought in with Hogan- Umaga as a modern killer heel with agility (think Vader or, farther back, Kamala) and Anderson as a new, brash face who can talk and work with the Hulkster. A big face who can talk and work even a little is a rarity in pro wrestling and with Hogan getting him automatically over, Anderson could be a star.

All of this is without looking at who already came with Hulk, namely Eric Bischoff. Bischoff’s role is supposedly to get new television secured for TNA. Television is the highest revenue source TNA has, so they want to expand. Eric is experienced in navigated the treacherous backwaters of AOL Time Warner politics. He should be more than able to handle any red tape Spike or another network puts in his way. In that manner, even if Hogan were a spotlight stealer as he has been in the past, the new programming would still give new stars, whether through the X-Division or the Knockouts division, a time to shine.

Finally, it’s important to look at the direction Hogan is replacing. Vince Russo’s been in charge of TNA for several years now without any improvement in the company’s direction. Some argue that the new direction of TNA appeared great and, I agree, the two weeks of Nigel McGuinness/Desmond Wolfe television looked very promising… but it’s a mistake to assume that would continue. Vince Russo has never, without the backing of Vince McMahon, produced television with great ratings or even good buy-rates. After literally years and years of attempts, are we to assume he suddenly figured it out based on a good two weeks? It’s just not enough of a sample size and a change is fine before Russo regressed to his atrocious mean.

What’s more, Hogan has had a public feud with Vince Russo during wrestling’s boom period. That means a lot of former wrestling fans know of their issues and will be curious to see if they resurface. Curiosity means tuning in.

In the end, Hulk Hogan and the publicity he brings are too good a business opportunity to turn down. TNA might one day be able to compete with WWE atop the wrestling world, but it’d be infinitely more difficult with Vince Russo at the helm than with Hulk Hogan garnering attention.