TNA extends offer to disgraced Illinois Gov. Blagojevich
Hopefully, we’re not in store for more lame skits with an impersonator on TNA Impact.
TNA’s latest attempt to attract mainstream publicity is to offer the position of chairman of The Main Event Mafia to ousted Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. TNA made the announcement in a news release today.
Blagojevich, who was impeached by the Illinois House of Representatives yesterday, was arrested in December and charged with, among other things, conspiring to sell the senate seat vacated by Barack Obama.
This is the second time that TNA has tried to gain publicity by linking its name with a political figure. A week after the presidential election, TNA invited Sarah Palin to become an honorary member of The Beautiful People. Predictably, the Alaska governor and former vice-presidential candidate did not respond to TNA’s overture. Instead, a Palin impersonator (former WCW star Daffney) showed up on the scene for a series of skits that were a complete waste of time.
Comments
Let me guess. Their Blago impersonator is going to try to buy the TNA Heavyweight Championship and sell it to the highest bidder. Well, I suppose TNA's credentials are no longer unimpeachable.
Posted by: Aaron Goldstein | January 30, 2009 8:56 PM
What I want to know is this.. if he says yes, how is this going to make any sense to anyone watching or even to the members of the main event mafia. This is why no matter how much people complain about Vince, least hes not attempting to get cheap publicity by inviting osama bin laden or that huge chavez or someone else who obviously is an embarrasement to the US people to appear.
Posted by: Eric | January 30, 2009 9:12 PM
Kevin , once again , I think we all know the answer to your very first comment .
Next they'll be contacting Bernard Madoff .
Posted by: the artist formerly known as jack in hebron | January 30, 2009 10:16 PM
Actually a disgraced governor on a disgrace of a program might be a good pairing .
Posted by: the artist formerly known as jack in hebron | January 30, 2009 10:18 PM
As long as there's no lame impersonator with a ridiculous haircut, I'll be okay with this angle.
The way Blagojevich has acted with the media lately, it wouldn't surprise me if he actually did show up on Impact.
Posted by: Chris Slater | January 30, 2009 11:56 PM
OK , I think it's official.
TNA has lost their collective mind.
Is the whole thing unraveling or are they actually benefiting from all these recent bonehead ideas in that wrestling is generally about how a bunch of boneheads conduct their business in and around a ring anyhow?
Damn!
Posted by: AMC | January 31, 2009 12:19 AM
Yeah. I'm sure they'll get their money's worth. Specially if the guy does time.
Hey, that might even be better!
Posted by: Marko50 | January 31, 2009 5:34 AM
Actually Dixie Carter should spend more time spending her money on trying to recapture the glory of what TNA Wrestling used to stand for and bringing back dismissed and lost talent then trying to capture headlines in this manner or spending our money on this kind of silliness.
Posted by: John | January 31, 2009 6:41 AM
Spiro Agnew? Huey Long? Jesse Ventura?
Posted by: Micheal Deff | January 31, 2009 10:43 AM
It's called desperation. It's called do anything for ratings. Getting a big cable network TV is the golden ring for any pro wrestling organization, but once it's gotten it's a constant struggle to just hang on. If ratings slump, you and your business are gone.
TNA has long pulled these one-time guest appearance deals for once or twice ratings gold. See Jonny Fairplay, Pacman Jones, and their most recent offer to Sarah Palin. They offered Sarah Palin $50,000 for a onetime appearance.
The problem is, if your basic programming (wrestling) is not strong enough on its on to warrant consistent ratings, you're in the wrong business.
Posted by: Norm | January 31, 2009 12:58 PM
It's very say to say, but I guess bad publicity is STILL publicity. Just another example of Vince "let me destroy another company" Russo and his wrestling knowledge? Maybe not. Why is he still around??
Posted by: Curtis B | January 31, 2009 1:01 PM
All they need now is to somehow lure Donald Trump in for a Hair Helmet vs. Hair Helmet match.
Posted by: James | January 31, 2009 1:12 PM
Ironically, the more mainstream publicity that TNA seeks, the more difficult I find it to remember what their acronym stands for.
Posted by: Mr. Sarcasm | February 1, 2009 3:02 PM
TNA is desprate for fame "sigh"
give me a break
Posted by: mike | February 2, 2009 8:38 PM