With a new year already underway, Review Fix’s resident wrestling guru shares his hopes for TNA.
5: Don’t rely on older stars anymore: With Sting’s return and the continued influence of Hulk Hogan, TNA still feels like a rehashed WCW. Even guys like Bully Ray, Jeff Hardy and Mr. Anderson need to be used to put over young talent. The only problem is, TNA doesn’t have much. And the guys they do have, Garrett Bischoff, Wes Brisco and others, haven’t proven that they can run with the ball yet. Something needs to change soon. Fans don’t want to see 50-year-old men perform anymore.
4: Make the TV title mean something: Samoa Joe was starting to make this hope a reality, but Devon’s recapturing of the title has made it a prop again. Hogan promised this title would be defended weekly and that hasn’t happened. Simply put, this should be a way of making The Aces and Eights grow in the ring, even if they use weasel heel tactics. Just make them compete. Devon is a competent worker and needs to be at the forefront of this process as well.
3: Put Samoa Joe and AJ Styles back on the map: These guys were supposed to be the future kings of the company in 2006 and not much has changed. Six years later, they are more polished and still capable of being the superstars the company needs. So why hasn’t it happened? Your guess is as good as mine.
2: Give Austin Aries back the title: Nothing against Jeff Hardy, but TNA was a lot cooler when Aries was the champion. Hardy has been champion before and his matches, although always solid, aren’t nearly as exciting as Aries’. Plain and simple, the genesis of “The Greatest Man Who Ever Lived†is probably the best thing that has happened to the company in years.
1: Make the Aces and Eights even more violent:Considering how the show blatantly steals ideas from the FX show, “Sons of Anarchy,†it would make even more sense if TNA adopted more of the brutal techniques “The Club†uses on the television show. Be interesting to see what the club would do to a “rat†or how they’d handle someone who cheated them out of a title. In the end, “Sons of Anarchy†is a great show because of the brutality but also the personalities. Right now, they’re a bunch of masked men. Hopefully, that changes this year as well.
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports.
Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders.
His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023.
Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief.
Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale.
Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.
With a new year already underway, Review Fix’s resident wrestling guru shares his hopes for TNA.
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