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#Post#: 30163--------------------------------------------------
TJ Perkins/Manik says TNA is a life saver, not a career killer;
alberto del rio
By: tnafanforum Date: March 19, 2015, 8:05 pm
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Earlier this year, the Rumors started to fly around - that
Alberto El Patron turned down a big money offer from TNA because
the promotion is a "sinking ship". Dave Meltzer has reported
the same, posting on the F4WOnline 'The Board' that the industry
perceives Dixie Carter's company as a "career killer".
Viewers and ratings are down for Impact Wrestling, as expected
with the lower money offer they took from Destination America to
stay on national cable television. But one contracted wrestler
says that his move from the independents to TNA has been
anything but a career killer. Here's what former X-Division
champ TJ Perkins, who has worked for the company as a masked
wrestler named Suicide and Manik has blogged about from a Q & A
with fans via Twitter:

Because of TNA I bought a brand new 3 story house, 2 nice cars,
and boatloads of shoes, and put a bunch in my savings, and I
just signed a 2 year extension and got a raise....4 years ago I
was homeless.
Forget saving my career, being here has saved my life and helped
me take care of my extended family who was struggling as well.
But it's not trendy to some ppl so I guess none of that stuff
counts right?
What ppl REALLY mean is whether or not they like something then
that should be the only measure of success. I'll give you an
example.
Eddy Guerrero at 30 was a cruiserweight in WCW. Wrestling since
his teens his resume looked like this: Regional promotions,
CMLL, Triple A, ECW, WCW.
We would consider that successful.
I just turned 30 and i'm an X Division guy in TNA. Wrestling
since I was 13 my resume looks like this: Regional promotions,
CMLL, Triple A, ROH, TNA, WWE, Europe, Canada.
Pretty much identical.
It's just that we live in an age of elitism and entitlement and
ppl don't want their opinions overruled. If they like something
it can't be argued against and if they dislike something it
can't be argued for.
Basically what ppl WANT is for success to be measured by
favoritism.
But ppl are missing the point. These are careers and lives.
Success is measured by prosperity which is measured by quality
of life and almost directly linked to finance and family.
Even if it is measured by sentimental things, then I'm still a
good measure because I did 99% of everything before I even
turned 21, including going to TNA.
The bottom line is it's not about trendiness or relevance.
Ask yourself, what's important?
Eating at the cool kids table?
Or simply eating at all?
The issue is that if TNA can not become trendy, relevant or
cool, they won't be able to continue to pay Perkins. And if
paying enough to afford him homes, cars and shoes is taking
precedent over things that will help them grow their business,
that's not a sustainable model (I don't know TNA's financials -
AT ALL - so I can't speak to them; I'm simply presenting a
hypothetical counter argument ).
He goes further to defend his definition of career success, and
indirectly respond to Daniel Bryan's recent statements about
younger generations not being motivated by material rewards:
Money isn't everything, but quality of life is. Many of my
heroes have less than me now, I wouldn't trade my life or career
for theirs. I'm willing to bet they would trade "relevance" or
"trendiness" for more tangible things for them and their family.
There is some sentimental goals in success. Bucket lists so to
speak.
My bucket list when I started back in 1998 was this:
New Japan, WWF, WCW, ECW, CMLL, Triple A
By my 21st birthday my resume looked like this:
New Japan, WWE, TNA, ROH, CMLL, Triple A, Europe, Canada,
Domestic Indys...
I had some other goals too like wrestling in famous venues like
Tokyo Dome, Korakuen Hall, Sumo Hall, Arena Mexico, Arena
Coliseo, Grand Olympic Auditorium, Cow Palace, etc...I also did
all that before I turned 21 as well and set a few age records
that still stand I believe.
I even wrestled in a Super Jr tournament and a couple IWGP jr
title matches which were impossible goals to me when I was 13
and just breaking in.
I've met all my heroes, Tiger mask, Shawn Michaels, The
Guerrero's etc and they've all thought the world of my work and
my wrestling IQ which is the highest compliment I could be so
lucky to ever have.
However, at a certain point you learn what's most important. I
made awesome money when I was younger. Getting handed 1k in cash
and a first class plane ticket to Tokyo at 18? That's still
crazy to me.
But I thought the same as others. I didn't care about the money
and just wanted to keep doing new things and eventually that
lead to me not prioritizing my career like an adult and I ended
up homeless.
It's not like I wasn't already successful and making good money,
I was. But I was a kid mentally and didn't understand what a
career was.
Now, it's better. I'm smarter, wiser. I could go back to any of
those places. No bridges were burned and I moved on by choice.
So I picked a place I really liked and I love my job. I don't
care who irrationally loves it or who irrationally hates it...I
like it. I can take care of myself and my loved ones. That's
what matters.
You can't take bucket list stuff with you, you can't take 5 star
matches with you. Someday when my future kid needs a car or
something do you think the fact that I was New Japan's youngest
gaijin ever will help me get better credit or a loan? Do you
think a grocery store accepts Super jr matches and 5 star Arena
Mexico sellouts as currency?
In 2009 my parents split up and went bankrupt and I was homeless
in Florida and collecting coins in Walmart parking lot at
midnight so I could eat. So I know from experience that stuff
doesn't matter.
It's all about perspective.
It is certainly true that it's much easier to focus on
subjective goals like being the best when you're not worrying
where you next meal comes from. And Perkins' statements are a
reminder, to me at least, that it's not just a matter of LOLTNA
and speculating about if the industry would be better off
without them, because there are men and women who rely on their
continued existence to take care of themselves and provide for
their families.
But I still think "well, they take care of me" is a limited
perspective, and one that probably isn't sustainable for Impact
or it's contracted employees without some significant changes in
other areas of the business strategy.
It's not a question of if TNA is a career killer so much as
whether or not TNA is in the process of committing corporate
suicide.
Thoughts??
#Post#: 30326--------------------------------------------------
Re: TJ Perkins/Manik says TNA is a life saver, not a career kill
er; alberto del rio
By: sharkboy1200 Date: March 31, 2015, 6:07 pm
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It's 100% ridiculous to say TNA is career killer at any point in
time. While Perkins certainly gives a unique perspective, I've
also noticed something amongst the roster. They didn't treat
TNA's loss of Spike TV as big deal. Dixie Carter herself pointed
out it was simply a matter of negotiations. Not to mention while
people harshly criticize TNA for their domestic business,
they're constantly expanding and doing very well
internationally. In 2015 they expanded into two countries, three
now if you include their new deal in Canada. There is more of a
light shed on you around the world by being in TNA, which is
great since pro wrestling is such an international business. For
my money, it's the wrestling media which has constantly pushed
TNA as a lowest tier wrestling company despite all their
successes. They have unique victories under their belt which
only a WWE could match. On youtube, they have over 600,000,000
views. Considering how much ad money youtube brings in, and how
much some of these channels alone make, that's another nice
little stream of revenue in and of itself. Let's not forget that
even on a lesser channel, TNA still manages to draw over
half-a-million viewers domestically each week. That's a big
victory for Destination America and any of their hopes for a
domestic network expansion in the USA. Finally, look at when
some of these TNA talents leave and go to another company. Do
these careers look like they've been killed? Does AJ Styles or
Sting look like they need be built up from the ground up because
of where they've been? The wrestling media is among the worst
portrayers of exaggeration and exploitation in journalism
because of how much faith and stock people put into their
sources and opinions. The only reason TNA would be a career
killer is because people buy into that concept wholesale instead
of looking at the product objectively and deciding if that's for
them or not.
To be in TNA would be a wonderful positive for anybody as long
as their business matches with the talent's goals.
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