2008: The Year of the Dog House

Newton’s Third Law of Motion states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. This law can also be used in the sense of how far up or down a wrestler will go on the card based on their actions and the reactions from the promotion.

To dive in to this theory, let’s take two subjects from rival promotions and compare how their actions have been handled by their respective companies with the reactions that have been handed down. On one side will be WWE’s Jeff Hardy, while the other side will be the TNA tag team of the Motorcity Machine Guns.

Let’s begin.

Jeff Hardy made a huge return to the WWE in the summer of 2006 and captured the Intercontinental Championship a short time later. During this time, Hardy’s popularity, and more surprisingly his work ethic, rose to great heights. Hardy would feud with wrestlers for the Intercontinental title and at one point became a six time tag team champion with his older brother Matt.

His comeback came to an abrupt halt, however, nearly one year later. Hardy reported that it was due to a neck injury but the truth of the matter is that he was suspended by the WWE for a wellness policy violation. Hardy served his 30-day suspension and came back to win the Intercontinental Championship for the fourth time.

It didn’t stop there either, as Hardy rode the momentum straight to the Royal Rumble with a WWE Title shot against Randy Orton. Hardy would come up short in the match but proved that he belonged in the main event. He then followed this by winning a chance to vie for a title shot in the Money in the Bank Ladder Match at WrestleMania 24. Unfortunately for Hardy, another wellness policy violation, this time for 60 days, prevented him from participating in the match.

Since returning from his suspension, Hardy has been moved over to Smackdown where he is once again in the title picture and is taking part in a WWE Championship Scramble this Sunday at Unforgiven.

Now let’s take a look at the other side, shall we?

The Motorcity Machine Guns started wrestling as a TNA tag team in the spring of 2007. They didn’t get much traction until the end of the year where they, along with Jay Lethal, defended the X Division against Team 3D. It would be during this feud that management would sour on the duo as they refused to do a “blade job” after being brutally attacked by Team 3D and Johnny Devine.

Even though the TNA fans voted them as the Best Tag Team of 2007, their actions would mark the beginning of a prolonged streak with the team ending up on the losing side more often than not. They would still make the most of the matches and continue to win over fans with their high octane offense, but that was about all they were winning at the time.

Over the summer, the Motorcity Machine Guns finally started winning some matches as they were members of Team TNA in the 2008 World X Cup tournament. It appeared that the team was finally getting the recognition and the push that it deserved, however, the winning stopped once again after the tournament ended.

Since then, the Guns have been on another losing streak, being beaten by such teams as Jay Lethal & Consequences Creed and Eric Young & BG James. Judging by their post-match actions, it looks like they are headed for a heel turn in the near future.

Rumors are circulating that the team is still in the dog house for not bleeding and for not going all out to become top stars. I guess being voted as the top tag team of the year and hearing the reaction they get from the live audience isn’t enough for the management to put aside their grudges and push them to the top of the tag team division. Meanwhile, the WWE actually sees the potential money they can be making with one of their fan favorite stars and give him a spot near the top even with his checkered past.

It is called striking when the iron is hot and capitalizing on what you can when you can. The WWE is making money hand over fist with Jeff Hardy while TNA is making next to nothing with the Motorcity Machine Guns and will be making even less with them as a heel tag team. I guess that is one of the big differences between a billion dollar promotion and a fledgling promotion trying to get into the black.