Source: Facebook
A few minutes ago, Eric Bischoff used his Facebook profile to blast two well-known internet wrestling writers – Dave Scherer and James Caldwell. In his update, Bischoff specifically mentions that these two writers are usually wrong with their updates yet they never issue retractions for stories that turn out to be untrue nor do they let their readers know that most of what they post is speculation. Here are Bischoff’s exact comments:
So James Caldwell claims TNA is ready to scrap the X Division, and Dave Sherer claims 2-24 taping will be live. Both 100% wrong (as usual) and neither apologizes to their readers for spreading false information or admits that their “news” is nothing more than marks specualting.
I though I’d offer some commentary, so from this point forward this entry is all my opinion.
If you’ve been reading TNAStars.com for a while now, then you know that William and I spend a great deal of time and trouble making sure that speculation is marked as speculation, rumor as rumor, opinion as opinion, and fact as fact. Bischoff makes a great point when he says that internet writers often spread false information and that their “news” really amounts to nothing more than a bunch of marks speculating on what’s going on inside the promotions.
That’s something that many of the internet writers are unable to come to terms with – the fact that they are the very definition of a mark. I admitted to being a mark last year on this website and I don’t see it as a negative term or a mark of incivility by any means. Look, I’m a wrestling fan and I spend a small portion of my free time mixing a hobby of mine (web design) with a form of entertainment that I like watching (TNA Wrestling). You put them together and you have what is, I think, the best fan-driven TNA Wrestling website on the internet – TNAStars.com.
The problem comes when folks start to believe their own bullshit and believe that they have some rank in the industry. The vast majority (and I mean 99%) of professional wrestling websites are operated by guys like me except they’re in it for the money and they copy and paste all of their news from the writers that Bischoff mentions. When you add these caustic terms together what you get is what Bischoff (and the staff at TNAStars.com, by the way) hates – a bunch of marks parading around like they’re insiders while they spread false rumors and, occasionally, downright lies.
Do the writers that Bischoff singled out consistently post false information? I don’t know – I don’t go to their websites nor have I tracked their online presence as closely as Bischoff seems to have tracked them. What I do know, though, is that I have always been on Bischoff’s side because more than anyone else in the wrestling world, he typically hits the nail right on the head.
I’d love to read your comments about this story – feel free to post them in the comments section below.
Unfortunately in this case, Bischoff is not hitting the nail on the head. Both Keller and Scherer are critical of the TNA product, which they are entitled to do. Instead of taking such criticism constructivelly, Bischoff is on a crusade to distract people from the criticisms, and instead, red line obscure details, all in the hopes of discrediting the individual reporters. As a regular reader of both of those writiers, I am willing to take the word of both Scherer and Keller than of Bischoff at this point.
Everyone’s entitled to their opinions. The root of Bischoff’s argument is that opinion and speculation should be marked as such. None of the well-known internet writers mark opinion or speculation in their news reports. Then their reports get twisted by the hate sites and the kiddie-run sites and at the end of the day you wind up with a cluster of a mess.
I don’t think I’d ever take the word of someone outside of an organization over someone who is at the highest level inside of the organization, but that’s just me.
james caldwell is always bashing on tna..he criticizes everything they do.then turns around and says how great wwe is.i take everything he says with a grain of salt.he is simply biased to wwe.
Constructive criticism is not the same as blatantly incorrect information, Martin… unless you can identify to me how claiming that TNA is scrapping the X-Division is constructive criticism.