9 Exact Moments TNA Booking Stopped Making Sense
8. Lethal Savaged By Bad Booking
Harmless on paper but the opposite in reality, TNA finding some money down the back of the sofa to pay some legends cost them more than a few booking fees back in 2009.
'Black Machismo' was a case of turning a potential career-killer of a concept into a bonafide star-making vehicle, but Jay Lethal's Macho Man persona had hit something of a wall when he started challenging wrestlers from his inspiration's era to come out and face him. Randy Orton broke through as the 'Legend Killer', so what was to stop a Randy Savage-inspired gimmick finding a way through with it too?
The booking, as it turns out.
Jim Neidhart had one appearance, used one offensive move, picked up one win in just over one minute and he never wrestled for the company again. Tatanka came along the next week to do the same and take only slightly longer than 'The Anvil'. Lethal's head was hitting a wall as his back hit the match - the deluded character had been doing just fine before getting trapped in this one-way-street of a story with Hulk Hogan about his generation being better than 'The Hulkster's, and the defeats drained the joy out of a gimmick predicated on fun.
Ironically, Lethal's escape route came in the form of another impression, but his quality Ric Flair impression was remembered for a single segment rather than - as was the case for AJ Styles - an entire chapter of his career.