Current reports by Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer say that Brooke Hogan has been fired from TNA Wrestling.
Brooke has been working in TNA Wrestling as the General Manager of the Knockouts Division and been involved heavily in a main event storyline between her father Hulk Hogan and new TNA World Heavyweight champion and leader of the Aces and Eights Bully Ray.
While nothing has been publicly stated by TNA Wrestling at the time of writing to confirm Meltzer’s report, Brooke Hogan has not been seen on Impact Wrestling since August 1. She was not on the August 8 or 15 nor is she on the taping to air on August 22. The reason for the cut is said to be budgetary.
Brooke Hogan was first signed to TNA Wrestling on May 17, 2012 in order to work with the Knockouts division. While some reports were that the decision to sign her was nepotism for Hulk, the Hulkster once mentioned on Twitter that the decision to sign Brooke wasn’t his and it was Dixie Carter’s. It has never been reported how much she makes but rumours once went floated around that Brooke Hogan was being given a plane ticket for her and her animals to TNA tapings while other wrestlers had to making it to tapings on their own dime. It’s doubtful that the amount she was paid to cut mediocre promos and show her acting ability from Sand Sharks, 2 Headed Shark Attack and Avalanche Sharks translated to increased viewership or extra income for the company.
For many TNA Wrestling fans, the entrance of Brooke Hogan was a blight during a high point in TNA in 2012. Impact wrestling was going strong with Gail Kim once again the Knockouts champion, Austin Aries meteoric rise from undefeated X Division champion to number one contender against Bobby Roode and the debut of former ROH Tag Team champion Kenny King. At the time, fans could ignore the silly decision to hire Brooke due to how well things were going. It wasn’t until November of 2012 that TNA decided to run a relationship storyline between Brooke Hogan and Bully Ray that it was clear that TNA wasn’t going to drop her role in the company and wanted her as a central focus. Her acting ability once again fell flat trying to show an emotional connection to Bully Ray and fighting with her father over the relationship. Let me remind the reader that Brooke is 25 and Bully Ray is 42. Not because of the age gap but because we were forced to watch a disapproving father in his adult daughter’s relationship.
Hopefully TNA learns from this and goes against signing a B movie actress just because of who she is related to. TNA’s financial peril might be the best thing for them in an unfortunate way. A lot of the dead weight, high dollar talents will likely be cut while the wrestling workhorses who provide the best bang for your buck will be kept around to entertain. TNA Wrestling’s strength has always been giving their wrestlers the freedom to wrestle. Probably time to rely on that than a failed pop star.
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