We all know that WWE writer Brian Gewirtz is a major comics fan, and oftentimes that is used as an excuse to rip him when things go wrong. Meanwhile, one must wonder if TNA's creative team is similarly influenced.

It is known that wrestlers like Alex Shelley of the Motor City Machine Guns are fans. Shelley, though, isn't on the creative team, otherwise the Guns might not be everyone's patsies right now. I digress. Vince Russo actually wrote a comic strip for the then-WWF's monthly magazine back in the late 90's, Scoop Sullivan. When Russo left for WCW, the Sullivan strip was discontinued. However, there are three people on the current TNA roster whose gimmicks clearly have Russo's fingerprints on them.

First, there was Dustin Rhodes, whose new gimmick as Black Reign didn't cast him as a flopped negative of his most successful persona, Goldust, but rather as a schizophrenic. Supposedly, Rhodes didn't know what Reign was doing. Reign, in fact, was more influenced by Robert Louis Stevenson's classic, "Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde" than the comic book anti-hero, the Incredible Hulk, who himself was derived from the same source. In recent weeks, however, Rhodes has appeared exclusively as Reign, so the schizophrenic aspect of the gimmick appears to have been dropped. Or transferred to another party.

Eric Young had been feuding with Reign and his partner, Rellik. Young, however, was completely scared out of his mind at facing a pair of "monsters". Within the last few weeks, however, Young seems to have discovered the hero within. Enter "Super Eric", a masked superhero who just happens to wear the same tights that Young does, with Young's nickname, "Showtime", embroidered on the seat. The only gimmick more transparent than that was Hulk Hogan's 2 month stint as "Mr. America" on Smackdown 5 years ago, while he feuded with the gradually insane Vince McMahon. Young's claim that he & "Super Eric" are two different people cost him & Frankie Kazarian the tag titles two weeks ago, leading to the Deuces Wild tournament taking place at Sacrifice on Mother's Day. The sad truth is, it's an open secret that just isn't working out too well.

Finally, there is the case of indy veteran Melissa Anderson, more commonly known as Cheerleader Melissa. Ms. Anderson made an appearance under her own name on WWE Heat a few years back, losing to Victoria in a very competitive match. A few months ago, she debuted in TNA under a burqua, using the alias "Raisha Saeed", and acting as the manager/spokesperson for TNA women's champion Awesome Kong. Last night on Impact, Cheerleader Melissa made her TNA debut, easily handling old nemesis Daizee Haze. By the time the show ended, however, Ms. Anderson had found time to switch to her Saeed persona to accompany Kong to the stage when Kong was announced as an entrant in the tournament.

Some have speculated that perhaps one day Saeed & the cheerleader will be revealed as one and the same. That's entirely possible, but that would be giving Russo and his partners, Dutch Mantel & Jeff Jarrett, too much credit for forward thinking. I don't see Saeed lasting much longer, to tell you the truth. One night, she will involve herself in one of Kong's matches one time too many, and the burqua will come off. How would it go over? That's a mystery worth looking into-----preferably a few months down the road. Unfortunately, Russo doesn't have the patience to let something like that develop over time. I see this happening by the end of the summer.

The only way they can get around this dilemma is to have another TNA "Knockout" don the Saeed costume if/when Kong faces Cheerleader Melissa. But you still need to pay close attention to the eyes. As Saeed, Melissa has worn some colored eye makeup. Last night, the camera stayed away from head shots, perhaps fearing that if she was wearing that same makeup in both roles, then all is already lost. We'll let TNA's 3 Stooges (Russo, Jarrett, Mantel) figure that one out for themselves. Just save the popcorn for Thursday nights.