Regardless of what anyone will tell you, Vince Russo is doing most of the booking in TNA now. His fingerprints are everywhere. Worse, he's in the middle of a power struggle for control of the promotion.

Russo has been ripped to shreds by just about everyone and anyone who's covering wrestling because of his insistence on continuing to use his now-outdated "Crash TV" concept of booking television. Previously, Dutch Mantel was reported as being the primary writer, but it's clear now this is no longer the case.

Consider the last two TNA PPV's. Kurt Angle cleanly dropped the X division title to "Black Machismo" Jay Lethal, only to have Lethal treated like a rent-a-jobber at the tapings the very next night. Reportedly, the original plan was for Angle to lose via screwjob, but Angle, who still has a shred of intellect somewhere, insisted on putting Lethal over clean. Wish granted. Since then, however, he has become close friends with Russo. Not smart, especially in terms of business.

Nearly two weeks ago, at Bound For Glory, Angle dropped the TNA World title to Sting, only to win it back two days later at the taping for tonight's episode of Impact. Why? Because Russo believes Angle is more of a draw as champion than Sting. Russo has also pushed for Kevin Nash, pushing 50, to return to action. Nash will team with Angle at Genesis, leading to a singles match between the two in December, no doubt. That makes the current "Fight For Your Right" #1 contender's tournament meaningless, because the winner of that tournament was supposed to get the title match at Genesis. Instead, a classic Russo swerve pushes the tournament winner down the ladder. What this tells us is that Russo is ignoring the tournament in favor of satisfying his own wants.

They make a great team, Angle & Russo. One's a washed up writer whose ideas are 7-10 years in the past and compromise the Christian values he supposedly embraced a few years ago. The other is a multi-time World champion and former Olympic champion who was cut by WWE last year because they felt he was breaking down physically and mentally. Angle's fallen into the trap of being addicted to the spotlight, a trap that has claimed many others before him, most notably the likes of Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair. Russo has convinced Angle that it would be good for business for his wife, Karen, to join the troupe, something she never did in Kurt's 7 years with WWE. In the warped minds of Russo & Angle, it's 2000, and Kurt & Karen are trying to be Triple H & Stephanie McMahon. Ironically, Kevin Nash, like HHH a member of the infamous Kliq, is tied into Angle's storyline, which makes one wonder if Angle didn't gain membership into that group himself.

Meanwhile, you have Team 3D targeting the X division for destruction. They're playing the playground bullies taking out their frustration on the smaller X division wrestlers because they lost the tag titles earlier this year and have been denied a shot at the titles. Sure, they had a match vs. then-champs Team Pacman a few weeks back, but Russo wants you to forget that. Granted, Ray & Devon are reverting to their old school ECW methods as heels, and you have to believe that eventually they'll have a meeting with 3 time X champion Samoa Joe. Over in the women's division, Awesome Kong is squashing opponents en route to a singles title match vs. current champ Gail Kim. People could care about either storyline, if only Russo didn't assign so much air time to the Angles. As such, Team 3D and Kong are playing 2nd & 3rd banana behind Angle. It wasn't so long ago that Ray was cutting promos on HHH on Raw. To have him suddenly turn his attention to Angle won't exactly turn him back face overnight, but it would send a clear message that the fans are already tired of seeing Angle take up as much as 50-60% of the screen time on Impact. Kurt's just playing the same tired act he had in WWE, only more annoying than ever. Not only is Russo using him as his version of HHH, but he's even more of an annoying jerk as champ than Jeff Jarrett ever was.

Expanding Impact to 2 hours was supposed to allow more wrestlers some spotlight time. Instead, it's more of the same. There's a simple solution that Dixie Carter has before her, and that is to get rid of Vince Russo and what influence he has in the booking. Show him the door (again), and give the book to Jim Cornette, who would know what to do. And it would make Cornette the happiest man on earth. Trust me.