By James Caldwell, Torch assistant editor

Wrestling manager Jim Mitchell, who last worked for TNA in July 2008, talked in-depth about why he believes the wrestling business has lost its identity during an interview on Live Audio Wrestling on Sunday night.

"It goes back to storytelling, what are you trying to sell? What is your end goal? If your end goal is to sell pay-per-views and you’re not doing so you need to look and maybe re-address your approach," Mitchell said.

"I'm not qualified to discuss what goes into writing a television show, that's not part of my skill set. I have a difficulty sometimes figuring out what they're leading to - Are you doing a sitcom? Are you trying to do a drama? And if so, why is the point of the wrestling ring?"

Mitchell said he believes one of the issues the wrestling business faces is writers telling stories through their own voice rather than through the voice of the characters being written for.

"I can watch either TNA or WWE and just point out numerous themes that are recycled and I don't even think it's conscious but it’s the writer's psyche or whatever is going on with them and whatever baggage they are carrying gets played out on the screen," he said. "Basically you have one guy with one voice with a bunch of different people playing out his story as opposed to letting them telling their story, you know tell the bigger story in their way."

Mitchell spoke from his own experience in TNA when he was asked to cut promos that were written for him. He said he felt that he lost his identity as the sinister, evil heel manager with a unique cadence and delivery style.

"I'm speaking Jim Mitchell style in my unique rhythm and vocabulary and then all of a sudden a line comes out that doesn't bear any resemblance to anything I would say but you know I agreed to tell their story to the best of my ability with what they gave me," he said. "But I think the reason I stood out more because I took the stuff and made it my own and if you watch either WWE or TNA a lot of times you can hear the same writer's voice coming through multiple mouths. And it's a subtle thing but when you have one or two writers there are certain themes that come out over and over again."

Caldwell's Analysis: Mitchell has shown throughout his career that he has one of the best minds for the business with an idea of what works and what doesn't work for his character. Yet, he continues to sit on the sidelines with no one tapping into his experience or knowledge. In the interview, he captured the major concerns with wrestling script-writing better than I've seen anyone else capture that.

Link: The complete interview can be downloaded here or accessed on liveaudiowrestling.com.

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