by James Caldwell, Assistant editor

TNA wrestler Shark Boy (Dean Roll) was involved in the Prince Brotherhood "group" on Impact until Curry Man's character was fired and Eric Young dropped the goofy superhero gimmick for a serious role in the Frontline.

Not part of a brotherhood anymore, but still having a compelling character worth TV time, Roll says he's just looking to keep a spot on Impact as a goal for 2009.

"Everyone wants to main event the big pay-per-views, and be the World champion, and I can tell you that I'd love to do that, but I don't know that I could list it as a goal," Sharkie told Slam Wrestling's Brian Elliott. "You know, even if I don't achieve that in this business, I've had the time of my life."

Roll says the Steve Austin imitation character that he's recently portrayed on Impact has helped keep him on TV, and Jeff Jarrett pushed for the character change on TV, with Vince Russo filling in the blanks on how to get the character into storylines.

"When Jeff Jarrett heard me do this in front of the other guys, he said that it was something that we could possibly do on TV at some point," Roll said. "Vince Russo and I decided that we could transition that into me doing these impressions, by having Shark Boy fall into a coma (laughs)."

Roll says his sense of humor matches with Russo, which has allowed them to connect on TV storyline developments involving the Stone Cold Shark character. But, does it detract from the wrestling portion of the show when his character isn't taken seriously?

"If you had asked me a few years ago whether doing things like this would have detracted from my wrestling, I might have said yes," Roll said. "But now, I've been in the business for a while, and I feel that you have to go out there and entertain, period. If people get more out of what I do on the mic or in the vignettes than they do from watching me in the ring, that's fine and I'm happy with that."

Link: Slam Wrestling interview with Shark Boy.

Caldwell's Analysis: Roll's comments in that last paragraph certainly fit the locker room mentality that it's better to just be on TV than try to push for an opportunity to have quality wrestling match opportunities. It's the evolution (fortunate or unfortunate) of wrestling where the craft of being a pro wrestler is seemingly lost in favor of being an entertainer.

This is also why TNA can't push beyond a 1.2 rating because there's simply not that much of a wrestling audience that's left over from the Attitude era that isn't already watching the product. And they don't have enough marketing behind them to grab a portion of the WWE audience. The format of over-the-top gimmickery just isn't going to attract non-wrestling fans, and only keep TNA's current hardcore wrestling audience tuned in.

We suggest these recent related articles...

TV RATINGS: TNA Impact & ROH TV viewership - Week 19 on Dest. America - Impact surges post-BFG, ROH draws big audience

TV WRESTLING VIEWERSHIP - Week of Sept. 28: Full Break Down of last week's Pro Wrestling TV with DVR viewing

TNA NEWS: TNA announces TV tapings on January U.K. Tour