In case you didn't catch it, TNA finally threw up the white flag this past Thursday in their attempt to compete with WWE, ending over five years of speculation as to when it would happen.

The seeds of the begging off truly were sown when BG James and Kip James outwardly began calling out Vince McMahon, Shawn Michaels and HHH in an attempt to get some rub from the revived DX angle, even renaming their team VKM. It continued with Team 3D openly mocking the ECW revival several weeks in a row. Calling out competition was something that the original incarnation of ECW did best, but with TNA, it looks desperate. The former was attempting to act as an ombudsman for the industry, while the latter is attempting to ride on coattails.

It finally hit a ridiculous climax on this past Thursday's IMPACT when curtain-jerker Shark Boy completed a character transformation caused by....ahem....amnesia and a subsequent coma. This incarnation amazingly came out to nearly identical music as Austin's, wore a black leather vest, mimicked Austin's moveset and then, celebrated his win with drinking clam juice in similar Austin fashion.

Not too long after, TNA ran a video package highlighting former WWE Champion Brock Lesnar's upcoming UFC debut, complete with analysis by Kurt Angle. While somewhat shrouded in the ruse that UFC is a Spike TV partner, let's face it: it's sucking off the fact Lesnar was a big name for WWE. While some may consider it a shrewd move, they dedicated a segment to someone not even on their show and someone that has never even made an appearance.

When you have to focus on other relations' talent, it says a lot about your current roster. You'll notice that WWE has never acknowledged TNA because they simply don't have to. TNA is a variation of the commodity known as pro wrestling, albeit a much-more muddled one than WWE. We find ourselves in the new era of wrestling and you don't get ahead on bashing your opponents anymore. Sorry to say, TNA, but this isn't the era of Nitro vs. RAW anymore and those aged tactics aren't going to work anymore.

By mimicking a WWE star and naming a tag team after the competition's owner, TNA has essentially said they can't do it on their own, that they are out of ideas and that the only reason people should pay attention is what they can do next that will be similar to WWE. Forget about talents like Samoa Joe, AJ Styles and Jay Lethal...what the other guys and how best they can piggyback off it is what matters.

And here, I thought imitation was the sincerest form of flattery.