"There's no reason to feed Vince McMahon's ego so he can squash another company," he said. "If you go head-to-head with Vince right now, he's going to go gunning for TNA in every way, shape and form. Why pick a fight with the big, bad dog right now?

"He probably has enough money to raid the entire the locker room. So why wake the sleeping giant? He has Monday night ("Raw"), he has Friday night (Smackdown!"). He has a huge piece of the pie. Let us do what we do on Thursday nights. Let us create the competition in the wrestling industry. Let people see that there's someplace else to go. Let the fans who have been sitting around being force-fed WWE's product for the past four years without competition -- let them have something else.

"It is in Vince McMahon's best interest for TNA do well. People are tired of seeing just one product."

As for the TNA alternative, "Impact!" will continue to be an hour-long show on its new night, but Ray feels TNA could immediately fill up to two prime-time hours.

"The one thing TNA lacks right now is character development," he said. "Other than A.J. (Styles), Christopher Daniels and Samoa Joe -- you really don't know who a lot of the X-Division guys are."

Styles, he says, is a great wrestler, but could use more time on the microphone to get fans to care more about his persona -- a tried and true formula for growing an audience. Right now in TNA, more mic time is given to established stars in the heavyweight division (Christian, Jeff Jarrett, Rhino, Sting) -- with the high-flying X-Division taking a bit of a back seat. It's a situation that's fixable, and more important, Ray says his opinion won't fall on deaf ears.

"In TNA you are allowed to voice your opinion, and come up with ideas. Come up with ways to make things better," he said. "And that's why TNA should succeed, because they have the input of the wrestlers."

Brother Devon agrees, saying a little respect from the front office -- and the writing team -- goes a long way: "You have the opportunity to come in there, give your input, and not be pushed aside (as in WWE) and told, 'Yes, we're going to use it, but you have to give it to someone else.' We have that opportunity, and I think it's phenomenal.