TNA wrestling

[paul253]

I don't mean this to be a competition with the WWE thread, but I just can't watch WWE anymore. I was a huge fan in the late 90's early 2000's but I can't stand it anymore. Are there enough people who watch TNA to have a similar thread? At least enough people to see Hogan and Bischoff absolutely destroying TNA the exact same way they destroyed WCW? Like....the exact same way. I really fear the nonsensicle story lines are going to start driving fans away.

[PrinceEatMeat]

I don't bother watching TNA, because as you said it sucks ever since Hogan and Bischoff got there.

[brettac1]

I usually watch the PPV's, because they do have some really good workers.

[Invader3K]

Isn't it called Impact Wrestling now, or is that just the TV show?

[JimH5]

My wrestling itch is fully scratched by Monday Night Raw. I don't watch Smackdown, I didn't watch ECW, I don't watch PPV. No ROH, and no TNA. I just don't have the time to get interested in another show.

 

On DVR, I can buzz through a Raw episode, and skip past all the Michael Cole stuff, most of the Diva stuff, and all of the "this just happened 5 minutes ago" stuff. That cuts out at least 45 minutes.

[Raw Biz]

Isn't it called Impact Wrestling now, or is that just the TV show?

I think technically it's just the tv show. Obviously trying to show that it's more about wrestling when WWE is about the entertainment. Unfortunately, Hogan/Bischoff haven't exactly made it about the wrestling. I tried to get back into it over the summer but when I saw segments involving challenging Scott Baio to a match, I gave up. If TNA could realize they have some legit talent there (Styles, Daniels, just about the entire X-Division, etc.) instead of pushing all the old washed-up WCW/WWE castoffs, they could give WWE a run. I just don't see that happening with Hogan/Bischoff in charge.

[brettac1]

Isn't it called Impact Wrestling now, or is that just the TV show?

Yeah, that's just the Thursday show.

[BrewCrewForever]

TNA has always had good wrestlers but bad production values, announcers and bookers. IMO.

[patrickgpe]

My wrestling itch is fully scratched by Monday Night Raw. I don't watch Smackdown, I didn't watch ECW, I don't watch PPV. No ROH, and no TNA. I just don't have the time to get interested in another show.

 

On DVR, I can buzz through a Raw episode, and skip past all the Michael Cole stuff, most of the Diva stuff, and all of the "this just happened 5 minutes ago" stuff. That cuts out at least 45 minutes.

me too, and i will dvr raw too unless there is nothing else on tv. i can watch raw in less than 30 minutes. I did watch TNA for a bit because of all the ex-WWE wrestlers on the roster, but it seems to me like its mostly up and coming wrestlers now. Raw is live which is a big plus. I will watch the live smackdown tomorrow, but since i can find out what happens on smackdown or impact before its on TV, there is not much point in watching it.

[pretendastronaut]

I'd pretty much echo what rawbecht said. I think it was mentioned in the WWE thread that Russo isn't doing the booking anymore, so maybe it can get better. Before the WCW Reunion Tour took over, they were doing some good things and pushing some of the younger guys finally.

[ELCABALLO45]

I really hope someone figures it out with TNA. They are the only chance of making Vince stop swinging for singles like he does now.

[paul253]

TNA was built in a really smart way. Start small, build up your own guys, sprinkle in some legit talent. Signing guys like Sting, Team 3D, Angle, Flair, and so on was a great idea. But once Bischoff and Hogan came alone they absolutely destroyed it. Forming Immortal was a good idea I think, similar to the NWO. And forming Fortune under Flair was a magnificent idea. People loved them because of the obvious comparisons to the Horsemen. But as usual, Bischoff doesn't know how to write storylines that make any sense. Flair abandons the very group he formed to stay with Immortal? Now Fortune is basically done. What sense does that make? Then guys who were fighting Immortal from the beginning, guys like Angle, Steiner, Anderson end up joining Immortal a few months later? That's the same mistake he made with the NWO. He has destroyed the tag team rank, just like he did in WCW. He's destroyed Team 3D and Beer Money, two of the best the organization had. The British Invasion is nowhere to be found. Neither is Ink Inc. Or Generation Me. I think one of the Motor City Machine Guns is hurt but I'm sure they're done. Meanwhile, just like in the WCW, now he is using non tag team members to be tag team champions. The only legitimate tag team left is Mexican America. I just hate how he does that. He has best friends constantly turning on each other. Like that hasn't been done before. And he's letting his home grown talent (Styles, Samoa Joe, Crimson, Daniels) waste away with petty little feuds.

 

What I'd love to see done is this:

 

-Build up the tag team rank again. That is a clear advantage over the WWE

-More focus on home grown guys winning titles. I think Crimson would be the perfect World Champion right now. What is the point of making him a tag team champion?

-Somehow have Ric Flair reform Fortune. Maybe Roode can stay out and someone can replace him, but I think stables are good for wrestling. And there's no reason for Flair not to be leading Fortune.

-Create another belt, similar to the intercontinental belt, that up and comers or people who deserve a title shot could have. Crimson, Styles, or Joe could hold it now. If you want Roode or Storm to hold a single's belt it would make more sense to me for them to hold a belt like that first.

-Forget these stupid celebrity story lines. Nobody cares about Snooki or PacMan Jones or any other 2nd rate celebrity. That was something I always hated about WCW. I don't care to see Karl Malone wrestle Dennis Rodman. I want to see real wrestling with real moves.

-Continue to rebuild the X Division with it's own belt. Honestly I don't even know if there is currently an X Division belt. If there is Daniels would be a good guy to hold it.

-Build up more home grown talent. I like what they did with Crimson. They don't have to be undefeated but they should be challenging the Angle's and Bully Ray's of the organization.

 

TNA is moving too far away from what they were going for when they were originally formed. Bischoff is an idiot.

[brettac1]

Doesn't Bruce Prichard have more booking say than Bischoff now?

 

I don't really like Crimson as world champ because he doesn't have mic skills and isn't really over. If the guy is going to carry the ball for the company, he should know how to cut a promo. As far as I am concerned, both Roode and Storm can be world champ, those are the two best guys in the company and far as being a total package that can work and cut a promo. I wish they wouldn't have hot-shotted the belt onto them, but that should be a killer feud if they let it keep going.

 

There is an X Division belt that I believe Austin Aries currently holds. That guy is good, IMO.

 

Ink, Inc. was on the last PPV against Mexican America in a 6-man mixed tag for the titles.

 

I think they do have the potential to put on a really great show, but that the real problem is that there is just way too much going on (as evidenced by viewers not knowing what belts exist, etc.). They need to tighten up their storylines and come up with one or two dominant ones - Roode/Storm and then probably one involving Angle since he is always excellent no matter what he is involved in.

[paul253]

Ink, Inc. was on the last PPV against Mexican America in a 6-man mixed tag for the titles.

 

I remember seeing them in some promos where they kind of did a bar fight with Mexican America, but since I don't get the pay-per-views I haven't seen them actually wrestle in forever. And that's one of my main issues with the organization. You put out pay per views with guys that don't even wrestle on your main show? The British Invasion is the same way. They lost to Mexican America in a pay per view awhile back and I haven't seen them since. Are they even in TNA anymore?

I don't really like Crimson as world champ because he doesn't have mic skills and isn't really over.

 

I actually don't have a problem with that. I don't need the world champ to come out and talk about nothing for 20 minutes like they always do. I want someone who has got some wrestling talent and can legitimately take on the top guys. I didn't mind seeing James Storm winning the title, but beating Angle, the best technical wrestler you have, in a minute or so like he did was an insult to Angle.

There is an X Division belt that I believe Austin Aries currently holds. That guy is good, IMO.

To be honest, I fast forward through some of the show and I never really stopped in for those matches. It seems to me like a "fling a bunch of wrestlers on the wall and see who sticks" method. I don't doubt the Aries is talented but if he's not beating legit X Division stars like Daniels, Styles, or RVD he's not going to get noticed. RVD, Daniels, Styles and Jerry Lynn were having all these matches about who dominated or started or was the best X Division guy (whatever it was, something like that) yet none of them are fighting for the X Division belt or any other the younger X Division wrestling. Why isn't Kazarian wrestling for the belt? Is he hurt, because he hasn't wrestled in forever either.

 

Overall I think the best way to separate themselves from the WWE is to focus more on wrestling and not as much on "entertainment". There is an X Division belt that I believe Austin Aries currently holds. That guy is good, IMO. I'm not saying you shouldn't have interviews or promos or anything, but we don't need 10 or 15 minute interviews three times a night. And I don't need to see Karen Jarrett call all of the knockouts to the ring every single show. And rebuild the tag team ranks.

[RockCoCougars]

TNA has always had good wrestlers but bad production values, announcers and bookers. IMO.

Is Don 'Gem Mint Mark McGwire Rookie' West still an announcer? I loved that huckster on late night home shopping back in the day.

[brettac1]

GEM MINT 10!!!

 

Anyhow, no, he's not. They have the great Iron Mike Tenay and Tazz.

[Kelbysdaddy]

velvet sky!1

[paul253]

Speaking of Velvet Sky, the whole split from Angelina Love made no sense either. One day everything is peachy, the next day Angelina is a zombie. Now it finally is starting to look like they are explaining why it happened by making Winter a vampire or something. But my lord some of these storylines are stupid.

[radman12484]

Mmmm Velvet Sky.

[brettac1]

Speaking of Velvet Sky, the whole split from Angelina Love made no sense either. One day everything is peachy, the next day Angelina is a zombie. Now it finally is starting to look like they are explaining why it happened by making Winter a vampire or something. But my lord some of these storylines are stupid.

The Knockout division is like one big stupid storyline. I can understand having a women's division when you have that centerpiece star like a Sable, etc., but just having one when you have no star is just pointless to me. The sad thing is, I believe that when they break down TNA's ratings, the Knockout segments are generally the highest rated ones of the show.

[TracyThom]

Speaking of Velvet Sky, the whole split from Angelina Love made no sense either. One day everything is peachy, the next day Angelina is a zombie. Now it finally is starting to look like they are explaining why it happened by making Winter a vampire or something. But my lord some of these storylines are stupid.

The Knockout division is like one big stupid storyline. I can understand having a women's division when you have that centerpiece star like a Sable, etc., but just having one when you have no star is just pointless to me. The sad thing is, I believe that when they break down TNA's ratings, the Knockout segments are generally the highest rated ones of the show.

At one point in time, the Knockouts division was the best thing in TNA. Gail Kim and Awesome Kong (WWE's Kharma) had an amazing feud. They still took a backseat to the WCW and WWE castoffs, but at least they were treated on an equal level as the X-Division.

 

[brettac1]

Watching the PPV from the other night. Austin Aries is pretty awesome.

[paul253]

I don't understand the whole AJ Styles-Robert Roode thing. Why make this big deal about having sudden death after the first ot if you're just going to end it 10 seconds later? I am getting very turned off by the story lines. I haven't gone back to WWE yet, but it's starting to tempt me. The random tag team deal is just about the stupidest thing I've ever seen in wrestling.

[brettac1]

They had to have Roode continue to bolster his heelness and to also go over clean on Styles. I really kind of like the premise - though I thought it was pretty awful to end a PPV with a non-finish. They need to siphon Roode off onto Storm now that both of them have been legitimized more. If Roode lost to Hardy... that would suck.

 

With the tag team thing, I dig it. WCW did a similar thing way back in the day (Battle Bowl, I believe). It's a way to get some guys that aren't involved in anything storyline-wise into some feuds. The tag team champs are just a random pairing, anyhow. Samoa Joe is who I am thinking of here.

 

I might be crazy, but I liked the Impact last night. It was better than that garbage that was Raw the other night. I think TNA has a chance to get on a roll if they build the Roode/Storm feud right.

[paul253]

With the tag team thing, I dig it. WCW did a similar thing way back in

the day (Battle Bowl, I believe). It's a way to get some guys that

aren't involved in anything storyline-wise into some feuds. The tag

team champs are just a random pairing, anyhow. Samoa Joe is who I am

thinking of here.

I like the idea of building up the tag team division, but I hate the WWE attitude of just throwing two singles wrestlers together and calling them a tag team. TNA still could put together some decent teams if they wanted but instead they are tearing them apart. The olden days of the WWF with actual tag teams like Demolition, The Hart Foundation, The Rockers, LOD, The British Bulldogs, etc, was perfect in my opinion. The tag team belts actually meant something because there was strong competition. Samoa Joe shouldn't be wasting away in the tag team division. Neither should Crimson. What's the point of building him up as undefeated only to stick him in the tag team ranks? TNA could put out four or five decent tag teams in the British Invasion, Mexican America, Ink Inc and the Motor City Machine Guns once Chris Sabin comes back. You could throw together a team from Immortal and maybe even a team from Fortune if they get a 4th guy. Two or three more tag teams and have a legitimate division where the same two teams aren't wrestling over and over again. But TNA just seems intent on letting all the teams, and Fortune, rot away into nothingness.