(Disclaimer: This isn’t a review of their first show on Destination America. I did watch it and my opinions that are expressed throughout this article aren’t just based on that episode)
(Disclaimer 2.0: This will have swearing and ‘curse’ words if you’re american)
(Disclaimer 3.0: The actual wrestling matches in TNA are NOT the problem, the next article will be highlighting all the problems.)
So, if you follow me, which I guess you will do on Twitter because I don’t fully know how else you’d find this article. Maybe someone can tell me if there’s a way to get your blog more out there? Tweet me or something. ANYWAY, I’m writing this on Saturday the 17th January and last night I had a rant about TNA and just thought I’d summarise in this article what I think the main problems are. Mostly, I’ll be talking about why I think that they won’t ever reach any height that’s even has the majority of people saying “well the production isn’t as good but the talent and product is overall better than WWE” like how I felt from 2005-2008ish when I stopped watching wrestling. First off, I’m not a ‘TNA hater’ either, I’m just not going to sit and waste 2 hours of my Sunday (I live in the UK) every week to watch a wrestling show that is mediocre on it’s good weeks. I’m just gonna go ahead now and say that this isn’t going to be the typical, constructive criticism of TNA because what’s the point and I truly don’t think that they’ll ever grow enough for anyone to take them seriously and bring back the legitimacy that was established in the 00’s.
First I’ll address the talent. In TNA, you do have some really high quality talent, Kurt Angle who is arguably one of the most well rounded guys ever in terms of in-ring work and how good he is on the mic. However, and I’ll talk more about this later, they’ve diminished his star quality and they similarly do that to all of the stars that go into the company. They have Bobby Roode who sure as hell deserves a lot more than being in that company but he didn’t jump ship when he should have so unfortunately for him he’s going to have to sleep in the bed that he made. EC3 who I think is brilliant on the mic, his response to the ‘you can’t wrestle’ chants is pure gold and simple and he’s pretty good on the mic. I don’t see any reason why WWE let this guy go because he’s the bright spark in a very VERY dull and monotonous show. I noted on Twitter last night that my top 5 of TNA guys is only a top 3, sure, you’ve got other talent like Samoa Joe and Low Ki and Austin Aries who I think are really good but, particularly Joe and AA, I think are one of the more overrated wrestlers around nowadays.
Aesthetically, TNA sitting behind WWE is perfectly acceptable due to the polarising budget of both companies. HOWEVER, for TNA to play fourth on production when listing all of the American wrestling companies is kind of embarrassing when in my mind they were the best company 10 years ago. Lucha Underground and Ring of Honor’s production of their shows both top TNA and that isn’t the only thing that appear to overshine TNA on. To be fair, I don’t think this is a major problem but still shows the level that they’re working at.
To me, the first major problem of TNA was the ridiculous end to the Aces and Eights storyline in which we find out that Bully Ray - the guy who has been beaten on for MONTHS, literally each week for months - turns out to be the leader of the group. What a load of shit. As a wrestling fan, I think that’s genuinely offensive to the fans that have sat and watched this faction build and grow. It was obviously done for the shock value but guess what? IT MADE NO FUCKING SENSE, there was never any teases before it happened so it was just idiotic and this is the basis of a lot of their face and heel turns which we’ll get too next. What an absolute joke of a storyline. It would have totally made sense if Bully wasn’t the target of attack after attack in the months leading up the turn. This nonsensical booking is probably the main reason that TNA have struggled.
Further, the random turning of the talent from babyface to heel to babyface and back again makes everyone on the roster comparable to the Big Show. The most notable might be the attempt to turn Jeff Hardy and make him into “Willow”. Why let a guy who is your top babyface, who all of the girls find attractive, put a mask on? It makes zero sense. The constant turns produce 2 major problems very quickly. Problem A) why would anyone, as a fan, get invested in a character when they know that they are probably going to turn heel the week after, similarly, why would you spend your time wanting to see a heel get there ass kicked when you know that they’re going to turn face soon. And, problem B) It majorly complexes and convolutes the roster. I watched the first episode of TNA last week and I didn’t have a reason to give a shit about when Joe, Low Ki and Eric Young turned on Roode at the end. Moreover, turning Young as well was the most overbooked thing I’ve seen in a while in wrestling. You’ve just had Low Ki and Joe come out to surprise the audience by their turn (it didn’t make sense either but that’s the norm for TNA now) and we have no time to care before Young comes in and turns as well. There was no buildup to it, it was just establishing a more dominant heel faction which TNA has always had. If Dixie Carter seriously wants to be an alternative to WWE, WHY ARE YOU USING THE WWE TACTICS OF HEEL AUTHORITY FIGURES STILL? It’s a simple question and one which you’d think would have reason. It’s boring for WWE now also so why base your company around that. They’ve rehashed it for years, Dixie Land, Aces and Eights, Main Event Mafia, Main Event Mafia 2.0, the list goes on and on. The constant Face/Heel turns that are supposed to shock us are the least shocking thing about the show because it’s expected.
Another problem I have with TNA is that they don’t create their own stars. EC3 is a bright spark of TNA and an exception. They spent months building Magnus to take the reigns and run the company and be the main guy but now he wasn’t even on TV last week from what I remember, and if he was THAT PROVES MY POINT EVEN MORE. The downfall for my personal viewing really started to decline quickly when they didn’t resign AJ Styles. AJ since it’s inception WAS TNA and they tried to reduce his contract, and I’m glad they did because now he’s rejuvenated and killing it in NJPW and has hit his peak in terms of wrestling quality. Now, don’t tell me that that’s a coincidence because it blatantly isn’t. Another ridiculous decision was to release Kaz and Daniels, yes they were getting old but they were the heart of TNA and they were one of the most interesting things on TV. And again, the release of Bully Ray who was there top heel. I’m not saying that these guys didn’t want to leave, but for AJ and Bully to be at the top of the company when they left and still want to leave shows how badly that place is run. AJ Styles is legit in the top 10 wrestlers in the world and they let him walk, I saw that they tried to hire him back a few months ago and it’s just like why would he? He’ll be making more money in NJPW, wrestling in front of more people and having a blast. And instead of trying to go to the indies and find some of the really good younger guys to spearhead the company like Adam Cole, or Roderick Strong, or Kenny Omega, or even go for a guy who isn’t as popular on the indies who could really bring something to the company like Trevor Lee. There is enough talent out there to find a guy to get behind but they don’t get behind characters.
That’s not to say they haven’t brought in some good talent because MVP was a steal, and although I’m not keen on the guy, Bobby Lashley looks like a legit big guy to push as a monster. But, Bobby Lashley can’t cut a promo and there’s a reason that he never got to the top at WWE. He’s good in the role he’s playing on TV currently (although he’s turning soon, if that spoilt anything you don’t know wrestling or TNA). But, for every MVP, there’s signing Brodus Clay in a deal that I can only imagine is paying him way more than he’s worth. No disrespect to Brodus, but the guy doesn’t draw, no WWE fans or casual fans are going to start watching TNA because they’ve got Brodus Clay on TV and he’s not good to impact the main roster properly for the money he’ll be getting paid. Get Del Rio, he might not draw THAT much but he’s recognisable and he can sure as hell main event in the company without looking like a total joke. It speaks volumes when Del Rio jumps at ROH and Lucha but is still negotiating with TNA. Brodus Clay signing really does show that their mindset is to just sign any WWE talent. A lot of the TNA lovers out there always go for the argument of “well WWE gets ROH stars” and it’s like YES BECAUSE THEY BRING IN THE TALENTED GUYS WHO ARE OVER WITH THE FANS. Jesus, it’s not hard to see that the base of TNA’s roster revolves around guys who’ve been in WWE, whether they were in developmental or not, they’ve been there. That’s not necessarily a bad thing with people like EC3 who you can build up yourself and create your original character, but nobody who tunes in to TNA and sees Brodus Clay is straight away going to think of him dancing around with Tensei on Superstars. It’s just a ridiculous mindset. Moreover, it definitely shows that TNA are the anything BUT an alternative to WWE.
All of this stuff combines to create what is now the ‘stigma’ or TNA. Otherwise known as that the product, for the most part is total shit. The wrestling is solid and very good for the most part but because of all the poor booking decisions and the reliance on former WWE talent, it’s ridiculous. A lot of TNA fans again blame the internet stigma that surrounds TNA to be the reason why it isn’t bigger but it’s not, because the stigma only comes from how poor the wrestling company is. Do you want a WWE alternative? Watch Lucha Underground. I spend 3 hours a week at least watching WWE TV and that is as hit and miss as it can be but I don’t want to donate another 2 hours of my week on a wrestling show where at the end of it I just think “that was a waste of time”. There’s many times on Twitter that someone will tweet about missing TNA or possibly not watching it and I’ll make a joke like “why does it matter” and they don’t defend it and tell me they really like it, the response is more of a “good point actually”. I do want TNA to do well and I’d love for it to be able to compete with WWE in terms of quality but when WWE isn’t in a great place and TNA is still not coming close to them, its hard to devote time to the product and I honestly am not surprised that the ratings continue to drop because after watching an episode I have no interest in watching the next one at all. Carl out.
@curbstxmp - Twitter.
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