Could Gut Check Have Worked Better Than What it Was?

[Weems2k]

A lot of people bag on TNA during the Hogan Era, but one idea(maybe his) that I thought had a ton of potential was the Gut Check segments. I was surprised how much negative reaction there was on here about that too. I thought that's exactly what all the IWC marks wanted. A bunch of up and coming guys from the Indie's getting a shot at a Worldwide Promotion. And yes, say what you want, TNA is a global promotion.

Unfortunately, it didn't pan out as was prolly planned. A couple guys like Samuel Shaw, and Joey Ryan made a splash, but that's about it. The crowd at the ****** Zone didn't help much since they treated it like a dark match.

If done differently, could Gut Check been a goldmine for bringing in new stars, and talent to TNA? Or is a competition like this just doomed to fail in pro wrestling no matter what.

 

[Rvdrvd]

Much like most of TNAs ideas, I wasn't bad, just poorly executed. The three judges went on and on about nothing, and the arbitrary way in which they chose who won was just ridiculous.

Picking the loser of a match, based on imaginary guidelines, to be the "winner" undermines the whole process and kills the illusion of reality.

Even if it is "just wrasselin" it needs to be taken more seriously by the guys in the back if they expect fans to take it seriously enough to spend their money.

So yeah, I think it was a great idea that got TNAed.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I think it's one of those ideas that may have sounded really good on paper, but was crap in application due to some, in my opinion, bad decisions and overall poor execution.

When I think back over it, I get the notion of TNA going into it half assed. They frequently hyped the concept almost any chance they got, but they put a lot more emphasis in hyping it than they did on any of the wrestlers competing. For instance, whenever a wrestler was ultimately given the "yes" vote by the majority of the three judges, we usually didn't see or hear anything else out of them for months on end. By the time we would, it would usually be like "who the hell cares?"

I also think that if they were going with "judges", I think they could've picked some much better ones. Al Snow is a relative nobody in terms of star power who's peak years were as a mid-card comedy wrestler in ECW and WWF who carried around a mannequin head. Tazz hadn't been a wrestler in over a decade and the greatest years of his career ended in 1999. As far as Bruce Pritchard goes, as an on screen presence, he hadn't been relevant since Brother Love in the early 90s. If you want wrestlers or wrestling personalities to play the role of a judge in which they determine who they think has the potential to be a star, I wouldn't go with these three.

To me, the various Gut Check segments came off like a pro wrestling segment trying to present itself as the elimination segment of some reality show competition while trying to behave as if it's all 100% legit. Nobody really bought into them, no matter how much any of the Gut Check competitors stunk up the place. It didn't help that the fans would almost always want the judges to vote yes no matter what.

 

[ECPirate37]

I liked gut check in concept. I was really excited for it. As other commenters have said, my problem was the execution. Having losers get a contract while winners get nothing seemed counter intuitive. You JOB in your debut, and I'm supposed to be a fan? I understand that TNA did this because they were not letting the talent know beforehand if they would get a contract or not, and if only winners got contracts, then the loser may not give his best effort going in.

Although a separate beast, I LOVED open fight night. I think that if that kept going, it would allow TNA to throw guys into a storyline when needed and it would make sense. I only bring this up to say this...

I would have done GutCheck once every 3 months. I would have two gut check matches opening Impact. Then some open fight night bouts. That way it is a "themed" Impact.

The next week I would have had the two winners face off. In this scenario, even if the loser is picked, at least we saw them win a match the week prior. I would have fan voting open as soon as the match ended, and go for an hour. At the end, there would be two judges and the fans counting as the third vote.

What do you think?

 

[whoopin' ass]

My problem with it was that they did it in tv, then you hear about the live event versions, but after someone won, they disappeared. If someone wins a contract, I expect to start seeing them on tv and most just went to OVW and maybe appeared once or twice a few months later. The concept was good but I think it was just poorly handled. And like Fight Night, once a month was too often.

 

[Planet_Velvet]

I got selected for Gut Check in 2012 but couldn't make it because of a car accident I was in two weeks before the contest. Even still, Gut Check mostly was built on looks and promos. Four of the best guys in the state wrestled in a tag team opener on a show 30 minutes away from me and never heard from TNA again. I guess the effectivenesss of it would come from what those who participated in it sought to ultimately gain: long-term employment with TNA or a brief moment in the sun with a national wrestling power on a local level.. ..if that makes sense.