Do TNA fans ever wonder why they watch?

[PhoenixBuster]

I don't think this falls under complaining as I'm curious.

I'm traditionally a WWE guy and I seldom watch TNA. In fact, tonight's Impact is my first televised TNA following in months. Well, turning it on, the first thing I see is Abyss attacking a leg of what seemed to be a cow with his nailed table leg (which on a side note just seems like the most dangerous weapon you could have near fan in that setting. Even the barbed wire 2x4 wasn't explicitly threatening. But I disgress.). He then started to bite off little pieces and toss them around. Immediately after that, I saw a very clumsy backstage brawl between Sarita and Taylor Wilde. THEN there was a knockout's match between Taylor Wilde and Sarita and 10 seconds before Sarita won by knockout, a woman on screen behind her made a "What the fuck?" face.

So, the question I pose to you is, as a TNA fan, do any of you look at these segments and wonder (like the woman in the background) why you watch that garbage? TNA may have redeeming moments but in the 20 minutes I've been watching, I haven't seen one.

 

[JackBurton]

20 minutes......

Nuff said

Im not a TNA fan - Im wrestling fan. Anything with wrestling in the title I will most likely watch.

Tbh this thread is a troll thread, whether you meant it that way or not. Mark my words this will break down into a running battle between 'E marks and TNA marks.

Both shows insult my intelligence. They never get a penny from me as a result.

Let battle commence

 

[PhoenixBuster]

I attended Wrestlemania 23 because it was Wrestlemania near my home town. That is the last time I gave them money. I don't get to watch WWE all that often anymore either. I'm basing this on what I've personally seen and no, I didn't intend it as a troll.

I'm simply curious as to if the people who watch TNA have moments like I did tonight. In the four segments I watched to the point of posting this, I was questioning what people see in it. I didn't catch all of Kendrick's match but I liked the ending. I like Kendrick and I was sad to see him go from WWE. Sure, WWE gets me with those here and there but I don't think I've had a 4 segment strain over there in a long time.

 

[VencomHardcore]

I am watching the it and am disturbed by the non buildup of the sarita and wilde. But that is TNA . They stasrt a storyline then leave it for months and then come back to it like they never left.

To answer your question I started watching TNA to see Awesome Kong. I had been watching her videos online and wanted to see her. The Knockouts at the time were fresh, different and talented. I loved those matches but I do admit that I am having a problem defending it although the episodes are getting better.

As others have said, the Impact Zone hurts the product. Look at the crowd at Lockdown, it was great and felt like a real wrestling crowd but the WTF from the women was funny to me but that is the Impact Zone.

Why do I watch?

I watch hoping that somehow they would listen to the fans and give me the TNA I was getting when they had the X-Cup, Real Knockouts and X Division.

 

[Mr Kickass]

Both shows have there bad moments. But I would rather watch abyss eat raw meat than watch a dance off between Kozlov and Santino. I would also rather watch a sloppy match between 2 female athletes than a sloppy match between some random magazine models hired to wrestle. Like I said both shows have there "groan" moments.

 

[MB1025]

This wouldn't even be asked if TNA was around for 30 plus years. Why does anyone watch the WWE? Their TV isn't any better then what TNA does. Everything has been done before just in a different way. All WWE fans started holding on to their Nexus angle and then in 2 weeks time it lost all steam and no one cares about. You have a GM sending emails in to an announcer and imitating former WWE stars. WWE has gone back to the cartoon 80's look and TNA is trying to do some different. You have the face of the company using 3rd grade language and yet you ask how can anyone watch TNA. I will take spotty story lines and iffy writing over a company that contradicts itself and lies to its fans every chance it gets.

 

[The 1-2-3 Killam]

Like you said, you're not primarily a TNA fan and you haven't watched in a long time. I totally get that because I'm primarily a WWE fan and I stopped watching TNA for a long time, and it took me awhile to get back into it, because I saw a bunch of stupid segments that made it not worth watching. But then I realized that every single week the first entire hour of Monday Night Raw is total garbage. I mean, after comparing Raw and Impact for the last few months, I feel like there is the same amount of crap on both shows. But I actually feel like the overall wrestling is better in TNA. I still love watching WWE, and the Nexus thing is better than anything else going on on both shows, but...it wouldn't be right to stop watching Impact just because you didn't like the first 20 minutes of this week's show. If you can sit through Michael Cole and the guest hosts, and the Regal Bunch vs. the Santino bunch...you at least owe it to TNA to give them one whole episode of Impact before judging. From what I hear, it should be a pretty solid night, so sit back and see if things get better.

So, to answer your question the answer is...yes. TNA fans probably ask themselves why they are watching, but no more or less than WWE fans do.

 

[PhoenixBuster]

I want to state that I'm giving them a chance as I'm still watching and I give credit where it is due. I wouldn't cut down Chris Sabin for the misstep on the ladder.

In fact, I'm finding some things enjoyable. And as has been touched on several times thus far, the topic is to know if TNA fans have those moments where they wonder why they watch. I wonder why I watch WWE once in a while too but it has also become habitual over the YEARS. So, yes, TNA might not be getting this criticism from me if they'd been in my life for more than a decade. However, they haven't. So, as a WWE guy, I'm reaching out to the other program.

As I said in a previous post, I haven't been able to watch a full WWE program in a while either and in the results I read on WZ, I can skip what I'm not interested in. For the Santino/Kozlov thing, I've been hoping they'd stop with all of the comedy and try to make them into a legitimate (and I use the term lightly) team. Alternatively, Abyss just smashed a watermelon.

 

[simplyphenominal]

I've seen every episode of TNA, from their weekly PPV's to evry impact to every PPV and I find myself asking that question much more now than I used to.

Some of the writing and dropped story lines have driven me crazy lately, but the WWe has had bad programming over the years as well.

 

[VencomHardcore]

This wouldn't even be asked if TNA was around for 30 plus years. Why does anyone watch the WWE? Their TV isn't any better then what TNA does. Everything has been done before just in a different way. All WWE fans started holding on to their Nexus angle and then in 2 weeks time it lost all steam and no one cares about. You have a GM sending emails in to an announcer and imitating former WWE stars. WWE has gone back to the cartoon 80's look and TNA is trying to do some different. You have the face of the company using 3rd grade language and yet you ask how can anyone watch TNA. I will take spotty story lines and iffy writing over a company that contradicts itself and lies to its fans every chance it gets.

Where has WWE Gone Back to the Cartoon Days? The 80's were real cartoonish characters with no real life storylines. Back then it was wrestlers acting like gimmicks [ Tugboats, Clowns , Voodoo Priests ].

You don't see that at all. I have been watching WWE for over 20 years. Now WWE is injecting real life scenarios while at the same time keeping their market of family entertainment because they want to make a profit.

Its not about longevity that makes a product good. WWE knows how to write storylines and develop them. I prefer smackdown since that is the wrestling show and raw is the sports entertainment show. Unfortunately, TNA makes very basic mistakes I don't see indy federations doing and that is disturbing.

When I think TNA is on a great track, they change and go in opposite direction which makes it hard to watch and doesn't justify me paying for their ppvs.

 

[Thesage1989]

Like you said, you're not primarily a TNA fan and you haven't watched in a long time. I totally get that because I'm primarily a WWE fan and I stopped watching TNA for a long time, and it took me awhile to get back into it, because I saw a bunch of stupid segments that made it not worth watching. But then I realized that every single week the first entire hour of Monday Night Raw is total garbage. I mean, after comparing Raw and Impact for the last few months, I feel like there is the same amount of crap on both shows. But I actually feel like the overall wrestling is better in TNA. I still love watching WWE, and the Nexus thing is better than anything else going on on both shows, but...it wouldn't be right to stop watching Impact just because you didn't like the first 20 minutes of this week's show. If you can sit through Michael Cole and the guest hosts, and the Regal Bunch vs. the Santino bunch...you at least owe it to TNA to give them one whole episode of Impact before judging. From what I hear, it should be a pretty solid night, so sit back and see if things get better.

So, to answer your question the answer is...yes. TNA fans probably ask themselves why they are watching, but no more or less than WWE fans do.

Yea i do as a WWE fan ask my self why the hell are these guys dancing why the hell am i watching raw but then i remember there is a much bigger picture and business talks before the fans do and of course the WWE always redeems itself when Smackdown comes around Fridays and then i see what i really want o see and that is nice storylines and great wrestling

 

[The 1-2-3 Killam]

Yea i do as a WWE fan ask my self why the hell are these guys dancing why the hell am i watching raw but then i remember there is a much bigger picture and business talks before the fans do and of course the WWE always redeems itself when Smackdown comes around Fridays and then i see what i really want o see and that is nice storylines and great wrestling

Yeah, if only they could combine the Nexus feud with weekly Smackdown programming and give us one solid show...

 

[It's Damn Real!]

I don't think this falls under complaining as I'm curious.

I'm traditionally a WWE guy and I seldom watch TNA. In fact, tonight's Impact is my first televised TNA following in months. Well, turning it on, the first thing I see is Abyss attacking a leg of what seemed to be a cow with his nailed table leg (which on a side note just seems like the most dangerous weapon you could have near fan in that setting. Even the barbed wire 2x4 wasn't explicitly threatening. But I disgress.). He then started to bite off little pieces and toss them around. Immediately after that, I saw a very clumsy backstage brawl between Sarita and Taylor Wilde. THEN there was a knockout's match between Taylor Wilde and Sarita and 10 seconds before Sarita won by knockout, a woman on screen behind her made a "What the fuck?" face.

So, the question I pose to you is, as a TNA fan, do any of you look at these segments and wonder (like the woman in the background) why you watch that garbage? TNA may have redeeming moments but in the 20 minutes I've been watching, I haven't seen one.

So go back to watching the WWE's color-by-numbers booking and enjoy your Brady Bunch segments, man – I dunno what to tell you. WWE fans like you are so fucking annoying, because you bitch about watching a program you don't actually consistently keep up with when you watch every six weeks and are confused as to why things are happening. Gee, I wonder why – maybe because you haven't even been watching the god damn show?

I wonder, do you ever watch all those card-carrying members of the Dial-tone Personality Club in the WWE in various segments each week and think to yourself, "My god, what happened to the WWE? Is this the same company that housed Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Razor Ramon, Stone Cold Steve Austin and Triple H? Seriously?"

Maybe you could find a redeeming quality if we got TNA to have an anonymous GM take over and annoy the fuck out of the audience with incessant iPhone text-messages every time the GM wants to convey a message, yeah?

 

[PhoenixBuster]

With all due respect, IDR, I think you are over looking what the objective was of my original post and what my follow up posts have said.

I've seen redeeming qualities as I've kept watching the whole program. There are things I like. I enjoyed the MCMG in the Ladder match. I liked watching Anderson make the save for Dinero. In the first 20 minutes however I looked at the screen and wondered "Do other people look at these segments and go WTF?" I don't vouch for the dance offs of the WWE and never said I was confused about what was going on. I read results on WZ and that is able to be skimmed, unlike the actual program. I didn't complain, nor have I called WWE faultless. Tonight's cliffhanger ending is intriguing. The point wasn't cutting TNA down, it was wondering if I was the only one who reacted as I did.

 

[It's Damn Real!]

With all due respect, IDR, I think you are over looking what the objective was of my original post and what my follow up posts have said.

I've seen redeeming qualities as I've kept watching the whole program. There are things I like. I enjoyed the MCMG in the Ladder match. I liked watching Anderson make the save for Dinero. In the first 20 minutes however I looked at the screen and wondered "Do other people look at these segments and go WTF?" I don't vouch for the dance offs of the WWE and never said I was confused about what was going on. I read results on WZ and that is able to be skimmed, unlike the actual program. I didn't complain, nor have I called WWE faultless. Tonight's cliffhanger ending is intriguing. The point wasn't cutting TNA down, it was wondering if I was the only one who reacted as I did.

Well you'll have to forgive me then, because it came off like that.

But to answer your question, yes, TNA fans watch TNA from time-to-time, see a segment they don't like and wonder what the fuck they just watched, but the same goes for professional wrestling in general. This isn't an issue exclusive to TNA at all. The WWE fucks up on a weekly basis, usually more than once seeing as they have four programs.

 

[Kenny Powers]

Sometimes I question in of both programs, but recently TNA has been doing a decent enough job on Impact to show good matches and programs like the ECW invasion. I have scratched my head about Abyss beating meat in the middle of the ring or Wolfe jobbing every week, but overall it isn't disturbing enough to make me tune out when you have a classic tag team ladder match like Motor City Machine Guns vs. Beer Money.

After watching that I know that Doink the Clown or Florence Henderson won't pop up on the next segment and ruin the show, which is comforting to me. There have been moments in TNA that are head scratching as in what the hell did I just see and why did they show that? I. E Orlando Jordan. I don't think I have seen anything as bad as Ted Dibiase buying a fake eye from a fan on Raw, or Dennis Miller bombing political jokes on a 3 hour wrestling show. Not the whole show of WWE is bad and neither is TNA.

I guess you just have to watch more then 20 minutes of a show to really pick whats good and bad about it.

 

[King Blitzkonic]

OK everyone let's sit back and chillax. I'm not big on either WWE or TNA these days but I watch Raw, SD!, and Impact most weeks and run a comparison of the three. I'm fully aware Raw and SD! are both WWE but two brands= two booking/writing staffs thus two different comparisons.

Smackdown is the closest to quality as far as these 3 comparison items are concerned. There are mostly good matches, the promos (apart from Big Show!) are usually at the right amount of seriousness/humor for the situation without adding childishness and insulting the intelligence of the fans, and there aren't too terribly many underutilized talents. Rather boring at times to the "casual" fan

Impact: For the most part I'm pleased with the improvement since it crapped down in January. I thought the exit of the 6-sided ring would hurt the talents but it really hasn't except in the 6+ wrestler challenges. The big thing I love besides Kurt Angle's old-school climb up the ranks is the evolution of the X-division into more of a "no limits" than before with the addition of Generation Me's above-average speed/great teamwork and Douglas Williams coming into his own with technique. The booking leaves a lot to be desired though. Change the booking staff and I'm sure TNA will rise.

Raw: Once again, look at all these great talents being wasted! The comedy skits are putting people on the show but the guys involved look absolutely stupid. The booking is simply awful. I'm not entertained one bit. Forgive me, I prefer to see the story told in the ring. This is where the bulk of the intelligence-insulting angles are spewed for our viewing DISpleasure. If Raw doesn't tighten up soon we may be losing a lot of fans on Monday night. Raw's saving grace right now is the Nexus angle and the load of young "raw" talent to get things done in the ring.

 

[RiVaLGaMeR]

Dont watch TNA anymore i stopped. I only watched it because i was like cool another wrestling organization then all the sudden all the EX WWE guys come in and the little guys are getting stepped over. When Hogan and Bischoff got to TNA i said no more this is going to suck. Nothing but copycatting WWEs copycatting but also nothing new and exciting. I think guys like Desmond wolf and Anderson are jokes and shouldnt be pushed so much.

 

[cnmasaki]

Since this seems to be a discussion of the current TNA product, I thought I'd chime in about my thoughts of the latest Impact. And ultimately, I was reminded of all that is good and all that is bad about TNA wrapped up in one show.

Good: Violent wrestling. The pacing is still slower than it is in other places, but the wrestling actually has some, well, impact. WWE is nice and safe, the moves are crisp and precise, but the true VIOLENCE of wrestling is rare there. You don't need blood and chairs and such to have the violence, just the visceral hits.

Bad: Lousy booking. A triple threat match, a ladder match, and a street fight on TV? Jay Lethal losing to Jeff Hardy clean just after Lethal beat THE MAN Ric Flair? Samoa Joe getting his ass whooped the entirety of the Triple Threat match just to win it out of nowhere? Blech.

Good: Young Talent. It's clear that Anderson, Pope, Lethal, Kendrick, MCMG, and Beer Money could be the future of wrestling if given a good machine to back them up.

Bad: Old Talent. It'd be one thing if Nash and Jarrett, the old ECW guys, etc. were putting over new talent, but Nash and Jarrett are apparently putting over each other, and ECW is putting over a brand that has been basically dead for 10 years. And the fact that Raven and Dreamer are coexisting on this ECW team makes me think that Bischoff never watched a single moment of their historic rivalry.

Good: Tag Team division and Knockouts division. That match between Wilde and whatshername was better than most of the men's matches on WWE right now. And MCMG vs. Beer Money reminds me so much of Midnight Express vs. Oriental Express that I want to do a little happy dance.

Bad: DIXIE CARTER. Get her off of television. Right now.

More Bad: Fat wrestlers. There's thick wrestlers, like Umaga or Samoa Joe six years ago, or Kane, or Abyss three years ago. And then there's fatties, like current Samoa Joe, current Abyss, current Raven, current Bubba Ray, etc.. And, if I may point out, apparently not doing cocaine anymore has caused Jeff Hardy to put on a few pounds. He's still in better shape than me, but the dude has put on a gut faster than Spike TV can say "why the fuck are we showing this crap when we could fill two more hours with UFC?"

I continue to try and watch TNA because, as someone else wrote previously, I want to like wrestling, I try to watch anything with wrestling in the title, and with TNA especially there's a lot more action and a lot less talk than RAW (I'm unable to watch Smackdown consistently which makes me sad).

And it's got SO MUCH POTENTIAL. The young stars are awesome, the tag division has been the best for years, the Knockouts are attractive AND believably violent, and the action hasn't been diluted down for 8 year olds whose parents are this close to censoring FOX because it has the Simpsons showing on it.

But being a wrestling fan has been frustrating for as long as there has been wrestling. The product has never been perfect enough for mainstream consumption, and so being a wrestling fan has always been a closeted experience. "Coming out" as a wrestling fan will inevitably get you the strange look and the "why do you watch that crap?" question that makes you defend muscular dudes in tights pretending to fight each other.

 

[olando76]

The side of beef thing was to show what Janice could do to a person DUH! I liked him eating the raw meat because it shows that he has gone off the deep end AGAIN. I watch both shows and besides when Nexus destroyed Cenanough Raw has been flat ever since. I do like the Nexus angle, but if they're just there to be taken out one by one by Cenanough to make him look like he's a superhero AGAIN what's the f'n point? TNA has its flaws like who kidnapped Joe months ago, but if you want to see a good wrestling show IN MY OPINION TNA is what you should be watching. If you don't like TNA go one step further and go to ROH if you can handle the stiff style. If that's not stiff enough for you go to CZW if that is not violent enough for you go find some Japanese hardcore matches. I've watched all the styles mentioned and I like them all this thread will not prove anything TNA marks will side with TNA WWE marks will side with WWE. I will say this what is going on right now in the wrestling biz is a spark that could turn into a fire, but with WWE's PG rating and the inconsistent writing of TNA Jay Lethal losing to Jeff Hardy after Jay beat the greatest wrestler ever Ric flair it will smolder out before anything happens,

 

[biziorek]

i watch tna because i enjoy watching wrestling that doesn't remind me of sesame street! what id like to know is do wwe fans over the age of 5 ever wonder why they watch? maybe its just me though! maybe pple like kids shows these days!

 

[Toxs]

First off, I don't see how the WWE putting out bad shows/segments gives TNA the excuse to do just as bad if not worse.

Back to the question.
The last segment (or second to last) on TNA looked like it was going to be great. They had Flair, Aj, Wolfe & Kaz in the ring and then Wolfe flipped out on Flair only to be interrupted by Abyss who scared everyone away. That made me change the channel so yea, I do wonder why I watch TNA sometimes.

 

[onemanshow12]

TNA at least trys to put on a good show every week and for the most part i find it pretty entertaing. I thought the ending to impact was the best ending to a wrestling show in quite some time. I tried and get into WWE as i do watch every week i just hate when i hear the crowd chanting and it sounds like im listing to a daycare center because all i hear are kids. I also cant stand how the WWE pushes people who have no wrestling abilty whatsoever. I mean Cena takes quite a bashing but come on a high school wrestler could put on a better matxch than he does. While people who actully have ability (ex santino, koslov) are thrown into comedy crap

 

[Schizophrenic]

Once again people ask questions without 1) watching the entire show and 2) having watched the show in weeks. That is a big pet peeve of mine and will irritate me more than anything. Why would you complain about something when you have no idea why it's happening and the backstory?

Does TNA do things make me myself and other TNA fans go "WTF?!" Yeah of course. But so does everyone else yet you don't read countless moronic threads about why WWE is doing this or why ROH has this odd feud. I guess bashing TNA is the cool thing to do right now. Even back in the attitude days both WCW and WWE did things that made people scratch their heads. Not EVERY little thing can be solid gold in wrestling and even if it was I'm sure someone somewhere would find something to bitch about. By the way why has Abyss become the new John Cena? Everyone seems to be bashing on him. They want him to go heel, so he does and they STILL bitch and moan? I just don't get people sometimes.

 

[The Bad Guy]

IDR,

You need to get off TNA's d*ck my man. I've been trying to give the show a chance since Hogan and Bischoff joined back in January, but it just isn't any good. The booking is an absolute disaster. There are no consistent storylines. I can't even come up with an adjective to describe the PPV's. I mean it just isn't any good.

Take tonight for example. I read the spoiler on this site earlier in the week about the ending with all of the old ECW guys and it sounded awesome. So, I made a point to watch it tonight. What did I get? Some of the laziest, most chaotic, poorly edited wrestling I have ever seen in my life. If you can honestly tell me what was going on for those 5 minutes, I would greatly appreciate it. And to make matters worse, Mike Tenay was rambling like an idiot in the background which made things even more difficult to comprehend. Then, to cap it off, I get Dixie Carter saying whatever the hell she said. Do you think Vince McMahon, Eric Bischoff (circa 1990's), or Paul Heyman would have made some pathetic plea like that to end a show? I sure don't. The whole thing was pathetic and truly laughable.

I will agree there are some nice talents in TNA. We all know about Kurt Angle and RVD being there because of the lighter schedule. MCMG and Beer Money are the two best tag teams in the game today. A.J. Styles is good too, although he leaves A LOT to be desired when it comes to charisma and mic skills. But that's really about it. Mr. Anderson is good, but he has no choice but to work for TNA right now. Jeff Hardy is getting more and more out of shape with each taping of Impact. And then you have guys like The Pope, Brian Kendrick, etc. who would be in WWE if they were any good because they came from WWE. It's that simple.

And believe me, WWE has it's flaws too. I'm not exactly a huge fan of the PG stuff, but to compare TNA to WWE right now is like comparing the Pittsburgh Pirates to the New York Yankees. You just can't do it. And I'm not just saying that because TNA is the smaller of the two programs. I loved ECW back in the 90's. That was some of the best stuff that has ever taken place in professional wrestling. But TNA is not ECW right now, not even close.