General TNA Booking Discussion

[NSL]

So in tonight's Impact LD, as well as just about every other one since AJ has become champ, discussion has raged about his booking, and whether or not he is a credible champ. I've seen him compared to CM Punk and Jeff Hardy, while also seeing that his booking is fine.

I happen to think it's great. Gelgarin won't say it himself here, so I;ll say it. He's facing off against the world right now. His best friend is turning on him, his rival for the last few years is hunting him down, he's being attacked every week by a mystery guy, and he still has that near-loss looming against Angle.

I think he'll retain Sunday, and look stronger than ever, having beaten insurmountable odds to keep his gold. What do you think? Is AJ Styles a credible champ, or is he weak, and being made to look like a chump, more than a champ?

Remember, support your posts with reasoning, or it will be counted as spam...


This thread is not for discussion on Hogan and/or Bischoff. There's a place for that.

 

[X]

How can someone not say AJ's booking has been good? The man pinned Sting clean at Bound For Glory, TNA's premiere event. That is literally the highest honor they could have given to him, who else in TNA would have been a bigger name for AJ to go over that he hasn't already gone over a thousand times before? AJ's booking has been a highlight of my wrestling week, though I do agree that the main event feuds he participates in do need more airtime. I don't want to be seeing Beer Money with ten minutes left in Impact, I want to see AJ Styles and the other main eventers dominate that last portion of the show, just as the WWE does. That's about the only cue they could take from Vinnie Mac these days.

It could not be more obvious that AJ is going to go over Joe and Daniels this Sunday, that's pretty much the sole purpose of the match, because unfortunately both Joe and Daniels can not really be considered main eventers in TNA. Upper midcarders maybe. Hopefully that changes after this, but as of now AJ's booking has been great. I mean, again, he went over Sting clean at Bound For Glory. I literally can not think of a single bigger victory TNA could have given to him.

 

[JJYanks121]

Yes, going over the Stinger is a nice rub to get, but the problem with his booking as well as everyone else's is......who is actually a main eventer? Other than Kurt Angle, I'm not sure who in TNA you would consider the main event scene. Hell, just weeks ago, Samoa Joe was a X division guy getting beat by Lashley and Daniels was doing X division stuff too. I think that's the toughest thing is that very little in TNA makes sense. Guys just from midcard to main eventing and back again so quick you don't know what victories mean anything. Add to that face and heel turns that happen all to often and you have a giant clusterfuck of 2 hours of television each week. I try watching and just sit there utterly confused.

I'm not going to tell you AJ's booking is horrible, it just follows a bigger trend. How can he look like a strong champion short of beating the golden boy Angle? There is no other way I don't think and until TNA defines the roles of their performers a little better, I think you'll get a number of complaints.

 

[BetterThenU!!!]

Personaly i have loved the way aj has been booked kinda feels like its been a work in progress for some time now i mean having sting beat jeff jarret kurt angle aggives it to him he then beats sting clean and just survives angle and as said previously he is facing all the odds this sunday will probably take on his mystery attacker the take on angle to see if he can beat him one on one for the title aj is tnas golden boy he's being booked to have great matches and earn that title what more do we wan from a champion?

 

[BigAdz]

Yes, going over the Stinger is a nice rub to get, but the problem with his booking as well as everyone else's is......who is actually a main eventer? Other than Kurt Angle, I'm not sure who in TNA you would consider the main event scene. Hell, just weeks ago, Samoa Joe was a X division guy getting beat by Lashley and Daniels was doing X division stuff too. I think that's the toughest thing is that very little in TNA makes sense. Guys just from midcard to main eventing and back again so quick you don't know what victories mean anything. Add to that face and heel turns that happen all to often and you have a giant clusterfuck of 2 hours of television each week. I try watching and just sit there utterly confused.

Agreed totally with this, TNA's losing me completely for this. Granted, most of their actual matches are of semi-decent quality but we're not watching just for the athleticism, we're watching for the drama and excitement of it. TNA's changing it's angles more often than the wrestlers change underwear is getting too tedious to bother. But I digress.


AJ of late (granted, I haven't watched the past 2 weeks) has just seemed weaker than weak. Fair enough, they're doing the whole "insurmountable odds" angle blah blah blah....BORING! How often does this angle have to be done with a relatively undersized champion? And it just doesn't suit AJ who's proved his resolve so many times in TNA and ROH history, what's the point?
AJ's a champion, book him like one!

 

[PEP3]

Can't agree more with the postings which state that it's hard to determine who is/isn't "main event" status wrestlers in TNA. To be honest, when the company announced that Daniels and Joe were going to face Styles for the belt at Turning Point, it left me scratching my head. It really was only weeks ago that both were not only involved in the X Division scene, they were also struggling there. Then, out of the clear blue, they were facing the World Champion at the next PPV.

Following on the heels of Styles going over Sting clean, it's a let-down. I think they should have kept Angle in the hunt for at least another PPV, perhaps allowing Desmond Wolfe to target Angle after he lost an incredible back-and-forth rematch with Styles. With Wolfe/Angle taking the Olympic Gold Medalist out of the title scene, then maybe Daniels/Joe could have been eased into the scene.

Not only would it have given Styles an extra month to build momentum as champ, a clean win over Angle at a PPV would have solidified his status as champ. Then whomever faced him next would have gotten the rub of going toe-to-toe with a guy that beat Sting and Angle, TNA's best, back-to-back.

As it stands, Styles' booking isn't awful, but it's also not as strong as it could be. Once he goes over Daniels/Joe, he'll obviously be facing the secret attacker. I just hope it's someone with a decent/substantial resume and main event name recoginition, to give the champ a legit challenge. Otherwise, Styles is going to wind up looking like a promising mid-card champ instead of TNA's best & brightest.

 

[TellMeWhy]

I don't think there is anything wrong with Styles victory. I think there's a problem with the way TNA is presenting him. For one, TNA hasn't played up AJ's victory over Sting. They kind of just quickly ran over it, Second, he hasn't gotten too much promo time in the Impact Zone, and 3, they seem to be booking his character as this crybaby-temper tantrum type of character. Those are the only negatives but inringwise, people can't say that he's being booked weak because he's not.

 

[drondog]

The secret attacker is going to take him out the PPV, you know when the ref gets knocked out cold, and the big guy runs in and helps his buddy win the title. If you can't see that screw job finish coming, you should watch the Vince Russo story from WCW 10 years ago. AJ has been booked weak, and lost to Joe last night, he'll lose the belt Sunday because of his mystery attacker!

 

[NSL]

Why does TNA need to divide their roster into "main event", "mid-card", and "everyone else"? WWE has done that since the Attitude Era, and we're stuck with Cena v. Orton v. HHH, or some combination of that, for the better part of 2 years.

TNA is different. They have AJ, Sting, Angle, Hernandez, Morgan, Joe, Nash, Foley, and others that can all be in a main event, and no one would complain. They can also work a mid-card feud, and no one's pissed they're not in a title match. It gives TNA flexibility.

To me, there's no need to say "These guys are our main eventers", and leave it at that. TNA's feuds are what determines what is main event, and what isn't. Foley is a main event talent, but he's feuding with Stevie. Do you buy Stevie as a main eventer? No. So, Foley gets away from the spotlight, works a decent angle, and everyone is happy.

 

[NSL]

I need to know what TNA Creative has planned for Morgan and Hernandez. It's been months since Hernandez has pulled off a win on PPV, and I can't remember the last Morgan win. They always "look" strong, but how many times can they win, before we start to wonder how real they are?

Morgan is a future champion, but they're flushing it down the tubes. He's huge, and is quite the athlete, and they keep putting everyone else over him. Same with SuperMex. He's looked amazing, week in and week out, but they can't seem to pull the trigger on his push.

 

[johnbragg]

Well, I think that Morgan, Hernandez and Dinero will beat 3D and Rhino at Final Resolution. Does that help?

Morgan hasn't had a win on PPV lately, true. He was busy losing to Kurt Angle, which made him look better than beating anyone on the roster except for Styles would. Before that, he was involved in multi-man title clusterfucks with Angle and Sting and then with Angle, Sting and Styles. Right before that, on Impact he won a best-of-three series with Styles, which actually looks better now than it did then--he won a best of three series recently against the World Champion.

I forget what he did before that, because I really wasn't paying attention to TNA before the Jarrett-Angle blowup and the Russo youth movement. It's more than 90 days ago, so it's not as relevant as being in three of the last four main or semi-main events.

Wait, what did Morgan do at Turning Point?

Oh, crap, his team lost to Rhino's Roughnecks.

Hmmm. Yeah, it's time for Supermex and the Blueprint to get a big win.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

So, Amazing Red went up in a match against Scott Steiner on Impact tonight and was tossed around and dominated throughout most of the match. During the match, Steiner looked as if he could have pinned Red at will and, to make matters worse, Taz was saying as much while commentating during the match. On the outside of the ring, Don West was running around pissing, moaning and whining about Red even being in the match with Steiner in the first place.

Looking back over the X-Division title situation this year, I can't help but see that the title is at the weakest its ever been. Alex Shelly, Homicide, Samoa Joe and currently Amazing Red have had lousy runs with the th championship and, when it's all been said and done, have looked pretty weak overall as champs. Suicide had a fairly lengthy reign with the title, but I hear more complaints about him on WZ than just about anybody else on the TNA roster.

So, is it just me or is the X-Division overall just a shadow of what it once was?

 

[NSL]

It's definitely not held in the same light that it once was, but it's not far from getting back there. I had said in another thread, that the X Division is seriously lacking competitive heels. So, when Red is out of guys to face, he's going to face larger guys who wil chew him up, and spit him out.

If they stick to booking within the 6 or 7 guys that are already there, they can bring the belt back to "main event" level in no time.

 

[johnbragg]

Y'know, if TNA wanted to, they could fix most of last night's damage with Red challenging Steiner to a ladder match at the next PPV. That would also sort of draw a line on why Red is an X-Division champion while he's hopeless as a heavyweight. In a ladder match, Red would be able to use his athleticism and the ladder to destroy Steiner. After all, Steiner is a solid heavyweight midcarder, but he'd be killed in the X-Division.

I think an occassional heavyweight vs X division match and rematch is a good idea to help establish regularly what the X division is and why some guys can go fro the X-Division to World title contention and some guys can't.

Of course, that would mean that the TNA writers have to know what they think the X division is.

 

[drondog]

Did anyone watch impact last night. I know its a work but come on. You got an eyepatch around foley's left eye, but not one single hair is burned. Not one from his head, not even an eyelash, not even a beard hair? How dumb does TNA take people for, I mean if your going to waste out time making us watch a fireball and then plug it for 10 minutes and three segments with Foley complaining about his eys, at least make him lose some hair!

I'd love to see the steroid test on Jesse Neal to, come on 2 months ago this guy was a tub of lard and damn close to 300 pounds?

What is that crap with Sting, Why false promote, if Sting is gonna talk SHOW it! Don't hype it up for 2 hours, and then show nothing but outside a house that isn't even his. It's smart to keep people watching, but when you no show, and keep doing it, I'm not gonna wanna watch anymore.

 

[Pedro08]

Has anyone noticed that other than the Kong/Tera feud which has now led to Tera challenging ODB for the Knockouts Title, there is really nothing else going on in the Knockouts division?

The Beautiful People have lost 3 straight PPVs to Sarita/Wilde and have looked nothing but weak since Angelina Love left. But besides that, creative hasn't bothered to put together a new tag team to be the next challengers. It's gotten so bad that they have resorted to having the tag champs wrestle as singles on this past Impact.

They have also dropped the ball on the Hamada/Flash feud after a strong start and 1 match. What had potential to be a strong program between the two has been forgotten and Alissa Flash is now feuding with Traci Brooks because she took advantage of Brooks' history of Erb's Palsy.

Also, how could they not booked something for ODB after the 3-way battle with Kong and Tera at Bound For Glory. She was basically doing nothing for the month leading up to Turning Point and they threw her in a 6-woman tag with Sarita and Wilde against the Beautiful People. They could have done something with Hamada, Daffney (who should be in the ring more) or Traci Brooks for a month while she waited for the winner of the Kong/Tera Feud.

I know the Knockouts basically get 2 segments a week, which isn't alot of time, and while they have done a decent job building up Kong/Tera, the rest of the division seems to have been forgotten about.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I think so. There's really nothing going on in the Knockout Division right now that makes me all that interested. I think that Kong and Tara should have been a feud that began when Tara made her debut in TNA. The Six Sides of Steel match the two had at Turning Point could have been a great match if they'd have done it months ago. Right now, however, I just didn't really care about it.

The Beautiful People are much weaker without Angelina Love. None of the three members have the in-ring ability of Angelina Love and they just don't have that natural chemistry that she and Velvet Sky had. While Angelina wasn't spectacular in the ring, she was far superior to any of the BP members. Lacey Von Erich has just been an abyssmal failure in my view. She's gorgeous, but she can't wrestle at all and the TNA crowd isn't at all shy about letting her know that at the Turning Point ppv. I still enjoy watching the BP overall, I just really dig the overall gimmick and they're all gorgeous, but I don't enjoy it as much as I used to.

There's also not really a point in having tag titles in the Knockout Division really. Taylor Wilde and Sarita have only defended the titles against the Beautiful People in one match after another and they always win. Aside from the BP, there aren't any real teams for the Wilde and Sarita to go up against. The whole tag title scene in the Knockout Division right now is little more than pointless filler.

As for ODB and the Knockout title, I'm just over ODB. Her novelty has long since worn off with me and I don't really find her all that entertaining anymore. Not to say that she's not a talented worker, but I just don't really care all that much about her.

Alyssa Flash....eh it's sort of the same thing. In the 5 or 6 months that she's been in TNA as Alyssa Flash, I think she's only won a single match. I know she's a damn good worker in the ring, but it's hard to care about somebody after a while when all they do is lose. It's a shame too because I'm sure she could have some great matches with just about anybody on the roster.

For me, the Knockout Division started to slide when they ran that awful angle with Cody Deaner wanting to be the Knockout champ. I despised it for all the obvious reasons such as just simply hating the Deaner character and turning the Knockout Division into something of a cheap sideshow gimmick. Introducing a man into the Women's title scene is something that Vince McMahon would do. TNA doing it hurt the Knockouts in my eyes.

 

[SuperKnockout]

Pretty much, the knockout division is going nowhere. ODB is a strong competetor, but she isn't s very good champ. i would lov to see maybe a month of Flash being champ. With flash rivarling with hamada next, hamada may become champ... With that, Hamado goes undefeated for a few months, till kong is fully angry, and beats Hamada. I am tired of the same stuff. WWE has alot more diva option, maybe tna sould open lie that... Just my opinion.

 

[TellMeWhy]

Lol at people saying the KO division is going no where. Wasn't the 1 on 1 matches for some type of rankings within the KO division? I agree that Sarita & Taylor have had no opponents to defend their titles against but who else in the KO division would gel as partners or would make sense as partners. The KOs are so different in persona that I can't see any other knockouts pairing up and going after Taylor & Sarita.

I don't think the KOs have been forgotten but with only about 90-100 minutes a week with a roster of about 50, it's only so much you can get through. I think the bookers are doing the best they're doing. They even go as far as to give the KOs 2 matches a week.

After this Tara/Kong feud, I'm expecting Tara to challenge ODB. As for Taylor & Sarita, I don't know yet but I'm sure they'll find something.

 

[wrestling fan 666]

I don't feel that they have dropped the ball as much as creative has been too distracted with the whole "Hogan has signed with us" factor that the whole TNA roster pretty much has been effected. Just look and Styles and Daniels "feuding"; MEM disbanding without really a mention as to why; Bobby Lashley looking for an opponent worth battling; team 3D turning heel for no apparent reason (come on, anyone buying the whole "they're trying to get rid of us" angle); Angle not even trying to go for the title; where is Sting?...the list goes on and on.

The KO division seems to being going the way of WWE whereas the storylines are fed up 30 days prior just for the PPV-no story development. People just don't seem to care who is fighting with whom because no one has a chance to care. Give them some mike time, let them do more. They have the talent (except Lacy, sorry) and they should capitalize on it.

 

[T2KFreeker]

The division lacks an energy, and it has for some time. I'd like to see it come back to where it was about two years ago. It could still happen, but let's face it, Russo has never been a strong booker with Women outside of Chyna. This why I am surprised that he was able to pull off what all he did with the Knock Outs in the first place. Hopefully something is coming on the horizon as it would be a shame to make that awesome Knock Outs Tag Division and then not do anything with it. If TNA's booking could do the same as they have done with the Men's Tag Division, well then I believe things could get interesting for the Knock Outs division.

 

[NSL]

I don't see the problem with the direction of the KO division. ODB has proven herself credible as champ, and it's up to the women to decide who should be the challenger. Tara beat out Kong, so she gets the next crack. The tag champs have no challengers, so working singles matches helps them see who they work best with.

Wouldn't you love to see Alissa and Hamada working as a tag team? They're solid workers, and had great matches with Taylor and Sarita. The fact that there's 2 championship feuds, and always a 3rd one, tells me that there's a forward direction for the KOs.

 

[brainbuster98x]

Awesome Kong is the equivalent of a new millennial Moolah.........Every moment that has, and continues to pass without her as champion has had a permeating feeling of meaningless emptiness..........

 

[Pedro08]

I don't see the problem with the direction of the KO division. ODB has proven herself credible as champ, and it's up to the women to decide who should be the challenger. Tara beat out Kong, so she gets the next crack. The tag champs have no challengers, so working singles matches helps them see who they work best with.

Wouldn't you love to see Alissa and Hamada working as a tag team? They're solid workers, and had great matches with Taylor and Sarita. The fact that there's 2 championship feuds, and always a 3rd one, tells me that there's a forward direction for the KOs.

They probably would make a good tag team, but what's the logic for them tagging together? Just putting them together now would make no sense. They dropped their feud after their awsome confrontation in the bleachers and exactly 1 one-on-one match on Impact.

But that's my point. This is something that creative could have been building up months ago. Hamada and Flash could have had a series of matches, maybe leading up to a PPV match, or not. They could them team up, citing that Hamada and Flash have developed a mutual respect for each other.

As it stands now, creative has made no effort to create another tag team to challenge for the KO tag titles. TBP can't be considered as legitimate contenders after 3 straight PPV losses. So who else is there? Maybe Daffney and Flash since their both heels or Hamada and Hemme since they are both faces. I guess Traci Brooks is a face now, so team her with someone.

My whole point is that it appears to me that creative has failed to plan ahead when it come to booking the KO division, especially the tag titles. The KO championship is no doubt easier to book right now with Kong, Tara and ODB. A program between those three could go for months, but who's next after that? Flash has to start winning some matches and Hamada isn't over enough yet to warrant a challenge for the belt.

 

[NSL]

Hamada and Alissa teaming could be booked by the two of them having faced the tag champs, so they get put together in a tag match. Then, over time, they gain the mutual respect. It's been done before, and it's a simple formula that can work, since it hasn't been used much for women.

I'm not sure what they could have planned for the KO titles right now. I like the matches we've seen, but without a legit threat to the belts, they're destined to rot on Taylor and Sarita. Maybe they sign some women down the road, and give them a chance, or they find a way to piece some women together to make a run at the belts. With it being a new division, I don't see the problem with teaming random KOs together for a title shot.

It's not like Taylor and Sarita were teaming for even weeks before they won the gold.