Gimmick matches

[tmangamer]

Hey everyone,

Is it just me, or are there just too many gimmick matches on TNA ppvs lately ? I mean come on for example just look at the Destination X card :

1) LAX vs. Team 3-D in a Ghetto Street fight
2) Petey Williams & Gail Kim vs. James Storm & Jackie Moore in a double bullrope match
3) Senshi vs. Austin Starr must win with a chicken wing
4) VKM vs. Mystery opponents (more on that later)
5) Chris Sabin vs. Jerry Lynn 2/3 falls for X Division title
6) Rhino vs. A.J. Styles in an Elevation X match
7) Sting vs. Abyss in a Last Rites match

I'm counting the mystery opponents as a gimmick match too, since there was no special buildup and it is a surprise. That makes 7 out of 10 matches... Don't get me wrong, some of them such as LAX vs. Team 3D, Senshi vs. Austin Starr, Sabin vs. Lynn, Rhino vs. AJ will probably be good matches. But having that many gimmick matches takes all the prestige out of them.

I can understand that TNA wants to put a lot of big matches on to get more viewers, but still it seems to be a little much. Especially these new (somewhat stupid) types of matches, like the Last Rites match or the Double Bullrope match... They should probably keep it simple, and I think the Elevation X match is a bad idea as well. The concept is good, but the problem is the plateforme is WAY too thin, making it easy for somebody to get hurt. We'll probably see them worrying about falling off during the whole time, so the match might turn out horrible.

In my opinion, TNA already puts on great matches compared to WWE, and should not worry about their PPVs. They should stop the stupid gimmicks, worry about making better buildups, better storylines, and getting the "entertainment" side better, since the wrestling couldn't be better at the moment.

This whole thing is just my opinion, what do you guys think ?

 

[St. Joe]

i agree that TNA focuses way too much on gimmick matches, and "inovations." They dont really have innovations anyways, its just WWE or indy promotions matchs and rename them. Last Rite= Strecher, casket, their are tons of these kinds of matches. Elevation X= a more danegrous scafolding match.
Double bull rope= bull rope with double, dont even have to talk. Ghetto street fight= Street fight, havent #-D and LAX already have, like 3 of these. and a little off topic but they call 6 sides of steel= steel cage, thats not even close to a innovation. Again off topic, but anyone who watched the This is TNA! special, they used innovation or innovative at least 75 times

 

[Kasey]

I'm really starting to think that either A. Russo has been given autonomy and is crazy, or B. The rest of the booking team is using him as a potential scapegoat and are shooting out whacko ideas themselves.

Either way, I think that the percentage of gimmick matches they're using at this PPV should be sliced in half. The "ghetto street fight" is probably going to be the same $hit as the "little Italy streetfight"...which is just a hardcore match, anyway. As for the "double bullrope" match, I'm very doubtful as to the success of it. Petey should be taking names and kicking ass in the X-division (where he could definitely be an asset), or as part of a tag team. He is completely unnecessary in this angle as the only two in it that generate legit pop/heat are the AMW boys (who I think should still be a tag-team at this point). The rest is just fluff, so the match to me, is pointless from a storytelling standpoint (even if I find the wrestling exceptional at times). I wouldn't count the VKM match as gimmickry, because the match will likely have standard rules, but they're just not telling who the opponents are, so I really don't find it that gimmicky by comparison to the other legit gimmick encounters on the same card. Same for the X-division title match. 2 out of 3 falls isn't that gimmicky, but is just something that hasn't been used regularly in the past twenty years, but at one time was commonplace, by comparison.

 

[Uncle Sam]

Most of the matches aren't even innovations, just matches that have been renamed (the LAX/3D fued has come up with about 16 names for a simple Street Fight). Either that or they're existing matches with slight twists to them.

 

[iamwrestling]

Hey everyone,

Is it just me, or are there just too many gimmick matches on TNA ppvs lately ? I mean come on for example just look at the Destination X card :

1) LAX vs. Team 3-D in a Ghetto Street fight
2) Petey Williams & Gail Kim vs. James Storm & Jackie Moore in a double bullrope match
3) Senshi vs. Austin Starr must win with a chicken wing
4) VKM vs. Mystery opponents (more on that later)
5) Chris Sabin vs. Jerry Lynn 2/3 falls for X Division title
6) Rhino vs. A.J. Styles in an Elevation X match
7) Sting vs. Abyss in a Last Rites match

I'm counting the mystery opponents as a gimmick match too, since there was no special buildup and it is a surprise. That makes 7 out of 10 matches... Don't get me wrong, some of them such as LAX vs. Team 3D, Senshi vs. Austin Starr, Sabin vs. Lynn, Rhino vs. AJ will probably be good matches. But having that many gimmick matches takes all the prestige out of them.

I can understand that TNA wants to put a lot of big matches on to get more viewers, but still it seems to be a little much. Especially these new (somewhat stupid) types of matches, like the Last Rites match or the Double Bullrope match... They should probably keep it simple, and I think the Elevation X match is a bad idea as well. The concept is good, but the problem is the plateforme is WAY too thin, making it easy for somebody to get hurt. We'll probably see them worrying about falling off during the whole time, so the match might turn out horrible.

In my opinion, TNA already puts on great matches compared to WWE, and should not worry about their PPVs. They should stop the stupid gimmicks, worry about making better buildups, better storylines, and getting the "entertainment" side better, since the wrestling couldn't be better at the moment.

This whole thing is just my opinion, what do you guys think ?

I don't mind the Elevation X. It was a great match in my opinion. The whole time I was just cringing because I was just waiting for one of them to fall. As far as all the other matches go, I think that it is fine to have a lot of matches with stipulations, but I just say instead of giving them crappy names and adding crappy things in there, just name them the way they used to be called. For example:
Last rites match: All they had to do was start the match with a casket in the middle of the ring. There was no reason to have the lights turn blue and have smoke come out. There was no reason for those ridiculous candles. Just have a regular casket match. It was a great match (surprisingly, because I've been sick of this feud for a long time now) and maybe if they would have hyped it up as a casket match rather than a last rites match it would have at least made people want to see it more.

Ghetto Brawl: I am sick and tired of seeing all these hardcore matches named ridiculous things like "border line brawl" "ghetto brawl" "little Italy Street fight" "belting pot match." Just name it a street fight. It is not like they added anything special to those matches. Just call it a street fight and people would at least know what it is.

To tell the truth, the different names for the matches just hurts the storyline and hurts them from getting people who actually want to see the matches.

 

[tmangamer]

It seems as though we're going to get a lot more gimmick matches too at Lockdown... Already two out of three are huge gimmick matches, I won't say what they are for the sake of those who haven't read the spoilers and are waiting for Thursday Night. Both have stupid pointless names as well, and have not been seen yet on TNA programming.

Wait and see.

 

[Big Ace]

I never liked gimmick matches. The only way I find them effective, is at PPV's or when they're used sparingly. People should always wrestle in a Single match first and THEN have a stipulation as it makes the match more interesting. I hate how they make up match stipulations and never use them again. I don't watch much of TNA but from what I hear on the 'Net is that they always make up a match 1 month before a PPV and they actually have to explain it a few times before people really understand it? If so, then they should just stick to good ol' regular stips.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Gimmick match's IMO are a sign of lazy booking. Sometime's a feud need's a really good gimmick match to end it. But some feud's dont. Personally I think the only gimmick match's X-Division star's should be in are Ultimate X. I think most of them are talented enough that they dont need gimmick match's.

But yes TNA uses far too many gimmick match's. It's like WWF 99 but x10 worse.

And there's more to come if you've read the T.V. taping spoiler's. Lockdown is going to have gimmick's on top of gimmick's on top of gimmick's on top of ............................................................................etc.

 

[kodiak]

It should just be know as the gimmick federation, hell the next ppv is one big gimmick. ECW had its gimmicks but it also had good wrestling.

 

[ExtremeRage81]

Okay. Yes there were a lot of gimmick matches. Yes the Last Rites match was nothing but a casket match. In fact on that note, the chants of "This is Stupid" and "Fire Russo" not a good sign from the fans.

However, while they are using a lot of gimmicks, what the hell was the WWE given lately? Trump vs McMahon? I'd rather settle for a card full of matches with some kind of stipulation then a match involving two tired old crones and two unimpressive to a little impressive wrestlers. And to bring the Rock and Austin back to back up that angle, I call that just what Kurt Angle did; desperation. The WWE is getting desperate.

My only complaints about the ppv were this.

1) I'm sick of James Storm vs Petey Williams, especially hasn't beaten the guy at all. Plus we don't know if he can hook the Canadian Destroyer on him so why bother trying it when he never gets to.

2) Kurt Angle vs Steiner. Angle, the best in the business, and even he can't put Steiner over. Scott Steiner is slow, heavy, and painful to watch. Just ditch him

3) The Last Rites match. Look I was fine with the Abyss/Sting rivalry until this point. I saw no point with the set up and neither did the fans. Russo does need to be fired.

Crack on TNA for the gimmick matches and all but you know what, at least they're trying. WWE hasn't even given an effort to impress the fans in years

 

[iamwrestling]

It should just be know as the gimmick federation, hell the next ppv is one big gimmick. ECW had its gimmicks but it also had good wrestling.

While I hate the gimmicks as well, that last statement was just wrong. TNA has 4,000,000,000 times better wrestlers than ECW ever had.

 

[Uncle Sam]

Russo does need to be fired.

It all amounts to that. I recently read Eric Bischoff's book and, even though he could be called a liar, he described how untalented and self-serving Russo is. I believe that either Russo really doesn't have a clue what he's doing or everything he's doing is to benefit himself. Either way, you can't beat the WWE at its own game, it's never going to happen. If TNA offered the audience something different, however, something that the mainstream hasn't seen before or in a while, they have hope of slowly building up to be a legitimate competitor to WWE.

Misterrr Sam! (Pause, Pause) Sam

 

[kodiak]

Okay. Yes there were a lot of gimmick matches. Yes the Last Rites match was nothing but a casket match. In fact on that note, the chants of "This is Stupid" and "Fire Russo" not a good sign from the fans.

However, while they are using a lot of gimmicks, what the hell was the WWE given lately? Trump vs McMahon? I'd rather settle for a card full of matches with some kind of stipulation then a match involving two tired old crones and two unimpressive to a little impressive wrestlers. And to bring the Rock and Austin back to back up that angle, I call that just what Kurt Angle did; desperation. The WWE is getting desperate.

My only complaints about the ppv were this.

1) I'm sick of James Storm vs Petey Williams, especially hasn't beaten the guy at all. Plus we don't know if he can hook the Canadian Destroyer on him so why bother trying it when he never gets to.

2) Kurt Angle vs Steiner. Angle, the best in the business, and even he can't put Steiner over. Scott Steiner is slow, heavy, and painful to watch. Just ditch him

3) The Last Rites match. Look I was fine with the Abyss/Sting rivalry until this point. I saw no point with the set up and neither did the fans. Russo does need to be fired.

Crack on TNA for the gimmick matches and all but you know what, at least they're trying. WWE hasn't even given an effort to impress the fans in years

Trying what, to see how many gimmick matches they can put into one ppv or one show.

 

[kodiak]

While I hate the gimmicks as well, that last statement was just wrong. TNA has 4,000,000,000 times better wrestlers than ECW ever had.

I'd disagree with that, I have yet to watch a full hour of that tna crap, just hit fast foward.

 

[tmangamer]

While I hate the gimmicks as well, that last statement was just wrong. TNA has 4,000,000,000 times better wrestlers than ECW ever had.

I disagree with this point. ECW had a great variety of superstars, in TNA apart from the X-Division and a few others, there are a lot of wrestlers that are only modestly good. ECW definitely had better booking, Paul E. was the best at that. If only he was in charge...

I had absolutely NO interest at all in the Sting vs. Abyss match, except a little when it was about the NWA WHC. After that, with the whole shooting in the back gimmick and the Prison Yard Match, Last Rite match... I think this is completely boring. Abyss is a good wrestler, and Sting is a good entertainer now that he's getting older, he's lost a bit of the wrestling... I say discard the feud now, and get Sting to do something like putting over superstars that actually need it. Too many gimmicks in this feud too, I hate it.

 

[iamwrestling]

I'd disagree with that, I have yet to watch a full hour of that tna crap, just hit fast foward.

So then how can you judge the wrestling if you never watched it. And the best of TNA comes straight from the pay-per-views. If you ever watched even one TNA pay-per-view you would see that the TNA wrestlers are the best in the world.

 

[kodiak]

So then how can you judge the wrestling if you never watched it. And the best of TNA comes straight from the pay-per-views. If you ever watched even one TNA pay-per-view you would see that the TNA wrestlers are the best in the world.

Why would I waste my money on a ppv if I don't like the product I see on tv. That would be kind of stupid. Face it they can't hold a ppv or show without having a gimmick match. And I would put up the ECW wrestlers in their heyday against anyone of the tna wrestlers, who only seem to want to hit their high spots, perfect example the x division.

 

[Imperative_Mood]

Tna is to focused on trying to be different rather than trying to be more basic. Which theres nothing wrong with trying to be different, but when It go's too far from the basics then it just becomes about being different. I almost feel like there whole mission in life is to try to show up the wwe and thats all its about for them. Its like a little five year old trying to walk faster than his father to show him up but the dad just dosent care that much....That is the reality of how much the wwe cares about tna showing them. They can be just a minor annoyance that can get irritating sometimes.

 

[Imperative_Mood]

So then how can you judge the wrestling if you never watched it. And the best of TNA comes straight from the pay-per-views. If you ever watched even one TNA pay-per-view you would see that the TNA wrestlers are the best in the world.

It's called wisdom. Most of the things I see advertised on tv I know right away if I won't like it. And most of the time I'm right. Actually all of the time i'm right. I know because ten out of ten times I try something that I know by instinct I won't like I do not like. Commercials are there to convey imformation and they always show there best stuff on them.