Heel & Face Tunnels: Should They Be Brought Back?

[Dagger Dias]

TNA has a LOT of heel/face turns. Sometimes it gets complicated to know who one is "supposed" to be rooting for in a match or not. Regardless of if you like to root for a face or a heel, it does get confusing with all of the character shifts. TNA used to have two entrances. One for faces, and one for heels. This made it easier in my opinion to distinguish who one would root for, given if they like faces or heels more. For casual fans it was a benefit too, as they could figure out quickly which side the "good guys" came out of, and could then root for them. For those who watched a lot but missed an Impact episode or two and did not know that a wrestler had turned face when they used to be a heel, could figure it out within seconds if the wrestler was now coming out of face tunnel rather than the heel tunnel. Some might argue that these tunnels were silly, but I miss them because it made it MUCH easier to see who was a face or not.

So do you think TNA should bring back the face/heel tunnels? Why or why not?

 

[It's Damn Real!]

Not at all. I really hated that whole idea. Not only is the idea itself corny, especially when dealing with tweeners who don't really belong in either tunnel, but the tunnels themselves took away a large portion of available seating in the iMPACT! Zone which took away from the ability of TNA to put more asses in seats. The more fans in the building, the better it sounds, the less, and the more it looks like a well-produced high-school gym show.

 

[Paramount]

I was just reading about these tunnels for the first time last night while reading Chris Jerichos book "A Lions Tale", when they use to do it in Mexico and Germany as well as SMW, the only problem I see now would be what if you have a Tweener Character that you're not quite sure which he is, for example Randy Orton or in TNA I heard they want that to be Anderson, so which do they through?

Although I dont watch TNA that often (Go WWE), so I dont know in detail what the Heel to Face ratio problem is, if it is that big of a problem I could see it working, and have someone like Anderson say fuck it and walk through the middle saying that the tunnels are ridiculous.

 

[AntiChristDeicide]

As the previous posters said the tunnels don't work really well for tweeners. If it was only face vs heels then ok it works, but what do you do with tweeners add another tunnel in the middle? The way it is now its ok, because it looks more professional even if TNA is wrestling in a sound stage.

 

[brighamosity]

To be honest, I don't think that would work for some characters. Could you picture Stone Cold Steve Austin (or even The Rock) willingly going through a good guy tunnel? Any character with a little bit of attitude, good or bad, would roll their eyes at the conformity of that. It would work if every face on the roster was like John Cena, because he'd probably be proud to walk through it. But I think anyone else would mock the idea.

Another thing is that a lot of characters wouldn't necessarily consider themselves "good" or "bad". Randy Orton, as a character, would likely resent being labeled a "good guy". Imagine a backstage segment where they tried to tell Orton, Stone Cold, or the Rock, "Hey, you're a good guy, so you need to enter through here." They would get an RKO/Rockbottom/Stunner.

 

[BestForTheBusinesso9]

This is hilarious thats it mentioned but it really is a seriously good idea. I'm not a TNA basher but they do try really hard to change stuff up so often and storylines get so blurred that you really do need a reminder every once in awhile what side of the fence the current superstar coming out is on. It's pretty sad but I do think this could help out.

 

[SharpShooter083]

It's not TNA's entrance ramp that needs to be changed it's TNA's creative team. They're writing is so confusing that even the casual fan can't keep up on whether a particular wrestler is a heel or face, it's a major problem. If they need to make a special ramp just to make sure their fans know who to cheer or boo is pretty sad. Instead of trying to make "shocking announcements" every other week they should try to give more depth to their characters. Just my opinion.

 

[Rckstrtmmy]

The more fans in the building, the better it sounds, the less, and the more it looks like a well-produced high-school gym show.

Haha it already looks like a gym show and sounds awful...

If you need tunnels to distinguish heels/faces I think TNA should worry more about it's booking than changing the Impact Zone setup..

 

[H33LTurn]

I like the tunnels, they were what made TNA look different from any other promotion you could see on TV. With the story twists and all it would really help out with people like me who often miss Impact. And really, do you think that someone would refuse to go out to the ring or mock the company just because they need to go out a specific ramp? Its been done before, and today's roster really isnt much more rebellious than the one back then to say "screw it, I'm not goin out there" because the entrance doesnt look like WWE's entrance. And a tweener like Anderson would walk down a face ramp if hes feuding with heels and vice versa. Honestly I can only see postitive coming from this, and if a talent is so disguested by the tunnels that they need to be vocal about it then they need to go somewhere else, there are people dying for an opportunity to be in TNA, and I'm pretty sure they could give a rats ass about how they make it to teh ring, as long as they make it.

 

[Positivity]

Simply put, no thank you. Maybe it is just my opinion but I feel like tunnels almost would make a show look lower class than it is. Partly because it almost looks like they are trying to take up empty space, which isn't all that great of an impression in the first place. Especially when it's being run by such big names and when it's trying to push up its attendance and its ratings, you just don't decide to take up at least a quarter of the seats. Now I will agree that TNA does seem to have a lot of face and heel turns but the wrestlers themselves should be able to show this pretty easily. And for new fans? Is it really all that hard to listen to the reaction given to each superstar? The Impact Zone is quite vocal when it comes to chanting and booing/cheering so you shouldn't have a problem with that. In my mind, it is a unprofessional crutch that most of the people in the company, shouldn't need.

 

[Rasha]

It's not TNA's entrance ramp that needs to be changed it's TNA's creative team. They're writing is so confusing that even the casual fan can't keep up on whether a particular wrestler is a heel or face, it's a major problem.

The problem with the boos/cheers in the Impact Zone has nothing to do with not knowing who the faces and heels are. It's because so many modern fans think it's cool the root for the heels. It started with the NWO and has continued down to today.

I'd love to actually hear some examples of how TNA's writing has caused people to not be sure who the faces and heels are. The roles seem pretty obvious to me and about every fan on these forums. Instead of making the same cliche and nebulous accusations, how about you back it up?

Oh, and as for the two tunnels; no way. IDR already summed up the negatives perfectly.

 

[Raven]

yes yes yes yes yes!

I loved the tunnels but I don't think it would blend well with the 4 sidded ring.

They had 2 versions..one were the entrance stage was on one side but two tunnels then the 2 diffrent stage entrances.

I think TNA should go "Throwbac" so to speak, theres still people complaining about the 6 sides so give them a little flashback with the 2 entrances

 

[blockanWo]

I did enjoy the tunnels. It made for some pretty cool entrances. ...and how could anyone forget the Gore through the table down the tunnel

Does TNA need to bring it back? No.. I dont really see the point.

The impact zone is filled with smarks who cheer for the heel anyway. Having a ramp who tells people who they should be cheering for isnt going to fix that issue. It may even make it worse.

Aesthetics is not what TNA need right now. They need direction and leadership.

 

[deforty]

No more tunnels. It was ok at best the first time. Rasha another problem with all the cheers and boos are the people that show up to watch wrestling and don't normally watch the show because they can get in free with a paid ticket to Universal studios(part of price goes to TNA) and see people that they know like Jeff Hardy, Hulk, Flair and cheer for them out of instinct because they essentially just got to see them for free.

 

[ABMorales787]

The old tunnel by itself would be nice. It was always a very nice visual. But as for heel/face entrances, remember the the Curtain set has 3 entrance ways. They do use the dynamic once or twice. However the lack of use for the set makes it hard. However, there really isn't a need to have them come out from totally different entrances. If you're not a consistent follower you are not gonna know why there are separate entrances so it makes the idea seem unneeded.