How Does TNA Balance Young and Old?

[mork83]

Personally, I think TNA is overrated, but I would love if they grew, got a two hour slot, and started slowly chipping away at WWE. I used to watch WCW and WWE, and would have no problem watching two promotions again. Also, I think that RVD and Sabu will be great for the company in the short term, if it happens.

However, I think they run the risk of alienating their own, home-grown talent for older wrestlers and former WWE guys. For instance, Kurt Angle is TNA has definitely hurt Samoa Joe. I have no doubt that he would've been champ by now if Angle wasn't there. The Dudleys took the titles from LAX and are now feuding with the Steiners. How far down the totem pole is AJ Styles for the World Title? How long was Abyss champ? Roode got a win over Jarrett, great, now he's back with Eric Young? The X-Division guys are generally all grouped into one segment. Daniels might be getting pushed, but will probably just get his ass kicked by Sting. Monty Brown leaves, the Naturals are released, does Ron Killings even work there anymore? Tomko gets a main spot that could've given someone else a major push. VKM...ughhh.

You definitely need people like Sting, Angle, RVD (?), etc. to bring in viewers, but they shouldn't dominate. A two-hour spot will help a lot, but in the meantime, I could see some people jump to WWE. Possibly midcarders like Robert Roode, Senshi, Alex Shelley, but, I know a lot of people will disagree, I could easily see someone like Samoa Joe debut and get a monster push.

 

[Monkey_Mania]

How does TNA balance young and old?? Easy they do to a certain extent. All there home grown talent has there own world title its the X-Division title. While for right now to gain exposure they are using guys like Angle, Sting, Stenier, Nash, and Jarrett to bring in fans and see there old favorites perform and while they tune in to see that they also see people like Samoa Joe, A.J. Styles, Christopher Daniels and Robert Roode. So with all that after thinking it over again i think they are doing everything right. Sooner or later they will bring up there own talent to dominate the scene.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

They do but not very well. They push older more established stars more. But to a degree they shouldn't. They got Joe over just fine. But when Angle arrived they pretty much used Joe to get him over. Problem was that he's Kert Angle and he didn't need to have Joe put him over. Joe's a glorified jobber now because of his feud with Angle. It's not Angle's fault. It's just stupid booking.

Same with Christian Cage. There putting him over huge. Purley on name basis only. Yeah he's great on the mic. But he's pretty average in the ring. And he cant convey menace in his promos. There just wittier versions of the sort of promo Cena was doing 4 years ago. Cage never made it to the top for a reason. And yet TNA are trying to make him into the ultimate heel.

And while Russo's been in charge the X-Division has gone to shit. Those are the young guy's that TNA should be working really hard to establish. The X title has headlined a PPV. Granted Joe, Styles & Daniels were in the match but it was still put ahead of the World Title. You cant imagine the likes of Lethal, Sabin and Shelly headlining a PPV. But TNA should concentrate on trying to do just that.

FACT.

 

[Big Ace]

Actually, I've been quite impressed with Christian Cage. He's been there for a while now and he's really deserved his own mic time. I really doubt that Cage is at his best right now. Give him the time he was never given in WWE and let him improve in his promos. I'm guarenteeing you that Edge and Christian have the same amount of charisma and that Christian is just as good as Edge. The Creative Team just isn't giving him enough to work with. Edge and Christian's wrestling style are very similar. So what your saying Jake, is that Edge is around average in the ring as well?

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Actually, I've been quite impressed with Christian Cage. He's been there for a while now and he's really deserved his own mic time. I really doubt that Cage is at his best right now. Give him the time he was never given in WWE and let him improve in his promos. I'm guarenteeing you that Edge and Christian have the same amount of charisma and that Christian is just as good as Edge. The Creative Team just isn't giving him enough to work with. Edge and Christian's wrestling style are very similar. So what your saying Jake, is that Edge is around average in the ring as well?

Nope. Edge is great in the ring. Christian has a punch/kick moveset. There styles aren't alike at all. Christian has been given the oppertunity in TNA to literally be the figurehead of the company. But he just hasn't produced. Edge had to work hard for his spot. Christian has been a main event player for 18 month's and all he's done is have two unspectacular title reigns. He didn't have any memorable match's until his Barbed Wire Cage match with Rhino. It took his short feud with Styles for him to have a decent non gimmick match. That was all Styles in that match as well. I'm not disputing he's good on the mic. But with his push which has been on par with a WWE Cena push, he should constantly have great match's. And he's just not. He's having ok match's. It's not like he's a lump of wood like Cena. He can go if he need's too. But he's facing decent wrestlers like Jarrett, Abyss, Angle & Joe and he just cant cut it.

 

[Big Ace]

Nope. Edge is great in the ring. Christian has a punch/kick moveset. There styles aren't alike at all. Christian has been given the oppertunity in TNA to literally be the figurehead of the company. But he just hasn't produced. Edge had to work hard for his spot. Christian has been a main event player for 18 month's and all he's done is have two unspectacular title reigns. He didn't have any memorable match's until his Barbed Wire Cage match with Rhino. It took his short feud with Styles for him to have a decent non gimmick match. That was all Styles in that match as well. I'm not disputing he's good on the mic. But with his push which has been on par with a WWE Cena push, he should constantly have great match's. And he's just not. He's having ok match's. It's not like he's a lump of wood like Cena. He can go if he need's too. But he's facing decent wrestlers like Jarrett, Abyss, Angle & Joe and he just cant cut it.

Isn't that pushing it a little too much? He's on par with a WWE Cena push? I highly doubt that. He dropped the belt at Sacrifice anyway. To be honest, Edge did impress me more, but Edge had more people in front of him. When Cage came in, the only top guys there were Killings, Jarrett, Styles, Daniels, and Joe. They insisted on making Styles and Daniels the X-Division guys as soon as they got on National TV. Now, with Sting and Angle there, Cage has some more competition. But you can't honestly say that Christian's matches are just 'OK'. I don't think it's that he puts on bad matches with guys like Abyss, Jarrett, Angle, and Joe. I think it's that their style doesn't really mesh. Unless everyone expects Christian to adjust to however his opponent wants to fight. There's no one in TNA for Christian to really have a 'dream match' with though, so it's not 100% his fault.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Isn't that pushing it a little too much? He's on par with a WWE Cena push? I highly doubt that. He dropped the belt at Sacrifice anyway. To be honest, Edge did impress me more, but Edge had more people in front of him. When Cage came in, the only top guys there were Killings, Jarrett, Styles, Daniels, and Joe. They insisted on making Styles and Daniels the X-Division guys as soon as they got on National TV. Now, with Sting and Angle there, Cage has some more competition. But you can't honestly say that Christian's matches are just 'OK'. I don't think it's that he puts on bad matches with guys like Abyss, Jarrett, Angle, and Joe. I think it's that their style doesn't really mesh. Unless everyone expects Christian to adjust to however his opponent wants to fight. There's no one in TNA for Christian to really have a 'dream match' with though, so it's not 100% his fault.

He's never been pinned. I would consider that a Cena style push.

And as a main event player he should be able to have decent match's with all the top stars. Joe can have good match's with most people. He could only manage average with Cage. That was Cage's fault. Joe did everything he usually does to make that match good. But when Cage is on the offensive he's pathetic.

Abyss, Jarrett, Angle & Joe all have pretty different styles. And yet Christian cant mesh with any of them. I think that's His fault. A good wrestler will adapt.

To say that they made Styles & Daniels X-Division guys as soon ast they got on Nationl TV might be true. Ish. Daniels has pretty much been a mid carder. And Styles always flits between the two divisions. And at the time the X title meant just as much as the Heavweight title so your statement is invalid.

 

[A.J.]

He's never been pinned. I would consider that a Cena style push.

And as a main event player he should be able to have decent match's with all the top stars. Joe can have good match's with most people. He could only manage average with Cage. That was Cage's fault. Joe did everything he usually does to make that match good. But when Cage is on the offensive he's pathetic.

Abyss, Jarrett, Angle & Joe all have pretty different styles. And yet Christian cant mesh with any of them. I think that's His fault. A good wrestler will adapt.

To say that they made Styles & Daniels X-Division guys as soon ast they got on Nationl TV might be true. Ish. Daniels has pretty much been a mid carder. And Styles always flits between the two divisions. And at the time the X title meant just as much as the Heavweight title so your statement is invalid.

Well from seeing what Jake and Ace has to said the mix of young and old talent is in a blur right now as the more established older guys are in the main event scence wile the younger and the future if TNA is in the X-Division or becoming jobbers like Joe.

But to add what you two been saying about Cage and well Ace I have to agree with Jake here. Cage not offically losing a match by submission or pin and at sacrifice i dont count that as that was no clean and basically they stripped the belt and made it vacent so i dont count that. But to never lose once is over pushing someone who has good mic skills but nothing that draws major heat from the crowd when they are pushing Cage as the next Jeff Jarrett for the biggest heel in TNA.

Ace you talk about when he arrived there that the main event talent was just Killings, Jarrett, Styles, Daniels, and Joe and then Styles and Daniels get demoted to the X-division when they got National TV exposure and basically he got the to the top as there was no main event scene. And Ace your right as the main event scene in TNA at that time was dull and been done to death, but to push Cage like the did made him it seem like he was the Angle. Cage is good i give him he can put on a match, but like Jake said nothinggreat as champion and you look at his matches Angle carried him, Joe has carried him. Joe would never need that as he can work a match and hell when Angle was knockout at Final Resoultion Joe finshed match by calling all the shots and it was a great one.

Cage is good but now i think we are seeing why he never givin the opptunities to rise up like Edge did as Cage cant mesh with certain wrestler in the ring and Edge can. both can work mic but Edge' sstyle is more suited to work with all types of styles at Judgemnt day we see Edge pull a decent match with Batista. Cage on the other hand can not do that he just a decent mid-carder in WWE and should be that in TNA as hes game in no where tha tof to lead and be the face of a company. Hell even Angle said in an interview a while back that Cage is good but if he profected his craft and took the time to work on it that he could be a great one.

 

[Big Ace]

Well from seeing what Jake and Ace has to said the mix of young and old talent is in a blur right now as the more established older guys are in the main event scence wile the younger and the future if TNA is in the X-Division or becoming jobbers like Joe.

You're a little late on that one jethro. TNA pushes anybody they recieve from WWE as soon as they get there. The X-Division sucks right now and to quote somebody ''Once you've seen one X-Division match, you've seen them all.'' I don't consider Joe at jobber status yet. I don't think he's been degraded that much, but I will agree that he was the next guy in line before Angle got there.

But to add what you two been saying about Cage and well Ace I have to agree with Jake here. Cage not offically losing a match by submission or pin and at sacrifice i dont count that as that was no clean and basically they stripped the belt and made it vacent so i dont count that. But to never lose once is over pushing someone who has good mic skills but nothing that draws major heat from the crowd when they are pushing Cage as the next Jeff Jarrett for the biggest heel in TNA.

C'mon. Cage's push isn't as big as Jarrett's. Besides, he's the only top heel at the moment. What else are they going to do? Angle's like a tweener. Sting was the one chasing. Joe was a ''jobber'', and Jarrett wasn't there. So what are you going to do with that? You're going to keep Christian to officially put over Sting or Angle. It's unfortunate that he's kept it this long, but I can't say that I would've taken it off much faster. I'm a big Cage fan and I do think he has the promo skills to be the top guy, and maybe his wrestling skills need a little work, but the guy has experience. They need to put him there in the spotlight with professionals like Angle and Sting. If not, how is he going to learn?

Ace you talk about when he arrived there that the main event talent was just Killings, Jarrett, Styles, Daniels, and Joe and then Styles and Daniels get demoted to the X-division when they got National TV exposure and basically he got the to the top as there was no main event scene. And Ace your right as the main event scene in TNA at that time was dull and been done to death, but to push Cage like the did made him it seem like he was the Angle. Cage is good i give him he can put on a match, but like Jake said nothinggreat as champion and you look at his matches Angle carried him, Joe has carried him. Joe would never need that as he can work a match and hell when Angle was knockout at Final Resoultion Joe finshed match by calling all the shots and it was a great one.

That's because if you saw TNA when they first came on Spike, you'd notice that Christian was the top babyface. He was getting the loudest pop, because Sting hadn't arrived yet. Or did he? Meh. I won't be fucked to find the answer. Bottomline, anybody that TNA gets from WWE will be pushed. No matter how long, or how hard, they will be pushed. Why they left Cage out there for that long is beyond me. Angle and Joe was a great feud but when you think about all the hype they got, it was overrated. I saw all of their matches and I liked the 2nd match the best. Christian's matches aren't all that hyped though. The only hype he gets is because he's the main event, and he tends to get overshadowed by some ''Dream matches''. If they were Dream Matches, they'd be the last match on the card.

Cage is good but now i think we are seeing why he never givin the opptunities to rise up like Edge did as Cage cant mesh with certain wrestler in the ring and Edge can. both can work mic but Edge' sstyle is more suited to work with all types of styles at Judgemnt day we see Edge pull a decent match with Batista. Cage on the other hand can not do that he just a decent mid-carder in WWE and should be that in TNA as hes game in no where tha tof to lead and be the face of a company. Hell even Angle said in an interview a while back that Cage is good but if he profected his craft and took the time to work on it that he could be a great one.

Personally, I doubt Edge's match with Batista will be anywhere close to OK. Like I said earlier, when two styles don't mesh, the match is going to suck. But then again, that's just my opinion. I wouldn't mind to see them cleanly take the Belt off of Christian. I think the reason why Christian isn't as good as he could be is because WWE didn't push him. You can't honestly say that Christian Cage was being treated the right way in the WWE after he broke-up with Edge. He was never that bad, and I was actually thinking ''This guy might be the one to take the Belt off of Cena on SD.'' But it never happened. Instead, he was made a jobber. Downright pathetic. Cage had a better reason than anybody to go to TNA. Of course Cage isn't going to be a great for awhile, but he's getting there. Give him several more months to adjust, and I think he'll be pretty damn good.