How TNA Could Have Been Better

[$Mr. 100%]

Carlito: decent on da Mic. He got good wrestling skills pedigree. Former ic and us champion. Won both 1st time challenged 4 either title as well. Coulda really revive x division.

Shelton Benjamin Charlie Hass: worlds greatest tag team. Y weren't they signed asap? They immediately upgrade tag division. As well as singles competition they immediately compete 4 every title and b a legitimately threat and champion. Benjamin is da biggest mistake by both st organizations. Haas had great in ring ability. Wasn't bad on mic and coulda feuded w/storm/rude/aj etc. Both men woulda were great wrestler 2gether or singles and woulda gave tna better product. Y weren't they signed asap??? History w/Kurt angle write itself.

MVP??? Y not sign him??? Decent worker decent body great mic skills. He could go and altho Benoit carried him early he became very polished n da ring. Hvwht champion contender from beginning. He Had IT!!!!what JR always says. Wouldn't mind seeing him and Jeff jarrett n a match. And jj would teach him something during da feud.
Abraham Washington- woulda gave tna instant heat and he could keep it going. Da manager tna needed 2 get heels over. Tna coulda made him Heenanesque imo.

Y tna never signed any of em? At least 4 a show or 2? We got Knox/festus/test(coulda been good as Da Punisher but only had 2 appearances n tna) etc. My question is y tna didn't sign anof em? Do u think they woulda helped tna?

 

[three count bout]

Honestly I don't think talent is the biggest issue with TNA so signing any or all of these guys you mentioned probably wouldn't have pushed the ratings needle. What has hurt is inconsistent booking, visual presentation, and an enormous amount of bad press regarding backstage dealings from talents being paid late, contract negotiations, and the failed road experiment. I believe TNA actually attempted to talk to some of the guys you listed, but what would be the point if they were signed and then suddenly and randomly removed from TV ala Kenny King before they could make the proverbial impact.

Carlito, MVP, and Benjamin while being good hands have never been what I would call draws, and the company has tried hiring guys with bigger names than them previously without much payoff. If I were TNA I would do the best with the current crop of talent, effectively build interesting storylines, and create a clear cut top babyface. I don't know if that's guys you tried before i.e Styles if he stays or Hardy or someone who probably should've got the nod awhile back like Storm, hell if it was me I would've tried Magnus before the turn.

 

[$Mr. 100%]

They signed alot of hasbeens or wannabes(hogan/flair/foley/Knox/festus) misused Kennedy/Anderson completely(Park coulda been used better as well. Altho....who is Abyss?) anyway bischoff Jr
brisoe both nobodies. Y not give Douglas Williams a chance? Another tna mistake. Tna has great potential but continually wet da bed

 

[shafe_41]

TNA's biggest problem was they weren't creative. They didn't take the things they did well and different from WWE and try to capitalize on them. It wouldn't have even been that difficult either.

Look at the X-Division. What constituted a superstar in the X-Division? Nothing. Anybody could have been int it. It was just something that was there. It would be like WWE having a group of 10-15 superstars and only have them compete for the IC and US Titles but for no real apparent reason. This was a huge win/loss for TNA. It has so many similarities to the Cruiserweight Division in WCW which is one big thing that got people to tune into WCW over WWE for a long time. It was different. It was fast-paced. It was high-flying. It was stuff you didn't see in the WWE much... if at all. So capitalizing on the X-Division and making it special, would have been a great start.

Then throw in the Ultimate X matches. Those were fantastic gimmick matches. Personally, I find them to be more entertaining than most ladder matches. They looked more real. Title matches or not, they made for some great spots and great matches. I would dare anyone to find an Ultimate X match that was boring. No everybody couldn't have been in them (i.e. Abyss), but 90% of their roster could.

Now this I'll catch shit for and I know it. The 6-sided ring. It was different. It was a bit of a joke for the pure wrestling fan. But for TNA, it worked. It worked well for THEM. I personally liked it. You want to be a promotion that competes? Don't be a complete carbon copy of the competition. TNA had some very unique talent that worked around that ring very very well. Guys like Chris Sabin, Christopher Daniels, Samoa Joe, Alex Shelley, AJ Styles, etc... all had what I would deem very close to 5 star matches in that 6-sided ring. When my friend first told me about TNA, I gave it a chance and he told me their ring had 6 sides to it. It drew me in for that reason alone. I can't be the only person in the world that was drawn to something different.

And for the sake of length, the last thing is the most obvious. Their talent and the stories they told. They often had no direction. They would swerve for the sake of swerving. In the 2-3 years Christian was in TNA, he probably turned 5 or 6 times. If I didn't watch their programming for a couple months for whatever reason, I'd come back and guys totally turned face/heel after they had already turned 3 and 4 months prior. It was just nonsense. Impossible to keep up.
They would also hype up stuff to be the biggest thing in the world and every single time was just like "Really?" That's why I'm supposed to be excited? Pacman Jones being a Tag Champion with Kurt Angle? Isn't this the type of crap that drove WCW into the toilet? STICK TO TELLING WRESTLING STORIES WITH THE WRESTLERS ON YOUR ROSTER!!!! I don't care about Pacman Jones. I don't care about Curtis Granderson. I don't care about any "celebrity" you bring in or try to bring in to sell tickets. Quit pissing your money away on athletes from other walks of life that wouldn't spend 5 seconds watching your program otherewise. Concentrate on YOUR talent. Give me AJ Styles, Kurt Angle, Chris Sabin, etc... putting on fantastic matches instead of Mike Tenay shouting "PACMAN JONES IS HERE IN THE IMPACT ZONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" That's where your money belongs. To the guys that bust their ass in a business they love. Not in the pocket of a moderate NFL star who is more known for his criminal behavior than talent on a football field.

 

[Kris Benwa]

They didn't give Doug Williams a chance because he got hepatitis. The problem with TNA isnt the quality of the shows because anyone who watches knows besides these past few weeks TNA has been better than WWE since SummerSlam. The problem is that lots of people don't give it a chance people are no longer Wrestling fans they're WWE fans. To them, anything not WWE automatically sucks and is not worth their watch...while they've been the awful shows they were putting on from August-December. I discovered TNA when it was still on Saturday Night and Christian was about to challenge for the NWA title and I checked it out because it said TNA Impact Wrestling and I watched and enjoyed it and have been a fan ever since. More people should give TNA an actual chance instead of saying sucks without watching. While I admit TNA could use some sprucing up in every way, what they need to do is find a way to get more people to watch and I bet they would turn into fans. I guess that's easier said than done but I have some changes I'd like to see made.

Edit: i also like the above post a lot

 

[mlp420]

A lot of people go on about how TNA has all this potential. I really don't understand it. What exactly does potential mean? Since it's a wrestling show and it's on TV we get to decide what rating or buyrates they should have? Based on what? They don't spend $850,000 per episode for production. They don't spend millions of dollars marketing and advertising the product. They haven't been around for 70 years. ECW showed us what happens when you don't have those things no matter how great your in ring product is.

People really need to get a grip. If you had the answers you wouldn't be on a message board, you'd either have your own thriving wrestling company or you'd have a role in a major one. The reason why so many people can't enjoy wrestling today is because they resent the people running things behind the scenes.

 

[ABMorales787]

Jesus Christ, English please.

A) All of these guys turned down TNA making your question pointless.

B) This topic is both beaten to death and horribly written.

Closed.