What's wrong with a reset button. TNA(Impact Wrestling) is advertising the start of this and the start of that and promoting a this is wrestling campaign. What better way then for having them show who's the best by a series of wrestling matches to claim vacated belts.
Why does a renewed focus on in-ring action call for the vacating of all titles? One of the biggest complaints against TNA through the years has been their failure to stick to storylines/angles and display consistency and continuity. While you may think this is a good idea, tons of other people would start bitching about how TNA once again didn't see things through and started all over.
All decisions an entertainment company makes have to be designed to try and satisfy the most people possible. The fusion of a new wrestling-centric product with the continuity of existing storylines and champions is the best way to hold one audience while hopefully adding to it.
I mean Sting and Anderson kind of have something going but I rather see a tournament to crown a new champ(Eventhough unfortunately that happened last year) or a King of the Mountain match to crown a new champ.
What would this really accomplish? Wouldn't Anderson be a likely candidate to win that vacated title anyway?
By killing this story, all you'd do is waste months of build-up to only end up where you probably will be after Slammiversary with the match booked as it is. I know people want to throw Styles or Angle or Roode into the title mix, but Sting is still "The Icon" and deserves a chance to drop the belt and put Anderson over with some dignity. His ring work might be slipping, but he can still promote the hell out of a match.
Plus, Anderson could really use the win over Sting to legitimize himself as a true franchise guy for TNA. Even if he doesn't win the match cleanly, standing across the ring from a legend in a PPV Main Event for the World Title is a pretty big moment for the guy's career and I think an important step in his progress.
But the rest of the belts in my opinion and I'm stressing opinion have little to no direction or feud emphasis and I think doing this "reset" will actually give the writers and fans to put things into perspective and actually build wrestlers wanting to get what originally mattered in wrestling and that is to become a champion.
But I mean a big majority of opinions on this post have been pretty much to get everything a new perspective. I never said rest feuds cause some are keepable but hey lets go ahead and put perspective on belts which is what wrestling was essentially all about.
I could see your point if the existing champions were trash, but aren't Beer Money and Kazarian pretty worthy of the titles they hold? Like my point with Anderson; wouldn't you want them involved in the mix for those same belts if they were vacant? Why go through the hassle of vacating them when you can just book some new feuds with worthy challengers? The champions aren't the problem.
Now as for Gunner and the Television Title, that might be an opportunity. However, I think Gunner was fairly impressive in his match with Daniels recently and it's up to the company to give him more to do. But even if it was a good idea to get the belt off him, what makes more sense? Should you draw it out with a tournament, or just have someone like Crimson beat Gunner for the belt and then go into a new feud? Wouldn't the payoff be greater at Slammiversary if the title was involved in an actual feud than just a series of matches? The biggest payoffs in wrestling come from feuds and storylines. The best in-ring action against totally random opponents can't touch showdowns between rivals.
Also, if Foley just stepped in and stripped a title from a member of Immortal, it would completely killed any credibility Hogan or Bischoff have. What would even be the point of having them or Immortal if someone can just strip titles off their guys? I think it's best that Foley's power be limited to signing matches, just to preserve some sense of legitimacy for the guys "running" TNA.
Once again it goes back to doing what the other company is not. If Impact Wrestling focuses on thereselves and not WWE they'll do better in the long run.
This is such a weak and tired complaint. You can occasionaly make a comment or even mock something someone else did (e.g. "3-3-11" promo) without being "focused" on them. Besids, the only people who even bother to bitch about this are WWE fans who also happen to watch TNA. People who prefer TNA either love it when they take a shot at the WWE or simply don't give a shit.
Also, how different do you really think a wrestling product can be? X-Divisions and six-sided rings are just window dressing. Wrestling will always be about the same types of stories involving the same themes. It all comes down to who does it BETTER, not who does it differently. There were no real stylistic differences between the WWF and WCW during the Wars. WCW took control when they were telling the best story; the nWo takeover and Sting's rise as the avenger. They lost the battle when the better story became the rebellious Stone Cold's rise to power and war against Vince McMahon. It's really that simple.
Also why not suggest cleaning out people who aren't being used on their roster? If TNA(Impact Wrestling) needs to free up money then release people you don't need.
Do you know that TNA needs to free up money? Why call for guys to lose their jobs when you have no idea what the financials of the company look like? That's just ignorance.
Now I'm not saying getting rid of all the people over 40 cause I'm a huge Angle and Sting fan but there are other wrestlers who aren't doing a damn thing that are kept under contract when you got people like Jay Lethal who should still be with the company. I mean people like Rob Terry and Orlando Jordan to name a few haven't done anything worthwild then being useless lackies. Sure Terry joined Immortal late last year but since then he's been their jobber boy who hasn't given much to storylines. Same with Gunner and Murphy(despite the fact that Gunner is the TV Champ right now).
If Immortal is going to be this big bad group that is supposed to run TNA then please put wrestlers that actually cause you to worry in your stable. The fact that Ric Flair had to join Bully Ray, Matt Hardy, and Abyss at Lockdown says something. There's plenty of other heels that could of filled some Immortal spots to make them look like a dominant stable. And before anybody draws nWo comparison keep in mind there was still at least ten dudes you'd be intimidated by before they recruited their occasional jobber.
Buddy, Jay Lethal was overrated. He couldn't draw flies if he'd been dead for a week. When he wasn't doing Savage or Flair impressions he had no charisma. His ring work was great, but ultimately he was good for nothing more than being a warm body to work X-Division matches.
As for your points about Immortal and its lackies, you can't have all of the good heels on one team. And really, what current heel could you add now that would be better than Bully Ray? I can only think of The Pope. And if you cut guys like Terry and Gunner to add more, who's left? Steiner? British Invasion? If all the good heels are in Immortal, then you'll have people complaining about how Immortal is in every match/storyline the way the nWo used to be.
I agree with you that they need a franchise guy as a heel. But unless you were going to give The Pope a massive run as the head of Immortal, sort of like when The Rock was the top dog in The Corporation, then there's nobody better than Bully Ray at the moment. You'd have turn Robert Roode, Anderson, or someone else heel.
Especially since TNA doesn't have the big bucks like WWE or the past WCW it's not a horrible idea to trim the fat until you become a company that can benefit from having a large roster.
Do some research on "Panda Energy" and then decide if you should keep worrying about TNA's money situation. You'll be surprised what you find out.
But you have to crawl before you can walk and that's what Dixie Carter, Hulk Hogan, and Eric Bischoff need to realize at their moment. Yeah they have big dreams and whose to crucify them for that but you set minor achievable goals before you snatch that preverbial brass ring. Here's hoping this Thursday proves to show them moving in that direction.
What's the immodest goal that TNA has right now? From what I can tell, they're just trying to produce a weekly two-hour show with monthly PPVs. They realized the mistake of the Monday night move and went back to what they needed to do. Where are their expectations out of whack?
), but someone who can put on a damn fine show in the ring.