I just don't get it

[wolvdog316]

I can't seem to understand HOW TNA expects to continue to grow and continue to raise revenue so they can stop filming in that shit hole Orlando, by pushing WWE people. It's not like WCW where Hall Nash and Hogan were the most 3 over guys in the company. You had to push them.

I mean take Womens division. Sure its not nearly as good as it used to be. But you bring in a "Diva" ya know, the ones TNA has been airing commercials for saying how bad they were, how they weren't hardcore. You bring in Tara, who I do like, and she dominates your only female stable, and gets a shot at the PPV which she loses. Whats Gail Kim doing in WWE?

AJ Styles is BEYOND over, could sell heating pads to people in Hell, and he STILL doesn't have the World title. That goes to ding ding ding, WWE guy Kurt Angle, who looks like he just got diagnosed with Cancer, or he stopped like Roids. Something.

Don't get me wrong, I love Tara, I love Kurt. Both are the best at what they do. BUT THEY ARE WWE. I want TNA to be TNA. Not WWE part 2. I want to see Daniels, and AJ, and Motor City Machine Guns, and Beer Money (who thankfully won the straps at the PPV)

I just remember turning on TNA and it being different. Being original. Excellent matches, ok storylines, fantastic finishes. Now its...blah like everything else. Pointless swerves that serve no purpose, pointless matches, pointless gimmick matches, top stars stuck in dead end fueds (Daniels), Angles that make no sense, Sting going over Morgan who is supposed to be some kind of Blueprint. I guess they should erase some stuff and fix it right if he can't even beat a 50 year old sting. TNA needs to build their stars.

WWE did it, WCW did it, and now TNA needs to do it. A Hogan or an Austin or even a Rock isn't coming through anybodys curtain right now, so push your stars AJ and Daniels can lead that company. But they won't ever get a chance to show it with Angle and old MEM always at the top.

 

[ECW Dan Selby]

*Sigh*

Get over it. They're pushing those guys because they're bigger names - Fact.

People bitch and moan about Foley/Angle's title reigns, but I ask you to consider this just for one moement:

Take the scenario that you're a wrestling fan who's only known WWE. You check out the TNA roster page and see Foley/Angle as the TNA World Champion. Now, you may not happen to notice Mr Foley or Angle half way down the page if they wern't their flagship champion. It's about getting the word out there.

Yes, of course they have to give the other guys a chance. But to give the other guys a chance, the vets need to have something that the new/younger guys hunger for and strive for.

Besides, most people enjoy seeing someone take the fight then defend, correct?

Selby

 

[Nate DaMac]

WAH WAH WAH! This isn't even remotely original. Face it, TNA needs the WWE faces. They need established faces in the wrestling world so casual fans will tune in. People like you, who only want TNA originals, don't make up the majority of the audience. So if they follow your advice, they would not exist. Besides, the FOUNDER is an ex WWE star. Jesus dude.

 

[Arrynboot]

While I think Selby makes a good point, I still agree with the original poster on this one. The thing that put TNA on the map and made it entertaining in the beginning is that it used fresh new stars and put on great matches, they just aren't doing it anymore.
Sting and Angle aren't gonna be around forever, nor will the rest of the mafia, and TNA are going to need to be ready for that.

 

[MyselfTheThird]

The hiring of Sting and other former WWE guys definitely helped get TNA to where it is today. But the purpose of all that is lost if AJ and Daniels aren't made to be the faces of your company RIGHT NOW. If guys can become established in WWE, they can sure as hell be established in TNA with talent Samoa Joe and AJ and Daniels (I would include Amazing Red in that group, but he needs to be pushed first).

 

[foxhound101]

I think of it this way...These EX-WWE Superstars make their living by wrestling. All of the sudden they are wished well in all of their future endeavors. What if there were no TNA? There would be no more future endeavors to look forward to, and pretty soon, be wrestling in high school gyms all across the land. Now, would you all rather the likes of Kurt Angle, Sting, Victoria, Steiner... and all that have made wrestling what it is today shrivel up and be forgotten in some county fair where they cannot make a living...OR...would you rather they help to build TNA so that people like A.J., Daniels, and beer money can exist???

If you lost your job where you work today, and you started somewhere new you wouldn't want people criticizing you for it now would you? Its the same thing.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I understand where you're coming from. When TNA debuted on Spike, they always touted themselves as being different than the competition and all that. I was sort of excited by the prospect of seeing completely fresh faces, guys I'd never even heard of. However, TNA basically went in the other direction.

I disagree that the WCW and/or WWE guys have made TNA what it is. TNA thought they'd bring in these big, well established names and the ratings would skyrocket but it hasn't been the case at all. TNA still draws only in the low 1s in the Nielsen ratings each week. If they were going to bring in the older crowd, I think it would have been beneficial to their overall product to use these well known names to build up the younger TNA roster. Instead, more often than not, the 40+ crowd routinely dominates the TNA roster.

Ultimately, the question of whether TNA is going to be viable isn't going to be really answered until the audience sees TNA standing on its own two feet without the WWE names. When I watch TNA and see AJ Styles barely holding his own against Kevin Nash, who is nearly 50 years old, slow as hell and is so broken down that he can barely move, it doesn't make me think much of the TNA product. TNA gives these older wrestlers a much lighter schedule, puts them in high profile matches and feuds, pays them substantially more than the younger talent and, more often than not, has the younger talent jobbing to them.

 

[wolvdog316]

I NEVER said TNA didn't need top guys like Angle or Sting? Nah not Sting. But you aren't going to get anywhere when you let a recently release WWE guy, Angle, come into your promotion and literally bitch head butt your #1 badass MFer Joe. You think for one second you'd see Joe brought in to WWE and headbutt Taker? And then BEAT HIM? No way.

Steiner? Nash? These guys can barely walk, yet they are being pushed like they are some kind of unique set of human beings that can't be matched. Steiner and Nash are going to draw people into TNA? Sting? Who looks like crap, and Wrestles like crap, and ALWAYS wins the big one without any buildup at Bound 4 Glory, THATS going to draw people in? Tara? If she winds up winning the womens title down the road, THATS going to draw people?

You don't need big names to draw. You need great storylines. Austin didn't draw anywhere until he become Stone Cold. The Rock was a green nobody face. Didn't draw until he become the pie eating you know the rest. Shawn Michaels was in a tag team. HHH was a jobber, lost to the Godwins, Duke Droese.

What killed WCW was when the nWo went stale, they had nobody to fall back on. People were tired of Hogan, Nash, Sting, Steiner, Luger, Savage, DDP. Well whoops, the only guy you ever made was Goldberg and he couldn't carry it by himself.

I will never say TNA was dumb bringing in Angle. But Joe should have went over. Period. They waited too long to put the title on Joe. By the time he got it nobody cared. The MCMG aren't even fueding with any tag teams, when they are a top 2 tag team. They are in a dead end fued with another tag team trying to beat 1 guy and NONE of them can do it.....See where this is going?

TNAs supposed Blue Print, was just beat by a 50 year old crap looking Sting. Now I don't like Morgan but TNA does apparently. So why have him job to an old guy that hardly wrestles and probably won't be around in a year. Why?

Christian as a face world champion..? Really? Mick Foley....World champion? REALLY? I wouldn't mind that if he pushed some talent..but who did he beat? Sting...Who beat him Angle....If your going to put the title on somebody as useless as Foley is now, let him give a rub to a young kid. Morgan maybe. Not sure

 

[Cheech 72]

Do you think WWE doesn't have old guys either? Triple H and Batista are 40 along with Michaels, Undertaker, and soon Jericho. I agree that Nash and Steiner should stay out of the ring, but when was the last match them or even Booker T won? They have jobbed to everyone in the last few weeks. The reason Morgan lost to Sting was because Joe went into the MEM. That's what you call a storyline. That way MEM can turn on Sting and Joe can feud with AJ Styles and Kurt can feud with Morgan for the title. Therefore, jobbing to Morgan in the long run. If you want predictability watch Raw and Smackdown where you see the same guys in the main event week after week, month after month. You want to see something new and fresh watch TNA. Just because they have old timers, doesn't mean the up and comers dont' shine. That's why they have MEM vs. The Frontline. Old vs. New so people will watch and talk about it instead of people talking about how much it sucks to see another Triple H vs. Orton feud.

 

[LokiCobain]

I mean take Womens division. Sure its not nearly as good as it used to be. But you bring in a "Diva" ya know, the ones TNA has been airing commercials for saying how bad they were, how they weren't hardcore. You bring in Tara, who I do like, and she dominates your only female stable, and gets a shot at the PPV which she loses. Whats Gail Kim doing in WWE?

AJ Styles is BEYOND over, could sell heating pads to people in Hell, and he STILL doesn't have the World title. That goes to ding ding ding, WWE guy Kurt Angle, who looks like he just got diagnosed with Cancer, or he stopped like Roids. Something.

AJ is BEYOND over with people who already watch TNA. Making him champion will stop the growth because he's not a name that people would recognize. WWE has had a monopoly on wrestling for so long that anyone who can be recognized had to have come from WWE. Kurt Angle's growing the hair for a movie he's in, but good work sounding like a heartless asshole haha.

Don't get me wrong, I love Tara, I love Kurt. Both are the best at what they do. BUT THEY ARE WWE. I want TNA to be TNA. Not WWE part 2. I want to see Daniels, and AJ, and Motor City Machine Guns, and Beer Money (who thankfully won the straps at the PPV)

So you want TNA to crumble? haha good thing you're not in charge. Were not all of those guys on the PPV card, and always are? Booker, Steiner, and Nash all were off the card.

I just remember turning on TNA and it being different. Being original. Excellent matches, ok storylines, fantastic finishes. Now its...blah like everything else. Pointless swerves that serve no purpose, pointless matches, pointless gimmick matches, top stars stuck in dead end fueds (Daniels), Angles that make no sense, Sting going over Morgan who is supposed to be some kind of Blueprint. I guess they should erase some stuff and fix it right if he can't even beat a 50 year old sting. TNA needs to build their stars.

Pointless swerves? Are they pointless because they aren't predictable? Would Donald Trump buying, and then selling Raw the following week qualify as a pointless swerve?

You're also following a scientific no-no of n=1. "Top stars stuck in dead end feuds"...he had one match with 3 weeks of build up...that's not stuck in a dead end feud. You can't make an over generalization on one PPV or episode of Impact or incident. The feud will be forgotten ultimately, but for now, it's a way to attract fans to the product. It was a way to get a younger star over on an established veteran that could draw for a PPV that TNA wants to be considered one of their big 4. Kurt Angle is arguably the best wrestler/superstar in the world, so it does make sense. AJ and Joe can't draw. Kurt Angle can.

The Matt Morgan thing shows you don't know what you're talking about. Sting had to use his finisher three times to put Morgan away. By having a tough match against one of the all-time greats, win or lose, it helps you build credibility. If the veterans lose all the time, then there's no use for a rub, because the old guys looked like washed up has beens. This is a fundamental aspect of the business.

WWE did it, WCW did it, and now TNA needs to do it. A Hogan or an Austin or even a Rock isn't coming through anybodys curtain right now, so push your stars AJ and Daniels can lead that company. But they won't ever get a chance to show it with Angle and old MEM always at the top.

n=1 again. "MEM always at the top"...it's a recent stable, and the title was just in the hands of Foley, who's not in the MEM.

Angle and old MEM aren't always going to be at the top, but they need to be so that the company can expand and so that when AJ and Joe do win, they're elevated by defeated greats, not has beens. You're thinking incredibly short term and that's a terrible business strategy. With Joe aligning with the MEM, it makes him look great. They're setting up an AJ vs Joe down the line. If it was Front Line vs MEM, then once the MEM retired, we'd just have a bunch of faces who are all friends. Morgan and Joe are the future heels of the company, but that takes time. Nobody cared about the Rocky Maivia when he debuted, and no one cared about Stunning Steve Austin. Things take time to develop and don't happen over night. The last time a company tried making things happen over night, they competed for a couple of years and then it was all over.

Another thing, if you're a fan of wrestling, it doesn't matter who the champion is. This last PPV was one of the best I've seen in a long time from any company, and my least favorite match was the main title one. The main event draws the fans who don't follow TNA, and everyone else steals the show. Every. single. time. It's fixed, being champion is nothing more than business strategy. The honor is that you can carry the company further than it's been, and AJ can't do that right now.

I'm tired of hearing people say that AJ "deserves" the title, as if putting the belt on him means anything in actuality. William Regal has been in WWE longer than AJ has TNA, should they just throw the title on him and say "thanks for the hard work"? It's stupidity. People are tired of seeing John Cena as champion, but he sells. Jeff Hardy sells. CM Punk sells. Rey Mysterio sells. These are all guys that get over with the fans, and have a large fan base, sometimes those fan bases being larger than TNA as a whole. It's a business, and they have to think long term. Nobody deserves anything in this business. You can be a 30 time champion but be nothing compared to a guy like Mr. Perfect who never won. It's a prop and a business strategy.

 

[mozenwrath]

You can be a 30 time champion but be nothing compared to a guy like Mr. Perfect who never won. It's a prop and a business strategy.

I just gotta correct you on this last bit. Curt Hennig was a former AWA world champion, a former NWA world champion, a former WCW world tag team and US champion, a 2 time intercontinental champion,and is in the WWE hall of fame.

 

[LokiCobain]

I just gotta correct you on this last bit. Curt Hennig was a former AWA world champion, a former NWA world champion, a former WCW world tag team and US champion, a 2 time intercontinental champion,and is in the WWE hall of fame.

I meant WWE or WHC champion. He was listing guys like Khali had won the title, but that means nothing when a guy like Perfect hasn't.

 

[GameOver]

The WWE/WCW have held the company up despite the TNA Leadership/Production having NFI what they are doing from minute to minute, the only thing that is saving them is WWE is in a rutt.

Also to note atleast half of those WWE guys were ECW originally not WWE, WWE put them on the world map and TNA has done little to enhance them any further

I'm sorry to anyone who doesn't agree but X-Division (not taking away from there athleticism) which is pretty much what TNA was built on was exciting but it didn't last, they have no ring psychology bar a few people it's all about hitting spot after spot that everyone gets up from and then suddenly something actually finishes the match thats plain dumb. Not to mention every X-Division match is contested between the same 6 guys usually in a fatal fourway Zzzzzzz So much for we do less gimick matches like WWE

The naysayers will see what really exists in TNA when there is no tried and tested "Over" guys left.

Anyway now they are obviously heading towards an ECW invasion style TNA.

 

[ECW Dan Selby]

Anyway now they are obviously heading towards an ECW invasion style TNA.

Really? That's news to me.

Selby

 

[LokiCobain]

I'm sorry to anyone who doesn't agree but X-Division (not taking away from there athleticism) which is pretty much what TNA was built on was exciting but it didn't last, they have no ring psychology bar a few people it's all about hitting spot after spot that everyone gets up from and then suddenly something actually finishes the match thats plain dumb. Not to mention every X-Division match is contested between the same 6 guys usually in a fatal fourway Zzzzzzz So much for we do less gimick matches like WWE

That's for the most part been recently due to the story-line with Suicide, and I don't know how much longer they can do this unmasking bit with Lethal Consequences and MCMG. I enjoy the spot fest, and it's pretty much what you expect from the smaller guys. They've been opening the past few PPVs with the X-division match, probably because it's entertaining and starts off the show on a high note. But, besides the LC, MCMG, and Suicide, the X-division only has Amazing Red who just returned, Daniels and AJ who are more than likely going to stay in the "big leagues", Bashir and Kyoshi who are in the British Invasion angle (and Magnus, who's in that angle), and the No Limit tag team that Kyoshi is supposed to run, who are barely on television. They're either going to have to bring in fresh bodies (Homicide or outside guys like Shannon Moore), or end the obsession with unmasking suicide storyline or "World Invasion" storyline against 3D. Their World X Cup would be next July, so it would be silly of them to have all the "nationality" angles now, when they can just wait til then.