I Think I'm Becoming A Convert To TNA...But Something Needs To Be Done!

[Low_Ki]

Now bare with me here.

I have been a loyal WWE wrestling fan since I was very young. More recently, the storyline's have got a little better, but the quality of the wrestling hasn't really improved all that much.

I have been watching TNA on and off for about 2 years now and because I no longer have Sky Sports, I have been watching iMPACT on Saturday nights on Bravo.

And I must admit, I am becoming a massive convert to TNA wrestling. AJ Styles and Samoa Joe are vastly becoming two of my favorite guys in the ring, and some of the storyline's are actually quite interesting.

There is however something that is needed to make the product better, and that my friends, is better mic work across the board.

I watch Victory Road and while watching Jeff Hardy's backstage promo with Christy, I got flashbacks of the psycho babble that the Ultimate Warrior used to fill my mind with. He didn't make any sense. Even RVD seemed like his head wasn't in his promo either. Mr Anderson is a natural on the mic and I think people need to learn from him.

Brother Ray's mic work, for all the years he has been in the business was a little poor and if they could polish up on that side of things, I think that the product can be made to be more believable.

I welcome any comments.

 

[BigLuther]

I do agree that RVD and Jeff Hardy are not good talkers. Hardy is actually terrible. One of the worst in the business to listen to. RVD isn't the talker he was 10 years ago, but I don't roll my eyes whenever he gets a mic in his hand like I do with Hardy.

The mic work in general though in the company is pretty good if you ask me. AJ Styles has really become a fantastic promo guy. You got Flair obviously, Lethal is coming along, the Guns are hilarious, and Mr. Anderson doesn't ever seem to miss a beat, and Kurt Angle is always great to listen to. Then you got guys like Morgan, Pope, and Joe (when he does talk) who also do very well. Old guys like Nash, Jarrett and Sting are fine, although they can get a bit wordy.

A lot of the Knockouts in TNA are very charismatic as well. Love, Sky, Rayne, and Tara (working under the assumption she is/will be back) are all just fine to listen to. Can't really say that for the WWE. Really, the mic work in TNA as a whole is better than it is in WWE. Just because RVD and Hardy are bad talkers, doesn't mean the majority of the roster is.

 

[a0161613]

I think for Hardy, AJ would be the person he needs to learn from, having spent most of his career in a similar position. Hardy got by in WWE by having the incredible Punk to bounce off of or Edge, HHH or Orton who could help him.

There is a clear confidence issue and you would think in a less pressure environment like TNA, he would be OK and his experience would get him by.

I'm not surprised you focussed on this. There are worse problems in TNA which are obvious over time. By the product seems to be improving in recent weeks. You should definitely try and catch some of the classic matches from the past.

 

[TellMeWhy]

To be honest, I'd take TNA mic workers over WWE mic workers. I don't think WWE guys are that great on the mic at all.

Cena is cheesy on the mic and always tries to be witty and funny and it doesn't go over. Orton is super boring on the mic. Rey Mysterio is average. Those guys aren't any better than RVD, Hardy, and AJ who btw is still improving on the mic as time goes on.


WWE Side

WWE Vet Mic Workers
-1.Undertaker, 2.HHH, and 3.Regal

Main Event Guys:
-In WWE, I'd say 4.Edge, 5.Big Show, 6.Jericho, & 7.CM Punk are the only ones that are good on the mic in the main event picture.

WWE Midcard:
8. Miz, 9.R-Truth, 10.Cody Rhodes, 11.Christan 12.Santino and 13.MVP.

And then you've got the breakout stars:
-14.Otunga, 15.Wade Barrett, and 16.Tarver (new guys who can carry themselves on the mic)

Divas-
-With the exception of 17.Jillian Hall Laycool aka 18.Layla & 19.Michell McCool, I don't think none of the divas are anything special on the mic to be mentioning.

That's 19 people on the WWE side who can cut promos in WWE.


TNA side

In TNA, you've got the main event guys who can cut promos:
-1.Sting, 2.Angle

Then you've got the vets who can cut promos:
3.Nash, 4.Flair, 5.Raven, 6.Dr. Stevie, & 7.Tommy Dreamer.

Then you've got the upcoming stars:
-8.Pope, 9.Anderson, 10.Doug Williams, 11.Wolfe, 12.Magnus, 13.Matt Morgan

Tag Team Guys:
14.Robert Roode, 15.James Storm, 16.Brother Ray(who is always quite good on the mic), 17.Brother D-Von, 18.Chris Sabin, 19.Alex Shelley

Knockouts:
20.Angelina Love, 21.Velvet Sky, 22.Madison Rayne, and 23.Tara

That's 23 mic workers in TNA that are good.

I think TNA has the upperhand in terms of mic work.

Btw, Notice how I didn't include AJ & Jay Lethal on the TNA side even though some people feel they are good. And also notice how I didn't include Jack Swagger, Dibiase, & Morrison on the WWE side. I think the guys that I didn't include maybe decent and passable but I think there is some work to be done on their side.

 

[Judah's Lion]

I agree up to a point with the OP. I would have to say that with TNA, and WWE for that matter, this is a 50/50 issue.

In both companies you have veterans that are fantastic on the stick. For example:
WWE - HBK (now gone, I know), Triple H, Edge, Christian, Jericho, Regal, Show, etc.
TNA - Hogan, Jarrett, Foley, Sting, Nash, Flair, Angle, etc.

The danger here is that they can dominate the mic time, but generally speaking, they are natural on the mic and are always decent at worst. But usually, quite fantastic.

In both companies, you have guys that aren't quite the "grizzled vets" as listed above, but they've been around awhile and are just naturally charismatic and good on the stick. For example:
WWE - John Cena (love him or hate him, cheesy or not, he is very comfy on the mic), Sheamus (to an extent), Swagger, Orton is pretty believable, Miz, Punk, MVP, R-Truth, Santino, etc.
TNA - Lethal (though they're impersonations, they're spot on and super hilarious), Morgan, even Hernandez, Pope, Anderson, etc.

Sometimes, the gimmick really helps in this category. Look to MVP and Punk for examples here. Punk was not very memorable on the mic as a face, but as a heel and leader of the SES, he's gold. MVP was fantastic as a heel also, but as a face he's just kinda bland. Maybe there's a pattern to this, but I don't think so as I much prefer Big Show as a face on the mic than as a heel. Still, I digress.

Then, in both companies, you've got guys that are gold in the ring and maybe even in crowd reaction, but need a little work (or a lot of work) on the mic. For example:
WWE - Bourne, Kofi, Matt Hardy, Morrison, Mysterio, etc.
TNA - Joe, Styles, Kaz, Jeff Hardy, RVD, Abyss, etc.

So there's plenty of all categories in both companies and this is not limited to just TNA, or so is my opinion. And maybe one fix is the theory "suck less" on the mic trick, but I'm not sure how easy that is to teach. Some guys are just naturals on the mic and some guys just have the gimmicks that make the mic work easier than others.

I think one fix that could solve a lot of problems for both companies is the use of managers, stables and mouth pieces.

For example, when Batista and Orton were younger guys and not much to get excited about on the mic, they had Triple H and Flair as their mouth pieces in Evolution. So we didn't have to focus on their sucky work.

When the Hardy Boyz were in a great and early feud with Edge & Christian, they had Terri Runnels as a valet and mouth piece, and that worked cuz she was pretty good on the mic and they both have sucked for decades now.

Angle as the mouth piece, manager and leader of Team Angle was great because then all we focused on was the wrestling ability of Benjamin and Haas. Once Angle was gone and his mic gold with it, Benjamin and Haas died very slowly because of the lack of mic skills.

Just saying... there is a way to fix this. Remember the old days with huge stables and managers that led them, a la the Heenan Family and Jimmy Hart's group (name escapes me right now)? Several guys that couldn't cut it on the mic got great rubs because they had the managers do their talking for them and it worked. This could help today too, methinks.

Plus, then it'd make sense to have a match end with a run-in as opposed to how it works now. Instead of having some random guy run-in from the back and break up a match, the manager or mouth piece could interfere on behalf of the superstar he/she is representing. Then totally random feuds would happen less and storylines would even make more sense. It's win/win.

 

[snoopy]

I think TNA gets a raw deal on alot of things, such as mic skills or not having any star power!People say that TNA has no star power yet every Impact there's somebody calling a certain match a dream match or they'll be looking at a Impact Card and call it a PayPerView quality card.If they don't have any star power, then why are you complaining about certain matches on Impact!you are not going to buy the ppv anyways.These guys are far more talented then they get credit for including mic skills. they have more than enough guys with good to great mic skills and for people to say RVD is worse on the mic now is crazy,This is the most confident I have ever seen him on the mic he's actually pretty good for his personality.