I Think TNA Needs To Start Fresh with Mr. Anderson

[Jack-Hammer]

Last week on IW, Anderson made his return and set himself up against Immortal. Tonight, we saw him face Kurt Angle for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. This Sunday, he will take part of a triple threat match for the TNA WHC against Kurt Angle & Sting. Ok, now that's all out of the way.

This is just my opinion but Anderson is someone that's just really been weakened a whole helluva lot over the course of 2011 in my eyes. Much of 2010 was spent building Anderson up into a main event guy. Nothing wrong that that as he's got some talent, he got over well with the fans, etc. Ironically, however, Anderson has never been weaker at any point in his career than when he's been TNA World Heavyweight Champion. Both of his reigns, quite frankly, were big letdowns and lessons in mediocrity. Couple that with the time he spent literally whining about wanting his title rematchs and the fact that he basically a lowly stooge that Immortal kept for a few weeks before cutting loose, Anderson is someone that just no longer strikes me as a viable main eventer right now. He went from main eventer to temporary stooge in Immortal all within the span of a few months.

I just don't have any real desire to see Anderson in the World Championship picture right now because, quite frankly, he hasn't looked good at all as champ. As a result, I have no desire whatsoever to see him as TNA WHC right now.

I have little doubt that Anderson won't win at No Surrender. I don't hold it against TNA for bringing him back either. Just makes good business sense. I know TNA brought him back and put him in the picture in hopes of maybe bumping up ppv buys. I understand that and respect that. Just, again in my opinion, it'd be more interesting to see Anderson sort of start over and have TNA work to erase the stains that were his ill fated runs as the top guy in the company.

 

[kor420]

I Know where you're coming from. I Don't hate anderson, but i don't want to see him as champ, well at least not right now. He just doesn't appeal to me as champ. I Don't want to see sing or angle champ neither.

I Would put the strap on bullyray or bobby roode.

 

[MrHashasheen]

Snip

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Jack-Hammer again.

Dammnit, Jack, why must you be one of the most logical posters in these forums?

Anyway, agreed. I haven't been a fan of Anderson since his work with Undertaker and Kane, but he does have his fans and he's not completely mediocre. Rebuilding him would do him some good, but with his feud with Bully Ray, I'm not so sure I want to see him go over Ray. Man's fucking boss.

 

[Azane]

As long as they can keep his character from saying "asshole" 20x to appease the 10-14 crowd, I'm all for it.

He needs to stop face/heel swapping, but TNA is rather notorious for doing this too often.

I think that he's also a victim of the faction control that TNA is playing out for this last year, if you're not feuding or part of Immortal, you can't be ME, and it stagnated Ken to the point of obscurity for a while.

 

[Sub-Xero]

I wholeheartedly agree, I don't see Anderson as being a title contender right now either. He needs some severe rebuild time. Maybe start at the bottom of Immortal and work his way up? Something like what Joe did against the MEM during his Nation of Violence gimmick, except without joining them in a God-awful swerve at the end. I had a thread not too long ago asking if he was over, not "over" in a wrsetling sense, but if his character was done. It seems now that, hopefully, the "asshole" gimmick is over with and he can just go back to being an asshole, not spouting "Asshole."

 

[sweetcosmicpope]

I think I agree. I don't know what the obsession is with turning people left and right.

Keep in mind, I love TNA, but sometimes they just blow my mind.

Mr Anderson was easily the most over guy in the company, and he held the crowds in the palm of his hand. Then they made him a tweener, which leaned towards more of the cowardly aspects of the heels. Then full blown heel, and now he's a face again, but lacks the star power.

I think things would have been much better had his championships been booked better. Have him plotted out as a people champion. Come out with the belt, do the schtick with the microphone, do some comedy bits about his opponents, and then kick some ass. Pretty basic stuff, and very easy money, but somebody in the writing department keeps complicating things more than they should be. It's wrestling, not fucking Tolstoy.

 

[Matisyahu]

I've pretty much lost all interest in Anderson due to the whole "I'm an asshole" gimmick. It got stale very quickly and like someone else said, he just doesn't seem to belong in the main event scene.

The funny thing is when he was in the WWE, it always seemed like he was just on the verge of breaking out and being a potential main eventer but he always seemed to get injured right when he was getting somewhere. At the time I really wanted to see him get that big title shot and although it was pretty much the same character traits, I really dug it at the time.

Years later the gimmick is stale, he has flipped back and forth too much from heel to face, and again he looks just too weak to be credible in the main event picture.

I have to say though I really enjoyed his feud with Sting where he would come out looking like old school Sting and taunt him and the whole interview with Disco and all that was gold. Plus EY as Great Muta was hilarious!

Hopefully Anderson can just take a step back and come up with a way to get some credibility back.

 

[GameOver]

But thats a overall problem with TNA not just Anderson, once again it comes back to poor booking and a lack of care factor in delivery it seems, alot of people are just there for a paycheck and struggle to find the desire to excel (don't blame them) Anderson has no rhyme or reason there anymore, he's not heel, he's not a face it just changes from show to show. Somewhat like Bret Hart was b4 he jumped to WCW they pretty much killed off his face run by having HBK turn face and beat him but didn't allow him to be heel either as he was getting attacked by Austin and other heels aswell as faces.

One day he is immortal winning the title for them, the next impact they dump his as champ and everyone turns on him, yet he's still part of immortal battling faces and now he's only battling Gunner. wtf!!!

WHO THE HELL ARE WE MEANT TO BE CHEERING FOR.

as it stands Anderson is not great anyway but he also has nowhere to go but down i feel, do the hit rock bottom storyline - then atleast they have something to build on. Either that or just have him do a Kevin Nash work shoot saying he stuffed or up or Little Jimmy's were plotting against him.

 

[Alittude]

I like Anderson at the moment and he's currently bad ass and pretty over it seems. This latest storyline has been good for him and it will and already has gotten him over as a babyface. Him and Bully Ray will have an awesome build up and match hopefully at BFG and they can elevate each other. I don't know why anyone would complain about him from the last few weeks maybe before that but it's led to how he is now anyway.

 

[The Dragon Saga]

Mr. Anderson is one of the few guys whose done better in TNA than he did in the WWE. One of the things I dislike is how they put him over in such a huge fashion in the pre-Bound for Glory series Before The Bell and yet when push came to shove they handed him the spot which Jeff Hardy occupated. Hardy taking the spot as the face of the company for one was disheartening to begin with, but over Anderson, whose got more personality than almost any one person on the roster is ludicris.

Anderson isn't one of the best in-ring workers, but his microphone work is sublime. Some people hate him, he's a pompous jackass, supposedly outside the ring and inside the ring, he supposedly plays his character if you will. But you can't question his entertainment value, when he debuted in 2010 I thought it was a great capture for the company and he delivered throughout the year. Giving him the belt was a smart idea but they really cheapened it by getting it back on Jeff Hardy in such a quick fashion.

Mr. Anderson never held the WWE Championship or the World Heavyweight Championship, winning the TNA World Heavyweight Championship was an actual achievement for the guy. It isn't a great achievment for guys like Jeff Hardy, hes held the top belt, it's slipping for him. For Anderson it as being handed the torch. Personally, I agree, everyone should, as the TNA World Heavyweight Champion hes been shit on twice without reasoning and TNA need to decide what alignment they want him to be as well because the tweener tilting over to a face works, the opposite, not so much.

I know Vince Russo has this thing where he can't come to grip that there is one bad guy and one good guy, but for Anderson just make an exception. Let him be in the middle and let him prosper again. Stop doing this angle with him, involving Immortal, and let the guy drop down and feud with an actual decent heel.

Off the top of my head, I know Austin Aries is an X-Division talent but why not have him try and outshine Anderson. You got two of the best microphone workers in the business right there and you have a great heel against a great tweener who can play a seconday face. Matches would be of a good calibure too. Just off the top of my head.

 

[GrandSword]

I don't like Anderson, never have, probably never will. I think he is the definition of overrated and his ttile reigns simply might have been contract obligations. They gave him the ball, and for whatever reason being booking or his own shortcommings, they bombed.

Jackhammer, the man has never striked me as a viable main eventer, and simply got what he did because Hogan thought he was some big time player in WWE when he's really quite mediocre all round and got far more than he deserved when he arrived.

I'd be happy if he was a mid card heel doing his thing and building guys like Pope up to the Main Event. Anderson is an enhancement talent, nothing more.

 

[rondiesel2005]

I think what happen was that the fans were behind Anderson when he arrived in TNA. I think it's the "Asshole" gimmick is what got people thinking that he doesn't seem to be the guy that the company should get behind. I remember reading in the Pro Wrestling magazine about his gimmick, it was something that he wanted to do back in WWE, but the boss was against that idea and I see why.

I know TNA doesn't script the promos, but there are times when Anderson would cut a promo he just rambles on and on. There are times when his promos are good and there are times when his promos are bad. There were fans that started to notice his ring work wasn't that good. I mean the only best feud he has had is with Kurt Angle. Kurt Angle made him look good. I just don't think it's a good idea to put the title back on him again if they aren't going to keep it on him for a long time. They might as well put the TV title on him or something.

I am not sure about a fresh start, but I think they just need to book him correctly instead of rushing him to the main event status.

 

[IT Factor]

The beauty of pro wrestling is that whenever they screwup a good superstar and storyline, they can always start anew and change up what they messed up. While alot of people seem to think Anderson is overrated, I'd say guys like The Pope & RVD are even more so. At least Mr. Anderson's "asshole" gimmick was unique and something that TNA could've built upon and kept as a great neutral character who did his own thing. All Impact Wrestling has to do is keep Anderson winning and let him be himself. The rest will take care of itself.

 

[Straight-Edge]

I agree, TNA needs to take a step back, a deep breath abd rhibk about wgat their're going to do with him. Is he a face?, is he a heel?, is he TNA WHC material?; these are some of the things TNA should be looking at, and they all break down into a thousand other questions. And he is entertaining, TNA have just got to sort him out and stopgiving us whiplash from the amount of face/heel changes he's having.

 

[Vintage]

Anderson was given too much too fast and it was taken away even faster. It's pretty much what would have happened to Pope had he not got injured. It was a blessing in disguise in the long run. Anderson has been TNA's Edge..flip flopping as needed to fill in the blanks in the roster. The only thing they have established is that he's neither good nor bad but out for #1. Now that we understand that he can evolve, and he needs to. Anderson is just a little too vanilla for TNA as is.

However it's not his fault, the Immortal storyline has gone on too long for how bad it is and he's been thrown to the wolves a few times because of it.

 

[Dagger Dias]

Anderson's world title reigns were booked terribly. He does not seem like a threat to the world title despite having held it before. I like his character and want to see him succeed but I do not see it happening. The whole "asshole" thing didn't help him either. He should keep the announcing himself Mr Anderson gimmick but he needs to lose the "I'm an asshole!" phrase and he needs to be booked better too. If his title reigns had lasted longer and he had gotten some good title defences in then things would be different. They can still make a star out of him but starting fresh may not be a bad idea because they tarnished his first world title run completely.

 

[Kenny Powers]

Anderson's character has become stale. His asshole chant did ignite the fans at first, but he hasn't really come up with any new material. He is the same knock off Austin version he has been for years. TNA doesn't know whether to make him a major heel or the face of the company at this point. TNA should just keep him in the upper mid card as a face for now unless they want to revamp his character. How can he still be the " asshole" and the heel leader of Immortal when fans still cheer for him? He needs new material or drop the asshole gimmick if he is ever going to turn again.