If Not Sting, Who Else?

[Henhouse]

Some...most...A large group of wrestling fans consistently criticise TNA Wrestling's storylines and suchlike. Some are not happy with Sting holding the TNA World Championship, so I'm going to ask you this, out of the TNA Roster right now...who do you think should be the World Champion?

Styles? Joe? Daniels? These are the answers most will say, but what about guys who are okay, and with some good booking could be better...Eric Young, *grimace* Matt Hardy...Robert Roode?

Surpise me with your answers, you lovely internet people? Who should be TNA Champion?

 

[TheFranchise]

Personally Id love to see Roode break free and make a run at the HWC in TNA. Maybe its me being a super fan, or just wanting to see something different, but I do like what I see in the ring from him.

 

[hatehabsforever]

Anyone on their roster under the age of 50 who is still able to move. A face AJ Styles would be a logical place to start, he should be the John Cena of TNA.

Morgan, Pope, Roode, shit even Anderson or RVD or Angle. Gotta start getting younger, WWE has proven it works.

 

[Iversen]

I've said it plenty of times but Roode screams champion to me. Personally I think an Immortal person needs to be holding it at the moment. They have all the power yet they've only succeeded in getting the TV title which no one gives a shit about? Not using it very well then are they.

Unfortunately they don't have anyone who really adds prestige to it. Although Bully Rays getting there. Therefore if it has to be a face then actually I'd keep it with Sting... Kinda pointless me answering this question but I think Sting adds stability and prestige to the title which it's been lacking recently. They need a constant steady champ who everyone knows and respects. Sting in a nutshell.

 

[Chess]

Personally I would like to see Angle put back into the Title equation. Angle is the best wrestler around inside the ring and can also play both a heel and a face with the mic. I think this could be Angles last run as Heavyweight Champion so after defeating the likes of Bully Ray, RVD and Sting he could put on stellar matches against Robert Roode to bring him more recognition as a real title contender. After that I would have him drop the belt to AJ who should cement his place as both the present and the future of TNA and all professional wrestling.

I would hate to see Morgan as Champ as for me he is only average in the ring and on the mic, however I believe Hogan could very well put the title on him in the near future.

 

[ltrav1984]

would like to see joe with the strap as he hasnt had it for quite a while saying that, he hasnt been around the title picture for quite a while. I wish they would drop this joe/pope storyline too its really boring now

 

[BritishLion]

The answer is simple:AJ Styles. Then Daniels can win the TV title and Fortune will hold all the gold. AJ deserves it and it can happen at the end of the Fortune/Immortal feud. Anderson's not that good in the ring IMO and RVD's a bit old and uninspired IMO. Kurt Angle could win the gold but I'd rather he help the younger guys.

 

[Azane]

Stings better than the previous champions with their Drug addictions.

AJ Styles should still be the face of TNA, He's their most talented original, and definitely deserves to hold the strap for a long time, his last run was mediocre, but it was mostly because he turned into Ric Flair jr. instead of being himself for half of it.

Another man I'd love to see run with the title is Matt Morgan, he's lost a lot of steam this year, but he was HOT around a year ago, and I love his promo style, he made solo holding the tag titles interesting.

I can't think of a strong heel right now, maybe Anderson making a full heel turn would be fine, but Immortal is pretty weak right now, so the heel side of things, theres not many I'd like to see, Abyss was the only one I'd kind of nudge towards champion, but not after Abyssamania, that gimmick + THEY ruined his career. Bully Ray... I see him holding the belt once, sometime this year, even though I'm not a fan they've put a lot of wind under his sails this past few months.

 

[Big Nick Dudley]

Personally, I have no problem with Sting holding the belt, at this point in time. TNA hasn't made much of an effort to boost, or promote, guys like A.J., Morgan, Williams, Magnus, Joe, Pope, etc. With that being said, Sting is logical.

Huge name, at least equal to Kurt Angle. In terms of active wrestlers, Sting and Angle make the most sense, given TNA's unwillingness to promote younger wrestlers as it relates to carrying the show. Some think Sting is finished, and I think it's getting close. However, he hasn't been given the opportunity to have a lengthy one-on-one contest in quite some time, so in my eyes, that opinion is nothing more than an assumption. I guess I need to see Sting go 20-30 minutes to see what he has left.

Character wise, he's more interesting than RVD. Rob can't cut a promo to save his life, and outside of being a pothead, he doesn't have a character. Anderson annoys me, beyond belief, so personally, I'm glad he isn't champ. Until Sting shows his ass, blows a match, fucks up big time, I have no problem with him holding the strap, regardless of his age.

 

[Good Golly It's Ollie]

A face AJ Styles would be a logical place to start, he should be the John Cena of TNA.

Morgan, Pope, Roode, shit even Anderson or RVD or Angle. Gotta start getting younger, WWE has proven it works.

Damn right, AJ is great in the ring plus he's over like a boss, not to mention most fans view him as one of the cornerstone TNA stars.

A lot of people suggest Robert Roode; while he's awesome, I prefer him and James Storm together. The Beer Money tag team is just too good to break up.

Morgan is a potential candidate, he's charismatic and he can play either face or heel very effectively, and the same applies to both the Pope and Mister Anderson, so I pretty much agree with all your choices apart from RVD, who I don't feel brings anything unique like he used to. He's not really slowed down in the ring; kudos to him for that, but as Big Nick said, his character isn't very expansive.

I happen to be a big fan of Douglas Williams but he too will be getting older within a couple of years. Maybe Magus could be built up? He's really quite young and while he doesn't seem to be anything particularly special, his most recent promo was intriguing with the whole "Yeah, you're good, but not as good as me" catchphrase he had going on.

I really like Sting and despite never being mad into WCW he was always a guy whose matches I checked out. However, everyone has their time run up and Sting doesn't seem to be working top-tier scale matches at the moment, which a World Champion needs to be able to do. I think Sting at this point, while he's in excellent shape for a man his age, is still going to be slower and more fragile than the youngsters.

 

[CelticCorey]

In a perfect world for me, Douglas Williams would be TNA World Champion. But realistically I want to see Anderson get a real, actual run this time. I've been against Sting's run since day one and it's just gotten blatantly annoying since then.

 

[GrandSword]

The thing is the way TNA is booked at the moment where it hasn't been building any of it's younger guys up, Sting is the best choice. Hell even Angle has been de-pushed with his constant losing streak to Jarrett. AJ is once again being slowly built up again. If the bookers have him defeat Ray in their match then he can lead the charge, but with Sting as Champ TNA needs to drop the belt to a heel. Sting needs to be defeated by a heel and have him hold the belt for awhile.

The thing is TNA does not have strong heels at the moment since they lost Jeff Hardy and Abyss has been made a fool. All the top contenders seem to be faces. RVD, Morgan AJ etc. A year ago The Pope had a strong push I was hoping he was to be the man of the future for TNA but he like everyone else got de-pushed.

Sting is the best choice as Champ at the moment,, next being RVD and AJ but as I said a heel needs to be the next one to win the title for good story telling.

 

[SpecialFNK]

I say Kurt Angle. he can actually wrestle in the ring so the wrestling fans should be happy. he is also well known by general wrestling fans so would also help in ratings.
he is someone Americans can call a real champion, true face.
unfortunately he is stuck in a useless feud with Jeff Jarrett. even if he wasn't in a feud with Jarrett, TNA could probably throw him in with the anti American group of Mexican-American and feud with Hernandez, just because Angle is well known American wrestling hero.

Robert Roode is someone who in the future has the talent to be champion, but I think that is a ways off. he would first have to get out of Beer Money. however that happens doesn't really matter. then he is probably going to have to wrestle in singles for months to build him up as a serious championship contender. since Fortune is a big group right now with both Roode and Storm as the tag team, I don't see Roode as a singles wrestler anytime in 2011.

 

[He's Phenomenal]

Gotta start getting younger, WWE has proven it works.

I’m not sure how they’ve proven it works when their finances and ratings are on the decrease (judging by what you read). The ratings usually go up when an old guy (Rock) is scheduled to appear. That tells me that it hasn’t worked.

To the original question: I’m enjoying the Stingers run at the moment but I would like to see Mr Anderson regain the World Title at some stage, maybe at Slammiversary? I'm pretty sure Anderson will regain the Title at some stage and I cannot wait. But having Sting as the Champion at the moment is just fine.

TNAs problem (but also their main strength) is the fact they’ve built so many good characters that the fans are attached to. Therefore if one of their (a fans) guys is not the Champion, they are not going to be happy. But that’s where TNA have done well, because who ever is Champion there will be big fans of that guy (some may criticise Sting, others love him - listen to the reactions he gets). There are at least 10 guys in TNA that could easily be World Champion at the minute IMO. My top five choices (in this moment of time) would be:

1) Mr Anderson
2) Rob Van Dam
3) Bully Ray
4) Sting
5) Matt Morgan

Somebody else could write a top 5 and it may be completely different to mine. Then someone else could do one and it would be completely different to the other guys. TNA just has a vast amount of 'over' guys. Look at the guys I've missed on my list - AJ Styles, The Pope, Kurt Angle etc. No matter who TNA use as their World Champion, there will always be some fans who like someone else more. And that’s testament to TNA and the way they portray their characters.

 

[It's Damn Real!]

Anyone on their roster under the age of 50 who is still able to move. A face AJ Styles would be a logical place to start, he should be the John Cena of TNA.

Morgan, Pope, Roode, shit even Anderson or RVD or Angle. Gotta start getting younger, WWE has proven it works.

No they haven't. They've proven their name will sell whatever they package, be it Randy Orton, Kofi Kingston, a midget parading as a leprechaun or Mr. Hanky the Christmas Poo himself — so long as the WWE machine is behind it, they can make a star out of anyone by association alone.

Granted, I don't watch WWE anymore, but last I was watching guys like Swagger were champion. Is he a multi-time champion main-eventing today? If not, he's hardly a success, and certainly no worse-off than AJ Styles is, since people love to bring up how he was champion and is now slotted down in the card.

Sting works as champion. There's nothing wrong with it. He performs his job adequately and his name and face value alone are worth tuning in for.

That said, he's a temporary solution to a larger issue that'll be solved by continuing to build a few of TNA's talents into full-time main event players, not the kind born overnight because they won a briefcase and cashed it in when their opponent was battered and bruised — see Anderson, Morgan and AJ Styles.