I'm officially confused

[Chadmw]

On TNA lately, which group are the faces and who are the heels.

When Bischoff and Hogan are together they seem to be faces and trying to save the company. Yet the Band (Which is officially the supidest name for a faction ever BTW) who seem to be alligned with them (Bischoff at least) look like heels. Also the Nasty boys are coming of like heels, but aren't the dudley boys heels know as well.

Then you have Angle who does semi face-Semi heel speeches, and then AJ who just walks off without shaking hands with Angle after Angle saved him.

And who knows what Foley and Jarett are suppose to be. With Foley it seems to depend on the time of day, he has switched so often since joining TNA it's just to hard to follow.

 

[neildittmar]

TNA is at a very interesting point in its existence right now I think.

1/4 showed that iMPACT will gain substantial additional viewership when people think TNA will raise their game and actively "compete" with the WWE. While they're not currently in a position to win a ratings war, they're begining to establish themselves as a credible threat to the iron grip Vince has had on wrestling (er... sports entertainment) for about a decade now.

So what does this have to do with the blurred line between heels and faces seen prominently as of late?

During the Monday Night War, WCW competed with (and defeated) the WWF in the ratings war using a style of programming called crash TV. When done incorrectly, it is interpreted (and often manifests itself) as poor booking. See the Vince Russo / Ed Ferrara WCW era circa 1999-2000 for a prime example. When done correctly as Bischoff did at the height of the Monday Night War, it tends to keep people interested in the product, the characters, and the storylines. Viewers instinctly want to know what's going to happen next in any program they watch. Crash TV by definition is unpredictable and begs that precise question... "what's going to happen next?"

Until TNA finds it's rhythm with Bischoff and Hogan at the helm, the crash TV style of programming is a good standby while allowing some experimentation with the talent. Angle was portrayed as somewhat of a face last night. It'll be interesting to see how the crowd reacts to that, particularly in the light of AJ Styles showing a little less than sportsmanlike conduct. Are Hogan and Bischoff benevolent leaders who now want to give the boys a chance? Is it all a sham with "the Band" (agreed on bad faction name) really gaining power and running roughshod again? Interesting questions to be sure. Hopefully as the weeks go by, we'll get some interesting answers too.

 

[justinept]

I like that they're blurring the boundaries of heel and face. It isn't black and white with who is a face and who is a heel. Someone might seem like a great guy one minute and a total jerk the next minute. That's life, in my opinion. Most people aren't good all the time or bad all the time. Most people are a mix of both depending on circumstances.

One thing I liked about TNA last night - and this might be the first positive things I've ever said about TNA - was how they are making the Angle/Styles feud seem to a UFC feud. I really like that TNA has adopted that format.

Also - after my scathing take on the 1/4 issue of Impact - I want to say that last night's show was a 150% better. I think if they had put that kind of show on in the first hour of the 1/4 Impact, then a lot of people would have had trouble changing the channel to Raw. It was a lot more wrestling pack - and I could finally understand why TNA fans continually say that TNA is more about wrestling than WWE. It was definitely on display last night... especially in the Young Bucks match.

 

[TheMainEvent]

I agree with the idea of blurring the lines abit because it makes things interesting and compelling. Viewers are more likely to tune in to see if AJ is turning heel or how Angle responds, etc than they would with solid faces like John Cena is on Raw.

Overall, last nights Impact was a good step forward. Everything had a direction and motivation behind whatever actions occured. Angelina returned and attacked because she was upset for being replaced...Dudleys want revenge on Nastys, AJ gets attacked and wants revenge, Jarrett wants power, nWo want to take over, Daniels is upset that new guys will take his spot, etc...Everyone has a purpose and that is something TNA really needed was direction for their roster to work towards. Having Bishoff as a GM role is really doing wonders for TNA. His charisma alone is great but he really shines as the figure head that drives the show.

 

[T2KFreeker]

I'm not confused at all. This last episode of IMPACT! fit like an old T-Shirt you found that you haven't seen in years. You may not know if it will fit, but you get that satisfaction of it doing so when you try it on. "Crash Television" is a great way to describe what last night was all about. It felt that way to me which felt like the old WCW days that I miss as an old school wrestling fan. As for where Jeff Jarrett is going; It's obvious he is heading back down the Heel road, which I always have believed he was good at. When he said that the young guys didn't deserve a chance and he was the reason anyone came to TNA, again, I had to smirk. Really made me remember the old "Chosen One" days when you really could hate Double J. For those of you that missed WCW get ready for one Hell of a ride as I see we just might have the makings of heading right into that direction. Manic and crazy, but with a purpose.

 

[Greenlight13]

Didn't Vince Russo famously say that he believes heels and faces are passe?

I happen to agree with him if he did say it because people aren't like that in real life. As a plethora of philosophers and writers have said over the centuries there is good and evil within us all and nobody is a good guy all the time. I hope we've reached a point where the babyface champion is allowed to not shake his opponent's hand but remain a crowd favourite, otherwise it looks like we've got some growing to do as an industry.

 

[Dowdsy McDowds]

I can understand your confusion Chadmw, but I think a little patience is needed at the moment. As you pointed out TNA has had a lot of new faces come in lately and some still on their way, so it's going to take some time to allow them all to gel and find where they stand. Perhaps because of this is why people are giving off bits of face/heel characteristics so that;
a) it keeps people (like us) guessing
b) it can allow wrestler's who have been one or the other for a long time to play with these new dimensions
c) Hogan and Bischoff can judge how well a wrestler is doing and give them guidance from there.

I wouldn't worry too much about not knowing completely whose doing what at the moment, but I suppose the trick is to keep watching and in time I'm sure the picture will become a lot clearer

 

[mral82]

everybody when they have 2 tunnels @ the entrance. I've know for years which is the face and the heel. By the way LEFT=FACE AND RIGHT=HEEL. TNA has always been like this since they started.

 

[Vintage]

It's a lot better to notice simple things such as which tunnel they come out of as opposed to them pointing out the obvious. If they had a middle entrance for tweeners you probably wouldn't even notice they had the other 2 entrances nowadays .Tweeners make things interesting because you never know which side of the person you're going to see that day or how low desperation makes them go to get to the pay windah

 

[Suneeboy]

Why are you confused? There are no heels or faces as clear cut in TNA as they are in WWE. They are people who have motives. They have agendas. They aren't "bad guys" or "good guys". That is corny, and we need to get out of that way of thinking. We are beyond that now with our television shows and how we perceive characters in entertainment.

You cheer for who you want to or you boo who you want based on if you agree with their actions. You're confused because you aren't thinking outside of the box.

 

[axl626]

It's funny how this seems to be a big complaint about TNA. "You don't know who's a good guy and who's the bad guy!" That's one of the things I love and one of the reasons I think that two guys who are booed can put on a fantastic match instead of trying to out cheat each other. Look at the Daniels/Wolfe match a few weeks back. Fans booed starting out but the match was awesome by the end and they let the wrestlers know it. I hate watching matches in WWE because they are normally insanely predictable. TNA does have a havoc to it which makes it difficult to predict but that much more entertaining.

 

[matman8540]

To further expound the confusion, there were two other matches that blurred, if not totally eliminated the lines between heel & face. Desmond Wolfe vs Samoa Joe, and Beer Money vs Morgan & Hernandez. Here are several things that left me confused:

1. You couldn't tell who the heel or face was in these matches. The singles match was with 2 heels who really didn't act "heelish". The tag match had two face teams, who are going in the same direction towards the tag titles.
2. Neither match served a useful purpose other than throwing them together just for the sake of a match.
3. The losers of the matches would look less than how they're supposed to be perceived.

To expound on #3; Samoa Joe won the Feast or Fired World Title case, and was dominating his match with Desmond Wolfe. But after a few moves, Wolfe won. In the tag match, although there was no winner, Beer Money was not looking good at all in this match. If TNA is supposed to be lauding their core personnel, they didn't do a good job of it.

 

[Platypus Palsy]

Maybe the fans at the Impact Zone have to do with this, they do cheer for whoever the hell they want. I have to say, just cheer for however you want. Just because they might be heel one match and face the next, doesn't mean you can't just cheer for them. I do that myself, just cheer for whoever if I get confused on who is what.