Is it "cool" to hate TNA?

[a0161613]

I know that they deserve some of the criticism that they get. With their unusual booking practices, the Impact Zone and how they use their talent, it is no surprise that they get more than their fair share of bad mouthing from people who think they could do better.

But I don't know if it is just me, but people seem to have such a go at TNA that they don't notice the gems that go underneath the radar because they focus on the negatives.

Now TNA vs WWE was only going to end one way but it seems WWE have upped their game as a result. Now even though TNA's ratings have suffered, shouldn't we be glad that they tried? That they had the balls to do it? That they know what to do better if they were to do it again?

My question is; do you watch TNA to see what they are doing wrong or are you a genuine fan who wants to see them prosper and emerge as a genuine threat, a genuine alternative product?

 

[Jack-Hammer]

For most of the time I've watched TNA, which is been about 4 years now, I think that they've had a decent thing going. I don't believe it's ever been as good as some have hyped it to be, at least not while I've been watching. I've watched it because I thought it was ok, it did a lot of things differently than the WWE and I watched it because it is something of an alternative.

However, TNA has most definitely regressed over the course of this year. If I thought TNA was phenomenal, I wouldn't be the least bit worried about whether I was percieved as being "cool" for my position or not. The criticism that TNA has been taking for quite a while now is still not nearly as harsh as the criticism I saw the WWE getting throughout much of last year. I think there's a possibility that some posters do bash TNA as it seems to be fashionable at the moment, but I honestly don't think that applies to the vast majority of criticisms. When Hulk Hogan came to TNA, I think a lot of fans were hoping to see TNA go to the next level. I can't count the number of posts in the TNA section after January 4th praising TNA and how it was going to go head to head with WWE and win. Not only did TNA not rise to another level, it lost a good portion of its audience and the quality in just about every aspect of the TNA product from the matches to the characters to the X-Division declined severely in the eyes of many.

I do want to see TNA succeed as it means good things for anybody that's a fan of wrestling, is a wrestler or wants to be a wrestler. However, wanting to see TNA doesn't mean one should pretend that what they're seeing out of them is quality if they honestly don't believe it is. There's hardly anything happening in TNA right now that I enjoy, or have enjoyed for a long while now. But, I do have hope that things can turn around and that's the primary reason I have kept watching. But, I have to admit that I am starting to get extremely tired of TNA.

As for TNA's failure to compete head to head with the WWE, it's a bit of a mixed bag. On one hand, I do admire TNA for trying but at no time did I really believe that they were ready. I think a big cause of why so many people are happy to have seen TNA fail is due to all the smack that TNA threw towards the WWE. Bumpin' uglies is a part of competition and that's all well and good, but you also have to expect some ridicule if you're not able to back up what you boast. And, at times, a few people on the TNA roster made some pretty damn big boasts.

 

[jaywalkingbackwards]

is it too "cool" to hate tna? if by too cool you mean, weak storylines, quick matches, old has-beens, wwe rejects ging over tna talent, fighting over wwe hof rings, over saturated hogan-ess, and vince russo writing is "cool" to hate, then yes, my friend. tna IS in fact "cool" to hate.

 

[shattered dreams]

I do not know about cool but some people are clearly getting on the trendy bandwagon of picking apart every single thing that could be better in TNA theoretically. The ill-fated comments surrounding WWE surely did not help but maybe the oddest part about the trend is that those hating do not even compare the TNA product to the WWE product. They mostly compare it to what they think TNA should be. This is one of TNAs big problems. They have upset the more indy side of their fanbase and they are all playing fantasy booking audience of one with the product while the WWE mainstream fans have not crossed over because they got more entrenched during the "war." All this second guessing and complaining is absolutely distracting from some of the more interesting things TNA has going for them.

 

[Ruthless-RKO]

I don't always approve of their storylines, i mean abbysamania, fighting over the rings, and that was after hogan era, i think before they still had some stupid ideas, but they've hit the iceberg...and just like the titanic, if they continue, they will sink...

I have been watching TNA since their first show in 2002, but never have i watched it as a threat or competitor to WWE, they were always different to WWE..and i liked it...but recently, the comments, 'we will be number one promotion', hogan owns vince...they starting to act just like how WCW acted...

but i still enjoy some wrestlers e.g. Sting, Angle, Styles etc..

 

[pgerasucks]

is it too "cool" to hate tna? if by too cool you mean, weak storylines, quick matches, old has-beens, wwe rejects ging over tna talent, fighting over wwe hof rings, over saturated hogan-ess, and vince russo writing is "cool" to hate, then yes, my friend. tna IS in fact "cool" to hate.

you are exactly who this thread is pointed towards.you say they have quick matches if any company has quick matches its wwe there matches range from 2 to 3 minutes tops,also you say fighting over wwe hof rings when it was the pro wrestling hall of fame they were fueding over and that storyline is pretty much over,and yeah maybe people like the pope and anderson may have been let go by the wwe but that doesnt mean that since they got fired from the wwe that it has to be the end of there wrestling career and tna is the next biggest orginization in the u.s. so yeah thats most likely were the misused stars with all the potential in the world will end up,dixie is all about the fans and she does what the fans want thats why they havnt been using hogan as much as of lately and cant remember if it was last week or the week before but hogan wasnt even on the show.all the stuff that people complain about is hogans ideas and honostly i dont think hogan will be there much longer,when dixie decides what happens on the show it always good......and yes the trend right now is to bash tna for no apparent reason other than wanting to be cool on the internet when in all reality you just come off as imature when you dont watch the show but you still go on the internet and bash the show

 

[Vintage Nick]

I don't think it's "cool", but it's more of complaining about the product because...well look at it, the product sucks right now. I remember two years ago when I was really interested in TNA and used to watch it every week. Now ever since this year, I could hardly stand to watch it. The storylines get lost one week and brought up the next, the new nWo is not doing any wonders, and TNA has lost a lot of its luster.

Sure, new starts are being brought up...but then being quickly shot down by the older guys. What's with Samoa Joe? They keep fucking up his character every week. The MotorCity MachineGuns? What happened to their title shot? Desmond Wolfe was the next best thing in TNA after his main-event worthy feud with Angle, but then quickly turned into Abyss's bitch.

I can't really stand TNA anymore to be quite honest.

 

[Sandpiper]

You are perceiving the people that bash it (smarks) as actually being "cool". That was your original mistake. Correction: it's nerdy to hate TNA! It's cool if you are 8 years old to like John Cena. It is not cool however to be 23 years old, giving a match a star rating, living at home and watching Japanese wrestling tapes in your parent's basement

 

[Suneeboy]

It's not that it's "cool" to hate TNA, it's just that more people are comfortable voicing their opinions on how bad TNA is right now, because the floodgates have been opened, and the awful job that they are doing is obvious.

Cool is certainly the wrong word to use in this instance, even if the word is thrown in between quotations. There is a large bandwagon population though, in similar fashion to the bandwagon that bashed the WWE unmercifully over the past year, and heading into Wrestlemania. The TNA Hate Train is picking up steam with every passing iMPACT, because the programming gets worse each week. I actually haven’t watched it in weeks…it’s for a lack of a better word, completely “unwatchable”.

Misery loves company, and the bad always over shadows the good, especially when there appears to be more bad than good. It is not “cool” to hate TNA, but when you look at the big picture, is their really much to enjoy right now? Anyone can just turn on the television and see how dreadful the product is, so while there may be a bandwagon of people voicing their opinion, I do not think that is the result of trying to “fit in” with the community.

All it takes is a person to voice their opinion, then the others who are shy to let their voice be heard begin to come out of the woodworks in hordes.

TNA is fully aware of the distaste of their product by the fans. Will they do something about it is a different story. When I look at TNA from a year ago, to the TNA of now they have regressed on entertainment value 10 fold. Even as short as 6 months ago.

It all went downhill when they turned the face of their company (AJ Styles) into a cowardly heel, and pushed a semi-******ed man as an unstoppable force with a magical ring.

 

[maar130]

I think that the criticims it receives is way too much. I mean we would like for it to do better, but you also has to take on account that is a company that is not even a decade old. I mean, It took years for the WWE to consolidate itself and even when they were 50 years old, WCW was giving them a run for their money.

TNA is not being the best it can be, that is for sure, but the company needs to grow and made more mistakes, mistakes even bigger than the ones most people like to point out.

I mean, a lot o people does not like Hogan all ove the place, personally I hate that, but looking from business perspective, he is the Household name of TNA, it was worth the shot to use him as mucha s they can, of course, after a month it is better to check if its helping you to put a guy who is not even active at almost every segment of the show, but it was worth the try.

The model of WWE lite-semi-attitude-era-semi-ecw they try to take at some times could be good but at the same time it takes away the escense of what TNA was, or at least want they want us to believe it was about.

The thing is TNA far from perfect, yes but still has a lot of time to develop.

So with all that rant for me It is not "cool" to hate TNA, I don't know why it would be cool to hate a company that serves as an alternative for talent to work with and as an alternative for the fans.

 

[hatehabsforever]

No, I don't believe for one second that it's "cool" to hate TNA. The way I see it, people are free to like, or hate, whatever they so choose, as long as there's some logic or reason to their thinking.

Any hatred directed at TNA is of their own doing. They have taken what was once a plausible alternative to WWE, a different and exciting brand of wrestling which was total non-stop ACTION, something which claimed to be everything that WWE was not, and have made it an unwatchable joke. Their highly touted knockout division has gone into the toilet and is now inferior to the divas in every way, shape, and form. The X-Division has gone from their crown jewel to a disorganized clusterf**k of confusion and WWE rejects. Rather than becoming an alternative to the WWE, TNA has become a diluted version of it, with action in some ways similar to the WWE, minus the production value, the money, the storylines, the talent, the exposure, or the interest. Rather than increasing their fan base and challenging the WWE, they have gone in reverse and actually made WWE better, rather than themselves. It will take the rest of the year, as a best-case scenario, just to get back to where they were in the ratings and to win back their alienated fanbase.

The reason I find it easy to hate TNA is not because it's cool, but rather, because they brought it all on themselves. Instead of just going about their business and making a gradual progressive run at WWE, they shoot their mouths off constantly, making it easy to expresss negativity toward them when they fall on their faces as they do over and over again. Whether it be Hogan claiming they'll get a 3.0 rating on Jan 04 (I guess simply because Saint hogan has arrived), or Ric Flair claiming TNA will be equal to WWE in 6 months, or Bischoff or Carter claiming they're taking the wars to Monday nights, only to retreat with their tails between their legs when they couldn't follow through, or lastly, to the stream of disgruntled former WWE guys (Angle, Hardy, RVD, Kennedy) who cannot open their mouths without taking pot shots at Vince and the WWE, all of these things make it very easy to be negative toward TNA.

I would respectfully suggest the reverse to be true. I think it has become "cool" for the anti-establishment guys to espouse TNA and be critical of the WWE. It seems to be in vogue for the TNA smarks to continually praise TNA and express constant negativity toward WWE, whereas in reality, it's hard to imagine that anyone could really and truly feel this way. It has become cool to say: Cena only knows 5 moves, or HHH is only where he is because he married the boss's daughter, or WWE has become stale, etc., Whereas in reality, WWE is so far ahead of TNA it's actually laughable. And I truly believe this will never ever change.

I choose to watch what I watch, like what I like, or hate what I hate, not because it's cool, but because I will make my own decisions based upon the respective products as I see them. I will not watch TNA because some TNA smark tells me I have to, that I'm not a "true wrestling fan" if I don't, or that I have to because somehow I'm compelled to to make WWE better. I let the products speak for themselves. And they're speaking loud and clear these days. WWE all the way. By a mile.

 

[Adalam]

Truth be told, the decision to drop the Black Machisimo gimmick off of Jay Lethal is a decent plus from TNA. Lethal looks to be a bit more comfortable not immitating someone, locking in the Figure Four to more or less piss of Flair. I wouldn't be surprised if the feud between Flair and Lethal led to an AJ Styles face turn due to Flair worrying more about Kazarian than AJ. But the over all point of this, TNA has some strong points that they have shown they can throw at us. My main problem is the overflow of WWE-Rejects who seem to easily go over TNA built guys. I gotta say though, that the guys with completely revamped gimmicks {AKA Elijah Burke turned over to D'Angelo Dinero} they needed to go to TNA to turn around their careers and to rub into WWE's faces exactly what they missed out on.

 

[AllanC]

I watch it cause im a fan of Pro Wrestling, I dont care about bad marketing, booking and all that BS, I love the drama and set up, yeah some of it gets lame, but in the long run, there are only so many story lines you can use before you have to re-use and recycle some...WWE is great at that, mind you the John Cena, Randy Orton Bit...exactly, I am completely glad that TNA gave an attempt to go head up against WWE, we all knew it would fail..but we tuned in anyway. Biggest problem for TNA was the internet, cause i know for damn sure i wasnt going to be switching back and forth from Raw to Impact like i did back with WCW, So like many other fans i watched TNA on the computer, and watched RAW on my tv...which isnt really helping the cause..seeing as it is the rooms i usually went to, went from 125 viewers to well over 200,000 viewers, which didnt help TNA at all. so in the long run, it did exactly what we wanted, it MADE WWE retaliate with a better, more entertaining product. By more entertaining i mean giving us pretty much what we were so used to seeing. All in all i will say that TNA will eventually go back to face WWE...and will probably dominate, 1. because now A TON more people know about it, and 2.Because they know what to do now.

 

[jameshoover78]

I've always looked at TNA/WWE and wrestling in general almost the same way as I look at my passion for baseball. I'm a huge wrestling fan and usually I'll watch it even if I know it's going to be garbage. I'll admit, I'm more of a TNA fan right now than a WWE fan, but I'm not going to be one of those guys who sit here and try to drive my pro-TNA opinion down your throat cause I'm not going to change your minds and you are not going to change mine.

I look at WWE as the #1 company and I'm sure 99% of all wrestlers who are trying to make a living look at WWE as the ultimate destination. Kind of like a baseball player making an MLB team. TNA is like AAA baseball. It's still a great product but the attendance is smaller, the talent might be a little sparse but it's still good baseball. I tune in every week to TNA, WWE, ROH and whatever other wrestling I can find on television knowing and accepting that WWE is king (even though their product isn't the style of wrestling that I like) and that TNA is the minor leagues. But even in the minor leagues, someone can hit hit a 450 homerun and pitch a perfect game. TNA has plenty of positive things going for it but they just need to concentrate a little more on hiding the negitives and what's not working for them. Still, they are firmly the #2 product and the company and their fans would be a lot better off accepting that and try to be the best they can be instead of being the WWE.

 

[klunderbunker]

I don't really think so. TNA simply is bad and they've brought so much of this stuff on themselves. I mean how can you not get on this company for being bad? Everything from midgets to implied rape to power rings and so on. The company attempted to fight WWE and got knocked on their ass. Every big and bold prediction they've made has fallen apart and it seems as if there's little upswing to them. In other words, it's they may be hated on a lot now, but they've brought every bit of this on themselves.

 

[FitFinlay4Life]

It is never cool to hate on anything that can improve. TNA has so much potential - a male lineup that Smackdown would kill for, a genuine tag-team line-up, the potential for an 'over' womens division. However, it's hard to critisize fans for being so aggitated that the running of the company does not push it's strengths. Currently, the World and Global storylines are reasonably good (with the Abyssamania storyline being the only thing sticking in my side at the mo, a well timed heel turn could recover this; example Abyss attacking and sidelining Hogan)- Kurt taking on the Top10; Anderson's assholes; Sting's most successful (IMO) heel turn; AJ moving away from being Ric-Lite; Pope, Wolfe and Lethal getting genuine pushes; 'Silent' Joe; an improving monster Rob Terry. The X-Division feels terrible though, the multi-player angles HAVE to stop. The Tag-Teams are getting pissed on from a very high height - the Band and 'Band' rules, prior to that the we and us Matt Morgan rubbish, teasing breaking up 3D, not pushing Beer Money, MCMG or GenMe, breaking up the reasonably over Brit Invasion. Refusing to pay decent wages or stand up for their women is killing the KOs. These are not hard to fix problems... okay, it seems that Vinnie Ru is untouchable, but he is still an employee - make him push the strengths and make the program a little less talk.

 

[pistol]

it aint cool to hate nothing but when sumthins not up to par, it just aint up to par. nxt season finally did more than the average tna show. its all about the new talent. its rebuilding time. hall and nash tag champs. wtf. watch when generation me is over in japan. they are sick wit it. beer money, come on give'em the titles already. i feel sorry for aj. his fake naitch gimmick is overshadowing his talent. lose that and show off the skills he really has. kurt angle made the most impact on impact in a while when he said he was going to be #10 and fight his way to #1. didnt see that coming. i know russo didnt think about that. that was all kurt

 

[Klown_Karnage]

It's pretty much a situation of there being two main players on the tube and so there are two distinct followings in competition with each other. I'm not saying that every TNA fan will hate on the WWE or that every WWE fan will hate on TNA, but it's more than likely that most will. Battle lines have been drawn. I think the WWE fanbase is a bit larger (probably comes from having more shows and a bigger media machine) and so it will seem that more people are hating on TNA than are on WWE, but don't let that fool you. There are plenty of WWE haters out there.

Really, there are reasons on both sides. Both companies could stand to improve in various areas and so there are plenty of things for both sides to point to. Sometimes such people just enjoy a good argument and hating on the other side is an easy way to start one.

As for me personally, I enjoy 'em both, but for different reasons. When I'm frustrated with one in general, usually the other is able to pick up the slack, and it's not always the same one. So, don't worry, this all comes with competing companies.

 

[steveh0481]

I feel the frustration many of you have expressed with TNA bashing. It sucks because I dont think one of us want to see TNA fail. TNA is the closest thing that WWE has to competition currently. When the WWE doesnt have competition, we see what happens. Lazy booking, poor storylines, shallow characters, horrible wrestling.

I want to see TNA succeed because I think they have a LOT of talent. They do not have the deep pockets of bankflow McMahon has, so are limited on their advertising, hiring, and spending to several degrees. Based on that, Dixie Carter has hired some of the best she can possibly get (well, asides from Russo, but I wont digress). Its possible that if she brought in Heyman, she will get some fresh ideas because I still think he has a decent amount of creative juices left in the tank. However, I dont know how well Heyman would work under someone like Hogan.

Essentially, I dont think its cool to hate on TNA. I have respect for what they are trying to do. As I write this now, I am counting down (45 minutes) til TNA airs. I think that they do need to focus more on what brought them to the big game (X Division) and continue to use older stars to bolster newer stars. Competition to the WWE is needed for wrestling as a whole to succeed.

 

[onemandynasty08]

I think that alot of the new people who have discovered TNA just recently are the main ones who do most of the bashing and those who are solely loyal to WWE. I discovered TNA years ago when they were just beginning to run their weekly ppvs on cable and Directtv. For the most part, I liked what I saw on paper. I had Dish Network so I wasn't able to ever see any of their weekly ppvs. However, I liked TNA when they first came to Fox Sports Network. I think one of their problems is that in the process of competing with WWE, they lost their own identity. They reverted from the aspects which got them on TV in the first place.

I am kind of tired of hearing people say that TNA is full of WWE rejects. So are the former TNA stars now in WWE "TNA rejects".. TNA built the WWE US Champion R-Truth in my opinion. Low Ki was in TNA, now he's going to be on the next season of NXT. Gail Kim was from Tna. I think TNA helped Christian in his stint there. Yes, while WWE has a bigger supply of money to hand out, they don't know how to use some of their wrestlers, just at TNA. That doesn't make them rejects.

One of the biggest issues with TNA is that everything seems rushed. They rush through storylines just to throw a match on PPV. I honestly think that since they don't make that much money on PPV as it is, that they should decrease them. They have the potential to save money and make more money by putting together meaningful PPVs rather than a glorified episode of IMPACT!. Another thing is that I think they should creater their own identity aside from just being an alternative to WWE. WWE has this PG thing, and I think that TNA could increase their 18-49 male demographic by pushing the limit with compelling TV. I think that the perfect way to do this would be to push the IMPACT! start time back and hour to 10 and go off the air at 12:05. The first hour they could still have their regular stuff without pushing the limit too far being that some kids may still be watching, but after 11 they could have the over the top stuff. Looking at ratings for Wrestling it appears that the most fans tune into the later hours anyway. Being that they are off the air before 11 we never seem to know whether this is because the 2nd hour is more interesting or whether it is because the typical fans of wrestling are late night tv viewers. TNA just needs it's own identity.

 

[Dum Dum Dudley]

To be honest, I can't 100% say whether bashing TNA is 'cool' but I know that I personally don't relish criticising any wrestling promotion; especially one with the roster TNA possesses. I do feel at times that some posters in these forums bash TNA to either:

a) gain an ego boost and appear to be knowledgeable on the wrestlng business. We all know the type. "Push this guy", "Turn this guy", "Move out of the Impact Zone". Whilst I can agree with some of these posts, the majority of these posts give an 'holier than thou' impression and that that particular poster can save TNA.

b) genuinely address the problems in TNA. I like to think I come across as the latter and not the former but I think we all have a tendancy to bark out solutions to TNA's problems.

TNA's problems range from the roster (pointless guys on an overcrowded roster i.e Jordan, Shark Boy etc) to the location to the lack of direction in storylines but that is not to say TNA doesn't have it's positives. Any company that can boast AJ Styles and Kurt Angle must surely be doing something right.
But overall, I do feel certain TNA fans on these forums can not handle criticism just like some WWE fans can't handle criticism of their product either.

 

[Kenny Powers]

I don't think you will find too many posters on here that think it's cool to hate on TNA just like its cool to hate on WWE PG. Got to a TNA news site or you tube and you will see those types of people. A lot of TNA's biggest fans and supporters have tuned out of Impact recently. I don't like everything about the product, but I think it has been better then most stuff we have seen from TNA this time last year.

The end of 2009 and the beginning of 2010 was a really hot time in TNA. It was also a great time in wrestling in general starting the new year with Bret Hart's return to WWE and Hogan's return to TNA. It seems TNA has lost their passion and blown their load so to speak. All the surprises and debuts have lost their luster.

TNA seems to give more questions then answers now. Sometimes it fun but a lot of times its annoying. Does anyone remember when Hogan and Bischoff were supposed to pick up a big name at the airport? I would guess no because it was weeks ago and there has been no mention of it. What about Samoa Joe being abducted? and Sting's heel turn? Nothing has been explained. By the time TNA does explain people have already tuned out.

TNA has a lot of talent and have improved their production values. Its kinda like seeing your gifted child slack off and bring home a bad report card. You are critical and hard on him, not because you hate him but because you know he can do so much better. TNA can do better with the talent they have had. They proven that to me time and time again. They are just getting lazy now.

I just hope something lights a fire under TNA so they can step it up again. I will still continue to watch TNA because I still enjoy it even if there are some disappointing spots. I remember a grim time in wrestling before TNA was big and WWE was disappointing. I don't ever want to go back to that dark time ever again.

 

[Stickstar 16]

I don't think its cool to hate on TNA, but at the same time this is a hole that they and their fans have dug for themselves. I think if you wanna take cheaps shots at the opposition as TNA has done over the years and then try to compete with a well established company with a secure and long term earned fanbase, then you gotta bring your A game or face having every single flaw and mistake, some of which are quite glaring and horrendous, brought up and critised and analyzed.

When Hogan came to TNA, my first thought was that it wouldn't help them in the long run as it would become too focused on Hogan and Bischoff, and although I enjoyed quite a lot of the earlier work that they were doing, my fears are starting to become true. Hogan and Bischoff are slowly starting to become the centre point of the show, as well as Flair, where as it should be on the home grown talent.

So no its not cool to hate TNA, just as it wasn't cool to hate on the WWE, but that never stopped most of the TNA fans from shitting on the product daily, lauding TNA, and insulting those of us here who enjoy what the E produce. So really I see it as Karma, as the WWE has been consistantly improving since the "second coming" of the Monday Night Wars, and is only going to get better, where as TNA seems to be sinking at a steady rate, and need to do something special if they wish to continue to be able to try to compete with such a well established fan base that the WWE has.

 

[pistol]

is anybody watching wc oopps tna. that segmant went from a so so segment to hogan. they should had let sting and joe go at it for a first match, let morgan go toe to toe with rvd. two great matces at the beginning and end. they gotta start......oh god, aj just did a wooo, look at aj sitting on the couch lookin like a small guy. once again he got dominated by flair and somebody i dont even know. big knockouts need love too

 

[wushady]

I don't know if people bash TNA cause they think it's cool to do so are they honestly think it sucks. I personal have been trying to give it a chance, but I just don't care for it. I respect the people that do, and I honestly hope they get better. I think having two major promotions would be great for the wrestling business, but it will take many years for/if that happens.

Honestly I think there are just as many people if not more that bash WWE's every move. I see many threads a week picking apart WWE if not for the PG rating. Someone is always bashing Cena or bashing them for who they need to push.