Is TNA suffering from WWE Undercard title phobia?

[PhoenixBuster]

This is not a remedy thread, it is a discussion thread.

Judging from my observation, it seems that, to some extent, TNA is starting to slip on using their mid- to lower-card titles. As anyone who watches WWE knows, though they've been a bit better in recent times, they seemed to let the under-card belts fall by the wayside and only focus on the heavyweight belts.

What I want to know and discuss is, Do other people see this as a problem in TNA? How long have you noticed this as an issue? What do you think is contributing to it?

 

[shattered dreams]

TNA is at an immediate disadvantage because they have not had the credible equivalent of a US title for some time. A few years back the X-division title was on that level but that changed over time. I do think it was smart to TNA to place the majority of the focus on building credibility for the heavyweight title scene. While I would argue they have had some success there it is true that other areas have suffered. It was a worthwhile gamble if they can build the other areas back up now which it seems they are taking some good steps towards with the X-division (which I would argue the title is more valuable than it was a year ago) and the tag division. They have yet to commit to the legends/global title enough to make it really work. IMO if they could establish this as a stepping stone title it would be a huge help in building characters. How to do this and if they have enough spare time on the card to accomplish it correctly are trickier questions.

Also, I am not that much of a fan of the way WWE uses the midcard titles with the younger wrestlers. They do create some decent feuds around them but it seems like they have been doing a poor job of using those titles as stepping stones to the world title and in fact use those midcard titles as an excuse not to push deserving talent to the main event scene. Neither Swagger or Sheamus ever won one of those titles and no one else has really broken through recently.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

As far as the mid-card titles of the WWE, I've got no complaints about what's been going on with them for a while now. After Mysterio won the IC title at WM last year, the WWE finally started to put some meaning back into the title. It's become more prestigious over the course of the past 10 or 12 months than it has been overall in the past 5 years. I'm not saying that there isn't some work still to be done, but I think they've made a lot of progress. As for the United States Championship, I think that The Miz has done a lot for the title. Except for R-Truth's brief run with it, he's had the title since October and he's been very visible on Raw. I agree that the title hasn't been defended enough, but at least it's been very visible.

When it comes to the TNA mid-card title scene, it's been suffering for a while. The X-Division Championship is a shadow of what it used to be and hasn't really meant all that much for close to 2 years now. TNA has been featuring it more since Doug Williams has had it and the ball is rolling slowly in the right direction. It's gained some steam, but still has a long way to go. The Global Championship has really just had the deck stacked against it. When it was originally created as the Legends Championship, a lot of fans saw much more emphasis placed on it while the X-Division title was left to flounder. Even after it was renamed the Global title, there hasn't really been much done with it. EY had a lame duck run with the title almost from the beginning and Rob Terry certainly hasn't done anything with it. And, at this point, I don't think either Williams or Terry can be thought of as breakout stars.

 

[Polish Hammer]

Honestly, sometimes it is hard to remember which is the United States and which is the Intercontinental. It is sort of like being vice-president. All it seems to mean is that the will appear on each show and carry the belt. It seems to be more for providing a good mid card bout to round out a ppv card inserted between the 2 main title events. Usually a quality no filler added match with skilled veterans a sort of a safe product to keep the crowd at a high level with little risk of bombing.
The tag team title seems to be a chance for young guys to get exposure a 2 at a time. Hence the current battle between the the Harts and Usos. Actually 3 with the female members of each.
I would like to see a title for the smaller Evan Bourne types. Maybe they are thinking that. The NXt guys seem to come divided into mostly 2 classes. The Eli Cottonwood types and the Kaval types.
TNA has sort of gone away from their signature division thinking that the older, bigger names would sell(Scott Hall etc.) They would need to supplement that division since AJ, Kaz and others have moved up. Bryan Danielson could be a big boost?
The Legends belt is just a gimmick that ran it's course.
Maybe TNA could have an AARP title?

 

[ABMorales787]

People seem to overlook something about TNA's earlier years. The X Division wasn't exactly elevated. It was more a case of the main event lowering itself. When Jeff Jarrett was in charge, the main event was all about him and whoever came around with talent would just end up in the X Division over time. AJ Styles being a prime example. It showed. What kind of company actually allows a mid-card belt to be more important than the World title? It didn't work well for ECW. TNA's X Division fell, yes, but that's because the main event caliber talent that was dropped there got elevated to the revitalized main event.

As for the Global belt, it seems like a case of not using common sense. If Rob Terry isn't gonna be featured on iMPACT! on a regular basis then don't have him wearing the belt just to hold his pants. Give it to Joe, or Hernandez or Morgan. It truly is a matter of laziness here.

 

[Dudebuster420]

TNA most certainly is letting their lower titles suffer a bit but I don't think that is really due to them not giving a shit about them. I think this is really just a simple problem of time constraints. They've only got 2 hours a week to keep everything going and the most important aspect is always going to be your main event scene which is where you see a lot of their focus going.

I personally like the "Global Title" that was originally the "Legends Title", it looks more prestigious to me than their world title and I think they could use it as an equivalent if they were smart about it. Instead, they've done next to nothing with it and it's been reduced to a prop much like the U.S. and IC were for a time. I think the Global Title has the potential to be a big deal if they gave it the time, but as I originally noted, the don't have the time.

The X-Division is a whole other mess. Once embodying an amped up version of a Cruiserweight Division where you could witness some of the best aerial performances in wrestling, it is now almost non existent. I know they have been keeping Doug Williams feuding with somebody but the essence of what the X-Division is all about has left the building and they have abandoned a ship that really was never sinking. Not only is the X-Division belt itself very visually stunning, but it has a real lineage to be proud of and to capitalize on so outside of the time constraints I don't get why they have let this fall to the wayside when it was one of the main things that has brought them success in the past.

Right now I think they need to do what they have been doing in trying to give more credence to the TNA World Title, that makes sense but why not multitask a bit and do something meaningful with the other two belts you have? What do they have to loose really? Nothing, so feature those titles every week just like the top title and people will get the point. Next, you have to put some meaningful feuds and good matches together. For God sake, have somebody if not a few people seem at least somewhat interested in the Global and X-Division titles, give them SOME credibility. It won't hurt them, and it will probably help them.

 

[Ruthless-RKO]

Yes of course they do, X division is like a cruiserwieght belt, with an exception of a few wrestlers (Samoa Joe), Legends/Global title isn't even a good enough title and the name is a let down IMO, it was created on screen by a wrestler who isn't there and the belt has lost all meanings...

Look at WCW, their roster was like TNA today, they had a lot of people, and the belts they had...

WCW World Heavyweight Champion (World title)
WCW United States Heavyweight Champion (secondary world title)
WCW World Tag Team Champions (tag titles)
WCW World Television Champion (mid card title)
WCW Hardcore Champion (Stipulation championship)
WCW Womens Champion (only for a few years)

What has TNA got:
TNA World Champion (world title)
TNA World Tag Team Champions (tag titles)
TNA X Division Champion (cruiderweight type of title, "It's not about weight limits, it's about no limits!", what does that mean??)
TNA Global Champion (random title)
TNA KO Champion (Womens title)
TNA KO Tag Team Champions (womens tag titles)

TNA need to get rid of the KO tag titles as their KO division has been going downhill lately, the Global title needs to go and be replaced with either a Hardcore title or a new undercard championship...maybe they could introduce a TNA TV championship??

 

[TheAnimal]

They need at least 1, absolutely. The guys need something to fight over other than drift from feud to feud. It might improve programming because there would be simple storylines rather than have to wait for uncreative to come up with something, and even then it could be ridiculous. And for those guys unlikely to ever be given the world title it gives them a proper purpose.

Maybe thats what the Global title is suppose to be?