**MERGED** (OFFICIAL) TNA General Complaint Thread

[Sandpiper]

No one could argue that McMahon the business man knows what he is doing and he is intentionally trying to secure future business opportunities. However, giving us variety with 4 different tv shows, 12 ppv's, and merchandising is not doing anything "diverse". It is just showing your product in different facets of media.

First off, I would never use the term "genius" to describe Vince McMahon especially when I am bringing creativity into the conversation. He is anything but creative. His writing team isn't creative either. So let's be clear on that.

He is relying on an old formula that is satisfying the young crowd and their families. There is nothing "new" about that. It's been done before. Cena is just Hogan-lite. Yes, the days of 18-49 male dominated demographic in wrestling are gone. For most of us who write on these sites, whom I would guess are within the 18-49 range, it is the in-ring product and lack of creativity that is making his product stale. ad sales, revenues for merch and ppv's are great for profit but if your product is lacking, it shows. Watching Cena 'overcome the odds' for the 188th time for your hard earned money is getting tired.

TNA is still a small private company with a lot of network support with Spike. They cannot take the chances on producing another show when they don't have the revenue dollars yet. People are so frickin' impatient and want Impact to beat Raw in the first year. Guess what? It's not going to happen that quickly, if ever. They are trying to compete just like any other company in any other industry.

They entertain me and they have a fan base that they are trying to grow. Simple as that. Everyone is always looking to criticize the very company that is trying to breathe some new life into the wrestling industry. They are bashed at every turn. Unreasonably most of the time.

Like most my age, I watch WWE for Orton, Jericho, Miz and the characters that are relatable to my age group.

 

[TokiRKO]

Vencom, genuis my friend. Yes CZW is brutal and amazing, but they only sell their dvds (to my knowledge) and if they do live streaming on their site, i'd bet any WWE mark's life that they charge lol. TNA Impact is free and there are a lot of people who can't do the internet thing (i haven't had sound on my computer for all most a year). Why do they need to turn the violence and sex down because they're on network television now though? UFC is brutal, bloody, and violent. There are tons of shows that showcase asses. (cut throughs of Miami on Burn Notice, not to mention all the odd shaped naked people on the discovery and natl geo channels lol)

bottom line is TNA shouldn't try to compete with WWE, they shouldn't be on the same night. WWE is a kid friendly, mega corp. TNA is the new ECWWCW. They have the three B's on their show: beer, blood, boobs. If they want to win, they'll need midgets, old people, and superheroes so kids will love it. If they want a sport worthy of Spike TV they need to keep hardcore spirits, keep the jiggling, and keep the line WAAAAY behind them. Let RVD be his old self, let Jeff Hardy act like he did a few weeks ago (when he did the creatures of the night promo CAWWWW!!! HAHAHA) let them embrace their lifestyles like OJ is doing. Meth is bad. But it also doesn't enhance his wrestling performance so it shouldn't be looked into from an employer's point of view UNLESS it becomes a big problem. Don't ask, don't worry right? lol

some one mentioned wrestlers 2.0 as if the people thrown away from wwe are useless now. Look at what lesnar has accomplished. What Angle has done in TNA. Shannon fuck moore is in the spotlight now! People actually know who the hell Orlando Jordan is now. Just because one company releases some one doesn't make them useless, it just means that he doesn't fit the profile for THAT particular company. I'm going to laugh my arse off if Daniels wanders over to WWE and all the WWE marks start loving him, even though he'd be TNA's throw away and the situation is reversed.

 

[psykohurricane]

No one could argue that McMahon the business man knows what he is doing and he is intentionally trying to secure future business opportunities. However, giving us variety with 4 different tv shows, 12 ppv's, and merchandising is not doing anything "diverse". It is just showing your product in different facets of media.

First off, I would never use the term "genius" to describe Vince McMahon especially when I am bringing creativity into the conversation. He is anything but creative. His writing team isn't creative either. So let's be clear on that.

He is relying on an old formula that is satisfying the young crowd and their families. There is nothing "new" about that. It's been done before. Cena is just Hogan-lite. Yes, the days of 18-49 male dominated demographic in wrestling are gone. For most of us who write on these sites, whom I would guess are within the 18-49 range, it is the in-ring product and lack of creativity that is making his product stale. ad sales, revenues for merch and ppv's are great for profit but if your product is lacking, it shows. Watching Cena 'overcome the odds' for the 188th time for your hard earned money is getting tired.

TNA is still a small private company with a lot of network support with Spike. They cannot take the chances on producing another show when they don't have the revenue dollars yet. People are so frickin' impatient and want Impact to beat Raw in the first year. Guess what? It's not going to happen that quickly, if ever. They are trying to compete just like any other company in any other industry.

They entertain me and they have a fan base that they are trying to grow. Simple as that. Everyone is always looking to criticize the very company that is trying to breathe some new life into the wrestling industry. They are bashed at every turn. Unreasonably most of the time.

Like most my age, I watch WWE for Orton, Jericho, Miz and the characters that are relatable to my age group.

First of all, i got to disagree with you on the Vince McMahon comment. Sure right now he'S not as creative as he use to be but if it wasn'T for his creative genius, The wwe wouldn'T be what it is today. He thought of starting the rock & Wrestling connection in the mid- 80'S to showcase the WWE as a big company when cleary it wasn'T. Wrestlemania made the WWE look bigger then it actually was. In The 90's when the WWE was about to lose to WCW, he created he screwed Bret Hart and created the character of Mr. McMahon and the WWE Attitude got back up and literally destroy WCW. So over the years Vince McMahon did everything to insure the WWE becomes what it is today and for that alone, he would called him a creative genius.

Has for TNA, one of the main reason they aren't getting bigger 7 and a half years into the life of the company is that TNA management are Impatient and insecure about they're own product.

Just look at the last comment posted on Dixie Carter twitter account: IMPACT is moving to monday'S at 8pm with a replay on thursdays at 9 pm, spread the word. That's not good business, i know TNA doesn'T have a lot of money behind them but when Dixie goes on Twitter and ask the couple of people who actually follow her on Twitter to spead the world about the Impact time change, it makes the company look bad, because it says that they're not able to promote their own company, they have to rely on the fans and am sure that most people following her on Twitter have better things to do then called their friends to tell them about IMPACT's new start time. Just look at the ratings for last thursday's replay. They did a 0.56 for the replay, so to word of mouth didn't do them that much good.

Also they are so Impatient with there bookings. Sometimes they have a product that'S actually watchable but because it didn'T bring in result right away, they cancelled everything and move on to something else. Just look at the january 4th show for exemple. Sure it wasn't perfect but a lot of great ideas came from that show, The x-division was showcased pretty well, the knockout had 2 matches on the show and weren'T involve in stupid skits and the main event talent actually had time to wrestles. 3 months later, were all of that. The knockout division is centered around the beautiful people, The X-division is centered around Doug Williams and the some of the main event talents are carbon copies of WWE legends while others are just missing in action.

If TNA is to be successful they need to be confident about there own product and stop changing everything every 3 months. Right now they are saying, we got a product that probably is good but where not sure it is and we don't really want to spend time or energy promoting it so we are going to let every faithful TNA fans that have more confidence in TNA then we do to promote it for us because were sure not going to do it. and the new fans sense it that the company is sure of themselves that why TNA is been doing 0.9 ratings for the past 3 years.

 

[WWE*FAN*CB]

First off I wanna say how glad I am to be a WWE fan. I cannot believe how badly this show is written. They have tons and tons of talent and they misuse them so badly that it is sad and pathetic. If Dixie Carter knew what was best for her company she would fire Russo on the spot along with his good buddy Ed Ferrara. They have way to much people on their roster and the 100 that they do have they try to cram into a 2 hr show. Instead of investing into more and more superstars that you dont have any room for, how about you do something smart and invest in a second weekly tv show. They have two of wrestlings greatest wrestlers in Ric Flair in Hulk Hogan and they misuese them as well.

Thoughts and ideas?

 

[TellMeWhy]

Lol at misusing Hogan and Flair. What you want Hogan & Flair to wrestle? Hogan is in an authority role, a role he should be in and Ric Flair is a mouthpiece and a manager. What do you want these guys to do? Wrestle!! You gotta be joking. The only thing I agree with you on is that Russo & Ferrara need to be fired and that they badly need a 2nd show to utilize more of their roster!

Yes TNA maybe chaotic and may not be as organized as WWE but don't sit here and tout your horn as if WWE is some holy grail. Look how stale and redundant WWE is. WWE has about 5-6hrs worth of wrestling a week yet guys like Shelton Benjamin, Evan Bourne, and Carlito barely get screen time. You've got Kofi, MVP, Christian, Mark Henry, and Yoshi all being misused while a midget gets tv time every week. Your tag team division is pathetic. Your midcard division is almost nonexistant on both brands. Your women's division=100 percent pure garbage! I mean seriously. TNA has 2hrs a week and has a solid women's division, strong tag team division, and more building divisions. It's quite sad & pathetic when a company with 2hrs a week is doing more than a company with multiple shows and hours per week. I know TNA isn't perfect but to sit here and act like being a WWE fan is above anything else and that your program is superior is ******ed. You put TNA's show in a WWE arena, it'll be 10x better. You put WWE's show in the Impact Zone and it'll be 10x worse. Cut out the nonsense man!

 

[Christian Battlez]

I'm so glad there is a thread on this where to begin...

Orlando Jordan just signed a multi year extension with TNA. The guy comes down from the rafters covered in Cross the Line caution tape one week and starts crawling up the ramp. The next week he comes out to the ramp and licks lotion or whatever that was off his arm and stares down someone I can't even remember who. What the hell is the point of the Orlando Jordan character. The crowd doesn't react to the guy at all just stands there puzzled wondering like the rest of us what the hell he contributes to the show. He is very stiff and average in the ring yet for some reason I can't fathom Eric Bischoff is reportedly very high on him. Russo and Bischoff are the only ones who like the character. What I don't understand is if Hogan and Dixie don't why is he still around?

So they finally got rid of the Nasty Boys. How nice of Nobbs and Saggs to stop by and get a rub off of the greatest tag team to ever live Team 3D. It's great to be best friends with Hulk Hogan huh? Don't let the door hit you in the ass on your way out you overrated slobs.

Matt Morgan the World Tag Team Champions. Yes I said a single person's name followed by the word champions and was referring to the tag team titles. Only in TNA. Morgan and Hernandez retained the titles successfully at Destination X then Morgan takes out his own partner and decides to defend the titles on his own. He doesn't have a new partner no he is the tag team champions. Why not just put the titles on Beer Money. That makes much more sense to me. They had this opportunity at Destination X and they dropped the ball. They still could have had Morgan turn on Hernandez no need to keep the tag team titles on one guy. Hell if you want him to have a title give him Rob Terry's belt noone cares about him.

Speaking of Rob Terry what happened to the rules of the Global title being you can't defend the title on American soil. I was really looking forward to not having to see Rob Terry defend the Global title every week. The silver lining is the matches are always short so we don't have to sit through as much of it.

Does anyone even know that Pope is facing AJ Styles for the TNA title at Lockdown. They sure have done a shitty job of promoting the match at Lockdown. It must be all of the emphasis they are putting on Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, and the magical ring that makes Abyss into a 60+ year old man.

Speaking of which I don't think I talked about Hulk Hogan enough in this post. Which already makes it more entertaining than an episode of Impact.

You want to make your pormotion successful bring in big name talent and use that talent to elevate the younger talent you have. When these guys get old and washed up (some of them already have) who are you gonna rely on to continue drawing money for your show if you don't push young talent. I feel sorry for the guys who worked hard to get TNA to this point only to have all their work shit away for nothing because Hulk Hogan wanted one more run in the spotlight. This promotion has all the tools to succeed and wastes it away week by week just like they do my time.

 

[pun2003hh]

I find it hilarious that this time last year people were crying about the creative direction of TNA and one year later most people on this forum (myself included) would give anything to go back to the days of the Main Event Mafia and TNA company wide brawls. I'm not going to go into a long winded speech about my problem with TNA and where it has gone since Hogan and Bischoff took control of the creative aspect of the company because there has been enough talk about that. Bottom line, if you want the product to change, stop watching.

It is tough, but there are enough avenues on the internet to check out Impact if you really want to see what is going on. Watch the clips online, but don't give the actual TNA airings the ratings. Let the ratings continue to hover in the .5-.7 range, which is roughly half of what Impact was earning 6 months ago. See how long the powers that be stay in power when sponsors begin to drop their support. It may take a while, but it will happen.

Look at what they did to Raw. Through out the second half of 2009, ratings for Raw slipped to the low 3s and even dipped below that a few times. The WWE then began pushing younger talents and put together a slightly more entertaining show with new blood being the focus of the show, and Raw began pulling 3.6s and 3.8s. The other thing that they know how to do more effectively then TNA at the moment is set up a storyline and execute it over a period of time.

TNA feuds currently start and end out of no where with no rhyme and reason. Oh, and a feud is not having the same guys fight each other week in and week out. If you are giving away an Angle vs Anderson or Wolfe vs Pope match EVERY week, then what is the payoff?

In summary (this post is alot longer then I intended) if you really want the product to change, then don't give them the ratings. Do not watch on Spike. Find other means to keep up with it. I know it seems like you would be turning your back on the product, but as a TNA fan of many years, doesn't it seem like the product has turned it's back on you?

(And for any Hogan supporters that will try and combat me, bottom line is the pre Hogan audience is twice the size of the current audience. It has been almost 4 months. Where are the new viewers? There aren't any because Hogan's drawing power has always lied in his relationship with the marketing genius of Vince McMahon. Hogan never drew in WCW as Hogan, it took a revolutionary idea in the nWo to turn Hogan into a WCW draw.)

 

[Weems2k]

Maybe it's just me, but it seems since the Hogan/Bishoff era began, the guys that actually get over with the crowd, and can work a good match are getting buried, while guys nobody could give a rat's ass are being shoved down our throat. Example. Pope was super over since winning the Stud Tournament; and since then he's either been stuck in a crappy tag match, or barely been seen. On the other hand, Abyss has been shoved down our throat since Janurary. I kinda notice that with other guys like MCMG and the X division that can actually put a decent match on, and be over with the crowd get buried; yet the Fatty Boys are on PPV's. I get that the new regime wants to try different things out, but after 2 months they should have some clue about who thier core guys are, and build from there.

 

[Attitude_Raven]

Pope getting buried... WHAT, are you fuckin' dope? he's getting the biggest crowd reactions, this sunday will (i predict) win the title and is being promoted as TNAs top face,so buried my balls. and well, Abyss wasn't over? the guy is one of most popular guys in the company, you say TNA and Hardcore in the same sentence and the first people you think are Raven and Abyss, well, Hogan gave him that silly storyline, but it smells by miles that it's only a transitional gimmick, he eventually will go back to his monster heel persona.

 

[axl626]

The only thing I feel they're doing wrong is pushing two guys they shouldn't: Abyss and Eric Young. I just can't take either serious after they've been jokes most of their careers. It would be like seriously pushing Santino for a World title run without changing his character. I don't think Pope will or should win, yet. A big buildup will mean more in the long run than winning on his first try.

 

[wushady]

I think they are starting to get to a point where they know who is getting over and who's not. I think Impact has been getting a little better. They do need to stop over using the same guys on Impact. It seems like every week Hogan, Bischoff, Flair, RVD, Abyss, beer money, Wolfe, etc. have many segments. When they could be using their extra time to give someone else exposure.

I think the Pope hasn't really been given enough TV time the guy is way over, and is the #1 contender. They seem to care more about promoting the Team Hogan vs. Team Flair match more than the world title match. They haven't been utilizing the X Division stars enough. I'm sure most of us would rather see an X Division match than see Hogan 5 times an episode.

 

[Muffin Top Merkley]

I enjoy watching Impact more than any WWE programming. It has become the only wrestling show that I watch every week. Since the 01/04 episode, there has been one thing that consistantly annoys me every time I watch TNA on Spike TV and it always happens at least once.

Often Impact will go to a commercial break. Two minutes later they will return from commercial, only to go on another commercial break within thirty seconds.

This drives me crazy to no end. Especially when they announce a match or segment coming up "right after this commercial break." The viewer sits though roughly two minutes of commercial, and then when Impact is back on, we're told that we have to sit though another commercial break.

In my opinion, TNA needs to keep the commercials as spread apart as possible. I imagine that there are alot of people that watch RAW and turn to Impact during RAW's commercials. TNA needs to produce compelling TV so the RAW viewer becomes to emerced in their product that they forget about RAW and don't change the channel. Having back to back commercials does not do that. If anything it reminds the RAW viewer that RAW is still on another channel.

 

[ABMorales787]

As a mayor TNA fan, I don't complain much about the product. I do have a few irks about it. Mainly, its the general organization of the show. This week it seemed to improve greatly, but its probably because it was an all main event night. 4 matches and only 1 was a mid-card match. What I meant is that looking back you had stuff that if placed at a different time of the broadcast, they may have been better received. The Lockbox Showdown comes quickly to mind. The segments between EY/Nash and The Band didn't have to close out iMPACT! leading into Against All Odds. It would've been better having AJ and Flair closing the show. AJ was World Champion back then and had to take back seat to all of this. Even Anderson/Angle were higher on the iMPACT! card. This Monday wen't great, but I fear that the only reason it came out the way it did was because it was only centered around the World Title. Don't get me wrong, its the most important thing to the show, but what happened to all the other stories? The Team Flair/Team Hogan story was the other highlight of the show and it was to conclude it. Out of it, you can expect maybe Sting/Jarrett, but that's about it. You can't keep fans interested if you don't develop stories and organize your show.

 

[mr.ready]

I'm not buying AJ Styles heel turn. His promos just seem too forced and he seems like a Ric Flair wannabe. Thats not him. Thats not his personality. He was born to be a face, let him be a face.

 

[ABMorales787]

I'm not buying AJ Styles heel turn. His promos just seem too forced and he seems like a Ric Flair wannabe. Thats not him. Thats not his personality. He was born to be a face, let him be a face.

The idea of turning him heel and pairing with Flair is to help him develop mic skills, charisma and credibility to non-fans. Its a transitional phase that to my eye has worked phenomenaly. AJ's promos are at their best and he is drawing heat like an oven. He had the entire iMPACT! disrupting the show with boos. An amazing accomplishment seeing how the fans there can be "different". He took all the smarks that were pissed off at the ring change, has effectively turned them into "marks" by making them boo the TNA Golden Boy himself. That is a huge positive AJ. If he can do that now, imagine him as a face. The same with Abyss. Since he got the ring, to me it as plain as day that at some point he would turn heel and become "The Monster" again. Now the site has confirmed it. We just need to sit and watch. Patience people, change is coming.

 

[Weems2k]

No, I'm not talking about Hogan or Bischoff. Not even Russo. I'm talking about that no talent hack that runs TNA's intro music. Whatever his name is. This guy was a joke in WCW. He couldn't produce a decent song if his life depended on it. It's all the same synthetic rip off crap of an actual song. I used to have a list of WCW themes, and the actual song he rips off. It almost seems like he takes a song, runs it through a rip-off synthesizer, and out pops a piece of guitar garbage. Booker T is one that comes to mind. His WCW - Harlem Heat theme was an old Susan Vega song. When I saw his debut for TNA I was thinking, shit now he's ripping off his own rip-offs.

I know the wrestlers, and story should be the main focus for a show, but production qualities like this can make a show a lot better. For whatever $$$ TNA is paying this tool, they can't find a few Independent Bands looking to get their name out to come in and produce a few decent themes? Hell, even go the ECW route and pay the royalties for original songs.

 

[The Big C]

My biggest complaint about TNA right now is the fact that Flair ALWAYS BLEEDS! I truly am sick of seeing his head gashed open every single week. I know it is part of who he has always been, but come on. Abyss and his pussy punches never opened up any one but Flair.

 

[cinderboy]

Shannon Moore. When Douglas Williams screwed him and ranted, his words were so true. He just ain't cut to wrestle, until he change his awful hair and gimmick. Its making TNA look cheaper...

 

[AJM]

Hogan. Too much all of the time. It's obvious he wants to be the focal point of every angle. I would enjoy the show more w/o him.

 

[Big Nick Dudley]

Hogan. Too much all of the time. It's obvious he wants to be the focal point of every angle. I would enjoy the show more w/o him.

Could have added some depth to your post, but in principal, I agree...somewhat.

Hogan does need to be less visible. He is on the show far too much each episode. He takes up a lot of air time talking to Bischoff, Abyss, etc. But where I don't agree with you is that he is trying to make himself the focal point.

To an extent, you are right. He believes his name sells, and it does. He believes he is the biggest name in TNA..and he is. So from that belief comes Hogan's inability to get off of the screen. But, he isn't doing it all out of shameless self-promotion.

Every angle he is involved in is about getting TNA to another level. He is doing his thing with Abyss because he thinks that is the best way to get Abyss over with mainstream America. He is doing the thing with Flair to give AJ, 'Team Hogan, and the rest of 'Team Flair' the Hogan-rub. Do I think it's working? Not as well as Hogan would like it to. The truth is, I think Hogan finds Hogan to be more relevant today than he actually is. But I really don't think he's being selfish. He's doing what he thinks is best for the company, even if it isn't the best thing for the company after all.

Sure, he is still the biggest name in pro wrestling...of all time. But todays fans do not want to see him all of the time. A lot of the younger fans like the younger guys, and wish he wasn't on the screen every week. I'm an "old school" fan, and I don't want to see him nearly as much as I do on Impact. I think he needs to find a happy medium. In terms of giving TNA mainstream exposure, Hogan is good for TNA. But Hogan needs to be careful of putting too much of himself out there. To build TNA up, they need to build stars. Hogan is more than established, so for now, it's ok. But in the long run, I think he needs to slowly work himself off of tv.

....Or just leave the company if and when it goes bankrupt.

 

[aaronmb]

I just hope the tag match was hogans last match. Flair and Hogan are too old to be in the ring. I really hope the orlando jordan and wolfpac angles fail badly. Golddust is so stale, now he's doing it.

 

[Remy LaCroix]

I've heard so much about TNA's Knockout Division and was pleased by very few matches I've watched since October. Unfortunately the Division is focusing on The Beautiful People and...well, Von Erich can't wrestle, Rayne has no credibility and won her title by a clear fluke, and Velvet Sky is just like the Divas but looks skankier -- by Diva I mean she can't wrestle and all she does are cat-fights -- at least Kelly Kelly can do huracanranas. I'm disappointed in the direction they're going right now.

And I thought the Knockout Tag Team titles were a great addition until it occurred to me that they don't have enough Knockouts and for that tournament they actually hired female wrestlers for one night only.

I really hope the orlando jordan and wolfpac angles fail badly.

Why? Is it because you don't like them? They're still fresh and you're bashing them?

 

[aaronmb]

I've heard so much about TNA's Knockout Division and was pleased by very few matches I've watched since October. Unfortunately the Division is focusing on The Beautiful People and...well, Von Erich can't wrestle, Rayne has no credibility and won her title by a clear fluke, and Velvet Sky is just like the Divas but looks skankier -- by Diva I mean she can't wrestle and all she does are cat-fights -- at least Kelly Kelly can do huracanranas. I'm disappointed in the direction they're going right now.

And I thought the Knockout Tag Team titles were a great addition until it occurred to me that they don't have enough Knockouts and for that tournament they actually hired female wrestlers for one night only.



Why? Is it because you don't like them? They're still fresh and you're bashing them?

Cause though OJ thing is just incredibly stupid, like something on wwe years ago. He hasnt even been in a match in months. The wolfpac thing...scott hal is horrible in the ring. Chances are, theyll bring in some other old guy for the revenge thing.

 

[wushady]

When Dixie Carter fired Bubba she stated in an email to him that she has advertisers to answer to, and they have no tolerance racial insensitivity. I'm not starting another Bubba debate, but I do think he is wrongfully being labeled as a racist when you hear the full interview not the one some sites have edited.

I just don't see how they find something that happened to a former employee by a current employee that wasn't on TNA's air offensive. However it's OK to have Anderson dressed as a priest/alter boy attack the Pope. Then cut a sacrilegious promo on their show. I'm sure advertisers loved that or the whole Orlando Jordan gimmick. That can't be an easy sell.

I'm not being pro Bubba or anti TNA it just doesn't make sense to me. Racism or sacrilegious skits have no business in wrestling.

 

[Optimist Prime]

Why do you hope the wolfpac fail? The only reason they're boring today is because of people like you who won't let them continue to compete at their potential.

The jist of Hogan and current TNA bashers is "zero personality + somersaults and flips = entertainment while having personality + mediocre wrestling = failure"

Somebody forgot to tell you that wrestling is not real...and it's entertainment. The personalities are just as important as the moves...