No Surrender 2011 vs. 2012 - An Annual TNA Check-Up

[The 1-2-3 Killam]

No Surrender is the last TNA pay-per-view before the company's biggest event of the year. It's where angles are played off, or played up, and the final card is pounded out going into Bound for Glory. So I think it's only fitting that we take a look at the angles going in this year, as it compares to the angles going on at this time last year. I personally think TNA is leaps and bounds above what it was doing in 2011, but there may be enough to disprove that theory. Let's take a look...

TNA No Surrender 2011

-The Bound for Glory series had come down to four men: Bully Ray, Bobby Roode, James Storm, and Gunner. This was before Bully really hit his stride as a top heel in TNA, and Gunner was...well, Gunner. Just about as over then as he is now, with probably a bit more momentum. The real story was the up-and-comers, the Beer Money tag team partners Bobby (then Robert) Roode and "The Cowboy" James Storm.
-Bobby Roode would win it all, and then go onto Bound for Glory in a losing effort against Kurt Angle.
-Kurt Angle was the TNA World Heavyweight Champion. He defeated Sting and Mr. Anderson in a 3-way match, and retained the title as previously stated, against Roode at BFG. It should be noted that in 2011 there was very little stability with the World Title. It changed hands far too many times, and TNA never seemed to make up their mind who to push in the main event division.
-The tag team division was in bandages after the split of Beer Money, with Mexican America successfully defending the belts against Devon and The Pope.
-Nobody cared about the Knockouts, but at least Mickie James was still relevant.
-Austin Aries won the X-Division Championship from Brian Kendrick. The belt was not largely important, but with Aries growing on a lot of people things were looking up. John Morrison was released around this time, adding hype that he might potentially show up and challenge for the belt. That of course never happened, but Aries would go on to hold the belt for almost an entire year.
-The big angle was of course Immortal and Hulk Hogan against Sting. Hogan would eventually turn face at Bound for Glory, helping Sting take out Immortal in the process.

TNA No Surrender 2012
-The Bound for Glory series has come down to four men: Bully Ray, James Storm, Samoa Joe and Jeff Hardy. It's hard to predict who will win it all, because Aces & Eights is so tied up in everything you can't really predict what's going to happen. Joe seems unlikely due to a fight he had with Magnus this week, and I'm still willing to bet Bully Ray is somehow involved in all the chaos. This probably would have gone to James Storm had Bobby Roode kept the belt. We'll find out this weekend.
-Austin Aries is the World Champion. Bobby Roode carried the belt for the majority of the year. There have been many names pop into the division, but overall it has had a huge change in stability.
-The Tag division is still hurting, but Kaz and Daniels are damn good. It's showing signs of life with Chavo and Hernandez, and the Robbie's teaming together more often. There is a light there, but TNA has split up tag teams too often for me to really have confidence in them at this point.
-Nobody cares about the Knockouts, even more than last year. Tessmacher is a placeholder that, except for there being nude videos of her ass out there, nobody seems to care about. Gail Kim and Tara really make up the only wrestling talent in the division, as Mickie James has been weirdly absent. Madison Rayne is constantly over-looked, and the loss of Velvet Sky did not help matters at all. ODB is out of the division almost completely (you know...except for being one of its champions...), and Kong shows no signs of wanting to come back.
-Zema Ion is X-Division Champion. He's not bad, but he's definitely not Austin Aries, who was so good he became a face because TNA couldn't really fight it anymore. There are great talents like Sonjay and King, but getting zero time on Impact this month has really continued to hurt the division.
-And the big angle of course is the Aces & Eights. Something that started off really interesting, but has predictably become convoluted and showed almost no signs of development in recent weeks. It's dragging, and I think with matches like "Aries vs. Unknown dude with hammer" it's not going anywhere good. There's still a month to make it work though...

TL;DR SECTION:

What has TNA done to improve the product in the last year?

What has TNA failed to do in the last year?

What is actually WORSE about TNA in 2012, compared to 2011?

 

[The Hillside]

What has TNA done to improve the product in the last year?

Two things come on the top of mind for everyone. One is the introduction of the BFG series and other is that talented Roode and Storm were pushed big time as main eventers. It had been ages since TNA pushed any of its homegrown superstars since Styles, Joe, Abyss and Daniels, probably since 2005? I also think Beer Money Inc. and Motor City Machineguns feud/matches were awesome and gave further momentum to the tag team division.

What has TNA failed to do in the last year?

They could not elevate the X-Division back to its momentum that it once had until the belt was given to Aries. It also failed to push talented Shelley and Sabin which may now go down as a missed opportunity forever. Also, Morgan, Crimson and Gunner were always being pushed but TNA failed to hit the right target with them and the plan ended nowhere on the cost of several other superstars.


What is actually WORSE about TNA in 2012, compared to 2011?

Nothing really only that Knockout's Division and the TV Title division (midcards) are not getting much importance but it's ok as long as TNA is improving its main event and tag team division.

 

[clinicallyawesome]

"It had been ages since TNA pushed any of its homegrown superstars since Styles, Joe, Abyss and Daniels, probably since 2005?"

AJ had a 7 month World title run in 2010

What has TNA failed to do in the last year?

"It also failed to push talented Shelley and Sabin which may now go down as a missed opportunity forever." Following their 10 month run as tag champions, Sabin has literally been injured for 18 of the last 20 months.

They dropped the ball by not giving us a full fledged Alex Shelly/Austin Aries feud. It started, it went away prematurely. Oh well.

 

[clinicallyawesome]

What has TNA done to improve the product in the last year? I think TNA has done a good job at not being predictable. The two main story lines, Aces&8's and the BFG series is up in the air. Who is leading the Aces? It literally could be like five people. It could be Matt Morgan, it could be Joe, it could be Jarrett... it could be James Storm.

Sure they attacked him, but they could very well swin it that James was setting an example for his team to put their body in harms way for the good of the group. Get beat up, get "patched in".

That being said, I actually think and hope it's a combo of Anderson and Jarrett with whatever combo of Gallows and company they keep around.

As for the BFG series: Any of those 4 guys can win. I would think they aren't going to let Storm go coast to coast (he won the kickoff battle royal). I would also assume that Roode comes back and costs Storm the match. Jeff Hardy is obviously the most popular of the four (but I think they should hold off on him. I think he could serve a bigger purpose in a tag match with the Robbies. It also could be a way to get a couple extra buys by havnig Matt return to have a Hardy Boyz reunion. Remember, they never tagged during Matt's run)

That leaves Bully and Joe. Originally I would've assumed Bully to have a monsters ball with Abyss. But now I don't know. Ray is the only heel remaining out of the four. Unless of course, at No Surrender we find out that Joe is in Aces.

Joe and Aries would be great, and Joe absolutely hinted to it after thier last match. But a face v face mainevent at BFG is tricky. AJ vs Sting made sense (mainly cuz we all thought that was Stings last match) Joe vs Aries, as much as I would love it, doesn't make too much sense.

Sorry, I went off topic.

What has TNA failed to do in the last year? They lost thier tag divison. They have Daniels/Kaz, Hernandez and Chavo (which, poor Hernandez. Anytime a new latin dude shows up, TAG TEAM WITH HERNANDEZ), and the Robbies. If I were them, I would be trying to poach ROH tag teams.

It's time to bring in the Briscoes.

What is actually WORSE about TNA in 2012, compared to 2011? This is basically the same question. So I'm just going to repeat, the selection of tag teams, and call it good.

 

[IHW]

Great thread, Mike.

What has TNA done to improve the product in the last year?

As you said, the stability of the World Title has improved tremendously. I can't even remember who had the title last year. (wiki'd it) There were 8 reigns in 2011 alone between 6 different people.

Also, they ended everything to do with Immortal. Getting Bitchoff of TV was a great decision too.

They have added a few things that set them apart from other companies. Things like Open Fight Night really help the product if you ask me.

What has TNA failed to do in the last year?

TNA has failed to build their lower divisions. The X-Division has fallen. The Knockouts have fallen. The Tag Team division has fallen. The TV Title has never even amounted to anything. It is sad, because this is what TNA was so great at before. They had amazing divisions in the days of MCMG, Beer Money, and other phenomenal tags. The KO's were once led by Kong, Kim, and the Beautiful People. I don't even have to state how far the X-Division has fallen. It's pretty bad, but hopefully TNA will pick up one these things in 2013.

What is actually WORSE about TNA in 2012, compared to 2011?
Like I said, all divisions excluding the Main Event.

They have stretched the storylines out to last longer, but the Clair Lynch thing was flat out sad.

I really can't think of much others.