[Official] Disco Nation

[Marty2Hotty]

http://www.wrestlezone.com/column.php?articleid=226116040

Eddie and Chris' wrestling styles. I admit, I care about characters rather than wrestling ability. There wree only a few wrestlers which i couldn't stand watching: Dan Severn in WWF ATtitude - that style is just too slow. Hogan trying to keep up in his matches - they were atrocious. Disco isn't the best wrestler in the world either because his fake punches don't seem to connect well enough to make the punches look like it hurts. He has to improve on his stomping - sorta like how a Bret Hart wrestles.

Good wrestling ability is not what will get peopel over. I don't condone chris or eddie's styles either.. but they were pretty good at what they did.

Pacman Jones is in the news.. i thought TNA did a poor and uneventful job of using him. nobody cared.

 

[Papa Shango]

TNA doesn't need another title. If TNA knew how to properly book their talent, they wouldn't need another title to push those wrestlers who aren't in World title contention.

I don't know, a good mid-card title can elevate a star, there's no denying that. It doesn't even neccessarily mean getting a new title, just elevate the X-Division, make less like a Cruiserweight title, and a combination of a CW/ Hardcore/ TV title. I would say the closest that the X-Division title could get is like the ECW TV title, which really help elevate stars like Rob Van Dam and Rhyno.

But really, nothing elevates a star the way the Intercontinental Championship does. Look what it did for guys like the Ultimate Warrior, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, The Rock, Triple H, and most recently, Randy Orton. I'm not sure if WWE has a trademark on the "Intercontinental" title, but a TNA Intercontinental Championship would be fantastic, and could easily help elevate young stars like Robert Roode, James Storm, Matt Morgan, and others who seem to get stuck into makeshift tag teams because it's the only way to give them a reason to be on the show. Even put a few of the older guys in the mix, like Booker T or Christian, and let them help the young guys.

As lackluster as I personally feel the Legends vs. TNA Originals, I'm all in favor of trying to do a storyline that elevates the younger stars and begins to really give TNA it's own identity.

 

[adampembrey]

New member here, I've been a long time reader of the forum and main site though.

First of all let me say what a pleasure it is to have "Disco" in our midst. During the good old Nitro days of 96-00 I was a massive Disco mark to the point where I called myself 'Disco Inferno' on a comedy channels message board. Yes I was that cool.

I don't think everybody quite gets it as to why he is here, his job is to entertain us, cut some promo's and stir up some discussion. He does a good job.

Anyway enough arse kissing, I thought I would use this opportunity to post a few of my personal thoughts on TNA.

I like TNA because I except it for what it is. To me TNA is a decent once weekly wrestling show with monthly PPV's and a few video games/dvd's.

That may sound like I am stating the obvious but I think people forget that some times. It is pointless looking to TNA to be real competition for the WWE at the moment, the WWE is a multi-national Billion Dollar corporation that has 3 rosters (well 2 and a half ) and over 60 years history behind it.

TNA has 6 years experience and has had to fight its way up from literally nothing with the huge WWE monster constantly looming over it.

In that 6 years TNA has evolved and grown, every year TNA has gotten a bit bigger and a bit better than it was before, thats the key to a succesful business. I'm very interested to see what direction the company takes in the next 5 or 6 years.

If it were up to me I'd like to see the following occur.

1. Keep PPV's on the road.:

I think its important to keep a special feel for PPV's and by getting out of the Impact Zone it gives it that. I also think they should have a specific PPV set and perhaps even small things like have black ropes etc, just to give the PPV's a different feel to the TV tapings.

2. Live Impacts:

Every now and then Impact airs live and it thoroughly improves things as there are no Internet spoliers and it adds a sense of anticipation and suspense.

For me TNA should be looking to air one live Impact every month by the end of 2009, ideally the show direct after a PPV so fans can see the fallout as it happpens rather than a few days later.

The next step is of course airing every other show live, much like WWE did with Raw back in the mid 90's. A reasonable aim for this would be about 3 years from now, mid to late 2011.

Then of course comes the step of being live every week, which would of course come at the end of this 5-6 year plan. The last step woud be to air live every week from a different location. I don't think they should say goodbye to the Impact Zone as it is TNA's home, perhaps one live Impact every month could be held at 'home'.

3. Creating their own stars:

I'm quietly hopeful that this 'respect' angle is a way of doing that. There is a place for signing up big names established elsewhere and TNA has found great benefits from the likes of Sting, Angle, Booker etc.

However in order to gain real credibilty you need to create stars of your own from scratch. I hope the eventual pay off to this angle will be the likes of AJ, Joe, Matt Morgan, Lethal etc being victorious over the veterans and leading TNA from the top.

The thing is though, the real stars are those that make the cross over into other meduims beyond wrestling.

TNA needs to find a guy like WWE found Hogan and Austin, and WCW found Flair and Sting. These guys were celebrities in their own right, they were real stars, people knew them, loved them and wanted to watch them, so they turned on the wrestling show.

This is of course easier said than done, and needs a lot of things to be in place. TNA needs to get their guys out their more, get Joe and AJ on MTV and Nickelodeon, have them bash the TNA drum left right and centre, promote promote promote.

4. GET OVER THE WWE:

It seems every show there is some mention of WWE somewhere. At Bound for Glory, TNA's signature PPV Mick Foley was backstage talking about his Hell in a Cell match. Why? They should have had him putting over the Terror Dome (whats it called now) match. Why did he name drop JR? Its piggy backing and it just pains TNA as wannabe's.

Anyway like I say I really like TNA and have massive respect for what they do and have done. I wish them all the best because the more qulaity wrestling there is on TV the better.

Sorry for the long post.

 

[theneil450]

Not to change topics but I found an article the lists the top 13 worst wrestling gimmicks and guess who number 6 is. I'll give you a hint, it's not glacier.

http://www.comedy.com/blog/2008/10/20/the-13-worst-pro-wrestling-gimmicks-ever/

 

[tormentedulsoe]

Not to change topics but I found an article the lists the top 13 worst wrestling gimmicks and guess who number 6 is. I'll give you a hint, it's not glacier.

http://www.comedy.com/blog/2008/10/20/the-13-worst-pro-wrestling-gimmicks-ever/

He looks like a gay extra from Goodfellas. WCW proved once again that it’s never way-too-late for anti-disco jokes.

 

[Chuck N]

I read alot of ppl's posts on these msg boards bashing Disco for his gimmick. You guys say that Disco sucks because you hated his gimmick. Don't you guys understand that Disco's job was to make you guys hate him? He was given a character and was told what to do with it.

You weren't supposed to like the Disco character. He was supposed to get under your skin by doing his dance and make you boo him. He wasn't supposed to make you think that one day he might become the heavyweight champion.

Disco did those things with his character, which means he did a good job with it, which probably means he doesn't suck. I thought people who were "smart to the business" would know something like that.

I thought internet fans were supposed to be smart.

 

[gg inferno]

Not to change topics but I found an article the lists the top 13 worst wrestling gimmicks and guess who number 6 is. I'll give you a hint, it's not glacier.

http://www.comedy.com/blog/2008/10/20/the-13-worst-pro-wrestling-gimmicks-ever/

that just gave me a great idea for an article. since some guy writes an article for everyone to read online and lists the 13 worst gimmicks of all time, maybe i'll write an article on wrestlezone on the 13 worst message board posters of all time, including some of their idiotic quotes.

 

[gg inferno]

I read alot of ppl's posts on these msg boards bashing Disco for his gimmick. You guys say that Disco sucks because you hated his gimmick. Don't you guys understand that Disco's job was to make you guys hate him? He was given a character and was told what to do with it.

You weren't supposed to like the Disco character. He was supposed to get under your skin by doing his dance and make you boo him. He wasn't supposed to make you think that one day he might become the heavyweight champion.

Disco did those things with his character, which means he did a good job with it, which probably means he doesn't suck. I thought people who were "smart to the business" would know something like that.

I thought internet fans were supposed to be smart.

why did you think internet fans were supposed to be smart? i haven't seen any evidence supporting that theory. as a matter of fact, i've seen overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

 

[klunderbunker]

Fairly straightforward question: Who do you think is the overall best (on the mic, in the ring, charisma, etc.) wrestler active today?

 

[gg inferno]

Fairly straightforward question: Who do you think is the overall best (on the mic, in the ring, charisma, etc.) wrestler active today?

kurt

 

[theneil450]

For the record I don't hate on disco/glenn I just found that article and thought it would be interesting to post it here. I watched wcw worldwide for arn anderson defending the tv title and stayed for the disco fever. The picture chosen for the article was pretty gay and made me laugh which might have been the desired the effect.

 

[Papa Shango]

why did you think internet fans were supposed to be smart? i haven't seen any evidence supporting that theory. as a matter of fact, i've seen overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

Now, that hurts, Glenn, it really does. I've never pretended to know everything that there is to know about wrestling, but I'd like to think that I've always come across as intelligent and knowledgeable.

Anyways, I was wondering if you read Paul Heyman's most recent blog, in which he states that TNA lacks a "central theme" to the show. I'll post it here just you and others can read it.

On TNA, Heyman writes:

If you watched TNA IMPACT! this past week, you saw, yet again, a squandered opportunity at the counter-productive levels of WCW at its very worst.

To exacerbate the situation, this inexcusable momentum-killer was coming right out of TNA's Bound For Glory pay per view in front of an awesome hot crowd in Chicago

TNA is just such a mess. Where does anyone who stands outside their lack of vision even try to begin? Hmmmmm... let's see.

The "sure thing" Mick Foley seems uncharacteristically uninspired during his promo, and then promises to shake pro wrestling to it's very foundation on the next show.

Nothing like over-promising. Unless Foley wants to re-institute the X-Division style match and "top everyone else's performances .... EVER!"

I don't know what Mick can do to live up to the hype.

I truly hope he does, but it seems the Through The Looking Glass mentality of the backwards world of TNA has lead me to become sceptical of even TNA's mere desire to deliver the goods.

They have all the talent in the world. Sting, believe it or not, is at the top of his game. He may not have the youth and match-long physical intensity he had in WCW, but he's a much smarter worker now and his promos have been so focused and good, they're out of place on the lost TNA programming.

Kurt Angle is a man possessed. The demons inside Kurt drive him to compete with everyone in the known universe, and he hates himself with a passion every single solitary day of his existence that he can't look in the mirror and say "I see the greatest wrestler in the history of this industry staring back at me." Kurt is compelled to be the best, which is a strong weapon to have at your disposal.

Samoa Joe is a workhorse who takes great pride in his performances, only he's booked and produced so terribly, the best thing for Samoa Joe fans to do is to plead with him to jump to WWE just for the chance to break away from the career-contaminating booking he's suffering through now.

And then there's the man who turned on Joe, multi-promotion main event star Kevin Nash.

On the television show following his big turn on Samoa Joe, where this now-sinister seven footer has betrayed the trust of the promotion's biggest house-branded superstar, Nash took the mic and recited a well known Ric Flair promo from the 1980s.

If Nash is going to quote anyone, shouldn't it be himself? It could have been as easy as "I've done it everywhere I've gone in my career. This place is no exception. I'm ... taking .... over!"

AJ Styles rubs up against the main event, but the promotion sees him as an opponent more than an attraction. Team 3-D can work with anyone, p*** off any crowd, lose every night, and keep their heat. They know exactly what they're doing.

So, with all this talent, what's the premise of the show? What's the theme? What's the central hook for the next several months? Jeff Jarrett's return? Kurt Angle's unhealthy desire to mention Jeff's family in every promo? Booker's need to be a legend? Sting's pursuit of respect from Samoa Joe? Joe's need to demonstrate his youth yet experience against Sting? The TNA Championship itself?

There is no central theme to the TNA show. No focus. Everything is so structured to get to the next segment and simply "not lose a viewer," the promotion has lost sight of the necessity, let along the genuine value, of the long term build.

On WWE, Heyman writes:

It's time for Vince's vision of sports entertainment to be updated. Check out the new generation of kids watching the shows. What music do they listen to? What styles resonate with them? With whom can they identify?

D/x vs Miz and Morrison. Is it going to be the changing of the guard to a new D-Generation of punks? Or will it be a short term "HHH and HBK rule the WWE universe" demonstration like D/x did with Team rKo already?

Kenny "Doane" Dykstra is 23 years old. Why isn't he living in the studio, watching how shows are edited, so he learns the mindset of what WWE is looking for in a television product? If you're a race car driver, wouldn't you know how the car runs, not just how to drive it?

Ted DiBiase and Cody Rhodes are excellent in their roles, but can you name anything about their presentation that screams "young and new and different than anything you've seen before" instead of just "we look, dress, and wrestle like 35 year old men who are veterans."

No new style, not even an attempt at a different approach to their marketing and presentation. Think of it this way: While the announcers can tell us all ad naseum how young DiBiase and Morrison are, how many 13 year olds look at that tag team and think they're younger and more successful than Miz and Morrison?

When I first broke in as "Paul E. Dangerously," I hated when the old timers would just complain about how good wrestling was in their day, and how it all sucks now, and how back in the good ol' days blah blah blah.

Let's be clear on one thing. I'm not talking about the good ol' days. I don't want wrestling to look back on old concepts. I'm begging the industry to realise the present style of writing, producing, and presenting wrestling television has simply run its course.

You can comment on anything in this article that you'd like to address, but I'm most interested in your thought's on Heyman's comments about TNA's lack of central theme. I think he makes a lot of fair points in this blog, and I'd like to get your thoughts.

 

[gg inferno]

whoever has the answer to the question, "Where does wrestling go next?" holds the golden ticket. it's just my not so humble opinion that my generation knew how to interact with the target demographic better than the guys today. When I wrestled we were visible in the clubs and lived rock star lifestyles. I hate to say it, but most of the guys today are nerds, in a sense. Nerds aren't tv stars. Today's wrestlers go back to their rooms and play video games. I think it's a talent issue more than anything.

 

[Papa Shango]

Was that the answer to my question? Because if so, then you should totally be the Republican Vice Presidential candidate. And I'm sure Marty will wholeheartedly agree... most likely because he won't catch the sarcasm...

In all seriousness though, Glenn, do you think Heyman is on to something when he says that Impact lacks a central theme?

And I agree that some of today's younger guys come across as nerds. Which younger guys in the business nowadays would you say live the "superstar" lifestyle, you know, come across as big stars in public?

 

[klunderbunker]

I think it is to an extent, but maybe not to the levels that Heyman says. It seems that weekly the show is on a road with no destination. Like Heyman said, what is the most important story? It seems to me that the World Title is being pushed back, but at least not as badly as it was during Punk's reign in WWE. Hopefully the company can pull off the respect storyline because it shows great promise.

 

[Chuck N]

Isn't the whole young stars vs the veterans storyline the central theme of the program?

 

[gg inferno]

Was that the answer to my question? Because if so, then you should totally be the Republican Vice Presidential candidate. And I'm sure Marty will wholeheartedly agree... most likely because he won't catch the sarcasm...

In all seriousness though, Glenn, do you think Heyman is on to something when he says that Impact lacks a central theme?

And I agree that some of today's younger guys come across as nerds. Which younger guys in the business nowadays would you say live the "superstar" lifestyle, you know, come across as big stars in public?

nobody. because nobody recognizes them like they used to recognize us.

 

[Marty2Hotty]

whoever has the answer to the question, "Where does wrestling go next?" holds the golden ticket. it's just my not so humble opinion that my generation knew how to interact with the target demographic better than the guys today. When I wrestled we were visible in the clubs and lived rock star lifestyles. I hate to say it, but most of the guys today are nerds, in a sense. Nerds aren't tv stars. Today's wrestlers go back to their rooms and play video games. I think it's a talent issue more than anything.

Glenn is right.. he's probably referring to Joe, AJ, Machismo, Dutt, MMG and all the other x division guys. There needs to be people cool that we can look up to... rock and austin were people they developed. I thought Truth had potential. and there are some guys at TNA that have potential... but i'm sure glenn has a point that most of the young up and comers are nerds

Cena was pretty cool though when i watched back in 2002

 

[gg inferno]

Glenn is right.. he's probably referring to Joe, AJ, Machismo, Dutt, MMG and all the other x division guys. There needs to be people cool that we can look up to... rock and austin were people they developed. I thought Truth had potential. and there are some guys at TNA that have potential... but i'm sure glenn has a point that most of the young up and comers are nerds

Cena was pretty cool though when i watched back in 2002

im talking about guys industry wide

 

[Marty2Hotty]

who specifically... i dont think there are any badasses that have cool characters.. i think ron killings and monty brown had potential.. and didn't really come across as "nerds".. but tna decided not to push them. LAX don't really come across as nerds either..

i haven't watched wwe so i really can't comment on them. i'm not sure about the veterans, but Kevin Nash doesn't really come across as a nerd either.. nor does Kurt Angle, Scott Steiner.. even Christian can do it.. Rhino doesn't come across as a nerd.. nor does VKM or the Dudleys.. Sting is kinda "the good guy" so it's okay for him to do what he does..

Buff Bagwell didn't come across as a nerd. I think TNA should bring this guy back despite what the critics say.. i think it's just how they're portrayed on television that makes us go "oh, they're just doign the wrestling schtick" that really needs to change. Russo used to write badass characters. Even when Lance Storm was portrayed as a boring guy, the way he was used in 2000 was hilarious.. and made people (esp in Canada) like him and people in the states boo the hell out of him.

The writing just needs to get better... but TNA doesn't really want to emphasize characters anymore. They want to do predictable wrestling feuds.

 

[gg inferno]

you're missing the point. our generation of wrestlers drank beer, hit every strip joint in the country, and got vip treatment at all of the best clubs. today's wrestlers read comic books and play video games.

 

[Papa Shango]

nobody. because nobody recognizes them like they used to recognize us.

I don't know, I know a lot of people who recognize John Cena who DON'T watch a whole lot of wrestling. Cena gets lots of mainstream attention. Commercials, endorsement deals, guest spots on MadTV, Conan O' Brien, Deal or No Deal. I'm not sure why, because it wasn't very good, but The Marine is a pretty popular movie among my friends.

Chris Jericho also gets some mainstream recognition. A lot of my friends like his stuff on VH1, like Best Week Ever and I Love ____ . And they don't watch wrestling.

 

[Marty2Hotty]

you're missing the point. our generation of wrestlers drank beer, hit every strip joint in the country, and got vip treatment at all of the best clubs. today's wrestlers read comic books and play video games.

you're talking at a time when wrestling was much more popular though. you have a point about this generation's wrestlers though. the thing is the type of wrestlers you want will probably cause trouble backstage, and end up getting fired..

nash, 49, apparently still hits many strip joints.. did you hear his latest promo

i dont think homicide or hernandez plays video games... i know aj, joe, machismo, mmg does though..

yeah i dont know what's needed.. wrestling needs to hire more guys that aren't nerds i guess. you should go out on impact or have a segment and make this statement. then aj/joe can come out and beg to differ. aj can come out and say "have you even played pokemon diamond?". joe will go "halo 3 is awesome"

a weekly segment where disco vents about his opinoin on today's wrestling, and why all the young guys at tna are all nerds would actually be quite entertaining / real. i tcould lead to you getting your ass kicked. joe/aj: "can a nerd do this?" and they put you through a table or something.

would that work?

next week, you can come out in a wheelchair bandaged up.. maybe say "okay, maybe not all of them are nerds" - man this shit writes itself.. then you can vent on something else in the wrestling world or anything out of the wrestling world..

 

[gg inferno]

I don't know, I know a lot of people who recognize John Cena who DON'T watch a whole lot of wrestling. Cena gets lots of mainstream attention. Commercials, endorsement deals, guest spots on MadTV, Conan O' Brien, Deal or No Deal. I'm not sure why, because it wasn't very good, but The Marine is a pretty popular movie among my friends.

Chris Jericho also gets some mainstream recognition. A lot of my friends like his stuff on VH1, like Best Week Ever and I Love ____ . And they don't watch wrestling.

i'll give you them. but the reality is that if TMZ.com was around when i wrestled back in the late 90's, we would have been way more popular. isn't it wierd that you just don't see alot of these guys in the news getting people spotted at all? these guys are on one of the highest rated cable shows on a weekly basis. hogan's the only guy that stays in the news.

 

[Slyfox696]

Mr. Gilbertti, I made a thread about this a few weeks ago, and you never made an appearance in it. I was highly disappointed. So, I'm bringing it to your thread.

On Sunday, TNA is coming to my home town of Cape Girardeau. I'm sitting second row with my girlfriend. As the match layout maker person that you are, I fully expect no less than six separate 5 star matches, as rated by Dave Meltzer. I don't know if you have any control over house shows, but it shouldn't matter. Take the initiative on this one.

Remember, six Dave Meltzer 5 star matches. I won't accept anything less. If I don't get six 5 star matches, I'm going to stand in front of my $50 dollar steel folding chair and chant "Fire Russo".

Consider yourself warned.

True story.


On a side note, I had to to change from your super sexy Disco avatar to this rather mundane Bret Hart. Not sure why I had to, but I'm sure I did.