The Biggest Problem TNA Has Overall?

[Coco]

I'm going to respond to Doc's post because his is the only one I bothered to look at.

Another reason why I'll never be a mod.

The whole darn thing. Let's break it down.

They don't know who they're writing for.
OK, TNA likes to say it's the Adult program on air. If that's the case, why isn't it giving us many adult storylines? Angle/Anderson was excellent, and the Orlando Jordan storyline could really have gone somewhere, but other than that the stories are written for people of...lesser intelligence. Abyss feuding over a ring that makes him act like Hogan? I'm actually amused by this but when it's wrapped up in a product that likes to shove blood and swearing in places it doesn't belong, it just seems wrong. TNA needs to decide whether they're trying to put on a mature product or a family-friendly one.

Abyss got confidence from the ring, not out and out "power." I think this has been addressed on the air.

As long as it doesn't take too much time, I don't think this one storyline is a deal breaker.

NOT AN ISSUE (Imagine that in the form of a stamp)

The roster is gigantic.
Honestly. There are so many people on the roster, and with one show, there just isn't enough time to showcase everyone. People are getting shafted, or forgotten, and the whole thing is a mess. TNA needs a new show in order to showcase their talent in an organized way. If they don't want or do not have the resources to make a new show, it's time to start trimming the fat.

IS AN ISSUE

They seem to pick up talented guys like Kendrick, Daniels, etc., and use them as utility jobbers. It's uncalled for and it squanders very marketable, appealing wrestlers with loyal fanbases who can create great buzz around these guys. I agree that they need to be given an outlet to show their stuff and get over or be set free. Although if what we're seeing with Wolfe is any indication, this is WCW-lite in that getting over when that's not wanted from you is considered a sin.

Yes, I'm feeling cynical this morning.

Knowing TNA, Spike doesn't have enough confidence in them right now to give them a second show and TNA doesn't have the good sense to both trim fat and not hire more hasbeens to replace them.

Hogan and his friends take up too much airtime.
Don't get me wrong, I like Hogan, a lot. I was always a Hulkamaniac. However, Flair and Hogan don't need to take up a quarter of the show. It doesn't leave enough time for the giant roster to develop their storylines and is another reason TNA needs a new show. Things are not getting the time they need, and Hogan is a big reason why.

I'm going to broaden this.

With the exception of Van Dam and Hardy (and Angle, I suppose), who still have value as main eventers, none of these major acquisitions should be the centerpiece of significant angles. Nash, Hall, the Dudleys, and people like that have seen their time come and go. The Dudleys should be on equal footing with the rest of the tag division, not treated like they're above it (Them being the only ones to get an entrance on Monday REALLY pissed me off). Nash (as much as I love him) and Hall should be managers or commentators. Something that doesn't require a tonne of physicality where they expose younger and more convincing workers, and that doesn't put them front and center in a storyline. They should be putting people over above all else.

Flair has done well to stick to the manager role most weeks, but he needs less TV time to give other personalities a chance to develop.

Hogan needs less TV time, period. And he should stop making people look like chumps. X can use the Cornette example all he wants, but Cornette never ran around destroying multiple heels at once.

The Impact Zone
Fuck the Crucial Crew. Fuck the Impact Zone. TNA needs to get out of Orlando and start exposing their product to the world. The Crucial Crew and the rest of the crowd makes episodes of Impact sound depressingly indy, with their ridiculous chants and attempts to get themselves over as opposed to getting the show itself over. Make it stop.

I'd rather a crowd sound indy and be invited to get involved than sit on their hands, be marginalized, and be censored in an almost Orwellian fashion (Taking signs at the door? Fuck them).

Like I said, I'm in a cynical mood this morning. Still, if you didn't mark for the "Double Vision" chant on Monday, you have no soul.

I'm all for going on the road, but loud, indy crowds aren't something I'll turn my nose up.

NOT AN ISSUE

Lack of Marketing
There is a good chunk of people who don't watch TNA because they don't know it exists. TNA needs to really, REALLY start marketing their product. I'm talking the works. Ads, billboards, everything. Spread the word! Get it out!

HUGE ISSUE

I've missed TNA house shows because I was never made aware that they were going to be in my area. Something went wrong there.

Vince Russo
He wouldn't know good sense if it hit him over the head with The Blue Blazer's harness.

I tend to agree, just becauses the kind of storytelling he represents insults me and most right-thinking people and makes a bigger joke of wrestling than wrestling makes of itself.

So, what needs to be fixed? Whichever points of Doc's I agreed with.

*Edit* What KB said also sounds good.

 

[Caitiff]

Let's go down the line of major complaints. And, I'll start with the fans.

The "Crucial Crew"

The biggest problem I have with these guys has nothing to do with the fact that they "try to get themselves over." People in a professional wrestling audience have no obligation to try to make the product look better than it actually is. And, the very fact that people are discussing whether or not these guys are tools for "trying to get themselves over" proves one very simple thing: They have, in fact, gotten themselves over.

So, the biggest fault I can find with these guys is the fact that the TNA product has been substandard to the point that the fans are getting over more than the talent. It's quite embarrassing. You'll never see the WWE Sign Guy getting discussed more often than Matt Hardy, for instance.

If anything, TNA should put these guys on the payroll, and have them do their little chants at shows for other companies. There is no such thing as bad publicity, and controversy creates cash, regardless of how little of each is involved.

Hogan and Bischoff in Charge

Authority figures in wrestling television should be out of the limelight, for the most-part. The reason they should be as far removed as possible from the action is to increase the value of their statements. Linda McMahon is the best example possible for this in the last decade.

Sure, Vince, Stephanie, and Shane would ****e themselves in front of the camera on a 5 time a show basis, but Linda made comparitively very few appearances. And, when she did make an appearance, her announcement was almost invariably huge.

The fact that Bischoff and Hogan are getting more airtime per episode of Impact than pretty much all of the actual wrestling in that episode cheapens any announcements they might make. Andk, on a side note, it also demeens the talent, since it's shown as the talent only mattering because they buddy around with the boss. Nepotism is always frowned upon, and that seems to be the entirety of TNA storylines, at the moment.

Vince Russo

To be blunt, this is the single most over-rated person in the history of professional wrestling. The most common defense of this man is that he "booked the Attitude Era." While he was, in fact, employed by WWE at the beginning of this period, to the best of my knowledge, his only real bit of authority was in the WWE Magazine. Any voice he had in the actual booking of WWE programming was filtered by a few people, not the least of whom being Vince McMahon himself.

Upon leaving WWE, and going to WCW, Russo was given far more free reign over the WCW storylines. Well, outside of Hogan's storylines, since Hogan had creative control. And, where did that get us? Arquette title reign? Tank Abbot as a groupie to a boy band? Unmasking pretty much every Luchadore? Do any of those seem like good ideas to anyone?

"But, Rob. That was in WCW. We're talking about TNA now." Okay. Well, let's see. TNA, under Russo has had a battle royale + ladder match clusterfuck that ended in second place getting her freaking head shaved. What was being chanted while her head was being shaved, I wonder quietly to myself?

Or, how about the lockbox crap from a month ago? Wasn't there a chant during this one, too? Same as the other one, if memory serves. "But, Rob. Who cares about women's wrestling?"

Okay, I'll go farther, then. How many matches has Desmond Wolfe won in TNA?

Hogan's Creative Control

"Wait a minute, Rob. Hogan only has control over his storylines. That doesn't effect the whole show." You haven't been watching TNA lately, have you? Hogan is present in almost every storyline. If you go over every wrestler that has been encompassed by the Hogan/Flair storyline, or, some other storyline Hogan's involved in, you'll come up with a huge chunk of the TNA roster. In fact, let's do that.

AJ Styles
Samoa Joe
Jeff Hardy
RVD
Sting
Jeff Jarrett
Abyss
Beer Money
D'Angelo Dinero
Mr. Anderson
Kurt Angle
The Band (Now with added Eric Young)
Desmond Wolfe
Jay Lethal

Well, that's all that comes to mind, off the top of my head. The thing is, since all of those people are in storylines with Hogan, and Hogan has full creative control over any storyline he's involved with, Hulk Hogan is writing the careers of every single one of those names. On top of that, since those people are going to be involved in matches outside of the Hogan/Flair fued, but are still involved in Hogan's storylines, he's booking THOSE matches, too. Hogan's creative control gives him the deciding vote in a huge amount of TNA programming. And, as was proven in WCW, that's not a good thing.

"But, Rob. It's Hulk Hogan. Hogan's suposed to win." Well, that was true 20 years ago, when he was in his late 30's. The thing is, Hogan's pushing hard on 60, and 60's starting to give. Not to mention the fact that he takes longer on his entrance than the Undertaker takes on his. And, the Undretaker's in intentional.

On top of that is a very negative side effect of Hogan being an authority figure. Since it's Hogan, they will never book him as a proper authority figure. "What do you mean by that, Rob?" Glad you asked. There are basically two rules to follow when booking an authority figure in wrestling.

Rule #1: Never have your authority figure get his hands dirty. If the authority figure can do things for himself, why does he bother having the lackeys?

"But, Rob...." I know. McMahon. Well, that's actually the best example I can come up with for the other rule.

Rule #2: If you must break Rule #1, for the love of whatever God you claim to believe in, do NOT put the authority figure over the talent! What cheapens your talent more, to lose a competative match to a former champion that's your own age..... Or, to be punched once by a 60 year old man, and sell it as though you got hit in the face with a cinder block?

Hubris

Simply put, the people involved with TNA programming have put themselves on a pedistal, and believed that they could not fail. They believed that their ratings on Thursday nights would only grow as they ventured forth to challenge the professional wrestling juggernaut that is WWE's Monday Night Raw.

However, the dreams in their eyes blinded them to one very painful truth. A truth that, for their sake, I hope has become very clear: Half of their audience is made up of WWE fans who just wanted more wrestling. Even sadder is the realization that, at a subconcious level, I think they understood this completely. That would explain why the company drops its collective load whenever a recently fired wrestler from WWE passes the 90 day mark.

I'm very sorry to say this, but TNA does not have a foothold as far as getting their own fans into a unique brand that is a viable alternative to what's being offered on a global scale.

The X-Division is their best chance at having something that WWE doesn't offer. However, for the X-Division to succeed, they need to live up to their own credo: "It's not about weight limits. It's about no limits." Doug Williams and Kazarian are a good foundation to this division. They need to build up the matches that show something different. High Flyer vs. High Flyer, to be honest, is freaking boring. But, give me Amazing Red vs. Doug Williams, and let the "which style wins out" debate play itself out in the ring, and I'm a happy guy. TNA has something that is very rare in televised wrestling: A new beginning. If they play their cards right, they can build something worthwhile. But, it saddens me that, deep down, I know that they won't play their cards right.

 

[Loveless]

The Impact Zone, from the small-time feel of it, to the crowd full of wankers, to the fact that they can't leave it because a lot of the new talent came to TNA because they don't want to travel. The sooner they get out of Orlando the better.

 

[Phenomenal]

I think it is the Marketing. They need to let people know there is a alternative out there.

And did everyone of you guys see how BAD TNA kicked that crap out of WWE in terms of entertainment for the past 2 MONTHS.. Im gonna miss TNA on Mondays, It wont be the same seeing them back on Thursdays. The Impact zone Crowd was at it's peak on Mondays. Now it's gonna be probably quiet.

 

[CuddleBuns84]

So many great answers on this thread. So many right answers as well. From top to Bottom the product does have potential, but it also doesn't have it's own identity. The first champion in TNA's history was Ken Shamrock (I might be wrong but I know he had a title in the beginning, so I apologize now for being wrong... If I am) and was started by Jeff Jarrett and his family. You really think about, why did Jeff start the company. For guys who wouldn't get hired by Vince. So my opinion is the first problem is.. the TNA product. Never had it's own identity, just found whoever wasn't working for Vince and gave them a job. Then you really can't take the Total Nonstop Action title seriously. "Hey everybody, I'm a rep from Total Nonstop Action, and I'm here to demonstrate why Total Nonstop Action is the best in the world."

The second problem is.. Dixie Carter. She is professional and not bad to look at, but she doesn't hire off new concepts, or what the person can deliver, but what the person once was. Bischoff and Hogan 10 plus years ago help make professional wrestling a big deal. So many viewers between Nitro and Raw, it was heaven for the industry. A lot of cash was made. That was 10 plus years ago. Things have changed. Hogan can't last more then 5 minutes in the ring, and Bischoff, well, he would be a much better radio host like Mark Madden or something like that. As for these two guys trying to get one more shot at the glory land, well, sure, if it was a reality show or and hit sitcom, just not in TNA.

But back to Dixie. She is hiring all sorts of people who were once involved with wrestling. It's insane. Bobby Lashley quit the WWE, he didn't get fired. He was over with the crowd, but he just up and quit. She hired him. Jeff Hardy was main eventing the WWE less then a year ago, he quit, she allowed him to get hired. I believe she is very intelligent, just not in the wrestling business.

Marketing was another big issue, they definitely need to spend money on something, commericals, contests, whatever you can do. You need to get that product out there.

Last but not least, Tour America. They need to hit the road, get out Impact. No profit for the impact zone. The one thing that makes wrestling tough, is the tough schedule. You can't do one without the other.

 

[Who is Going to Win]

Thats easy its hogan, hogan is a selfish prick who wants to make a name for himself again. I thin power corrupts not like your mr mcmahon story line bull crap but the real deal. Dixie Carter comes from some rich texan family she really doesn't know shit, I bet she doesn;t do shit either. Hogan knows damn well that the best in TNA is Angle who hasn't won the title for a while, I guess thats fine but what about Samoa Joe my personal favourite from TNA I think hes a magnificent performer who probably defeated every single big star not to mention making angle tap. But NOOO HOGAN RATHER LET THE PHENOMINAL AJ STYLES JOB TO THAT FAT 40 YEAR OLD BASTARD ABYSS. I might sound harsh but thats the truth hogan keeps calling abyss "kid". some might disagree but rvd winning the title was a little ridiculous hes almost 40 he shouldn't be leading the roster he should be helping younger athletes become stars, not become a star himself. Hogan needs to realize that Desmond Wolfe, Samoa Joe, and AJ Styles need to be in the main event not 40 year old overweight person who can't say and not spray it (abyss).

 

[philbrooks]

I think it is the Marketing. They need to let people know there is a alternative out there.

And did everyone of you guys see how BAD TNA kicked that crap out of WWE in terms of entertainment for the past 2 MONTHS.. Im gonna miss TNA on Mondays, It wont be the same seeing them back on Thursdays. The Impact zone Crowd was at it's peak on Mondays. Now it's gonna be probably quiet.

Did you even look the ratings over the past few months? People DID sample the product and they didnt stay as they didnt like it. Not to mention TNA seemed to have driven off their longer standing fans. Spending on Marketing is a waste of money if you product doesnt draw in views.

 

[rondiesel2005]

you know i was watching TNA like maybe back in 02 where they had A J styles, he the reason why i started watching it..As ya'll know when TNA went on Tv, they started off by doing 1 hour weekly shows right?? then later on they started to get into it by changing it to 2 hours weekly.. Now what is the problem now with TNA??

From what i seen when they announce That they are bringing Hogan am like "oh boy".. This guy comes from a different product and I wasn't sure what he can do to fix this company... U know where everybody started to notice the mistakes starting to happen when they took out the 6 sided ring. When he did that, people are like ok this is not going to be good. Then they started bringing in guys like The Nasty Boys, I told my friend ok wait 4 or 6 months they not going to last long and look what happen..

The storyline issue. For while when they brought in Hogan i notice something wasn't right, every time i watch TNA that's all i see Hogan, come on if he there to improve the company stay backstage... Am sure ya'll seeing the ratings lately..when i read that they got 0.5, I was rollin am like damn that is really bad.. Thats like readin a report card and failing all them classes. The storylines don't make sense and thats why people when they watch TNA and they notice something doesnt sound right or When Hogan appears they quickly change the channel. they have Abyss looking like a damn fool with the hall of Fame Ring. Ric Flair, I dont see anything wrong with havin him on tv, but all most every single feud Hogan is involve in almost all of them...

Vince Russo... I mean is it just me or he not doing good creating good stories.. I mean look what happen to WCW, TNA going to the same direction. The Knockouts a damn joke now even Tara wants to go back to WWE..They better fix the problem now, I wont be surprise if next week the ratins still didnt go over 2.0

 

[Alex]

I think it's the overall product and has lots of reasons.

Hulk Hogan- He wants to push people he likes (I know everyone does but still) and no-one is really buying Abyss as a top face (you could blame Abyss' previous ******ation gimmick) and Hogan seems to brush away viable contenders such as Desmond Wolfe, The Pope etc who aren't being pushed as top contenders. Hogan also seems to think the X-Division, Tag Division and Knockout Division don't matter to much and that is hurting the product as well.

Dixie Carter- Yes she owns the company but aside from funding it she's doing jack shit. She needs to learn how to run a wrestling company, take pointers on how ECW and WCW did the good stuff and take pointers from Vince McMahon.

Huge Roster and ex WCW/WWE talent- Yes ex WWE and WCW talent have the name value and guys like Angle, Hardy, RVD are good because they can still contribute to the product, but the majority of them are being pushed when they are well past it and should be putting young guys over and/or helping out backstage.

The huge roster means people stop caring about storylines two weeks in because the particular wrestlers they revolve around aren't seen on a consistent basis, this could be easily fixed with an extra show or cutting some talent.

 

[Attitude_Raven]

Thats easy its hogan, hogan is a selfish prick who wants to make a name for himself again. I thin power corrupts not like your mr mcmahon story line bull crap but the real deal. Dixie Carter comes from some rich texan family she really doesn't know shit, I bet she doesn;t do shit either. Hogan knows damn well that the best in TNA is Angle who hasn't won the title for a while, I guess thats fine but what about Samoa Joe my personal favourite from TNA I think hes a magnificent performer who probably defeated every single big star not to mention making angle tap. But NOOO HOGAN RATHER LET THE PHENOMINAL AJ STYLES JOB TO THAT FAT 40 YEAR OLD BASTARD ABYSS. I might sound harsh but thats the truth hogan keeps calling abyss "kid". some might disagree but rvd winning the title was a little ridiculous hes almost 40 he shouldn't be leading the roster he should be helping younger athletes become stars, not become a star himself. Hogan needs to realize that Desmond Wolfe, Samoa Joe, and AJ Styles need to be in the main event not 40 year old overweight person who can't say and not spray it (abyss).

ROFL, the funniest post today, man, you're either a troll or a teenager who jumped the ROH bandwagon last year, maybe you're too young to know how this thing workd, but i'll tell you, RVD can still go, and he's the champion because he's a popular guy among casual fans, if you put now Wolfe as the champion (something i'd love to see in the future), people will say "Desmond what?", the young guys need a build up, they're not too mainstream yet, they will be soon, guys like Joe, Jesse Neal, Wolfe, Morgan Beer Money, or Hernandez are maybe the best talent around today, but people needs to familiarize with them first, that's why they need to work with the veterans: casual fans know who Hogan, Flair, RVD, The Dudleys, Angle, Nash, Syx-Pac, Raven or Foley are, pattience is the key word, Hogan and Bischoff aren't killing TNA, they are rebuilding it, they are trying to know the talent better and see who's got the IT factor to succeed, casual fans don't care about a bunch indie vanilla midgets doing flips and quick kicks, and, altough i enjoy cruiserwiight matches, neither do i, this is Wrestling, not Cirque du Soleil. AJ needed to turn heel, he was an awful face, his crybaby character annoyed the hell out of me

an well, you don't sound harsh by any means, you're hilarious

 

[T2KFreeker]

I personally believe that TNA is getting some things right. I had to vote for Hogan though. It's not that I hate Hulk Hogan, but I am damn sick of seeing him so much on the episodes. Hell, I would even settle for just seeing the guy once an episode, sadly that ain't gonna' happen. I just get tired of every damn show starting with Hulk coming to the ring and it turning into a long winded promo that leads to some epic making match that is supposed to keep us watching. I was mostly happy with Monday and a bit entertained until Hulk showed up and thunder punched all of the top heels in the company like they were five year-olds. Yeah . . .

I'm not saying to get rid of Hogan, but can we please not have to see him every week three and four times and episode? I get tired of seeing Vince McMahon every week when he's on his motions too, but Hogan seems to be making it a habit. I understand he is trying to help by giving the rub to other wrestlers, but I'm not too sure if it is working.

The only other thing I really can throw out there is what in the Hell is happening to the Knockouts Division right now. I don't care if you believe that Woman's wrestling brings ratings or not, that's beyond the point. TNA had an amazing Woman's division due to hard work and well put together feuds and skill. Lately, I have seen several good Women wrestlers dropped off of the roster and am getting frustrated with the current direction they are going. The Beautiful People have been so shoved down our throats right now you would swear they are the greatest athletes on the Woman's roster and they are far from it as Tara, Angelina Love, Daffney, hell even ODB, wrestles circles around them. If I wanted to watch women in that capacity, I would be watching WWE women's wrestling. I want the old Knockouts division back. It's time for them to give a damn again.

 

[The Viper Orton]

The biggest problem that TNA has is having too much on the show at one time.

Think about it. How many times have you seen every guy get on back to back shows? So many times you see various guys be on the show one week and off the show the next. It's hard to keep track of what's going on with just two hours a week. With so many guys on the roster, some cuts are needed. Either that or another show. Everything is so crunched together that it's nearly impossible to keep track of things.

To tie into this, there is too much emphasis on Hogan vs. Flair. Flair, to the best of my knowledge, has one major victory over Hogan which was at Uncensored 99 in a match I'm sure most of you don't remember at all. Nearly 1/4 or more of every show is about these two and their arguments over a ring or whatever. If TNA just has to do those two, fine, but don't make them a quarter or more of the show. It's ridiculous and total overkill.

So TNA's biggest problem is having to do too much at one show.

One question for you guys, who made this happen?

HULK HOGAN. He is TNA's biggest problem as every drawback happend to TNA occuered because of him:-
1) Kill of X-division, I mean there used to be a great x-division match every PPV and ever since Prince of Punk and the guy of British invasion, TNA was going down.

2)loss of Awesome Kong, since hogan got Bubba sponge and the problem between the two, even though Bubba was wrong Kong was showed the door for.

3) Too much old stars, He got himslef and ric flair fighting, gave major boost for nWo people

4) Loss of 6 sided ring, Yes TNA with the six-sided ring was much more entertaining

5)killed characters instead of reviving them as he said. Look at Abyss (moster to a stupid kid) Samoa Joe (i don't care if it is a story line, he's been out), Desmon Wolfe (a day view of a wrestler who convinced fans he can beat kurt angle to a main event jobber)

6) Too much to do on the product. Well since a minimum of 30 min for hogan. 1 hour and 30 minutes for all 60 wreslters (20 who hogan himself got) and he wants to use them all for his ego.

Don't forget Releasing Daniels. but anyways, you tell me there is another thing ruining tna

well everything that is ruining TNA at the moment surrounds hogan. 1) Dixie for giving hogan the control
2)Eric, for joining forces with hogan
3) Overall prodcut: well who chooses waht is on it?
4) Lack of marketing: how would someone market when there is only Abyss sleavlesss shirt to buy
5)Presence of former wrestlers: Mostly brought by hogan
6) Alot of wrestlers :same
7) X-division, Tag, knockouts, and Russo: THey where all fine until hogan came and ruined everything

HOGAN RUINED EVERYTHING

soory for caps, need to prove my point

 

[T2KFreeker]

I don't know man, the Tag division has still been going strong in TNA. Not as hot as it has been in the past, but then again, even before Hogan, it had it's cold points. The X-Division has also been getting some play and I have been digging the Storyline going right now. That Volcano helped out quite a bit and Samoa Joe being back is going to get insane as well. I do agree with the Knockouts though. Been really bad.

 

[Optimist Prime]

Clearly the biggest problem TNA is the overall product. Even if you take Hogan out of the picture and leave some of this nonsense that's going on...nothing still makes any sense.

The entire thing needs to be changed. Sure, Hogan needs to take himself off camera a lot more...nobody disagrees with that...but that's not the main problem here.

The storylines need to get better and they need to make sense. That's the simple solution. Once they start having storylines that last more than a week and don't contradict the week or two before...that'll be a start...then once they get some traction...they can start getting more innovative. Right now, they're trying to be innovative with absolutely no traction or substance. That's impossible to do. That's like adding random spices to the pan...with nothing in it. Nobody's going to like it...regardless of how good those spices (or ideas) may be...

 

[Big Nick Dudley]

I have to go with the overall product. TNA has so many problems, I'm not sure I can actually point out all of the problems I have.

1. Too much going on. They have way, way too much going on. They start a storyline one week, and sometimes we don't see any kind of follow-up for several weeks. All of their stories seem to cluttered. They have too many people involved in one angle. Sure, they break them off into sub-feuds, but it's still one gigantic clusterF**K.

I really thought Hogan and Bischoff would bring some kind of structure to TNA, but I haven't seen that yet. This reminds me a lot of how WCW was being booked during the Vince Russo era. But it's hard for me to believe that Hogan/Bischoff do not have Russo on a choke-collar.

This problem could be solved (somewhat) by having more t.v. time. I know, they really can't get any more television time until the product picks up steam....

2. They have too many people on the roster, over 40 active wrestlers. Is that too many people to have? No... not if you have more than one show. But if you only have 2 hours per week to create and develop interesting, entertaining storylines, then 40+ wrestlers is too much. It seems to me that TNA is backward in their thinking of how many wrestlers they need right now.

They have 40+ guys because they want to showcase a lot of talent, yet they have no time to do so. They should have a smaller roster, which would help with consistency, until they have more national recognition. THEN, IMO, you add to the roster, once you have more television time. Once again, this is just my opinion, I could be wrong.

3. Too much Hogan. Hogan is the biggest name in the history of this business, so for him to stay backstage and not be an on-air personality would be beyond stupid. But there are times when he has 4-6 segments PER NIGHT! Hogan is a mouthpiece at this point in his career. He isn't wrestling, and he doesn't want to. At the end of the day, people tune in to watch wrestling. Talking is a huge part of that business, and I love it. I probably like mic work more than your average wrestling fan, but even this is too much for me.

We are just seeing and hearing too much of Hogan. This isn't me bashing Hogan, I like seeing him and I am glad he is there. I just think he is on television FAR too much right now, and needs to let the actual wrestlers have that television time to develop stories and put on matches. How are these younger guys supposed to help TNA get over if they aren't getting television time? It's impossible. Hogan needs to take a bit of a backseat.

4. Everything TNA does is too excessive. Hogan is on tv too much. Flair is bleeding too much/too often. EVERYONE is bleeding too much/too often. Promo/dialogue segments go overboard, and too much is being said. There are far, far too many run-ins on every episode of Impact. Everything they do is excessive. They need to calm things down, and realize that sometimes, less is more. Have a little less talking and a little more action. They are beating some of these storylines into the ground by how much time they get on each episode of Impact. TNA is trying to fit too much in to every episode of Impact, and there is just too much to handle in such a short amount of time.

There are other things as well. Not enough emphasis on the tag division and/or the X-Division. Not enough matches each Monday/Thursday night (whenever the hell they are on, which is another problem). Too many guys are not getting sufficient t.v. time. They have a lot of problems, and to pin that on any one person would be idiotic. These problems existed before Hogan/Bischoff, and are continuing. Hogan/Bischoff haven't made things better, IMO, but they didn't CREATE the problems. They are just staying on the same path.

A lot of things need to change, and I'm not sure that's going to happen anytime soon. Hogan runs around every Monday/Thursday night, bumping his gums about how superior TNA is. It's not. Hogan telling me that is almost like him walking up and slapping me across the face and calling me an idiot. I'm not bashing TNA, I would love for them to be competitive with the WWE. Two great wrestling promotions sounds pretty damn good to me. But they have a long way to go.

 

[Rayne]

You can't build a fresh product using another organization's castaways.

TNA has more problems than this, but this is the taproot to TNA's Tree of Suck. Hulk Hogan can no longer carry a promotion. He can still put asses in seats. As much as I really don't want to see him right now (overexposure), he still has a lot of value to the right wrestling organization. But he's not The Main Event anymore. The same goes for Ric Flair. He's talented as hell at what he does. But what on earth is he doing wrestling Abyss at the end of a Monday night show (which was even taped if my poor short-term memory remembers). I said in January that when Flair and Hogan wrestled again, it needed to be big, and instead we got a couple throwaway Monday night matches. This ignores the current "The Band" abortion, which serves as a constant reminder that these guys had their glory days back before many current fans were even born.

Take RVD's title win. This should have been a touchstone moment for the company, a "passing of the guard" if you will. RVD is one of the very few WWE 'castoffs' worth anything to TNA. (I count Pope, Anderson, and RVD on that list. Jeff Hardy would be on the list if he hadn't been criminally misused, pardon the pun.) Instead, the visual people were left with was red and yellow confetti raining down on RVD, as if to remind us that RVD may be the champion, but Hulk Hogan is The Show.

When you're minor league like TNA, you have to use proven stars in order to get the rub for your own product. The mistake TNA has made is that instead of using those established stars to give their own guys the rub (or, for that matter, the 'established' guys with more than five years remaining in their career), they've built the product around those wrestlers. AJ Styles has gotten much better at what he does, but because of all the satellites in his orbit right now, I want to see him less than I did before January 4th. I didn't think I could be less interested in Abyss (and he's a good ring worker, don't be fooled), but when I see him on screen now I usually get reminded that RAW is on and probably sucks just a little bit less than what I'm watching. (Of course, I usually get rewarded for changing the channel with a midget chasing a Mexican around, but whatever.)

 

[DirtyJosé]

Who hired Vince Russo, and eventually built creative around him?

Who brought in Hogan and Bischoff, who while bringing in a few legit stars opened the doors for guys like Hall, Waltman, Sags, Knobs, Hart, Nash, Jarrett, and Flair to receive main event bookings on Impact and become the highlight of most of the TNA product?

Dixie Carter.

Dixie Carter needs to take back control of her company, and she needs to really learn that if she doesn't have a vision for her company, she needs to be more careful about who she pays to make one. Her continued employment of Russo and Ferrara, and the additions of Hogan and Bischoff, show to me a boss who is easily persuaded, and knows little history of the industry, or is in the least far too naive. She has done more harm than good to TNA in the last year.

 

[bigpawpa27]

TNA needs to take a step back and ask themselves if this is the way they want to go. First they make the change to Monday and they start off alright. But they couldn't seem to continue the momentum of what they started with the first Monday show.

They need to go back and look at what made them stick out and what made people pay attention to them. They were different from WWE. They didn't just run guys out there and have them talk. They actually had matches and good ones.

If I had to vote for one thing I'd say the product. They should go back to the six sided ring. they shouldn't be involving HOF rings in storylines. It should be about the wrestling and not some ring.

 

[mikeyboy]

i voted huge roster , they have waaayyy to many wrestlers to be featured on only one show a week, sometimes 2 or 3 weeks go by without seeing certain wrestlers, alot of people are getting lost in the shuffle. either make some roster cuts or better yet add another show.

 

[sislater69]

I voted for Hogan as his incessant need to be in the spotlight is hurting the product in my opinion. However, as big as a tna fan i am, i could easily have voted for 5 or 6 of the options as i believe just about every option in the poll is hurting them in a fairly big way.

 

[gd]

At this point it seems obvious that they're just too big for one two hour show a week. How many people do they have on the roster? I'm not sure, but I'd reckon it's somewhere between a lot and a ton. The only way you can get enough of these people in over a 2 hour period is with rushed backstage interviews that make no sense half the time, along with 3 minute matches, which is what TNA seems to be doing.

I don't think a lot of people realize that TNA puts the same 3 hour PPV each month as the WWE, but they have only 2 hours a week of TV time while the WWE has 6. Obviously it's going to be a lot harder to fit things in and develop coherent storylines under these circumstances. Even a one hour show or something would be a huge help.

 

[hatehabsforever]

I cast my vote for the overall TNA product, but actually, the biggest problem that TNA faces is that there were 11 options to choose from in the poll and they are ALL significant problems. TNA currently has so many problems that it would be nearly impossible to pinpoint it to one particular issue, as there is considerable validity to all of the listed options, and likely others as well.

There is simply no direction to TNA, every show I watch, which unfortunately is very few (from start to finish because it has become virtually unwatchable), is an unorganized clusterf**k of action, some of it good, some of it not, but it's all over the place with no common sense, no direction, no future. Maybe it's the Hulk Hogan influence. Maybe it's Dixie Carter not knowing what the hell she's doing. Maybe it's too many wrestlers for too little TV time. Pick your choice. But when there's 11 problems listed and they are all valid, you have a problem on your hands.

Wait a minute, I think I have the solution. Let's focus the success and direction of the company on Scott Hall, Jeff Hardy, RVD, and guys like this. They've proven to be so reliable and dependable in the past, let's focus the whole company on these guys. Maybe they should go out and get the recently released Carlito and anoint him the X Division champion immediately as well. Shoot, if all else fails they'll just put the belt on Hogan (which I'm sorry to tell you guys, is definitely coming).

Classic TNA. Be afraid, WWE, be very afraid.