TNA 2011 Report Card

[.]

Pretty simple. Review the year that TNA has had so far. You can choose to review the show in any manner you want. I’m going to review the good and the bad & Accumulate an overall grade to the product.

The Good

Christopher Daniels return: A good idea on TNA’s part. Frankly it was a bad idea when he left in the first place. At the beginning of the year he returned as Suicides replacement(Again) but returned as Christopher Daniels in March. He is one of TNA’s most consistently good performers & for the majority of this year he failed to disappoint. Having good matches at Lockdown, Destination X, Hardcore Justice, Bound for Glory, Turning Point & Final Resolution. Daniels had decent to good feuds with good to great matches accommodating them. Although he is 40, he showed us that his age has yet to slow him down and that he can still be a good asset to TNA in the next few years.

Brother Ray becoming(arguably) the best heel currently in pro wrestling: If I told you in 2010 that Brother Ray would become the best heel in TNA would you believe me? Talk about a career renaissance. Although he officially took the moniker of “Bully Ray” in late 2010, he never officially came into his own as a great heel until he joined Immortal & feuded with Fortune. He began to show just how great he was during his feud with AJ Styles, a feud that, to everyone’s surprise Ray came out on top of. Although he isn’t the best in the ring, he didn’t let his weaknesses get exposed and instead focuses on working a more brawler like style. That and his impressive promo work showed us a great heel that we haven’t seen for a long time.

James Storm & Bobby Roode’s rise up the card : James Storm & Bobby Roode both opened and closed 2011 to big successes. They won the tag titles at Genesis on January 9th & at the close of 2011 James Storm is a former world champion & currently feuding with Kurt Angle & Robert Roode is also in a good place now where he is the reigning TNA World Heavyweight Champion and a damn good heel. As I see it, James Storm is currently TNA’s best in-ring performer. He was impressive in the BFG series and a feud with Kurt Angle where he’s already beaten him once can’t go wrong. Roode is also one of the better in-ring workers in TNA & like Storm, was very impressive in the BFG series and went on to win it. He suffered a minor setback when he lost to Kurt Angle at BFG but his heel turn has worked out well with that shit “All my family and friends support me” vignettes transferred to “I don’t care about anyone but myself”. His feud with AJ Styles has been pretty damn good. 2012 is looking good for TNA’s main event

The Vascular Vegetarian/The Greatest Man That Ever Lived/A Double/ Austin Aries being himself(And X-division champ to a lesser extent): There’s literally nothing you can hate about this man. Just about every move he can do is perfected. Look at the man’s suicide dive, brain buster or just his general ring awareness and you’ll understand why he gets all those complimentary monikers. His in-ring workings haven’t disappointed either with great him having good/great matches against the likes of Brian Kendrick, Jesse Sorenson & Kid Kash(Kinda). His character is just fantastic with him playing the cocky, arrogant heel and having a blast with it for example look at his matches with Sorensen where he does little hilarious things like taking Sorensen’s football. He seems to be having a blast as champ and I’m certain that once his stint as X-Division champ is over there’s nowhere to go but up for A Double. Perhaps give us a reason to care about the TV title?

Fortune turning face: After TNA shot themselves in the foot by planning the return of the Main Event Mafia without contracting Booker T & Kevin Nash, they instead turned Fortune face by splitting them off from Immortal. This was a great idea for a number of reasons including the fact that the lovely impact zone fans were already cheering Fortune and that the point of the group being formed was to sympathetic a reason for them to remain as a heel group.

AJ Styles in general: This was a good year for AJ(Sadly it pales in comparison to his 2010). Every feud he had a good match and a good build aside from the one offs(Matt Hardy). He had some great feuds that really helped to push some young talents and legitimize them in TNA. Great feuds like these included Bully Ray & Douglas Williams. He also had decent feuds with Daniels & Bobby Roode that told good stories but had a rather disappointing payoff. Overall in terms of match quality, AJ can’t complain. It wasn’t good how much he lost but hopefully he will recover and have another great year next year.

The Bad

Failure to utilise good talent: This was a big issue this year. Stars that TNA could’ve easily used in angles but have instead been throwing around include Alex Shelly, Douglas Williams, Kazarian, Magnus, & Shannon Moore. There are more but there’s a separate area for them. Alex Shelly is too damn talented a wrestler to not be on television every week. Even if he doesn’t have a story for him can he not wrestle matches against the likes of Austin Aries rather than having to wait for Chris Sabin to get better? Douglas had a fantastic start to 2011 beating AJ Styles for the TV title but then he went and lost the belt to Abyss and promptly went to be a jobber with his only memorable point being when Hernandez nearly killed him with the border toss. Kazarian had a very uneventful year with him being in the background for most of it. He had a stable reign with the X-Division title and lost the belt to Abyss. At one point the seemed to be set up for a feud with Jeff Jarrett that had promise in it but was immediately scrapped instead. He’s now teaming with AJ Styles in the Wild Card tournament but how long will that last until he’s back in the background doing nothing? Magnus is only doing something of worth now as he’s in the finals of the Wild Card tournament with Samoa Joe and even with that he’s working for Ring Ka-King also which limits his number of appearances in TNA. Shannon Moore was only used when Jesse Neal was around and when he wasn’t there, neither was Shannon. Jesse is now gone from TNA which leave Shannon’s future very uncertain(Which is understandable as he sucks). Shannon, Alex(A feud was hinted but nothing came of it) & Douglas could have all been used as feuds with Austin Aries rather than Jesse Sorensen & Kid Kash.

Consistency with talent: I’m not going to mention Samoa Joe here as he’s been a lost cause for a while. I’m gonna mention instead Mr. Anderson & D’Angelo Dinero. Anderson came to TNA and was on fire. He was having good matches with several different people including one MOTY against Kurt Angle. He won the TNA world title at Genesis in a clusterfuck match. The way the match was won combined with Anderson’s short reign with the belt really took all momentum away from him. Matters were made worse when he turned heel in a terrible fashion and became a lot less entertaining. Combine this with a lacklustre match against RVD at Victory Road(Albeit not his fault but more due to contrasting styles) and all faith in Anderson goes fast. TNA attempts to make him look like a legitimate main eventer by having him join the Immortal stable but he is kicked out of the group 2 weeks later. However this culminates in a rather good street fight with Bully Ray. Anderson hasn’t been seen in a while at this stage. D’Angelo Dinero had a good 2010 having feuds with Desmond Wolfe, AJ Styles & Kurt Angle. His 2011 could not have started any worse. After losing a casket match to Abyss at Final Resolution, Dinero randomly starts collecting money claiming to be for charity when it is, in fact, not(Was it for dog fights?). Samoa Joe, for some reason finds this to be wrong and uses his ninja butler thing to show that Dinero is full of it. They have a dull match at Against All Odss and continue their feud to Lockdown with Pope losing every match against Joe he was in. He now is in a storyline with Devon that has been going on since June and has made little progress until lately with the feud still very uninteresting. TNA had these two as future stars and now they’ve lost all momentun they had in 2010. Look at Roode and Storm and think: Could the same thing happen to them?

Joker Sting: This is more of a minor issue. I really didn’t mind the whole Sting/Hogan thing as there was a certain amount of history between and it was strong enough for a main event program but the giving Sting the gimmick that was a blatant rip off of Heath Ledger’s joker from the Dark Knight felt extremely forced. Sting came off as very uncomfortable and some of his segments just made little to no sense(See; the hostage taking crow & after Destination X, Sting appears in the ring and displays three clowns that are his "backup". Throughout the night members of Immortal are attacked by these clowns, eventually Gunner is cornered by four clowns who unmask and reveal themselves to be AJ Styles, James Storm, Kaz and Chris Daniels. Bully Ray during the main event is attacked by a fifth clown who after Sting wins the title reveals himself to be Kurt Angle.). Sting often altered between serious and comical at times which didn’t work and wasn’t effective.

Promotion of CM Punk: Again a very small issue. Realising that CM Punk is the hottest thing going in wrestling after his worked shoot before Money in the Bank, TNA make all five of Punk's matches in the company from 2003 available on their on-demand service. It's not necessarily a bad move, but considering that Punk's run amounted to nothing in TNA, he was mostly a jobber and he's openly expressed his disdain for the promotion.

The Downright Ugly
The Victory Road incident: I don’t think that much anything needs to be said here. It left everyone with a bad taste in their mouth.

Overall Grade: C+. Austin Aries, Bully Ray, James Storm, and Robert Roode keep the score from being lower. Mostly been status quo and spinning wheels booking. Whenever good thing happens is greeted with something bad occurring. Wrestlers disappear left and right. Where the hell is Mr Anderson? The Knockouts seen better days. The tag team division is basically non-existent. This year had it's positives (Beer Money becoming main event stands out) but it also had some pretty big lows (Hardy/Victory Road incident, & playing hot potato with the World title for a while.) I liked this year better than last year but there is still a LOT of room for improvement but a significant amount of progress has been made in the last 2 months.

Feel free to give your own feelings on the last year of TNA. and vote on the poll!

 

[FlexAmerican Dynamite]

I give it a E for effort because there is no way people who used to give us their heart and soul in the E could possibly put on the terrible stuff they did on purposed. I do feel as though they were trying to give us what we enjoyed and that is the alternative to the E that we need but I had to stop watching it completely in August. It's almost been a year since the Hogan/Bischoff era started and i think they really need to evaluate where they were,where they want to be,and where they are now.

 

[Pedigree1]

I quit watching TNA after victory road i read the spoilers but havent really watched the product since that incident!!! I am not qualified to comment

 

[kor420]

I quit watching TNA after victory road i read the spoilers but havent really watched the product since that incident!!! I am not qualified to comment

Than why even comment in the first place?


OP is dead on with the rating and deserves a C+ for the year, but if i was rating everything after bound for glory i would give it a solid B+. TNA has been keeping me interested since than.. I already can't for the next impact to air and i'm looking forward for what next year will bring.

 

[Rayne]

Than why even comment in the first place?

Reason #1: Starting a year by watching TNA/IW, and no longer being interested in it by the end of the year is very germane to the thread. We are talking about how 2011 was for TNA/IW, right? From Pedigree1's subjective point of view, it was a pretty lousy year for TNA/IW.

Reason #2: Because like everyone else in the world, he is entitled to share his opinion. That doesn't mean people have to respect his opinion, that doesn't mean people have to agree with his opinion, that doesn't mean an asshole like me can't come into the thread and rip his opinion to shreds. It doesn't mean that his opinion has to be respected equally along with all other opinions posted here. (Which is an insane idea some of the drivel-spewing posters have around here and the internet at large.) But it does mean that he gets to speak it if he chooses.

What matters to me is money; TNA/IW and the WWE haven't been entertaining to me in a while. (Still hoping, though!) This year, TNA/IW pulled back from their attack on the WWE in the face of them being the only fighter in that battle. They advanced and then collapsed plans for road touring. They launched a national billboard campaign to promote a revamping of their flagship show, then didn't follow through with any advertising afterwards. Plans to replace ReAction have been placed in the deep freeze. (FWIW, I told people that ReAction wasn't getting replaced when it was cancelled, but a TV executive said "oh, yeah, sure we'll replace it", and I was ridiculed for suggesting that a TV executive would lie to professional wrestling fans. Haven't forgot that!)

And that's before we even get to the part where TNA/IW took their actual paying fans and told them to go fuck themselves with the Victory Road debacle. Fans were offered six months of replays of old TNA matches though... which many people reported having cut off at one month. How about just having someone stop Jeff Hardy on his way from the trailer?

After all that, I really DO want to compliment TNA/IW on something, but I can't find a single thing about them that says "this brought in significantly more money than last year". (Spare me the "but you can't know for suuuuurrreee" bullshit, the best argument I've gotten from that camp is "there might be some mystery spring of money flying out of someone's asshole that you don't know about", or some babble about how merchandising and sponsorships might be up. I address the whole sponsorship/merchandising issue here.) 2011 seemed to be a year for TNA/IW in which they took the hope promised in 2010, and pissed all over it. I want to say their programming isn't bad, but they're obviously searching for higher ratings than 2009, what they're putting on the air isn't doing it, and the only conclusion you can reach from that is that their programming isn't any good. (Again, I'm not interested for this definition of someone's personal feelings towards the product, I'm interested in its capability to bring in money and meet its goals.)

Don't bring up TNA India. Dixie Carter wanted a turn at playing James Taggart. It's a fucking shame Dizzy doesn't post here much, because at the end of the year when we're asking "whatever happened to TNA India, anyways?", he'd have the best possible excuses.

End grade: C-. Hey, they didn't break the company. (But you can't be SURE of that, Rayne, they don't publish financials! *giggle*) But if there's a sure sign of how TNA/IW's done this year, it's that they aren't talking about how they did this year. Media is self-promotion. Eric Bischoff is no longer bragging about how he beat his lead-in by 320%, while failing to take note that his own weekly was down 25% that week.

 

[conici]

Can someone elaborate on the Victory Road incident for me? I watch TNA here and there but it isn't a weekly thing for me.

I feel like almost each time I watch it I stepped into a time machine and I am watching WCW from 10 years ago

The Victory Road incident went down like this

Hardy was found backstage shortly before his main event title match with sting thats why he was late for his enterance

Hardy was clearly in no shape to wrestle as you can see hardy stumble around and even lose his balancing on the steps

You can see the ref telling sting (I belive that hardy is messed up)

ref checks out hardy makes X signal

They que Bishoff to come out and tell sting the new match plan I dont believe they told hardy so after a VERY lengthy intro by borash which I believe they told borash to take his time than hardy for about a minute played with the corwd pretending to throw his shirt to the fans

Sting then locks up with hardy grabs his hair hits the death drop you can see hardy trying hard to kick out and he does not know what happened after the match the fans started chanting "This is bull shit!" where sting said to the fans "I agree,I agree" Heres a link to the match

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lckr9OLR2Ow

 

[dbomb]

I would give TNA a C because for all the things they've done well they have done as many awful things
Good: Bobby Roodes run to the top I love what there doing with bobby ATM he looks like a younger triple h also love what they've done with a double ( Austin Aries) he is one of the main reasons I tune in and watch
Bad: Mr Anderson durning the summer he kept changing between heel and face and neither was working so know he doesn't even get a match but the worst thing they did last year was keep jeff hardy no doubt he is a great performer but what he did they shouldnt of kept him not only that when they bring him back they put them in the main event

 

[Lowdown]

I give TNA a C+, borderline B- for 2011. Immortal grew real stale and the Victory Road incident left a bad taste in most viewers' mouths. However, when Fortune turned face earlier in the year, even though it might have been rushed I thought it was just the boost it needed. The KO division was hit and miss but the addition of Mickie James and bringing back ODB and Gail Kim made the division a little bit better IMO. So far I'm liking Roode as the champ and hopefully it leads to another face off with James Storm. All in all, not a bad year but there is room for improvement. I trust that things will progress with TNA as a company in 2012.

 

[SpecialFNK]

just some thoughts.

there have been parts of TNA which have been good, but once you put everything together for one grade I'm not sure you can go any higher than C (satisfactory). maybe C+/B-, but to go B- puts it into the B category, and overall I don't think they are there.

in 2011 we saw for weeks TNA going on about "the network" to have it end up being Mick Foley. didn't last too long before Foley was gone. Foley was also the one who first used the line "wrestling matters" (i think). this was also when TNA changed the name to Impact Wrestling. was this supposed to be the name of the company or just the TV show? IMO it's much better the way it worked out with the TV show changing names, and not the company.

you had "the streak" of Crimson building him up. IMO the streak is a little stalled with him now tag teaming with Matt Morgan.

what a year for Mr Anderson. early in the year he was world champion. now he's not even being show on TV.

I think there were too many matches all year that either ended because of interference or with roll ups.

bad: EV2.0. bringing in the wrestlers from ECW didn't interest me.

bad: Garrett Bischoff. Eric's son, that helped Hogan at BFG. then what 2 months of some wrestling ability in the ring before he is written off TV with a pile driver from Gunner. what was the point of Garrett being there at all? it didn't really do anything for me. it just made Gunner look weak for losing to Garrett. Garrett wasn't needed, and just wasted time on TV that could have been used better. if Garrett Bischoff was never around period, I think TNA would have been better off.

good: it's good to have Austin Aries back and dominating the X division, but he needs better competition. no disrespect to anyone else in the division, but really everyone else in there is really weak, like who are they?!.

good: Eric Young. he is funny, comedy gold for TNA.

yet to be determined: replacing of Vince Russo with Bruce Prichard.

personally I think TNA is limping into 2012, with the lat month being weak. this wild card tag team tournament is ridiculous IMO.
I think TNA is trying too hard to make Bobby Roode look heel that it makes him look weak as a wrestler.
even with this wild card tag team tournament, the tag team division is a complete mess. IMO 2 should be singles wrestlers in Morgan/Crimson are tag team champions. is Mexican America still together? Jesse Neal is gone, INK/Inc is done. Pope/Devon are now feuding against each other. British Invasion aren't together. there is no one else, yet. we will see what happens with the teams left in the tag team tournament. I think AJ/Kaz have potential, but you could have made them a team without a wild card tournament.

so far, 1 vote for A+ (excellent). really?!

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I personally gave TNA a C because I do believe that there have been solid, legitimate improvements in the second half of the year. Over the course of the past 5, maybe 5.5 months, there's been a noticable change in the quality of just about everything that's gone on in TNA. For instance:

The long, drawn out, pointless, repetetive faction wars/power struggle storyline is over and done with and here's hoping it doesn't start up again in 2012.

TNA looks to have stopped just trying to cram in as much content as they possibly can into a single 2 hour episode. They're pacing themselves better, letting things flow more smoothly.

They've very much cut back on using TNA staples like massive brawls, sometimes more than one, popping up on every other episode of IW. Such things don't happen nearly as much and because of that, it has more impact on the viewer when it does happen. They've also heavily cut back on the 5 minute or less gimmick matches. One does occassionally pop up, such as this past Thursday with the "on a pole" X Division match, but we used to see at least 1 of those in nearly every other episode.

TNA currently has at least a partial, viable mid-card division. The X Division has showed signs of life and relevancy over the past several months, something it really hasn't done in a couple of years now. While the X Division is still on the weak side with Austin Aries really being the only guy that comes off as a star, there's a spark of life within the X Division that simply hasn't been there. The X Division is also no longer just filled with spot monkeys in spot fest matches, but does seem to have a couple of guys, including Aries, that are well rounded inside the ring.

TNA has FINALLY moved away from putting most of their focus on former WWE and/or WCW guys. They're finally trying to break the reputation that they've built as being a haven for "WWE Rejects" by working towards building and producing their own stars. Most of the wrestlers currently in the top spots in TNA consists of homegrown talent and they've used some of the remaining veteran talent, such as Kurt Angle, to help put over said homegrown talent, such as James Storm.

The TNA World Heavyweight Championship picture is more interesting, much more so in my view, than it's been probably since before Styles dropped the title to RVD. TNA took decided to give Bobby Roode an opportunity and I think he's done a good job as champ. They've also given him some time to develop and haven't panicked right off the bat if his segments haven't drawn particularly well. Prior to this, they'd have taken the title off Roode and put it back on an older veteran like they'd done with Sting & Kurt Angle this year.

Wrestling content overall in the past 5 months or so had been better as well. With more focus being put on the individual angles instead of everything being wrapped up in the faction wars power struggle, some of the matches that happen on IW actually have some relevance. They don't just all feel like pointless filler.

A lot of these improvements, I think, is due in part to Vince Russo no longer being head booker for TNA. I'm not saying that Bruce Pritchard has done anything that's overly original or revolutionary, but I do believe that TNA has become a pretty decent show since he took over. There are still some things I'm not really into, some wrestlers that don't do it for me, the tag team division is the weakest it's been in nearly ever but I don't want perfection, just a solid & watchable show.

 

[Dogfingers]

I've give them a C

The Good

James Storm/Robert Roode

Finally TNA decided to give someone who wasn't ex-wwe shot. Despite the Hulkamania for Glory incident Roode has come into his own as a heel and James Storm is the best babyface in professional wrestling.

Eric Young

When wrestling and comedy attempt to merge it usually ends up in some sort of shit soup. Eric young is spectacular though. I usually find him the most entertaining character in pro wrestling, his off-beat and quirky shenanigans always manage to raise a smile.

Production

Particularly during PPV's, TNA's video package hyping matches were well done and give matches a big feel. Im thrilled they seem to have gotten rid of scary voice-over man.

Older Guys becoming relevant again
Whoever would have thought Bully Ray would have come into his own so proficiently. Also props go to Jeff Jarrett for being a riot during his MMA gimmick. And Sting, no matter what shit they give him, always gives a 100%. Used sparringly I have a lot of time for him.

The Bad:

Horrendous mis-use of talent

Once gifted performer Samoa Joe has been stuck in a rut for years. The Pope, one of the most entertaining speakers in the biz has done literally nothing. They released the Youn Bucks despite have very little in the way of proper tag teams.

Hogan/Bischoff

While its clear that they make minimal dofference to the ratings TNA uncreative forced them down our throats on a regular basis. Often at the disposal of everyone else on the roster, the immortal stable was garbage and the vast majority of PPV's were centered around control of TNA, as opposed to, you know, title belts.

The Knockouts

The division has never been great since the departure of Kong and Taylor Wilde, Karen Angle taking over as manager was a disaster. The woman is no Vicky Gurerro. Vicky manages to get baby faces over, Karen Angle doesn't. After all the abuse did any of the knockouts manage to get revenge on Karen and go over? Nope. Stupid.

 

[WWEIsLife2]

I gave TNA a D (needs improvment). I watch both WWE & TNA for those who may not believe it despite me being a WWE Fan first.

The Good:

Roode/Storm being pushed to the Main Event

Sting being put into a GM type role. He still brings alot to the table

A couple good PPVs-Bound for Glory,Lockdown,Destination X

Bully Ray,getting another chance to shine as a Heel.

The Bad:

Victory Road/Jeff Hardy incident

The complete burial of Samoa Joe

AJ Styles being relegated to the Mid-Card for most of the Year

Karen Angle,she is not even close to Vickie Guerrero in getting heat.

Mr Anderson going back & forth from Face to Heel. Winning & Losing the World Title without getting a longer run with it.

Eric Young,I just cannot stand him and do not find him funny at all.

Mike Tenay & Tazz,they are terrible together and I think Tazz's best days doing Commentary are far behind him.

The Devon/Pope Storyline,PLEASE END THIS!

No Tag Teams

 

[Cosmic Hate]

The Bad:

Eric Young,I just cannot stand him and do not find him funny at all.

The Devon/Pope Storyline,PLEASE END THIS!

No Tag Teams

Eric Young ain't funny, but he's a very good wrestler in my honest opinion. That's why he should be on TV more.

The Devon/Pope Storyline is fine by me. It brings Pope's character out more as the rock star and a cult dude. A while ago there was a hysteria with rock stars were hated by parents for "stealing their kids' minds" and shit like that. This sort of utilizes that, and Devon and Pope are good wrestlers.

Plus, Pope is PIMP.

 

[The Eighties]

I went with C as the second half of the year picked up nicely and they have guys like Roode, Storm, AJ, Bully Ray, Hardy and Angle in the right positions going into 2012. They also have guys like Joe, Magnus and Aries who are talented enough to be utilized more effectively in 2012. The tag division really needs to be lifted up so the MCMG will be a welcome return since TNA clearly lack the vision to use Alex Shelley in a singles capacity. I felt the Knockout's finished the year reasonably well but need depth added to the division.

 

[He's Phenomenal]

I've just done a quick review and jotted down the first things that popped into my head. There's probably loads of things I've missed:

The Good
Hulk Hogan vs.Sting - A perfectly built story with interest, emotion, passion, logic and huge stars (all things TNA now lacks) resulting in an epic contest at the end of it with the mark out moment of the year - Hogan "Hulking Up".

Rob Van Dam vs. Jerry Lynn matches - Just classic wrestling matches that brought me back to the days when wrestling was exciting and innovative.

James Storm - He's really stepped it up and is now the best face in wrestling IMO and is probably the best promo guy around right now.

Bully Ray - Pretty much the same as above. Bully Ray has become the best heel in pro wrestling and rivals Storm as best promo guy.

Kurt Angle vs. Jeff Jarrett - Talk about an intense and personal feud. This had everything and was feud of the year for me in 2011.

Emmergence of Crimson and Gunner - These two guys have been really impressive and deserve the success they are currently having.

Karen Jarrett in charge of the Knockouts - I thought she was awesome in this role and she actually got me interested in the knockouts segments. I've already lost interest and changed the channel before the main event this week on iMPACT.

The Bad
Ric Flair being used sparingly - The Nature Boy is like entertainment in a can, just open him up and watch him go. I really hope we get more Flair in 2012.

AJ Styles vs. Daniels again - It get's boring and that's a shame because AJ is one of my favourite wrestlers but I just couldn't get interested in their feud.

Rob Van Dam being used in filler feuds - He deserves more than what he's been given lately.

Bully Ray not becoming World Champion in 2011 - I don't think an explanation is needed here because if you watch iMPACT you'll realise just how good this guy is.

The Ugly
Bobby Roode as World Champion - Easily the most boring Champion TNA have had in the years I've watched iMPACT! I've tried to give him a chance but now just skip through his segments before I fall asleep.

Overall
If I was rating TNA in 2011 up until (and including) Bound For Glory, then I'd probably give them an A-. Post BFG would get a D-. The product has declined a lot since BFG and I'm gradually losing interest in it, but overall I'd give TNA a C for their efforts in 2011 (would be a lot higher had it not been for the last couple of months).

 

[MasterHavik]

I give it a C-.

KO division solid, but Karen Jarret is trash and Madison ain't no better. Sucks she can wrestle, but can't talk.

Guys- X division is cool. the rest is..okay at best.

 

[Papa Pillman]

Since most of the storylines, character builds, etc. have been broken down ad nauseum already, I'll take a different appraoch and breakdown the year quarterly...

Jan. - March
Grade B-
I would say this quarter was going very well and working on a potential A- grade until the last meaningful match of the time frame- the victory road main event, dropped the score a full letter grade in my book.

April - June
Grade B-
The booking of Immortal during this time period was the major drawback, but overall alot of good wrestling was presented as well. Lockdown was an absolutley great show this year, plus there were matches like the AJ/Ray last man standing match at Slammiversary.

July - Sept.
Grade C+
Destinantion X was an A+ in and of itself, both with booking and execution. However Hardcore Justice left alot be desired and things weren't completely fixed by No Surrender. Also the BFG series was a good concept that worked to start building Beer Money as singles stars.

Oct. - Dec.
Grade A-
The end of the year was really the bright spot in TNA and has set-up this year quite nicely. The current standing of guys like Roode, Storm, Ray, AJ, Hardy, Aries, etc. is perfect. All have been put in good position leading into the new year. The booking in the last couple months has improved in its consistency and the lower and mid-cards are actually being booked with built storylines, something that hadn't happened much in the last couple years. The transitions in the creative team are starting to pay-off in the on-air product.

Overall TNA 2011 grade... B