TNA - a fat person who can't stop eating?

[Bobby B]

All I seem to hear about TNA is who they're going to be bringing in. My question is (being fairly new to TNA and all) - has somebody welded the exit door shut?

The roster is massive, absolutely enormous. I get the feeling they could easily get away with half the roster they have now.

So, bowing to vastly superior knowledge on people on these forums - who would you get rid of / who would you keep? (depends on which list is shorter).

I've got no problem with them bringing people in, providing they have something to offer. Personally I think that they need to forget people here and simply try and lower the average age of the roster.

I here Dixie is reluctant to fire people? But I fear this may really cause them problems down the line, particularly as they seem to want to jam half the roster into each show.

 

[LegendKiller716]

a few names that jump out to me are

1.) Orlando Jordan - They really wanted to push him it seemed, but then he hasn't been on TV in ages. He is talented in the ring, but he has no up side IMO. Let him go.

2.) Rob Terry - He has the potential to be a Goldberg like star, but he is way to slow and clumsy in the ring. Him and his title are unneeded.

3.) Eric Young - I am a fan of his, but unless they can give him a gimmick and let him have it for more than a week, Fire him.

 

[Sting's Bat]

The main problem is that in TNA they seem to want to have certain people in, but outside of maybe 1 storyline they cant think of what to do with them afterwards. As a result u get situtions where u end up seeing some people once every 2 weeks if not once a month.

When it comes to cutting people they have made some strides to git rid of some of the dead weight, but as far as the current roster goes id have to see a full list of who they currently have to judge where the fat is.

 

[It's Damn Real!]

They haven't been "jamming half the roster into each show" the last two+ months – they've been pushing the same guys on iMPACT! week-after-week.

That's not to say there isn't dead (or dying) weight, but with the addition of Xplosion to the soon-to-be nationally televised program for TNA, those on the roster currently not featured can be, or potentially will be.

As of this moment though, I'd probably cut ties with Jordan and Tomko –*outside of that, it's entirely reasonable to get the remainder of the roster on both iMPACT! and Xplosion.

 

[Schizophrenic]

I always laugh when people say how "enormous" or "incredibly inflated" TNA's roster is. Looking at the current roster they have 40 full time wrestlers, maybe 3 or 4 part time wrestlers and 9 knockouts. Total that's around 50. Can we really say that it's so ungodly large that it's that big of an issue. Could they get rid of a couple guys? Yeah. A roster of about 45 is a good size for Impact, XPlosion when you consider in things like part time guys and injuries that will happen. I don't think it's a situation of "Who needs to be fired" but a situation of "Who should/needs to be replaced"?

If they could get rid of uneeded talent and replace with great talent and find a way to use them all well (and I don't mean the dumb idea of "EVRYONE on the roster should be used EVERY show that some fans have) then the roster would be just fine.

 

[Charismatic Enigma]

I'm sure everyone will think I'm crazy when you read some of these but here's a list of people I think they could do just fine without:

Abyss, Team 3D, Dr, Stevie, Herandez, Hulk Hogan, Homicide, Magnnus, Orlando Jordan, Rob Terry, Shark Boy, Suicide, Tomko, Tommy Dreamer (if he does anything on-air)

Most of these guys I either think have run their course, were uninteresting to begin with, or just in general don't have enough to offer the company to make their roster space worth while. There are others if you wanted to get the roster really lean, but those stick out to me.

As far as free agents go, getting rid of all that weight could open up to go pick up Shelton Benjamin (who I really think could catch on in TNA like Dinero). I know this is left field also, but I'd be interested in them picking Sean O'Haire and having him resume his gimmick of "but I'm not telling you anything you don't already know" only doing it right this time, cause that gimmick could potentially be as far from PG as it gets.

 

[King Blitzkonic]

well.. i sorta disagree with the comparison to a fat person that can't stop eating. At least the fat person gets rid of the crap once in a while!

All joking aside, yeah I agree it's time to trim the roster or put 'em to use.

Charismatic Enigma hit the nail on the head except with Hernandez, team 3d, Magnus, and maybe Terry.

Hernandez may not be on the mic but he's got the ungodly agility for a guy his size. That's an asset. Team 3D may be older, but they can still get in the ring and work for longer than a minute without needing a rest, unlike the Nasty Boys. Magnus has the potential but hasn't been given much of a chance.... Terry also has the potential but NOT as Goldberg version 2.

For most of the roster, all that's really needed is a repackaging of sorts. I'm seeing far too many "clones" of WCW/WWE.
Examples:
Douglas Williams: Sounds like William Regal even if they don't dress alike. Very similar wrestling styles.
Amazing Red: Extra small and high-flying. Always an underdog like Rey Mysterio.
Generation Me: If this isn't a blatant ripoff of the Hardy Boyz I don't know what is!
AJ Styles: I'm glad they're booking him to act less like Flair. That was annoying
Kazarian: If it looks like a Scott Hall, sounds like a Scott Hall and wrestles like a young Scott Hall, all this boy is missing is his drinkie bottle!
Abyss: Mannerisms of Hogan. No way to deny this.
The Black Machismo gimmick: OOOOOH NOOO! Kudos to Lethal for putting up with that.

I know there are a few more but I can't think of them at the moment.

 

[CJ The Pirate]

"They could easily get away with half the roster they have now"

These words struck me as interesting. Could they? Is what they have right now really enough to compete with the likes of John Cena, Randy Orton, The Undertaker, Rey Mysterio, Triple H, Edge and Chris Jericho? My personal feeling is no.

Please go back to 1999. If you weren't a wrestling fan then YouTube it and find the debut of Chris Jericho in the WWF. The promo itself is absolutely brilliant and will go down as one of my favourite moments ever but it's the initial pop I want you to listen for.

Please do remember that in 1999, the IWC wasn't even thought of; the smart fan was rarer than a pale Scouser. That pop was made by fans. Simple, straight forward fans. There were rumours going around that Jericho was behind the Millenium Countdown but it wasn't like it is today... things like that are anticipated more often than not weeks in advance. That pop is testament to how good Chris Jericho was. That pop made me pay attention because, as a non-WCW guy, I had no idea who this guy was.

So back to my original point. You say they could get along just fine with half the current roster in TNA. In my opinion, in order to do that they need a few guys that could generate that kind of buzz in WWE. Like I said earlier, if anyone like AJ Styles or Samoa Joe jumped over to WWE... the IWC would be reporting on it months or weeks in advance. It could never be kept secret. But pretend the IWC isn't here... just like in 1999. Who would get that pop.

A few names leap out at me.

Kurt Angle, Ric Flair and Jeff Hardy... All WWE Guys so far. Add Mick Foley to that list too.
How about Sting. That would be huge but lets face it... it'd be a nostalgia thing akin to the Bret Hart return. It was great for his fans but it was shit if you actually look at it without biased tinted glasses. Sting Vs The Undertaker is often what I hear mentioned. A Dream Match... Except I'd rather see The Undertaker Vs... Kurt Angle. I'd mark out for a freak if his music hit.

But the names I'm mentioning got over in the WWE, except for Sting who was over in WCW... and lets not forget that that was the best company for a while shall we. TNA haven't made any of them. That would fall to Samoa Joe, AJ Styles, Abyss, Christopher Daniels and... Pretty much noone else is there to mention.

I'm trying not to mention Jay Lethal. This Ric Flair stuff is the best thing in TNA right now. The rest is horse shit. But is it just because its a Ric Flair storyline? What happens after this is done will decide whether I add him to the list or not but regardless of whether I do or don't, none of them could have made the roof blow like Jericho did when he first debuted Raw is Jericho.

Joe and Styles are perhaps the closest but it is my opinion that AJ would never make it above Intercontinental in the WWE and I just can't call Samoa Joe. He doesn't have the current look the WWE is going for for their main eventers and I just don't think the fans would take to him as well.

So as far as your welded exit theory goes... I don't think they are locked in... I just don't think they are good enough for anywhere else.

 

[Joey B.]

Blitz, my only problem with your post is in your 7 examples of gimmicks that need "repackaging," 3 of them are gimmicks that are no longer in use, and one just makes no sense to me. You mention that Styles is no longer acting like Flair, so there's no repackaging needed there. Abyss has dropped the Hogan mannerisms already, and is being booked more like his old "monster" persona. And the Black Machismo gimmick has been old news for quite a while. As for comparing Kaz to a young Scott Hall...what? Maybe it's just me, but I don't see that at all. Your first three examples, however, do have merit.

From what I've seen, TNA is beginning to work it's way out of the "let's bring in all of Hulk's friends" fiasco that they fell into when Hulk and Bischoff first arrived, and I've been enjoying Impact very much for the last couple of months. To me, the size of the roster isn't a big issue. Yes, some names could be trimmed (Jordan comes immediately to mind, and I"m sure I could come up with two or three more), but as long as Impact keeps improving, the roster size is, to me, an irrelevant issue.

 

[Cookie14]

Two people that TNA don't need right now?

Hulk Hogan and Jeff Hardy.

Hogan is featured in almost every segment. He's never been a great booker. He's not a draw these days. What benefit is he to TNA?

Hardy has his legal problems, why sign a guy to a contract when he could be in jail for half of it? TNA are very lucky that his court date keeps getting pushed back. Also, his momentum from WWE has pretty much died out now. His promos are weak, he hasn't had any stand out matches, or even any really memorable moments to excite the fans. He is only a sex tape away from becoming Seam Waltman...... And that's sad

 

[bioshock]

I always laugh when people say how "enormous" or "incredibly inflated" TNA's roster is. Looking at the current roster they have 40 full time wrestlers, maybe 3 or 4 part time wrestlers and 9 knockouts. Total that's around 50. Can we really say that it's so ungodly large that it's that big of an issue. Could they get rid of a couple guys? Yeah. A roster of about 45 is a good size for Impact, XPlosion when you consider in things like part time guys and injuries that will happen. I don't think it's a situation of "Who needs to be fired" but a situation of "Who should/needs to be replaced"?

If they could get rid of uneeded talent and replace with great talent and find a way to use them all well (and I don't mean the dumb idea of "EVRYONE on the roster should be used EVERY show that some fans have) then the roster would be just fine.

And to say its "soo huge" you know the WWF back in the 80s and early 90s must of had almost 60 wrestlers on their roster with at least 10 tag teams, and this isn't counting women wrestlers. They really had around 50-60 wrestlers on the roster, sure they had about 3 event per week, but this was 20 years before the brands.

Heck now the WWE has like 60 for a roster, that being a total roster counting divas. like around 15 men per brand, which is sad, talk about watching the same few faces each week. I really wouldn't complain about the TNA roster being so big.

Oh and I'll top that off by saying the WWF roster was around 60 or so men to it and thats not counting any of the jobbers that were seen every single week wrestling. Don;'t forget back then most matches were known wrestling star vs jobber you might of never heard of. so counting the jobbers, and some jobbers were seen quite alot, that then could make the roster then around 75-85 or more counting all those jobber tag teams back then. Just look up old WWF rosters for the facts on it.

But yeah 40 men to a TNA roster isnt big, just be happy, it could be like the WWE roster with 15men to a brand and we only get about 2-3 tag teams counting both brands.

 

[mrbrownstone]

I aggree that there are way too many people on their roster, there are poeple who we havent seen for months so here is who i would get rid of

Rob Terry: He is the global champion and he hasnt been seen in atleast a month also he cant wrestle
Orlando Jordan: Had a brief fuedd with Rob hasnt been seen in ages get rid of him
Jesse Neal: I just dont see anything in him
Brutus Magnus: Hasnt been seen in forver
Eric Young: Hasnt been on TV in months wouldnt miss him

Also dont sign any more wrestlers you already have enough!

 

[Reddannihilation]

Examples:
Douglas Williams: Sounds like William Regal even if they don't dress alike. Very similar wrestling styles.

Unless your argument is "a British person is exactly the same as every other British person" I can't see how Regal and Williams are similar. Regal's a blue blood who utilizes some technical moves and hard strikes. Williams is closer to Kurt Angle in terms of style, not to mention that Williams is one of the most well known British wrestlers there's been in the last decade.

Amazing Red: Extra small and high-flying. Always an underdog like Rey Mysterio.

Rey Mysterio was not the first small guy in wrestling, Red's a lot younger and a lot less boring.

Generation Me: If this isn't a blatant ripoff of the Hardy Boyz I don't know what is!

A high-flying tag team who are brothers, yeah total Hardy wannabes. They're so unlike the Hardy's. They've very little in comon.

Kazarian: If it looks like a Scott Hall, sounds like a Scott Hall and wrestles like a young Scott Hall, all this boy is missing is his drinkie bottle!

What the fuck? Scott Hall? Frankie Kazarian reminds you of Scott Hall? They look nothing alike, have no similarities character-wise. Seriously Scott Hall? How on Earth did you come up with that?

Abyss: Mannerisms of Hogan. No way to deny this.

Yeah I remember when Hogan wore a mask and carried a 2 b 4 with nails in it to the ring. Abyss was brought on a Hogan's protege so that when they turned him heel it would generate boo's. And it worked.

The Black Machismo gimmick: OOOOOH NOOO! Kudos to Lethal for putting up with that.

Gimmick's been gone for months and it was Lethal's creation anyway.

I know there are a few more but I can't think of them at the moment.

Perhaps you should try watching TNA because half you issues haven't existed for a month or two.

I aggree that there are way too many people on their roster, there are poeple who we havent seen for months

They're on pay-per-appearance contracts so there's no harm in keeping them around.

Rob Terry: He is the global champion and he hasnt been seen in atleast a month also he cant wrestle

Your posts say you live in Australia, allow me to direct you to the free to air channel One HD, look for TNA Xplosion, Rob Terry is the centrepiece of that show.

Brutus Magnus: Hasnt been seen in forver

He's on Xplosion as well.

Eric Young: Hasnt been on TV in months wouldnt miss him

1 month. And that was after being stripped of the tag titles, so 1 month.

Also dont sign any more wrestlers you already have enough!

Thanks to the beauty of pay-per-appearance schemes TNA can sign whoever they want preventing the WWE from taking that person and at the same time keeping their expenses at the exact same rate. So it doesn't matter.

 

[>HERO<]

I agree with JPK. It's full, may be not to the limit, but they can get rid of some of them. But this is my personal openion.
Another thing that i wanna talk about is the face of the company. I see TNA and from what i see i have concluded on something. It's the fact that almost everyone is trying to be the hero, if not all of them. Almost everyone is fighting for a spotlight. Which isn't a bad thing if they know their roles. But the point is that, most of them are fighting for spotlight, it starts looking crowded. So even if the locker room isn't enormous, it starts looking fat and enormous because of that one thing. There can be only one face of the company at a time and they should focus on that one face only. Which brings me to RVD, i don't know why he is the face of the company. Because honestly i think it's not his time to be the face of company. Jaded wrestling fans love RVD, because we have seen him for a long time now. We have seen his career highlights, but i wonder if he is the right person to bring in the new fans. I don't see anyone chanting his name because he is charismatic, but simple because we respect him. I do like RVD, so no disrespect to him or his fans. But that's my opinion.