TNA Doesn't Give Good Promos

[Boring]

I have an issue when something in TNA doesn't work or doesn't seem to work, so decisions are reversed, changed etc. I heard TNA thought about going back to a 4 sided ring for their new launch but decided not too.

As far as 4 and 6 sided rings go, I couldn't care less and would prefer TNA use whichever gave them the opportunity to a bigger audience. On the channel they are on now, whether you like it as a tna fan or not, it might of been better for TNA to use a 4 sided traditional ring. On the other hand, it might not of mattered so much, but to casual fans I can tell you that it does matter, bad or good.

The point I wanted to make about TNA has to do with Vince Russo and promos. In the last 5 years, TNA has tried more attitude era/nitro type stuff, with long talking segments and I think people think it didn't work because "wrestling fans" don't care about that, but I don't think that's the case.

Not only did TNA not have the right cast in place, in that no one on their roster could shine the linguistic boots of guys from the 80s-90s, but what kind of writing staff do they even have?

WWE gets tons of criticism for their promos, but I find they're better executed and prepared by WWE then TNA. And why shouldn't they be, they have 30 WRITERS!!! How many writers does TNA have??? I've heard of Russo and all the blame he got and Lagana, but how big is that writing squad? 2-3 people? How many writers did WWE/WCW have back in the attitude ERA?

WWE's writing is a weakness and their writer's are handcuffed, which is why that route should be an advantage to TNA, because they "shouldn't" have the same restraints but the problem is they have wrestlers, not actors/talkers, so the segments never got over. The Rock was a big star in wrestling, now he's a big movie star. Steve Austin has done a number of movies. Batista is going to be in back to back huge box office hits.

Without going to long, I just wonder how you feel? I don't think TNA has/had the resources as far as a writing team and roster goes to ever take full advantage of talking segment aspects. If you have 2-3 guys writing for a rosters, or w/e TNA has, how can that compete with the diversity of 30 "highly qualified, intelligent minds" WWE can pick up oppose to the scraps TNA can?

For as good as he was on the mic, Hulk Hogan never did much. Flair has his moments, because he's insane. Mr. Anderson is a trained actor and he is few and far between. Austin Aries always goes unnoticed even as meticulous as he is. Hardy is a bomb that's why with all their writers, WWE never put him on the mic. Angle's promos just are what they are either way. AJ Styles just rather be wrestling...

In conclusion, TNA just hasn't had the resources to polish/hide their faults as far as promos go, which is part of the reason they aren't held with more esteem. Say they're not competiting with WWE, but it's impossible to watch promos from one show and not judge the two. TNA's promos aren't as sexy, thought out, timed as well etc to WWEs.

You think TNA could ever turn a Husky Harris into a Bray Wyatt?

The point of this thread is that stuff in TNA doesn't work (just) because it's bad, but that they are at a disadvantage. As far as indy guys who could talk goes, I'd say Desmond Wolfe, Austin Aries, Rockstar Spud are the best TNA has signed in the past five years. If they were smart they would of focused more on signing someone like Dean Ambrose when he was available then a reality tv guy like Jesse Godderz or a manik etc. Also, they're writers are understaffed (I'm guessing) and you can't have a couple guys being the voice for 30-40 roster members.

So? Valid or not?

 

[BuriedByCena]

WWE and TNA are the exact opposite when it comes to promos bro. WWE has super scripted boring as sin promos. TNA lets wrestlers speak, but they all sound the same/reality era.

I can actually tell WWE has scripted promo's. All the heels/faces sound the same minus the guys who are allowed to speak like Jericho/Edge/Christian/Rock etc.

TNA gives more freedom but the problem is all of them sound like main eventers. All of them get pushed to the top whereas WWE buries everyone but Cena.

Like I hate both shows because they are the exact opposite. WWE buries everyone while TNA pushes everyone to the main event which ironically makes them look weak since ANYone in TNA can win the title.

 

[The Samoan Heritage]

...how can that compete with the diversity of 30 "highly qualified, intelligent minds" WWE can pick up oppose to the scraps TNA can?


You think TNA could ever turn a Husky Harris into a Bray Wyatt?

Dude you kind of went off rambling, so I do appologise if I miss a point. But to youe point of TNA not having good promos, I completely disagree. There's PLENTY of guys in TNA that can go out there, be themselves, and cut a good promo. From guys like Kenny King, Spud, DJ Z/Bromans, to TNA main eventers in Eric Young, Austin Aries, Storm, Roode, etc. The difference between TNA's and Wwe's promos are that Wwe is really scripted which is why guys like Ziggler and Reigns don't improve on the mic, becauae theyre force feed, were as TNA superstars are allowed to be themselves.

To your point of Husky Harris/Bray Wyatt- I'm not going to say TNA would've thought of Wyatt character, but if they did, it would be just about the same in turns of promos if not better.(look at Storm's current persona, to see how great TNA could've handled Wyatt)
Just look at the promos Jeff Hardy were allowed to cut as Willow (which was all his own ideas) they were some of the best mic work Hardy has ever done.
Your point about Wwe having 30 highly qualified, intelligent writters while TNA gets the scraps makes no sense. How does TNA get the scraps? Theres guys all over the world that are as qualified as wwe writters are.(most wwe writters aren't even qualified, because most come in with very few knowledge of how wwe works) Also Wwe's best and most consistent show week after week(NXT), is booked by 1 guy(reported by WZ), while Triple H is the final say. TNA doesn't need 30 people on booking to get the job done.
There backstage promos could be a lot better. (Hate how they show people under stairs talking instead of in a real room, or hall way.) But for the most part their promos are good.

 

[bioshock]

As to your questions as far as I know during the 80s and thru the 90s the WWE had about 2-5 writers, I've heard it was mostly just Vince and Patterson doing the writing and a few others, with the wrestlers having plenty of input.

With WCW I have no idea how many writers they had, I would guess it was only a few like with WWE, wrestling was never like it is now with so many writers.

As for TNA I thought back when they had the Bischoff/Hogan thing going and showed some backstage booking scenes they had a room of maybe 10, so maybe TNA has in the ball park of 5-10 writers, sure the wrestlers have plenty of input.

But going on about the topic, I think TNA has the chance to do better storylines rather than promos, just because TNA isn't cuffed, they would more less kill for some red hot storyline, their problem unlike how the 80s/90s worked with simple big time storylines like TNA tries, is that WWE had Hogan and Savage doing the talking, TNA has no one in Hogans area code (like WWE has with Cena) and they have no one in Savages area code (WWE had that with Punk in terms of mic work or Edge/Orton ect..) but TNA just doesn't have good talkers.

Sure Kurt is good on the mic, but hes old, kinda washed up, not the same guy anymore, and he never was the very best talker, but Bully Ray on the other hand, can talk the talk and do the promo, his problem, he doesn't have a good dance partner like he would have in WWE.

But I don't think its even a writers issue, you can have good or bad writers that doesn't matter, you gotta have guys who can talk and sell. TNA just doesn't have very many, and sadly they don't even have any managers like a Heyman who can talk. Maybe thats what they need is some good managers, it worked flawlessly for WWE in the 80s when half the roster couldn't work the mic.

 

[Papa Pillman]

I actually don't know where to begin with a lot of this, so I'll keep it simple.

I actually like TNA's promo style, I like the blend of in-ring stuff and more natural backstage stuff that is their trademark, and I think the company has A LOT of strong promo guys who can deliver passionately and/or draw a lot of heat when doing heel work(Anderson, Storm, Roode, Angle, EY, MVP, ECIII, Joe, just to scratch the surface), and I like that the long-winded-ness(at least in the post Hogan era) has been kept to a minimum.

What seems to be the difference is your preference.

You clearly like the over-scripted style of WWE promos, where a writing team writes a script and a wrestler goes out and recites like an actor on a stage.

But realize that is not traditionally how wrestling works, and its not what most fans enjoy or want.

TNA doesn't need 30 writers writing promos, and doesn't have 2-3 guys as the voice of a whole roster. It has a roster of guys who are their own voice. The way wrestling has always worked. You have bookers(more modernly referred to as writers or "creative") who design a story and tell the wrestlers the point of the story and stress important bullets that should be hit during promos to make sure that the story is driven home, and after that they get out of the way and let the wrestler get the mic and talk in his own voice.

The WWE doesn't employ that strategy because the higher-ups have become so "control freak" in nature(always Vince's biggest flaw) that the control eventually worked its way into every promo creating a show that is more scripted with no natural feeling conveyed at all 95% of the time.

I get the younger crowd who has been mostly only exposed to the WWE and that approach is used to it and think it works, but the rest of us think it hinders the personality and connection that wrestlers create with the crowd, and that's one of the biggest issues that hurts the current WWE product.

But beyond all of that, THIS is what bothered me:

Flair has his moments, because he's insane.

His "moments"? Moments? MOMENTS???

Every time Flair opened his mouth to speak a sentence it was a moment. He is the best promo guy in the history of pro wrestling and there is no one even remotely close enough to create a compelling argument for in my eyes.

Flair was more than "moments". Just like he was in the ring, on the mic he was constant brilliance and perfection, setting the bar by which all others should be measured.

 

[Zeven_Zion]

TNA doesn't give good promos? So I guess we'll totally ignore EC3, Bully Ray, James Storm, Austin Aries, Magnus, Robbie E, Eric Young, Kurt Angle, MVP and Mr.Anderson? Whether you like their promo style is a matter of personal preference, but anyone that says any of those guys are straight up BAD - you're out of your mind. Personally, I don't dig Anderson and Kurt, but I would never say they're bad.

What do I judge this by? Reaction. EC3 got the most reaction out of the crowd yesterday. James Storm has proven time and time again that he can make people support him as much as hate him simply through his promo, it's not like he's the most amazing wrestler. Austin Aries got over in a large extent through his charisma and witty promos. Same applies to Magnus who was improving greatly before he fizzled out thanks to someone backstage I'm sure.

Even Robbie E who's annoying as hell is good. He's good at being annoying. Eric Young is a damn chameleon. He's good on the mic as a heel, as a face, as an idiot - as anything. Angle can go when he wants to and MVP has been so good since he debuted. Mr.Anderson has his moments of brilliance but he's not featured enough.

So ... I don't know what you're talking about. Is TNA amazing at promos? Absolutely not. Are they bad? Absolutely not. Average is something most can agree with. Anything more and you're biased toward TNA, anything less and you're biased against TNA.

And as far as if TNA would be able to build Bray Wyatt - probably not. But WWE wouldn't be able to build Bully Ray, AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels, Samoa Joe, Austin Aries, Bobby Roode, The Pope, ECIII and so many others. Every company strikes gold with some characters and flops with others. TNA put characters over that WWE couldn't. WWE put characters over that TNA couldn't. It's a pointless argument.

Your post is a little jumbled so if you're talking about the WRITING instead of delivery, then I can see your point. Definitely. WWE promos are often well structured and SAY things. TNA promos are just people talking about something. Regular talk, nothing that has a bite to it if you know what I mean. But that's simply because WWE scripts every damn word so they control the process. As such, even though I like things that are SAID in WWE promos, I don't like the delivery, it's extremely dry and it's exempt of emotion. On the other hand, TNA guys don't say much but they show much passion and emotion and their own thoughts as it's off the top of their heads with a few pointers, and that helps ME connect emotionally with the characters. It helps to know that if Aries says something it's said in HIS way, it was born in HIS head and it's HIM. It's as unique as the wrestler. It's his type of vocabulary, his words, his identity. That's something no writer can do. In WWE everyone sounds the same, says the same things. Because it's the same fucking person writing it.

You see how damn difficult it is to find wrestler who can improvise a promo on the spot and let it be better than anything a writer could do. You can count these guys on one hand. Austin, Rock, Flair, Piper, Randy Savage and perhaps 90's HBK but I'm an HBK mark so take that with a grain of salt. Everyone else either has great delivery that makes up for lack of material or has their stuff scripted to the heavens above.

I would never want TNA to overscript like WWE does. Let it be natural, it's so much better.

 

[RenegadeDX]

According to the internet, TNA doesn't do anything good.... at all.

 

[Boring]

Your post is a little jumbled so if you're talking about the WRITING instead of delivery, then I can see your point. Definitely. WWE promos are often well structured and SAY things. TNA promos are just people talking about something. Regular talk, nothing that has a bite to it if you know what I mean. But that's simply because WWE scripts every damn word so they control the process.

Ok. Good post.

I'll try and clear things up. In the 80s, the wrestlers weren't scripted, I believe. And they were awesome. I also feel, part of it was due to drugs and unstable individuals, like Scott Steiner. Now I get jumbled up because I'm not talking about Steiner as far as 80s promos, but he's an example of the crazy types who can give exciting promos(like it was accidental and they didn't even realize what they were doing.) His mic work never impressed me until TNA and I think there is just something so realistic about a crazy, old man wrestler, which is why I brought up Flair. Someone said it's brilliance? Come on. Flair is a wild man who runs around showing his penis to everyone... but it's that craziness that I do respect and believe has a place in pro wrestling.

WWE's promos are not good, in my opinion. But like Zeven said, the show is much more structured. And like he said, TNA promos don't have bite. I'm not bias against TNA at all, I am against WWE. As a TNA fan, I find the promos to have a hole, especially because of how much disdain I have for WWE and it's scripted promos. My issue is that TNA has wrestlers not capable of putting out those promos "with bite," especially considering my bias opinions against WWE.

This isn't important, but as for Flair, I was 1) talking about his TNA work 2)calling him crazy doesn't mean I didn't enjoy his work.

With TNA's current roster, I think they'd be better off being scripted with 30 writers like the WWE roster, is basically what I meant. Austin Aries is solid.

Wrestling in general, as far as promos go TODAY, there are maybe of handful guys who can go unscripted and be successful. Aries, Punk, Ambrose. Kevin Steen might be one... as we know WWE is all scripted so that's why I don't include Bray Wyatt. That's why Wyatt is my example. WWE and it's fully scripted show made Bray Wyatt from nothing. I'm not all that impressed with the guy, but in general, he has value and you hear his name regarding mic work. For all we know, Paul Heyman is fully scripted by WWE writing.

I don't care about straight from the mouth of the wrestlers promos in TNA cause they have proven not to work, because they aren't Steve Austin, Punk, etc. I believe as of now they are a roster that deserves to be heavily scripted until some of them are able to prove me wrong.

 

[Papa Pillman]

as we know WWE is all scripted so that's why I don't include Bray Wyatt. That's why Wyatt is my example. WWE and it's fully scripted show made Bray Wyatt from nothing. I'm not all that impressed with the guy, but in general, he has value and you hear his name regarding mic work. For all we know, Paul Heyman is fully scripted by WWE writing.

Actually you're wrong here.

Windham created the Wyatt character himself and has said in multiple interviews that he writes all of his own promos. He says that since the character is his creation no writer could get in "Bray Wyatt's" head and say the things that he would say. Because of the uniqueness of the character Bray is one of the few guys that is not writer scripted, but he has to clear his material through the writers before broadcasts.

Also the thought of Heyman delivering a promo written by some wet behind the ears clueless nobody who has no feel for the wrestling business is comical at best.

 

[Boring]

Actually you're wrong here.

Windham created the Wyatt character himself and has said in multiple interviews that he writes all of his own promos. He says that since the character is his creation no writer could get in "Bray Wyatt's" head and say the things that he would say. Because of the uniqueness of the character Bray is one of the few guys that is not writer scripted, but he has to clear his material through the writers before broadcasts.

Also the thought of Heyman delivering a promo written by some wet behind the ears clueless nobody who has no feel for the wrestling business is comical at best.

Oh, I didn't know that.

You are very knowledgeable, since this is a TNA thread, do you know what TNA wrestlers write their own scripts just like Bray Wyatt and Paul Heyman?

 

[Papa Pillman]

Oh, I didn't know that.

You are very knowledgeable, since this is a TNA thread, do you know what TNA wrestlers write their own scripts just like Bray Wyatt and Paul Heyman?

As far as I know, no one in TNA is fully scripted to the level of WWE.

The storylines are obviously scripted so the wrestlers know exactly what it is that they are supposed to convey, but the words themselves are their own.

This is also the way it works for a few wrestlers on the WWE roster, but mostly only the ones who have been around for extended time that the company fully trusts not to "go into business for themselves" like Cena, Triple H, or Punk prior to departure. I'd also guess characters like the Rhodes brothers get the Wyatt treatment of designing their own material due to uniqueness of the characters.

If you think about it, in TNA each wrestler has his own very individual voice, each heel for example talks trash his own way or gets heat through his own verbal methods, which really shines through for guys like say MVP, Robbie E, Storm, or ECIII. None talk like anyone else and they also don't sound scripted or stressed to remember lines.

 

[jamesubrown1]

There is more of a chance of TNA wrestling surviving another five years,TNA low attendance numbers or every time a new heasline is written about a wrestler leaving the promotion. WWE also doesn't publicly ackowledge Tna as competition