TNA, the new ECW?

[Afro-Ameri-Spawn]

If you watched this weeks edition of TNA Impact, then you undoubtedly saw the main event Gauntlet match. Or at least I hope you did. In case you didn't, you can click the attached clip in order to view it. Now for those of you who may not have seen it, Kurt Angle attempted to whip Aj Styles into the ropes, underneath a ladder. AJ reversed and, on the rebound, slammed the ladder into the face of Kurt Angle, slicing him open and creating a moment that I think was one of the bloodiest spots that I have ever witnessed in wrestling. Especially for someone blading the hard way. I mean the blood was coming out in such an amount as to where you could see and hear all of the refs rushing over to see if Angle was alright. And you could also hear him assuring the refs that he was alright before he continued the match and showed a hell of alot of heart by braving it out while blood still ran down his face.

You also witnessed Homicide being put through a glass table. Now this is something that we saw Christian do weeks ago, but this time was definitely different. The Christian glass table incident looked fake. It didn't even look as if he bled as much as the spot was to make you believe he had. But this spot, just looked sick as you could see them removing glass from Homicide's back and showing a real gash on his arm. It was hardcore and more and you knew he took it all when he landed on that table. I even prayed that none of the glass that was all over his face would get into his eyes.

Now while both of these spots were truly kick ass, I have to wonder why TNA, being a prerecorded broadcast, still left both of these spots in, unedited. So with WWE seeking to go PG, do you think that this means that TNA is seeking a PG-13 rating for their broadcast? Are they seeking to bring back the age of hardcore? Are they poised to do so? Will anybody watch if they do?

Thoughts?

[YOUTUBE]fGBKC_3O6d8&hl[/YOUTUBE]

 

[anonymous]

If you watched this weeks edition of TNA Impact, then you undoubtedly saw the main event Gauntlet match. Or at least I hope you did. In case you didn't, you can click the attached clip in order to view it. Now for those of you who may not have seen it, Kurt Angle attempted to whip Aj Styles into the ropes, underneath a ladder. AJ reversed and, on the rebound, slammed the ladder into the face of Kurt Angle, slicing him open and creating a moment that I think was one of the bloodiest spots that I have ever witnessed in wrestling. Especially for someone blading the hard way. I mean the blood was coming out in such an amount as to where you could see and hear all of the refs rushing over to see if Angle was alright. And you could also hear him assuring the refs that he was alright before he continued the match and showed a hell of alot of heart by braving it out while blood still ran down his face.

You also witnessed Homicide being put through a glass table. Now this is something that we saw Christian do weeks ago, but this time was definitely different. The Christian glass table incident looked fake. It didn't even look as if he bled as much as the spot was to make you believe he had. But this spot, just looked sick as you could see them removing glass from Homicide's back and showing a real gash on his arm. It was hardcore and more and you knew he took it all when he landed on that table. I even prayed that none of the glass that was all over his face would get into his eyes.

Now while both of these spots were truly kick ass, I have to wonder why TNA, being a prerecorded broadcast, still left both of these spots in, unedited. So with WWE seeking to go PG, do you think that this means that TNA is seeking a PG-13 rating for their broadcast? Are they seeking to bring back the age of hardcore? Are they poised to do so? Will anybody watch if they do?

Thoughts?

I find it hard to believe that this will be a long term thing. One Impact and a PPV with more Hardcore than normal does not mean that the whole organization will go with a more hardcore direction. Just wait til after hard Justine and we will see the direction that the company is going.

 

[Uncle Sam]

What the anonymous guy said. This won't be a permanent thing. If there's one thing that TNA isn't, it's consistent. Just look at Kaz's career to see that. Hard Justice will probably be quite a bloody pay-per-view coming off the back of this, but that's as far as I see any of this type of hardcore wrestling going on. The glass tables thing is just ridiculous anyway. I mean, it never causes anyone's back to bleed anyway, there was blood already on the towel. And, from what you say, the ladder thing was just an accident.

One thing's for sure, I'll be watching TNA tonight.

 

[peazy420]

TNA is more like the new WCW. They missuse up and coming talent and push them aside for rejects from the E. They think they can compete with the E but they don't have the one thing the fuled Bishoff's empire, Ted Turner's bank account. Personaly i think they should just focus on being a solid #2, an alternative to the main stream product, and not worry so much about competeing with Vince, looked what happened to the last guy that tried to take him out. Because we need to realize why TNA started in the first place, JEFF JARRETT NEEDED A JOB. BOOSH!!!!

 

[Steamboat Ricky]

TNA is more like the new WCW. They missuse up and coming talent and push them aside for rejects from the E.

Please provide some examples for your logic here because I'm honestly not finding your claims to be valid. It seems as if they are pushing the best guys that they have. Some of them may be "WWE rejects" (if you count Booker and Angle to be "rejects," even though they left WWE on their own accord), but it would be absolutely dumb not to push your best talent just because they came from a different company.

They think they can compete with the E but they don't have the one thing the fuled Bishoff's empire, Ted Turner's bank account. Personaly i think they should just focus on being a solid #2, an alternative to the main stream product, and not worry so much about competeing with Vince, looked what happened to the last guy that tried to take him out.

.

Yeah, man. Look at him. Bischoff never even got close to putting Vince out of business...

Have you ever approached anything with the desire to simply be the second best version of said thing? If you have, then you must not be very ambitious. I think TNA approaches the industry as trying to create the best possible product within its limitations, both financially and in terms of personnel. It would truly be folly for TNA to shoot simply for second best. I'm sure that Joe and Booker are going to go out tomorrow night and say, "Hey, let's put on a match that will be good, but not good enough to be better than any of the matches at Summerslam." I'm sure that TNA buyrates would go through the roof if that was the case.

If anything, the lack of billionaire financial backing can only help TNA. Bischoff was jaded into thinking that he could simply buy a better product than Vince. In TNA's instance, they can only compete with Vince the old-fashioned way: creating a superior wrestling program. I'm not saying that WCW never had a superior product...because I think it did. I just think that WCW got lazy.

Because we need to realize why TNA started in the first place, JEFF JARRETT NEEDED A JOB. BOOSH!!!!

Yes, I'm sure that Jeff couldn't have gotten a job anywhere else.

 

[Steamboat Ricky]

If you watched this weeks edition of TNA Impact, then you undoubtedly saw the main event Gauntlet match. Or at least I hope you did. In case you didn't, you can click the attached clip in order to view it. Now for those of you who may not have seen it, Kurt Angle attempted to whip Aj Styles into the ropes, underneath a ladder. AJ reversed and, on the rebound, slammed the ladder into the face of Kurt Angle, slicing him open and creating a moment that I think was one of the bloodiest spots that I have ever witnessed in wrestling. Especially for someone blading the hard way. I mean the blood was coming out in such an amount as to where you could see and hear all of the refs rushing over to see if Angle was alright. And you could also hear him assuring the refs that he was alright before he continued the match and showed a hell of alot of heart by braving it out while blood still ran down his face.

You also witnessed Homicide being put through a glass table. Now this is something that we saw Christian do weeks ago, but this time was definitely different. The Christian glass table incident looked fake. It didn't even look as if he bled as much as the spot was to make you believe he had. But this spot, just looked sick as you could see them removing glass from Homicide's back and showing a real gash on his arm. It was hardcore and more and you knew he took it all when he landed on that table. I even prayed that none of the glass that was all over his face would get into his eyes.

Now while both of these spots were truly kick ass, I have to wonder why TNA, being a prerecorded broadcast, still left both of these spots in, unedited. So with WWE seeking to go PG, do you think that this means that TNA is seeking a PG-13 rating for their broadcast? Are they seeking to bring back the age of hardcore? Are they poised to do so? Will anybody watch if they do?

Thoughts?

I must say, I was "conned" into watching TNA this Thursday, and with the exception of having to endure "Karen's Angle" and any segments involving "The Beautiful People," I was PLEASANTLY surprised. The main-event was spectacular...as Angle showed quite a bit of toughness after going through that ladder gash...and that top rope forearm by AJ Styles was one of the prettiest moves I've EVER seen.

But I was actually thinking of making a thread similar to this...questioning the direction of TNA. The glass-table bump that Homicide took was sick, indeed, and looked as real as they come (with the exception of Angle's bump later). That, with the Beautiful People sporting "OMG WTF" shirts and skimpy outfits, as well as having a major adultery angle involving arguably its two biggest stars, TNA does seem to be heading in a more "extreme" direction than WWE.

Perhaps this is something that will allow TNA to become more noticeable amongst the young male demographic, particularly as WWE retreats into a much more family-friendly product. This "extreme" direction could be highly beneficial in getting former ECW loyals to switch their allegiances from WWE to TNA...especially as WWE continues to make a mockery of the ECW name. But being fairly novice in TNA's long-term consistencies...it's difficult to say if they will continue to air similar Impact broadcasts.

I DO, however, know that TNA cannot succeed, particularly in a cable timeslot, unless they commit to providing a different, yet alternative, product than WWE provides three times a week. No casual wrestling fan (and even most serious ones) are going to tune in to 4 of the same shows each week.

 

[ronthony717]

Tna has tried to be something like ecw people liked it but they stopped... Tna has one problem.. They don't stick with anything.. Everything changes right away... I can't tell you if christian or booker or dudleys are heels or not cause they change more times then the oj story... They don't know what they wanna make tna besides make kurt angel the only star... Kurt is the best in my opinion but to make them big enough to get a 2.0 ratin they have start doin extreme matches or even a royal rumble type match similar to wcw's then starting it outside... Tna is tryin to be like ecw but they need to do it and stick wit it instead of changing once a week

 

[Afro-Ameri-Spawn]

I find it hard to believe that this will be a long term thing. One Impact and a PPV with more Hardcore than normal does not mean that the whole organization will go with a more hardcore direction. Just wait til after hard Justine and we will see the direction that the company is going.

I understand what you are saying. But it's not so much that it's a regular event, but I was more or less concentrating that with the time that they had to edit it out or downplay it, they focused highly on the blood and violence from these two spots and emphasised them greatly on the show. Even Don West's over-played voice was perfect for the Angle moment as blood streamed down his face.

What the anonymous guy said. This won't be a permanent thing. If there's one thing that TNA isn't, it's consistent. Just look at Kaz's career to see that. Hard Justice will probably be quite a bloody pay-per-view coming off the back of this, but that's as far as I see any of this type of hardcore wrestling going on. The glass tables thing is just ridiculous anyway. I mean, it never causes anyone's back to bleed anyway, there was blood already on the towel. And, from what you say, the ladder thing was just an accident.

One thing's for sure, I'll be watching TNA tonight.

The first table spot did in deed look overly fake. You could tell that Christian was not bleeding and there was no way that editing could make it seem so. And when they lifted Homicide up for the spot, I was like "oh god, here we go again". And when I didn't see blood like Christian, I felt let down...until they pulled a couple of pieces of glass from Homicide's arm and showed that he really did get cut open with the gashed on his arm. The towel didn't even look that bloody this time, but to see all of the glass fragments near Homicide's eyes and how he had to keep them closed to keep it out just sold the moment even more for me. I will be right along with you watching TNA tonight to see it again.

TNA is more like the new WCW. They missuse up and coming talent and push them aside for rejects from the E. They think they can compete with the E but they don't have the one thing the fuled Bishoff's empire, Ted Turner's bank account. Personaly i think they should just focus on being a solid #2, an alternative to the main stream product, and not worry so much about competeing with Vince, looked what happened to the last guy that tried to take him out. Because we need to realize why TNA started in the first place, JEFF JARRETT NEEDED A JOB. BOOSH!!!!

Actually, Jeff Jarret could have had a job. He went on wrestling tours that were very bankable for him. And you have to believe that if Steiner got a chance and Guerrero and both Hardys got other chances, you would have to believe that Jarrett would have gotten at least a small chance to have signed with WWE to be a heel. And he makes a great heel. But he didn't want that. He wanted to see if another company would stand a chance to be profitable with WWE being the dominant force in the industry. And to be honest, he has proven that. They may not be the gold standard or a solid #2, but they are making money. And that is what matters in the business.

 

[SpiralHands]

Ive always thought that the fans after the hardcore era of wrestling ended, could be entertained again and if done right TNA could do that, they could tap into that fan network. However I really doubt they would with characters like Shark Boy Eric Young and Curryman its obvious that TNA wants to probaly catch a lower age of fans as they are usually the ones who buy the merch and consierding TNAs PPVs arent huge buyrates thats what TNA needs to make money on. But long live the small hardcore era we are in, in TNA at the moment!

 

[Afro-Ameri-Spawn]

I noticed that I had forgotten to add the youtube video for those of you who did not get the chance to see it Thursday. The original spot was supposed to be Angle hitting the ladder and then blading on the floor. But if you will notice, Angle ended up not only blading the hard way but also bleeding more in a few seconds than I have ever seen in some entire matches. You can also see Kurt Angle telling refs that he was alright and didn't need to be taken out of the match. He still wrestled for quite a bit before he was eliminated from the match and he still was gushing blood as he made his way up the aisle. Paul Heyman wasn't lying when he said that he saw Angle as being the NEW vision of the hardcore athlete.

 

[dragondragon]

TNA are not anything near the new ECW at all.Just having hardcore matches and lots of blood and stuff doesnt make them the new ECW,because loads of companies do that. The thing with ECW was it was innovative,something American fans had never seen before and they were drawn to it.It was an indy promotion with a cult following that was the alternative to mainstream wrestling. And thats what TNA is trying to be,mainstream,sports entertainment style wrestling. The ECW of today I believe is ROH,because like ECW they are an indy with a cult following,offering something mainstream wrestling fans arent accustomed to (more emphasis on quality wrestling action than on storyline) and they are the third biggest promotion in the US today.