TNA's Moments of Chaos

[Kitten Cutter]

TNA was supposed to be starting off this year with a lot of momentum after Bound For Glory's big change. They had a dominate heel stable in the Immortals, with Jeff Hardy as the champion and the figure head. They had control of Fourtune with a mix of veteran leadership and young talent, both underutilized and up-and-coming. And their mid-card feuds were building up relatively well to keep the excitement up. Now, I ask what the hell happened?

Dixie Carter promises the biggest surprise of the year, which ends up being Sting coming back, which surprised absolutely no one. Meanwhile the "court case" storyline came and went without even a whimper, and Hogan has barely used his 100% power.

The Immortals storyline has fallen completely apart. The group went from a dominating 10 wrestler group to a barely having 4 active members.

Abyss and the TV title have completely disappeared, with no update on his condition whatsoever. And Crimson has said nothing about it, either.

Fourtune turned face because of the loss of the Main Event Mafia storyline for whatever reason, and now are facing weaker competition.

We haven't seen Jay Lethal, the Motor City Machine Guns, Douglas Williams, Magnus, or Amazing Red in months, except for the occasional squash.

We've only seen Scott Steiner once or twice in a blue moon.

Madison Rayne is reduced to fighting former Knockouts in 3 minute matches for the title.

We've seen the Knockouts invite TWO Jersey Shore girls in, all while releasing Lacey Von Erich, Miss Teshmacher and Daffney.

We've seen Velvet Sky fight for her career and after winning the match and finally getting over the hurdle of a losing streak, no one acknowledged or cared.

We've seen Eric Young go from dodging Orlando Jordan's sexual advances to finding the old World Heavyweight Title in the trash and wearing it like a redneck's belt buckle and looping his way around nearly every other wrestler's backstage segments.

We've seen The Pope whine, cry and give up a feud with Abyss out of nowhere to turn heel and feud with two faces in Samoa Joe and his sidekick Okada.

We've seen Bully Ray turn on his long-time tag team partner D-Von again, and Tommy Dreamer pops up out of nowhere and gets a PPV match with him.

We've seen Matt Morgan feud with Hernandez because of their actions last year, which makes sense except that Morgan is the good guy and Hernandez is the evil heel now.

We've seen the Kurt Angle\Jeff Jarrett go from a deadly serious, near worked shoot angle to an absurdist comedy angle that has plagued us with incessant videos about honeymoons, vacations and family outings, which have NOTHING to do with wrestling.

We've seen Rob Van Dam accuse and feud with nearly every face while not actively going after the belt, and since losing the World Title, only got one tainted title shot.

We've seen Jeff Hardy at first as a dominant champion, only to lose the belt to Mr. Anderson in a month, only to gain it back a month later in a ladder match, in which the clean win pissed off Mr. Anderson enough to turn quasi-heel by whining and crying about his misfortune.

We've seen Sting win the World Heavyweight Title on his first night back after Jeff only had it for another few weeks, which led to the Victory Road debacle.

As much as I try to find positive moments in everything, and it's not like I haven't enjoyed watching separate moments, the fact is that TNA seems like everything is in chaos. So far the only storyline that have been cohesive from beginning to end is Bully Ray vs. D-Von, because it's actualy shown growth and depth, and even that is getting muddled by adding Dreamer into the mix.

Therefore, my question is this: do you think TNA is too chaotic right now? Are the storylines going too far out of sync? Or do you think things, despite the Victory Road main event, are going in a good direction? Any storyline that you think is cohesive and interesting to follow?

 

[SpecialFNK]

there are numerous things in TNA right now that I just don't understand.

how long have Pope and Samoa Joe been feuding now? 3 PPV? it's stale, move on.

how long has Angle and Jarrett feud been going? too long, that's for sure. I know there is real life history there, but Angle should be doing more important matches. he could still be in the heavy weight title scene.

wheres Jay Lethal and Doug Williams?

what is TNA doing with Crimson? I think he has had only 1 singles match, a quick one with Magnus.

why are Jeremy Buck and Max Buck(Generation Me) wrestling as singles when there are other well deserving singles wrestlers that could be wrestling in the X division.

why are Ink Ink arguing? another tag team that should stay together.

I can't even get into what TNA will be doing with the TV title this coming Impact, but it's BS.

it's like booking/creative can't think of anything good.

 

[rondiesel2005]

What I think is happening is that the people who are in charge of TNA are trying to create controversy which they are trying to bring up the ratings. TNA got con artists running the business and few wrestlers in TNA are beginning to see it. They are doing what they are told, but nobody wants to say anything. Unlike Dixie Carter she acts like Hogan, Bischoff and Russo knows what they are doing and what they are doing is wasting money.

Also what TNA is doing lately is that they trying to put everything on one show and with the talents that aren't doing anything, they just wait around for creative to tell them what to do even if it takes more than a year for them to get the job.

 

[Rayne]

It looks like TNA's writers are about to take the blame for the company's performance over the past 15 months, and they're in panic mode hoping for a Hail Mary program that'll sell.

Now, before the predictable few jump on my back for claiming that TNA's failing, let me establish what I mean by "performance". TNA hasn't grown much over the past 15 months, when they upped their spending significantly in order to try and grow themselves. You can only go on "results will come in time" for so long; eventually, the people spending the money to upgrade your set to HD and hire people like Hulk Hogan are going to go "so, when is 'time'?" TNA isn't losing ground, but they haven't gained any ground for the money they've spent either.

Those chickens have to come home to roost sometime.

Eric Bischoff has dodged the axe, much to my chagrin. Despite all of his production ideas falling flat over the past fifteen months, he recently received a promotion. I am not saying I could do better, before someone pulls that old canard out; however, I wouldn't hire someone to work for me just because they can do something better. I'm a pretty shitty quarterback, but I know better then to hire Ryan Leaf.

With the blame deflected from production, where are the other places that the inevitable blame can go? Booking, marketing, and talent. As a producer, Eric Bischoff is divorced *just* enough from booking and marketing to be able to say "it's not my problem, I only advised them". TNA does not appear to have a very strong marketing department as compared to other businesses, and hence there is less gristle to trim there, but booking is fundamental to any wrestling promotion. (TNA's marketing efforts are best left for another thread, but I'll give them this- advertising is expensive.) With talent, TNA does only what they can. They aren't able to build wrestlers currently (booking can be blamed here), and the top tier talent is a mix between what they could hire away from WWE and who had name recognition but wasn't working at the time. There is no singular actor you can blame for TNA's stagnation.

With Bischoff safe and marketing being too small of a target in this instance, booking is where the hatchet will inevitably fall, and that's why you're seeing such spastic booking lately. TNA and its financial backers appear VERY concerned with the week-to-week rating, and so the writers are doing whatever they can to bump those numbers, knowing that production isn't going to take the fall.

 

[Iversen]

there are numerous things in TNA right now that I just don't understand.

how long have Pope and Samoa Joe been feuding now? 3 PPV? it's stale, move on.

how long has Angle and Jarrett feud been going? too long, that's for sure. I know there is real life history there, but Angle should be doing more important matches. he could still be in the heavy weight title scene.

wheres Jay Lethal and Doug Williams?

what is TNA doing with Crimson? I think he has had only 1 singles match, a quick one with Magnus.

why are Jeremy Buck and Max Buck(Generation Me) wrestling as singles when there are other well deserving singles wrestlers that could be wrestling in the X division.

why are Ink Ink arguing? another tag team that should stay together.

I can't even get into what TNA will be doing with the TV title this coming Impact, but it's BS.

it's like booking/creative can't think of anything good.

I've been a bit bemused by that in general. If theres one thing TNA has always been given credit for it was that their tag team division was pretty good... So they're responding by splitting up two of their good young teams? I know neither are quite Beer Money or MCMG level but their solid teams who do a good job.

I always feel when watching TNA thats it very much made up on the spot. They start these huge storylines without knowing where they hell they are going with them. It's why you end up with guys like Crimson, Williams etc being fazed out. They use them for what they're needed to set up the storyline but then don't consider what they'll do next. I know storylines have to be flexible etc due to the risks of injuries or whatever but there still needs to be a storyline arc. A beginning, middle and end the kind of thing every kid learns in creative writing.

TNA seem to always have beginnings that promise a lot then the start of the middle and then we're lucky if we get an end that actually answers anything. 90% of stories seem to get lost in the middle.

They need a major clean out in my opinion. Theres a whole bunch of wrestlers on their roster that are useless etc that they just need to cut away. Considering that Hogans just got 100% control of the company it even works perfectly into storyline. He's ditching the guys he doesn't like/are loyal to Dixie. Obviously it creates the problem of why he doesn't fire people like Anderson but they've got their Network card they can play now who have stepped in and stopped them doing so. Cut the roster and get all the people who deserve to be on TV in proper storylines rather than just random pish.

 

[BTLion1990]

When TNA went head to head with RAW and realised it was a mistake, they dusted themselves off, picked themselves off and managed to get better. Why? Because it was a mistake but it was a lesson learnt to look at their product first and foremost before anything else.

Then, WWE apparently ''stole'' Nash and Booker T, thus taking away their angle of the Main Event Mafia. While TNA said yeah we had a plan B, the turning of Fortune, I do honestly think that TNA got peeved, because it could've been portrayed as a dig to TNA by WWE, as subtle as it was.

This then led to TNA to yet again look at WWE and therefore their attention isn't focused on themselves anymore, they just wanted to get attention and viewers in any way they could, leading to the botch of 3/3/11 angle. While this angle failed, and many got pissed off, a lot of people said that it could still be saved and they would continue watching TNA, and rightfully so. One mistake shouldn't turn you off as a wrestling fan, it didn't cost any of the fans money.

The greatest mistake was the Hardy/Sting situation. He was in no shape to go out there, the fans get conned, the people who paid get conned even worse, Jeff Hardy no-sells Stings finisher, and then Sting and Hardy break character acting visibly upset.

All this I believe is due to TNA looking at WWE. It is WrestleMania season, and they were bound to try and grab rating anyway they can, and switch the focus off WWE. If they weren't focused on WWE would they even have ran those 3/3/11 promos and have Sting win the title? He won the title so his impact would be seen as greater than Takers' in my opinion.

Two things can be done. Apologise to the fans, whether via Twitter or on TV or whatever, and then fire the people responsible. There is still a lot of the year left, the ratings were increasing and maybe just maybe, with no cock-ups they can finish the year strong. As a WWE fan I'm personally laughing at it all, but maybe they can learn from it, I mean they have enough experience in the back to rally this round.

 

[Chess]

TNA is definately chaotic at the moment however I do not blame the writers entirely.

The immortal/fourtune storyline has clearly had to change from the original plan of having MEM return to probably fued with Fourtune. I believe turning Fourtune face was a good idea to help this story progress in a new direction, however they have no-one of importance to fued with. Immortal is a seriously weak group of wrestlers with only Matt Hardy with a legitimate chance of winning a mid card title. I think it would be wise to have Hernandez officially become a member of Immortal, have him go over Matt Morgan so he can get involved in the Main Event picture and therefore make Immortal look like some kind of threat. At the moment Immortal is only a threat to the lower card, they really need to recruit to make themselves relevant again.

Abyss is dead and hopefully not returning to TNA. If he does I hope he returns as a completely new character (much like Mick Foley) as the monster Abyss no longer has any interest to anyone.

I have enjoyed the Angle/Jarrett fued however I agree that all the Honeymoon clips and other such bollocks really brings nothing to the matches they have been having. I fully expect many fueds to end at Lockdown including this one with Kurt victorious and progressing to the main event seen again.

The Tag Division is seriously shit and has been for a while. MCMG are not around due to injury to Shelley and I expect them to start to fued with eachother when they return. Ink Inc seem to be splitting up(which is stupid) despite them showing some signs of life. The bucks can only go over MCMG as all the other teams are simply to large and dominent for them to be taken seriously, I am happy for them to be apart to improve the weak X division. Gunnar and Murphy look good physical specimens but have been booked to look shit and have no real in ring talent. Young and Battyboy Jordon should start acting legit and not just do comedy as both can actually wrestle. Not chaotic, just shit.

Bully Ray has been fantastic in my opinion and is a great heel, this fued has really surprised me and I have enjoyed most of the matches. Dreamer was simply added to stretch this story until Lockdown and to get Dreamer earning his pay.

Pope vs Joe again will be over at Lockdown in my opinion and is simply a mid card filler.

I think the original plan was for a 4 way Lethal Lockdown with Hardy, Sting, RVD and Anderson all going for the title. Obviously Jeff has screwed this over with his antics the other night so I am interested to see who if anyone will be added to make a 4 way. As I mentioned earlier I think I would get Hernandez to now be Immortals numbers 1 guy.

Overall although TNA has had to deal with many issues lately and has done and OK job and keeping me interested. Yes it has been chaotic at times but when you have major stars like Jeff Hardy acting a fool you can only do your best and I think it has not been as bad as many would make you believe.

I have faith!

As much as I wish Jeff Hardy was involved in a massive work, I know it wasn't as we all know how poor Jeff is at acting.

 

[Captain Jive]

The storylines have just been all over the place. The incident with Hardy a few nights ago could have been avoided, but it still would've left a stink because they would have had to change the main event to something else, which still would've gotten them shit. Jeff Hardy made TNA look stupid, and they made themselves look even dumber by having him go out there. Either way, it was gonna be bad.

The MEM returning storyline shouldn't have even been started until they knew for a fact that they would be able to get all of the members back into the company. You can't just start a storyline and hope that the key people that would be involved want to come back, it's amateur bullshit.

Like somone said before, a few months ago, TNA had the best tag division in the world, now Beer Money is the only team around that isn't on the verge of breaking up. Every other team has teased a split. They have a very good division, Gen Me is good, no matter what other people say, I love Ink Inc, and MCMG and Beer Money are the shit. Someone needs to have a sit down with Vince McMahon and Dixie Carter and do a powerpoint presentation showing them that tag teams are a good idea.

The Angle/Jarrett thing started off good, but now it's just old and pointless. Why have a segment between almost every match on a PPV dedicated to their rivalry and not even have them on the card?

I used to consider TNA the best promotion in the world, leaps and bounds better than WWE as far as matches and overall entertainment goes. Now though, they need to pull their head out of their asses.

I'm not by any means a booker, so I can't say for sure what would be best for business, but what I would do is have a match at Lockdown, Team Dixie vs team Hogan (obviously they won't be in the match), have Dixie's team win so she gets control of the company again, then have a complete reboot. Start every storyline from scratch, get rid of the useless talent, and utilize what got them on the map. All these big names that they paid for aren't what got them a TV deal in the first place. They made it by utilizing the backbone of TNA, the people that believe TNA can be the best company in the world. Not the ones that just didn't have anywhere else to go.