TNA's definitely been more respectful to their Championships since it started out in 2002 and progressively treating them worse and worse year by year in my opinion. It's typical for a new company to have "moments" with their belts. TNA has a long way to go and there'll be even more "moments" that are lacking in a company like the WWE for example, not because they're crapping on their belts (which they are) but because they've done anything possible with the titles in the 50 years old history and it's very very hard and rare for them to create a "moment".
Perhaps, but instead of approaching the topic you are taking a pot shot at the WWE for no reason. There still are moments in WWE like Miz winning just two months ago. It's about CREATING that moment, no matter what company you are talking about. Even if that kind of moment has been done before, with new characters it can be unique and awesome. As for TNA, while some things have been cool, I don't like when things are overdone. For instance, RVD's win they had confetti come down. Really? I get that it was a big moment, but you take away all the spontaneity of it by doing that. It was on Impact, which we know is taped, but at least TRY to make it seem like it's happening in the moment.
I've not watched TNA since the start so I can't really say how they treated their belts over the last nine years, but all of the greatest matches that I've seen on YouTube are for a belt, whether it's the X-Division Title, The World Title or the Tag-Team Championships, so that tells you something.
TNA is more of a pro wrestlingy pro wrestling company in terms of how they do their wrestling and their promos. They keep it old school and I love that. They're not scripted, the wrestlers are given almost all the freedom in the world, they're given basic pointers by management and are not TOLD what to do in the ring, to slow down or pick up the pace, etc. That's why TNA's product seems "alive" in a way, much more energetic and passionate than WWE's emotionless, robotic, rigid snooze fest. That mentality has reflected on how they treat the belts too.
This is the biggest bunch of crap and I should have stopped reading at this point because of how wrong it is. You speak with such conviction like you KNOW exactly what goes on behind the scenes. In your perception, maybe you see it this way, but you couldn't be more wrong. If you want to believe it's more "alive", power to you, but to make comments that you can't back up like what management tells people to do and the like is plain wrong. First off, EVERY WRESTLING COMPANY HAS A SCRIPT!!! To think that a script isn't written is fucking stupid. You have to know what you need to get across or else you'd just be babbling incoherent nonsense. Well, Pope does work for TNA so.......nevermind lol. Anyway, scripting is not this evil thing you make it out to be. It's a TV show, and shows need a script. That's how it works. Yes, no matter what company you are talking about will have performers that are trusted to work on their promos more and have more carp blanche with them, but it's still performance art. You still have to put together a promo or segment that makes sense, and this takes work. You can't just "wing it". It takes work and practice.
As for the matches, there are two ways to go about it and it's not the "TNA way" or "WWE way". Some performers script out their matches beforehand so as to be perfectionists about the flow and the highs and lows. If done right, it can be a masterpiece this way, but if done wrong, it comes off robotic and the performers look green. A good example of this way is Randy Savage. He was a stickler for detail, so he scripted out his matches. His famous Wrestlemania 3 match with Steamboat was completely scripted out and it is known as one of the greatest of all time. On the other side is the ring general way. This is more the "old school" way and one that I happen to prefer. This is where guys go over some spots before the match and they know the end sequence, but they mainly call moves on the fly. There is a ring general (the veteran of the match) that calls it in ring and guys literally don't know the next move until 5 seconds before. In this way, matches feel more spntaneous and real. Bret Hart went with this style more and you can tell by the flow of his matches.
As far as today, it varies by performer. Most in WWE and TNA use the latter, as the more veteran performer calls out spots as they go. Hell, you can see guys calling out spots if you pay enough attention. This is the preferred way as it allows performers to adapt to the crowd and let the match flow with the crowd reaction. If a match is all scripted out, you can't do that.
Basically, you used a paragraph in a "TNA's Use of Championships" to bash WWE nonsensically and you expect people to listen when you want to praise the company you like? You have an opinion and I respect it, but there's a place for it. This topic was specific and you felt the need to bash WWE which was totally off topic. Now that we got that out of the way, let's talk about the topic at hand which you addressed next paragraph.
I think they tarnished a lot of them over the last three years. The X-Division Championship slowly lost its sizzle when AJ/Joe/Daniels moved on from the X-Division. The Legends/Global/TV Title has never been important, it was just a belt Booker T made and I still believe to this day that it's unecessary, it's always been just a prop. The KO's title had a lot of downs since 2010 but it could regain some value if Mickie James wins it. The KO Tag-Titles need to go and ... I think they did? Wasn't there some tourney and ... what happened there? I hope they're gone.
Very little argument here, though I think the TV title was getting there before Abyss got it. I hate Abyss, so that might play into it, but the AJ/Williams feud was great for it even if I felt AJ shouldn't be in the midcard. The X-Division might be dead at this point, and that is what it is. You can't keep high flying divisions going forever because at some point, those performers get notice and hold bigger belts and thus, it devalues the other division as those who were relegated to it have been shown able to get bigger belts, so why should they waste their time? You have a midcard belt and a top belt and that should work for TNA. The Knockout's belt would be a lot better around Mickie's waist just above her sweet ass but it's been devalued a lot over the past year. The once proud division has hit sort of a stalemate and if they care to fix it, they might bring in a couple of indy women to put on some decent matches with your Mickie's and Saritas and such. The knockout tag belts should just die. They are awful. We agree there.
The World Title seems to be the one that has been more important than all the rest and its value kept almost intact. Everytime someone wins it he's never held it before, so it makes every title win special. Yes, even RVD.
So here's the one issue I have. If the belts were so important, you would BUILD towards a title change and not hotshot it all the time. The Hardy title change was done well, but RVD winning was on Impact while Anderson was an impromtu match with no build. I'm more of a fan of building up to title changes, or at least promoting them. I contend that Anderson's title win would have been better if it was any time other than when it was. Even if it was on Impact (I prefer PPV changes so it makes people WANT to buy the show), you could have given people notice that a title match would happen so they would tune in for that show. Then, more people are watching as you marketed it and after a little more ridicule, Anderson could overcome the odds and win. That would make it seem prestigious. Still, now that guys who aren't Mick Foley are holding the belt, it has regained prestige. As long as Hogan doesn't get his hands on it, capable wrestlers hold it and that's important.
Basically, TNA has/is doing a fine job at maintaining belt importance, but they could do a MUCH MUCH better job if they decided to put their minds into it. No company seems to give a shit these days and it's a pity.
I think the idea of belt prestige is overrated. As the thread starter said, belts are used for different things. If that's the case, how can you expect it to maintain the "same prestige" if it's doing different things for different people. If you like one reason for holding a belt (say recognition of a solid career), then you won't like when a new guy gets the belt in order to solidify his push and get him more over. The thing is, belts will always have multiple purposes and we have to roll with the punches. I don't watch wrestling to examine whether a guy or girl is "upping the prestige" or "lowering the prestige" of a belt. I watch to see athletic actors play out stories that may or may not include a quest for a title which should mean something to said performer. Ultimately, if the performer in question acts as though the belt means something to them and defends it with their life, that says prestige to me. If the performer doesn't care and discards it, that lowers the prestige. To me, it's about what it means to the performer and that's what it should be. Regardless of whether we say "it's a prop", these guys actually work their whole lives to be trusted by their respective company to hold that belt. It means something to them and as long as they respect the business and respect the belt's legacy, I'm cool with it. I haven't seen blatant disrespect, so I think we are doing alright. Still, the knockouts tag team titles have to go and Abyss needs to NEVER touch the World title. Do that and all is right with TNA.
