T2KFreeker
Getting Noticed By Management
Well, here comes another one of my columns, and hopefully you all appreciate what I say and think I have some kind of mind where this industry is concerned. I have to admit, when TNA started as NWA/TNA, I bought the $9.99 pay per views, and I watched the matches and remember the square ring! I remember Ken Shamrock winning the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. I remember America's Most Wanted dominating the Tag Team Division on several occasions. I watched the rise and fall of the 3 Live Crew, saw Jerret dominate as the mail heel and watched Rhino shock the industry by becoming the NWA champion after Nash had to cancel his match due to possible heart problems. Joe came in and had some very good matches in the X-Division and he really gave Christopher Daniels and AJ Stykes a run for their money and was the champ. Speaking of Styles, remember when he was tag teamed with D-Lo Brown? Been a long time. I loved it back then as it was all new and fresh to a degree and it was nice to see a new company on television other than WWE.
Since then, TNA now has monthly Pay Per View events and has been on teo different cable networks in the US finally scoring a two hour show on Spike Television, which all of this should be awesome. Plus add in the fact that you can also download any episode of TNA Impact on Spike on XBOX Live and a Video Game is coming out from Midway, and all should be right with the world of Total Nonstop Action!
Sadly, it isn't.
Where is the big step up from the 1.0 rating? Mind you, I don't want to be studying ratings or anything, but sometimes you just can't help it. The fact that ratings fluctuation in wrestling can be a good indication on what works for the industry and what doesn't really makes you look. The point right now is that Impact is barely getting by and isn't reeling in new fans. All it takes is that one big angle, the one big moment that get's the whole industry talking that can get you over with the fans as a company. The sad thing is that I can't tell you what that will be with TNA, although I can tell you a few things that really does urk me as a fan. I guess that this might also give you an idea of where I think that TNA should be heading, maybe to help boost the ratings and gain some interest.
First and formost, Joe needs a serious repackaging. I will not tell you that I do not enjoy his matches as that would be a lie, I love to watch the man wrestle, as I have with most of the great Samoans that came before him. I, like most of the fans, are really tired of the really pissed off and whiney Joe, or just the Whiney Joe that seems to throw temper tantrums and hurts people in the process. The man is the Champion and acts like a spoiled Brat. The only guy I have seen pull that off and make it work is Edge, and Joe is not Edge. Joe is supposed to be the tough Samoan that is confident and will challenge all comers. Well then, let's have it. I want the vicious and hungry Joe we had when he first came in and dominated the X-Division.
Kevin Nash, well, what to say about Big Sexy? Nash is a veteran and knows so much about this industry that he can pass on to the younger tallent, but having him get into the ring in these matches is not the way to do it. It is painfully obvious that the big man's knees are shot. He just can't move the way that he used to be able to, and he would make a great manager, for anyone but Samoa Joe. The two of them trying to recreate the Outsiders was just bad. Seriously, it was bad.
Booker, really needs to be a heel, I understand this, but the King Booker crap was just that, crap. In WWE it sucked and it sucks in TNA. Now add to the fact that most people probably change the channel any time he throws his pinky in the air, well, you get the picture.
It might be time to throw some more focus on the X-Division again and really let these guys go at it. Mind you, this would be like what WCW did with the Cruiserweight division, and it put asses in the seats. This is just another thought. Oh, and please put Lethal, Williams, Shark Boy, and Sonjay Dutt back the way that they were. This mimicking other old and washed out gimmicks is old and useless anymore. It was barely stomacheable in the first place.
Get rid of Karen Angle and let Kurt put a hurting on people. You have one of the best wrestlers in the industry on your roster and you know what? You are doing the same recycled crap with him that WWE did except that you have thrown his wife into the mix. Who in the Hell writes and books this garbage? Prince AJ? Really? Him in his Burger King Crown and married to Karen Angle? The defender of the honor of a woman who would be, if any other woman was in this situation, a total ****! Not to mention that this drama is about as weak as the whole Edge marrying Vickie Guererro. Why take the cheap way out? If you want to make Kurt look like a bad guy, he can do it just fine without cluttering up television time with lame skits involving his wife, AJ Stayle, Tyson Tomko, Samoa Joe, Christian Cage, Team 3D, Hell, the whole damn TNA roster seems to be involved in this garbage. It's just bad, I tell you. Not funny, it plays out like the worst season of Days Of Our Lives ever! This ain't wresling at this point, it's just as bad as some of the worst crap Vince Russo was doing in WCW that lead to him getting ousted from there even!
Need a heel in the comentators booth. Not saying replace West or Tenay, just throw some flavor in there that can really get the fans that hate the heels really hating them and the comentator that loves them. Always helps to have some really well put together differings of opinions. Oh, and someone other than the MMA guy that wants to do fake MMA fights. He sucks. Not as bad as Adamle, but close enough. This a real problem that needs to be addressed. I'm not intentionally going back to the WWE on purpose, but McMahon's belief that announcers don't matter is really illustrated very well here. You have Tenay and West who both are always all over the heels but praise the faces constantly. It just makes the heels look stupid in the end and takes away from the heat they could be building. A great wrester needs the help of a great announcer that can help to tell his story, it's a fact. Live with it.
Lastly, let the wrestlers wrestle. TNA was founded as the company that was WRESTING and not Sports Entertainment. Let the heels like Team 3D act like they did in ECW as the Dudleys, you want heat? there you have it. Let the wrestlers tell interresting stories in the ring, where it belongs. There is too much focus on TNA trying to be what WWE is. Quit trying to compete and you might actually have a company that goes somewhere doing their own thing. We already have three brands from WWE, wgat makes TNA think we want a pale in comparison knock off? They don't have the money to compete with Vince McMahin so go with the ECW theory, forget about the negatives and concentrate on the positives, it can be done, all you have to do is work for it and TNA could easily be pulling in low to mis 2's, but the company, as it stands right now, is stuck in a rut. It keeps up, TNA may be gone before we know it.
Since then, TNA now has monthly Pay Per View events and has been on teo different cable networks in the US finally scoring a two hour show on Spike Television, which all of this should be awesome. Plus add in the fact that you can also download any episode of TNA Impact on Spike on XBOX Live and a Video Game is coming out from Midway, and all should be right with the world of Total Nonstop Action!
Sadly, it isn't.
Where is the big step up from the 1.0 rating? Mind you, I don't want to be studying ratings or anything, but sometimes you just can't help it. The fact that ratings fluctuation in wrestling can be a good indication on what works for the industry and what doesn't really makes you look. The point right now is that Impact is barely getting by and isn't reeling in new fans. All it takes is that one big angle, the one big moment that get's the whole industry talking that can get you over with the fans as a company. The sad thing is that I can't tell you what that will be with TNA, although I can tell you a few things that really does urk me as a fan. I guess that this might also give you an idea of where I think that TNA should be heading, maybe to help boost the ratings and gain some interest.
First and formost, Joe needs a serious repackaging. I will not tell you that I do not enjoy his matches as that would be a lie, I love to watch the man wrestle, as I have with most of the great Samoans that came before him. I, like most of the fans, are really tired of the really pissed off and whiney Joe, or just the Whiney Joe that seems to throw temper tantrums and hurts people in the process. The man is the Champion and acts like a spoiled Brat. The only guy I have seen pull that off and make it work is Edge, and Joe is not Edge. Joe is supposed to be the tough Samoan that is confident and will challenge all comers. Well then, let's have it. I want the vicious and hungry Joe we had when he first came in and dominated the X-Division.
Kevin Nash, well, what to say about Big Sexy? Nash is a veteran and knows so much about this industry that he can pass on to the younger tallent, but having him get into the ring in these matches is not the way to do it. It is painfully obvious that the big man's knees are shot. He just can't move the way that he used to be able to, and he would make a great manager, for anyone but Samoa Joe. The two of them trying to recreate the Outsiders was just bad. Seriously, it was bad.
Booker, really needs to be a heel, I understand this, but the King Booker crap was just that, crap. In WWE it sucked and it sucks in TNA. Now add to the fact that most people probably change the channel any time he throws his pinky in the air, well, you get the picture.
It might be time to throw some more focus on the X-Division again and really let these guys go at it. Mind you, this would be like what WCW did with the Cruiserweight division, and it put asses in the seats. This is just another thought. Oh, and please put Lethal, Williams, Shark Boy, and Sonjay Dutt back the way that they were. This mimicking other old and washed out gimmicks is old and useless anymore. It was barely stomacheable in the first place.
Get rid of Karen Angle and let Kurt put a hurting on people. You have one of the best wrestlers in the industry on your roster and you know what? You are doing the same recycled crap with him that WWE did except that you have thrown his wife into the mix. Who in the Hell writes and books this garbage? Prince AJ? Really? Him in his Burger King Crown and married to Karen Angle? The defender of the honor of a woman who would be, if any other woman was in this situation, a total ****! Not to mention that this drama is about as weak as the whole Edge marrying Vickie Guererro. Why take the cheap way out? If you want to make Kurt look like a bad guy, he can do it just fine without cluttering up television time with lame skits involving his wife, AJ Stayle, Tyson Tomko, Samoa Joe, Christian Cage, Team 3D, Hell, the whole damn TNA roster seems to be involved in this garbage. It's just bad, I tell you. Not funny, it plays out like the worst season of Days Of Our Lives ever! This ain't wresling at this point, it's just as bad as some of the worst crap Vince Russo was doing in WCW that lead to him getting ousted from there even!
Need a heel in the comentators booth. Not saying replace West or Tenay, just throw some flavor in there that can really get the fans that hate the heels really hating them and the comentator that loves them. Always helps to have some really well put together differings of opinions. Oh, and someone other than the MMA guy that wants to do fake MMA fights. He sucks. Not as bad as Adamle, but close enough. This a real problem that needs to be addressed. I'm not intentionally going back to the WWE on purpose, but McMahon's belief that announcers don't matter is really illustrated very well here. You have Tenay and West who both are always all over the heels but praise the faces constantly. It just makes the heels look stupid in the end and takes away from the heat they could be building. A great wrester needs the help of a great announcer that can help to tell his story, it's a fact. Live with it.
Lastly, let the wrestlers wrestle. TNA was founded as the company that was WRESTING and not Sports Entertainment. Let the heels like Team 3D act like they did in ECW as the Dudleys, you want heat? there you have it. Let the wrestlers tell interresting stories in the ring, where it belongs. There is too much focus on TNA trying to be what WWE is. Quit trying to compete and you might actually have a company that goes somewhere doing their own thing. We already have three brands from WWE, wgat makes TNA think we want a pale in comparison knock off? They don't have the money to compete with Vince McMahin so go with the ECW theory, forget about the negatives and concentrate on the positives, it can be done, all you have to do is work for it and TNA could easily be pulling in low to mis 2's, but the company, as it stands right now, is stuck in a rut. It keeps up, TNA may be gone before we know it.