Hello folks, its time for another edition of Making an ‘iMPACT!’. In this article I’ll be looking at some of the major TNA news headlines from the past month, as well as letting off some steam about a few things that annoy me. Read on to find out more!
– Rant Time!
In recent months while posting on various websites and forums I’ve been increasingly aware of the distain between TNA fans and WWE fans when it comes to each companies product, very much so between WWE loyalists and TNA loyalists. WWE fans seem to like to pull apart every single aspect of a TNA broadcast without even watching it, and TNA fans just seem to like to rubbish everything the WWE do, again without giving it a chance. Well, I’m absolutely fed up with it, its pretty pathetic, so here is my rant!
Right now the wrestling world has 2 top dogs, WWE who are sitting at the top of the proverbial wrestling mountain, and TNA who are at the bottom of the mountain attempting to scale to the top. There is no in between, no middle man, just a company at the top of the mountain trying to maintain their supremacy in the pro wrestling world, and a relatively fresh and hungry company which is trying hard to get to the top with many obstacles in their way.
WWE is by far the biggest and most successful wrestling company in the world, they will probably go down in the history books as the most successful wrestling company of all time, along with being named the most tasteless wrestling promotion in wrestling, but that is for another columnist to point out. WWE at its best can produce thrilling matches, exciting TV shows, and can create superb storylines which have millions and millions of people tuning in each week. And like every promotion, the WWE has it loyal fans who will stick with the company good or bad, and that’s fine, every company needs this hardcore base of supporters who stick with their brand and support them even in the most questionable of times. I don’t have a problem with that at all, If anything, I’d like to think that I’m one of those loyal fans, someone who watches the weekly TV shows and buys the Pay Per Views no matter how bad they are, just hoping that the next one I watch will be better.
I’ll be perfectly honest with you, overall in the last 3 years the WWE’s product has been good, of course it has been questionable at times, and recently we have seen some of the most tasteless TV ever produced by the WWE as they stooped to horrible lows to get so called “heel heat”. Having said that, their overall product has been much better compared to 2002 – 2003, I’d be happy to argue that out with anyone.
Now moving onto TNA, that little old company based out of Nashville looking to claw its way up to become a major name in the world of pro wrestling. Firstly, let me just set the record straight before people email me and say I’m what’s commonly known as a “TNA Fan Boy”, because I’m not. I can see clear as day that TNA Wrestling has faults, it lacks depth in its main event roster, months and months of TNA TV has been dominated by Jeff Jarrett, the X-Division is currently being carried by 3 men, and so on, and so on, I wouldn’t be a fan if I didn’t know the faults.
TNA has come on leaps and bounds in the last 3 years, but the road hasn’t been smooth, TNA has supplied fans with enough “Wrestlecrap” to last us a long time, but like those loyal WWE fans, I, and a lot of other fans have decided to stick with the company and follow it in its journey to become one of the hottest wrestling promotions in the United States today. TNA is by no means a flawless company, as I eluded to earlier, improvements can be made in many areas.
The problem I have is that WWE fans, and TNA fans for that matter seem to have rose tinted vision when it comes to their respective companies. I recently read an example of how someone was trying to justify the whole exploitation of Eddie Guerrero’s death on WWE television. I have no problem with people trying to rationalise that angle, and attempt to understand why the WWE went with it, my problem lies with the fact that the person in this said thread was completely ignoring the tastelessness of the angle. Upon reading the said post, I found myself shouting at a computer screen in disbelief. Fact is, the angle was utterly horrible to the point it made me cringe, it was the epitome of bad taste. If anyone thinks otherwise they really need to think long and hard about why they watch WWE TV.
On the other side of the argument, time and time again I have seen TNA fans blatantly ignore TNA faults, trying to convince the wrestling world that TNA has no faults, which is utter nonsense. As a TNA fan, I like the current product, but know that the company has faults, and I’d like to think by attempting to point these faults it would do more good than harm, it has to be better than living in a bubble trying to make out everything is perfect.
Let me just reiterate something, I do not in any way, shape or form have a problem with people being loyal to their favourite companies, whether it be WWE, TNA, RoH, or any other promotion. The problem I have is with people who don’t live in the real world, but in a world where they seem to think everything is perfect. My message to them is simply to wake up, and get a grasp on reality. I think its better to point out a promotions faults so at least they can improve on them, rather than living in a bubble where your going to get the same old tripe put on your TV screens each and every week.
While I’m letting off steam I might as well get some more things off my chest, something else which has been really annoying me is that fact that people seem to love to nitpick on the tiniest of things. One of my favourites recently was “I don’t watch TNA because they have a 6 sided ring”. I personally think that is just so stupid, I mean whether TNA have a 6 sided ring, or whether they have a 4 sided ring it doesn’t really matter, what happens inside the ring is what matters, the storylines are what matters, not whether you see 4 ring posts or 6, does it really matter? If anyone is so petty to think that it matters, let me know, I’m dying to hear from you, email me at [dan@wrestling101.com].
I’ve also read time and time again columns, threads and posts where people have ripped apart a TNA show, and for that matter a WWE show, without even watching the show. If you don’t like WWE simply don’t watch it, if you don’t like TNA don’t watch it, and more so, don’t pull a show apart without even watching it, why would you want to waste your time in doing so?
I have no problem with people who have watched a show and decide to leave constructive feedback, whether it is negative, positive it doesn’t really matter, they have watched the show and they give their opinions, that’s how it should be. The problem is when you have some so called wrestling fan share his words of wisdom, which usual consist of the words “Da sounded f*****g sh*t !”, when they clearly haven’t watch the show.
Last but not least, this one goes out to all the people who seem to think you can only like one promotion, it is again absolute rubbish. As a wrestling fan you don‘t have to be exclusively behind one brand, you have the ability to equally support as many wrestling promotions as you wish. There seems to be a trend lately where people think you can only like WWE, or you can only like TNA, which is garbage. Sure, if you only like one promotion that is fair enough, I don’t have a problem with that, its when people think you can only support one promotion, otherwise your not a loyal fan, that really annoys me.
I better finish my rant here before I sound anymore crazier than I already do. A lot of the stuff I have said may not make sense to some people, but it does to me, and I’m sure there has to be some other people who feel the same, either way, if you do, or don’t, drop me an email at [dan@wrestling101.com] with your feedback.
– Sting’s Retirement
When this whole angle first began to take shape earlier this year I was worried, it was so convincing I actually thought it might have been for real. Sting’s retirement speech seemed so sincere and truthful, I thought the Stinger was really hanging his boots up for good, and TNA’s year long deal with the Stinger had came to an early end, only 1 month into the deal. But that small moment of Kayfabe only lasted a few moments, and once I found out how the angle was actually going to be played out I was even more intrigued.
Firstly having Eric Young play a paranoid nervous wreak has been some of the must entertaining TV I have seen in a long time, he is able to play the role with such conviction, I would have given him Oscar for his work. Young hasn’t been the only guy to benefit from this angle, Alex Shelly has also been elevated from mid-card obscurity, to his current role as Sting’s stalker, which again has provided some really good TV, with Alex Shelly again playing his role to perfection.
Since Sting’s signing, it has always been on the cards that he will eventually face off against Jeff Jarrett, but TNA have been able to keep this angle drawn out over quite a few months, trying to keep the interest in the Sting character, so when Sting and Jarrett finally do meet, it should be a very special match.
Although the angle has had some positives, it has also had one major negative, that being the fact that TNA have pulled off the angle so convincingly, it may have had fans believe Sting has really retired and that he won’t longer be a part of TNA programming. TNA has shown Sting is a draw in comparison to some of their current roster, the first TNA TV show on Spike TV with Sting drew an all time high of a 1.1 rating, shows following Sting’s retirement have scored a lower rating.
At this point in time it too early to say whether TNA have booked Sting’s retirement incorrectly, time will tell, as will future TV ratings, and PPV buys. Ultimately TNA are building to a Sting vs. Jeff Jarrett match, and they have probably been wise not to give this match to fans straight away, but TNA have to be careful not to make the angle seem stale.
– TNA on the road!
3,700 TNA fans jam packed the Compuware Arena in Detroit this past Friday to witness the first ever official TNA house show, that was headlined by Christian Cage vs. Jeff Jarrett. The actual attendance for fans who bought tickets was 3,410, with other tickets being given away as freebies etc. It has to be considered a big success for TNA, as they promote out of their comfort zone of Universal Studios, and it also has to be a big boost for moral in the TNA locker room.
TNA have 2 more official house shows planned for the 31st March and 1st April in association with Dave & Earl Hebner’s UWF promotion, which will hopefully be just as successful as the Detroit show. If TNA can develop a successful house show schedule they can start to generate some revenue and help get rid of the debt that is constantly hanging over their head, as well as get the TNA product into areas which may not have been exposed to TNA in the past.
– TNA Locker Room
Every time I write this column you can almost guarantee that someone else has joined the TNA locker room and that someone has also made an exit. So I’m going to introduce this section into the column where I look at the recent entrants and leavers in the TNA locker room.
New Signings
Scott Steiner – “Big Poppa Pump” made his TNA debut at March’s “Destination X” PPV attacking Steve “Sting” Borden and aligning himself with Jeff Jarrett. Its thought Steiner has been brought into TNA to try and attract some of the casual fans as TNA approach their new timeslot. Steiner’s signing may seem questionable to some, as many people think about his horrible WWE run in 2003 – 2004, but he really shouldn’t be judged on that run alone, as WWE booked him in the worse way they could have, as a face. Steiner is a guy that is just a natural bad ass heel, like Ricky Steamboat is a natural baby face, Steiner is the complete opposite.
If Steiner is anything like his WCW run in 2000, it will be good news for TNA, he is strong on the microphone and has a lot of charisma, and he should be recognisable to both WWE fans, and fans of the old WCW. TNA need to book Steiner correctly, and it will probably be best to keep him in sort squash type matches where he is protected.
Of course since Steiner made his TNA debut, internet fans have been up in arms about TNA wasting money, and while they may be right, they should really give him the benefit of the doubt.
Leavers
Shannon Moore – This past week the “Prince of Punk” Shannon Moore headed back up North to the WWE leaving TNA behind. Punk had been released from his WWE contract last year and had been working the independent circuit for a while before coming to in TNA late 2005. Moore had been part of TNA’s X-Division, working with the likes of AJ Styles and Samoa Joe, on TNA TV. This past week it emerged that Moore didn’t have a TNA contract, which lead to WWE rehiring him. While Moore is a talented worker, its not a great loss to TNA, as Moore wasn’t involved in any major angles at the time, although it is concerning that he was working for TNA without a contract.
– Keeping up to date
Remember people, don’t forget to regularly check Wrestling 101’s fantastic news board for all the major TNA news headlines, updated by Wrestling 101’s very own Devilish Angel. The US news board can be found here.
That’s all for now folks, until next time.
Dan