Please Don’t Hate 4.06.08: TNA Wrestling
Posted by Julian Bond on 04.06.2008
Welcome everyone to the inaugural edition of Please…Don’t Hate, the weekly column which takes a look at some of the most hated on and complained about wrestlers, companies, and topics within the whole wide world of wrestling.
The point behind this column is to discuss the items that I hear people (friends, family, the IWC) frequently talk negatively about and present the good points to fight off the "hater-ade" pouring all over the place. As a true blue wrestling fan I would like to bring back the innocence of watching wrestling without bringing the joy of it down with too many high expectations and such harsh criticism.
Before I get started, I would like to thank 411Mania for welcoming me on board and I hope to provide a cool column for everyone's reading pleasure every week!
Now onto the topic at hand:
TNA Wrestling, the wrestling organization that has a much storied love/hate relationship with its viewers
Why People Hate On…TNA Wrestling
-TNA has too many overbooked matches on major shows (run-ins, bad finishes)
-Tends to bury home-grown talent by promoting bigger names instead
-Company has destroyed the once great X-Division
-Puts on too many filler/gimmick matches (Feast or Fired, Thanksgiving/Christmas 07' show) and silly/tiresome angles (Kurt Angle/A.J./Karen affair, Roode/Eric Young Feud)
My Reasoning for Not Hating On…TNA Wrestling
I've been a long time TNA watcher since day one with the weekly PPV in Nashville and have always turned to it as a good alternative to the sometimes predictable WWE. In the 5 years thereafter, I've seen the company go through its ups and downs on my TV screen and at some points have admittedly had mixed feelings about their direction. Sometimes they would be hot as a pistol and other times would be cold as a fish. So for awhile there I was a little torn about how to really think about them as a whole. But one day this thinking changed when I read a Dixie Carter (TNA owner) interview about a year or so ago.
The interview just basically asked Carter what her role and goals were in TNA and she simply replied that she wanted to give the loyal paying fans a great show and product night in and night out. Surprisingly for a talk from a company president the chat wasn't filled with any false promises or soulless master plans to make as much money as possibly. Instead it was a nice heartfelt profession of her love for the sport and her desire to create a great promotion by taking TNA to the top. So my main question is why do we constantly hate on a company that has a good motivational head like Carter and an increasingly well-rounded roster who all truly want to put on good diverse shows?
Compared to what they were when they got started 5 plus years ago TNA has come a LONG way and are just now getting their identity together. It's pretty crazy to think that they could possibly stick to one type of format and even one exact type of wrestling show with all of the changes they've gone through in so little time. So far they've taken their original 2 hour weekly PPVs to a 1 hour show on Fox Sports, and then to the 3 hour PPVs to a 1 hour late night show on Spike, until finally settling on a prime time spot on the same network with 2 hours to boot. If it took me a long sentence to describe their short timeline then imagine their constant shuffling to settle their booking and lineups in such a short time period. After watching the TNA: Year One DVD recently and hearing everyone's account of how hard it was in the first year alone it furthers the point that the company has been trying to find the right fit for a good while now. Despite this, it still seems that people are expecting them to magically turn into the picture-perfect company that they hope and imagine them to be overnight.
A good unique thing and also equally major critique about TNA is its mix of wrestlers from both the old school (Sting, Nash, Steiner) and new school (Tomko, Kaz, Roode). The negative comments on this are the accusations that they are burying the "home-growth talent" by putting the older wrestlers over at their expense, but I beg to differ. While many may want just the nice "TNA Knockouts, Samoa Joe, X-Division Show", they have to realize that the shows have to also involve everyone else in the company as well, on the same level. Without the former big company wrestlers present to compliment and actually help boost up the other "fresh blood", they wouldn't be as good and well-balanced a wrestling company as they are right now. With a fleshed out roster, as compared to just having relatively unknown talent to the casual wrestling fan, the company can now focus on carrying out equally fleshed out storylines (i.e. the Abyss/Sting angle, the Angle Alliance/Christian Coalition saga) while still turning out good matches.
The last thing that people should stop hating on TNA for is their character directions. Some critics state that some of the wrestlers' characters have become too gimmicky and that they should just stick to the wrestling. When I began watching TNA, while I loved most of the in-ring antics, I didn't particularly care for any of the wrestlers outside of the ring. A prime example of this is A.J. Styles. I have been a huge fan of A.J. since day one in TNA and loved every single one of his matches, but when it came to caring about A.J. the character when he's not wrestling that was a different story (bland promos, no real direction or alliances). But now he's known as "Prince" A.J., the cocky, somewhat dimwitted heel who still kicks ass with the rest of them. Sure the personality was the result of a somewhat corny story, but the fact remains that A.J.'s character now has depth and is known for more than just his crazy moves.
With that, this brings me to the X-Division. With them and many of the other people on the roster, it seems that they all have a personality now! Almost every single person has a nickname and personality: "The Guru" Sonjay Dutt, "The Maple Leaf Muscle" Petey Williams, "Black Machismo" Jay Lethal, the Motor City Machine Guns, and even "Stone Cold" Shark Boy. While the X-Division has always had the best matches on every show they never took the time to give them storylines or personalities. But now that has changed, with every one of these people having an angle to match with their new personas (Steiner/Petey, Dutt/Lethal, etc). Without these backing them up the audience might sometimes find it hard to root for someone who doesn't pull off a big move every match.
Good Reasons to Love….TNA Wrestling
Samoa Joe…Nuff Said'
Since day one the Samoa Submission Machine's stint in TNA has been nothing but awesome. While there have undoubtedly been some bumps in the road with his direction (random nonsense feuds, countless world title shots) the man has still managed to take full advantage of whatever match, storyline, or push he has received by being a constant highlight in each show.
(Joe's X Title win against Daniels)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIRPCB9njxs
(Joe's Destination X promo)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RvAT4W-Itc
Good, Lasting Feuds
For every not-so-popular feud (Eric Young/Robert Roode, anything with Black Reign, etc.) that has aired TNA has 2 or 3 that are ten times better. For instance, the Christian Cage/Rhino feud was one of the best the company has ever done so far with having a great trilogy of matches and good personal back story to boot. While the surprisingly 4 month long Team 3D versus X-Division match-up ended up being a wild random rollercoaster ride that elevated both sides in the process.
(Team 3D vs. X-Division)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUi49dj4JMs
Old School meets New School
Another unique thing about TNA in comparison to the other wrestling companies is the fact that they have a nice mix of old school and new school wrestlers in their roster. Luckily they have taken full advantage of this by having a good number of dream matches. They've done this well with matches like the random one-shot deal of former ROH talent "The Fallen Angel" Christopher Daniels meeting multiple World Champion Sting, to the increasingly entertaining feud of veteran Booker T versus the young up-and-coming Robert Roode.
(Daniels vs. Sting)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2UlVxAKk0U
(Roode vs. Booker)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0Jz1wVYz7g
With all of these reasons, it's hard to hate on a company for its minor flaws when their overall wrestling product and their desire to do their best shines over it. TNA Wrestling shouldn't be hated on so much because they are still trying to find themselves as a company and are so close to doing so. They aren't quite the dominant force that the WWE continues to be, nor are they the mostly pure wrestling based entity that is ROH. But if you think about hating on TNA one day instead just take a step back and think what it would be like without the company existing today….wrestling entertainment just wouldn't be as fun or exciting without having them at the big party.
On The Next Episode of…"Please…Don't Hate"
I cover the former big diesel trucker and NWO member known as Detroit's own Kevin Nash.
Posted By: scipio2009 (Guest) on April 06, 2008 at 05:37 PM
You should bond well with the readers of 411.
Posted By: T.G. Corke (Registered) on April 06, 2008 at 05:42 PM
Here's a challenge: Please Don't Hate...Mike Tenay & Don West
Posted By: Guest#8286 (Guest) on April 06, 2008 at 05:54 PM
Lately I've been watching TNA more than WWE - just for the wrestling, which is (for the most part) far faster paced and more exciting than the WWE's matches.
The storylines have been OK lately, and they've largely done away with the constant run-ins, but they've got a ways to go before I'll care about the storyline bits as much as I ever did about the WWE's stuff.
Posted By: Rod Oracheski (Registered) on April 06, 2008 at 06:25 PM
Nice debut. And I like how you use other links to back up your opinions.
Posted By: JJ (Guest) on April 06, 2008 at 06:33 PM
Welcome to 411 and I enjoyed the article.
I just wanted to mention one other great reason to love TNA - the Womens Division - possibly the best booked in all of wrestling since Gail became the first ever champion.
Posted By: Rob~! (Guest) on April 06, 2008 at 07:02 PM
very cool concept, I'm surprised this didnt exist already but am glad that it is here now.
here's a challenging topic for you in the future: the ultimate warrior. couldnt wrestle for shit but everyone has to admit that they loved his character
Posted By: Guest#5627 (Guest) on April 06, 2008 at 07:31 PM
Defending Ultimate Warrior would be tough. He's a lunatic.
Posted By: JJ (Guest) on April 06, 2008 at 08:12 PM
Great article. My only problem is, I cant watch TNA for more than 5 minutes without wanting to change the channel. I too have watched since the Nashville days and its hard to see something that once have such potential, be so utterly terrible.
For me, the good just doesnt outweigh the bad. Im not closed minded, I watch every few weeks to see if its any better. But until it does get better, I just cant watch it.
Posted By: CMG (Guest) on April 06, 2008 at 08:33 PM
Good article, I look forward to seeing more. I do, however, disagree that X-division wrestlers need traditional style "gimmicks". It doesn't jive with trying to be a unique alternative to the WWE.
Posted By: Andy (Registered) on April 06, 2008 at 08:50 PM
Welcome to 411. I think it's a pretty brave and original column. I'm looking forward to your next week column, I'm a big Kevin Nash fan.
Side note: How lame was T.G. Corke's "joke". Thank God he didn't make any 007 jokes, he must be in a good week...
Posted By: Kristi (Guest) on April 06, 2008 at 09:07 PM
Fuck prince AJ.how many world titles did he win as christian's lackey or prince AJ?It's sad to see someone like him be an afterthought.
Posted By: Ed (Guest) on April 06, 2008 at 09:28 PM
Eh. I thought it was boring. You can't just say that for ever bad feud there are two or three that are ten times better. How can you prove that? What if I don't agree?
And, for the record, I don't. TNA isn't a little league team. It's a professional wrestling organization that wants to be taken seriously. Therefore, take off the kid gloves.
Posted By: DG (Guest) on April 06, 2008 at 09:38 PM
you forgot the biggest reason to hate TNA: Mike Tenay & Don West. They are the biggest reason why TNA hasn't jump-started like it should be. They should have picked up Joey Styles before he signed with WWE. Here's an idea, bring back The Franchise and let him be himself. Not some goofy suck-up / yes man that he was with TNA. Plus with ideas like Curry Man, Black Reign & his rat, and Jim "don't beat me up & I'll give you what you want" Cornette. Drop that crap and TNA might just become the promotion they want to be.
Posted By: NastyRud (Guest) on April 06, 2008 at 09:52 PM
Daniels has been Curry Man in Japan for the vast majority of his career. And he's awesome. I miss the Fallen Angel gimmick but it's better than nothing and he's the most entertaining comedy character they have. I can't defend the other guys however...
Posted By: Andy (Registered) on April 06, 2008 at 10:05 PM
Great work Julian, welcome aboard.
Actually you could've throw in "great tag team wrestling" and the Knockouts division as reasons to love TNA. I have become a big fan of TNA and I'm happy they are on the right direction with their World Title scene.
I would love to see the article on not hating Cena or HHH.
Posted By: Chikara (Guest) on April 06, 2008 at 10:10 PM
I'm still a TNA fan, and I still consider it better than the E if for nothing else than the actual wrestling. Much better on weekly shows and usually the PPVs deliver.
I'm looking forward to the Samoa Joe title reign and the direction it will take TNA. It should be awesome.
Do a John Cena one to shut up some of his idiot haters.
Posted By: Leo (Guest) on April 06, 2008 at 10:50 PM
I love how because Dixie Carter is a woman and attractive when she gives an interview thats says we are basically doing it for the fans and not like WWE were they are trying to make as much money as possible nobody calls it for being bullshit.
Posted By: DaveJuk (Guest) on April 06, 2008 at 11:12 PM
Great idea for a column, look forward to reading it each week.
The gimmick and storyline crap doesn't bother me that much...i rarely watch a full show these days (even WM24) without fast forwarding though half the crap anyway.
Posted By: Stephen (Guest) on April 06, 2008 at 11:23 PM
I am glad somebody said here because TNA is damn entertaining sometimes. I'll never understand the hate Cage/Angle/Tomko/Styles angle gets. The characters are organic and three-dimensional . Here's a mind-blowing concept it advanced each week. Progression in storylines and an actual mid-card make TNA great. Not perfect, just a lot of fun.
Posted By: firebreakerchip (Guest) on April 07, 2008 at 12:55 AM
I can't say I really agree with a lot of your points (Outside of the payoff, X-Division vs. 3D sucked for example, or that the X-Division is better off with a bunch of goof characters).
But I do like the column idea. I get tired of all the constant complaining from half the writers. A John Cena column is definitely a must.
Posted By: Westen (Guest) on April 07, 2008 at 05:06 AM
I try to watch TNA on a regular basis. I do not watch it regularly, but regularly try to watch it and can't. the show insults my intelligence just for watching it, and usually quickly. Even worse than the cartoon WWF days ysed to. I will turn TNA on but the third time I say to myself, "how stupid do you think I am", I don't go back that episode. The last great insult was finding out x-division champion Lethal is both stupid AND week, as he pretended 135lbs was 410lbs and couldn't lift it. That is a warm up set for people smaller than him who work out. Do you really think these new characters help, I care less about most of the X dicision guys now. And I was very dissapointed in the 1 Daniels/Sting match and the 3D x-division fued didn't elevate anyone in my eyes. So frustrating.
Posted By: joe (Guest) on April 07, 2008 at 11:33 AM
I likes this column the first time I read it..when it was called "In Defense of.."
Posted By: matt_telthorst (Guest) on April 07, 2008 at 11:49 AM
I really like the idea of this column and enjoyed reading it. I am looking forward to reading your future columns.
Posted By: Guest#9912 (Guest) on April 07, 2008 at 04:15 PM
You lost me at "soulless master plans to make as much money as possibly".
Posted By: Simpleton (Guest) on April 07, 2008 at 04:45 PM
here's the flaw with your logic.
if you give a character to a wrestler, you have to use said character in a way that you can attach to and like. tna's god awful booking makes it hard to do that making it damn hard to care about the character at all.
the things to love about tna are all on the money. but when those things aren't being used or executed in the right way it's a missed opportunity and is a negative thing more so than a positive thing. unfortunately tna has executed things the wrong way on more than one occasion. in fact wrong execution is in the majority. sting/daniels is a prime example, they have one match. sting goes over, daniels ends up derailed and worse off than before. sting moves onto another pointless feud.
tna's heart may be in the right place but it's head most certainly is not.
and who actually hates tna? as far as i'm concerned most people bitch about tna's product because they care about tna and want to see it succeed. people don't hate tna the company, they hate the booking behind it.
just my opinion.
Posted By: Daz (Guest) on April 08, 2008 at 04:31 AM
Most the people who hate on TNA are WWE fans who have no knowledge of the product, or ROH fans who say TNA was great, but how they could possibly say 2004 was better then now is beyond anyone's guess. The reality is, TNA's fanbase in America is a little over 1 million weekly viewers. So their impact on the internet isn't as big as others. And while ROH's fan base is only a couple hundred thousand at best, we all know that all Indy geeks on the net think alike, so it's "cool" to hate on TNA. I mean, 411 covers ROH PPVs like they're a real promotion. And ROH had 15 people buy one of thier PPVs... FIFTEEN! Ridiculous.
TNA is a profitable company that VERY popular in Europe and other areas overseas where the fans aren't blind loyalists to WWE. Good column, TNA rocks, try not to let the tools here turn you into another lame jaded WWE employee... I mean mark.
Posted By: TNA is great... (Guest) on April 08, 2008 at 08:53 AM
daz hit it right on the head. A lot of fans really do want to see competition again, they just want it done right. I'm hoping Sunday at Lockdown will be the beginning of a new era in TNA should Samoa Joe win the title.
Posted By: Chikara (Guest) on April 08, 2008 at 11:42 AM
tna is great..ignorant much?
ROH is a real promo. guess where TNA farmed daniels, styles, joe, shelley, sabin, and homicide from? i'm sure there's others as well.
the writer of this column embellishes the greatness of his positive points a bit. they've false started on joe numerous times. i completely forgot about cage/rhino until i read about that atrocious weapons match they had. booker vs roode has been an overbooked mess.
Posted By: domo aregato (Guest) on April 08, 2008 at 01:39 PM
Interesting column. If you had never watched TNA and read this, you'd think it was a good show. Granted, I haven't watched in about a month, but there's a reason for that, rampant stupidity was driving me batty.
I like how you brought up some of the negative points in TNA, but you didn't really address all the points all that well. And example would be how it seems you've said that the destruction of the X-Division is okay, since now everyone has personality.
I guess I was spoiled by In Defense Of...
I dunno, though, in a couple months of writing this, it might turn into a really good column. I'll try to keep reading to find out.
Posted By: G-Walla (Guest) on April 08, 2008 at 02:32 PM
i enjoyed the article, hope to see more of your opinion.
Posted By: darryl (Guest) on April 08, 2008 at 03:30 PM
TNA better than the WWE? Give me a break.
It'll be years before they even get close to hurting the WWE in the ratings, if they do, and by that time there'll probably be another major promotion around, maybe ROH, maybe something else.
Not forgetting their ratings are staying the same and buyrates are down = they go from a 1.07 rating to a 1.08 rating the next week and I hear talk of a "ratings success". Forget all this talk about their ratings being steady. For months and months I hear "Impacts ratings are lower cause its pre-taped". They hold a live-Impact and the rating stays exactly the same.
I see TNA talk about WWE like its a dying product which nobody likes anymore... WWE ratings may have fallen a little, but have they started watching Impact instead? The ratings say no.
Posted By: SnookerBOY (Guest) on April 08, 2008 at 05:14 PM
Snookeboy with all due respect, you are a dumbass.
Since when did ratings have anything to do with a show being "good" or vice versa? Jerry Springer was voted the worst show of all time yet got great ratings.
So yes, TNA is BETTER THAN WWE. But it will probably never come close to getting its ratings. Personally I could care less who else besides me is watching a tv show.
Posted By: poffo316 (Guest) on April 09, 2008 at 03:57 AM
