Venting On TNA

...What?

Of course, WWE is a much more famous company than TNA. People used to turn for WWE for the great booking, great storylines, entertainment, and of course the wrestling. And then when they just felt like watching amazing spots, bumps, and the always insane X Division, they turned to TNA.

Now? It’s a completely different story.

TNA has had many chances for huge face turns, and great matches and storylines, but the poor booking has just killed every single chance. Watching TNA is more like a chore now, plus, you have to sit through long promos by Jim Cornette *shudders*. They’ve also used their gimmick matches so much, it’s killing the excitement. When you heard about an Ultimate X match, you used to say “Holyshit that’s going to be sick.” Now? “Another one?”

Like I said, the poor booking is KILLING the company. They’re using the wrong people as heels, AJ Styles for example. He’s one of the most athletic and entertaining wrestler TNA has to offer. Seeing him in action was a very special treat. But now he’s in a tough spot. His gimmick outside of the ring is a fun babyface, inside the ring? He’s the perfect heel. He taunts every time he pulls off a dropkick, and what’s even worse is that he can’t use any of his incredible moves. They could’ve jumped at the chance of giving him a proper feud with Angle. They missed it. Then they had the chance with Tomko. They missed it, and they instead turned him into a full fledged heel.

Another problem is that they waste all their stars in Tag Team matches at the PPV. Instead of gunning for the title, the leaders run around frantically looking for tag partners. What would really help this company is maybe adding a Midcard Title, that gives the Eric Young’s of TNA something to do, while the Main Eventers like Christian Cage, Sting, Booker T, etc etc. are fighting in quality feuds. NOT fighting in Tag Team matches at PPV’s.

But now, TNA is wasting their top stars by placing them in the Deuces Wild tournament. It’s a tag team tournament, featuring basically everybody on the roster, excluding Angle, Big Poppa Pump, Petey Williams, some of the Knockout Division, and of course the Champ Samoa Joe. Yes I said SOME of the Knockouts. Awesome Kong is in it. This tournament ends at Sacrifice, with the winning team becoming the Tag champs.
Honestly, what I would’ve done is just had a tournament with actual Tag Teams. Motor City Machine Guns, Dudleyz, Reign & RelliK, AJ & Tomko, and whoever else is there. But instead, they include guys like Sting and Booker T, which in my opinion would’ve made for one HELL of a PPV match.

At Sacrifice so far only two matches have been made. The Main Event, being Kurt Angle & Scotty Boy taking on Joe for the World Heavyweight Title. Ok, fair enough, it makes sense. Big Poppa Pump is cashing in his…briefcase? Christ this seems awfully familiar, but I’ll get into that a little bit later. Next, there is the Women’s match. This match has to be the most retarded thing TNA has ever done. If there’s one thing TNA needs to do, its stop with the ridiculous gimmick matches that make no sense at all. I understand that they’re trying to be original, but all these gimmicks are just making them look silly and unprofessional.

Here’s how it goes, it starts out as a reverse Cage match. The Knockouts start on the outside of the ring, and the first to people to make it into the cage are the winners.

Then, a ladder comes into play. They have to climb up the ladder and get a contract that gives them a title shot against Awesome Kong. Ok, so the winner (probably Gail Kim) gets the contract, but it’s not over yet. The loser then gets her head shaved (possibly ODB). So all in all, this is a Reverse Cage Ladder Hair vs. Hair match. Wow.

To be honest, TNA is up shits creek without a paddle. But if there is one thing they’re good at…it’s ripping off WWE.

It all started with the Macho Man Randy Savage rip off, Jay Lethal. I was a little angry, but I thought oh well, as I read online (IGN.com) in a Jay Lethal interview that he actually spoke to the Macho Man himself, and talked about the gimmick. Macho Man didn’t mind, so it’s ok. Soon TNA started pushing the envelope…

For example there was the Shark Boy/Austin gimmick, a blatant rip off of one WWE’s most memorable stars Stone Cold Steve Austin, who I’d like to note actually MADE him into the star he is. Now I’m sure Shark Boy didn’t have a conversation with Stone Cold asking him if he could use his gimmick. I could just picture the conversation.

“Hey Steve, I was wondering if I could use your gimmick in TNA?”
“What?”
Click.

But it didn’t stop there, they started ripping off quotes. Kevin Nash quoting the Hulkster, the Dudleyz mentioning ECW and WWE in there promos. It just never ended. After some time it got increasingly annoying. During the WrestleMania weekend, TNA actually showed Rory (or Robbie) McAllister sitting in the audience of a TNA iMPACT event. They kept the camera on him for a good 5-6 seconds, they showed his name, and even put that he was a WWE superstar.

After a while of not watching TNA, because I simply couldn’t take it anymore, I turned it on yesterday night, for the iMPACT replay. And what I tuned into was LAX defeating Kaz and Eric Young in the Deuces Wild tournament. When LAX won, they called Hector Guerrero, the Spanish Commentator for TNA, who’s also the late Eddie Guerrero’s brother to the ring. Homicide went on this entire speech about how much he respected The Guerrero name, how much he respected Eddie, Chavo, and most of all Hector. Yeah, you respect a freakin commentator more than one of the greatest performers of All Time. Sure. Anyways, they said that they wanted Hector in their corner, so they could have the strength to win the belts.
TNA is frantically trying to get on the same level with WWE. They’re way of doing it? Ripping off WWE and bringing in “new” and “innovative” matches. My way of doing it? Better booking.

This is only the start, as I will be reviewing the weekly Battle for Power between TNA and WWE. Does this have the potential to blow up into a Wrestling War? Possibly. But the real question is…does TNA have the strength to do it?

-Spencer aka 'The Icon'