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Post by HMARK Center on Jan 12, 2012 12:46:27 GMT -5
Just thought about this recently: of all the guys who took the internet wrestling world by storm in the early-to-mid 2000's, the only one TNA's truly seemed to succeed with is AJ Styles.
Think about it: AJ has been "the man" in TNA, multi-time World Champ, and though he's not in that scene at the moment, they can slide him into a World Title feud at the drop of a hat and nobody would find it weird or out of nowhere. He's a perfectly legitimate upper carder/main eventer.
Meanwhile, they've had guys like Christopher Daniels, Samoa Joe, Homicide, Austin Aries, Alex Shelley, Jay Lethal, Brian Kendrick, Doug Williams, Roderick Strong, Chris Sabin, and a whole slew of other talents who qualify under the (admittedly silly) moniker "indy darling". They've seen various levels of success, one even winning the World Title in the company, yet most still seemed to get shuffled into the background for long tracts of time, or seem to get pushed to the main event, come up short, then have to build their way back up.
Out of the whole group, AJ's the only one who comes off as seeming like his spot is secure and set where it is: he's one of the faces of the company, he's securely near the main event, etc.
So why do you think this is? Is it attitudes (AJ being a "company guy" and others not playing the part)? Is it something in their mainstream appeal? Why is it that only AJ has seemed to really avoid the horrid curse of TNA's infamous "yo yo" booking?
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Post by Zombie Mod is not a ghoul. on Jan 12, 2012 12:55:40 GMT -5
my answer is he has photos of jarrett & dixie in compromising positions.
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Post by Jedi-El of Tomorrow on Jan 12, 2012 12:57:40 GMT -5
Because AJ is Mr TNA, and that's not a bad thing. It's like Sting was Mr WCW. When you think of TNA, the first guy you think of is AJ Styles. Hell he's ahead of the company's founder when it comes to being their franchise guy.
AJ and the X-Division carried TNA in the Asylum days. People wanted to see TNA, because of AJ and the rest of the X-Division.
He's the face of the company.
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Post by HMARK Center on Jan 12, 2012 13:04:11 GMT -5
Believe me, I don't begrudge AJ his spot; he's an elite talent, a unique one, and he's stuck with that company through thick and thin.
I guess it's more about why they've had so many talents that could be compared to him, yet they'll push them for awhile and then just completely abandon them.
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Efren
Dennis Stamp
?Andale! ?Andale!
Posts: 3,674
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Post by Efren on Jan 12, 2012 13:28:36 GMT -5
Joe's de push seems to have steemed about backstage attitude and you could say thats what held Homicide down too.
Aries has been with the company very little time even if you include his Austin Star character but I think hes been booked to be very strong witin the X div and can see him getting pushed for ME down the road.
The other guys I dunno, frankly other than Daniels as much as I love em dont really see them as ME guys either. Much more suited for the X Division.
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Post by Ryback on a Pole! on Jan 12, 2012 13:34:38 GMT -5
I was surprised Williams never entered the TNA main event scene or at least became a strong upper-midcarder. He was pushed surprisingly well holding tag belts, the X-Division belt twice and the TV title. Never saw him as a ME guy myself but he's much more deserving than the jack s*** they've got him doing now.
His depush seemed to come from nowhere too. He had a fun feud with AJ, dropped the TV title and then. . . that was it. He was suddenly dropped into lower card hell.
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Post by derrtaysouth95 on Jan 12, 2012 16:35:32 GMT -5
He's been there since the very beginning and for me at least, I had never heard of him prior to TNA.
All of the other guys mentioned were names on the indy scene first.
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Jimmy
Grimlock
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Post by Jimmy on Jan 12, 2012 19:32:21 GMT -5
Nigel could have been huge in TNA, it's such a shame they don't know how to sustain a push.
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Post by ________ has left the building on Jan 12, 2012 20:02:36 GMT -5
Most of the indy darlings TNA hired were undersized and got tossed into the X Division. Instant Glass Ceiling. They had the talent but lacked the mic skills and any real gimmick besides being a wrestler.
The others got a push that rarely led to the main event. The exception being Styles and Samoa Joe who got a world title reign 2 years too late that was overshadowed by him playing Nash's spastic sidekick.
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Post by ________ has left the building on Jan 12, 2012 20:04:18 GMT -5
Nigel could have been huge in TNA, it's such a shame they don't know how to sustain a push. They had lighting in a bottle with Desmond but decided to ditch him for the shiny new former WWE/WCW/ECW wrestlers who showed up. |
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Tiger Maskooo
Samurai Cop
I cant hear you over the sound of how much im tiger masking
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Post by Tiger Maskooo on Jan 12, 2012 20:40:49 GMT -5
Ya know,thats a good question.
I dont fully know. Honestly,part of it is tv time. Alot of those guys youve mentioned have had periods of time when theyre not on tv hardly at all. Aj happens to be on tv more than all of em for some reason.
I think most of it is just that they dont know how to utilize those talents or care to.
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The Ichi
Patti Mayonnaise
AGGRESSIVE Executive Janitor of the Third Floor Manager's Bathroom
Posts: 37,302
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Post by The Ichi on Jan 12, 2012 21:33:47 GMT -5
I don't think you can be called an "indy darling" when you've been the on-again-off-again face of the second biggest wrestling company in North America since 2002.
That's not what I think of with the term "indy". "Indy" would be Chris Hero or Davey Richards.
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Post by quirkalicious on Jan 12, 2012 23:09:34 GMT -5
it's dat ass.
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Post by Ryushinku on Jan 13, 2012 4:44:28 GMT -5
Because of the gay community.
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Post by carp (SPC, Itoh Respect Army) on Jan 16, 2012 18:00:05 GMT -5
This question really should be "Why AJ and not Daniels or Low-Ki?"
The awesomely super new and exciting X-Division really started with those guys and Jerry Lynn (even though it was a LOT more varied back then too, with luchadors and submission people and power guys all in there too).
That benefit of being there early really helps. When the X-Division started filling up with the talented but bland wrestlers like Sabin, Bentley, Williams, Kaz, and Dutt, it was this amazing relief when the old names ran back in for the title. (Also people talk about Samoa Joe too, but I think personally that the X-Division never recovered from sacrificing the whole thing to his initial undefeated streak. )
So, why AJ and not the others? All I can think is that he's younger than Daniels and less of a jerk (and whiter) than Low-Ki, so they saw him as having more upside.
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Futureraven: Beelzebruv
Bill S. Preston, Esq.
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Post by Futureraven: Beelzebruv on Jan 17, 2012 17:15:48 GMT -5
Honestly, it's not about being an Indy Darling, it's about making stars, pretty much at all, which has been a weakness of TNA.
Out of making people who weren't from WWE/WCW etc into stars, there's only a few, AJ, Bobby Roode, James Storm, Joe was for a little bit, I guess Abyss, but there aren't a lot of people they've made in general.
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Post by Magic knows Black Lives Matter on Jan 17, 2012 19:35:33 GMT -5
Honestly, it's not about being an Indy Darling, it's about making stars, pretty much at all, which has been a weakness of TNA. Out of making people who weren't from WWE/WCW etc into stars, there's only a few, AJ, Bobby Roode, James Storm, Joe was for a little bit, I guess Abyss, but there aren't a lot of people they've made in general. This pretty much. |
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Post by HMARK Center on Jan 17, 2012 22:33:14 GMT -5
Yeah, when I say "indy darling" I only mean it in the sense of guys who were making some sort of impression on the indy circuit before really getting a set spot in TNA. The kind of guys you associate with the Styles/Joe/Punk/Dragon/Homicide/etc. crowd. I just needed a simple phrase to put in the title, I typically hate the expression.
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The OP
Bill S. Preston, Esq.
changed his name
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Post by The OP on Jan 17, 2012 22:40:45 GMT -5
I think it's another sign of TNA's lack of consistency. They seem reluctant to pick a direction and stick with it. They can't decide if they want to be an alternative to WWE in the way that ROH is where it's presented as a more serious sport, or if they want to be the over the top alternative that takes people back to the more trash TV style of the late 90s. They try to have it both ways and it just doesn't work.
What I think they should do is follow through on the re-branding and make the full transition to Impact Wrestling, ditch the TNA letters altogether, and give Roode a nice long run with the title. They need to give themselves a fresh start and build a distinctive brand. Regardless of the direction they decide to go from there, I think they stand a better chance of succeeding in the long run if they find a vision and stick to it rather than constantly changing gears.
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The OP
Bill S. Preston, Esq.
changed his name
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Post by The OP on Jan 18, 2012 15:37:01 GMT -5
Thinking more about this topic, I wanna add something re: AJ Styles. I think the reason AJ has been the most consistently pushed is that it seems with all the changing of plans the one thing everyone's been able to agree on is that with so many ex-WWE guys in the main event picture (i.e. Anderson, Hardy, Angle) they needed a guy who fans see mostly as a "TNA guy" to consistently look dominant against those wrestlers and AJ was chosen for that role. That's one of the only really good booking decisions they've made in recent history IMO.
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