A casual TNA viewers thoughts

[The OP]

First off, let it be known that this is not a strictly anti-TNA thread. I think the show is actually pretty good most of the time. I have both praise and criticism for Impact. Here are some general thoughts I've had about the show and I welcome comments, compliments, death threats, etc.

- TNA uses the slogan "We are wrestling". They seem to take pride in being a "professional wrestling" show as opposed to "sports entertainment". In some ways, their presentation reflects this very well, in other ways it does not. Maybe I'm misinterpreting what they mean by this, but it seems to imply a more realistic style of wrestling than WWE. However, I have seen more unrealistic wrestling moves in TNA then anywhere else ever. WWE has headliners such as John Cena, Randy Orton,Ken Kennedy, and CM Punk who, like them or not, tend to have relatively realistic styles. Where AJ Styles might do a standing moonsault to his opponent (which makes no kind of logical sense), Orton would just stomp the guy in the head. However, guys like Samoa Joe and Kurt Angle are great representatives for TNA if they are going for a more realistic style.

- Everything in TNA is badly named. From the company's name itself to the X Division, to the names of their PPVs. Honestly, what sounds like a more prestigious midcard title, the X Division Championship or the United States Championship?

- Don West and Mike Tenay are not good announcers. They can often be seen reading their comments off of sheets of paper. I don't know if they ever do this in WWE, but the important thing is that I have never seen them do it. Maybe it's the cameraman or video editor's fault, but this is something that should never, ever happen. It makes their show look bad. Also, it's been said before, but these two seriously need to shut the hell up while one of the wrestlers is talking. Don West is especially bad. He ruins the excitement of the more dramatic moments by having the exact same level of enthusiasm no matter what is happening. It's great that he's so into it, but he needs to learn how to be dynamic with his announcing.

- TNA should call their women wrestlers "wrestlers" instead of "knockouts". "TNA Knockouts" absolutely sounds like a ripoff of "WWE Divas" (which is also stupid) and does not seem to reflect the idea that TNA is pro wrestling as opposed to sports entertainment.

- I don't hate the six sided ring, but it seems somewhat gimmicky and pointless.

- TNA has some great mic workers, such as Jim Cornette and Kevin Nash. Why don't they replace West and Tenay with those two?

That's it for now. Feel free to agree or disagree. Either way, I'd be interested in knowing why.

[poi zen rana]

i agree with your thoughts on the announce team.

i wish they called the women wrestlers but knockouts doesn't bother me.

the ring doesn't bother me at all. unconventional for mainstream wrestling in the u.s.a? yes. is that bad? if you ask me no. if you ask others how ever it is awful awkward and ruins matches. to each their own.

the x-division title name doesn't really bother me, i am glad it is something different.

my strongest feeling about your post however would have to be my feelings about the we are wrestling slogan. i hear that complaint all the time. i understand where people are coming from, yes they do exhibit many sports entertainment elements. however they still have wrestling. people complain and say that is why they don't watch tna is because of their slogan, which to me seems like an extremely petty reason to write something off completely. i just don't look it as that big of a deal and i think if people truly thought it was then they should start telling the wwe to replace their second w, because if wwe can call itself wrestling by name, then tna has earned it by slogan if you ask me.

[The OP]

I don't have a problem with the slogan itself. It's actually kinda cool. My point was, as a viewer who prefers a more old school realistic approach to professional wrestling, I feel like I'm being targeted by TNA's marketing as the type of fan they're trying to win over.

In some ways, their program does appeal to me in this respect. I gave the example of Samoa Joe for instance. The things he does in the ring tend to make a lot of logical sense, and I like that. For that reason, he's a great example of the type of wrestler I like.

[Joekishi]

my biggest problem with the product besides booking is the way they film the show.

Shoddy camera work, bad camera angles, stupid cutaways, and just a weird look to the show.

Not to mention the loud commentary

[thestinger]

I agree with some of your points, and disagree with others.

TNA's slogan should be "We are PRO Wrestling."

Wrestling is what I did in high school and what Kurt Angle won the gold medal for. It's been around since ancient times and in a nutshell, it's real and not fake.

Then there is professional wrestling. TNA is professional wrestling. The endings are predetermined and the moves are over-the-top. As you pointed out, a moonsault would not inflict any more damage than stomping the guys head in.

The moves make no logical sense but to entertain the audience. Seriously could you imagine an MMA fight going 60 minutes? Or a guy in a painful submission hold for five minutes then fighting his way out?

Vince MacMahon has created a third entity. This is 'Sports Entertainment.' The focus is off the in-ring product and on to 'characters.' All the most successful sports entertainment characters (Stone Cold, Rock, Mankind) got over with the fans behind a microphone, not in the ring. Some of them have modest in-ring skills, which is secondary to mike skills while guys like Lance Storm and Dean Malenko who are brilliant pro wrestlers, make bad 'sports entertainers.'

I'm surprised you think the X-Division is a bad name. I've read some sources that say Vince WISHED he thought of the idea of naming a lucha libre inspired division something other than 'cruiserweight.'

Basically "cruiserweight" implies that only small men can wrestle this style, which is wrong. In my opinion Samoa Joe and the late Mike Awesome wrestled in the X-Division style very well. Kurt Angle did a decent job of it very recently.

[Arthur Digby Stamp]

I've gotten used to TNA, but I can sympathize with all of those points, because I've thought all of those things too. Some you can eventually get used to (the corny names), but others desperately need changing (looking at you, Don West)

[The OP]

It just so happens that I'm not fond of the cruiserweight division either. Don't get me wrong, I think there is a place for lucha libre style wrestling. It's not my favorite style, but I can appreciate it. However, I've always thought that an interesting difference between pro wrestling and amateur wrestling is that it does not have weight classes. Anyone can wrestle for the world title, regardless of size.

[Rob Scorpio, 2 time BCW Champ]

My only problem with the concept and name of the X Division is the lack of any sort of structure or definition. "It's not about weight limits, it's about no limits." Wait, what? Are you not allowed to do a Canadian Destroyer in the Heavyweight division? Logically, if the title is open to anyone who wins it, regardless of weight, it should be MORE prestigious than the HW title because it's open to more contenders. The way I see it, if the alternate championship divisions in a wrestling federation aren't defined by weight limit, gender, or singles/tag team, then the rules should be different. I could imagine a submission-only title in a technical, wrestling-based promotion.
My two cents, anyway.

[The OP]

I agree, and I just think the name of it is just lame. The X Division, like it's so cool to use the letter X even though it has nothing to do with the title because everyone knows X is the coolest letter. It's like some ten year old came up with it.

No offense to any ten years old that might be reading this.

[Joekishi]

It makes no sense as at first it was "The division with the best matches"

that's bs on so many parts as you're calling the main belt a title that does not provide the best matches.

most guys in the x-division are smaller.

I know Sonny Siaki and Joe are former champs.

blah but why doesn't Lance hoyt go to the x-division? He flies around as good as anybody.

Is there height limits?

[Lenny: Smooth like Keith Stone]

I basically agree.

TNA Knockouts does seem like an overly gimmicky name, and it is obviously taken from Divas. I don't see why they cant just say "TNA wrestlers" which is the same name given to the men.

I used to defend Tenay and West, but over the past year they both managed to become caricatures of themselves. In fairness, so has every single WWE announcer. I guess there just aren't any really good announcers anymore -- either that, or TNA and WWE want guys like this.

[Big DSR Energy]

I don't have a problem with the six-sided ring itself, but they still wrestle matches as though it's a standard four-sided ring. When the X-Division was more prominent (say, around the time of Team Canada), you could see that the six sides really adds a different dynamic to the way a match took place. Now, not so much.

[odanobunaga]

John Cena, Randy Orton,Ken Kennedy, and CM Punk who, like them or not, tend to have relatively realistic styles

Cena? No. Randy Orton? Only in the last two mounths. Ken Kennedy? Nah. CM Punk? Well his kicks look legit.

[Sajoa Moe]

basicboogeynomix said:

my biggest problem with the product besides booking is the way they film the show.

Shoddy camera work, bad camera angles, stupid cutaways, and just a weird look to the show.

Not to mention the loud commentary

Not to mention that the whole thing feels rushed, despite the expansion to two hours. Everything just seems too much of a "go go go" operation, and they need to slow it down a bit.

But then, I suppose, it wouldn't be "total nonstop action". Which, by the way, also sounds silly.

[The OP]

odanobunaga said:

John Cena, Randy Orton,Ken Kennedy, and CM Punk who, like them or not, tend to have relatively realistic styles

Cena? No. Randy Orton? Only in the last two mounths. Ken Kennedy? Nah. CM Punk? Well his kicks look legit.

Yeah...I think maybe you don't know what I mean by realistic. None of those guys really do anything that totally doesn't make sense or looks like it would hurt them more than their opponent.

[Joekishi]

evrbody said:

basicboogeynomix said:

my biggest problem with the product besides booking is the way they film the show.

Shoddy camera work, bad camera angles, stupid cutaways, and just a weird look to the show.

Not to mention the loud commentary

Not to mention that the whole thing feels rushed, despite the expansion to two hours. Everything just seems too much of a "go go go" operation, and they need to slow it down a bit.

But then, I suppose, it wouldn't be "total nonstop action". Which, by the way, also sounds silly.

yeah still don't get why they have to rush

[poi zen rana]

evrbody said:

basicboogeynomix said:

my biggest problem with the product besides booking is the way they film the show.

Shoddy camera work, bad camera angles, stupid cutaways, and just a weird look to the show.

Not to mention the loud commentary

Not to mention that the whole thing feels rushed, despite the expansion to two hours. Everything just seems too much of a "go go go" operation, and they need to slow it down a bit.

But then, I suppose, it wouldn't be "total nonstop action". Which, by the way, also sounds silly.

i can also see why people feel it is rushed but that is one of the things i actually like about it. i wouldn't like it as much if it was slowed down because i would probably get to see less of the people i personally enjoy. to me it feels like a taped a show, where they cut out down time where as wwe shows feel like they want to leave in all the down time giving it a really live feel. personally i would be hard pressed to care less than i do now about the down time so the fact that tna edits it out is fine by me.

[BHB]

Sports entertainment IS wrestling and vice versa.

[Mr. Backlund]

I know its petty, but I still have issues even really getting into TNA because of how ludicrous they are with naming things.

To begin, the company's name is a terrible pun that someone thought was cute either in a drunken haze or a momentary lapse of reason. Now, a few years later and a lot of growth, you've got an organization vying for attention to a mainstream audience with a name that's an acronym for Tits and Ass. Something tells me having a guy see TNA Impact! is going to attract the 18-34 year old pervert, not the wrestling enthusiast.

On top of that, every PPV's name reads like a hardcore porno. Not only do we have to deal with Tits and Ass wrestling, we have to order a PPV with names like "Hard Justice". And if it's not overtly stupid, it's a tired cliched name.

I know it's petty, but if you're trying to be a legitimate company, you've basically shot yourself in the foot coming out of the gate. You don't need to have a bunch of W's in the name, but even a derivative name would've been better than a 13 year old's fart joke.

Now that my main rant is over....

-You can tell they're trying to grow too fast, too soon. The production is not up to snuff and looks terrible when compared to the WWE. I know it's not fair to do so, but if they want to compete, they're going to be compared and have to up the ante a little bit. Like mentioned above, the announce team borders on maddening at times and there's too many mistakes that are all too apparent throughout the broadcasts. It looks and feels 2nd rate due to this, which is bad.

-They need to learn how to pace. They were horrible with one hour and, despite improving, they're not even close yet with two. I don't even bother tuning into hour one (if I tune in at all) because it's been absolute crap. Seriously, plan ahead and realize where you're going and who needs airtime so I care about watching them. I know they deliver in the ring, but TNA hasn't delivered in the booking department, which sucks.

-They need to cut dead weight that has absolutely no purpose besides saying, "Hey, it's that guy that used to wrestle for the WWE!". Rikishi has always sucked. So has Test. They've never done anything, even with a huge push. Bringing them in and sitting your own talent is confusing. I'm not going to play the TNA is the WWE's rejects paradise, but come on! You got Goldust dressing up like a morbidly obese panda bear in a trash bag that got ahold of some glitter.

-Send Bubba Ray Dudley out to pasture. The fat cow's milk has turned sour, let it die a dignified death alone and far away from me.

[thestinger]

basicboogeynomix said:

blah but why doesn't Lance hoyt go to the x-division? He flies around as good as anybody.

Is there height limits?

No, there isn't. Lance Hoyt COULD be the X-Division champion and I've occasionally thought he would make a good one. It's not any stranger than Christian Cage being a World Heavyweight champion.

Everyone knows wrestling is fixed, so they might as well categorize them by style, not by weight class.

X-Division is now a 'style.' In the 90s it was called 'cruiserweight' because WCW is the place most fans first saw lucha libre inspired wrestling. (ECW did it first in the U.S., but most fans saw it first on Nitro).