I'm a fan of those WCW Observer quote threads, so I figured I'd start one about TNA. I only have access to old issues of the Torch, so if anybody has Meltzer stuff, feel free to put that here.
I'm posting this, since it's funny to look back and see that Jerry Jarrett had his head and heart in the right place, but TNA was constantly derailed by the same crap (bad comedy, bad announcing, wasted talent, meaningless gimmick matches) that we still gripe about as if it's something new. Reading some of this old stuff, it's amazing that TNA's still around. I remember a lot of crap from the old days, but I guess I blocked it out since I liked A.J. Styles and the X Division...
Early Era #1.1: The Beginning.“I would have given everybody in WCW, including my son, their immediate releases because the system was bad. Our goal is to create the next generation of superstars, and not a retread. And this is nothing personal against anybody in the business. It has to do with shelf life and the people’s interest. My background was from one of building talent up and then letting them go on to bigger and better things.”
- TNA founder Jerry Jarrett on TNA, and his attempt to buy WCW. PWTorch, May 18, 2002.“Vince (McMahon) has set a standard in the industry for wrestling. And anything less than that standard is going to generate negative feelings.”
- TNA founder Jerry Jarrett. PWTorch, May 18, 2002.“I hate the name cruiserweights. We were going to have a middleweight division, and now are calling it an X-division. We're still talking about what the weight limit we will have. It is going to be a strategic part on an equal level with our heavyweight champion. If you look out in the world, a 200 pound fella is not a little guy. And so it just means that the only reason there is a differentiation is that it is unfair to the big guys to team them with someone with the agility of an A.J. Styles. In other words, I'm not protecting A.J. Styles from a 300 pounder, I'm protecting a 300 pounder from A.J. Styles because (A.J.) would make him look bad.”
- TNA founder Jerry Jarrett. PWTorch, June 29, 2002Early Era #1.2: TNA’s debut shows.“Tenay acted as if Steamboat had just announced that Israel and the Palestinians had reached a peace agreement. His reaction was embarrassing considering Steamboat as ref had been announced days earlier on the TNA website; for announcers to have credibility, they ought to know at least as much as the general public ordering the show.”
-Wade Keller, PWTorch review of TNA’s debut PPV. June 19, 2002.“(Jeff) Jarrett is an upper mid-card guy who should be the glue that holds this silliness together, not the standard bearer.”
- Pat McNeill, PWTorch TNA debut PPV roundtable.“The six-man match was an athletic spotfest with little psychology. The Flying Elvises should be broken up because all three have real potential as singles.”
- Bruce Mitchell, PWTorch TNA debut PPV roundtable.“The main problem I had with the show was it felt too much like WCW. Everything from Mike Tenay, to the corny gimmicks, to the look of the ring and set, to the corny gimmicks, to the cheap and poorly mixed music, to the corny gimmicks, to too much Jeff Jarrett, to the... did I mention the corny gimmicks? “
- Jason Powell, PWTorch TNA debut PPV roundtable.“The first TNA event almost began with a nightmare as the ring broke just minutes before going on the air.”
- PWTorch TNA Newswire. June 22, 2002."K-Krush (Ron Killings) is a superstar and he will be treated as such."
- Jerry Jarrett in PWTorch TNA Newswire. June 22, 2002“Everyone in the promotion agreed the roles of Don West and Ed Ferrara needed to be adjusted.”
- PWTorch TNA Newswire. June 29, 2002“The TNA Girls danced in their cages, then the lingerie battle royal was previewed with highlights of last week's angle with Francine.”
- Wade Keller, PWTorch review of TNA’s 2nd PPV. June 26, 2002.“TNA Girls danced in their cages, then a recap of last week's NASCAR drivers-(Killings)-Brian Christopher angle.”
- Wade Keller, PWTorch review of TNA’s 2nd PPV. June 26, 2002.“Chris Harris & James Storm beat The Rainbow Express at 4:46. Lenny and Bruce kissed each other's hands to tag in and out. West yelled, "They don't get special rules because they're special people." He was disgusted with their wrestling style and let it be known. He didn't seem to realize they were supposed to be babyfaces. Tenay said, "I'm sorry, but it is brilliant.”
- Wade Keller, PWTorch review of TNA’s 2nd PPV. June 26, 2002
“Low Ki has something, a Bruce Lee badass thing with his crisp work. Hopefully he'll get his chance in Japan. He won't get it here.”
- Bruce Mitchell, PWTorch Roundtable, TNA’s 2nd PPV. June 26, 2002.“You can't charge ten bucks for a half assed mish-mosh of five minute matches with WWF retreads...low-rent indy gimmick matches; refried Russo gimmicks; and semi-anonymous women in lingerie battle royals and expect it to work.”
- Bruce Mitchell, PWTorch Roundtable, TNA’s 2nd PPV. June 26, 2002.“More dancing women in cages as the crawler ran across the screen. Then Goldie asked around to find Miller. Instead, Puppet the Psycho Dwarf interrupted and challenged Gary Coleman or Mini Me to a match.”
- Wade Keller, PWTorch review of TNA’s 3rd PPV. July 3, 2002.“Ferrara interviewed Bagwell at ringside. Bagwell said his name is Marcus, not Buff, and said he was going home because "I just got beat by a couple of gay guys." Tenay said Bagwell needs to rethink his career choices.”
- Wade Keller, PWTorch review of TNA’s 3rd PPV. July 3, 2002.“Mike Tenay really didn't have anything to get excited about, but acted as if he did. That niche should be left to West, whose suit was so bad that it looked like it was straight out of "Dumb and Dumber."
- Jason Powell, PWTorch Roundtable for TNA’s 3rd PPV. July 3, 2002.Early Era #1.3: Enter Russo.“The incident with the Tennessee Titans garnered TNA quite a bit of mainstream publicity.”
- PWTorch TNA Newswire. July 20, 2002.“Josh Matthews had agreed to join TNA, at which point WWE pursued him and signed him instead.”
- PWTorch TNA Newswire. July 20, 2002.“Mike Tenay was once again the only highlight of the over-crowded broadcasting team, but did I actually hear him say, "Homey don't play that"? Oh, God. The only thing Don West brings to the table is the intrigue of seeing if he'll be able to wear an uglier suit than the week before...”
- Jason Powell, PWTorch Roundtable for TNA’s 4th PPV. July 10, 2002“Jarrett has managed to turn Low-Ki and AJ Styles into guys that TNA fans (however many there are) buy as legitimate main event performers, and he did it in under a month.”
- Pat McNeill, PWTorch Roundtable for TNA’s 4th PPV. July 10, 2002.“(Killings) should be TNA's next NWA Champion. He has the charisma, presence, and street-cool image that TNA can build around.”
- Wade Keller, PWTorch Roundtable for TNA’s 4th PPV. July 10, 2002.“(Killings) walked to the ring and talked about WWE not respecting him when they fired him.”
- Wade Keller, PWTorch report for TNA’s 5th PPV. July 17, 2002.“Goldy found Puppet standing in a trash can pretending to masturbate before his match. He asked if she wanted "a little porridge?" and offered to show her his cobra later. Goldy said as soon as her signing career takes off, she's quitting this job. She then found the Dupps sitting backstage. One of them complimented her lips, but "not those lips."
- Wade Keller, PWTorch report for TNA’s 5th PPV. July 17, 2002.“Eeks. It appears things got a bit out of hand with Vince Russo already. Russo needs to realize that what was shocking in 1998 isn't shocking anymore, it's tired and stale. The most shocking thing right now would be for him to produce a wrestling show that had an internal logic, patient storytelling, and highly athletic matches.”
- Wade Keller, PWTorch roundtable for TNA’s 5th PPV. July 17, 2002.“A pretaped interview with James Storm & Chris Harris aired. Storm played up an obnoxious, over-the-top country gimmick while Harris tried to talk him into "dropping the silly gimmick" (another Russo signature moment).”
- Wade Keller, PWTorch report on TNA’s 6th PPV. July 24, 2002Early Era #1.4: TNA...R.I.P.
(
NOTE: The Jarretts began major cutbacks after wildly overspending on the heels of being given highly overestimated weekly buyrate statistics by Jay Hassmann, a man they paid a $120,000 yearly salary to line up PPV distribution. What the Jarretts didn’t know before was that Hassman only cleared TNA PPV on a small number of cable distributors, lied about buyrate stats, and was also on WWE payroll at the time. During this time, the Jarretts fired him and were going to sue him for corporate sabotage.)
“NWA-TNA certainly made a statement on this week's pay-per-view. Unfortunately, that statement was "We've run out of money."
- Pat McNeill, PWTorch roundtable on TNA’s 6th PPV. July 24, 2002.“The atmosphere was straight out of a Crockett Worldwide TV taping from 1985, the way you like it, way it used to be - except compared to WWE it looks pretty low rent.”
- Bruce Mitchell, PWTorch roundtable on TNA’s 6th PPV. July 24, 2002.“And the main event finish was the sort of crap that convinces people it's time to save the ten bucks and maybe check out what's happening on "Big Brother." Yeah, I know Russo did it in October of 1998, but at least he was delivering the payoff the next night on free TV.”
- Pat McNeill, PWTorch roundtable on TNA’s 6th PPV. July 24, 2002.“The show sunk to a disastrous low during Ian Harrison vs. Bo Dupp. Harrison looks like Ivan Putski wearing Davey Boy Smith's trunks, but wrestles like the Ultimate Warrior...Does anyone outside of Disco Inferno and his friends find anything remotely entertaining about his corny sense of humor?... K-Krush continues to be the breakout star of the heavyweight division. The substance of his promo may have offended some people, but there is no denying that Krush is sensational on the mic.”
- Jason Powell, PWTorch roundtable on TNA’s 6th PPV. July 24, 2002“Goldy Locks interviewed Sonny Siaki. Siaki said he is the best Elvis.”
- PWTorch report on TNA’s 7th PPV. July 31, 2002“Bruce pinned Taylor Vaughn to become Miss TNA at 2:10. Bruce cried when he put the crown on.”
- PWTorch report on TNA’s 7th PPV. July 31, 2002.“One thing that really stood out tonight was how little the bookers care about anything that didn't happen in the WWF. Ricky Steamboat is a former NWA World Champion, and he was a great champion at that. But TNA thinks they're better off portraying him as a former WWF Intercontinental Champion who "never made it big."
- Pat McNeill, PWTorch roundtable on TNA’s 7th PPV. July 31, 2002.“Ignoring Ricky Steamboat's NWA Title wins but talking about the WWF IC Title undercut Jarrett's original intention to portray his organization as a major league.”
- Wade Keller, PWTorch roundtable on TNA’s 7th PPV. July 31, 2002.“This is not WWE, as much as Vince Russo might wish it was.”
- Bruce Mitchell, PWTorch roundtable on TNA’s 7th PPV. July 31, 2002.“The wrestlers are starting to share payoff information with one another which has led to some bad feelings.”
- PWTorch TNA Newswire. August 10, 2002.“Disco Inferno interviewed the Dupps, who took Steamboat's words earlier to heart and established their own hardcore division. They explained elaborate rules which included things such as two-and-a-half points awarded if you punch the old ticket lady. Winner was first to ten. When Fluff Dupp was offered as bait, Ed Ferrara accepted the challenge and got into a brawl with the Dupps, but lost. Really, really bad and campy. It was Ferrara's masturbation session. His bumps and facial expressions were horrid.”
- PWTorch report on TNA’s 8th PPV. August 8, 2002.“Don Harris beat Malice in a "First Blood" match at 6:34.”
- PWTorch report on TNA’s 8th PPV. August 8, 2002.“Bruce beat Taylor Vaughn to capture the Miss TNA Title at 2:07. Bad. Bruce stripped to a male G-string afterward. Don West almost puked on the air.”
- PWTorch report on TNA’s 8th PPV. August 8, 2002.“Just once, I would like to see a TNA show without comedy. No women's matches, no midgets, no nose picking rednecks, no over-the-top gay routines, and certainly no Disco Inferno interview skits. I'm convinced that if the writers were forced to eliminate the hideous comedy segments, the product would improve greatly.”
- Jason Powell, PWTorch roundtable on TNA’s 8th PPV. August 8, 2002.“This was a very good show, and that's saying something considering it had one of the worst segments in the history of television - not just wrestling, but all of television. That skit was so bad, that it almost became must-see TV for those who missed it the first time. Your experience as a wrestling fan won't be complete without having seen it, everything from Disco playing the straightman, the Dupps dragging out their rules in their inimitably bad backwoods style, to Ed Ferrara happily injecting himself into the debacle and adding to it with horrible bumps and facial expressions.”
- Wade Keller on Dupps segment on TNA’s 8th PPV.“A number of indy wrestlers are upset that the Briscoes and others have been making long road trips and working for little or nothing. The main complaint is that the company will start expecting others to make similar sacrifices and that the TNA bookings will be based more on who is willing to do the most for the least amount of money rather than talent...”
- PWTorch TNA Newswire. August 18, 2002.“Goldy Locks interviewed The Dupps, who were on location showing her them house. They said this was their version of MTV's Cribs, called "Shitters." They opened the door to an old out house and Goldy asked, "Did something die in there?"
- PWTorch PPV report on TNA’s 9th PPV. August 15, 2002.“Don Harris beat Malice in a "Last Man Standing" match at 6:55.”
- PWTorch PPV report on TNA’s 9th PPV. August 15, 2002.“Teo (a midget) beat Bo Dupp at 4:20 to win the Dupp Cupp. Bo Dupp dropped his pants so Stan could spank him with a hobby horse, trying to gain points himself since "if he enjoys it," he scores the points. Stan hyperventilated at ringside due to his fear of midgets. When Bo dragged Teo to the outhouse which had been moved to the stage, Puppet attacked Bo and then Teo shoved Bo's face into the toilet for the win.”
- PWTorch PPV report on TNA’s 9th PPV. August 15, 2002.“Disco Inferno came out for his "Jive Talkin'" segment. He welcomed Dean Baldwin (Shark Boy) onto his set, "one of the famous Baldwin brothers." He asked him what someone from Hollywood thinks about TNA. He said the X Division is great. He then said he has heard plenty about Goldy Locks, as he sipped on a cocktail. He said he is doing research on a new movie out of Nashville, "Pearl Harbor 2." He said he was joking. The movie is really "Urban Heartthrob." He said Carrot Top and Frank Stallone are in the movie. He sent a get well out to Jason Priestly. Disco said he was injured in a drunk driving accident. Disco asked if Alec has ever told him if Kim Basinger is a screamer. Dean said "Alex" makes every women scream. Brian Lawler walked out and told Disco to shut up because he didn't "give a sh--" about any of this. Dean yanked the mic out of his hand and told him to beat it. Lawler huffed and puffed like Typhoon used to, then attacked Dean. Security, led by Don Harris, dragged Lawler out of the arena.”
- PWTorch report on TNA’s 9th PPV. August 15, 2002.“This company is giving off a bankruptcy vibe, both on the creative side and in terms of the look of the product. And Brian Lawler vs. Jeff Jarrett isn't the answer to their problems.”
- Pat McNeill, PWTorch roundtable on TNA’s 9th PPV. Aug. 15, 2002.“One thing can be said for TNA - they are a living, breathing example of why pro wrestling is seen as appealing to the lowest common denominator. We'll see over time if the formula mix Jarrett and Russo are presenting ultimately is appealing to enough people for the promotion to survive.”
- Wade Keller, PWTorch roundtable on TNA’s 9th PPV. Aug. 15, 2002.“The symbol worn by Don Harris on his t-shirt during his NWA-TNA match is known as the "Satanic S" and represents a lightning bolt that means "destroyer." In Greek mythology, it was the weapon of Zeus. It is worn to symbolize power over others. It was worn by the feared "SS" unit of the Nazi German Army. The wearing of the t-shirt could be written off as a potentially innocent wardrobe mistake if it weren't for the Harris Brothers' past admissions of being affiliated with groups that would use the symbol for hateful, racist purposes and that the symbol, at least at one point, was tattooed on their arms.”
- PWTorch TNA Newswire on Don Harris’s very controversial shirt. Aug. 24, 2002.“Jerry Lynn is telling friends that he suggested the idea of Bruce winning the Miss TNA Title to Vince Russo...”
- PWTorch TNA Newswire. August 24, 2002.
(NOTE: The Jarretts began major cutbacks after wildly overspending on the heels of being given highly overestimated weekly buyrate statistics by Jay Hassmann, a man they paid a $120,000 yearly salary to line up PPV distribution. What the Jarretts didn’t know before was that Hassman only cleared TNA PPV on a small number of cable distributors, lied about buyrate stats, and was also on WWE payroll at the time. During this time, the Jarretts fired him and were going to sue him for corporate sabotage.)