Kenpachi Zaraki
11-05-2008, 04:35 PM
The Wired View by JjR
Note: This is a long article due to the enormity of the suject. Bear with it.
Ladies and gentlemen, I stand before you a mere six and a half years since Total Nonstop Action Wrestling was founded by Jeff and Jerry Jarrett, hosting weekly pay-per-views at the TNA Asylum in Nashville, Tennessee. Now, TNA hosts weekly television shows from the iMPACT zone in Orlando, Florida, monthly pay-per-views hosted around the country and a roster of superstars past, present and future. TNA Entertainment is a million dollar company and the promotion has become the second biggest in America. So, the question is this: Can it survive?
The main argument still held by many wrestling critics is that TNA is merely WWE Lite. A large majority of the roster is made up of ex-WWE superstars, released by the company and signed up by the Jarretts under the belief they were given a raw deal by Vince McMahon and were still capable of putting up a fight. In some cases they were right, but in others, the experiment has failed. Of course, there are exceptions. For instance, Kurt Angle leaving WWE for TNA was a major boost for TNA. It gave them credibility as a wrestling promotion, they showed they could sign big time players like Angle away from the “big company”. They showed with this signing that they were here to stay. The use of legends of the business like Booker T (future endeavoured by WWE), Kevin Nash (future endeavoured by WWE), Scott Steiner (future endeavoured by WWE), Kurt Angle (granted a release from WWE) and Sting (not bought in from WWE in any way, surprisingly) has added history and experience to the fledging company, as well as Jeff Jarrett himself becoming a major player in the ring as well as out. Is TNA too reliant on the veterans though? It’s hard to say, but it’s extremely clear they’re far too heavily reliant on Sting. His latest TNA World Championship win is baffling, there is nothing good to come out of it other than to advance their latest big storyline (more on that later). His Bound for Glory championship match win streak is somewhat unjustifiable as well. What they’ll do when he finally calls it a day will be interesting to see, as well as the angle they give him for his retirement. On the other hand however, TNA has produced its own talent using a talent program which severely rivals that of WWE. Although there aren’t multiple developmental territories to cherry pick the best talent from, they always manage to find the best young wrestling talent, whether it be from ROH, NWA, NJPW, CMLL or simply picking up WWE castoffs. Saying that though, there is still a desperate need for money in order to keep hold of this fresh new talent. Brand loyalty will only get you so far when it comes to looking after your family, to maintain or improve their standard of living in their everyday lives. Although the legends are (reportedly) being paid handsomely by TNA, they can’t compete with the kind of money WWE are offering for any superstar. Gail Kim and Chris Harris (later Braden Walker) are proof of this. Kevin Nash could also be included here, but he turned down the chance to go back to WWE in order to maintain the freedom of character and decisions over his storylines he has in TNA (although let’s hope he doesn’t have booking power as well). The legends are willing to stay with the company for the sheer amount of freedom they are given, an amount which cannot be rivalled by any other company short of placing them in the creative team, as well as staying to simply stick the boot into WWE and create some competition. All this being said, it is already abundantly clear that the long term financial future must be full of sunshine and rainbows, or else their best talent will continually be enticed by Vince’s riches.
AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, Abyss, Eric Young, Petey Williams, Kaz. All testaments to the success of the TNA development program. Home grown talent nurtured by TNA and developed into major players in the wrestling business today. The balance between youth and experience is a fine balance, but TNA seems to have worked it out. At one point, there really was too much talent with the company, quality wrestlers being left in the cold. As we speak, the roster is a good size for what the company is producing. WWE Lite? No, more like what WWE could have been.
TNA does have unique aspects in order to distance itself from the rest of the market and to create its own identity. The innovation of gimmick matches like the Steel Asylum and the King of the Mountain match has provided a welcome change to the usual use of tables and ladders, but the problem they have now is they are really overusing the gimmick matches of any kind. As well as that, any straight wrestling matches are usually over in 4-5 minutes and usually involve interference to finish. It’s a real shame because there are some great wrestlers there with fantastic ability to carry a match without the need for weapons or dirty finishes. Also, the six sided ring TNA uses is a major difference, as I firmly believe it changes the wrestling style of any fighter used to a standard four sided ring as it changes movement and positional awareness in the wrestling area. Also, the old double entrance for heels and faces in my opinion insults the intelligence of the audience. It basically tells them who they should be cheering and who they should be booing without leaving the audience the free will to make their own judgements on the storylines and characters. As well as this, the shoot style matches TNA introduced, designed to capitalize on the increasing popularity of MMA, was met with jeers and disapproval. TNA fans are wrestling fans after all, and being subjected to MMA rather than TNA was insulting to them and the performers themselves, as well as a black mark upon the company and the product.
Now onto storylines. Within TNA, there is a three-man creative team. It consists of Jeff Jarrett, Dutch Mantel and Vince Russo. The name Russo brings a lot of baggage with it, as well as a lot of calibre. Unfortunately, at the time of writing, it is my opinion that Russo is turning TNA into WCW Version II. I am convinced Jeff Jarrett is giving Vince Russo main control over current storylines with his approval. I say this because TNA storylines right now are poor. They are predictable and ludicrous, much like the storylines at the end of WCW As well as this; they’re repeating storylines because Russo has literally no new ideas. The Million Dollar Championship has been bought back and rewritten for the new century in the TNA Legends Championship. The Millionaire’s Club has been rewritten as the Main Event Mafia, taking on the younger generation of superstars, much like the old New Blood faction. In WCW, this feud lasted three months before both factions were disbanded because the creative team decided it wasn’t working. Yet Russo has brought it back. Perhaps he realised the flaws in the first version of the story and plans to rectify it this time around. Jeff Jarrett being vice-president, head of the creative team as well on-screen talent to me creates a conflict of interests. This is most evident in Jarrett’s 6 self-awarded NWA world title reigns during TNA’s alignment with the NWA, making Jarrett to TNA what Triple H is to WWE. Undeniably he is a great asset to the company, a fantastic wrestler with a great mind for the business, but he values himself too highly and sees himself as pivotal to the company when perhaps it has now reached a stage where he is holding them back with his continued TV time and self-approved storylines.
The characters within TNA are also a major point of discussion. Whether certain people are being miswritten for or being misrepresented, or even being misused by the company, it seems at the present time that there are certain levels of respect for talent and people which defines the use of character, although at times the creative team seem to be at a loss to know what to do with certain people. Booker T is a prime example of this. They’ve given him his mandatory title matches for the year, but in between this series of matches, they seemed lost as to what to do with the character. Firstly, they gave him the frankly silly storyline between him and Robert Roode, and now they have him speaking in an African accent when everyone knows he’s from Texas and they’ve chosen him to be the Ted DiBiase with the Million Dollar Championship, as well as placing in the middle of the MEM storyline. They don’t seem to have a direction for this great performer, much as WWE didn’t by the time he was “future endeavoured”. Perhaps this suggests Booker T is a difficult man to work with and write for, but certainly suggests he has no creative input on his story or else he’d be able to give himself something better. He surely can’t be happy speaking in that ridiculous accent. Another example is Chris Parks aka Abyss. When they wrote him out a few months ago, we were under the impression he’d come back as Chris Parks, that Abyss had been retired, that the days of taking bumps and chair shots and thumb tacks and tables were over. Alas, decisions were made to bring Abyss back, but this time with a “mental asylum” gimmick with a new outfit and a different mask. It’s truly dreadful, and a real shame we don’t get to see Chris Parks’ proper wrestling talent.
As for the different divisions within TNA, for the most part they are a great advert for the TNA product. The X Division is a great mixture of high-flying risk-takers and lucha libre style fighting that is exciting to watch and fantastically appealing. Fighters like Christopher Daniels (not Curry Man), Jay Lethal, Kaz and Chris Sabin are highlighted brilliantly and are a great credit to the company. The Knockout division also impresses. Deliberately trying to distance itself from the WWE Diva image, TNA has not only hired the pin-up girls, but has a wide range of female fighters. From the pin-ups, to the pin-ups with ability, to the pure fighters, TNA has all its bases covered. Women ranging from Awesome Kong and ODB to Angelina Love and Velvet Sky to Taylor Wilde and Traci Brooks have all excelled themselves in TNA after being given the proper stage in which to shine upon, being taken seriously, or at least more so than in other companies. However, it is still the case that some talent is being mistreated. In particular, I talk about Melissa Anderson. Currently being packaged as Raisha Saeed, Awesome Kong’s manager, she is phenomenally talented and should be utilized as Cheerleader Melissa, a great character and a fantastic fighter in the same mould as Beth Phoenix and Natalya. They’ve made a conscious effort not to show the effects of losing Gail Kim, the face of the Knockout division, and it shows: They’ve fully moved on already. However, one division which seems to have problems, as it does within all major wrestling companies right now, is the tag team division. The team of Robert Roode and James Storm is a cohesive team certainly, but certainly not worthy of holding the tag team titles. Team 3D are, unfortunately, passed their prime and it’s beginning to show. LAX are on the verge of being split apart. Matt Morgan and Abyss is quite frankly baffling. Motor City Machineguns are a great young team in the same vein as Paul London and Brian Kendrick but aren’t being given a push or a chance at being champions, which they so clearly should. So much underutilized and below-par talent in one division should be giving the creative team cause for concern.
As for brand development, TNA is growing all the time. The Spike TV deal was absolutely crucial in securing the future of the company, and Spike seem to be doing all they can to promote the product, unlike ECW on TNN. Although TNA was created on the basis that you didn’t need a TV deal to survive, they’ve accidently shown you do. The pay-per-view events held monthly are certainly better output than the weekly iMPACT broadcasts, but there are times at which you wonder whether or not the fee to watch is justifiable, as 80% matches are somewhat disappointing. Speaking of iMPACT, the development of this program over the last year or so has been remarkable. Going from a small one hour show recorded on Soundstage 21 to becoming a two hour HD spectacular from the iMPACT zone has been an amazing evolution in such a short space of time. To begin with, the step up from one to two hours was absolutely necessary in order to showcase the variety of talent on offer within the company. Then, the live episodes: First in March 2008, then a few weeks ago from Las Vegas. In my mind, these were necessary also. They needed to prove they could compete with Monday Night Raw and did so admirably. Now, as I speak, the iMPACT zone has evolved because of the high-def broadcasts. To be brutally honest, the stage needed revamping. The two ramps have gone, however there are still two tunnels leading up to the one ramp. New video screens everywhere and new lighting have freshened the place up and given it a much needed boost of adrenaline, bringing more people in there at any one time and increasing the atmosphere dramatically, as was evident on the first iMPACT from the new iMPACT zone.
To end this long discussion on TNA, the arrival of Mick Foley to the company is a long time coming. However, the role of Executive Shareholder is just confusing. In my opinion, he should have taken the place of Jim Cornette (who seems to have mysteriously disappeared off the face of the Earth) and become an on-screen Commissioner of TNA. It’s good for the company that he’s there, but it’s purely business (ironically) for Foley. This is something he didn’t have to do, but quite frankly TNA needed respect and Foley comes with a metric ton of it, and if they’re going to put up the money and give him the freedom he didn’t have for the last part of his WWE tenure, then it’s an easy decision to make on both sides. Bringing the big name onboard will quickly go to help TNA establish itself and maintain a firm foothold on the market.
Overall, TNA was an exciting young company to begin with, with endless possibility. However now, it already looks tired. Perhaps this is a sign that TNA has settled and is comfortably sitting near the top of the mountain, comfortable for now sitting in the shadows of WWE. They cannot keep doing this forever though. Vince Russo is slowly running the company into the ground like he did with WCW and it would be an awful shame to see TNA end up with the same fate. As to whether or not Russo deserves a legacy like the one he appears to be creating is a judgment call; Great creative mind or unilateral thinker? Only time and history will tell. Jeff Jarrett made a ballsy decision by deciding to compete in a one company business, and perhaps certain decisions made along the way will come back to bite him on the ass. For now, TNA are doing well to stay afloat in such a cutthroat industry, but they’re going to have to continue their current evolution in order to avoid the fates of WCW and ECW.
nodq.com
Note: This is a long article due to the enormity of the suject. Bear with it.
Ladies and gentlemen, I stand before you a mere six and a half years since Total Nonstop Action Wrestling was founded by Jeff and Jerry Jarrett, hosting weekly pay-per-views at the TNA Asylum in Nashville, Tennessee. Now, TNA hosts weekly television shows from the iMPACT zone in Orlando, Florida, monthly pay-per-views hosted around the country and a roster of superstars past, present and future. TNA Entertainment is a million dollar company and the promotion has become the second biggest in America. So, the question is this: Can it survive?
The main argument still held by many wrestling critics is that TNA is merely WWE Lite. A large majority of the roster is made up of ex-WWE superstars, released by the company and signed up by the Jarretts under the belief they were given a raw deal by Vince McMahon and were still capable of putting up a fight. In some cases they were right, but in others, the experiment has failed. Of course, there are exceptions. For instance, Kurt Angle leaving WWE for TNA was a major boost for TNA. It gave them credibility as a wrestling promotion, they showed they could sign big time players like Angle away from the “big company”. They showed with this signing that they were here to stay. The use of legends of the business like Booker T (future endeavoured by WWE), Kevin Nash (future endeavoured by WWE), Scott Steiner (future endeavoured by WWE), Kurt Angle (granted a release from WWE) and Sting (not bought in from WWE in any way, surprisingly) has added history and experience to the fledging company, as well as Jeff Jarrett himself becoming a major player in the ring as well as out. Is TNA too reliant on the veterans though? It’s hard to say, but it’s extremely clear they’re far too heavily reliant on Sting. His latest TNA World Championship win is baffling, there is nothing good to come out of it other than to advance their latest big storyline (more on that later). His Bound for Glory championship match win streak is somewhat unjustifiable as well. What they’ll do when he finally calls it a day will be interesting to see, as well as the angle they give him for his retirement. On the other hand however, TNA has produced its own talent using a talent program which severely rivals that of WWE. Although there aren’t multiple developmental territories to cherry pick the best talent from, they always manage to find the best young wrestling talent, whether it be from ROH, NWA, NJPW, CMLL or simply picking up WWE castoffs. Saying that though, there is still a desperate need for money in order to keep hold of this fresh new talent. Brand loyalty will only get you so far when it comes to looking after your family, to maintain or improve their standard of living in their everyday lives. Although the legends are (reportedly) being paid handsomely by TNA, they can’t compete with the kind of money WWE are offering for any superstar. Gail Kim and Chris Harris (later Braden Walker) are proof of this. Kevin Nash could also be included here, but he turned down the chance to go back to WWE in order to maintain the freedom of character and decisions over his storylines he has in TNA (although let’s hope he doesn’t have booking power as well). The legends are willing to stay with the company for the sheer amount of freedom they are given, an amount which cannot be rivalled by any other company short of placing them in the creative team, as well as staying to simply stick the boot into WWE and create some competition. All this being said, it is already abundantly clear that the long term financial future must be full of sunshine and rainbows, or else their best talent will continually be enticed by Vince’s riches.
AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, Abyss, Eric Young, Petey Williams, Kaz. All testaments to the success of the TNA development program. Home grown talent nurtured by TNA and developed into major players in the wrestling business today. The balance between youth and experience is a fine balance, but TNA seems to have worked it out. At one point, there really was too much talent with the company, quality wrestlers being left in the cold. As we speak, the roster is a good size for what the company is producing. WWE Lite? No, more like what WWE could have been.
TNA does have unique aspects in order to distance itself from the rest of the market and to create its own identity. The innovation of gimmick matches like the Steel Asylum and the King of the Mountain match has provided a welcome change to the usual use of tables and ladders, but the problem they have now is they are really overusing the gimmick matches of any kind. As well as that, any straight wrestling matches are usually over in 4-5 minutes and usually involve interference to finish. It’s a real shame because there are some great wrestlers there with fantastic ability to carry a match without the need for weapons or dirty finishes. Also, the six sided ring TNA uses is a major difference, as I firmly believe it changes the wrestling style of any fighter used to a standard four sided ring as it changes movement and positional awareness in the wrestling area. Also, the old double entrance for heels and faces in my opinion insults the intelligence of the audience. It basically tells them who they should be cheering and who they should be booing without leaving the audience the free will to make their own judgements on the storylines and characters. As well as this, the shoot style matches TNA introduced, designed to capitalize on the increasing popularity of MMA, was met with jeers and disapproval. TNA fans are wrestling fans after all, and being subjected to MMA rather than TNA was insulting to them and the performers themselves, as well as a black mark upon the company and the product.
Now onto storylines. Within TNA, there is a three-man creative team. It consists of Jeff Jarrett, Dutch Mantel and Vince Russo. The name Russo brings a lot of baggage with it, as well as a lot of calibre. Unfortunately, at the time of writing, it is my opinion that Russo is turning TNA into WCW Version II. I am convinced Jeff Jarrett is giving Vince Russo main control over current storylines with his approval. I say this because TNA storylines right now are poor. They are predictable and ludicrous, much like the storylines at the end of WCW As well as this; they’re repeating storylines because Russo has literally no new ideas. The Million Dollar Championship has been bought back and rewritten for the new century in the TNA Legends Championship. The Millionaire’s Club has been rewritten as the Main Event Mafia, taking on the younger generation of superstars, much like the old New Blood faction. In WCW, this feud lasted three months before both factions were disbanded because the creative team decided it wasn’t working. Yet Russo has brought it back. Perhaps he realised the flaws in the first version of the story and plans to rectify it this time around. Jeff Jarrett being vice-president, head of the creative team as well on-screen talent to me creates a conflict of interests. This is most evident in Jarrett’s 6 self-awarded NWA world title reigns during TNA’s alignment with the NWA, making Jarrett to TNA what Triple H is to WWE. Undeniably he is a great asset to the company, a fantastic wrestler with a great mind for the business, but he values himself too highly and sees himself as pivotal to the company when perhaps it has now reached a stage where he is holding them back with his continued TV time and self-approved storylines.
The characters within TNA are also a major point of discussion. Whether certain people are being miswritten for or being misrepresented, or even being misused by the company, it seems at the present time that there are certain levels of respect for talent and people which defines the use of character, although at times the creative team seem to be at a loss to know what to do with certain people. Booker T is a prime example of this. They’ve given him his mandatory title matches for the year, but in between this series of matches, they seemed lost as to what to do with the character. Firstly, they gave him the frankly silly storyline between him and Robert Roode, and now they have him speaking in an African accent when everyone knows he’s from Texas and they’ve chosen him to be the Ted DiBiase with the Million Dollar Championship, as well as placing in the middle of the MEM storyline. They don’t seem to have a direction for this great performer, much as WWE didn’t by the time he was “future endeavoured”. Perhaps this suggests Booker T is a difficult man to work with and write for, but certainly suggests he has no creative input on his story or else he’d be able to give himself something better. He surely can’t be happy speaking in that ridiculous accent. Another example is Chris Parks aka Abyss. When they wrote him out a few months ago, we were under the impression he’d come back as Chris Parks, that Abyss had been retired, that the days of taking bumps and chair shots and thumb tacks and tables were over. Alas, decisions were made to bring Abyss back, but this time with a “mental asylum” gimmick with a new outfit and a different mask. It’s truly dreadful, and a real shame we don’t get to see Chris Parks’ proper wrestling talent.
As for the different divisions within TNA, for the most part they are a great advert for the TNA product. The X Division is a great mixture of high-flying risk-takers and lucha libre style fighting that is exciting to watch and fantastically appealing. Fighters like Christopher Daniels (not Curry Man), Jay Lethal, Kaz and Chris Sabin are highlighted brilliantly and are a great credit to the company. The Knockout division also impresses. Deliberately trying to distance itself from the WWE Diva image, TNA has not only hired the pin-up girls, but has a wide range of female fighters. From the pin-ups, to the pin-ups with ability, to the pure fighters, TNA has all its bases covered. Women ranging from Awesome Kong and ODB to Angelina Love and Velvet Sky to Taylor Wilde and Traci Brooks have all excelled themselves in TNA after being given the proper stage in which to shine upon, being taken seriously, or at least more so than in other companies. However, it is still the case that some talent is being mistreated. In particular, I talk about Melissa Anderson. Currently being packaged as Raisha Saeed, Awesome Kong’s manager, she is phenomenally talented and should be utilized as Cheerleader Melissa, a great character and a fantastic fighter in the same mould as Beth Phoenix and Natalya. They’ve made a conscious effort not to show the effects of losing Gail Kim, the face of the Knockout division, and it shows: They’ve fully moved on already. However, one division which seems to have problems, as it does within all major wrestling companies right now, is the tag team division. The team of Robert Roode and James Storm is a cohesive team certainly, but certainly not worthy of holding the tag team titles. Team 3D are, unfortunately, passed their prime and it’s beginning to show. LAX are on the verge of being split apart. Matt Morgan and Abyss is quite frankly baffling. Motor City Machineguns are a great young team in the same vein as Paul London and Brian Kendrick but aren’t being given a push or a chance at being champions, which they so clearly should. So much underutilized and below-par talent in one division should be giving the creative team cause for concern.
As for brand development, TNA is growing all the time. The Spike TV deal was absolutely crucial in securing the future of the company, and Spike seem to be doing all they can to promote the product, unlike ECW on TNN. Although TNA was created on the basis that you didn’t need a TV deal to survive, they’ve accidently shown you do. The pay-per-view events held monthly are certainly better output than the weekly iMPACT broadcasts, but there are times at which you wonder whether or not the fee to watch is justifiable, as 80% matches are somewhat disappointing. Speaking of iMPACT, the development of this program over the last year or so has been remarkable. Going from a small one hour show recorded on Soundstage 21 to becoming a two hour HD spectacular from the iMPACT zone has been an amazing evolution in such a short space of time. To begin with, the step up from one to two hours was absolutely necessary in order to showcase the variety of talent on offer within the company. Then, the live episodes: First in March 2008, then a few weeks ago from Las Vegas. In my mind, these were necessary also. They needed to prove they could compete with Monday Night Raw and did so admirably. Now, as I speak, the iMPACT zone has evolved because of the high-def broadcasts. To be brutally honest, the stage needed revamping. The two ramps have gone, however there are still two tunnels leading up to the one ramp. New video screens everywhere and new lighting have freshened the place up and given it a much needed boost of adrenaline, bringing more people in there at any one time and increasing the atmosphere dramatically, as was evident on the first iMPACT from the new iMPACT zone.
To end this long discussion on TNA, the arrival of Mick Foley to the company is a long time coming. However, the role of Executive Shareholder is just confusing. In my opinion, he should have taken the place of Jim Cornette (who seems to have mysteriously disappeared off the face of the Earth) and become an on-screen Commissioner of TNA. It’s good for the company that he’s there, but it’s purely business (ironically) for Foley. This is something he didn’t have to do, but quite frankly TNA needed respect and Foley comes with a metric ton of it, and if they’re going to put up the money and give him the freedom he didn’t have for the last part of his WWE tenure, then it’s an easy decision to make on both sides. Bringing the big name onboard will quickly go to help TNA establish itself and maintain a firm foothold on the market.
Overall, TNA was an exciting young company to begin with, with endless possibility. However now, it already looks tired. Perhaps this is a sign that TNA has settled and is comfortably sitting near the top of the mountain, comfortable for now sitting in the shadows of WWE. They cannot keep doing this forever though. Vince Russo is slowly running the company into the ground like he did with WCW and it would be an awful shame to see TNA end up with the same fate. As to whether or not Russo deserves a legacy like the one he appears to be creating is a judgment call; Great creative mind or unilateral thinker? Only time and history will tell. Jeff Jarrett made a ballsy decision by deciding to compete in a one company business, and perhaps certain decisions made along the way will come back to bite him on the ass. For now, TNA are doing well to stay afloat in such a cutthroat industry, but they’re going to have to continue their current evolution in order to avoid the fates of WCW and ECW.
nodq.com