Is TNA missing balance?

[Montana]

I was wondering the other day how TNA could be so hated by some, and loved by others. Why isn't TNA more popular than it is. Shouldn't they be closer to the wwe since its features a stacked roster with former wwe and wcw talent? This is going to be talking about their product, not about the logistics of business.

I think TNA is trying to appeal to too many people, but at the same time, they are losing as many fans as they are gaining. When you watch Impact though, its basically all about Cage/Angle/Sting/Joe. The whole one hour show is focused around those four guys and the tag division. The problem with that though people who like Cage, Angle and Sting are all in the same fanbase. All three of those guys are geared to that one crowd. Meanwhile, we have guys like Somoa Joe, Christopher Daniels, AJ Styles appealing to a different audience, which TNA has seemingly been ignoring for the past year or so. Would time be better spent showcasing the original TNA guys like Joe/Daniels/AJ. They have to appeal to both crowds, which they arent doing.

As far as in ring action, they gotta put on wrestling. No one wants to see WWE part 2. Several fans are tuning away from the wwe due to lack of characters/storylines. But the wwe has pretty good balance between Veterns (HBK, Taker, HHH) Young Stars (Cena....I guess Batista) and the New Breed (Punk, Kennedy, MVP) Tna really doesnt have a New Breed, and they only have one vetern in Jarrett.

Bottom line, is they must destinguish themselves. They must appeal to a wider base, without being cheesy entertainment.

 

[Switchy]

As you said TNA needs to focus on the people like aJ, Joe and Daniels. They are all good in the ring and the X-division superstars are what makes TNA unique from WWE. I think what TNA are trying to do is get that audience you mentioned with the guys like Sting, Angle and Cage because they are probably thinking if WWE can be so successful with guys like that we can too but it's not working. TNA has something that makes it different but still exciting in the X-division but they are misusing that completely with Angle as champ.

What you mentioned about TNA not having a new breed you have to remember that they have only been around for 5 years and at the moment should focus mainly on the people who have been there since around 2004. Once they have established themselves as good competitors for WWE they can start bringing in up and coming talent and most of TNA's wrestlers are barely 30 anway at the moment.

I don't think TNA can really get a good balance of the two crowds you mentioned but if they tried to appeal to both they would get more fans than they do now.

 

[KenFan4life]

You said Angle,Cage,& Sting appeal to different crowds then Styles,Daniels,& Joe do. Which I think is wrong cause they all have pretty much the same fanbase which usually consists of Smarks,and stuff.

 

[gashface]

You can't really say TNA don't have their new breed when they have the X-Division, imo the X-Division will always be TNA's creation, and the wrestlers within it, I think the problem is that they are shunning the division, and the young talents it has to showcase the well known heavyweight guys, I do however think this will change when they go to two hours, allowing for more balance on Impact.

 

[xtremebadass]

Amazing topic here Montana. Angle, Joe, Cage, and Sting are entertaining, but you can't build your company, that isn't big yet, around those four guys. People that want to tune into something different want to watch TNA, but when they watch it, it's mostly the same thing week after week. TNA is really bad at booking lately. AJ Styles is a perfect example, along with Ron Killings, they were champions in the past, where are they now? Mid Carding and teaming with Pacman, there is something wrong there. They should still be main eventers, they were good enough before, why not now? Just because TNA has a bigger budget and could afford "alleged" main eventers from WWE? It's pretty sad, I used to watch TNA with Styles main eventing, but they got Cage and Sting and just focused on them more. Abyss is another guy, people love seeing him, maybe as champion, but with rivalries going almost a year against Sting, Mitchell, and now Judas, fans are gettting tired of the horror story atmosphere. Samoa Joe has lost alot of credit, people are tired of waiting for him to be champion, and most gave up already. Daniels is lost in limbo, no one knows where he is going, and TNA just puts him on TV to satisfy the fan base even though he doesn't do anything. Kurt Angle hit the scene and suddenly it's all about him, the original TNA fan base likes Kurt Angle, but they love what brought them into TNA ,excitement, the X-Division, and crazy stuff, not this lack luster product they are dishing out.


I LOVE TNA for the record.

 

[FlamesofFury]

Before I make this post I would like to say that there is a disclaimer here and everybody knows I am very critical of TNA, I don't want to hear any bitching about my opinions and that's that.

You said Angle,Cage,& Sting appeal to different crowds then Styles,Daniels,& Joe do. Which I think is wrong cause they all have pretty much the same fanbase which usually consists of Smarks,and stuff.

You are officially an idiot and a blueberry who knows nothing about wrestling.

Styles, Daniels, Joe and the rest of the guys who have either wrestled and/or haven't really hit it big time yet besides TNA appeal to the smarks for their good wrestling ability and their ability to work over a 5 star match (Unbreakable 05 with all 3 of them in that match). Meanwhile on the other hand you have Christian Cage, Sting and Kurt Angle who are in TNA for the entertainment purpose. They might not be the best wrestlers in the world in the ring but they are names that are thrown around there for being established names if not already established. They are mainly there for the talking and entertainment skills that the guys from ROH (Joe, Styles and Daniels) can't do as well.

For example Joe carried Angle through the matches at the PPV's and sort while Angle carried Joe through the promos on Impact. It basically tests your chemistry and how well you are able to work together.

Back to the original question:

No, TNA doesn't have a good balance and like Monty said they don't really have a such thing as a new breed because most of the superstars in TNA would qualify for a new breed. TNA also has those middle aged wrestlers that have been in WWE, WCW or a Japan Promotion such as Kurt Angle, Christian Cage, Rhyno and Tomko. TNA IMO has 4 established "veterans" in their company. Those four guys are Sting, Jeff Jarrett, Kevin Nash (who does no in ring work) and Raven (who really isn't considered a veteran by most of the smark and wrestling population). TNA has no structure and that's their downfall mostly. TNA is diminishing and I think that it will be gone in the next 2 years. If you want to know how to run a company and how to get wrestlers balanced you just point at the WWE and TNA needs to learn some stuff from WWE instead of just doing the opposite and win over 40 fans.

 

[WWE Fan Since 86]

3 words people to sum up this conversation....Matt Bentley's interview...enough said

 

[Flair for The Gold]

TNA must present a wrestling alternative to WWE. Not try to outdo WWE in the "sports entertainment" dept. If they could just find the sense in them to do this, the people who already love TNA will, more than likely, still love it, and people like me, who think that the product could be better will love it as well. The irony is that TNA was doing this at a time, and now they are just aquiring old WWE stars, which doesn't help anything one bit. Example-They did the whole "Angle Awards" bit on iMPACT! last week. Now, instead of doing something as stupid and utterly ridiculous as that, they have a whole host of guys that could have had a match, for once. How about MCMG? Why not bring out Petey Williams for the first time, in literally months? It doesn't make any sense, because they aren't providing ANY alternative to the WWE. Not to mention the main event sucked, and the whole show just dragged (bar the Daniels/Lethal match and Team Pacman). The sad thing is that they have the roster to provide a good product, but the booking is awful and iMPACT! is, more often than not, bogged down by events that have no buisiness being on a show that is billed as an alternative to WWE television.

The Matt Bentley interview spoke volumes to me. Big volumes. He made believable statements about the weakened TNA product as of late, and I for one am inclined to believe him. He mentioned the low morale in the locker room. I'd believe that in an instant. After all, who would enjoy working for a company pulling 20-45 thousand buys for their PPV's? I mean that is just terrible, not to mention inexcusable.

I'm not giving up on TNA and I will still watch iMPACT! as long as it airs, but I hope to see a change soon. If I were TNA I would be weary about ROH getting a TV deal sometime in the next year, because that could be the blow that knocks TNA down, and quite possibly out.

 

[kiddsmash]

Would time be better spent showcasing the original TNA guys like Joe/Daniels/AJ.

Ummm Soma Joe is not an Original TNA guy.

I agree with the balanec to a certain extent but the fan base of Sting,Cage,A.J.Styles, And Daniels is not all different. I like them all and I am old school wrestling, but I think all these guys deserve the soptlight. Well, not Sting so much but the other guys do.

As far as wrestling in the ring goes? Angel,Cage,Styles,and Daniels can all wrestle better then most of the roster imo. I honestly think that TNA needs to stop picking up what the WWE discards and they need to try and get the indies guys. This will define them apart from the WWE and give them the true wrestling fan base and not the soap oprea lovers that watch WWE. Unless you watch it for the divas then that's ok. Which is why I watch it.

TNA needs to also work on their storylines. They are to predicatble and done way to fast. Example Kurt's wife helping him. Like nobody saw that comming? Seriously if they want in on the soap oprea they need to play the story out alot better.

Giving other guys a psuh is great but TNA screwed-up the minute they got WWE's left overs with the exception of Cage whom I think is the best wrestler they got from the WWE rejects. The original TNA guys should get pushed and that would be guys like A.J.Styles,Christopher Daniles,Abyss whom is getting a push, Ron "The Truth" Killings, "The WildCat", and so on these guys deserve the push but they won't be pushed to much as long as guys like Soma Joe,Sting,and Kurt are around. These guys have egos and refuse to step aside. Kurt could be the exception if he would just stop for a minute. I can see him allowing people a win over him and I think that's why he got all the titles and Joe isn't good enough as they have yet to give him a title run. Which imo says alot.

Sorry got off track but oh well? These are my oppinions and agree or not.

 

[PeepShow]

Great points there Montana. I have ot agree with you, except that to me, Sting isnt reall "centered" around much anymore. He was at HJ, but didnt really do much, and then didnt even show up at iMAPCT last week. Most of what you said, like people not being featured, I think will have to come in time, and mainly when they get 2 hrs. I guess I just dont understand some of you people. Some of you guys are like "WTF, Joe wasnt on, Sting wasnt on, and blah, blah,blah." ITS A 1 HOUR SHOW PEOPLE. Get it in your fucking heads. When they get 2 hrs, Im not saying it will automatically overtake the WWE, b/c it wont, but Im just saying that they will have more time to "appeal" to the other audience as you said. Right now, they just dont have enough time to please everyone with that big of a roster and only 1 hr.

O, and one more thing. I got a kick out of this one. I love how you call Batista, a "young" guy and Triple H a "old" guy, ROFL. I understand where your coming from in terms of career length, but I just find it funny that Batista is actually older that Trips.....:roflmao:

 

[Montana]

Ummm Soma Joe is not an Original TNA guy.

Well i meant their first exposure to weekly television. If Joe's not a original i don;t think they would have any original TNA guys. Maybe one or two.

I was also thinking about their stacked roster, and who are their super heels? Angle and Cage. Which got me thinking, they are missing the "cool" heel. Kinda like the bad ass heel. A good example of this would be someone like Randy Orton or Kennedy. You could even extend it to MVP or Edge, but they are kinda soft. But then who's your super face? They got nothing right now. Theres Joe, but they buried him beyond belief. Sting, has been floating around. And the hottest thing out now, Abyss who i don't buy as a credible main eventer. I guess its not about the wrestlers you have, but how you use them. Sorry for that extra rant.

 

[kiddsmash]

If Joe's not a original i don;t think they would have any original TNA guys.

Umm... they have more then one or two originals. JJ is still around just dealing with issues I think? A.J.Styles,Daniels,Abyss,James Storm,Chris Harriss, Chris Sabin,Ron "The Truth" Killings, Eric Young if I am not mistaken,oh and I forgot about Raven, and a few more I know I missed. They have alot of the originals. Just pointing this out. The first taping alos I don't think had Soma Joe cause the first taping was on TNN if I re-call correctly and then went to Spike.
Unless I am thinking ECW? Oh,well. Just pointing out how they have originals and it's not one or two.

On another note thsy do need a kewl heel and I think actually Kaz could have done it and still can. Also Raven if they could just push him more or he would try harder. I think Ron is trying for the super kewl heel but I doubt it'll play over and I hate to say why cuz I am not racist but it has to do with race for some reason. African American men can't get over well in wrestling and odn't even say how about the ROCK? Cuz he is American Soman. There said my piece.

 

[Hitman]

Umm... they have more then one or two originals. JJ is still around just dealing with issues I think? A.J.Styles,Daniels,Abyss,James Storm,Chris Harriss, Chris Sabin,Ron "The Truth" Killings, Eric Young if I am not mistaken,and a few more I know I missed. They have alot of the originals. Just pointing this out. The first taping alos I don't think had Soma Joe cause the first taping was on TNN if I re-call correctly and then went to Spike.
Unless I am thinking ECW? Oh,well. Just pointing out how they have originals and it's not one or two.

Half of those people you name is from ROH & WWE

 

[FlamesofFury]

Half of those people you name is from ROH & WWE

It doesn't really matter because without ROH and former WWE guys there would be no TNA, TNA is hopeless for me basically to sum it up they can't even get over a 1.1 in the most hyped episode ever. Come on it was talked about Pacman Jones was going to be on Impact and they draw a 1.0

 

[Hitman]

It doesn't really matter because without ROH and former WWE guys there would be no TNA, TNA is hopeless for me basically to sum it up they can't even get over a 1.1 in the most hyped episode ever. Come on it was talked about Pacman Jones was going to be on Impact and they draw a 1.0

You know what I hate when Wrestling Promotion's Sign people that has no wrestling experience like dennis rodman, karl malone, the jackass crew, monty brown, & now Pacman