TNA's Highs and Lows

[Matt D]

It's the house style that gets me.

 

Actually there might be one tag on there too. But in general?

 

Look at my posts here. What do you think I would like?

[(BP)]

The low points are legion, but one thing I can't take away from them is that they did Sting/Hogan better than WCW did. It was a low bar, but it's something.

[Mad Dog]

LAX in the early months was good stuff. They had their own entrance and they would just come out and destroy people. That whole feud against AJ Styles and Christopher Daniels was really good and I think it was one of the best feuds they produced. Likewise, Sting vs. Jarrett was a really good program. Sting no selling the guitar shot, immediately pinning Jarrett and celebrating with the belt as a dejected Jarrett sat in the ring was the perfect send off to his era at the top.

 

Low point was probably fucking up Monty Brown.

[Guest Eduardo James]

The early months of LAX were HORRIBLE. You're forgetting about Apollo and Machete, members prior to Hernandez joining. They had an awful feud with the New Age Outlaws and were generally terrible even with Homicide in there.

[Mad Dog]

I'm not talking about that era. It disappeared for about 5 months before popping back up in the Hernandez/Homicide/Konnan configuration that I'm talking about.

[Mando]

Highs were the Young Bucks (Generation ME) vs. Motor City Machine Guns empty arena match and maybe a couple Low-Ki TV bouts. Lows were Planet Jarrett and taking Don West off TV.

[rzombie1988]

The thing with TNA, is that they'd have maybe 1-2 good weeks followed by horrendous television for months on end. I'm having trouble thinking of a high point to be honest because even the good stuff would have equally as much bad stuff. The earlier days had the JJ never-ending title reign that couldn't be made up for by the X-Division or Monty Brown. The 2005-2006 years had the X-guys but had dumb undercard stuff. The MEM era made it impossible to figure out who was face/heel and the X guys got destroyed. The Ace's era sometimes had okay stuff with a short period with Hardy/Roode/Aries/AJ being great, but the Hogan's BS, the decimation of the X-dvision(again), the stupid Gut Check Challenge and more.

 

I guess I'd have to go with the FSN years. There was X Division action that carried the company and I didn't hate Team Canada that much. I can't remember the bad stuff as much, probably because it has been so long, that I'd pick that.

 

Low point would probably be the current era. Pretty hard to go lower than that, though the Hogan era was pretty bad.

[rzombie1988]

I know pretty much everyone will point to '05-'06, so I'll offer another time period that I honestly enjoyed instead...

 

High: 2011 (basically everything post Jeff Hardy drug-induced main event versus Sting at Victory Road) through all of 2012 and possibly up until Lockdown 2013. Hogan as GM wasn't as bad as you might think. Concepts like Open Fight Night, the "mandatory" defending of the Television Championship, and even Gut Check were at least unique in theory & even turned out alright in execution more often than not. They put on a string of solid pay-per-views, with Aries, Jeff, Roode, Storm, and others contributing. The emergence of Bad Influence as a tag team, the refocusing on the X-Division, and a serious upgrade in production values took place throughout this tenure as well.

 

Low: Definitely most of 2010. And a lot of the terrible gimmick matches & stipulations they cooked up, simply for the sheer desperate sake of seeming "different."

I liked Open Fight Night. It made sense for the most part but also didn't in some ways because why wouldn't everyone just challenge for title matches every time?

 

Gut Check was totally TNA and a disaster. Lose your match? You're hired! The fans chant not to hire someone, you're hired! I'd wager at least 85% of the people involved looked like total idiots.

 

They did have a string with Roode/Hardy/Aries in late 2013, but then trailed off immediately after with bad shows.

[clintthecrippler]

Highs: Austin Aries World Title run, the initial Bobby Roode heel turn, the Beer Money/MCMG Best of 7 series, anytime they just let the X Division shine on its own from 2002 through 2006, Joseph Park

 

Lows: Anytime Vince Russo was an onscreen character, TNA Tag Team Champion Pac Man Jones, Abyss anytime he wrestled anyone that wasn't AJ Styles or Sabu, that time the Knockouts Championship was won by having the key to one of four boxes.

[fakeplastictrees]

The Highs: The Concepts. TNA has a lot of good concepts that made them stand out from WWE. The X Division, Ultimate X, King Of The Mountain, Gut Check, Global Impact, Terror Dome, LAX, The champion can lose the title on a DQ, KO Tag Team Titles, The Bound For Glory Series, etc.

 

The Lows: The Execution of The Concepts. Million dollar ideas mean absolutely nothing, if there isn't a million dollar execution. A good Example of this is Gut Check. What happens when you mix American Idol and WWE's Tough Enough? You get Gut Check. And that is NOT a knock on the idea - as its a good idea. Why did it fail? TNA put the stakes way too high by promising a TNA contract to the winners of Gut Check. Not only that, but TNA wanted every single wrestler to be presented in the exact same way. Joey Ryan wasn't being sleazy in his Gut Check promo because he was too busy talking about how much of a Hulk Hogan fan he was. And this was the same for everyone. Personal stories of tradegy and triumph is cool for American idol- but in a business where people care more about the character than the person (if we are going to be honest), its time to bring the A game. Everyone taking in a montone voice and being on the verge of tears at time was really lame. But let's get past the introduction intereview segments for Gut Check.

 

Gut Check had some good names like Velez, Pearce, Cage, Bradley, and Ryan. But in other cases there were some suspect names involved and matches worked. If you are a company and are REALLY looking for the best in the world, why would you bring in Tapa?Kris Lewie? The Big O? etc. Why would a wrestler being 'too experienced' and 'not making it elsewhere' (which is code for 'WWE'), be a hinderance? The selection and the judging process was utterly whacky during the entire history of The Gut Check. The matches themselves often times were nothing to write home about and some of those guys/girls receiving a contract at the end of a performance in-ring performance (and accompanied by a weak sauce promo which of course featured brown-nosing and begging) made the entire thing come full circle as being a 2 dollar execution on a million dollar idea.

 

I don't want to take up this whole thread, but I could go on...

 

 

As far as moments when I thought TNA was going to be something special/high moments:

 

Victory Road 2004

 

Kurt Angle's Debut

 

1/4/10 episode of Impact

 

The build to Joe/Steiner

 

Hogan's arrival

 

Sting's return in 2005

 

Austin Aries winning the WHC

[jpchicago23]

Off the top of my head the high years would be 04-07 and the lowest of lows was 2010 and the last few years.

 

 

A high match was the Storm/Harris street fight. Such a great brawl.

 

A low was Homicide taking what felt like 20 mins to climb out of that damn cage on the Impact head to head with Raw

[Jesse Ewiak]

The thing about Gut Check is that it seemed like they picked the people who shouldn't have hung around to stay on TV, then either sent the people who should've been on TV to Ohio Valley or didn't sign them at all. I mean, there's zero reason Brian Cage and Velez at the very least could've been reasonable parts of the X Division and Knockout's roster.

[anotherspammer]

I'm probably in the minority here, but I really liked the LAX vs. New Age Outlawz (were they still 3 Live Kru?) feud, but that's mainly because I like arm wrestling in pro wrestling and this feud had arm wrestling in a cage. It was also old and seriously hurt guys doing it, which was a nice change of pace from the usual strong guys arm wrestling.

 

A low nobody has mentioned was only bringing in Spike Dudley for Bubba Ray's wedding.

[cowboy hats]

A link to a collection of TNA gifts would be appreciated.

 

Kurt Angle is still alive, and I recall that not being a given as early as, what, 2009?, so that's something.

[Jimmy Redman]

It's the house style that gets me.

 

Actually there might be one tag on there too. But in general?

 

Look at my posts here. What do you think I would like?

 

Jumping in here, but tag team matches aren't a bad place to start. They can get spotty and are worked along the same lines as TNA matches in general (so if your problem with the house style is that severe, take everything I'm saying with extreme caution), but you also get moments where the tag structure helps with psychology, especially earlier on when TNA still had that vaguely Southern feel.

 

The AMW vs Triple X feud is a good example. Underneath the confusion of Weekly PPV-era storylines and the spottiness of moves and finishing stretches, the matches themselves are generally quite good and have clear face/heel divides and strong tag structure. I recommend their major matches, especially the two cage matches (June 2003 and December 2004 - the latter having the Skipper cage walk).

 

The AMW vs Naturals Ladder match from July 2004 is much the same. You hear "ladder match" and think the worst when it comes to psychology, but this is actually a completely different match to what you'd expect - it's more along the lines of a hate-filled street fight where ladders happen to be the weapon of choice, complete with a major heat stretch.

 

This is unintentionally becoming an AMW-a-thon, but AMW vs Team Canada at Final Resolution 2005 is amazing and one of my favourite tag matches. I'm not sure how up your personal alley it would be since it's heavy on interference, bullshit and general overkill, but I want to mention it anyway since it's amazing and the best TNA match nobody ever talks about.

 

Other matches from the list I think are worth looking at/feature strong psychology/confound expectations of TNA:

 

50. Last Man Standing: AJ Styles vs. Bully Ray (6/12/11, Slammiversary)

 

This is way too low on a list, I'd have it Top 10, and is a really strong brawl with big/little dynamics and is very heavy on telling the story of the match.

 

(Bully Ray vs Austin Aries from Sacrifice 2012 is worked along much the same lines and is another must-watch)

 

36. Samoa Joe vs. Chris Sabin (7/17/05, No Surrender)

7. Super X Cup Finals: Samoa Joe vs. AJ Styles (8/14/05, Sacrifice)

3. TNA X Division: AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe (12/11/05, Turning Point)

 

I group these together in a "Samoa Joe in 2005" kind of way. Joe in the X Division was a revelation because all of the flippydoes finally had someone to fly around, flip over, bounce off and bump for, and flying, flipping, bouncing and bumping are big strengths for guys like AJ and Sabin. And Joe was great murderising everyone. These in particular are matches that tend towards a big/little story and babyface selling, instead of just the spotfests the X-D was famous for.

 

34. Kurt Angle vs. Jeff Jarrett (10/12/08, Bound For Glory)

 

This is great. Jarrett manages to reign in every bad tendency Angle has in his body and they just work an excellent, structurally sound grudge match (if that's not too awkward a phrase - but really, it's one of the best laid out Angle matches ever).

 

18. Steel Cage Match/#1 Contendership: AJ Styles vs. Abyss (4/24/05, Lockdown)

 

It's on the first page, watch it, it rules. It is Abyss' crowning achievement as a wrestler since for once in his life he works as a perfectly competent monster in a cage, and AJ was the perfect guy to bounce off him and sell his ass off

 

4. Texas Death Match: James Storm vs. Chris Harris (5/13/07, Sacrifice)

 

One good guy, one bad guy, a personal feud, and a whole lot of hatred, violence and blood to settle it like men.

[Dylan Waco]

High Point: Many of the things I would have picked for highs have already been mentioned (Aries title run, Joes initial run, AMW's best run, et.) so I'll go with the the single biggest thing that kept me watching even long after the product seemed to be beyond salvation - Don West. To me Don West was absolutely awesome both as the crazy guy in the booth marking out for Amazing Red, who you responds and reacts like he thinks wrestling is real and as the heel who buried the truly awful Mike Tenay, did the heel color schtick better than anyone had done in years, and literally saved horrid angles and shows with his talking. In thirty years as a fan the ONLY wrestling show I've ever watched solely for the announcing was heel Don West era TNA, as the promotion was the absolute shits then, but he was so entertaining in the booth I would watch every week anyhow. When they dumped him I quit watching immediately and didn't start back up with consistency until Voices of Wrestling roped me into doing Impact reviews for their site this year.

 

Low Point: Besides the first Impact I reviewed for VOW which may have been the worst t.v. show (of any kind) that I've ever seen, I'd have to say it was when they let their biggest home grown star and champion leave the company because they didn't want/couldn't afford to pay him. Despite the fact that TNA house shows were not drawing particularly well with him, AJ Styles went on to draw record setting crowds for indies all over the U.S., including topping several shows that did well over 1,000 paid, something TNA almost never does anymore. Notably none of these indies have any sort of T.V. presence, unlike TNA.

[Alucard]

High: Austin Aries winning the title. Legit felt like a real true star-making moment for TNA. Great crowd reaction, great big moment feel, everything about it went perfectly. Roode's title run goes alongside as a high point also.

 

Low: Chris Sabin winning the title. This on the other hand came off awful in every way. Sabin came off like a joke and was so far away from where Aries was the year before. I do credit Hogan for trying to put over both in similar ways on screen but it obviously worked much better with Aries.

 

Other highs already mentioned that I wanted to include would be the Storm/Harris Texas Death and the Storm/Roode feud. As well as Hogan vs. Sting which was another perfect 'moment' that may have created the biggest pop in TNA history for the post-match Hulkamania.

 

For me October 2011 through 2012 is my favorite TNA era.

[ceejay519]

First of all if TNA is done on Spike, that is bad news for wrestling. As much as I enjoy the WWE product, an alternative is always good. That being said, TNA has not been an alternative for a long...........long time.

How could a company that has a roster of Austin Aries, Samoa Joe, Jeff Hardy, and maybe one of my favourite workers of the last decade Kurt Friggin Angle be horrible? Well that is a whole different topic.

 

 

I have a favourite memory. Me and my Father on a family vacation were in Nashville in August of 2003. We went to an original TNA weekly show at the Nashville fairgrounds. This was back when TNA still had the girls dancing in the cages on the shows.

It was a spur of the moment decision to go to the show and we were still able to get great ringside seats. I could be wrong, but I'm almost sure Dixie Carter herself greeted us as we walked in and guided us to our seats.

It was the night when Teddy Hart and Juventud Gurrera had a match that tore the house down (missed it we arrived late).

But the main show saw AJ Styles face Raven for the NWA/TNA belt as well as a psudeo wargames match with Jeff Jarrett emerging as the victor.

The whole atmosphere was hot. Hell...........the American Dream Dusty Rhodes was there as well (this made my Dad mark out).

Basically it was a great show, a hot crowd and the wrestlers putting on a great show for the crowd. It was one of the best shows I had ever seen live. Even with Vince Russo as a main part of the show.

 

TNA in their first few years had some good stuff going on. Ken Shamrock winning the belt. Man the dude was crazy, but you could see it working.

Ron Killings and his promos with Rick Steamboat. Great stuff.

Jerry Lynn and AJ Styles mentor/student program. It was all great old school wrestling goodness.

 

 

There was good there, but what is my worst memory?

 

TNA has just seemed insignificant in the last few years. Too much talking and not enough wrestling I guess. Horrible programs that never went anywhere. They never seemed to be an alternative in the last few years, just seemed to be a WWE copy. And a poor one at that.

If you can make a wrestling fan not care about a wrestiling show..............well maybe that was their problem.

[BigBadMick]

I think 2005-6 was TNA's strongest years, closely followed by 2012. There's more good than bad in 2002-04 and 2007-08.

 

Just my opinion.

[concrete1992]

Lack of Tito Ortiz love is disappointing.

[Matt D]

 

 

It's the house style that gets me.

 

Actually there might be one tag on there too. But in general?

 

Look at my posts here. What do you think I would like?

Matches .

I will watch as many of these as I can find next month.

[Hollinger.]

They are all in the playlist I posted on the first page.

[Matt D]

There we go. I am committed. But I am fully prepared never to listen to Stacey again if this is painful.

[MikeCampbell]

Here's a complete catalogue of their lows:

 

http://taimapedia.org/index.php?title=LOLTNA_History#TNA_IMPACT_CANCELLED

 

I spent the better part of two hours reading through this while working last night. This is awesome stuff!

[artDDP]

I have seen very little of TNA. I ditched cable in 2006 and didn't get it back until this year. I'd watch with a friend at his place because he DVRed it since he liked a lot of the old WCW guys they had. Whenever I'd watch I don't remember anything compelling me to watch more. Anything except Velvet Sky, anyway.

 

My personal high point was Tony Schiavone cutting a promo on Mike Tenay and the guy in the crowd with his sign visible on the hard camera reading "Total Nonstop Action Wrestling has officially stopped."