Is TNA the worst wrestling promotion in history?

[SomethingSavage]

Hated the initial months & roll-out of the Hogan/Bischoff era. Can't stand looking back at most of 2010 because of it.

 

Things didn't pick up for me until 2011, when they started rebuilding the X-Division. The angle with Abyss and his Art of War fascination was great. The use of Kendrick as the dragon-slayer was a story told properly for a change. It was allowed to simmer and build to a fitting and SATISFYING conclusion.

 

From the point Jeff Hardy left, 2011 got REALLY good for me. Sting's title reign didn't even drag it down. The Joker Sting stuff was hokey, sure. But the intro of it was creepy enough to work. The feud with Anderson didn't make for good matches, but it made for entertaining enough TV in the meantime.

 

That brought us up to the BFG series, which quickly became a smash hit with me. Enjoyed the format, and I love the way they used it to TRULY ELEVATE new guys for a change. Roode and Storm left imprints. Gunner turned heads. And Bully was almost completely rebuilt in the midst of it all. Beneath them, guys like Joe were given stuff to do again. Ditto for Morgan.

 

And yes. The way they wrapped up Sting/Hogan was better than anything I'd expected from them, to be brutally honest.

 

2012 was probably their best year since the heyday of the X-Division (05-06, I'm thinking?) though. The Roode reign. The tale of redemption sought by James Storm. The Lockdown event as a whole. Heck, the Slammiversary event. The rise of an awesome heel act in Bad Influence. I could go on & on.

[cowboy hats]

Haven't seen this posted here yet:

 

[BigBadMick]

Haven't seen this posted here yet:

 

Tragic.

[(BP)]

Poison dart?

[jackwebb]

Poison dart?

Nice, Reminds me of this soccer gem. Sad thing is that wouldn't even be the worst spot of Bully Ray's last year.

 

[El-P]

Exactly what I was thinking about. Amazing phantom bump in both cases.

[SomethingSavage]

Finally got around to scoping out the Sacrifice show. Not as bad as I'd expected going in, but yeah. It's just so hard to take them seriously at this stage. I've followed the product since day one, so it kind of sucks to say that. But it is what it is.

 

The in-ring performances were solid, for the most part. The energy was there. The effort was there. And the workers delivered on several levels. But there's a major case of mismanagement when it comes to their upper echelon. Cramming the likes of Kurt Angle and Jeff Hardy into their situation is just crazy, for one. Jeff shouldn't be allowed to tuck himself under some horrid indie mask and gimmick, simply because it lets him feel artistic and expressive. Give the guy a role that brings new guys up to his level, or let him walk. He's not contributing much of anything at this phase, and that's a shame. He was SO freaking over after his late 2011 return and subsequent title run. Where'd all that momentum go? It's been rapidly floundered.

 

James Storm is a guy that's being used to elevate someone new in Gunner, sure. But Storm's hardly a star of the same caliber, and he's not really in THAT kind of position to be "making" a new guy. Heck, he needs rebuilding and re-evaluating himself. His career path has sadly gone off the rails, when he's precisely the type of individual they should be piling some stock into when their roster is this depleted.

 

Creative just feels aimless, and that's the major problem for me. The opener at Sacrifice, for instance, was something I found to be incredibly entertaining. Just a fun, fast-paced, fierce method to get the belts back on the Wolves. Enjoyed it a great deal. Some neat spots worked into the No DQ format, and it got us to the ultimate goal they wanted there. Things COULD remain this simple all up & down the card.

 

Regarding the phantom ref bump though - I haven't had the chance to check out Impact just yet, so I'm unsure if they actually addressed it or not. I think there's a quick, basic built-in solution to the error - just by having it explained that Dixie (the boss) convinced the ref (the employee) to "take a dive" that "coincidentally" allowed Roode to win. Not the best fix, but it fits. Did they even bother to talk about it? Or simply ignore it? Seems like an easy fix to me.

[SomethingSavage]

I will admit that I'm a fan of the way TNA has been handling Eric Young's main event run thus far. The push came out of left field, sure. But it's been treated tremendously. They've booked him strong. He doesn't come across as an underdog, always battling from underneath or out of his element up "in the big leagues" or anything. I dig that.

 

They've got the guy winning competitive matches week after week, defending the strap week after week, and holding onto it. CLEAN. STRONG. WINS. That's it. Good matches to boot. Against high caliber challengers. It's only about a month in, sure. But the same can be said for Daniel Bryan, and there's a totally different approach being taken on both sides. I won't harp on the booking of Bryan TOO MUCH, because a lot of stuff in his personal life has kept him off TV. On the other hand, the whole angle with Kane has been dreadful and beyond cheesy.

 

Mania was THE moment for Bryan, but almost everything since? It's just a mess, whereas TNA has shockingly stuck to a simple story for Eric. And it works. It's just this basic, bare bones tale of a guy FINALLY fulfilling his lifelong dream and capturing the big prize. And once he does? He shows pure fighting spirit and demands to do battle with the best in order to prove his worth, his honor, and his merit to keep it. Sounds a lot to me like TNA is booking EY like the Internet has cried out for WWE to book Bryan, at least in that sense.

 

Plus he's brought back the Piledriver. This move is an institution in American pro wrestling. Ask somebody on the street to name 5 pro wrestling moves. You're gonna get a Body Slam here, an Elbow Drop or Leg Drop, and most definitely a great big helping of PILEDRIVERS in response. Trust me.

 

I do sort of wish TNA would protect the Piledriver a bit more though. I mean, come on. Guys shouldn't be kicking out of it left and right. It's more of a signature spot for EY than a definitive finisher, so I get it. But I really wish they would've went the other way with that decision. But hey. That's nitpicking. It's STILL really cool to see him bust it out in just about every match. 'Cause yeah. The standard Piledriver is awesome. Enough said there.

[BigBadMick]

Any chance of getting some recommended matches from this year?

[SomethingSavage]

I recommend checking out both the One Night Only: #OldSchool and One Night Only: Hardcore Justice 2 (especially this one) in FULL if you can, actually. I have no way of knowing, but I honestly believe Tommy Dreamer must have had a hand in putting together those two events. I just got the impression that he coordinated them, because he's been involved with the company ever since they were filmed at least - PLUS they pack the feeling of his usual FWE/House of Hardcore cards.

 

They're a throwback to a typical indie show that's given a theme to run. They're like a isolated one-night stories that develop over the course of the entire evening, and they play out fully to get wrapped up in a wonderfully fun little main event moment at the end of each. Highly recommended - if for nothing else than the fact that it shows what TNA could and should be doing on television and pay-per-views regularly.

 

But you asked for individual matches. I don't know. Anything involving Eric Young has been great though. He and Abyss have a nifty Full Metal Mayhem Match with The Bad Influence on that Hardcore Justice 2 show. Plus his main event run with the belt has been fairly exceptional so far. Nothing mind-blowing, but hey. The matches are GOOD.

 

Joe/Magnus from Lockdown is a snug, stiff, ultra physical clash that tells a pretty good story up until the wonky, convoluted finishing sequence.

 

James Storm/Gunner from Lockdown was pretty good. Ditto for their I Quit Match, although I honestly preferred their first encounter more.

 

Tigre Uno's debut at LockDown against Manik is worth checking out, too.

[Dylan Waco]

I have enjoyed the booking of Eric Young and his title run so far, I just feel bad for him because they've had him in there with some real turds.

[SomethingSavage]

I don't know. I thought he did with Abyss what they SHOULD have had Bryan do with Kane, essentially. A one & done fun "hardcore" style encounter, focusing more on the history of the characters as teammates and putting over the champ cleanly in the end. Simple deal, really.

 

The matches with Magnus were what they were. Nothing extraordinary. But they were solid, clean wins to give EY's run legs to launch.

 

The bout with Roode was honestly pretty good. I mentioned this before, but it kind of irks me that they don't protect the Piledriver as a finish more. Instead, they've sort of used it as Eric's signature setup spot for the Flying Elbow. So meh. Guess the mark in me just wishes the old "American as apple pie" Piledriver would be seen in TNA as it was in Memphis for so many years. I think it'd get over BIG if they brought it back as a big deal all over again - after so many years of basically being an endangered species.

 

But overall? I can't complain too much about the quality of Eric's main event matches thus far. Granted, I haven't yet seen this week's Impact with MVP, but surely it can't be bad enough to drag down everything else.

[Dylan Waco]

I have enjoyed the Magnus and Abyss matches. Didn't see the Roode match. But my point is that I wish he had someone of a higher level to work against.

[bradhindsight]

SomethingSavage - I'd like to check out the best Bad Influence matches. Which would you recommend (outside the Hardcore Justice 2 show you noted)?

[SomethingSavage]

You'd (unfortunately) probably have to go back to 2012 for a lot of their best tag stuff together. They spent a lot of time in 2013 doing comedy segments, mic work, and WAY too much stuff revolving around the Joseph Park persona.

 

Daniels had a fine one-on-one match with Jeff Hardy for the TNA World Championship on Impact last year (February 2013, if I recall correctly). Both Daniels & Kazarian had individual outings versus AJ Styles at the tail end of 2012 as well.

 

Other than that, pretty much all their PPV appearances from 2012 and 2013 were great. Off the top of my head...

 

- Bad Influence vs. Chavo/Hernandez vs. Styles/Angle (BFG 2012)

- Bad Influence vs. Styles/Angle (Slammiversary 2012)

 

- Bad Influence vs. Styles/Anderson (not sure which PPV, but it's 2012 haha)

 

- Bad Influence vs. Dirty Heels vs. Chavo/Hernandez (Lockdown 2013)

 

Also, if I'm remembering right, they also had a bout with a 2/3 Falls stipulation or something similar against the Dirty Heels (Roode and Aries) on Impact in the first half of 2013.

[anarchistxx]

Amazed Christopher Daniels is still around.

[SomethingSavage]

Yup. Longevity. He's still around, although not technically *around* TNA anymore. Ahem.

 

And I honestly think his best years as a CHARACTER came way, way late in his career. Best in-ring years were probably around the time he was tearing it up with Joe & Styles in the X-Division, but even that's debatable.

 

Just looked it up. Bad Influence versus Styles/Anderson was from Victory Road 2012.

 

Also worth checking out...

 

- Bad Influence versus Samoa Joe/Magnus from Sacrifice 2012, and

 

- Bad Influence versus Styles/Angle from No Surrender 2012. It's the rematch that I had forgot about. Not as good as the initial Slammiversary bout between these two teams in my opinion, but it sets up the eventual Triple Threat they wanted for BFG that year.

[bradhindsight]

Thanks man - really appreciate it.

[SomethingSavage]

No problem.

 

For what it's worth, if you're looking for the characters at their slimiest as heels - you can't leave out the Daniels/Styles Last Man Standing from Destination X 2012 or the "Final Encounter" between Styles/Daniels at Final Resolution 2012. Both are great singles matches that REALLY sell the feud as something significant in the saga of TNA history. And rightfully so. Their rivalry has been a staple for the company, in both good & not so good times.

 

I know you asked for their tag match recommendations, but those two bouts came at a time when the Bad Influence shtick was revved up full throttle. Probably Daniels' best heel work to date.

[BigBadMick]

Nice collection of matches there, something savage. I'd say 2012 was TNA's best year since 2006.

[SomethingSavage]

Yup. Things really pick up towards the tail end of 2011 to be honest, but (to me) their absolute best IN YEARS lies within the calendar months of 2012. For sure. You're right about that.

 

The Roode title reign, with the epic scope & handling of the Storm feud building beneath. Austin Aries' X-Division dominance and ascension through the heavyweight ranks. Aries/Bully - the first AND second chapter of their rivalry and the two awesome PPV outings they had together. Aries/Joe from Slammiversary. The tag division picked up steam again.

 

And, to be perfectly honest, Hogan as an authority figure REALLY wasn't that bad. The concept of Open Fight Night. intro of Gut Check. The emphasis on the TV Title as something of substance. And so on.

 

Just truckloads of fun stuff that helped make the company feel like it COULD completely turn things around at any moment.

[C.S.]

Vince Russo's new website posted a defense of Eric Young as TNA Champion. It's actually pretty good. Whether EY deserves the title is up to you, but this piece certainly makes me root for him.

[SomethingSavage]

The whole handling of it on TV has actually been pretty good, to be honest. For TNA, it's the best thing they've done since at least Bound For Glory last year. The little "history of EY" video package they put together to hype the title win & rematch with Magnus at Sacrifice was exceptionally solid stuff for TNA. And, while they're still lacking A LOT in terms of creative, at least they're handling Eric and his run the right way.

 

I try NOT to give 'em too much leeway, since it seems I'm always left disappointed in the end. The last time I actually remember feeling thoroughly satisfied with an entire TNA Title reign - from start to finish - was probably the Bobby Roode run of 2012. Some may say that Storm was the heir apparent in that situation, but I REALLY dug the whole buildup and rise of Aries. Given the circumstance, we STILL saw the blow-off to Storm/Roode in their supremely fun Street Fight at BFG 2012 anyway. We just ALSO got two stellar Aries/Roode clashes in the meantime. That's win/win in my book.

 

But yes. Going back to EY, I can see why the "sudden" push to the moon might have its detractors. But hey. I ain't one of 'em. By far, I'm buying into the reign and buying into EY as a top-tier talent at this point. They're putting him over their other top guys (what's left of them anyhow) with CLEAN, SOLID wins. He's being built up proper, and I find that entirely refreshing & effective.

 

The whole Abyss deal was wrapped up neatly, by the way. I cannot stress enough how THAT is what WWE should have done with Bryan and Kane's situation. It was one & done. It was a fun, chaotic, hardcore brawl that put a stamp on Eric's reign. It told the right story. And their little backstage altercation to setup the actual match was great. Abyss demands a match. EY accepts and boldly adds the Monster's Ball stipulation. Abyss sells it in shock and awe, asking EY if he's crazy.

Eric's response? "Crazy? CRAZY? Yeah. Yeah, that's it. I'm crazy. I'm crazy LIKE YOU. Hell, you'd think we'd be better friends!" And with that, EY turns and walks away... HUGE shit-eating grin on his face, just a'smirking away. Perfectly done, in my eyes.

 

Even if the rest of the show is strictly Fast Forward quality at times, Impact (to me) is worth scoping out to see what they do with EY. I'm a major fan of the guy. He's entertaining. He's a natural born performer. And you can tell he's just eating this up. Good for him. Good for us, as fans. And good for TNA - for getting it right. It's been awhile.

[Alucard]

Bad Influence vs Angle/Styles from Slammiversary 2012 was my favorite match of theirs. Awesome tag during a great run. That show was pretty good stuff. Also the mentioned Styles/Daniels Destination X 2012 last man standing match is one of my favorites of that year, loved it.

 

Yup. Things really pick up towards the tail end of 2011 to be honest, but (to me) their absolute best IN YEARS lies within the calendar months of 2012. For sure. You're right about that.

 

The Roode title reign, with the epic scope & handling of the Storm feud building beneath. Austin Aries' X-Division dominance and ascension through the heavyweight ranks. Aries/Bully - the first AND second chapter of their rivalry and the two awesome PPV outings they had together. Aries/Joe from Slammiversary. The tag division picked up steam again.

 

And, to be perfectly honest, Hogan as an authority figure REALLY wasn't that bad. The concept of Open Fight Night. intro of Gut Check. The emphasis on the TV Title as something of substance. And so on.

 

Just truckloads of fun stuff that helped make the company feel like it COULD completely turn things around at any moment.

 

Agreed with all of this. My favorite period of TNA history, they were on fire.

[bradhindsight]

Is the same group writing for them today that was back in '12? I remember even the smarkiest of smarks really enjoying the TV they were putting on. It was better than WWE's in a lot of instances.