Is TNA the worst wrestling promotion in history?

[Cox]

 

 

The situation regarding MVP is that TNA actually fired him over the Hernandez situation. Although we had heard he was thinking of leaving before he was fired, the decision was definitely made by TNA. He took the heat internally since it was his idea to bring Hernandez in. Shouldn’t it be the lawyers who are there to figure out if a guy has a release and if TNA can legally sign him, not the talent or somebody coming up with the creative?

[pol]

So based on the spoilers yesterday and tonight, I think the winner of the "Most Disgusting Promotional Tactic" of 2015 has already been decided. Just pathetic. After reading them I am convinced Russo is booking or at the very least Billy Corgan is under the Russo learning tree which is actually just one leaf

 

I've suspected Russo is back since the first bunch of spoilers from the latest set of tapings started coming out. So many pointless gimmick matches, hotshotting, intergender stuff seems like taking a cue from Lucha Underground which Russo is a big fan of...

 

edit: The Beautiful People are back too? Wasn't that a Russo creation that he was incredibly proud of?

[The Thread Killer]

I can't stand Vince Russo. I think he's the worst pro wrestling booker/writer of all time, and I think he has done permanent damage to pro wrestling. I think it's sad and unbelieveable that despite his prolonged and obviously intimate association with pro wrestling, he still never really understood what pro wrestling is and should be all about.

 

Despite that, when I read one of his blog entries this week, I found myself shocked to be agreeing with something he wrote. As far as I can recall, this was the first time I had ever agreed with anything Vince Russo wrote or thought about anything. But this is what his blog said about Dixie Carter...

 

Dixie Carter was never cut out to run a professional wrestling company. Anybody who has ever worked under her would matter-of-factly tell you that. I will even go as far as to say that I don’t think that any talent who ever signed a contract with TNA felt the least bit confident that Dixie had a clue to what she was doing. And, that inability to lead—due to her failure to make decisions based on her own lack of self-confidence—is quickly leading to her, and TNA’s eventual demise. Sure, her company has had a good 13 year run in spite of her total lack of expertise when it comes to sports-entertainment, but parents with deep pockets will tend to keep you in the game perhaps a bit longer than you deserve to be.

 

And here’s the deal–what I just stated was not a slight at Dixie. If I were put in charge of TNA to run the day-to-day operations—I would have sunk that ship long before she did. That job description wouldn’t even be close to my skill set. However, the only difference is that I would have clearly understand, recognized and accepted my limitations, and then hired those who had the know-how and knowledge to help me.

 

Prior to Eric Bischoff coming into the company, there were serious talks of Jim Ross joining TNA. I know, because I personally spent a couple of hours with Jim on the phone at the time. During those discussions JR even visited the Carter Ranch in Texas, where Bob and Janice Carter absolutely fell in love with him. Unfortunately, the marriage of JR and TNA never took place. And, looking back in hindsight—that one missed opportunity may have been a crucial factor of where TNA is today. In the end, I think Dixie’s ego wouldn’t allow JR to come in and run her company—even if it meant her company gaining credibility and becoming healthy.

 

 

To me, this is shocking for a number of reasons:

 

First, Russo actually "gets" why Dixie Carter and TNA suck, which I assumed he wouldn't since he seems incapable of understanding other blatant obvious facts which are staring him in the face. (For example: "People hate me because I'm from New York.")

 

Mind you in keeping with his typical Russo denial, he does go on to say "I would have clearly understand, recognized and accepted my limitations, and then hired those who had the know-how and knowledge to help me" when all the historical evidence points to the contrary...Russo does NOT understand his limitations - or even sees his limitations as actually, you know...being limitations.

 

Secondly, TNA must really be going through it's final death rattle if Russo is willing to publicly voice a negative opinion about Dixie Carter. Let's be honest, aside from Jeff Jarrett, nobody did more to help Vince Russo and extend his influence on pro wrestling than Dixie. For him to finally bite one of the hands that fed him, he must be sure that he won't be getting any more paydays from Panda.

 

Thirdly, this does confirm the stories that the Carter family don't want TNA to succeed unless Dixie is at the helm. We've heard stories about why Heyman didn't come in, and other stories that Viacom might have stayed involved or other TV deals or business partnerships would have been possible if Dixie would have been willing to step aside and take a less important role...but I guess the Carter family either thinks TNA can only work with Dixie in charge - or they don't want it to work if she isn't. Which is really weird and shows me it's more about the Carter family than it is about business and making money.

 

Finally, I think it's downright bizarre that Vince Russo of all people thinks Jim Ross could have helped TNA. I had the misfortune of reading Russo's first book, in which he pretty much ridicules JR. And we all know about "Oklahoma." Granted, Russo has since apologized publicly to JR for the book and the gimmick in WCW, and it appears the two are friendly to a degree now...but in what universe would Vince Russo as a pro wrestling writer be able to work in a company which was being run under the direction of Jim Ross, considering his view of pro wrestling? Makes no sense.

 

I now have to go outside and check to see if the world is coming to an end, since Vince Russo wrote something I agreed with...

[Matt D]

It's a smokescreen since he's working for them again...

[goc]

No, Russo is not booking TNA. He is busy working with IPW:UK and offering to help book E-Feds on twitter (and blocking me for making fun of that fact....bastard)

 

It's too bad he blocked me I could have probably sent him $20 and got him to read all my Southwest stuff in the 1983 project and give me hilarious feedback. I would have also liked to hear his take on my Sunshine plans "Bro she doesn't even get knocked up by Joe Blanchard!?"

[Slasher]

Actually it isn't that the Carter Family is hell bent on it being Dixie or nobody else, her parents have wanted to get real wrestling folks involved with the company. It is quite simply that Dixie herself refuses to step aside and since it was her idea that the family invest in the Jarrett promotion and become the owners, it has essentially become her plaything while the parents preoccupied themselves with their real jobs and being horrified by the bills that Dixie has run them up for but not having the heart to shut her down.

 

The passage even implies as much, with Bob and Janice falling in love with JR but the deal not working out because Dixie doesn't want it to.

[LariatMMBOPPO]

Why are we taking anything Russo says at face value? The blog reminds me of Fusient-era Eric Bischoff's appearances on WON. He said all the right things yet what happens when he gets a little bit of power 15 years later?

Samoa Joe getting kidnapped by ninjas. Hulk Hogan being the face of a company. World champion AJ Styles being reduced to a Ric Flair clone.

They know the right things to say. They'll just never do them.

[Ready_Willing_Gable]

I've been revisiting TNA going from their first PPV (not the weekly one's, I'm not made of stone), bearing in mind the last time I watched these it was at the time and I ignored all the pap and still called TNA the best.

I can take the shoddy lowercard and that, but man those World title matches. Overbooked grot. It's not even 'oh, fucking Jarrett kept the belt again' cos most of the challengers weren't really cut out to beat him at that time. It was that even if somehow Jarrett and Nash are working a pretty good match, endless ref-bumps and Attitude Era interferences everywhere. Making sure that match was ruined for every single person watching. I even thought this at the time but y'know...TNA! TNA TNA!

But in Jarrett's title match with DDP, it's clear they were running out of viable face contenders, so the decision to turn Monty Brown heel at the end of that match was just gobsmacking. It's bad enough they didn't capitalize on his momentum by giving him the title, they fucking turned him heel? He was one of the strongest runs and characters they ever had in a Heavyweight 'TNA guy'... PERIOD!

 

Spotlighting the cruiserweights in such a way WWE wouldn't have dreamt of back then was a solid business plan, no doubt. But they didn't have the vision to see that through 99% of the time. It's a shame ROH at the time didn't get the same exposure as their main event plan was wonderfully mapped out from the first show, and then they would have been able to keep their best if TNA wasn't considered the bigger deal.

[Mad Dog]

The really dumb thing with Monty Brown is they finally had a guy that wasn't a WWE/WCW cast-off. It started the long history of them ruining anything they managed to successfully build up.

 

It completely deflated the fanbase at the time as well. Brown might have failed as champion but there was a buzz to him at the time and it was crazy they didn't go with the hot guy.

[Ready_Willing_Gable]

The really dumb thing with Monty Brown is they finally had a guy that wasn't a WWE/WCW cast-off. It started the long history of them ruining anything they managed to successfully build up.

 

It completely deflated the fanbase at the time as well. Brown might have failed as champion but there was a buzz to him at the time and it was crazy they didn't go with the hot guy.

Totally agree. Watching him lose the title match in what IIRC was a convoluted NWO rehash with literally zero energy or conviction from Nash & Hall and obviously that offended me more than the result of the match. But by the time he turned heel I was fully facepalming. At least with a shitty NWO rehash you can understand what the hell they were trying to do, cos Brown was still over and only a promoted AJ Styles or at a stretch Jeff Hardy would be a better face contender for the future, even with the loss. With Brown out of the equation it was a bleak outlook. Those early proper PPVs could've been seriously fondly remembered with some sense in the main event scene, even with the lowercards as they were, cos there was a lot of interesting guy v uninteresting guy in there, with obviously mixed results, but the X Division was on point and so were a few of the tag teams. Even when I was a fanboy I couldn't comprehend the main events 90% of the time, mostly just dismissed them. Who knows I could even still be drinking the kool-aid today if they had a World title scene that felt like it mattered at the right time

[Migs]

I was going to ask why no one was discussing TNA getting cancelled by Destination America, but I'm not sure there's much to say. Maybe they end? Maybe they find a new sucker?

[Sidebottom]

I was going to ask why no one was discussing TNA getting cancelled by Destination America, but I'm not sure there's much to say. Maybe they end? Maybe they find a new sucker?

 

Imagine if a family member was hit by a car and suddenly died. That's shocking. You couldn't help but talk about it.

 

Now imagine that family member was VERY SLOWLY dying from a disease...

[Jingus]

Stellar analogy. Yeah, I think TNA's like Yogi Berra; when they finally go out of business, people around the IWC will say "huh, I didn't even know they were still around".

[artDDP]

Dave said they'll be allowed to continue airing until the end of the year. They have Bound for Glory on the schedule and a few house shows but no TV tapings have been scheduled.

 

Apparently the Jeff Jarrett-GFW angle was just to get Jeff to divest his remaining share of the company and TNA will not be going back to being Jarrett's vanity promotion?

 

Serious question: Does Jeff Jarrett really feel he's enough of a star to anchor a promotion that hopes to one day compete with WWE?

[The Chief]

Nobody even talks about this company anymore, I never see recaps or results or discussion of any kind. Who is even still a part of their active roster? It's amazing that a year after a pretty convincing death blow, they're still here.

[goc]

Serious question: Does Jeff Jarrett really feel he's enough of a star to anchor a promotion that hopes to one day compete with WWE?

Huh? I don't think that the goal of GFW is really to compete with WWE and as far as I can tell Jeff isn't even wrestling on any of their cards.

[Blehschmidt]

Let me see if I have this straight.

 

1) They run a PPV and Matt Hardy defeats EC3 and Drew Galloway to become TNA Champion.

 

2) EC3 files an "Injunction" against Hardy, and Hardy just gives up the title without a fight.

 

3) Instead of a rematch, they set up a ridiculous 32 person round robin kind of tournament to determine a new champion.

 

Makes perfect sense for TNA.

 

Awesome.

[sek69]

Plus they have women in the tournament too it seems.

 

What's sad is that Impact is still on my list of shows to record on my DVR and I don't even watch it anymore. I watch Paragon Pro Wrestling on PopTV and CMLL on 52MX yet TNA is just too pointless to watch.

 

In fact it reminds me of a friend/family member who does drugs and after many attempts and hoping they'll clean up, you just have to wash your hands of them and just let nature take its course without being an enabler.

[Death From Above]

This is finally where Andy Kaufman reveals he is still alive and reclaims his rightful place as Intergender World Champion.

 

This is the only explanation for the entire history of TNA that I will accept. It's all an elaborate Kaufman performance art prank.

[Cox]

Part of TNA's problem (and granted, TNA's problems are legion, but in this particular case, is what I mean) is that they taped all of that TV back during the summer, and they didn't want to give away a title change on their biggest PPV of the year. Granted, these are the problems you run into when you're forced to tape months of TV at once because you're a dead company only too stupid to realize you're dead, but these are the things that happen to you when you are TNA.

[artDDP]

In fact it reminds me of a friend/family member who does drugs and after many attempts and hoping they'll clean up, you just have to wash your hands of them and just let nature take its course without being an enabler.

 

This was just too perfect.

 

It's on my DVR, too, and I still try to watch it now and then but most often it gets erased when new episodes of Teen Titans Go! or Uncle Grandpa (my son's) pop up.

[goc]

I watched it a few weeks ago when the main event was Drew Galloway vs. Chris Masters. Match wasn't as good as their 2011 Superstars match but I thought the show as a whole was actually not that bad. The KO division still seems to be one of their better aspects and EC3 might be the best heel in wrestling right now. I still maintain that he's way better as a heel World Champion than Rollins.

 

Like EC3 could probably actually do well with all that TV time they keep giving Rollins, while Rollins makes me want to just change the channel so I can do anything but listen to him talk.

[Bierschwale]

Also, he doesn't suddenly turn until HBK '95 for random matches.

[rvd356]

I watched it a few weeks ago when the main event was Drew Galloway vs. Chris Masters. Match wasn't as good as their 2011 Superstars match but I thought the show as a whole was actually not that bad. The KO division still seems to be one of their better aspects and EC3 might be the best heel in wrestling right now. I still maintain that he's way better as a heel World Champion than Rollins.

 

Like EC3 could probably actually do well with all that TV time they keep giving Rollins, while Rollins makes me want to just change the channel so I can do anything but listen to him talk.

Please don't talk crazy just to put down Rollins. Yeah I don't think Seth is a great promo but he's decent, and he's had 3 back to back to back killer PPV title matches so. Remember he's reciting a script also. But this whole run is just to establish Seth as a top level star, they almost always make guys heel for there first big run, so that it matters when they turn face(Rock, Brock, Taker)

 

That said, Kevin Owens is the best heel in pro wrestling hands down. He looks like an asshole. He cheats, and sneak attacks and gets violent just for the hell of it. He does all the little things and also kicks ass in the ring. Most of all he gets cheers, and finds a way to piss off the smarts before a match is over. He rules. And Brock Lesnar is #2 only because he isn't really a heel anymore, he's a tweener

 

On TNA: Wow I DVR'd my first thing, which was the impact in question. I re-winded it twice thinking I missed something in the storyline but no, EC3 just filed an injunction in court and Matt Hardy just bent over and gave up the belt like a little bitch(seriously does he have warrants for dope?). There wasn't even anything attached to the lawsuit.

 

And then fuckin Billy Corgan shows up with that mummified skank Dixie. I had no idea he was a part of TNA, but it makes sense because it makes zero sense(TNAs mantra). Everything Dixie has been involved with on screen has brought the company down. The storyline where AJ was supposedly fucking her, which got her dipshit husband a TV role and paycheck, and made AJ Styles, the most talented wrestler in the world that they somehow had, look like a total doofus.

 

Speaking on Dixie also, last night I watched AJ v. Bully Ray, TNA World Title Bound for Glory 2013, Main Event match. So the biggest match of the year for TNA. Bully leads the biker gang taking over, AJ is Sting 97, the franchise of TNA, now an outsider with no contract, but still wins the "BFG Series". Now I stopped watching TNA by this point, but it's not a bad feud on paper, and AJ-Bully from 2011 is one of my favorites.

 

So the work is great. Stiff chops, slaps, AJs always great punches and kicks and forearms. A 450 splash off the top, through the announce table was insane and I had never seen that one. Bully pulls up the ring mat and exposes the wood which is a great original heel spot that you gotta give to Bulky. But randomly Dixie walks out, because she's somehow involved and the match breaks down into a mess. Presumably she forgot what to do and even Earl Hebner yells at her. She has no place in that spot, just like Rey Mysterios 8 year old son that fucked up his spot in the Ladder match with Eddie.

 

But it is her company, thats been made clear. And if I owned TNA I sure as hell would be on TV, but not as the top star for Christs sake. Shit I'd probably just be a random masked man just to get involved in my dream job. I hope it was worth pissing of AJ Styles and losing him forever. And Bully eventually, Daniels & Kazarian, Joe, Low Ki, Hernandez and yeah. They still have Bobby Roode and Austin Aries, so they could actually get me to watch it that becomes the Final match in this clusterfuck.

[goc]

 

I watched it a few weeks ago when the main event was Drew Galloway vs. Chris Masters. Match wasn't as good as their 2011 Superstars match but I thought the show as a whole was actually not that bad. The KO division still seems to be one of their better aspects and EC3 might be the best heel in wrestling right now. I still maintain that he's way better as a heel World Champion than Rollins.

 

Like EC3 could probably actually do well with all that TV time they keep giving Rollins, while Rollins makes me want to just change the channel so I can do anything but listen to him talk.

Please don't talk crazy just to put down Rollins. Yeah I don't think Seth is a great promo but he's decent, and he's had 3 back to back to back killer PPV title matches so. Remember he's reciting a script also. But this whole run is just to establish Seth as a top level star, they almost always make guys heel for there first big run, so that it matters when they turn face(Rock, Brock, Taker)

I'm not talking crazy. EC3 and Rollins have similar characters and EC3 is better at playing it. I don't like Rollins as a promo and he DOES make me want to change the channel from watching him while EC3 is probably the only person I would go out of my way to watch in TNA.