Is TNA the worst wrestling promotion in history?

[rzombie1988]

 

 

Wrestling is not complicated, why does everybody make it so difficult on themselves?

 

 

I know. I just don't get it. All they have to do is have a few matches, let some guys do some promos in between to build them up and lather, rinse and repeat. Anyone can do this and yet no one does.

 

Wrestling really isn't complicated.

[Memphis Mark]

I watch the TNA show. Too many talking segments . Too many non-wrestlers holding a microphone and wasting valuable ring time. Only 4 matches on a two hour show. Two of the matches did not have clean finishes. Pepper Parks is a baby face and he needed his wife's help to win. The main event was not a clean finish. Also I would think that TNA might have wanted to have a multi- month build up to an Alberto vs. Bobby Lashley match. You know maybe do a build up and put the match on the next PPV. Instead we get another screw job finish.

 

The angle with Borash and Matthews was the worse . No one cares about Matthews . The ongoing conflict between the announcers sent the show into the gutter.

 

Off camera the attempt to stop the ROH PPV was really insane. The owl people did manage to stop the ROH PPV on Dish. The question is why would Anthem want to enter into a conflict with Sinclair. Hell Anthem and Sinclair are business partners. A simple Monday morning phone call to Joe Koff would have prevented all of this nonsense. Despite reports to the contrary , I see Jarrett 's finger prints on this cease and deist letter. Only Jarrett would be stupid enough to think Anthem could start and win a promotional war with Sinclair. One would think that the Anthem and Sinclair people are going to have some interesting talks this week.

 

 

IT looks the the old days. Jarrett has found a new money mark and the country club is back open for him and his boys.

[BBscout]

Jarett is promoting a show with Jeff Hardy on it next wkend

[Rah]

Either I misheard or this seems par for the course to others, but Josh Matthews pretty much called Tough Enough (not only a bigger stepping stone but) a bigger show than TNA and I've not seen that marked down anywhere else.

 

During the entrances to the X-Div match, Josh relates a story about how he was signed to TNA many years ago, was booked to be the next X-Division champion only that he LEFT HIS CONTRACT TO BE A BIG STAR ON TOUGH ENOUGH. Because literally Tough Enough is "watched by millions of people and TNA isn't". I... what?

[stro]

TNA wasn't even around when Tough Enough started, so I assume that was just another one of his lines to rile up the smarks, like having never heard of the name "Ellering" in pro wrestling, and just generally being a huge asshole all show. Amazing how booking someone as close to their real selves as possible works every time. It was literally the only time I've ever heard him be entertaining on TNA.

 

As for why you wouldn't wait and do ADR/Lashley at Slammiversary, I am almost 100% positive that Del Rio will have left the company before the PPV. I'm sure the plan was to get some buzz with ADR for a month or so, then put the title back on Lashley before Alberto inevitably no shows and has a falling out with management.

[Mrzfn]

It's not like ADR and buzz have traditionally gone together anyway...

 

I've actually mostly like Impact for the past few years, but this was so bad I don't think I'll ever watch again. If Russo's not back, he sure as hell mailed Jarrett his playbook.

[fakeplastictrees]

ADR was so cold at the end of his first WWE run that a run in the indies and Mexico were VERY MUCH NEEDED. After a few months the wheels fell off and a AAA show with Mistico, Mysterio, and ADR didn't even sell out the arena. Despite proven not to be a considerable draw, the con continued, and ADR got himself back in WWE where it took less than 30 seconds (the ending of his ring entrance to the start of the bell) before he just seemed like he never left WWE in the first place. And now the most cold and over-hyped wrestler with a more spotty level of consistency this side of Ken Anderson, is back in the company not called TNA.

[Johnny Sorrow]

the atrocious vignette he did on WWE TV where he stopped in the middle of it to say "Hey, my name is Dutch Mantell and I'm playing a role", .

That didn't air on WWE TV. It was either on the YouTube channel or the website. The one that was on TV edited out that part. And it was to shit on Glenn Beck and that's always a good thing.

[C.S.]

More "Broken" TNA drama, this time between Reby Hardy and Dutch Mantell.

 

http://www.cagesideseats.com/wwe/2017/5/19/15667954/hardys-vs-impact-wrestling-twitter-fight

[The Thread Killer]

I usually have quite a lot of respect for Dutch Mantell but I'm not sure what the hell he's thinking here. It's natural people are going to ask him about the Broken Hardys Lawsuit on Twitter. It's even to be expected that Reby Sky will bait him...but he really ought not to have responded.

 

Anybody who has ever been involved with any kind of litigation will tell you that once lawyers and court appointed arbitrators are involved, you don't say a damn thing, because anything you say or do becomes grist for the mill. There's a reason that "my lawyers have advised me not to comment due to ongoing litigation" is pretty much a catch phrase.

 

I expect idiots on Twitter to bait him, and based on what I've seen, I expect Reby Sky to take shots. I never would have expected somebody who has been around as long as Dutch Mantell to take the bait. He's really risking stepping into something by doing that.

[El-P]

As far as when the question of the thread was actually asked (damn, 10 years), it strikes me as I just reached the point when Russo was hired back as a writer that after about one year of very good, easy to watch, pro-wrestling TV which included tons of very good to great matches and booking that made sense and also a feeling of momentum (for a while) thanks to some actual stars showing up (Christian Cage, Team 3D, Sting), it took exactly ONE SHOW under Russo to get a "This is stupid !" chant from the audience. And it was not even during the match (an X-div match mind you) that involved laxatives.

 

Under D'Amore's booking, especially with the move on Spike TV, TNA really was a cool little alternative promotion for a while. It did began to slow down during the summer of 06, especially around Slammiversary, but there were still really good stuff afterward.

 

Then Russo is hired back. And we get laxatives and some shit involving a blow-up doll that incites a "This is stupid !" chant from the everloving TNA Asylum crowd. Up to that point, despite some truly awful stuff (from, yeah, Russo already, but also Dusty Rhodes who's stint as a booker there was pretty terrible), those D'Amore 15 months or so would absolutely prevent TNA from being called the worst promotion ever. Nothing touches WCW under Russo. I should know. Still, the fact that question was asked just a few months after that idiot came back to sink the promotion is pretty telling. The fact It took so long to never improve and never become relevant since then is also amazing.

 

So, all this to say that, no, in 2007, TNA had not been the worst promotion ever, not by a long shot. 10 years of irrelevancy and stupid decisions one after another after that point... well, it's a long history of nothingness indeed.

[sek69]

I have to say, I've finally punted on TNA, I've been watching more or less consistently since the Fox Sports days, and when I thought they were finally going to get past the mass incompetence of the Dixie Era it ends up turning into Global Force cosplaying as TNA.

[El-P]

It's actually amazing. After just two weeks of Vince Russo booking in 2006, we already got :

 

_infamous dumbfuckery of a gimmick match in the Reversed Battle Royal, as part of a super convoluted tournament for the N°1 challenger to the World Title

_hotshoting of the X-div title from Sabin (who won his biggest match at BFG) to AJ Styles (who was out of the division at this point) in a throwaway TV match *as part of said convoluted tournament to crown a N°1 contender for the World Title*

_a shooty shooty promo by The James Gang, infering to them going back to WWE

_an "item on a pole match" to set up a barb-wire cage match on free TV with idiotic and convoluted rules

 

I mean, you'd write a basic parody of Russo's shit and you couldn't do better. I guess the mysoginic stuff and swerves are incoming too, that's the only two "creative ideas" he's known for missing thus far. That's litteraly it.

 

Seeing as this was probably gonna get worse in the months to follow, it's understandable that despite the really good D'Amore stint, by February of 2007 people here would throw around that question, considering the awful PPV & iMPACT on Fox few years (which weren't as bad as 2000 WCW, nothing is, but still pretty wretched).

[Laz]

After getting inebriated and wanting a laugh, I went on YouTube and looked up XPW again.

 

I can say, without a shadow of a doubt, that TNA at its worst shows more competence in production, talent relations, quality of talent, and booking than XPW did.

[iamthedoctor]

TNA's show tonight was awful. Josh's commentary during the women's match was one of the worst commentated matches I've ever seen and I legit had to hold myself from putting my fist through the monitor to nail him. Awful.

 

Dutch Mantell then cut a promo showing all of the old TNA guys who are now in WWE and talked about how great Impact used to be because you know, it sucks now. Tons of shoot words and WWE nostalgia all through the show too.

 

Josh Matthew's is TNA's version of Michael Cole's heel turn a few years ago.

[El-P]

I guess the mysoginic stuff and swerves are incoming too,

 

And week 3, we get heel manager Tracy, well Miss Brooks, whose act with Robert Roode hasn't been established as successful yet (after three weeks of being together), made out to look like an idiot, basically costing her man the match and having a glass of water thrown to her face. Then she get yelled at backstage while she complains about having "broken a nail". There you go.

[El-P]

And by week 4 and the debut on prime time you get Abyss, N°1 challenger for already heatless World Title match (since Sting barely ever appears, just like he did during the build to BFG), taps out clean to Kurt Angle (who also managed to kick out of the Black Hole Slam, so there goes your Abyss vs Angle match for the future).

 

And the VKM stuff, which was brutal. Russo and his amazingly idiotic "smart" acronyms. What the fuck does Voodo Kin Mafia even means ? And that shooty shooty stuff, rehashing angles from 8 years before, from another context and when these guys were actually relevant. Anyway, this is complete shit and the Russo bingo is now almost complete, only the "swerve" hasn't appeared yet.

 

Damn. How to ruin a promotion in less than a month.

[El-P]

Holy shit. By December of 2006, iMPACT was unwatchable. It's like they tried to cram a hundred sequences in a 40 minutes show. Insane. It's like the whole show is on speed. 20 seconds backstage angles, 2 minutes matches, tons of truthfully unfunny comedy, nonsensical drama, no replay no time to breath NEXT SEQUENCE NOW !!! Impressive. It's even worse than the weekly PPV era because there's no time for anything good to eventually happen and take place. Everything, even some stuff with potential interest, has to be done on fast forward. Insane.

[iamthedoctor]

TNA is a odd promotion as Ive tried to get into it at times then just lose interest in the product. Back when tape trading was about I was buying tapes of the weekly PPVs and they were good but not every week but they did have alot of suprises. Impact I caught the first episode and I remember watching when Hogan initially coming in and when RVD beat Styles for the title but after the Van Dam I again lost interest. I tried to follow it several years later but everything had changed too much for me so I no longer follow it.

[sek69]

The Billy Corgan era was actually not too bad for the most part, but just when it looked like they were hitting their stride he got pushed out and now we're back to Double J's Fun Time Emporium that I mentioned before finally made me punt on them for good.

 

Got to wonder how James Storm is thinking about his choice to not stick with NXT and go back now.

[C.S.]

Got to wonder how James Storm is thinking about his choice to not stick with NXT and go back now.

 

I still feel the NXT higher-ups realized that James Storm was too Southern, too indy, too rasslin', for NXT and quietly decided not to use him but let him save face by making it look like his decision. I have no proof of this or anything - it's just a gut feeling on my part - but it wouldn't surprise me if I'm right because he was not a good fit at all during his one NXT appearance.

[sek69]

Possibly, but I think he would have been fine in the role of the veteran who can work with the PC trainees on the Florida circuit to help them improve.

[El-P]

So, the last segment of TNA in 2006 was Kurt Angle snapping Samoa Joe's girlfriend ankle's to get a rematch (which would be the third match in three PPV's in a row). It's almost surreal how bad and quick Russo completely tanked my interest in the promotion which was so fun and easy to watch with for most of the Spike's era.

 

I know if I was following this as it happened, I would have quit by this point, like I quit WWF in 99 and WCW in mid 00. 3 out of 3.

[The Thread Killer]

now we're back to Double J's Fun Time Emporium that I mentioned before finally made me punt on them for good.

 

One of the many things that astounds me about TNA - I'm sorry, I mean IMPACT - right now is this...

 

You have two hours of TV a week. You have a young, and in many cases virtually unknown roster to try and get over.

 

So what do you do?

 

Devote a ridiculous amount of TV time to an absolutely pointless and cringe-worthy storyline involving your two ANNOUNCERS feuding. Do they actually think people are going to tune in to see what comes of the amazing Jeremy Borash vs. Josh Mathews feud? Are they really that dense?

[fakeplastictrees]

I remember the Roode/Brooks thing. For weeks (months? ), Roode turned down Jimmy Hart, The Brain, Simon Diamond and a few others I believe. He then choose Traci Brooks, because of reasons. Within a matter of weeks, the wheels fell off the train and it became what El-P described. It was painful to watch and went on too long. Russo has a weird way of telling stories. Act 1 is usually 15 minutes, Act 2 is 5 months, and then Act 3 may or may not occur and if it does--it will be a SWERVE~!