If you want to know what WWE needs to improve on, just listen to C.M. Punk. For TNA listen to this punk.
Too many WWE Guys
I understand all about name value, but this is TNA not a Sitcom or a retirement club or a senior citizens home! Name value has done nothing to help the ratings..NOTHING! RVD, Hogan, Mr. Anderson, Jeff Hardy, Steiner, Kurt Angle, Bully Ray, Dvon, D-angelo Dinero, their presence has not helped ratings. TNA doesnt need talent, they have a bunch. These ex WWE guys should compliment the TNA talent not replace them. Can you imagine what AJ Styles def. RVD in a hardcore match and Joe def. Angle in a submission match and Daniels def. Hardy in a 6 sides of steel match could do to their popularity and ratings and buys for a PPV? Instead they are replacing the TNA talent, the same talent that brought TNA to the dance, the same talent that made TNA get noticed are no longer being used and replaced by WWE guys and these WWE guys get pushed to main event status over night. It's honestly like Vince McMahon is secretly taking over TNA and using it as his third show! There are some WWE guys that would fit perfectly in TNA. Evan Bourne for example. He is X-Division through and through. Sin Cara as well and since there is no Cruiserweight title in WWE, their both beating on a beatless drum. They would shine in TNA and would be very useful in the X-Division. Mid-carders from WWE should not go to TNA and from the list above, most of them were mid carders in WWE and are main eventers on Impact? Not going to work.
I don't mind Mickie James and other Knockouts, because that's the one area where TNA kicks WWE's behind (and their kicks are getting much softer these days.)
Not Showcasing their strengths
A few years ago the two divisions TNA owned over WWE were the X-Division (Cruiserweights in WWE) and Knockouts Division (Divas in WWE) Since two individuals came to TNA those divisions have slowly died out. Karen Jarrett "hired" ODB and Jackie, since then, they haven't been seen! Rosita and Sarita look great together and they haven't been used correctly either. Gail Kim, I respect all the hard work she put in years ago to help create the Knockouts Division and put them on the map, but she is an ex WWE Diva who just returned and what does TNA do? Made her half of Knockouts Tag team Champs (in her second week back) and now has a match for the Knockouts title. Proving my point above. They need to reorganized the division and make it what it once was. No more random matches and no more pushing the ex WWE talent straight to title holders. Another advantage is that some are very vocal. Madison Rayne, Velvet Sky, Love and Karen. All do a good job on the mic...and might I add their nice to look at too!
The X-Division was amazing. They were worth the fee of the weekly PPV. Joe, AJ, Daniels, Sabin, Dutt, Amazing Red, Petey Williams etc. Put on amazing high flying shows. Some call it spot fests, I called it entertainment. Now. Dutt, Red and Williams are gone (Terrible business move.) Sabin is injured, Joe is a jobber and AJ, Alex Shelley, Eric Young & Daniels are rarely used. X-Division hasn't died, but it's more in a coma right now. Why? Well to make room for the WWE guys, Hogan, Bishoff and their dumb storylines of course. Austin Aries is good, but he's not X-Division style. Neither are any of the guys currently competing for that title.These two divisions are where TNA shined in and now have also dropped the ball in. Immortal has gotten most of the TV time taking away air time for the above divisions. Hogan thankfully has not been on TV lately, but Eric Bishoff still is. I dont mind Eric as a GM or whatever, but keep him out of the ring and taking up precious air time. Both divisions are still around, but downgraded from First Class to coach. Their no longer fun or anything to look forward to.
Not PG
What made WWE's Attitude Era so great was that is was TV-14. They had many hardcore matches, better stoylines "blood" Since they went PG they lost millions of viewers. TNA is not PG and they are on a "mans" network (well they were) So why not go all out? They should be doing everything WWE can't do and they did. When TNA first started off, they did all the crazy matches, but have since gone away from all of that and have become another show for babies. Sure, every now and then they curse, but please 5 year olds are cursing these days, not exactly PG or for teens anymore. That is another advantage TNA has over WWE, they are not a PG show, but they aren't capitalizing on it.
From TNA Impact to Impact Wrestling
From Total Non-stop Action Impact to Totally No Action (on Impact). I think the name was changed for the same reason the fans think....the name no longer suits them. Back in the old TNA days you could barely catch your breath. No bathroom break matches. It was literally non stop action. Now you can miss the entire show and yet, not miss a thing. I stopped watching Impact for about two months, when I restarted watching nothing changed. Same people were champs, same storylines, same old junk, but this time each wrestler got 2 hours of mic time! (I may be exaggerating just a bit.)
The Ring
An age old long debate. Should the 6 sided ring have stayed? Alot of people said that the ring should be the "normal" 4 corners if TNA wants to improve. Well since the removal of the ring everything went downhill. To me it makes no difference, square, octagon or triangle, makes no difference what kind of ring they have, its what they do inside it that matters.
Recently TNA had the "fans" ask Dixie questions through Facebook and Twitter. One of them was:
Adam Barlow (via Facebook): How do you feel about a company that uses "Wrestling Matters" as a slogan and then has 7 minutes of wrestling on their program? (the 10/20/11 taping for example)
Dixie's response: "Very rarely does Impact have that little wrestling, but on occasion, there is a need for that. It was necessary for the 10/20 show to have the focus it did and to bring forward our wrestling stories, and I’m happy to say it was our most viewed Impact Wrestling episode to-date."
It was the most viewed IW episode to date not because of the lack of wrestling. the show was the first to follow TNA's biggest PPV in years (based on shock value) Velvet Sky winning her first Knockouts singles title. Kurt Angle retaining the title despite the Bound For Glory Series being set up to have Robert Rhoode win the title. The decision to have Kurt win was a shocker to say the least. And of course Hogans face turn. People tuned in to the Impact taping to see the followup, also many watched to see James Storm win the Heavyweight Title from Kurt Angle. So to say the ratings where high due to the lack of wrestling on the show is incorrect.
As for "wrestling stories." Thats what commentators are for. It's ok for a few wrestlers to go to the ring and say a few things, but make it the entertaining ones. But that's the problem, most of TNA's mic workers are heels and boring (although Bully Ray is fun to watch as a heel) Matt Morgan is a snoozefest. No one has a catch phrase or really much of a personality. If they can't talk, don't make them talk. Hogan talks for a long time, Bishoff goes out to talk alot. Which leads me to my next point.
Eric Bishoff and Hogan.
TNA should have two shows. Impact and one for their egos. There is not enough room for all of that on Impact and we've seen the result. Since they "took over." The Tag Team Division has died, X-Division has died (yes I know its being brought back, but its being brought back using middleweights. This is not the X-Division we saw on those weekly Wed. NWA-TNA shows) Knockouts Division has died, Knockouts tag division has died (then again it was never really established either.) Then we have titles that are meaningless. Eric Youngs TV title is useless and now the Heavyweight title is being passed around like a hot potato. TNA's best talent hasnt been used. AJ Styles has wrestled maybe once or twice in the past 3 months. Samoa Joe is a jobber, Daniels.. has lost his mind altogether and many more are MIA. Oh, yeah, Hogan and Co. are doing a really great job. (notice the sarcasm?) Hogan may know wrestling, but he doesn't know the first thing about business. Eric needs to be put on commentary to shut Mike Tenay up a little. They need to go now. They have not helped in ratings, they have not improved storyline development. NadaCommentators
Back in the old days of WWE anytime my TV snowed out, I could still hear the commentators talking. I could close my eyes and picture what was going on. These days they talk about everything but the match! This is why Mike's role in WCW was limited. He talks way too much about things we could care less about. He doesn't need to be fired, but they need to change how they comment. Create some banter with Taz, do some actual play by play. Mick Foley added in there would have been a good idea. Things on that table need to be changed. It's like listening to nails on a chalk board.
Ric Flair
I love Flair and respect him, but he is about 5 years older than God. They need to limit his TV time and give the younger guys some time. Who aren't so young anymore. AJ, Joe and Daniels aren't getting any younger.
Un-creative Writing
We had a few months of build up on Robert Rhoode, only to have the decision to have him lose to Kurt Angle done last minute for some stupid reason, then to have Kurt drop the title to James Storm the same week under less then a minute (due to injury) for him to then lose the title a week later to Rhoode? (now you can start the 'What?' chants.) Storm vs Rhoode could have been a great main event for a PPV. The storyline writes itself. Had Rhoode turned against Storm the night he won the title from Kurt and you have your heel turn, building up a main event match at the next PPV, but no, the writers couldn't even figure that out. (Writers and whoever else has the final say)
Angelina Love and Winter started off great, but TNA dropped the ball on them by A: never explaining to us why Winter was so obsessed with her and B. having them lose so much. According to internet fans, this had potential to be one of the best female storylines with a lesbionic theme (Trish/Mickie and Torrie/Dawn) but as I said TNA dropped the ball. That or the ladies did not want to go in that direction. Eitherway there are ways to make them fun and keep it interesting.
Eric Bishoff vs. his "son." Not really his son, what this is, is a way to take up precious air time away from the talented guys. Neither guy is a wrestler. which makes this just as bad as Cole vs JR and then to give them the last segment on Impact? Wow.
Bottomline is this about Creative...get creative! Did they go to college for this? If they did, we need to close down those schools because their obviously no good. Hogan and Bishoff can insult all the internet fans they want, but bottomline is the internet fans are much more creative than they are. I've seen people come up with great storyline ideas. But shut down because their not graduates of Creative Writing. The ignorant never admit to defeat. Hey, I'm an author and I never took creative writing classes.
Jeff Hardy
I respect the guy for what he does inside the ring, but not for what he does outside of it. Some may hate me for what I say here, but he needs to be relesaded. Many fans say he deserves a second chance. Newsflash this is not his second chance. This is his third or fourth. He was suspended in WWE then eventually fired. Now in TNA, he does the unthinkable, shows up to a main event PPV match under the influence? Worse part is, TNA does nothing? No suspension, no fine, no nothing, he is brought back after his court issues and prison term and is back in the main event. Impact Wrestlings facebook has Jeff Hardy merchandise all over the page and they even have a huge display picture of him! Great message for the kids and the guys over at WWE who get released for violating their Wellness Policy "Hey don't be sad for being fired, go over to TNA, they'll treat you like a king!" TNA needs to release Hardy, send him to help and only rehire him if he has proven to have changed. Matt Hardy was release and he didn't show up to work under the influence. Makes sense right?
Spoilers
This has been debated for years. TNA should go live. There are more wrestling fans on the internet than there are viewers for Impact and you'd be surprised how much spoilers influence their decision to watch the show. The argument is always "If you don't like it, don't read them." But it's Thursday night, some people have dates, some are watching Jersey Shore, sometimes there are sports games on and if I am going to cancel on a date or skip a basketbal game for Impact, it better be a good show. I read spoilers to find out if its worth staying home or changing channels for. Considering the stuff I've seen lately from TNA, not only do they make me change the channel to something better like....Sesame Street, but they make me not want to watch at all and this is coming from a hardcore TNA defender/fan I used to be in plenty of debates defending TNA til I was blue in the face. I defended them so much one would think I worked for them! Until TNA let me down. The more I defended them, the worse the show got, the worse the storylines got, the worse the writing got and the worse character development got. I went from their top fan down to their top critic. This is like a relationship. You love the person so much that when they leave you and hurt you, you still hope they come back and things return to the way they used to be, sadly you must learn to let go and move on. Hey, I heard Ring of Honor is doing good these days.
Note: I do realize I spelled Bischoffs last name wrong, but if he can't be bothered to fix the program, I can't be bothered to fix his name.
