TNA what should they do?

[Hyde Hill]

Ok following a couple of releases and departures and the last ppv which has gotten mixed reactions I would like to start a topic about what do you think TNA should do to improve on their current standings? I at the moment am thinking a lot about the fact and will post my ideas once I get them all in order. Some are obvious though; less angles more wrestling + more focus on the x devision + stop mimicking WWE and develop/keep your own style. I will expound on these and ad more later, just wanted to get the ball rolling.

[Guest Ransik]

Push Curry Man!! 2 weeks in a row... all I do is crack up watching Daniels. "Rook.... I have my gang symbol.... I rare gang colors....." Why do they just job him out? He's gold!

[Guest The Aussie]

What must be done is for TNA to focus on what they do better than the WWE and promote that. Their Womans wrestling is better, the X-Division is a fun, if spotty, thing to watch and they have a lot of talented wrestlers on the roster. However, they should stop hiring WWE castoffs at once. A little bit of name recognition doesn't mean much if you are push back a prospect that you are developing.

[Remianen]

Of course, I think they should continue to focus on the Knockouts division. This includes expanding it and perhaps rolling out a Knockouts tag title. They also need to seriously get back to promoting what brought them to the dance in the first place: the X Division. I think they need to concentrate on truly being the alternative. WWE has a women's division but it's not nearly as workrate oriented as the Knockouts. WWE does not have anything even vaguely resembling the X Division (and it would take them at least a year to put one together). Expand the X Division. Bring people like Super Dragon and El Generico in (Brainbustaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah would go over HUGE with TNA's fanbase). Expand the Knockouts. Do a World Knockout Cup tournament. TNA is in the enviable position of having a network that is totally and fully committed to their growth. You should hear Scott Fishman (the executive in charge of TNA for Spike) talk about the promotion. He has real passion for it, he's drinkin' the Kool-aid, for sure. Spike has at least three shows scheduled for fall that they don't think will do all that well but that they have to do (the channel can't just be wrestling, MMA, and James Bond reruns). Factory might be carried over. But in November for sweeps, a TNA special could really expand the promotion's fanbase, as long as the right card is set up. Vacate the X title and have a tournament with the finals on that special. I've said this to several people at Spike already. TNA cannot out-SE WWE so they shouldn't even try. They should try to be the alternative since they have a HUGE advantage over the 'E (a far more forgiving travel schedule).

[ProphetX]

Terrible booking, horrible vignettes, and swerves for the sake of swerving are the major problems with TNA at this point. Vince Russo and many of the others on the creative team just blow it on a regular basis with bizarre storytelling. When they did that special with the japanese wrestlers the show was on fire. Mostly because the wrestlers wrestled and told a great in-ring story. Why do they insist on run-ins? Look at how badly played out the Samoa Joe/Kurt Angle thing was played out? They litterally ran that program into the ground (which it started off really well) because they matched them up too much too soon. Kevin Nash in the X division? What the heck was that about? Great.. work an angle where you bury one of the only bright spots in your company at that point with a guy who is known to have cut down on smaller wrestlers in the past. And if thats not bad enough, they are fumbling the proverbal ball at a time that the WWE isn't doing that well either. Now would be a time to cut out the stupid gimmick matches that require a wrestling encyclopedia just so you know enough to get confused, stop with the run ins, and start building up some serious matches again. I think the last "run" I personally heard that got much fan fare was Kong's run to the top. Women are doing it better than the men...ugh. No slight on women, but the heavyweight 'men' are supposed to be the stars there. Maybe they should flip flop it and put these so called heavy weights on the back burner more and let the X and Women's division tear it up some. But thats just my opinion :)

[djthefunkchris]

Yep, that's exactly how I feel Expand the Knockout division. More focus on the "X" division. More focus on "Action", less on SE. Seperate themselves from the WWE, instead of looking like a fourth brand. Quit jobbing out the homegrown and younger more loyal talent (And alot of times, better talent) to the ex-WWE/WCW/ECW alumni.

[BIGJOSH]

- FIRE RUSSO! - Cut out the stupidity, comedy in wrestling is finy but stupidity is something else - Stop creaming their jeans over ex-monday night war talent, they have their place but shouldn't always be the focus - Stop having so many gimmick matches - Focus on the X-Division - Change the announce team...seriously Mike and Don are REALLY bad - Figure out what their BIG angle is going to be...maybe Heyman could help them with that - Hire PAUL HEYMAN! - Focus more on in-ring action I'm sure there's more and I'll add when I think of it...

[ProphetX]

Heyman can't help these guys because they don't have an image. Their image right now is just "that other show" and thats a terrible place to be in. Heyman would have to be in a position to have total control over creative and it wouldn't happen. I don't think having the original/homegrown crew jobbing out to new talent is a bad thing if done right. But Sting shouldn't be a main eventer anymore, neither should Jeff Jarrett, Kip James aka Mr Ass, Scott Steiner, Kevin Nash, etc. Use then occasionally for something special but let your up and coming stars take the lime light. Heck even give Kurt Angle time to heal and force him to so he's ready when you need him most. Just glancing at their roster I see a ton of guys who I don't know much about, and as a wrestling fan I would prefer learning more about them. Not the retreads that I've seen fail time and time again. And no disrespect to Sting, but dude, you have to know when to hold em and know when to fold em.

[djthefunkchris]

I would use Sting kind of like WWE use's Undertaker, but less often. I'd make him a legend, bassically... He's there, he will come after you if you have what he wants, but his desire's are not always around. He would just show up and go after the title that interest him at the time, get it, have a run with it. Have something happen where he loses it, and is forced to step out of the limelight... Let it be for a WHILE... Like a few months. Then all the sudden show up again, rinse and repeat. Angle will quit if they don't let him wrestle... I don't know what to do with him outside of bringing him into a more unique role for the show... one where he talks more, wrestle's alot less. Have him in charge of something probably would do well. Maybe manage the "X" division as a sort-of GM for them. There is nothing wrong with having the monday night war folks a main part of the show, but I would definately let them drop down the card a bit. Make them the people to beat to push into the main event, and don't keep bringing them back up in it. Let them settle down in the middle area's of the card. EDIT: Reason for my last comment is... Well, there is never a real placement when they keep bouncing up and down like that. There is no real determination of level, and so they keep staying right at the same level forever.... Meaning although they might lose to one of the younger guys, when they turn around and end right back up there with them, it makes it look more like a fluke, and that they really don't belong (the younger guys). So the whole card stays stagnant without anyone getting more popular, but staying the same. Their should be some sort of build... Wrestler "X" defeats Steiner, pushed to the main event. Wrestler "X" stays in the main event while wrestler "Y finally gets over on Steiner, to be pushed into the Main event. Wrestler "Y" feuds with Wrestler "X" and eventually overcomes him, and wrestler "Z" enters the equation after beating both STeiner and Wrestler "X" to bring him up to Wrester "Y"'s level. As this continues, you build up a "Better than" Steiner card that eventually also goes down as the newer generation starts building... This of course would happen over the course of years... but no way should Jeff Jerrett still be lounging around in the Main Event. He needs to be the guy to beat to be able to get into the midcards... Maybe make him into the Honky Tonk man kind of... The mid/low level guy to beat to move up to the next level. Sorry for the long edit, and still not sure if the point I wanted to make is clear or not... I don't mean this to happen in a few months, but over the course of a couple of years it should really power them into it... Just because they are more known, doesn't mean they should automatically stay in the main event. Let the AJ Styles, Samoa Joe's and the like go ahead and become the guys to beat "AFTER" Beatin' the old geezer's (LOL... I'm not a spring chicken, so don't anyone take offence).

[tristram]

The only thing I really think they need to do is hire Heyman.... Heck, I'd go a Bischoff-Heyman combination ahead of Russo. Personally, I'm liking the TNA product. But Heyman is cutting edge and you need to make people care positively or negatively about one of their star athletes to make them into a major draw, and that's what Heyman can do. One of Heyman's great attributes was taking very good talented wrestlers and giving them a 'reason', and as far as I'm concerned he did it better than either WCW or WWF did compartively. I mean, Shane Douglas, Raven, Rhyno, Tazz, even the likes of Justin Credible and Sabu and the likes, Heyman knew how to make them into cornerstones with stories that people wanted to see. He gave them a reason to be wrestling. Personally, I'm with the above, loving the Curry Man think. "I think our catchphrase should be we come in peace, we leave them in peaces...." "rok..rok... we come and piss, we reave them in piss.." LMAO. But Shark Boy? Super Eric? Cheap. I really don't like the whole "I'm two blokes at once" thing with Eric Young, I think that cheapens the product and at what cost? It isn't putting him over more. Two things that are holding up; when they do International X, that is brilliant. And the Knock-Outs which is well ahead of their E counterparts. Anyone who says they wouldn't bone Velvet Sky is so kidding themselves. Oh, and their tag divisoin I think is very good. But I want to see the Motor City Machine Guns a massive push because frankly they are such a brilliant tag team. If they got a good Bobby Heenan like manager, I'd love to see the "E"'s answer to it.

[tristram]

[QUOTE=ProphetX;472734]Heyman can't help these guys because they don't have an image. Their image right now is just "that other show" and thats a terrible place to be in. Heyman would have to be in a position to have total control over creative and it wouldn't happen. I don't think having the original/homegrown crew jobbing out to new talent is a bad thing if done right. But Sting shouldn't be a main eventer anymore, neither should Jeff Jarrett, Kip James aka Mr Ass, Scott Steiner, Kevin Nash, etc. Use then occasionally for something special but let your up and coming stars take the lime light. Heck even give Kurt Angle time to heal and force him to so he's ready when you need him most. Just glancing at their roster I see a ton of guys who I don't know much about, and as a wrestling fan I would prefer learning more about them. Not the retreads that I've seen fail time and time again. And no disrespect to Sting, but dude, you have to know when to hold em and know when to fold em.[/QUOTE] In all honesty, James, Jarrett, Steiner are NOT TNA main eventers right now. At the moment the main event seems to surround Samoa Joe, Angle, AJ Styles and Christian Cage. If I was to nominate who their top four are, it's them. Booker is currently champ, but he's spent a lot of the time been in the upper midcard. So, on one hand you don't know half the wrestlers, but the one's you do know you don't want in the main event?

[Self]

I agree with a lot of points here. In general, I'm very much for Sports Entertainment, but the fact is TNA aren't good enough at it. 1) [B]Web-Site exclusive vignettes.[/B] I'm a big fan of The Dirt Sheet with Miz and Morrison. I think it's a fantastic way for them to develop their characters, and improve their entertainment skills, without 'damaging' the actual show. If I were TNA, I would hire someone to oversee about a half-dozen shows similar to this (although not straight rip-offs obviously). Someone with experience directing actors/presenters of entertainment shows. Honestly, I'd do this with WWE too, but since we're on the subject of TNA, I'll throw it in here. Shelley and Sabin are fairly amusing, give them something to do. Beer Money are awesome, but more practise in front of the camera would help. Also, it could increase traffic to the website, and maybe help shift some merchendise. 2) [B]The Dudley Boys are gold. [/B]Their promos have been some of the best I've seen in ages, with the possible exception of Jericho. Bubba has always been great, but D'Von has stepped up his game, and that's awesome. I am genuinely excited to see them now. Push push push. 3) [B]The X-Division is stale.[/B] The guys they have are great, but they've been great for 3-4 years now. We've gotten used to all of their exciting, flippy moves. I'm all for repackaging the ones you have (Curry Man, Petey Pump, Creepy Sonjay) but you need some fresh blood. I'm not sure Daivari is going to be what's needed (although he should be a good heel) The World X Cup showed that people liked seeing these new guys, so bring some more in, slowly, one by one. 4) [B]Knockouts.[/B] I'm getting a little bored of the Knockouts they have. I would find a new character to throw in there (it's a shame Raka Khan isn't very good in the ring) 5) [B]Time to Breath.[/B] Just in general, while editing the show, allow things time to breath. Kaz just lost to a roll-up? Give us 30 seconds to share that pain with him. Taylor just beat Kong? Give us a minute to share her joy, and show footage of the crowd actually caring. "To the back" has become a running joke, and while I like jokes, this one is hurting the product. 6) [B]Carefully Placed Comedy[/B]. For me, comedy entertains me in the purest way. I love it. I love it in movies. I love it in wrestling. The trouble is, comedy undermines the legitimacy of your attractions. I love Booker T's recent vignettes, but in making him a comedy act, you're taking away from the heat between him and Joe. The key is to just be careful. I would book comedy only if the story requires it, never in the main event, and ideally for guys with not-much-else going on. 7) [B]Announcers.[/B] Yes, they suck. I'm going to throw my thought as to why. a)[I]Shut the f*** up.[/I] You don't need to talk while someone is cutting a promo. You don't need to talk while two guys are having a standoff in the ring. Let the wrestlers tell the stories, and just call the matches, and provide links to the next segment. b) [I]Learn the finishes. [/I]Jim Ross is a great commentator because he gets/got genuinely excited when he saw the finishing moves, yelling "Stone Cold Stunner!!!" as soon as it happens. With TNA, it's more like " (2 second pause) "Wow. He just planted him down... on his face... with that move." Learn the finishing moves of everyone, and learn how it's set-up. Get excited when you see it. c) [I]Don't just explain everything you see.[/I] "He just took Booker T's head and rammed it into those steel steps." You know what Mike, I know he did, I saw it happen 2 seconds ago. It's okay to do this occasionally, but their constant need to say what they see is... well... annoying... d) [I]They don't sound genuine[/I]... Nothing much to say on this. They just don't. I have lots of niggling issues with Impact, but then I have lots of issues with WWE too. Honestly, I don't think the loss of Tomko and Goldust is going to be an issue. Tomko lost his momentum, and Goldust never had any. There wasn't room for them.

[Mr T Jobs To Me]

- Put the Title on Kevin Nash. - Make Kevin Nash head booker. - Convince Samoa Joe to stop wearing suits, he looks like the midget from Fantasy Island.

[FINisher]

- Locigal/realistic storylines, angles and gimmicks. - More, MORE wrestling, less silly angles and gimmicks. It is clearly visible that the people who watch TNA watch it for the matches. Just follow the ratings pattern. Whenever a stupid angle or an interview comes, the rating drops huge. - More emphasis on clean finishes, less run-ins. Especially in the main event matches. That's just the beginning, I'll continue doing the list later on :D

[Hyde Hill]

Still busy on completing my own thoughts and I must agree with a lot of you guys here. Just a note on Paul Heyman he has already stated in an interview that he is not interested in joining TNA, plus his piece on one of the overlooked flaws of TNA the lack of good marketing is solid gold. Go to the Sun website for both articles. If Paul E isn´t available I would say go for the next best thing; Raven! Yes I mean him. Just watch his shoot interviews, fantasy booker etc and you know he is a great storyteller and hads a great mind for the bussines. Just remind him that TNA is not a hardcore fed (,altough those matches do have their place and should occur on occasion,) and more of a modern fed and I think it could be a really good thing for TNA, just start him as part of the creative team then work him up. Have to agree with djthefunckchris on how to handel their more well known but older talent. They are there to be a threat but to ultimatly but the other home grown talent over in the long run not remain on top. On the anouncers yeah I agree with Self, but keep Tenay he knows what he is doing just move Don West to pushing merchandise on the site and in website vignetes like mathews/ J styles. Get in a real heel type colour commentator from within or outside the organisation (Piper, Macho Man, Nash, Hall, Raven or the like). Now that D Lo is gone there is a spot in the road agent team now who has one of the best in ring psychologies in wrestling, lives in Florida and has already made occasional appearances on TNA? Yep Jake "The Snake" Roberts! If ever there was a guy that knows all the potential pit falls in wrestling and knows how to tell a story in the ring and could come relativly cheap its him. Ok I am getting into my main thoughts now I wil quit rambling and edit this post when necassary. Liking the debate so far guys keep it up.

[cappyboy]

Okay. A lot of good stuff here and it would take me a while to go all Multi Quote Moe and break it all down. So I'll wait for other times and attack it in stages. But in the mean time there's one big thing they need to do that hasn't been brought up yet. LOSE THE NAME Total Nonstop Action is bush league for a promtional name and I honestly wonder if they can grow too much more with it. Those of us in the know may realize it's a wrestling promotion and go into it with that perspective. But folks who don't know wrestling that well but might be willing to watch TNA aren't going to take that name seriously. They are going to hear that acronym and be expecting boobies and backsides. And when they don't get them, are they going to accept the actual wrestling show they got or feel they got suckered by false advertising? Spoken out in full Total Nonstop Action sounds like a cool TV show. Maybe they can use it for what's now Impact after they get something more suitable. That's one thing Ring of Honor has so far over TNA at the moment. Even if you don't know RoH as a company well enough to know it's a wrestling company, you can figure it out. And if you don't, at least you're looking for something in the same competitive vein like a boxing or martial arts show. With TNA, you risk courting the wrong audience and damaging your rep. When you're a little upstart hole in the wall, that's one thing. You're not going to have a great deal of cred anyway. But when you're trying to succeed at the nationally-telecast level TNA's at, that's something you have to keep in mind if you seek to have a long-term future.

[Tyler Gadzinski]

They need to... Fire Russo Hire Heyman Push the X Division more Keep pushing the younger talent Stop putting all the focus on guys that used to be good 5 - 10 years ago. Not so much Gimmick matches Hire Bryan Danielson.

[Hyde Hill]

I will do a recap of all the proposed changes with reasons in the original post after a while. Much like the promotion difficulty levels post in the TEW08 forum. That way people will be able to see at a glance what has been suggested and why.

[Self]

I agree the acronym is a little unfortunate, but changing the name would damage the company at this stage. I'd wager that they're at the stage where if you ask someone vaguely aware of wrestling what it is, they might have heard of it. I'll grant you that there are better names out there. Changing the name would create confusion, and set them back a bit. WWE did it, but WWE are huge. I keep hearing "Push the X-Division" but very few explainations as to 'how'. Would anyone care to elaborate?

[cappyboy]

[QUOTE=Self;472856]I agree the acronym is a little unfortunate, but changing the name would damage the company at this stage. I'd wager that they're at the stage where if you ask someone vaguely aware of wrestling what it is, they might have heard of it. I'll grant you that there are better names out there. Changing the name would create confusion, and set them back a bit. WWE did it, but WWE are huge. I keep hearing "Push the X-Division" but very few explainations as to 'how'. Would anyone care to elaborate?[/QUOTE] Maybe in the short term. But it's interesting you bring up the WWE thing. On the one hand, I'll play devil's advocate and make another dimension of your WWE argument for you. Forget the size thing. WWE were also forced to it. They tried to outmuscle the World Wildlife Fund on the old one and lost. And who STILL has the name recognition with the acronym? It sure isn't the animal activists. But there's another dimension to your WWE example that not only bolsters my suggestion. An area where maybe they should copy directly from WWE like they have often been accused of. When the E's changed it's name (twice in my lifetime) the changes were pretty subtle. In the Vinnie Mac Sr. years, it was the World Wide Wrestling Federation. So all Mr Mac did was drop a W to get the name everyone knew and loved so much the less informed still try to use it. And when he lost to the animal activists he just took the F one letter back. Neither time did the E change its name all that dramatically. That could be a route for TNA if they feared a more dramatic change having the effect you suggest it would. Maybe they could add on the W Vinnie Mac dropped in the early 80's to become Total Nonstop WRESTLING Action or TNWA. It wouldn't be as provocative as the current version but it might help newcomers from that false advertising feeling as well. Maybe trade out the Nonstop for the Wrestling and become TWA. The airline no longer exists so they couldn't object. They don't have to be totally drastic about it by becoming like Great American Wrestling Champions or anything. Although that name would fit the style of their home base quite well. Total Nonstop Wrestling or TNW has a pretty good ring to it in my mind.

[Self]

I'm not a fan of the typical three-letter-acronym thing in the first place, so I'm hardly the guy to discuss names with. I admit the name is a little bit of false advertising, but the name in all the ads is "TNA Wrestling" so I'm pretty sure people know what they're going to watch. The lack of T&A (not Andrew Martin & Giant Bernard) would be an annoyance for certain fans though. In fact, Vince Russo was duped himself according to a shoot interview I have. He didn't think it was going to be completely over the top, but he did assume that "If a girl's tits fell out it wouldn't be a big deal". Maybe that's why he's booking the company into the ground :D Except he's not booking. Just writing... Writing a crybaby champion and some of the dumbest babyfaces I've ever seen.

[lordprimeau25]

It is interesting to bring up the name and I agree that now may not be the time to change it though it does need a change eventually. Another thing I am surprised nobody brought up is the ring. Six sides (IMO) will never be accepted as a mainstream wrestling ring. That would be like trying to start a basketball league with 3 hoops or something...

[CQI13]

Why can't we accept that TNA is, much like RoH is and ECW was, a niche product. WWE is in another league, Instead of focusing on trying to beat WWE, they should focus on simply growing. And seriously, does anyone even know what Russo is in charge of in TNA? Everyone complained about the Sting/Abyss storyline and some of their convoluted matches, but Mantell was in charge of that, not Russo.

[Self]

[QUOTE=lordprimeau25;472898]Another thing I am surprised nobody brought up is the ring. Six sides (IMO) will never be accepted as a mainstream wrestling ring. That would be like trying to start a basketball league with 3 hoops or something...[/QUOTE] Using your example... which I think is a little exagerated, as extra sides don't effect the rules at all... If another basketball company formed, to rival the NBA, and the rules were the same, the courts were the same, and it looked the same, I wouldn't care. Why would I care? If there were 3 hoops, I'd at least give it a watch for curiosity's sake. The 6 sided ring is a way to make it look different, something I will always applaud. If anyone can give me a practical reason for it to go, that has nothing to do with tradition, or how you personally think it looks, I'd gladly listen.

[Marshall]

[QUOTE=Mr T Jobs To Me;472768] - Convince Samoa Joe to stop wearing suits, he looks like the midget from Fantasy Island.[/QUOTE] I somewhat agree with this statement. While T said it in quite a joking manner, Samoa Joe's suits underline precisely the problems inherent in his title reign. While suits usually make a wrestler look like a champion, in Joe's case, it just doesn't seem to fit. In my opinion, the suit is a physical representation of the way in which he hasn't been written or booked properly during his title reign in that the dress sense is just not Joe, and displays how the TNA booking team clearly do not understand what Samoa Joe is all about. Furthermore, to improve the product on a slightly smaller scale, they need to stop telling me to cross the line every five minutes during their programming. I get that it's their slogan, but I don't need reminding of that fact after every angle and every match. Seriously, playing the cross the line drinking game during an episode of Impact will do serious damage to your health...