Will 2013 Be a Breakout Year for TNA?

TNA Stars at the Hall of Fame Ceremony
Photo by: My 1-2-3 Cents

By Chad Smart
@chadsmart & @my123cents on Twitter

I’ll admit that Kevin and I don’t give TNA the fair amount of coverage we should on the blog. Part of the reason is because most of the feedback we get from readers centers on WWE. That is understandable since WWE is the number one wrestling promotion and most casual fans associate all wrestling as being WWE wrestling. The other main reason for the lack of TNA coverage is when we talk about other wrestling promotions; Kevin usually talks about Pro Wrestling Collision because he’s associated with the company while I usually discuss Chikara because that’s my favorite promotion. I often feel bad we don’t write about more companies, but then I watch cat videos on YouTube* and forget about writing anything for a few days.

Most of the blogs I write are based around concepts I think will get at least two or three comments. That’s another reason why I tend to write about something that is popular or mainstream. However, if I would write more about happenings in the wrestling world that excite or interest me, I would write ten blogs about TNA to every one blog about WWE. 

Honestly, while there are certain aspects to WWE programming I like at the moment, I haven’t been able to watch a full episode of RAW in over a month. On the other channel, while not a perfect show, I am more intrigued about what will happen on Impact on a weekly basis.

Recently, TNA President, Dixie Carter made some announcements that change the landscape of TNA Wrestling. Personally, I think these changes are long overdue but at the same time I’m curious to see if they’ll pay off in the long run.

The first dramatic change was going from 12 pay per views a year to only four live shows.  TNA has taped three shows for future PPV airings, and plan to tape either three or four more in March. These taped shows will run during months that don’t have a live show and will be more or less stand-alone shows.   This is a move I have been waiting to happen for at least five years. I wish WWE would also follow suit. Twelve pay per views is too many. By going back to four main shows this should allow TNA writers to build storylines and feuds to the point of wanting to see the match instead of rushing something together in 2-3 weeks. Also it should mean no last minute or unannounced matches added to the pay per view. As an old school fan who remembers when there was only the Royal Rumble, Wrestlemania, SummerSlam and Survivor Series in WWF and Starrcade, SuperBrawl, Great American Bash and Halloween Havoc in WCW, I gladly welcome TNA scaling back to just Genesis, Lockdown, Slammiversary and Bound For Glory. I’ll also admit that I am more likely to order these shows as shelling out $40 every 3-4 months is a lot easier on the wallet than paying every month.

In the last day or two there has been rumors that Lockdown (the next TNA PPV) will only feature the top matches inside a cage instead of having the entire show take place inside the cage as has been the norm since Lockdown’s inception. Again, this is something I’ve been wishing for since the first Lockdown. There was a time when cage matches had meaning. The cage was used as an ender to a violet feud or was used to keep people from interfering. Now cage matches are used as props on a roulette wheel or as an excuse to see a wrestler perform jaw dropping aerial move. In addition to not understanding why guys who weren’t even feuding were placed into a cage match, having every match in the cage took away the prestige of the Lethal Lockdown match. If this is the direction TNA is going with this year’s Lockdown, I fully support them.

Perhaps the biggest news of the last two weeks was Impact leaving the Impact Zone and taking the show on the road. My biggest fear is TNA management will think they can sell more seats than they actually will and thus book large arenas. In my perfect world, TNA would be content to think of themselves as a modern day ECW and book smaller, more intimate arenas. My favorite ECW arena was the Madhouse of Extreme in Queens, NY. If TNA could find someplace like that and realize a rabid, raucous crowd of 1000-1500 fans can make for a better show than a 20,000-seat arena full of fans that only care about the World Champion.

Chad & Jeff Hardy
Photo by My 1-2-3 Cents

Will these changes help TNA? Will the audience grow over the course of the year? I don’t know. If TNA keeps on the path they’ve been on for the past 8 months or so, if fans would watch with open eyes and leave their blind hatred based on something that happened eight years ago aside, I would think business should grow. TNA isn’t perfect.  Aces and Eights haven’t won a meaningful match. The Knockout Tag Titles are still in limbo. Hulk Hogan is still scaring fans away by saying he wants to be TNA World Champion and the X-Division is treated like a red-headed stepchild. Overlooking those flaws, which could easily be fixed, there is a lot of good wrestling, good characters and freshness in TNA. I will gladly take Jeff Hardy as champion over David Arquette 2k13 headlining Wrestlemania any day. Changing venues will make Impact seem fresher, but the writers and wrestlers still have to deliver. Hopefully they’re up for the task.

What are you thoughts? Will these changes help TNA? Are you more inclined to watch TNA because of the changes or will you be watching Community?

*I don’t actually watch cat videos. 

Making An Impact With Less Pay Per Views

Dixie Carter & Chad at Bound for Glory weekend
Photo by My 1-2-3 Cents

By Chad Smart
@chadsmart & @my123cents on Twitter

Last week TNA President Dixie Carter announced a change in TNA’s schedule for the 2013 pay per view calendar. Instead of doing 12 live monthly shows, TNA was scaling back to 4 live big pay per views and 7 taped themed shows for the year. The live shows are Genesis in January, Lockdown in March, Slammiversary in June and Bound For Glory in October. TNA taped the first two themed shows on January 12. One of the shows was called Joker’s Wild Tag Team Tournament and featured a tournament where wrestlers were paired together by drawing names from a hat. The second show was an X-Division spotlight show. Future shows will include an all Knockouts show, a return of the ECW Hardcore Justice concept (this one I’m really not excited about as I think it’s time to let ECW rest in peace) and a return of the World Cup tournament, which was a staple in TNA’s early days. The taped pay per views will carry a price tag of only $14.99. If I were a cynical, jaded wrestling fan, I’d think someone within TNA finally replaced the 1997 calendar hanging in the office with one for 2013.

On a serious note, with the changes I’ve seen in TNA over the past year, I hope fans will finally let go of their preconceived bias against TNA and give them a new fresh look. A few weeks ago we unveiled the winners of the Centies Awards. We didn’t do a promotion of the year, but if we had, TNA would have been my pick. I have been impressed with their focus on more long-term storytelling as well as starting to let homegrown (or at least non-WWE made) stars shine. Not saying they’re perfect and there is still some room for growth, but compared to the first 9 years of TNA, it seems they’re finally starting to give the fans what they want to see in an alternative to WWE.

Samoa Joe in action
Photo by My 1-2-3 Cents

I hope the move to only four major pay per views will help strengthen storylines and TNA builds the shows as must see events. I have been saying for at least the last five years there are too many pay per views. With monthly shows, a lot of matches get thrown on at the last minute with no build as a way to fill out the show and there are usually rematches on several shows which, as a fan I hate paying to see the same matches over and over. Even though I applaud the decision to cut back on pay per views, there is one change I hope to see coincide with less shows.

BETTER USE OF THE ROSTER

One of my biggest complaints with the current mainstream wrestling product is the same wrestlers are on TV usually going through the same motions week after week. Part of the reason is because when you’re building to a pay per view in 3-4 weeks, the wrestlers facing each other have to be focused in order to try and sell the show. Now that TNA will have 8, 13, and 18 weeks between pay per views; this should give them time to showcase more than the top 10 guys and the latest challengers to the secondary titles.

At the tapings for the Jokers Wild Tag Tournament and X-Division shows, several talents that hadn’t been on TV for months were used. Hopefully this is a sign that we may see some new/old talents appear on Impact in the coming months. One issue I find to be hindering the major wrestling promotions these days is the hierarchy of talent. It seems there are Main Eventers and then everyone else. TNA has the chance now to really establish the stars of tomorrow. Will they utilize this opportunity or will we continue to get the same old same old from week to week?

Chad & the Hogans
Photo by My 1-2-3 Cents

TNA isn’t perfect but they have been making strides to be better. Sure I’d like to see the Bully Ray/Brooke Hogan relationship angle quietly fade away and never be mentioned again. That is only one aspect of the company though. There is far more good than bad on a normal episode of Impact. I am curious to see where they go this year and have the feeling if I end up going to Bound For Glory again this year as I am planning, I will walk out of the show feeling it was a better show than Wrestlemania. That’s a big statement, I know. Given the direction WWE and TNA are headed though, I feel I can safely make the statement without having to worry about eating my words. We’ll find out in October.

What do you think of TNA’s decision to cut back on the number of live pay per views? Does the decision make you more likely to check out a pay per view? Share your thoughts on our Facebook page.

Lockdown: Building a Champion

Bobby Roode (ImpactWrestling)

By Chad Smart
@chadsmart & @my123cents on Twitter

It’s been awhile since I’ve written one of these. Between the Wrestlemania trip and the recouping from the Wrestlemania trip, my writing had been put on the backburner. Well actually it was behind the backburner. While I had some thoughts on recent events in wrestling, Brock’s return, the re-debuts of Albert and Skip Sheffield, I think too much time has passed to where my thoughts are past their expiration date. If you are interested in my thoughts on those subjects you can check out the archives of “From the Rafters” radio program.  You should also listen to the show every Thursday night at 7pm CST. AAPW staff members Chris Hagstram, Adam Testa and the wrestling roommate Aaron Heller, join Kevin for an hour of wrestling discussion.

So without the other topics to cover, I needed to find something to write about. Thankfully TNA had a pay per view on Sunday, and like most TNA shows, it left a bad taste in most of the viewer’s mouths. I didn’t see the show so I’m only going by reports but in this instance I think the fans are missing the bigger point.

In the World Title cage match between former tag-team partners James Storm and champion Robert Roode, Storm was on the verge of victory before super kicking Roode who fell out of the cage through the door and winning the match. Fans were outraged because they claimed the ending made Roode look weak and the build up was perfectly suited for Storm winning. While there may be reasons to support those arguments, I think the ending while maybe not perfect was the right way to go.

First off, James Storm is one of the few original stars TNA has managed to create in their 10-year history. Losing the match won’t stall Storm’s momentum. Especially since fans will feel Storm was robbed of the title and will get behind him as he attempts to get another shot at the title.

Impact Wrestling

On the other hand, Robert Roode has grown into a solid champion and I feel TNA should let Roode hold the title for quite a while longer. One of my biggest complaints with the current wrestling booking philosophy is to hot shot titles with no rhyme or reason. In today’s environment it’s safe to assume 80% of members of the roster will be known as former World Champions. I know Kevin and I tend to romanticize the 80s as a golden era in wrestling and we’re seeing the past through rose-colored glasses. Looking at that era though, look at all the guys who would have been credible World Champions yet never held the title. Guys like Ted DiBiase, Rick Rude, King Kong Bundy, and Bam Bam Bigelow. None of these guys are thought of any less because they were never world champions. So why do current wrestling bookers/writers/whatever seem to think every wrestler should be champion?

Getting back to Robert Roode, I’d like to see TNA keep the title on Roode at least through Bound For Glory. Give him some solid competition and let him win some matches decisively. TNA has created an original star in Roode. Hopefully the trend of bringing in ex-WWE guys and immediately pushing them to the top is over. TNA has established a solid champion. They shouldn’t sacrifice Roode for a cheap pop. Continue to let him grow and add some legitimacy to the title.

Flair & Hogan (Impact Wrestling)

One item from Lockdown that does have me scared though is the possible match between Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair. It’s been 20 years since this match up was captivating. 14 years since it was watchable. In 2012, neither guy should be competing in a match. So, TNA, please just say no.

For more thoughts and opinions, remember to listen to From the Rafters radio program and become fans and followers of My123Cents on Facebook and Twitter.

Why I Can't Care

By Chad Smart

Before I get into the Lockdown pseudo review, lets see how I did with my predictions.  I’m going to say I picked Sting to retain, even though I joked about Jeff Hardy winning the match, which makes my final standing 2-6 for the show. I don’t know if that means TNA did a good job of booking an unpredictable show or if a lot of their outcomes didn’t make sense in the grand scheme of things.

I watched the show on a delay due to attending a Rod Stewart/Stevie Nicks concert at the time Lockdown was live. Maybe the late viewing led me to be less interested in the show.  As with most of my TNA rants, I don’t want to bash the show or company for the sake of bashing them. I want to see the company succeed. There’s just something missing that prevents me from getting emotionally invested in any TNA show.

I should state at the start that Lockdown is one of my least favorite pay per view concepts. The idea of all matches being held inside a steel cage is ridiculous. Maybe I’m old fashioned, but cage matches should be the end to a heated feud not the basis for guys being thrown into a match for the sake of having a match.  Not to mention last year’s show featured a Street Fight Falls Count Anywhere match. So it’s a cage match, yet falls could happen anywhere in the building. Seriously, it’s not bad enough someone comes up with these inane ideas, but the fact no one stops them from being put on air.

Anyway. Onto the Show.  Overall I don’t think the show was terrible. It was more a show that was just there. The only real negative comments I can make are as follows.

If Mickie James is injured and can’t wrestle, why put her in a match? Do an injury angle backstage and either add another match to make up for not having a Knockout Title match, or have Madison Rayne fight someone else, retain the title and try to do the match with Mickie at the next pay per view. What happens now if Mickie isn’t healed by the next pay per view? Will she be stripped of the title, or will she lose in another non-match? This is where TNA’s schedule of taping a month worth of shows in a few days hurts the overall product.

After the Matt Morgan/Hernandez match, Sarita and Rosita insulted the crowd leading to Velvet Sky coming in and running them out of the cage. Why couldn’t the Knockout Tag Champions have handled one person? I don’t get it. The whole segment felt forced and was just an excuse to get Velvet Sky on the show. Couldn’t they have done something to further the story with Angelina Love and Winter? Or, I don’t know, booked Velvet into a match?

The ending of the Kurt Angle and Jeff Jarrett match was trademark TNA overbooking at it’s finest.  I’ve been following TNA since day one and I have yet to figure out the reasoning as to why 95% of their main event levels matches have to end with interference, foreign objects or other shenanigans. What’s wrong with one guy simply beating the other guy?

Why does every Lethal Lockdown match have people on top of the cage? It’s like TNA saw the Hell in the Cell matches and figured because WWE has Superstars escape the cage and climb to the top their wrestlers need to do the same thing. That annoys me for two reasons. One, as a fan of the Wargames match, there was never a Wargames where guys ended up on top of the cage so it is possible to have a good match without resorting to unnecessary dangerous stunts. Two, TNA needs to stop emulating WWE. Forge your own identity. 

Outside of those criticisms, I found the show to be uninteresting. Samoa Joe/Pope, Hernandez/Morgan, the 4-way tag, and the X-Scape match didn’t have the build ups to make me care about the matches. Angle/Jarrett was good and Angle was his crazy insane self, but the ending makes me think the feud isn’t over with and I don’t care about the stupid love triangle. Until I typed the period in the last sentence I had forgotten about the Anderson/RVD/Sting match. That match was for the TNA title. I don’t know if that says more about my faulty memory or the interest in the title scene given the current participants. Lethal Lockdown was fine for what it was. Overall, not a terrible show by any means, but also not a show worth going out of your way to see.

Someone help me out here. Am I the only person who feels there are no stand out personalities in TNA? They have a roster full of entertaining wrestlers who, when given the chance, can put on an entertaining match. However when I watch Impact or a PPV, I don’t care about any of the stories being told and therefore I don’t care about the matches. Then when matches are short or loaded with outside interference, I really don’t care about them. It has more to do with the booking than the actual participants. At the recent PWG show, there was a match between Willie Mack and Roderick Strong. I’d only seen Willie once before so didn’t have an opinion of him. In my opinion, Roderick Strong makes Dean Malenko look like The Rock when it comes to charisma. Needless to say at the start of the match I didn’t have high hopes of enjoyment. By the end of the match I told my friend that was match of the night. Two guys who got to go out showcase their talents and have a straight forward match that got the crowd involved. TNA really needs to learn how to get talent over with the audience. More importantly, TNA needs to get talent not named Hulk Hogan or Eric Bischoff over.

There’s my in depth, highly informative review of TNA Lockdown. Why don’t I get paid for this? Seriously though, follow us on Twitter @my123cents, Like us on Facebook, watch Kevin’s videos on YouTube and remember, No catchphrases needed. 

Saving My Clever Wordplay for the Lockdown Reaction Blog

By Chad Smart

I haven’t seen that much of Impact over the past month. My social life has been booked pretty solid on Thursday’s, and the shows have been leading up to Lockdown, which is one of my least favorite shows of the year. Therefore I haven’t felt a real desire to watch Impact lately.

With that said, I tried to watch last night’s Impact. 

That’s right, I tried. I think I got a little over an hour into the show and then Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff made their third or fourth appearance on the show and I had seen enough. There’s no reason for them to be on the show that often. No one on the roster is getting over when the focus is put on two guys who don’t, and shouldn’t ever actually wrestle for TNA.  My other main complaint with the show is there were too many backstage segments that felt forced. While I may not agree with the current wrestling show philosophy of spending more time talking backstage, I can appreciate it when done competently. Bad, stilted dialogue in front of a mystery camera just scream FAKE to me.

Moving on from Impact, let’s take a look at this Sunday’s Lockdown pay per view line up.

Ink Inc. vs. British Invasion vs. Orlando Jordan/Eric Young vs. Scott Steiner/Crimson:  4-Way tag team match, in a cage. This is going to be a long show. From what little pieces of Impact I’ve caught over the past few weeks it seems Steiner/Crimson spend more time hitting the rides at Universal Studios than actually wrestling. Ink Inc. have had their day in the sun as credible tag team contenders and are now teasing a break up. Orlando and Eric are the comedy fodder while British Invasion just got back together. All that leads me to believe the British Invasion will pick up the victory.

X-Division X-scape match: Jeremy Buck vs. Max Buck vs. Robbie E. vs. Chris Sabin vs. Brian Kendrick vs. Suicide vs. Jay Lethal vs. Amazing Red: Just typing out this preview is going to drive me to drinking. A TNA trademark, the multi-person cluster match. Good to see someone remembered Jay Lethal was still under contract. Remember when he beat Ric Flair and people thought it was the start of pushing Lethal up the card? Neither does Vince Russo or Dixie Carter or Eric Bischoff or Hulk Hogan. Flip a coin to pick a winner. I’m going with Suicide for no better reason than I like waffles.

Pope Dinero vs. Samoa Joe: Remember when Samoa Joe came into TNA and was unstoppable for a year? Remember when Pope Dinero entered TNA and the crowd wanted him to be a main eventer?  Well stop remembering that and accept both guys are below Matt Hardy in the pecking order now. Match will end in a way where there’s no winner and this feud, which ran out of steam two months ago, will continue because TNA has no idea what to do with either guy.

Hernandez vs. Matt Morgan: Let’s try this feud again with the roles reversed. Guessing Hernandez wins to make Mexican American, or whatever his group is called, look dominating until they get put up against a more popular faction.

TNA Knockouts  Title vs. Hair, Madison Rayne vs. Mickie James I’m surprised TNA hasn’t put the Knockout title on before now. Don’t see Mickie trying to promote her music career ala Sinead O’Connor so expect a new Knockout Champion to be crowned.

Best of 3 Falls, Kurt Angle vs. Jeff Jarrett; Each fall has a different stipulation for winning. Where’s the stipulation for the fans to not have to endure real life situations turned into wrestling angles? Kurt Angle wins and picks up another DUI after realizing he’s in Cincinnati and deciding to pretend he’s a member of the Cincinnati Bengals.

Lethal Lockdown, Immortal vs. Fortune: Ric Flair is listed as being in the match. Ric Flair+TNA+Cage Match=Flair’s starting the match a blonde and ending as a ginger. Good storytelling would say Fortune wins. Vince Russo booking says Daniels turns on Fortune and helps Immortal wins. Stupidity trumps common sense. Immortal picks up the victory.

TNA Title Match, Sting vs. Mr. Anderson vs. Rob Van Dam (or Rob Dam Van): I want this feud to end. I want Anderson and RVD to go away. I want TNA to put the title on someone fresh. In the swerve of the night Jeff Hardy enters the match and regains the TNA title. Or we get another swervey swerve and Sting joins Immortal.

I think TNA refers to this as the most brutal PPV of the year. (maybe they don’t, and I’m making it up. But I seem to have heard that recently.) I’m guessing their phrasing has a different meaning to them than it does to me. I think this is going to be a brutal PPV, but for all the wrong reasons. We’ll find out Sunday night.

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