NWA-TNA .... Opinions?

[JNance]

Hi everyone. Just a thought that's been on my mind since the Fayetteville FanFest. What does everyone think of NWA/TNA? I wasn't too sure at first, but slowly, they are bringing in big names, and mixing them with young talent, I think if they stay true to WRESTLING, and not "sports entertainment", they could compete with McMahon in a couple of years. I like the mix, with the great "young" stars, (A.J. Styles, Petey Williams, Michael Shane, Chris Sabin), and the big name veterans,(Dusty, Hall & Nash, Piper , Savage), and the talented veterans (Christopher Daniels, Kid Kash). Wouldn't it be great to see them use more of the legends from the old NWA/Mid-Atlantic area? I like the fact they've used Luger, Sting, Larry Zbyszko, and Rick Morton, and I'd love to see them use Tully Blanchard, Ricky Morton AND Robert Gibson, James J. Dillon, some of the folks who are experienced enough to pass on their knowledge. Sorry so long... Any thoughts?

[bobbyryates]

i watched about 20 minutes of it saturday night. that's all i have seen. i wasn't impressed. it was too WWE-like with the interviews and the dragged out arguemnt time.
as for talent, i think the best thing they got going for them is the old MACW guys. they are good like you said and maybe can give some legitimate expereince to the boys.
but they shouldn't overuse so many of the older guys. even the ones that can still work, should not over shadow all the younger guys.

[ssteward]

It's run of the mill stuff with great athletes. I always forget to watch it just like WWE.

[VR]

It's a poor man (workers) version of the WWE, WCW, and ECW all rolled into a couple hours of wasted time if you ask me.

I've all but given up on the current scene outside of a little RAW here and there depending on who's working the program. PRIDE suits my tastes much more.

VR

[GarvinStomp]

TNA needs to do something with the weird looking ring they have set up on their Friday afternoon shows. I've watched very little of TNA and am not impressed. They have young wrestling talent but the fed comes across as a wanna be WWE.

[Flair4theGold]

They're trying too hard to sell an X-Division that is made up of guys that not a lot of people care about. The matches are nothing more than spotfests, and the X-Division guys are not really given the chance to be character-driven because they're too busy trying to come up with the next jaw-dropping spot.

The use of the older guys is OK for a little name recognition, but it is truly a product that looks like it is trying too hard to satisfy two totally different groups - old school fans and hardcore fans. I watch it when I happen to remember it is on, because honestly the state of wrestling as a whole is what makes me watch. Just like with Raw, I watch in hopes of something cool happening within the hour or two of crap I'm sitting through. For the simple reason that competition breeds effort, I hope TNA succeeds on some level, if only that it'll make WWE try harder.

I don't discount the athletes in TNA and the effort they put forth, but what they do is not really wrestling as much as it is gymnastics that ends with a pin. I also do not like the six-sided ring and you can tell when a new wrestler comes into TNA because they never look comfortable in the ring initially.

[bobbyryates]

ok, back to MACW.....TNA, like everyone needs to quit copying the WWE. they need their own personality. VR says that PRIDE suits him best now. look who said that...VR!!!! another person that grew up with JCP as the great promotion that it was. JCP is not PRIDE or vice versa, but i bet you can compare the two with the unique flavour they both have. they both have hard hitting bouts. not every match with chairs, chainsaws, trucks, and such...they had/have men in the ring working moves on each other. and realistic moves.
i'm not saying to copy PRIDE. i'm saying that there is a strong market for that kind of style. the WWE style is about dead until another style catches on. so why not do this the MACW/PRIDE style, with a taste of all-japan in the mix???
what made JCP so good in the ring was talent that knew how to work the crowd and each other. egos need to stay at home. if putting another guy over will make you money down the road, then do it like they used to. don't worry about doing a job and going to pout home to mama. see what aspects of the business made MACW wrestlers the legends they are.

[phinney]

I enjoy TNA more than the WWE. I like TNA though. Especially Team Canada

[b0dyguard]

nope not interested...
I will stick with videos and DVD of a time long gone

[MidKnighterNCVA]

And thats coming from someone who puts it on the line in the ring. Who was that masked man???

Anyway. I might be in the minority, but I think TNA has a lot of potiental. They do some things very well... and others...IMO, not so well. But I have enjoyed Impact as much if not more than Smackdown or Raw in recent months.

Dislikes:
-Six sided ring... ughhhhhh. I understand it seperates them from everybody else...and its good they are promoting it... but I doesnt nothing for me. Four Sides - Hip to be Square!!!

-Jeff Hardy and Monty Brown's push. (That said, when Brown is allowed to be himself and not this idiot Alpha Male/Goldberg light character, it looks more natural and comes across better. Being an Alpha Male didnt work for Al Gore and IMO doesnt do anything for Brown. Also the "Pounce" seems kinda lame...especially with a bigger wrestler. Hardy, I dont wanna diss a Carolina boy and I do think he has some talent, but as a main event guy going for the world title? Not gonna buy that PPV.

- Announcers: Teney is great but not as a lead, he's a background/stats guy, not play by play. He does a respectable job but he really needs to be a color guy. Who they heck is they color guy??? Bubba Gump? Dude, go back to hawkin NASCAR Collectables. In the words of Don Imus : NOT HAPPENING!!! The guy is flat out terrible. Makes David Crockett look like John Madden. Shane Douglas as an interviewer? MCFLY HELLO??? Shane, no matter what others might think of him and his ego, I think has a lot of talent. He still wrestles on the indy scene some. I know he is winding down his career, but PUT HIS BUTT IN THE RING. If he doesnt want to wrestle, make him a manager!!! He is damn good on the stick, and ok as an interviewer, but he's pretty good at drawing heat. Heck make him the color guy...He has a lot more going for him than the guy they have now. You can use a butter knife as a screwdriver but that doesnt make it a good fit.

- Team Canada. Talent guys all of them. they could improve on the inring story telling some, but geez the talent certainly is there. D'Amore is um... well... LAME. Sorry, I know he probably works hard, but he's not the type of manager that makes me want to see his guys lose, he's the type that makes me wanna change the channel.

Likes:
Production: Aside from the announcers screaming into the microphone which is located inches from them, the production is pretty good. They yelling, the overenhanced nats of the crowd, and the piped in background crowd noise that is done in post production, is flat out annoying. That said... Visually, its as good as the WWE. I like the clock in the screne (My wife thought that was really good as she said "It gave it credibility as an actually sporting event". And she isnt much of a wrestling fan.). The ticker at the bottom of the screen promoting the show is a nice touch as well as having the names of the wrestlers up next to the clock. All very good in the presentation. Although I dont think I'd give away the results on the scroll while replays of the ppv are still available. Even if you know who already won, it still looks like a negative as somehow the replay isnt as important anymore. The things is ... there is still money to be made.

- Americas Most Wanted, Kid Kash, Petey Williams, Christopher Daniels, and AJ Styles. AMW is the BEST tag team in wrestling today. Here is something else... They'd be one of the best, back in the day IMO. Yes they are THAT good. Kid Kash is a perfect heel. Kinda a smartass, talented enough to back it up, looks like a jerk, just someone you wanna see get beat. Some one stick a belt on him, maybe not the world title, but something. He reminds me of Greg Valentine in attitude. Petey Williams breaks the rules for me. He is 180lbs soaking wet carrying potatoes, but he is a very talented guy. His finisher is one of those ya gotta slowdown the tape and watch how he does it. Its called the Canadian Destroyer, looks cool. He will only get better and if he gains 20lbs of muscle, he'd be gobbled up by the WWE. Christopher Daniels, when playing the heel, might be the best heel in wrestling today. And he's a Carolina boy, grew up on Flair-Wahoo just like the rest us. When he has his Fallen Angel attire on... HE HAS THE LOOK!!!. Its almost scary. I have only seen him in one bad match, and even that one wasnt as bad as some, it was due to a seperated shoulder. He has "it". He would be a villian that the character would be so well done... you'd almost have to turn him face anyway...cuz people will cheer for him anyway, he's that good. A-J Styles. On another board, A-J took a lot of heat as a spot monkey. I've seen Styles enough to know, he is something special. Yeah he has his high spots and they are spectatular, but I have also seen him get on the mat and wrestle. I have seen him use facial expressions (or maybe he was really in pain..lol) during the match. If allowed to, he could be the PERFECT blend of old-school mixed with the right (if not somewhat subdued) aerial style. His dropkicks are amazing. Saw him do one from being down on one knee and got as high as the guys face. This is they guy that should be chasing Jarrett not Scott Hall, Kevin Nash or DDP.

TNA has talent... they just dont seem to know how to develope them. Recycling the dead and mostly buried NWO isnt the answer. I think their answer is right under their noses.

MidKnighter

[superworker]

AMW...best tag team in wrestling?...have you lost your mind?

[Bradshaw0012]

In my opinion, TNA is good for what it is, but not enough that I stop what I'm doing on Saturday nights to watch it. Honestly, I haven't sat and really watched it since thier first primetime special a few months ago. To me there it's the "same ol same ol" but just repackaged.

To me it just doesn't look like wrestling. Wrestling shows today are over produced, and look more like movie productions than "events". (although, TNA IS taped at a movie studio...) I don't like commentators screaming at me for an hour, and the when constant plugs for the upcoming pay per view are being crammed down my throat so hard, then eventually I will throw it up.

The six sided ring doesn't bother me as much as I thought it would, but really, what's so innovative about it other than it's shape?

Now don't get me wrong, there are some positives. For the most part, I think there is more focus on the in ring product which to me is what matters. Promos are looks are important, but the marquee says wrestling, so it's what happens in the ring that counts. Plus I've enjoyed what I've seen of AJ Styles, and that Canadian Destroyer (or the "sunset piledriver" as I have named it) that Petey Williams does is something to behold.

All in all, I'll watch it if there is nothing else going on, but the bottom line is that as a wrestling fan it just isn't what I really want to see.

[ozzsmith]

TNA IS TO ME BY FAR THE BEST WRESTLING ON CABLE. I HAVEN'T WATCHED RAW IN YEARS. CRIPPLE H REALLY PUSHED ME AWAY. HOW CAN ANYONE BELIEVE THAT SAMOA JOE, CHRISTOPHER DANIELS, AND A. J STYLES ARE IN ANY WAY SUP-PAR TO WWE TALENT. TO ME THE 6 SIDED RING ADDS MORE DIMENSION. CHANGE IS GOOD SOMETIMES. JEFF JARRETT IS TNA'S ACHILLES HEEL. HE CAN'T DRAW AND IS BEST SUITED.....IN WWE ;D. FROM SONJAY DUTT TO ABYSS THE ROSTER IS PRETTY WELL BALANCED. AS FAR AS MACW STARS BEING ON THE SHOW THAT WOULD BE GREAT...IF THEY WOULD PUT SOMEONE OVER. I LOVE THE X DIVISION,AND THE GOOD OLD BARBED WIRE MATCH THEY HAD AT THE LAST PPV. WHEN I PAY FOR THEIR PPV, I GET BLOOD, I GET SOME GOOD SPOTFEST (WHICH CONTRADICTORY TO WHAT SOME MAY SAY, A LOT OF FANS LIKE!!) AND JUST GOOD WRESTLING.

[dogthuhoops2k]

Tell me a better team in wrestling today, wwe or tna, thats better than AMW? Dudleys? Naturals? MNM? Kane and Show, Road Warrior Animal and Hindenburg or whatever that goober's name is he's teaming with?

I understand that some on this board think any wrestler born after 1976 blows chunks and cant come to grips that its not 1980 anymore, but there are a number of guys today that are absolutely fantastic to watch and would be fun to watch even back in the "good ol' days".

Dogs

[Baltimore Jack]

I think the TNA guys (and the WWE guys, too, for that matter) are tremendous athletes, acrobats, daredevils, and stuntmen. I mean it; some of the things those guys do is amazing, if not downright foolish. So I'm not knocking their ability in that way. But the TNA style of pro-wrestling is just not enjoyable to me. It is one highspot after another, and it's just impossible for me to suspend disbelief, which is what I have to at least try to do to enjoy pro wrestling. From almost the minute the matches start, some of those moves should kill you, much less finish a match. How can any move be taken seriously when every killer move results in the guy jumping up to take another killer move?

I actually like the wrestling better in the WWE (Angle/Benoit/etc.) but can't stand the storylines and angles there. Just not very entertaining.

Also, a point made above, it just doesn't look like pro-wrestling to me either. The six sided ring is a distraction to me, and the production style of the wild camera shots and fireworks and sound-alike music just gets old fast. Of course most of that started getting old 10 years ago when the Monday Night Wars started up, long before TNA.

And I used to love Mike Teney as an announcer, but the non-stop mono-toned screaming is just unbearable, and as a result I only watched TNA for a couple of weeks and then gave up on it, too.

Just my goofy opinion. But this is coming from a guy who would rather watch Blackjack Mulligan vs. Rufus R. Jones than any other type wrestling they could ever possibly come up with!