On the Contrary: Great Column!!!

[highheatkingsb]

Courtesy: PWTorch.com

If you get a chance, check out the Shane column as well. Good stuff.

Hi, I'm Eric Gall, welcome to "On the Contrary," where I take a look at a generally believed concept in the wrestling each week. I then offer an alternative take on the matter, the "flip side," if you will.

Last week's column about Shane McMahon had good, heart-felt responses, and this week, I'm looking at another issue that a lot of people seem to have made their minds up on.

The prevailing thought:

TNA is an inferior product to WWE. "Fire Russo." Every match is a gimmick match. Illogical booking. All of these are just some of the reasons I've read online why "TNA sucks." TNA has become the whipping boy of many internet wrestling fans. TNA has been guilty of having one of its bookers, Jeff Jarrett, in the championship spotlight way too much. It has been portrayed as a "Southern 'rasslin'" company, including frequent on-air appearances by racecar drivers. Certain angles, like last year's awful Super Eric and the Prince Justice Brotherhood bit, had been pushed far too hard. Some say TNA just doesn't get it.

On the contrary:

TNA is a viable wrestling promotion that stresses a whole roster focused on wrestling over a handful of main-eventers portraying "sports entertainment" and has created an identity separate from WWE. One of the biggest reasons a fan can find TNA entertaining is Mick Foley. Mick has been something of a lightning rod since he recently won the TNA Championship. Though he is probably not in the kind of shape to wrestle full-time and hold the belt for an extended reign, Mick has been allowed to cut fresh and entertaining promos, the likes of which you will not see on current WWE programming. Foley is a unique individual who manages to blend goofy, obscure humor with often-bloody violence. Last week, he showed both sides well with the "Furley" skit early in the show with Jeremy Borash, and then his attack on Jarrett showed his hardcore aspect. When it comes to portraying an engaging, unstable, articulate character, there is no one like Mick Foley.

The X-Division is another reason why TNA has merit as a strong wrestling promotion. True, a lot of the wind that has been taken out of the sails of the X-Division, but there is more of a showcase on cruiserweight talent than in the WWE. As long as the Motor City Machine Guns have a match on Impact, and it's just as likely that Sabin and Shelly will have more than one match and/or segment, athleticism and innovation will be on display, the likes of which just isn't emphasized on Raw or Smackdown.

For that matter, TNA also stresses the importance of tag team wrestling. Including the MCMG, Beer Money has established itself as another bankable team that just wouldn't be given a push, let alone an extended one, in WWE. Even the Dudleys, or Team 3-D as they're called these days, offer viewers a kind of wrestler that's not given much screen time currently in WWE. There's always a tag team match on Impact, with actual tag teams, and usually not thrown together singles stars with the purpose of advancing an angle.

TNA's Knockout Division has not only been a strength of the company, but it also has influenced WWE booking. TNA has been giving more focus on women's wrestling than has been customary in the last few years, and this strategy has paid off. Knockout segments, particularly those with the Beautiful People and/or Awesome Kong, have consistently been the highest rated segments on Impact. By placing two women's matches on each show and portraying the women as more than eye-candy, TNA's Knockouts have set themselves apart. Since this development, WWE has created the Divas' Title, which could be seen as a concession that there is more interest in women's wrestling than it had previously been providing on its programming.

My take:

TNA provides an entertaining alternative to WWE's programming, especially Monday Night Raw. There is enough diversity on the show to provide wrestling fans with at least something they want. In terms of old faces, they can stick around to see Sting, Kurt Angle, and the rest of the Main Event Mafia. Comedy
fans can tune in for Foley's promos and Don West's always improving heel wisecracks. Fans of women's wrestling get double their dose of anything that WWE puts out on a given show. Tag team wrestling fans always get a match. Even with the focus on most Impacts being Foley, Angle, the MEM or Jarrett, there's always a sense that everyone on the roster is give adequate camera time.

TNA manages to provide a "three ring circus" atmosphere to its programming, where, if you don't like the clowns
, stick around for the guy who gets shot out of the cannon. Unlike WWE programming, which focuses on the main event talents to the detriment of the rest of the roster, TNA provides a variety of featured characters. That alone makes TNA a wrestling company worth watching. It's certainly not a perfect promotion, but most weeks, I find myself enjoying Impact more than Raw.

[goh]

Lemme fix some of that...

TNA WAS a viable wrestling promotion that stresses a whole roster focused on wrestling over a handful of main-eventers portraying "sports entertainment"...then they brought in Sting,Angle,Christian,Foley,Nash,Booker etc. and buried their own stars they had built up with great matches and devalued all their titles and added this legends title crap and there's now more talking than wrestling.

The X-Division WAS another reason why TNA has merit as a strong wrestling promotion...when it was as valuable as the main title,had main event PPV matches that never disapointed,often produced MOTY candidates and were worth watching.

TNA DID stress the importance of tag team wrestling...when they had xXx,AMW etc. also main eventing PPVs,having possible MOTY candidtates,titles were valuable instead of a giant mess of a division and were actually entertaining.

TNA's Knockout Division has been...useless and takes away valuable time from more entertaining things.

[JiggidyJames]

How does TNA stress wrestling when "ECW" routinely has more in-ring time in an hour than Impact has in two?

EDIT: Then I read this in the WO daily update:

Quote:

-- ECW had 24:37 of wrestling in their one hour this week as compared to 17:49 in TWO HOURS of TNA. So ECW beat them by 6:48, which is pretty scary. In TNA's defense, the Finlay vs. Harry Smith match seemed to go 6 hours and 48 minutes so it’s not quite as impressive as it sounds.

Finlay/Smith actually went about 18 minues. So ONE MATCH had more time than the entire two hours of Impact.

[ty5oke]

That's interesting about the in-ring time. But that Rocky Balboa v Foley had me laughing.

[Jon22]

We get it spammers!!! You love WWE so much that any other wrestler organization should seize to exist.

[goh]

Just to further cement my point...

UNBREAKABLE LINE-UP (was the PPV in 2005 after Sacrifice,wich was in August then):

* Cassidy Riley drew Jerrelle Clark (Pre-show);
Both gone. Clark was an up and comer in the X division.

* Shark Boy defeated Mikey Batts (Pre-show);
Well this wasn't going anywhere.

* 3 Live Krew defeated The Diamonds in the Rough;
Something we could see today I'm sure but I believe all 6 people involved in the match are gone from TNA or at least from the ring. (Diamond is still an agent or something like that isn't he?)

* Austin Aries defeated Roderick Strong;
From what I remember this was fantastic match and both are long gone.

* Kip James & Monty Brown beat Apollo & Lance Hoyt;
Monty and Hoyt had potential then and are also gone.

* Chris Sabin defeated Petey Williams;
I remember this being a really great match too and Petey is gone.

* Abyss w/Father James Mitchell defeated Sabu;
This was the barbwire thing I think,good to have in for variety at least.

* Team Canada's Bobby Rude defeated Jeff Hardy;
Attempt at a vet putting over someone new.

* Naturals b AMW and Team Canada and Shelley/Candido;
4 way tag team title match with talent all over the place back when the tag titles had meaning.

* Raven defeated Rhino -Ravens Rules | NWA World title-;
Something we wouldn't see today (they'd be midcard) and I remember this being decent. At least it was an ECW throwback. Raven is gone and I don't know about Rhino.

* AJ Styles beat Chris Daniels and Samoa Joe vs -X title-;
Perfect right here. 3 new stars,main event,title match. See this was when the X Division still meant something,it's even over the world title. Probably the best match TNA ever put on,at least top 3. Where are they now and where were Foley,Sting,Jarrett and Angle (this sunday's main event) then? Styles has the meaningless Legends title fueding with Booker,Joe is...I dunno what they're doing with Joe,I believe his match is against Nash and Daniels,is he even on the PPV this sunday? Oh he's fighting a videogame character in what will likely be the best match on the show or end in DQ.

The guys on the fight network couldn't even get through the Sacrifice preview with a straight face.

[ty5oke]

Watched that Joe v Daniels v Styles last night on TNA Epics. First time I've seen that match and it was epic. I haven't seen anything in wrestling since I started watching again about a year ago that comes close to that one.

[Dr.J]

On the Contrary: "Great Column!!!"

LOL, more like wwe fanboy garbage.