Written By: Mike Johns on 02/15/07
This past Monday night, RAW was preempted for the Westminster Dog Show, allowing TNA a spectacular opportunity to run a two-hour special unopposed on a Monday night in Prime Time. The idea of the special was to introduce new fans to TNA, but, instead of running a special two-hour live event with PPV quality matches on the unopposed Monday, TNA put together a sort of “best of” show with matches that had been featured on PPV over the past year. Now, I personally would have rather seen TNA put on something of a mini-PPV this past Monday, but, since TNA had just done a PPV the night before, I can see why TNA would be reluctant to have promoted such a big show on free TV the night after a show they were trying to convince us to buy on PPV. It doesn’t really make the situation better, mind you. Instead of a fresh show being featured on Monday, TNA “phoned it in” and expected fans to tune in to see PPV matches from last year spliced together with meaningless hype videos that, to anyone who’s actually watched TNA in the past few months, would see as utter bullsh*t.
For instance, you had the hype video for the X-Division, featuring the Ultimate X. In theory, this sort of package is exactly how you would want new fans to see the X-Division, as a fast-paced, exciting, innovative division of high-flying athletes doing things you generally won’t see on other televised wrestling programs. The problem is that this is NOT how TNA has been portraying the X-Divison for some time. In fact, I would go to say that it’s been a solid two years since the X has been promoted properly, but that’s really a matter of semantics. I personally feel AJ And the Fallen Angel should have been taken out of the division and put with the heavyweights a long while before TNA finally did so, and even then, they’re still not completely removed from it, leaving current champions and contenders like Chris Sabin and Senshi looking inferior by doing so, maing the division on the whole appear weak, but I’m digressing from my point. For those of us who have actually watched TNA in the past year, we know that the X, outside of AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels, and maybe Samoa Joe (although TNA seems to have committed to Joe being a heavyweight now, which is good both for him and the X-Divison), is something of a joke. In the past 6 months alone, we’ve seen the X-Division champion in a diaper, Senshi pinning a blow-up doll he thought was Chris Sabin, and a PCS Tournament that saw X-Division stars participate in ridiculous contests such as Musical Chairs and pogo-sticking, all for a shot to win one of Kevin Nash’s bowling trophies and making Bob Backlund jokes on TV. For a division that is supposed to be highlighted by high-flying athletes doing death-defying stunts, you don’t really see a lot of that on TNA TV, yet, on the “This is TNA” special, they carted out the X and hyped it up as action-packed. Now, if I were someone seeing this for the first time, and I saw that video, I’d think, “Wow, that looks pretty cool. I’d like to see more of that!” In fact, before I started watching TNA, I would see clips of AJ Styles and Low-Ki and think, “Wow! I’d like to see more or that!” But, here’s the thing – when I started watching TNA on a regular basis, about the time they debuted on Fox Sports Net back in 2004, the X-Division stars were featured in the ring, wrestling their fast-paced action-packed style that many fans have grown to love on a regular basis (or, at least they did until Dusty Rhodes took over the book and made TNA virtually unwatchable for the later half of their FSN run). Now, if I were to start watching TNA as a new fan, I would see the X-Division champion in a diaper, the X-Division stars in backstage skits playing straight-men for Kevin Nash, and maybe, if I’m lucky, about 5 minutes of actual X-Division action. I believe the words I’m looking for are “bait and switch,” and God knows how much wrestling fans love that…
Another major “bait and switch” seems to be TNA’s pride in their Tag Team division. This is also the same TNA that saw America’s Most Wanted, The Naturals, and Styles/Daniels all break up in about a month. Now, I support the idea of an AMW break-up, and hopefully TNA recognizes James Storm’s potential as a solo heel and somehow makes Chris Harris interesting enough to care about (allegedly, back before the FSN run, TNA was able to convince Nashville that Harris was World Championship material, but Nashville also seemed to accept Ron Killings as a Main Eventer, too, so that’s not really saying much). They were a team for five years, which is an eternity for a tag team to stay together these days. It was either break them up, or let them go to WWE. Beyond that, AMW was worn out beyond all welcome and need to split. I’ll even give AJ the props he deserves for being the absolutely kick-ass heel he’s becoming (if only he could cut a promo…). And hell, I hate the Naturals, but at least they were a team! Right now, in TNA, you have LAX, Team 3D, VKM, Serotonin (the heel jobber team), and, apparently, Shark Boy and Norman Smiley as the baby face jobber team. Before Vince Russo came aback to TNA, you also had AMW, Styles/Daniels, and The Naturals, all of which were top contenders behind LAX. AMW was tired, and I personally hate the Naturals, but they weren’t completely without hope. I mean, TNA kept giving them pushes for a reason, right? Once Russo came back, all three major contenders for the tag belts break up, almost forcing TNA to push an LAX/Team 3D feud by default. As VKM struggles for attention, and the other teams in the division clearly being marked as jobbers, there are no other contenders. Maybe there’s a plan for an Angle/Joe team. Who knows? But, as it stands, TNA’s Tag Division, yet another allegedly hot commodity that got put over on TNA’s Monday Special, is a bust. Two teams that are over isn’t a division. It’s a shame.
It’s actually hard these days to say what TNA is doing right. It shouldn’t be this way. With the talent at TNA’s disposal, there is no reason why TNA shouldn’t be a good show. Sure, there’s glitches here and there to be expected, but any show has those. I mean, if SmackDown can go from appearing to be on life-support over the summer to currently being the best wrestling show on TV, then there’s hope for TNA, right? But where to start?
A lot of people blame Vince Russo for, well, everything. I can’t really blame them. I mean, this is a guy who’s had a very strange effect on wrestling, none of which has aged well. The concept of Crash TV, once considered revolutionary, is now reviled. Backstage skits have gotten to the point where wrestling now appears to be very cheesy “reality TV”, and the importance of actual in-ring work, and the very definition of what good in-ring work is has been warped to near unrecognizable levels. My generation of fans have very little idea what wrestling was like before we were born. Hell, most of us would have a hard time understanding how wrestling was when we were kids. We watch the videos and try to understand, but wrestling has changed so much, both in and out of the ring that it’s almost impossible for people my age to recognize just how different wrestling is now. A lot of this change is due to Vince McMahon. Then there’s the Internet, Paul Heyman, Eric Bischoff, and finally, Vince Russo. McMahon changed the industry from the ground up, the Internet exposed it, Heyman revolutionized booking (basically), Bischoff changed the nature of wrestling on television, and then Russo came along, taking bits and pieces of Heyman’s philosophy and Bischoff’s format and created what is now the modern wrestling TV template. When my generation was growing up, wrestling shows were very basic – match, backstage interview, another match, some sort of “news” segment to further an angle, another interview, and then your main event. Major name talents and main eventers were almost never on TV, and when they were, they were cutting promos. Now, it’s just not TV if the main event guys don’t show. Wrestling shows are more complex, as well. It’s not just interview, match, interview match. Now it’s opening segment featuring main event angle, match, interview, backstage segment with Vince, women doing something, guy walking backstage to ring, match, backstage segment, hype video for tonight’s main event, match, another in-ring segment, hype video for PPV, backstage segment, main event. There’s generally more going on in a show nowadays, and a lot of that change is because of Russo. In an effort to compete with Bischoff’s WCW Monday Nitro, which regularly gave away major confrontations between name stars, the WWF needed to do something different. While Nitro gave away big matches, their TV format was not unlike the wrestling shows of my youth. The only major difference was you had the stars on the show and not a bunch of jobbers. So the WWF did something different. Not only did the WWF start having more matches between stars, but they changed the way they presented their shows, as well. The old school format was thrown out for a more “reality TV” feel, and that came from the pen of Vince Russo. In that way, Russo was actually years ahead of his time, as Reality TV would not become trendy until long after Russo was out of the WWF. The concept Russo brought to the table forever changed the way wrestling was presented on TV, so much so that even now, when you watch a wrestling show on TV, you’re seeing the Russo “reality TV” concept in place. Cameras are everywhere now, catching random interaction between superstar, rather than just the controlled environment of the traditional wrestling interview. That’s Russo’s influence, above anything else. It’s also Russo’s sole positive contribution to Wrestling’s Legacy.
While Russo’s “reality TV” concept revolutionized the way wrestling was presented on TV, what Russo actually booked was generally hit or miss. Steve Austin segments worked because Austin was so over that the man could do almost no wrong. Russo was also smart enough to know not to screw with Austin’s character too much. In fact, most main event talent do all right under Russo booking. Russo may do a lot of stupid sh*t, but he at least knows that his main eventers need to look strong in the eyes of fans. You’re not going to see Samoa Joe in a dress or Sting and Abyss playing musical chairs on TNA TV. Russo’s smart enough to know that these guys are over, and while some may say that Russo’s gone a way to hurt Abyss’s character with recent booking, the overall thing is, if Russo really wanted to f*ck Abyss as a character, he’d have had Abyss unmasked by now. Kane’s been f*cked a lot worse than Abyss has ever been, believe me.
Russo as a booker becomes a problem once he sees no value in you. That’s what it comes down to. Midcarders and jobbers, from the WWF days to now, have always been on the business end of Russo’s worst ideas. Russo, in his mind, believes that every star has to be just that, a “star”. The problem is, not everyone can be a top guy or get top guy attention. There needs to be a support structure of solid guys under your main talent that are strong in the eyes of fans. Most bookers and IWC writers don’t begin to understand the importance of the midcard, which is a shame, to say the least. The IWC, in general, seems to think a midcard spot for a talented performer is a bad thing. It’s not. A properly booked show not only has popular main eventers headlining shows and drawing the money, but talented midcarders who warm up a crowd and entertain fans before the main event. Most people buy tickets to shows or PPVs to see one match, but they also complain when the other matches suck. Much of the reason why recent WWE and TNA PPVs have come up short in the entertainment department has been because of severely lacking midcard attractions, featuring matches either no one wants to see, or matches so poorly booked and/or worked that no one would ever want to see them again (example: Lashley vs. Test). Without a strong undercard to support your main event, you have a weak show, no matter how good your main event is. To Russo’s credit, he at least understands the importance of getting midcarders over. The problem is that he does not seem to understand the importance of creating an undercard to support his top talent. SO, instead of slowly building a midcarder’s character over time by booking him in feuds that highlight his in-ring talents and compliment his character, Russo generally gives a midcarder an outlandish gimmick meant to get a lot of people’s attention quickly. Now, say, for instance, you have a midcarder who’s an okay wrestler, but not really ready for main-event level attention from fans yet. Someone that, in time, could be a top guy, but just isn’t ready yet. Well, with Russo’s penchant of booking midcarders to get “over”, what you’re going to get is a midcarder getting attention he isn’t ready to handle yet, working in spots he probably shouldn’t be in, and having all of his weaknesses exposed. One of the major things about booking that most people who have never booked don’t understand is that not everyone looks good in the same light. Some need to be showcased one way, while others need to be showcased another. For example, Jeff Hardy should be in a lot of gimmick matches or as a part of a tag team, to hide his weaknesses (like, for instance, the inability to work a convincing singles match), while shining light on his high spots and his willingness to put his body on the line. On the other hand, you want to take a wrestler like Samoa Joe and feature him in situations where his technique, his agility, and power can be showcased. Both men mentioned have been, for the most part, booked incredibly well, and have become major names in wrestling because of it. Unfortunately, with Russo, instead of focusing Sonjay Dutt and Jay Lethal in situations that highlight their in-ring talents, are being paired with Kevin Nash and being given extreme makeovers. It makes no sense, but, then again, it’s Vince Russo.
I don’t know. TNA’s becoming very frustrating these days, and believe me, after sitting through 4 of Jeff Jarrett’s 6 NWA Title Reigns and months and months of Dusty Rhodes booking TNA into oblivion, and still being able to find things to enjoy about TNA, that’s saying a lot. But I can’t keep talking about this anymore. It’s depressing the f*ck out of me.
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