Picture this, it’s Thursday night and you are faithfully tuning into Spike TV and watching your favorite broadcast, Impact Wrestling. Blessed by a talented roster and well experienced executives, you are assured that your high hopes of a great show will be met. Minute after minute and hour after hour, you watch patiently, waiting for that moment when you get to jump up from your seat and start screaming hateful obscenities at the television because your favorite heel just got over. Unfortunately for myself and the entire viewing audience, we never got to experience any of those wonderful aforementioned things, except for maybe the hateful obscenities but for very different reasons, on this past Thursday’s episode of Impact Wrestling. To put it frankly, it was a complete snooze fest.
I am not an idiot, although they say if you have to tell someone that your not then you probably are, but back to my point. I get that not every show is going to be some spectacular PPV type of event, but I have seen better action on the Westminster Dog Show. It seems to me that although I love this brand, there has been a sort of declination that needs to be identified and solved within TNA and time is not on their side. The things that made TNA what we all truly love, are slowly disappearing right before our very eyes. It’s like a horrible magic trick done by the in-house magician, at the late show, of the Blue Oyster Cult Casino. Wow, that is oddly specific, but I digress. TNA needs to get back to the basics if they want to attract new viewers, better yet, if they want to hold onto the current ones they have.
So I thought within all of my infinite wisdom, I could drum up a few suggestions for my pals in the front office, offer a little helping hand, if I may. By all means, TNA, feel free to use one or more of these ideas, that’s what they are here for. In all seriousness though, we are all here because we love this brand and we only wants what is best for it, so lets take some time and discuss what, in my opinion, would help us find a light and the end of this very dark tunnel.
- Get Rid Of The Stables
– Plain and simple. The use for stables has been good for TNA in the past, with the original Main Event Mafia. But TNA has a tendency to hold onto things a little longer than they should. Although Aces & 8s came out strong, their story lines and draw hit flat after a few months of the same thing, like the original Main Event Mafia, people just got tired of seeing it. Just let them go TNA, build on individual name values more and less on a stable name brand.
- Solidify Your Champions
–It’s a great time to be a TNA fan because they are still developing who they are and what they stand for. With that comes new champions, people that mainstream wrestling fans may not have heard about yet, people whose names will be said throughout TNA for many years to come. The only problem with that is, even though the opportunities are finally coming to the people who deserve them, they are not solidifying their presence as a world champion. Maybe it is the type of matches or the promos that are being cut? Either way if your going to push a wrestler to the top, make sure he is remembered for being on top and he is now and forever seen as world championship material. At least until the world gets used to the idea that they are now the champion.
- Revamp The Knockouts
– Where oh where have all the knockouts gone? What was once a thriving division that people loved to watch is now an abysmally sad afterthought. First off, you will need more wrestlers than four to have a division, so it’s time TNA picked up some new talent. As of late, TNA has been releasing people, trimming down their roster and that includes Knockouts like Tara and Madison Rayne. Madison of course is on her way to motherhood, so that was to be expected, but what about the many names we knew before? This was a division that was thriving so well, they gave them tag team titles to defend and even headlined an Impact Wrestling television show, something no Diva has ever done. It seems to me once Karen Angle left, so did the Knockouts appeal, there was no one to command them around or put them in their place, no one to really hate! That’s what needs to happen again, we need the drama, the cat fights, the backstage story lines, we need a reason to watch again. The talent that used to draw our attention is no longer as abundant as it used to be, so TNA has to rely on different avenues of attraction to keep us glued to our TV sets during the Knockouts segments.
- Turn Brooke Heel
– So you must think I am mad by suggesting Brooke as a whole, could change the face of TNA just by turning heel, please allow me to explain. What TNA needs to devise are great story lines for individuals, not stables. So by turning Brooke heel, it would give the chance to start a family war with one of the biggest names in wrestling, Hulk Hogan. They could exchange words, she could try to takeover his job, they could hinder their hate on so many things that would keep us watching for months. Brooke, no matter how you see it, you’ll be a huge commodity for TNA by turning heel. It was also give a huge boost to the previously mentioned dying Knockouts Division.
So with all that being said, I think I will stop there, because I could go on and on, I am very opinionated, hence this column of opinions. I am just another guy, without any special professional wrestling training, sharing his views on a problem that needs to find some solutions with a company I love. I am just a fan. I hope that someone at home office wakes up and starts to listen to some of us fans before its too late, but then again that’s just my chaotic theory…
I really like the stables, I don’t mind their presence … what I would like to see is an end to Aces & 8s at Bound for Glory. A definitive end. Back when Hulk Hogan turned face again and abandoned Immortal, it was still a few years until the faction died a quiet death. I don’t want that for Aces & 8s. I want Aces & 8s to be soundly defeated. I want the payoff that the New World Order promised to WCW and never delivered. The Main Event Mafia or whoever needs to take down the Aces & 8s in one final night.
After that, I’m OKAY with there being groups. Maybe even several groups. But what I don’t want is a takeover storyline. We’re done with that, I feel. TNA has explored it in two different ways now, the fans have seen it done and done. There’s nothing wrong with different factions though. I think back to the 80s and 90s WWE (WWF) when we had the Heenan Family and the Million Dollar Corporation. These were great factions that were out to put themselves forward, but they weren’t trying to fight TNA as a company.
I agree with the rest of your points completely. More Knockouts, turn Brooke heel, go all in with the champs. Yes, yes, and yes.