JamesP

Posted on 4/13/08 2:38 PM

As a fan, I don't like TNA's philosophy of pushing veterans over younger talent, but at this point in the company, it's necesesary for them to become a big promotion. TNA is a small, unproven company - they're not going to become popular simply by word of mouth, so they have to put some more recognizable names at the top. At this point, the only way TNA will be able to compete with WWE is if either they A)push bigger stars, or B)WWE reaches 1995 level lows, and since the latter isn't happening any time soon, they have to do the former. If TNA gets the upper hand on WWE, then yes, they hould throw their philiosophy out of the window and push more homegrown talent to the top, but right now, they need those big names, whether we like it or not.

4 comments Permalink

Posted on 3/27/08 9:13 PM

Even though the two top guys in WWE are heels, which is refreshing, I don't give a fuck about neither of them. Randy Orton has been made to look like a bitch ever since he won the title. I can't buy him as a dominant champion - you're not dominant when you have to be DQ'd to retain the title in 3 out of your 5 PPV title defenses, and all he can say for his wins is "Uhhh...I beat Jeff Hardy and uhhh...I beat Shawn Michaels...when he was banned from using his finisher." Contrast that to HHH's 2000 title reign, where he could say, "I beat Cactus Fucking Jack, The Hardcore Legend, Twice and CLEANLY in his specialty matches." You could really buy HHH as a dominant champion, so you were able to actually care about his feuds. Meanwhile, I can't buy RKO as a threat, because he's nothing but a bitch who can only retain by DQ'ing himself. Edge is even worse because you could call his loss to UT as soon as he won the damn belt. His feuds were basically filler, and not very good ones, so I'm just not interested in him.

3 comments Permalink

Posted on 3/24/08 4:35 PM

Yes, for the first time in over a year, TNA is finally doing something right. The build to the Samoa Joe vs. Kurt Angle match has been awesome so far. They've eliminated Karen Angle and the Angle Alliance from the equation and have made it just Joe vs. Kurt, which helps makes this match even bigger. What's even better is that Kurt isn't being booked as a goof or a cliched conspirator, and is instead being booked as he should be - a wrestling machine. The Kurt Angle training regimen segment was excellent, and it's little things like that that helps make this match even bigger in the fan's eyes and is something that WWE should pick up on for their WM Main Events. Also, Kurt Angle squashing an MMA wrestler was a lot more effective than how it is for the Big Show feud because that guy who Kurt squashed actually looked threatening, rather than a jobber with boxing gloves. And Kurt fucking killed him, so he looks more threatening. It looks like TNA is finally learning from the Global Impact special.

6 comments Permalink

Posted on 3/20/08 5:33 PM

This is one thing I've been torn on for a while. Is there a difference between the two? For example, if you call John Cena horrible because he can't wrestle, some people will take it as not being a Chris Benoit caliber "wrestler" is horrible. Some people take the word wrestling as using chain wrestling, holds, etc., while some people take it as performing - workrate, ability to be exciting, performing moves properly, selling, etc. Obviously, John Cena is adept at wrestling in the execution sense, but I think he's horrible in the performance sense. Some people will take it the wrong way if you say, for example, Tommy Dreamer is a better wrestler than John Cena. Some people think that you're saying that in a technical sense - that he uses more moves, has more technical ability. However, the person is saying that as a performer, Tommy is better-he can work a match better, he can be exciting, and can sell. It's mainly a performance thing - someone can be a good "wrestler" but not a good "wrestler" ya know?

9 comments Permalink

Posted on 3/18/08 7:55 PM

ECW gets criticism for their guys only being able to hit each other with weapons and do crazy sunts and not put together a match. I think they're wrong. However, if there was ever a hardcore wrestling promotion that deserved all of that criticism, it was XPW. Simply put, those guys were untrained idiots who seemed like they were recruited from backyard wrestling. ALL they could do was hit each other with weapons. ECW's guys were able to take the weapons and spots and tell a story with them and get an entertaining match, but the XPW "wrestlers" were horrible. They botched almost every spot, they couldn't put a match together. It was just, "I hit you with light tube, you hit me with barbed wire, we go through a table, repeat." They had a few bright spots, such as Human Tornado and some of the ECW guys that they managed to get. And don't get me started on the commentary. Chris Kloss was horrible, and in the one month that Joey Styles was there, it must have been awful for him to work with that idiot.

10 comments Permalink