REQUIEM

Why not? He already has. It's safe to say that at this point AJ is the biggest fan-favorite in the company, so the idea of him winning the title isn't out of the question by a long-shot. The match he had with Daniels a few weeks ago was incredile, and really put them both over towards that direction imo.

I somewhat agree with your point on Joe, however, I don't think it was the "Nation of Violence" thing that killed it for him. Handing the belt to Angle did that. Seriously, what's the point in even making him champion at this point when it's clear the World Championship isn't the most important thing in the world to him?

I just hope they don't put the belt on Jarrett again.

RaiZ-R

How is this heel turn too soon? Joe has not been a heel once in his entire TNA career. He's played the tweener and the face, but I've never seen him as the heel (true I haven't been watching since he first arrived so I could be wrong, but I've been craving something new from Joe for some time and I feel like I've just been given it).

I can totally see how this could damage the Title's aura, but it being on Foley wasn't helping anyone either. There were much better ways to do this, but it's done now so let's see how it plays out.

Also, concerning the debate over Arquette as Champion in WCW. I was a casual fan at the time. I'd watched WWF as a kid and ocassionally dropped into an episode of Raw from time to time (literally months apart though) and I laughed hard when I heard Dewey from Scream was WCW Champion. I thought that was the most retarded thing I'd ever heard. Not only wasn't he a wrestler, he was also skinny as a twig and looked half as strong. I can also confirm that many of my non-wrestling fan friends felt the same way. Honestly, it probably set back my eventual return to wrestling fandom a good few months, maybe even a year.

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REQUIEM

It's stupid because Joe is supposed to be TNA's top babyface. He's basically TNA's equivalent of John Cena. Can you imagine how much of a waste it would be if WWE just decided to turn Cena heel for seemingly no reason? It would destroy his merchandise sales which are on par with Hogan and Austin, and without anyone else to compensate for that loss, it would be extremely foolish. Joe's title win over Angle last year established him as a top name in the company, not just another mid-card commodity trying to establish identity, so there was no reason for this heel turn.

I can understand that it could be interesting to see Joe as a heel, I just don't think it was time for that yet. Same with Cena. If WWE had just turned Austin heel in the middle of the Attitude era, it would've pissed off every fan in the world. I am in no way comparing Joe to Austin, but TNA should at least be trying to build someone up to that stature. Because right now, all they have done lately is sign people that were already familiar somewhere else and it makes TNA look weak in development (which you can't really argue, they are). Joe and AJ are literally the ONLY guys they have made their mainstream impact in TNA, so their status with the fans should be more stable. When Joe went from babyface to tweener, it really wasn't that big of a change, it was really just giving Joe more attitude. But now with his heel turn, they've just done a complete 180 with him, and made it abundantly clear they have no idea how to use him. Which is sad. For someone to be "one of the greatest ever", there has to be at least some stability in his character. Now Joe is just another guy that might be a face one month, and then be a heel next month. And I just don't believe that's a status you want with your top star.

Bigpapa42

In many ways, the reign of Vince Russo was worse. But by that point, it was painfully obvious that WCW had lost all sense of direction or balance. If you wanted to defend Russo's reign, I suppose you could at least point out that Russo was at least part of the business, and really just seems like he was an foundering idiot with too much power. Not to say that it makes Russo's reign any better, but at least its a bit different.

You are correct the pro wrestling offers up plenty of examples of stupidity. But I'm really not a fan of negative justification to say that "well, it was really stupid... but there's been stupider!"

I've never been a real fan of non-wrestlers winning titles, especially notable titles. The one that always jumps to mind was Vince McMahon. Not a major fan of it, but at least it made sense somewhat. Even as a non-wrestler and old, McMahon held the legitimacy of having spent his whole life in the business and having the build of a wrestler. From a booking perpsective, McMahon was the most hated heel in the company at the time. The same can't be said of Arquette or Russo.

You can bring up what many perceive as low points of wrestling, but to me that doesn't make another low point better. It might give it a degree of perspective, but it doesn't really make it less stupid or low. Again, to me that's just negative justification.

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RaiZ-R

I dont agree with your last sentiment that Joe could flip-flop between faced and heel now due to this turn. Like I said Joe's been face (or tweener) since he debuted, a lengthy heel run will be great for him. It also offers up the opportunity to end the whole Frontline/MEM angle with a Title fued between AJ and Joe, which is a step in the right direction.

I'd also argue that AJ has been the top TNA face since Joe's return, considering Joe's gimmick has been hugely tweenerish, and this will likely lead to AJ winning the TNA World Title and fueding with Joe. Which could give this Main Event Mafia angle a little bit of validity.

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Bigpapa42

Actually, turning John Cena heel at this point for any reason would be a major step in the right direction. Part of the reason it seems that he gets the negative reception from part of the crowd (and positive from another part, obviously) is that many feel he's very stale. He's been doing the same thing as a face since about 2003-2004. So turning Cena would be a positive step in that way, regardless of the justification or logic.

I don't know that you can quite say the same thing of Joe, but whether its a good move or bad move will depend on where they go from here. If they actually have some interesting plans for him as a heel (which I have no faith in, but its possible), then this could be a huge boost to him.

My guess - and its just a guess - is that the heel turn is just a quick fix to get away from the Nation of Violence which didn't seem to be working as a gimmick. This way, they don't have to completely abandon the gimmick but it becomes less of a focus.

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REQUIEM

AJ v Joe for the title would be good, only Kurt Angle's the champion. AJ definitely has been the top babyface in the company since Joe's "tweener" return, but it's no where near the level Joe was at before he left for a little while. Which is why it feels like a step backwards for TNA since they're basically nullifying all the momentum Joe had built before that. And what happens if this little heel turn doesn't work either? Do they go back to making Joe a face again? The whole thing just has "Vince Russo" written all over it. And it's very possible, especially since there is a serious imbalance of baby faces to heels in TNA. The baby faces are AJ, Jarrett, Daniels, Abyss, and.... that's really it. And the heels are Angle, Joe, Nash, Booker, Steiner, Foley, Raven, Douglas, Morgan, and MMG. Then you have Sting being the tweener, a baby face leading a heel stable. I didn't even know the Frontline still existed. Rhino's been mentoring an ex-army guy or whatever and Suicide is just ridiculous. There isn't many credible faces in TNA anymore and they are the ones that sell your merchandise and are every bit as important to establishing good rivalries as antagonists.

From a fan's perspective, turning John Cena heel would be great since his character is stale and many fans will never accept him until he does. But from a business perspective, it wouldn't be the best idea right now, especially since Jeff Hardy might be leaving soon, and Undertaker and Batista are both on the verge of retirement. Not to mention Shawn Michaels never wrestles a full year anymore and could very well be heading towards retirement too, but at least that hasn't been confirmed.

It's very possible TNA might be taking this Joe turn somewhere interesting, I just don't like the 3:1 ratio of heels to faces in TNA right now. Especially since Joe was THE guy in TNA this time last year. But if they were just trying to get away from the "Nation of Violence" thing, they did a damn good job since that motto couldn't seem any more ridiculous after just handing the World Championship to his arch rival.

RaiZ-R

I definitely agree that the heel to face ratio is off kilter and something needs to be done. It's likely that Sting will go full face in the near future, and mentor Styles to victory over Angle (thus sucking all the heat that AJ would get for accomplish such a task alone away from him) and then of course we have the AJ/Joe fued for the Title I was refering to.

Even then though the lack of young credible babyfaces in TNA is shocking. If they'd booked the Main Event Mafia fued right in the beginning, we'd currently have Jay Lethal on a roll, perhaps as X Division Champ, and fueding with someone such as Booker, or even Angle to establish himself as a real force. He also wouldn't be under the Black Machismo gimmick anymore. The Guns would also be face, and riding a wave of just beating Team 3D for the Tag Titles, as well as the possibility of Beer Money being face to after being screwed over by Team 3D who wlould've joined the MEM, not The Frontline... But then, they didn't do that, so this entire freaking paragraph is pointless.

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RobyD

Yeah, Nitro's rating totally dropped from a 3.1 to a 2.5 following Arqette's win. I hace no idea where you're coming from Requiem.

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RaiZ-R

It's Y 2 Jake that's touting Arquette, not Requiem.

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