Tommy Platinum

I know I'm usually pretty negative in here, for good reason, because I think TNA make a lot of terrible decisions and the product often lacks logical and coherent booking to the point that it becomes annoying to watch. Then there is the often debated problem of has-beens who made their names elsewhere hogging main events.

However, for this thread, the negativity stops there. A few people have asked me "if you hate TNA so much, why watch it?". The answer is simple: I don't hate TNA. It provides a refreshing change from what we see in WWE and in certain areas it actually surpasses WWE. As strange as it may sound to some, in ways, WWE could really learn from TNA.

This thread idea came from a discussion in the Bobby Lashley thread, so apologies if I am repeating myself on some points here, but the main reason I like TNA is the character development. My main issue with WWE is that everybody (especially faces) is so bland, and they don't really get the chances to develop a character with genuine depth, instead just falling under a few general categories. For example, every face is basically just an all round nice guy, every face diva is just a hot girl having fun, every heel is just an arrogant dick etc. It is very rare for a WWE character to go beyond that and have genuine depth. Yes, some have gimmicks which make them stand out somewhat, but they don't get the mic time and feud progression to develop real characters that you can buy into.

TNA does pretty well in this respect all over the card. I would say that TNA is not a wrestling based promotion, but a character based one. You won't see many good matches from the main eventers, but they all have deep and meaningful characters which have been established through countless segments and promos. Angle, Sting, Foley, Steiner.. they all get a lot of mic time and are able to get their character across. Then you look at the tag teams. You look at Beer Money, Team 3D and even Lethal Consequences, and compare them to bland WWE teams like The Colons. You look at the Knockouts division and compare The Beautiful People and ODB to WWE divas. No contest in terms of character. TNA actually invests time in the characters of wrestlers from all divisions, and tries to give fans a reason to care about them. Even Suicide did a sit down interview with JB, expressing a character.

Personally I believe WWE does not do this nearly enough. The backstage segments, the skits, the sit-down interviews, features such as the spin cycle... they all come together to help develop a character and give fans a reason to care about the wrestlers they see in the ring. This, combined with the lack of a PG rating which makes the product less restrictive, are the main things TNA has over WWE at this stage.

So while the wrestling isn't great, TNA is a good promotion for characters, and because of this IMPACT is a lot more entertaining than RAW.

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KenTheKiller

Yeah, for sure one of the best parts of TNA is that most people are DIFFERENT. It's not just about mic time and all that, though that's a big perk but you look at most matches they have and it's people completely different. I don't like the Knockout's Division much but look at it, Awesome Kong, ODB, The Beautiful People, Sojo, Daffney, Tara, etc. All so different to each other it makes everyone stand out. British Invasion, Kiyoshi, Abdul, The Guns, Lethal, Creed, Deaner, Rhino, Team 3D, Beer Money, Jethro Holiday, Kurt Angle, Matt Morgan, I can go on and on. Everyone has something that really separates them.

I don't like a lot of TNA but this is something that really helps. Not just different characters either, they give people different looks. Davari now comes out even different than before. Kiyoshi looks different to everyone else. etc. They present everyone as being different which help people care about even the mid and low card guys.

TNA make good use of the web to do this, with spin cycle, tnation, etc. which gives people more time to talk and interact.

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God

I have said several times that Russo's biggest upside is that no matter where you are on the card, he will get you a caracter of some sort. They arent all great, but it's up to the wrestler to make it something that works ala The Beautiful People.

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Tommy Platinum

Yeah I forgot to mention looks and gimmicks. Like you say they have a way of making everybody stand out from the crowd. You don't get many generic wrestlers in TNA, in terms of their look and gimmick at least.

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Y 2 Jake

I like that there's an alternative to WWE. That's about it. Anything I like about is usually fucked up by TNA.

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Mr. Sam

Erm, I'm going to have to think deep and hard about this.

1. I like that Homicide is X Division champion. However, I'd imagine it'll be very underwhelming.

2. I like Kurt Angle. Unfortunately, I'd much rather see him back in the WWE.

3. I like AJ Styles. By the time he's pushed to be a conisistent main eventer, he'll probably be too old to do flips.

4. I like Hernandez. He's injured though.

5. I like how I can miss a good twenty shows in a row and not care.

Kayla

Here lately, I've really been enjoying TNA. Putting all of the nonsense twists and turns aside and all of the gimmick matches, it's a pretty good product. Even though some of the guys are old as dirt and shouldn't be in a wrestling ring, most of them my family and I watched when they were in WWF/WCW. My mom recently found out about TNA and said to me "I can't believe you didn't tell us about this!" so it's something that the family and I bond over.

Another thing I really like about TNA is they treat their knockout division like it's supposed to be treated. The women get mic time, feuds, matches, ppv matches and they get characters. And most of them can actually wrestle. Hands down, I'd rather watch a knockout match than a divas match any fucking day of my life. Same with their tag-team division, as well. It's not shitty. TNA actually cares about their tag-teams. They look like they put alot of fucking work into them, too. There's another hands down situation. I'd rather see a TNA tag match then a WWE one.

And you brought up a really good point about characters. Each wrestler gets one and they don't get old within a week. Granted, some of the characters are a little "wtf-ish" but that's okay, cause it's something different. If only WWE would be more creative and edgier of some-sort, they might be able to have some good gimmicks.

I do think that TNA could be a huge thing one day. I'm not saying that one day is tomorrow, or next week or even next year, but I do believe that if people watch this product they'll like it and become fans of it.

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frank spencer

The Beautiful people
Booker T
Tag Matches
X-Division
Aj and Joe
Angle

IT's a shame these things are spoilt for me by the onstant use of guys WAY past their best as main eventers and lead story lines. Get rid of Nash, Steiner, Sting, Jarrett and Foley from the main crux of the show and it'd be awesome, sadly this is what TNA (rightly or wrongly) believe will get them viewers

Joker

Their Tag-Team Division. They have done a wonderful job building up the the division. They actually have meaningful feuds and they gave fans a reason to care for most of their tag team wrestlers. Overall, they have done a good job with it and I think the division has a bright future.

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RaiZ-R

I hate to admit that Russo has an upised, but this is very true.

It's quite strange, but as much as TNA infuriates me to the point of exhaustion, I still watch it religiously. This isn't because I hate WWE by any means, it's because I love pro-wrestling and can see an absolute fuckton of potential within the TNA locker room. Guys like AJ, Joe, Chris Daniels, Eric Young, Matt Morgan, Hernandez, Doug Williams, Jay Lethal, Alex Shelley and Knockouts like Taylor, The Beautiful People, Alisha Flash, Serita, Kong, and ODB. It's crazy, because those are just the names I can think of off the top of my head that have the potential to be fucking huge in this business, and each of them has an upside for different reasons. TNA offers not only young talent, but international talent and real diversity. Instead of shying away from different styles, they embrace them with concepts such as the World X Cup and the hiring of guys like No Limit, Kiyoshi and The British Invasion, and Knockouts like Serita and Hamada. That is to be applauded, and shows a real openess to new things, which is refreshing in a wrestling company these days.

It also manages to hold my attention more than Raw does these days, which, given Raw's creative faults recently isn't saying much, but considering Raw remains the most watched wrestling show week after week, must be worth something.

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