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Column: TNA 101
 TNA to make room for new talent. There have been a few lists making the rounds backstage in the iMPACT Zone that should surely catch the eye of a few people. The two lists are who should be cut from the TNA Roster and who TNA would like to sign when room is available. Jeff Jarrett is known for not cutting wrestlers who have a small possibility of being used anytime in the future. There is also a small feeling that Jarrett knows what its like being a new wrestler and how hard it is to land a job with the national promotion so he keeps many wrestlers under contract despite criticism from other members of TNA Management. The feeling is that TNA Creative wants a handful of new faces in TNA to work with but TNA has no room for them. My source has told me about a few names on the lists of cuts and a list of possible signings but I won’t reveal those names until next week. Until them here are the three possibilities TNA has come up with to introduce new faces. 1) Wait out until March when a few names will likely leave the promotion due to contracts ending. They can easily be replaced with new faces. Jarrett doesn’t like cutting wrestlers but if they don’t want to be there, he can’t do much about it. 2) Wait until Spike TV grants them more TV Time such as the rumored Xplosion show. This would allow for a few spots to open, but not many. 3) Create a developmental territory with Booker T, Team 3D, an International Partner or NWA Anarchy. All of these developmental leagues have powerful representatives associated with TNA. This would give wrestlers something to do until they are called up. I will say it again, TNA needs to create a cycle to introduce new talent. Some wrestlers get released because TNA has nothing for them, their shelf life in TNA is through or another reason. Elevate midcarders to the main event, low carders to the midcard and introduce new faces every so often in all four divisions. Imagine how many young wrestlers you could sign with the money you pay Sting and Kevin Nash in TNA. I bet around 8 wrestlers that would work house shows and want to improve the TNA Product. Sales for TNA iMPACT under Midway’s expectations While things are still unclear it is rumored that the sales for TNA iMPACT the videogame have fallen below the expectations for Midway. The Smackdown Series gets around 1 million sales a year and TNA iMPACT is expected to get about ¼ that. With that said Midway is developing a second installment of the game which is rumored to be released in less than a year. Expectations for that game are much higher than the first game because the first game is now a standard for future games. You can read my TNA iMPACT Videogame review in a TNA 101 Column from a few weeks ago. Bound For Glory 34.95$ While I can’t confirm this for DirecTV viewers or InDemand viewers, apparently the price for Dish Network has increased from 29.95$ to 34.95$ for Bound For Glory. I can’t say if this is for all Pay Per View buyers or even if it is just for Bound For Glory. BFG is the biggest TNA PPV of the year so I understand the price change. I always felt BFG should be 3 and ½ hours long. Also even if TNA raised the prices for all of the PPVs, the buys would likely remain the same due to the loyalty of TNA PPV Buyers. I prefer paying less but am willing to pay a little more. Nash has signed with TNA, NOT I reported last week that Kevin Nash signed a new one year deal with TNA, apparently that isn’t the case. Nash said in a recent interview that he had yet to sign a contract with TNA because they are caught up with Merchandise Negotiations. If I was in charge, I wouldn’t resign Nash for another year because aside from the Young Lions vs Old Guard storyline, he is not useful. That money and spot could be used for other things and other talent. Johnny Devine possibly done with TNA? This rumor has circulated that Devine was done with TNA because of a lack of push. While this is only a rumor, things state that Devine was unhappy with his position in TNA and quit the promotion. Obviously his profile it still up on TNAWrestling.com. I will continue to update as things move along. Bound For Glory coming along. Announced for Bound For Glory: -Samoa Joe vs Sting in a Battle of Respect and the World Championship -Jeff Jarrett vs Kurt Angle -Monster’s Ball: Abyss and Matt Morgan vs Team 3D -The Return of the Steel Asylum -3 Way Knockouts Match: Taylor Wilde vs Awesome Kong vs Roxxi There are things I would like to see different but I will discuss that more with my BFG Predictions late next week! October 23rd, 2008 This date is special for five reasons 1) The first time TNA hosts a show in Las Vegas, Nevada. It will be held in The Joint at the Hard Rock Casino and Hotel. 2) First time ever that an episode of iMPACT is filmed on the road. That’s right, TNA iMPACT will be taking place in Las Vegas. 3) Second Episode of iMPACT to be Live. The first took place on March 27th. There were a few errors in production but the Live Atmosphere made things much more exciting. Plus the Robbie McAllister incident happened. 4) The beginning of TNA Wrestling in HD. I reported that there was talk of bringing TNA in HD by 2009 but I never expected it this soon. Every important show has HD and so should iMPACT 5) With HD comes a new set. Yes I said it, a new set for TNA iMPACT. Weeks ago I talked about things that would improve iMPACT, and my source has confirmed that a new set has been designed for TNA’s move to HD. I hear the new set eliminates the second ramp. This makes sense because there are no true faces or heels in TNA. While I am leaving my final judgment on it’s appearance until I see it, I remain excited. Now with that hopefully we will see a new intro video, song and new show graphics. Maybe too much? I have said it before, October/November are traditionally the biggest months for TNA every year. In 2004, TNA presented their first ever 3-hour PPV. 2005 saw TNA iMPACT debut on Spike TV. 2006 saw TNA move to Primetime and 2007 saw TNA move iMPACT to 2-hours. This is aside from the huge debuts in the fall and of course of annual Superbowl of TNA, Bound For Glory. With the news that TNA might be in HD in October, this is definitely huge news. Las Vegas would be my second choice to a bi-weekly taping location for TNA iMPACT since like Universal Studios, Las Vegas is a huge tourist attraction with plenty of big spenders. If TNA could strike up a deal with a hotel they could have a place for their staff to stay while they put out their TNA iMPACT Tapings. October 23rd is a sample of what TNA iMPACT will be like in no more than 2 years. Hopefully, if everything works out great, TNA can continue to run Live HD Shows on the Road. Let’s wish them the best of luck. September 25, 2008 “Have a Nice Week!” By Talon Thorne New format, hope you like it. Christian Cage: Whose side is he on? This past week on iMPACT many fans expected the Line between Veterans and Young Lions to become more clear but Christian Cage may have blurred it even more. In possibly the best Karen’s Angle segment yet, Cage dodged the question of whose side is he on? Cage said he has been around long enough to understand where the veterans are coming from but he not to long ago was in the same position as the Young Lions. He said that instead of waiting for a spot to open you need to take your spot. This was a really good segment, Karen was very attractive and the story continues teasing where they are going with Cage. Booker T continuing his African accent ran down the small town of AJ Styles claiming that TNA was nothing before Booker T, Sting and others came onto the scene. Once again JB tried to touch his briefcase but Booker T (or Royal T) got angry at him. AJ Styles later responded in an interview saying he would stick his boot up Booker’s ass. He also said something about T’s accent. The main event of the show saw Booker T defeat AJ Styles. (TNA Fantasy: Booker T +3). The match was mediocre until the very end where the referee went down. Sharmell interfered and attempted to hit AJ with a briefcase but was cut off by Christian Cage. AJ styles got up and saw Cage with a briefcase and started yelling at him. Booker T capitalized and shoved AJ into Cage, then hit AJ with the briefcase for the win. The tension between Booker, AJ and Christian Cage continues likely building to a 3-Way at Bound For Glory. I am not to excited about seeing many multi-man matches as this match would be a 3-Way, the Steel Asylum returns, the Monster’s Ball Match, the Knockouts Championship Match and maybe more. BFG should be the time that TNA settles feuds that have been boiling over in the company and you can’t really do that with multi-man matches. The BFG Main Event Build Continues TNA continued the build in a strong way for the main event for Bound For Glory with three segments. The first being the Sting Promo where he showed off many legends and many traits they passed down upon him. He then showed a picture of Joe claiming the Samoan wasn’t a true champion, unlike Sting who would take the title from him at BFG. One thing I hated about this promo was how Sting addressed Jeff Jarrett’s promo from last week. He claimed that Jeff Jarrett begged for him to come in to get their deal on Spike TV and to help TNA. The reason I don’t like this is because it contradicts the storyline from early 2006 that had TNA Management bring in Sting to not only help TNA but to take the NWA World Title off of Jeff Jarrett. Why would Jarrett bring in Sting to take away his title? TNA needs to blur reality a little bit because otherwise it will hurt the historical storylines of TNA, which won’t be good in the long run. Samoa Joe cut an interview about how he finally understood what Kevin Nash was telling him. He said that a lion waits calmly to a point where the prey doesn’t expect a thing, when at that time they pounce. Joe said he wouldn’t be doing any more yelling (a good thing). Consequences Creed and Jay Lethal came in and thanked Joe for what he was doing and said they had his back. I like these subtle little things that involve almost all of the stars of TNA in this major storyline. Joe came across like a pro in this promo. The final segment was the Champion vs Champion Match between Samoa Joe and Sheik Abdul Bashir. First of all this match, seemingly a major match between champions got very little hype when in reality it should have been in the main event and should have been talked about all show (this didn’t happen). Bashir got in quite a bit of offense working the leg of Samoa Joe. In the end Joe fought back, delivered a huge slam on Bashir followed by the Musclebuster. The match was okay and showed Bashir getting some offense making the X Division not seem like a complete waste. After the match though is where this segment and the last segment contradicted. Joe went ballistic and continued his attack on Bashir, choking him out after the match to where the referees reversed the decision and disqualified Joe. I thought Joe would be calm in preparation for BFG. (TNA Fantasy: Bashir +2/ Samoa Joe -1 for being Disqualified) Kurt Angle gets Jeff Jarrett at Bound For Glory The fans voted the interaction between Jeff Jarrett and Kurt Angle to best moment from iMPACT this past week and I can’t argue with them. Jeff Jarrett came out, announced Mick Foley would be in the iMPACT Zone next week (should be exciting) and called him TNA’s biggest acquisition (don’t agree with that necessarily). Kurt Angle came out and badmouthed Jarrett. Jarrett praised who Angle was and said he told AJ to return the medals to Kurt. Angle called Jarrett washed up then told him to get out of his ring. When Jarrett did, the indecisive Kurt Angle asked him where he was going. He kept on challenging Jarrett to come back into the ring running down Jarrett’s father then saying something about Jarrett’s kids. Jarrett finally returned to the ring and said Kurt didn’t want any part of the pain Jeff had been carrying but at Bound For Glory he would get it. The promo was good. One thing I want to mention is how TNA could turn themselves around with Jeff Jarrett’s new character and Jim Cornette. Jeff Jarrett is the founder of TNA so he knows what’s best for the company. He could have an on-screen personality like Randy Orton where he openly complains about what’s bad about the company. Example: he could go to Petey Williams and tell him that he doesn’t need to copy Scott Steiner to be a champion because Petey, Maple Leaf Muscle has done it before. He could go to the Rock N Rave Infection and run down their guitar acts saying they should consider being more serious if they ever want to be champions. He could go to Cornette and talk about TNA’s overuse of gimmick matches. Cornette could say he is just a messenger and that members of TNA Management think that the gimmick matches make TNA more exciting. Cornette could eventually stand up to them and change it. There are so many problems you could fix with Jeff Jarrett’s character that could get him over big. The Hardcore Knockout Roxxi was the main focus of the Knockouts Division this week. TNA had Roxxi featured in Rough Cut segment where she talked about being the Hardcore Knockout. I love these Rough Cut segments as they are realistic and gritty and they are some of TNA’s best work. Awesome Kong later in the night would squash Mercedes Steel (a local talent trying to get her big break). Notable by her absence was Raisha Saeed, until later in the match. After the match “Saeed” came into the ring with two chairs, laid one down and told Kong to Awesome Bomb Steel into one of them. When Kong went for the Bomb, Saeed smacked her with a chair then revealed herself to be the Hardcore Knockout, Roxxi. Raisha Saeed was shown tied up by the entrance stage. It was announced on the TNA Website (which TNA needs to do more with) that at Bound For Glory it would be a 3-Way for the Knockouts Title as Taylor Wilde defends against Awesome Kong and Roxxi. Roxxi could have so much more momentum in this thing if TNA could have followed up her head shaving with a hardcore feud against The Beautiful People. Monster’s Ball The new tag team phenomenon, Abyss and Matt Morgan defeated the Rock N Rave Infection in quick fashion after Morgan hit the Hellevator on Rave. TNA Fantasy: Morgan and Abyss +2) By the way Don West needs to stop saying that people join Matt Morgan’s Mile High Club because it sounds gay (nothing against gay people). After the match Team 3D came onto the stage and ran down their accomplishments. Brother Ray and Brother Devon then announced that they wanted Abyss and Morgan in Monster’s Ball at Bound For Glory. Devon and Ray were good on the mic in this one. Abyss looks like a complete idiot on how he was acting after Team 3D announced the Monster’s Ball Stipulation. Of course Hardcore Wrestling has become overused in TNA so the Monster’s Ball Stipulation doesn’t mean as much as it once did. Later on the camera cut to the Locker Room where Abyss was throwing a fit. Morgan told him that he needs to confront his fears. Morgan went on by saying he confronted his fear of flying by becoming a pilot and his fear of bears by fighting a bear (stupid). Abyss said he would need to speak to his therapist but Morgan said he already did. Abyss asked if they would be alright and Morgan said they would be. Many people hate Abyss’ new character but I don’t. He has much more depth than what he did at one point, I just want him to be a little more demented and less scared. (By the way I think a perfect iMPACT Segment would be Abyss with his Therapist. Abyss could sit on his therapist’s bed and talk about his fears etc. Later on the therapist could be revealed as either James Mitchell or even Mick Foley. Money right there) LAX vs Beer Money: A Team Loses their Manager One strong angle that was developed in the show was the rivalry between LAX and Beer Money. Tonight they would face with the loser losing their manager. Beer Money cut a very good interview about how Jacqueline meant so much to them etc. LAX cut a less astonishing promo. I just don’t like Hector Guerrero like I once did and think trying Homicide on the stick would be much more effective. LAX needs to regain their thuggish attitudes. The match was a solid Six Person Tag. Hector Guerrero chased Jacqueline to the back leaving LAX and Beer Money in the ring. The match ended when Roode hit Hernandez in the head with Storm’s Beer Bong Football helmet. This emotional moment was cut short as TNA went to the back rather than sell the fact that LAX just lost their manager. (TNA Fantasy: Storm/Roode/Moore +2) I think a good way to bring this feud into BFG is to have a Tag Team Championship Match at Bound For Glory between LAX and Beer Money where if LAX loses they have to split up as a tag team. Of course in the end, LAX would win because they need to gain their revenge. And… Another vignette aired of Suicide. Apparently the one to play Suicide was injured and just had surgery so I don’t know who would play him now. I am excited to see what they do with Suicide. We got some follow up on the SoCal Val heel turn as TNA Cameras joined Sonjay Dutt and Val in a hotel. It was alluded to that Val was with Dutt for his money and power in India, which Dutt gets both because his dad is royalty in India. They both sang, give us a chance. (History Lesson: This whole segment was based off of what Yoko Ono and John Lennon did during the Vietnam War. They had a bed-in deal going on where people would visit them in a hotel room and they would spread the word of peace. Lennon and Ono would also sing a song called “Give Peace a Chance”.) This whole thing actually makes sense in the idea that Sonjay is a Guru and is all for Peace. Show Thoughts: Another solid show leading into Bound For Glory. TNA has had some excellent episodes of iMPACT recently where the promos make up for the lack of match time. TNA has really gotten it down that the mixture of storyline with reality creates a very good product. Show Grade: A Show Rating: 1.1 Who do you think will be the first entries into the TNA Hall of Fame? TNA is about four or five years away from being prestigious enough to have their own Hall of Fame ceremony. I could honestly say that TNA won’t be ready until they are at least 10 years old. With that said, it depends on what qualities you look for in a Hall of Famer. When I think of TNA Hall of Fame, I think of one man, AJ Styles. He will one day grace a TNA Hall of Fame but only after he is retired. Jeff Jarrett is a shoe-in since he brought TNA into existence. I would also add Jerry Jarrett as well. Mike Tenay is a hall of fame announcer. Last but not least, Sting would be in the TNA Hall of Fame because of his legendary status, but does that qualify Mick Foley and the other legends who have graced TNA to be in the Hall of Fame. I will have a better idea in a few years when it comes What TNA DVD’s do you think we should see in 2009? Good questions this week! TNA DVDs come in a couple formats, Best of DVD, PPV/Show DVDs and Informative Documentary DVDs. As for Best of DVD, I would like to see the Best of the X Division Volume III. Best of DVDs are usually reserved for the featured stars of TNA, who just so happen to be mostly former WWE/WCW/ECW Stars. The only ones who stand out against those stars are Abyss, Samoa Joe, AJ Styles and finally LAX. I hope to eventually see a Best of LAX video and another Best of Samoa Joe. Hopefully by the time 2009 rolls around we may have a few new feature stars like James Storm, Robert Roode, Jay Lethal and hopefully other will be able to have DVDs of their own. The other Best of DVD that I was really wanting but was never released was the “Best of Paparazzi Productions”. It showed everything that Alex Shelley, Kevin Nash and other had to offer and it would have been filled with comedy, but it never came out. I would like TNA to continue it’s “History of TNA” DVDs to include Year Two and so on after that. I would like to see a set featuring the days when TNA was at The Asylum. There are many TNA Classic moments that the company could get in some DVDs. One piece of merchandise I would love to see that hasn’t been released yet is TNA Magazine. I would love to have a yearly subscription of TNA Magazine that actually talks about wrestling as opposed to WWE Magazine which focuses on clothing, cars, movies and dating. Who do you think has the biggest future in TNA? This is a deep question so I will narrow things down by assuming you mean what midcarder will be a huge main eventer. My answer would be James Storm. Storm can have great matches, he can play both a heel and a face and he has a good character. Roode, Lethal and many others definitely have big futures in TNA. I take exception to all of your comments running down Ring of Honor especially when Ring of Honor is everything TNA wants to be but can’t be. ROH has better wrestling than TNA. ROH has better match types than TNA. ROH has a more loyal and more vocal fanbase than TNA. Why don’t you shut up, stop thinking your better than everyone and give Ring of Honor a little respect. ROH has stayed true to its fans while TNA has turn their back on theirs. My question to you is what does TNA want to be? TNA has a national TV deal, they have a bigger fanbase, a loyal fanbase, a videogame deal and big time stars. When TNA Management allowed their guys to wrestle, the stars of TNA have better matches than Ring of Honor. ROH has no specialty match types that are completely original. I don’t think I am better than everyone, just better than you. I respect Ring of Honor, why don’t you fans throw some respect back our way. I was just reading a column from Disco Inferno about how clean wins and losses can’t happen because the value of a certain wrestler can’t maintain their value. He keeps on going about how dirty finishes (interference etc). Do you agree with Disco about this. He acts like all clean matches are squash matches, which in this case would be right. What he doesn’t understand is that just because someone loses, doesn’t make them losers. If that was the case, Sting would have been a loser back when Ric Flair was molding the future of WCW. What it comes down to is alignment vs alignment. Faces usually have the crowd behind them giving them momentum while the heel has to play dirty to keep his advantage. What TNA fails to do is allow the match rules to help protect wrestlers. TNA doesn’t enforce Referee Stoppages, Countouts or Draws in case of time limits, it hurts their product. When you have a wrestler cheat to win, he gets a slight boost or rub. When someone interferes in the match, it takes the focus off the match and onto the interfering party. There are wrestlers who have characters who should use interference because that is how they act. Two wrestlers I automatically think of are Jeff Jarrett when he was a heel and heel Edge (who had La Familia). The story in this should be that eventually a face overcomes the interference and defeats the heel, but interference is so overdone, that is loses it’s affect. Also it seems to me that you agree with Kurt Angle about TNA’s use of gimmick matches. Don’t you realize that TNA has always overdone gimmick matches and they are a part of TNA’s Product. That still doesn’t say that it is right. I like gimmick matches when they have hype, build, reasoning and a unique quality to them. When you hold three Ultimate X matches a year, they lose their importance. I am old school, most matches in my opinion should be broken down into two sides (single, tag team, six man tag, 8-Man Tag etc) with a clean finish. Every good match tells a story with gimmick matches having their own unique story. I don’t like WWE for a lot of reasons, but they have a great Marketing Strategy. Compare how TNA announced their Ladder Match from No Surrender to how WWE announced theirs. There is no comparison. Gimmick Matches are like Thanksgiving Dinner (without AJ in a Turkey Suit). The meal is absolutely delicious, and having it only once a year keeps it delicious. If you had Turkey Dinner every week, what would be so special about the Thanksgiving Dinner. The overuse of gimmick matches aren’t just Vince Russo Era TNA. TNA overused Hardcore Matches in 2006. 2003/2004/2005 all saw an overuse of gimmick matches. I will say though that 2008 is by far the worse. Finally a Question about TNA’s philosophy on faces and heels. What do you think about no clear cut faces or heels in wrestling and do you think TNA’s shades of gray characters work. Another deep question! Let me say that I could only touch on this revolutionary concept of characters with shades of gray as opposed to Faces and Heels in wrestling. I would link you to Zach Fenell’s recent column on the subject. While I definitely want to address it down the road, let me summarize a little bit right now. I as a fan like to choose what I like for myself. I don’t want the wrestling company deciding who I cheer for or boo. I have always liked the heels in wrestling (many other would agree) because your babyface wrestler just isn’t cool anymore. The basic, do everything by the book while kissing the fans asses isn’t something 20 year old fans root for, it’s something they boo. To succeed as a face, you have to be cool. To be cool you have to exhibit heel actions. Stone Cold, Christian Cage, Eddie Guerrero etc all displayed heel tendencies. My main question to you would be, what defines a heel and what defines a face? The main difference between the fans of TNA and the fans of the WWE is that TNA fans cheer who they want while most WWE fans cheer who they are directed to. Hey Talon, Name the five top 5 Star Matches TNA has presented in the past year. My opinion of great matches are those that tell a story, are entertaining, have a nice highlight reel and have a good finish. Most of TNA’s matches don’t do all of those things so they pretty much fall in the Above Average category. Some examples of possible good matches that haven’t done these things include the Last Man Standing Match between Kurt Angle and AJ Styles, the 12-Man Elimination Match from Victory Road and most of the heavyweight matches we have seen. I love matches that have all of these qualities because of the story and reality it presents. One of my favorite TNA Matches was Gail Kim vs Awesome Kong at Final Resolution. The story in that match was that Awesome Kong’s aggressive behavior (she displayed one month earlier) by attacking the referee backfired and allowed Gail Kim to win the match. I thoroughly enjoyed the Ladder of Love Match, the Ultimate X Match from Final Resolution, The Stand by Your Man Strap Match and so many others. The ones with great story are usually my favorites. Talon Thorne Writer of the new and improved TNA 101 column Talon_DR@yahoo.com tnawrestling101.proboards57.com This article has been viewed 619 times.
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