Hello everybody, and welcome to another edition of Reading Between The Ropes. I come to you today having just witnessed television history. Yes, a truly remarkable achievement has been uncovered. I have bore witness to Linda Mcmahon in a comedy moment. Of course, I’m talking about the new Wrestlemania Goes Hollywood advert, and it is definitely worth checking out on wwe.com if you’ve not already seen it. Kurt Angle is hilarious in it, as if he alone isn’t worth checking this video out for, then Linda Mcmahon in funny moment shocker should seal the deal. Oh and Christy faking orgasm might also be worth mentioning to the other red blooded males.
Anyway, enough about the WWE, because today’s column is not about them. Nope. Today’s column is centred around my wonderful friend TNA Wrestling. I’ve written about TNA on a few occasions in the past in RBTR, and on not one occasion was the consensus a generally bright one. Now, while I would love to tell you that this time around things will be different, I’m afraid I cannot. Is that my fault? No. I cannot help it if TNA continually proves my previous criticisms of its product to be correct.
This weekend TNA put on Destination X, a PPV I have yet to see. However, I’ve read the detailed reports, I’ve seen the photos over at TNAwrestling.com, and I’ve witnessed the odd clip. I’m thankful I haven’t seen the show, because it looks like an utter shambles. Whether you liked the show or not, you cannot argue that it further perpetuates the arguments I outlined in my last critique of TNA several months ago.
I know TNA has many fans, and many think it is a great alternative to the WWE. However, in my view, take away the word ‘great’ and that is perhaps a more accurate statement of what TNA provides us. It’s an alternative to the WWE. But that’s about it. Sure, alternatives are a good thing because choice is most definitely what I, and just about anyone else, would want. However, I pine for that choice to be a better one. Indeed, perhaps it is more accurate to say that TNA is an alternative good as opposed to a good alternative.
For those who criticise the WWE’s constant pushing of HHH, it becomes difficult for me to stomach their arguments that TNA does anything different with Jeff Jarrett. As a Jarrett fan, it bothers me little that he has held the title for so long. However, for those who are bothered by HHH’s long reign, how can they turn around and suggest that TNA offers anything different in their World Title picture? The fact is that Jarrett has held the title a longer combined period of days than HHH has over the past year and a bit.
And for those who would like to see the young guns pushed over the older mainstays, then TNA is surely a less viable alternative. Jarrett, Nash, Gunn, Hall, Waltman, Page, and the like are certainly no spring chickens. TNA is in danger of making the same mistakes that WCW made. They have enough talent on their roster to make things work, but the top of the card has an increasingly familiar look about it… and I’m not talking about familiar in terms of just previous TNA shows, I’m talking in terms of WCW and WWF shows.
So, perhaps you’re wondering what criticisms I’ve labelled at TNA in the past, if you didn’t read my earlier pieces. Well, one of my earliest critiques of TNA was that their manifesto was a lie. That they claimed to be a young, up-and-coming promotion who would seek to give unknown superstars a try was a myth. Sure, they introduced some great talent to us in the X-Division, but at the first chance to shuck these in favour of more well-known, established stars of the past, they took that opportunity. The only way they successfully sought to achieve the outlines of their mission statement was because they were not able to offer us anything else. However, as soon as those blasts from the past became available, boy, they snapped them up in a hurry. “Sorry X-Division guys, you’ll no longer be the focus, we’ve got our hands on those older guys. You know, the ones who’ve been around in the main event for years? Yeah, they’ll have your spot now”.
One of the many rebuttals from fans to those criticisms was that TNA needed to do this in order to get off the ground. In order for them to become established and get a larger audience, they needed to offer these familiar names. I don’t disagree with that argument at all. It’s a very valid one. Or, at least it was. TNA has been around for a few years now, and with a syndicated TV deal, and monthly PPVs taking over their previous weekly PPV format, they are clearly a more household name than they were some 20 months ago. Back then, the claims that they needed to hire established stars to become recognised were more viable, but today they are far less applicable to such a debate. TNA IS well known. Hardly any wrestling fan doesn’t know about TNA and what superstars are on their shows. However, TNA still continues to hire men who were in their prime up to a decade earlier. This totally negates their mission statement and the perceived image of this company. The reality is that this company is a territory where washed up superstars can extend their career for a decent paycheck with less working dates than the WWE. Sound familiar? Ring a bell? Yes! It’s WCW all over again!
A more recent criticism of TNA was that they almost appear to try too hard. Rather than let their athletes do the work, heavy over-booking has proved a constant problem for the company. And this is what brings me to this latest column. I said earlier how the company continually enhances the validity of the criticisms I made in earlier columns. Yes, the critique of roster handling has steadily been perpetuated, but that isn’t what sparked the need for such a fresh attack.
What sparked it was Sunday’s Destination X PPV. If anyone needed a reminder of the problems I outlined in “The NWA: TNA Debate – Reloaded”, then this was it. Almost the entire show was over-booked, including (and most disappointingly) the Ultimate-X match, which had a referee re-bump. Why not let the undoubted talent of the men competing in the match do all the talking. I hear the match was exceptional, but why does it need to have any kind or screwjob finish, as most X-Division matches seem to have nowadays.
But the Ultimate X match was one of the least guilty of the night. Monty Brown vs. Trytan saw a light failure and a masked man swerve, and the eventual reveal that Trytan was not the man Brown pinned. Forgetting the fact that Monty Brown is useless and has absolutely no charisma whatsoever (despite many people claiming he has – I guess all those grunts and groans are signs of a charismatic individual nowadays?) he is still one of the most over people in TNA right now. However, TNA still feels the need to over-book his match on PPV. Perhaps my speculative criticism that TNA has no confidence in its roster a few months back was, in fact, accurate.
Then we saw the First Blood match between Kevin Nash and The Outlaw. Many years ago when I used to play with my wrestling figures I booked Rick Martel vs. Tito Santana in a First Blood match. I gave Martel the win after he wiped the blood clean off of his face and then threw red paint over Santana. While slightly different, this wasn’t any cleverer in terms of booking. In case you didn’t hear what went down, an attorney, a doctor and, of course, Jeff Jarrett screwed Nash out of the match. The doctor patched up a bleeding Gunn and stitched up his wound while the ref was knocked out. Yes, I know, the ref was knocked out. I was surprised too!
Forgive the sarcasm, though, because this is no laughing matter. In such an over-booked mess you begin to wonder if just about anybody could be competing in these matches and the same level of excitement would be drawn. The wrestlers in this First Blood match weren’t doing any work in there. All they’ve done is follow a damn script. Whatever happened to telling a story and going with the flow? I guess the art of having the crowd eat out of the palms of your hands with psychology and concocting a match through craft is dead in TNA.
One could be forgiven, however, for thinking this was the height of the over-booked mess. The main event of the evening contained no less than 9 run-ins in what, in no uncertain terms, resembled a cluster-f*** (yeah, I’ve seen the footage). The whole locker room came out! Well, maybe not the entire locker room, but it almost appeared that way. Was there a match taking place here? Oh yeah, there was. Amongst all these run-ins, ref-bumps and swerves, there were two men fighting for one of the most prestigious titles in wrestling history, the NWA World Title.
As the PPV went off air, I decided to count the destruction of any sense of art andrt and craft in this business. What size a blow had TNA dealt? Well, it’s extremely difficult to tell, but some kind of numerical statistic may give you some idea.
So, 14 run-ins, 3 ref-bumps, a couple of masked men, and a light-failure later, another TNA PPV had come to a close. It’s a new record for them, but I’m sure they can top that in the future if they keep this up.
Until next time,
Mitchell L. Gadd
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