Welcome wrestling fans to the most recent edition of the Shock Treatment. The subject of my column tonight is going to be the up and coming promotion Total Nonstop Action wrestling. Now I realize that not all of the visitors of this site are fans of TNA, and many may not even be familiar with the product. This is my column though, and maybe I've come down with a little Bound for Glory fever since it will be my first TNA live event. I will openly tell everyone reading this that I am a fan of TNA. At the same time, I am a fan of WWE and have been for most of my life. I am a fan of wrestling altogether, I watch Impact, Raw, and ECW weekly. Regardless of personal opinion, for the time being at least, TNA is in the wrestling spotlight due to the most recent addition to their roster of talent. We'll touch on that momentarily though. With TNA's premiere live pay-per-view event coming up I decided to take a look at the current state of TNA in comparison with that of this time last year and give my insight as to whether or not TNA truly is Bound for Glory.
What better place to begin than the NWA World Heavyweight Championship scene? On the surface it would appear that little has changed over the course of the past twelve months in this department, but I would beg to differ. This time last year the title picture was an utter mess. Jeff Jarrett had just regained the championship in controversial fashion after a disappointing reign by Raven that consisted mainly of street fights and hardcore matches with the likes of Rhino and Abyss. Rhino had great momentum in the wake of last years Bound for Glory after scoring wins in Monster's Ball, a battle royal to earn an immediate title shot, and the subsequent title match with Jarrett all in one night. Somehow the belt found its way back around Jarrett's waist once again less than two weeks after dropping it to the War Machine.
One year later Jarrett has once again regained the championship in controversial fashion, this time from Christian Cage, who many feel didn't have the most memorable title run himself. But the similarities end there. Over the past year we've seen new faces begin the title chase, as well as former champs returning to go after the most prestigious title in wrestling history. Arguably TNA's most popular personality, Samoa Joe, has left his comfort zone in the X Division and even gone as far as taking Jarrett's beloved title belt hostage after defeating him in a non-title match. Abyss has seemingly been the go-to-guy when a number one contender is needed, but has yet to obtain the prize that has eluded him his entire career thus far. The man who has proclaimed himself the biggest acquisition in TNA history, Christian Cage, seems to have regained the arrogance and mean streak that garnered him his fair share of popularity prior to leaving the WWE late last year. And then there's the man called Sting. The icon claims he returned to rid TNA of the cancer that is Jeff Jarrett. But after his lackluster departure from WCW years ago, what better way to finally go out than on top with the belt? And these are only the top contenders to the most coveted prize in TNA.
There is a whole host of would-be NWA Title contenders that are, unfortunately, overlooked and seemingly lost in the shuffle. Monty Brown, who at one point appeared to be one of TNA's next breakthrough stars, rarely even receives television time as of late. Former NWA Champion Ron The Truth Killings has focused himself on regaining the gold ever since the messy split between the 3 Live Kru. Meanwhile other former champs, Raven and Rhino, struggle to maintain mid-card status despite popularity amongst fans in the Impact Zone. In my opinion one logical solution to this problem would be to create an additional championship. The X Division makes for great entertainment, but weight limits or not, guys like Rhino and Brown aren't going to fit in well with the other performers in-ring styles. One major obstacle TNA would have to conquer in order to implement a new title is the talked about jump to two hours that many within the company claim is "only a matter of time." Prime time is a huge step in the right direction, but with only one hour of programming a week there's not really any room to expand into having an additional singles title.
As far as the tag team division goes, it seems to be more competitive than ever before. Within twelve months the tag division has gone from being dominated by America's Most Wanted, to having a series of wars between the Latin American Exchange and the team of AJ Styles and Christopher Daniels. As if this exciting feud weren't enough to convince fans that TNA has the hottest tag division in wrestling today, other teams such as The Naturals, Paparazzi Productions, Team 3-D, and The James Gang all serve as deserving candidates for future title shots. The current NWA Tag champs are both standout singles performers and former bitter rivals, which has lead many fans to believe that some type of break-up and subsequent Ironman 3 match between the two is inevitable.
Out of all of the championships mentioned the X Division title seems to be the only one that has suffered since this time last October. With top tier X Division athletes who were mainstays in the last year moving on, a new generation of X Division stars must be crowned. AJ Styles and Christopher Daniels have taken the tag division by storm, while Samoa Joe has moved on to the World Title picture. Chris Sabin appeared poised to become the big thing in the X Division until his program with Kevin Nash came to a sudden halt without Sabin getting what may have been the biggest win of his career. A returning Nash seems to be picking up where he left off with the X Division, but who knows if Sabin and the others can recover from the humiliating Jackass 2 plugs worked into there recent matches. While some fans may agree with Nash's observation of the X Division being at an all-time low, talent the likes of Senshi, Sonjay Dutt, Jay Lethal, Alex Shelley, and soon even the former ROH World Champion Austin Aries, insure that the X Division will be back and just as competitive as it ever has been.
The long road TNA has travelled lead them all the way from the Asylum in Nashville to Universal Orlando over the past few years. It's hard to argue the fact that they have made significant progress over the past year. Since last years Bound for Glory event the four year young company has acquired huge names such as Christian Cage, Sting, and most recently Olympic gold medallist and former six-time WWE World Champion Kurt Angle. Last year they departed from Fox Sports Network and made the jump to a late night weekend timeslot on Spike TV. In one years time they've made enough of an impression there to earn themselves a spot on the networks primetime lineup. It's very likely that TNA will never be close enough to the level of WWE to be considered competition, but they still remain an alternative in the eyes of many wrestling fans. Only time will tell what the year of 2007 holds in store for TNA. The talented stars of the X Division will surely try to deliver the best that they can. Jarrett will undoubtedly continue trying to keep a tight grip on the NWA strap. The impending showdown between Kurt Angle and the unstoppable Samoa Joe promises to be a memorable battle regardless of the outcome. Only time will tell whether or not TNA is actually bound for glory. All that this rookie columnist and longtime wrestling fan can tell you for sure is that I will be watching to find out. Until next time, this has been the Shock Treatment.
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