Originally Posted by Noid
We are gathered here today, as wrestling fans, to, well, maybe not mourn, but acknowledge into passing the entity known at Total Nonstop Action. That's right -- "TNA" Wrestling. Hold your laughter. Oh, no one was laughing. Alright then, let me continue.
As wrestling fans, we like to root for an underdog. When Jeff Jarrett decided to start his own wrestling promotion in 2002, there was a stir. We needed something else. Triple H was just about to declare himself a World Heavyweight Champion and reign for three years. Luckily we had Jeff to...declare himself a World Heavyweight Champion and reign for three years. Shit.
After a lot of ups and downs, in 2006, Kurt Angle was announced as the newest member of TNA's roster. It felt like the dawning of a new day. Arguably the greatest wrestler in the world was going to be in TNA. It was followed up by news that same week that Vince Russo had been re-signed to the company. Fuck. Those two polar extremes -- Kurt Angle and Vince Russo being signed in the same week -- summarize quite poetically the dance TNA would constantly do. It wasn't one step forward, two steps back -- it was more like one step forward into a moving train: The Mickie James.
Vince Russo would be blasted for many of TNA's worst moments. But can we really know for sure that it was him behind things like James Mitchell being revealed as Abyss' father? Or was he both? Or even...all three? Swerve! There's no evidence to link Russo to these things. Not definitively. Correlation isn't causation. After all, when the crowd chanted "Fire Russo!" during that Last Rites Match, Dixie Carter came out and said "Actually, it wasn't Vince Russo who wrote that." Which in no way addresses the fans' point that it was an atrocity, but you can't blame Russo, dammit!
I know that just saying his name so many times might get blood boiling, and encourage some people to take the mic. Fingers crossed. But it is hard to separate a man who had a strong hand in helping kill two internationally exposed companies with his inane ideas, car-crash booking, and talent-burying ideas. When ideas in TNA worked -- like Kurt Angle vs. Samoa Joe in a Steel Cage, the TNA Knockouts or...well, I'm struggling to think of a third -- Vince Russo would have to get in there to make sure it didn't outshine the core product he was inflicting upon everybody else.
Many of us who knew TNA personally would say our relationship with it was "complicated," but out of TNA's chaos, a few positives did arise. Remember when TNA had AJ Styles do a terrible Ric Flair impression? No, I'm not talking about Jay Lethal's impression; I'm talking about AJ Styles doing a Ric Flair impression. Remember Claire Lynch? Remember Samoa Joe being kidnapped by ninjas (or well-meaning stag-doers)? TNA took many talented individuals from the independent wrestling scene and drew phallic symbols on their faces, either figuratively or literally. But ultimately, can't we all agree that this made them better overall performers? You might not be able to polish a turd, but you can certainly polish talent by dragging it through turds. Surely it can't have just been a waste of the time and abilities of those involved? At least we got that Three-Way at Unbreakable.
So today we say goodbye to a promotion that finally had the courtesy to die. We all knew the day was coming, and we all felt awkward saying it, because we're all supposed to really love wrestling. We're supposed to want to see it succeed. But at some point that goodwill was betrayed. Deep down we all knew that the talent would find jobs elsewhere, and that TNA would taint anyone associated it, after a certain point, with the brush of irrelevancy. Well, I may have been slightly disingenuous there. I didn't really mean to specify "after a certain point." When your goodwill towards a wrestling promotion becomes replaced with bemused frustration at its refusal to die, you know it might be a bit hard to make a hot comeback.
The most honest thing I could say about TNA is that if it were an artist depicting flowers, it couldn't paint bloom on the rose. It's off to Room 101 with ya. Thanks for all the Worst Gimmick Match suggestions and for none of the Desert Island Duels submisisons. To invoke Loss from Pro Wrestling Only on the 9th edition of Squared Circle Gazette Radio: "I think 2002-2014 was a real low point for the company." It wouldn't get any better.
Sometimes, in moments of loss, no matter how bittersweet or, frankly, joyous that loss might be, it helps to remember a funny memory. Remember when Jeff and Jerry Jarrett had a massive falling out over Vladimir Kozlov? I hope that was worth breaking up a family over.
Oh, and fuck the Broken Hardys.
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