What TNA did wrong

[Joe Kerr]

Wednesday night's TNA PPV was a mixed bag with some good wrestling and some questionable creative decisions, all of which lead to a feeling of watching the programs in fast forward, as it's too much, too soon, too fast. There are too many twists and too many stipulation bouts just tossed at the viewer without any sense of a build.

The Ultimate X match that main evented the show was exactly the style of bout you would expect with Kazarian, Michael Shane, and AJ Styles involved in the show. There were lots of innovative, hellacious bumps from the wires, especially the Styles Clash on Kazarian. Michael Shane had no business in the ring, but still sucked it up and went at it full force. He deserves major respect. Styles is just the man when it comes to TNA and anyone who doesn't see it is either jealous of him or doesn't pay attention. His work ethic, his presence and his persona are what TNA should center themselves on, without question. For all their talk of revolutionizing the business, Styles should be the face of that.

As great as the match was, the conclusion was equally good until they announced the decision. I love the idea of Kazarian and Shane getting the belt at the same time, but the moment they announced they were co-holders of the championship, I felt like I had flushed by $10 down the toilet. There is nothing good that can come from this lame idea. It was bad when WWF did it with Chyna and Chris Jericho in 1999, and this comes off as nothing more than a rerun of a lame idea that didn't work the first time. TNA had a chance to have either Shane or Kazarian get the belt and start a slow burning rivalry between the two that could have taken place months from now, but they went for over the head obvious instead of something subtle.

The other main focus of the show was the return to the ring of Jeff Hardy, this time as a full fledged member of the TNA roster. The women in the crowd loved Hardy, who was back to his "classic" look. Hardy wasn't overly impressive inside the ring but he adds much needed star power to the company as he can have some "dream matches" with the X-Division workers. I don't know that Monty Brown was the right person to put him in the ring with, but I am a big fan of Brown. His interviews are an acquired taste, but I love them. I think he's got a ton of charisma and you can see the guy just wants it. The Vince Russo-Dusty Rhodes feud that came out of this looks silly. You send the guy to sign Hardy and then after the point, there's an issue? Weird. I hope they don't intend to do dueling promos, because Dusty will eat up Russo quicker than you can say, "Midnight Rider, baby."

The PPV opened with a decent tag match as Christopher Daniels and Primetime took on Team Canada. Scott D'Amore, for no reason other than the promotion decided to book a Country Whipping Match next week, had a strap with him. Talk about no build and shoving guys into stipulations. There's a reason these performers are so great -- the work they do inside the ring. There's no reason to start tossing weapons into the mix without an emotional reason. D'Amore having a strap is not the reason. Secondly, what happened to the Team Canada dissension? I can understand the babyfaces wanting to get revenge on the heels, but it seemed very forced and too much, too soon. The difference between TNA and Ring of Honor at its very base is TNA rushes everything while ROH will tease angles and big matches for months before they give a payoff. In TNA, the payoff seems to come within 7-14 days, hardly enough time to create an emotional connection with the issues and characters. The company's most heated bout ever was Jarrett vs. Raven and that took a long time before it hit the ring. By ignoring that formula, TNA is cutting their own legs out from under themselves.

The tag match with Alex Shelley and Abyss defeating D-Ray 3000 and Shark Boy was what you would expect. Goldilocks is without a doubt the worst character on national television today. Shelley seems to be growing into his character. Abyss does some great moves. I dig D-Ray and Shark Boy as undercard comedy performers, so I am curious where they will go from here, but anything Goldilocks touches usually turns to rotting porridge.

The David Young vs. Mike Posey match was exactly what you would expect. Posey is turning into the reincarnated Mikey Whipwreck. I guess we'll be seeing Young pinning Gilberti soon enough, but what happens after that? I hope TNA creative has an idea, or they've built this up for months with no idea past the initial plans.

The next chapter in the Raven vs. Sabu feud was a good segment, although the crowd seemed to be dead when Sabu popped up. It was weird watching Raven threaten to light Sonjay Dutt on fire, with all the talk of how family friendly TNA is in all their press releases. I am really surprised they are giving away the match next week. They could have built this up for another few months and made it really mean something, but once again they are just tossing it out there.

The NWA Tag Team championship bout with The Naturals against Triple X was OK, but the crowd didn't seem to be buying it. It appears that the idea is that all the teams are feuding with each other, which allows The Naturals an out to make sure they hold onto the belts. That's going to get really old, really quick. They can build to Daniels and Primetime vs. America's Most Wanted down the line, but my fear is down the line is two weeks from now.

Misc. Notes: I love Scott Hudson questioning Jeff Jarrett's comments during an interview. That's what an interviewer SHOULD do! Hudson reminds me again of why he is so awesome at his job. Good for him....Jeff Jarrett lost the Mickey Mouse outfit this week. Smart move....Pat Kenney cut a good promo this week, but do we really need to see Kenney-Vito II: Electric Boogalou? They can find something better for Kenney to do....How sad is it that Kenney's lone gimmick out of the Irish name change, the green belt, was gone this week since it's been passed over to Scott D'Amore without rhyme or reason?

PWInsider.com.

[RemyRed]

Has Ken Shamrock realized it was a mistake to come back? Or was his absense because he had to spend time with his children? I don't know what the point of having Vince Russo on the show. He's a Director Of Authority who has no authority, always rules in favor of heels yet claims he's a face, and overall whenever he comes out it's usually to ruin a good thing that the fans would like to see.

[Corkscrewed]

Wow, Joey, you can't even post your own opinions now? You have to get them from a website?

[KingofOldSchool]

Didn't you know?

Posting other people's thoughts is the Radd-thing.

[AareDub]

That was a good read. I totally agree about them throwing in stipulations like crazy and advancing story lines too quickly. I guess it's because you have a ppv every week and you have to make people want to pay for it every week. It's easier to put on a free show that only serves to build up to later in the month, than it is to make people pay for things several weeks in a row with no payoff anytime soon.

Having Impact in a better timeslot could remedy that a little bit. They aren't using that show to its potential, it's their chance to give away some free build up to matches, but instead they seem to just be showcasing some of the more popular or entertaining talent in some fairly uneven matches. Sure they have run ins and such, but those can only provide so much. Any kind of build up you get to see on Impact is usually for a match that is already signed for Wednesday and will already be resolved next week when you tune in.

Impact needs to be more like Smackdown (before the split) rather than being like Sunday Night Heat. However, a "Smackdown quality" show would be pretty much wasted at 3:00pm on Fridays.

[The Mackem]

I thought they were your own comments and then...

BTW I don't think that the writer understands that TNA have to rush things, they have got two shows a week to book. There aren't many other rosters that have to do this.

[Londoner]

I pretty much agree with the guy who wrote this. I had been impressed with TNA up until there last two shows ive watched(theyre back in january i know, but still..) have been total shite. It just seems like everytime something major happens that the fans like, someone comes out and decides to change that in favour of the heels. It's too predictable really.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I'm pretty sure TNA have a weekly PPV event. I think that would weaken the build-up rate if that is the case.