TNA's Problem - Your Opinion

Dixie Carter is to blame for everything

TNA's problem, Dixie Carter, no real top guys, and barely any promotion. Main problem, Dixie Carter!

Hogan.

:Puts on Bad Influence shirt:

Back in 2006 TNA was amazing and was doing their own thing, allowing themselves to be a good alternative to WWE.

They had great ideas, like Ultimate X, The X Division itself, and the best womens wrestling on TV.

However, they brought on Ric Flair, Hulk Hogan, Eric Bischoff and his son (who would've been fine had he stayed a ref), and an investor in Panda Energy and Dixie Carter, who clearly have too much say in what TNA does.

Vince Russo and Spike can be blamed for their "input" as well. Spike's push for MMA fighters to become wrestlers? How stupid is that? "Oh! WWE is bringing back Lesnar, let's bring in Rampage Jackson and see if we can make our own Lesnar!" Nah, that was stupid. It didn't help ratings at all and as far as I can remember the MMA fighters were either stuck in OVW or gave up on becoming wrestlers.

If TNA can create their own stars instead of recycling WWE garbage like Zeke, Lashley, etc. they may actually get somewhere. Grabbing Derrick Bateman was smart because he was really good, just stuck in NXT. The average fan didn't know who he was. AJ Styles, Motor City Machine Guns, Beer Money, Daniels, Kaz, Gen Me, Hernandez, Shark Boy... that's great original talent, you don't need to constantly bring in old names. Use what you have.

They need to get out of the ECW State of Mind. Bringing back Tommy Dreamer? Rhyno? Dudley Boyz? Hell, might as well bring back New Jack, Sabu and Sandman too! Let's have another Hardcore Reunion and call it "Every Night Only: Hardcore Heaven Part 713: Hey, we're still here!"

Can they increase their Knockouts Roster too? I just counted 8 knockouts plus Christy Hemme on their roster. What happened to my waifu Taeler Hendrix? Winter? Lei'D Tapa? Traci Brooks? The last couple times I watched TNA they were using the same 4; Velvet, Angelina, Madison and Brittany. They have some of the best female wrestling besides Shimmer and Japan and they're only re-using the same 4 every time? Gail Kim is KO Champ, where is she?

Thank god they stopped with that neverending nonsense that was Aces and Eights. What the hell was the point? Did they even have a wrap up of that storyline or did they just drop it like WWE? One week Bully Ray is like wearing his "cut" or whatever they called it and saying how great it was, the next week he never mentioned it and it was never brought up again. That's another thing; stop with the dumbass stable storylines. Fortune and Immortal were such a waste of time and it was like Nexus and Corre.

TL;DR Stop trying to be WWE, get better writers and hold on to your homegrown talent!

I really should start watching TNA more often, haven't watched it since the week before they went to NYC and brought back six sides.

Never seen it.

But for me a company at its core needs to be basic and realistic with set rules that then allows you to more adventurous.

Get over your rules, your vision your identity.

If you don't do the simple things right you look amateurish on all fronts

Failure to push new stars. Instead of being out there signing guys like Kenta, Devitt, & Steen (before WWE did) Dixie goes out and hires Garrett Bischoff, Wes Brisco, & Mike Knox. Instead of finding the next big thing she goes out and hires WWE's scraps. Plus 9 times out of 10 when TNA hires a former talent from another organization they "piggyback" off of their previous gimmick. If the gimmick was all that great they most likely wouldn't be former talent.



A unyielding desire to be WWE lite. TNA used to be unique. But over the last few years they have diminished everything they had worked for and settled on being too similar to what WWE is doing. X-Division: A shell of what it used to be. Tag team: down to 3 teams. Women's: Lost all the hype they once had.  All the things that made TNA look attractive & special are gone.

TNA has always had a ton of potential, but their absolute biggest problem is mismanagement. Bruce Prichard was there and he was micromanaged. They had a shot at Heyman, but they wouldn't give him the control he would have needed. These people in charge know absolutely nothing about wrestling, but they won't relinquish any control to the people who do.

The above problem goes hand in hand with the writing problem. Cornette was there, and even though he may be out of touch he knows basic psychology. They fired him because he didn't go with Russo's misguided vision. In fact, they repeatedly went to the Russo well. Russo, a proven liar, hasn't had a good idea since 1998. I don't blame Russo himself for this. I believe he genuinely thought he knew what he was doing. I similarly don't blame Bischoff for some of the changes he made such as the ring. I don't blame Hogan at all since he was basically a glorified on-air character who didn't actually have any power, and any ideas he may have had went through Bischoff before coming to fruition. Management allowed all of this to happen. Ultimately, management also led TNA to the predicament they are currently in with Spike TV. Even if the Russo lie wasn't the determining factor it played a role.

Management also allowed much of the heart and soul of TNA to leave. AJ should have been a priority, and if what he says is true he certainly wasn't. They wasted all of that money on the terrible MMA guys who have done nothing. What a terrible waste.

The writing is definitely a huge problem as well. They have some good ideas, but way too many illogical, random ideas and downright terrible ideas. Things are getting better currently. For me the show was really only completely unwatchable earlier this year right after MVP came in (nothing against MVP, I think he's awesome, his entrance to the company just marked a bad transitional period).

On the plus side, the Spike president was backstage the other night, so its not over yet. I really hope that they maintain their TV because I would hate to see TNA die. If they survive they need to use this as a wakeup call. They need someone who actually knows their $#!t to take the reigns.

Lack of Promotion.

Theres no tv commercials on impact on other networks,No radio or tv interviews no nothing.Remember when TNA promoted impact moving to Monday's they promoted the hell out of it and they actually did well in the ratings.

I think TNA's biggest downfall was their failure to develop themselves as a true alternative to the WWE. Just because they were the "2nd" top promotion in the U.S. never made them a legitimate alternative. They should have done everything in their power to offer everything the WWE did not. Their X-Division should have ALWAYS been their crown jewel. It should never have taken the back burner, especially when the WWE jettisoned their Cruiserweight division in 2006 or 2007ish.

Think about what the WWE was lacking just a few years ago(and still is, in certain areas): No Cruiserweight/high-flying division, no interesting Women's Division, no interesting tag team division, and the overall in-ring product was pretty damn poor.

TNA had an opportunity to build an incredibly strong X-Division, Knockout's Division, Tag Team Division, AND offer some quality wrestling ALL AT THE SAME TIME. They never seemed to bring all of those elements together, something that would've produced a really good product. It seems we went through times when the X-Division was very entertaining but everything else sucked, the Knockouts very interesting but everything else sucked, etc...

I sincerely wonder what position TNA would be in today if they didn't produce such nonsense throughout the past several years. All the legends, bringing in the ECW guys (without being allowed to, ya know, mention ECW), Bubba the Love Sponge, etc...

It's depressing. I sincerely had hope for them many years ago but it feels like they just blew their chance.