Would TNA be better if it stayed a niche product?

ECW made a huge name for itself catering to one segment of the wrestling audience, and had it not been for heymans horrible bussiness sense they would still kickin. people want an alternative to wwe not wwe lite.

Because WWE doesn't have Natalie Neidhart, Beth Phoenix, Melina, Jillian Hall, Mickie James, Gail Kim, a very improved Michelle McCool and Maryse. TNA's women's champion current is a horrible wrestler to me. They're pretty but untalented. Whereas Maryse is pretty and actually got good, which is a big surprise to me. Angelina Love never comes across as a wrestler to me, same with Velvet Sky. Sara Stock is a plus, but still not the whole division. WWE has a good women's division.

WWE doesn't have long term booking for Vince's own paranoid reasons. Truthfully, I like it. I don't always know where WWE going and that's great. TNA is like watching a pro wrestling sitcom.

If they use any more "celebrities", I'll quit. If the rumors of Spencer from the Hills are true, that will really kill TNA to me. People who like the Hills hate him, why would TNA even consider that?

I'd have no problem with TNA making a mass appeal program, but they do it horribly. While WWE has bad spots, they still are often better than TNA. Which REALLY sucks to me because TNA has amazing talent. If TNA gets it's **** together and really promotes the Guns, Daniels, Doug Williams, etc. over Angle or Sting, I'll love them. It's essentially proven neither of them have helped or hurt TNA. The ratings reflected that when they joined. They're basically just taking money. Not that that's an issue with TNA, they're booking arenas they shouldn't.

I truthfully have an issue with niche products these days, they don't turn out well. Look at ROH right now. Why do you think they continue to use Flair and just booked Bret Hart? Because they can't sell dick for tickets because they book one type of thing. I love ROH's talent but I find it boring a lot. It doesn't go anywhere anymore. To me the 20/30 minute match is great for a PPV, not a $25 dvd I have to go on the word of ROH fans for.

This whole "Old TNA > New TNA" arguement is stale, boring and full of crap.


Gimmick Matches - Everyone complains about gimmick matches. Every TNA year has had olt of gimmick matches. It's nothing new. Go back to PPV #6 - they had a ladder/submission match for the NWA World Title (see more on this on finishes)

Gimmicks - Midget Wrestling, Brunce, The Jonsons, The Rainbow Express, The Dupps etc. I'll take Black Machismo, Suicide & Samoa Joe over these any day of the week.

Celbs in TNA: Hermie Sadler wrestled Ron Killings and beat him (via. DQ), Toby Keith tossed Jeff Jarrett out of a NWA World Title Battle Royal &Dustin Diamond had a boxing match all in year one..

Finishes - A ladder/submission match ended in a no contest, about 15 no finishes in 2002 which was only around 7 months.

"Old Guys"/WWE Guys Pushes - Nothing new. Shamrock, Killings, Jarrett, Hall, etc etc were all there in year one.


See? The same problems you have now.. were there then. I don't get it. To me - the reason SOME (keyword - some) people have a problem with TNA is because it's not their product anymore. It's not their "baby" so much. In the "early" days it was kinda like ROH with people being able to say "Look what I'm helping build" and now it's not. That's just my opinion.

Honestly, the reason (like I said earlier) TNA won't change stuff is because the ratings haven't dropped huge. If you want to get through to them. Crying on a forum, youtube, emails, etc won't help. Stop watching if you want them to change.

But, Hardcore Midgets, Bruce & The Johnsons would!!!

The Asylum days were good for ONE thing... the X-Division. Take away AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels, Chris Sabin, Frankie Kazarian, Michael Shane, etc. , the matches weren't all that great.

And don't get me started on storylines, nothing special in the slightest bit. I do agree, however... that TNA has become much more of ( as people call it ) WWE Lite. TNA is suppose to be my alternative to the WWE, where'd all that go. Instead, the people that I hated in the WWE are popping up on TNA and burying home-grown talent.

Wait until Lashley debuts. His first match will probably be a squash, either going over Jay Lethal, or Sabin and Shelley. TNA is using it's better stars as enhancement talent, when they should be using them as they're stars. Simply put.

- Triple S

You cannot expect a product to stay the way it was. It has to evolve. Once TNA got a national TV deal, it should have been obvious that they would start trying to do things that appealed to the national audience because that is what you have to do to survive.

Sure I'd love it if we could turn the clock back a tad and have the X Division be the center of the TNA universe when the X Division title was as important as the World Title. The way they have liquidated it to almost this is the jobbers title is ridiculous. But that's the way it goes when a company starts to feel that a certain level of talent is not going to bring them in ratings.

Honestly the World title should always be the most important title in the company and they have successfully done that now with the whole MEM wanting it, Foley wanting to keep it, Double J wanting him to drop it so that he can focus on working outside the ring. It's made for some great TV and actually boasted my want to watch Impact.

While yeah, some of the storylines from 2003-2005 were kinda cool, they would not have appealed to the mainstream and once you hit the mainstream you have to answer to them.

Claiming that TNA couldn't have stayed the same way it was is a COMPLETE joke. Music is much like anything ( wrestling, TV, etc. ). Once it gets that deal, whether it be a TV deal, or a record label... it's what you originally brought to them that interested them into signing you. So obviously, there was something that caught their eye, when FSN signed TNA to a television deal. Even on FSN, they were still pulling out better wrestling. It WAS something different, that you wouldn't see on WWE programing.

Like I stated in a previous debate... my first TNA match I saw on TV ( minus some downloaded stuff a friend showed me from the Wednesday pay-per-views ) was AJ Styles vs. Frankie Kazarian ( I think ) on iMPACT! My jaw dropped as not only was it an unorthadox styles of wrestling, but these guys could WRESTLE. I was a short 7-8 minute match, but it was damn entertaining.

Then you had the great fueds of AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels, with 2 AWESOME Iron Man matches in it's course. Not to mention Styles/Daniels/Joe, Unbreakable is all I have to say. It was on TV, but it was still different... it was still it's own company. Guys like Styles and Daniels weren't getting the main event spots, those were going to DDP, Jarrett, Nash, Abyss, etc. However, the X-Division was still getting the spotlight attention it deserved/deserves.

Picking up Angle should've been a blessing, however... it's kinda been a problem in disguise. We've seen TNA at some of it's worst lately ( around 2007-2008 ) and it still hasn't crawled out of it's hole. Yeah, Angle is definitely one of the better guys on the roster... which showed during his fueds with Styles and Joe. Just like the WWE, if Angle is with someone good... he'll put on clinics. If he's put in with someone, just for storyline purposes ( Jarrett, Sting )... it won't be pretty. Since then, it's gotten worse, with the pick-ups that not many people care about and aren't going to get TNA the ratings they need. Matt Morgan, Daivari, Booker T and now Bobby Lashley. This is wasted money, as if this dead weight was droppped... TNA could pick up some really deserving and great talents.

TNA never needed to change, just spice up their roster with some more talented and fairly known names. Not these guys that ran their course in the WWE/WCW and are trying to hold on to the little namesake they have left. I believe I said it around Lockdown time... TNA has the chance to do something BIG, with the blowoff to this MEM vs. Frontline storyline. Whether they capitalize on that, we'll have to wait and see.

- Triple S

So first you were a Steve Austin basher... then a Jericho-current-persona impersonator... currently you're obsessively pro-Benoit... now you're moving on to "OLD TNA RULEZ~!"

What gimmick do you have lined up for next month?

So the product now appeals to everyone?