PWP Nation’s Zak Fellows outlines the seemingly never ending struggle of fan investment for TNA Impact Wrestling
You know my current standings with TNA as a fan sheds light on some of the complaints that I have seen individuals give WWE, ROH, New Japan etc and has transitioned into a developing sense of acceptance of one fan’s viewpoint even if it does sometimes lapses into opinions that are hard to believe. I used to be a perpetual viewer of TNA, starting in 2006 just one year after I had started watching in general seeing Sting, Jeff Jarrett and Scott Steiner in the same ring building towards a big tag match at Sacrifice that would also later involve Samoa Joe…what Undertaker was to me in WWE Sting was TNA’s equivalent.
I stuck with TNA for quite a while, even one year believing it to be the better product when compared to WWE (2012 if you’re curious because of the WWE Champion at the time) as I became invested in the home grown talent and the reinventions of familiar faces.
But two years ago, I stopped watching, frustration for the product had started kicking in after a series of what I felt were bad moves in 2013 culminating in me calling quits when Eric Young defeated Magnus for the TNA Title with little build up. Some felt it was as a direct reaction to the success of the Daniel Bryan WrestleMania moment but I just thought of it as throwing out logic and established plans in favour of a cheap reaction. I would then give TNA another shot when they made their debut on Destination America and, while the show was enjoyable, nothing hooked me.
Thus, here we are again to give TNA Impact my yearly chance with their recent debut on Pop TV headlined by the finals of the TNA Championship Series started for some silly reason surrounding Matt Hardy and Ethan Carter III.
Let me begin this review/article/rant by saying that TNA’s inaugural show on Pop was by no means bad: It had some decent action combined with some interesting promos with the utilisation of new and unknown names (to me anyway) alongside the wrestlers I am already familiar with. I admit to clapping in enthusiasm when Beer Money reunited, Eric Young has done well with a new heel character as much as I was against him turning heel last year, EC3 is a diamond in the rough and while Matt Hardy as a main eventer has always seemed like an April Fool’s joke and a weak substitution for a more obvious candidate; his and EC3’s match was genuinely enjoyable even if the way TNA got to the point was somewhat bizarre but par for the course.
I would even say that TNA did ok with the issue of introducing themselves to a potential new audience on a new channel through the Opening Promo, Kurt Angle’s promo (I must say Drew Galloway…don’t really see much in him) and that is what they would reasonably be hoping for. Whether or not they will succeed in creating new fans is wait and see so let’s get to the crux of the matter: TNA has a habit of alienating its audience.
The same can be said for WWE depending on the fan but even in its smaller period of existence TNA has managed to create an even worse reputation for itself than WWE: They are at a point of un-remarkability. Watching TNA during the Russo time frame, even the bad TNA stuff reached a point of quality that it was so bad I couldn’t look away from it. Brother Ray seeing a chocolate bar on a fishing hook and going for it? Ridiculous to see in real life but funny, Abyss gaining powers from Hulk Hogan’s Hall of Fame ring? Dumb but fun and Lacey Von Erich? With Velvet Sky and looks good. Same thing for WWE where one thing on Raw becomes the thing to talk about for that week be it Roman Reigns, The New Day, Vince McMahon, Daniel Bryan, Sting etc
TNA, since the Ace and Eights angle ended and most of their big stars have all left, now looks barren and remarkably unremarkable. There are guys I enjoyed and still do but not enough reason or context for me to want to watch them on a whim. Maybe it’s the right storyline and the right execution that I am looking for but it seems as if whenever I see a faction, poor babyface/heel balance and wrestlers headlining that really don’t appeal to me I immediately tune out and stop caring… because it’s stuff I had gotten sick of seeing from this one promotion too many times.
Call it pessimistic if you like, a quality common in the diehard fan base of a platform like Pro Wrestling, but when it happens so often to the point that it’s becoming too common for its own good you just find the better course is to stay away to avoid the same disappointment that keeps coming.
Let me close out by saying that if you enjoyed TNA Impact on Pop and are looking forward to seeing what is going to happen then good for you: You see something in the product that I don’t and that’s fine. I know that I most likely will not be continuing from this point due to, as said, remarkably unremarkable.
TNA has been a good source of enjoyment in the past: I still contend that 2012 was a shining year for TNA, that some of the classic matches hold up exceptionally well and that the talent of the promotion remains strong barring a couple of exceptions. But when you put your hand to a hot stove so many times eventually you come to the realization that it’s probably for the best to stop.
[Zak Fellows doesn’t put his hand to a hot stove, don’t worry,]
That guy in the front row looked familiar…