In this blog, I will address TNA's new direction, the pros and cons that come along with it and changes this "new TNA" needs.
Let's get started with the pros of this new era in TNA; the fresh and young talent. Seeing new guys like Greg Marasciulo, TJ Perkins and young guys like Magnus and Chris Sabin getting a legit push, makes the product feel fresh. It seems that Magnus will now be that guy AJ Styles has been for the past decade in TNA. Fresh talent is needed and that, along with saving money, seems to be TNA's number one priority at this time. With this being said, cons come along with this. AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, Ken Anderson, Bobby Roode, Daniels, Kazarian, Austin Aries, and Jeff Hardy are arguably the best performers in TNA. A while back, former TNA Star, Rob Van Dam alluded to TNA stars not being at par or able to perform at the level the top WWE talent can. To a certain extent, I must agree with what he said.
The stars mentioned above, I consider to be able to perform at that "WWE level." What is the issue here? The issue comes down to the fact that most of these stars I mentioned, are making the big money in TNA. Some because of their main event status with the company, others because of their long tenure with the promotion or a combination of both.
A main issue now is budget and TNA seems to be seriously in favor of letting go anyone who's making top dollar in TNA such as we saw with Matt Morgan and now Devon. But what happens when you start losing the guys who are performing at that WWE main event level in favor of new guys?
Say you lose AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, Roode, Aries, Daniels, Kazarian, Hardy and Anderson. This will leave a roster who performs well, but like RVD said, are not at that level where you can rely on them. This leaves them competing against each other at the same level and the product will definitely suffer. This is why it is good when guys from the bigger company are brought in. Guys who have wrestled talent such as Chris Jericho, The Undertaker, Kurt Angle, Booker T, Sting, etc., will most definitely have a better understanding of how to perform at a greater level than when they simply compete in the Indy scene.
AJ Styles contract is expiring and TNA is considering letting him go. This would be a big hit to TNA as a brand. AJ Styles is the face, the John Cena of TNA. This is the main guy TNA has to keep around no matter how much more money he had to get paid. Styles should go into the TNA Hall of Fame, promoted for what he is; a top level talent who can perform at any stage and any venue at the main event spot. But the greatest reason, to keep him around is that AJ Styles is at that WWE Wrestlemania main event level and is a home grown TNA Superstar. TNA has one of the biggest stars in all of pro wrestling and TNA must keep AJ Styles at all cost. Once Magnus, Sabin and I would even say guys like Jay Bradley and get their push, they need to feed off of TNA legends like Styles. This brings me to my next segment.
A wrestling product is not only about having great matches and talent on a show, it's also about production and creating "moments." Creating memorable moments in any production is extremely important as you need to embed your product in people's mind and give them something to look back to. When I say moments, I'm not even taking about wrestling. I'm talking about in-ring and backstage segments. Who doesn't remember in WWE when Mick Foley.brought The Rock people from his past on RAW IS WAR? Sure, it was a silly segment, but everyone remembers and even if you didn't like it then, today you can look back and remember that night. I for one think that the WWE in-ring segment where The Alliance along with Stone Cold sing, was absurd, but I still catch myself remembering it every now and then. This is something that must also be addressed in TNA. Speaking of production, in TNA, their has always been very little focus on making stars like Magnus or Sabin seem larger than life with help of production. When someone who is getting a push cuts a promo in the ring and the next segment is shoved in as soon as that star stops talking, it gives the audience no chance to digest what the promo is about. It gives the star no importance. The same is to be said with entrances. When Sabin was World Champ, no matter who he faced, their was no difference of importance given between him or the challenger's entrance. It was the challenger's entrance, immediately rushed by Sabin's theme song. No difference at all. Their must be at least some sort of stalling before the champ's theme song. More selling by the announcers.
Their is also a minor issue with TNA announcing: I see it or hear it time and time again. Something surprising happens, or someone interferes and hit their finisher, and you have the announcers talking about last week or plugging a show, when they should be jumping put of their seats selling what just happened in the ring.
TNA is experiencing a new era and whether they choose to start their own version of the Attitude era or aim to be more high end, I feel the points I made are valid factors in their future success.
Those were my two cents, what are yours?