TNA Thoughts 12/22/09

I fear for the future of TNA Wrestling. They've never really been the match for the WWF. They've been more successful than anyone else since WCW, but they've still never reached that next level.

They got a TV deal with Spike, they put out a video game, they signed Kurt Angle, Sting, Booker T, Kevin Nash, Scott Steiner, Bobby Lashley, Christian and now they are bringing in Hulk Hogan.

Hogan was going to come in quite a while back, but he backed out when he came to his senses and realized he would be working for Jeff Jarrett and Vince Russo, two guys who pretty much tried to humiliate him on his way out of WCW.


A few years passed. Jarrett sold the company, they got their TV deal, went to the six-sided ring, started taping at Universal Studios in Florida.

Then they managed to scoop up Kurt Angle when he hit some problems in the WWE. Then it started going downhill fast. They added a bunch of Vince's cast offs and started pushing them over the guys that they had made.

Yeah, AJ and Samoa Joe held titles, but it was Nash and Angle and Booker T and Sting that dominated.

Now word is that Hogan and Bischoff are going to be in charge.

Word is that they've told the guys to slow down their matches and work in more rest holds.

Word is that Hogan doesn't like the six-sided ring. Word is that Hogan doesn't like the writers and wants to let the wrestlers determine more of the program.

It's a good thing for him that pretty much everyone that was at WCW when it went down in flames is right there in TNA.

I miss the old TNA where a show would be headlined by Sonny Siaki v. AJ Styles for the X-division title, or Amazing Red v. anybody.

That TNA would never be able to compete with Vince on a 1 to 1 basis, but neither will the one that is coming.

Hogan is smart about the business, so are alot of the other older guys, but the business is about what is new and fresh.

I look for AJ Styles to lose the title soon, maybe to Sting, maybe to Ric Flair, maybe to Nash, maybe to Angle. He'll lose it though and then those guys will come in and dominate the top and the company will start to go down.

The ratings will probably be good for that first special, people will tune in to see Hogan for that first time.

Then they'll realize he's almost 60 and can still talk, but doesn't have much to say anymore.

Nobody really wants to see Ric Flair v. Hulk Hogan for the TNA championship. Maybe more people than want to see AJ Styles v. Samoa Joe for the same belt, but the people who will watch the first match won't stick around to see more either.

I wish TNA the best in their new direction, but I'm not optimistic about their chances.

At least I've still got a big stack of shows from the first year and really good memories, just like I do of ECW.

TNA Thoughts

Some random thoughts after this weeks Impact:

Rikishi is now in TNA. Now if they could just bring back Sonny Siaki and maybe get Meng in there they could have a really strong Samoan contingent.

Now I have seen Black Reign. I like the spinning suplex, but I don't think that he'll be able to do that one on anyone over Eric Young's size. (Which, I suppose is fine since 80% of the roster is that size or under) If Eric wanted to save Shark Boy from being hurt, wouldn't it have made more sense to make the save BEFORE Sharky was clobbered with the club in the back of the head, and not just before the rat made an appearance. And, doesn't this mean that Jake the Snake is the logical opponent for Black Reign?

New tights are needed for Judas Messias. The purple Razor Ramon blood style just isn't going to work. They need to think more along the lines of Kevin Thorne. I was soooo hoping that Messias would just be a repackaged Brian Lee or Slash. Maybe he will be impressive, I do not know. If they give him an entrance where he cuts through something on the entranceway and the cuts bleed or something along that line it might be a cool visual, but he's going to have to be able to bring something to the table in the ring. I just don't know how they can effectively push him as a monster when he's the same size as Bobby Roode.

I see on TNA.com that Messias will be squashing Eric Young next week on Impact. Hooray, that means that Messias and Black Reign can team up. I had gotten the distinct impression that they delayed the debut of Messias so as not to conflict with the debut of Black Reign, so now they can be together on screen!

Impact goes to two hours in October, now they can have two hours not to use Raven in!

Sandman is now a free agent again. So is Sabu. So is Eugene.

When is TNA going to bring in Kaz Hyashi for a battle of the Kazs? Does Kaz Hyashi still have the Glacier gimmick he bought from Glacier on Nitro?

When, exactly is Jarret going to return? Angle needs a good ole el Kabong. I don't think Sting will end up Champ at BFG.

I miss Slash and the New Church. Mostly just Slash. Only just Slash.

Doesn't it really just have to be Frank Wycheck that teams with someone to take on Truth and Pac-Man? Won't that match suck? Maybe they could get Dale Torborg for it.

Did the Punisher Andrew Martin even have a real match in TNA?

Can they really keep saying that Abyss is 6'8" with a straight face without inflating Tomko to 7'4" and Matt Morgan to 12'10"?

Enough already.