wrestling / Columns
411 Fact or Fiction Wrestling: All TNA Edition
Welcome back to the latest edition of 411 Fact or Fiction, Wrestling Edition! Stuff happened, people loved/hated it and let everyone else know. I pick through the interesting/not so interesting tidbits and then make 411 staff members discuss them for your pleasure. Battling this week are Jericho Ricardi and Dino Zee!
1. Ethan Carter III will not be the man to win the title from Kurt Angle
Dino Zee: FICTION – I mean, I have a gimmick to uphold here, and no way am I saying anything bad about MY BOY, ECIII. Sure, we could say that perhaps Angle drops the belt to someone else, who Carter then beats, but I just don’t see that happening. TNA treats Kurt Angle as a walking legacy, even higher on the totem pole than a Bobby Roode or an Austin Aries, and so I see him keeping the belt until it’s time to absolutely make ECIII. On top of that, you have the residual feelings from the first time Carter and Angle feuded, where Carter’s wins were on shaky conditions at best. Now we can revisit the feud, have Angle talk about how this time he’s not hobbled by a bad knee, and when Carter beats him for the belt, he’ll look that much better. To really shore it up, I do think Carter is winning the TNA Title this year, and I don’t think anyone else is beating Angle for it. This is Carter’s time.
Jericho Ricardi: FICTION – It just makes too much sense to have EC3 win the title from Angle. There are plenty of reasons why: EC3 has wins – tainted or not – over Angle; EC3 is still undefeated; Angle has the biggest rub to give of everyone in the company, having just defeated the unbeatable Lashley; and they’re of opposing alignments (chaotic evil vs. lawful good). I’m looking forward to it, but I’m guessing that an EC3/Angle title match likely won’t happen for a while. Fantasy Booking Time, though I fully expect them to do these things: With Eric Young defeating Bobby Roode in their blow off match on Impact, I suspect Eric Young may be the next major challenger to Angle after he finishes the feud with Lashley. I don’t see Young or Lashley unseating Angle, though the feuds should be good.
The variable to this situation: Austin Aries is also waiting in the wings, and has the briefcase. However, given Aries’ character, I don’t think he’ll do a hit-and-run cash-in on a guy he respects. It’s more likely that he’ll give Angle notice. The X-Division champion will also be getting a shot at the world title some time in the next few months. Either Spud or Low-Ki (should he regain it) would be a great mini-feud for Kurt Angle. We can even throw Davey Richards in as an out-of-left-field challenger for Angle on an episode of Impact and have him take Angle to the limit. Regardless, after Angle goes through Lashley, Young, Ki/Spud, and Aries… THEN we’ll probably get an EC3 feud, maybe for BFG. Title versus streak. And EC3 will win, on PPV, if they truly want to make a new star. Give importance back to BFG, dammit! After that we flip the script and have the champion feud with face challengers. I’d give him Jeff Hardy to go through, then a huge feud with Bobby Roode that ends in EC3’s first loss. So…uh…yeah. Fiction.
2. It’s a bad sign that Destination America, four months into their relationship with TNA, has cancelled the Saturday slate of TNA programming.
Dino Zee: FICTION – Is TNA Impact Wrestling still airing on Fridays? Then yeah, I’m not buying too much into the Saturday slate getting cancelled. Perhaps those shows just weren’t drawing any viewers? I don’t see how that hurts the real reason they’re on the channel. I actually gave the Mike Tenay Super Impact show a chance, thinking it’d have some cool behind the scenes features or nerdy ass additions, and instead I basically rewatched Impact with like 2 minutes of “new” content. It just wasn’t worth it, so I never watched it again. I’m still there every Friday (or during the weekend if I rely on the DVR) to watch Impact, and I’m not arrogant enough to think I’m the only one that had this sequence of events play out that way. When Impact has its timeslot moved, we can talk about “bad signs.” For now, I think Destination America just realized that the superfluous TNA stuff wasn’t working, so they cut it. Nothing to see here? Yeah, I’d say so.
Jericho Ricardi: FICTION – I don’t think a Saturday recap show was ever a good idea in the first place and I’m not surprised that it had abysmal ratings. It does look like a bad sign that the new network is already cutting back on TNA’s network presence, but the fact is that the Saturday show wasn’t adding anything of importance. At this point I would really like to see the company get a second primetime wrestling (not recap) show. Say, Tuesday nights. That way, more of the roster can get weekly exposure. It’d make sense, and it’d get good ratings (almost definitely more than their Friday show), especially if it was heavily hyped as being important. Tell the fans that something is important, and – surprise – they’ll listen. Rather than adding a C show, add another A show that is on par with the current main show, and give it an entirely new look. Different lighting, different (green?) ropes, different theme music, and debut with an extremely eventful episode. So…yeah, I digress again. Fiction.
3. TNA needs to be done with the Eric Yong vs. Bobby Roode matches for the time being, considering that they have gone through two feud ending match stipulations already (last man standing & submission match).
Dino Zee: FACT – Please, please, PLEASE let the feud be done for the time being. The matches are fine, sure, but just like the feud in 2006-2007, this thing feels like it has dragged on for far too long, which is crazy since it’s only been going since January. I guess what’s really bothered me about this feud is how they played the “We were best friends foreeeeeeeeeeever, and then Eric Young turned on me!” card, completely ignoring the time Roode treated Young like shit for nearly a complete year. He frickin tarred and feathered the man! Or am I being punished for daring to watch TNA for a long time and remembering its history? The whole premise of the feud is so false that it annoys me. It’s fine if they want to play “we’ve had problems before, but I thought we worked them out!” or whatever, but to just lie to the fans about how these two (of ALL people) have “always” been close is so fraudulent that I can’t take it. Let’s get both of these guys a new dance partner for a while, and see if Evil Eric has any legs outside of screwing with Bobby Roode.
Jericho Ricardi: FACT – This feud has run its course. I’d like to see Eric Young transition into a feud with Kurt Angle to take us to Slammiversary, with Bobby Roode mixing it up with someone else for a while. Bram, perhaps, or Jeff Hardy. Roode and Young can resume their feud in time for Bound For Glory, with Roode winning their final battle before moving onto bigger things. I thought this feud was good because both guys sold it so well; yes, some creative liberties were taken with the friendship of the two guys, but they made it work.
SWITCH!
4. TNA constantly showing that Josh Mathews and Taz are calling the action from a small studio, instead of live, makes the product look minor league.
Jericho Ricardi: FACT – People (especially JBL) already see the company as the minor league. TNA needs to do everything in their power to raise perception of their company as being third-rate. Turning the lights back up is one step. Having the announcers at least appear to be present is another. I understand that they’re having the announcers commentate on the show live so that they can make modern references to things (as the taped show they’re commentating may have happened a month ago). But… at least give us the illusion that we’re getting one cohesive picture here. Don’t show us Matthews and Taz, let us hear their presence and nothing else. Showing them drives home that the show isn’t live, and it doesn’t help that their studio looks like a closet. Points for honesty, but not much else. The presentation here is just lacking, and presentation counts. I guess what I’m saying is… fake it till you make it.
Dino Zee: FACT – This was a really tough one, because while I have absolutely made fun of the duo calling the show from Dixie’s in-law unit while watching the show, I also have memories of Monday Night Raws that were 3-4 weeks in the can, and clearly featured Vince and whomever the sidekick announcer was standing in front of a green screen. Even at like 12 or 13, that stuff looked so stupid fake to me. TNA at least admitting “hey, this isn’t live, the commentators aren’t there” hits me like a nice dose of refreshing honesty, and I respect the shit out of that. However, I’m taking a more general approach to this, and the majority of things I hear/read are people talking about how stupid it is that Taz and Matthews are huddled up in some little studio calling old matches. Regardless of my personal opinion on this (again – I don’t think it’s that big of a deal), it’s quite clear that it’s rubbing many others the wrong way, and indeed makes the product look bush league. More bush league than overdubbing commentary that doesn’t match up to what the announcers are doing? More bush league than having commentary take place when no announcers are present at the arena? Eh, that’s up to you to decide, I guess. If they’d just say something like “here’s matches from our taping on _____,” I think it’d bother people a bit less, since studio commentary isn’t the newest thing, and it certainly doesn’t bother people when watching the New Japan show with Barnett and Ranallo calling matches that are 2-3 years old, but I guess that’s the thing with TNA – damned if they do, damned if they don’t. Still going “Fact” on this just to better represent what I feel is the overall feeling on this question.
5. Considering TNA’s overall neglect of the X-Division over the past few years, they would be better off to drop that title and bring back the TV title.
Jericho Ricardi: FACT – I wouldn’t mind seeing this year’s Destination X main event be made a title unification match, with the world title absorbing the X-Division title. The belt just isn’t cutting edge anymore, and the Halcyon days of it being nearly on par with the world title are looooong over. Making the X-Division belt into an MITB case that can be cashed-in at Destination X was a mistake, in my view, as it devalued the belt into the realm of “stepping stone”. The company is in dire need of a secondary title, but this isn’t it. I can’t see guys like Magnus, Gunner, or Bram going for the X-Division title, leaving them with nothing to battle over if they aren’t involved in the world title picture. Thing is, the TV title isn’t what they need either. In concept it’s cool: The champion defends the title every week on TV, thus making them the TV champion and the fightingest champion. They started to do this a few years ago, but they had the title on… Devon. All due respect to Devon, but the TV title should be put on a dynamic wrestler who the fans WANT to see in action every week.
Regardless, the TV title may have a cool concept in theory, but it doesn’t represent a group of people or a landmass, and that’s a problem in wrestling. I like the idea of going traditional and creating a North American championship to be TNA’s secondary title. It’d be different, it’d be interesting, and North America is bigger than the United States so it’d seem like a bigger title than a U.S. title would. Someone with a lot of underutilized talent like Gunner could be the inaugural winner of the title, defend it every week, and give both it and himself a reason to exist on the show. The X-Division could still be a good tertiary title for the cruiserweight type wrestlers, and only the cruiserweight wrestlers. Once a year, their top contender mixing it up with the world champion could be awesome. Unfortunately, the company has BADLY misused most of them (Tigre Uno, Seiya Sanada) and I don’t think the company could support a cruiserweight division anymore. Keeping the X-Division title around as a cruiserweight belt would be great if they want to use those guys correctly, but the bottom line is that they should definitely bring back a different secondary title for the bigger guys.
Dino Zee: FICTION – Probably the most difficult one for me to answer, only because I’d like to nitpick. First off, I feel like TNA canceling the X Division will be a stupid, stupid move, if and when it ever happens. The X Division IS TNA. It’s what helped TNA stand out in the beginning. It’s the purest representation of what TNA should be about – athletic contests featuring wrestlers that may not usually get a national spotlight – and the matches are almost always fun, even when the division is being treated as the second cousin of an also-ran.
However, I do feel like TNA needs a better “secondary” title, outside of the X Division. The fact is, we’re just not going to see someone like a Lashley hold the X Title. Yes, yes, I know that we can comb the history books and call out outliers like Abyss holding the belt, but I don’t think the company will do stuff like that anymore. The X Division has basically been given back to the acrobats, and there’s nothing wrong with that. But that still leaves the rest of the roster with one whole belt to go after, and that causes a bottleneck. So yes, I’d like to see a different secondary championship. And given that TNA is basically a TV-only promotion, the TV Title would seem to go perfectly here.
But I’m with Bret Hart when it comes to the TV Title – it doesn’t make sense. Dreaming of being a champion that represents your country? Another country? The entire world? Yes, that makes sense. But what the hell does being the champion of televised wrestling mean? What’s the prestige? WCW was able to at least have entertaining matches in the division, and everyone enjoyed it, but that was because no one really considered what the belt meant. I’d much rather see a secondary title like a “North American” title or something in that vein. Hell, drum up some nostalgia with a “Florida Championship” if you want to. Something regional, just not the TV Title.
So, since I don’t think the X Division should be cancelled, and I don’t think the TV Title should be brought back, even though I do think TNA needs a real secondary belt for the roster, I have to go Fiction on this one.
6. The Wolves relinquishing the tag team titles on last week’s episode of Impact was not only the right call to make but was also some of the Wolves best mic work since coming to TNA
Jericho Ricardi: FACT – It reminded me of something out of WCW 1998. No, wait, hear me out. WCW 1998 was still huge, and everything that happened on Nitro seemed very important. I still remember wrestlers having to step down due to an injury and doing so in the middle of a Nitro episode, tearfully interacting with the fans and assuring us that they’d return. This had the same feeling to it, a feeling of *importance*. The Wolves did some great mic work and really left a strong impression.
Dino Zee: FACT – Anything that ends with Davey Richards not holding a belt is usually cool with me, and this time is no different. That said, I will absolutely agree that the mic work was probably among the best they’ve done. It wasn’t over the top, it wasn’t Davey talking about how amazing he is and AWWOOOOOOOOOO!!! It was honest, it felt real, and it showed the actual anguish one would go through when having to give something up after working so hard to attain it. I make no secret that I’m not the biggest Wolves/Davey fan (Eddie’s fine), but I appreciated having everything be a bit dialed back, and I actually look forward to their return. All beefs with 1/2 of that team aside, they usually deliver in the ring, as long as Davey isn’t kicking opponents into DDTing each other in the most contrived spot in wrestling. Hatehatehate, I know, I know. Still, good on TNA to keep the tag division active by taking the belts off the champs, and kudos to both guys for bringing it all together on the mic.
