wrestling / Columns
Against The Grain 6.06.09: TNA vs. Heroes – A Comparison In Frustration
Welcome everyone back to Against The Grain, my (bi-weekly) take on some of the most unconventional and not-often talked about subjects in the wrestling world. I am back and so glad to be doing this little dance once again. As much as I liked going back in time to revisit my old column friend with “Please…Don’t Hate”, I feel a lot better now returning to the comfort writing here without the whole “cold-hard facts” thing going on. So to kick-start my column up again, I wanted to dive straight into a semi-weird discussion. The comparison of the horribly confusing and frustrating plotlines and direction in the TV action/drama show “Heroes” to the horribly confusing and frustrating plotlines and direction in the TV wrestling show TNA Impact. I hold both shows dear and close to my heart watching-wise. But in the last couple of years, both have managed to severely piss me off with A LOT of random and crazy events that have occurred. See why I feel this way and how I manage to make some strange comparisons such as the “main star” in Heroes with Peter Petrelli to the “main star” of TNA with AJ Styles. For those who have NEVER watched an episode of Heroes, please bear with me as I explain.
AJ Styles and Peter Petrelli…separated at birth???
TNA & “Heroes”: Must-See Headache TV
Ok. For those who need an introduction, “Heroes” is a pretty popular action TV show that is currently on NBC and is about the lives of people who find out that they have super-powers (i.e. like X-Men). I’m been a loyal fan of the show it impressed me on Day One, but I’ve been noticing a lot of similarities between it and one of the other shows that I follow loyally…TNA Wrestling. Unfortunately these similar traits that I’ve seen aren’t exactly flattering and instead are pretty darn frustrating. Let’s begin. First of all, both shows started off with TONS of promise. Heroes was great in the beginning because every single week the series left viewers with some nice intense cliffhangers (i.e. Who mysteriously had super-powers? What was the main bad guy’s [Sylar] identity?) and had a simple, but very good storyline that involved all of the introduced “heroes” teaming up to defeat the main bad guy and save the world. TNA was similar in its beginning too with establishing brand new stars (Styles, Samoa Joe, Abyss, Robert Roode) and keeping fans glued in with its weekly action-packed matches, particularly with their infamous X-Division. But in the last 2 years, both shows has really lost a grip a bit with what made them both popular in the first place. They figured that by switching their basic formulas that they could attract more fans, but in turn they alienated a good number of viewers. Heroes moved from their basic, not-too-complex plot of heroes saving the world to a kind of confusing time-traveling, politician-involving, big clusterf@ck of messy storylines (if you’ve watched the show…you know exactly what I’m talking about and if you haven’t…you have to experience for yourself). And on the flip side, TNA went from basic “bad guy vs. good guy” storylines and matches to now pushing the “Cross The Line” mentality with sometimes muddy and silly plots involving the likes of the Main Event Mafia and “are they heel or are they face?” tag team of the Motor City Machine Guns. Now even though both shows had really good intentions to make fans happy, their efforts seemed to come off in such very wrong ways.
Hell…not only was I noticing that the directions of both shows were making a turn for the worst, I was also noticing that even the specific characters from each were looking more and more like each other. Take for instance Peter Petrelli and AJ Styles. Peter in Heroes is essentially the anchor of the entire show (in my opinion at least). The whole story with the first episode started with him discovering his super-powers and continued with him continuously getting stronger and eventually mega-powerful by absorbing other people’s powers (sounds VERY corny…but totally fits into the context of the show). So at the height of this, the show decided to take all of this build-up away from him and slowly turned him into a weak, whiny little bitch (with no powers at some point). So apply the same to Styles. The man started off as one of the mainstays of TNA with his memorable X-Division matches and multiple TNA Heavyweight title reigns, then suddenly the man slowly started being pulled back from the main event and was portrayed also a semi-weak, whiny little bitch (still good in ring…character-wise wasn’t so good). Then with the Samoan-Submission Machine Samoa Joe and Heroes baddie Sylar, they are also very alike as well. Sylar started off a very cliché villain with saying one-liners and of course doing evil deeds. But then the man started catching on big time with fans with his head-slicing, power-stealing antics and the bad ass unintentionally became an anti-hero. But sadly after this, he turned into a “goody two-shoes” that confused and angered many fans. Likewise with Joe. The man started in TNA as a mega evil heel destroying every X-Division person in his way and then not surprisingly he got over big time with fans. But by the time he gained the TNA Heavyweight Title, he wasn’t seen as the bad-ass that everyone had flocked to due to his now “heel-lite” direction. In the last few months (episode and show wise) both of these people, Sylar and Joe, were slowly going back to their old bad-guy ways with Joe and his Nation of Violence and Sylar and his plot to rule the world…again. But to a few viewers still watching the progress, it feels like too little, too late.
Overall with these comparisons in frustration that I see between a TV show about people who can fly and stop time and a wrestling company that is trying to build themselves up as a major competitor to the WWE, I still remain a loyal watcher. Both of these shows have SO much potential to be great, excellent programs that hooks people on every week. It’s just that they need to focus back on what made them popular in the first and bring it back to forefront again. Arguably, “Heroes” has put forth a semi-strong effort in the last few episodes this past season (with a few plot twists and the conclusion of a bunch of wacky ones) to get back to the things that made it work, while TNA is doing things like holding a tag-team tournament and establishing the X-Division again. I strongly want to hold onto the hope that both of these brands will make fans fully happy again within the next year. But if they resort to going back to the goofy things that they’ve been up to in the last couple of year, then I honestly may be forced to turn my short-spanned attention elsewhere.
For Your Viewing Pleasure
Sylar (Evil super-powered bad-ass who enjoys destroying his victims)
Samoa Joe (Evil wrestling-powered bad-ass who enjoys destroying his victims)
Next Time on…Against The Grain
Due to the sudden increase of school work that has fallen into my little lap, I will now be sadly be reducing my “Against The Grain” output to only once a month. I honestly wish that I had the time to do it every single week, but there are not enough hours in my crazy days to do so. So I thank everyone who has been sticking to reading my tiny little column of mine here and I hope that you continue to read on by catching me every month. So no preview topic for now cause I really don’t know what I’ll pick yet, but I’ll see y’all in good ol’ July.
