Why?

Hello all

This week as I watched wrestling, I had a visitor, my wife. She is not the wrestling watcher, so for her to sit down and watch it with me was a treat. As we watched the shows this week, she noticed there was a difference. She noticed as we watched Impact Wrestling this week that something was missing. Her exact words were “Is this the minor leagues”? I said “No this is TNA”. “Oh this is TNA. This is so much different than the other one you watch. Why is it so different”? I have a few theories that I will discuss today.

1st, I think a lot of the writing could use an update. A lot of times when I watch TNA, I feel like I am watching USWA wrestling, AWA, or Jim Crockett Promotions (the old WCW). It feels like old archaic wrestling. Back in those days in JCP (Jim Crockett Promotions), and even in the early days of WCW, Dusty Rhodes had a long stint as the head booker. This basically means Dusty was in charge of deciding who was going to win and how. During these times Dusty would always have the heels win by using some kind of foreign object. He’d hit the baby face in the head, then throw it out of the ring, and would always win the match. This was awfully predictable, and boring (if you ask me). This would be known as the Dusty Finish. I am noticing this same pattern in TNA. During the match we were watching, the heel hit the face with something (that did not look that big or heavy) that knocked him out cold, and of course, the heel won. To me this is a big reason why they are different, the Dusty Finish.

The next thing that I think makes a difference is the fact that TNA’s tag line is “This is where wrestling matters,” but I see more cutaways from the action than I would expect in a show that claims to be all about the wrestling. Everyone who reads my blog knows I am not doing this to kill anyone, or to act like I could do better, I just have opinions and want to put them out there for others to read. Anyway, I know that cutaways, run INS, and promos are all a part of pro wrestling, but I would think that they would want to focus more on the wrestling than the buildup. They have a lot of good wrestlers, why try to make them characters, or even superstars. That is not what you do. That is not what is going to make you catch up to WWE. You have to focus on your strengths, and their strengths are wrestling.

Lastly to me one of the main problems at TNA is the matches. I have to admit, the matches on Impact Wrestling every week leave a lot to be desired. In fact I have to say there are matches every week that I wonder why they are even having them. Who cares about them? This past week, 2 matches stood out to me. The 1st one was Gunner vs. Garrett Bischoff, yes Eric’s son, and no he is not a wrestler. He was a referee. No he does not look or seem like a wrestler, but for some reason they decided this would be their next to last match. That is a spot that reserved for good matches. And to top it all off, the former ref who can’t weigh more than 150 pounds, beat Gunner, a former TV champ, and someone in the “Bound for Glory” tournament. He was in the running to be a main eventer. But that is not the worst part. The worst part is the main event of the evening was an elimination tag team match. To be honest, I can’t tell you all of the participants in the match. And the thing that confused me the most was, if you are going to have an elimination match, shouldn’t there be something that the winner gets? A title shot? A chance to choose the stipulations of the next match? Even a chance to choose your next opponent? I just didn’t understand the point behind the main event. This makes me not care to watch TNA at all.

All and all there are a lot of things about Impact Wrestling that makes the show unwatchable. These past few things I listed were just the tip of the iceberg. I could go on and on. With that being said, I think there are a lot of things they do right. But there are things that they do that make them look amateur. This past episode was a small sampling of what happens when all of that talent goes to waste, when people don’t know what to do, with everything they have. I know they are trying to compete with the big dog, but if they focus on what they do best, they can rise above where they are now……A distant second.

AND THAT'S THE BOTTOM LLLLLLIIIIINNNNNNEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!