TNA - the year of living dangerously

http://v2wrestling.com/5/post/2014/11/tna-the-year-of-living-dangerously.html



I don’t often write articles much these days, preferring to spend my time speaking my thoughts to those who will listen as opposed to read (make sure you listen to the v2wrestling podcast people!).

But with the end of the year rapidly approaching and with TNA pretty much done with the year, I thought it was time to dust down the old typewriter one last time and have a look back at the world of TNA and its annus horribilis. And this article is all about one question – was it a bad year for TNA?

I could end the article right now with a quick “Yes” or “No” but that would be too easy. And the answer is far from easy. Or clear cut for that matter.

But, I am not going to dodge the answer and I am not going to draw things out for way too long (aka going Aces & 8s on the article).

Yes. Its been a good year for TNA. I would even go as far to say as its been a great year for TNA.

Now, at this point, I would ask that you stop your call to the local asylum and hear me out.

TNA has had many ups and downs over the last 12 months. Actually, maybe that should read, TNA has had many downs over the last 12months but hidden amongst all of the bad news (of which the dirtsheets gleefully reported ad infinitum), the foundations have been placed for a great future.

I want to break this review of the “a good year” into 3 segments. Now, then, forever to paraphrase another wrestling promotion.

THEN

At the beginning of 2014, TNA had a TV deal, a UK tour and a talented, exciting roster. At the end of 2014, guess what? TNA HAS a TV deal, a UK tour and a talented, exciting roster. And the TV Deal and roster is better than it was at the beginning of the year – views coming up on both of these statements.

Late 2013/ early 2014, the storylines and backstage dealings were in a complete mess:

Aces and 8s were defeated and Bully Ray was feuding with Anderson in a quite unpleasantly worded feud. AJ Styles had left after his contract expired making TNA look stupid. Hogan was hanging around still. Magnus was being booked as the weakest champ EVER. Sting was on TV. Angle was wrestling injured. Eric Young and Abyss were feuding for what felt like the millionth time. Chavo was on my TV screen still.

The product, despite an always enthusiastic UK crowd, was pretty disappointing.

NOW

The roster is stacked with better, cheaper talent than last year. Now some of the talent was already there (Kenny King for example) but at least the right talent is being used in the right way now. This years intake? The Wolves. Lashley, Havok, MVP, Bram have all done a great job since being featured. All have something to offer for the next few years – even MVP and Lashley who are ex WWE but don’t feel damaged in the same way as some of the ex WWE guys were.

Losing Sting, Bully Ray and Hogan (who most probably combined will have been earning more than the entire rest of the roster) has been good for TNA. These 3, have absolutely nothing left to offer TNA. Bully Ray was fantastic for them this year but how can you ever top his moment with Dixie? There is genuinely nothing else for him to do in TNA. As for Sting and Hogan, thank god they have gone, along with all of their baggage.

The only real loss of the year was Bad Influence but they can come again and I am sure they will.

And as for reinvention of the roster, Storm, Bram and Lashley have both been booked brilliantly to exorcise their TNA/ WWE pasts. EC3, Spud and the Wolves have all been booked fantastically. Even Shaw, the Bromans and the Menagerie have had their moments this year. And all of this is at a fraction of last years wage bill.

As for the storylines, once again, there are some very compelling feuds to start 2015 with:

Storms Revolution vs the Wolves

Lashley vs Roode (and MVP, Aries too)

Angle vs MVP

EC3 vs Spud

Shaw vs Gunner

Joe returning from injury for the X Division belt.

All of them can be built on and spun into other storylines – off the top of my head, Lashley could turn babyface and go after MVP. Roode could side with Spud and have a main event feud with EC3. Gunner can move back to feuding with Storm and his group, with the help of his military co-worker, Chris Melendez. Loads of options!

FOREVER

Smaller wage bill. Younger roster. Exisiting, exciting feuds. A network who has made you their number 1 priority. A UK tour which always looks great on TV. A TNA stalwart as champ. A new home with the benefit of a big advertising campaign behind it. Only needing 400,000 viewers on Destination America to be the top rated show on the network. Are TNA in a better position? Absolutely.

It should also be noted that Lucha Underground is possibly the best thing to happen to TNA. It has shown that wrestling can be presented in a different way to the WWE way which is what the Spike TNA years were always trying to emulate. TNA need to find their own presentation style and stick to it. The new network gives them this opportunity.

Has it been a good year?

Well its certainly been a roller coaster in 2014. Its been up and down all the way. But then again, who wants to take a ride on a flat track? TNA has survived and for that reason alone, its been a good year. The fact that we are at the top of the rollercoaster yet again, waiting for the ride to start all over, makes it a pretty amazing year and exciting time to be a TNA fan.

Do you remember Comical Ali?

Great article! Thanks for posting. I absolutely agree about the roster, this may just be my favourite TNA roster ever - or at least for a good long while.

I still can't believe they released Bad Influence. They were by far the most entertaining tag team in tna.

Yes it was very disappointing, but hopefully they will return one day. TNA still have some strong tag teams though - Storm's Revolution, the Wolves, Bram & Magnus, King & MVP if they wanted to use them, the Bro Mans and of course the prospect of a Beer Money reunion.

Great article Adam. Can't really argue with any of it.

Would query talkingpoint calling Bromans a "strong" tag team though. They're never booked as such. In fact they're usually the butt of whatever joke the script writers have come up with that week.

Thought Jessie & Robbie E were quite funny to begin with, but the "Dumb & Dumber" act got stale a long time ago. Also Zema / DJZ just doesn't seem to fit in. Think he's better as a singles wrestler.

Would love a Beer Money reunion at some point - would take some fairly creative writing to make that happen though. Also hope that with all the wage bill restructuring, they can find some money to bring back Bad Influence - two of the best characters I've ever seen. They did intelligent humour (relatively speaking) rather than the dumb antics of Bromans.

I was more referring to their workmanship rather than their booking. They`re solid workers.