Magus

Granted, but why bring him in with all this hype and treat him as if he's gonna be THEE big time player for TNA if your plan is to use him sparingly (assuming this rumor is true). That's just gonna leave a lot of people disappointed. Exactly. To my mind, TNA should be trying to get more mileage out of Sting with all the money and hype they've invested in him. There's way more creative ways to further the Sting/JJ fued than just having Jarrett talk shit for two months. It'll make Jarrett's other challengers look like crap because JJ will be talking about Sting all the time instead of focusing on them. By no means do I want Sting's presence to overshadow guys like Christian, Monty, or Abyss (well, that'll probably happen anyway), but he should be there more.

Using that rumor as a segueway to this one, I just read that the plan for Sting is to have him stay away for about two months while Jarrett and his crew continue to run him down every week, thus forcing him to come back for revenge. To me, this is a VERY shitty way to use Sting.

To me, it seems obvious that they should play this up as Christian finally getting his shot, and then have him win it. I'd wish for a clean win, but I'm not naive. Christian should win the strap, and Jarrett can go into a fued with Sting, which would be just as good without the title on the line. Christian could get a few good matches out of Monty, and help legitimize him as more than JJ's lackey in the process. That's how it should play out, and I hope it does if the news is true that Jarrett's power is on the decline. Still, we shouldn't be too surprised if JJ wins again and TNA keeps going along the same track.

Very funny. But seriously, Sting should get a new look, especially after Jarrett and co. ripped all over his old personas. I'm not sure what it should be, but the Crow gimmick, while ultra-cool back in WCW, is just played out.

I agree that the Orlando crowd is a seething mass of mutant smarks, but they've been saturated by nonstop JJ all this time. They're only reacting in the same way most of the television audience would react.

Here's some thoughts: Christian/Sting vs. Jarrett/Brown: Christian's just in time to start playing second fiddle to Sting. Wasn't he supposed to get an actual title shot? I guess teaming with Sting is just as good, eh? He's gone from being a midcard bitch to a ME bitch the likes of Monty Brown. Speaking of which, reteaming him with JJ yet AGAIN is just one more thing that makes him look like shit. I think they've effectively ruined a good thing with Monty. Sting vs. Jarrett is no way to carry the ME. Joe vs. Daniels: Daniels, of all fucking people, has come off to me as really vanilla during this whole angle. It's sad, because he's one of the best characters out there since Raven. Joe owns all, but throwing him, Daniels, and Styles at each other constantly is detrimental. Sooner or later, they're going to have to build up other X Division guys. The X Division's booking has been too fucking thin, while the ME suffers the problem of being too overdone. AMW vs. Team 3D: Eh, AMW will probably get their job back, because Team 3D won the Tables Match, right? Pretty simple way to continue the fued, which hasn't been terrible so much as an afterthought. I'll chalk that up to not enough time on Impact. Abyss vs. Rhino: I thought Rhino was supposed to be going after Team Canada? Once again, we have the obligatory hardcore brawl match with no fucking rules. Problem is, neither man needs to lose this. TNA has a problem with booking those kinds of matches. Raven vs. ?: Raven can and should win this, but since when does winning a #1 Contender's match mean you get a shot at the title? Assuming that Raven wins this match, and assuming that he'll actually get a shot against Jarrett, I expect him to just play tweener off of the guys involved in the war. He certainly won't win the title off of Jarrett; that'll be Sting (we hope). I'm not sure what they're going to do with Raven. Come to think of it, I wouldn't be surprised if he lost this match and they went with a "you're fired" angle. Styles vs. the Jap: Another obligatory workrate match. Don't know anything about Tanahashi, but I guess it'll be a spectacle to see. Styles will continue to play the Sting of TNA: looking good but not really going anywhere.

Does anyone really expect Jarrett to put over Joe in the future? Not to break up the cozy JJ tolerance, but Joe's gonna look like shit the same way AJ always has when facing him.

Sting is probably the best old gaurd guy TNA could bring in. He's over, he'll put others over, and he's not cripple. Still, this is the last thing TNA should be doing. The important thing is to get their new guys over, not hire big names for whatever reason. The only way this can work out well is if Sting wins the title off Jarrett ASAP and goes on a long run before losing it to help put someone new over. He should be used to put others over, and get a solid long-term fued with someone new (I would say Monty, but Monty sucks as a heel). What we'll surely get instead is Jarrett vs. Sting a few million times with piss poor shocks and shenanigans galore. No one will get anywhere in the fued, and tons of guys will be kicked out of the title scene and made to look like shit. After all, I think we've firmly established that Jarrett's writing the main event, and I personally think he's really shitty at it. Also, kudos to finally bringing in Kanyon for the Raven angle. It'll probably be just this once, but he'd only get misused, and the Raven angle isn't gonna go anywhere anyway.

1) Re-emphasize the ranking system. Make sure that the fans know not only who the champ is, but also the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd contenders. Make sure they know that these guys are competing hard with each other to get the #1 Contendership, which should be a coveted position. I think a wrestler should have a certain number of wins, or a win over another particular wrestler, to get his spot in the rankings. 2) Keep wrestlers in their division. Someone else mentioned this, and I personally like the idea. The World, X, and Tag Team Divisions should have standardized rosters, and TNA should convey to the fans that the World Title and X Division Title are EQUAL. Wrestlers should have to get special permission from the Championship Committee to compete in another division, and a Division switch should be seen as a big deal. If Daniels wants a match with Raven, he has to go through some red tape to get instated into the World Title Division. 3) Less Jarrett. Jarrett should lose the title as soon as possible, then take some time off. When he returns, he should work in the World Title division, but should have a role more like Jeff Hardy. Hardy as a face and JJ as a heel would each work with others to get them over in fueds. I'd break Jarrett away from AMW, but I think Gail Kim is good for him. Monty is a prime example of a guy JJ could help in this capacity. 4) More Raven. Raven's fued with Zbyszko should end with him turning full-blown heel again and going on to win the title from Jarrett. Raven as top heel would have a nice run, and a long-term fued with Christian would be even better. Raven isn't TNA's future, but he's the best choice as top heel right now, I think. He should berate the Orlando fans for being sheep (which they are), and convert a new flock consisting of Riley as the flunkie, The UNNaturals as the tag team, and maybe Daniels as the X guy (who could later turn on Raven, as I'd love to see that fued). 5) Reinstate the rules. There should be time limits for matches (different limits for different matches), countouts for crowd brawling, and better handling of the DQs. I'm tired of seeing brawling all the time and nothing done about it. People need to be DQed more when they step out of line instead of the ref fucking IGNORING it! If its a hardcore match, bill it as such, but otherwise it needs to be straight-up wrestling. Go watch tapes of Eddy if you wanna see how to cheat properly. 6) Aries, Strong, and Shelley have nothing better to do, so I say make them the new Triple X. It's not necessarily a stable, and they could be the main heels of the X Division. A reformation of xXx would give them credibility, and the fans would hate Aries for turning heel. Shelley needs this more than a camcorder. It would instantly get them over. 7) No more DOA. Zbyszko sucks, and Raven should take him out to an extent that TNA abolishes the idea of a DOA. It's much more original nowadays to just have an unseen Championship Committee that makes the decisions, and the wrestlers would have to deal with them (in storyline) behind the scenes. No more knocking on office doors, no more fueding with a nonwrestler. 8) Tenay and West need to chill, especially Tenay. They should be more neutral towards the action instead of shilling it like there's no tomorrow. Sometimes I think they're both possessed by Tony Shiavone. I'd like to switch West with Douglas, actually, even though West has made strides over the years. The point is, they should spend less time marking out like kids and start putting over the product more subtley. Act professional, for Christ's sake. And no more wrestler conflicts with Tenay (although only one wrestler actually does that). 9) The Impact matches are formulaic as hell. First there's an X Division match, then a brawl/squash match, then the ME. PLEASE mix it up a bit. How about just having a match from each Division on the show, and even then, mix up the order. I'm fine with match length, as there needs to be time for promos and interviews and such. 10) Better characters. This could be said for just about everyone, but more specifically, here's some ideas just off the top of my head: make Monty less cartoonish, break up 3LK (form the James Gang, have Konnan's start the LWO, and let Truth go it alone), give Abyss a direction other than just beating up people, make Daniels go wild with his Fallen Angel gimmick, and give Team Canada a reason to be heels other than the fact that they're Canadian (Hockey sticks, flags, and jerseys don't cut it).

I just double posted for the first time. There goes my perfect record.

I always liked Siaki, so I hope he heads to WWE. If political bullshit doesn't get in the way, Siaki will take to WWE like a fish to water. He's got a great look, he can talk, and he's capable in the ring. I kinda hope Vince pushes him just to stick it to TNA.

Agree with Laz. No main eventer in TNA has been booked strongly except for Jarrett. Hell, no one in TNA has been booked that strong PERIOD. If TNA were to realize this and start booking their wrestlers in a strong, sensible, marketable way, they'd have more credible main eventers. As it is, AJ's (and Truth's, and Raven's) World Title reigns have flopped not because of him, but because of how he was handled. As for Christopher Daniels, sure, he wears a weird robe, but you just KNOW that he's not showing as much of the "Fallen Angel" character as he could be. If TNA were to cut him loose with it, giving ominously evil promos and such, he'd be a helluva character. They could have some entertaining stuff with that. Instead, Daniels is just your typical run-of-the-mill bad guy.

Siaki/Skipper would be cool, especially since Skipper will always need someone to talk for him. I also agree with Laz's assessment that the X Division is now the division to see the "good" matches. It seems like every other match is allowed to be a by-the-numbers brawl because the X Division is for workrate. The other matches seem to slack off a bit and the X Division is just an excuse for that. Call me crazy, but I think ALL the matches should strive to be good and spectacular without the overbooking and gimmicky stipulations. The X Division should have more definitive rules to define it, instead of being the workrate division. Having good X Division matches doesn't excuse having piss-poor Heavyweight and Tag Team matches.

I think he can be more than what he is now. I liked his old heel push when he betrayed the Flying Elvises and joined SEX. He's got a good look and is pretty decent on the mic. In the ring, he's basically a power wrestler with a few flashy moves. Decent, but nothing spectacular. He belongs nowhere near the X Division, but he's got a lot of charisma, so he should be more than a jobber. They need to give his pants back, too. Siaki needs to do everything he can to not look like a Rock clone. I'd like to see him form a heel tag team with Matt Bentley. Both guys would benefit from that, and it suits their abilities perfectly. Bentley doesn't really belong in the X Division either, and he plays heel better than this tweener shit they're having him do.

Gimmick infringement. A Palumbo/Jindrak (and for that matter, O'Haire) team would only be a more physically impressive version of AMW.

"Basebrawl"? Sounds stupid and WCW-ish. Seems like they're telegraphing that Christian will win his match against Brown. Why would he come out and challenge the winner of JJ/Rhino? Why not just say that Christian/Brown is a #1 Contender's match? I guess it was to get JJ on TV and push his girl/girl angle. Joe/Shelley intrigues me, but it probably means that Joe won't be winning the X Division title and will suffer his first loss to Styles. Not necessarily a bad thing, since he can vent his rage on Shelley and make another run at the title later on. Judging by the spoilers, TNA still isn't doing it for me.

I don't think I'd cut anybody. If I were in charge, I'd simply USE EVERYONE BETTER. No matter how shitty or useless some of these guys seem to be, they can have uses: Apolo would be a great strongarm for a stable. Kip and BG would add a lot to the tag scene. Jerelle Clark and A1 would be good jobbers, and I mean that seriously, since that is a vital role for the roster as a whole. The people love Hoyt, so keep him, just don't let him near the ME. Skipper, Young, Siaki, and Shocker would all work better in tag teams rather than as singles. Even Jarrett, the man who arguably holds TNA down single-handedly, would work wonders as an upper-midcard heel helping to get others over. I just personally don't see the point in cutting anyone without talent when the real problem is that TNA doesn't properly use the people they have WITH talent.

Christian is one of 4 people in TNA that have actual promo skills.....the others being Raven, Jim Mitchell, Brother Buh Buh Deadlee. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I'd say that Truth and Daniels are both very good promo men when they're given a good story to work with and are set loose on it. That is one of the ways TNA sabotages their wrestlers. BG and Konnan are good on the mic, but they absolutely refuse to do anything outside of their boring old acts. Christian's good on the stick, no doubt. But it doesn't matter how well he talks if I don't care about what he's saying. He's in a pointless fued that he shouldn't be in, so it doesn't matter how he dresses it up, it'll come out looking like shit. Yes, he's one of TNA's best promo men, but that doesn't change the fact that he's being booked like just another wrestler instead of a star (The same thing happened to Rhino after he made a strong debut, and now it's happening to Christian).

I flipped over a few times to check it out, and I think it sucked. The main event was an atrocity, especially ending with the new Jarrett love triangle story. Knew the show would end in a big brawl between Team Canada and 4LK, so I didn't have to even watch that. Running JJ vs. Kip as the ME was a huge mistake. I thought TNA was about new stars and actual wrestling. What happened to that? Oh yeah, and Christian seemed like just another guy in a sea of just another guys. He's being wasted because he's not actually doing anything. Only if Heyman shows up will there be a true sense of legit entertainment in TNA.

I've watched only a few Impacts, and I honestly wasn't impressed. It's not that hard a choice when Fullmetal Alchemist and Samurai Champloo are playing over on Adult Swim. TNA's problem is (surprise!) LACK OF CHARACTER AND STORY. No one has any distinguishable character. At best, they're cardboard cutouts of "I'm the good guy" and "I'm the bad guy". Half of the roster is like this. The booking goes from month-to-month with no long-term storyline to carry things and keep the viewer interested. While half the roster is milling around aimlessly, the other half has absolutely NOTHING in terms of character or storyline. The characters that the fans would know (the name wrestlers) are floundering instead of doing anything of interest. People don't want to see them rule the joint, anyway. TNA should be building up fresh faces to carry the company into the new era instead of invoking WCW's old strategy. The jist is this: Brawling around with people and giving promos saying how you're gonna kick their ass in the next match isn't enough. There has to be some sort of emotional element involved. If they had someone who was competent booking this, we might see fueds that would extend a few months instead of booking everything on the fly. We might see compelling characters instead of cardboard cutouts.

Since most of TNA's booking decisions are ill-conceived, that doesn't say much. If we actually get a clean finish to Monty/Christian, the title scene is screwed anyway. Rhino's about to suffer his second singles loss to Jarrett, thus killing the push he got. Abyss and Raven are floundering in their own (ill-conceived) angles. So, if Monty wins we get: Christian loses his first major match in TNA and JJ retains on the basis of "Monty's still not ready" And if Christian wins we get: Monty is ruined since he's been pushed this whole time as the next big thing only to lose again, and JJ retains on the basis of "we need to push new stars"

I think adding another character to the table would be nice. Douglas is the best option, as it PAINS me to see him act like such a buffoon when he was a Heel God at one time. Put him on the other side of Tenay and let him just be a dick about everything. It would add a completely new element. I'm fine with Tenay and West, sort of. West has indeed gotten better. What I can't stand about Tenay is that they've been trying to portray him as a character on the show instead of the call-it-as-I-see-it announcer. He shouldn't be interviewing wrestlers and he shouldn't be yelling at the heels during the show; that's West's job. Tenay needs to be more neutral to the angles while still putting over who the good guys and bad guys are. Leave the yelling and outrage to West, because that's what the color man does. I hate when lead announcers are used as characters, and especially when they use that character (JR, anyone?) to further angles and get wrestlers over. That might be alright for the color man, but not the PBP guy.

TNA has too many shit workers to just ignore a talent like Haas. Sign him and throw him in the X Division

It was a stupid decision to make in the first place, so I don't really care anymore who wins this match. They've built up Monty for so long that if they cut the legs out from under him, he'll look like shit and won't be able to rebound like he did the last time it happened (although he's never 100% recovered from that burial). Christian can be a huge asset for TNA, but beating Monty doesn't mean he'll beat Jarrett. In a few months, they'll have ruined Christian in the same way they ruined Raven. At least this is a good way to destroy some of Jarrett's top challengers.

So much dissention over Monty vs. Christian. It's sad to see. Why can't we all just agree that it was a stupid idea to book the match in the first place and that whomever wins, he'll look like shit against Jarrett?