So I watched Frankie-Sonjay

[Michrome]

Man these guys tried really hard, but the crowd totally did not give a shit. As a match it wasn't really good since it was just a collection of spots, but I think the (lack of) reaction to this was indicative of what the Nashville fans like.

 

They don't really want to see 2 random guys thrown out there to put on a nice spotfest. This isn't an ROH crowd that might chant "please come back" after that match, because it's not what they want. They want long, dramatic matches. Hell, they don't even have to be GOOD. Look at the heat for Raven-Harris, which was the fucking pits in terms of work. The crowd cared about that match.

 

The X division needs to evolve. With guys like Ki, Daniels, Sabin, and a couple others, these guys are really capable of putting on longer, dramatic matches with the spots spread out well. Why is Chris Daniels being forced to work like he did in 1999, when his current work would make this crowd like his matches a lot more? I think Daniels vs. Ki in an "RoH-Style" match for 16 minutes would get way more heat than these 6-ways. Anyway, just food for thought. I think the X Division needs change.

[Guest Dynamite Kido]

Look at it this way, I think that Kazarian is mediocre to say the best about him. He traditionally isn't a X-division style worker, and Sonjay is solid IMO. The thing is they want to see guys that wrestle there on a consistant basis and not just people that wrestle there part time. But it is Tennessee so I guess I could be wrong......

[TheBigSwigg]

It's not that it's Tennessee, but that it's Nashville. Okay, maybe a lot of it is Tennessee. The South tends to like their long, drawn out heavyweight matches compared to spotfests. We're notorious for our eternal resthold matches. If TNA truly wants to go anywhere, I would recommend them going somewhere else as Tennessee is not the best place for wrestling anymore.(Most fans I know still think Goldberg is the shit.)

[Guest Dynamite Kido]

I always thought Chicago would've been a good territory for them to promote in.

[JustJoe2k5]

Why can't North Carolina get any love? We are right beside Tennessee, OMEGA which was pretty much a spot-federation was very popular here, Southern Championship Wrestling is full of no-namers and they are drawing 200-700 people a show. Put Jeff Jarrett, Raven, A.J. Styles, and D'Lo Brown here and I doubt TNA would have to worry about giving away tickets to their shows.

[Tawren]

I liked Kazarian vs Dutt, TNA needs to do more of it. I think the crowd was disinterested because it's been so long since they've been seeing regular X Division matches each week (key word: regular, as in not the X Cups) so they aren't totally into it. If TNA keeps with solid matches like Kazarian/Dutt each week for a bit, the crowds will get into it eventually. You can't like a food if you've never tasted it.

[Guest TDinDC1112]

TNA should have had for the last 2 years and should have 60 minutes of X-Divsion wrestling on their show every single week.

[Tawren]

Agreed. It was their bread and butter for year 1 with the Ki/AJ/Lynn feud, and then in summer 2003 in their resurgence, Sabin had a great run. It's not a coincidence that the best TNA shows feature lots of X stuff.

[Guest TDinDC1112]

It's funny. When they do a taped show, they do all X-Division stuff because they think that's what will sell the taped show. But when they do their live shows, they ditch it and go an entirely different direction. It defies all logic.

[Guest Man Of 1,004 Modes]

I think the problem is...Frankie Kazarian sucks . The crowd has no interest in him. The crowd doesn't rally behind or against him like they do Chris Daniels or A.J. Styles.

 

I have no interest in seeing Kazarian as X-Division Champ, because he;s pretty much a carbon clone of Sonny Siaki. A Heavyweight who can't wrestle the "X" style, but still gets a long title reign anyway.

[Tawren]

I don't get the dislike for Kazarian. I'm a big fan of the guy, I like his style. His TNA stuff hasn't been mind-blowing, I'll admit, but it has been solid.

[Guest TDinDC1112]

I have no interest in seeing Kazarian as X-Division Champ, because he;s pretty much a carbon clone of Sonny Siaki.

what?

[Corey_Lazarus]

It's not so much that Kazarian doesn't work X-style, because I think he's pretty solid in the ring. It's the fact that he has NO charisma. He's good at using heel tactics, but that's about it. Nothing about his work, at least in TNA (haven't seen his PWG stuff, since I have NO MONEY for indies), says "hey, watch this guy."

 

And I also don't think the problem is that Nashville doesn't like spotfests. It's that they don't like BAD spotfests. Red still gets pops, as do Sabin and Skipper, and even though I mark hard for Sabin (admit it, you do too), they're mostly spot workers. Sabin can incorporate a little bit of psychology, but the has enough charisma in the ring to carry him when he's on an "off" night (which has only been recently, mostly due to the fact that he was X-Division champion and TNA never booked him a fucking title defense). Skipper is best in tag matches, and Red, when he's 100%, is insane. He is the epitome of "spotmonkey," sure, but at least he can connect with his spots (unlike his cousins, who miss 4 out of every 5 spots).

 

BTW: Lazarush will be up tomorrow, but this is because I need more booze for last week's show...well, mostly just the main event. [Krusty]UUUUGH...[/Krusty]