Why isn't TNA getting it?

[Dobbs 3K 0]

That won't change as long as you have Jeff Jarrett basically running things. Setting aside the fact that he is close friends with Vince Russo...this is the guy that had a tag team made up of wrestling penises, and a valet named Brown Eye Girl in his promotion when TNA first opened its doors. The "sports entertainment" (a poor moniker, as none of this crap is entertaining) aspect will never go away as long as Jarrett is calling the shots.

[BruiserKC 0]

Notice this is what killed WCW back after Russo took over the booking. The WCW diehards knew they weren't getting the product they were used to...the WWE fans they were trying to win over weren't fooled as they knew that WCW was doing the same Crash TV shit that Russo did for McMahon. I watch TNA as I want it to be a different product from what WWE offers us. It's the same thing for the most part.

[Nate 0]

i think TNA is slowly improving the product overall Victory Road is their best hyped PPV this year, i just hope if the ratings drop even in a small margin that TNA doesnt have a knee jerk reaction and change the product again

[RedJed 0]

i think TNA is slowly improving the product overall Victory Road is their best hyped PPV this year, i just hope if the ratings drop even in a small margin that TNA doesnt have a knee jerk reaction and change the product again

 

How do you figure that? It neither has been the best hyped ppv of the year (they basically have only booked three main matches for the show and each one has underwhelming written all over it) nor is the product improving with that actual lineup. The Victory Road ppv, on paper, looks horrid and I refuse to even think about purchasing it - first time EVER for me with TNA shows.

[Mad Scientist 0]

TNA isn't getting it because they've fallen into the trap of "competing" with the WWE. They can't; they're just not on that level at all.

 

What they need to do is play to their strengths, which their current booking ignores. Hell, the people who are the most over are seemingly buried in bungling feuds and the people who are the least over are pushed down people's throats. Here are my current problems with the booking, and what I believe could be done to correct the problems.

 

Eric Young is quite possibly the most over man in the damn company. Even buried in a lower midcard feud, he got bigger pops than Sting, based on what I've seen, and Sting is their flagship babyface now. Why isn't there more focus on him? I liked the contract feud with Roode, but I thought they blew it having Jarrett intervene. Young should have gotten to stand up for himself and fight his way out of that contract without any outside help. Instead, we had Jarret show up for the save, bleeding away Young's well-earned overness. To correct this, they need to throw Young out of Roode's shadow and put him into a title picture. He could light up the X Division with someone who's legit over, other than the comedy act that is Dutt and Lethal.

 

Samoa Joe should not be X Division champion. The use of the X Division belt as a placeholder in a feud over the world title is a huge mistake to make with what I see as TNA's biggest asset. The X Division should be kept to guys who aren't wrestling over the world title. TNA has a huge crop of great workers in that division who have the potential to get over on their workrate alone. Throw in Young to even out the faces and you've got a ton of talent that can create a lot of heatbuilding feuds and some amazing matches. A good heel to even things out would be good. Dutt would make a great insincere heel, especially if he turns on Lethal at a dramatically appropriate moment. They might need to bring in a few more heels to balance out the swath of babyfaces that are currently involved in the X Division.

 

Shelley and Sabin need to be in the tag team title picture. Team 3D need to be out of it. We need to see more of Sabin and Shelley and LAX, and more teams in that same vein. AJ and Daniels would be okay if I didn't want to see Daniels do some more with Sting (more on that feud below). Storm and Robert Roode would also make another good team, as they're both very solid workers. A face team of Harris and maybe Rhyno would round things out pretty well. Team 3D and the Steiners do make for a lot of nostalgic heat, but those two teams are WAY past their prime and drag down the title pictures.

 

The feud between Sting and Daniels had a lot of potential. TNA's bassackwards booking ruined it. In their first real match, Daniels should have gotten the rub, even if he got the win by cheating (using Sting's bat or some such). This could have set up a great interplay of moral ambiguity. Sting's strong religiomoral overtones don't jive well with carrying around a baseball bat, and the Fallen Angel could have provided an excellent dark mirror to the perpetual babyfacedom of Sting. Burying Daniels the first match in destroys any credibility Daniels had going in. That feud could have been an excellent way to let Sting leave when he retires on a high note, with a final, decisive victory over his dark side. He could have even shown up at the final match of the feud wearing his old beach boy outfit with the brightly colored facepaint from his original lighthearted incarnation. The pop would have been HUGE. No real chance of something like that now.

 

The world title picture is just screwed up. The only thing going really right at this point is that Angle has finally become the heel he needed to be from the beginning. Angle can't play a good face or tweener; he doesn't have the subtlety to come off as believable in any role but that of an arrogant heel. Joe is chasing him. That is also good. Joe having to get the X Division title to do it is bad. It basically buries one of the most over guys in the division (Lethal) who had only held the belt for a couple of days. Christian needs to be in the picture, as he is arguably the best heel in the company right now, and the title picture needs that. Abyss could also be in the mix, although his upcoming feud with Mitchell's new monster might also be a good direction for his character. Jarrett needs to stay out of the title picture for a while. Harris, Rhyno, Roode, and Storm can be tossed in to the mix with some credibility to add warm bodies, but that should be the extent of it right now.

[Nate 0]

TNA isn't getting it because they've fallen into the trap of "competing" with the WWE. They can't; they're just not on that level at all.

 

What they need to do is play to their strengths, which their current booking ignores. Hell, the people who are the most over are seemingly buried in bungling feuds and the people who are the least over are pushed down people's throats. Here are my current problems with the booking, and what I believe could be done to correct the problems.

 

Eric Young is quite possibly the most over man in the damn company. Even buried in a lower midcard feud, he got bigger pops than Sting, based on what I've seen, and Sting is their flagship babyface now. Why isn't there more focus on him? I liked the contract feud with Roode, but I thought they blew it having Jarrett intervene. Young should have gotten to stand up for himself and fight his way out of that contract without any outside help. Instead, we had Jarret show up for the save, bleeding away Young's well-earned overness. To correct this, they need to throw Young out of Roode's shadow and put him into a title picture. He could light up the X Division with someone who's legit over, other than the comedy act that is Dutt and Lethal.

 

Samoa Joe should not be X Division champion. The use of the X Division belt as a placeholder in a feud over the world title is a huge mistake to make with what I see as TNA's biggest asset. The X Division should be kept to guys who aren't wrestling over the world title. TNA has a huge crop of great workers in that division who have the potential to get over on their workrate alone. Throw in Young to even out the faces and you've got a ton of talent that can create a lot of heatbuilding feuds and some amazing matches. A good heel to even things out would be good. Dutt would make a great insincere heel, especially if he turns on Lethal at a dramatically appropriate moment. They might need to bring in a few more heels to balance out the swath of babyfaces that are currently involved in the X Division.

 

Shelley and Sabin need to be in the tag team title picture. Team 3D need to be out of it. We need to see more of Sabin and Shelley and LAX, and more teams in that same vein. AJ and Daniels would be okay if I didn't want to see Daniels do some more with Sting (more on that feud below). Storm and Robert Roode would also make another good team, as they're both very solid workers. A face team of Harris and maybe Rhyno would round things out pretty well. Team 3D and the Steiners do make for a lot of nostalgic heat, but those two teams are WAY past their prime and drag down the title pictures.

 

The feud between Sting and Daniels had a lot of potential. TNA's bassackwards booking ruined it. In their first real match, Daniels should have gotten the rub, even if he got the win by cheating (using Sting's bat or some such). This could have set up a great interplay of moral ambiguity. Sting's strong religiomoral overtones don't jive well with carrying around a baseball bat, and the Fallen Angel could have provided an excellent dark mirror to the perpetual babyfacedom of Sting. Burying Daniels the first match in destroys any credibility Daniels had going in. That feud could have been an excellent way to let Sting leave when he retires on a high note, with a final, decisive victory over his dark side. He could have even shown up at the final match of the feud wearing his old beach boy outfit with the brightly colored facepaint from his original lighthearted incarnation. The pop would have been HUGE. No real chance of something like that now.

 

The world title picture is just screwed up. The only thing going really right at this point is that Angle has finally become the heel he needed to be from the beginning. Angle can't play a good face or tweener; he doesn't have the subtlety to come off as believable in any role but that of an arrogant heel. Joe is chasing him. That is also good. Joe having to get the X Division title to do it is bad. It basically buries one of the most over guys in the division (Lethal) who had only held the belt for a couple of days. Christian needs to be in the picture, as he is arguably the best heel in the company right now, and the title picture needs that. Abyss could also be in the mix, although his upcoming feud with Mitchell's new monster might also be a good direction for his character. Jarrett needs to stay out of the title picture for a while. Harris, Rhyno, Roode, and Storm can be tossed in to the mix with some credibility to add warm bodies, but that should be the extent of it right now.

 

thats very accurate, sure the shows have improved over the last couple weeks i think there are 2 things that plague them, they do feel they need to compete with WWE and they are just sitting on the notion that 2 hours is coming soon and thats been their problem for a year

 

[King Cucaracha 0]

Samoa Joe should not be X Division champion. The use of the X Division belt as a placeholder in a feud over the world title is a huge mistake to make with what I see as TNA's biggest asset. The X Division should be kept to guys who aren't wrestling over the world title. TNA has a huge crop of great workers in that division who have the potential to get over on their workrate alone. Throw in Young to even out the faces and you've got a ton of talent that can create a lot of heatbuilding feuds and some amazing matches. A good heel to even things out would be good. Dutt would make a great insincere heel, especially if he turns on Lethal at a dramatically appropriate moment. They might need to bring in a few more heels to balance out the swath of babyfaces that are currently involved in the X Division.

 

That was the one that got me. It's clearly for the sake of the match with all the titles on the line, but to book that match they basically had to cut Jay Lethal off at the knees, which is my concern. When you luck upon a good thing, you have to capitalise on it. I'm in no doubt the Savage impersonator was meant to help Lethal's career, but I'm sure nobody in the company invisioned just how well it had worked. Lethal's done so fantastically to actually go beyond just being a comedy act and into someone fans genuinely want to see and for better or worse, one of the best things on the show week in and week out. And sure enough, the moment he gets the big win, he loses to Joe and his credibility just plummets to the point where he's right back to square one.

 

Not to say 'Black Machismo' would have been the thing to carry TNA on, but it's the closest they've come to making a success out of someone since Eric Young. And they blew it.

[Mad Scientist 0]

Samoa Joe should not be X Division champion. The use of the X Division belt as a placeholder in a feud over the world title is a huge mistake to make with what I see as TNA's biggest asset. The X Division should be kept to guys who aren't wrestling over the world title. TNA has a huge crop of great workers in that division who have the potential to get over on their workrate alone. Throw in Young to even out the faces and you've got a ton of talent that can create a lot of heatbuilding feuds and some amazing matches. A good heel to even things out would be good. Dutt would make a great insincere heel, especially if he turns on Lethal at a dramatically appropriate moment. They might need to bring in a few more heels to balance out the swath of babyfaces that are currently involved in the X Division.

 

That was the one that got me. It's clearly for the sake of the match with all the titles on the line, but to book that match they basically had to cut Jay Lethal off at the knees, which is my concern. When you luck upon a good thing, you have to capitalise on it. I'm in no doubt the Savage impersonator was meant to help Lethal's career, but I'm sure nobody in the company invisioned just how well it had worked. Lethal's done so fantastically to actually go beyond just being a comedy act and into someone fans genuinely want to see and for better or worse, one of the best things on the show week in and week out. And sure enough, the moment he gets the big win, he loses to Joe and his credibility just plummets to the point where he's right back to square one.

 

Not to say 'Black Machismo' would have been the thing to carry TNA on, but it's the closest they've come to making a success out of someone since Eric Young. And they blew it.

 

Horribly enough, this has become a classically TNA blunder. They will almost accidentally get someone over (Young, Lethal, Shelley, AJ) and then they will bury that individual with some ridiculous booking or silly backstage shenanigans or turn them into a stepping stone for someone who either does not need it (Joe) or who does not deserve it (Angle). It's almost painful to watch. I just keep hoping that they will turn things around in some fashion and stop pissing on their own talent. A vain hope perhaps...

[razazteca 0]

Add Ron Killings, Low-Ki, and Petey Williams to the long list of people who got over by sheer miracle then disappeared from the face of the earth.

[Nate 0]

Samoa Joe should not be X Division champion. The use of the X Division belt as a placeholder in a feud over the world title is a huge mistake to make with what I see as TNA's biggest asset. The X Division should be kept to guys who aren't wrestling over the world title. TNA has a huge crop of great workers in that division who have the potential to get over on their workrate alone. Throw in Young to even out the faces and you've got a ton of talent that can create a lot of heatbuilding feuds and some amazing matches. A good heel to even things out would be good. Dutt would make a great insincere heel, especially if he turns on Lethal at a dramatically appropriate moment. They might need to bring in a few more heels to balance out the swath of babyfaces that are currently involved in the X Division.

 

That was the one that got me. It's clearly for the sake of the match with all the titles on the line, but to book that match they basically had to cut Jay Lethal off at the knees, which is my concern. When you luck upon a good thing, you have to capitalise on it. I'm in no doubt the Savage impersonator was meant to help Lethal's career, but I'm sure nobody in the company invisioned just how well it had worked. Lethal's done so fantastically to actually go beyond just being a comedy act and into someone fans genuinely want to see and for better or worse, one of the best things on the show week in and week out. And sure enough, the moment he gets the big win, he loses to Joe and his credibility just plummets to the point where he's right back to square one.

 

Not to say 'Black Machismo' would have been the thing to carry TNA on, but it's the closest they've come to making a success out of someone since Eric Young. And they blew it.

 

Horribly enough, this has become a classically TNA blunder. They will almost accidentally get someone over (Young, Lethal, Shelley, AJ) and then they will bury that individual with some ridiculous booking or silly backstage shenanigans or turn them into a stepping stone for someone who either does not need it (Joe) or who does not deserve it (Angle). It's almost painful to watch. I just keep hoping that they will turn things around in some fashion and stop pissing on their own talent. A vain hope perhaps...

 

i've noticed that too godfish, its like if your majorly over on your own without TNA's booking assitance you will get buried, add guys like LAX and Joe to that list Joe was poised to win the Title it seemed before Angle rolled in then TNA basically had a premature ejeculation and blew the load with that feud when it should have been better built and Joe was made to look like a weak punk, when he did beat Angle at Turning Point it was because Angle screwed himself and in hindsight Joe didnt win that match Angle won it for Joe, and when Angle won his wins came as a clean decisive finish

 

[Perfection 0]

My main gripes have probably been mentioned over and over but One of the biggest turnoffs for me with TNA is the announce team. They are without a doubt the most annoying two I have ever seen. I used to like Tenay back in the day but with tna he is absolutely horrible. And west or whatever his name is screaming at the top of his lungs about everything with that raspity ass voice of his is like fingers on a chalk board. Its truly unbearable to me to even listen to those two.

 

2nd biggest turn off is the style of the wrestling. Its way too fast paced. It looks more "fake" I guess because of how much they have to rush things. They need to slow down...a lot for me to ever like it. and please God let them get out of that same place they tape their shows every week. It just is so corny looking and screams "small time".

[cabbageboy 0]

Eric Young is over right now because he is a hapless jobber type. If they actually tried seriously pushing him I have the feeling the crowd would turn on him in a hurry. It's a bit problematic really, as in he will stay over in his current role but his role precludes him from moving up higher.

 

The Daniels/Sting feud was idiotic anyway and I'm glad it just ended. It never made a lick of sense, there was no real backstory to it, and Daniels truthfully just doesn't have enough charisma on the mic to overcome the bizarre booking. They can either move both guys onto something else, or keep beating the dead horse and bury Daniels even more.

 

The conundrum right now is how do they get the X belt off Joe? They have played out the 3 way matches with Joe not being pinned and dropping the title. Is it so hard to have Joe lose to someone with an Angle run in or distraction?

[Mad Scientist 0]

Eric Young is over right now because he is a hapless jobber type. If they actually tried seriously pushing him I have the feeling the crowd would turn on him in a hurry. It's a bit problematic really, as in he will stay over in his current role but his role precludes him from moving up higher.

 

The Daniels/Sting feud was idiotic anyway and I'm glad it just ended. It never made a lick of sense, there was no real backstory to it, and Daniels truthfully just doesn't have enough charisma on the mic to overcome the bizarre booking. They can either move both guys onto something else, or keep beating the dead horse and bury Daniels even more.

 

The conundrum right now is how do they get the X belt off Joe? They have played out the 3 way matches with Joe not being pinned and dropping the title. Is it so hard to have Joe lose to someone with an Angle run in or distraction?

 

I don't know...I think Eric Young can win and still get over, as he can play on that underdog role he's perfectly suited for. He can't have an undefeated streak, which ruins the "against all odds" gimmick, but he can win and make some headway, especially if they shift him into the X Division, which is sorely in need of some face talent.

 

I think they really could have built something out of Sting/Daniels. Daniels definitely can work both in-ring and on the mike, but nobody can pull out a decent feud where they're buried immediately by their opponent in a direct and decisive fashion. Daniels as the "disciple" of Sting who misinterprets everything Sting tries to teach/tell him could work as the basis for an ongoing angle. TNA dropped the ball with it through bad writing and worse booking, but I think it would definitely work given some halfway decent writing/booking. The kernel of a great feud is there, but TNA refuses to make any use of it. I go into how I think the angle could be booked in my really long post above, so I won't bore anyone with it again, but it could have been great and elevated Daniels as he deserves, while also giving Sting a meaningful conflict for his character and a way to go out on a high note.

 

As Joe having the title has shown that the X Division's best are glorified jobbers, the only way TNA can book him losing the title is with interference by Angle or someone else. They've written themselves into a corner. Of course, no one at TNA worries about booking consistency anyway, so they may just have Ray/Bubba win the title or something.

[cabbageboy 0]

Daniels/Sting was a bizarre and incoherent feud to begin with. There was no backstory to tie these guys together. It's not like Daniels had been Sting's pupil for months and then started going nuts and misunderstanding what Sting was saying. He just took months off and came back saying this shit out of the blue.

 

Sometimes I think TNA falls in love with a guy because he is a big name. I don't think Sting is actively trying to bury anyone, they just book him to win these matches because he's Sting.

[razazteca 0]

For some weird reason I see Kurt Angle as the IWGP, TNA, X, Tag champion in the future....then Jeff Jarret saves us from this evil and the crowd goes mild. when Kurt loses all of the belts on a weird gimmickry PPV where he loses 3 straight matches to Jarret, Kaz, Roode/Hoyt. Then in an impromtu match Morishima gives Kurt Angle the deadly backdrop driver breaks Kurt's freakin neck and walks out with the IWGP belt with it in his mouth as if he was a pitbull.

[King Cucaracha 0]

Daniels/Sting was a bizarre and incoherent feud to begin with. There was no backstory to tie these guys together. It's not like Daniels had been Sting's pupil for months and then started going nuts and misunderstanding what Sting was saying. He just took months off and came back saying this shit out of the blue.

 

This whole 'the NEW Christopher Daniels!' shtick is ridiculous too. He's got a fancy new logo painted on his face! So what? Is there anything 'new' about him besides that, because if so I haven't seen it.

 

Eric Young is over right now because he is a hapless jobber type. If they actually tried seriously pushing him I have the feeling the crowd would turn on him in a hurry. It's a bit problematic really, as in he will stay over in his current role but his role precludes him from moving up higher.

 

Well, he can play the hapless babyface in the build-up on Impact and end up getting the wins when the PPV blow-offs roll around. That tactic seems to have worked pretty well when they've actually used it. So long as it was done right, there's no reason he couldn't succeed in the X-Division. He'll never be a World Title contender obviously, but that's not neccessarily a bad thing.

[Mad Scientist 0]

Daniels/Sting was a bizarre and incoherent feud to begin with. There was no backstory to tie these guys together. It's not like Daniels had been Sting's pupil for months and then started going nuts and misunderstanding what Sting was saying. He just took months off and came back saying this shit out of the blue.

 

This whole 'the NEW Christopher Daniels!' shtick is ridiculous too. He's got a fancy new logo painted on his face! So what? Is there anything 'new' about him besides that, because if so I haven't seen it.

 

Eric Young is over right now because he is a hapless jobber type. If they actually tried seriously pushing him I have the feeling the crowd would turn on him in a hurry. It's a bit problematic really, as in he will stay over in his current role but his role precludes him from moving up higher.

 

Well, he can play the hapless babyface in the build-up on Impact and end up getting the wins when the PPV blow-offs roll around. That tactic seems to have worked pretty well when they've actually used it. So long as it was done right, there's no reason he couldn't succeed in the X-Division. He'll never be a World Title contender obviously, but that's not neccessarily a bad thing.

 

Ah, I see you're overlooking Daniels' new goatee, revealing his evil mirror self. I have to disagree about this feud. While the way TNA executed it was awful (which is almost always the case), I think the idea at its heart is sound. The whole schtick with Daniels return was that he was seeking a new direction. New demented Daniels focuses on the most iconic figure in TNA as his role model. Unfortunately, Daniels is now demented (due to a breakdown after his loss of the X-Division title and his repeated losses to LAX in the Tag Title picture), and misinterprets the basic tenets of Sting's persona (90s WCW's Crow-like Christ figure, who is the perennial uberface), instead focusing on the more violent and reactionary portions of Sting (the use of the bat, the gothiqueness, the crazy violent matchups when he tries to "convert" Abyss by beating the crap out of him and torturing his manager). Sting attempts to correct him, but Daniels, in his screwed-up state, can't understand and sees it as another rejection, which causes him to rebel against Sting and basically fashion himself into a sort of anti-Sting, and then they have several matchups, with Daniels getting an initial rub by using the bat a little, and maybe having some help from Mitchell and his new monster (which could also bring Abyss and Sting together, although I'm not necessarily in favor of this). It all gets blown off at a dramatically appropriate PPV with a Last Man Standing match or something of the sort, with Sting returning in his original painted-up beach boy mode, thus revealing his reversion to his full babyface persona. Would TNA ever book things that way? Hell no, they flubbed that like they seem to do with everything else these days. But it had a ton of potential.

 

And Eric Young is the perfect face addition to the X Division. Nobody else needs to be in world title picture right now; it's too clogged as it is. Of course for this to work, TNA must stop crapping all over the X Division and its title. Otherwise this would be another form of burial.

 

[ChrisMWaters 0]

The problem with that Sting storyline that you posted is...well, I don't think Sting ever WANTS to go back to that look.

[Mad Scientist 0]

The problem with that Sting storyline that you posted is...well, I don't think Sting ever WANTS to go back to that look.

 

You're probably right. But I still think it would have made that feud great, and a great send-off for Sting's retirement (which has been teased several times by TNA over the last couple of years-ever since Sting came back, honestly).

[cabbageboy 0]

I can buy Eric Young in the X Division. Maybe give him a decent run with that belt, but not a hugely long one since I think he would start annoying people.

 

There is still one major problem with that Daniels/Sting idea. There is still no backstory to any of it. We still don't have months of stuff leading up to this to get a grasp on WHY Daniels feels this way about Sting or that Sting is frustrated about him misunderstanding. They almost needed a Jigsaw/Amanda type deal, with a mentor/student relationship (no serial killing though). Then Daniels focuses on these creepy weird aspects of Sting and goes off in a deranged direction.

 

TNA tossed this angle out there without the necessary seeds being planted. Daniels never had any connection to Sting at all, so why is he now obsessed with the guy? It's like someone stole Adam Sandler's remote from Click and fast forwarded through about 6 months of wrestling continuity.

[Obi Chris Kenobi 0]

Maybes they were going to have flashback vignettes like LOST?

[Mad Scientist 0]

I can buy Eric Young in the X Division. Maybe give him a decent run with that belt, but not a hugely long one since I think he would start annoying people.

 

There is still one major problem with that Daniels/Sting idea. There is still no backstory to any of it. We still don't have months of stuff leading up to this to get a grasp on WHY Daniels feels this way about Sting or that Sting is frustrated about him misunderstanding. They almost needed a Jigsaw/Amanda type deal, with a mentor/student relationship (no serial killing though). Then Daniels focuses on these creepy weird aspects of Sting and goes off in a deranged direction.

 

TNA tossed this angle out there without the necessary seeds being planted. Daniels never had any connection to Sting at all, so why is he now obsessed with the guy? It's like someone stole Adam Sandler's remote from Click and fast forwarded through about 6 months of wrestling continuity.

 

You're correct that TNA poorly executed the feud, from its beginning to its end. I agree with you there. Where we part company I guess is the necessity of a lot of on-air backstory. While Daniels was out, they should have shown him watching all sorts of religiopsychological stuff, but centering on watch Sting since his return to TNA, maybe reading some articles on Sting, watching old Sting matches (this would be problematic, as I'm sure WWE owns most of this old footage). During these vignettes, TNA should have Daniels focusing on the dualities of Sting-one match where he does the "babyface saves the day" ubergoodygood deal, then a match where he destroys Abyss and tortures Mitchell, throwing in some baseball bat beatdowns for good measures. Have a couple of vignettes and matches where Daniels runs to help Sting and goes overboard, batting people and even cheating to help, and Sting berates him. There doesn't need to be this "mentor" relationship with Sting for the angle to work; Daniels would just need to be shown as more obsessive and deranged. TNA had the basics of the idea down, but dropped the ball on execution, as far as I'm concerned.

 

Now, if you feel for aesthetic reasons the feud would only work with months of backstory, I disagree but I respect that point of view, and I believe such would definitely improve the emotional context of the feud, but don't find that level of build a necessity for the feud to work out well.

[Obi Chris Kenobi 0]

I really would have liked to have seen that fued spread out and crossed over with the Abyss/Mitchell storyline. It would have have made for some great matches and TV.

 

On a side note a lot of people have been saying they'd like for TNA to go back to early 2003, wasn't that the whole Vince Russo run?

[cabbageboy 0]

I'm not disagreeing necessarily but isn't this a hard story to put over while a guy is off TV? We're supposed to buy into Daniels having some huge change in personality while he's not even actively involved in storylines, but just through some vignettes. This seems a bit lazy. To fully do it right Daniels and Sting needed some semblance of a prior onscreen relationship. Something before Daniels left, even if it was backstage stuff where Daniels was seen asking Sting for advice and telling him how much he admired Sting's work.

 

Daniels being off TV was a copout way to have a guy do a 180 turn without laying the foundation for why he would do it.

[Mad Scientist 0]

I'm not disagreeing necessarily but isn't this a hard story to put over while a guy is off TV? We're supposed to buy into Daniels having some huge change in personality while he's not even actively involved in storylines, but just through some vignettes. This seems a bit lazy. To fully do it right Daniels and Sting needed some semblance of a prior onscreen relationship. Something before Daniels left, even if it was backstage stuff where Daniels was seen asking Sting for advice and telling him how much he admired Sting's work.

 

Daniels being off TV was a copout way to have a guy do a 180 turn without laying the foundation for why he would do it.

 

I agree TNA took the lazy writer's way out here. No argument to be made. I'm just of the opinion that they could have built up to the feud while Daniels was out much better than they did, and it could have gotten more juice for the angle. That still wouldn't have saved it from the crappy booking, though. I like the idea of having the guy who's supposed to be the promotion's top face confront the actions he's taken that don't fit in with that mold over the course of his run. And I gotta admit, I want to see Sting drop the damned tired-ass Crow gimmick. Him doing the beach boy howl while dressed like a bodybuilding goth mime just drives me f-ing nuts.

[Obi Chris Kenobi 0]

I really like the look Sting has when he doesn't have his face paint on has his hair slicked back and is wearing those dark sun glasses. He looks like a right heel mafia boss type, he should go with it.

[ChrisMWaters 0]

I really like the look Sting has when he doesn't have his face paint on has his hair slicked back and is wearing those dark sun glasses. He looks like a right heel mafia boss type, he should go with it.

<TNA Marketing>But then we can't sell Sting masks!

[cabbageboy 0]

Sting is a bit old now to do the whitemeat babyface blond look he used to have. If he goes back to that they might as well bring in Vader to beat the crap out of him for old time's sake.

 

I think we've all put way more thought into this feud than TNA did. Hell to them all it was meant to be was a filler feud for Sting to beat someone while Abyss was selling the injury.

[razazteca 0]

Maybe somebody was loving the movie Hellboy too much and decided "Hey! Christopher Daniels is bald let's have him grow a beard and morph into that evil guy from the movie!"

[Mad Scientist 0]

Sting is a bit old now to do the whitemeat babyface blond look he used to have. If he goes back to that they might as well bring in Vader to beat the crap out of him for old time's sake.

 

I think we've all put way more thought into this feud than TNA did. Hell to them all it was meant to be was a filler feud for Sting to beat someone while Abyss was selling the injury.

 

You're right, but a guy can dream about good writing and booking from TNA, can't he?