Predictions for 2008

[Jingus 0]

Vince Russo appears as an on screen character and rehashes the NWO storyline AGAIN. He scratches away the TNA signs to reveal old WCW logo's hidden underneath.

I know you just meant that as a joke, and I laughed, but Russo almost DID do that. Back in Nashville, Russo had his S.E.X. faction invade and try to take over the company. Like the nWo, random people turned heel and joined the stable at random times. Like the nWo, they all wore matching black t-shirts with their faction's initials on it. Like the nWo, the whole thing eventually fizzled out and was just dropped without ever actually having any kind of finish or closure.

 

And right in the middle of it, Russo DID try to destroy the TNA sign, with an axe. Which turned out to be yet another one of those patented Russo ideas which I'm sure sounded cool on paper but didn't work at all in practice, since the axe promptly got stuck in the sign after the first whack and Russo just kind of desperately tipped the whole thing over in order to "destroy tradition" or whatever. Of course, they coincedentally had a brand-new logo and set at the next show. I'm still amazed that anyone supports Vinny Roo after all the shit he's pulled.

[CubbyBr 0]

That SEX period was actually some decent TV compared to the stuff they're doing now.

[Jericho2000Mark 0]

Yeah, that was probably TNA's best booking ever, which isn't saying much at all. The Jarrett-Raven fued was good and AJ Styles was built up pretty well.

[Jingus 0]

Yeah, TNA did have some cool stuff early on, especially in the tag-team and X divisions. But whoa Jesus they had a lotta crap, and lots of it can be traced directly back to the Jarrett vs. Russo storyline. Sure, S.E.X. put Low-Ki, Elix, and Daniels together for the first time. But also on their roster were such luminaries as David Flair, BG James, Disco Inferno, the Harris brothers, Erik Watts, a variety of untalented women, and the worst X division champion ever in Sonny Siaki. Every single week we were treated to multiple Russo worked-shoot interviews, which was enough to keep me from coming to the shows half the time even though I only lived fifteen minutes away. The booking of people haphazardly turning face and heel was truly bewildering, and practically every match ended with a run-in. Plus, the big babyface they were fighting was friggin' Jarrett, who the crowd never bought as their top hero. The crowd was damn near ready to riot when he pinned Raven after all that buildup.

[JHawk 0]

Don West will do so much screaming that he'll have a heart attack and collapse at the table during an Impact taping...which will not be edited out of the broadcast when it airs three weeks later.

 

Christopher Daniels will return to TNA prior to the next Feast or Fired Match and get the pink slip again, despite Chris Sabin getting one of the briefcases and putting in his notice the next day.

[cabbageboy 0]

While Siaki was certainly a forgettable X champ I still gotta go with Michael Shane (Matt Bentley) as the worst I've seen. I thought he was so lame. He was like watching a 3rd rate HBK doing friggin superkicks to finish people while these other X division guys were busting out crazy shit.

[Chazz 0]

People who would like to see Russo gone from TNA should remember this; If whoever was part of The Creative Team before he,(Russo), came in was firing on all cylinders, then Russo wouldn't have even been needed to begin with.

[Corey_Lazarus 0]

Oh, so you mean Jeff and Jerry Jarrett wouldn't have hired him even though he's close friends with Jeff? Likely story. They were biding their time with Russo-esque characters and angles until Russo came in, and in truth: the first 6 months or so of Russo booking was solid shit. We got the height of the SEX/TNA feud, the formation of XXX, the rise of AJ Styles, and Sonny Siaki got something resembling a personality. In fact, I'd say TNA was the most entertaining promotion State-side from its formation in June '02 until they brought Dutch Mantel in to try to appease Hogan (which was an awful idea from the start, especially in hindsight considering nothing ever came of it but awful shows) around October '03. THAT'S when shit started becoming 100% awful. If TNA really wants to get rid of a lot of their problems? Get rid of Mantel. He's been responsible, along with Jarrett, for everything you see on TV in some way, shape, or form since October '03. The over-abundance of gimmick matches, the "we're gonna push the X-Division -> no we're not, they're too small -> but the fans love 'em -> well, we should tell the fans to stop caring" escapades, the same people on top of the card over and over, poorly-done rip-off's of 1998 WWF and WCW...all Mantel trademarks since he took the book in Puerto Rico, mind you.

[Jericho2000Mark 0]

Yeah, around November 2003 is when I stopped ordering the weekly PPVs. Michael Shane was one of the reasons why. His boring, slow paced style basically killed any momentum that the X Division had by that point. Not to mention the Jericho-esque booking of AJ Styles title reign and the push of Erik fucking Watts.

[Corey_Lazarus 0]

See, it's funny, because they pushed Watts due to the fact that he was actually over with the Asylum crowd. And I hated Shane's X-Division title run too, but the 2 weeks before Ultimate X p2 when he lost it? He was GOLD.

[Guest Shylock]

Oh, so you mean Jeff and Jerry Jarrett wouldn't have hired him even though he's close friends with Jeff? Likely story. They were biding their time with Russo-esque characters and angles until Russo came in, and in truth: the first 6 months or so of Russo booking was solid shit. We got the height of the SEX/TNA feud, the formation of XXX, the rise of AJ Styles, and Sonny Siaki got something resembling a personality. In fact, I'd say TNA was the most entertaining promotion State-side from its formation in June '02 until they brought Dutch Mantel in to try to appease Hogan (which was an awful idea from the start, especially in hindsight considering nothing ever came of it but awful shows) around October '03. THAT'S when shit started becoming 100% awful. If TNA really wants to get rid of a lot of their problems? Get rid of Mantel. He's been responsible, along with Jarrett, for everything you see on TV in some way, shape, or form since October '03. The over-abundance of gimmick matches, the "we're gonna push the X-Division -> no we're not, they're too small -> but the fans love 'em -> well, we should tell the fans to stop caring" escapades, the same people on top of the card over and over, poorly-done rip-off's of 1998 WWF and WCW...all Mantel trademarks since he took the book in Puerto Rico, mind you.

Funnily enough, from the time right before they got onto Spike when they were doing the webcasts all the way up until that Bound For Glory pay-per-view around when Angle debuted was all pretty decent stuff compared to what it is now.

 

I'll take TNA programming from around that timeframe over the completely awful, 99.5% clusterfuck it's been the past year since. The only two things that were good from this year was that one Harris/Storm match and Bound For Glory. The Women's division is the exception to the rule, because it's apparently 100% done by Scott D'Amore - who is the only competent guy on their booking staff.

[Corey_Lazarus 0]

It's so sad. They should have Dixie and Jarrett giving the OK to everything (this means Jarrett needs to retire from in-ring action, save for once, twice a year for small feuds), D'Amore handling the Knockouts, and pick somebody to book the Heavyweight division, somebody for the Tag division, and somebody for the X-Division. Somebody should have experience in those fields first, so, for example, get Raven to book the Heavyweight division (let him do some ringwork here and there, just not near the belt unless he starts getting more over), re-hire Lynn to book the X-Division (same deal as Raven: he can wrestle, he just can't be the uber-focal point), and hire somebody who helped book successful tag matches from somewhere around the world, be they from Mexico, Europe, Japan, it doesn't matter. All TNA needs to do to be successful is to stop this 1999 WWF/2000 WCW bullshit we see each week and start making some fucking sense. Let the guys wrestle, don't script their every move and word, and have basic, solid storylines where, if there's a plot twist, let it MAKE SENSE.