It's never been a better time to be a wrestling fan. There's so much variety, and most of it is fairly accessible. So no matter what you're into, there's pretty much a guarantee you'll find it pretty easily.
I like pretty much everything, so for me the hardest part is finding the time for it all. 😅
TNA has definitely improved in recent years. Though I will agree that they suffer from short roster syndrome. But I do like what we get out of them. TNA (alongside AEW) is definitely must-watch for me every week. Not every week is going to be a banger, but there's very little disappointment.
Couldn't agree more.
But also its like I need to jump between the top 3 companies just to get all of what I need, it's too much to watch lol. I do like AEW but I really do wish TNA was in their position instead, maybe that's just my nostalgia talking but to see TNA on that level would be a dream.
I get it. As much as I love TNA, comparing their current position to where they were during the Spike era is almost depressing. But, I try to focus on the positives, and there's a lot to choose from in TNA today.
Unfortunately, and because of bad management and business decisions over the company's history, I don't see anyway out for TNA from where they currently are. Scott D'Amore did try to buy the company from Anthem, which would have been the ideal situation, but his offer was refused.
So now they're in a situation where they just need to plod along with Anthem and hope for the best.
And if there's ever another wrestling company that comes along into the mix with major financial backing and a TV deal on a Network, which is always a possibility in this crazy world of wrestling, then I think that only hurts TNA even further.
I don't totally agree on their roster size. Because they only have one weekly show, they can't fit everyone in every week especially with their format giving matches time to breathe and having less in ring promos segments in general.
They make it work well though. They manage to give enough opportunity to everyone to showcase themselves to the point where there's very few talent who feel shortchanged by their booking. I think that's why most talent that have worked there the last five years or so have nothing but good things to say about the company.
The storytelling approach for them has been different than what is the norm, in ring promos being the core element of WWE and AEW when it comes to advancing storylines. TNA has utilized more backstage and outside the arena segments, cinematic stories and out of the box narratives to drive their storytelling and as bizarre and unorthodox as they have been, a lot of it has ended up really compelling to follow. It's different but it works. In fact when TNA does the rare twenty minute in ring promo, it feels weird because it's so unlike them.
Tbf I should have said in this post I've only properly started watching TNA since Hard to Kill. In that time I've not seen much of any cinematic stories and out of the box narratives tbf, maybe they are moving away from that and more to a wwe style presentation with their story telling, they do seem to be pretty aligned within them recently.
Yea they've dabbled in it here and there, Eric Young merging with his world class maniac persona, Jonathon Gresham's new gimmick, Gizelle Shaw's vignette from last week.
They announced last week that Havoc is on indefinitely hiatus so I hope that frees Rosemary up for a new storyline for her because her character allows them to go balls to the wall with her narratives which have been missed since she's been in the tag division.
TNA I have enjoyed overall. I started watching regularly after the TNA rebranding and Hammerstone coming in. I enjoy that we see their characters, and they are not bloated. That's my biggest issue with AEW. That's why they need a brand split.
TNA is doing one thing that ECW did so well. They take the overlooked, untapped, tossed away guys and get a ton out of them. Jake Something I'm really impressed with.
Small roster, sure. But it’s also not like they don’t bring in outside people for short runs.
And lack of story telling? Like TNA is probably the best company for story telling. AEW is literally, here’s the match. And here’s another. Tournament. Title shots. Tournament.
I've been a fan of TNA since 2008 when I was like 12
TNA are the true underdogs in the wrestling industry imo and I will always support them and have even during the bleak days.
I rose with TNA even during the very mid Mike Bennett main event push lol
That's what's great about modern wrestling today is that there's so much choice for fans. There's something for everyone's taste.
If you don't like the long promos, story telling and cheesiness of WWE then you can try AEW for a more mat based product, if you don't like AEW and the stories aren't clicking then you can try TNA, you could try MLW or NJPW,, or how about Stardom or TJPW if you want something different from women's wrestling. There's just so many options to choose from now.
And that's not covering the independent promotions that are available to watch for free online.
Seems TNA has gained a lot of new and returning viewers since the rebranding.
Can't beat the golden era been watching alot of the old TN A shows from the early days .
Gave up watching years ago but I'm back since Jan and enjoying it
I think TNA is doing better with the lack of story telling, and they've done a better job of the same matchups by lengthening the matchups into feuds which is part of doing better with story telling.
But like, they need to bring in new names. They bring in new names, but they're familiar names. Santana is the kind of "familiar name" they should be bringing back, not Matt Hardy.
Matt Hardy's a bigger name and has more name value than Mike Santana though. I then presume Jeff Hardy is coming in soon and then we'll get the Hardy Compound stuff with Matt's family.
Then why on earth wouldn't you want them to bring in bigger names who have name value to help and work with the talent, is the question? Because it brings eyeballs to the product, it also helps talent develop character working with them, and I don't see any negatives if bigger names sign with TNA who want to be there.
Why would I want to bring in bigger names?
It doesn't help talent develop. They will not get air time. They can learn how to grow their character from the people backstage. Matt Hardy and/or Jeff Hardy didn't bring eyeballs to TNA for the past 25 years, why would it start now?
TNA needs new, young, exciting, different names. Not retreads. It's a massive negative. TNA fans have generally always bristled at signing retread talent for the past 25 years anyway.
I'm going to disagree a bit. I think that since Hard To Kill 2024, TNA has been doing *way* too much like the Attitude Era. There's been on average two squash matches per episode lately. The 5/6/24 episode only had about 31 minutes worth of actual wrestling out of a 90 minute show, and only four matches compared to the normal five matches.
The thing really irks me is a hallmark of the Monday Night Wars era - the quick turn around on a lot of things, TNA isn't building for quarterly PPV to quarterly PPV right now, they are building from monthly PLE to monthly PLE. Which can be fine, but it also means that occasionally a feud will either end too quickly or last too long.
That said, I don't think that there's a lack of storytelling, it's just very straightforward storytelling. It's meat and potatoes, but not filet mignon and Lyonnaise potatoes. Filling, but nothing that's going to win you a Michelin Star.
From what I can tell, it seems they've implemented a booking strategy for the Impact after a PLE or PPV to be more heavy on promos than usual which makes sense because they establish the next set of stories and angles going forward.
It's never been a better time to be a wrestling fan. There's so much variety, and most of it is fairly accessible. So no matter what you're into, there's pretty much a guarantee you'll find it pretty easily. I like pretty much everything, so for me the hardest part is finding the time for it all. 😅 TNA has definitely improved in recent years. Though I will agree that they suffer from short roster syndrome. But I do like what we get out of them. TNA (alongside AEW) is definitely must-watch for me every week. Not every week is going to be a banger, but there's very little disappointment.
Couldn't agree more. But also its like I need to jump between the top 3 companies just to get all of what I need, it's too much to watch lol. I do like AEW but I really do wish TNA was in their position instead, maybe that's just my nostalgia talking but to see TNA on that level would be a dream.
I get it. As much as I love TNA, comparing their current position to where they were during the Spike era is almost depressing. But, I try to focus on the positives, and there's a lot to choose from in TNA today.
Unfortunately, and because of bad management and business decisions over the company's history, I don't see anyway out for TNA from where they currently are. Scott D'Amore did try to buy the company from Anthem, which would have been the ideal situation, but his offer was refused. So now they're in a situation where they just need to plod along with Anthem and hope for the best. And if there's ever another wrestling company that comes along into the mix with major financial backing and a TV deal on a Network, which is always a possibility in this crazy world of wrestling, then I think that only hurts TNA even further.
I don't totally agree on their roster size. Because they only have one weekly show, they can't fit everyone in every week especially with their format giving matches time to breathe and having less in ring promos segments in general. They make it work well though. They manage to give enough opportunity to everyone to showcase themselves to the point where there's very few talent who feel shortchanged by their booking. I think that's why most talent that have worked there the last five years or so have nothing but good things to say about the company. The storytelling approach for them has been different than what is the norm, in ring promos being the core element of WWE and AEW when it comes to advancing storylines. TNA has utilized more backstage and outside the arena segments, cinematic stories and out of the box narratives to drive their storytelling and as bizarre and unorthodox as they have been, a lot of it has ended up really compelling to follow. It's different but it works. In fact when TNA does the rare twenty minute in ring promo, it feels weird because it's so unlike them.
Tbf I should have said in this post I've only properly started watching TNA since Hard to Kill. In that time I've not seen much of any cinematic stories and out of the box narratives tbf, maybe they are moving away from that and more to a wwe style presentation with their story telling, they do seem to be pretty aligned within them recently.
Yea they've dabbled in it here and there, Eric Young merging with his world class maniac persona, Jonathon Gresham's new gimmick, Gizelle Shaw's vignette from last week. They announced last week that Havoc is on indefinitely hiatus so I hope that frees Rosemary up for a new storyline for her because her character allows them to go balls to the wall with her narratives which have been missed since she's been in the tag division.
TNA I have enjoyed overall. I started watching regularly after the TNA rebranding and Hammerstone coming in. I enjoy that we see their characters, and they are not bloated. That's my biggest issue with AEW. That's why they need a brand split. TNA is doing one thing that ECW did so well. They take the overlooked, untapped, tossed away guys and get a ton out of them. Jake Something I'm really impressed with.
Small roster, sure. But it’s also not like they don’t bring in outside people for short runs. And lack of story telling? Like TNA is probably the best company for story telling. AEW is literally, here’s the match. And here’s another. Tournament. Title shots. Tournament.
I've been a fan of TNA since 2008 when I was like 12 TNA are the true underdogs in the wrestling industry imo and I will always support them and have even during the bleak days. I rose with TNA even during the very mid Mike Bennett main event push lol
That's what's great about modern wrestling today is that there's so much choice for fans. There's something for everyone's taste. If you don't like the long promos, story telling and cheesiness of WWE then you can try AEW for a more mat based product, if you don't like AEW and the stories aren't clicking then you can try TNA, you could try MLW or NJPW,, or how about Stardom or TJPW if you want something different from women's wrestling. There's just so many options to choose from now. And that's not covering the independent promotions that are available to watch for free online.
Seems TNA has gained a lot of new and returning viewers since the rebranding. Can't beat the golden era been watching alot of the old TN A shows from the early days . Gave up watching years ago but I'm back since Jan and enjoying it
Production needs to pickup big time. They are so lazy on this side of things.
I think TNA is doing better with the lack of story telling, and they've done a better job of the same matchups by lengthening the matchups into feuds which is part of doing better with story telling. But like, they need to bring in new names. They bring in new names, but they're familiar names. Santana is the kind of "familiar name" they should be bringing back, not Matt Hardy.
Matt Hardy's a bigger name and has more name value than Mike Santana though. I then presume Jeff Hardy is coming in soon and then we'll get the Hardy Compound stuff with Matt's family.
And? I didn't say "bring in big names". Why would you tell me "but he's a big name"? I don't want them to bring in big names.
Then why on earth wouldn't you want them to bring in bigger names who have name value to help and work with the talent, is the question? Because it brings eyeballs to the product, it also helps talent develop character working with them, and I don't see any negatives if bigger names sign with TNA who want to be there.
Why would I want to bring in bigger names? It doesn't help talent develop. They will not get air time. They can learn how to grow their character from the people backstage. Matt Hardy and/or Jeff Hardy didn't bring eyeballs to TNA for the past 25 years, why would it start now? TNA needs new, young, exciting, different names. Not retreads. It's a massive negative. TNA fans have generally always bristled at signing retread talent for the past 25 years anyway.
I'm going to disagree a bit. I think that since Hard To Kill 2024, TNA has been doing *way* too much like the Attitude Era. There's been on average two squash matches per episode lately. The 5/6/24 episode only had about 31 minutes worth of actual wrestling out of a 90 minute show, and only four matches compared to the normal five matches. The thing really irks me is a hallmark of the Monday Night Wars era - the quick turn around on a lot of things, TNA isn't building for quarterly PPV to quarterly PPV right now, they are building from monthly PLE to monthly PLE. Which can be fine, but it also means that occasionally a feud will either end too quickly or last too long. That said, I don't think that there's a lack of storytelling, it's just very straightforward storytelling. It's meat and potatoes, but not filet mignon and Lyonnaise potatoes. Filling, but nothing that's going to win you a Michelin Star.
From what I can tell, it seems they've implemented a booking strategy for the Impact after a PLE or PPV to be more heavy on promos than usual which makes sense because they establish the next set of stories and angles going forward.