Column: DID TNA EVEN STAND A CHANCE?

2.21.11

The mere sequence of numbers has been all the rage on internet wrestling sites, with “reporters” hoping to capitalize on the apparent mania that “2.21.11” has caused.

Of course, by now, there’s a 70% chance that the figure being represented by the mysterious promo video seen on Raw is, in fact, the legendary Sting.

As soon as a reporter from the New York Daily News reported that Sting had signed a one year deal with WWE, all Hell has broken loose. The very idea of the ghostly man in black, bringing his baseball bat with him in pursuit of a challenge he’s never had (feverish fans point to The Undertaker in an attempt to end the WrestleMania streak), has captured the imaginations of fans the world over.

It’s funny though, because I could have sworn that, from 2003 to 2010, Sting was in a little promotion based out of Nashville, and later Orlando, called TNA?

I bring this up because, to hear the fans go crazy the way they have over Sting’s potential arrival in WWE, that the man has been hiding in exile since 2001, when WCW was bought out, and that nobody has seen him since.

After all, the man won three World Titles in TNA, was the head of a heel stable called the Main Event Mafia, feuded with internet darling like Kurt Angle and Samoa Joe, and was the man who, thank God, ended the final World Title reign of Jeff Jarrett in 2006. It’s not like he was merely a stagehand in TNA, handing out production cues.

But the reality, as I see it, is that wrestling fans will forever view TNA as “the enemy”.

Not every fan, mind you. A smart fan would want TNA to be bought out by somebody with half a brain; somebody that wouldn’t take what Hulk Hogan or Eric Bischoff say at face value. You know, somebody who will improve TNA’s production value, instill discipline into the lazy performers, and create thought-provoking storylines that would suit both their hardest working performers, as well as the fans who have supported them for so long.

On the other hand, you also have the fans who, two years ago, got wind that Christian might be headed back to WWE after three years in Orlando, and then these fans turned into a rather interesting little cult; chanting “DO IT DO IT DO IT” until “Captain Charisma” finally re-signed with WWE.

When Christian jumped to TNA in 2005 and added the surname of ‘Cage’, I was delighted. Christian’s one of my favorite wrestlers and I thought, rightly so, that he would get an immediate push, as opposed to languishing in tag team matches against The Mexicools, and feuding with an unmotivated Booker T.

I was one of very few people who felt that way, apparently.

To read the message boards of five and a half years ago, there was an outcry from young fans who felt Christian had BETRAYED WWE. They felt he was a turncoat for making a business decision for himself.

I was stunned.

The funniest part was a number of them being upset that they couldn’t watch Christian on Raw or Smackdown anymore. I made a few posts, suggesting that they could watch TNA Impact (which was FAR better in 2005 than it is now in terms of coherent flow), and they reacted like I’d asked them to sell their children into slavery.

“Watch TNA?!? ARE YOU CRAZY?!? I’d sooner lend Ric Flair $10,000 than watch TNA! You can get gonorrhea from watching TNA, man!!”

Well, it didn’t go EXACTLY like that, but I recall there being this common notion that to watch anything other than WWE would be like cheating on your wife while she was caring for sick children.

Especially if the one you’re two-timing with happens to be TNA.

Don’t believe me? Find any IWC message board that’s currently discussing Christopher Daniels’ return to TNA. Daniels, of course, is one of the most respected wrestlers not currently in WWE, due to the dignified way in which he carries himself, and his articulate and immaculate wrestling style that he’s spent years honing. Simply put, if you don’t like Daniels, at least as a person, then I’m not sure what to tell you.

He’s so beloved as a person, that when the story broke that he’d re-signed with TNA days ago, here was the general consensus from the internet.

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

*deep breath*

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

If only “The Fallen Angel” had listened to the internet. They could have warned him. Now his skin is going to fall off in chunks, and he’s going to get raped by Abyss’ spiky board “Janice”.

So the internet would have you believe, anyway.

Look, I’m not going to defend TNA for half the garbage that they peddle. It’s very clear that they’ve had ample opportunity to make headway for themselves, but have squandered it time and time again with production woes, needlessly complex booking, old guys looking out for themselves, and general ineptitude. But to act unhappy and angry when they do something to try and improve their product just because you don’t personally like them is absurd.

Think back to 2006, when Kurt Angle left WWE under the pretense of needing a long rehabilitation stay, and then snuck into TNA a month later. THAT was big news, right? I mean, it was the biggest jump from WWE to TNA in the four years that Total Nonstop Action was alive.

What was the common reaction from non-TNA fans?

“Kurt Angle is going to die in a TNA ring.”

Or

“TNA is taking advantage of an injured man; they don’t care about his well-being!”

Fast forward to last year, when Angle was asked in an interview if he’d ever go back to WWE, and he said “Never say never”. What was the reaction then?

In short: “YEEEEAHHH! COME BACK KURT! F—K TNA!!!!!”

That sentence can only be written by medical experts with telepathy, since they can tell you that Angle’s spine, which was crap in 2006, is all better in 2010.

And given that most medical experts wouldn’t troll the internet with F-bombs, I’m beginning to doubt the merit of their analysis.

All of this pro WWE/anti TNA rhetoric has come to a head this week, with the arrivals of Booker T, Kevin Nash, (possibly) Sting, and (maybe not too far down the line) Ric Flair.

When Booker showed up in TNA in 2007, after ending a six year WWE run, he may as well have fallen off the face of the earth, because he was barely talked about again. As for Nash, he’d been with TNA since 2004, and was written off as the same old man that staggered through a 2003 run in WWE. Flair, we’ll ignore for now, since his problems stem from more than a subjective “he’s washed up” viewpoint, and Sting we covered earlier.

So, examining Booker and Nash, what was the consensus on Sunday night at the Royal Rumble when these two men arrived?

Booker got an epic reaction, did the Spinarooni to a louder cheer, and delighted the fans who were happy to see him back.

Nash got the biggest pop he’s gotten in probably well over a decade (his 2003 WWE run was VERY lukewarm), and for as slow as he moved at the Royal Rumble, there was still a massive “DIESEL” chant echoing through TD Garden.

What this tells me is that TNA should just roll over and die now.

It’s not easy for me to say, because I loved TNA early on. Back in the “Fairgrounds” days of 2002-04, they managed to put on quite a nifty weekly program that I was more than happy to split a $10 cost over with my brother. The TV was episodic, the wrestlers were unique (many of them obscure indy talents with something to prove), and it was just….different than WWE.

Now, I’ll concede that, since Russo came back to the company in 2006, TNA has done everything imaginable to try and be just LIKE WWE, except with far worse production and acting. But still, it feels good to have two separate promotions (with plenty of room for a third if somebody’s willing to buy into the wrestling world).

I look back on the Monday Night Wars of WWF vs. WCW, with ECW airing locally, and I wonder “Why can’t we have that?” Why can’t we have two big companies trying to outdo each other, with a big indy promotion raising the bar of risqué, because then we’d all win?

It seems like less and less people share that sentiment.

Sadly, it seems as if though fans today want WWE to be the only game in town. They’re happy when companies like WCW and ECW get swallowed up by the McMachine.

Ironically enough, these are the same fans that buy ECW and WCW DVD’s that WWE produces, and then they talk about how they wish these companies were still alive. Of course, if they actually WATCHED those products when they were new, and bought their PPV’s and merchandise, they might still be here.

As for TNA, I hate to say it, but unless they turn a profit regularly, then I think the game is over.

When three of your biggest stars of the last few years show up in WWE, and WWE fans act like they haven’t seen these guys since they LAST left WWE (or, in Sting’s case, 2001 when WCW died), that means you have a group of fans who will never watch your shows, even if you were producing better television than all thirty six seasons of Saturday Night Live combined.

There is a born-in bias against TNA, just because it’s not WWE. They can’t win when they produce their own unique product, nor can they win when they emulate WWE. They can’t win when they push homegrown talent, and they can’t win when they take top WWE guys and push them instead.

Kurt Angle, Christian, the Dudley Boyz, Rob Van Dam, Mick Foley, Booker T, Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Sting, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Jeff Hardy, Matt Hardy, Eric Bischoff, Mickie James, X-Pac, the New Age Outlaws, Jeff Jarrett, and Mr. Kennedy have all showed in TNA after their WWE runs. Not one of them bumped ratings up with their arrivals.

So if it’s not about names and it’s not about product, then why isn’t TNA gaining new ground?

If TNA has, in fact, hit their ceiling, then it’s a shame. It’s a shame that wrestling fans either feel a loyalty to one promotion, or are so set in their viewing habits (I wouldn’t rule this out; Smackdown ratings have plunged since going to Fridays) that a second wrestling company can’t gain traction.

On a final note, I’ll point out this interesting tidbit. Thirteen months ago, when TNA made the move to have a Monday special head to head with Raw (January 4, 2010), the decision was made to have Hogan debut for the company, as well as hints being dropped that Flair, the Wolfpack, and others would be there.

WWE immediately countered by scheduling Bret Hart for the same night on Raw.

WWE could put Hart on any other night, but happened to select the one in which TNA was bringing their A-game. Not that I blame WWE; you don’t take the chance of a rival opening up a cut on you.

However, I think it’s rather telling that Vince McMahon saw TNA as more of a threat than the fans do.

One year later, after taking away three talents that TNA would have likely used for the Main Event Mafia resurrection, and watching them get a bigger reaction than they would have ever gotten in TNA during their entire tenures there combined….I think Vince no longer has reason to fear for TNA.

And, if you’re a wrestling fan like me, that’s bad news for us both.

When TNA dies (and I sincerely hope that it doesn’t), I predict there will be two causes of death: one is their own stupidity, and the other is a lack of oxygen.

Because the majority of us wouldn’t give them any.