Tom asks:
Hi, my question is something that has just struck me as odd. There has been talk about many workers being disgruntled with the way TNA is heading with the ECW angle. Why is this? and who is this?
Hey Tom,
These rumors come as a result of a few incidents of outburst by the talent in TNA. Samoa Joe’s “suspension” being one and AJ Styles’ interview where he questions TNA booking being another.
I personally haven’t heard anything specific to ECW but that might just be a smaller case against wrestlers unhappy with the current landscape.
If we depended on speculation I could probably narrow down the names to Samoa Joe, Desmond Wolfe, Kazarian, Homicide and AJ Styles. Kazarian, Homicide and AJ Styles have been outspoken in the past about booking or something else and have complained about the companies’ direction.
Out of those five mentioned talents I think that Samoa Joe and Desmond Wolfe have the biggest cases. AJ Styles has been a featured talent for the past 8 years, Kazarian recently has received a push and Homicide has been pushed in the past but has some detractors in the company. Samoa Joe is a hard working talent who has been involved in questionable booking for the better part of 2010. Desmond Wolfe was one of the main stars in ROH, was heavily pushed when he came to TNA then slowly fell down the card as a “jobber to the stars” until his recent storyline alongside Magnus.
You also have to remember that many of these sites that report these problems, paint TNA as a “doom and gloom” scenario. If you make the company look like it’s in trouble, fans of the company will use the incidents as examples of why the company needs to change (and both Wade Keller and Dave Meltzer are looking for change)
Mike Hunt asks:
I know you’re a credible source but I will ask you if you believe Marqui is credible?
I will say this: Marqui posted the news about the AAA/TNA before anyone else, he posted the news about Tommy Dreamer’s influence in TNA creative before anyone else and he posted the news about D’Lo Brown’s increased influence in talent relations before anyone else. Hell, Marqui is either telling the truth or he is a very talented liar whose stories end up coming true.
Every site will make mistakes and as a result will have critics. This site has made mistakes but we stand up for those mistakes. We will definitely have many more mistakes during the site’s lifespan. However, one of those mistakes is NOT Marqui.
Eldin asks:
HardCORE Justice was a clusterfuck , do you agree ?
Our definitions of “clusterfuck” are different. My definition of clusterfuck is way too many things happening at once. By that definition, Hardcore Justice wasn’t a clusterfuck!
I thought HardCORE Justice was a fun little reunion show. I believe for the most part, it captured the essence of ECW. I liked the different look for the show (something TNA should do more of) and especially liked the booking of the final two matches.
With that said, I am a TNA fan and not an ECW fan. I am pretty tired of all this nostalgia that TNA tries to recapture whether it is ECW, nWo, Wolfpac, or even the Montreal Screwjob. I don’t want to watch “The Rise and Fall of TNA” and see the company try and recapture magic seen by other companies instead of creating moments of their own.
Naven asks:
What in your opinion is TNA’s biggest weakness and how would you fix it?
TNA’s biggest problem in my opinion is that they don’t have a set vision of who they want to be and if they do, they don’t do a job getting there. Raw for example has its problem BUT you see a consistent product. In TNA, you will see a great show for a few weeks and then the next few weeks see a “clusterfuck” and rushed show. TNA has a tendency to not stick to its guns. They will start a storyline one week and drop it without mention a few weeks later. Finally, they don’t have a good idea of what the TNA Brand is! All of this nostalgia might be good for a few weeks but does little for TNA in the long run.
All TNA needs to do is look at Xplosion as a good example. They have a consistent show with a unique look and interesting format. The show is well paced and you know what kind of show you will get from week to week. They always go with interviews at the beginning leading up to matches that get enough time.
TNA has many good elements on its main show with the ReAction style camera shots in the back but their roster is way too big and they don’t stick to their long term storylines before seeing a flavor of the month and changing their gameplan. They need to cut their roster, come up with long term storylines, put one or two people in charge of getting those storylines through and follow a clean format week by week. People will stick to the consistent product and eventually you will gain new fans.
Levi asks:
What is your opinion on WWE and the independents, and if you could have one person come from the WWE and one from the independents. Who would you take?
Hey Levi,
I watch Raw, and catch NXT and Smackdown on Hulu when I am bored. The only WWE PPV I order is Wrestlemania. As for the Indies, I try and watch ROH as much as possible and have seen DVDs of a few different companies like Chikara but unfortunately I don’t get a lot of time to do so.
There are many WWE talents I would like to see in TNA but unfortunately some of the big stars were molded for WWE and in my opinion wouldn’t fit in TNA. Names like John Cena, Randy Orton and one of my favorites, The Miz are fun to watch at times BUT I don’t think they would do much in the TNA ring. If I was to take one star, I would probably grab Evan Bourne or Senshi since both would add something great to the X Division.
On the Indy front the first name I would get back in TNA is Daniels. I thought it was a mistake to get rid of him in the first place. I would also be interested in seeing Sara Del Ray, Colt Cabana, Briscoe Brothers and Delirious in TNA.
If you have any questions you want answered you can email me at Talon_DR@yahoo.com or leave your questions titled “Q&A” in the comments section under the CONTACT US area.
