Disclaimer: Crossfire is back again after yet another hiatus (I would love to write a column more often but due to me not watching that much of Impact in recent months I haven’t been able too) to talk about something I noticed when Abyss made his return to Impact a few weeks back. I will talk about something TNA needs to do in order to bring viewers back. (And it’s not hiring Russo back so don’t get your Russo sucks argument ready for me)
A Key Flaw Took Away From Abyss’ Return (I know this seems rather random since his return was two+ weeks ago but I had started writing one of these columns right after that Impact but I ran out of material after that so I am using it here)
A couple of Impacts ago there was a perfect storm of good fortune for TNA. They had no competition from the NBA playoffs, TNA had drawn a nice sized crowd in Tupelo Mississippi and that crowd was also very good all night long and TNA built to a reveal all night long so well that even the smarky Chris Snore called it a “good hook” as to who would be revealed as the 3rd member of team TNA on this night. As the match goes on, the buzz in the arena builds and builds because the Pro Wrestling fans in the arena knew that the match wasn’t ending till the 3rd man made his appearance.
TNA had reached the climax of the match with Devon and Bully Ray set to put Sting through a table, someone’s theme music played and the crowd didn’t go nuts immediately because simply put they didn’t know who it was at first. That delay which caused Abyss to get a lukewarm reaction at best when he came out hurt what could’ve been a huge moment for Abyss and TNA wrestling because not all TNA wrestlers have distinctive entrance themes. Back in the Attitude era (I'm using this era because this is the era I feel TNA should try to emulate), wrestling fans knew who was coming out the moment their theme song hit. Stone Cold Steve Austin with the glass shattering, D-Generation X with the line “break it down”, The Rock with “If you Smell What The Rock Is Cooking”, Val Venus with his “Hello Ladies”, Kane with the piano organ playing and I could go on. Every wrestling character on that roster in the late 90s had distinctive entrance themes that told the red-hot crowd in a single second who was coming out and those crowds responded immediately to it.
If Abyss had a distinctive theme, that hot crowd in Mississippi would’ve gone nuts in a millisecond. Instead the crowd was busy looking to the ramp trying to see who it was coming out since they didn’t recognize the theme as opposed to popping like crazy for the return of a popular TNA Original. I don’t know about you guys but I have a problem figuring out whose music is playing a lot. The only TNA wrestling theme songs I’d say are obvious to me are: AJ Styles, Sting, Hulk Hogan, Aces and Eights, Morgan, Angle, Joe, Tara, Mickie James, Velvet Sky, Roode and Storm’s theme songs. Every other TNA wrestling theme song sounds the same to me and that is a problem.
The lack of diverse wrestling themes hurts the TNA product especially now that TNA is on the road because it hurts the crowd response. Its little things like that that takes away a bit from the TNA product. Whether people want to admit it or not, entrance themes are important when it comes to the presentation of a wrestling show. TNA had the opportunity to present Abyss as the biggest thing to hit TNA in years with a hot crowd to make his return absolutely epic but the lack of a distinct theme song took away from that moment because the crowd response wasn’t what it could’ve and should’ve been.
Impact Needs To Change Their Weekly Script
It’s no secret that TNA has been losing viewers week after week for awhile now. (Though I was happy to see the ratings increase this past Thursday for once.) The reasons/excuses for this happening are endless but in my humble opinion, the biggest reason why Impact is losing viewers is because Impact comes off as robotic, formulaic and conservative show every week. The people who like what TNA is doing would label what Impact is doing these days as “logical long-term storytelling” but it’s not, it’s really not. Long-term storytelling leaves you bread crumbs every week that entice the audience to keep watching to continue picking up the little bread crumbs until you finally have the big reveal. However to the people who aren't enjoying Impact as much these days, all we see is Impact spinning its wheels every week with all the shows being relatively the same. I’d bet dollars to donuts that the statistics and advance statistics of how TNA allocates there TV time every week are basically the same every week.
The Show opens with a promo from The Aces and Eights or from Hogan or from Sting or a combination of these three. Then from there it will be a match that has little importance. Then another throwaway match combined with a few backstage vignettes. Then on the Live show they start the second hour with an important match that was heavily hyped for a week and if it’s a taped show, they probably put the Knockouts match there. Then some vignettes before an X-Division three-way. Then you have the big main event match which was also heavily hyped where everything eventually breaks down into an all-out brawl between Team TNA and The Aces and Eights.
I mean every now and then throw a monkey wrench into the Impact script. Start an Impact with a match that’s just starting between your top guys, I mean legit top guys. Why not have Magnus call out Bully Ray on a Live Impact and goad him into putting the TNA World Title on the line. He doesn’t have to win the title, just give them 15 minutes and let Magnus show the world his skills against the “best in the TNA galaxy” Bully Ray. You could do the same thing with a Samoa Joe. Have a new tag team debut and immediately attack Los Stereotypicos and thus adding a new tag team to a very shallow tag team pool. It won’t set the world on fire but it would create some new matchups and with Bad Influence and Team Wet Dream involved, you know it will be quality. For the love of god, turn Mickie James heel already. Do some vignettes in non-wrestling places. (One of my favorite TNA vignettes ever was Jeff Jarrett at a Karate Dojo fighting little kids, it was absurd sure but it was entertaining as hell.) Create the “anything can happen on Impact” feel to the show that right now isn’t there.
I mean every now and then throw a monkey wrench into the Impact script. Start an Impact with a match that’s just starting between your top guys, I mean legit top guys. Why not have Magnus call out Bully Ray on a Live Impact and goad him into putting the TNA World Title on the line. He doesn’t have to win the title, just give them 15 minutes and let Magnus show the world his skills against the “best in the TNA galaxy” Bully Ray. You could do the same thing with a Samoa Joe. Have a new tag team debut and immediately attack Los Stereotypicos and thus adding a new tag team to a very shallow tag team pool. It won’t set the world on fire but it would create some new matchups and with Bad Influence and Team Wet Dream involved, you know it will be quality. For the love of god, turn Mickie James heel already. Do some vignettes in non-wrestling places. (One of my favorite TNA vignettes ever was Jeff Jarrett at a Karate Dojo fighting little kids, it was absurd sure but it was entertaining as hell.) Create the “anything can happen on Impact” feel to the show that right now isn’t there.
Basically I think it would be beneficial for Impact to just try different things on Impact (Specifically on the Live Impacts). Will everything they try work? Probably not but this creative team desperately needs to try some different things. Being “logical” and conservative can only take you so far and right now it’s taking TNA in the wrong direction. I’ll say it again, for TNA to succeed they have to take chances with their TV show and try some different things.
Happy 3rd Birthday TNAsylum
Y’all didn’t think I’d write a whole column for this day and not wish this site a happy birthday now did ya? So here it is, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TNASYLUM. This site has been my main home for TNA related discussions for 2.5 of the 3 years this place has existed. For those that don’t know the story of how I found TNAsylum, here it is: I was online looking for any opinion that was at least somewhat positive about the Jeff Hardy heel turn at Bound for Glory 2010 because I had thought it was a genius heel turn and TNAsylum came up on the Google search. The rest as they say is history as I have been a member of this site since October 2010. After about 8 months of just being a commenter on the site I made Talon an offer he didn’t refuse as I offered to write a blog for TNAsylum and he was nice enough and gracious enough to accept me as part of the writing staff. This blog will be my 77th for the site and I have an absolute blast writing them. (I hope you all have enjoyed reading it)
Congrats to Talon, JSO, PhenomAJ, FK9, Myself, Bigdawg, Garrett Kidney, Jason Blade, Docteur Lobo, my good buddy D_D_G, Vic Venom, Mic Skills Required, Liam Hatton, Mr. Eric Eric, Vantheman, Wrestlingsbest and everyone else who has made this site great throughout the first 3 years. Here's too a great 3rd year of TNAsylum and lets make the 4th year even better.
