Looking at TNA the Company

Total Nonstop Action has been around for almost 6 years and it is surprising to see them last as long as they have. It is very impressive considering that it was supposed to be dead years ago. As long time TNA fans are aware and have probably watched since the very beginning, it used to be a member of the National Wrestling Alliance. Up until the TNA PPV Sacrifice held on May 13th, TNA had control of the NWA World and Tag Team Titles. It saw the end of that relationship before that in 2004 but still had control over the belts and could do what they please.

There are things in TNA that obviously need to be addressed. For one thing, how much awareness is there of TNA outside of Spike TV? I can turn on the TV and I’m more likely to see something advertised from WWE and not much from TNA. It goes back to the fact that there is hardly any advertising. If I had seen more, it would certainly make people more aware of the product itself. Whether or not anyone else would have watched it is another story. The ratings themselves hover around the 1.0 mark and while that may seem to be good for TNA, it shouldn’t lead to being complacent or satisfied with just that number. It should be a case of trying to do better each and every week trying to gain viewers while maintaining the loyal fan base that has been created.

I’m going to go over what I don’t like in TNA and also what I like. The best part will be ending everything on a positive note. Please note that I don’t hate everything about TNA and I see that they have some serious potential. There is one thing to always note is that potential doesn’t guarantee anything.

Don’t like: I really don’t like the overuse of interference. Seriously, is it really going to kill someone to have a clean victory once in a while? It seems every time I turn around there’s always some form of interference and it gets redundant and expected more often than not. How about the storylines that make no sense and just make you feel stupid after watching? The most recent one being the tag team title storyline with having the tag belts vacated all because of this storyline of Super Eric but not being the legal man and not even a valid partner. It just boggles the mind why do something like that. If that’s not enough, how about before Kurt lost the title to Joe, we had pretty much TNA become Total Nonstop Angle with every 5 minutes it seems Angle would be on.

Like: I have no problem with Jay Lethal’s gimmick being Black Machismo and it has been the best thing to happen to him. Had that character not come into play, would he have gotten a huge push at being one of the top X-Division wrestlers right now? I highly doubt it. Ultimate X actually isn’t that bad and is enjoyable at least in my opinion. Samoa Joe is the TNA Champion though personally he should have gotten it sooner but at least he got it.

Random Thoughts below

AJ Styles has never been the face of TNA. That’s right I said it. Before having an actual championship run albeit with the TNA Tag Team Titles with Tomko, he has been nothing more than the transitional champion. Think about it for just a minute, his runs have been short. It was as if you saw him holding a belt and the first question to come to mind would be this: Who is he holding the championship for exactly? If he’s going to get the TNA Title, don’t make it like a transitional run; give it somewhat of a serious run for at least 4 months or maybe 5.

Scott Steiner going for the TNA Title is something I don’t have a problem with. It’s not like he came into TNA right off the bat and went after the NWA Title when they had it. Most likely, this is going to be his only title match and then go from there. Don’t expect him to get the gold or even go after it on a monthly basis. It’s ok for this time but not on a regular basis.

TNA needs to put some better effort in getting advertised. I’m sorry but TNA isn’t big enough to actually live off the name and people will flock in watching it. More awareness is needed of the product and get advertised on other networks. How often do you sit down watching a channel and you see a WWE advertisement talking about the upcoming shows whether it’s Raw, ECW, Smackdown, or a PPV? TNA needs to start doing that if the ratings are going to get higher than 1.2 otherwise it’s going to stay the same keeping them at a complacent state of mind.

The woman’s wrestling is actually doing better than WWE and that has to be noted. There’s really nothing else that can be said and that it is interesting that this draws bar none probably the highest quarter hour ratings. Nobody could have predicted that to happen.

The X-Division and Tag Titles need to be used more and make that a strength. It’d be a great way to really separate themselves from the WWE.

Closing

I think TNA could do much better. While I don’t have all the answers, I certainly have some possible ideas that could help. If they can ditch the WWE light syndrome and try to build themselves up, it’d be great. The creative and everyone in charge should look into it and figure out how to market. Then and only then could TNA become a major success and get better ratings than 1.2.