TNA fails to deliver on hype
I remember the last time a wrestling company proclaimed that something “would change the face of professional wrestling forever.” It was in WCW in 2000. I was the editor of WCW Magazine at the time, and I was aware of what the big news was going to be (actually, I don’t think it was a well-kept secret). I also knew that WCW was setting itself up for failure.
For those who might not remember, the earth-shattering development was that Goldberg turned heel. To say that WCW made an overstatement would be a huge understatement. To this day, I don’t understand why WCW promised something that it couldn’t possibly deliver. No matter how bad things were going for WCW at the time (really, really bad), setting up the fans for a letdown only made things worse and reeked of desperation.
Last night on a live edition of Impact (now in HD, not that it matters to me) from Las Vegas, TNA once again took a page out of WCW’s book. Mick Foley had a major announcement to make, one that, in the words of Mike Tenay, would “rock professional wrestling.”
After the announcement was pushed hard throughout the show, Foley finally revealed the shocking news that … wait for it, wait for it … he was now a major shareholder in TNA! The only thing missing was Tony Schiavone screaming, “This is the single biggest announcement in the history of professional wrestling!”
All kidding aside, Foley becoming part owner of TNA is a decent plot twist and should make for some entertaining scenarios. It would have been better, however, if TNA had simply said that Foley had a big announcement to make about his future in TNA. By making ridiculous claims, TNA just made the announcement feel anticlimactic.
Other thoughts on last night’s show:
I liked Kurt Angle’s “major announcement” better than Foley’s. Angle revealed that he, Kevin Nash, Booker T. and Sting have formed a faction known as the Main Event Mafia (not to be confused with the Voodoo Kin Mafia). That’s a lot of star power there. The group’s name isn’t that great, but at least it’s better than The Millionaires Club. …
I continue to be amazed by Sting’s “heel turn.” He now is officially aligned with the top heels in TNA, but he still doesn’t come off as a villain. He did put on a suit and act a little cocky, but I think it speaks volumes that he did not participate in MEM’s beat-down of Samoa Joe and A.J. Styles at the end of the show. I’m betting that somewhere down the line Sting either renounces the group or they boot him out (like the Four Horsemen did in 1990). …
Could it have been more obvious that Joe was blading himself after taking the belt shot from Nash or that the referee picked the blade up off the mat? That’s live TV. …
I don’t know how Angle and Nash kept a straight face when Booker kept repeating the word “respect” in his accent every time one of them would say it. I know I was laughing out loud. …
Booker’s facial expressions during his verbal confrontation with Christian Cage were hilarious, too. Booker and Cage are clearly the two most entertaining performers in TNA right now. I can’t comment on Cage’s Lil John jokes, however, because I am not familiar with Mr. John’s work. I assume that he is no relation to Elton. …
Booker’s TNA Legends title belt is an obvious takeoff of Ted DiBiase’s old Million Dollar belt. Booker is putting his belt on the line against Cage with the stipulation that Cage has to join MEM if he loses. I don’t care for the idea of wrestlers competing for titles that don’t really exist. And no disrespect to Christian, but, story-line wise, does he have the qualifications to be in the group? The four members all were world champions in either WWE or WCW, but Christian was never more than a mid-carder before coming to TNA. …
It was definitely time to put the TNA women’s title back on Awesome Kong, and this sets up a title program between Kong and Roxxi. Taylor Wilde never really got over as a babyface champion. Gail Kim’s departure has left a major void. …
What better way to kick off TNA’s first high-definition broadcast than with a match involving The Beautiful People? As someone who does not have HD, I can only use my imagination as to how Velvet Sky’s ring entrance looked up close and personal. …
Sky’s match against Christy Hemme wasn’t exactly smooth, but the effort was definitely there, and because it was the opening match, the crowd was hot for it. …
Perhaps I wasn’t paying close enough attention, but I was almost as confused by the rules for the tag-team gauntlet match as I was for the double gauntlet match on Raw Monday. I was even more confused by Team 3D playing to the crowd. Did they turn babyface while I was making a sandwich? By the way, why was Brother Devon unable to kick out of a pin attempt after only having beer spit in his face? …
What’s the over/under on how long it will be before Matt Morgan turns on “best friend” Abyss? …
I was enjoying the Sheik Abdul Bashir-Jay Lethal match – while it lasted. I am shocked that Bashir won so cleanly and quickly. …
Could the TNA creative team have made Rhino look any dumber? After grabbing Bashir by the throat backstage and cutting a promo on him, Rhino let him go and turned his back to walk away. Of course Bashir jumped him and dished out an intense physical and verbal beat-down. With Rhino left for dead, Lauren then asked, “Are you OK?” That was almost as funny as Booker’s material.
Comments
I have a confession to make...i look forward to TNA a LOT more than WWE product now. i been turning for a few months. i fast forward through most of Raw and Smackdown.
Tna is just more entertaining. Ok, last night the camera ZOOMING in on Joe while he pulled the pick out to blade was just bad tv. they showed him 2 times while he was doing it. nice one. the ref. picking it up was was another nice one. but over all, im Matt and I'm a TNA fan dammit!
Posted by: Matt | October 24, 2008 2:30 PM
If Mick Foley is now the boss, where does that leave Jim Cornette?
My bet is that Matt Morgan will turn on Abyss at the next PPV.
I thought Roxxi would get involved some how in the Knockout match screwing Taylor Wilde after last week when Taylor accidently hit or kicked Roxxi.
When Christy Hemme wrestled Velvet Sky, does that mean she is now a face again? Or is Rock n' Race Infection turning face?
RESPONSE FROM KEVIN ECK: Good point about Cornette. I don't think it will happen, but how great would it be if Cornette became a heel manager again.
I'm sure Hemme is now a face. Not sure abour R and R.
Posted by: Dave | October 24, 2008 3:36 PM
Kevin,
Knowing how TNA operates all four MEM guys will have turned baby face next week, and they'll be no mention of the group ever forming.
Posted by: Elevation | October 24, 2008 5:01 PM
The mention of Tony Schiavone's name brought a tear to my eye .
The only "blading" Samoa Joe should have done is by a bariatric surgeon .
Posted by: the artist formerly known as jack in hebron | October 24, 2008 5:06 PM
Foley becoming part owner was a decent twist, but brought out in the worst way possible, turning what could have been a good moment into one that dragged. But TNA absolutely overpromised and underdelivered on this show. The long awaited formation of the Milliona....errr, Main Event Mafia finally took place, but who's been built up to feud against them? Names like Lethal and MCMG were thrown around, but one was defeated in less than 2 minutes and the others have been jobbers for months. Even the two would be leaders, Styles and Joe, have had little in the way of being built into credible threats, which explains why the crowd lustily booed them last night, and that was before being jobbed out twice. This angle is already on the path to failure in the same way the original Millionaire's Club failed, because people have been given no reason to root for the likes of Styles, Joe, Lethal, etc.
Posted by: Joe Barber | October 24, 2008 5:24 PM
Kev, I think your being a little hard on TNAs big announcement though its certainly understandable to be a cynic when it comes to these wrestling companies delivering on anything with big promise!
Isn't Foley assuming a position in TNA where he might compete head on with VKM a good thing? Maybe WWE will figure out how to get some life into their programs as they did back during the Monday Night Wars.
TNA may blow it but this has potential to make things interesting....if they don't blow it and actually try to match the hype, this could be very interesting!
At least they try to do something a little different with regularity (is that an oxymoron?)!
Wish they came up with a better name than Main Event Mafia (gag) but at least there is potential for things to get interesting between TNA and WWE again.
Posted by: AMC | October 24, 2008 6:35 PM
being the degenerate that i am,the horsemen booted sting out in 1990,not 1988...god why do i know and remember such things
RESPONSE FROM KEVIN ECK: You are right and I have corrected it. Thanks.
For some reason I had 1988 in my head, but that as the year Flair made Sting on the Clash of Champions.
Posted by: kb | October 24, 2008 7:09 PM
Did anybody ever hype better than Schiavone? I still love his TNA heel turn. Classic stuff. Much like Adamle I hope Schiavone's announcing was a gimmick. Nobody can be that bad can they?
Posted by: assistant regional manager | October 24, 2008 8:03 PM
Despite the bad hyped announcement , bad name stable, the face turn of Team 3d during Kevin’s break for a sandwich, and the fact that Morgan will turn on Abyss next week, I think it was a very good impact.
Booker T “respect” thing was absolutely hillarious. I remember an interview that had with Book where he said that he really enojoyed talking with that "king booker accent". He really seems to enjoy this accent also.
I agree with you Kevin that Christian is not in the same league than the others members of the stable, but to give some sense to this move of Booker, MEM needs power in numbers, and from all the roster, Christian is the nearest guy to the level that MEM have.
Except for Joe and AJ, I think there is no one in TNA locker room that could join a team of Young guys with real possibilities to make a difference in this battle of stables. Matt Morgan could be an option, but I don’t know.
For the record: It’s no surprise that Lethal screwed the chance for the title he earned two weeks ago at bound for glory. Kaz screwed his a year ago, and it was also in a TV show ( KAZ vs Angle for TNA heavyweight Title). TNA should solve this in the future, if they want to make of the terrordome match something worthy of being watched by the viewers and being won by the wrestlers.
Posted by: Gaston | October 25, 2008 1:22 PM
With the exception of your blogs about TNA, I haven't been following TNA but now the faction of Angle, Booker, Nash, and Sting has definitely peaked my interest to the point that I might actually start watching Impact
Posted by: MK | October 25, 2008 5:10 PM
For as big a blade as Joe had, the results sure were minimal. If we're all going to see the thing, at least use it for a cut the length of it. For being "busted wide open", the cut was dried up before they went off the air.
Joe, too bad you cannot contact Eddie Guerrero. He knew how to get the job done.
Posted by: Bradley | October 25, 2008 5:59 PM
Despite the ridiculous name, the Main Event Mafia is very intriguing to me. If they can develop a long-term storyline that not only involves but enhances the entire TNA roster, this faction could be huge for not only TNA but for the wrestling business as a whole.
Let's take a step back and look at this group for a second. TNA could easily make the case that this is/could be the most dominant and impressive stable in wrestling history.
Let's count the world titles alone shall we? There are 30 World Title reigns between these 4 men. 30 World Titles! More specifically, 17 regins in WCW, 8 in WWF/E and 5 in TNA. That's industry dominance. I don't remember the last time a stable had that kind of track record at the time of it's formation.
Even with Nash being a shell of his former self and Sting slowly but surely losing a step, Booker and Angle are very clearly still in peak form and can carry the "MEM" dominance on the road at house shows while Sting and Nash wait for TV Tapings and PPVs.
Let's hope that TNA has a trick up their sleeve with this storyline, because let's face it, this stable is the first BIG make or break moment for TNA Wrestling. These are literally the biggest names that have EVER been on TNA's roster.
If TNA pulls this off, it could finally sky rocket them to becoming a real contender to the WWE. However, if TNA fails and ultimately let's down their fans AGAIN...they'll be on the fast track to becoming the next featured program for WWE On Demand.
Posted by: Christian Lee Stump | October 25, 2008 7:16 PM
Thanks Kevin for mentioning Gail Kim and what her loss has meant to TNA. The TNA Knockouts are not the same without her, and I hope Gail Kim returns someday to lend her amazing work ethic, talent and charisma to TNA Wrestling and the TNA Knockouts once again. TNA is just not the same without her.
Posted by: John Pettibone | October 26, 2008 6:42 AM
What exactly was with the tag team gauntlet? I didn't understand how the other team had won and how Devon couldn't kick out with just beer spit in his face, I've had that happen and just wiped it away and beat the crap of the person who spit on me.
Posted by: Matt | October 27, 2008 3:53 AM