"It seems as if the TNA brain trust believes that ambiguous characters and confusing plot twists are required to make a story compelling...."

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I would agree with the TNA brain trust that it is compelling to not know where a character stands and to not have the reasons behind goings-on be immediately obvious. However, there must come a point at which the character's motives are revealed and the happenings are pieced into the puzzle. Ambiguity should be a means to an end, not an end in itself.

"Come on, no one would do that willingly. That sounds like something a heel authority figure would do to stick it to a babyface. …"

Are we so quick to forget about Kurt Angle's three I's? Intensity, Integrity, Intelligence!

However Angle giving up that two spot may bring that third I into question...

TNA sure does seem to struggle to get into a groove. I suspect too many captains trying to steer the ship in different directions at the same time.

I keep trying to give TNA a chance, but a couple weeks ago I saw the Hogan promo of RVD coming on board and Hogan totally sucking up to him like he was a wrestling God.

Then of course there was the obligatory pot reference. Does everyone in TNA smoke weed? Is that supposed to be cool? I hate to steal a line from The Miz, but, really? Pot Jokes and old has beens and burn outs from WWE making your roster?

Not that WWE has been putting on great shows, I think the RAW/Smackdown split really leaves you with two mediocre/average shows instead of one that could be very good, but even so I feel that TNA is at least a step below them.

i dont care about TNA

1. Angle used the "I'd wrestle for free" line, TNA really needs to stop that. No one buys it.

2. The rankings system is cool, but I'm already confused. So fan voting and win loss records all went into the initial Top 10 (if you buy the order anyway) yet when a spot opens up, they throw a bunch of guys in a ring that really don't seem like world champion material (outside of Kaz who even he is a head scratcher) to take that last spot. So the rankings aren't really based on anything? No Jay Lethal, Doug Williams, Raven, Rhyno, Eric Young or oh I dunno, MATT MORGAN? Hell, Orlando Jordan & Kevin Nash probably should have been in there ahead of Generation Me.

Not just Sting, Jeff Hardy had 1-on-1 matches with AJ Styles and RVD all on free TV with little or no build-up or follow up.

Career accomplishments as criteria? Perhaps if there is a debuting wrestler or someone coming back from injury. It depends on how these factors are weighed. But that's the problem... they can weigh them anyway they want. This can lead to 2 scenarios: if they ignore the fan voting, then it seems like TNA isn't listening to the fans, and if they follow the fans too closely, they may end up with shallow story lines no one cares about. The sad part is that they did seem to ignore the fans AND most of their storylines are terrible. I remember Bishoff making fun of McMahon's ideas, but this ranking system is like the knockouts tag team championship, only good on paper.

Totally agree with you about the lack of build up that could have added SO much to a Sting/Hardy program. In WWE we saw plenty of video footage and photos of Hardy as a child painted up like Sting. Why not show us that now?

Also, I like “Heel” Sting because he comes across like a guy who’s willing to go the dark side in order to protect TNA from the infestation of Hogan. When he cut that face promo on Hogan a few weeks back, I was waiting for him to say something like…”Think you can stop me Hogan? In case you forgot, I use to single handedly take you and your chronies out with a bat every single week.”

Also, Sting beating on both Anderson and Hardy after the match felt justified.

On Angle starting from scratch: I like the idea of it way more than the execution. I’ve always felt that this is what should have happened to RVD, Hardy or any other big name additions to the rooster. It doesn’t work with Angel. But at least it actually builds the idea of a cool RVD/Angle match down the road.

On the Desmond Wolfe, Chelsea, Abyss angel: The actions in this feud are completely a$$-backwards! Abyss winning and taking Chelsea’s “services” for a month is the act of a heel. And Desmond standing up for Chelsea, declaring “Over my dead body” and laying out the guards holding Chelsea was the act of a face. I even noticed the nice looking well dressed women in the front row, who initially were booing Wolfe, began cheering for him as soon as he became chivalrous.

Oh, and why should I care about and RVD/Sting match at the PPV, when I’ve already seen RVD beat Sting in less than a minutes a few months back?

Kevin,

Here's what stood out to me as maybe the most ridiculous logic gap in TNA booking: Sting as the No. 1 Contender?

These rankings were supposed to be made by Dixie, Hulk, and Bischoff. So we are supposed to believe that they ranked Sting--who attacked Dixie and illegally attacked the TNA founder--as the number one?

If Sting had been legitimately winning matches with his heel character, it'd be more believable. But he isn't even doing that; he's making supposedly "heinous" and illegal attacks on his opponents. Why would that land him in the No. 1 spot?

Man, this promotion is frustrating...how can these storylines get past so many smart people without someone stopping and considering the basic logic....

The other night at a TNA House Show, Booker T made a surprise return and faced RVD in a non-title match.

wow. How does a company with such great talent go from compelling to down right confusing in a matter of months. I like tna for giving guys like styles and (this was a while back) christian chances when they wouldnt be pushed nearly as hard in the wwe. But now storylines make no sense and old gezzers are getting more screen time than ppl who actually deserve it. It just doesnt make sense to me.

The other problem with the main event is that Sting, the guy that was just named the #1 contender for the TNA title, was pinned, interference or not. Sting should win the match, sending a message to RVD that he's coming for him and building interest in their match. Instead, TNA chose to put Hardy over and further the Hardy/Anderson angle rather then their upcoming main event. What terrible booking.

Also, it should be pointed out that TNA can't even claim that this is the first ever RVD/Sting match because they wasted that on a squash match the night RVD debuted. I swear, they've got monkeys doing the booking.

"Sure, Rayne is the champ, but I don’t think most people believe she is championship material. …"

Wrestling wise, she is championship material, but she lacks the stage presence needed. just too early for her. But TNA is the most illogical business out there right now. They better never go corporate because the shareholders would sell this company away.

"My main frustrations with TNA continue to be the creative team’s failure to apply basic booking concepts and take full advantage of having such a talented roster."

The litmus test for me is to to have the War Dept come in and ask me why I watch: If I defend it stoutly, I know they are putting out a good product.

If I agree that it is kinda stupid, I come to Self-Realization that I have allowed myself to be dragged down into the abyss, and find myself reflecting on why I allow myself to watch such utter crap.

And realize the wisdom of my thought.

Peace be with you

This was the first time I have watched a TNA show from start to finish( usually DVR it and fast forward through most of it) and I can honestly say I was disappointed .. I dont know how they are even still on tv let alone afloat as a company .. I would rather watch reruns of Golden Girls on Lifetime than to sit through another 2 hrs of that crap again .. Dixie Carter cut your losses while you still have some money and run run away

Seems to me they're alternating content weekly. As if they don't have enough time in two hours to advance a storyline or something. Lethal has been on roughly every other week. Speaking of whom, I wish Flair were about 10 years younger, I can see a Lethal v Flair program being pretty intense.
My biggest beef with TNA as a whole right now is the Knockout Division. They had a lot of good workers and have let too many of them go, and even more that they're just not using. It was pretty refreshing to see Roxxi back, I'm hoping they get her under contract again.

There are so many things I don't understand about TNA.

BUT Lethal's gimmick is perfect (for now). He's a wrestling mark---plain and simple. He was marking out to RVD the way we all would if we got a chance to lace em up in a tag match. It was so well done he just came off like you said---a geek. That's how it was supposed to come off.

I'm intrigued by the gimmick. Lethal could go in a lot of different directions with it. But I'm sure TNA will screw it up soon enough.

Expecting TNA booking to make sense is kinda like expecting Vicki Guerro to win a Divas Swimsuit competition. A shame TNA's going to waste, but they bring it on themselves with bad roster decisions and a creative team (coughcoughrusso) that makes Eugene look like the cerebral assassin

It looks like Bubba Ray is going to turn on Devon. Thoughts?

RESPONSE FROM KE: I'm not convinced that is where things are headed, but if it happens, it could be good. The promos would probably be more entertaining than the matches.

This is TNA all over - talent to burn, clueless behind the scenes.

I thought that was a terrible show in just about every way. I have a few specifics to add to what's already been mentioned...

-- Okay, so Sting attacks Bischoff, and Hogan says Sting has got to disappear. And then not only does Sting keep his title shot AND his match with Hardy, but they LET HIM KEEP THE BAT. I realize that in the world of wrestling, the heel always gets to carry his weapon around, but this stretches credulity past the breaking point.

-- When Madison came to the ring without the rest of the BP's, I knew she was going to lose. But where were the BPs???

-- It was good to see Jay Lethal in his own persona, but they didn't bother to explain why he'd suddenly dropped the Black Machismo act.

-- Apparently, they've dropped (or forgotten about) the Abyss/HOF ring business. He seems to be turning back into his former character: the idiot monster. Yet another unexplained turn.

-- The 8-man X Division battle royal was an absolute joke. Four minutes? Guys flying over the top rope like popcorn? The X Div used to be one of TNA's strong suits; Hogan and Bischoff have turned it into an afterthought, with the wrestlers used as interchangeable spot monkeys. No character development, no feuds, nothing to build interest.

-- Eric Young talks about how he and The Band are "like brothers" -- "we're blood". Yeah. You've been a team for what, a month now? Come on.

-- Poor timing in Sting's attack on Hardy and Anderson. These two supposedly smart wrestlers are just kinda standing around in the ring, when they know Sting is in back of them with his bat? Stupid.

Having said all this, let me add that I really want to see TNA succeed. Having two solid promotions would be a good thing for fans and wrestlers alike. But Hogan and Bischoff are dragging TNA down, and producing an unwatchable product.

If I was Matt Morgan, I'd quit Tna and go back to WWE! He's still the youngest 7foot giant, and has the IT factor in spades! He can't trust tna because they are yet to create their own household name. Vince mcmahon could do that for Morgan in about 6months easily! Please Morgan! Quit tna and go back to where u started ur career: WWE!! U don't need Dixie or tna anymore!

"I’ve been an Eric Young supporter ever since he abandoned his comedic gimmick, but his character has been damaged by the frequent turns, especially the most recent one in which he inexplicably joined The Band. Young’s delivery on his promo on this show was fine, but I just don’t care anymore what he has to say."

His character is either delusional or a liar, because he said that Kevin Nash would always tell you what he'd do to your face before doing it. This is the same Kevin Nash who power bombed EY while pretending to be his tag team partner and his friend, and I don't believe he said "Eric, I am about to power bomb you" to Eric's face before doing it. So no, EY, people aren't critical of Nash because he's aggressive, they're critical of him because he's a backstabbing, selfish (expletive).

My idea of a good "shade of grey" character is the current version of Randy Orton. Even though fans love him right now the guy is still The Viper, he still wrestles like a heel by stomping on his opponent while he's down, he tried to RKO John Cena, etc. And he probably still holds a grudge against Triple H. But all of that is consistent with his old character; he has reasons for disliking Cena and Hunter, kicking guys while they're down has helped him win matches so there's no reason for him to stop, and it would be unrealistic for all of his Viper tendencies like his viciousness and his rage issues to magically go away overnight.

My idea of a BAD "shade of grey" character is Abyss as seen on this episode. You can't call yourself a babyface if you basically kidnap a terrified woman and it's implied that she'll be coerced into...doing things for you. You know. THINGS. Mike Tenay actually said that Abyss had the services of Chelsea for thirty days and "...let your imaginations run wild!" Ugh. I was actually rooting for Wolfe during that segment.

I can see Bubba Ray and Matt Morgan teaming up. They would be pretty good together as a tag team. Matt should of been in the top 10 rankings as well.

Heck, why not put Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair at the top of the rankings? …

Don't give them ideas.

TNA is heading downhill. I won't have anything to watch. They need to go back to the 6 months or so before Hogan arrived.

i watched some of impact this week mainly because it's back on thursdays. never watched them on mondays. always chose raw. anyways, was excited to hear that sting would be facing hardy in a dream match. but with all the other storylines i kinda got bored and tuned out completely missing the hardy/sting match. keep my attention tna! I don't think I am speaking for myself either.

Here's my main beef. Sting beat up Bischoff with a bat. And chokes Dixie. And seems angry at Hogan. Which makes it seem like he's p.o.'d that Hogan and Bischoff are running TNA into the ground. Which would make him a face, right? I doubt they'll play it that way, but it'd be interesting if they did.