I'm glad fans abused Dixie Carter on her twitter page for the Unoriginal and uninspiring promo for Stings return last week. Hopefully it will get through her head that TNA fans don't like a crap load of rehashed WWE/WCW promos/angle.

I'm not interested in giving away spoilers to people who don't know. So let me ask something, Kev...in a hypothetical sense. What do you think the maximum age for a wrestler to win a major world championship should be? And...hypothetically...does it make sense from a creative standpoint, to have someone who's been out of a company's main event scene (and shows altogether) to fly in and in the middle of a crowded main event level which has already had multiple quick title changes suddenly become said company's world champion. And finally...hypothetically speaking...does it not make said wrestling company look entirely short-sighted, petty and desperate to not only directly rip off a competing company's concept that wasn't involving them in the first place, but doing their "best" to TOP THEM by giving them THE SINGLE GREATEST MOST SHOCKING RETURN AND CHAMPIONSHIP WIN OF ALL TIME IN THE HISTORY OF WRESTLING WHICH HAS NEVER BEEN DONE BEFORE AND WILL GO DOWN AS A CERTAIN CREATIVE MEMBER'S CROWNING ACHIEVEMENT IN HIS ILLUSTRIOUS CAREER.

Hypothetically speaking of course.

I was very disappointed with the end of this week's Impact. That vignette made TNA look like they're unoriginal and playing second-fiddle to the WWE (which they are).

I just can't decide if I think the Sting video was clever or not. On the one hand, I agree with everything you say; on the other, tweaking the wrestling community and showing you're aware of what people are talking about isn't a bad thing. I suppose, ultimately, that focusing on what the WWE is doing does make them look small in comparison, and it certainly did not live up to the hype, so thumbs down I guess. Anyway, as Nigel Tufnel (or was it David St. Hubbins?) once said, there's a fine line between clever and stupid.

All the Jersey Shore stuff is on the wrong side of that line, by the way.

Why didn't TNA announce Sting's return, sans WWE-style video promo, LAST WEEK? Then, at least, they could have ruined the dreams of anyone foolish enough to believe that Sting was still in play. Instead, they ruin his comeback by rolling out a laughable imitation of what the WWE used and discarded. Never mind the fact that those Undertaker promos were used for almost an entire month, not for exactly one week. Weak.

It's easy to say that TNA is 2011's WCW. There are endless comparisons. What WCW had that TNA doesn't, and probably never will, have is credibility.

I'm glad I wasn't the only one who thought X-Pac was in attendance last night. I only caught a glimpse, but I would have swore that it was him.

TNA have a ton of talent on their roster, and they're the underdog. I'm rooting for them. I want to like TNA, but when I decide to catch an episode because they're promising to blow my mind with the biggest shock of the year, what do I get? A direct copy of WWE's undertaker-returns video. That's it? That's the shocker? ODB losing her first match back was more shocking.

I mean, Jersey Shore and endless vignettes with Jeff "couldn't draw money with a green crayon" Jarrett are unfortunate, but to promise fans a huge surprise and then just imitate WWE's ads really leaves me feeling stupid for having watched in the first place. It's insulting to the viewer.

Why would TNA deliberately copy the WWE's promos?? TNA needs to stop building its product AROUND WWE's product. Please TNA, carve out your own niche! Stop constantly reminding your viewers of the bigger, glossier, more successful competitor! So frustrating.

TNA is so cheap and low rent it's not even worth watching. I watch TNA nowadays with the same mindset that I watched WCW with in 2000/2001. Just watch it to laugh at it, joke with my friends as to how cheap and low rent it is, watch a few high spots from the no-name midcarders and then flip the channel.
There's zero emotional connection with any "homegrown" TNA talent, no regard for making moments special, basically no real entertainment value. TNA is coasting with the same real viewership value of WCW... ppl tune in to see some familiar WWE faces, have a laugh at how far they've fallen after leaving the 'McMahon magic' (see Jeff Hardy) and then flip channels.
I never have had, and probably ever will have any real emotional connection to any of the TNA mid carders. They're just nameless stuntmen to me. Even WWE NXT Rookies have more character development than the random TNA mid-carders.
It's the little things that TNA does wrong. For example, what is Mr.Anderson doing on TV wearing an off-color tracksuit and a military cap? What are members of Immortal doing not wearing similar clothing (ala Evolution)? Just things like that. You'll never see Wade Barrett in jeans. You'll never see John Cena in a dress shirt when in character. You'll never see the Miz in shorts. You'll never see Kane in street clothes. But somehow we see Abyss in various common man clothing, which brings down his star appeal. WWE knows how to present their characters almost like how video game characters have a distinct look and feel to them. Imagine Liu Kang or Sub-Zero from Mortal Kombat in jeans and a dress shirt. They'll be unrecognizable. If Liu Kang was a TNA talent, he'd be showing up in suits, T-shirts, shorts, bikinis, you name it. TNA has no clue how to market and promote STARS. Presentation is half the game. And as a side note, I'm almost 100% certain that if Rey Mysterio was in TNA, he'd be unmasked by now and be just another "wrestling guy" on the show. Compare that sad scenario to the almost spiderman-like presentation that McMahon has given Rey Mysterio. He's a unique masked super-hero in WWE and he'd sadly be a 'vanilla midget' in TNA.
Is it really so that no human being on the planet knows how to properly build new stars and real landmark moments other than Vince McMahon. God bless McMahon, even with all the mistakes he's made, if it weren't for him, this wrestling business art form that we all love and are fans of would have died ages ago.

It's official. World Wrestling Entertainment is well on it's way to devouring 100% of the global sports entertainment market. There will never be true competition, since no one not named McMahon seems to have any clue how this business works.

Of course, the truth is that the WWE videos were never about Sting in the first place, so it’s not like TNA one-upped WWE by “stealing” Sting from them. All TNA did was make itself look bad by once again failing to deliver on a “guaranteed” major surprise.

Totally agree Kevin. I think it makes Sting look bad too.

TNA truly shows what a second rate organization they are bad showing a almost child-like jealous toward the WWE. This is almost like a kid telling another child "HAHA I got Sting and you didn't". Do you think Vince cares? No, he is a business man. He realizes that both he could have gotten some more buy rates with Sting but the loser in this is Sting. And why is Sting the loser in this: (1) he probably lost a great payout, (2) he disappoints the fans, (3) he appears to be second rate by associating with a second rate company.

It is just sad that the only thing holding TNA back is TNA.

you know i hope that sting would have went to the wwe i have been a big fan of sting for a long time and he would have been great in wwe weather he had it out with the undertaker or teamed up with him and he would have been great in the hall of fame but instead he let us fans down by staying with tna a place that is becoming more and more predictable and the talent that was at one time very good with amw and petty williams and a lot of new talent is filled with wwe wash outs such as jeff and matt hardy and others now maybe sting thinks this company is more like wcw but to tell you the truth its far from it and its becoming more like an up dated ecw if that's even possible now i know wrestlemaina is coming to miami next year hopefully sting will give the fans what they really want not him wasting away in a place that cant keep up but instead goes and show us all how great he really is the icon known as sting we love watching you but no one is excited about you vs jeff hardy but we all are super excited to see you go to the wwe so sting you say you really love the fans well give the fans what we really want sting vs the undertaker thanks anthony.

"We"=Hogan and Bischoff. As far as Sting goes, he could've done an NWO-style save (say when AJ was getting beaten down by Flair and Hernandez) which would've been way more interesting.

Wow, I can't believe that TNA thought it was a good idea to blatantly copy the WWE 2-21-11 videos. They say that imitation is the best form of flattery, but I doubt the WWE cares about any flattery that comes their way from a second-rate organization like TNA.

Tna can either put on an fairly good episode, or an episode so bad, you will consider never watching again.

By the way, your "Remember personal info" button doesn't work

If thats “the most surprising shock of the year – guaranteed!!!”, then 2011 looks to be extraordinarily mediocre.

Kevin, I would have been much tougher than you on TNA. This promotion has a lot of talent, but the whole Sting thing is emblematic of why TNA just isn't goint to last.

Flair is still a joke. That's not going to change as he gets older.

The Jarrett family stuff is just... boring. If both of them were 10 years younger and attractive, it might be different.

Sorry, but Steiner is not good on the mike. Him on the mike was a disaster in WCW. He still has an amazing look for a late 40's rassler, but that's it.

Gunner & Murphy is a lame joke.

And everything that Bishoff says sounds like recycled trash that failed in WCW.

Both Hardy's are embarrasing to have on the roster - let alone as key players.

X-Pack could actually help them. That's part of the problem.

TNA is simply awful. I stopped watching months ago and I'm not going back.

Re: "...a couple of vitamins away from a chemical disaster." -- forgive my cluelessness, but I have no idea as to what is being referred to. Can someone explain?

It would have been hilarious if Vince had used his money to embarrass TNA at the last minute like he did with Nash & Booker T. We'd have probably been watching Impact close with their plan b, Fortune RE-turning back into Immortal and having AJ Styles change his name to "Charlie Mean" and parody Charlie Sheen.

Ahh crap, if Russo reads this blog I probably just gave him his big storyline to compete with Wrestlemania.

Sting coming back may not be a big thing to everyone, but nor was Undertaker "returning from the dead" a big surprise either. Nevertheless everybody wanted to see both of these things happen, as you will hear from the crowd reaction on impact when Sting makes his entrance

I actually thought it was pretty funny when TNA ran thoes 3-3-11 videos. It was like saying "In your face" to the WWE and the marks that make up the IWC

The end of the iMPACT where they previewed next week's show was like the best of the worst of TNA Wrestling:

- Giving away a PPV quality main event on free TV? (Anderson/RVD/Angle 3-way) Check.
- Bringing in a NFL star nobody cares about? Check.
- Bringing in a reality star nobody cares about? Check.
- S****y, cliche wrestling storyline? (Jarrett's wedding) Check.
- Segment that parodies WWE but only manages to make TNA look even more 2nd rate? (3.3.11 promo) Check.
- Bringing in a former WCW star whose heyday was 10+ years ago. F'N CHECK!

Kevin, words fail me. Not only was the surprise...nothing...but the stupid parallel with Taker's hype is just mind-boggling idiotic. For the first time, I let the thought cross my mind that TNA is not going to make it. You take their talented roster, bury it for 13 months, give hope of turning it around, then pull another stupid stunt like this, and the handwriting is on the wall. There are no intelligent bookers for TNA. This could have been a good company and entertaining for years to come, but the end is likely near unless someone with half an understanding of a simple decent storyline gets hired.

TNA shocks me every week simply by remaining in business.

Kev,

I agree with you that the "major surprise announcement" totally did not live up to it's hype. In fact it stunk. However, my huge complaint for the show was the way over the line language from Matt Morgan. Dropping the MF words on national tv and the beep to sensor it not on time really is too much. I think TNA needs to tone down the language and I would say that WWE needs to allow a little more. In my eyes Morgan is too good to need to use words like that to get his point across. Just wondering your thoughts on Morgan's language.

RESPONSE FROM KE: I have no problem with TNA using foul language, blood, risque story lines, etc. to make them vastly different than the WWE's family friendly product. However, I do agree that they take it too far. A curse word here and there is effective, but when every character is cursing frequently, the words lose their impact and it starts to make TNA look desperate,

If it was X-Pac sitting in the second row, do you think "They" sent him?

Or that next week Road Dogg will be sitting with him, and then the week after Billy Gunn will be with them? I can see it now "DX2.0"

Running a wrestling company must be a very hard job. The way TNA screws things up, makes you believe that no one in that company knows what they are doing. I agree that keeping Sting in TNA s not a big deal at all. A blind man could see that, so why can't TNA.

RVD does nothing for me any more. His spot in the main event should have gone to Matt Morgan. RVD brings nothing new to the table and he would be no where near a main event in WWE.

Instead of pushing Rob Terry as a monster, they should push him as a muscle bound snob. They may have found something for him in his exchange with Steiner. And Crimson looked good, but too bad he's another young guy who will simply be squandered at the expense of pushing older talent.

Robert Roode is being wasted with this Gunner and Murphy non sense. I like Beer Money, but there's nothing left for Roode to accomplish in the tag team division. It's time Roode graduated to main event status.

In closing, I truly believe that if TNA could be run in a competent fashion, they actually could give WWE a run for their money. But until they are under better management, they will continue spinning their wheels.

Yes, it is true that TNA's creative team cannot help crapping all over themselves like dumb animals. If they put over one decent angle, then they have a subsequent compulsion to make sure they soil some other aspect of the show in an equal part.
I also was surprised by Rob Van Dam's mic time. I think it's some of the best he's done, and if he keeps it up, the feud with Anderson will be a good one.
I do have to strongly disagree with Mr. Eck on Steiner. He is an inarticulate buffoon, and always has been, and I've never found him entertaining. He's another stain on the show for me. His time would be better spent on giving Matt Morgan something more to do than some fuzzy feud with Hernandez, when both of those guys could be used a whole lot better. The beginning of this angle has already tread on some dangerous territory. I don't think doing an "immigration" program is really the best thing to be doing in this country right now, regardless of your political stance on the subject. There are some real bad things going on with that issue now, whether it's on the border, or in court as it concerns Arizona. It is probably not the best time to exploit it in a wrestling ring.
And Crimson's squash match? Perhaps Russo thinks he's found a new Bill Goldberg, but it doesn't seem too likely. Crimson looks like it might be better to start him off slow and let him develop.
Yeah, and let's whip on this dead horse. It's rotting now, but...no Russo, no Hogan, no Flair, no Jarrett, (please god no, why AGAIN)--NO STING---and just a couple of writers with half a brain, and TNA would blow the doors off of WWE. There, the horse is beaten.
Tune in everybody next week, when Mr. Anderson is squashed by "The Situation" and David Faustino halfway down the card, and the main event is Flair versus Sting in a Metamucil-on-a-pole match. Ten bucks says that Sting will completely steal the potential for the younger talent push going on,(sort of going on, anyway), to become the leading force against "Immortal".
And isn't Sting 50 years old now? Sure he can still draw but...not only did they steal a video package, but they're going to use it to announce the return of a fifty-year old man who dresses like the hero of a twenty-year old cult movie worshipped by fifteen year old Goth kids? WWE already did that too.
Altogether, we can surmise that...Russo drops acid. That is the reason for his alleged conversion to God, (I'm not a Christian, but it seems as a casual observer that it kind of doesn't jibe with the idea of Velvet Sky rubbing her S#@^% on the ring ropes--so Russo's discovery and interpretation of his faith must be coming from somewhere mind-altering), and that is also why TNA consistently blows opportunities that a ten year old would know better than to waste, and why it seems that schizophrenic monkeys run the place. Acid. Big, huge caps. Gunnar and Murphy against Young and Jordan? There's your answer.

RESPONSE FROM KE: Just to be clear -- when I said that Steiner is always entertaining on the mic, I meant it in a so-bad-he's-good kind of way.

TNA hates their fans.

People weren't excited to see Sting. They were excited for the novelty of seeing Sting in the WWE setting.

Thats why people went crazy for Diesel's return. He was in TNA for 6 years and nobody cared. It was seeing him in the WWE again that lit the spark.

@ Bill - It's a steroids reference, which in a match / program between Steiner and Terry, is a horrible idea.

does matt millen run TNA?

All the 3.3.11 vignette showed me is that TNA just doesn't get it. It's not that Sting returning to wrestling was creating all that buzz, it was Sting MAYBE going to WWE and MAYBE was going to face Taker at Mania that made people care! Sting left TNA, what, 3 months ago? BFD. Sting is not a "get". Sting to WWE is THE "get".

And as far as the card for this "historic" impact next week:

-Gunner and his pal vs. Beer Money
-Something else involving Jersey Shore
-Steiner vs. Terry
-Hogan/Dixie hot mess
-Velvet Sky vs. Sarita
-Morgan vs. Hernandez

Good grief...is there anything anyone is ACTUALLY looking forward to seeing???

I deliberately didn't include the Angle/Jarrett program, because that's the only angle I've enjoyed over the last few weeks, and am looking forward to seeing how this plays out.

AND WHERE IS DESMOND WOLFE???!!

Thanks, Steve. All I could come up with was something to do with Hulk Hogan and couldn't imagine why anything like that would tick off Kevin Eck!

Does ROH have a TV deal yet? I'm done with TNA.

I wanted to write a long inarticulate rant, but decided that TNA is not worth my efforts and time.

First off let me start off by saying Oh TNA how you always let us down with your lackluster surprises. I totally saw that crap they pulled coming I was just hoping they wouldn't be stupid enough to do it but I guess I was wrong. As for the rest of the show well first off whats up with the racist crack Bubba made towards Devon they've been tag-teaming for how long now like 20 years now all of a sudden you want me to believe Bubba is racist yea right. Oh and about Steiner's roid joke First rule about Wrestling we don't talk about Roids. As for Flair bleeding all over the place when AJ kicked his but I knew that was going to happen Flair bleeds in like every match or confrontation he has the guys got soft skin or something . Was happy to see ODB make a return but would have loved it if it were AWESOME KONG showing up instead but there's no way you could get me to believe Madison Rain could beat Kong with out the help of Victor.... um Terra(almost Pulled a Tazz there)

I tried to watch on Thursday, I really did. I wanted to give it a shot, but I didn't even make it to the main event, let alone the "biggest surprise in the history of surprises".

The whole time, I felt like I was watching an episode of World Class or Mid-Atlantic wrestling from the 80s, with hi-tech cameras. The storylines were ridiculous. Not one time during any of the promos, vignettes, or matches did I feel inclined to care about the people involved. Little stuff irked me, like how security showed up for the pull apart with Anderson and RVD, but no security showed up for Flair/Hernandez and Styles, and the security that did show up wasn't willing to stand in between Terry and Steiner. That's a detail that experienced fans like me care about, and TNA is lacking that in great heaping quantities.

What TNA needs most, more than getting rid of Hogan and Bischoff and Russo and Jarrett and Flair, more than arena shows, more than bringing back workers, more than anything is a full-time Director of Continuity. The organization is small enough that there should be a gigantic chart listing everyone in the company, and every on-screen interaction (positive, negative, or neutral) between two performers should be recorded. If fans don't forget that something happened on screen between wrestler A and wrestler B, why should we buy the two people involved forgot? If they want us to forget, then give us a 30-second interaction between the two explaining why it doesn't matter, or something. It's just smart writing, and TNA has never shown that. So, I doubt if I'll care enough to give it another shot.

Out of all the world champions in TNA, only 3 were "home grown." AJ, Joe, and Ron Killings (if you can call him home grown). This is just one of TNA's problems, they rely too much on WWE/WCW guys.

It was good to see ODB back. She has been one of my favorites too. Steiner as well. He generates energy, even if he is no-where near what he used to be in the ring.

TNA should just focus on what it does well, which is wrestling. Being an upstart, they aren't going to compete with the WWE, who has an establised brand name and marketing department. The WWE does a different style of product that they won't be able to copy.

Roode needs to main event, RVD and Joe should feud, and Anderson should go to mid-card status.

Do WWE loyalist not understand the difference between "coppying" and "mocking"? TNA wasn't coppying anyone. They were makeing fun of WWE and their fans for thinking that Sting would leave for the WWE. They were trying to make you angry, and by the sound of things, it worked.

I mostly agree with what everyone is saying, but I just wanted to weigh in to defend Steiner on the mic. Yes, the guy's not shakespeare, but when he has stick time I always pay attention, because he's always offbeat, never boring, and it always feels like he might really go over the edge and flip out at any second.

Him being harassed by Eric Young was hilarious, for instance... just seeing the Genetic Freak being messed with by someone is inherently funny, because he's such a monster.

There's a reason that clips of Steiner cutting promos are so popular on youtube... whatever else you say about him, the man is definitely entertaining. I hope he gets more talk time in future.

Re: "...a couple of vitamins away from a chemical disaster." -- forgive my cluelessness, but I have no idea as to what is being referred to. Can someone explain?

Posted by: Bill
Vitamins=steroids, HGH, etc...

Steiner has always been someone that is willing to cross the line in order to get attention from a certain portion of the internet wrestling community.

The vitamin joke was a prime example of that.

I also remember Triple H doing something similar to Chris Masters after he was suspended for steroids a couple of years back.

I don't really have a problem with a tounge in cheek swipe at the Sting to WWE hype, I'm just so damn dissapointed they decided to make sure a big deal of doing it.

If they did that at the top of the show and had Taz/Tennay talk it up like the IWC had done the WWE videos in a sarcastic manner then got on with the show without the hype then it would just look like a shot at the delusion IWC that just makes up what they want to see. That's how you'd go about it if you wanted to play that card. You don't hype up something like this as the biggest surprise of the year online if your trying to be sarcastic, I don't know how Mr Sarcastic manages it every blog but most people can't manage to express it in a written form.

I don't see how the video made TNA look second rate, it was a paraody... it was scary movie to scream and that's something the WWE has done before... Gillberg anyone? TNA looks second rate for not delivering on a promise of a big moment... a paraody video doesn't. What happens if its not Sting? Just saying.

On the plus side for TNA... Just how good are they making AJ Styles look right now?! Mr. TNA made a segment with Flair interesting and that's not happened in TNA for a long while, the only real way forward is to have Jeff drop the title to AJ before he becomes someone's bitch in the pen.

Gunner and Murphy look a good tag team, i see why from a storyline view people complain about them being tag title contenders going against beer money but Immortal is light on men and who could they recruit?

I have to disagree...I think the rip-off of the WWE 2-21-11 was pretty funny in my book. Maybe I just took it the wrong way but when I saw that, I thought that WWE dropped the ball on their surprise and TNA delivered on it...even though it wasn't a surprise.

I also agree with a comment above that TNA needs to get rid of Russo, Bischoff, Hogan and company but I disagree with getting rid of Ric Flair. I think Ric Flair still has something to offer the business but it needs to be channeled in a totally different direction than these in-ring stunts he pulls. I was totally into the Styles-Flair encounter and I was one who thought TNA totally botched the story by having Flair stay a heel.

What continues to baffle me more than anything is TNA's affinity for Jersey Shore. I want to PUKE! Why in the world do they think they have to subject us to this crap! I'm sick of J-Woww or whatever her name is and I have no idea who this Angelina is. It is not possible for me to care less on that crap. PLEASE TNA, PLEASE give us wrestling instead of Jersey Shore crap.

The Sting announcement was less disappointing than the Undertaker being the man in the 2 21 11 videos. And even if you don't want to admit it, you know you thought the video was cool even if it was a rip-off.

RESPONSE FROM KE: Sorry, I thought TNA's video was pathetic, not cool. But that's just me.

@Frank King:

ROH does have a TV show. I saw it awhile back on HDNet, which is on my Verizon FIOS package. I think it showed on Monday night at 8:00.

In fact, a quick check of www.hd.net shows the show airing tonight at 8:00 for an hour. Enjoy.

TNA is boring

I am not excited about a HHH/Taker match at WM. I would have appreciated a Sting/HHH match or even Sting/Taker. I like the idea of a second wrestling company to compete with the WWE. I just wish that TNA would be more original and creative in the direction of their product. Imitation is not always the sincerest form of flattery.

Do WWE loyalist not understand the difference between "coppying" and "mocking"? TNA wasn't coppying anyone. They were makeing fun of WWE and their fans for thinking that Sting would leave for the WWE. They were trying to make you angry, and by the sound of things, it worked.

Posted by: Tim B | February 27, 2011 12:38 PM
------------------------

That's TNA logic in a nutshell. Instead of creating quality programming and making new stars, they're more concerned with sticking it to the IWC. Even worse, they allowed the WWE to enjoy weeks of free hype based on a wrestler signed to TNA. That's just brilliant. Of course, this is why the company hasn't grown despite bringing in big-name star after big-name star, but hey, at least they mock a few gullible fans.

Despite a roster filled with unique talent, TNA continues to fail to be innovative. While the concept of x-games and the multi-sided ring were creative enough at the beginning, there really hasn't been a fresh or new storyline in the last few years. It just seems that the same old tired tricks that were used in the last days of the WCW are being reintroduced here and the product is getting stale, despite the talent. The whole concept of "Sting Returns" has been done over and over and over again . . . the "Main Event" was a rip off of the N.W.O. With the talent they have, they could really do something fresh and the talent could carry it to new heights but every time they build a little momentum, its back to the same-old, , same-old.

What is the deal with O.D.B.? Is she being pushed off the roster?

TNA sucks.