The Official "What I dislike about TNA's Current Direction" Thread

[RKO]

TNA alright i mean they have alot of things they gotta work out but at the end tna will be fine. They will be a great and i mean great wrestling promotion that will give wwe a run for their money one day.

[hanibal]

I notice were tna is failing to improve their product is they lack storyline with no controversy. If they had more controversial storyline tna rating would be higher. If I was booking the mainevent mafia storyline I would have sting to blame the fans for supporting the tna originals lack of respect. I would have him attack a fans. Sting probally want do that because he wants to be a face. Him trying to be a face in this storyline is hurting this big angle. Russo was the king of controversy but lost his edge after leaving the wwe. Since tna want the cross the line create more controversy storylines.

[John]

What? TNA is Failing?? TNA is improving.

Erm, Isn't the MeM controversial? The Main Event Mafia is adding Controversy to the Show.

[RKO]

Well the MEM vs. TNA Originals storyline should do the trick and make TNA a little better. So far its going good.

[hanibal]

Sting face heel approach make it look sloppy.

[hanibal]

Sting need to cooperate with being a heel. Yes some heels get cheered, but people like steve austin did tried to act heel while sting sting not being cooperative. Stuff like that hurted wcw and will hurt tna.

[Gary]

Tbh controversy doesn't draw much anymore, not many things alone draw in wrestling anymore, yet individual things drive people away (e.g. the departures of Austin and Rock and the prescence of Cena) it's a tough biz these days, but TNA are at least managing to maintain an audience and in all honesty this MEM/TNA angle though it has it's flaws is clearly the must talk about subject of the promotion...whether it is drawing or not is another thing.

[SamHayden]

The idea of controversy wouldn't work in the current wrestling environment. The wrestling fan has changed, the majority of fans know about match psychology, angles, works, turns and all the other stuff that is usually kept in the back.

If you notice, TNA have started using wrestle-talk in front of the cameras, with wrestlers using phrases like "getting over" or "getting heat", also they make reference to stuff that has been on the internet during the week (Kurt Angles interview with The Sun for example and Christian Cages possible return to WWE as another).
This means that the product cannot be the same as it was in 1998 because the audience isn't the same. Therefore, stuff that worked before like attacking fans won't anymore because everyone will know it is work and even know who the plant is, what indy promotion he works for and even who trained him.
The only way to generate controversy would be to have real controversy backstage that leaks out. Or perhaps TNA leaking something that isn't true that makes us all think its real.

[404]

TNA needs tons more controversy in their matches. Forget booking GOD like Vince did. Let's book Allah! Instead of crucifying stone cold on a satanic cross like the undertaker did. Lets have shark boy die by way of a suicide bombing from Sheik Abdul Bashir. If the Sarah Palin and the beautiful people thing works out, TNA can always have themselves a MILF division. That will get people noticing!

[hanibal]

How about this. Kurt Angle claim he had an affair with jill and left him a will with his lawyer. Awesome kong beat up a man with cancer. Shamermell have an affair with booker t brother stevie ray and kiss each other in the mouth. Sting remove his face paint and blame tna fans for going along with tna originals disrepect. Bring back the ecw dudleys doing controversial promo,s under team 3d. Shock value will sell if giving a chance.

[Talon_DR]

you cant do too much controversial stuff because you work under a network like Spike. They dont even allow the male wrestlers to attack the lady wrestlers

[Strawberries & Cream]

How about this. Kurt Angle claim he had an affair with jill and left him a will with his lawyer. Awesome kong beat up a man with cancer. Shamermell have an affair with booker t brother stevie ray and kiss each other in the mouth. Sting remove his face paint and blame tna fans for going along with tna originals disrepect. Bring back the ecw dudleys doing controversial promo,s under team 3d. Shock value will sell if giving a chance.

Wow, thats probably the stupidest thing I've ever heard.

[jtpickens]

Yeah if SPIKE weren't so pc things would be a hopping. As for controversy when you consider that the majority of wrestling fans are old enough to remember the shock and wrestling connection of the 90s there really isn't anything these days that is actually considered shocking anymore.

[American Dragon]

How about this. Kurt Angle claim he had an affair with jill and left him a will with his lawyer. Awesome kong beat up a man with cancer. Shamermell have an affair with booker t brother stevie ray and kiss each other in the mouth. Sting remove his face paint and blame tna fans for going along with tna originals disrepect. Bring back the ecw dudleys doing controversial promo,s under team 3d. Shock value will sell if giving a chance.

This is without doubt one of the worst posts I have read on here and I hope you were being tongue in cheek with it.

TNA is obviously aware of how fans are now pretty much up on most story lines and are not going to be taken in by 'fans jumps' or any other stuff that may have worked when the Internet was not so prominent back in the 90s.

WWE is attracting the casual fans and it's product reflects so in it that it aiming at the younger market. TNA on the other I believe wants to appeal to the fans who have been turned off by WWE - the smarter fans and fans who watch more independent wrestling as they have become disillusioned with Vince's direction (hence the common use of wrestling terminology).

The current storyline with the M.E.M works for me as it giving the younger guys a platform while not pushing the bigger name talent out of the way. The way that Sting doesn't seem as 'on board' as the rest of the Mafia is good as he only speaks about the lack of respect the younger guys have, he doesn't trash them in the same way as Angle and Steiner will.

He is never there when they jump a younger guy, he rarely speaks when Angle does, it's perfectly set up for a face turn (if you can call it that as Sting will never get booed, I think TNA realise this) when Sting finally does get the respect of AJ and Joe.

For once TNA seem to running with the ball rather than dropping it.

And Hannibal, if you could spell and type in at a least a competent way then people may take your points a little more seriously, mind you, if you think suggestions like the above are actual ways TNA can bring controversy to the product, then you my friend, are are betting off watching CZW.

[-3:16-]

Sheik Abdul Bashir, Amazing Kong and her 'religious' manager, and the MEM Mafia storyline are just a few examples of the conroversy in TNA, so I don't get where your coming from when you say the company doesn't have any controversy.

American Dragon sums the topic up pretty well.