Robin PottratzTNA wrestling: They just don't get it
September 20th 2008 20:20
I was flipping through channels recently when I came across TNA wrestling's flagship show "Impact." It was the tail end of that weeks program which featured wrestling veteran and TNA founder Jeff Jarrett cutting a promo where he criticized the other veteran members of the TNA roster for not "passing the torch" to the younger talent on the roster. After his initial promo, this segment eventually featured appearances from the legendary wrestler Sting as well as legend in the making Kurt Angle.
In Jeff Jarrett's promo he specifically mentioned two younger TNA produced talents: A.J. Styles and Samoa Joe, the latter being the current TNA world heavyweight champion. He mentioned these two competitors in an attempt to convince the viewing audience and various other wrestling smart marks that TNA is not the WCW, which was notorious for not pushing younger talent and letting the established veterans call the shots.
However, as this segment drew to its conclusion, it became increasingly apparent that this segment was not about A.J. Styles, Samoa Joe, or any other member of the younger TNA roster. Jeff Jarrett had a verbal confrontation with Kurt Angle followed by motioning to a strategically placed video screen. On the video screen was a happy face picture with barb wire through it. Then the happy face picture dissolved away to reveal non other than the hardcore legend Mick Foley.
This naturally got a big pop from the TNA audience, which is the goal of any wrestling promotion. However this pop couldn't extinguish the WCW-esque feeling of this promo. Jeff Jarrett's promo, where he raves about the young talent on TNA only resulted in having appearances from Sting and Kurt Angle, who are two talents that were established as main event talent in other organizations, NOT TNA. The climax of this segment was the introduction of Mick Foley to TNA. Again, this is just build-up and more television time for another talent who was established as a main eventer in another organization.
As just a general rule of thumb when it comes to wrestling television is that the final segment of a wrestling broadcast should revolve around the world champion, or the title itself. However the world champion Samoa Joe and A.J. Styles were used in thie promo solely as props for the build up of Mick Foley's debut. There was no point to using them in this promo, in fact their simple mention in this segment brought both of them down a rung on the ladder, because neither one of them made a physical appearance.
TNA is very much the San Antonio Spurs of professional wrestling. They are a very old team who can still deliver when needed to, however everyone else (namely WWE) continues to push young talent and therefore will remain just ahead of the curve. Until TNA realizes this, which all evidence points to...they don't, they will never be a formidable wrestling organization and will inevitably be justifiably compared to that now defunct Atlanta based wrasslin program.
In Jeff Jarrett's promo he specifically mentioned two younger TNA produced talents: A.J. Styles and Samoa Joe, the latter being the current TNA world heavyweight champion. He mentioned these two competitors in an attempt to convince the viewing audience and various other wrestling smart marks that TNA is not the WCW, which was notorious for not pushing younger talent and letting the established veterans call the shots.
However, as this segment drew to its conclusion, it became increasingly apparent that this segment was not about A.J. Styles, Samoa Joe, or any other member of the younger TNA roster. Jeff Jarrett had a verbal confrontation with Kurt Angle followed by motioning to a strategically placed video screen. On the video screen was a happy face picture with barb wire through it. Then the happy face picture dissolved away to reveal non other than the hardcore legend Mick Foley.
This naturally got a big pop from the TNA audience, which is the goal of any wrestling promotion. However this pop couldn't extinguish the WCW-esque feeling of this promo. Jeff Jarrett's promo, where he raves about the young talent on TNA only resulted in having appearances from Sting and Kurt Angle, who are two talents that were established as main event talent in other organizations, NOT TNA. The climax of this segment was the introduction of Mick Foley to TNA. Again, this is just build-up and more television time for another talent who was established as a main eventer in another organization.
As just a general rule of thumb when it comes to wrestling television is that the final segment of a wrestling broadcast should revolve around the world champion, or the title itself. However the world champion Samoa Joe and A.J. Styles were used in thie promo solely as props for the build up of Mick Foley's debut. There was no point to using them in this promo, in fact their simple mention in this segment brought both of them down a rung on the ladder, because neither one of them made a physical appearance.
TNA is very much the San Antonio Spurs of professional wrestling. They are a very old team who can still deliver when needed to, however everyone else (namely WWE) continues to push young talent and therefore will remain just ahead of the curve. Until TNA realizes this, which all evidence points to...they don't, they will never be a formidable wrestling organization and will inevitably be justifiably compared to that now defunct Atlanta based wrasslin program.
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