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GUEST EDITORIAL
By Adam Nagy of Dublin, Calif., PWTorch.com reader
With the finalization of TNA's move to two hours was the proverbial biggest announcement in their history, but the question that remains to be answered is will TNA finally be able to take a giant step towards being WWE's equal? They will have no excuses if they are not.
WWE is on what could arguably be called their biggest slide in their history. Their top stars are aging, they're still dealing with the fallout from the Benoit situation, they've just had to suspend ten wrestlers due to drug charges, congress is coming down on them, their ratings are up and down, their storylines haven't been clicking with their core audience, and other superstars are choosing to walk away from the life. WWE hasn't been this vulnerable in over a decade, around the same time WCW started building their foundation for their run at the top.
The difference between WCW and TNA is that TNA doesn't need to steal any wrestlers from WWE to compete; their current roster has more than enough firepower to compete with them. They already have a pre-built audience, they don't have to shed a perception of being a regional promotion as they've been national since their inception (and become more so in recent years), and they've always seemed just one step away from being great. Can they silence their detractors and become the national power they've always claimed to be? They have a few questions that they will need to answer in order to be seen as a true high-end alternative to the WWE.
1. Can they re-vitalize the X Division?
The X Division used to be the reason to watch TNA. The matches were show-stealers and were the talk of the wrestling community. Recently the only X Division matches that have been on free TV have either been quick squash matches or tag matches that turn quickly into spot fests. With two hours can TNA develop the characters of the wrestlers and have at least one lengthy quality X Division match per show?
2. Will segments no longer be a forgettable cluster of three angles?
It currently can be said that if you blink during a segment, you might miss an entire angle and they'll already be one to the next one. Brawls are cut-off as soon as they start and we're suddenly watching a promo having nothing to do with what we just saw and the guy talking is attacked and suddenly we're watching Kurt Angle in a tanning bed. Can TNA smoothly transition from segment to segment without confusing people and losing their interest?
3. Will they be able to come up with fresh angles?
Expanding to two hours means that TNA will now have to write double the amount of TV per week, meaning that they'll be having to fill more time with angles. Now instead of just throwing matches on PPV they'll have more time to build those feuds. We've seen both WCW and WWE have trouble filling five hours a week with quality programming and, granted, TNA is only having to write 40 percent of what WWE has to do, but still the pressure will be on to make sure that they're not repeating themselves or boring their viewers.
4. Can they continue to develop their new, young talent?
On TNA's press release they list Samoa Joe, A.J. Styles, Jay Lethal, Triple X, and LAX as their hot young talent. Problem is that most of them get lost in the shuffle from time to time and not all of them have established characters. It is vital for TNA to fully develop these and other members of their roster with their added time in order for them to not rely on the older wrestlers who may be seen as WWE has-beens.
5. Can they be a true alternative to the WWE?
TNA has done a good job with concept matches and other things such as the six-sided rings to distance themselves from being just a knockoff of the WWE, but other times they seem to just be copying the WWE. Take for instance the Cena-Michaels hour long match on Raw which was followed a few weeks after by the Angle match on TNA lasting half the show. They have to be different than WWE while not being so different that it stops being entertaining to wrestling fans. But if Jeff Jarrett returns to TV and we find out that he and Dixie Carter are the parents of the midget that jerked off in a trash can, I will throw my remote through my TV.
This is TNA's time. Spike TV has given them two years to become a powerhouse and the timing couldn't be better. Will they be able to capitalize on it or will they burn out and fail to become the powerhouse they've said they are and the wrestling world needs them to be.
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