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Why I Don't Watch TNA Impact #2: "I can't think of one TNA original wrestler whose personna isn't a total goofball."
May 23, 2008 - 5:26:05 PM


I know it sounds crazy, but I just don't like the ring.  If you put the same ring on Raw, it just wouldn't look right for some reason. I have watched TNA and still do occasionally, but everytime I just think it looks stupid in the six-sided ring.

Steve Turner

***

I have been watching pro wrestling ever since I was a little kid. In Utah, we were in the old AWA territory. I still remember the Saturday night when the WWF Superstarst took over the AWA timeslot.

Anyway, the main reason that I don't watch Impact is because it is completely stupid. The booking makes no sense at all, Mike Tenay is the WORST announcer of all time and that idiot who sits with him isn't any better.... GORE... GORE... GORE... Give me a break! I think that the product would be awesome if they put more creativity in their booking, less stupid gimmick matches, and if the characters were cooler. I can't think of one TNA original wrestler whose personna isn't a total goofball.

Tony Neeley

***

Because it's basically the same show every week.

Jim Miller

***

I've never watched TNA for more than a few minutes at a time - so I'm not someone who has turned his back on the product, more someone that has never seen reason to watch it despite the fact that I watch Raw, Smackdown and yes, even ECW week in, week out. There are innumerable reasons I don't watch TNA. Here's a quick rundown:
 
1. Lack of professionalism: From the production values to the low-brow comedy everything about TNA comes off as unprofessional. WWE is so slick that it comes across as a real TV show - a spectacle. TNA is just unrefined and unrealistic. It looks like it's thrown together by comparison - and not in a raw, edgy way like the old ECW. Just WWE-lite.
 
2. Lack of new talent: There's no doubt TNA has a wealth of talent at its disposal, but how much of this talent is suitably positioned? Only now are Samoa Joe and A.J. Styles getting appropriate pushes and, really, they missed the boat with both performers much as WWE did with Rob Van Dam in 2002 and Randy Orton in 2004. I'm bored with them now - they'll have great matches, sure, but you have to capitalise on crowds when they're hot for a superstar. WWE did it with Steve Austin and The Rock. Have no lessons been learned?
 
3. Washed-up stars: I've been a wrestling fan for more than 20 years and Kurt Angle is one of my favorite performers of all time. However, I have no wish to watch him following the circumstances in which he left WWE - Kurt should have taken time to get himself well. It sickened me that TNA brought him in as quickly as they did without giving him time to get healthy. Booker T is a mid-carder, Nash should have retired five years ago and Sting, really? A top draw at his age? Please.
 
4. Over-hyped women's division: I am a strong believer that women's wrestling can play a crucial part in a TV show and I look forward to the diva matches on Raw each week, so thepositive reviews of TNA's women's division encouraged me to take a look. However, this division has been ludicrously over-hyped. The reason it pops the highest quarter hour ratings is because men channel surf and stop briefly to see attractive women bounce around on a show aptly named - TNA! There's nothing sustainable about that audience (they'll tune out when the segment ends) and the idea of a spin-off and extra segments for the women is ludicrous; people will only watch them in short bursts, a full hour would kill the mystique. This isn't really a reason why I don't watch TNA, more a pet hate of the direction they're about to take. And the women in TNA are no better than anyone in WWE - Mickie James, Beth Phoenix, Victoria, Melina, Natalya, and Candice are all strong workers, and I see little wrong with the performances of Michelle, Cherry, Kelly, and Layla as girls who can be mixed in to keep things fresh or treated as effective ''jobbers'' to the more high profile females. TNA has Kong, Kim, and ODB with Roxxi and Angelina capable of mixing things up. It's no better than WWE. And please don't tell me Velvet Sky can work - she's being carried by a tag partner now, much as she was in the indies.
 
5. Competition and over saturated market: When Nitro and Raw competed, they went head to head. That meant whichever company you chose you were only watching wrestling on that one night a week - with later Thunder and Smackdown being added to the mix. Now you have three separate nights with WWE action and an additional night with TNA. It's also a night where TNA goes head-to-head with strong and successful TV shows such as CSI, Survivor, and even during the summer the likes of So You Think You Can Dance. I simply have no motivation to give my Thursday nights to TNA.
 
Paul Lucas,
Tallassee, Alabama


If you watch Raw but not Impact most weeks, why?
My time is limited and Raw is obviously the A-show each week.
TNA's roster of wrestlers just doesn't do it for me.
I've sampled Impact and don't like how they present the show.
There are other shows I prefer to watch on Thursday nights.
Other (please specify - send to pwtorch@gmail.com)
  




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