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Why I Don't Watch TNA Impact #4: "The writers should study some Hitchcock movies instead of the Freddy and Jason movies." May 24, 2008 - 11:58:25 AM
I have to say that the number one reason I don't watch TNA is that they blatantly refuse to change their product! For some reason, this is a company that still drinks the Vince Russo Kool-Aid and believes its own hype in the face of plenty of evidence that what they're doing isn't working. TNA is a company, from top to bottom, that is content to tread water at the same mediocre level of success, and I can't respect that.
The company needs to get rid of the late-night infomercial shill announcers Don West and Mike Tenay. They need to stop arrogantly insisting they can re-educate viewers to appreciate an awkward and counter-intuitive six-sided ring. They have to start taking potential viewers' intelligence seriously. Am I supposed to believe that a guy whose best marketing idea was "slap nuts" (and whose best years were during the downfall of WCW) can be the leader of a revolution in wrestling? Yeah, I'm an internet wrestling geek, but I'm supported by the evidence that casual TV viewers have said no to TNA. If Jarrett, Nash et al. can't accept that, they don't deserve WWE-levels of success.
David Zgurski
Lethbridge, Alberta
***
Remember the incredible X-Division matches between Styles, Daniels, and Joe? Remember the incredible feud between LAX and Styles/Daniels? Remember the INSANELY good mic work from Konnan?
Impact used to actually be quite entertaining. Samoa Joe was the reason I tuned in to TNA each week. He was perfectly booked as an unstoppable monster who really seemed like the best wrestler on the planet. Then Russo made him into a Sports Entertainer and it was over. They should have booked him to beat Jeff Jarrett at the big PPV and built it similar to Sting/Hogan. It was a perfect setup. Jarrett was so loathed at that point and Joe was such a perfect monster it would have been awesome to see Jarrett tap to Joe. Then Kurt Angle could have come in and given Joe his first loss, with the reason being Angle's experience.
Now it's just all bad comedy. Longtime mid-carder Christian Cage and Over the Hill Sting being World Champions really devalued the belt. Russo's obsession with bringing old Attitude era angles into TNA is what's further ruined it.
Ricky Bush
Cincinnati, OH
***
I try. I really do. I give, and I give, and this is the thanks I get. Disrespect, no appreciation, and undelivered promises. (Sorry. After hearing that speech from ex-girlfriends, I wanted to give it instead of receive it for once).
TNA is the perfect target. I could go on for pages about my hate/hate-even-more affair with TNA. Like, "You will never change! You promise and tease change, but you never really change"! Or, "I only expect more from you because I know that you are CAPABLE of so much more"!
In the interest of brevity, and so I can stop sounding like a scorned woman, (or even worse, Dr. Phil), I will just comment on the biggest problem with TNA.
TNA seems to think that "action" and "a bunch of stuff happening" is the same thing. When things are always happening, everywhere, the actions cease to have any meaning. How important can something be, if three seconds after it happens, the program cuts away to show something else? TNA treats every happening equally, as if the are ALL huge, seismic events. The writers should study some Hitchcock movies instead of the Freddy and Jason movies they must be watching. They could learn how Hitchcock may only kill one person in a movie, but that one person has more impact and meaning than the pile of dead teenagers that Jason creates.
Daniel Latkowsky
Baltimore, Md.
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