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Welcome to another edition of the Greenfield Review. This week’s edition is going to focus on the last 8 years of TNA wrestling, taking a look back at that time, writing about the high points and the low point of TNA. TNA wrestling this week are celebrating their 8th anniversary being in business, having started out in Nashville Tennessee created by Jeff Jarrett and Jerry Jarrett in June 2002. This past Sunday they celebrated that success by holding a PPV called TNA Slammiversary, with the show headlined by Sting Vs Rob Van Dam for the TNA Title. It is strange to imagine how quick 8 years has gone, but it has not been that straight forward for TNA, where at times they nearly could have went out of business and also have made some terrible booking decisions.
The first section is going to look at the 5 top key moments in the last 8 years that I think are high points for the company since being in business.
The High Points so far:
· Kurt Angle joining TNA Wrestling in 2006 was one the biggest captures in the history of TNA. When TNA signed him in September 2006, it was one of the biggest names to make the jump from WWE to TNA since TNA had begun. It created shock waves around the wrestling world because no one expected him to join TNA. It was said he was going to take time off, heal up and then make his return to WWE. But when his signed with TNA, Dixie Carter made the biggest signing, not only was he a big name, but he was also the best wrestler in the world by far, and having him in TNA would only make the matches more special. Since being in TNA for the last 4 years, Kurt Angle has always delivered great matches, even when the booking is bad, getting good matches out of old and young talent in the company. This was the start of attracting other big names, like Booker T, Jeff Hardy, Rob Van Dam and Ric Flair.
· Another high point for TNA is making their debut in June 2002. The reasons why I say this is because no one expected them to stay in business for more than a few months, and ever since they have started, they always looked at the first show and see how far they have come in the last 8 years, beating every obstacle that comes at them. A lot of credit has to go to Dixie Carter, Bob Carter, and the financial investors who have had a lot of patience with TNA.
· Another high point for me is when TNA reached a new level in the quality of matches, when in September 2005, TNA held a PPV called Unbreakable and featured one the greatest matches in the last 10 years. AJ Styles Vs Samoa Joe Vs Christopher Daniels for the X Division Title. This was a match that would break all boundaries that a great wrestling match has. This match had high flying action, each wrestler trying to top the other; new wrestling moves not seen before, lots of near falls, a good strong crowd and had all the ingredients to be a great match. This for me is the best match I have seen in TNA and is one of my high points because at one point, TNA had the better matches than the WWE and were different from them.
· One high point that I think is very important to TNA is the TV deal they struck with Spike TV in 2005, where it was the first major TV deal for the company because beforehand they were on Fox’s Sports Net, which was only drawing a 0.3 rating and TNA Impact was not on a good timeslot, with a low audience. They also lost that TV deal and started to produce TNA Impact on the internet, while they were finding a TV deal that would help elevate them to the next level. In October 2005, they launched the premiere episode of TNA Impact on Spike TV on a Saturday night at 11pm and since then they have been on the network for the last 5 years, drawing a strong audience. But lately it has not really peaked as it should have been. But Spike TV is very loyal to TNA and it is expected to continue for many years to come. Spike TV is one of the main reasons why TNA has come this far and will need them in the future to be even more successful.
· Another key moment for me that is a high point for TNA is when they did their first tour over here in the United Kingdom because it showed how far they had come. TNA did not do a lot of touring until the turn of 2007, where they started to do more house shows, promoting the product on the road and it has started to be a success with TNA, drawing good crowds in the USA and in the UK. The first tour they did in the UK in June 2008, they sold out all venues and it showed they had a very strong fan base in the UK. TNA now regularly comes over to the UK for a tour in the first month of each year and they like to come and visit TNA. I met all of the wrestlers on the first tour and was great because I told Dixie Carter that she had worked really hard and people in the UK love wrestling and want an alternative to watch.
The Low Points so far are:
· TNA does however have quite a few low points, where some of the business decisions have been quite bad and some of the booking decisions have also been a low point. The first low point for me is when TNA brought in Hulk Hogan in October 2009; they instantly thought they could compete with the WWE, just like how WCW thought in the 1990’s. Hulk Hogan is the biggest name in wrestling history, but in 2010, he does not mean that much in wrestling. I respect Hulk Hogan and was pleased when he joined TNA but the way he is using himself on TV and booking decisions he is making are not good for the health for TNA. But he should still be in TNA but more as a special attraction, because he does attract media. TNA needs to move the focus away from competing with the WWE and try to focus on developing a new unique product that the wrestling fans want.
· The booking decisions in TNA over the last 8 years have consistently been the same and not much direction has been focussed, still trying to live of past storylines, using older talent, and not focusing on the development of new characters that mean something in wrestling. The blame does have to go in the creative and TNA has had one person who has always been in that department, that being Vince Russo. He has a great creative mind, but some of the things he comes up tend to never make sense. TNA has tried Dusty Rhodes, Vince Russo, Eric Bischoff, Mike Tenay and many more and none of them seem to be seeing the bigger picture. But they have made some good booking decision over the years, but one thing is for sure they need a Paul Heyman mind to change things.
· The other low point in TNA was when they announced the move to Monday nights on a permanent basis in February 2010, where they would go head to head with WWE RAW every single week. Dixie Carter and Hulk Hogan thought it would be important if they competed with WWE and try to elevate TNA due to thinking they could compete with WWE and they could gain an audience and split the audience in half, like what WCW and WWE did in the 90’s. But as people say it does not work like that. TNA does not have a strong fan base or enough loyal fans to draw a good rating on Monday nights and falling victim to that in the 8 weeks they went head to head with WWE, losing viewers each week. It hurt TNA financially because they brought in a lot of new talent and also improved production, lighting and costs for going live.
· Another low point is they are still in the Impact Zone. This is the studio at Universal Studios in Orlando Florida, where they produce all of their TV for Spike TV and Pay per Views. The problem that annoys me is that they have been there for 5 years and the crowds at the shows are not as good as they were when, they first started there.
