Why do people like TNA?

Hematocyte

That's a genuine question btw and is something that's been on my mind for a while now. I'm trying to make sense of why this federation is the 2nd most popular and as to what entertainment value it provides for wrestling fans.

To see where I'm coming from I've only got back into watching wrestling in the last 8 months or so. Since that time I've seen every Raw, Smackdown , WWE PPV as well as every TNA impact and TNA PPV.

Eight months in and I find WWE entertaining on a nostalgic level. It's clearly copying the 80's formula I grew up on and aimed at pre-teens and I can watch it on that level. I 'get' it.

However by comparison I genuinely cannot make sense of what's going on in in TNA or who exactly it is for or what it is about.

In my opinion the TNA storylines and characters seem undeveloped (almost to the point that they're treated as insignificant) and appear to generally go nowhere. Every week Aces and Eights will come out and talk about 'how they're gonna take over' and then Hulk Hogan just throws together some fixtures based on nothing in particular and once the match is over all is pretty much forgotten about and the whole thing is repeated again next week. Likewise a character will appear for a match and then disappear again for a month.

There often appears to be no real hierarchy among the wrestlers or properly established feuds. For example who are Ace's and Eight's rivals? It's appear to be "anyone and everyone". Conversely the tag division seems to be the same 3-4 teams endless pairing off against each other week after week.

Also many of wrestlers themselves many still seem unclear to me. Take a guy like Samoa Joe. He's clearly one of the preferred guys in TNA but after 8 months of watching I still have pretty much zero idea who the guy 'is' or what his characters motivation is. It’s the same thing for a guy like DOC in Ace's and Eights. He just stands in the back saying pretty much nothing. It looks like they're setting him up for a face-turn soon but why is anyone supposed to care?

To top it all however, matches themselves often seem to make no sense. For instance, in the most recent TNA there was a 4-man Bound for Glory qualifier. Prior to the bell two of the four just "got out of the ring" by their own volition. Now what would have happened (kayfabe) if the one of the two in the ring had got a quick win? Basically I'm saying this would be the type of match where your character should be dying to get into the ring at all times. Come to think of it why even have two guys outside the ring in the first place for a match that only one guy could win?

I could probably write a list as long as your arm as things I find 'odd' about the way TNA is booked/presented. It's not necessarily bad (I mean I know 100% I couldn't book a federation correctly myself) but the whole product just seems so amateurish and ill-conceived from start to finish.

My basic question to you is, if you like TNA then why in particular do you like it? Do you like it purely because it's
(1) simply an alternative to WWE?
(2) trying to present a more 'grown up' wrestling universe? ie the beer drinking, reality tv, x-factor style it's clearly trying to ape.
(3) the actual wrestling is better than WWE (I ask that about the wrestling as I refuse to believe anyone thinks the scripting/storylines are better than WWE
(4) you enjoy it on some ironic level perhaps? (I'm probably in this category myself.

Anyway, any views/comments on what you like (or whether I'm right/wrong etc) gratefully received.

rossie1977

you need to ask this question on here http://www.wrestlingforum.com/total-nonstop-action-wrestling/

there are tons of people that only watch tna on there

Ando's Saggy Bottom

People like TNA!? :pac:

hufpc8w3adnk65

rossie1977 wrote: »

you need to ask this question on here http://www.wrestlingforum.com/total-nonstop-action-wrestling/

there are tons of people that only watch tna on there

I'm a regular on that site...it's pain full at times tho

takamichinoku

I don't watch huge amounts, but there are a variety of things on its side:

1. It's an alternative: not exactly the greatest reason or anything
2. No Kevin Dunn: They're seriously restricted with a lot of production stuff by not having the crowds or budgets of WWE, but I significantly prefer TNA's approach to backstage stuff over WWE's. There's a fair bit of weird choices with all of that in WWE that I gather are due to Kevin Dunn and it's refreshing to see how easy it can be to do something a lot less convoluted.
3. Solid roster of characters: The scale of it all cuts the legs under a lot of them from getting to feel like legit stars, but the quality is there and it seems to give a lot of them the freedom to develop themselves. I think Samoa Joe is a bit of a detriment to the company in this respect nowadays; when people are recommended to give TNA a shot because it has Samoa Joe, they're basically being mislead, the Samoa Joe is long gone.
4. Impact is generally a fairly enjoyable show nowadays: They're messing up hugely with this long-term booking by focusing on it too much and not offering enough compelling deviations, making the show pretty insignificant, but it is very easy to sit through for the most part. With a better commentary team and a focus on guys other than Hogan and Sting, it could be consistently quite good.

Machismo Fan

takamichinoku wrote: »

They're messing up hugely with this long-term booking by focusing on it too much and not offering enough compelling deviations, making the show pretty insignificant, but it is very easy to sit through for the most part.

TNA don't do long term booking per se, they stretch one month angles out over three and call it a long term story. The shows progress at a snails pace as a result.

Clemantis

Reasons I watch TNA:
A large roster of great characters. They also have a large number of top guys who are great wrestlers. Treating the women's division like it matters is also a plus, although they can be inconsistent on this score. The comedy segments usually make me laugh, unlike WWE comedy segments that usually make me cringe. They have less segments that I feel the need to fast-forward through (pretty much only Gut Check). They have Christy Hemme.

There is also a lot wrong with TNA. I have absolutely zero interest in take-over angles or power-struggles. The Aces and Eights being mostly made up of guys from New York does not make a lick of sense, especially when you have the likes of Gunner - who looks the part - not included. They lost me for a good long while when Hogan and his buddies rode in, subjecting us to ridiculousness like the Nasty Boys pretending to be relevant in the 21st century and one-time-worker Val Venis going over full-time Chris Daniels. But the likes of Hardy, Roode, Storm and Aries eventually enticed me to start watching again.

And hey, there is a lot wrong with WWE and I watch that too.

riffmongous

Hematocyte wrote: »

In my opinion the TNA storylines and characters seem undeveloped (almost to the point that they're treated as insignificant) and appear to generally go nowhere. Every week Aces and Eights will come out and talk about 'how they're gonna take over' and then Hulk Hogan just throws together some fixtures based on nothing in particular and once the match is over all is pretty much forgotten about and the whole thing is repeated again next week. Likewise a character will appear for a match and then disappear again for a month.

Well compare that to the big takeover storyline from WWE the last year. The Shield came in talking about injustice and whatnot months ago and how has their story actually developed since then? The WWE teased a reveal of who was in charge of them, then dropped it and since then there has really been any of the development that people bash TNA with. The Shield have been great and are super over, but it's not because of storyline development. Why are they actually feuding with Team Hell No again?

The main reasons I prefer watching TNA compared to WWE are:

• Consistently better wrestling and a style of wrestling I find more enjoyable to watch
• Awesome tag teams
• Proper womens wrestling
• Less awful 'comedy'/ dance segments
• Less shilling, one of the last times I watched RAW the breaks came in about every 7 minutes, add in the Haardees burger segments, the WWE App ads and it all adds up to a pretty crap viewing experience
• The Bad Influence
• No HHH

gnfnrhead

Why do people like anything? They enjoy it.

I cant sit through a full episode of Raw (or any WWE show really) but dont complain that others do. If you like it, great, I dont so I simply dont watch it.