TNA mid year review

Oh dear.



Will try and do a proper one later.

Will it be along the lines of......

Rating: A*

They survived the first 6 months of 2015 without folding. Result!

I'd give it a C- on the personal basis that I feel like I've tuned into a number of bits of it, but none have really deeply compelled me to keep coming back and make sure this is on my must watch TV.

Adam D wrote:Oh dear.



Will try and do a proper one later.

I think you already did, right there!


I think its best summed up as a transition year for the company. They've been on pretty shaky ground financially, having to secure a new TV deal, then finding out it may be cut short...or at least not renewed. Highlighted by the fact they're trying to cut a deal with Jarrett and GFW, giving him air time on their shows and doing interviews where he's allowed to plug his new company.

They've had to let a lot of their best talent go, before they've been able to build up the newer guys...the only notable exception being EC3.

The storylines / feuds have been mostly eminently forgettable...its going to take a whole lot more than Billy Corgan to sort out (resurrect?) their creative team. I think the best recent story I can recall was the EC3 - Spud feud, which was memorable because it actually had a decent back story to it and ran over quite a few weeks (months even?). Before that the only one that springs to mind is the Eric Young - Abyss / Joseph Park saga.

There have been a few others which have showed some initial promise, but were then cut short or just seemed to end fairly abruptly, such as Magnus - Bram. Not to mention some that just seemed utterly pointless, such as James Storm - Mickie James - Magnus.

On the plus side, there have still been some good (even great) matches, such as the Wolves - Dirty Heels tag team title series...but then that didn't require any back story to make them interesting. The EC3 - Angle heavyweight title match is another exception...more so because that actually had a good build up with EC3's unbeaten streak (sadly a real rarity for TNA).


As Prometheus says, its the lack of compelling storylines, giving the matches meaning, that is hurting their product most IMO.

Also, they still don't seem to know what to do with their talent (again with a few exceptions). Doesn't seem to matter whether they're new or established, former title holders or perennial mid-carders, they seem to get shuffled about according to whatever ideas the "creative" team have brainfarted out on any given week. There is little to no consistency and very few wrestlers ever seem to get any kind of sustained push and built into credible stars.

Singles wrestlers get put into tag teams. Tag teams get broken up. X Division wrestlers challenge for the heavyweight title and vice versa. I'm not saying there should never be changes, but TNA do this pretty casually on a regular basis and I think it hurts wrestlers who are trying to establish their identity.