The Cultural Revolution

The last time I watched a TNA PPV with the intent of reviewing it, the whole situation degenerated into a rant about how much I hate the Insane Clown Posse.  So, after a few months, I attempted to watch TNA Genesis, with the intent of reviewing it.  Once again, we have a problem.  I won’t be reviewing the show, match by match, but I will not go into a massive rant.  I shall address the problem with TNA Genesis in a cool, calm, collected manner.

The major problem with TNA Genesis, which is indicative of TNA in general, is that the show was completely unorganized.  I will not use any stupid wrestling cliches, or dead metaphors, because there is no set of words more apt in describing TNA Programming than “Completely Unorganized.”  There is no completeness to a TNA show, there is no flow, no rhyme or reason; it’s just a bunch of segments that are mashed together, edited poorly, and broadcasted to showcase a supposedly top-tier promotion which, ultimately, makes it look pathetic.  I know it’s fun, and horribly cliched, to blame Vincent Russo for all of TNA’s woes, as he is surely the scapegoat for the TNA Booking Team; hell, I make a habit of it.  HOWEVER, in such levity and scapegoating, if one is familiar with Vincent Russo’s work, one cannot watch a TNA program without seeing the man’s fingerprints all over it.

TNA Genesis is evident of this fact.  Last night’s Pay-Per-View event was one of the most unorganized, half-brained wrestling events I have ever watched.  And the sad fact is, it didn’t start out that way.  The first half of TNA Genesis, Matches One-Four of the card, were well organized.  You had the WCW trademark, the hot high spot opener with TNA’s best flyers to get the crowd warmed up.  You had Alex Shelley vs. Chris Sabin for the TNA X Division Title, one of the best demonstrations as to why Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley are the Future of pro wrestling, and a match that SHOULD be what TNA Main Events look like.  You had the Three-Way Tag Title Match which, from what I saw, really wasn’t THAT bad (by my own admission, the damned feed kept cutting out on me, so I can’t honestly evaluate the match in full; I DO know that Beer Money regained the Tag Titles, which probably should have never been taken away from them in the first place…).  And sandwiched in between these two title matches was the Daivari-Crazy Referee Shane Sewell grudge match, which was put in the absolute best spot for such a match.  It was turning out alright… until the second half of TNA Genesis happened, and the complete unorganization of TNA Booking took over.

Now, before I continue, I won’t rag on TNA for having to cancel one of its matches due to both participants (Christy Hemme and Awesome Kong) being injured.  Shit happens, and it’s not TNA’s Booking Team’s fault.  However, what ‘replaced’ it was nonsense.  ODB, Roxxi and Taylor Wilde vs. Rhaka Khan, Sojo Bolt and Rahesha Saed was BRUTAL, and the following beatdown on ODB, Roxxi and Wilde by the… sigh… ‘Kongterage’ (I wish I was making that up) was much worse.

Then, came Jeff Jarret vs. Kurt Angle which, on its own was Fantastic.  It was just a great brawl, and both men worked their asses off.  The match should have been the main event of the PPV, in retrospect to how well Angle and Jarrett wrestled.

And I’m serious, because the next two matches were absolute bullshit, and had no right to be as high up on the card as they were.

Rhino vs. Sting was, at BEST, worthy of being an Impact! Main Event.  And I’m being generous.  The whole night, they worked some kind of Rhino Injury storyline that I THOUGHT was going somewhere… but didn’t.  It was just there, and the World Title match was the shortest match of the night.  It didn’t even feel like an important match, much less a TNA World Title match.

And then there was the Main Event match.  Which REALLY had no goddamn business being the Main Event in the first place, even if Kevin Nash was still healthy.  Again, injuries suck, and no one is to blame.  However, the way TNA attempted to save face is… well, it’s laughable.  Of ANYONE they could have brought in, they chose BILLY GUNN to replace Kevin Nash.  Billy Gun, a man who has NEVER main evented a Pay Per View in his life, is who TNA’s Booking Team picks.  And if that was not completely absurd, they choose to write the match in the most awful fashion, that saw the wrestlers spend probably 3/4ths of the match on the outside, no direction or story to the match, just a few spots, some brawling at ringside, and Mick Foley scoring the pin after an awkward finish.  And this was the Main Event.

I know hindsight is 20-20, but by NO MEANS should have that Six-Man tag main evented the show.  It was just simply a terrible way to end the show.  In reality, Kurt Angle vs. Jeff Jarrett, which I thought was supposed to be TNA’s hottest, most important feud AND the big rematch from their Bound For Glory match, should have main evented, especially after how good it was.

Overall, the second half of this show could have been written a LOT better.  If they needed a new contender for Kong to feud with, why not hold a Women’s Battle Royale?  The show already had two Six-man tags on the card, a little variety would have been nice.  And the other three matches were presented in reverse order, demonstrating that no one on the TNA Booking Team knows what they are doing.

This is a show that’s supposed to be Number Two in North America, and they put forth such a sophomoric effort, and called it a Pay-Per-View is outrageous.  The fact people paid money to watch this show is insulting.  And if TNA keeps this direction going, they are going to suffer a painful demise.  You CANNOT expect to keep fans if you present such an unorganized show.  For ALL of WWE’s other faults, at least Monday Night RAW has the feeling that professionals organized the show.  There’s a flow, there’s a natural, seamless progression towards their main event, and rarely would WWE put forth a match like the Main Event for TNA Genesis on one of their Television shows, much less a Pay Per View.  If Jeff Jarrett and Dixie Carter really want their promotion to be taken seriously, they really must evaluate the content of their programming, because if anything is going to kill TNA, it will be the amateur booking of their shows.

-END.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 12th, 2009 at 12:46 am and is filed under Updates. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.