I think this thread was meant for posters to discuss what was happening in wrestling these days.Well how about TNA geting rid of it's 6 sided ring and going with the traditional four sided one? I think that was Hulk Hogan's decision.And what really perplexes me is how TNA continues to bring in all these has-beens.This is where the WWE is a couple of steps ahead of TNA.While WWE has a history of developing their own talent TNA is just the opposite.In the last few years TNA has brought in Scott Steiner, Booker T, Mick Foley, Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan.I know some of these wrestlers were signed by TNA to be mentors to the younger wrestlers but do people really want to watch matches of wrestlers who were in their prime more than 20 years ago?
And what's with these short matches in TNA now? It seems like their matches only last about 30 seconds. The first wrestler to go down in a match ends up getting pinned and the match is then quickly over.I think microwaving popcorn takes more time than an average TNA match these days.I don't really like the direction that TNA is heading in now.Someone needs to tell TNA president Dixie Carter that her company was doing very well without Hulk Hogan and these other wrestlers that should have retired a couple of decades ago.TNA doesn't need to be the WWE's nursing home in order to attract young viewers.Just because a wrestler had marketing power over one generation of people doesn't mean that he will do the same thing over another generation of people.If these decisions end up hurting TNA in the long run they have nobody else to blame but themselves.
The problem with TNA getting rid of the six sided ring is that the six sided ring was something unique to TNA. TNA will never be able to do what the WWE does better than the WWE. They can do TNA, their own thing, better than WWE.
They want to separate themselves from WWE, but then they keep bringing in former WWE guys, doing WWE gimmicks and storylines, making guys who were WWE ANNOUNCERS into TNA CHAMPIONS. How does that make TNA look? A guy who was an announcer on WWE TV is TNA Champ?
TNA should try and be its own thing. Bring in guys like Hogan and Foley to put over their young talent. Why did the then-WWF become popular? Because they brought in old talent? NO! Because they had Stone Cold and Triple H and The Rock being the faces of the company. Because people tuned in to watch THOSE guys, unique to WWF(E), something they hadn't seen before.
For TNA to succeed, they need to establish AJ Styles as a star. Not someone that sneaks by Hogan, not someone that needs Ric Flair's mentoring, someone that is a star in and of himself. They need to establish Samoa Joe, use Abyss properly.
The fact that they are trying to do a new nWo is ludicrous. nWo was great in its time, but as the WWE comeback showed, it didn't work. It won't work now.
As for turning PG, I see the point and I sort of like the idea. The way I see it, wrestling goes in waves. You get kids to enjoy the gimmicky cartoony Doink the Clown type stuff, that gets them hooked at age 8 or 9. Those 8 or 9 year olds then turn 13 and 14, and they want to see boobs and sex, and in 4 or 5 years WWE will be back to TV-14. But those 13 and 14 year olds then turn 18 or 19, they move to MMA or boxing or something else. Instead of trying to recapture that audience by bringing in old guys like Roddy Piper, WWE has changed their product, marketed John Cena to kids.
When those kids who are 8 and 9 now turn 13 or 14, John Cena will turn heel (see: Hulk Hogan joining nWo). We will be back to the same thing we had in the attitude era. It's just a matter of getting younger kids into it now, which is the right idea.
TNA is trying to appeal to 13 and 14 year olds who might be interested in wrestling now, it's the niche they've found. But to keep referencing old WWE(F) guys, it just makes them look weak and like WWE's younger brother.