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. crap 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 crap, 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.

Al, I know your schtick is to use dry humor, mocking, and silly euphamisms for people's names, but this, to me, was the best thing you have ever written on the forum. Not because I can't stand TNA, I can delineate the difference in that. It is because it was straight, to the point, and felt as though you really cared about what you were writing. It felt serious.

I don't see many good fortunes in TNA's future if this kind of crap booking keeps up. I don't even follow TNA any closer than what I read here and on another message board, and even I know that Jarrett/Angle should have headlined. How depressing that TNA just doesn't get it.

I made a prediction here about a month ago saying TNA will be gone by the end of '09. If these types of shenanigans keep up, then I may be right.

I'm glad it felt serious, because it was supposed to be serious. I didn't even give it a fancy title.

I REALLY want this company to succeed, for the sake of people like Alex Shelley, Chris Sabin and AJ Styles. With all due respect to Ring of Honor, there is still a degree of uncertainty with their progression into the main stream, and right now, the only viable option for a normal sized and proportioned human being to make any sort of living in professional wrestling and be successful at it is with Total Nonstop Action. I'm not trying to sneak in any snide remarks about WWE here, but even the most strident and loyal of WWE Fan must acknowledge that very seldom does a small man make it with that particular company.

I also want this company to succeed, for the sake of Professional Wrestling itself. As history shows, Professional wrestling is at is healthiest when competition abounds. We saw it in the Golden Age of the 1980's, we saw it in the Attitude Era of 1997-2001. What we have now is a long-standing quasi-monopoly that is not being challenged to create and innovate, and thus is coming off as stagnant, because its chief competition (if you can call it that) is a company whose TV productions are completely unorganized, and a collection of small promotions that most people outside the most diehard of wrestling fans have never heard of (well, until The Wrestler begins nationwide distribution at the end of the month...).

I wanted this to be a sobering account of what really is wrong with TNA. I know it's doubtful that anyone from TNA management will even read my words, much less listen to what I have to say, but the fact remains, the problems that affect TNA must be confronted sooner or later.

And rest assured, Wacky/Angry Al will return Tuesday, just in time for the RAW Reflections, depending on what RAW is like.

I completely agree with you. Wrestling is only as good as the competition of the promotions. Right now, it ain't that good. TNA has the best shot at making a run at WWE right now, and they are botching it up big time.
Their programming is so geared towards the ADHD crowd and is so poorly put together that they are honestly destroying any chance of any future investment in any potential viable promotion.

So, you watch the show. Is Russo the real problem here? I keep hearing two vocal camps, one saying he is and the other saying he isn't, that it's Carter and/or Jarrett.

It could be a combination of both. Jarrett has demonstrated in the past that he is not very subtle in his nepotism, and has no problem using his friends to help run his promotion. Which is where Vince Russo comes in.

As I said, if one is familiar with Vince Russo's prior work (the dying years of WCW, the Crash TV of the WWF Attitude Era), you can see his fingerprints all over the show. Also, I started watching TNA on Spike TV from the very beginning, where Russo hadn't been brought back and the show's booking was under Mike Tenay and Scott D'Amore, and the show was a LOT better. It was organized, it was wrestling-oriented, and it was VERY fun to watch.

Tell me if this is a bad idea. TNA need to put Mick Foley and Mike Tenay as the heads of the booking commitee.

I do recall in the very begginning Tenay getting a ton of heat for his booking at times. I am also very aware of Jarrett's nepotism issues, andI do distinctly recall saying somewhere else that TNA came off to me as a regional promotion, a la the USWA, where it's all family and friends running the show but with a bigger spotlight via the national TV coverage.

I think they should bring back Scott D'Amore, honestly. Even though Scott heavily favoured the X-Division wrestlers, at least the X-Division wrestlers can put on fun matches.

Ah, that would explain the lack of notoriety the X Division has gotten the last year (?) or so. It used to be the rage, then it's seems to have taken a backseat to the heavyweights and ex-WWE guys.

As dumb as the name sounded, the X Division could have been a good niche to market against WWE, because they kept X more or less in a corner and didn't try to turn TNA into another XPW or whatever it was called MTV had for half a season.

Wrestling Society X.

I heard Sabin and Shelly was the best match of the night by far

In terms of pure wrestling skill, it was probably the best match one could find on Television this YEAR. It was a wrestling clinic, and just done SO well. On a personal level, it was the best match of the night, because ALEX frik SHELLEY WON A TITLE.

Nice writeup Al!

My biggest problem is that everything you say is true...yet:

TNA is more popular and more successful now than in the past. I have no frik ing clue how the more stupid their shows are, the more people watch.