Keith Watanabe * NET 2.0

I think everyone would probably be in agreement in thinking that TNA's 2 hour debut was underwhelming.  It simply felt like two 1 hour broadcasts concatenated.  After reading Lance Storm's rant against salvaging TNA, I have to agree that the booking and creative team just downright stinks.  From the broadcast, here's some of my thoughts:

• They attempted to "develop" some of the wrestlers' personalities as well as other people involved with the show.  Some parts were such an incredible waste of time.  The two "divas" having character in the form of building a feud is a horrible distraction to the show.  If they intend these two "divas" to become the next version of Trish Stratus, then I have no problem.  But they only serve as eye candy.  So they should be forced to stay in the background where they are most effective.
• The introduction match of Black Rain, etc.  Okay, this is your first 2 hour broadcast and you start off with one of the most boring wrestlers/gimmicks on the roster.  The message being sent to the audience is, "Hey, we're doing the same old, same old here."  If they had provided an X-Division match that lasted 15 minutes to get the audience pumped up, that would've made a statement.  Nitro/WCW's advantage in late 95-97 was having a cruiserweight match to start off a show.  The psychology was simple: get people pumped by having fast paced action and introducing a future, potential star.  Instead, you introduce a has-been who's best gimmick is up North.
• The whole Sting-Kurt Angle storyline.  Is Kurt Angle going after Sting's son supposed to make me hate Kurt Angle anymore?  I find Sting and everything he does to be incredibly annoying.  He's perpetually been involved in the worst, most ridiculous gimmicks/angles/storylines in pro-wrestling and is embarrassing to watch at times.  I don't care about these extracurricular storylines set outside of the building.  I just want guys giving either backstage or in-ring promos about how they're going to kick the other guy's butt.  I think one thing that makes fans respect wrestlers ever more is their ability to deliver something witty to make the fans remember the wrestlers.  Watching Kurt Angle go to Sting's son's high school simply had me fast forward through the show during those periods.  Either give have Sting deliver simple promos as mentioned above and get the guy to wrestle a good match or fire him and give his overpriced salary to some deserving X-Division star.
• The clusterfuck booking in the first match.  The match was nothing and lasted  so little time.  But the worst part was the multiple run ins that was supposed to show case the feuds in a fast paced setting.  Yes, TNA is about non-stop action, but that's because the center of that idealism is behind the X-Division, not clusterfuck run ins.  A segment should really focus between two wrestlers or two teams at most.  I wholeheartedly agree with Lance Storm and many internet fans in that the run ins have been overdone and has basically killed a lot of wrestling.
• That stupid gauntlet match.  Okay, so they promised "longer" matches and giving everyone time. Does that mean they need to have more of these confusing clusterfuck matches with so many names that you cannot track anyone?  I like good action as much as the next person, but I like absorbing the action as well.  I would like to see more focused matches that establish the wrestlers' abilities in the ring.  I'm really tired of these gauntlet matches.  They have no meaning and do nothing to promote any wrestler.  Who cares if Eric Young beats XXX number of guys by outlasting them?  There's so much crap going on, it defeats the purpose of focusing on Eric Young's ability to beat people rather than just him gaining a gratuitous win.
• Pacman Jones.  This is useless.  If the guy can't wrestle for legal purposes, dump him unceremoniously in a humiliating manner.  I'm certain that would have a better payoff for fans than the fact that the promotion has to hide his inability to wrestle in the ring.  At this point, TNA is just as well off in getting a cardboard cut out of Pacman Jones and having everyone bump off of it and save themselves the money and agony.
• The rest of the show was quite unmemorable except that 8 man tag team match.  The guys can put on good action, but I have no feeling in terms of the way the match is structured.

Lance Storm had some excellent thoughts on improving TNA's strategy.  In terms of concretely handling the 2 hour show, here's my little input:

• First segment should either start with an interview with a key person or an X-Division match (see below).  If the show follows a PPV, the main event needs to be reiterated and the next contender for the belt or the main event for the next PPV need to be immediately established.
• The first match should be a 10-15 minute segment featuring either a  singles or tag team X-Division match.  Sonjay Dutt, Jay Lethal, Chris Sabin, etc. have wrestled each other so many times, it's boring.  It reminds me of the NJWP junior division in 1997 when they roughly had 6 people involved and gave everyone parity.  There's no progress since no one truly has momentum in the division.  What are the rankings?  I think this is where TNA should grab some unknowns and throw them out there every two weeks and let some of the establish X-Division guys beat them while slowly establishing these new kids and giving the veterans a few more wins leading towards a title shot.
• Next segment can be a backstage interview, old school style.  Just a guy with a mic talking about how he's going to beat his next opponent.  No stupid run ins except on RARE occasion during the segment.  Watch David Schultz on Youtube and see how he gives a promo against Hogan.  He had no elaborate gimmick, but the promo was great because it showed Schultz's wit.
• Follow that up with two regular matches that have a TV time limit of 10 minutes.  WCW was smart in a way for having these matches with a time limit because it would explain partly why a match would not go on for long.  Also, it would save long matches up for PPVs and not necessarily make the main event the only one required to go for a long period.  Wrestlers would be forced to pin each other within 10 minutes or go to a draw.  The advantage of this is eliminating the ego boosting DQ finishes and letting both wrestlers draw if they're on equal ground while saving the real finish for PPVs.  Wrestlers on unequal ground could improve their win-loss record on TV by either squashing wrestlers or having short, highly competitive matches and quickly pinning their rivals.
  
• Schedule backstage interviews between those segments.  Eliminate all those stupid outside-the-building segments as much as possible.  Cornette's office is acceptable since he's one of the few that can contextualize a match.  Promos should not last more than 2-3 minutes per wrestler/team.  If a wrestler cannot get a promo or point across in less than 2-3 minutes, it should be made into a special, rare segment.  Those rare segments should not occur more than once every two or three weeks between shows.
  
• The following hour would have a similar format, except that the first two matches would be the 10 minute TV limit matches with the sprinkling of interviews between matches.
  
• The main event, outside of the starting X-division match, would be the only one allowed to go beyond the 10 minute TV time limit.  That also means if the match runs over, it could go to the following week's show.  In some ways that may leave incentive for people to follow up if a match seems particularly compelling.  Most main events should go between 10-20 minutes.  I would have every month a special, non-PPV 20-30 minute match, and a very rare 30+ minute match.
• DON'T DEVELOP EVERYONE.  Wrestlers can get interviews but don't develop Divas unless the intention is to use them for more than eye candy.
  
• Don't have a story for every PPV match.  I think it's okay just throwing a few matches together on PPV randomly.  I would justify such a situation by saying that wrestlers need to climb up the ranks and having Cornette do it by saying that it looks good, is simple enough.  Not everything has to be a blood feud.  Save blood feuds up for situations like HBK vs Marty Janetty, Flair vs Sting, Benoit vs Sullivan, etc.  They should be special where people feel that there's some real outcome or payoff to a feud.  After setting up a simple match for a PPV, allow the wrestlers to do their promos to sell the PPV.  Don't try to always create the PPV matches on TV.  It's obvious that the creative team aren't good enough storytellers to pull this off every week. 
  

I doubt TNA will listen, but I think these steps are good for what's needed.