en-us http://www.keithwatanabe.net/index.php Keith Watanabe's Website http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2007/7/28/6a3595e0b0c3fed640cc995df8a8f64a.html
The remnants of the show was still up and down. The Kurt Angle thing went on for too many segments, even though those segments weren't long. It had some decent parts, but probably shouldn't have lasted more than one segment. The end bit with Kevin Nash acting as Kurt's psychiatrist worked somehow and demonstrates where Nash needs to be (an on-air personality).

Wrestling-wise, the best thing was the tag team match between Shelley/Sabin vs LAX. They need a PPV match between these two teams one day, hopefully for the titles. Assigning Robert Roode to the Christian Coalition works as it gives him a more visible role, rather than being this so-called up-and-comer that gets a lot of fanfare with no back up. ]]> Sat, 28 Jul 2007 22:05:11 -0600 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2007/7/28/6a3595e0b0c3fed640cc995df8a8f64a.html http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2007/8/16/667e948a5121d6c75ca2171725ff6715.html
I truly can't sympathize with someone like Bentley, especially coming from various industries where if you can't hang, they let you go. Bentley despite being a decent worker, never really improved in the last two years. He just was stale bread and now he got a kick in the head (or wallet). Hopefully, this is a wake up call telling him to improve.

Something I don't understand is if things were so bad for poor Bentley, why not just leave and go to higher ground? Why slave away? The guy honestly can't complain because simply stated he added nothing to the equation. I don't think Pacman will do much for the company except drain funds either, but I don't think TNA was wrong for cutting Bentley (or others) either. Here, I'm not really defending TNA so much as saying that Bentley doesn't really have much rights for complaining.

Be a little more professional, Bentley. You don't surround the world, nor does it evolve around you. But if you feel wronged, make a difference by standing out and doing better next time. And if somehow you manage to read this blog and find my comments less than spectacular, rent yourself Swimming With Sharks. Listen to all the quotes from Buddy Ackerman and figure out if what they did to you was fair or not. Also, while you're at it, trying working a 9-5 office job and take some courses on business. Try to figure out why companies act the way they do. They're not charities, unfortunately, so they aren't going to cater to you, unless you make them take notice.]]> Thu, 16 Aug 2007 11:21:43 -0600 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2007/8/16/667e948a5121d6c75ca2171725ff6715.html http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2007/9/2/40ec0d1625cda55453ec6f6236213f10.html
While I doubt pro-wrestling will ever be totally removed, the damage done now has to force a company like the WWE as well as many people watching to re-think their strategy as a business. The suspensions are just public lip service to demonstrate that the WWE is taking the current situation seriously. However, it does not resolve the root cause of their problem, which is the product they are attempting to sell: larger than life people who can perform insane stunts.

Although it is true that the WWE has moved mostly towards entertainment, the chief selling point in the end is a dramatized version of virility. Towards that end, they must cater their image regardless of the outcome of the court orders. And even the dramatization of what they do must be limited as the end product still is wrestling.

Yet I have to extend what's going on to TNA as well as they attempt a similar line of business. Certainly, the barriers to entry are smaller than the WWE. However, they still perform a great deal of stunts that are equally (if not moreso) injury inducing than the WWE. I cannot see anything but some form of medication being utilized for their business to continue.

And of course independents also would feel the crunch here as they might be less advertised versions of TNA. Overall, for me at least, this implies that the model of pro-wrestling needs to change somewhat. The boundaries on stunts and appearances have been pushed so hard in order to define the perfect notion of a pro-wrestler and a match that it's kinda like Yngwie Malmsteen going overboard on guitar and supposedly putting the proverbial nail in heavy metal's coffin with his overindulgence in virtuousity.

I'm a heavy believer in simplicity. I think that obviously we cannot go back too far in the history of pro-wrestling as most fans would just find it a massive turn off and move towards something else. However, I think that if we pinpoint an era of wrestling and aspects of wrestling that seem appealing, perhaps pro-wrestling as a sports genre could be saved.

From an in-ring paradigm, I think that the 1993-1995 era of the NJ Juniors are probably idealistic and acceptable to most wrestling fans. Good match build, good wrestling with storylines and still exciting content. No real need to pull out a ladder or table every other match to satisfy one's violence lust. Combine that with AJ's heavy style of 1994-1995 and I think you could have perfectly acceptable wrestling.

From a storyline perspective, I've been partial to the NWA between 85-87. Mix some of 88-89 and you still have a relatively interesting product. You can have interesting wrestling characters just as long as they're not too over the top. I think a good wrestling character ought to mix their monicker with an idiom that they have in the ring. That's all you really need. Keep the interviews consistent and relevant surrounding their character. I think the characters from 91-93 WWF were quite good for the most part. Look at Mr Perfect, Big Bossman, Texas Tornado, and even Rick Martel. Like selling a movie, if a wrestler cannot describe themselves in more than one line, they probably have a bad gimmick.

This all, of course, is just a way to save pro-wrestling as we know and love it. I think if the industry wants to progress, it needs to re-invent itself and assert a new sense of identity. The glorified stuntman gimmick doesn't really do it for me. Might as well work at Universal Studios. I think pro-wrestling should move towards something that no one really thought was possible: realism. Of course, people say that this is K-1 or UWF. But I think to some degree, everyone still wants to see a piledriver, dropkick, powerbomb, or clothesline. Yet I think something simple like making wrestling more interactive, more random and less contrived is where the industry ought to change. My biggest beef with pro-wrestling is that it's too contrived and the results never are what people really want. I feel that there's no vision for these companies on what they want to achieve in the end. TNA, for instance, has some randomness but not good randomness. Matches are too predictable and their hasn't been any building of someone since Samoa Joe. But the outcomes of the matches are random in that they involve some crappy booking decision that seems pulled out of thin air just to make certain individuals in the locker room content. They did some good recently in allowing wrestlers to mix up their matches a little more recently, but there's no one to rally behind anymore. And they have no upcoming talent.

I think the WWE suffers from the obvious right now, which is that they're losing their wrestlers to attrition of their own wellness program. Can't really help that since they're under the gun. But they have to work on their overall business strategy. The wellness program is just duct tape over a massive wound, which again is their vision for their product. This will sound strange, but I miss the days when some fat slob could just walk in and call themselves a wrestler. Get a Dick Murdoch, Jumbo Tsuruta, Terry Gordy, Stan Hansen, Harley Race, etc. to show people how to wrestle a good match. You don't need the world's best body; you just need some brains and sense to know how to make people react. The body builder types should be special since few people probably can achieve such physiques without the use of some sort of enhancement. I just want a good match, with some fun interviews and a bit of build in between to create a feud.]]> Sun, 02 Sep 2007 10:11:55 -0600 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2007/9/2/40ec0d1625cda55453ec6f6236213f10.html http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2007/9/9/8de52d02c4a8dc562552f366ec80493f.html
The syntax and usage of just transitionless, non-linked moves reveals a core weakness in TNA matches: no story telling. When there is story telling, it's pretty badly done on average. But the X-Division gets special criticism from me as it's the division of the company's future (whatever that means, right?). The moves without a doubt are cool, but I dislike the lack of logical linking between them. And the lack of selling just kills the product in the end and makes people look like supermen stuntmen.

The thing for me is that the guys in the X-Division have been wrestling each other quite consistently for the past few years. Let them mature as a division rather than just having them pull off the same moves. The X-Division's novelty in action can wear off fast once a new person familiarizes themselves with the people's in ring persona (meaning the moves they do, etc.). After that point the wrestlers have to expand from just trying to execute a wrestling move, to learning how to create meaningful matches. Take for instance Sanjay Dutt, Jay Lethal, Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley. I think they just wrestle each other over and over again. The matches are so repetitive after a while that people only are trained to expect larger-than life moves. Great. But they never ask, "What's next?"

Compare their matches to the Liger vs Sano, Eddy Guerrero vs Dean Malenko, Booker T vs Chris Benoit, Misawa vs Kobashi/Kawada. The key in those matches is that despite wrestling each other consistently, there's noticeable growth as their experience with each other deepens. From a match perspective, these things are obvious: they learn how to counter key moves in each other's arsenal. From an experience point of view, it's a matter of adding things to make the newer matches more interesting. The layering of the moves, learning to defy expectations when a certain key move is performed, countering the biggest moves that cause a wrestler's defeat. Of course in some cases like Misawa vs Kobashi/Kawada the announcers help augment this viewpoint by bringing up the history in the matches to provide more credibility and emphasis on the counters. In TNA, Tenay (who should know better) and West barely allow their audience any time to digest a match's content, which means the strings of fights these wrestlers have go to nothing.

I know probably the wrestlers are more aware of this fault than many of us on the net realize. And it's most likely a booking committee or company policy to enforce such ideas in these matches. However, I think that if TNA wants to get more for their buck in re-cycling these wrestlers against each other, it has to advance the interaction between these wrestlers. West as an announcer needs to go beyond a basic play-by-play in terms of just calling action as well as constantly and annoying reminding the audience how great certain wrestlers are to linking the matches together by concretely showing the history between the wrestlers. For instance, he should not just say, "Oh, Shelley and Dutt faced each other numerous times." He needs to historicize these accounts and demonstrate how a previous match works off the current one. The bouts themselves have little to no linking so the matches seem even more thrown together than they are. A lot of wasteful drama and so-called onscreen character building could be devoted more towards intertwining matches together. That way at the very least it makes TNA seem like they somewhat care that they've thrown Dutt vs Shelley vs Sabin vs Lethal together in a thoughtful way rather than the current message they're sending, which is, "Hey these guys work well together but we don't want to mess up the top storylines by mixing them up with people like Angle or Joe."]]> Sun, 09 Sep 2007 00:29:53 -0600 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2007/9/9/8de52d02c4a8dc562552f366ec80493f.html http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2007/9/12/dabb28558511ff28e88e777db6664a69.html
"Of course, later in the show, Machismo was treated like a jobber in the Gauntlet match where he was thrown out by Samoa Joe. Angle was furious backstage that TNA ruined whatever rub Machismo got from beating Angle by having him get thrown out so carelessly in the Gauntlet just a short time later."

The problem with this quote is that Jay Lethal did NOT participate in the Gauntlet match. He was tossed out in the post-match beating by Samoa Joe because Joe went ballistic. However, because Lethal did not participate in the Gauntlet match, I don't see how being "thrown out so carelessly" really would affect Lethal's win/loss record. Also, the point of that segment was that it took a great deal of people to calm Joe down, so this shouldn't have been made into a big deal.]]> Wed, 12 Sep 2007 12:16:36 -0600 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2007/9/12/dabb28558511ff28e88e777db6664a69.html http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2007/10/6/5918444fb549aa78099ff09865d40e28.html

• 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.]]> Sat, 06 Oct 2007 21:33:53 -0600 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2007/10/6/5918444fb549aa78099ff09865d40e28.html http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2007/10/12/76fa33a7c29fcf215c40669a7858684f.html ]]> Fri, 12 Oct 2007 20:45:19 -0600 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2007/10/12/76fa33a7c29fcf215c40669a7858684f.html http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2007/10/17/3315b9c1f267aba8430811a31e2cdcc4.html
I really don't care for their gauntlet matches. There are too many that belittle the individual wrestlers in lieu of attempting to showcase everyone. I know the purpose behind the match, but they should be rare. The tag team title match ended a disaster. Heck, they couldn't even get Pacman Jones to wrestle once, which is sad. Good thing they put it on AJ and Tomko. I like the idea of that team and the double team move at the end was a nice finish to start a new title reign. I'm going to look forward to AJ/Tomko vs LAX. That ought to be a NICE feud. At least three future PPVs should consist of them in a feud, including one Ultimate X match. AJ (along with Christopher Daniels) had great chemistry with LAX, so I'd like to see this new tag team match up (Size/Power + Speed vs Size/Power + Speed).

Christopher Daniels vs Jay Lethal was good. I really liked the last few minutes. The finish was the exclaimation mark that Jay Lethal needed to proclaim he's the real deal. The top rope Lethal Combination was a good move and I'm glad he busted it out on a big PPV.

Steiners vs Team 3D served it s purpose. Neither team are at their peak any longer, but they (actually Scott Steiner) can still put out a few nice surprises. One more PPV match between both teams would keep Team 3D occupied while LAX contends with AJ/Tomko.

Although I don't like gauntlets, the women's gauntlet had more of a purpose than most of TNA's gauntlets in the past year or so. It quickly introduced most of the women and established Kong as a major player while giving Gail Kim much deserved recognition via the title. Good for Gail. The other thing that I liked about this match was that it introduced new faces. The rest of the scene has been boring with the same people over and over. They've established a few women, but I hope that the newer ones have some real ability. Kong looked excellent out there. Hopefully, they'll let Gail Kim keep the title a little while (6 months at least) before the real feud breaks out.

Christian Cage vs Samoa Joe. This was very good. Definitely, these two have good chemistry and it made you wanting a little more.

Overall, not a bad PPV. I really wish they'd eliminate a match here or there and give another match an extra 5 minutes. I would've liked removing the Monsters Ball match and giving 5 more minutes to Jay Lethal vs Christophere Daniels and Samoa Joe vs Christian Cage. I want more memorable long matches. They really haven't had any so TNA won't qualify for true match of the year awards. The work might be good, but they're never memorable outside of a spot or two. But I'd prefer the match to make a statement at the end of the day. This is something the WWE has an edge over TNA, even if WWE's shows have less moves per match. I think that says a lot about the wrestling philosophies of both companies.]]> Wed, 17 Oct 2007 11:15:36 -0600 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2007/10/17/3315b9c1f267aba8430811a31e2cdcc4.html http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2007/11/2/deb4845b97b5698a576f31feb29d9724.html
That interview a few weeks ago that received massive criticism might've poked his own eyes out. Or perhaps he performed that interview because of his dissatisfaction of TNA. Either way, it's good to see TNA open up their eyes and quickly remove him after that bit of unprofessionalism. Not that I think Robert Roode is all that special, but the interview was just terrible and shameful.

Lance Storm had a great piece on doing basic interviews that was a retort to Fatu's and Team 3D's. The thing in general is that the interview obviously hurt Fatu overall. When you can't even make TNA, how are you expected to do in other larger places like the WWE?

Either way, this is one of the better moves TNA has done recently and a lesson that you can push your booty over everyone.]]> Fri, 02 Nov 2007 19:29:14 -0600 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2007/11/2/deb4845b97b5698a576f31feb29d9724.html http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2007/11/2/251e4a911bee6c4e1bcdf5b8e7047d27.html
The main problem I have is the flow of the show. There's no rhythm. It's like going to a club and either having all high speed trance or three slow songs around 2 am. You need a good rhythm to keep interest. The little interviews just have no connectivity, except for the exclusive focus on Sting and Kurt Angle. It gets old. Also, there's no interactivity with the audience. So the feeling is quite dead.

Again, more wrestling matches. I suggested a time length of having at least two 15-20 minute matches per Impact. On top of that, just have regular matches in between. Having those regular matches are positive since they not only showcase the talent, they provide more experience for the wrestlers. AJ old tv was really good about how they handled their matches with the tag and six man tag matches. This would let wrestlers get experience with each other without having to give away the singles match on TV.

Right now, the TV show feels like an uphill battle before you get to a match. It's like having a gorgeous chocolate cake at the other end of a table, but having to go through twelve bland salads just to get it.

Lastly, that little "shoot" piece where Chris Harris shows the script of the show was just plain dumb. It's bad enough that most people views wrestling as fake, but enforcing that thought just demeans and undermines the business. Things like this just demonstrate to me that the show and so-called writers have little focus on the overall vision of the product and only focus on small details on occasion that they think is humorous to themselves. It's not good TV and it only works in comedies with an exclusive group of writers/directors. Just eliminate it already.]]> Fri, 02 Nov 2007 19:49:40 -0600 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2007/11/2/251e4a911bee6c4e1bcdf5b8e7047d27.html http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2007/11/2/0432e9f96cd50d79271fa8fe7fa5ec5b.html Fri, 02 Nov 2007 20:09:12 -0600 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2007/11/2/0432e9f96cd50d79271fa8fe7fa5ec5b.html http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2007/11/9/ecd06b0381b2b081d38d6cddbc0f4753.html
Hopefully, the PPV will be good as well. There are a few matches I'm interested in seeing. Honestly, I really want to see the women's division evolve. It seems the girls are looking to gain respect and are putting out a good effort. Of course at the moment, only Gail Kim and Amazing Kong are really possible title holders for now. The others need massive polishing. I think they need to keep Kong and Kim away from each other to establish Kim's title reign (say 4-5 months) then go for a feud.

Sonjay Dutt is moving on up and finally receive an X-division title shot. It looks like they're making room for a few guys to step up. I think Dutt should lose here only to get into a feud with Lethal. Lethal needs to hold the title for a while, beating guys like Petey Williams, Senshi, Chris Sabin, and Alex Shelley.

Kaz is another guy to look out for. This guy looks to be another guy breaking out of the X-Division. He's got good size and technique and matched up well against Christian. I like this guy a lot more than Robert Roode, who I think would perform better in the WWE at this stage in his career.

The thing I like the most is that they're not doing too many prolonged feuds and are mixing guys up. This is what they need. Variety and movement. You want to see the permutations of matches to see how people work against each other and what they'll come up with. They finally have a good enough roster to do this and I hope it continues.

Finally, there's the mystery partner. People are speculating about Booker T, but another possibility is Rob Van Dam. Well, the key here was WCW title holder so that kinda rules RVD out. Booker T and RVD are the only last acquisitions that TNA should make against the WWE. In the meantime, they ought to focus on building some in-house talent to avoid the WCW stigma of not having any homegrown people.]]> Fri, 09 Nov 2007 22:36:49 -0700 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2007/11/9/ecd06b0381b2b081d38d6cddbc0f4753.html http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2007/11/16/28d869294cb97017ec615b41bdd76f32.html
Abyss vs Dustin Rhodes - A whatever brawl. There was one nice bump that Dustin took via the chokeslam off the ramp while Abyss took the other nasty bump on the rat traps. Outside of that, the angle has lasted too long but doesn't capture my interest. I would've preferred if TNA uses an X-Division match to start off their PPVs instead.

Team 3D vs MCMGs - This was good. MCMGs are one of the best teams around. Not sure if they are the best in TNA but definitely up there. Match reminded me of the old Killer Bees vs Big John Studd/King Kong Bundy type of matches. Or maybe the R&R Express vs Doom. Simple formula here: MCMGs fly around trying to wear Team 3D down, while Team 3D slow them down with high impact moves. Simple, but effective. This is Team 3D's good role now. I was quite surprised by the win but it was a very good booking move for once. Best spot was Chris Sabin defying gravity. Seriously. That was amazing.

The women's division match wasn't very special and it's really the Gail Kim show for now. I liked how they allowed each of the women to have some time to be exposed. But at the same time it showed me that some of these girls (Angel Williams in particular) are not ready. Roxy has potential but needs more exposure in experience. Call it in about a year maybe she'll prove us wrong.

I still think they need to allow Gail Kim to hold onto the belt and hold off Amazing Kong. They need the slow burn with all the other women getting their shots (i.e. Hemmy, Ms. Brooks, etc.) since they were there a little longer than Kong. But they need to allow Gail to hold on and establish some credibility initially for the title. Besides Kong at the moment there really isn't anyone who appears ready for the spotlight. Hemmy is cool but she needs matches and more experience. I still feel that this is the most interesting part of TNA because I'd like to see this division truly blossom.

X-Division match was good with Sonjay trying to prove himself. I think Sonjay should've been the traitor (in reference to the traitor on impact) to prolong the feud between Lethal and Sonjay. Sonjay's turn is the only one that would make sense. They could easily have a brutal feud that could elevate the X-Division title. Also, I think Sonjay's heel turn is long overdue. For all the criticism that he receives, he's capable and could turn the criticism against his opponents. It's the only way to get someone talented and unique like him to get over in this situation.

Tag title match was interesting booking again. Steiners are legends but barely can handle themselves (well, Rick's return is as expected since for all intents and purposes, he was retired). But having AJ and Tomko go over was a good move. I just wish the win happened on a larger platform, since they made a huge deal of the Steiner vs Team 3D. This match should've meant more, especially considering that AJ and Tomko won.

Joe vs Robert Roode had a purpose. But I don't think the purpose was accomplished. This type of match was really supposed to be Roode's big match that would make a statement for him as a wrestler. This PPV was demonstrating for the most part some new blood moving up or saying that these guys are ready. Roode didn't make that statement the way the rest of the people here did. Roode hasn't found himself. He's kinda in the middle. Honestly, this guy needs to go to the WWE. I can't tell if this guy should be a brawler, a talker or what. But he's not having the killer matches that are making statements about him. He looks like he wants to be Bret Hart/Randy Savage/Curt Hennig, etc. But this is not the era. He doesn't have a special killer finisher. Whether or not he can do it is not the issue. He needs it immediately. If he doesn't show some improvement in the ring, then no one is going to take notice. He'll be like X-Pac.

Christian Cage vs Kaz in a ladder match was the show stealer. It was a very good effort for both Kaz and Christian Cage. This is the kind of thing that wrestlers need to do in order to make the statement that they belong or deserve a push. Kaz did it and so did Christian. Kaz has been working impressively and has broken through the X-Division and will be a great addition to the heavyweight division. This match was brutal and fun. Some great spots by both guys. People on the net were talking heavily about it but for good reason. TNA really needs more matches that make people talk like this.

Main Event. Booker T was the mystery partner even though the match itself wasn't so great. But it was great seeing Booker T who looked really enthusiastic. That was a great moment. I've been saying that the acquisitions that TNA should make are Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit (when he was alive), Rob Van Dam, and Booker T. Well, that got one. WWE got Jericho (well according to rumor at least) and RVD probably will join one day. But TNA is almost full in terms of the big stars they need. This was a good move and hopefully they'll use him wisely.]]> Fri, 16 Nov 2007 19:50:59 -0700 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2007/11/16/28d869294cb97017ec615b41bdd76f32.html http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2007/11/25/437476c0d70ec293c1822a8013920b55.html
The women's division continues to be the best booked thing in TNA. Yes, this is fact for me. They keep it simple, it's mostly fresh faces, there are characters but nothing outrageous or too stupid (i.e. Rellic, Dustin, Abyss, etc.), they're letting the girls get up on stage and wrestle. Besides Kim, Jackie and Kong, the remaining women mostly look too fresh and need a lot more polish. Then again the women's division has only been around for two months so it has a long way to go before these girls get enough experience to start moving up from 2* matches to 3+* matches. It would be nice to see them reach the level of the X-Division in terms of ability; then that would be a huge credit to TNA. I think bringing over some Japanese women veterans and one or two young girls would help the division to get over. I'd make a go for Aja Kong (don't know if she's still any good), Takako Inoue, or Mayumi Ozaki for veterans and Ayako Hamada and Apple Miyuki for "newer" girls. TNA ought to sign at least two of them for a one year contract and see how it goes.

If I were TNA, I'd have Gail Kim win over Kong, but barely in their first outting. Then Kim should go over all the major women in TNA (Jackie, ODB, Roxie, etc.) while Kong does the same. Then have another match say in the summer to see where they both are. Kong has already beaten Kim so there's no question that it can happen a second time. The summer match would be the tie breaker. By then hopefully, more of the girls will be experienced and that Kim improves. Right now, she's good but not excellent. Execution is still off at times and I worry that she needs more experience to get her moves down.

Christian continues being the Man. Loved the mini-match he had with Jay Lethal (I hate his nickname; it's just stupid). If you watch his matches closely, he'll put small things in here and there that you either don't remember seeing him do or that he has added recently. Here, he did a nice gutbuster. It looked damn good. Also, the tongue licking thing a few weeks ago was such a great character move. Now that he's getting into the ring with some really good talent like Lethal, Kaz, Joe, etc., he's really shining and has become a truly complete wrestler. I don't know how he'll fare against Booker, which leads me to....

Booker T showing up at Impact. Well, the big thing is whether he'll be plain, old Booker T, or we'll see something new from him. He's a good heavyweight in WWE, but I'm skeptical of him in TNA. I'd like to see him show us some new stuff in TNA. Christian has definitely improved over the past two years. Kurt Angle even showed something new (450 or whatever that move was). Even Sting takes it up a notch now and then. Booker T needs to make that statement too to demonstrate to the fans and the locker room that he's not just riding on the past, but can have very good matches in TNA that rivalry his feud with Chris Benoit. Otherwise, critics will jump on him saying that he's just using his legacy and not contributing much else besides name value.

AJ Styles is also becoming a complete wrestler. Before he was just the guy he threw out all the cool spots. Now, he's got character, he shows more charisma in the ring than ever and he's selling better. His alliance with Christian Cage did wonders for him. His pairing with Tomko was a great idea. But he's getting there and a lot of his earlier criticisms are going to wear out as he becomes a more complete wrestler.

Jay Lethal though needs the same makeover. Sure the gimmick he's taken up gave him a bit of personality, but it's mostly just a oneliner, his voice and three moves. But eventually he's got to ditch the gimmick as a crutch and make it on his own. The match with Christian/AJ showed a huge weakness with him, which is his inability to sell. He's got good moves but his selling makes his matches lack and emotion. He had a very good technical match with Sonjay Dutt, but it was an exchange of moves that led to nothing. One thing that Lethal didn't pick up was Randy Savage's selling. The guy could sell very well and had good facials to mix with his matches that gave his matches emotion. Lethal is young and will improve, but this is the area he needs to work on the most.

The Dudley's are really smart guys in terms of the way they handle their character. People criticize them because of their lack of selling, etc. but they really know how to take online criticisms are use it to their advantage. Not just being dominant but using their dominance for improving business will give them longer staying power in the business.

Back the main event. Very good. This is the type of thing that TNA needs to pull off, say every 2 weeks. A good 30 minute match that allows certain wrestlers to do more than spot-spot-spot type of matches. Even if there is too much Kurt Angle, a good 20-30 minute match will shut most internet critics up because they'll remember the long match more than the stupidity of the non-wrestling content of the show.]]> Sun, 25 Nov 2007 00:33:03 -0700 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2007/11/25/437476c0d70ec293c1822a8013920b55.html http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2007/12/5/9b0a629816642754e65f4d1c71f508ff.html

• Three weeks worth of build up. Or lack of build up. I don't see a point of holding a PPV when you're given insufficient time to properly entice people into buying it. TNA is better off giving up on these monthly PPVs, especially ones where they have limited time between PPVs.
• The obvious month-to-month booking. TNA books only for their next PPV without thinking about long term development. Certainly, injuries, attitudes and random factors can affect the long term booking, but outside of Gail Kim - Awesome Kong, no one on the card has any true developmental direction. TNA needs to drop booking month-to-month with their only focus on trying to dish out cards for their next PPV and focus on 4-6 month intervals. Take their items that are hot are becoming hot and draw up a plan so that in 4-6 months, their talent is at a higher level.
• Grabbing random past stars for the namesake alone. Obviously, this is a huge issue in TNA, but there's only been a few name stars that signed a true contract. If you are going to sign one of these guys up, then do something meaningful with them. Not in all cases has this been bad. But I can cite a few people that I think TNA regretted signing up.
• Sting. I couldn't stand him here. The first showing wasn't bad but once Russo came in, the angles got bizarre to stupid. Sting's angles have generally been bad almost the entire time I've watched him. He showed a few good moves here and there but in the end, did TNA get any positive value from his huge contract? I don't believe so. I think Sting needed to have his last match, not with Angle, but another superstar and really put that superstar over. Abyss wasn't a good choice as Abyss is caught up in a perpetually stupid angle with no way out. Other wrestlers like Chris Harris, James Storm, Christopher Daniels, or Senshi should've received the rub at the end with a major retirement match. Instead, our last memories was just Booker T coming in and Sting leaving quietly. Very bad calculation on TNA's part.
• TNA is Bitchfest. There's a lot of controversy over Samoa Joe's so-called shoot on Scott Hall/Kevin Nash. The truth is that TNA was dumb enough to expose its own business on PPV. I think at this point, people are tired of hearing in TNA these wrestlers who just talk about being sick and tired. People watch TNA for one reason: the action. Sure, having angles is a good compliment, but the bottom line is that you want the action to come first. Having wrestlers come in week in and week out bitching about not being pushed, politics, etc. gets tiresome and makes the wrestlers seem like hapless complainers. We all complain about our jobs, not getting the money we deserve, how our boss never promotes us, or not getting the opportunities we deserve. We've heard it a million times. Thanks, move on. But the thing that gets me isn't that fact, but the fact that you're letting people talk shit about your OWN PROMOTION. You're saying that the people in the federation are has-beens and can't do anything. Well, we all know that. Why reinforce that opinion? Why reinforce a negative stereotype that becomes a self fulfilling prophesy? This type of interview for a company of this size serves no benefit. It does the opposite. I don't blame Samoa Joe for "going into business for himself." More to him for taking advantage of a promotion who was stupid enough to encourage him to take potshots at someone who has enough problems as is. Things like this alone is why Vince McMahon nevers has to worry about TNA.

One thing that WWE does really well and something Vince McMahon (and any smart business person understands) is the concept of branding. Observe Steve Jobs and Apple. He doesn't go about complaining about how his employees are terrible at conventions. Instead, he emphasizes the products and what makes them good because he realizes the importance of branding.

McMahon (and the WWE) have always done this. This is something that a lot of companies fail to understand. What is your sense of identity? WWE doesn't claim to be the best PURE wrestling organization. They know that they are in the business of sports entertainment. That alone allows them to describe to anyone what and who they are. Their goal never has been to have their wrestlers put on 5* clinics at every show. If they do, great. If they don't but the fans go home happy and buy more products, even better.

More than that, the WWE and McMahon religiously believe in itself. When wrestlers do something stupid like post a message to BBSes, blogs, etc. the WWE reels them in fast to not expose their business. That's a huge bonus point for the WWE because they know how to control their product (which partly are their wrestlers).

Allowing wrestlers to spout off especially on your PPV is not branding. It's self-destruction because you're essentially admitting that your product sucks enough that a wrestler has to make an excuse not to show up. More than that, you're allowing wrestlers to bury other wrestlers in such a way that's detrimental to the product. Case in point Rikishi, the Dudleys on the X-Division, Samoa Joe ridiculing Scott Hall/Nash as being leeches and being over-the-hillers, etc. In the last example, you're saying that you're stupidly employing rejects and paying them a shit load of money without having any benefit. You can circulate a memo internally to warn people, but why tell your audience explicitly?

The sadder part for me was seeing the so-called firings of Senshi and Christopher Daniels. These two are highly talented but they get shafted? Do people realize how bad this comes off, especially after a PPV which ended on a down tone?

I think some of these problems are somewhat excusable in that these people are still learning the business. But they really need to learn fast because I think everyone realizes that there's only so many chances you can get before people eventually give up on you.]]> Wed, 05 Dec 2007 09:23:51 -0700 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2007/12/5/9b0a629816642754e65f4d1c71f508ff.html http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2007/12/7/7ef1e59362dd27b7a9f13ccfaf9819a6.html
The rest of the PPV was a bit lackluster, simply existing to progress angles. Some decent matches but the ending deflated the show. Despite that, I'm still ever impressed with Christian Cage. This guy is THE MAN as I said. He's definitely my favorite thing from TNA (just about next to the Knockouts).]]> Fri, 07 Dec 2007 23:00:26 -0700 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2007/12/7/7ef1e59362dd27b7a9f13ccfaf9819a6.html http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2007/12/7/dfd7260c81ec112b6fbfb6bc840aaefb.html
If Russo keeps true to the Godfather, he'll make Christian a solitary figure, who perishes in his loneliness.

On a sidenote, yes, I've been watching the Godfather recently. ]]> Fri, 07 Dec 2007 23:18:02 -0700 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2007/12/7/dfd7260c81ec112b6fbfb6bc840aaefb.html http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2008/1/2/52b5f69b0c84868b080c164601a7cb2a.html While I've not commented on TNA for a time, the truth is that I wrote a nasty rant against Russo and his inability to tell a story. However, the rant got trashed after my stupid browser lost my post. It took me a good hour or so coming up with the rant and that irritated me to no end.

Then I read over on 411mania about what 2008 should/ought to mean for TNA, and considering I've been doing my 2008 predictions/strategies for other people, I decided, why not do one for TNA? Here it goes (and hopefully the browser doesn't screw up this time!!!!!):

1) Get rid of Vince Russo. This guy should be permanently banned from touching any wrestling related business ever again. That should be the top priority of TNA. Just the like the movie AI where you could tell where Kubrick's genius ended and Spielberg's childish demeanor dismantled Kubrick's build, so too can you see Russo's lowbrow humor, his twisted sense of paranoia, his unending "storylines" and unnecessary complications of something that really should be no more than "I hate you" and "No, I hate YOU!" Sometime a while back, Dixie Carter heavily attempted to defend Russo for the whole "Fire Russo!" chant at Lockdown 2007. Well, we've been pelted over a year with his distasteful booking or whatever you want to call it and the thing is that the wrestling world has had enough. Dixie Carter and the rest of TNA management/owners, and whatnot, unplug Russo and lay him to rest.
2) Halt with the acquisitions. The only 3-4 I would've made were Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit, RVD and perhaps Paul Heyman. Benoit is a moot point and Jericho was smart enough to realize that he could make it bigger in the WWE. RVD would be the only last meaningful acquisition that TNA could make from the WWE. Heyman would be good but as someone who is in charge of brand management. However, Cornette and Paul E might not be such a good internal combo. But anything beats Russo at this point.
3) Stop thinking this is 1996-1998 and realize that your true competitor is NOT the WWE, but ROH. WWE is way off TNA's charts in terms of competition. TNA has no hopes in pulling in the type of numbers that the WWE does and won't be in position for probably a good decade, especially with their booking. However, every time I turn a corner, the hot product isn't TNA but ROH because ROH (though I haven't seen them yet) is doing what TNA should've been doing: concentrating on having good matches. I'm doubtful that WWE would want most of TNA's talent, but ROH definitely can have a place for them.
4) TNA needs good wrestling matches. They've done better in the sense that the 2 hours allowed them to prolong a match or two on the program. But there has NOT been any truly notable, epic matches in a while. Perhaps the only one people have talked about is Chris Harris vs James Storm. The other was Amazing Kong vs Gail Kim, but most of that was due to good booking rather than the pure match quality itself (too short to really be at the level warranting a MOTYC). WWE has HBK vs John Cena for 60 minutes on free TV. That's an epic. Many of the wrestlers in TNA can easily go 60 minutes and have cooler moves than Cena and HBK, but we don't get to see that. Companies like AJPW, Zenjo, JWP, and Noah at times have the concept of epic matches. They get the appropriate time to allow the matches to sink into memory. TNA cannot simply cater to each wrestler by allowing them to get a little bit of time through throwing them into another 10-way match where each wrestler gets 3-5 moves a piece. Big deal. It makes no statement about the match nor the wrestler. It's just forgettable spots. Instead of getting these well rounded wrestlers, we get spot-a-thons. For most of TV, it's acceptable, for PPVs it's unforgivable. The reasoning is simple: why pay for something you can get on TV for free? Outside of the fact that Russo is a terrible writer, this is probably the biggest lesson TNA needs to learn.
5) Brand management. Samoa Joe shooting against TNA and turning it into a lame shoot angle is the best way to destroy your own brand. Right now, people's image of TNA must be the place where people go to bitch. Robert Roode has done it, Team 3D did it, Christian did it, Chris Harris has done it and now Samoa Joe is doing it. It might work the first or second time, but by the 5th+ time, it gets old. Fast. And no one likes hearing someone bitch (okay, I'm doing it too but I'm trying to offer suggestions as well). So to practice what I preach, I offer the advice of figuring out a better way to manage TNA's branding. First, figure out what TNA is. Some say it's the X-Division. Others say it's the anti-WWE. Others say it's all about action. I say none of these things have a good focus. For TNA to determine what kind of brand it is, it needs to answer this simple question: who you are. And you must do this in one sentence, less than 12 words. If it were me, I'd explain it as this: it's where good wrestling happens. Simple, short, to the point and it describes something that isn't necessarily the WWE. Also, it brings focus to the product. Focus on the wrestling aspect, the moves, the meaning behind the moves, the competitive nature of the sport. Make it seem like there is a competitiveness to the wrestling rather than worrying about these lame storylines that are used to justify one match. If you need to make a storyline elaborate, focus only on one or two programs per PPV. That is, your main event (because that's your selling point) and another one where you might want to add more meaning. Then let the wrestlers do short 1-2 minute promos telling us how they'll beat their opponents for the rest of the PPV segments. It doesn't need to get more complicated than that. If the wrestlers lack the mic experience, have them watch Dave Schultz and the way he talks about Hulk Hogan going to SF.
6) Shorter, more focused promos. I don't mind a wrestling show filled with promos as long as the promo leads to something. I do mind a wrestling show with lots of pointless, meandering promos that never get to a point. Everyone in wrestling doesn't have to be witty. Every segment doesn't have to be funny. But each segment should be meaningful in some way. They should get a wrestler, a match, or a storyline over for the next PPV. I don't see that with a lot of promos in TNA. The promos meander and lose focus too quickly. The whole AJ/Tomko deciding with Kurt or Christian is just meandering. The segments with the crazy Robert Roode fan are pointless. They need to resolve to something. Otherwise, it's just gratuitous writing. The promos should be limited to 1-2 minute speeches by wrestlers. If a wrestler cannot make his point within that time, then the speech needs to be cut. That should serve as a guideline.
7) No more stupid, stipulations for matches. The Christmas show was awful. Everything was a stipulation. The way it was justified was bad. The matches didn't click and things just got worse quickly. I just want a simple one on one or tag team match. Why is that so hard to book? I have to admit that the recent 6 man tag team matches have been at least good. These are more focused and similar to the AJPW shows of yore where you get people of various experiences to wrestle, not have to deliver on large spots, and have the weakest link get pinned on either side. That style of booking is highly tolerable and I think TNA should offer more of it, especially if they want to broadcast more of their wrestlers. Of all the things they've done, this is the best thing offered recently by them.
8) 3 month, 6 month rule. Book towards a goal. Take a wrestler or a PPV and define a goal for that wrestler and/or PPV. Where should that wrestler be in 3 months or at 6 months? Wrestlers need to develop, not just characters but just their rankings. You need to build momentum for a wrestler, not just generate some storyline thinking that a storyline is enough to thrum up any interest in that wrestler. Take Kaz for instance. He goes from Christian to Kurt Angle to Dustin Rhoades? I think I understand what the intention is, but the linking between these people mystifies me. It's not a plan. It's just finding a place for him while other guys get their time in the spotlight. That's not build, it's just shuffling. TNA needs a ranking system for themselves just to show where people belong each week. It gives a sense of order rather than people bitching and getting a title shot. Hey, if I could get a raise every time I bitched, I would've stopped working 8 years ago.
9) Stop trying to link everything to something on TV or a stupid gag. The Petey Williams thing is just...bad. You don't have to give him a character. And you really don't want to give him a character that makes him look worse than he already is. And when you do give someone a character, it should lead to something. Sonjay Dutt as some karma person? Where does it lead? How does finding one's inner peace help their sense of wrestling in the ring? If I developed him, I would've had him backstab Jay Lethal already. He would've done the whole Waylan Mercy character, except as a Hindu. Instead, he just throws flowers around without purpose and not chalking up any wins as a result of the character change.
10) Resolve your angles in 2-3 months after starting. Ms Brookes never ending relationship with Robert Roode. The stalker angle. The hooded LAX member. Chris Harris bitching. Most of TNA's roster bitching. It goes on and on and on and on. End it. If the purpose is to give a wrestler some character or heat, finish it after the heat is received.

That's all for now. Hopefully, TNA takes at least 10 of these into consideration.]]> Wed, 02 Jan 2008 10:33:43 -0700 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2008/1/2/52b5f69b0c84868b080c164601a7cb2a.html http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2008/1/5/d80114ba065b02b15a26149f9e047ce8.html

• 28000 or so. Terrible attendance for a Dome show. I haven't followed puro for a while, so I don't know if this is a typical trend. But I hope it's not attributable to TNA (solely).
• TNA vs NJPW. It's obvious they're planting some major seeds, especially with the chair shot Jarrett gave, Angle retaining and the stare down between Angle and Nakamura. Apparently, there's a match scheduled for Ryogoku between Angle and Nakamura on 2/17/2008.
• TNA was rather generous in lending NJPW their best talent and this is probably TNA's biggest showing in terms of attendance. One good thing about TNA that differs from WCW during the talent trades with Japan is that a good portion of TNA can work well, not just the cruisers.
• The times for most of the matches were, imo, pathetic. I wonder if people anticipated the non-epic match times in just staying home?
• TNA got the better deal without question in this. Most of their people went over, they had their biggest card, and they can claim being international with Kurt defending. Outside of bragging rights and the upcoming TV broadcast of this program, I don't know if TNA will get much more than this.
• Hopefully, the seeds will be planted in a long term feud between both companies. If this happens, I sure hope to God that they disallow Russo from touching anything related to this feud. The previous interactions of the Japanese on TNA soil have been respectable, albeit not great. I'd honestly hate to see in 2008 a redneck, Pearl Harbor type of storyline develop from Russo's racist viewpoint. It just doesn't work and would end up offending more fans than doing any good promoting both companies.
• Some people want Nakamura to win over Angle at 2/17. Apparently, Nakamura is some prodigal kid (saw some videos; not too shabby). If they don't manage to fuck up this feud, I wouldn't mind Angle holding onto the title a little longer and then putting over Tanahashi in a big way, just to prolong the feud and make Tanahashi look like a stronger challenger. We'll see for this one.

If this feud does come to US soil (which in a way I hope it does), then I really hope someone at TNA wakes up and realizes that Russo would be the worst person to book anything for this program. This program can be serious and do well, but I don't have enough faith to see it last more than a month or two with the lowbrow, standard Japanese stereotype jokes in between.]]> Sat, 05 Jan 2008 10:42:24 -0700 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2008/1/5/d80114ba065b02b15a26149f9e047ce8.html http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2008/1/20/8cac31be13d9edbe1680b187a132fe21.html it's damn true. Global Impact is what TNA ought to be: a true difference in presentation of pro-wrestling from the WWE. TNA's modus operandi is to be the standout product in pro-wrestling in America; however, while they wish to be the anti-WWE, many of their shows suffer from copying many ideas from the WWE. And not the good ideas either.

However, Global Impact was a warm welcome of doing the right promotion of pro-wrestling. No insulting of the Japanese promotions. No stupid angles. Just showing good wrestling, promoting with how people really felt and attempting to educate rather than preach what pro-wrestling can be.

Kurt Angle vs Yuji Nagata was one of the best pro-wrestling matches for free TV in TNA. It ended clean and was a decent match. It also got Angle over as a world-class athlete. Not him as the conniving rat, but the bad-ass wrestler with a ton of confidence. This is the Kurt Angle I think people want to see as the top dog in TNA. If TNA would only promote Kurt Angle in this manner, there would be a huge amount of respect for him as the champion and that they would make the TNA championship more legitimate.

This show made me to see more of this feud between TNA and New Japan Pro-wrestling because it did a good job of giving people a good taste of pro-wrestling in Japan in the way it should be presented. Mike Tenay and Don West did a better job, especially TNA who is better as a fact based, wrestling historian rather than a used cars comedian salesman that he's being line fed in TNA at the moment.

What I think this show also made clear is that the current booking committee needs to be fired, restructured and/or given no more authority on doing the booking and storylines in TNA. I have no problems with the core talent in TNA; they actually are good wrestlers when you take away the garbage that the bookers try to sell. The problem has perpetually been the fact that the booking/story writing committee is utter crap and need to be held accountable for not increasing the growth of the promotion. TNA has made some decent business decisions like partnering with Japan, promoting the Knockouts division, getting certain talent like Christian (who is the best pure wrestler in the promotion at the moment), managing to expand their TV slot and holding more shows outside of Florida. This has allowed TNA to grow their audience. However, from a TV point of view, their audience is stagnate. The potential growth they could receive has been stunted by the lack of competence from the booking committee. Now, something must be done in the near future to correct these actions.
]]> Sun, 20 Jan 2008 00:13:54 -0700 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2008/1/20/8cac31be13d9edbe1680b187a132fe21.html http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2008/1/23/a6d793e72dd251d71a406dc5420b01bc.html
Russo obviously is an awful writer, but in some ways he tries to make it painfully overt that he's attempting to utilize some simple writing formulas. Like "developing" characters on screen and occasionally giving them "reasons" for being. For instance, linking Abyss to James Mitchell through parenting. Or adding the "dimension" of character to why Tracy Brooks would become a valet for Robert Roode.

Pro-wrestling is one of those formats that really does not need character depth or large amounts of explanation. It's something that needs to avoid the stigma of being scripted or fake. Heck, the headline on Yahoo even labeled Brock Lesnar as a "fake wrestler" for his upcoming UFC bout. Isn't that quite a stigma? You're marketed by the fact that you have no legitimate ability, not the fact that you have great athletic prowess.

Despite these stigmas, someone like Russo chooses to hurt the credibility of wrestling. It's very counter intuitive in nature, but again I think he's just using it for an easy paycheck and will attempt to break into other avenues of TV if his programming ever becomes successful or if the company folds. It's a shame he cares so little for the business, but it's even sadder than TNA does not have the scrotum power to kick him out once and for all.]]> Wed, 23 Jan 2008 09:11:11 -0700 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2008/1/23/a6d793e72dd251d71a406dc5420b01bc.html http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2008/2/14/d11a66ff0215331a48760fbbe1d727d0.html
At work too, I noticed most people don't care about puroresu and that the whole puroresu vision has become skewed in that most people consider it just a silly show. Hustle and the WWE have done quite a bit to hurt the perception of wrestling in Japan so now people simply more realistic fighting shows like the K-1.

Of course, there are more traditional fans (outside of myself) here that still enjoy wrestling. But the fact that it's viewed as more of a stunt show or (worse yet) a talk show demonstrates that the whole overemphasized skit segments have irrevocably damaged the credibility and more importantly, the believability in wrestling.

It's obvious that the WWE will never move back towards the more purely athletic aspects of pro-wrestling. However, I think TNA should really start re-examining their product and realize the silliness produced simply undermines fans' confidence in the business.]]> Thu, 14 Feb 2008 17:08:38 -0700 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2008/2/14/d11a66ff0215331a48760fbbe1d727d0.html http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2008/6/8/7a1fe7c5c226b6c659c7339415e48190.html
The 6-5-2008 episode was probably 75% on target. From a PPV selling viewpoint, I wouldn't be completely sold on purchasing the PPV. There's not enough from the TV and from TNA's PPV history that gives credibility to spending a few bucks on the PPV (I probably would be better off using that money for my car). However, I have to say that the long term booking is starting to look better or at least certain characters are developing for potential long term usage.

AJ Styles is becoming a full star in his own right. The beatdowns worked as they singled him out and made him important, leading to his match with Kurt Angle. Both guys aren't looking to back down. The whole "it's gotten personal" cliche actually works since both characters look motivated and not cute, but serious in their determination to beat the shit out of each other. AJ Styles doesn't need to beat Kurt this time because they can have a prolonged feud with AJ Styles going over ultimately in the end as the payoff. Also, this is a kind of cool match because it's a first for PPV. I doubt it will be epic, but it might be more interesting than Samoa Joe vs Kurt Angle. I don't think Angle and AJ are ready at this stage to have their epic fight, but at least the seeds should be planted.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: the women's division is the best thing in TNA right now. Their matches aren't fantastic (they need epics), but they have interesting characters and the TNA Knockouts are slowly developing into their own. ODB is kinda like a new Terry Funk; she can't wrestle really well, but she's a chaotic brawler rather than just a generic spot machine. The Beautiful People are great heels. They can't wrestle well either (too inexperienced) but they are very good in their roles and have a nice gimmick. Roxxi is a good wrestler and we can concentrate on her pure abilities since her head was shaved. And of course there's Kong (whom I met btw in Japan a few years ago; hey, we're from the same hometown!!!!). The division is interesting because there's a lot of development taking place and the booking is simple and makes sense.

The King of the Mountain X-Division match was a fun little crash-n-burn Top Gun type of show. Unfortunately, as a division they pretty much are typecast as stunt people. One reading I have of why they do these strange matches is that they want to do some American gladiators type of competition game thing rather than straight wrestling. While it is progressive, it isn't wrestling at the end of the day and I wish that whoever books the X-Division watches the women's division because that's what they ought to be accomplishing.

Then there's the main title scene. I'm still apathetic at this stage, but I'm hoping that they give Samoa Joe a fair run with the title. Let him run the gauntlet. Right now, there's a lot of good challengers; he's already beaten everyone as a challenger en route to becoming the champion. Now, the context is reversed and he has to be the defending champion.

As of now, my biggest disappointment with TNA is that outside of the women's division, there's little new people coming up. They really need 2-3 new people for both the heavyweight and X-Division. Consequences Creed was a nice addition, but how long has it been since they've added anyone to that division? Also, the tag division is once again toss apart. 2-3 months ago we had too many good or recognizable teams. Now, there's probably 2-3 outside of LAX. Of course, the X-Division's X Cup is coming up so we'll see a few new faces. Until then though, the over divisions seem a little stale.]]> Sun, 08 Jun 2008 02:04:02 -0600 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2008/6/8/7a1fe7c5c226b6c659c7339415e48190.html http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2008/6/8/5d5b7d8aad1e6ea5539b20e5186eed66.html
Watching TNA Impact from 5/29/2008 and 6/5/2008, here are some picks:

• Tomko - I think in about a year, he'll be main event material. He's far better than what we saw in the WWE. He can work with smaller guys and isn't stiff. Also, he's got very good interview skills and presence in the ring. I guess his only weakness at this point is his loyalty to TNA; his little outing in .jp probably postponed any singles push for this year. But he's definitely someone to closely watch.
• Hernandez - This is a long shot one, but it's hard to ignore someone with this much power, this much agility for his size and the general ability. He's got presence and charisma in the ring, but his only lacking point is his interview skills. He reminds me of Mike Awesome in some ways. Definitely, a sleeper in TNA.
  
• Kaz - There's a lot of indications that management is happy with him. Pretty much 2007 was a year that demonstrated his ability to be well rounded enough to move eventually to the main event. You saw him wrestle a good range from top names (Kurt Angle, Christian) to the bottom of the barrel (Black Reign, Rellik), but those again were tests to see if he is capable of becoming a headliner. He's not a small guy as a high flyer and has a good look and decent enough mic skills. By the end of next year, barring injury or quitting, he'll definitely be near the main event, if not competing in it.
• AJ Styles - Some say he already is a breakthrough star, but his big push came before the promotion started to hit a bigger main stream stride. Right now, he's being slowly groomed as a huge star, perhaps just as big of a representative as Samoa Joe because he's homegrown. His match with Kurt Angle will definitely be a possible career maker. Everyone knows of his ability but he needs the key feud and win to boost him up higher. His interviews recently moved him from the dorky hick, to a pissed off kid looking for redemption. The sky is only the limit (and maybe not considering whom this is!) for this guy.

Besides these guys, I can't say other people are really ready at this point. However, some honorable mentions include:

• Robert Roode - I'm never going to be high on this guy. However, one thing I have to say is that he makes a decent heel. His offense isn't great, but he can work with people and isn't stiff and can take bumps. His mic skills aren't earth shattering to really propel him into the main event. At this stage, he might be better off as a tag wrestler, but he needs to find a complimentary partner.
• James Storm - His big feud that exhibited what he could do basically was blown off and he's wandering perpetually in the midcard looking for something to do. He's got a good gimmick, decent brawling skills with some nice moves thrown in as well as being fearless and able to take bumps. Despite all this (and the fact that he cracked Sting over the head without any bigger payoff for him), he's still at the same level. Again, he needs someone to work with to demonstrate that he can recapture the magic he had with Chris Harris. It's obvious that he has skill but hasn't been paired up with anyone that can make him look good. But perhaps that's part of the problem in that he requires an equal or better person to really stand out at this point.
• Eric Young - This poor guy is indefinitely stuck with dumb comic relief gimmicks. The sad part is that he's popular, has good mic skills, is charismatic, can wrestle, take daring bumps, has a nice move set and is deceptively strong. Of course, his biggest weakness is his size. Back when Samoa Joe let him tag with him, TNA management should've saddled him with a serious gimmick to demonstrate his hunger for becoming something bigger in TNA. Instead, he keeps getting cycled through the worst gimmicks and wrestlers and rarely has an opportunity to demonstrate that he's capable of being a good wrestler. The paranoid gimmick has long played its part and he should move on to something bigger for himself.

Sad to say, there's really not a lot of choices at this point because TNA has done little to bring in new people (outside of the women's division). Mostly, the people there are simply sitting and spinning in variations, waiting to get their moment in the spotlight. Hopefully, some new blood comes in so these other guys can move up the ranks.]]> Sun, 08 Jun 2008 06:36:42 -0600 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2008/6/8/5d5b7d8aad1e6ea5539b20e5186eed66.html http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2008/8/27/cd100e57ea9857cdf2e75bc3092a7936.html
Saw TNA Impact last night. I really hate their interview segments minus the "Rough Cuts" pieces. The interview parts are horribly contrived, the lines are awful and they aren't even funny if they're meant to be funny. When they're serious you can't take them seriously either. For instance, the Booker T - Kurt Angle part was meant to be serious but I felt that the segment looked like a joke. The crux of the whole segment was to make the older generation look like a threat. It didn't even come close. They were trying to make it like the NWO, but everything just fails. Everytime you see Kurt Angle or Booker T, you see a comic book character.

Now, as far as this angle will be played out, it makes little sense. For example, why should Sting suddenly go to the dark side after XXX number of years of playing the baby face character? The writers NEVER think of those details. Here's a simple suggestion for those so-called writers: just have Sting come out and rally all these older people to him. His purpose in the end is to bond together the older wrestlers because he feels these younger guys don't deserve to take their spot. Have him give a speech to guys like Samoa Joe, etc. about paying their dues and going out and taking these guys' spots away. When that happens, Sting, etc. can go home and feel satisfied. That's how I'd play out this angle and set a retirement angle for him.

I don't want to see these little turns every single time without justification. I want to see unification, consistency and a purpose until the story achieves its purpose. I doubt those idiot writers at TNA read my blog, but they ought to. This angle is so damn simple but effective and TNA will screw it up in the end because they can't execute the simplest storyline.]]> Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:57:47 -0600 http://www.keithwatanabe.net/blogs/2008/8/27/cd100e57ea9857cdf2e75bc3092a7936.html