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GUEST EDITORIAL
By: Adam Riemer of New York, N.Y.
PWTorch.com Reader

For almost seven years, WWE has been the only face of professional wrestling. After the fall of WCW, many of us wrestling fans have seen the clear as day decline of the WWE product, seemingly going by the notion that they are the only game in town so they don't have to try as hard anymore. Fans have been begging for the interesting angles and great programs that were put on in the late 1990s to the very beginning of the millennium. Begging to see something that captivated us like Steve Austin did when he bathed The Corporation in Beer. A superstar that made us cheer when an elbow pad was thrown into the stands and a standard move was deemed "electrifying." We long for days when we raised our hands creating what looks like a "wolf" with our fingers and smile when we think back at three men that spray painted three letters on a world title, became the definition of "cool heels."

Those days are long gone, and yet we are still longing for something new and exciting, proof of that is in the low ratings, which are at a point that no one thought was possible eight years ago. TNA comes along, something that was once just an idea and was turned into a reality. If you were like me, you thought about how that is exactly the way that Eric Bischoff revolutionized wrestling and helped create what we once loved. However, over time we are seeing the TNA just is not getting it, just is not able to capitalize on the WWE's mistakes because they are too blind to see their own. I like TNA, I think TNA has the weapons to combat the WWE, they have the stars, they have the youth, they have the pride.

But they are missing something, so being a fan of professional wrestling for over 15 years I have come up with a list - ten ways that TNA can improve itself to be able to go to and actually be considered a threat to the WWE and a respectable. These are just suggestions, but in the long run every long time wrestling fan can agree that if something isn't done soon, we may witness history again with yet another wrestling company doomed to the DVD racks.

1. Stop trying to be MMA.

Kurt Angle recently stated in an interview that MMA is the future; it is what TNA needs to lean towards because it is so popular in our everyday lives. Can anyone tell me when in our everyday lives before the boom of professional wrestling in the mid to late 1990s we had gang fighting, giving your boss the finger, and stunning him every week, or telling the world to "Suck It"? No it didn't happen.

WCW and the WWE (WWF at the time) created that form of popularity. They were the ones who made getting suspended on the playground for telling another class mate or teacher to "Suck It" cool. They were the ones who made us fantasize what it would be like to beat the hell out of our boss and drink beer all over the ring. They were the ones who created the mass amounts of NWO t-shirts that were on everybody. They were not influenced by anything more than their minds and competitive spirit over one another. TNA needs to do this too.

Stop trying to be MMA, you are professional wrestling. The WWE did not become the super power by copying WCW, they made their own product from creativity. WCW failed because in the long run they tried to copy the WWE and it just didn't work. It is time to make TNA its own product and not some MMA-pro wrestling hybrid where guys like Frank Trigg can go play when he is washed up. Ken Shamrock is the only one who made it big, and that was because he was a fresh identity doing what he did, he was a character. He wasn't Ken Shamrock of UFC; he was Ken Shamrock, "The Worlds Most Dangerous Man."

2.  Stop referencing the WWE on every single show.

Kind of like what I said above, but really, why do they always mention the WWE or Vince McMahon on every show? It is like free advertising for the WWE. Almost like saying; "Look at how stupid our product is, you should watch the big boys play instead." Jesse and Kip did this by calling their team "VKM," Team 3D does it all the time when they talk about how they are so dominant, Sting is now doing it by saying he could have gone there instead. I am sure Mick Foley will say something sooner than later about it, too. STOP IT! Learn from the great mistake of the WCW, whose mention of Mick Foley winning the title from the Rock on Raw caused the balance of power to shift. You are not making your brand different from the WWE by constantly comparing it, you are making the WWE look superior. I do not hear anyone in the WWE mentioning ANYTHING about TNA on Raw, Smackdown, or ECW.

3. Get rid of the six-sided ring.

It was a fun experiment, but it will never be like the "squared circle." If you are going to push your youth like you were doing back in the day then it works. Guys like Daniels, Styles, Lethal, and Kaz all could use the six-sided ring because they were innovative. Guys like Angle, Christian, Sting, Rhino, and Nash all look terrible in this ring because they look like they don't know what to do. Like I said before, you need to create your own identity while sticking to professional wrestling roots. A MMA type ring takes that away and the matches in the six sides of steel looks like the Elimination Chamber missing its Plexiglas doors.

4. Stop the run-ins... seriously.

What is with TNA and the constant run-ins and outside interference? It is like they are trying to make up for five-plus years of no outside manager interference really in pro wrestling in the span of 1 year. It's ridiculous!

5. Have the refs actually do something other than "Ultimate Warrior Up" and attack other wrestlers.

The WWE had a few times that the ref pushed back, but he did it as a show of authority. It meant something and it was rare. Having a ref "Hulk Up" and attack your superstar is stupid, and it makes them look really weak, even if it is just some lower card jobber.

6. Have the X Division title mean something again.

TNA has one very big advantage over the WWE; they have 2 singles belts (mens), not 5. This means that your titles can be valued much more. The WWE cares about 2 belts in their company, and one of them is the better looking old WCW title. They could care less about the Intercontinental Title (look at the comedy act they have as a champion) and they don't know how to make the US title relevant, even with a good heel champ like Shelton. TNA use to care about the X Division title, they need to again, there is no reason to let guys like AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels, Jay Lethal or Petey Williams try to compete for a crowded main event slot. The WWE did the right thing way back when by having its world champions be in one spot of the roster and its younger more exciting guys in the IC spot, this also helped elevate them (ie. Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart). TNA needs to do this again.

7. Stop signing short term deals.

How can you have established stars come to your company to bring fans over and then have them leave after a year or so? How can you let your young guns leave the company? I remember when Jeff Jarret and Monty Brown had a program where they were leaning on turning the Alpha Male face, but then his contract ran out and he left. Jeff Hardy is now on top of the world in the WWE and Christian Cage's contract is up soon. You're going to let one of your most charismatic wrestlers and one of your best in ring performers leave and go back to mediocrity in the WWE? Why? Sting is old, Jarret is the Triple H of TNA and Kurt Angle has more health problems than anyone in wrestling. Your young guys need to be your future, stop letting their contracts run out so that Vince McMahon can sign them and doom them to ECW or dark matches.

8. Gimmicks are fun in wrestling, when they are believable and orginial, it is time to stop the stupidity.

Curry Man, Shark Boy, Black Machismo, Super Eric, African President Booker T and the Kan/Mankind clone; Abyss are all gimmicks that just need to stop. Curry Man and Shark Boy are both excellent performers, but their characters are ludicrous. Jay Lethal is so talented, but this Macho Man thing is just terrible, it's not honoring, it is being annoying. Super Eric was a good program…when Owen Hart did it years ago and added comedy and skill to a wrestling match. Eric Young is a good wrestler; but he is not Owen Hart. Booker T's accent is the dumbest thing I have ever heard. How do you just gain an accent like that? William Regal doesn't come out and pretend like he is American all of a sudden, Booker T shouldn't pretend like he is African.

I thought the Abyss gimmick was over when he took off his mask, it wasn't. There is nothing new here with him, he is still just like Kane and Mankind, losing James Mitchell is not the same as losing the mask. Some gimmicks work and some don't. The WWE is guilty of this too, so why be like them? Drop the dead pan unrealistic gimmicks and grow up, WCW beat the hell out of the WWE and almost put them out of business because with a gimmick that comprised of  3 letters and 3 men (initially), take that into account and consider the realistic angles advantage.

9. Quit with the quick title changes.

The titles change so much in TNA for various reasons but none really make sense. Why did Sting win the title only to lose it to Angle like 3 weeks later? I swear Samoa Joe is the longest reigning champion in the last 2 years since Jarret took his hiatus. Christopher Daniels held the X Division title for a while, since then it has been passed around like a pack of Tic Tacs at a high school dance. The tag belts? Well LAX did hang on to them for longer than I thought, but seriously give Beer Money some time and a chance with them, build credibility around the champions and the titles themselves. Don't do what WCW did when they passed around the World Title to everyone and anyone that put their name into a hat.

10. Finally, you need to do two things here.

Get a better announcing team, or at least tell Don and Mike to shut up once in a while. I am willing to bet there at least 30 people in the general audience of a TNA show that are better at commentating than Don West and Mike Tenay. There are some retired legends out there too that you could probably bring in and bring real credibility to the commentator spot and also use the name to draw older fans into your product. Think that doesn't work?

Well, look at what Jerry Lawler, Gorilla Monsoon, and Jesse Ventura does/did for the position. Number twi in this spot is that you need to both get Jim Cornette out to the ring more often and turn him heel, or get someone else as your head of TNA management. Jim Cornette is a terrible "in the middle" authority figure, if Jeff Jarrett's in ring return goes to hell, then why not state the obvious (since they are doing it already) and say he is one of the owners and turn him into the head of the company taking on that role permanently. At least Jeff is a good speaker and would make for a hell of a heel owner.

TNA needs a lot more work than that, but maybe they should do something that the WWE creative team and management doesn't do anymore; listen to the fans for once.

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