The recent "Lock down" pay-per-view was promoted as a new era for TNA,
which is something the company has tried before and very similar to
previous attempts, it yielded mixed results at the PPV. One of the
criticisms of TNA the past few years is that the promotion is presented
as "WWE Lite" and they didn't establish their own brand. As part of a
deal Jeff Jarrett made before his departure from TNA, the company has a
working agreement with the Wrestle-1 promotion. There was a talent
exchange, including TNA taping a PPV event at a Wrestle-1 show and some
Japanese talent is booked for TNA. Sanada won the X Division title
during the TNA tour of Japan and it seems like he will be appearing for
the company on a regular basis, as he defended the title at a recent TV
taping. There was a six man tag at Lock down with The Great Muta,
Sanada, and Yasu vs. Christopher Daniels, Kazarian, and Chris Sabin. The
booking of international talent is a very wise decision for the
promotion because it's something different than the WWE product. The
other international talent on the card was Tigre Uno, who is known as
Extreme Tiger in AAA in Mexico. The problem with booking the
international stars for the PPV was that TNA barely promoted their
appearances prior to the show. There was almost zero mention of the
Wrestle-1 team on TNA TV before Lock down and considering they had
access to footage of them from the Japanese taping, there could have
been a video package to promote The Great Muta appearing in the United
States.
For some prespective of the situation, The Great Muta is a legend and in
some ways, he's The Undertaker of Japan with the gimmick and
accomplishments at many of the major companies in Japan. Obviously, Muta
had several injuries over the past few years and he isn't the going to
be the same performer he was a decade ago, but the six man tag format
allowed him to do a few key spots while Sanada and Yasu worked the
majority of the match. The point is, The Great Muta appearance could
have been a major selling point for TNA, but similar previous angles,
they fumbled the opportunity to promote something unique to TNA.
Granted, the company has a track record of extremely low buy rates, but
if they would have hyped Muta's appearance, it would have given them
another selling point for the show. As mentioned earlier, Tigre Uno was
also booked for the show and again, there was almost zero promotion for
another international star. Since TNA has a working agreement with AAA,
it seems possible that they could have used a video package to promote
Extreme Tiger, especially considering it was mentioned during the
broadcast that he wrestled in AAA so it's not as though he was presented
as a brand new character that started in TNA. As I said, the
international stars could help TNA establish themselves as their own
brand, but lack of promotion and other events from Lock down seem to
prove that TNA is content to be seen as a mid card version of WWE.
Bobby Lashley returned to the company and he defeated Ethan Carter III
during an open challenge. Lashley debuted for the company in 2009 and he
didn't do anything too stellar during his relatively short run before
his departure to train for mixed martial arts. Lashley fought in some
smaller MMA organizations and wrestled in Japan the past few years, but
hasn't exactly done anything too major to boost his name value. This
isn't a jab against Lashley, but he's basically known as another WWE mid
carder and is it really necessary for TNA to sign him? How many fans
are really going to tune into TNA to see Bobby Lashley? It seems as
though this is another case of a competitor getting a spot on the TNA
roster because they are a former WWE star. Another case of this is MVP,
who improved drastically after his run in New Japan Pro Wrestling but he
hasn't been on main stream TV in the United States for years and he was
a mid carder in the WWE. He went from being a mid carder in the WWE and
he's automatically booked for the main angle for TNA. That's not to say
that MVP can't contribute to the company because his promo work thus
far has been the best of his career and as mentioned, he has improved in
the ring since his run in WWE, but it seems like TNA's top talent are
secondary to former WWE stars, which is one of the reasons TNA hasn't
established their own brand.
There were some really ridiculous matches and angles booked in TNA
history, but after seeing the conclusion to the Magnus vs. Samoa Joe
match, you have to wonder if Vince Russo is actually booking again? For
those that didn't watch the clip, Abyss reaches through the canvas and
drags Joe under the ring. Joe emerges from underneath the ring and
attacks Magnus while waiting to be attacked again. Abyss hits Joe with a
weapon and Magnus retains the title. The only problem with the angle
is...LOGIC. If Joe was just dragged under the ring, why would he turn
his back toward Abyss? Why would he just stand there choking Magnus if
he knew Abyss was under the ring? It looked ridiculous and angles that
look that goofy are probably one of the reasons why the arena was less
than half full during the show. Quite frankly, Samoa Joe deserves better
and at 35, WWE might not be an option for him, but TNA isn't exactly
letting his career flourish, considering he could be the top star for
the promotion, but he's booked for ridiculous angles.
The Jeff Hardy "Willow" character debuted at the PPV and he has wrestled
a few matches on Impact, but there really isn't an explanation for the
character. It was a wise decision for Hardy to remain some what
recognizable with the gimmick because it can utilize his name value,
while freshening up his character. Despite the lack of a storyline for
the character, Hardy's run in TNA was getting stable so a new character
could rejuvenate his career.
The Lock down pay-per-view was basically a summary of TNA's booking
fumbles for the past few years and there's a trend of one step forward
and two steps back for the company. They booked international talent for
a PPV and they barely promote it. They have former WWE stars
automatically booked in main event angles and it continues to make TNA
stars seem secondary. They also had a another ridiculous angle over
shadow a decent PPV. These are all basically the same criticisms about
TNA for the past few years and there's a great roster, but terrible
booking. Don't get me wrong, I'm not say I know the answer to improve
TNA, but another "new era" will probably be a similar situation to the
past few years.
