You're not watching, are you? I can tell. You've decided that it isn't worth your time or that it isn't good enough. You keep forgetting. You have better things to do when it comes around and refuse to use a VCR or TiVo. The ratings don't lie. The lack of participation in my wrestling forum-of-choice's Impact discussion thread shows the truth as well. Yeah. You're not watching. And by "you", I mean a big portion of the wrestling community. And by "watching", I mean catching TNA Impact and their Pay-Per-Views.
Now, you may have a lot of reasons. One might be that the Pay-Per-Views are too expensive. WWE is already drying you out with their twice-monthly events. Well, an easy remedy to that is going halves with a fan who may also be interested in giving this TNA thing a shot. Another is scheduling. You're too busy on Thursday nights or you need to hit the sack before 11 o' clock for one reason or another. Well, get a VCR. There. That fixes that.
There are always countless reasons why an American wrestling fan won't try wrestling outside of WWE. In the case of TNA, there exists many of those reasons, but one which I can solve right here in this column is the "I don't know much about TNA" line or the "I haven't watched in a while, so I don't feel like jumping right back in and learning everything again" excuse. Contained here are the bare basics of TNA and a few notes about current events. Not a manual but a quick refresher course that you can read in a few minutes to catch up on nearly everything. Let's get started.
THE X-DIVISION: Easily TNA's bread and butter. Without the X-Division, I wager TNA would have gone the way of MLW, WWA and most of the other upstarts from a few years ago. The X-Division wrestlers generally put on the best matches. So much, in fact, that the X title is probably more popular than the NWA World Heavyweight Championship amoung TNA's fans.
Defining the nature of the division and who could be involved used to be difficult but still doable. Now, it is more challenging. I will try. TNA defines the X-Division has being "no limits." Not "weight limits." That refers to the fact that most of the wrestlers are cruiserweights and/or wrestle that style. Although, there is no 220 lbs. weight restriction. So, it is more about style than pounds. However, with the debut of Samoa Joe, a heavyweight who doesn't fly much, that is even less accurate. There isn't a particularly good kayfabe way of explaining this "division" but it simply means that those who wrestle an exciting, explosive style belong in the X-Division. Joe is a strong style hard hitter. So, he is now X-Division Champion. Here is the division's roster as of late: "Fallen Angel" Christopher Daniels, AJ Styles, Chris Sabin, Alex Shelley, Austin Aries, Chase Stevens, Jay Lethal, Matt Bentley, Petey Williams, "Primetime" Elix Skipper, Roderick Strong, Senshi, and Sonjay Dutt.
Some of these wrestlers move in and out of the division. It is not exclusive. The X-Divison, even though TNA likes to make the NWA World Championship the top prize, is the centerpiece for the promotion. There are specific matches like Ultimate X (ladder match except the belt is suspended by intersecting bars) and Elimination X (eight-man elimination tag match) as well as the World X Cup tournament going on right now -- more on that later -- and the Destination X Pay-Per-View. Basically, TNA uses the letter X a whole lot. Get used to hearing it.
THE MAIN EVENT: TNA, even though it is now only vaguely associated with the National Wrestling Alliance, holds the rights to the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. At least for a few more years. So, their top championship, despite its history has been somewhat distorted, dates back about a century. Of course, one could argue that such distortions over its legacy (Jim Crockett Promotions being bought, WCW using it, WWE saying their belt is the real one, etc.) have tarnished it a bit, but at the end of the day, TNA can call their belt is the oldest and most prestigious in America. They can claim it anyway.
The point here is that the NWA World title is becoming a big deal again because of TNA. Through much of TNA's short history, Jeff Jarrett has held the belt. He is basically a near-permanent top heel champion. However, we are in a stage right now with a babyface champion. One that seems like he will hold on to the title for at least a little while longer. That man being Christian Cage. The night he won it was huge for the company and its fans.
Since then, the razzle and dazzle has worn off, but due to a good performance at their last Pay-Per-View, Lockdown, Christian has proven he can hang in the main event. Other main event stars include Abyss, a legitimate 6'4" (or so) billed as 6'8". Not to mention big name stars like Scott Steiner and Sting. Raven has recently returned and will probably make a go for the title as well. That's basically the state of the main event. Not all the best athletes but definitely TNA's biggest names.
STABLES: TNA has a stacked roster. Instead of highlighting every single wrestler, they put much of their talent pool in stables. Not everyone knows Bobby Roode's character too well, but all TNA fans know Team Canada. Speaking of which, let's start there. Team Canada is probably what you think it is. It is a group of Canadians joining together so they can stand up to the Americans. The heel stable is Coach Scott D'Amore (the manager), Eric Young (the funny one), Bobby Roode (the enforcer), A1 (the generic tough guy), and Petey Williams (the captain and X-Division star). Another heel stable is led by ECW-alum Simon Diamond. He commands Elix Skipper and David Young as the Diamonds in the Rough, a team of two guys who were going nowhere until picked up by Diamond. Basically a jobber team lately. Jeff Jarrett, Scott Steiner and America's Most Wanted (tag champions) form another heel stable but it is unnamed and fairly unofficial.
Everyone mentioned here and also Abyss, James Mitchell, Gail Kim, and Alex Shelley are all part of a Heel Union -- my name, not their's -- that was created to combat ex-WWE stars coming in. The super group is led by Jarrett. It creates an Us vs. Them babyface/heel dynamic. The only big heels not part of the union is the Latin American Exchange stable of Homicide, Konnan and Hernandez.
Babyface stables are not as big. Not counting the one-time team up of Sting's Army, there are only two: Team 3D, which includes Brother Ray, Brother Devon, and Brother Runt, and The James Gang, which is really just Kip James (Billy Gunn), BG James (Road Dogg) and BG's father "Bullet" Bob Armstrong.
WHAT ELSE?: A few more notes while I am on the subject of teams. TNA is hosting a World X Cup. In a nutshell, it is four teams from different parts of the world all vying for the trophy of the tournament's name. Team USA is Chris Sabin, Jay Lethal, Alex Shelley and Sonjay Dutt. All TNA regulars. Team Canada is Petey Williams, Eric Young, a returning Johnny Devine and Canadian import Tyson Dux. Team Japan is Jushin Thunder Liger, Black Tiger (Rocky Romero), Minoru Tanaka, and Hirooki Goto of NJPW. Team Mexico is Shocker (former TNA regular), Puma (not really from Mexico and now under TNA contract), Abismo Negro, and Magno. Participants compete in a series of matches. Each victory earns a certain amount of points. The team with the most points at the end takes home the trophy. The losers are deported or something.
I would discuss the tag division, but there isn't much of one to speak of. So, let's just skip that and move on to hyping the Pay-Per-Views, shall we? If you catch Impact here and there, you are not getting a good idea of what TNA is all about. Sadly, the promotion only gets an hour a week to tell their stories and showcase their matches. I know the cost of a Pay-Per-View is a little risky now that both WWE and TNA are jacking up the prices, but believe me when I tell you that it will be worth it. PPV is where TNA really shines.
I guess that's it, folks. Thanks for reading. I hope you learned something and will hopefully give TNA a fair shake. Sooner rather than later. Impact is on Spike TV at 11 PM Thursday nights. Sacrifice is on Pay-Per-View on Sunday, May 14th. E-mail me at trophar@lycos.com with your findings and maybe I will get back to doing my mailbag section. Good bye for now.
