Greetings, and welcome to the Ringside View. After much deliberation, your scribe has decided to jump on the band wagon of TNA critics. As many of you will realise, TNA has some major creative problems, resulting in the weekly Impact episodes looking like something off a blooper reel. But rather than pointing out the flaws in TNA, I will suggest possible changes to help the product make some form of sense.

1. Who rules the roost?

At the last count, TNA had three men in charge. Jeff Jarrett as the founder of TNA, Mick Foley as the majority shareholder and Jim Cornette as the face of management all claim to be the law of TNA. However, just a few weeks ago Kurt Angle was able to take over Impact, despite the presence of Cornette. This has been very confusing for the average fan, who has the power? In WWE, while General Managers rule the show Vince McMahon can come into any show and overturn decisions. This has been made perfectly clear. TNA jumps between all three men making decisions without ever clarifying their individual positions. I would purpose that Jim Cornette take the reins as the ‘executive vice president’ over Jarrett and Foley. The reason for this is Cornette is a damn good mouthpiece, and he will look impartial as he is very unlikely to jump into the ring at the drop of a hat. With one boss, TNA will resemble a company the fans can relate to.

1. X marks the spot.

At the start of TNA, one thing was right about it. While all around them were human willies, Rikishi tributes and Ed Ferrera, TNA had one appealing factor. That element was known as the X division. A staple of anti-WWE companies has been to show off the smaller, more agile workers in the company to produce jaw dropping matches and memorable moments. But recently the X division has been the victim of odd booking and wrestlers exiting the promotion. With great talent such as Petey Williams, Sonjay Dutt and Jimmy Rave leaving the company and Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian on the side lines as Suicide, the X division is greatly reduced. With Chris Sabin, Alex Shelley, Jay Lethal and Consequences Creed also doubling as tag teams the X division is stretched thin. TNA could easily get rid of one of its higher paid but useless stars and bring in some fresh talent or an established name like Ultimo Dragon.     

1. Knockout Idea

Fans will remember back in 2007 when Gail Kim and Jacqueline knocked the holy hell out of each other in an attempt to dispel the mainstream woman scene. As little as a year ago Gail Kim and Awesome Kong were having stand out matches and stealing the show every night they were in the ring together. Now, what was an awe inspiring division has become yet another victim of booker’s whims and fancies. With the departure of division booker Scott D’Amore and trendsetter Gail Kim, Awesome Kong was set to carry the division. Despite the heelish brilliance of the Beautiful People, these ladies have been hampered by injuries and erratic creative decisions. More emphasis has to be put back on these ladies, ending Kip James’ interaction. Firing some of the dead wood like Rhakka Khan for more experienced and talented individuals such as MisChief . It would also do good if the stand out of the Knockouts Awesome Kong was not hampered by an entourage. Kong is meant to be an unstoppable beast, not the host of Impacts desperate divas book club.

1. Shades of Grey

Something fans of wrestling are likely to note after watching Vince Russo’s contributions to wrestling, both good and cancer inducingly terrible is that Russo doesn’t fully understand the basic logic of wrestling characters. Watching lots of films, as Russo undoubtedly has, he figured all the great characters can not be whiter than white or pure evil. Russo thinks that wrestling should be a lot like the film Snake Eyes. The hero should be a deeply flawed man who is put into an incredible situation and ends up doing what is right. Meanwhile the villain is a man driven to desperate measures for the principles he believes in. However, wrestling resembles a John Wayne film. The good guy wears a white cowboy hat and, despite liking the odd drink, is pure through and through. The villain is a devious man who does what he likes for greed and power over others. But the result of Russo’s philosophy is a lot of TNA stars being watered down and losing any momentum they previously had. For example, Samoa Joe was an unstoppable beating machine with little or no emotion. He looked primed to be TNAs future. Russo decided that Joe wasn’t well rounded enough and turned him into a self-doubting cry baby. Now Joe is a homicidal maniac with a giant knife, making him a phallically inadequate cry baby. Russo needs to try and turn these people’s fortune around. Several of the mid card could use with time away from screen (like Joe and Abyss) and re-emerged as new, more dynamic wrestlers (preferably without therapists or ridiculous knives).

1. Cream Rising to the Top

Right now, TNA and WCW share a similar trait in the main event scene. The current TNA title scene includes Sting, Kurt Angle, Mick Foley, Jeff Jarrett and Team 3D (apparently) with AJ Styles, Scott Steiner and Booker T coming up underneath. All of these guys have seen much better days. Sting was the current champion but was also the oldest man on the TNA roster. With Christian Cage returning to WWE, the top scene looks aged and lack lustre. The biggest problem is that the under card stand very little chance to upward mobility. This is due to the earlier gimmicks killing off fan interest in the wrestlers. Abyss was frequently cheered in TNA until earlier this year when he started to pretend to be as stupid as a brain damaged brick. The few guys they show interest to (Robert Roode and Eric Young) are given too many side tracks and lifeless feuds. TNA needs to figure out progressive and well paced storylines, the kind that Jeff Hardy or Batista received in WWE. Eric Young could be the recipient of a good push with him as the plucky underdog to the overbearing Kurt Angle, over a series of months until Young gets the win he’s been looking for. Simple but with those two talents it could really work.

I know the chances to TNA even reading this column are slim to nil, never mind taking on any of these changes. But the facts remain; TNA is in a creative downfall and is rapidly affecting the television it produces. While they may have good ratings right now (largely due to a good advertising campaign) it won’t take long before fans turn off. TNA needs to draw more fans in, not send them away feeling unsatisfied and confused.

On a different note, I would like to express my sadness over the death of Andrew ‘Test’ Martin. I saw him wrestle HHH in 98 and I thought he was going to be huge. I celebrated when he dropped the big elbow on Shane McMahon. I cheered for him and Albert against the Dudleys at Backlash. I jumped for joy when he won the European Title from Eddie Guerrero. I thought he was epic winning the immunity battle royal. I laughed when he threatened the USA flag. I was happy to hear his name mentioned with the ECW title. He may have had more downs then ups, but it is still extremely upsetting to hear a young man once again dead long before his time.

 God bless you Test, you will be missed.