TNA - Against All Odds 2008

Last weekend TNA (Total Nonstop Action) presented their annual Against All odds on PPV across America. Us unfortunate souls in the UK had to wait until Wednesday for our first chance to see the show on Bravo with an hours worth of adverts thrown in to boot. One thing I will say though is Bravo are getting better at the positioning of their advert breaks so not to annoy wrestling fans too much.

When Bravo first started airing TNA events they would cut in to matches with adverts as regardless of what was happening they would go to adverts every fifteen minutes or so like they would for their standard programming but now they will wait until the match is finished to go to their break. It means now you can have two advert breaks in the space of ten minutes but it beats advert breaks happening during the matches.

Now to the show itself, looking at the card I didn’t think it was as strong as other cards that TNA have put out over the last twelve months but after viewing the event I thought it was one of the strongest outings to date. Instead of going through match by match giving my critiques I am going to now take you through what in my opinion the high points and low points of the event were.

High Points

The TNA Knockouts Division

TNA’s answer to the WWE Divas are a breath of fresh air. Ok the first women’s match on the card Traci Brooks vs. Payton Banks wasn’t the best but it was more than made up for by the Amazing Kong vs. O.D.B match for the Women’s title. What is great about the TNA Knockouts division is that the girls have interesting characters and are given TV time to get interesting storylines across and are putting on some really good matches. In the WWE the girls are very generic and seem to be used just to appease the male audience with the very occasional decent match which since Trish and Lita departed have become even fewer and far between. Women’s wrestling is on the up around the world with all female promotions like Shimmer and Chickfight showcasing some great female wrestlers and TNA are cashing in.

Timing

One very important thing in TNA wrestling events which I feel has been missing is timing. Over my years of watching TNA I have seen a share of good and bad matches but I feel many have suffered from poor timing especially match endings. I have watched many matches thinking it can’t be over yet or I wasn’t expecting that. A good 5 minute, 10 minute or 30 minute match can be ruined by a bad ending. In many cases it has been matches going home to early or just not spending time to build a finish which the crowd are in to and will react to. A poor finish can really affect the standing of the wrestler doing the job and hurt his character going forward. At Against All Odds I thought this was much improved and I really enjoyed the endings to most of the matches on the card.

Another timing issue has been the TNA trademark of making sure every match lasts 8 – 12 minutes with the main event going 20 minutes. Over the years their events have become like clockwork to the point where you have known when a match was going to end before the end happened. In recent events though I have seen slight improvements to this with varied match timings which kept me as a viewer more interested in the event as the viewer wants to be kept on the edge of their seat not knowing when a match is going to end.

Pushing Non Ex-WWE talent

Whenever there is a promotion trying to raise up and take on the WWE their will always be fans who criticise their use of Ex-WWE stars and the way in which they stop young up and coming talent from making a name for themselves. Now I will talk more about this in the low points but here I want to talk about what TNA is doing right.

Christian Cage and Kurt Angle may have been main eventing but it was Black Machismo Jay Lethal who received the biggest push of the night after being put on as the last match before the main event he was pushed strong as almost single handily he beat the team of 3D and Johnny Devine recapturing the TNA X-Division Title in the process. As well as Jay Lethal we had Robert Roode who was in the official semi-main event working against Booker T. To be put in what looks to be an ongoing storyline with a former WWE and WCW champion and the latest addition to the TNA roster is a huge vote of confidence by the TNA board.

Karen Angle

Since Karen Angle (Kurt Angle’s wife) was added to the TNA active roster the entertainment side of the show and the backstage segments have improved ten-fold. Kurt Angle is a great promo guy but it is Karen who has made the backstage and locker room segments entertaining and Kurt’s character work has improved with her addition to the show.

Low Points

Production

The one thing that needs to improve is the camera work and the vision mixing of the show. Wrestling is one of the hardest forms of entertainment to film and produce but the WWE and WCW back in its prime showed how it should be done. Whoever is doing the vision mixing for TNA needs to stop changing cameras every two seconds and needs to stop choosing shots before they are ready. As a viewer we want to escape into the world that is that wrestling show. When a camera is at a wrong angle or moving and zooming whilst they are live it bring us out of that world we are trying to escape into. Another thing the production team need to work on is there crowd shots. Yes if the crowd is reacting get them on camera but if you have a shot of a crowd where half the people in the front row are reacting and half of them out it can spoil the moment.

Video segments, promos and vignettes are another side of production that need to be improved upon. The opening video of the show should be more about setting the theme for the nights show not about promoting specific matches. TNA opening video packages seem to be cluttered and don’t give you a strong idea of a theme for the show to come. Promo videos before each match are an important part of the show for those that are watching on PPV to build their anticipation for the match. The problem I have with TNA promo videos is that they seem to be more about creating an awesome highlight package instead of a video which shows you the history leading up to the match and gets you emotionally involved in the match which is to follow.

Use of Booker T

Booker T is the Chris Jericho of TNA after having a lot invested in to him when he came in he was moved out of the main event picture as quickly as possible. Now the Ex-WWE stars should be used to build TNA stars but it needs to be done in a way that makes sense. It should be guys like Christian Cage that are used to leave Booker T to have a run with Angle whilst he still has that impact so that he is kept strong so he is then in a good position to build TNA stars.

Barbed Wire Massacre

Ok Wrestlemania II made history for being broadcast from multiple arenas but to have one match on a card taped from another arena I think takes away from the show and gets you out of the live environment. Whilst Against All Odds came live from South Carolina Barbed wire Massacre came from the Impact Zone in Florida. The match itself was one of the worst of the night. Judas Mesias still has a lot to prove and I for one am getting bored of Abyss getting booked in random hardcore matches every month. It seems that TNA hype these matches up as near death experiences for the wrestlers which turn out to be terrible matches with a couple of spots. TNA needs to stop booking hardcore matches as spot fests but to book them as solid matches with psychology and spots which make sense.

Use of Samoa Joe

After spending months building Samoa Joe as the top TNA made wrestler to have him in a non wrestling role on a PPV makes no sense and is a waste of talent. To have Samoa Joe not wrestling and to have three out of four of the competitors in the two main events be Ex-WWE stars I think shows very short term thinking.

Conclusion

The most important thing that TNA needed to improve on they have and that’s there timing. No promotion is ever going to have a perfect show, the moment promotions and critics think a show is perfect then they will stop trying to improve or stop expecting better. You will never be able to please every wrestling fan but if you can make that fan care enough to like or dislike part of your show then you are doing a great job.

I for one am enjoying watching the development of TNA and am looking forward to this weeks Impact.