Why You Should Be Watching TNA

In between RAW on Mondays and SMACKDOWN on Fridays, there's another wrestling promotion that everyone should be tuning in to. It's TNA IMPACT, the once-a-week cable show for the only rival company in town. Now, I'm as loyal to the WWE as the next John Cena fan, but TNA has lots to offer that the WWE does not. And so, I'm proud to present the top four reasons you SHOULD be watching TNA IMPACT (9 PM on Spike TV, Thursdays). Since it's only an hour long, it more appropriately matches up with the ECW show. You don't even have to watch TNA IMPACT to know it's probably better than the mess being featured every Tuesday on SciFi.

1. The Tag Teams. Blowing SMACKDOWN's teams out of the water and still light years ahead of RAW, the teams from TNA are best since The Attitude Era. And predictably, that's where a few of them originated. There's Team 3D (The Dudley Boyz) and The Voodoo Kin Mafia (New Age Outlaws), two of the best teams in the history of wrestling. They never really feuded during their time together in the WWE, but that's not because they didn't match up well. Just as some of the best of the WWE is represented, so too is WCW. The Steiner Brothers (Rick and Scott) are on the roster in their original form. And possibly the most impressive of the teams is an entirely new creation, LAX (The Latin American Exchange). LAX features two Ring Of Honor stars, Homicide and Hernandez. Homicide had the more celebrated Indy career and is a prolific trainer to others while Hernandez received the better initial training (Shawn Michaels). Together, they form what I believe is the best tag team in all of wrestling.

2. The Moves. The moves are just better. No question about it. Since TNA doesn't have the bankroll of the WWE, it has to excel in aspects of the sport which aren't controlled by money. Enter: good moves. LAX's Homicide and Hernandez own two of the most interesting finishers in the sport, The Gringo Killer and The Border Toss, respectively. The Gringo Killer is a back to back double underhook sit out piledriver which seems to be just dangerous enough to kill someone, but easily entertaining enough to draw the fans. The Border Toss is a throwing crucifix powerbomb, which is very similar to Razor Ramon's Razor's Edge. However, neither of these comes close to the best of all, Petey Williams' Canadian Destroyer. This move, a flip piledriver, has to be the most spectacular and interesting move in the business. It's not just the finishers, however, that are innovative. TNA prides itself on diverse and entertaining move sets, and in that, it succeeds.

3. The Competition. For an avid WWE fan, TNA and its show might be seen as a rival. But really, this isn't the case. It's on a different night and it doesn't even travel to various cities. Sure, it's technically the competition, but not in a way in which viewing it will hurt the WWE. I believe, instead, that increased viewership of TNA will help the WWE. The greatest success of Vince McMahon, The Attitude Era, grew out of competition with WCW. The WWE had to continually work on storylines and feuds to make them fresh and fun. They didn't have the time or the money to let a stale feud like Lashley and Umaga play out over the course of many months. If TNA can become a true competitor to the WWE, it would force Vince and Co. to rethink their strategy and continue to innovate as they did during the late 90s. It is often said that there can't be a third Golden Age of wrestling without two competing companies. The WWE and TNA might just be the two to do it.

4. Vince Russo. They have Vince Russo. A quick refresher course on Russo: He was eventually promoted to the WWF Creative Team in 1996. In that same year, RAW hit an all-time ratings low of 1.8, as WCW's NITRO, was in the midst of an 84-week winnings-streak against Raw head-to-head (see Monday Night Wars). With WCW eclipsing the WWF, McMahon called upon Russo to make changes to the televised product. Russo would eventually become head writer for the WWF, contributing edgy, controversial storylines involving sexual content, on-camera profanity, and unexpected heel turns. Notable storylines and characters during Russo's run as head writer include the Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Mr. McMahon feud, The Undertaker vs. Kane feud, D-Generation X, the rise of The Rock, and the Mick Foley saga. Russo was able to increase ratings enormously on Raw, bringing the rating from a 1.9 to a 8.1. Sold on Russo? I thought so. He's essentially solely responsible for every dollar of marketing revenue that the WWE made between 1996 and 1999. Seriously, go back and read that bolded list again. Tell me something that you remember from the Attitude Era that doesn't happen to be on Russo's list of creations. The mind behind TNA is more than enough reason to start tuning in.

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