If you were the booker in TNA ...

[bimmer323i]

I'm interested to see animal2b's post on this ...

if you were to book TNA where would the company be in 2 years? As far as feuds, title holders, top names, and anything extra you would like to add here.

TNA World Heavyweight Champion: Samoa Joe (Heel)
TNA X Division Champion: Christopher Daniels (Heel)
TNA World Tag Team Champions: MCM (Face)

Samoa Joe, Triple X, and LAX would be pushed as the top heels in TNA.
AJ Styles, MCM, Kazarian, and Eric Young would be pushed as the top faces.

The Briscoe Bros and Filth and Fury (teddy hart and m-dogg 20) would be in the tag division in TNA.

Nash, Sting, and Booker T (saying he comes in) would have been taken out of wrestling by Triple X or Samoa Joe.

Steiner Brothers and Team 3D be taken out by MCM.

Bound For Glory (TNA top PPV) in my second year would look like this:
TNA WORLD TITLE: Samoa Joe (c) Vs AJ Styles
TNA X TITLE: Christopher Daniels (c) Vs Petey Williams Vs Kazarian
TNA Tag Title: MCM (c) Vs Briscos Vs LAX - Ladder Match
TNA WOMANS TITLE: Gail Kim (c) Vs Awesome Kong
Christian Cage Vs Eric Young
Filth and Fury Vs Triple X

Paul Heyman would be my on screen "TNA Management" and real like partner in Booking.

[ricanarab]

If you were the booker in TNA

I'd shoot myself in the face...

[Cholitzu]

^^^^^^^^^^^^ LOL
x2

[BigPoppaPump84]

I'd give Scott Steiner the title (serious). IMHO he's the best talent they have right now.

[jimbob007]

OMG is this the Vince Russo happy hour?

I'd give Scott Steiner the title (serious). IMHO he's the best talent they have right now.

[Johnny Rotten]

I'd continue doing what they're doing for the most part. The storylines and matches have been good lately. Personally, my biggest problem with TNA are the aesthetics. I hate the fluorescent lights and bright stage lighting. Also the 6-sided ring has got to go IMO.

[animal2b]

heads up, this is gonna be a long read...

Oh boy...if I was in charge of TNA, it would be a totally different company in 2 years.

Shows revolving around Kurt Angle? Forget it. Infact, shows revolving around any one star in particular wouldn't be happening. The champion would only be seen in the moments leading up to -- and in -- the main event.

All storylines and over the top gimmicks (see Black Reign, Havoc, Judas Mesias, Seratonin, etc.) would cease to exist. TNA would NOT be about theatrical wrestlers who mysteriously have blood flowing from their mouth. TNA would be about wrestling, plain and simple.

Matches would happen based on respect and a need to determine a better wrestler between the two. As the feuds continued, they would inevitably become personal. There would be a distinct heel and face in every feud. No more of that "Lets go Joe!" "Lets go Christian" crap that the TNA fans do for EVERY DAMN MATCH.

TNA didn't used to be about size and big men. That's why Jay Lethal WOULD be a contender and a World Champion in TNA.

Matches involving the X-Division would be one on one or occasionally, a fatal fourway. None of that eight man crap that is a 6 minute spotfest.

iMPACT is 2 hours. The matches would be long. I would rather have five LONG matches per card than 5 short ones that less emphasis than long boring storylines.

The announcers would be BANNED from speaking about other matches or events during other matches unless it was really something over the top wild.

HOUR ONE:
Intro
Match 1: 15 minutes (open strong - Motor City vs. Triple X)
Backstage Interview: 5 minutes (Mene Gene Style - interview winner or loser)
Match 2: 15 minutes (see Chris Harris vs. Abyss)
Match 3: 15 minutes (see Jackie Moore vs. Roxi)
In Ring Promo: 10 minutes

HOUR TWO:
Backstage Interview with main event opponents: 5 minutes
Match 4: 10 minutes (see Petey Williams vs. Sonjay Dutt to pump up the crowd)
Match 5: 45 minutes (see Christopher Daniels vs. RVD vs. Samoa Joe) TNA WORLD TITLE

The cheesy openings with the narrator talking as if the world was ending would end.

Unless clearly specified, the rule book would cease to exist. There would be the basics -- foot on the rope to break the hold or submission...but almost all matches could turn hardcore in the blink of an eye. They wouldn't, but the fans would know they could expect **** to heat up if need be w/o the match ending in a DQ.

There would be as few run ins as possible. Matches would almost ALWAYS end clean.

My relationship with the talent would be simple: If you have an idea for a storyline and I like it, it's a go ahead. They can work their own promos and I'd encourage shoot promos if they felt comfortable.

The writing team in TNA would be me and Paul Heyman. I'd also bring in Lance Storm as a consultant since I don't really know the business as well as I wish I did.

THE STAFF:

You're Fired
Don West
Mike Tenay
Lance Hoyt
Judas Mesias
Kip James
BG James
Team 3D (maybe I'd send them to Japan for a year or two)
Bobby Roode
Kaz (maybe -- not decided)
Ron Killings

Champions or Contenders
TNA World Champion: Joe, Rhino, Senshi, Jay Lethal, Chris Harris, Christian Cage, AJ Styles, Petey Williams, Christopher Daniels, Booker T, RVD, Chad Wicks, Tomko

X-Division Title: Sonjay Dutt, Homicide, Jimmy Rave, Elix Skipper, Eric Young, Daniels, Styles, Williams, Senshi, Billy Kidman, Kid Kash

Tag Team Champions: Motor City Machine Guns, LAX, Rhino (billed as the one man wrecking crew -- would do tag matches by himself), Triple X, Tomko/AJ Styles, Spanish Announce Team (SAT)

Feuds
These would either be just regular feuds OR for championship titles...

Christopher Daniels vs. Kurt Angle
Samoa Joe vs. Rhino
Chad Wicks (gotta hire my buddy) vs. Booker T.
RVD vs. Senshi

New Announce Team
I doubt I'd be able to actually pull this off, but I would enjoy...
Jesse Ventura
Amy Dumas (yes, Lita. She did a good job calling HEAT and would improve)


New Hires
Chad Wicks
The Sexual Intellecutal Arch Kincaid (Chaotic Wrestling) -- his promos are beautiful
Handsome Johnny (also Chaotic) -- he's a big dude, but is agile. Think young, slightly chubby Triple H.
Briscoe Brothers
Jerry Lynn (so we can see Lynn vs. RVD again)
Molly Holly
Jazz
Billy Kidman
Kid Kash
Slyck Wagner Brown
Spanish Announce Team (S.A.T.)
Lance Storm (as a consultant and perhaps wrestler if he was interested)
Paul Heyman (creative)


There's a guy on the indy scene -- I can NEVER remember his name, but it's something catchy like Justin Credible -- a funny parody on a name. The dude is wild. High flier, mat wrestler, he's talented. I think he was an amateur wrestler too.

The Older Guys
Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, The Steiners, Sting, Team 3D would wrestle very infrequently. They would also have NO backstage pull in my company. If Nash placed an ultimatum -- "Book me or I quit," I'd say, "You know where the door is."

Their purpose would be to lead stables or coach the younger guys -- much like Jerry Lynn did with the X-Division.

I don't know how I feel about Nash and Hall running a stable. I'd like to leave that in the past...and in the long run, they could end up doing more harm than good. I couldn't see giving them a four or five year run with the stable. If they did have one, I could see AJ Styles and Motor City Machine Guns beind in the stable.

I have a feeling it would eat up too much time during the broadcast, so I think in the end, I would be against it. The show would end up revolving around the same six guys all evening. I veto it.

[ricanarab]

I like your ideas, Animal. I would also develop relationships with other promotions, such as New Japan and ROH, just to keep talent fresh. We could do talent exchanges and send green or stale guys over there to work and learn, while receiving new guys that can get over and put our stars over big.

Some other guys I'd bring up:

Larry Sweeney
The Human Tornado
Chuck Taylor

[animal2b]

I like your ideas, Animal. I would also develop relationships with other promotions, such as New Japan and ROH, just to keep talent fresh. We could do talent exchanges and send green or stale guys over there to work and learn, while receiving new guys that can get over and put our stars over big.

Some other guys I'd bring up:

Larry Sweeney
The Human Tornado
Chuck Taylor

do you have any idea who this indy wrestler is? I can't place his name for the life of me. He's about 5'10, used to have long brown hair over his face. He's WILD -- a helluva high flier. I think on his website a video he shows has pictures of him wrestling on his high school wrestling team. His nickname is similar to "The Phenominal" AJ Styles.

[ricflaironpcp]

I don't know who would be on top or what matches would be happening, so many things can happen with changes in talent, etc, it's impossible to predict. I do know that there would be COMPELLING storylines. This does not mean over the top stories. It means realistic storylines that push the personalities and build up to matches. There would be twists, and shows would end on cliffhangers.

Think of the writing in compelling dramas such as 24. There can be multiple mini storylines that all correlate around one general situation. There would be lots of character development.

Wrestling needs storylines to get ratings, but the thing is you must have the balance of GREAT storylines and PROPER wrestling. Which is why matches and telling a story in the ring would be important.

[4nicate]

I hear there's going to be a new Booker in TNA soon anyway...










































a Booker T sucka!!!!!!!

[meathead320]

I don't know who would be on top or what matches would be happening, so many things can happen with changes in talent, etc, it's impossible to predict. I do know that there would be COMPELLING storylines. This does not mean over the top stories. It means realistic storylines that push the personalities and build up to matches. There would be twists, and shows would end on cliffhangers.

Think of the writing in compelling dramas such as 24. There can be multiple mini storylines that all correlate around one general situation. There would be lots of character development.

Wrestling needs storylines to get ratings, but the thing is you must have the balance of GREAT storylines and PROPER wrestling. Which is why matches and telling a story in the ring would be important.

I never really gave a **** about "PROPER" wrestling (define?), and I doubt it has as much to do with getting viewers as the "GREAT" story telling does, however if a guy blows ass in the ring altogether, and cannot perform for ****, sure get rid of him.

On the other hand, if you have a big-man with only a small selection of moves, but when he uses them, they look good, then fine. That is his character. TO the audience the guy wins based on power (convincingly), but seems limited otherwise.
This is a good way to put over a smaller wrestler who can move faster, and has a lot of convincing moves. They can have good back and forth feuds this way too. David vs. Goliath feuds have historically done well in wrestling.

One trick I miss seeing was to have them lose clean to each other on different occasions, as this made it more believable that a match could go either way.

However just a wide array of mat moves does not get me to even sit down and turn on the TV, I like to be entertained with the story more so.

I agree you cannot only have big men, as without the other guys they do not even seem big. I would much rather watch a decent, can go either way, D vs. G match, than just a bunch of big guys going at it. Heck, without the smaller faster guys, the big guys don't even look big standing next to each other only. If you had only seen one match in your life, with UT vs. Kane, you would assume they were both only 5"10" because you never saw them next to anyone else.

That is the importance of contrast. Same thing goes for middleweight matches back and forth every night. Those with tons of mat wrestling back and forth, with the middleweights like the Angle never did as much as Angle wrestling UT, Kane, or (insert name of 6'7" guy here) back in WWE.

I always like the contrast of the smaller faster matt wrester and the larger slower power wrester. You can have either one win, and you can sell tickets to rematches as their fued get longer and more over the top, and along the way they can make alliances, and screw over other guys, furthering the story, all while doing so to get back at the other guy they hate so much.