I miss TNA Wrestling. Since day one of the company, the promotion tried to capture the old-WCW & ECW fans that couldn’t get into the WWE product and had nothing to watch. TNA was much more than just an alternative, but wrestling fullfillment. What started as a promotion just for Jeff Jarrett to get over and bury his own roster made a life on its own. TNA Wrestling would very well be the last Attitude era style promotion that we all knew an love. Wrestling nowadays don’t care much for storylines, personalities, gimmick matches, high stipulations, or creativity anymore.Despite the many dumb decisions booked by Vince Russo, TNA was the last time I felt that wrestling did exactly that and be as creative. Just look at how excellent their tag team division was, the smaller wrestlers that they managed to make stars out of, and the X Division dammit. So many promotions like WCW & WWE has a cruiserweight division and doesn’t know what to do with them. Many smaller guys who wrestled in the X Division made an impression and dare I say it… an impact. Popular names like AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels, Samoa Joe, Chris Sabin, Jay Lethal, Alex Shelly, Frankie Kazarian were all new faces that challenged the privilaged ex-WWE starts that got to the TNA roster. At the same time, familiar faces like Sting, Kurt Angle, Christian Cage, Scott Stiener, and Bobby Lashley were great starts that dropped the ball with and TNA utilized properly. I see Total Nonstop Action as the perfect chance to have dream matches that WWE would never have the brain cells to book themselves. Today, TNA Wrestling (or Impact Wrestling) is a laughing stock now thanks to the damage done by Hogan & Bischoff that turned the product into WCW 2.0. But before TNA lost all credibility, from 2004 – 2009, this was the shit! Marks who only expect workrates (like your Dave Meltzer) would never understand what it’s truly like to just have fun. Since WWE stopped the Attitude era, this was the closest thing we were ever going to get to Attitude and ECW. High flying, over the top storylines, stakes that actually mattered, crazy situations, character for the last time felt bigger than life, and spots & segments that us with such an impression is all we ask for in wrestling. No longer do we see promotions that made winning and losing actually matter because in TNA, it was everything. As Impact Wrestling and the rest of the wrestling industry focused too much on workrates rather than storylines and characters, it just made TNA Wrestling from 2004 – 2009 age better. When picking ten of TNA’s best shows, these picks are proof of all that was great about the promotion.
Continue reading Top 10 Total Nonstop Action Wrestling Pay Per Views
After having a really bad year in 2007, WWE finally step up their game in making the 2008 calendar year a much improved one. What most people don’t know is that this is where the Ruthless Aggression era ended and the PG-era begun. Despite turning the product into PG (thanks to Linda McMahon’s failed political campaign) I dare say that 2008 is the best year since 2003 when Brock Lesnar was around. As the final year of the Ruthless Aggreesion era, they went out in a bang. 2008 is where the goods were finally delivered. Sure, the WWECW brand got worse and became a after thought at this point, but Smackdown started becoming an interesting show thanks to Edge & Vickie’s La Familia Faction and Raw had Randy Orton running the Legacy trio. The best thing WWE did was to finally push Jeff Hardy, CM Punk, and Chris Jericho to main event status during a time where maintained John Cena, Batista, and Triple H’s status into cruise control. Out of all of Chris Jericho’s time in the WWE, 2008 is arguably his best year considering that he was World Heavyweight Champion and had the best title defenses ever. This was certainly an improvement over his lackluster Undisputed Championship reign. Meanwhile TNA wrestling made Samoa Joe as their TNA World Heavyweight Champion and the face of the company. After he lost his title at Bound For Glory he never again recovered his career. However, 2008 is Samoa Joe’s biggest year in his career considering that he drew in a lot of money for TNA and carried the company like a legit force. TNA were doing more pay per views that got out of the Impact show and many of the seats filled up by the thousands. But I start to see that success got over their heads considering that Russo’s overbooking got out of hand (once again) and signing in ex-WWE stars like Booker T, Mick Foley, and started to expose TNA’s cracks. At this point, ROH was pushing Kevin Steen and Tyler Black while still utilizing what stars they had left before losing them all to WWE later on. 2008 was an enjoyable year for all parties involved and is remembered for being a year where consistency and quality for all North American promotions kept wrestling fans satisfied. With that being said, here are the best shows of 2008 for wrestling. 
2005 is where every promotion in North America finally step up their game. 2004 is one of the most regrettable years for the WWE which gave newer, more promising promotions a chance. 2005 is where WWE fixed their mistakes, TNA grew into the undisputed number 2 promotion in all of wrestling, and Ring of Honor finally took more risks to make their calendar year more interesting. For the WWE, everything you’ve known about the Ruthless Agression era and modern wrestling finally had it’s kick start here. Vince finally found his top stars with John Cena and Dave Batista and finally (and mercifully) end Triple H’s reign of terror. This would be the last time were WWE were putting new act over in a consistant basis as Vince never again push many of his rosters to stardom quite like this. Though Smackdown still is a weaker half of the Brand extension, I can easily say that Raw was far more enjoyable now. What’s also interesting is that WWE offer us an ECW reunion show. After years of hearing ECW chants in WWE shows and a successful DVD sale with Rise & Fall of ECW, releasing One Night Stand was a no brainer. TNA wrestling became absolutely hot in time where monthly Pay Per Views were consistant, Jarrett’s reign of terror had more constrains, the X Division was becoming more of an attraction, and wrestling fans found a home outside of the WWE. TNA’s consistant calendar year was complete where they finally made their first signature event with Bound For Glory (could have picked a better name) and forever gave the company an identity where all wrestling fans understood what is there to be expected. Meanwhile ROH was was the year in the company’s history by having the great roster and finally producing fantastic shows instead of randomizing the bouts. I feel so bad for what was happening in Japan considering that NOAH was one cruise control and New-Japan kept sucking as they continue Inoki’s worked-MMA matches. For North American wrestling fans, WWE, TNA, and ROH were among the best times of being a wrestling fan. As one of the best years in wrestling, what was the best night to be a wrestling fan? 
The Top Lister 
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