TNA Spring Cleaning

[D2Kvirus]

It has been circulating that the following members of the TNA roster won't have their contracts renewed when they expire shortly:
Petey Williams
Jimmy Rave
Lance Hoyt

It's also rumoured Stevie Richards could soon make his way to TNA, which could be six shades of awesome.

[Mr. Hendrickson]

Petey Williams to the WWE? That would be nice if he could come and do something somewhat decent here, then again the WWE might ruin him and or choose Hoyt instead.

[DjM]

Isn't Hoyt like a (somehow) less appealing version of Test?

I don't like watching him in TNA, and I really doubt I'd wanna watch him in WWE either.

Petey would be cool, although obviously, he'd have to get a new finisher.

[Mr. Hendrickson]

Hoyt is the cheap version of Test, I think a little better in the ring though than Andrew was but hey thats me.

When it comes down to it TNA should do something more with the inhouse talent they had before they started to get the WWE guys there. Williams is a great independent wrestlers and would do wonders in the WWE if they would know how to use him.

Secondly I think that the WWE should boulster its Cruiserweight division and showcase that on ECW or on Smackdown more than they are now. That would bring in people like Williams and others from TNA once they are released.

[Gravity]

Petey Williams and Lance Hoyt? They're releasing all of my past character reps :puppydoge

I don't really watch TNA, so that's about the only comment I've got.

[Cripplerlock]

I think all three could do well in the WWE. It may not be a bad idea to keep Hoyt and Rave as a tag team. However Rave and Williams could do well with the crusierweight talent on ECW or Smackdown. Still if they were to show up in WWE in the future lets hope they do not become the next Branden Walker.

[Dreamer1084]

Petey would be cool, although obviously, he'd have to get a new finisher.

Why? I think the Canadian Destroyer could do some good things for Petey but only if the WWE capitalizes on it. Instead of being a cruiserweight I would rather have him bulk up and wrestle on the main event level against guys like Cena using that move.

[Mr. Long]

It's more that the WWE would never let Petey use The Destroyer. Too much room for error. It realize entirely on the person taking the move, and could easily fuck someone up if botched in the slightest.

[Dreamer1084]

It's more that the WWE would never let Petey use The Destroyer. Too much room for error. It realize entirely on the person taking the move, and could easily fuck someone up if botched in the slightest.

Wouldn't the risk be as equal as the Air Bourne or Tombstone Piledriver?

[Mr. Long]

Well both of those moves are a lot more dependent on the move giver and not the move taker.

[AFalseSinn]

I will now take this time to school you both:

The reason the Tombstone is a less dangerous style of piledriver (lets not take into consideration the fact that Undertaker has been doing it forever and has never injured anyone with it in my memory) Is that in that position (for most normal sized people doing it to other normal sized people...or at least proportionate lets say) the head will naturally be higher up then the deliverers knees. So when Taker drops to his knees the person is already protected because they dont actually touch the ground. Unless its dean malenko doing it to Tazz, but that is easyily explained by Tazz being MUCH larger then Dean.

Meanwhile the Canadian Destroyer is similar in every way minus the assisted flip to standard piledrivers. ala: Jerrry Lawler, Jerry Lynn, and the one that broke Stone Cold's neck via Owen Hart. The persons head is not naturally above anything, it is often below the cafs and needs to be hoisted and protected from force. Thus is inherently much less safe then a Tombstone style driver.

onto the shooting star.

Evan Bourne's version is safe because he isnt Billy Kidman and doesnt land on peoples heads.
Done.

[Mr. Long]

I feel like I have been bitchslapped with knowledge.

[AFalseSinn]

O also. DOCTOR STEVIE!

[D2Kvirus]

Petey has already shaved his head and goatee within a day of being told he won't have his contract picked up - I bet he was glad that he could drop the Little Petey Pump gimmick, even if it did involve losing his job.

Petey already has a message up on his Myspace looking for bookings, dated yesterday - there seems to be two types of response to it: "TNA are idiots", and "Hope to see you in WWE." OK, three - "CANADIAN DESTROYER!!!"

WWE were looking at Hoyt a few years ago (back when he was Kid Kash's partner), so might take another look - I'd take him over Mike Knox, at the very least.

[legendaryken]

Not sure about the attraction of Petey Williams without the Canadian Destroyer - doubt if Vince'll pick him up. As for the other two - meh.
The TNA roster just seems about fit for purpose, imo. 90% of the non injured wrestlers seem to get on Impact at least once a month.

[Mr. Hendrickson]

I sometimes wonder if the WWE and TNA in some way are working together. They seem to trade people regularly and seems that TNA mentions the WWE moreso than other way around. I don't know where I am going with this. All I am saying is if Hoyt came to the WWE see someone similar to him to leave and end up in TNA same with if Petey came someone similar would go there to fill the void, unless they are voidng the positions due to money issues then I am way off... I make no sense.

[D2Kvirus]

Either they're using the savings to give Shelley, Sabin and Roode monster pay hikes (as their contracts are expiring soon, but TNA want to sign extensions), or TNA are just retarded. Or hiring another bunch of WWE dropouts.

[Mr. Hendrickson]

I think that the Original TNA stars are starting to demand higher and higher pay due to the fact that the WWE drop outs as you call them come in and get almost anything they want. Now Ithink that this is a good thing to do but I think that there is so much more that TNA can offer the Originals than the WWE could.. I don't know I see this as a way for TNA Originals to take their place back in the TNA spot light asking for more.

[D2Kvirus]

Where TNA have got it hopelessly wrong is their inability to spot people that put butts in seats. For example, AJ Styles was the guy people were watching TNA for in their early days more than anyone else, and the X Division was seen as their killer app.

Now the X Division is lurching between being underutilised, or being the Jobber Division (thanks, Dusty...), whilst further up the card they keep getting it so wrong: whilst some of the WWE guys are going to get people watching - notably Angle and, to a lesser degree, Christian - they won't bump their viewers with Steiner, who was a washout in WWE and it reflects badly on TNA that they have him in a prominent role.

AJ gets bounced around upper and mid card all too often, so he's in the spot Jericho had for years in WWF/E (over enough that it matters when he loses), even though he is a draw. Not as much as he was in 2003, with Angle and Joe certainly above him now, but a draw nontheless.

[Mr. Hendrickson]

I think the X-Division was the best division in all of wrestling when it was being utilized like you said. I think they should go back to that, I mean when they brough people like Steiner, Booker T and other wash outs from the WWE they forgot the talent within. Now acquistions like Angle came in they did get more fans but you can only do so much with Angle before the fans stop caring. I think that the X-Division needs to be bulsterd even more. They need to stop this WWE Washout angle they have with Angle and others and realize they are losing viewership because of it. Use what you had that made you marketable because if you don't TNA will become the fourth show on the WWE shitty programming.

[D2Kvirus]

There's also the fact that their ratings didn't shoot through the roof as expected - even after Angle arrived, Impact remained in the low 1's and haven't raised above an average of 1.0-1.1, whilst WWECW gets an average of 1.2-1.4. Or, in layman's terms, Impact gets an average of 1.26m viewers, WWECW gets and average of 1.6m

TNA's biggest problem is they lost the ability to stripmine ROH as soon as their PPV deal came in and they tied the majority of their roster to binding contracts - all that really did was rejuvenate Austin Aries when he quit TNA and returned to ROH (Homicide may be missed, but Daniels isn't - after phoning it in for the majority of his 2005-7 run).

Paul Heyman summed up TNA pretty well: when you see their roster, even the most casual wrestling fan will recognise a fair proportion of the roster from WWE first and foremost (Angle, Booker T, Team 3D), or they'll wonder when Samoa Joe and AJ Styles will be signed by the WWE.

Considering that TNA is viewed as a joke by smart crowds and ROH fans in particular, they've managed to get themselves into a position where no audience can take them seriously as anything other than diet WWE. WCW avoided this problem by having their own recognisible talent alongside talent recognisible from WWF (or, in the case of Nash, Hall, Flair, the Steiners, Luger etc., talent who were known from WCW before a run in the WWF - this was the basis of the nWo, afterall).

[The Stig]

Petey Williams is awesome, I don't understand why TNA won't renew his contract... Instead of wasting time with former WWE/WCW wrestlers and the Main Event Mafia, why couldn't they have developed their talent as well? I hope they enjoy promoting wrestlers that are on their last limbs.

[Mike Adams]

petey is a mediocre worker with zero charisma and an awesome finishing move....

[Mr. Long]

I get the feeling it was a lot more Petey saying, "You know what? Just don't bother renewing my contract."

He probably figured he could make a lot more money main eventing countless indy shows as a "Former TNA Star", than jobbing out to the nWold as Steiner Jr.

It really sucks to be a young talented face in TNA these days. It seems as if you're not MEM, you automatically have to job. If you've never worked for the WWE for an extended period of time, you might as well quit and start taking indy bookings.

[D2Kvirus]

It looks like another name is being dropped: Sonjay Dutt.

Considering he's got Indian fans watching TNA, this is an odd move - one that could see WWE take advantage.

However, why should they? Dutt is one of those wrestlers who give Cruiserweights a bad name: in the five years he's been in TNA, he hasn't learned how to sell offence, how to pace a match, how to cut a promo, or anything that'll get you above the status of Flippy Guy.

Frankly, once you get past the flips, I've only seen him have one match I'd rate as good - against Bryan Danielson, at Death Before Dishonor IV. And that match was good for three factors: the ROH/CZW crowd rivalry, Dutt playing a hell pretty well - and the fact AmDrag clearly carried him.

[Aperama]

petey is a mediocre worker with zero charisma and an awesome finishing move....

Actually, I'll switch that up. Petey's a good worker with decent charisma and an abysmal finishing move which forced him to never be taken seriously.

He (was) one of the two best sellers in the X-Division, which was the main reason he stayed around the belt so often. He could cut decent promos - he could balance the funny stuff well with the serious (I was actually watching TNA for a little while because of him and Steiner having those vignettes where Steiner was trying to 'work the Canadian' out of him.. man, that was some classic TV.) He's more a classic heel - which doesn't fit his ridiculous finishing move. The finishing move buries his credibility as a cocky heel - because in its own way, it makes too much sense for him to be cocky, what with being the one who invented it. He'd clearly been working on trying to make it look good, too (everyone else who does it these days doesn't even come close - he makes it look like he's springing off the back and delivering a reverse rana, these days).

Everyone else? Well, Rave's the only interesting name there, IMO (though I do hope we're not gearing up for a Dutt WWE run). They went to a lot of effort to get him in.. and.. well, why? To saddle him up with Hoyt, who they've been trying to get over since they started to no real avail? I still don't get that.

[D2Kvirus]

Hoyt was super over when Impact first started on TV, with the Hoytamania thing - but, naturally for TNA, they didn't do much with it at the time and had him in a nothing feud with Matt Bentley to pad out a PPV runtime..

[D2Kvirus]

Y'know, there's something wrong when the only booking Petey Williams took this weekend was at a bar in deepest, darkest Michigan - for his band The High Crusade (alongside Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin).

Still, he is booked for this coming weekend's ROH doubleshot in Detroit and Chicago Ridge...and I'm still to hear a good reason why Sonjay Dutt was booked on a few recent shows, other than the possibility WWE didn't sign him to a Developmental deal the second TNA released him, and still haven't.