Phil Clark Looks at Planet Jarrett

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An Overview of Planet Jarrett
By Phil Clark

This is a column that I’ve been attempting to write for the last month or two, but recent events have finally given me that last little kick in the ass to finally sit down and write it. Plus, it’s a perfect opportunity to see if I can do a longer, more analytical column by my lonesome.

Those of you who read “The Reality of Wrestling” know that a lot of my frustration and anger at the wrestling business is directed towards The E (WWE for those unknown to my writing). Many in my inner circle have gone so far as to call me a “TNA mark” because of my patriotism towards TNA. While I haven’t gotten any e-mail’s about this yet, I’d like to make this perfectly clear: all in TNA is NOT wine and roses. That’s what this column is about. This column will be my attempt at a thorough dissection of TNA showing the pros and cons of a company that nobody gave a chance four years ago.

(GOOD) The Booking of Samoa Joe
It was a match made in heaven when Samoa Joe came to TNA last June around the time that TNA’s booking committee came to power. It was such a match because the committee was comprised of names like Scott D’Amore, Mike Tenay, etc. In other words, these guys knew good wrestling, but also had an old-school mentality towards the ever-changing form of entertainment known as pro wrestling. My guess is that Joe’s unbeaten streak wasn’t supposed to last; my guess is that it was supposed to end against Styles in the Super X Cup final last August. However, this committee saw how over Joe had gotten in such a short time and saw that they really had something special: a heavyweight that could actually go in the ring and move like a cruiserweight. So, they not only kept him unbeaten, but also began giving him more and more T.V. time to establish his in-ring and “backstage” persona as an ass-kicking loner.

It’s been nine months and Joe is still unbeaten. If there’s ever been a guy who’s gotten an old-school push towards the NWA title and deserves it more than anyone, this is your guy.

(BAD) Jeff Jarrett back in control of booking
When Jeff relinquished his booking duties last year, there weren’t too many tears shed. Granted, Dusty Rhodes was the main source of TNA’s booking problem last year, but Jarrett wasn’t doing much to solve it. The booking committee went at booking TNA with an almost gung-ho attitude and did a lot in their 7-8 months in power; they established Joe as the future of the promotion, gave the X-Division more T.V. time than ever before, established Shelley, Aries, and Strong and the new blood to the promotion, and pushed all of the WWE rejects they signed to not only make the investment worth it, but add some star power to the main-event scene.

The signs of Jarrett showed themselves at Final Resolution where just about every match ended inconclusively with either interference or A.J. throwing in the towel. Not only that, but all the real meaningful angle developments have gone to Jarrett, Sting, and now Scott Steiner. Does any know that Abyss is challenging Christian Cage for the NWA Title at Lockdown? That’s right, Christian Cage is the NWA Champion. If you’ve been watching TNA as of late, you probably wouldn’t know that. And that’s part of the problem. Can somebody please start a “Bring Back The Booking Committee” petition or something? Also, who was Raven’s “girlfriend” that Rhino and Jarrett were talking so much about?

(GOOD) Quality of TNA’s Pay-Per-Views
While their T.V. show may have some problems (that will be talked about later), TNA’s pay-per-views rarely fail in terms of giving the fans more “bang for their buck.” Not only is there little or no sports-entertainment bullshit, but also the matches usually kick all kinds of ass. Since they started doing three-hour pay-per-views, TNA has bettered The E (quality wise) 10 times out of 17, three months being pushes, and March 2005 & 2006 TNA PPV’s went unopposed. While these numbers are just my opinion, they are supported by almost the entire Internet Wrestling Community (IWC) as most Internet wrestling reviewers enjoy TNA’s shows more than they do The E’s. Why is this? I think there are two key reasons for this, and the E could combat TNA on all of them, but will never do so.

1. Better use of Junior Heavyweights
TNA’s X-Division is what put them on the wrestling map, what got them onto Spike TV, and what generally makes their PPV’s better than The E’s. Both promotions have a title for their smaller wrestlers, but TNA portrays their smaller guy title about a trillion times better than The E does to the point where the majority of fans care more about the X-Division title match on the PPV than they do about the NWA title match. Plus, TNA gives their little guys a lot more time than the E does. While on some shows time given is about even, the key factor is that TNA doesn’t force a style (heavyweight) onto its little guys, they let them go out and do their thing. In this case, that makes all the difference.

2. Better announcing
A good announcer can make or break a match for T.V. and PPV viewers. Getting rid of J.R. was a big mistake for The E. I know I’ve mentioned that more than a couple of times in the past, but what J.R. could do better than anyone was get the viewer into the match no matter how shitty that match may be. You think Coach or Lawler can do that? If so, please seek help. Joey Styles can do this, but not ½ as well as J.R. and that does leave a bit of a void in The E’s RAW or co-brand shows. On the TNA side, Mike Tenay is the only announcer in pro wrestling that comes close to J.R. in terms of making a match seem special when it isn’t. Plus his knowledge of Lucha-Libre and Japanese junior heavyweights seems to add something to the matches where those references are used. Also, I’m fully aware that Don West can be very annoying at times. However, I defend him because he brings something to the table that no announcer (other than Styles) in The E does: energy. West seems legitimately excited for every single match and every single minute of every show that he’s the color man for. While Coach and The King can fake excitement when they want to, it just seems too forced where West’s feels more legit and can do a lot for a match’s overall perception from the viewer’s at home.

(GOOD/BAD) Doing too much with 60 minutes of T.V. time
This is definitely a two-headed monster. While TNA can be seen as getting the most out of the little T.V. time they have, they can also be seen as going 120 mph on a 30 mph road. I’m personally glad that they’ve gone back to 3-4 matches on an episode of iMPACT! because five was just too damn much. Plus, using that many matches made each match only five minutes long if even that. I’m not sorry for TNA when it comes to this situation however. From what I know, they’ve got most of their people signed to agreements that involve a certain number of matches they wrestle over a period of time as opposed to the show-to-show agreements that most TNA wrestlers have. This cripples bookers as you see a lot of 6 and 8-man tag matches to justify people being on T.V. because they have to be!

My personal theory is that TNA T.V. should be more like The E’s T.V., with one difference: everything should matter. While The E sometimes has throwaway weeks of T.V., TNA should slow things down. Slowing down would mean the following: three matches maximum until they get a second hour of T.V., and more angle advancement in every area, not just the areas where a guy named Jarrett is involved. As for the “number of matches” people, what do you think Explosion is for? Note to the three Explosion viewers in the country: sorry, but you guys get the two minute matches because there aren’t enough people watching to warrant a more sane show.

(GOOD) The World X Cup, bringing in foreign talent
If there’s one thing TNA has been good at since their beginning, it’s bringing in foreign talent to spice up cards. There’s no better example of that than the World X Cup. In 2004, an idea was hatched for something called “The America’s X Cup” where teams of four from TNA and AAA would compete in matches with points attached to them all culminating with an elimination match. On that night, AAA won, but the idea was far from over. TNA took this one step further and “The World X Cup” was created with teams from Canada, England, Japan, Mexico, and TNA competing in a marginally organized tournament that lasted almost four months! The tournament(s) was a way to introduce new X-Division and, in the case of a few, heavyweight talent to TNA. Names like Juventud Guerrera, Hector Garza, Petey Williams, NOSAWA, Abismo Negro, and Bobby Roode made their TNA debuts in this tournament. While 2004’s was overshadowed by the never-ending Jarrett show, this year’s will likely get special treatment.

Also, bringing in foreign talent has been a benefit for TNA as whomever they’ve brought in for one or two shows has stolen the show with their shot. Teddy Hart did just that in the Super X Cup in September 2003 and would’ve gotten a job with TNA had it not been for his attitude backstage. Sidenote on Hart: he managed to screw up his shot again as he was Team Canada’s captain before attitude problems got him kicked out of TNA probably for good in 2004. Juvy stole the show as well in the same tournament as Hart and did earn himself a brief job before similar problems got him thrown out in 2004. Jushin Liger may not have stolen the show last October, but his arrival and appearance was the best received of them all, as he will be coming back with Team Japan in this year’s X Cup tourney. While he didn’t steal the show, Hiroshi Tanahashi’s appearance at Final Resolution and subsequent match with Roderick Strong on Explosion were almost as well received as Liger’s appearance. And finally, there’s PUMA. PUMA came in as a Japanese representative for TNA’s International X Showcase match (a format they need to repeat as often as they can) at TNA’s most recent PPV, Destination X. And wouldn’t you know it, PUMA stole the show as his fast-paced, high flying style was eaten up with a spoon by the Orlando crowd. For TNA, bringing in these foreign Junior Heavyweights has yet to show a negative as they’ve jobbed when told to and gotten exposure on this side of the world; win freakin win baby!

(BAD) Lack of Elevation
This—surprisingly enough—has to do with the X-Division. Since 2003, Christopher Daniels and A.J. Styles have been THE top guys in the X-Division. Jerry Lynn was there as well, but he’s in semi-retirement, so he isn’t really that relevant to this argument right now. Guys like Chris Sabin, Sonjay Dutt, Matt Bentley and Petey Williams have yet to be portrayed as top guys in the X-Division. And trust me, if this problem in portrayal isn’t fixed, guys like Jay Lethal, Alex Shelley, Austin Aries, and Roderick Strong will be facing the same fate very soon.

The problem isn’t that these guys aren’t talented enough or don’t win enough, it’s that they aren’t getting the big wins or the spotlight. Wins and losses do matter in wrestling, but they don’t matter as much as many would have you think. Look at Mick Foley: he jobbed more than any big name ever should have, but was still one of the most over and biggest drawing names in the company. Why? Because even though he lost, he was portrayed as someone that mattered whether he won or lost. TNA’s problem is that they want to protect guys like Styles and Daniels at any cost. And while those two are the most talented in the X-Division, using them to make guys below them more over than they’ve ever been isn’t a bad thing.

Take Shannon Moore for example. Moore came into TNA, cost A.J. a shot at half of the tag titles, took his Mr. TNA plaque, and nearly cost him his match with Tanahashi. Now, sensible booking would have the two meet at the nearest TNA PPV (Against All Odds), have Moore go over Styles, and a new X-Division star is created. What happens? Moore goes over Styles in a street fight on iMPACT! only to advance an angle involving Daniels and Styles, and fights in pre-show matches on PPV’s until he resigned with The E this week. That’s only an example of the problem as TNA has missed opportunities with guys like Petey, Sabin, and Bentley in the past (with Sabin and Bentley it’s been multiple opportunities missed). Something needs to change really fast in this division.

(BAD) The signings of Sting and Scott Steiner
The difference between these two signings is simple: Steiner’s signing annoys me, Sting’s signing pisses me off.

Steiner’s signing annoys me because it’s Scott Steiner, a man with absolutely no drawing power left and who’s name isn’t big enough anymore where jobs would help elevate someone as much as a number of other free agent names would. When The E signed Steiner back in November 2002, I was more than willing to give him the benefit of the doubt because the last time I’d seen him (in WCW’s final days) he could still have a good match if the guy he faced could carry him. Rumble 2003 came and went, and Scott Steiner was dead to me. So now TNA, in need of star power, goes and signs an over-the-hill, roided up maniac who’s finisher looks more like he’s getting a bad piggy-back ride than hurting his opponent. Since he’s not signed to a long-term contract, hopefully he’ll be gone just as quick (hopefully quicker) as he was in The E while jobbing in his one or two PPV appearances. I know I said that jobs from him probably won’t mean much, but if he’s getting a quick payday, he might as well do the ring thing at least once.

Sting’s signing pisses me off for two reasons: how TNA is booking his return, and how much money they spent on him. So let’s see: you can’t pay to produce house shows yourselves, you have way too many people on your roster to begin with, and you sign a guy who wrestled one match for you almost four years ago! Spending money you don’t have on someone you don’t need; that doesn’t sound like a sound strategy financially speaking. TNA could’ve gotten either Jericho or Goldberg for “Sting money” and with either of those two (more Jericho than Goldberg) you would’ve gotten more in-ring productivity and elevation of a lucky mid-card heavyweight than we’ve gotten with Sting. So far, he’s done one tag match (didn’t prove anything to me) and has had a stupid retirement angle. This is stuff that any TNA mid-card guy could be doing for way, way, way less money. Plus, the retirement angle would’ve been best used with Team 3-D as a follow-up to the Funeral Parlor skit to put over AMW as a super heel tag-team and add even more hype to the eventual AMW/3-D PPV match.

When Sting came in and gave his interview for tnawrestling.com, I gave him the benefit of the doubt because I thought (for the money he was getting paid) that he really would try and help the company. However, the post-match beat down of Jarrett’s ENTIRE ARMY at Destination X proved that the exact opposite has happened. So Christian (he’s the champ remember) gets beaten down for five minutes by EVERYONE, and then Steve (not Sting) Bordum comes in and wipes everyone out in 30 seconds? I don’t think that’s helping anything Steve. I think jobbing to guys like Joe, Styles, or Cage would be more helpful to the company long term than this bullshit.

(BAD) Still too much Jarrett
Unfortunately, like all discussions/arguments about TNA, it all has to come back to Jarrett in the end. I still believe that he is the biggest part of the problem because he still believes that he is the star of the show (talk about a self-fulfilling prophecy). Right now, the product is the star of the show because nobody is being portrayed above Jarrett and nobody buys Jarrett as the star. That’s the problem.

First, I’d just like to get this off my chest: I still think Jarrett is a great heel. There I said it. I think it’s true and his mic skills (despite the feelings of the Orlando crowd) are still top notch. The fact that the Orlando crowd keeps up those “Boring” chants proves that he’s a good heel because heels fall into two categories (interview wise): you want to hear them and boo them or you don’t care what they say, you just want to boo them. Think of it this way: Ric Flair is in the first category, Jeff Jarrett is in the second.

The main problem with Jarrett is that he’s still pushing himself as a main-event guy. Those days are over and the loss to Christian should’ve been the proverbial “passing of the torch” in terms of which guy is going to be the symbol of TNA. Unfortunately for all of us, it wasn’t. Jarrett still gets the majority of T.V. time to have viewing parties, which may give Alex Shelley a gimmick, but doesn’t help him much else. Not only that, but have you seen Jarrett’s army as of late? I’m getting nWo flashbacks when I see how many people are in that army. Does Team Canada really need to be aligned with Jarrett? They are already a stable, they should be portrayed as such. What they shouldn’t be portrayed as are a few more yes-men for Jarrett. Does Abyss need to be aligned with Jarrett? He’s already got a fantastic manager, has been a loner (with a manager) since TNA’s beginning and looks like he could squash Jarrett like a bug at any time; it just doesn’t fit to me. AMW and Gail Kim being with Jarrett make sense for reasons that TNA actually explained to us, but that should be it. I believe a stable’s limit is five people (manager included) before it gets too big and, eventually, too repetitive and boring (see nWo or DX).

If the roles were made a little bit different, I think things would begin to get better. Let’s say the main-event heavyweight feud would be the “army” of Abyss, Jarrett, AMW with Gail Kim, and James Mitchell as the leader (because he can handle interviews and seems like an authority figure) taking on the WWE rejects (Cage, Team 3-D, Rhino, and The Truth) with Cage as the leader. This would be better because it would open up title shots for AMW as singles wrestlers (Harris proved he was more than capable two years ago) and Abyss could take his spot as one of the top guys in the promotion instead TNA’s mid-card big man. Plus, it may allow Monty Brown to become a tweener (in storyline) again and start going back to his Goldberg-like streak of killing people in quick matches. I think that produces a much brighter and overall better picture than what’s going on now with Jarrett still pushing himself as the “uncrowned champion.”

So, I hope I’ve proven that, while some things may be good, it all is not wine and roses in Planet Jarrett these days. I keep holding out hope that some day, things will change for the better. I’d like to see a day where guys like Joe, Styles, and Daniels are given the promotion to carry as they seem to be the three that will have to do that if TNA lasts that long. For now, it may all be a mess, but TNA still has The E beat in several key areas, and will likely have the workrate fans (myself included) on their side until the end. Whether or not that will be enough will be proven within the next couple of months as a change could and should be coming. Will it? If it is true that the past repeats itself, then the picture may be a lot grimmer than most see it. If not: sky’s the limit.