CB’s Slant: TNA Slammiversary Is Tonight! But Before We Celebrate, Let Me Say… (AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels, Samoa Joe)

Columns, Top Story

Ten years ago, who would have thought that TNA Wrestling would still be around in 2012? Well, here we are, and tonight is the tenth anniversary celebration of TNA / Impact Wrestling … in the form of TNA Slammiversary X. No matter what you think about all of the twists and turns, all of the upward trends and downward spirals, and all of the train wrecks vs. the legitimately solid moments and matches that this company has given us over the past decade, it’s still a pretty cool moment tonight for everyone who has been involved with TNA from the beginning. You know, like AJ Styles, for example:

And hey, we’ve had our fun on this site with current TNA World Heavyweight Champion Bobby Roode, but the fact that one of the TNA Originals is now their longest-reigning heavyweight champion in the company’s history actually tells me that the folks over at Impact Wrestling — for all of their flaws — are finally doing something right. If TNA wants to survive another ten years, they need to continue to work towards establishing their own history with their own talent, something that has been a very slow and grueling process for them these first ten years. Luckily, there have been at least some glimpses of greatness:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hZAGOp6ylE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_Mu6LLN1Qw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_O1OT6LUss

The bottom line is this: TNA should not try to be ECW (see: EV2) and they should not try to be WWE (despite the ex-WWE creative members and wrestlers currently in their employ). Instead, it’s time for TNA to work on their identity crisis and start reestablishing themselves as their own entity.

No more hollow slogans.

No more promises that they can’t possibly keep.

No more “WE’RE GOING TO CHANGE THE WORLD FOREVER” press releases.

Instead:

Give us good storylines and solid wrestling.

Let the wrestlers work on their own characters and show us what they got.

Make us want to tune in to see logically presented progressions of events and when those “big moments” do happen, it will be a result of all the little things that were done right to lead to the proper crescendo of such events.

What you have done to this point, TNA, is a true accomplishment, and I will not take this night away from you. You’ve earned a 10-year celebration and it’s great that you’ve gotten this far.

And hell, here’s hoping you get to 20 … just please do me a favor and work on some of these fundamentals I’ve outlined above.

That’s all from me — CB.

CB is an Editor for Pulse Wrestling and an original member of the Inside Pulse writing team covering the spectrum of pop culture including pro wrestling, sports, movies, music, radio and television.