Ya know what? fukk it, 6 sided ring Pre-Hogan era TNA appreciation thread

[RammerJammer]

It's crazy that Don West was a shytty commentator when he was a face, but he was golden as a heel, but they took him off commentary only after a few months of being heel.

Don West was gold as a heel, he spent months swearing up and down that Suicide was Chris Daniels and then when he saved Suicide he said "I'm still convinced that's Daniels in the Suicide costume but who the hell is this impersonating Daniels?"

 

[FS4LFE]

I think from 2005-2010 TNA had a better product than WWE. Then they signed Hogan and you know the rest

 

[Saysumthinfunnymike]

one of my boys put me on to TNA way early.. they had weekly PPVs for $9.99 so we got a couple the X-division was at that time.. then they got the Fox Sports deal which was ehh but they had longer PPVs after. We saw that Elix Skipper tightrope live and was

When they announced they were going to be on Spike TV

When Kurt Angle appeared in a video to end a PPV

When Sting signed

 

[Saysumthinfunnymike]

 

[InstantKlassik]

 

[Paper Boi]

i did hate dikkface Joe, but everything else from around this time...

 

[RhymesWell]

The whole 'Cross The Line' tagline was dope too. I LOVED TNA from 05 to the Hogan era. I would've fell off wrestling a lot earlier if not for them. The major things that held them back was Jarret constantly placing himself in the mainevent scene when by the time Kurt came through it was clear he should be either midcard or behind the scenes, the reliance on the Universal Studios Impact Zone (it was fine but switch it up every now and then to give us some semblance of growth), and I think in hindsight they waited too long too push homegrown TNA stars. They pulled it off about 6 months before the Hogan era but I think if they did it like 2 years earlier they would've had even bigger stars on their hands but they let Jarret beat a lot of guys for no reason. In comparison, it's smart that Cody isn't putting himself over as AEW champ off the bat.

 

[NYChase718]

literally like the 6 months before Hogan/Bischoff was actually the best period in company history.

the desmond wolfe/kurt angle feud


they actually crowned AJ over Sting then Hogan/Bischoff came in and made him fake ric flair....

One of the dumbest things they did wen they took over was ended jay lethals macho man impersonation and made him a regular dude

 

[Paper Boi]

One of the dumbest things they did wen they took over was ended jay lethals macho man impersonation and made him a regular dude

true although.... jay vs flair was a goat segment

 

[El Guapo]

Lauren with the hard hitting interviews backstage

 

[CM_Burns]

The fall off isnt all on Hogan. In the 2 years before Hogan came in TNA was pretty hit and miss and they didnt seem to have much direction. They had a real good few months before Hogan came in though.

 

[OmegaK2099]

They got me hype for samoa Joe vs fukking matt morgan

 

[Vic Damone. Jr]

Mad I missed the early Asylum days, but I caught it when things were still godly. Always tell the story on how I got into TNA/put some other wrestling brehs on back in the 4th grade

long story short, I remember being seeing most former WWE folks like Jeff Hardy, Dudleys, Rhyno, etc and being introduced to some new breeds like Styles, AMW, Abyss, Samoa Joe, The Knockouts etc. Went back to school telling them what I saw like only for them to hit me with the you ain’t see no Jeff Hardy wrestle and some shyt about The Dudleys and ECW since this was post the first ONS. I’m like just look for it around Saturday night on Spike TV or something The following week or the one after, one of the brehs was like I saw what you was talking about with that TNA wrestling thing I’m like it’s cool right ? From there it was on

Sabu and Abyss running fades damn near every episode
X Division killing it

Knockouts again

Wondering with the brehs if someone you haven’t seen in awhile on RAW or SmackDown predicting if and will they show up in TNA I remember when Kurt, Christian, Foley, Booker T and so on debuted Sting too(re-debut when he was coming for Double J, but it was new to me)

Tag team division

shyt was special if you had the chance to witness it before mega mainstream exposure

 

[Reality Check]

Lot of revisionist history going on here. There were a lot more misses than hits, and reality is with WWE going PG and feeding any credible heel into the InCenarator, they made the product stale from fall 2005 until Summer of Punk. TNA could have taken the ball and ran but they are guilty of producing lame bullshyt as well.

 

[OmegaK2099]

That Christian Cage vs Abyss feud

Abyss tried to drown him in his own pool. Grade A fukkery.