TNA Question 4: I’ve posted 20 questions on WWE, TNA and the Indies, inviting readers to answer. Now, I’ll be posting some reader response and commenting on what I think the answer is to each question. Feel free to continue to post responses on any question after the one I’ve already answered (I’ll be going in order). The awesome Andy Wheeler replied to all 20 questions over on Pulse Wrestling. No one knows more about the WWE mindset than Wheeler, so be sure to give him a read. Let’s get going with the fourth TNA question:
4. Why are none of the really good X-Division workers featured in the X-Divison?
“Kaz, Elijah, Joe, Red, Daniels say hello.” – Rex
“Homicide, Joe, Red, Suicide, Dinero say hi. The Machine Guns and Lethal Consequences aren't the only good X Division wrestlers.” - Kewf
“Joe, Daniels, Suicide (Kaz), D'Angelo Dinero, Homicide, Amazing Red...they aren't talented? I mean yeah I'd like to see The Guns used more, but the X Division right now is the best it’s been in a long time.” - G
Most of the answers received were similar to these three. I said really good, implying I meant the best, not the merely “talented” or good guys. This is, without a doubt, the best the X-Division has been in several years, but that’s more a relative concept of recent quality than anything else.
““Vince Russo, that's why. Also, Jay Lethal may have pooped in the wrong person's gym bag.” – Brad Curran
“Because some idiot decided to make AJ world champ and take the guns off of my TV.”- MXPX
I’m not badmouthing Suicide and Dinero, two guys who have made the absolute most of bad gimmicks, or Red, whose comeback is amazing, but to say any of the others are featured in the X-Division itself would be disingenuous (we’ll address Daniels in his own column, either later today, or tomorrow, while Joe is already out of the division). And really, as good as these three are, none are among the top five X-Division wrestlers on the roster.
Chris Sabin, Alex Shelley, Jay Lethal, and AJ Styles are, in no order, without question, the four best X-Division wrestlers in the ring. The fifth is arguable, but is between Homicide (not featured), Daniels (wasted), Red, and Suicide. So, why aren’t the top guys featured?
Sabin and Shelley, despite being ridiculously over, spend their time mocking matches and making poor pop culture references. Possibly the top in-ring talent in the world gets an occasional match where they’re afterthoughts. Lethal pinned Kurt Angle only to be immediately put into a huge, go nowhere feud with Sonjay Dutt and made to team with the green Consequences Creed for no more apparent reason than that they’re both black. Homicide doesn’t get to wrestle anymore since he’s busy standing behind Eric Young and wasting his heat with Hernandez. Finally, Kiyoshi might be good, but he gets no time in a singles match to make it apparent one way or the other. AJ Styles is the one man you can make a case is being used to his potential, as he’s world champion, but even that isn’t necessary.
If MMA has shown us one thing, it’s that people will buy into divisions by weight outside of the heavyweight division. That isn’t saying their can’t be “catch-weight” matches, but only that people will absolutely buy into a second division that’s equally pushed with top talent regardless of the performer’s size if the action is good. Wrestling seems to regularly have the issue of guys on top not wanting to move out of their spot and not enough room for all the top guys they’d like to create. Since top guys draw (at least in theory), having more top guys would be good for business. Letting the X-Division operate seriously and separately, with top talent that isn’t running to the heavyweight division every other month would allow TNA another crop of draws and another source of revenue.
AJ Styles is a centerpiece of the heavyweight division. He’s got the title and is likely going to be put over by Sting as a champion. Also competing for his spot are established wrestlers Kurt Angle, Sting (until he retires), Samoa Joe along with up and comers, Matt Morgan, Bobby Lashley, Eric Young and Hernandez. That’s quite the crowded scene. If you move AJ down to the other division, he’s still a top guy, and in feuding with Jay Lethal and the Machine Guns, you’ve established all the top X-Division talent as draws. Meanwhile, Angle and Joe can elevate the newcomers at the top of the card and suddenly two fresh divisions with multiple draws exist all throughout TNA.
These wrestlers aren’t featured because Vince McMahon never featured smaller wrestlers prominently and constantly struggled with characters that were able to be maintained without being squashed by bigger opponents. This was due to a lack of a commitment to a second division of smaller wrestlers. TNA has half a commitment to the smaller guys, trying to push them seriously, but in taking the lesson of the WWE, they waste many young talents, instead of taking to heart the lesson of UFC- a separate but equal cruiserweight X-Division would draw.
Comments
I wish they'd give the X-Division its own show, instead of the proposed Knockouts show that's been kicking around for a while. The X-Division was the draw to TNA for me when I first started watching it, and I miss it being a focal point. It (and their having a tag division) made TNA seem like a real alternative, and not just WWE's bush league fourth brand, once upon a time.
I remember back in the day the only reason I would watch TNA was for the X-Division.
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