The roundtable returns and this week’s debate threw up some lengthy discussion. Given the subject, perhaps that’s not so much of a surprise.

This week we’re debating the question: If you were in charge of TNA, what sort of changes would you make to help them crack the 2.0 mark by 2010?

Phil Lowe: Where to begin? I think a lot of people reading this will have seen the question and immediately thought “Fire Russo.” I don’t blame you for thinking that. Of course, TNA’s response to those who want Russo out is usually along the lines of “Vince Russo is part of a creative team and isn’t involved with a lot of the decisions.” Even if that is the case, however, TNA appear to be blissfully unaware of why those chants are being made in the first place.

Its easy to knock TNA. But I think the vast majority of wrestling fans truly want them to be a success and do the same numbers as WWE. And when a live crowd breaks into a “Fire Russo” chant, TNA need to realise that the chants are not neccessarily directed at the man himself (unless there’s a pole in the match) but at TNA’s creative team as a whole.

Don’t get me wrong, WWE are far from perfect when it comes to storylines and booking. But when you’re doing the ratings WWE are doing and have had the success they have had over the years, you can afford to get away with booking some pretty lame stuff.

To many observers its pretty obvious that the company is not the alternative to WWE that they like us to think they are. But, if they are to nearly double their TV ratings over the next 18 months, here’s a quick rundown of the top five things I think they need to do:

Firstly, I’d fire the writing team. Not just Russo, but all of them.

Anybody who has watched TNA on even an occasional basis over the past couple of years could likely pick out at least one incident or angle which has either defied logic, been a total waste of time, or just plain dumb.

Or all three.

The most recent example of how dumb this company’s ‘powers that be’ are was the line Kurt Angle came out with about Jeff Jarrett’s late wife. Even if Jarrett was ok with the promo, how exactly does it sell a PPV? And how would you feel if you were one of the Jarrett children? Shit like this in TNA is beyond lame and beyond tiresome. Whoever scripted that should have been fired on the spot, along with whoever gave the ok to Sheik Abdul Bashir’s entrance music.

Rehashing ideas that failed the first time round, a stupidly high amount of gimmick matches, worked shoot promos and utter bullshit like the Sting-Abyss promo (which really put me off TNA) don’t sell tickets or PPVs. So Sting knew Abyss was called Chris? Big whoop.

Secondly, I’d fire Don West. The guy should still have a role in TNA, but that role should be limited to shilling merchandise or perhaps interviews guys in pre-tapes for website content.

Tenay isn’t as good as he was in WCW, but he’s still solid. West is just plain awful. Get Cornette in the role, or one of the veteran wrestlers. Hell, who would have thought Matt Striker would be as awesome as he is on ECW? TNA could do much worse than to try out a new #2 for Tenay.

A point here which can tie in with the above two is the whole “TO THE BACK!” thing TNA do. It sucks. For all their faults, WWE really are great when it comes to having announcers shut up and letting a serious, emotional, important in-ring moment come across as a big deal. TNA, with their current format, give such a moment a split-second before we head elsewhere for something less important. Stop it.

Third, I’d make the X Division something people want to see and want to talk about. Right now, its about as worthwhile as WWE’s undercard titles. The X Division in TNA’s early days had the potential to steer the company in the right direction ratings wise. Right now, its an afterthought. Serious storylines, straight-forward wrestling matches given plenty of time in the ring are needed here. Can anybody reading this seriously say they’d rather see Cute Kip each week on their TV screens rather than a couple of high-flying X Division guys showcasing their talents?

Finally (although I could write several books about the things TNA need to change), I’d move out of Universal Studios. The PPVs always have a better feel when TNA move around the country and house shows more often than not get rave reviews. Take TV away from Orlando!

I’m sure a TNA defence to some of the negative comments will be that they are now turning a profit. That may be the case, but that’s largely due to international contracts and agreements. Imagine what this company could be doing at home if they made the changes they so clearly need to make. What pisses me off the most about TNA are that the changes that need to be made are simple ones. Yet they continue to put themselves across as a second-rate WCW at times.

Dan Short: I’ve actually been putting some thought into the subject for about a month now. It’s not the most perfectly sound idea in the world, but it’s one that would certainly get me interested. I would start on Thursday after Bound for Glory. Right from the get go, bring the focus to who will be the next challengers for all four titles.

Through that, I would use the round robin tournament system with the top two contenders in each tournament meeting at Genesis to determine the number one contenders for the belts. I would then spend the next run of Impact shows building around the matches set for Turning Point where the champions would face their challengers. With me so far? I’d lay out examples, but it would take forever to get to this point.

Any way, with the challengers for Turning Point in place, then I can build upon the next batch of group who would contend for a spot on getting into the pay-per-view, which I would deem specifically for championship and number one contender matches. Because that way, the Impact shows can be used to build up the next pay-per-view. Speciality matches I would reverse for guys who are for sure not going to appear on the pay-per-views, say like a legend versus an up-and-comer so that the legend would make the youngster and have him ready to be in contention for a shot at making the pay-per-views. Occasionally build an additional running storyline around that or another feud to create interest on other talent and maybe have it eventually leading into a number one contenders match on a pay-per-view, allowing the already hot winner to be ready to go for a shot at one of the belts. Anyone who comes in would get placed in the appropriate place and start them from the bottom of the barrel.

As I mentioned before, it’s not the most perfectly sound idea. And it is one that could easily fall on its face. But I think that by shifting focus away from feuds for a while and just build around making contenders and make some sort of attempt to develop meaning around the belts, it could at least have a shot at doing something exciting. Rather, that’s the way I see it.

Michael Campbell: Holy freaking’ crap. Where do I start?

TNA is completely and utterly backwards. It could be awesome, but alas, every time I watch a PPV, it’s mind-boggling, frustrating and ultimately, the same as the previous one. I can’t bring myself to sit through an entire episode of Impact and one of my favourite wrestlers of this decade (Joe) bores me to tears. It’s problems are long term and thus, solving them needs patience, and it would probably take longer than just over a year to establish a viable brand that actually draws viewers.

I’d start with some of these ideas:

- Promote the bejeesus out of Samoa Joe. Of all the guys currently working within the “big two”, as they say, Joe is the one, who in my mind, has the most potential to appeal to the MMA crowd. He’s a convincing, likeable monster, when allowed to be himself, and when he works, he can believably look as if he’s utterly stomping ass.

But half of the WWE’s fans out there have no idea who he is. They need to know, and they will tune in to see him.

In a similar vein, they should start really emphasising the promotion of guys like AJ Styles, the Motor City Machine, etc, guys who are an alternative to the WWE- and halt the pushes/airtime of guys like Rhino, the Dudleys, Kip James, and anyone else who is tainted with the brush that paints TNA WWE-lite.

Stop featuring Jeff Jarrett in a headline position. The public don’t buy him as a Main Eventer. Simple as. They NEVER have done, as either a face, or a heel.

Now I generally really like Jarrett, he was a good mid-carder in the WWE, who could have stepped up to semi-main, and put over guys on their way up the card.

I even backed him in the whole debacle with Steve Austin, where Stone Cold refused to work with the guy. A month looking feud with a solid performer, who fans who have to see bump all over the place in a PPV blow-off, would have been just fine.

In WCW, Jarrett was a poor choice for World Champion. His gimmick had some momentum, but his numerous runs on top (what like- four in six months or something- RIDICULOUS) where inconsequential, and his ineffectiveness was masked by the utter stupidity occurring all around him.

Having endured a self-imposed exile for a over a year, following his wife’s death from cancer, Jeff returned to positive reactions last month, but not to Babyface main event reactions. Despite the favourable booking, He still was not perceived as a top star.

Jarrett has so little heat, in either role, that he’s now resorted to exploiting his own wife’s death ” in a desperate attempt to add interest to his feud with Kurt Angle. This is deplorable. How this cannot be perceived as disgusting is beyond me. It’s unnecessary and beyond justification.

He’s a good worker, with loads of history in the promotion, and he should be in the mid-card, building young guys, not moonlighting as a star.

- Introduce some unofficial policies backstage to cut down on the amount of gimmick matches.

What I’ve found lately, is that TNA’s hardcore fan base, loves the overuse of gimmicks (sometimes they backfire, examples being the Trigg/Styles fiasco, Electrified Cage outing and the Sting/Abyss Panto match), but the figures are showing that nobody else does. TNA could end up in a position where it appeals only to a niche fan base (as Ring of Honor largely does) because they’re catering to the audience who already watch their shows, but nobody else.

They have GREAT gimmicks (the business’ only Six-Sided Cage, Ultimate X, the International Cup concept…) but no idea whatsoever how to use them.

- Use Gimmicks for people who can’t get over or stand out without them- not performers who people love as they are, and don’t need the pageantry.

- Legitimise the “Knockouts”. The ladies have taken their knocks, and suffered a set-back with the departure of Gail Kim, who has exposed something of a lack of depth on the roster. They’ve a great array of talent, but no back-bone as such. I think they need to make the women’s division such a focal point that they’re able to constantly pull in talents from around the world, and it becomes the most visible, high-profile incarnation of Women’s grappling available to viewers.

- Get some decent merchandise. Most of their stuff sucks.

- Get rid of Vince Russo. I’m not blaming everything on him. But he certainly hasn’t helped, and his presence is indicative of all that is wrong with TNA.

- Drop Sting. Controversial! He’s done nothing for ratings as far as I know, and he costs a bomb. He can’t work as good matches as a lot of the other guys, nor does his star power entice in viewers. “is he still going?” “Why does he look like The Crow”, and “I’d rather watch Forrest Griffin punch Shit”, are common reactions.

I’d push the living crap out of him for the next few months (properly not by overexposing him in twenty minute promos every week), and systemically exhaust every bit of revenue that can be extracted from his remaining “dream matches”.

Basically though, they need to completely overhaul the perception people outside their fan base have of them. Convert the people that laugh at their product (Lance Storm!) and then maybe they can spread awareness to those who haven’t got a baldy what TNA is.

James Mustoe: Judging by past TNA protocol, here’s what I would do. Have Kurt Angle come out on Impact and start making references to ‘figures from wrestling and the MMA world from his past’ who will shortly be coming to TNA to feud with him. Then have an interactive text vote fan pole from TNA asking the fans who they think the mystery people will be.

Give them preset options to vote for such as (A) Brock Lesnar, (B) Daniel Puder and (C) Shawn Michaels. Build this whole thing up for a few months, or as long as Russo’s booking style will allow in anticipation for a debut on an upcoming PPV.

Then have Angle vs. whoever (preferably a homegrown TNA Star, fight in the main event of the PPV, with Angle winning by whatever means.

Then after the match, the arena lights can go out and Angle’s new foes will be revealed…. Yes it’s ‘Lethal Weapon’ Steve Blackman (who Angle fought at Armageddon 1999), and ‘The Mecca of Manhood’ Shawn Stasiak (who Angle fought in his debut at Survivor Series 1999). This fiendish team will lay out Angle and his opponents, as well as a few other TNA main eventers, just to really put them over, and then will embark on a protracted feud against Angle and the TNA roster, in a ‘shoot’ feud where Blackman is annoyed that the rookie Angle was put over him by WWF in 1999, and Stasiak blames Angle for his firing over the whole ‘hidden tape recorder fiasco’.

Given TNA’s past success with (a) ex-WWE stars, and (b) shoot or reality based storylines, this storyline is guaranteed to finally put them over that 2.0 barrier.

Martin Smith: Personally, I do believe TNA can hit the 2.0 rating by 2010. It’ll be a long haul but it’s not out of the question. Basically, there are five things I’ll point it down to:

- Cut the roster and build the stars

Kip James, BG James, Rellik, Black Reign etc etc etc!!! Why push a guy like Kip James, when you could push a fresh, talented guy like Alex Shelley? No offence to James, but his time is coming to an end. So, don’t put him with one of the hottest acts (The Beautiful People) in the company right now. People will argue, he has the name recognition, but he doesn’t. Nobody knows him as Kip James. You think average joe is going to look at a poster and think “Kip James!? Oh man! I remember him in the WWE!” No, because he was Billy Gunn there.

Now, I know that is out of TNA’s hands, but don’t push this guy because he’s a face people will recognise! Push someone who can put on good match after good match.

By cutting guys like James and more, TNA can cut the wage bill and pump money into good writers. After all, Vince Russo is absolute garbage.

It’s fine for them to push Foley, Angle, Booker etc. These have genuine name value, but Test, Rikishi, Kip? No thanks.

- Break out on their own

TNA has to become their own company. Copying things that happened in WWE and constantly name dropping the opposition is very poor. An indy company in the middle of Texas can drop their opposition and the WWE. A company ready to challenge the WWE, shouldn’t be constantly telling us about it.

TNA need to create their own matches, own stars and own memorable moments. Having AJ Styles “win” Kurt Angle’s gold medal is somewhat deja vu (Yes, you remember Eugene winning it in the WWE..). Don’t get me wrong, they have tried to create their own matches, but they’ve overbooked them into nonsense. Make things simple, stop complicating things and get to basics.

- Give wrestlers a place

TNA has its top guys and then the rest. I find that absolutely terrible booking. Each wrestler needs a place. For example, what’s the different between Robert Roode and Abyss? What about Matt Morgan and Jay Lethal? Nothing. We have a group of maybe three or four guys after the X Division title, a group of five or so after the Heavyweight title, three or four teams after tag gold and then the rest is a level playing field.

My answer? Simple. Bring in a TNA mid-card title. If TNA had a television title, then they could give a few more guys a reason, to at least, fight one another. WWE’s mid-card titles mean nothing. TNA shouldn’t be following their lead.

- Highlight the positives and remove the negatives

TNA sign Mick Foley. How did you feel when you just read that? Let me say it again, TNA HAVE SIGNED MICK FOLEY. Thing is, nobody gives a crap unless it’s pushed right and so far, it’s bored me. Don West has killed the momentum by constantly shouting down the mic. The X-Division is now a worthless pile of crap focusing on a guy who walks to the ring by the sound of planes blowing up. Is that what I want to watch at night? To be quite honest, I couldn’t give a damn. There isn’t a hook there.

TNA should’ve been shoving Foley down our throats. Not just ours, TNA should’ve been pushing this stuff in the press. What about Kurt Angle? If TNA were serious about Angle, they should’ve been putting him in “worked” MMA matches and making him look like a genuine killer. After all, he is gone on about MMA for far too long.

Remove the negatives such as Don West and highlight the stars!

- Don’t bore the audience

Far too many feuds have lasted too long. Booker/Roode, Angle/Joe, Joe/Nash. Boring. Stop boring me!! Build the feud up properly, but please, don’t kill it to the point where nobody cares. TNA have done this far too much.

Mark Bright: This is a tough question to answer, since TNA have sucked for a LONG time, and there are several things throughout the company that would have to change in order to get the company to be above 2.0 in the ratings - remember, in the WWF in the mid-1990s built around Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels, two of the best wrestlers of all time, the ratings were barely above 2.0 for WWF Raw. So just simply saying “let Joe be the Joe from ROH who has great matches” isn’t enough of a solution.

First thing I’d do if I was in Dixie Carter’s position (which is how I’m choosing to interpret this question) - is fire the writing team. They suck. They’ve done nothing but confuse the hell out of me with ridiculous booking (on a side note, we need somebody there to release another script to the internet so I can find out who’s a babyface and who’s a heel, because fucked if I know from watching the shows), over-reliance on bad comedy, burials of people who actually get over, and overuse of former WWE names, again in roles not suited for them. Seriously, Christian is a comedy upper-midcard heel, not a serious main event babyface, and everyone watching TNA learned that in February 2006. The TNA writers still haven’t realised it and here we are in October 2008.

Second thing - get out of the Impact Zone. I do like the fact that TNA has it’s own “home arena” but if they’re doing that, I think they should do it in a wrestling arena, not in a TV studio, and in a mass media market rather than out in Orlando.

To me the perfect solution is to try to negotiate a deal with the Manhatten Center or Hammerstein Ballroom in New York to run their shows there.

New York is the centre of the universe as far as media is concerned, and as the wrestling industry found out back in 1984, if something happens in New York it’s a big deal, if they can get local media coverage, which could then translate into national media coverage.

Whether I’d do Impact here every week, or go around the country and tape in New York once a month like the WWF used to do with the old Madison Square Garden tapings I don’t know. Every week might be a good thing to do to begin with, but only for a few months, then take it around the country and tape monthly in New York.

Third thing - I’d do the old guys v. young guys feud, but I’d do it right. The old guys are the heels. They act like heels. That means they lie, that means they gang up on babyfaces and hold them down, in an on camera sense. Meaning when an old guy is facing a young guy, let’s say it’s Booker T v. Homicide, I’d have someone unrelated to the feud, let’s say Christian Cage, cost Homicide the match. You have to work the matches this way too, the old guys have to cheat, not do anything to get pops (that means Kurt Angle isn’t doing moonsaults or the ten Germans, that means Christian isn’t doing dives to the outside, and Booker isn’t doing the spinarooni), and the young guys have to do the spectacular stuff that makes them shine.

Obviously Jeff Jarrett has to be on the old guys side here, and has to work heel. And they have to take a year to build to Jarrett as the heel champion against a challenger Joe. So, to get the belt onto Jeff I’d have him win it at the next King Of The Mountain match, and that’s when I’d kick off the angle. If you have Jeff, Kurt, Sting, Christian, Booker and Joe in this match, that’s the perfect time for EVERYONE to fuck Joe over, turn all the babyfaces heel and put the belt on Jeff. Then Joe has instant obstacles to go through in a long-term build to Jarrett that should last at least a year and maybe longer. Jeff doesn’t even have to be on every PPV, since the genie has been let out of the bottle on TV already as far as him being a part-owner of the company, he can get away with defending the belt every 3-4 months, that way the focus is on Joe’s match as the main event, rather than something on the undercard of Jeff’s match.

Lower down the card I would put focus on the tag titles and X Division titles by using the young guys and established teams to extend the main event feud, while also showcasing the kind of athleticism and great action that used to make the X Division stand out as something special, before this current booking team turned it into yet another comedy joke. This is the kind of topic I feel like I could write about forever, but I’ll stop here otherwise I actually will!