Is Impact Wrestling Really Improving

Over the past number of months, many fans have noticed the upswing in the quality of Impact Wrestling. Is it perfect? By no means, but TNA, ten years into their history, is really starting to put together a string of perfectly acceptable to rather entertaining wrestling shows. The fact of the matter is that TNA really does appear to be getting everything together to an extent, at least what it seems. They did what they should have done last year with the Bound for Glory series, making it a round robin style tournament where everyone fights everyone once instead of a mish mash of random matches.

I would love TNA to become a closer number two. There are several factors working against it. The fact is, like them or not, WWE has built up years and years of brand loyalty within the casual fans. It is not the fact that TNA is TNA, as much as WWE is wrestling and anything else is a pale imitation. Even it occurs in WWE, where anything that is not RAW or Pay Per Views is considered to be a borderline waste of time.

Ten years of TNA has not been all bad, but they have not built the reputation that they have as a really awful professional wrestling production without reason. For every Unbreakable Triple Threat Match, there has been more Reverse Battle Royals, Pacman Jones, and Nonsensical Storylines and Swerves. TNA from 2004-2006 was far better from a wrestling standpoint than today, even if the storyline presentation could be a bit weaker and might be far stronger in 2012 over the past six to eight months or however you want to chart the progress.

To some, TNA will always be this utter cosmic joke of a promotion that pushes WWE rejects and is run by the people who had a hand in killing WCW. Again, this reputation is not without reason. And TNA has done nothing to discourage this a lot of this sentiment. TNA has improved with far better shows but there will still be that stink that will take years of constantly quality programming to wash off.

Obviously TNA is on the right track to success and things are improving. They are not necessarily perfect. The best TNA could hope for is a solid presentation and continue to really build talent beyond the WWE's leftovers. You might get the short term pop and name value but in the end, it means nothing after the buzz has warned off.

Each and every week, things have improved on Impact Wrestling. Comparing the shows of today to the shows a year or even two years ago, and you can see the quality. If they keep this up, they could become a bit better.

That might be a huge if, in wrestling, where direction can change hands abruptly with one night of bad ratings. As a wrestling fan, I hope TNA succeeds and gives the credible alternative that fans have been missing for over a decade like it promised to when it started.