TNA Championship Rankings

[Troy]

What does everyone think about the TNA Championship Rankings that TNA set up about a month ago?

It is meant to work by fans voting in a poll on their website and that ranking gets combined with the rankings from the Championship Committee consiting of Hogan, Bischoff and Dixie.

Personally I like the idea of the ranking since it shows where each wrestler sits in each division however if they are getting the fans to vote then they should use that result a bit more. Maybe use the fan voting to organise a special match and have the winner get a title shot. I think that just having the rankings from the Championship Committee is enough.

I remember years ago on the TNA website, this was soon after they started, they had a rankings system on the website. For each title it would list the top ten contenders to that title and so the fans could see who was the number one contender, number two contender etc. and personally I thought it was a great part of the website. I think that they should go back to that system and use it rather than this random mix of fans votes and the committees ideas.

Do you like this system? How would you change it?

 

[StillTW]

Honestly the Ranking System and Championship comittee sounds a lot like Roman Democracy to me. You get to vote to keep yourself happy but, at the end of the day, the guys who already have the power will decide who gets the shot anyway. It allows TNA to tell the fans that they're valued and have a say in the company when in reality the votes can be completely ignored by Hogan and Bischoff to pick the guys they want anyway. I mean it's already known that TNA is planting audience members to make the crowd look "nice"...they clearly don't give a damn about the TNA fans who've carried them this far.

It's an awesome idea, it really is, but I don't think TNA management have their hearts in it. It's a marketing gimmick, nothing more, unfortunately.

 

[Troy]

Honestly the Ranking System and Championship comittee sounds a lot like Roman Democracy to me. You get to vote to keep yourself happy but, at the end of the day, the guys who already have the power will decide who gets the shot anyway. It allows TNA to tell the fans that they're valued and have a say in the company when in reality the votes can be completely ignored by Hogan and Bischoff to pick the guys they want anyway. I mean it's already known that TNA is planting audience members to make the crowd look "nice"...they clearly don't give a damn about the TNA fans who've carried them this far.

It's an awesome idea, it really is, but I don't think TNA management have their hearts in it. It's a marketing gimmick, nothing more, unfortunately.

Really like your analogy for this in bold. That is exactly how it seems to be for this votings system.

It is a shame it is a marketing gimmick since it would be good if TNA actually listened to the fans and set up a proper ratings system. Even one where 50% of the vote is from the fans and the other 50% is from mamnagement and then once added together you get your list. I really like the idea of a clear system where fans know who is next in line and where there favourite wrestler stands. This could have worked if organised properly and would have been a nice addition to the brand.

 

[StillTW]

Even still, part of me feels that it defeats the notion of kayfabe, I mean...when a promoter is in charge of who gets a shot and when, in better days for the industry, it meant title matches could be worked into and around feuds to help build things up. Now, that there is an element of chance thrown in (if TNA management actually WILL listen to the fans at all), it could hamper their ability to make the title work within feuds - not that it works within feuds already. I think, if the WWE did this, seeing as they have a relatively stable title picture (the same four guys every month, yes, but that's stability), it would work. TNA has no angles to speak of, the booking is a complete and utter mess, and the title's prestige has been wittled down to nothing - they should keep control over it until they can get an established title picture going, that actually makes sense. This is all too much, too quick - like the jump to Monday nights, in fact.

Don't get me wrong...I love TNA, I said it lots of times on PWM and I'll say it again here; I'm a TNA Loyalist, through and through, but...even I can point out when things are going horribly wrong.

 

[Troy]

You make some good points, TNA need to build up their championship picture first with some regular names in the title scene rather than having seemingly random guys getting title shots each month on PPV. They don't seem to have a set group of guys in the title scene with storylines which end up building towards a title shot. With regards to the unpredictability of putting the fans in charge of the contenders, well it can be organised like WWE does with Cyber Sunday/Taboo Tuesday or whatever it is now called. The give the fans complete control with voting however they only give them a small selection of wrestlers/stipulations to choose from so that they can work their booking around it.