Any sort of ranking system may seem kind of silly in the world of pro wrestling – the results are fixed, so why bother with a fixed ranking system. And yet both WWE and TNA have dabbled with different ways of publicly ordering performers. TNA is currently pushing the Bound For Glory series - twelve competitors get points for winning matches, with the winner getting a TNA World Heavyweight title match at the Bound for Glory pay-per-view. Back in mid-2010, shortly after Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff arrived in TNA, they featured a short-lived top 10 ranking system to determine the #1 contender. For WWE’s part, the rookie rankings on NXT are about as close as they’ve come. Both ranking systems supposedly combined fan voting with professional input, whether in the form of TNA’s championship committee or NXT’s Pros. While it’s clear to see that the fan involvement will never be able to run away with the rankings – that’s just too little control of the system, I do think there’s some merit to the idea of laying out who your top stars are. Over the next week or two, I’ll look at the pros and cons of each system.
Let’s look at TNA to start, since they do have a system in place right now. How the Bound for Glory series plays out could give good insight into who TNA wants to push into the main event scene. With over two months still to go, the standings look like this:
| Rank | Wrestler | Points |
| 1. | 40 | |
| 2. | 35 | |
| 3. | 33 | |
| 4. | 28 | |
| 4. | 28 | |
| 4. | 28 | |
| 4. | 28 | |
| 5. | 21 | |
| 6. | 14 | |
| 7. | 10 | |
| 8. | -10 | |
| WD | 24 |
-Matt Morgan withdrew due to legitimate injury.
Where It’s At
When I first started thinking about this article, the standings were… alarming. Crimson was still on top, but Gunner was in 2nd place, with Bully Ray and Devon not too far behind. Each of those wrestlers have massive downsides at this point in their careers: Crimson, hard though TNA has pushed, has absolutely zero heat on his own – he was actually better received as Amazing Red’s “little brother;” same goes for Gunner – he could get there, but he’s still too close to the Two Security Dudes gimmick he was saddled with for nearly a year to be seen as a legitimate threat; Bully Ray is on the singles push of his life right now, and is handling it pretty well, but I’m not sure he’s a guy you can build a title program around, at least not for too long; and Devon just isn’t there. When Team 3D split, all the good heat went with Bully Ray.
The rankings as they stand now are better, but that’s not to say TNA doesn’t still have time to screw it up. Having AJ Styles, Samoa Joe and D’Angelo Dinero in the bottom half is downright disgraceful. Styles and Joe are each former TNA champs, and D’Angelo Dinero is on the short list of guys that TNA has picked up from WWE and successfully repackaged. These are the guys they ought to be building their company around, and it really looks like they’ll be falling short to some of the others.
Where it’s Going
So who wins? I suspect there’s a couple different storylines in play here. The top four wrestlers will face each other at TNA’s September pay-per-view No Surrender. I think there’s a clear direction for James Storm and Bobby Roode to face each other as the final button on the Beer Money tag team – there’s money to be made from both of them as singles stars, and the long-time tag partners facing off in the final rounds of the tournament makes for a nice hook. Beyond those two, TNA seems pot-committed to pushing Crimson and his undefeated streak – I wouldn’t be surprised to have Crimson win the whole thing and get handed his first loss by the defending TNA champ, probably Kurt Angle. For the final spot in the finals, I’d wager either Gunner, another unknown that TNA wants to brand, or Bully Ray finishes in the top four, just to make sure there’s a heel presence. That requires RVD to drop lower in the rankings, but it sounds like something might be in the works for tonight’s Hardcore Justice PPV that will serve as a reasonable distraction for Rob. There’s also always the possibility of one of the lower-ranked guys (Joe is most likely, since he doesn’t look to have any other rivalries brewing – hell, even the Pope and Devon have a secondary story) going on a complete tear and shooting up the rankings.
Based on TNA’s booking history, I’d expect Roode vs. Storm to have much more long-term impact than the eventual winner. TNA looks to have the right idea in one respect, that they can use this tournament to build a new star, but I worry that their winner (Gunner or Crimson) is going to get their one moment in the spotlight at Bound For Glory, get a losing effort in good match with Kurt Angle, and then fall back to midcard status when TNA takes a hard left turn for whatever new idea they really like – Hogan with the title, Jeff Hardy returning, etc. Honestly, I hope I’m wrong, but we’ll see how it plays out.
What’s Good
Building new stars is extremely important, especially for TNA. One of the most significant criticisms usually leveled at the company is that their roster is dominated by former WWE stars or aging veterans who shouldn’t be as prominent as they are. A series like this gives them a huge opportunity to push the future faces of the company, similar to how WWE used to use the King of the Ring – remember the birth of Stone Cold?
Seeing Crimson, Gunner, Pope, Beer Money and Matt Morgan in the tournament tells fans who they’re counting on moving forward, along with TNA standards like Styles and Joe. A new face should win this tournament – as much as it doesn’t do Joe or Styles any favors having them in the bottom half, they don’t need the win. It’s perfectly feasible that either guy could win a #1 contender’s match and be right back in the title picture on any given night. So building someone new is certainly the way to go.
It’s also providing a nice built-in justification for matches. One issue in both major companies is that there’s not enough reason to mix up competition – if two guys are in a program, they’ll face each other in some slightly tweaked version of the same match all month long. Having a structure that give you good reason to mix and match opponents keeps the matches fresher and less repetitive from week to week.
Finally, it’s good that the system is presented as transparent. It’s based entirely on wins and losses, and thus makes it much easier for fans to follow. The other two rankings we’ll look at both involve fan voting and “committees”; fan voting is a nice idea, but far too easy to manipulate if execs don’t like the result, and using on-screen committees to make these decisions (TNA’s Championship Committee or NXT’s Pro vote) is just a nice way of rebranding the norm – people within the company making decisions with no requirement to explain their decisions or criteria.
What’s Bad
First and foremost, it’s just a shame that the guys TNA has picked to focus on in the tournament aren’t connecting with fans. At all. TNA would really like Crimson to be Bill Goldberg circa 1998, but he’s just not there. He doesn’t have the mystique that formed naturally around Goldberg, and doesn’t have Goldberg’s charisma (I can’t believe I just wrote that, but it’s true). Gunner is fantastic in the ring, but the overly-intense gimmick makes it hard to like him in any way, and his association with the tattered remains of the Immortal faction don’t do him any favors – Immortal already has go-away heat, and it’s rubbed off on him. TNA’s best option at this point would be to change course and push someone from the middle-bottom straight to the top. Matt Morgan would have been ideal, and that sort of run would have been believable for him, but unfortunately that’s not possible.
The second problem is how the series is run. Here’s how the scoring system works:
- 10 points for a submission victory
- 7 points for a pinfall victory
- 5 points for a countount victory
- 3 points for a disqualification victory
- 2 points for a draw
- -10 points if you get disqualified.
This is just a bit too convoluted. I like that they reward submission, as it’s the more difficult win to get, but points for a draw? Points for a countout victory – that would be fine if countout were usually used as a strategic move, but it’s more often that the opponent got distracted by something at ringside.
There’s also the issue that it’s not entirely clear to everyone where the points are coming from. The TV matches are fine, but TNA is also issuing points for live event matches. On the one hand, it’s great that they’re doing something to make it seem like live events matter, but the vast majority of their audience is seeing TV only, and may be confused about how these scores add up. They’ve actually put together some good live event recap videos showing how the points came about, but those packages seeing the light of day on Impact has been sporadic at best.
Lastly… Scott Steiner. Does anyone in the wrestling world actually want to see Steiner anywhere near a world title anymore?
Where to Go from Here
TNA is running out of time. They only have about a month before they’re stuck with their final four. At this point, the tournament isn’t the right vehicle to give Gunner or Crimson a new gimmick or personality change, so the best option would be to have someone break through into the top four. Samoa Joe charging up the list would be a nice response to the losing streak and subsequent frustration he’s shown since the tournament began, and would give him a purpose for the next three months, which is something Joe hasn’t had since he was “kidnapped” and then returned with no actual explanation. A pleasant turn would also be to have Beer Money face each other in the final match of the tournament, which could be a star-turning match for the both of them.
TNA desperately needs home grown talent. Having former WWE/WCW guys headlining all of their pay per views does nothing for their identity as a company, and just forces them further into Vince McMahon’s shadow. They could have used the series to push out a new star, but it looks like they may have backed the wrong horse(s) in this race. There’s always an opportunity to save the program, but they’ll have to make a drastic change, and make it fast, if they want a main event that people are going to care about at Bound for Glory.
Next time, NXT – a deeply flawed voting system on a deeply flawed concept. After that, the Top Ten Championship Rankings – a great storyline tool if you use it correctly.
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