- it still feels rather “small”; not saying that bigger is better, but with the size of their studio space and limited number of seats, things don’t feel quite as epic when compared to WWE’s giant stadiums, huge crowds, crazy pyro, etc. Then again, that all makes the ring feel just that much smaller.

- the “redneck vibe”; one of my initial problems with TNA. This may be related to the smaller space and more compact crowd, which in turn forces the cameras and mics to pick up more crowd noise, but in the end I think TNA is still a sort of niche company. WWE has established itself over the years in mainstream culture, but TNA is more for those of us who truly enjoy and seek out quality wrestling – and unfortunately it’s still a sort of lowbrow thing to enjoy. But hell, I love ODB for how much fun she has with the redneck angle

- the instances of brutality; while I enjoy a good fight, especially one that allows the performers to showcase their best stuff, I cringe at brutality like five guys beating on one dude in the fetal position resulting in an ambulance trip. Yes, I know nobody gets seriously hurt and that the ambulance is just for show, but if I want to see people destroying each other I’ll just visit dailymotion.com or something. Not that TNA is alone in this matter – the whole Randy-Orton-punting-people-in-the-skull angle made me a little sick as well.

Hell, I’m probably gonna come up with more on this WWE/TNA juxtaposition.. I should stop spamming the comments and just submit it all as a column to Keelan

As someone who’s been away from wrestling for a long time and only started following it again a few months ago, I first went to where I left off, namely the WWE. I caught up on what I’ve been missing (pretty much everything since 1994 or so), and discovered this competitive little company called TNA. Watched some of their shows and dismissed them as low quality. Kept watching WWE and started getting tired of HHH winning, Cena’s boring routine, Jeff Hardy’s crappy promos, and wondered why they went PG.

Gave TNA another shot and holy HELL does WWE have a lot to learn from TNA. Innovation in every single aspect of the shows, no fear of letting the wrestlers actually do their thing, no fear of experimentation, no micromanagement from the owner, and best of all allowing the wrestlers a good deal of creative control.

WWE on the other hand just keeps doing whatever it thinks is safe and fears change. Congrats Vince, you’ve successfully watered down your product enough that everyone will drink it, even if it’s still distilled urine.

Just as with the movies you mentioned; I agree with you that they’re awful as far as movies are concerned, but the studios know that pandering to as wide an audience as possible results in the most sales.

I think the saddest outcome of both examples is that companies/studios see this as “what the people want”. Hence we get more crappy PG-rated stuff on WWE, and more crappy mainstream movies.

How I imagine your stereotypical studio exec reacts to awful movie pitches: “A talking Chihuahua from Beverly Hills? FUCK YES. People will eat this shit right up.”