One of the most common themes of TNA/Impact Wrestling over the last few years, and especially during the last year and a half, is quantity. Stables and constant face/heel turns have always been a staple of the product, televised gimmick matches have been a staple throughout Russo's current TNA run, and world title changes have started to become one lately as well. While I understand why they take place, as it differentiates themselves from the WWE, they aren't beneficial to the product when they're overdone.
Stables: I'm a sucker for stables, as they can be a very efficient way of building young talent (Evolution was a major factor in Randy Orton and Batista's rises to the top) and stable wars can make for very good TV, but looking back, there has ALWAYS been a stable throughout TNA's run. Sports Entertainment Xtreme, The Gathering, The New Church, Kings Of Wrestling, Team Canada, Jarrett's Army, Christian Coalition, Angle Alliance, Frontline, Main Event Mafia, World Elite, Fourtune, and Immortal. That's close to 1.5 stables A YEAR! Very repetitive, but if all these stables were built for the purpose of getting younger talent over I wouldn't have a big gripe about it. Most of these stables were built mainly for the purpose of having a stable and getting wrestlers on the shows, as the young talent in these stables haven't benefitted much.
Face/Heel turns: This has been a huge problem since TNA hired Vince Russo in late 2006, but has gotten even worse since Hogan and Bischoff arrived. In the Hogan/Bischoff era alone, there have been over 50 turns. FIFTY! While I don't agree with keeping wrestlers face or heel for TOO LONG (Cena's been face for almost eight years and Rey's been face for nine years), as it can make the characters they portray very stale, turning your wrestlers so often in such a short frame of time makes the shows very difficult to follow, especially for the casual fan. For example, Mr. Anderson has flipped back and forth between heel and face for pretty much the entire year! That just shouldn't be happening. If you swerve the fans at least once every month, the swerves will stop meaning anything and the only real swerve would be to NOT swerve the fans.
World Title changes: TNA was always very good about this, and at times superior to WWE (in 2009 the main titles changed hands at almost every WWE PPV), but this year, there have been seven title changes, which results in a little under one per month. If the world title changes hands that many times, the title changes don't mean anything, because they happen every month. 3-5 months should be the goal for every title reign, with short and long ones on occasion to provide something different to keep it from being too predictable, as it's enough time to prevent the reign from being completely pointless, and not enough time for the reign to get stale if booked properly.
Gimmick Matches on TV: This has also been a constant issue of the Russo era. Matches like street fights, cage matches, ladder matches, and even the Ultimate X have been featured on Impact lately. In WWE, TLC, Money In The Bank, Hell In A Cell, and the Elimination Chamber are NEVER on Raw and Smackdown, and as a result have retained their aura as big matches. Like the title changes, when gimmick matches are given away too often, especially on the TV shows, they don't feel as special anymore because they're done so often.
TNA/Impact Wrestling should tone down the pace of their booking and realize that less is more. First off, they need to have a solid long-term plan in regards to their booking and writing, figure out who they want to push, and always have a plan B in case something goes wrong. Second of all, TNA should book their shows at least a month in advance, which would keep things flowing well throughout the monthly PPV build, and making the shows easier to follow due to the long-term plan. And third of all, make the stables, face/heel turns, title changes, and gimmick matches matter! If you do them too much, they will stop being special because they're done so often. Less is more.
