I recently started to watch TNA a few months back during the whole will anyone ever pin EC3 storyline.
Anyways my question is this. I frequently hear people say at one point TNA focused more on their X division champ than the world heavyweight champ. Who was the X division champ that was out shining the heavyweight champ?
I have heard it on both the MLW podcast and Live Audio Wrestling podcast. They said there was a point where the X division was way more focused on than whom ever the world champ was.
I was always a fan of the Ultimate X matches...Amazing Red wasn't necessarily the best wrestler around by any means, but I always enjoyed his X Division matches with Sabin, Shelly, Styles, Kaz, Daniels, Joe, and many others.
It was probably back when the X Division was one of the highlights of TNA, and you had guys like AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels and Samoa Joe wrestling for the X Divison championship. Not to say that the Main Event wasn't anything special but for a time the X Division was really cool and uplifting to watch. You had a flow of incredible and athletic talent going out and kicking as all the time, it gave TNA a real buzz.
Yeah, I guess they meant late 2005 when Styles, Daniels & Joe were going at it. If I remember correctly, the main event scene was basically in a holding pattern until Christian got the belt.
The X division did thrive when Daniels joe and aj were mixing it up, it also did well withbkevin nash involvement and during the weekly ppv era.
Cruiser weight wrestling has peaked though, the style has changed in recent years it's less of a computer game style now and has developed into a more traditional centred style with psycology and selling been incorporated into it.
Guys are working a lot smarter these days now we know more about head trauma so we will never see the regular spot fests we used to get. Cruiser weight wrestling when done right is a great addition to any company when it's done wrong it shits on key fabe and believability and looks rediculous
It should really be done in a way that celebrated athleticsm as opposed to built round spots. You can only raise the bar so far before everything after it becomes an anti climax in many respects this is where the X division become a victim of its own success.
There's still a place for it though and it still could be a huge draw and talking point for the promotion it just needs to be done right. I'd suggest if you want to see the best period for X division you want to check out the paperazzi era where it was built around character building and everyone within the division was featured prominently by X division standards
Anything with aj and Daniels is good as is Samoa joes reign of terror
Because the X division was the shit back in 2004-2006ish and it put TNA on the map, not only did you have the well established stars like AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, and Christopher Daniels, there was also Chris Sabin and Petey Williams and his Canadian fucking Destroyer.
Not to mention that Joe, Daniels and Styles had the match at Unbreakable 2005 for the X division title that is the only TNA match that is rated 5 stars by Dave Meltzer, and will probably be the only one TNA will ever have.
Meanwhile in the NWA title division you had... Jeff Jarrett as champion numerous times with lengthy title reigns and, IMO, he was probably just flexing his ego since he was the founder and TNA owner at the time.
AJ was the guy, but he was supported through the various years by Joe, Lynn, Triple X, Sabin, Red and Kaz.
2005 was the greatest year for TNA and the X division. The matches were just something biblical. TNA was considered the hottest promotion in the world at the time. Many thought they would compete with WWE.
Sad how it turned out, but TNA 2005/2006 was one of the best wrestling products you will ever see.
the only times the X-Division title was more relevant was during the two 3-way feuds beween AJ Styles/Jerry Lynn/Low in the early years and AJ Styles/Daniels/Samoa Joe.
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