TNA: The Perfect Tweener?

TNA’s latest tag line, ‘cross the line,’ has been interpreted as a reflection of Vince Russo’s concept of having no babyfaces or heels in his programs, which leaves me with one question; is Vince Russo insane?

Back in the 1990s (the time period in which Vince Russo still lives) Stone Cold Steve Austin revolutionized the business by becoming a popular singles star who was both a heel and a face at the same time. In that same vein, the nWo were playing the role of cool tweeners in WCW. But being a tweener is not just a matter of having both heel and face tendencies. To be a believable tweener, one that the fans can invest their emotions into, a wrestler must have clear motives. Clear motives give fans cause to understand characters and somehow Vince Russo fails to understand this basic pro wrestling concept.

Let’s take a look at some specific TNA examples. In the case of Matt Morgan, Vince Russo wanted to get across the idea that Matt Morgan doesn’t care if he’s a heel or a face, which in Vince Russo’s mind would make him a tweener. Not so. One week Matt Morgan is a face special enforcer at a PPV. Shortly thereafter he’s a whiney assistant to Jim Cornette. The next week he turns face again by joining Team Cage. The next week he turns heel again by attacking Kip James before finally turning back into a face since Kip James is also a heel. That is not a tweener, folks. That is a guy who constantly keeps turning, leaving fans with very little to relate to or understand as Matt Morgan’s character motives are completely unclear. The fans need to get behind characters and to do that they have to understand where they’re coming from.

Bad example number two, LAX. The Latin American Xchange are a popular TNA tag team who were babyfaces, but the fans can’t get behind them if they beat up the equally popular (and perhaps even more so) team of the Motor City Machine Guns. Immediately following that LAX turned face again, making their motives even more confusing than Matt Morgan's.

Now, I don’t want to completely rag on Vince Russo because he does have some good ideas too. The current storyline involving AJ Styles and Kurt and Karen Angle has been well developed and is much better than any currently running storyline in the WWE. But please, Vince, get your characters straight! Pro wrestling needs babyfaces and heels more than it needs tweeners, although there is a place for tweeners too if done properly. But not everyone has to be a tweener and it’s frustrating for us fans if we can’t understand what your characters are thinking. To get behind a character we have to be able to understand him or her, and if you’re going to create a tweener then do more than just have them constantly turn. Give them a clear direction and then don’t compromise their personality. If you do that then you will have the perfect character and, perhaps, even the perfect tweener.