The Top 10: TNA's Make-Or-Break Storyline

When TNA came forward with the interactive top 10 contenders list, I was truly impressed. It was an original idea, and it gets the fans involved.

Once the top 10 was announced, however, I had one all-too-familiar sentiment: Same old TNA booking. Big surprise.

Again, I love the idea of having a monthly rankings system. It adds the potential for some great storylines, (including the current storyline involving Kurt Angle) and it gives you a solid look at who is next in line for the TNA World Heavyweight Title.

Because it carries so much weight, this creative decision is the proverbial fork in the road for TNA Wrestling. If it works as well as I truly think it could, this storyline could be the foundation for the second generation of Monday Night Wars.

If it fails, TNA will remain the second generation ECW - a promotion with tons of potential but the inability to catch Vince McMahon's powerhouse sports entertainment juggernaut.

TNA's top 10 will need a major overhaul before it has any chance of reaching its true potential.

The biggest problem?

The current no. 1 contender, regardless of his real or kayfabe popularity, is 51 years old and made his name in another company.

Sting isn't the only man near the top of the list who became a superstar elsewhere. In fact, three of the top four superstars on this list - Sting, Jeff Hardy and Mr. Anderson - made their name in another company. If Kurt Angle didn't remove himself from the list, it would be four of the top five.

I understand fans want to see superstars they've known for years, and the fans have known Sting, Angle, Hardy and Anderson for quite a while now. It's the guys behind them in the top 10 that need to be at the forefront of this list.

AJ Styles, ranked second, and Abyss, ranked fifth, are the present of TNA. They are established stars, former TNA World Champions, and TNA originals.

Superstars like Desmond Wolfe and Rob Terry are the future of TNA. Most importantly, nobody recognizes them for their time in the nWo or their feuds with Edge. Neither one of them have appeared on WCW or WWE television in their careers, something that more top-tier TNA superstars need on their resume.

It's time we see Wolfe, Terry, and more superstars like them take the leap to the top of the TNA mountain. Since TNA's inception, only four of the 13 different men to hold the TNA (or NWA-TNA) World Championship - Ron Killings, Abyss, Samoa Joe, and AJ Styles - have done so without holding a major title in another major promotion prior to their reign atop TNA.

Saying TNA needs an infusion of youth is nothing ground-breaking. However, if Dixie Carter really wants to catch Vince McMahon and WWE, she'd be much better off pushing the youth and preventing the old-timers from holding onto the spotlight just a little too long.

(I'm looking at you, Ric Flair.)