TNA Impact Wrestling: Sting and 4 Other Reasons Why You Should Tune in

Are you watching TNA? If not, you should be. 

The past few weeks alone could get a wrestling fan excited for the future of not only the company, but quite possibly the business as well. 

TNA has really stepped up its game in recent weeks and if you’re already a fan of the organization then you’re excited for what the future could hold. 

TNA has been on a roll lately, and here are five reasons why you should be tuning in!

5. "The Icon" Sting

I know what you’re saying, "He’s an old fart way past his prime. Why should I tune in to see him?" It’s quite simple: his new character. 

In the weeks leading to this new Sting, Mr. Anderson had been playing mind games with him. Then a few nights before Slammiversary, Sting snapped, took out Anderson, and smeared face paint all over him. Sting lost the title at the PPV event and has lost his mind. 

He attacked Hulk Hogan backstage wanting to see the “real” Hulkster. He then proceeded to smear the paint on him, effectively giving him the “mask” he’s been wearing for years. Last week, he did the same to Eric Bischoff, only this time in the middle of the ring. 

Everything about Sting is different. He has a deranged look in his eyes, a new spring in his step, and uses a voice that reminds me of the Joker. These past few weeks I’ve seen the Stinger deliver some of the best mic work of his career. 

The man we know as Sting has gone crazy. His character has been refreshed as it so desperately needed, and it’s going great! It also helps that he can still go in the ring to back up everything he says.

4. The Knockouts

When the Knockouts division was officially started towards the end of 2007, they were already better then WWE’s Diva’s division. Unlike WWE, who hires beautiful women with no wrestling experience, TNA had hired beautiful women from the independent circuit that could wrestle. 

We had a great series of matches and great stories. The Knockouts would even get Impact main events from time to time. Then Gail Kim left and things started to dip.

With the departure of Awesome Kong, the Knockouts became like the card-filling WWE Divas. 

Then Mickie James made her return to TNA and things were definitely looking up. The Knockouts are heading in the right direction right now. With the return of ODB and Jacqueline, TNA has given the Knockouts the chance to shine. 

We see them perform twice on each episode of Impact Wrestling. We’ll see the feud over the title, and we’ll see the secondary Knockouts feud. The Knockouts roster is filled with very talented women and the past few weeks we’ve seen some great matches. 

The Knockouts division is slowly making its comeback, and that’s something for which we can be excited!

Let’s hope that the next returning Knockout is Roxxi, and hopefully she’ll stay this time!

3. The X-Division

The X-Division has been around since day one. When I first saw them perform, it reminded me of the WCW Cruiserweights of old. The matches were fast-paced, high flying, and had good wrestling. 

After the storyline where Team 3D took the X-Division Title hostage, the quality of the X-Division started to wane. Instead of seeing those fast-paced, high flying matches, we got more mat-based wrestling with some high flying thrown in here and there. 

Don’t get me wrong, I love a good mat-based wrestling match, but it wasn’t the X-Division I’d grown to love.

But as soon as the “Wrestling Matters” campaign started, things started looking up for the division. 

July’s PPV Destination X will be an all X-Division show! In the weeks leading up to it, we get to see returning X-stars and newcomers battling for a contract. Two weeks ago we saw the returns of Kid Kash, Jimmy Rave, and Austin Aries. They had a 5-star match! Last week we saw three newcomers, and they too had a great match. 

Things are looking up for the X-Division. They’re heading back to their former glory.

As long as Abyss loses the title and TNA keeps putting the spotlight on them, the X-Division should be back to where it was when it first started sooner rather than later!

2. The Bound for Glory Series

The Bound for Glory Series is a new, fresh idea that TNA came up with to determine the challenger for the World Title at Bound for Glory. 

The series features 12 wrestlers, ranging from newcomers like Crimson and Gunner to veterans like Rob Van Dam and Bully Ray. You gain points by winning matches, and those points are earned on Impact Wrestling or at house shows. 

As of this writing, Crimson holds the lead with 17 points.

This thing is just getting started, though.

The series goes through the entire summer and it will end in September with the top three going at it to determine who’ll face the champion the following month. 

This is probably the best idea TNA has ever had. It holds so many possibilities in terms of matches. So far, all the matches shown on Impact Wrestling have been quite good.

And that brings me to my number one reason.

1. Wrestling Matters

When TNA started this campaign, things started out a bit slow. I myself wrote that it started as a bust. Even then I knew that something like this was going to take time to transition into. 

As the weeks passed, TNA has showed that wrestling does matter.

They have given us some great matches over the past few weeks, and their PPV Slammiversary was a phenomenal show. Every match on the card delivered. 

On Impact Wrestling, TNA has given us many great matches including Rob Van Dam vs. Kurt Angle, Kazarian vs. Brian Kendrick, and recent X-Division and Knockouts matches to name a few.  

TNA is headed in the right direction here. The wrestling matters campaign is something to be excited about and it’s something Vince McMahon should watch out for.

Conclusion

If I have convinced at least one person to check out Impact Wrestling, then my job is complete. There are a lot of TNA haters out there who won’t even give them a chance. 

Think about this, though: The better TNA does, the better WWE could be.

McMahon and WWE have always thrived on competition. It was competition that gave us the Attitude Era, the greatest era in pro wrestling.

So tune in, you might actually enjoy it!