No More Non-Stop Action

I have noticed, for some time now, that TNA's X-Division focuses more on the speed of the matches, rather than the story of the match itself. In a typical X-Division match, you see lots of high spots, guys jumping over the top rope like crazy, and a bunch of stuff crammed into a very short space of time. From one perspective, TNA may feel the need to do this, since they don't have as much time to showcase their talent as they did during the Wednesday PPV days, but, after watching Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley go at it for the Zero-1 promotion in Japan, it has occurred to me that the Non-stop Action of the X-Division is hindering it.

First of all, let me say that I'm not a fan of Japanese wrestling per se (even though I live in Japan), I am more a fan of American-style wrestling. I'm a fan of the Ric Flair vs. Ricky Steamboat matches, the CM Punk vs. Samoa Joe matches, and the Chris Benoit vs. Chris Jericho matches. I'm not really a fan of guys jumping around incessantly as I am a fan of wrestling matches that make sense. As such, when I got the chance to see two of TNA's more talented wrestlers go at it in a different promotion, I found out a few things about the wrestling business in general that I had known unconsciously but had not consciously put together.

I do not know when the Sabin vs. Shelley match occurred, nor do I know in what building it was held in. However, it was clear, just from watching the match, that this was a Japanese style match, rather than an American-style match. As the match started, the announcers were talking about TNA and the X-Division. Sabin and Shelley were moving as fast and as crisp as I have seen them. At one point, Sabin was on the outside, and Shelley sat on the middle rope and said, "Dozo." Dozo is a Japanese word which generally means, "Help yourself." It is a polite way of inviting someone to do as they wish. Sabin entered the ring, passing by Shelley, and the match changed almost immediately. By now, both competitors were winded from moving around so fast, and, surprisingly enough, psychology came into play. The fast moves inherent to the X-Division did not get a response from the Japanese audience (they sat in respectful silence), so both Sabin and Shelley changed the match up. Rather than flying around everyplace and doing a lot of typical cruiserweight moves, Sabin and Shelley went for near-falls. Gradually, through Alex Shelley's cursing and Sabin's heavy breathing, the match developed a life it could not have otherwise. Alex Shelley was trying to beat Sabin at every turn, and Sabin was kicking out. Sabin eventually hit the Cradle Shock for the win (the Japanese announcers even knew what the move was called).

Now, I'd like to compare the Sabin vs. Shelley match to the first ever X-Division title match. Again, the match started out with guys hitting a lot of high flying moves. AJ Styles, Low Ki, Psicosis and Jerry Lynn, put together, did not make the match great. Psicosis seemed lost in the shuffle as the match progressed, and Low Ki put on a good performance, showing the Nashville fans some moves that had not been seen in mainstream wrestling before. However, once Low Ki was eliminated, it came down to AJ Styles and Jerry Lynn. This part of the match is what established the X-Division as a force in TNA. Not because both men were flying around and hitting planchas and moonsaults and all that, but because, as with Sabin and Shelley, both men were trying to beat each other at every turn. AJ Styles had already been pinned, Jerry Lynn had not, and Lynn only needed to pin Styles once to become the first X-Division champion. Jerry Lynn acted like he wanted to win the title. Both wrestlers combined for a series of near-falls. Lynn kept going for his Cradle Piledriver. After a Styles Clash, AJ Styles evened the score at 1 to 1. Even so, after getting pinned, it appeared the match could go either way. The majority of the match from this point stayed inside the ring, and, almost 30 minutes into the match, AJ Styles hit the Spiral Tap (twisting sentaun splash) to pin Lynn for the victory. AJ Styles did not pin Lynn with a small package, did not pin him accidentally, Styles used the best move he had to defeat Lynn, and the psychology of the match was complete. The first X-Division champion had every right to wear the belt, not only because it took all the stops to beat Jerry Lynn, but because AJ actually had those stops to call upon.

Fast forward to 2005. Christopher Daniels is the X-Division champion, and he's held the belt for a while. He has defeated all comers, and, despite starting out as a heel champion, the fans are now cheering for him. Daniels defended against face Chris Sabin and heel Matt Bentley at Slammiversary 05, but, at No Surrender, he defends against lifelong heel Petey Williams. What happened during Daniels' title reign to change the fans' minds about him? I'll tell you, because now I've put the pieces together. Christopher Daniels did not rely on high-flying moves. He would pull out one every now and again, but the majority of the moves he did were in the ring. In his title defenses, Daniels wrestled so well that no matter who TNA put before him, it seemed as if that person had a chance to take the title away. For instance, at Hard Justice 05, Daniels defeated Shocker by hitting The Angel's Wings from the turnbuckles. As with AJ Styles, it appeared that it took everything Daniels had to defeat Shocker, and Daniels had everything to call upon. Consequently, no matter how much he would bad mouth the other wrestlers, no matter how often he would do guest commentary and call the 2005 Super X-Cup the "Christopher Daniels Invitational," the TNA fans came to respect, if not like, the X-Division champion. The end of Christopher Daniels' title reign came with one of the greatest matches in TNA history- again, a match that had a few high spots, but which focused on psychology. It focused on Samoa Joe being absolutely unbeatable (he had defeated Styles a month previous). It focused on AJ Styles, once again, facing what appears to be an insurmountable challenge and rising to the occasion. The finish was also believable, as AJ bridged out of an Angel's Wings attempt, the same move he had used to defeat Kid Kash earlier in the year on Impact.

Compare the reign of Christopher Daniels to the career of Sonjay Dutt. Dutt specializes in high flying moves, in fact, that is all he seems to do. He will hit anything from anywhere, and the majority his matches in TNA focus on high spots. If you need evidence of how high spots are not the backbone of good matches, you need only consider that Sonjay Dutt has never been X-Division champion, has never been a tag team champion, and has never been the NWA Champion, despite being with TNA since 2004. At the end of the day, when all the kayfabe is stripped away, TNA simply has not trusted Sonjay Dutt with a title reign. They have, however, trusted him to be a goofball who wears his hat sideways and brings a blow-up doll to the ring. That moment from TNA history is not one of their better ones, but I have no doubt that, if Sonjay Dutt focused more on the story of the match rather than getting a reaction from every move he makes, TNA would not have saddled him with the gimmick, which he pulled off convincingly anyway.

So, my conclusion after all of that is: non-stop action has got to go. Maybe not in name, but definitely in spirit. High spots alone do not a good match make. Anyone wanting to see a ton of high spots in a match with nothing behind it only needs to watch Teddy Hart matches. There is, for whatever reason, this mistaken belief that if a guy risks life and limb doing an amazing move, that such a guy is a good wrestler. That is not always the case. To be trusted with a championship reign, you not only need to be good in the ring in terms of athletic ability, you need to be good in the ring in terms of match psychology. You need to make the fans believe that your knee is genuinely hurting, or that you are genuinely hurting someone else's knee when all you are really doing is beating on his thigh muscles.

By storylines, I do not necessarily mean who's upset over which guy making out with his girlfriend or things like that. Some canned plotlines have been successful, but the majority of them are worthless. The storyline inside the match, however, has never failed to elevate the match above and beyond what it seemed to be on paper. Japanese wrestling fans, who do not get treated to dumb gimmicks and asinine interviews week in and week out, react to psychology. They react to someone trying to win the match. They react to someone hitting a high spot for a reason (ie, trying to wear down/injure his opponent and risking injury in the process). The high spots in Japanese matches are almost controlled, as if they occur at certain points, rather than the spots themselves dictating the match.

TNA is going to need a little more moderation in their use of non-stop action, or a removal of it entirely, if they want to succeed in the future. If not, they'll be just another promotion out there with guys who fly around senselessly.