Top 5 Ways To Improve Impact Wrestling's X Division By Hakeem Fullerton
Intro: The X Division has been a major factor in the success of TNA(now Impact Wrestling) since the early days of the promotions history, with a triple threat match between AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels and Samoa Joe for the X Division title at the Unbreakable PPV in 2005 being the first and only match in company history to have received a five star rating.
5. Signing New Stars
This one ranks low on this list because it's a given that Impact needs more stars on their roster, but in this case I mean the company needs to sign stars who can wrestle that X Division style of pro wrestling.
Impact needs to sign new or underutilized talent like Marshe Rockett, Andrew Everett, Tony Gunn and many others who can inject some new blood into a division that is known for giving future stars a chance to reach their full potential.
In addition to the signing new wrestlers who may not have experience working on T.V., the company should also consider bringing back former Impact stars like Alex Shelley and Matt Sydal who can not only successfully wrestle in the high flying style but also have developed characters that can interest the fans.
You can't just put any superstar who can hit a superkick or do a suicide dive through the ropes and instantly say there apart of the X Division, there needs to be a clarification to new watches of the product who can wrestle in the division...and yes I know the whole "It's Not About Weight Limits, It's About No Limits" moniker has been synonymous with the division for years but honestly that doesn't hold up much if have guys who are 300-400 pounds wrestling against guys who are somewhere between 175-210 pounds, it begins to look more like a squash match then anything else.
4. Variety Within The Division
Over the years, wrestlers (both cruiserweight and non-cruiserweight) have come into the division and have brought something new into it whether it be guys like Samoa Joe who uses a submission/MMA styles of combat, people like Brian Cage who can incorporate power moves into their high flying arsenal or names like Douglas Williams who could use are more ground and pound/traditional style of wrestling that is well known in the U.K. wrestling scene.
This blend of high flying, death defying action that the division is know for combined with various of wrestling styles have made the X Division feel unique from all the other divisions in TNA/Impact.
As of right now with the current division aside from names like TJP (TJ Perkins) who uses an MMA style combat with his high flying, everyone else on the division don't have much that make them stand out from a wrestling standpoint.
Things like gimmicks or a another style of wrestling mixed with the high flying can really help to get interest back into the division in addition to some amazing storylines...Speaking of Which.
3. Secondary/Interesting Storylines
Aside from the Knockouts division and maybe the world title scene, you rarely see compiling storylines in other divisions in Impact especially the X Division.
In recent times, the most interesting thing about the X Division is they involvement of Johnny Swinger and his wacky antics, now nothing against swinger but I'm sure seeing former ECW/TNA star from the 90's/2000's getting into funny sketches on a weekly basis is not helping the growth of the X Division in anyway. What can help the growth of the X Division (aside from signing talent) it to create interesting or secondary storylines for the wrestlers.
Storylines like the very large and loudmouth Team 3D looking to destroy the X Division, reluctant enemies in the division working together to defeat and unmask the masked man of mystery, Suicide, Douglas Williams declaring war on the X Division for being a bunch of flying acrobatic monkeys or Trevor Lee stealing the X Division title and walking around it as if he was the champion are storylines that were memorable, intriguing and funny in equal measure and storytelling like this is missing in the current X Division.
Many fans have been asking for a mid card division for last couple of years but I think instead, the company should focus on secondary storylines that may not involve the championship but it could eventually lead to a title match somewhere down the road and the X Division would really benefit from this decision.
Plus, it would give fans a reason to care about the division outside of the incredible matches they can produce, plus these type of storyline could also help in creating character arcs for many in the division as well.
2. Choosing A Set Of Wrestlers To Represent The Division
Representation is important when it comes to all types of business and Pro Wrestling believe it or not is indeed a business just look at the WWE for last number of decades as a prime example.
In the 2000's and 2010's there were names like AJ, Daniels, Zema Ion, Samoa Joe, Amazing Red, Low-Ki, Chris Sabin, Petey Williams, Austin Aries and Jay Lethal were the faces of the X Division and have become synonymous not just with the company but with the division.
This is something the new regime in Impact Wrestling needs to do: Find a number of stars in the locker room who would be the best representatives for the X Division and have them compete in the division for more than a year or two.
Wrestlers like Willie Mack, Chris Bey, Daga, Rohit Raju, Jake Crist need to spend a good portion of time within the division so that there's people that are synonymous the division in the eyes of the fan base; You can't really get invested into a division if there's no recognizable faces representing it.
1. Clarify On What The X Division Means Today
It's hard for wrestlers or any promotion to convince fans to care about a division in wrestling when the reasoning behind the divisions existence is unclear.
Back in the 2000's and 2010's, the X Division focused on young and determined high flyers putting on matches that you wouldn't find anywhere else, but with various promotions taking that high flying style of action and making it looked more choreographed, it has left the X Division feeling commonplace and formulaic in today's wrestling world.
As a result of this many fans have began to wonder what's the purpose of the X Division nowadays and some have even suggested that the company should scrap the division and create a new mid card division in it's place. While that decision would be highly disliked by many (and understandable so), the problem here is that management needs to answer these kind of questions in regards to the X Division:
1. Who wrestles in the X Division?
2. What's purpose or the big picture of having the division in the current product?
3.Why should a new causal fan care about what goes on in the X Division?
Fans shouldn't need to download the Impact Plus App and watch matches from yesteryear in order to understand a division that's still going on today; Impact management need to take steps like these in order for the X Division to feel interesting to both new fans and diehards alike.
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