I don't care about changing a guy's name who has never been there or ignoring some real world stuff that has been referenced. As was said, its the in program stuff that bugs me. WWE seems to like to compare itself to the rest of TV all the time and when they've done over the top stuff like Vince's death a common explanation has been that other shows can do that stuff so they should be able to. But at the same time, Lost can't take a recognizable character for years, repackage him and give him a new name, and throw him out there as a new character without getting the audience to react negatively to it.
WWE does rely on short term memories and it bugs me because I don't have one. TNA's not completely innocent of this but I do think they cover it a lot more than WWE does. A lot of that is the very stuff people complain about with TNA. That they talk too much, that they reference other companies too much, that they acknowledge the past too much. But for me, if I KNOW "Dr. Stevie" is Stevie Richards I need TNA to acknowledge that. If they don't and the try to convince me this isn't the guy who spent years in ECW, WCW, and WWE then I just can't get past that. I might eventually get over it, but it makes it harder to swallow the character and the story.
I really think its a lot of these little things that keep me involved with TNA. Small seemingly inconsequential things that just make me feel like TNA is trying even if what's on the screen isn't working. Trying to explain plot holes and acknowledging what we all know is a big part of that.
Another is what we saw on the Lockdown pre-show where Rhino came out to help Eric Young. Rhino and Young aren't tag partners are established friends. Rhino isn't feuding with Danny Bounaduce. Rhino just actually gave a damn about someone being beat down and came out to stop it. One of the most annoying small things to me is how often savage beatdowns happen in WWE with NO ONE giving a damn to stop. Not the faces in the back, not the security employed to stop this sort of stuff, not Jerry Lawler who steps up other times, not anyone. Edge kidnapping Vickie for a full Smackdown. Jericho beating down Flair, Steamboat, and even Snuka when his own son is on the roster. Every time something like that happens I just sit there asking why no one cares. So as much as Rhino bores me these days the fact that TNA has used him the last year or so as essentially the default face who cares enough to stop random heel beatdowns? Kind of makes that one of my favorite non-gimmicks ever.
Its a simple thing IMO. If the fans can ask REASONABLE questions then you should address them. Digging up a wrestler's real name and insisting he's not really whatever WWE bills him as isn't terribly reasonable. Asking why Matt Sydal changed his name week-to-week is reasonable. But truthfully, there's not a lot of examples of recent WWE that can I think of. Its more an overall thing. I think WWE expects us to give them the benefit of the doubt, to suspend a ton of disbelief, and to often be dumber than we are. TNA (a fair amount of time) addresses the stuff we're asking, even if it sometimes doesn't really make a problem any better.
