"PROTECTING" IN WRESTLING

I am by no means a wealth of real knowledge when it comes to the ins and outs of the wrestling business. I'm just a nerd with tons of time on his hands who's watched more wrestling than probably David Otunga. So I just want to briefly mention something I've noticed lately (which will likely be something you've already noticed, because it's so in-your-face obvious).

TNA does not protect ANYTHING.

When I talk about "protecting," I don't mean like health or safety of the wrestlers. I mean protecting as in keeping someone strong in kayfabe, or holding off on doing a match or a move or a style for a very long time. Some examples:

Prior to Tyler Black's ROH World Title win, ROH had "protected" his top-rope finisher, the Phoenix Splash, by having him not hit it, or sometimes even attempt it, for MONTHS before he finally nailed it on Austin Aries to win the belt.

ROH also protects their champions and their championships. Nigel McGuinness went on an insane 18-month run as champion. When you are a champion, you are perceived to be the best wrestler in the company. Not only that, but just recently, ROH has introduced the Pick 6 Series, which means you truly have to earn your title shot, not just be off TV for a few months.

Both the WWE and ROH have been known to protect matches for Pay-Per-View as well. The WWE held off on Cena vs. Batista for years, then finally did it at SummerSlam 2008. They didn't wrestle again until this year's WrestleMania.

Tyler Black and Davey Richards has been hinted at in ROH for a while now, and Davey is starting the big build to only his second-ever World Title shot, despite being the "new" best in the world. Him and Tyler have faced maybe once, and that was at least a year ago.

The WWE "protects" almost all finishers. No one kicks out of finishers unless if it's a massive match (pretty sure no one kicked out of the Tombstone since last year's WrestleMania when Shawn did). In fact, a ton of people win matches without hitting their finishers. Kane beat Chris Jericho with a big boot once. That shit blows my mind. But the act of protecting finishers for months can add to a match when someone kicks out of one.

TNA, however, protects nothing. Everyone kicks out of finishers. PPVs have nine cage matches on them. Belts change without seeing the champion lose a match so frequently. Everyone bleeds on every show. They give away dream PPV matches on TV. There's a street fight or a ladder match or a new kind of match invented every week, so when you build to one on PPV, it has no real impact.

I am definitely no expert, but I like to think I might know a thing or two about a thing or two. And I believe that the reason I don't get into TNA that much (at all) is because TNA doesn't protect anything (at all).