Hello and welcome to the first edition of the Total Nonstop Analysis column. Each week I’ll be discussing the goings on in TNA, generally focusing on a specific topic, wrestler, or storyline. Feedback is always welcome, and if there’s a specific thing in TNA you’d like me to cover in a future edition, feel free to contact me at crowbar_faith@yahoo.com. With that said, let’s get to it…

The X-Division is back! True, it never technically went anywhere, but I think we can all agree that it had fallen on hard times recently. Personally back in the day, when given the choice of WWE or WCW, I would have chosen WCW hands down mainly because of  their amazing and exciting Cruiserweight division. It’s where everyones favorite wrestler, Chris Jericho, got his start on national TV (sorry, I don’t count ECW on a channel 10 people got at 4am on Sundays) and it’s where Rey Mysterio became a star here in the states. Names like Mysterio & Billy Kidman made it high flying. Ultimo Dragon & Dean Malenko made it technical. Chris Jericho & Eddie Guerrero gave it personality. Look at those names. I see 3 WWE/World Champions, 2 wrestlers who are icons of technical wrestling, and Billy Kidman. Ah, poor Billy. He does the SSP perfectly for years, off the top rope and even off the apron to the floor, then Evan Bourne does it in WWE and everyone pops like it’s the first time they’ve ever seen it! Kidman can’t catch a break I guess.

I’m not even going to address the WWE’s attempt to try a Cruiserweight division. WWE Cruiserweight Champion Hornswoggle. Nuff said.

When TNA began, Jeff Jarrett & Company were smart enough to see that people loved the cruiserweights of WCW and what WWE was giving us wasn’t cutting it. The same could be said for a decent womens division, although TNA didnt introduce the Knockouts until years later. If anything stood for “total non-stop action” it was a cruiserweight division like that seen in WCW. So TNA successfully ported and tweaked it. No longer were there weight limits. And with the Ultimate X match, it had it’s own exclusive specialty match unlike anything ever seen before. Just like the pizza chains had done with pizza, pro wrestling had exhausted just about every specialty it could think of. But TNA delivered something new & exciting while we were getting our 5,741st ladder match in WWE.

But what’s a division without it’s stars? In it’s beginnings, the X-Division had some amazing athletes, but the term “spot monkey” stuck for many because the focus was more on “top THAT sick move!”. Undoubtedly the stars of the division were AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels, Samoa Joe, and Chris Sabin. With AJ & Joe moving to the main event, TNA not knowing what to do with Daniels, and Sabin forming a tag team with Alex Shelley (who need a tag title run already!!) what major stars were left?

Let’s go back to Daniels for a second…his situation in TNA always reminded me of Chris Jericho and RVD in WWE. Never wanting to pull the trigger & make them the World Champ, but couldn’t deny their popularity. “Eh, give em the IC title” WWE would say, resulting in each many holding the title record times. TNA seemed to do the same with Daniels & the X-Division title before letting him go after having an obvious “Eugene moment”.

We saw some talented guys still working in the division like Jay Lethal, Senshi, Petey Williams, Sonjay Dutt and others. But none really stood out as the title was traded back & forth. But the matches were still the most exciting 2-6 minutes on TV. Interesting gimmicks in TNA were suddenly almost exclusive to the division, with a guru, a Macho Man parody, a Scott Steiner parody, an Apollo Creed parody, and a video game character come to life. Of course now Suicide is MIA and Black Machismo is the only one left. At least with Hogan in TNA, the gimmick has been refreshed a bit. Or has Lethal abandoned his Macho side for a bit of Flair? Not only is he amazing in the ring, but he’s giving Jason Sensation a run for his money at impersonating wrestlers.

But now we have the straight man in Kaz, the technical star in Douglas Williams, the thug Homicide, the highflying punk Shannon Moore, the underdog Amazing Red, hopefully Machismo gets back in the picture. Why not have Sean Waltman go after the title? Where is Suicide? I think it’s almost unanimous that Eric Young should stick to the division. Either way, emphasis has been put back on the title, which should always be the focus. The title got a major rub years ago via a Kurt Angle run as X-Division Champion, but the title is now important enough that is should build the wrestlers instead of wrestlers building the belt, which was the case with the Legends/Global title by having Booker, Nash, Foley & AJ holding it.

Right now the X-Division is something that TNA has over WWE. Well, that and a better Tag Team & Ladies division. Eric Bischoff realizes this and is capitalizing. And hopefully it helps them grow both in ratings and in popularity. And TNA, you came out with a, what, 6-disc DVD set on Jeff Jarrett a while back? How about a big 6-disc X-Division collection. Guaranteed money maker, I promise.

Currently we have X-Division Champion Kaz who has yet to get his belt from former champion Douglas Williams. Whether you agree with TNA stripping Williams of the title due to being grounded in Europe from the volcano or not, it’s created an interesting storyline. While I don’t agree with stripping Douglas due to circumstances he couldn’t control, it’s fun to watch & guess who will be holding the title when the dust clears. Considering it looks like Shannon Moore is out of the division temperarily as part of Ink Inc. and Jay Lethal may be getting a run outside the division, who knows what will happen. I’ll definately be watching though!