Is Gut Check in TNA a good idea?

So the last few weeks TNA Impact has had a segment called Gut Check  where a new wrestler has a chance to audition live for the crowd and then is judged.   Sounds much like what the other company has been doing in the last few years doesn't it...

Anyways, is this really a good concept?

And I've been questioning this on my personal blog a bit, as I have with many of the items that has been introduced in the last two months.
If you look at it from the idea that now they are a live show for the time being, everything is well LIVE. There is no chance for the editors to package up anyone to make them look better or worse. What you see is fairly well what you will be getting.

So in the plus side.

But it's also an audition.  How many of these guys are too nervous for their own good?  Maybe their gimmicks were rock solid in the  indie companies they came from but how does it stack up against the long standing gimmicks of guys like the grade of TNA?

So in the minus side.

I understand that this is contract time for many of the guys to begin with. And as some of the wrestlers are ending their contracts TNA might also be in a small scramble to replace them.  The pressure might be on and a snap decision also might be made.

So in the minus side.

Then there is Twitter.  By all means, the fans should have a say in who they would like to see. But take it from me {a self titled Professionally Outraged Wrestling Fan, or POWF for short} sometimes we need a second look.  Or third for that matter.   With the whole world on instant now now now mode, is taking a round of tweets for gospel really a good thing?  Sometimes yes, sometimes no.

So in the minus side.

At the time of this posting, there have been two wrestlers given a pass or ticket with Gut Check, Alex Sliva and Joey Ryan.
Alex Sliva got in,  Joey Ryan did not.

When I watched those episodes, I wasn't very impressed by either men but for very different reasons.

Alex Silva just fell short as far as the match went.  They had him go up against Robbie E and Silva lost.  Look at it from this point of view, Robbie E might have one of the silliest gimmicks going right now, but he's one frealing hell of a wrestler.  He might not be #1 on anyone's list but he's damn sure in the top 7. 
But yet, TNA ended up giving Alex Silva a contract in the end.  I would not have.

Joey Ryan has a gimmick that makes you wonder what the hell the boy was thinking.  But I thought he held up a bit better in the match. And given he was up against Austin Aries, the deck was stacked against him in every corner.  But the judges felt that Joey Ryan wasn't there yet, and might not ever be.
Dude, anyone who can get into the ring with Austin Aries and survive, let alone put in even one or two good moves should have been signed. To quote myself "had this Joey Ryan gone up against someone  a bit less then Aries,  he might have looked impressive."
But yet TNA passed on Joey Ryan.   I would have given him a contract.

So far, the concept of Gut Check hasn't been a positive one from where I am sitting.

Last year however, when there was the X-Division tournament to see who would win the contract, we got to see many of the wrestlers in more then one match.  Of course that worked out to everyone's advantage as it was indeed Austin Aries who came up on top. But then again, there really wasn't a doubt on that one.

-love Ardeth Blood.