News: TNA Television Title to be retired?

It's been reported that TNA plan to retire their Television Championship, much like the Knockouts Tag Team Championships were last week.

With the added focus on Aces & Eights, the Main Event Mafia and the X-Division, there has been little airtime for the once weekly-defended title.

Starting out as the Legends Championship back in October 2008, the title then became the Global Championship exactly one year later, before finally settling upon the Television Championship in July 2010.

The current Television Champion is Abyss, who won the title from Aces & Eights' Devon at Slammiversary XI on June 2. Much like the honor itself, the character of Abyss has been seen infrequently for the past several years. Neither the Champion, nor the belt, have graced Impact Wrestling with their presence since the victory in question.

Clem's Take - This genuinely disappoints me. The Television Title could've been an invaluable stepping stone to the main event scene (much like WWE's Intercontinental) and I've been a strong supporter of the concept since it's debut.

Unfortunately, TNA do not feel the same way, frequently ignoring the Championship for months at a time, before throwing a random defense on pay-per-view with no build-up. I fear it's constant rebranding permanently damaged the title's credibility and it's struggled to recover throughout the entirety of it's existence. What little promise the concept did show, was quickly squandered by also-ran Champions such as Robbie E and Devon.

With a new belt design and a respectable Champion, this title could've easily been the envy of the wrestling world. For instance, a neglected talent such as James Storm, who had his own problems with booking this past year, could've spent the best part of 2013 making the division a staple of TNA programming. They attempted something similar with Samoa Joe, but the Submission Machine's disappointing lack of momentum and Devon's surprise rehiring led to the title disappearing into the depths of the Aces & Eights angle.

There does appear to be a glimmer of hope for the Championship in the future, with every news item noting that TNA are open to pulling the title out of mothballs, should they ever need it. I just hope they're serious about using it when they finally do and not regarding it simply as an overgrown prop for lesser talents.

News: TNA Knockouts Tag Team Championships officially retired

The roster page on Impact Wrestling's website appears to indicate the Knockouts Tag Team Championships have finally been retired.

The titles had been long inactive, having been won by the inter-gender tag team of Eric Young and ODB on February 28th, 2012 and defended sporadically.

Several weeks ago, on an episode of Impact Wrestling, the Knockouts General Manager Brooke Hogan vacated the titles, due to Young's being a man. It seems as though this will be the last we hear of them.

Clem's Take: I'm hardly surprised by the move and could've seen it happen sooner. The Knockouts division simply doesn't have enough depth to sustain a tag team division. Hell, they barely have enough depth to sustain a singles division anymore. For whatever reason, TNA have let the division fall into disarray and besides feuds for the title, don't bother to fly in more than four women at a time.