Lance Storm Criticizes TNA For Bringing Back Six-Sided Ring

Former WWE, WCW, and ECW star Lance Storm posted the following in his blog at StormWrestling.com regarding the problems he sees with TNA going back to using the six-sided ring:

“The first and obvious fact is that the 6 sided ring is stiffer. Now granted I’ve never worked in a 6 Sided ring but I’ve spoke to many who have and they say unanimously that when they switched from the hexagon to the square ring the ring was significantly softer. Creating a 6 sided ring is more mechanically challenging and constructing a floor that gives well is much easily accomplished with only 4 sides. A stiffer ring means 1 of 2 things are going to happen, the boys will either have to tone down their style taking either fewer or less dramatic bumps, or they are going to have to put up with increased damage to their bodies which will eventually lead to more injuries and potentially increased dependency on pain killers. Neither of these options are a good thing and this alone illustrates how this particular decision should not be made by people in the company who don’t have to work in it.

Another factor that no one seems to be aware of is that the 6 Sided ring doesn’t shoot as well for television, and TNA Impact Wrestling is becoming more and more a Television wrestling company. Why doesn’t is shoot well for TV you ask? Well it’s quite obvious if you sit down and think about it a little. When you set the ring up for TV you need to have a clear view from the Hard Camera (the stationary camera used for most if not all distance shoots). To get the best view you have to put a flat side of the ring facing the hard camera. In a square ring you then have flat sides along the right and left side of your TV screen. This allows the majority of your running spots etc. to run side to side on your screen, which is the best angle to shoot most spots.”