Rivalries
Throughout TNA's history, the company has had a good track record of building up feuds. Going back to the aforementioned Styles/Daniels/Joe programme, and even before that with America's Most Wanted vs Triple X before TNA had a regular TV deal, there have always been interesting rivalries for fans to invest in. Leading up to Destination X, the main event programme between Austin Aries and Bobby Roode had many weeks of focus. The focus was placed fully on the two competitors in the match, with no extra additions to the match or the story (discounting Hulk Hogan's role as General Manager) and the result of the match seemed to be cared about more due to this. The Samoa Joe vs Kurt Angle match in the midcard also became a lot more of an interesting contest to viewers purely through their history and previous matches. It may have been their 8th time facing off against one another, but due to the original build up of this rivalry back in 2006, it can be argued that long term viewers will always have a vested interest when these two face off. The announcers referenced the history of bouts between the two throughout the match, and the Bound For Glory series seemed to benefit from having such a high profile match within it. This can be compared against one of the bigger profile matches on this week's Raw, where John Cena was placed in a tag team with Kane. Although this wasn't booked to give the perception that the characters are now working together, it still negated the recent history between the two from December when they were facing each other in Last Man Standing matches. If they were trying to hurt each other so much not half a year ago, should the viewer just be expected to believe they would even enter into a match in which they have been teamed together?
Original Characters
Again looking at the main event of Destination X, TNA can be seen as having done a good job of creating characters that people care about and want to see win or lose. Due to it's build up and the characters involved, fans had a vested interest in the outcome of the TNA Heavyweight Championship match, with Bobby Roode being the longest reigning TNA Champion in history pitted against Austin Aries who was giving up his current Championship for a shot at the company's biggest prize. With Roode winning his matches by using underhanded tactics the majority of the time, viewers could relate this to his character and have been wanting to see him get beat. His position at the top was also legitimised by clean wins and general beat downs on TV, but in the big matches he had been booked to always find a way to hold on to his Championship. With Austin Aries getting so popular, the match was booked very well by making it seem like he was also going to be victim to Roode's tactics. As it happens he survived them and went on to win, which, accompanied with the build up of the hard working, gave up everything to get into the match character, made the Championship switch seem a very special event. And it's not just these two characters TNA has successfully created over the years. Samoa Joe, Cowboy James Storm, Zema Ion are all gimmicks that have been successfully gaining an interest in the last few months. Even going back in the company's history to the likes of Abyss, LAX and Monty Brown, TNA have always tried to get over individual characters on their programming. Even repackaging stars has been a hit for TNA, for example Bully Ray, who has been receiving a great reaction in his current singles heel persona.