Christian On Whether He Preferred The Traditional Ring Or Six-Sided Ring In TNA
When Total Nonstop Action Wrestling ? now Impact Wrestling ? started in 2002, they also showcased a six-sided ring to stand out instead of a traditional squared ring. This ring was specifically highlighted during the X Division matches due to their heightened level of aerial moves.
When Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff took creative control of TNA, the ring was changed from six-sided to traditional, and the company kept it this way even after Hogan and Bischoff left. However, Kurt Angle announced on the July 17, 2014 episode of Impact Wrestling that the six-sided ring was returning.
The ring remained six sides until the beginning of 2018, when Executive Vice Presidents Don Callis and Scott D'Amore decided to change it back to four sides. In a 2018 interview with The Hannibal TV, Callis stated that they changed it back to four sides to create an environment better suited for the wrestlers, since the popular opinion backstage was that it was better than six sides.
While competing in TNA, Christian also competed in the six-sided ring, winning the NWA World Heavyweight Championship on two occasions during his run from 2005-2008. Christian was asked during a recent Q&A session on the E&C's Pod of Awesomeness podcast whether he prefers a traditional or six-sided ring.
"I'm a traditionalist; I like the square one," said Christian. "I get that the six-sided [ring] looked different, but I don't think it was enough to be like, 'oh, man this ring is so different.' It was a little bit awkward to wrestle in, because sometimes when you are shooting somebody corner to corner, you had to adjust because it wasn't directly across. And it was also really hard, like it was a hard ring. If you weren't bumping pretty much around the middle of it, like around the edges were super, super hard, and it hurt.
"So, I've always been partial to the square ring. I got used to it, and I didn't think of it at a certain time, but even little things like when you climb up the ropes to jump off the top rope, the foot positioning is farther apart because of where the ropes are, the distance, I guess, that they have to travel to the next post is different than when the ring is square. So, it was a smaller area to put your feet on a regular ring, and it was further apart and I always found it harder to jump off the top rope with your feet really far apart."
Christian added that, while "a ring is a ring," he liked the appeal of a traditional ring better than the six-sided ring.
If any of these quotes are used, please be sure to credit E&C's Pod of Awesomeness Podcast with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
Source: E&C's Pod of Awesomeness