Never said that, although it would be true about Saturn and Malenko (who would be best comp of the group). Guys certainly can do well elsewhere. All I suggested is that TNA had superior options to push in those spots currently, a criteria some of your WCW analogies likely fail to meet.
Right, like WCW had "superior options" in Nash, Hogan, Piper, Hall, etc. While I do think TNA's current crop of main eventers has some decent guys up there like Storm and Roode, there's also guys that aren't so great in Anderson, RVD, etc. We could argue that forever but the point remains that you made a comment and my rebuttal was that saying "no big loss" may not be accurate if there's a bigger picture involved. Look at it like sports. It's all too often that a team trades away prospects for a big name player and the prospects become superstars for their new team down the line. At the time of the trade, you say "no big loss" about the prospects because they haven't done anything yet, but with a change of scenery, they are given a new chance and may well prove to be very valuable. Jericho, Benoit, and Guerrero certainly did that. Heck, Big Show did that as well as his role had diminished in WCW by late 1998 when he was making his plans to leave. That's the point here.
You are really pushing this Jericho analogy. Kind of makes it hard for me to take you seriously in a conversation about Shelley.
Undersized wrestler that fans enjoyed but never really got a chance to show what he's capable of? Sounds like a fair comparison to me. I know you'll say "well Shelley isn't Jericho". Honestly, in early 1999, what was Jericho? A lower card worker with no chance of moving up. The part where he becomes a champion and thus a well known wrestler happens later. The analogy works upon Jericho's leaving and while we don't know whether Shelley will become some great WWE talent, we do know that he wasn't becoming a great talent in TNA, at least as far as having the chance to perform on a regular basis.
Nobody has been talking up the X-division in a while.
Considering it is this division and this style that brought viewers to TNA initially, this would be problematic I think.
I think most people that are capable of understanding such things have realized that X-division will always be a style represented in TNA. Attempting to confine it to one lower division would actually hamper what people enjoy about it, not help it.
Uh, I'm not sure if these lines go together to form a tangible thought, but let me try and interpret this mess. If you are trying to say that the X-Division is now a lower division due to the weight limit, well duh. Hogan and Bischoff were fucking ******ed in adding that stipulation to the division as it very well could have been TNA's midcard title without the stupid weight limit idea. Now you have a useless TV title as a "midcard" title and the X-Title is essentially useless. People don't care about that title anymore and considering what it once was, that's a shame. Luckily, Aries is a man amongst boys so he'll be ok but once he's out of the division, that division is fucked.
Tag division is on the downtick but in what possible way was MCMG the long term answer there?
They weren't because even if they won the titles, there was nobody for them to face. Much like the WWE, the tag team division has basically nothing and the only way to salvage it is to commit people to it. TNA hasn't in a while and it sucks. That said, if TNA was interested in resurrecting it, maybe MCMG could have helped, though they were around a very long time and had accomplished everything as a tag team. At some point you are just standing still.
Who would have the balls to leave, that didn't already, that is actually a difference maker?
See, when you say shit like this, you think that whatever name I say, you can say "he's not a difference maker" and think you've won an argument. You can't and you won't. It's not about one name. The fact is that somebody left and he was right to leave. It may lead to others following suit. It's not that one guy leaving is the problem, but if hypothetically Sabin followed, then Matt Morgan officially left, then Samoa Joe and AJ Styles followed suit as well. Individually you could argue that no one guy is a "big loss" but if a lot of guys are unhappy and they leave, the dynamic can change.
When did we find out he is unhappy?
Please don't be stupid. Seriously, did you really ask this? Do you think Alex Shelley is leaving a company because he's happy with them? Come on man. I'm sure at some point we'll get a politically correct interview from Shelley saying it was "just not working out and it was time to go" and "I wish I had more of an opportunity". I doubt he'll go off on TNA because who knows if a business relationship is necessary down the road. However, the guy is deciding to leave and he hasn't been on TV much in a full year. Does it really take a rocket scientist to figure out why he might not be happy with his situation? Common sense tells us that he's not and that's why he's choosing to leave. Being a person who uses common sense, I'm saying that I understand his line of thought and I agree with his decision. If you can honestly tell me that you don't get why Shelley would leave, I'd love to hear that. He should leave and he is leaving. Power to him.
