Are the stars aligning for TNA? Yes. Does that mean they'll beat the WWE? Hell, no.
Jim Ross - JR would be very positive addition. His presence on TNA broadcasting would help give credibility, recognition, etc...but JR's most valuable contribution would be backstage. His management skills, his knowledge, savvy, and his eye for talent would all be a boost for TNA. Will JR sign? Nobody knows and its stupid to try and pretend like you know either way, but you'd be ignorant to completely rule it out. It's a possibility, no matter how likely or not.
Paul Heyman - Basically ditto for Paul Heyman. First, I am a big Heyman/ECW fan. I don't think he's some perfect god or anything, but any positive help TNA can get is good.
Free Agent Market - Here's where TNA is really going to strike gold. WWE's monopoly is starting to erode. Wrestlers have another viable option now, the WWE can't simply demand whatever they desire from their workers or that worker could leave and get a job elsewhere. Any talent that WWE releases, TNA could pick up and have a new star. The market will keep flooding with talent. Shelton Benjamin, Charlie Hass, Mike Knox, and Mickie James are all wrestlers that could become main-event level talent for TNA. The talent is out there and that never will be a concern, however it comes down to what you do with that talent and there's the rub...
MyTV - Reaching a larger audience and jumping into WWE's old time slot would be a HUGE advantage. Mainly, replacing Smackdown could pay dividends, not to mention it just looks good, looks like you're "taking over" their show or kicking them out. But I don't think Spike is a bad station at all. It fits their product and their target audience and they get more slack with the censors being on cable probably.
So why won't TNA beat out the WWE then?
There are a few reasons that TNA won't beat out the WWE anytime soon and they're all interrelated and influence each other.
1. Their writing and their product still sucks.
2. Their just trying to do "sports entertainment" and will always look like a company trying to copy what the WWE has already mastered.
3. They need to carve out their own niche and differentiate themselves from the WWE, but they probably never truly will. You have to offer something different from your competition. Either focus more on your in-ring product and put on better wrestling matches than the wwe or emphasize violence and more mature material like ECW did back in the day, OR maybe a combination of both. But these traits really have to stand out and permeate your product (like ECW's chaotic matches spilling into their chaotic crowd, thus reflecting and highlighting their chaotic and crazy product)
But if you're just going to copy WWE then you will fail. For instance, the knockout division has become more like the Divas, with an emphasis on hot chicks and less on in-ring skill and what's happened? The knockout division went from one of TNA's strengths to stupid, filler-material i.e. "time to change the channel". TNA needs to figure out a way to control a demographic, like males age 18-24, and they could do this by being hipper, cooler, more graphic and violent. (and having Flair bleed every week doesn't count. Again, that relates to the creative side and it's all interrelated, see?)
Unless, Orton, Cena, and Batista are all going to defect and sign with TNA all at the same time, then I don't see TNA taking over the pro wrestling universe anytime in the near future. I'm rooting for them. I'm tired of the WWE's stale, boring, predictable formula. And I'll admit that TNA's product has gotten better and they've made some gutsy moves (RVD winning the title), but certainly, TNA still has a long way to go.
