That something is called competition. After the WWE bought WCW, the territories were long gong, and ECW folded, it was either the WWE's way or no way. If you had dreams of being a big wrestling superstar, your only legitimate outlet was the WWE. Now TNA came on the scene not long after, but they weren't owned by a guy like Ted Turner even though they had some notable names to begin with and made plays for other big stars. Also they had no history or library to reference and no tv deal. A lot of big names of today even debutted in TNA before we ever saw them in WWE (Punk, Mr Anderson) but their time their was short lived as the company still had a long way to go before establishing itself and getting on the right track.
But now, almost ten years later, TNA has established itself and it is seen as a viable option to the WWE. A few years ago, Christian left the WWE and was showcased in TNA as a main eventer. We are seeing this more and more now a days. Mr. Anderson, Hardy, RVD, Lashley, Tommy Dreamer, Mickie James etc etc. If your a WWE wrestler and you have a problem with either how your being used, your work schedule, your pay, differences with management and other wrestlers and so forth, you have other options proven with the recent actions of Punk, MVP, Chavo, and Matt Hardy.
Here's a jobber like Chavo who knows he can go back to Mexico or he can go to TNA/ROH were they will start him on the right foot. I'm not sure of Mexico or ROH's bank rolls, but if your an established name in WWE, TNA will throw a decent amount of money and perks your way. Now if your name is CM Punk, they will break the bank for someone like that.
The WWE is a slowly sinking ship right now and they look like they have no fight in them. They care about their image more then anything else. Long gong are the days of wrestler's who said and did as they pleased. WWE is getting swept up just like everything else in this new world order that I can't quite explain. The point is, WWE has gotten to big and has to much responsibility to be itself anymore like a parent whose party days are long behind it.
You might say that RAW's ratings and merchandise are doing well, but RAW use to average 5-6 Ratings and even hit an 8.1. Today it sits teetering at the edge of 3 and hasn't hit a 4 rating in years. After last year's Wrestlemania, a 4 rating seems impossible. This past week's Smackdown had a 1.6 rating(even with the second biggest draw Randy Orton on the show) and has continued to decline as it use to average 5 ratings as well.
Now you might think WWE can rebound from this, but it certainly can't going the direction that they are. WWE has long been living off the life support of Undertaker, Big Show, Kane, HBK, HHH, Mysterio, Jericho, Edge and all the names created during the Attitude and NWO days. Who have they created after 2002? Cena, Orton ... Batista is old and left, Brock Lesnar left. Then you have guys like Punk who we all think is great, but he himself admits that he's not even marketed as one of the top guys.
WWE does not know how to create legends anymore as they don't allow their wrestlers to do so. If you want to be a legend, you need to do it yourself, and that's what Punk did last week. Punk tweeted a few weeks ago
"WWE has SCSA and CM Punk under the same roof tomorrow, they'll fuck it up."
The whole thing reminds me of what Steve Austin said in his memorable ECW shoot promo. He'd come up with these ideas to feud with certain guys and always be told "that's for somebody else ..." Well the same thing is happening with Punk now and most of the roster. Now Punk is feuding with Cena right now, but this was so WWE could make money off Punk leaving and it is currently only a one month feud. This feud was suppose to happen months ago, but WWE instead went with Miz to feud with Cena and Punk to feud with Orton.
I don't think it was just The Rock Punk didn't like seeing at Mania, I think Punk thought that he would be facing Cena at Mania last year, instead of The Miz. If you want to see what Punk thinks of Miz, check this out.
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Now I posted that because I found it funny. But you know Punk had to have been bothered that WWE didn't have enough faith in him to pull off the feud with Cena. Then again, was it the Miz/Orton feud they didn't like?
Anyway, back to "that's for somebody else, bebe." There would never be a Punk vs Steve Austin match, because that's for somebody else, if anyone. Since Cena is tied up with The Rock, if it were to happen this year, Randy Orton would get the shot at Stone Cold. In WWE, that's how it works. Cena gets first dibs and all main storylines ALWAYS. Followed by Orton. If HHH/Taker are around they get their picks. Those names are not to meant to be out shined. If Punk doesn't have a match with them he'd most likely vs The Big Show or someone else who'd give him a lackluster match/feud. No way would they allow Punk to vs Daniel Bryan and go full blast in the ring and on the mic. Because they don't want Cena and Orton's work to look like the actual shit that it is.
The best way I can explain it, is that if Mr Anderson and Kurt Angle were in the current WWE. First of all, they would probably paired with Orton/Cena and they would not be able to out do them. Anderson wouldn't be able to cut an awesome promo, because that's Cena's thing.
But if Cena and Orton already had matches, you would not see Anderson vs Angle in a feud, let alone a cage match because WWE would not risk their feud and match outdoing Cena/Orton and HHH/HBK if they were around. They have a definite rank system and certain way of doing things.
Anyway, I'm sure this bothers people. That's why you hear Triple H say stuff like Zack Ryder will get his turn when the Cena's, HHH, Orton's etc are gone. They don't want a balanced show where everyone is on equal footing. Which is why instead of McIntyre vs Swagger, they give you Swagger v Bourne. Want a prediction? After Ziggler/Kofi and Del Rio/Truth/Mysterio is done, the next feud would be like Kofi vs Del Rio/Truth and Mysterio vs Ziggler. What the hell ever happened to vs'ing more then one or two opponents every six months? WWE is way too set in their ways.
Back to the point of competition. The WWE guys realize WWE is sinking, slowly, but still sinking and they see guys in TNA who have a lighter schedule getting main event billing and decent pay and they know that WWE will not change, unless they sink enough to the point where they can no longer care about their image and become competitive once again. If Rey Mysterio doesn't want to resign, he can take a year off and eventually use TNA as a bargaining tool against WWE or try out TNA where he'd be treated like gold. Or he can go to NJPW, ROH, Mexico ... but TNA seems like the one with better resources and making it's way up in America especially now that they'll be doing Impact on the road more. This competition is going to make the guys currently in TNA want to perform better because they don't want these WWE guys coming to their company and taking their spots.
Look at the champions in other companies. Mr Anderson: TNA World Champ, Benjamin/Haas: ROH Tag Champs, MVP: NJPW Intercontinental Champ. If your unhappy for whatever reason in WWE, there are other opportunities out there for you is the bottom line.