Ex employees in highlight packages

[The Mark of Zur-En-Arrh]

Did anyone else find it strange that at NOC, WWE made reference to several Ex-WWE talent that now work for TNA, despite their bizarre attitude that no one is ever to do anything that resembles ex-talent that now work for TNA?

For example:

- Legends of the past are removed from the intro video package featuring stars of today and the past. These names include Hulk Hogan, Flair, Jeff Hardy, Mick Foley etc, and these guys have even been replaced by other talent who'll never be on Vince's Christmans card list either, such as The Ultimate Warrior!

- Everyone was told they can't do knife-edge chops because it reminds everyone of Flair.

At NOC, they made reference to Hulk Hogan on two separate occassions. He was shown winning the Title during the WWE 6 Pack Challenge video, and Michael Cole mentioned him when listing 'classic' World title rivalries (although he did simply refer to him as 'Hulk')

They also showed Rob Van Dam on camera during the Taker/Kane video package, as part of a screen shot that never needed to be used in the package in the first place (because it totally shit on their revisionist history storyline i.e. Taker made Kane unmask, when in reality Eric Bischoff made him do it, and he took the mask off himself)

And of course a couple of weeks ago, Mick Foley was shown during the 900th Episode of Raw, during a history of Raw video, which Mick himself actually commented on his surprise at being included in the video, based on how Vince likes to pretend ex-talent that didn't leave by his terms, never worked for him in the first place.

And there's also frequent references to Kurt Angle during a LOT of DVDs that they're churning out these days. Personally i'm surprsied that they still include his matches on their current DVDs.

So.....

Considering just how careful they are with this sort of thing normally, making sure never to mention Benoit unless absolutely necessary, and removing references to TNA stars, do you think that they just made a sloppy job of it Sunday night, or do you think maybe Vince has given up caring, and can't be bothered wasting time editing guys out of footage every damn time he has to do a history package?

And.....?

Has anyone else notcied any other recent examples of this that you wanna throw in?

 

[Syborgg]

The knife edge chop thing has already been revealled as bogus. They can do them, but that move is out of style. Especially with the fact that they made closed fists "legal" there is no need for a chop. They look stupid unless it's the Big Show's palm slap on the chest.

As for Batista, I'm sure he can be readily used because he has yet to show up in TNA or any other competitor's ring for that matter. I personally think if certain video is important to building the storyline and it happens to contain footage of someone from TNA, then WWE will use it. I mean let's face it, WWE still doesn't view TNA as legit competition anyway so really what harm does it do?

Oh and during the Taker/Kane story-video they also showed Bischoff getting choke slammed off the ramp by Kane shortly after the mask removal. I'm sure though that they are carefull not to show a TNA guy going over a WWE guy whenever possible.

 

[The Brain]

I think it's great that they continue to show these guys. I hate when WWE ignores their history. There really is no reason not to show these guys. How could WWE possibly erase Hulk Hogan from our memories? Personally I think it would be much more noticeable if they did a package reviewing the history of the title and left Hogan out. Seeing Hogan in there was just natural. His abscence would be much more noticable than his presence. Besides what harm does it really do? It's not like that five second clip made me want to abandon WWE for TNA. WWE has a long history and they should never try to hide it.

 

[airvar]

It's just to hard to hide now..

I think they were worried when TNA first started pulling 1.5 Neilson ratings, and moved to Monday nights.. I honestly think it worried them, they had Jeff Hardy (the biggest face in wrestling at the time) , RVD ( another huge name), Hogan, Biscoff, and a ton of good talent on there rooster..


After what can only be described as a big set-back for TNA, I don't think the WWE consider them competition anymore.. And I think that they feel a lot better about mentioning Current TNA star's on WWE Television when it is appropriate..

Don't expect to see a Jeff Hardy/ Kurt Angle/ Mick Foley Tribute show or anythign like that, but if the moment calls' for it don't be suprised to see ex-talent featured in montage's , and flashbacks..

 

[Davi323]

In addition to what Brain said, it also serves as a constant reminder to TNA that WWE had them first, has access to their entire non-TNA video library, and as such, is in a position to remind talent that the smarks on the internet aren't always right. Specifically I mean the theories that abound about how Vince completely disowns people who leave the WWE. Which, is complete bullshit to anyone with half a brain, but is the lifeblood by which a lot of smarks try to prove how smart they are by. Why would the WWE want to remind talent of that? Obvious, really. It means that if they get let go, but don't burn their bridges, they would consider rehiring them at a later date, that it is business, not personal. Its saying that even when you are gone, you aren't necessarily forgotten...it encourages talent to try to maintain a good relationship.

 

[nop1980]

they have been showing former talent in promos that are working in tna and tna has been mentioning there wrestlers connections with wwe see dreamer talking to fortune kaval even said he was bringing the total nonstop action to the wwe .so could it be possible that the they abyss is talking about showing up on the 10/10/2010 ppv could be the wwe? what im saying is what if vince bought the competition again?

 

[Charismatic Enigma]

Well honestly, why wouldn't he show them? At the present moment TNA is of no serious competition to WWE and removing all current TNA talent from their packages would be like giving up half their recent history, and for what? Those guys have provided many classic moments and matches, people still want to watch DVD and highlights of those moments, and if anything sure showing Kurt Angle might make people say "hey where is he nowadays?" and tune in to TNA, but on the opposite end, people watching TNA might say, "oh man ECW used to be awesome back in '99 I'm gonna go buy the history of ECW DVD" so really it's not like it was in the WCW days where acknowledging ex-talent may have really hurt WWE. As of current, if anything, showing them might actually help WWE.

 

[Da Solo]

I think they stopped caring. I'm glad they start to acknowledge at least SOME ex-WWE and/or current TNA workers. I remember hating the 'E for doing that erased from history BS. Now granted, I can understand some people not being mentioned, such as Benoit for his tragedy, Brock Lesnar since they've had lawsuits with each other before (even though they still show his ring-shattering slam on Big Show), Booker T since he left on extremely bad terms with Vince and WWE, and people like that. But now they at least have the common sense to know that you won't forget a historic WWE moment just because it's never mentioned again.

 

[chuckhardslab]

they have been showing former talent in promos that are working in tna and tna has been mentioning there wrestlers connections with wwe see dreamer talking to fortune kaval even said he was bringing the total nonstop action to the wwe .so could it be possible that the they abyss is talking about showing up on the 10/10/2010 ppv could be the wwe? what im saying is what if vince bought the competition again?

if that happened i would shit myself bc it would be so awesome but it might ware out UNLESS they go tv14 and made nxt something else lke a third brand or superstars into a third brand or both so they could hve enough room for those superstars on the roster and it would be better bc vince would get rid of old guys stealing the spotlight like: nash flair jarret sting or maybe give em jobs doing storylines or something bus still i lke the idea and it would shock the world

 

[Viola Moonlight]

I don't know the obsession with leaving out professional wrestlers from history if they left on bad terms for the WWE, or giving people limited recognition by alluding to them. Yes, I understand that these people may of screwed the company over or left on bad terms... but what is the harm in promoting these wrestlers for all of 5 seconds at the most in their video's? The E has rights to their characters with them being in their archives and can use them to draw money if needed. The wrestlers can't do anything and it's not like people are going to go "Hey, I saw RVD! He works for TNA. We should all leave Night Of Champions and head to the iMPACT zone right now."

However, I'm glad that they are showing various people who worked for the company in video packages and such. You can't ignore history that's already happened, written and shown in the past the way the E are going about it... especially people like Hulk Hogan.

 

[Simmo]

I for one like it, why ignore the past?

I remember when the Benoit stuff blew up Vince made a statement about him never being mentioned again in WWE. Doing this though would remove some of the best matches in WWE history..

I for one love the fact that some of the DVD's I have bought recently still have Benoit matches in them (especially the WM he won, and a number of RR he was a part of)

As for Hogan, removing him is impossible as for most people who grew up in the 80's Hogan is wrestling, sure nowadays he is too old and shouldn't be in a ring at all but he will always be the HULK HOGAN

 

[giblet55]

You know one thing I like about this is that it tests the waters for WWE. Let's say a talent they released gets cheered heavily in one of the videos, maybe if TNA or the Indies aren't the place to be, this would be a sign for WWE to snatch them back up.

 

[The Mark of Zur-En-Arrh]

Thanks for the input guys, much appreciated. About time i threw my two cents in i think.

I have to agree with you guys, i've always thought it was foolish of them to edit out ex-talent out of the history packages. Like many of you i don't believe that showing a 3 second clip with say, RVD in the background, is suddenly going to make people switch channels. What it could do however is encourage people to maybe invest in the 'E's older video catalogue or perhaps even WWE 24/7, so that they can go back and see some of the matches those ex talent had with the current ones.

I for one missed out on the entire Angle/Cena fued in 2005, and would love to see those matches at some point, as well as the Cena/Jericho/Christian triple threat that year.

And as a lot of you have said, when it comes to legends like Hulk Hogan, individuals who are near enough responsible for a large amount of the success that Vince has had since the early 80's to today, then it's just disrespectful to those guys and all the hard work they put in for Vince back in the day.

And plus there's been plenty of other guys who've ditched Vince and he's actually welcomed them back with open arms i.e. Ted Dibiase, so i really don't understand why he'd feel the need to edit Jeff friggin Hardy out of history packages just because he was the most popular wrestler for 1 year, ESPECIALLY as it's been more or less proven that the guy can't draw shit without the WWE Creative machine behind him.

So in conclusion, i agree with you who've posted so far, just thought it was odd that they'd completely change their attitude toward the whole situation after having operated that way for 2-3 years.

The knife edge chop thing has already been revealled as bogus.

I obviously missed that reveal.

They can do them, but that move is out of style. Especially with the fact that they made closed fists "legal" there is no need for a chop. They look stupid unless it's the Big Show's palm slap on the chest.

I just noticed that Jericho doesn't seem to do it ever anymore, whereas before he used to do it non-stop.

Seems like the only 3 guys allowed to do any kind of chop anymore are Show, Khali and Kofi. I say Kofi because he does a double chop instead of a single knife edge.

I see what you mean about the move looking stupid, but the sound it makes (assuming it's done with gusto) sends a shudder up my spine every time. The chops that Flair and Benoit used to do literally sounded like gunfire.

 

[Mustang Sally]

There really is no reason not to show these guys.

Actually, there is a reason and it's called TNA. Personally, since I've been following WWE for so many years, I enjoy references to the past and nothing can diminish the accomplishments the company made in conjunction with these performers who no longer work there.

But consider: When WWE does a promo featuring Hulk Hogan, I can see TNA (especially with an opportunistic weasel like Bischoff working there) coming out with an advertisement of their own that makes reference to the WWE promo and telling the audience "If you like what you're seeing, tune into our programming and see it live."

It reminds me of WCW's brief heyday, when Bischoff challenged Vince McMahon to a martial arts shoot fight on a WCW pay-per-view. Obviously, WCW never expected it to happen, but it led to Vince actually responding to the challenge through the media, saying he would never do something that would increase PPV buys for the competition, which made perfect sense.

Same thing here; while it's great to have WWE acknowledge it's past, why publicize something that might stimulate interest in the competition?

As to those of you who are saying that "WWE doesn't consider TNA to be competition" or "WWE isn't even concerned with TNA"....I say, don't be naive.

 

[TheWorldIsMines]

Actually, there is a reason and it's called TNA. Personally, since I've been following WWE for so many years, I enjoy references to the past and nothing can diminish the accomplishments the company made in conjunction with these performers who no longer work there.

But consider: When WWE does a promo featuring Hulk Hogan, I can see TNA (especially with an opportunistic weasel like Bischoff working there) coming out with an advertisement of their own that makes reference to the WWE promo and telling the audience "If you like what you're seeing, tune into our programming and see it live."

It reminds me of WCW's brief heyday, when Bischoff challenged Vince McMahon to a martial arts shoot fight on a WCW pay-per-view. Obviously, WCW never expected it to happen, but it led to Vince actually responding to the challenge through the media, saying he would never do something that would increase PPV buys for the competition, which made perfect sense.

Same thing here; while it's great to have WWE acknowledge it's past, why publicize something that might stimulate interest in the competition?

As to those of you who are saying that "WWE doesn't consider TNA to be competition" or "WWE isn't even concerned with TNA"....I say, don't be naive.

TNA does not have the talent or resources to even compete with the WWE right now. You honestly think Vince cares about TNA, anytime he wants to he can downright destroy and forgot that they ever existed. Remember That.