Has the "talent raid" already started?

[The Doctor]

Think back to the glory days of the Monday Night Wars. A little company called ECW was showing an alternative to the Big Two on TV. Slowly but surely, many wrestlers were tempted to make the jump to one of the Big Two, whether by reason of money, or to improve their careers.

Paul Heyman and certain fans have referred to this as "raiding" the talent of ECW.

Now look at today. ROH is showing a different style of wrestling, and already ROH names have made the jump. WWE got Bryan Danielson. TNA got Desmond Wolfe. TNA got the Young Bucks. WWE has given the Briscoe Brothers a tryout. Could the companies already be stocking up for a proper "war"? Who else is going to be signed? Who would you LIKE to see signed? Is this a "talent raid" or a strange coincidence?

 

[SavageTaker]

I don’t know if I’d call it a ‘talent raid’ just yet. Yes, TNA and WWE took two of ROH’s best wrestlers in Bryan Danielson and Nigel and a couple of others. But they haven’t really taken many people…at least not yet. ROH still has a lot of talented wrestlers such as El Generico, Kevin Steen, Austin Aries, and there are others, I just don’t remember their names, but those guys are some of my favorites from what I’ve seen in ROH.

Anyways, while I wouldn’t consider it a talent raid just yet, there are a few I would like to see be signed from ROH. I know it’s kind of wrong because WWE and TNA are the top 2 while ROH is still very small but unfortunately I don’t get to watch ROH very often. So I’d like to be able to see some of the guys I like from ROH more often so that would only happen if they signed with TNA or WWE.

As far as who I’d like signed, I’d like to see El Generico with TNA. He has a fun character and he’s very entertaining in the ring so he might do well in TNA’s X-Division, at least he would do better in TNA than in the WWE. There are others like the other I mentioned earlier and it’s because they are all pretty entertaining wrestlers that I’d like to see more of.

 

[It's Damn Real!]

I'm not going to sit here and debate who I feel would benefit more in which company, or which company would benefit more from singing which ROH/Indie star, but IMO ROH owns numerous talents who are primed and ready to make the jump to one of the major players (TNA & WWE) in Tyler Black, Kevin Steen, Austin Aries, Colt Cabanna, Sonjay Dutt (who was already in TNA) and the Briscoe Brothers.

If TNA begins to make a bigger splash in the "war" waters within a few months, to answer your question, yes I do believe both companies may begin both raiding the independent scene as well as one another's rosters for talent they feel will be beneficial for their promotions to succeed. It's the nature of the business, and before the WWE and Vince McMahon re-defined what the terms of pro-wrestling meant, federations and promotions all over the country "traded" talent in a sense that when one guy accomplished everything he could do in his particular territory, he went onto another to continue his career.

 

[Blade]

Well, I think Vince believes that snapping up any talent will help him this time just as much as it helped him last time. Think of the talent that were in ECW before coming to WWE;
Mick Foley, The Dudleys, Rob Van Dam and most importantly Steve Austin. Obviously, WWE can't book people like it used to into stars because they prefer to use their homegrown wrestlers. But I think WWE still wanna see what kind of potential the ROH can provide. Obviously Vince has heard about Danielson, he's not living under a rock. So he'll want to check him out for the star potential that he got in wrestlers from ECW a decade ago.

TNA on the other hand I think are just looking for any possible drawing wrestlers they can find. They'll get anyone from Steiner to Hogan for the old school fans, anyone from Christian to Hardy for the new school fans and guys like Joe and the Young Bucks for the indy fans. They'll look for anyone who has talent and can draw in even 1 fan. But that's just what I think.

But obviously, it's not a coincidence. It's a look for the next star. As for who I want to see signed, there's no one at the moment. A few years ago, I was a huge fan of Punk and AJ, they both got signed. Then I started liking Danielson and Nigel, they got signed. It's all comes down to who are the next indy heroes. But I think it's not long till Austin Aries and Tyler Black get signed.

 

[hunterXhunter21]

I don't watch too much ROH but I really want to see Austin Aries back in TNA. I really enjoyed what he did there and what he is doing now in ROH. El Generico seems fun and full of energy but I think he would just turn into another Shark Boy if he turns up in TNA.

 

[Tastycles]

I don't think it is a talent raid as such, but I'm not sure what happened to ECW was either. The people who work for these smaller companies are usually there hoping to move onwards and upwards, and in all honesty both ECW and ROH have been struggling to pay their workers, so it is unsurprising their main guys want to move elsewhere.

The real talent raid I think is when the two companies start looking at each other's rosters for new workers and I don't think we've seen that yet. What is the case though, is if TNA really do take it to WWE, then ROH will probably end up in trouble, because as soon as they have someone remotely marketable someone will take a punt on them quicker than you can say Dean Douglas.