Has TNA Given Up On Trying To Compete With The WWE?

[CM Steel]

We've seen the heights that TNA has gone to try to compete against the WWE. Like two years ago when TNA tried to bring back the infamous "Monday Night Wars" with the WWE. But that didn't work in the being with Impact going back to Thursday nights. And signing to a damn near co-signed deal the likes of Hulk Hogan (with Eric Bischoff), Ric Flair, Jeff Hardy, ECT.

Two years later, TNA isn't no where near the WWE's radar. And now adays ROH is more of the breeding ground for the WWE opposed to TNA.

But wrestling legend Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake stated in a interview about TNA/Impact wrestling that "there not trying to win". By saying that TNA is just happy with getting the little things peice by peice in seeing the company grow. And if TNA president Dixie Carter is willing to let TNA signed star and legend Ric Flair to attend the WWE Hall of Fame in Miami to be inducted with the four horsemen (Arn, Tully, Barry, and manager J.J.) as the class of 2012.

Which could mean for a good relationship between TNA and the WWE comunication wise. Vince McMahon already stated on the Monday Night Wars DVD that he was open to do business with WCW, but things happen. Which led McMahon to do business with ECW. And it went well for that while.

So has TNA given up on trying to compete with the WWE?

 

[J.J.]

I honestly never viewed TNA has WWE's competition as they've long reached an international market as TNA just in last couple years reached that plateau. Perhaps they give Wrestling fans a second option during the week but by no means I ever saw it as competition. My kids could care less to see Hogan, Flair and Sting as their primes were 2 decades ago and more.

 

[GameOver]

Interview with Hogan too which is what Beefcake was quoting, he stated they brought himself and Bischoff in with the explicit intention of going after the Monday Night timeslots then lost interest within a month and were fine being just average so he stopped caring too.

TNA never was and never will be competition to WWE unless WWE allow it, it's just a sad fact, they are aiming at different markets, TNA going for the low end of the spectrum trying to clutch at something that died over a decade ago and WWE just looking at and moving toward the future and seemingly ignoring the past in the process but getting bigger and bigger despite stagnant ratings for the TV shows.

TNA could get better PC if they dropped most of the attitude which i might add they fail at anyway, and just concentrated on doing what WWE doesn't necessarily try to do and that's sell compelling wrestling and stop with the notion of "competing" with Goliath. Exist as your own entity and put out your own product and if it's good enough word of mouth/advertising will do the rest, it's not rocket science.

 

[Monkey_Mania]

If they were smart they wouldnt give up. More like put on the back burner. You can't fix problems over night and I think they've now just realized that. The product is getting better and I think it's because they realize that to compete with WWE you must first brand yourself to the world first, instead of making an Instant Impact. No pun intended.

 

[Richard Blonoff]

If they were smart they wouldnt give up. More like put on the back burner. You can't fix problems over night and I think they've now just realized that. The product is getting better and I think it's because they realize that to compete with WWE you must first brand yourself to the world first, instead of making an Instant Impact. No pun intended.

I kinda feel this way. I have always said they need to first establish their own identity before they try to compete with WWE.

I think right now Impact is drawing slightly less viewers than what Smackdown does a week. It shows that they are in no position to compete with the E right now so it needs to be pushed aside for now.
They have a leg on them with the Knockouts division and many people feel like the X division is a nice change of pace, plus many feel that Bully Ray and Bobby Rhoode are the two top heels in the business and James Storm has grown leaps and bounds in his main event face status.

But at the same time they have a hard time keeping some of their home grown stars like AJ Styles in good storylines and too often the top guys jump between face and heel. Then they have guys like RVD, Mr Anderson, and The Pope who have name value because of WWE that they seem to have trouble using properly

Even if they decide to give up entirely on competing with WWE they can still carve out a decent niche being the #2 company that offers a nice alternative

 

[mlp420]

Interview with Hogan too which is what Beefcake was quoting, he stated they brought himself and Bischoff in with the explicit intention of going after the Monday Night timeslots then lost interest within a month and were fine being just average so he stopped caring too.

TNA never was and never will be competition to WWE unless WWE allow it, it's just a sad fact, they are aiming at different markets, TNA going for the low end of the spectrum trying to clutch at something that died over a decade ago and WWE just looking at and moving toward the future and seemingly ignoring the past in the process but getting bigger and bigger despite stagnant ratings for the TV shows.

TNA could get better PC if they dropped most of the attitude which i might add they fail at anyway, and just concentrated on doing what WWE doesn't necessarily try to do and that's sell compelling wrestling and stop with the notion of "competing" with Goliath. Exist as your own entity and put out your own product and if it's good enough word of mouth/advertising will do the rest, it's not rocket science.

Man, I really don't get the thought process of the "TNA should focus on wrestling and not sports entertainment!" crowd.

The thing is, you can't sell "Compelling Wrestling" because wrestling, without the bells & whistles, is not very compelling to begin with. Vince McMahon pulled off an amazing feat by turning the WWE into what it became, and WCW had similar success for a few years by doing the same things WWE did but better. Everything else got left in the dust.

TNA competing with WWE is unavoidable. There's no money in being a niche alternative. The wrestling business is not strong enough. If they're are ever going to thrive they have to take fans from the WWE. I know people don't like to hear this, but they have to beat WWE at their own game. I know a lot of people want to see indy-style wrestling popularized on national TV but it's never gonna happen.

 

[GameOver]

Man, I really don't get the thought process of the "TNA should focus on wrestling and not sports entertainment!" crowd.

The thing is, you can't sell "Compelling Wrestling" because wrestling, without the bells & whistles, is not very compelling to begin with. Vince McMahon pulled off an amazing feat by turning the WWE into what it became, and WCW had similar success for a few years by doing the same things WWE did but better. Everything else got left in the dust.

TNA competing with WWE is unavoidable. There's no money in being a niche alternative. The wrestling business is not strong enough. If they're are ever going to thrive they have to take fans from the WWE. I know people don't like to hear this, but they have to beat WWE at their own game. I know a lot of people want to see indy-style wrestling popularized on national TV but it's never gonna happen.

Never said they should. They've said it, they are Wrestling, WWE isn't. That's there words

TNA where "Wrestling" matters. ie we aren't that sports entertainment stuff WWE puts out.

 

[Rayne]

By the end of 2010 they had given up on competing with the WWE. It's never been a remotely close battle.

Never said they should. They've said it, they are Wrestling, WWE isn't. That's there words

TNA where "Wrestling" matters. ie we aren't that sports entertainment stuff WWE puts out.

Two issues here.

1) It's not "we". You have no stake in TNA/IW's profit nor hold any position within their company. I've never heard a cigarette smoker refer to Marlboro as "our" brand, so drop the brand loyalty stuff.

2) Yes, TNA/IW is putting out the exact same sports entertainment stuff that the WWE is. They are telling you they aren't, which is one of the most effective ways to get people to believe that they aren't. But the basic structure of the show is the same, with character vignettes furthering the story while wrestling performance is incidental to that. Just because TNA/IW doesn't have midgets running around yet doesn't mean that they do a different style of entertainment than the WWE; the differences that do exist between the two promotions generally aren't that important and are only emphasized by people seeking to declare the superiority of one company over another. (For the record, they both suck right now.)

 

[JAK]

I would hope that TNA has stopped trying to compete with WWE, the styles of the two companies are vastly different for one thing, but more importantly the company sizes make it all but pointless for TNA trying to beat the WWE.

In the UK I run entertainment events. The thing I learnt early on is that if you're the smaller show you can't compete with a bigger show. If I'm running a 100 standing room only pub event and someone else is running a show in a 2,000 seat theatre then I can't compete, they already have a budget that out strips me many times, they can afford the bigger name current entertainers that I couldn't and they'll have access to expensive high visibility advertising that I can only dream of. I might get 60-80 people at £5 each, they'll get 1,500 - 2,000 people at £25 each. This is how entertainment events work. The only way I'll beat a bigger event is if they make the mistakes (and that did happen with a 300 seat event, they dropped the ball and went out of business whilst I survived with drastically reduced attendance at my small pub venue).

Unless TNA can access ridiculous amounts of cash, more than WCW did when it ran itself out of business, then it's not going to be able to compete on an even ground with the WWE. The former WWE big name wrestlers it has are either in the twilight of their career (Bully Ray, Brother Devon, RVD), too high risk for WWE to re-sign except as legends (Jeff Hardy, Kurt Angel), way too over the hill (Ric Flair, Hulk Hogan) or not worth re-hiring for other reasons (Matt Morgan - never a star in the WWE, Mr. Anderson - too much bad blood with major WWE star Randy Orton).

When WCW battled WWE it signed their major stars - Hulk Hogan, Diesel, Razor Ramon, Bret Hart - it re-acquired it's wrestlers that the WCW faithful adored more than the WWE fans - Ric Flair, Lex Luger - and it raided their midcard - 123 Kid, British Bulldog, Jim 'The Anvil' Neidhart.

For TNA to do the same they'd need to sign wrestlers like Chris Jericho, Randy Orton or John Cena, and they'd need idiotic amounts of cash to part those three from the WWE if it was even possible, not forgetting that the ploy may not even work because WCW had been established for years with it's own strong fanbase before that talent raid.

TNA MUST give up on trying to challenge WWE. It's not in the position to achieve that goal. It may take many years before they're even capable of generating reasonable income from house shows. Only the unrealistic and the egotistical would believe TNA was a serious threat to WWE.

If the WWE wanted to put TNA out of business it could do so easily, run house shows at the same location, date and time as TNA house shows. Talent raid TNA with stupidly lucrative contracts just to side line their real talent and keep up the pressure via spoilers at Raw tapings, I'll bet Bischoff would not enjoy the irony of that move.

Don't get me wrong, I prefer TNA's product to the WWE one, but I'm intelligent enough to know that TNA is at least many years away from being anything the WWE should worry about. I sure hope those in TNA who aren't big headed egotists like Hogan, Bischoff and Russo have realised that the best thing they can do is give up trying to compete with the WWE.

 

[dsotm5150]

I believe that TNA is doing just fine for what they are; a company still relatively in its infancy, in an industry that atleast for North America seems to be over its hey day and in a slump. I would say for the most part though that TNA has done relatively well at building itself up over the past 10 years, you could even really say the last 7 since Spike picked them up in 2005. WWE and WCW took many years to get to the top of the mountain, and that was at a time when wrestling was the thing, both sides were breaking into new territory that professional wrestling had never been, with nationwide TV broadcasts, PPVs, shows around the country etc. TNA and the WWE right now are both guilty of being stuck in a position of asking themselves.."what can we do thats never been done before?" TNA needs to find the answer to that question to get to that next level of exposure and recognition, where as the WWE being established and not going anywhere any time soon, doesn't so much have to really do anything out of the ordinary anymore.

People are always saying...TNA needs to sign so and so, TNA needs to sign so and so..while yes name recognition like John Cena, or a Randy Orton or a Chris Jericho would definitely be helpful to the TNA, but I truly believe right now one of the biggest things holding TNA back from really starting to make an impact(no pun intended) is not being live. A taped show just isnt as interesting as it would be if it were live. Just my two cents.

 

[Mustang Sally]

I would hope that TNA has stopped trying to compete with WWE, the styles of the two companies are vastly different for one thing, but more importantly the company sizes make it all but pointless for TNA trying to beat the WWE.

I guess we'll never know whether bringing in Hogan, Bischoff & Co. was an attempt by TNA to compete with WWE.....or whether it was essentially Hogan & Bischoff who sold TNA on the idea. Certainly, those two guys acted as the mouthpiece of the company, and their joining TNA happened at the exact same time the Mini-Monday Night Wars started. When Hogan was proclaiming that the first show in January, 2010 was going to top 3.0 in ratings, did he really believe it, or was that the line he and the TNA brain trust came up with?

Obviously, the idea of this company competing with WWE right off the bat (much less beating them) was foolhardy. In addition to never achieving the ratings increase they needed, they undoubtedly sent payroll costs rocketing by hiring these WWE guys. When that happened, we read of guys like Samoa Joe complaining about the money the new people were getting. And, why not? Guys like him figured they were here all along; they should get in on the payday, too.

Now, TNA finally seems to be forging their own identity, rather than trying to be WWE-Lite. Smart move. Stay with it.

 

[ABMorales787]

Competition is a contest between individuals, groups, animals, etc. for territory, a niche, or a location of resources. It arises whenever at least two parties strive for a goal which cannot be shared. Competition occurs naturally between living organisms which co-exist in the same environment. For example, animals compete over water supplies, food, mates, and other biological resources. Humans compete for water, food, and mates, though when these needs are met deep rivalries often arise over the pursuit of wealth, prestige, and fame. Business is often associated with competition as most companies are in competition with at least one other firm over the same group of customers.

Why the hell do people keep insisting TNA can't or shouldn't compete with WWE? They're both in the same business striving for your support. They're competing. For your attention, for talent, for ratings, for pretty much anything. It's competition, give it up. Just because they aren't focusing on topping WWE doesn't mean they aren't competing.

 

[Rayne]

Why the hell do people keep insisting TNA can't or shouldn't compete with WWE? They're both in the same business striving for your support. They're competing. For your attention, for talent, for ratings, for pretty much anything. It's competition, give it up. Just because they aren't focusing on topping WWE doesn't mean they aren't competing.

Fair assessment, but is it really applicable in this instance? It's not like Walmart vs. Kmart, where they are in the same industry but not worried about competing with each other. You can be a consumer of both TNA/IW and the WWE.

I also think in terms of the original question, it was meant "is TNA/IW still focused on becoming the more popular or profitable professional wrestling company", and in that instance I'd say no, if that was ever a question.

I just got out of a four-day jury duty trial with two days of jury deliberations, so expect me to be extra deliberative and pedantic over the next week or so. I just spent three hours arguing if a man was 5% responsible for someone else's fall off of a ladder or not at all responsible. Your tax dollars at work!

 

[Serious Mozzarella]

But wrestling legend Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake stated in a interview about TNA/Impact wrestling that "there not trying to win". By saying that TNA is just happy with getting the little things peice by peice in seeing the company grow.

I think this is what should have been happening in the first place. TNA tried to enter into a "Monday Night Wars" situation when they had nothing to offer.

When the WCW started the MNW, they already had legitimate competition with the WWF. TNA, when they tried, had recycled WCW gimmicks played by people who were way too old to play them. From what I understand, TNA was doing perfectly well for itself before Hogan, Bischoff, and everyone they brought in with them.

Not to say that they were detriment to the company, but they didn't thrust it forward. All they really managed to do was put all the company's flaws into the spotlight. They also made a few overly-ambitious bad decisions that, for a little while, made them the laughing stock of the fan community. But they're doing fine right now. They don't need to compete with anyone. They're the midcard of the wrestling world, and they'll make it to the "main event" when they're good and ready.