Has WWE started to take TNA a bit more serious?

[DX vs NWO]

I was watching Impact last night and taped RAW, and watched it today and I noticed something. Well, first I have to say TNA put on a terrific show last night, points go to Abyss for throwing Flair through the ramp, WOW! But what I really noticed when I watched RAW was that they were doing things they haven't done in a long time. I think I heard Austin say the word Ass about 2 or 3 times, and I saw Batista bleed in his match.

This may be just a hunch, but I think that WWE has noticed that TNA could eventually catch up to them in this small war going on, and thats why they put on a pretty good show to compare with TNA. Do you guys think that WWE have noticed TNA to be a threat?

 

[The Mark of Zur-En-Arrh]

Personally i think that if Vince keeps ignoring them, then they will be a threat. I just read that new column on the main site, and a lot of things that were said i found myself agreeing with. Now i'm not going to tune into TNA on a regular basis, I only ever watch it to pass the time, but if RAW continues to feature more talking and fucking around using the same 6 MEers to squash the same mid-carders every week (how many times has Sheamus squashed Evan Bourne now?), and continues having noting but 6 Diva tag matches to promote the women, then yes Impact will garner more interest until the point that they aren't flipping over to TNA from WWE, they're just going straight to Impact.

I personally, don't have a problem with the PG rating. I'm not fussed about how much the sexuality has been turned down, or the weapons spots. I am however sick of this Guest Host shit, as well as Raw consisting of 3 minute matches that near enough are exactly the same each week. If that continues after WM but doesn't have any great fueds like the one's they are developing for this year's Mania, then i think a lot of people are gradually going to start changing the channel. Sure they'll rip into TNA at first and say how shit the booking is, but at the same time, i doubt most of them will turn the channel back

 

[Davi323]

No, they aren't taking TNA seriously. Batista got bloodied because it looked like a bad spot, if you notice, immediately afterward, they ended the match. If it was planned that he bleed, they wouldn't have needed the emergency "batista bomb/pin" ending 15 seconds later. You are reading too much into it.

 

[DeathOfTheFlesh]

I did read an article on the main page that said WWE had 1 out of every 5 monitors in their production truck tuned into iMPACT last week. WWE has at least acknowledged TNA's existence but are probably thinking in the back of their minds, "There is NO WAY these guys will ever catch up to us."

 

[seedx]

Ofcourse vince is monitoring every step tna takes, even if tna get 0.8 -1.0 in ratings doesnt mean the game is over ..

wwe is a big company and ofcourse they have folks that have for job to watch tna and then report to vince or managment ...

and last raw was really good beacuse austin was there what happends when wrestlemania ends and down the road a couple of months is the interesting and vince cant just say they have 1.0 rating and we shouldnt care about them anymore..it isnt that simple.

 

[Tiger Chaos Theory]

I think you may be confusing taking them seriously with acknowledging their existence more then they used to.

Despite what anyone says, the WWE as a company is always keeping tabs on the competition. They have to, if they didn't, they would just be idiots because it's not good business sense to ignore the competition.

Now, just because they are watching what TNA does, doesn't necessarily mean they are altering their original plans for the road to WrestleMania. We can only speculate on that issue, which I believe they have not.

 

[Kenny Powers]

They may not be taking the competition serious, but at the same time it seems there has been more wrestling and less comedy in WWE now then the last few months when TNA didn't move to Monday nights. They are monitoring TNA either to laugh at them or to see what the fuss is about. It sounds like Austin, Jim Ross, and the WWE wrestlers backstage are cheering TNA on though. I think deep down Vince is cheering them on too, because competition makes companies more money and more publicity.

 

[hatehabsforever]

God, no, I don't believe that Vince McMahon and the WWE are taking TNA one bit more seriously, they are as dismissive of them as ever, and rightly so.

SCSA saying "ass" on TV means nothing, it's what he did for over a decade, and old habits die hard. You may remember that Bret Hart did the same thing. I'm sure it "slipped out" from years of saying such things.

Batista bleeding was an accident, nothing more. Look how fast the match stopped after the bleeding started, complete with medical guys at ringside and a ref wearing latex gloves.

Why would WWE all of a sudden be taking them more seriously? Are they concerned about the daunting 0.8 rating that opposed them this week? What, as iMPACT's ratings go down, WWE's apprehension goes up?

Sure, 1/5 WWE guys backstage were supposedly watching iMPACT. Supposedly as I read on this site, Kevin Nash was watching RAW. Neither means anything more than curiosity at most, sort of like stopping to watch at a crash scene (and believe me, TNA is a wreck these days!).

Of course WWE knows TNA exists, and sure they'll keep an eye on them to a limited degree. But Vince McMahon and the WWE know what many of us here know: there's no Monday Night War version 2.0, because a war requires two participants, not one participant and a wannabee.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Keeping an eye on what the enemy is up to doesn't necessarily constitute seeing them as a threat, it's just common sense. On the air, the WWE doesn't acknowledge the existence of TNA and there's no reason that they should. It's not as if the WWE has anything to gain by openly acknowledging their competition live on their television program in front of 5.5 million people.

People are grasping at straws right now then it comes to this whole renewel of the Monday Night Wars thing. I see no point in trying to hype this into some kind of ratings war right now when a ratings war isn't going on. TNA iMPACT! scored a 0.8 Monday night and 1.1 million fans. TNA's audience last night was approximately half that of their outing on January 4th. I'm sure Vince McMahon is having his people keep an eye on what TNA does and Dixie Carter is doing vice versa, but I just can't see how anyone can tell me that the WWE feels threatened by TNA right now and expect me to keep a straight face.