I've got to respond to MisterRob's post. TNA could link itself to NWA all it wants. That doesn't mean that TNA was ever NWA or grew out of it or its lineage. Fuck man. It's your argument that's wack. NWA turned into WCW. One day it was NWA. The next it was WCW. The company had been around 90+ years (before tv ratings) before WCW. TNA began in 2002 not 1900. It was never WWE or WCW or NWA no matter what ******ed spin you want to put on it. And that's basically what you're saying. You're essentially saying TNA had been failing for 102 years before its existence because TNA for a year or two initially tried to link itself to NWA to gain attention. Oh my god. NWA was WCW and never TNA no matter what was said as story line in the beginning. Can you separate STORYLINE from REALITY? TNA was an obscure venture that has been around for a mere 8 YEARS. Using your logic, you're saying that WWE's lineage is every other territories because WWE bought them all out. I guess WWWF didn't begin in the 1960s after all and didn't grow into the successful company it did in a mere 20 years. With your reasoning it took WWF 80 years because the WWWF actually began in 1900 when it bought WCW in 2001 and then linked itself to NWA's ancient history. That's pretty fucked up logic: the same kind of flawed logic most numnut WWE smarks use subjectively in trying to win any argument that goes way over their heads.
If you’re going to respond at least know what you’re talking about, please.
TNA in it’s first few years was connected directly to the NWA. They were using the actual NWA championships that can be traced back decades. There was no storyline only reality, so I think you need to get your facts straight.
Once again, don’t comment unless you have a clue, please, because your whole post makes no sense.
Keep in mind that being affliated with the NWA didn't/doesn't mean anywhere near as much as it did 20 years ago. The NWA's been non-existent to everyone who isn't a wrestling enthusiast since about 1990. The average person in 2002 wouldn't know what the NWA was, so as much as TNA being a part of the NWA in their early days and holding onto their title belts until 2007 being associated with the NWA didn't really do all that much for TNA.
Bullshit. If the NWA didn’t do anything for TNA then they would have never agreed on the partnership in the first place. The fact is is that they used the NWA to promote themselves, they also used the actual NWA championships. Why? Because they were a nothing promotion and needed to use an established and well known wrestling name with LINEAGE to make themselves look like a credible and valid new promotion. So to say that partnership didn’t really do anything is just bullshit. NWA may not be what it was decades ago, for sure, but wrestling fans (which is what TNA back then was aiming solely at) know the NWA very well. They know the history of it, they know what it’s stood for in the past, and it did actually bring a sense of credibility to an otherwise nobody company that just had Jeff Jarrett as it’s only real known asset.
You also have to look at WHERE TNA started and realize how the NWA name did have value in that region even then.
How long has the NWA been relevant to the general public? Uh huh.
Please see above.
Again the NWA really hasn't been all that relevant to the general public for years. Did TNA survive on wrestling enthusiasts? Sure, but that doesn't change the fact that TNA started in 2002 and beyond having the NWA name associated with their belts there wasn't much else to gain from the NWA. TNA withdrew from the NWA in 2004, they kept using the belts but they stopped being NWA-TNA 2 years into their existence, unless your argument is that TNA had some mass amount of NWA support in those 2 years I think you're putting too much emphasis on the NWA link.
You continue to prove, in your own post, how much TNA actually believed, themselves, that they needed the history of NWA (even after they broke ties with them). I don’t care how much less relevant the NWA is in today’s wrestling world compared to other company’s like the WWE. The point is is that TNA used the NWA as a stepping stone to vault themselves forward as a credible promotion, just like ECW did before them, and WWF and WCW both did. That’s the point and it’s entirely true. So I’m not putting too much emphasis on the NWA link at all, you’re not seeing things clearly enough and downplaying the importance, for TNA, of having that link in the start.
It was only because of their use of the NWA championships that at this time their championships became viewed as an actual World title by all of the wrestling world. That clearly benefited both TNA and NWA during this time, which was one the points to the partnership. TNA wouldn’t have been viewed as having an actual WORLD class title if they were just some obscure company on it’s own that rose up with their own championships that lacked any history at that point.
In a sense yes, as monthly PPV events and national touring were far less common, but that doesn't change the fact that of all the wrestling companies that started up after WCW ended TNA's been the most successful.
That wasn’t my argument. My argument was solely based around the 8 year praise which fans compare to all the other company’s before TNA wrongly.
The difference being that at that time the NWA was the biggest name in wrestling, everyone who knew wrestling knew the NWA, casual fans knew the NWA. McMahon bought out a bunch of territories earning the ire of the NWA and was somewhat lucky that his gambit paid off and Wrestlemania was a success.
Yes, Vince McMahon was very lucky in his gamble. But it was the same gamble Jarrett and TNA have made and that proves my point even more, because I’m arguing solely on the time frame it took both companies to reach those benchmarks.
But again the difference was that at this point in time there wasn't a massive conglomerate that more or less controlled wrestling, even the NWA at it's height was still divided into various territories so Vince buying up a bunch of small groups and compiling it into one isn't the same as Jeff Jarrett starting up a promotion and going up against a giant Corporation that had become synonomous with the word "wrestling".
So you’re saying the NWA didn’t, more or less, control wrestling at this time in North America? You’re telling me that you weren’t basically pushed to obscurity or out of business if you didn’t attach your territory to the NWA name during this time? In fact, Vince McMahon pretty much did back then what TNA has been trying to do in the present day and that’s break away and be a success on his own and out of the shadow of a monopolized wrestling empire. And in that case, Vince McMahon was actually far more successful in his venture then TNA has been so far.
The NWA had Starrcade before WCW, WCW just took the name with them. Also the big difference here was that WCW had Turner, they had their own TV station immediately, TNA has had to combat the modern belief that everything that isn't WWE is destined to fail in the eyes of television executives.
I’m not even talking about Ted Turner’s WCW. I’m referring to when the Crockett’s owned the promotion and used the WCW name. And the time frame it took them to reach national television and PPV to the time frame it took TNA. That was before Ted Turner bought the promotion and took over, or Eric Bischoff was involved for that matter.
And again the big difference is that ECW had a few major advantages, for one they had a product no one had seen before. Hardcore wrestling at that point in time was a new concept. On top of that ECW got on TNN and promptly went out of business not long after. ECW catered exclusively to a niche audience and once they went national that came back to bite them in the ass when no one tuned in and the company went under. TNA have succeeded in marketing themselves to a solid audience which is why 8 years down the line there's no sign of TNA going out of business.
And just the same TNA has advantages over ECW. ECW had to compete with TWO giant corporations for the divided wrestling audience. ECW didn’t have the financial backing that TNA does. But when you go beyond the differences for both company’s the time frame still matters and that was my point. My sole point is how long it took both company’s to get national television and PPV and reach the benchmark TNA’s at right now.
You can’t say it’s a disadvantage of TNA that instead of trying to do something revolutionary or at least trying to be different then the norm (WWE) they’ve instead put out a product much the same as the WWE and haven’t done anything groundbreaking on their own. That’s their fault not ECW’s.
And the only reason ECW got TNN and then promptly went out of business was because they didn’t have a financial backer like TNA has and the station they were on was actually sabotaging them and not behind them, promoting them, doing everything they can to help TNA be a successful program on Spike like Spike is and has done for TNA.
Except that TNA has been growing. TNA have toured internationally, has ROH?
No, but they’re televised internationally.
TNA's had a national TV deal for 5 years, ROH has had one for 1 year, ECW had one and went down the drain not long after, WCW was owned by a TV station so it wasn't the same.
So they all reached the benchmark of having a national television deal. Thanks! That was exactly the point I was making, which you just acknowledged. I don’t care how long TNA’s had a national tv deal compared to Ring of Honor, the fact is is that they both have reached that benchmark.
ECW also did so in the same time frame as TNA. In fact, ECW had equal or better ratings then TNA has had.
So once again this 8 year praise isn’t so impressive when you realize the other companies who’ve reached those levels in that same time frame. ECW went out of business yes, but WCW folded eventually too and it took WCW a lot longer to do so, and there’s no reason TNA couldn’t be following that same long term path. The future is unwritten.
TNA have grown and more to the point TNA have grown during an era when wrestling has been cast in an unfavourable light, in the 80's and 90's when the WWF, WCW and ECW were establishing themselves wrestling wasn't looked at as a joke by the general public.
Congratulations. So has Ring of Honor on a national stage.
These days anyone who watches wrestling and isn't under 12 gets criticised for liking something that is looked at as "stupid", similarly TNA has managed to thrive in an era where television networks don't give 2 shits about wrestling because it doesn't draw anywhere near the level of viewership as it used to.
Is that so? Then how come WWE has four different programs and both RAW and Smackdown are the highest ranked shows on their networks. Ring of Honor has also gotten national television in an era where television networks don’t. give 2 shits about wrestling because it doesn’t draw. Uh huh.
Your praise right here for TNA is entirely misguided.
TNA has been very successful, ROH, CZW, FIP, XPW, XWF, etc. All started around the same time and none have reached TNA's success, TNA's got 2 hours a week of regular programming, they've got house shows, they've got international tours, they've got action figures, a videogame deal, international broadcasting, monthly PPV's. None of those other companies have that. In short TNA has expanded far beyond what other companies are doing and sure you can argue that Panda backed them which gave them an advantage, but it's not as though TNA was created by Panda, they convinced Panda Energy to back them and that in turn helped them establish themselves faster than any of their competition, that's a smart decision.
There’s no doubt at all about what TNA has gained. There’s no doubt that their funding by Panda Energy was a smart decision.
You can't compare TNA's rise to the WWE's or WCW's or even ECW's really because it's a completely different era.
And yet TNA fans compare TNA’s rise to the WWE’s, WCW’s and all other promotions with this 8 year claim, when they believe it benefits them. Do you see the hypocrisy right there? Do you see what’s wrong with that? Now you’re just making excuses for TNA when you do actually compare TNA to those company’s and their beginnings aren’t actually all that impressive.
) before WrestleMania three which was really the pinnacle of the wrestling boom at that time.
