If the Best Characters of TNA All Happened at the Same Time...

[BigBombB]

...would TNA have been able to create a legit war with WWE?

This would be the roster (feel free to add a few midcarders at your own discretion):

Sting (Pre-Joker period)
Christian Cage (Heel run)
AJ Styles (Top face, serious title contender)
Bully Ray (Singles heel run)
Kurt Angle (Biggest acquisition in TNA history)
Samoa Joe (Badass coming up, dominating X-Division, set to take on Heavyweight scene)
Bobby Lashley (Modern day)

Mick Foley (First coming in, big storyline possibilities)
Scott Steiner (Performing beyond everyone's expectations)
Jeff Jarrett (Leader of the company having rare matches)
Raven (Around the time of his World Title victory)
Abyss (Legit scary monster)
James Mitchell (Abyss' manager)
Ethan Carter III (Upcoming midcard heel)
Rockstar Spud (EC3 lackey)
Eric Young (Don't fire Eric era)
Jerry Lynn (X-Division pioneer)
Low Ki (Top X-Division star)
Doug Williams (X-Division heel run)
The Great Sanada (Modern day)
Austin Aries (X-Division run)

Beer Money (Robert Roode and James Storm)
Bad Influence (Christopher Daniels and Kazarian)
Motor City Machineguns (Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin)
The American Wolves (Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards)
The Hardy Boys (Matt and Jeff Hardy)

Awesome Kong (First run)
Gail Kim (Modern day)
Mickie James (Heel era)
The Beautiful People (Angelina Love and Velvet Sky)
Taryn Terrell (Modern day)
Sarita and Taylor Wilde
Madison Rayne (Killer Queen run)

If nothing else, I hope this topic reminds people that TNA has done a lot of great angles over their history and created a lot of memories that we will associate with some of our favorite stars forever. The current wrestling landscape, the slow invasion of Japan into the American scene, TNA has to fight even harder to survive. They may not be biting at the heels of WWE but a lot of promotions are beginning to bite at TNA's heels. Never has TNA's future as a relevant promotion ever been more in question and, with luck, they will start churning out more big characters like the ones above to create the best product we have seen yet.

 

[BestInTheWorldv2]

It depends what type of war we are talking about, if its viewership then as much as i would have liked to think so, i dont think they would have been able to compete with WWE at the "peak" of the charachters mentioned. A few years ago i really enjoyed TNA, i stumbled across them before Hogan and Co. arrived and thought it was a great alternative to what i was seeing in the WWE, it was sort of unpredictable and i enjoy that when watching anything but then slowly my interest was lost and then my favourite wrestler of the company (AJ Styles) left and my interest in the storylines started to fade into me just reading spoilers hoping something astonishing happens to get my attention again.

Anyways back to the topic
I much prefer Doug Williams in the British Invasion with Magnus and Rob Terry as opposed to a X division singles star. Maybe because im from England, who knows?!?!
and
also i'd add Sheik Abdul Bashir he was the good old typical stereotype that you just love to hate to add to the X Division
and
Matt Morgan as the cocky matt who knew he was good and always trying to prove himself to the Main Event Mafia was a good charachter who should have got the world title back then

But yeah i dont know why but i just feel even at the peak and with the roster above it wouldnt be able to competee witht the WWE in terms of viewership but in terms of in ring war, storyline and matches put on, they could have competed no doubt with the talent

 

[King Patrick Star]

If the best characters of TNA all happened at the same time, TNA would have been able to create a legit war with WWE.

Kurt Angle
Bobby Roode
Sting
Jeff Hardy
A.J. Styles
Bully Ray
Samoa Joe
Magnus
Lashley
Rob Van Dam
Austin Aries
Eric Young
Mr. Anderson
Mick Foley
Chris Sabin
James Storm

These 16 TNA Wrestlers were all TNA World Heavyweight Champions. They were the Face of TNA at one point or another. You have seasoned veterans, Hall of Famers, Tag Team specialists, X-Division Stars, and hungry young talent, all at the top. Build the roster around them, and we will have a 2015 Monday Night War.

Actually, they did have these 16 Stars together at one point…when Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff took over. I guess the potential was there, but now TNA is just an independent Wrestling company who happens to have a national TV deal.

 

[JerichoPM]

There´s no debate that TNA had the talent to go ahead and fight WWE head-to-head, they had and still have a quite good roster. Thing his, to make your Company relevant you also need things other than the talent, you need a good marketing campaign to promote your brand, a good job by the network your airing at promoting your brand and your show, and SpikeTV never did that well. Also, in my view for someone to really challenge WWE, it would have to be a very good business man buying TNA and promoting it´s company, then TNA will be in everyone´s talking topic´s and really hot, just like WCW.

 

[sMark]

TNA was on the right track before Hogan joined them, this was a huge fatal blow that destroyed everything they did prior, TNA still in aftereffect from it even today.

A War? I don't think so, but the real alternative and Smackdown ratings and better buyrates could be their, it's a shame to look at Hogan's rule results.

 

[The Samoan Heritage]

I think TNA's best chance of going head to head with Wwe was when they had the Main Event Mafia. TNA had "legends" such as Nash, Booker T, Angle, Sting, Steiner all working together to face off against TNA's best(at least at that time). You had AJ Styles and Joe going against Angle and Sting, you had guys like Steiner and Foley mentoring Petey Williams and Abyss, TNA had everyone on the roster involved in some way.

Yours roster is great, and I love it(though I would add LAX & Generation Me to the tag scene, and Replace Foley with Rhyno) , but I still don't think TNA would've been able to competite with Wwe. TNA just didn't have the right promotion at that time. Spike never truelly promoted TNA, (though they had TNA promote other shows). And Hogan never promoted TNA, in fact I don't remember Hogan ever mentioning TNA, outside of the usual internet wrestling interviews. In my opinion any TNA roster during the last maybe 7 years would've beaten Wwe in talent wise, TNA's issue then and even now is that they don't have much promotion. Destination america is promoting TNA a lot, and that's what they need, the only issue with that is TNA and D.A. are both trying to grow, so its going to take a while before they start to get attention.

.........Also just to repeat this again I Love your roster, there's so many possibilities, of things that could happen, as soon as I saw it, I imediately started fantasy booking.

 

[FitFinlay4Life]

Talking the big stars that have been through TNA is okay but were they got people talking in the past wasn't so much the main event scene; in fact, it was regularly the weakest regarded part of the program. What got people talking was the divisions that the WWe didn't care about, were things slipped was when it became only about the WHC (and occasionally control of the company).

A knockouts division that not only had women who could wrestle but you could distinguish among them - from the pioneer Gail Kim, to the monster Kong, to the nuts Daffney, the strange Roxxi, girl next door Taylor Wilde, Mexican Sarita, Japanese Hamada etc, the bitchy Beautiful People - they weren't interchangeable, you knew the differences in each and everyone.

Then you had the X-Division were we got treated to everything good about the Indies and Cruisers because we had the cream of their stock, plus we got the dream that was Ultimate X.

Finally, tag teams that mattered - AMW, the Naturals, Team Canada, Triple X, 3Live Kru, LAX, British Invasion, 3D, Styles & Daniels etc. For several years TNA led the way on the doubles game to the extent that several former tag specialists are now prominent singles guys.


The big issue is balance, TNA has approximately two hours of television per week to try and make four championships relevant. If anything, a best ever roster would make that even more of a struggle which would inevitably lead to factions to ensure all the big names get some face time.

 

[klunderbunker]

They would all form a massive heel stable, gain power and then lose to Sting at Bound For Glory.

Sorry that was too easy. Anyway the answer is no. TNA has far too many issues working against it to keep them from being a legit threat to WWE. Here are a few of them.

1. Brand damage. TNA has squandered so many chances that fans look at them as a second to third rate promotion and aren't willing to give them a chance. Yeah they can put on good to very good shows, but the common fans aren't interested in watching the shows at this point. They've been burned too many times and they just can't get them back. As I've said before, they couldn't draw 3,000 people combined in three days in New York City. If the ticket prices were even reasonable, there is zero reason to not be able to draw a thousand people a night in a city of eight million people.

2. As has been said, time. TNA has two hours a week to fit in all their talent. Counting NXT, WWE has four times that much. They can spread things out and let the stories breathe a little bit. It's a benefit for WWE as they've been around a lot longer and know how to spread things out a bit better. If TNA would ever use Xplosion for anything more than a nothing show with one or two matches a week, it could alleviate this problem. Assuming there's nothing stopping them from putting it on Youtube, I've wondered why they haven't done this for years.

3. If TNA just pushes the old guys over and over again, it's nothing more than a matter of time until people leave. Look at Bound For Glory, the show that TNA has promoted as their be all and end all show. Here are the winners of the main events:

2005: Rhino (there because Nash was in the hospital)
2006: Sting
2007: Sting
2008: Sting
2009: AJ Styles
2010: Jeff Hardy (far more about Hogan and Bischoff)
2011: Kurt Angle
2012: Jeff Hardy
2013: AJ Styles (left at the next show)
2014: Great Muta/Tajiri

Two shows, three if you could Jeff Hardy in 2010 and that's a big stretch, were about pushing new people (Rhino and AJ in 2009). Bound For Glory has almost always been about pushing the old guys, much like TNA in general. This works for a little while, but at the end of the day, it turns into old guys beating young ones to the point that fans don't care about the young ones and stop watching because it's a nostalgia promotion. That will not work long term and WWE is more than capable of riding it out.

TNA is at a competitive disadvantage to WWE and the talent pool has never and will never be the main reason why.

 

[MrPlatano1989]

Great thread, I enjoyed your roster, and you are right! TNA has provided us with unlimited nostalgic and epic content! I think it gave some of us former WCW fans closure just because we were able to see people like DDP, JJ, Sting, Booker T, Nash, Scott, Mike Tenay, Raven, and countless others being respected and showcased under a certain light. I mean who would have guess in 1999 that we will have an epic faction consisting of Sting, Kurt Angle, Booker T, Steiner, and Kevin Nash? Thats legendary in my eyes and the value of it will only grow as the years pass. That being said their roster has always delivered, even when weaker than previous years. I think TNA would really climb if all their shows were filmed in the UK in those huge arenas. It really comes across well. That and raising more awareness. I think TNA should try and send a bunch of their stars to late night shows the week before Slammiversary and Bound For Glory. As for the arena comment, just take a look at the video below.

UK IMPACT episode Steiner vs Terry
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dckPOwAZkZs

Slammiversary X in Texas Aries vs Joe X Title
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByxjBlhF7rY

Crowd size and energy can carry the show on its own!

 

[MrPlatano1989]

Sorry It didnt let me edit my last post, but heres a picture Dixie just released of the upcoming episodes in the UK! I suggest that anyone trying to get into TNA again or for the first time, watch all of these tapings! I definitely expect it to feel special with these crowds and truly showcase the current roster and how much people are behind them!

 

[mlp420]

Not to rain on what seems to be a fun little concept for a thread, but TNA needs $$$ to compete with WWE. The best product in the world would be useless if they can't match WWE's star power, marketing, promotion, production, etc. Being frustrated with the company's creative because they aren't competing with WWE is pointless, especially considering all wrestling companies have flaws creatively.