Is it time for another Radicalz?

[CCIV]

I'm not saying the WWE is going out of business anytime soon or that TNA will ever truly compete HOWEVER..., if you are a mid card (should be) main event player being held back and seeing over and over how the WWE trusts and wants its friends and past stars instead of you would you leave?

Regardless of whether the recent Punk news is true or not I'd seriously consider seeing if 4 or 5 other guys were interested and I'd walk out and go to TNA in 90 days. I could see it being Ziggler, Axel, Sandow, Truth, Barrett. All guys were pushed hard but have since been given B-player characters or stories and are being forgotten as those in charge are more interested in others. I watched TNA for the first time in 2 years and it was quite refreshing. When the tide began to turn years ago it was because WWE started doing what WCW wasn't and I see TNA doing some of that right now, let's see if they can maintain it however. Add in a small group of WWE jumpers and you might have something.

 

[Fabulous Freebirds]

I like your idea. I really do but the problem right off the bat is that for some of the guys you mentioned that you would want in a radicalz group, they can't use their names in TNA anymore because it's WWE trademarked property. That kind of ruins the appeal of it.

 

[rge2010]

I doubt we would ever see CM Punk go to TNA. He is smarter than that, the place is a sinking ship with people leaving almost every month now. TNA has been around over 10 years and is nowhere near the level it should be, despite hot property like Jeff Hardy, Kurt Angle and megastars like Flair, Sting and Hogan joining the ranks.

Ziggler and Barrett at midcard in WWE are better off than Main Event in TNA.

He would probably go back to his routes at ROH if anywhere.

 

[ramblinroy682]

I would love to see a group consisting of Ziggler, Axel, Swagger, and maybe Barrett jump ship. The one poster who stated the problem is character ownership...remember two guys named Hall and Nash? Losing Diesel and Razor Ramon gimmicks didn't hurt them too bad. The Natural Nic Nemeth and Joe Hennig sound better than their WWE names anyway.

But, there are two major problems. One is TNA is in cutting mode and I don't think they want more Wwe rejects. Two is I'm guessing Wwe mid card still pays a whole lot better than TNA.

 

[kumarjtk]

i dont think he leave wwe. He take rest for wrestlemania season. So wwe use this in cm punk way. Time will tell.

if cm punk signed by tna is not possible now. Once his contract expires then its possible.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

The problem is that damn near every former WWE wrestler believes that he wasn't "used right" or that he was "held back" due to "politics" or whatever. We've heard such tirades from the likes of Matt Hardy, MVP, D.H. Smith, Ken Shamrock etc. Hell, Shane Douglas has made a career of making such claims about every wrestling promotion he's ever worked for. I'm sure that it's true in some instance, the law of averages has to bear that out at some point. But I find it impossible that so many disgruntled wrestlers all seem to have the same excuses for why they didn't rise to levels they feel that they should have risen to. I think it's become a crutch, a far too convenient crutch, that some wrestlers use because it's easier than admitting the POSSIBILITY that they just weren't nearly as talented as they believed themselves to be.

I know that it's fashionable to bash WWE, sometimes it's even justified, but it's not some evil, maniacal corporation that seeks to undermine talented wrestlers on its roster for shits & giggles. That doesn't mean that WWE doesn't make the wrong choices sometimes, because it does. Every wrestling company makes the wrong decisions in who to push sometimes. The management of wrestling companies do switch attention from some wrestlers they once had faith in to others. It happens ALL the time. It happened in the territory days, it happened in WCW, it happens New Japan, All Japan, ROH and TNA. That's the way pro wrestling and even the world itself works: guys that maybe should be elevated or promoted don't while others who shouldn't are sometimes and there are guys who feel they should be elevated or promoted even if they don't have the ability.

As far as having guys jump to TNA, I don't necessarily see what that would accomplish. Probably 70% of the major stories regarding TNA for the past 6 months have revolved around the company hemorrhaging money. Top stars, guys that they've spent years building their company around, have left or are in the process of leaving because TNA offers them, reportedly, much less money. At the end of the day, making a living is what it's all about and there's a very strong possibility that all of those wrestlers mentioned in the OP make significantly more money in WWE than they would in TNA.

Even if they did decide to jump ship and head to TNA, it'd be no time before all the old chestnuts would be dusted off. You know, the complaints of TNA signing "WWE Rejects" or "TNA's gonna bring them in and push them to the top while "holding back" wrestlers who've helped build the company." Plus, it wouldn't make one shred of difference when it comes to growing the audience. TNA's spent huge amounts of money bringing in former WCW and/or WWE wrestlers that are and/or were much bigger stars than Ziggler, Axel, Truth, Sandow & Barrett.

 

[johnbragg]

More problems:

1. WWE isn't likely to just let them go the way WCW did.

2. TNA would probably not manage 4 new WWE midcarders any better than they manage their top homegrown stars. I think Storm, Aries, Roode, Joe, Styles, Chris Sabin, would all change places with Ziggler, Truth, Sandow and Barrett.

3. Given the recent budget-driven TNA roster shrinkage (Bischoff, Hogan, Styles, Sting), I don't think TNA is giving out any contracts competitive with a WWE jobber's salary.

 

[CCIV]

"The problem is that damn near every former WWE wrestler believes that he wasn't "used right" or that he was "held back" due to "politics" or whatever."

True. I remember the "shoot" comments from the likes of Jericho and BigShow when they jumped to WWE. Two guys I like but I thought Damn! Both of your talents were on full display on the #1 wrestling show on tv in front of the largest wrestling audience in history and it still wasn't good enough.

 

[Ziirox]

Someone brought up the fact that they can't use their WWE names outside of WWE. Guys like Wade Barrett, Dolph Ziggler, Damien Sandow, and other mid card guys are almost nothing without their WWE names. Wade Barrett would be Stuart Bennett (yuck), Dolph would be Nic Nemeth (which is actually a better name than Dolph Ziggler. Get on that WWE. Change his name), Damien Sandow would probably revert back to Aaron "The Idol" Stevens.

I think that four or five TNA wrestlers coming to WWE would be a better plan. Guys like Robert Roode, Kazarian, James Storm, and Christopher Daniels would make be some solid talents to add to WWE's roster. Roode and Storm being the Eddie Guerrero and (pre-murder suicide) Chris Benoit of the group.

 

[Fabulous Freebirds]

Someone brought up the fact that they can't use their WWE names outside of WWE. Guys like Wade Barrett, Dolph Ziggler, Damien Sandow, and other mid card guys are almost nothing without their WWE names. Wade Barrett would be Stuart Bennett (yuck), Dolph would be Nic Nemeth (which is actually a better name than Dolph Ziggler. Get on that WWE. Change his name), Damien Sandow would probably revert back to Aaron "The Idol" Stevens.

I think that four or five TNA wrestlers coming to WWE would be a better plan. Guys like Robert Roode, Kazarian, James Storm, and Christopher Daniels would make be some solid talents to add to WWE's roster. Roode and Storm being the Eddie Guerrero and (pre-murder suicide) Chris Benoit of the group.

That would not work either. None of those guys are big names, 3 out of 4 of them are old and have no upside anymore.

 

[JohnJohnson]

I'd say that instead of those names leaving, I'd say they stay in the WWE but form a stable. Since the Shield will be splitting up soon, I can see where a new stable that comes in and destroys people could work. But maybe a not so new stable. There could be a big title match between Bryan(c) and Cena as a rematch or something and the Bad News Barrett comes out and says he has some bad news. That's when, from the crowd, Rytard, Curtis Axel, Darren Young, Heath Slater and Justin Gabriel come out and surround the ring. Bad New Barrett: "The Nexus is back". This time around WWE can learn from the success of The Shield and have the Nexus all fight as equals instead of Barrett and Lackeys. How many times has the nWo, DX, or Four Horsemen reformed? It would be like that again. They could bring in Otunga to be one of the main speakers along with Barrett. I'd even go so far as to throw Brodus Clay in the mix. Instead of simply destroying everyone in the ring, they can go in and target only the big names that get all the spot light and taking TV time away from other mid carders. This will give reason to see more younger faces get trial pushes. They would be like the Robin Hoods of wrestling. Targeting Cena, Orton, Bryan, Reigns, Jericho, Punk(if he stays/comes back especially after using Nexus as a stepping stone into the main event scene).