Is TNA the future of wrestling?

[Myko]

TNA, pure wrestling at it's best, no pushing giants who can't wrestle, and no pushing guys with good gimmicks who can't wrestle, non stop action for the people who like to sit back and watch wrestling and not Laurenitis's horribble promo work or Vinces arrogant match changing authoritive figure ways.

TNA has guys like Samoa Joe who could be a world champion on any of the 3 WWE brands, AJ Styles, who has the talent of any great cruiserweight but with size and the ability to carry a crowd, Rhino, Cage, Abyss, the names go on, Killings, more... and even a possible Goldberg signing?.. Oh yeah!, Sting!

TNAs ratings keep impressing Spike TV while ECW ratings keep dropping like a lead balloon with Vince in control, Angle, Sabu, and RVD out and Big Show atop the business.

Story By: Ryan Clark
A reported earlier this week, the 6.29.06 edition of TNA Impact scored a 1.1 rating.

TNA Impact is continuing to deliver for Spike in their targeted male demographics with a 1.3 among Males 18-49, 1.4 among Males 18-34 and an overall average audience of 1.4 million viewers; it's biggest audience to date.

To break things down, TNA Impact is up 31% in household ratings, 59% among Males 18-49, 90% among Males 18-34 and 32% in their average audience. SPIKE TV's rating for TNA's timeslot is up 209% from a year ago; they aired the Lance Krall show and Most Xtreme Elimination Challenge previously.

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Yes, they may only get half the ratings of ECW but pretty soon they will catch on in my mind. They are slowly catching up as ECWs ratings ever so fastly fall down and their talent ever so fastly depletes.

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TNA is not the brand of this year, not even of next year, but in my mind they are the brand of the future, pretty soon they will win this WWE WCW war over Vince and the WWE, unlike WCW, Vince is on the bad list with every one of his wrestlers and all wrestlers respect Dixie Carter and TNA for his niceness and alowing the bookers to work and having a show that is all about wrestling, what do you think?, is TNA the show of the future?, will they be bought out like WCW?, dissapear like NWO, become an unknown like Heartland or become the next WWE and take over the USA network and even the CW?

 

[ShaneRamlall]

Yes it is.

 

[gamehead]

Yes it is.

That's not the Shane I know

 

[CrazedECW]

Yes it is. Hes has much better talent, and while its still growing it will eventually get its share of publicity. Not to mention is better airtime.

 

[ShaneRamlall]

That's not the Shane I know

You always got to bring the best in me.Well so be it.Tna is the future for a great reason.More action.WWE is built around promos while in tna you can have a good 6 way dance with no back ground feuding.A 6 way dance just for entertainment.It gets the fans into it.Yet in WWE they have to have a whole bunch of promos.They only have about 4 matches maybe even 5 for a umaga squash match.You barely see a squash match on TNA.My last reason is because TNA HAS THE X DIVISION!!!something new that WWE cant have.

 

[Soul Crusher]

I can't help but feel that this half-assed incarnation of ECW that WWE launched is a knee-jerk reaction to TNA. They feel threatened by the roster and the great matches that are put on, and the fact that a lot of wrestling industry veterans are on board to help the company grow (Larry Zbyszko, Jim Cornette, etc.). The Tag Team division in TNA kills what WWE has to offer with The James Gang, Team 3-D, Styles/Daniels, AMW, etc., and the Knockouts are miles ahead of the Divas in both wrestling ability and in the eye candy department (Christy Hemme and So Cal Val > anyone in WWE). TNA is going to be huge eventually - let's just hope that Spike promotes it correctly and gives it a 2 hour time slot very soon.

 

[el_ravager]

Hi everybody new here, just wanted to say hi before I posted.

Lets not get ahead of ourselves just yet, TNA is great but I don't know if anyone will be able to unseat the WWE for a very long time if ever. WWE's undoing will most likely be their own doing (It will eventually happen, no promotion can last forever, except for CMLL.) Having said TNA is not the future of wrestling. TNA is the present of professional wrestling. As much as I enjoy some of the things that WWE does, they are not wrestling. They certainly have some of the best wrestlers in the world, like Benoit, Michaels,HHH, Angle, and some very good guys like Edge, London(Who will never get the respect he deserves in WWE), but what WWE offers is not wrestling. WWE offers soap opera stories with wrestling as a filler. If they could find a way to completely remove the wrestling and still make huge profits they would, because they would never have to worry about injuries. This is why they toned down the cruiserweights, limit move sets and reduce their matches to short little episodes that mainly go to further their gimmicks and storylines. For having 4 and now 5 hours of wrestling programming a week with the addition of ECW, it should be a crime at how little wrestling there in WWE.

Frankly I really don't care if TNA can ever unseat WWE, or they can ever approach the kind of ratings that RAW gets right now, as long as they can continue on the path they are on. Maybe if the industry were to pick up they could one day approach that, but as long as they can into to push slowly push towards that 2 rating, start touring and run PPV's outside of Orlando they don't even need to worry about competing with the WWE, since for the most part its a totally different audience. They can be quite successful and profitable being an alternative for Wrestling fans, not just casual and Sports Entertainment fans. The fan base is certainly out there for the Oldschool and the modern style that TNA combines. As long as TNA continues to make money(which apparently they now are) and can start to pay their wrestlers a little better and offer them more security they will be in very good shape. If that happens, there will be plenty of talent available for TNA, because certain guys just fit better into that type of product. WWE's great wrestlers are getting past their primes, and its very possible that you won't see the good technical wrestlers coming to WWE in the future when they have an alternative that better fits their style. For years WCW was a haven for the technically gifted and oldschool minded, while WWE scooped up mostly Entertainers and characters. There are alot of wrestlers that made a very good living without the WWE thanks to WCW. TNA certainly has the financial backing in Panda Energy, they have the momentum with the exciting X-Division. They have their own rising stars like AJ Styles,Daniels, Joe,Abyss, Monty Brown, Killings, Shelley, Sabin, AMW. They have the older established guys like team 3-D, Nash, The James Gang, Jarrett,Sting, Raven who are there to give the product past credibility, and they have the guys who have hovered on the edge of the Spotlight elsewhere in wrestling like Rhino, Christian Cage and Jeff Hardy(if he ever gets his head straight) who are poised to be big players in the future of TNA. The best thing for TNA is to just keep on what they are doing. Despite all the rage from the TNA haters, and the marks who say they won't last, they are doing a pretty good job of lasting. Honestly I don't know why it seems that alot of WWE fans are so insecure about the WWE having a little bit of competition. At this point it would take almost a act of God for WWE to be dethroned, and as a wrestling fan I say its good for people to have different options to choose from based on their preferences for wrestling. It would be a very bad day if WWE suddenly closed their doors, just as it was a bad day when WCW and ECW folded, when WCCW went under, and it would be a bad day if TNA closed in the future. There is plenty of room for both WWE and TNA in the market. I can understand why Vince McMahon doesn't want competition, he is a classical egomaniac who wants to monopolize the entire wrestling industry. Its ironic that WWE put on some of its best ever wrestling, earned some of its best ratings, and had some of its most profitable years thanks to the competition from WCW that drove them to actually work for their money. It seems that Vince is like the American Automakers of the 1970's. He wants to put out a product that no one has any choice but to buy if they don't want to walk or ride a bike, and he doesn't really care about the quality and doesn't want to put that much effort into it to make it better when he can simply skim by and still make millions. I can understand where he is coming from he is a greedy businessman, but I cant understand where WWE fans come from when hate on everything that is not WWE. It just doesn't make sense if you really care about wrestling to not want the industry to be strong and have a few choices.

 

[el_ravager]

Oh definitely its a knee Jerk reaction. Just like the whole Paul Heyman interview where he said TNA is of no concern to anyone in the business, or them saying on ECW TV "this is the fastest hour" and overusing words like Extreme. The WWE pounding phrases like the Samoan Bulldozer, Smashing Machine, or whatever they want to call Umaga this week to try to get people to forget about Samoa Joe. What really gets me more than anything is why some people don't see these obvious attempts by WWE, but yet say TNA shouldn't be talking about WWE on their program. TNA is bitter, TNA looks second rate when they do this. My question to those people would be what the hell does WWE look like when they are obviously an Elephant afraid of mouse?

 

[Soul Crusher]

Oh definitely its a knee Jerk reaction. Just like the whole Paul Heyman interview where he said TNA is of no concern to anyone in the business, or them saying on ECW TV "this is the fastest hour" and overusing words like Extreme. The WWE pounding phrases like the Samoan Bulldozer, Smashing Machine, or whatever they want to call Umaga this week to try to get people to forget about Samoa Joe. What really gets me more than anything is why some people don't see these obvious attempts by WWE, but yet say TNA shouldn't be talking about WWE on their program. TNA is bitter, TNA looks second rate when they do this. My question to those people would be what the hell does WWE look like when they are obviously an Elephant afraid of mouse?

Either they're intentionally overusing words like "extreme" and phrases like "A new breed unleashed!" and "Anything goes!", or maybe they're just that inept on the mic. Joey Styles was a shadow of his former self when he was on Raw, and that trend continues on WWECW. You could blame that on him, or the fact that the in-ring action is nowhere near what you would see in the real ECW, giving Styles few opportunities to shout "OH MY GOD!" or to sound genuinely excited.

As expected, billionaire Vinnie Mac turned ECW into a third brand of predictable "sports entertainment" that shares a name with the wrestling organization that went under in 2001, and that's the only thing they have in common. The matches themselves are as tame as the other WWE brands, and don't hold a candle to what you see in TNA. The style of wrestling has become very lazy in general due to the lack of competition. If TNA can continue to build an following, it will be the shot in the arm that the industry desperately needs, and Vinnie Mac will be forced to display an edgier style on his programming in order to maintain his audience.

 

[The Hitman]

TNA is good stuff, but its not, wwe is and always will be unfortunately, i hope they give wwe a run for there money as wwe can do what they like and they dont have the pressure to deliver, like they had to when feuding with wcw. No pushing giants who cant wrestle. Dont then mention goldberg eh!

 

[doublej_TNA]

TNA is the future, for the following reason:

dont make the Wcw mistake by signing all egos
establish FRESH tallent (lets face it Smackdown sucks and umaga is weak)
WWF is starting to return to their past in DX, Foley, ECW shity revival

Basically the ONLY reason WWF acquired WCW is because of a lawsuit in which Time Warner settle to give WWF first dibs on the company if Turner ever decided to sell. (which he did) IF that was not the case, there were MANY others who would have loved to buy WCW and still use it!

AND Jarrett may be President of TNA but he is not selfish. Sure he is going to have the title here and there and especially b4 Sting, Steiner, Cage all signed and the TV deal because basically he is the largest draw. Love him or hate him he is one of the few that have sucessfully competed in all wrestling promotions...
6x Intercontinental champ
2x wwf Tag team champ
1x WWF European Champ
1 of 3 Euro-continetal Champs (D-low, and Angle were others)
4x WCW champ
3x WCW US champ
6x NWA world champ

 

[ShaneRamlall]

TNA is good stuff, but its not, wwe is and always will be unfortunately, i hope they give wwe a run for there money as wwe can do what they like and they dont have the pressure to deliver, like they had to when feuding with wcw. No pushing giants who cant wrestle. Dont then mention goldberg eh!

IF WWe cant do w/e they like.Your wrong.If they did Vince Mcmahon will let Heyman run the ECw buisness and let heyman bring back the ecw but for some reason they cant.I wonder why....

 

[Raginbull432]

If TNA could get a better TV deal, with perhaps TNT or FX, and a 2 hour show from like 8-10 or 9-11 on a weeknight then it could be the future. The matches are alot better and they don't have the stupid gimmicks that WWE has. Also, WWE wastes alot of time with things like the Diva search and promoting other things like their magazine on air. Not to mention they waste time with stupid promos.

 

[Philbrook37]

haha how can it be when all the stars are washed up wcw ecw wwe talent that are getting fat?

 

[Aeksis8745]

hmm that last statement can be countered by the entire X-division roster

 

[tek2k]

i'd like tna a lot more if they got rid of all 36 and older ex-wwe/wcw people. i'm tired of seeing them.

 

[wrestlingtaker]

No TNA is not the future of wrestling. The WWE is. WWE will never DIE and i mean NEVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[xTripleHHHx]

No TNA is not the future of wrestling. The WWE is. WWE will never DIE and i mean NEVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

dude get your head out of your ass and leave the tna fourms if you think its crap

 

[scalizi]

No TNA is not the future of wrestling. The WWE is. WWE will never DIE and i mean NEVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sounds like you treat WWE like that ol' pair of underwear u got....so comfortable that u dont want to admit they startin to stink...sometimes u need a refreshing change tho

 

[RVDblazeguy]

can yu say hell no

 

[Philbrook37]

there talent is fat and old how long are u gonna think theyll last when they all retire and there runnng out of funds to pey there talent vince wll buy it ot soon and ull see a j styles in an wwe arena soon along with ur onyl real maineventer samoa joe

 

[dirtyshubb]

WWE offered Joe a contract but he turned them down, and i dont think aj has any plans of going there either.
i think tna could be the future and as stated before all they really need is to have a better time slot and a 2 hour show and they would have a lot more freedom with what they can do each week.
To be honest i didnt watch wrestling in a couple of years and have recently started getting back into everything and i have to say that wwe has gone downhill, and yet tna have been putting on great shows which always keep me coming back. I think a lot of people should give it a chance, unless your one of those marks who would die for vince for some unknown reason.

 

[wrestlingtaker]

Sounds like you treat WWE like that ol' pair of underwear u got....so comfortable that u dont want to admit they startin to stink...sometimes u need a refreshing change tho

No I dont treat WWE like my underwear,but I treat TNA like my crap cause it is.

 

[wrestlingtaker]

dude get your head out of your ass and leave the tna fourms if you think its crap

I just want to tell the truth cause there are alot of dumb fucks out there that think TNA is the future which its clearly not going to happen.


Sorry I double posted

 

[gamehead]

Sounds like you treat WWE like that ol' pair of underwear u got....so comfortable that u dont want to admit they startin to stink...sometimes u need a refreshing change tho

LMAO, but its true. The TNA haters would MARRY WWE if it was a girl or shall I say guy!