Dude, good wrestling gets you about a .7 rating. Ever since TNA has been brining in guys like Christian, Angle, Sting, etc. there popularity has gone up. I never watched guys like Sabin, Shelley, and whoever else they have because until they have wrestled on a bigger stage and have made a name for themselves I don't care about them. I would much rather see rikishi's fat ass dancing than Chris Sabin. Maybe if I see Rikish wrestle Chris Sabin and Chris Sabin has a great match I will say hey this guy is good and get interested. But as long as he is wrestling Alan Shelley (I know his name is Alex but still the guys a nobody) I am not going to give a bakers white ass about him.
On another note to one of the guys in this discussion that was saying that this is not how WCW started, thats total BS dude. WCW started by mixing in home grown talent like Sting and others from the old NWA Barry Windham, Arn Anderson, bringing back Ric Flair, bringing in guys like Vader and eventually the likes of Hogan, Hall, Nash, and Savage etc. While also building on it's own group of cruiserweights like Malenko, Mysterio, and Benoit.
The thing is if WCW had just said let's be different than WWF and let's just do cruiserweight wrestling, they never would have been what they became. "An Alternative" is not the answer, "A competitor" is. And they have to start building main event level, and mid card level talent that compares to the WWE and then let the X-Division develop through the fans that will watch their old favorites like Goldust and Angle who bring over WWE fans.
WCW Saturday night was the big show in WCW for a year after they got Savage and Hogan and they were pulling 1.0 ratings, so TNA is on the right track. They just need more talent, and more time (2 hour time slot) in order to bring it in.
Plus this generation blows. Edge is one of the few wrestlers I like in WWE along with Orton, but the rest of the guys are terrible in the ring. Cena, Batista, Lashley, Khali, what a joke. I'd rather see Lex Luger hobble out there all cracked up then watch that garbage that WWE is putting on. Most of the people in this discussion are way off about TNA. They are making necessary moves to get themself more fans. Bringing in these "rejects" as you are all calling them is an incredibly smart move. Think about what era these guys wrestled in, the "attitude" era. Only the biggest era in wrestling history when the ratings reached 7 and above. Keep it up TNA.