Rob Van Dam has officially signed with TNA
- Thread starter Ambiguous Turd
- Start date
wiKid hoRse
Occasional Pre-Show
Dis-advantage:
No "ONE OF KIND" entrance music
God I hope TNA pay the licensing fee and get pantera's walk like what he had in the old ECW instead of making their own god awefull entrance music for him.
I think this is great. He is a big name figure who can easily stand up on his own as a top face (he did it in ecw and to a degree wwe). Hopefully he can still bring it in the ring. The fact it was accidently leaked as well should help draw viewers in to, what is the use of a surprise if most of the audience is watching the other channel.
Chicago1989
Ain't it sleep first then eat?
Can't say I'm surprised...This has been in the making for three years now.
He was never interested in joining TNA when Hogan wasn't around, but now that Hulk Hogan is around, all the sudden, RVD wants to go to TNA. Another Hulk Hogan endorsed free agent in TNA...
But I will say that out of all the names that came in with Hulk Hogan, RVD is the best one to come in next to Mr. Anderson. RVD has a HUGE fanbase going from ECW and the WWE, he's a great athlete, and a draw for the hardcore fans.
I just don't like the feeling knowing that there's someone who works in TNA only for the money and the schedule. He doesn't seem to have any passion for wrestling these days.
So to me, it's kind of bittersweet to see RVD again.
He was never interested in joining TNA when Hogan wasn't around, but now that Hulk Hogan is around, all the sudden, RVD wants to go to TNA. Another Hulk Hogan endorsed free agent in TNA...
But I will say that out of all the names that came in with Hulk Hogan, RVD is the best one to come in next to Mr. Anderson. RVD has a HUGE fanbase going from ECW and the WWE, he's a great athlete, and a draw for the hardcore fans.
I just don't like the feeling knowing that there's someone who works in TNA only for the money and the schedule. He doesn't seem to have any passion for wrestling these days.
So to me, it's kind of bittersweet to see RVD again.
The Viper Orton
Pre-Show Stalwart
It's great move for TNA and will continue to be unless this is a down for Samoa Joe or Pope because their big push will be overcome by RVD wether they like it or not. I would Like RVD to go for X-division or TNA legends champion for first 4 months and face MR. Anderson for a 4 to 5 months rivality and it becomes a great push for both as they take out the skills they had from each other and one by one be pushed for Main Event
C.M.Savior
Dark Match Winner
Advantage: RVD will bring actual start power to tna which is something that they could always use. He has a large and loyal fan base who will follow him. He is not that old unlike the other guys tna has brought in. I understand they brought in guys like anderson, pope, kendrick, and wolfe, but none of those guys really have a strong fan base and have not been established. They have no drawing power. RVD has been established for years and can bring a fan base. He is a great in ring preformer. He was at his best in the original ecw. He was allowed to be himself and he earned the name the "whole fu*kin show" by putting on 5 star matches and although he was toned down a bit in wwe, he was still very sucessful and entertaining to watch.
Disadvantages: RVD has been known to be a light/lazy worker. Im not talking about his in-ring work or missing dates and shows, he has always been a hard in-ring worker and as far as I know he has never had any issues involving him missing any dates for shows and events, but he has always preferred a light schedule and shown that wrestling is not the most important thing to him. It is very similar to jeff hardy. I know tna has a pretty light schedule, but knowing how much rvd cost and given his schedule preference, is it going to be worth it for tna to give him all that money for what will probably will be a short period of time? I personally do not think he will be that much of an impact and will not be worth the money.
Also, does anyone remember how he looked the last time he was in a wwe ring? He returned at last years royal rumble for a one time appearance and honestly looked out of shape and very rusty. I dont know what kind of shape he is in now, but if it is anything like he was then, he will not be as impressive and make as big of an impact.
Ive been a huge rvd fan since ecw and he has always been a solid worker and put on excellent matches, but he is also highly overrated. People keep saying he is only 39 but forget that he has had a very physical career. Being in the original ecw and putting his body on the line every night like that then wrestling for wwe for all those years has probably taking a big toll on his body and done a lot of damage. He is not nearly as good as he once was. I still think he can put on good matches, just not the 5 star caliber matches that he was once able to do night after night. He has also never been that good on the mic. He was alright in ecw when he was himself but tna is not ecw and i dont think it would work as well.
Regardless of that though, i do think it is a good thing for tna but i do not think it will have any impact on their ratings. Jeff Hardy is a prime example of this. Hardy is a huge star and was on top of the company in wwe. He was main eventing ppv's as the champion and having awesome matches against cm punk just months prior to debuting in tna and how did they handle his debut?... By having him run out and climb the top of a cage and do nothing?! are you kidding me?! Sure it was only a one time appearance and he has leagal troubles pending, but this guy was the most over superstar in the wwe at the time. So maybe it is a good thing that it got out that tna signed rvd and i think that is what they actually wanted. No one knew 100% if hardy was going to be there so the people that do not normally watch tna probably did not tune in which was a big mistake on tna's part. They should have really hyped that up. But now that everyone knows rvd has signed, they might tune in just to see what he does.
TNA has bigger problems they need to fix though if they want to be serious about competing with wwe. Just signing rvd is not going to accomplish that. Instead of just trying to sign every ex-wwe wrestler and free agent available, they should be putting all of their time into fixing their terible storylines and booking. They can have all the talent in the world and it still would not matter. It does not matter who you have, what matters is how you use them and portray/display them on television. TNA has awful storylines and do has no clue with what to do with their talent. Their production is also very terrible. They need to give the audience and consumers a reason to tune in and continue to be entertained so that they do not switch back over to wwe. That is something that i think will be very hard for them to do. Last weeks impact featured a total of 11 minutes of wrestling in a 2 hour show! Who is going to sit through 2 hours of that? They are going live this monday and the last time they went live, it was one big cluster fu*k. I turned it off after the first 20 minutes. They may of had a great main event at the end, but do you think that the people who do not normally watch tna were still tuning in to watch it? Hopefully RVD does bring some fans and hopefully tna doees use his properly, as they should be using their other talents properly as well. I probably will not watch tna this monday but i will record it so i can fast foward through all the crap promos, videos, and segments, ohh... and i almost forgot the flair hogan tag match (They're really going to have that?!) just so i can see how what they will actually do with rvd because the rest of tna is crap right now and rvd will be the "whole fu*king show" on impact on monday.
Disadvantages: RVD has been known to be a light/lazy worker. Im not talking about his in-ring work or missing dates and shows, he has always been a hard in-ring worker and as far as I know he has never had any issues involving him missing any dates for shows and events, but he has always preferred a light schedule and shown that wrestling is not the most important thing to him. It is very similar to jeff hardy. I know tna has a pretty light schedule, but knowing how much rvd cost and given his schedule preference, is it going to be worth it for tna to give him all that money for what will probably will be a short period of time? I personally do not think he will be that much of an impact and will not be worth the money.
Also, does anyone remember how he looked the last time he was in a wwe ring? He returned at last years royal rumble for a one time appearance and honestly looked out of shape and very rusty. I dont know what kind of shape he is in now, but if it is anything like he was then, he will not be as impressive and make as big of an impact.
Ive been a huge rvd fan since ecw and he has always been a solid worker and put on excellent matches, but he is also highly overrated. People keep saying he is only 39 but forget that he has had a very physical career. Being in the original ecw and putting his body on the line every night like that then wrestling for wwe for all those years has probably taking a big toll on his body and done a lot of damage. He is not nearly as good as he once was. I still think he can put on good matches, just not the 5 star caliber matches that he was once able to do night after night. He has also never been that good on the mic. He was alright in ecw when he was himself but tna is not ecw and i dont think it would work as well.
Regardless of that though, i do think it is a good thing for tna but i do not think it will have any impact on their ratings. Jeff Hardy is a prime example of this. Hardy is a huge star and was on top of the company in wwe. He was main eventing ppv's as the champion and having awesome matches against cm punk just months prior to debuting in tna and how did they handle his debut?... By having him run out and climb the top of a cage and do nothing?! are you kidding me?! Sure it was only a one time appearance and he has leagal troubles pending, but this guy was the most over superstar in the wwe at the time. So maybe it is a good thing that it got out that tna signed rvd and i think that is what they actually wanted. No one knew 100% if hardy was going to be there so the people that do not normally watch tna probably did not tune in which was a big mistake on tna's part. They should have really hyped that up. But now that everyone knows rvd has signed, they might tune in just to see what he does.
TNA has bigger problems they need to fix though if they want to be serious about competing with wwe. Just signing rvd is not going to accomplish that. Instead of just trying to sign every ex-wwe wrestler and free agent available, they should be putting all of their time into fixing their terible storylines and booking. They can have all the talent in the world and it still would not matter. It does not matter who you have, what matters is how you use them and portray/display them on television. TNA has awful storylines and do has no clue with what to do with their talent. Their production is also very terrible. They need to give the audience and consumers a reason to tune in and continue to be entertained so that they do not switch back over to wwe. That is something that i think will be very hard for them to do. Last weeks impact featured a total of 11 minutes of wrestling in a 2 hour show! Who is going to sit through 2 hours of that? They are going live this monday and the last time they went live, it was one big cluster fu*k. I turned it off after the first 20 minutes. They may of had a great main event at the end, but do you think that the people who do not normally watch tna were still tuning in to watch it? Hopefully RVD does bring some fans and hopefully tna doees use his properly, as they should be using their other talents properly as well. I probably will not watch tna this monday but i will record it so i can fast foward through all the crap promos, videos, and segments, ohh... and i almost forgot the flair hogan tag match (They're really going to have that?!) just so i can see how what they will actually do with rvd because the rest of tna is crap right now and rvd will be the "whole fu*king show" on impact on monday.
I'm afraid I'm with Mark Madden on this one. RVD is certainly capable of getting the crowd behind him, but so is Matt Hardy, and that doesn't mean he's a draw. RVD is unproven at the top level, and at 40 years old, I'm not sure it's an experiment TNA can afford to make. His biggest audience has always been the hardcore fan, and they are already more likely to watch TNA. While I'm sure he can offer TNA something, and if money wasn't an issue this would be a great move, money is an issue, and I'm not sure RVD is capable of providing the company with value for money.
I think that Rob Van Dam is a huge signing and he is capable of helping TNA achieve higher ratings and pay per view buyrates eventually. Does he have the mainstream appeal of a Hogan or Flair? Definitely not. But he is big with the hardcore fans and TNA can use him to solidify their core audience, who have threatened to jump ship in the past couple months because of some of the moves Hogan and Bischoff have made.
I think he should be featured as one of the top faces in TNA and eventually challenge for the TNA world heavyweight championship. Sure he will turn 40 later this year, but he is still capable of putting on great matches, and I'm sure many fans are anxious to see him match up with AJ Styles. He could also benefit the X Division if they choose to put him there and place much more emphasis on the division than they have thus far.
Overall, RVD can help TNA transition to the younger guys over the next year or two, while staying in the main event picture himself and drawing some much needed short term attention to the product, through older ECW fans, nostalgic WWE fans, casual wrestling fans and even some new fans who have never seen his unique style.
I think he should be featured as one of the top faces in TNA and eventually challenge for the TNA world heavyweight championship. Sure he will turn 40 later this year, but he is still capable of putting on great matches, and I'm sure many fans are anxious to see him match up with AJ Styles. He could also benefit the X Division if they choose to put him there and place much more emphasis on the division than they have thus far.
Overall, RVD can help TNA transition to the younger guys over the next year or two, while staying in the main event picture himself and drawing some much needed short term attention to the product, through older ECW fans, nostalgic WWE fans, casual wrestling fans and even some new fans who have never seen his unique style.
