The Carter Family Should Copy One of Vince's Tricks

[Trill Co$by]

A lot of people on here, and around the world; seem to believe that TNA is nothing but a WCW copycat that takes Vince's top stars and ideas and then tries to badly duplicate their own versions. And that might be the case, but what if TNA took Vince's greatest idea ever. No, I'm not talking about WrestleMania. Nobody can reproduce one of those.

I'm talking about Dixie and Panda going out, find struggling/dying promotions, and then buy them out. Take some of the top stars that they have going for them, and use those stars to make themselves more known in those areas. It doesn't have to be limited to just the United States either. They could go to Canada, Mexico, UK... they've already got a hand in Wrestle-1 so why not go even further?

For Vince, this scheme worked out perfectly. Because not only did he make WWF more available in the end, but he also took out competition and got a lot of more credible stars in the process. Guys like RVD, Tommy Dreamer, The Dudley Boyz, Paul Heyman, Zeb Colter, Ric Flair, Shawn Micheals, Bret Hart, Owen Hart, Neidhart, Curt Hennig, Jerry Lawler, Booker T, Rey Mysterio... all of these stars and a lot more came to WWE after Vince bought out companies such as AWA, USWA, ECW, and even WCW. So why doesn't TNA approach companies the same way?

Also, if they did go this route; how long do you think it would take for them to see substantial growth in their roster?

 

[VinnieSunshine]

Oh boy. Another "TNA needs to..." post.

The thing is, there is NO MORE COMPETITION. Territory is dead.

Territory is what made stars across the US. They had a name long before Vince and the WWE through and poached them. WCW was just poaching the top names from WWE, the guys that were in it for the money. I bet, had Vince had the money then that he does (or did), money that Turner had at the time, he would've matched or made a better offer. Part of that problem was, guys were leaving without giving a heads up.

In order for TNA to go buy a "struggling" promotion, they have to be willing. The problem is, there are no struggling promotions like back in the day...and I wouldn't call them struggling.

"But what about ROH?" Ring of Honor is a dying company that is having it's young talents picked off 1 by 1 by WWE. Hell, WWE just signed a top name from Japan! There really isn't much in ROH.

 

[It's Damn Real!]

This would make sense if territories still existed the way they did in the era Vince Jr. employed this tact.

There is a Grand Canyon-sized gap between purchasing a struggling independent today and buying the AWA or Stampede in the manner McMahon did.

I appreciate the thread kick, but this one is a failure to launch. It just can't happen like this based on the nature of the business today. Vince already bought all the competition. The only company left that you could argue might amount to a drop in the pool is ROH.

 

[multiverseman.com]

Just to add on, maybe TNA not outright buy certain promotions, but basically use them as farms.

Sign up with PWG, CZW, Dragongate, even ROH or whoever. Send your stars to boost their indie shows. In return, TNA gets their pick of your wrestlers to call up.

 

[wwesux]

You got a good point Dixie needs to buy out ROH and small promotions in Canada that will strengthen their brand and be known especially in Canada

 

[Tyrant25]

TNA pretty much is an indie promotion.

The fact that TNA constantly signs on to work with other promotions proves their managerial incompetency. That's what indie promotions do - try to mooch off of the popularity of other wrestlers to boost their own popularity. That's why they're indie promotions and will probably never reach the success they want to. TNA works with AAA and Wrestle-1, two smaller promotions who are really only popular in their own countries, and literally allows those promotions to use their popularity for their own good. What the hell does TNA gain from using Sanada? Nothing! What does Wrestle-1 gain by using Jeff Hardy and Abyss? Everything!

You don't see John Cena and Randy Orton fighting in ROH and that's why WWE is so popular. Hopefully the table spot with Dixie Carter and Bully Ray knocked some sense into her.

 

[OmniSavant]

Carter family should sell TNA. If TNA was run by a male, then it would be competing with WWE right now, not copying WWE. No sexism intended. A female running a wrestling company is downright incongruous. Vince is bold, strong, and presumptuous AND astute which is why WWE is what WWE is. He doesn't do barbie doll things. He's rough and tough. Dixie is the fundamental reason behind TNA's failure. Another example: Look at UFC, it's run by a male. Dana White. He's steadfast and has ready to go attitude. A woman running a wrestling company just doesn't seem and feel right.

 

[Catacomb]

tna already kinda tried this when they had their partnership with ovw, and it did not work out well for either side. a talent exchange with roh etc as proposed above would work better and have the chance to benefit both sides

 

[Jack-Hammer]

It won't work in this day and age because there are no top promotions left in America that're struggling/going under, have been around long enough to have large numbers of fans spanning generations and have a substantial tape library. As a result, there are no big stars to poach. When you take into account the fact that TNA itself isn't exactly riding high financially, the idea is dead before it even hits paper. Aside from WWE and TNA, the biggest companies in pro wrestling are All Japan, New Japan, Noah, Ring of Honor, AAA and CMLL. While there's no way for me to know for sure, I'm betting TNA wouldn't have the necessary finances to buy out any of those companies if they wanted to.

As much as WWE catches all the blame, the growing availability of cable television and syndication played a huge part in the demise of the territory days. By 1984, for instance, a fan living in Georgia was no longer confined to programming in his geographic area. He could potentially watch Mid-Atlantic or WCCW even though they were being filmed and broadcasted from North Carolina and east Texas. Plus, a lot of companies were either going out of business or were out of business by the time Vince ultimately began his campaign. The NWA territories in Amarillo, Albuquerque, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Calgary, the Gulf Coast and Tennessee were out of business by the time Vince took over from his old man.

Also, with the way the business works today, it's not as if TNA could go through the rosters of these companies to poach who they want. Wrestlers are signed to contracts now. Days are gone with Lex Luger would work a WWF house show on a Sunday night and suddenly pop up 8 days later of the debut episode of WCW Monday Nitro.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

Me smells another invasion angle.

There are a reason some promotions are Indy promotions. It is because they can't get any more popular. What does TNA gain from buying a promotion that is not that popular? Why would they spend money on a promotion no one else wants to buy? What promotions do you have in mind?

If the guys who came from Gut Check are the cream of the Indy scene, what else are you getting for your money? Best to save your money for other things.

 

[vampirek]

A lot of people on here, and around the world; seem to believe that TNA is nothing but a WCW copycat that takes Vince's top stars and ideas and then tries to badly duplicate their own versions.

Wait, what? Who on earth thinks that, what top stars have TNA taken? Last time I checked the money men of WWE are still employed by WWE (i.e. Cena). TNA have rarely taken a top star (yes Angle and Hardy could be considered the only two) but nowhere on the scale of WCW taken all of the big money men.

As for the general purpose of this thread, TNA can not replicate what Vince did because its a totally different wrestling world. Vince exploited an old system and caught on quickly. Their top stars moved because at the time WWF had the money and the national exposure. Ted Turner then caught on to Vince and then outbid him on everything.

In today's wrestling world, if the top stars of the smaller indy companies wanted to leave they would go... it does need TNA buy them out for them to move over to them. WWE recognises there is no longer this option to simply buy out companies (as none are worth buying out, as they offer nothing) so created different layers within its own company to create Performance Centres and NxT. WCW years ago saw the same issue.

A better idea would simply be to sign with WWE and show TNA on the network, TNA would gain a lot better from this than buying out CZW. WWE gains because its something extra of the network and can charge TNA for the privilege.