TNA The Same Fate As WCW?

[Motor City Mayhem]

So its a question I've wanted to ask for a while now.
Its simple and I think that whether your a TNA fan or a WWE fan or a fan of both that you know, I know, we all know that at some point WWE, either it being ran by Vince or Steph or Triple H or whoever is gonna be in control of WWE at the time, that WWE will indeed BUY TNA.

It happened to WCW in 2001, after a nice run of 13 years in competing with WWE, although it really didn't start till around 1993-95 when WCW really got a good start, once Bischoff took control, everything looked good until the end of 2000 when Teddy was gonna sell WCW, and when Bischoff couldn't buy it( and he tried to), WWE saw there opportunity and bought it and thus ending WCW and the WWE's competition.

Now fast forward to May 10 2002, just over a year after WWE bought WCW, Jeff Jarrett and Jerry Jarrett rejected to go to WWE, and then created TNA. It has survived 7 years now, and is at the Peek of its popularity, and can only really go up from here.( Although I personally don't like TNA)

Now one cant help at making comparisons to WCW.

1. It took WCW about 7-8 years to really gain popularity and go against WWE.
Now 7 years after its creation, TNA although not as popular as WCW, is beginning to become very popular.
2. Much like WCW did with Hulk Hogan, TNA has snagged guys away from WWE, Kurt Angle, Bobby Lashley, Mick Foley, Booker T are guys that come to mind.

So I ask, will TNA have the same fait as WCW? After WCW began challenging WWE, it took another 6-7 years before WWE bought it, and thus ended it, so what will happen to TNA? Will it indeed be bought out by WWE? If not, then were do you see it going? Will it ever be as popular as WWE, will it ever Compete?

In My Opinion, it will be bought by WWE, I give TNA another 7-10 years of really trying to push past WWE, maybe even making it to the top and passing WWE much like WCW did, but it wont last, not for long anyway, I think that eventually Vince or whoever is running WWE will just make an offer to whoever's running TNA that he/she cant refuse.

So Your Thoughts?

 

[Dexter]

Ya know what, I hope not. Competition brings out the best in a product. That's just common business sense. WCW and WWE both were at their absolute best during the monday night wars. They both pushed the sport as far as it would go and some really amazing things came out of it.

A little legitimate competition would be a good thing for WWE right now, and I can't wait to see it happen. I'm rooting for TNA to get a LOT bigger, just so WWE feels them nipping at their heels and kicks it into high gear again. I don't want another monday night wars, exactly... I'd rather them stay on separate nights so I don't have to choose (although even then, DVR FTW)... but I would like to see them trying to outdo each other.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I'd like to see TNA succeed in becoming a big company, it'd be good for wrestling altogether. I've not been a fan of TNA overall for the most part though the 200th episode of Impact on Spike and tonight's show were pretty good. However, I'm not jumping on the band wagon just yet, not by a long shot. TNA looks as though that they're FINALLY starting to do something with the younger talent on the roster so the company could be heading in a good direction.

Will TNA suffer the same fate as WCW? Well, in all honesty, I think Vince could possibly buy TNA right now if he wanted to. When Vince bought WCW, it was still much bigger than TNA is right now, it was more well known among the general American television audience and drew much more than TNA is now.

 

[Kaze Enigma]

i dont see TNA to be serious threat to the WWE yet though in a few years if they get rid of some of their relics e.g nash stiner and a few others and allow their younger tallent to shine then they may be able to compete on a larger scale forcing WWE to use better story lines and utilise their tallent better.

WWE wont buy TNA unless TNA goes bankrupt and fails like WCW did.

 

[XgringolocoX]

TNA is struggling at best. They need to take advantage of WWE's PG route n give the long time fans what they want. Not all the silly/stupid crap they've been doing.
They haven't snagged anyone. They've picked up WWE's disgruntled workers, nothing more. Not one of them has improved the ratings over any length of time either.
If this is their peak then they haven't even cliimbed WWE's foothills. They are hardly a competition for ECW, and i think even that show edges them out.
They are no where near being anything like WCW in terms of competition.

 

[GameOver]

firrst off Bobby Lashley left WWE well b4 he went to TNA. Kurt Angle ok he was snagged of sorts and maybe he is the only one that has really garnered ratings for them

Mick Foley was just commentary at the time, he wanted to move on and do something different, i don't see how that is snagging him from WWE's clutches.

Booker T was disgruntled yes, but in WWE he never really did anything so once again that was no loss to them. and in TNA he has done little except act like an idiot with Steiner.

on to the topic though, i have said this for along time if you've read my TNA stuff, it's obvious TNA is what was left over of WCW, well those that still wanted to work in the business, they started a fresh with new relatively unheard of talent along with some WCW/WWE guys that were lost to the merger with WWE and flourished for a few yrs as a result. Naturally regardless of whether it's great or not people will watch me included. It's an alternative and something to watch when WWE programming isn't on doesn't mean it's good.

All this spending on talent that is either washed up or has run it's course in WWE is not gonna achieve anything except brief ratings maybe for a year then when they are constantly having to take time off what will TNA do to replace em? Push there own stars that are already over or ones that have no chance.

WCW hired all the names that flourished during the Hogan era, announcers, interviewers, refs, and arguably the two biggest stars of the era Hogan and Savage from WWE offering huge salaries and guarenteed titles and global exposure, and for years no doubt it was like WWE of old which drew crowds to watch the competition and WCW went through the roof.

However much like TNA, WCW wasted the opportunities, and poor creative writing, bad financial decisions, constanly advertising what was happening on WWE in an attempt to stop people from swapping over and Eric Bischoff was constantly undermined by the likes of Ted Turner who eventually got bored with it and pulled the plug on his financial backing. Thus WCW was sold to WWE.

They shouldn't be worried about "competing" with WWE ore recreating WCW they should just do there own thing and let nature take it's course. Thats what ECW of old did, they had no money and alot of the time no network backing and yet the talent was sought out by both WWE and WCW which speaks volumes

 

[BIGPHILL]

I wouldn't consider TNA to be a legitimate competitor with WWE at all. Until they receive a live 2-hour time slot Monday nights on Spike, the new war will begin. Considering how far along this company has come, I'm really surprised that TNA has yet to make that move.

 

[KKarvox]

TNA shouldn't try to make the same mistake WCW made, in trying to war with WWE. It's not a good idea, and no one wants to see either company trying to trash and outdo the other. Plus, Currently, TNA is in no shape to challenge WWE, and should stop taking shots at WWE, just solely because it gives WWE views. TNA needs to get a new creative team, change some gimmicks around, and get a good solid booker. I don't mind TNA, not a big fan, they have great workers, but bad booking, and not great storylines. TNA definitly shouldn't start trying to War with the WWE when they have ratings equal to or lower than WWE's 3rd show, or at all, because no one want's a war, because WWE will come out on top because of ratings.

 

[oldschool123]

I wouldn't consider TNA to be a legitimate competitor with WWE at all. Until they receive a live 2-hour time slot Monday nights on Spike, the new war will begin. Considering how far along this company has come, I'm really surprised that TNA has yet to make that move.

I'm not. That would be a horrible move by TNA, they'd get absolutely crushed in the ratings. As a few have already said a lot of TNA's audience is people who are primarily WWE fans but watch TNA because its wrestling and it doesn't conflict with watching WWE.

 

[KKarvox]

And i just wanted to say this, how on earth does everyone see TNA as a competive company to the WWE? WWE, better or not, is much more succesful, has 4 shows every week, with SNME every once in a while, 3 brands,and a slew of wrestlers. All but one of their shows is higher rated than TNA, or equally rated. WWE is by far the biggest company in wrestling history, and while TNA is good, it's no where near WCW in popularity, and is Closer to ECW. I loved ECW growing up, and TNA should strive to be Different, like ECW, and not to be competition, because they would be destroyed.

 

[tbp82]

A few thoughts on this. TNA will not go under unless they financially under as a previous poster said. Now onto reasons why WWE might not buy TNA like they did WCW if (which I don't think they will) TNA suffers the same fate as WCW.

1).Doesn't have the library. One of the main reasons WWE bought WCW was the video library to have all these matches they could profit off of. Unless TNA blows up big which would mean they would be surpassing WWE then they won't have the library that WCW had not even close.

2).The only reason why WWE got WCW in the first place was TV time. People want to put it on anything and everything but the fact is WWE DID NOT PUT WCW UNDER AOL-TIME WARNER PUT WCW UNDER. Eric Bischoff had a group prepared to buy WCW and ATW told them they could have everything but the TV time slot. A wrestling program without a TV slot is pretty much worthless so his group (Fusient Media Ventures I think) backed out of the deal. So even if TNA were to be sold one day (assuming they are still on spike) if they were to keep the tv time slot then someone other than Vince would have just as much (if not more) of a chance at purchasing it than he would.

 

[TellMeWhy]

What is it with you people always saying that Vince will buy TNA or that WWE will buy TNA? Are you people trying to convince yourselves that it will happen? Is that wishful thinking? I do not get it at all? Why are some of you posters here so narrow minded. You people talk as if only 1 wrestling company can exist which is laughable. Why can't we have 2 wrestling companies exist? Where there is a McDonalds, there is a Burger King. TNA is not for sale and TNA is going no where! Plain & Simple!

 

[yoshi_doce2006]

TNA is an entirely different animal than WCW yet it has an eery similar face to it. 9 currently signed WWE Performers and many former WWE, NWA, and WCW guys working on the product. It has a familiarity to it yet it is distinctly different. To be honest though I think that TNA has what the WWF had right before it's big bang occurred. That combination is young talent and Vince Russo. Russo created the characters that dominated the attitude era of the WWE, he pushed the young talent forward to help create the monster that is the WWE today. Despite what Vince McMahon thinks about himself being the creator of the Evil Empire without Russo creating the characters and pushing the young talent it would never have happened. In 1999 Russo did the same thing in WCW. He pushed young talent like Booker T and Jeff Jarrett while fighting with people like Hulk Hogan and his creative control until he was dismissed in 2000. Unfortunately upon his return WCW was an unsalvagable sinking ship.

Now with Russo after 7 years being given the reigns to TNA for the last taping schedule and possibly the foreseeable future we are seeing the same things Russo did in the past including young stars being pushed as well as moments of complete chaos that makes for gripping television.

With the writing in Russo's capable hands and the young stars getting more exposier I believe TNA can grow. Yet unlike the NWO/WCW angle Russo inherited from Bischoff I doubt the Main Event Maphia will get as big or just slowly fade away without a conclusion to the feud like the NWO/WCW did. I believe that the young guys, Foley, Sting, and the Dudley's may win this one and that would elevate the company.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

I think TNA would have to be a success for even a short period for it to even be considered like WCW. I think it's closer to ECW, but without the creative highs.

Although TNA's current product is very similar to WCW's in it's final years. Overly complicated whilst being incredibly stupid.

If TNA were to go out of business, which I don't think it'll do for a while, the Vince would probably try to get A.J. Styles and maybe one or two others for the roster. And the promotion wouldn't be deserving over an angle even as shitty as the Invasion one.

 

[dman1373]

you can't even compare the two
wcw was a super power in wrestling
tna is a show that can only beat wwecw in ratings

wcw had everyone their mom on the show and a catchy little thing called the NWO
tna has mem or whatever

their not even a blip on vince's radar
he wouldn't waste money on buying tna because him buying it would not make him money in the long run

 

[StInGeR-HBK]

With Jeff out of the picture, I definitely see WWE buying out TNA. With nobody that's emotionally invested on top, they will have no reason not to sell. When Bischoff was trying to buy WCW, he was someone that was emotionally invested in the company and didn't want his company to fail and/or even worse, end up in the hands of the competition (Vinny Mack). TNA will continue to do alright for a few more years. I don't see them beating WWE in the ratings but they will do alright for themselves. Then their ratings will start to go down since nobody there really knows what the hell they're doing and all of Jeff's allies are gonna start to either get fired or leave on their own. Spike will get rid of them and Dixie will sell to Vince and make herself some change!

 

[drondog]

TNA is in no trouble of going outta business. Do YOU people ever read anything about TNA or ever watch it, or do you just get on here and make things up. TNA is doing better than ever, their ratings are slowly increasing, and in case you don't know Dixie is not hurting for money, and besides that her daddy is LOADED, he owns and energy company, and produces electric for many cities in the US. So everytime you morons get on here and write about how TNA will sell you give the Carter family more money. If TNA ever did sell Vince wouldn't buy it, they have no real stars. Sting, Nash, Steiner, Booker, Team 3D, Rhyno, half the TNA roster is from WWE, and they couldn't make it there or got booted cuz they no longer could make it. SO why wouldn't Vince just buy the contracts of the wrestlers he could use like, AJ, Daniels, maybe Angle, some of the knockouts that are actually hot, and he wouldn't buy none of the rip off artist that try to be stars he made, Jay Lethal - Macho Man,( VINCE HATES HIM) Taylor wilde is a half ass Trish Stratus,(from her entrance to moves to poses) and the only one's I'd see him taking are maybe Angelina,Velvet (cuz of Helms) Roode and Storm,maybe Abyss, Morgan, AJ, maybe joe ( see Umaga) daniels, maybe Hernandez, or some of the British Invasion, other than that the TNA roster is full of 40+ cripples that have to hobble to the ring! And can't carry a match to save their ass.

 

[Nev]

TNA isn't at the peak of its popularity bro, we don't know what that is yet.

Will TNA ultimately end up like WCW? That's interesting to surmise.

If you look at it the opposite way, you're saying that TNA can put the WWE out of business.

This sounds very untrue. After the WWE managed to sell out arenas all over the world, served us with icons such as Stone Cold and Hulk Hogan, and gave us the memories of Wrestlemanias;the longest running episodic program on television, it's hard to say that all of these accomplishments will mean bullshit one day.

I really doubt TNA can put the WWE out of business. It just seems to unreal.

Consequently, that means it eitiher shares the same fate as WCW, or it stays as clean competition. I sure hope it stays as clean competition and doesn't do something as stupid as putting themselves out of business by moving to monday nights when they gain little momentum.

 

[Saritafan]

TNA is not going anywhere.for a 7-year company,TNA is doing amazing

and for some of you,this ISN'T the 90's,people today do not buy out companies, so stop living in the past,the only reason WWE bought out WCW was because the owner didn't want it anymore,the loyality was not there.Dixie carter is not going to waste her time with TNA if she's just going to sell it later on,Dixie's goal is to make TNA#1 so she will never sell and also,i heard Dixie's family is like SUPERASS RICH so she doesn't need to money,she's set 4 life.

deep down,Vince does know that TNA will be competition one day,Vince even admited that he watches impact so obviously he cares

WWE and TNA should just stay away from each other,why can't 2 companies live in peace?

besides,times like this when WWE sucks big time,it's nice knowing we have TNA because TNA is awesome

 

[yoshi_doce2006]

With Jeff out of the picture, I definitely see WWE buying out TNA. With nobody that's emotionally invested on top, they will have no reason not to sell. When Bischoff was trying to buy WCW, he was someone that was emotionally invested in the company and didn't want his company to fail and/or even worse, end up in the hands of the competition (Vinny Mack). TNA will continue to do alright for a few more years. I don't see them beating WWE in the ratings but they will do alright for themselves. Then their ratings will start to go down since nobody there really knows what the hell they're doing and all of Jeff's allies are gonna start to either get fired or leave on their own. Spike will get rid of them and Dixie will sell to Vince and make herself some change!

ummm. Sorry to bust your bubble about Jeff Jarrett not being one of the top guys in the company but that isn't true. Even if they strip away all of his power withing the company he still owns 28% meaning if a major decision is made about the well being of the company itself he will still have a voice. It may not be one the suits will listen to but he will have it. If Vince decided he wanted to buy 100% he would have to have three party talks. And if Double J wouldn't sell he could only get 72% of the company which would mean that he would still not have the 100% control that he would want and that doesn't sit well with Vince. So Jeff Jarrett still has a vested interest in the company.

 

[OffTheRopRope]

I was originally 100% Pro WWE and 100% against TNA, simply because I have been a WWE guy forever, and TNA was some non important southern wrestling company with nobodies. Over the past year, and with the MEM angle, I found myself liking TNA simply because it is so ridiculous.

The wrestling easily beats WWE, but people watch pro-wrestling for the storylines, and no longer for the action. The MEM core are a group of vets who can obviously speak on the mike, but now they are flooding their ranks with mid level and brand new guys...sound familiar? It's the same format as the original nWo angle! They are painting the same path as WCW did, although moving at light speed, while not learning the mistakes of WCW..basically it's like they are taking the best sections of a epic movie, cutting them out, and trying to make their own movie with no real substance in-between.

Vince will never buy TNA, because he won't need to. He can cherry pick who ever he wants and leave the rest to fester and die. Vince bought WCW for only a few reasons:

1. The film library, which is worth WAY more than any performer
2. Ego, so he can say 'I bought my competition'
3. Probably a package deal with some performers contracts.

TNA needs to survive so the US industry can survive. ROH is hardly a blip on the US radar, and since there is no other contenders, they need to be kept around. But overall, YES, TNA is going the WCW route...be creative TNA! Stop focusing all your efforts on 5 guys and make things matter...extend storylines...don't bring back old guys for 2 months then dump then...have more than 15 minutes of wrestling time per show.

 

[Da Blind Man]

IT is known i am not a great fan of TNA anymore.}backsotry}

Now that i think about it, it started with the knockouts title belt, that was fine till they main evented."nice" After that Sting & Jeff came back fooled with TNA and Sting became Jesus lol. After that the MEM formed and everyone choose sides fast forward to Slam Jam where you find Joe betraying the Frontline. skip again to Victory Road to find Taz and MEM Winning all the guys belts except the X division, guess somewhere TNA forgot who and what made them the young guys wild shit not old dudes and women."not saying the women are old"

 

[tomcat2k2]

I've always felt when I watch TNA that it is a low budget WCW clone. With former WWE stars past their prime, talented young guys they don't use and ridiculous storylines (many of which are recycled from WCW). I don't understand these people who say TNA is popular, didn't a recent PPV only get 7,000 buys? Even WWE's worst PPVs do a coupla hundred thousand buys. Their ratings are only as good as ECW and Suspertsras the C and D shows of WWE. TNA is terrible and they don't have an Eric Bischoff type to propel them. So while TNA won't follow the exact same path as WCW, they'll ultimately wind up in the same place, as an unused property WWE uses to sell DVDs.

 

[Superman]

Some people give tna way too much credit. WCW was way more sucessful Than tna. and Im talking when WCW was originated from the NWA they were still way more popular Than TNA is now. TNA will die a slow painful death. As for saying its simalir to wcw a saying comes into my mind.

"History doesnt repeat itself but it rhymes" - Mark Twain

 

[Kenny Powers]

Some people give tna way too much credit. WCW was way more sucessful Than tna. and Im talking when WCW was originated from the NWA they were still way more popular Than TNA is now. TNA will die a slow painful death. As for saying its simalir to wcw a saying comes into my mind.

"History doesnt repeat itself but it rhymes" - Mark Twain

Ok hot shot how about you start a wrestling organization and see where it goes in 7 years. My guess is Nowhere. WCW was shit when it first started out, even with Hogan and Flair. It wasn't till the mid 90's with the NWO that they became popular. Oh and we all know what happen a few years later. Bankrupt. Look at WWF when they were 7 years old with Papa Shango and Doink the Clown. Remember WWF in general is over 70 years old and NWA as well. So Vince and Ted Turner had a background to work with. TNA has kept growing and hasn't lost a profit unlike WWE. WWE will always be number one but TNA is number two and will be for a while. Don't shit on a company you don't watch or know nothing about.