TNA vs. ROH

[MisterRob]

No, this is NOT a thread arguing which ones better. It’s not comparing the two companies AT ALL. What this thread is about is, basically, “what could have been”.

Back in the early stages of TNA, many of the wrestlers of TNA were also working for Ring of Honor at the same time. Guys like AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels, Austin Aries, CM Punk, Samoa Joe, etc.. had a working relationship with both wrestling promotions. This ended when TNA decided that none of its wrestlers could work ROH any longer and so it forced the wrestlers to pick sides and choose which promotion they’d work for. AJ Styles and Christopher Daniels obviously chose TNA and are here to this day, while guys like Roderick Strong, Austin Aries, and CM Punk remained with ROH.

But what if that hadn’t happened? What if, instead, the two companies had made a working relationship and turned reality into an angle. What if the angle was an inter-promotional rivalry between both companies, and played off the wrestlers having to choose sides?

Thoughts?

 

[Jack-Hammer]

In terms of audience size & growth, I don't think it would have ultimately meant much of anything. TNA sort of did something like that with AAA a little while back in which a lot of wrestlers from the TNA roster "invaded" AAA and dominated for a while. The difference is that we didn't see any wrestlers from AAA come up to TNA, so it wasn't a full blown, all out inter-promotional angle.

If TNA & ROH had done this during their early days, I don't think it would have really sparked any sort of surge in their audience. I'm sure the fans then would have eaten it up and been thoroughly entertained by it. They'd have gotten that much out of it at least, nothing wrong with that at all. Such an angle would only reinforce the loyalty of viewers & fans that they already had. In a broader sense though, I don't think it would have brought in droves of people to either product. Indy companies do stuff like this all the time. Granted those companies weren't on the level of TNA or ROH even in their early days, at least most of them, but you get my point.

Had the two companies merged to form a new company altogether, that possibly could have been something that'd caused some ripples. The problem is that there are a lot of egos in pro wrestling both among talent & management. You have to find a balance in order to find what works and that can be difficult when you've got two different sets of people who are used to being top dogs in their own corner of the universe.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

I think it would have been entertaining, and introduced TNA and ROH audiences to new wrestlers and given us new rivalries and feuds. I have always liked the "invasion" storyline in pro-wrestling so I would have been all for this.

However, ROH ended up doing something similar with CZW where wrestlers from both companies appeared on both shows and as far as I aware it proved popular with fans of the companies but didnt really increase the ROH fanbase much. It would have probably had more impact with TNA than CZW but it would have had much less impact than if TNA had interpromoted with WWE, as neither ROH or TNA had that much exposure at the time as far as I am aware.

 

[The Dragon Saga]

Just to add some detail to the OP, the reason TNA pulled talent from Ring of Honor at the time and forced them to choose sides was because of the Rob Feinstein incident where Rob was found out for an underage sex scandal and was dropped from Ring of Honor, only to be ever mentioned once thereafter by CM Punk.

On them working an angle, it would have never happened because Gabe Sapolsky would have never dealt with TNA in that manner, hes stated this before in shoot interviews, he only wanted to work with other independent promotions because working with a promotion like TNA at the time could have seen them attempt to snatch talents, he calls it "in-depth scouting." As a long time ROH fan I too would have never had an interest in seeing it and I don't think It'd have done much for either company.

 

[Trill Co$by]

I am not too sure but I do believe that TNA & ROH are rather okay nowadays since the incident that separated their alliance. Afterall, the Machine Guns have made appearances off and on since 2008 and that didn't seem to matter to TNA. Daniels at one point in 2010 even worked for both of the promotions, and was ROH TV champion before going back to TNA full time. So like I said, I'd think that the relationship is at least manageable.

To answer the question though, I think things would pretty much end out the same. Afterall, there have been companies like AAA, All Japan, ECW, and USWA whom all had a working agreement with WWE and as of this moment the only two not dead are ones not in the US. Still, I would have to think of what could've been if TNA & ROH put together a four way tag team feud with the likes of LAX, Machine Guns, Aries & Strong, and the Briscoes.

 

[OneTooManyPunts]

It's easy to ponder what could have been with both promotions, but the simple fact is that TNA and ROH have always wanted to have very different standings in the pro wrestling world.

TNA wants to be WWE. They want to be the biggest, most successful wrestling organization on the planet. They market themselves, and whisper in their own ears that they are the number two promotion, climbing to the top of the wrestling world. It's a facade that people largely don't buy in to and it kills the product and reputation they've tried to build.

ROH on the other hand, doesn't present itself as a company that wants to be the number one promotion out there. They have created a niche, and market their niche as an organization that is pro wrestling centered, and an alternative to 'sports entertainment'. It's a role and a place the organization should be comfortable in.

Ultimately, both promotions were and are capable of much more than what they currently put on television and pay per view. Much of it is the brass behind the scenes, and poor booking and bad timing. I think in some ways you could almost make the argument that TNA is trying to be more like ROH right now, where as ROH is just trying to maintain their status. Gut Check is TNA's opportunity to test the waters with mostly ROH and PWG talent. With the exception of Jay Lethal returning to ROH, you don't really see that happening vise versa.

 

[xyqdnl]

It probably would have meant nothing. It might have been cool to have some fantasy-booking matches here and there, but they would have still likely would have been the first or second matches on cards still dominated by the Stings, Hardys, and RVDs of the world. If anybody in ROH had any real drawing power, they would end up in WWE anyway.

 

[The Boss]

The only reason to have an inter-promotional "invasion" angle is to make one promotion look superior to the other (that's why it's usually done internationally and only in one of the two countries - so fans of the "losing" side doesn't know it's happening). Anything that ends in stalemate leaves both promotions looking week and makes the fans feel like their time has been wasted. Although seeing as how neither TNA nor ROH had really made a blip on the map at this time it most likely would not have been noticed. It probably would have felt like two backyard promotions. No doubt there would have been some good wrestling but seeing how many guys were wrestling for both companies anyways there would have been nothing you weren't watching already.