TNA's REAL Problem Is...

[Rampage Bentley]

I have no idea how many times I have to say this, so I'll just swallow the jagged pill again and reiterate yet again for yet another ignorant user regurgitating IWC rhetoric and thinking they're insightful for it (or worse yet... smart).

Talent is talent, regardless of where it comes from.

You know what? Once is not enough.

Talent is talent, regardless of where it comes from.
Talent is talent, regardless of where it comes from.
Talent is talent, regardless of where it comes from.
Talent is talent, regardless of where it comes from.
Talent is talent, regardless of where it comes from.

Are you getting that through your head yet? The idea that you think TNA isn't doing "as well as it should" because it's somehow being held down by the fact that they've given hire to ex-WWE employees is not only laughable but downright wrong as it's a lot of those names that have helped to establish the company, not destroy it. I'd love to see you tell Kurt Angle that the fact he's in the company is the reason they "aren't doing as well as they should".

My guess is that you're another one of these know-it-all 16 year old marks who thinks because he's watched wrestling on television for a couple years and posts on an internet forum that he thinks he has any idea what makes a company tick, but that's just a guess. You could be 17, after all...

So weird about that whole having worked for a recognizable brand before you show up somewhere thing... it sure seemed to work wonders for WCW, but I guess that's why they failed too, huh? It couldn't possibly have to do with any sort of economic or financial issues, politics or business structures that operated primarily behind the curtain, right?

I definitely see what you're saying here, and I think it's stupid to be against someone's run in TNA just because they were once featured in WWE.

That being said...

I think the problem isn't former WWE talent being used, it's who in particular is being used. I absolutely have no problems with TNA pushing former WWE stars like Matt Morgan, Pope, or Brian Kendrick. But when you're pushing guys like RVD and Ken Anderson to face of the company status (even though neither lasted very long) when they previously rarely broke out of midcard, it just doesn't work.

I personally think the problem is no long term committed direction, there are too many cooks in the kitchen. As much as I respect the accomplishments of Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff, when it comes to having an eye for up and coming talent, they can't distinguish the next top star from the middle turnbuckle.

 

[sfury2005]

that most of the roster has and is full of ex-WWE superstars & divas. The current roster that has been in WWE are:
Brian Kendrick, Brooke Tessmacher, Bully Ray, Christy Hemme, D'Angelo 'Pope' Dinero, Devon, Eric Bischoff, Gail Kim, Jeff Hardy, Jeff Jarrett, Kid Kash, Kurt Angle, Matt Morgan, Mickie James, Mr. Anderson, Rob Van Dam, Tara, Taz and Winter.

The fact that all of these people have been in WWE, we have already seen them before on TV and the fact that TNA has more former WWE stars than TNA homegrown talent is one if not the main reason why TNA is not doing as well as it should.

What's your opinion on all of this?

The list below is of WWE wrestlers who were not so called home grown talent.
Hulk Hogan- NWA Territories
HBK-NWA Territories and AWA before WWE
Steve Austin- WCW and ECW before WWE
Triple H- WCW before WWE
Kevin Nash- WCW before WWE
Scott Hall-NWA, AWA, NWA again and WCW before WWE.
The Undertaker- WCW before WWE
Farooq aka Ron Simmons- NWA, WCW and ECW before WWE
Mick Foley- WCCW, UWF,WCW and ECW before WWE
Chris Jericho- ECW and WCW before WWE
Chris Benoit- ECW and WCW before WWE
Eddie Guerrero- ECW and WCW before WWE
The Big Show- WCW before WWE
Rey Mysterio- ECW and WCW before WWE
And even good ole JR Jim Ross honed his skills in the WCW before WWE.

That's just a few of the names that WWE brought in from other companies. Some of them were fairly popular in the previous company but many were what you could term rejects from the previous company.

Basically if WWE bought into the whole idea of you can't bring in WCW or ECW talent many of the WWE hero's and legends would never have been there. With such a list being a small sampling of WWE talent that came from other promotions I wonder why people continue to act as though TNA who is doing the same thing WWE does is doing a bad thing.

 

[Zeven_Zion]

Are we really discussing this in a time when the company is actively pushing and putting over the likes of AJ Styles, Robert Roode, James Storm and Austin Aries among others? Talk about beating a dead horse.

Look, when you judge a wrestler by where he worked before and where he works now - there's something wrong with you. Personally, I don't care if they come from CZW or WWE. If you suck and I don't like you, I just won't like you. You could've descended from Heaven itself, I still won't enjoy your work. It works the other way around too.

That is all.

 

[ABMorales787]

Was the internet wrestling fanbase born after the Monday Night Wars or something? I really doubt people really cared that Nash, Savage Hogan and Hall were majors in WWE before they went to WCW. I doubt anyone cared Steve Austin was a WCW midcard guy when he went to WWE. Get a clue. It's business. You go to where the deal is good. If you're good enough, you stay. if you're not, you end up elsewhere. Wrestling business 101. I realize it's been 11 years since there were 3 companies that had rosters on near equal levels, but that couldn't have possibly have been so long ago.

Actually TNA's problem has nothing to do with the talent, it's more or less due to the booking of the entire show, you have someone like Bully Ray for instance who was positioned to be world champion, now he's nothing left but filler for Bischoff's son.

Why yes. After a an upper-midcard feud with Mr. Andersonand then Abyss. The point?

You have the world champion Bobby Roode who turned heel suddenly with no prior reason being established, his feud with storm could have lasted over six months but instead a quick title change happened.

Was his desperation to be World Champion not reason enough? We need seeds to spoil it? Or did you want another half hour of him staring at a bottle contemplating about using it?

You also have Hulk Hogan, a guy that rags on his own company and it's roster and commends a guy like Jeff Hardy who for whatever reason refused to go to rehab after committing one of wrestling's biggest sins, it has nothing to do with WWE's former talent it's more to do with TNA's constant changes and lack of faith in any of its established talent.

Must be why Matt Morgan is the only TNA champion with history in WWE. Yeah, they rely on who makes the people care most. People care about Jeff Hardy no matter how many "he used drugs" rant you wanna write. It's why he bounced back and Matt hasn't. People love to rag on him for having a problem that's pretty common, but while other people with his kind of exposure love to ride that lightning, Jeff has shown his desire to push forward and TNA as well as the rest of the wrestling world know it.

As far as Hulk Hogan is concerned, he hasn't been wrong in his comments expect the one towards Storm. But other than that, it's not like he has to fall in line. He knows talent when he see's it and is free to speak his mind. It's his job after all.

 

[New Hot Fed]

TNA's real problem isn't where the talent comes from that makes no difference. The real problem is that they don't offer anything different from WWE to attract the fans. Everyone knows that if you want to watch pure wrestling you go to ROH. If you want to watch Sports Entertainment you watch WWE. Sure TNA occasionally does something better than WWE but people know the WWE brand and their loyal to it. TNA needs to market themselves as something different which so far they've failed to do. I don't personally have the answer but then again I'm not being paid a shit ton of cash to get it.

You hit the nail on the head. It has trouble selling itself an identity. At the same time the way they've hired ROH talent and WWE talent over the years has not helped. I mean sure having Joe for a while gave us great matchs, having WWE talent gave them some exposure but it'S ROH fans that were attracted to the former ROH talent that wanted to see the X Division matchs and these people wanted the ROH guys to get over, they wanted that product from TNA(and could never get it). Same for the ex-WCW/WWE talent, it just make people feel nostalgic about times gone by. And with these guys always put over ahead of homegrown talent, it has only put the emphasis at what these guys "up north" are doing better and their stars are better.

At least now for the first time there's a non-ROH/non-WWE talent on top in Bobby Roode. This should be the way for the entire roster, with the magority of the feuds.

 

[ABMorales787]

You hit the nail on the head. It has trouble selling itself an identity. At the same time the way they've hired ROH talent and WWE talent over the years has not helped. I mean sure having Joe for a while gave us great matchs, having WWE talent gave them some exposure but it'S ROH fans that were attracted to the former ROH talent that wanted to see the X Division matchs and these people wanted the ROH guys to get over, they wanted that product from TNA(and could never get it). Same for the ex-WCW/WWE talent, it just make people feel nostalgic about times gone by. And with these guys always put over ahead of homegrown talent, it has only put the emphasis at what these guys "up north" are doing better and their stars are better.

At least now for the first time there's a non-ROH/non-WWE talent on top in Bobby Roode. This should be the way for the entire roster, with the magority of the feuds.

It almost sounds like racism. You need to be inbred to be accepted? No. TNA's identity is the same as WWE's, ROH's, CHIKARA's, AAA's, any wrestling company's. Wrestling. The means change, but the result is the same and it's what people want. Wrestling. What brings you in is who is on the program, not the type of company it is. If John Cena appeared on ROH in a feud with Davey Richards, people would watch because John Fucking Cena is wrestling Davey Richards. Not because Dan Severn is some sort of trainer there or because it's more about the wrestling. You watch because you care about who's there. Their history in other companies holds no weight on how you care about a wrestler and a company's style can't change that either.

 

[New Hot Fed]

It almost sounds like racism. You need to be inbred to be accepted? No. TNA's identity is the same as WWE's, ROH's, CHIKARA's, AAA's, any wrestling company's. Wrestling. The means change, but the result is the same and it's what people want. Wrestling. What brings you in is who is on the program, not the type of company it is. If John Cena appeared on ROH in a feud with Davey Richards, people would watch because John Fucking Cena is wrestling Davey Richards. Not because Dan Severn is some sort of trainer there or because it's more about the wrestling. You watch because you care about who's there. Their history in other companies holds no weight on how you care about a wrestler and a company's style can't change that either.

But the very fact that TNA as failed to breed its own stars, making its own product have made it so people cannot have a real grasp of what TNA is! It's easy to say "oh people come and go, that's change". But perception is everything in wrestling. Hell if there's a company that has controled its talent and its product it's the WWE and it has worked for them. That is why guys like Goldberg on their shows because he wasn't made by them. People whined that he wasn't handle right but in the end they stuck to their guns and never made their homegrown like HHH look like a fool. Promotions should worried about who they bring in and be careful on how these guys are handled. Because of the perception. It's your product and it's important that it should stay above everything else.

That is why after countless failiures pushing Bobby Roode has been their best idea and it will succeed if they have faith in him.

 

[hatehabsforever]

TNA doesn't really have one big problem in particular, when you keep everything in perspective and stop comparing them to the WWE. TNA is doing just fine, but they never, and I do mean never, will be competition to WWE. With the longevity of WWE, and the amount of money at their disposal, it really isn't a fair fight. Once you bear this in mind, and consider that TNA is a profitable company who is clearly occupying the #2 position amongst professional wrestling companies, there really in no problem per se. They are a supplement to, and somewhat of an alternative to WWE, but not competition for them.

Getting back on topic, therein is where TNA's only problem lies: a lack of money and the associated production value that comes with it. In the absence of a serious influx of cash, which I simply don't see happening, TNA will continue to be recorded and shown in a manner that resembles footage shot with a personal camcorder. This apples to in ring segments as well as backstage "shoot" footage. Without more working capital, the pomp and pageantry is absent, the pyro, the pizzaz, all of which makes the product look low budget. Without money, they will continue to be prerecorded and ultimately spoiled. They will have a hard time leaving the iMPACT zone on a regular basis. They will have difficulty attracting talent, and even more difficulty retaining them.

When I look at TNA, I think their roster is just fine, male and female. Their story lines sometimes are illogical and inconsistent, but that too can be somewhat explained by the lack of TV time to dedicate the appropriate time to be more consistent.

TNA's main problem is simply a lack of money. WWE has deep pockets. So did WCW for a while at least. But as long as TNA is forced to cram action into a two hour prerecorded show, in a less than ideal location with zero production value, showcasing their action in a manner that resembles footage shot with an iPhone, they will be unable to step things up to the next level and that's reality. Money makes the world go around, and TNA simply doesn't have it.

 

[aboynameddirt]

I would agree that TNA could use a few more homegrown stars. I'm not saying by any means that they've done a poor job of it though, it just never hurts to have a few more guys to sort of test drive.

With that being said, I don't, by any stretch of the imagination, think that TNA re-hiring wrestlers from WWE or elsewhere has hurt them in the slightest. TNA might not exist if it weren't for the likes of Kurt Angle, Sting, or Jeff Hardy.

People are always talking about what TNA's problem is here on Wrestlezone and asking why they aren't as big as the WWE. The answer is simple; they haven't had the time! They haven't even existed a full 10 years yet. WWE was born decades ago and it wasn't a success overnight. TNA needs a few more years to establish itself, gain some more attention, and really get its feet on the ground. Simple as.

 

[Xumer]

Undertaker, Steve Austin, HHH, HBK, CM Punk, Danial Bryan, Del Rio, Sinn Cara & a bunch of others came from somewhere else before they got to the WWE, guess WWE sucks too then. As has been said here before: Talent is talent. Makes no difference.

 

[Stallion123]

My two cents on this topic is that if they use other talent correctly, it's not a big deal. Matt Morgan and pope are both from the wwe, but tna has grown them up to the point that I sometimes forget that. They took low carder wwe guys and made something out of them. I consider those two tna talent despite their stint.

However, I think using Sting, RVD, Angele, Anderson, hardy etc in title feuds and having them go over the tna guys is foolish. (I love what they are doing with Angle putting over Storm), these guys have no room to grow. To have them on top just makes the company stagnant.

 

[iwinulose]

silly ignorant OP, talent is talent who cares if they have worked for the wwe or ROH, or are tna born wrestlers. the issues in tna is that they give lots of spotlight to old guys who shouldn't be wrestling due to health reasons, like the wwe they dont listen to what the fans want, Dixie is not overly bright and listens to hogan to much, they dont make great choices (for example they had roode lose to an injured Kurt angle, then angle lost the title to storm who then got a concussion, then they dropped the title to roode, maybe it was just me but i felt that was kinda stupid and short sighted on tna's part), and they dont always use their talent properly. other then that i like tna and i think they do pretty dam good, but they have some flaws that need to be fixed. oh and they have to stop giving hulk hogan all their money to make a few appearances.

 

[ABMorales787]

But the very fact that TNA as failed to breed its own stars, making its own product have made it so people cannot have a real grasp of what TNA is!

Mick Foley once said TNA was a place where wrestlers wrestle. I know it's hard for you to believe but that's what they do. So if people watch and see wrestlers wrestling, they'll have a firm grasp of what TNA is. Wrestling.

It's easy to say "oh people come and go, that's change".

It's also logic.

But perception is everything in wrestling. Hell if there's a company that has controled its talent and its product it's the WWE and it has worked for them.

No. WWE has what it has because it's the far bigger company. They can afford to control their talent right down to their likeness and have endless resources. It's not because they are smart business, it's because they are older and far more grown.

That is why guys like Goldberg on their shows because he wasn't made by them. People whined that he wasn't handle right but in the end they stuck to their guns and never made their homegrown like HHH look like a fool.

Triple H started in WCW too you know. But it's easy to keep the "homegrown talent" safe when he's the one calling the shots.

Promotions should worried about who they bring in and be careful on how these guys are handled. Because of the perception. It's your product and it's important that it should stay above everything else.

And it's why they've brought the likes of Sting, Jeff Hardy, Kurt Angle and Hulk Hogan on board.

That is why after countless failiures pushing Bobby Roode has been their best idea and it will succeed if they have faith in him.

So you are saying Roode is their best thing going because he's homegrown and not because he's good? I can tell you, your perception is wrong. Because he's not the one getting the push. It's Hardy and Storm. Roode along with Kurt Angle are their vehicles.

 

[Philly88]

I want TNA to be great but somtimes Im not sure they even know what direction they are going. I hate to say it but Raw has been decent lately and I have been watching it a lot more after watching basically just TNA from late summer 2010 to around june this year.

 

[1kulumbus1]

Wwe has signed cm punk dbryan cladio castignoli from ROH and no one says wwe is full of ex ROH wrestlers its just because it's tna which isn't fair

 

[Reflection]

 

[Reflection]

tna has tens of hundreds of problems that require attention.... more that what they are currently ready to provide