What if TNA and ROH merged?

[Dagger Dias]

I'm pretty sure this topic has not been done. I'm aware that it will never happen, but I thought it would make for an interesting discussion. WWE's brand extension was the result of two federations coming together (WWF and WCW). It became a much larger company. People always whine about how TNA needs to become a threat to WWE. There's another organization out there who also is nowhere near being a threat, ROH. Neither are a significant threat to WWE at the moment....


But what if the two teamed up and merged into one company?


WWE has Raw and Smackdown. Two brands. TNA/ROH if merged would then also have two brands. Much larger roster, and two different brands to market while trying to become a legit threat to WWE. I'm not saying they would need to begin showing their programs on Mondays and Fridays to compete with WWE. That would likely end as badly as TNA's Monday night run in 2010. At least for now. The merger could benefit both companies because they would be able to work together to bring more attention to both rosters.



1. What championships would you keep? Have them all separate on the two brands, or unify everything to undisputed champions of both brands?

2. Who would you push? Would you do a brand extension draft lottery style roster switch like WWE did and still does today? Who would be the face (or faces) of this new organization? Would it need a new name?

3. Finally.... what do you think WWE would do in retaliation to this merger if it happened? Let's assume that a legit competition began. What do you think would happen? I want some detailed answers here.


I realize that the odds of such a merger ever happening are next to nothing, but I wanted to spark some discussion and I look forward to seeing what all of you have to say. So.... Discuss!

 

[wrestlingfan]

Well TNA and ROH merging would be somewhat similiar to what WCW did with ECW in the late 90s-early 200s. I would simply just have TNA buy out ROH's roster and get rid of the company itself but keep the roster and have them join TNA.

 

[The Dragon Saga]

TNA buy-out Ring of Honor literally weeks after Sinclair Broadcast Groups purchased the company, they unveiled a new logo, Kevin Kelly confirmed that there is a substantial amount of money going towards improving the production and editing of the show and someone thinks that in any way, shape or form TNA could buy Ring of Honor out?!

I'm not going to lie, if Ring of Honor was ever bought out, I would find Silkin and the heads of SBG and personally kill them myself. Especially to TNA, who can't use one of Ring of Honor's most prized commodities correctly - Samoa Joe.

Ring of Honor is really getting on the map now. Broke the record for iPPV sales, has the new television deal starting in September, have new guys making a name for themselves, will have money to spend on talent who would only join for a specific amount, can push their promoting and advertising through television now; I mean, ROH broke the record with only having very minimal advertising and through the Internet at that!

Ring of Honor is a better product than TNA. ROH is wrestling. It isn't about name recognition and it isn't about who can cut the best promo or who needs a push this week because they got muscle. In ROH, if you have talent then you'll make it.

My apologies for not answering the actual OP, Dagger, and also the question has been done before, but even the title of the thread will give me nightmares for the foreseeble future. And I like TNA in aspects, but even though it might have a bigger TV deal it doesn't scratch the surface of ROH's product. ROH is the place where wrestling doesn't matter now - its always mattered and its all thats ever mattered.

 

[wrestlingfan]

TNA buy-out Ring of Honor literally weeks after Sinclair Broadcast Groups purchased the company, they unveiled a new logo, Kevin Kelly confirmed that there is a substantial amount of money going towards improving the production and editing of the show and someone thinks that in any way, shape or form TNA could buy Ring of Honor out?!

I'm not going to lie, if Ring of Honor was ever bought out, I would find Silkin and the heads of SBG and personally kill them myself. Especially to TNA, who can't use one of Ring of Honor's most prized commodities correctly - Samoa Joe.

Ring of Honor is really getting on the map now. Broke the record for iPPV sales, has the new television deal starting in September, have new guys making a name for themselves, will have money to spend on talent who would only join for a specific amount, can push their promoting and advertising through television now; I mean, ROH broke the record with only having very minimal advertising and through the Internet at that!

Ring of Honor is a better product than TNA. ROH is wrestling. It isn't about name recognition and it isn't about who can cut the best promo or who needs a push this week because they got muscle. In ROH, if you have talent then you'll make it.

My apologies for not answering the actual OP, Dagger, and also the question has been done before, but even the title of the thread will give me nightmares for the foreseeble future. And I like TNA in aspects, but even though it might have a bigger TV deal it doesn't scratch the surface of ROH's product. ROH is the place where wrestling doesn't matter now - its always mattered and its all thats ever mattered.

But ROH's it's all about wrestling is what may keep them from going mainstream.

 

[The Dragon Saga]

But ROH's it's all about wrestling is what may keep them from going mainstream.

And how is that bad? Your username is "wrestlingfan", Ring of Honor is a wrestling company and believe this or not, there are people who are sick of watching a two hour show for an average of thirty minutes of wrestling where-as in ROH there are about maybe two promos a night and after that, nothing but solid wrestling matches.

So far this year ROH has the best overall PPV hands down, nobody has put on a show that'll compete with Best In The World and it will take one great show to knock it from said perch.

 

[gunnascott]

It won't matter. Neither company has the finances to go against WWE and combining aint gonna make much difference

 

[LSN80]

It won't matter. Neither company has the finances to go against WWE and combining aint gonna make much difference

This is a major reason why people need to read the rules before they post. How did that address anything Dagger asked in his first post? Have you heard of hypotheticals? Yeah, thats what this is. Anyway.

1. What championships would you keep? Have them all separate on the two brands, or unify everything to undisputed champions of both brands?

Both have TV titles, so I would do away with the one that truly doesn't matter, which is TNA's. The Knockout's title would stay, but since ROH brings little in terms of a Women's division, with only four active women's wrestlers on their roster. Id keep the tag team championships from both, since there are enough tag teams to legitimately use both within the context of two shows. The X division championship would stay, as would both World Titles. There would be too many strong competitors along with two shows for so many to be fighting over one title. The current champion in TNA, Anderson, doesn't even get on TV some weeks because of so many feuds. Two shows, two championships. The TV Title, X Division Title, and the KO title could be defended on both shows. So obviously, Im against the notion of undisputed championships, because there are too many wrestlers across two shows for them not to focus on both the tag team and heavyweight divisions. TNA already has 12 wrestlers in the BFG series, and the contenders would only increase with the addition of the ROH guys, both in the tag division, and the Heavyweight one.

2. Who would you push? Would you do a brand extension draft lottery style roster switch like WWE did and still does today? Who would be the face (or faces) of this new organization? Would it need a new name?

So many questions to be answered here. TNA has already really dropped the ball with AJ Styles in TNA, as I truly feel he should be the face of TNA. The problem is, TNA has no face of the company, as I said earlier, even the champion isnt featured on every show. Davey Richards, who is my favorite personal wrestler, would be another man Id heavily push. Richards truly may be the best wrestler in the world, and his mic skills and mannerisms have improved tremendously over time, as he's become the natural face he is. Id also push Sara Del Rey to the moon in the KO's division. I truly believe should could breathe new life into the KO's division that desperately needs it. I love Mickie James as evidenced by my avatar, by shes become just another KO in the division. Del Rey could truly make the division marketable again and deliver quality wrestling. Within the tag team division, the opportunities are endless. Beer Money, the MCMG's(when healthy), Generation Me(if they return to ROH), The Hardy's (if they return), the Briscoes, The WGTT, The KOW, and the All Night Express, amongst others, could certainly make for an exciting division that would need two belts. I think the lottery is a good idea, but it would need to be something that determines every wrestlers place on their respective shows, not just 4 picks a show.

3. Finally.... what do you think WWE would do in retaliation to this merger if it happened? Let's assume that a legit competition began. What do you think would happen? I want some detailed answers here.

Competition would be the past darn thing that could happen to the WWE. It would require tighter scripting, a greater focus on quality wrestling, and the end of campy comedy. I could honestly see WWE trying to woo away some of the top talent from the Impact/ROH product that are being used improperly, such as Samoa Joe and Kurt Angle for example. Competition in the wrestling business would be the best possible thing that could happen, as we'ld have more feuds such as the Punk/Cena and Christian/Orton angles, focused writing that leaves one wanting more. Each mid-card title would receive proper feuds as well, not just opponents being thrown together time and again for no reason whatsoever other then lazy boking(Kofi and Ziggler come to mind), and mid-card champions would wrestle less non-title matches and more title matches on TV, which would provide more credibility to the divisions. I can't see what bad would come of this, to be honest. Competition means all involved have to step up their game, which would provide for compelling TV each and every week, rather then wasting shows such as the week after EC just to suck off the Rock for 2 hours. Less PPV's with longer builds would be essential to providing this.

 

[ABMorales787]

TNA and ROH merging? That's like making a country rap song. It would only be a good idea for the fans. Kevin Kelly and Jim Cornette are utterly hostile towards TNA. Their styles are not the same. Not to mention that as long as Hogan and Bischoff are around, that's just gonna fuel their rage more. One is stiff and the other is fast paced mixed with sports entertainment.

I far prefer it as two totally unrelated companies. To each their own flavor with nobody tampering with the others formula.

 

[Mr. Fister]

^ Exactly, ROH is all about old skool style wrestling, while TNA is new skool style. Plus Cornette came from TNA and hates the company, always shooting on it in interivews. Plus even though TNA has a television deal, ROH is a better company overall then TNA is.

 

[wrestlingfan]

And how is that bad? Your username is "wrestlingfan", Ring of Honor is a wrestling company and believe this or not, there are people who are sick of watching a two hour show for an average of thirty minutes of wrestling where-as in ROH there are about maybe two promos a night and after that, nothing but solid wrestling matches.

So far this year ROH has the best overall PPV hands down, nobody has put on a show that'll compete with Best In The World and it will take one great show to knock it from said perch.

Yes but as a wrestling fan there's moe to wrestling then just 5 star technical showcases, In today's wrestling fans they want to see more then just wrestling, they want storylines, they want gimmicks, they want sports entertainment.

 

[TWJC: The Beginning]

WWE is sports entertainment, ROH is wrestling, TNA is a bipolar version of both (not in a good way). So I would see this as a bad thing.

ROH undestands they'll never beat Vince and so they capitalize on the market Vince can't have, the underground smarks. TNA tries to take both, and they fail.

If I could control this, I'd fire all the old guys, use TNA's money (well they're in massive debt I hear but I mean their financial backers) and fund the ROH guys.

Basically anyone who would fit into ROH, or return to ROH, like Joe, Styles, etc, would be in ROH/TNA. No TNA bookers, all ROH guys. Just TNA financial backers.

 

[TWJC: The Beginning]

Yes but as a wrestling fan there's moe to wrestling then just 5 star technical showcases, In today's wrestling fans they want to see more then just wrestling, they want storylines, they want gimmicks, they want sports entertainment.

I agree. The worst thing about ROH is their obnoxious fans. They know jack shit about wrestling. They think a million moves crammed into a 15 minute match with no "botches" is a good match. A wrestler is just supposed to get a reaction. If you don't get a reaction with gymnastics, don't fuckin do gymnastics. If the crowd would rather you do punch/kick/crowdplay, do punch/kick/crowdplay. If you'd rather dick around with highspots that aren't getting a reaction, you're a shitty wrestler no matter how many moves you know.

 

[mlp420]

Saying ROH is better product than TNA because there's more wrestling is totally subjective. I don't get this IWC obsession with how much wrestling is on a show. Seems like it's religion for some people. As Gunner once said, pro wrestling is a total package now. The majority of fans expect interviews, vignettes, skits, ect.

I'm no casual fan either. I've been watching wrestling for 15 years. I just want to be entertained. I'm not self righteous, and I'm not a purist. I'm not going to root for or against the success of a wrestling company based on their creative direction.

And as far as merging TNA with ROH, TNA doesn't need to do that, they can just sign the guys they like and go about their business. I'm not even sure ROH is the number three promotion right now. WFX has a better TV deal than they do. I read somewhere that when their was a ratings test for HDNet, HDNet's highest rated show scored about 5,000 - 20,000 viewers. How the hell do you get cancelled from a network drawing 5-20K for their top rated shows? Not to mention they were 2 million dollars in the whole before the SBG sale.

Yeah they've had some future stars come from there (everyone clings to this), but that happened by design. They're the leading independent in the US, of course anyone who blows up on the indy scene is going to eventually come through ROH. That's like giving an NBA team credit for having great young players when they pick first in the draft every year.

 

[Tastycles]

What an absolutely ridiculous idea. What a lot of the IWC repeatedly fail to notice is that ROH is nothing. It is small time, and its wrestlers aren't under long term contracts, that's why they leave whenever either bigger company comes in for them without any difficulty. There's literally no benefit to TNA investing in a ROH merger. If they wanted the talent, they could take it. They have much better market visibility and are on a better television network. The reason WWE buy small time promotions of the past like ECW and WCCW is because of their back catalogue being worth something in the DVD market, but ROH has already released everything it's ever done to the public and therefore has a value of around twelve dollars. This would be TNA pissing money away for no reason.

If TNA did do this, to answer your question, they may as well make their second brand an internet only show, because that's the only place where ROH has anything approaching a sizeable audience, and put all of the people that internet fans like on there. Build it around the X-Division, and basically defend that title there and occasionally on the main PPV show.

The big hitters of TNA now would remain unchanged, though people like Samoa Joe may be able to make themselves relevant again on the lesser show. I suppose it would also give a chance for anyone in the X Division that was capable of moving up some time to shine, but I don't think any of them could cut it in the big leagues right now. Potentially Kendrick, but not while he's writing his own lines.

There's absolutely no way this would pose any more of a threat to the WWE, if anything it would divert funds away from more beneficial things TNA could do in the battle against them. As discussed, the only way that this would even vaguely help TNA would be in giving them a bigger IWC presence. If the WWE felt they needed to react to that, and I don't think they would, then they would probably do something like give Daniel Bryan and CM Punk pushes, whilst bigging up internet darlings on the internet like Zack Ryder...