What Qualifies A Wrestler to be Homegrown?

[mean_gene_roberts]

....and for the record Abyss is not a homegrown, though AJ sure as hell is.

Sorry, but have to make a correction. AJ is not "homegrown". He wrestled for WCW. In fact, TNA doesn't have any homegrown talent as they have been brought in from many different organizations to build TNA. In order for talent to be of their own making, they must have either/or a training center and development territory.

 

[Uncle Sam]

Sorry, but have to make a correction. AJ is not "homegrown". He wrestled for WCW. In fact, TNA doesn't have any homegrown talent as they have been brought in from many different organizations to build TNA. In order for talent to be of their own making, they must have either/or a training center and development territory.

If by "other companies" you're referring to numerous small indies, WWE Heat and the last few weeks of WCW, then no, no one on the WWE, TNA or most other companies' rosters is homegrown. What, you thought they just went "you there, you've never wrestled before, get in there"? Of course not. The fact of the matter is that Abyss and AJ Styles have spent most of their careers in TNA. It's where they've grown as wrestlers and made names for themselves. In that sense, they are homegrown.

 

[mean_gene_roberts]

If by "other companies" you're referring to numerous small indies, WWE Heat and the last few weeks of WCW, then no, no one on the WWE, TNA or most other companies' rosters is homegrown. What, you thought they just went "you there, you've never wrestled before, get in there"? Of course not. The fact of the matter is that Abyss and AJ Styles have spent most of their careers in TNA. It's where they've grown as wrestlers and made names for themselves. In that sense, they are homegrown.

No, Mr. Sam, where they spend most of their time is not what makes them a star or homegrown. Going to a school associated with an organization makes them stars. For example, both John Cena and Samoa Joe went through the same school in California which works primarily with WWE. They (WWE) picked up Cena but passed on Joe, who went on to work with IWA, ROH and a few other indies before being brought in to TNA. Big Show really came into his own with WWE, but was trained by WCW's Power Plant so he was "homegrown" to WCW. Goldberg (gag) was homegrown to WCW, as were Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, HHH, William Regal, Paul London and 90% of the current WWE roster. Robert Roode, James Mitchell, Eric Young, A1 and a slew of others came from BCW to TNA. Right now, I believe that any up-and-comers for TNA are going to be going through Dory Funk, Jr's school.

 

[Uncle Sam]

No, Mr. Sam, where they spend most of their time is not what makes them a star or homegrown. Going to a school associated with an organization makes them stars. For example, both John Cena and Samoa Joe went through the same school in California which works primarily with WWE. They (WWE) picked up Cena but passed on Joe, who went on to work with IWA, ROH and a few other indies before being brought in to TNA. Big Show really came into his own with WWE, but was trained by WCW's Power Plant so he was "homegrown" to WCW. Goldberg (gag) was homegrown to WCW, as were Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, HHH, William Regal, Paul London and 90% of the current WWE roster. Robert Roode, James Mitchell, Eric Young, A1 and a slew of others came came BCW to TNA. Right now, I believe that any up-and-comers for TNA are going to be going through Dory Funk, Jr's school.

It's disputable. There's no clear definition for "homegrown". At least, none that I've ever heard of. Your definition would deprive any wrestlers save a rare few of the title of homegrown. Besides, why is being homegrown, by your definition, even that important? It's not. The smart companies don't just pluck a direct few from their often loosely-associated development territories, they cast their look further. If they have the resources, that is. Now could we please use this thread for it's original purpose. Who will be the next edition to TNA's Class Of '07?

 

[mean_gene_roberts]

OK Sam...YOU WIN! But, apparently, you thought it was "that important", or you wouldn't have argued with me in the first place. But you are right, this thread is for TNA Hall of Fame nominees. My vote goes to the first Champion under the TNA banner, Ken Shamrock.

 

[Uncle Sam]

OK Sam...YOU WIN! But, apparently, you thought it was "that important", or you wouldn't have argued with me in the first place.

The whole point of these forums is to disagree with each other. A site full of wrestling fans that all think the same thing would be completely boring. I was merely pointing out that we'd gotten sidetracked, I wasn't saying anything against you personally.

 

[Ultimate X™]

AJ Styles is considered TNA Home grown talent, TNA made him into what he is today, not his brief stint in WWE, or his time in WCW...Abyss is definitely homegrown talent as well, along with Chris Harris, James Storm, Eric Young, and several great tag teams like XXX, AMW (was), and LAX....

 

[mean_gene_roberts]

Uh? Hello? How did my comments in another thread get started into its own seperate thread? Since it was my comment that started this, I would like to request it be moved to a more appropiate forum heading or deleted altogether.

The question should not be what makes TNA talent homegrown, but, what makes a performer "homegrown" to ANY company.

I feel my definition is logical and should be the accepted one. In order for a performer to be "homegrown" to that organization, he had to come up through their training schools, their development system--ala' Big Show and Bill Goldberg for WCW.

Let's look at the Hulk Hogan/Vince feud of a couple years back for a prime example of this in action. Vince claimed that HE created "Hulkamania". Hogan said no, it was the fans who created Hulkamania. Actually, it was Verne Gagne and the AWA that created Hulkamania. At that time of Hogans career, the AWA was the largest promotion around and yes bigger than the then WWF. Hogan was one of their premier stars. Vince hired him away from AWA where he was already an established star. Therefore, Hogan was homegrown to the AWA, not the WWF, even though he gained his international fame with the latter.

By the definition of a couple other bloggers, Ric Flair would be homegrown to the WWE, when he had his beginnings in the NWA. And from what I've seen of the talent that WWE creates in its schools and development territories, they don't compare to the caliber of talent that WCW made in their day.

You need to have a training center and/or development system to create your own stars which have not appeared elsewhere, such as WCW did with The Power Plant and WWE does with OVW and FCW. TNA does not have such a system, although I do have reason to believe they are working closely with Dory Funks School at this time. If a larger organization (TNA) hires talent from another organization (ROH, BCW, WWE, etc) then you are simply hiring performers who are already established names in the business. The other argument would allow Christian Cage to be considered as homegrown because he is a main eventer or upper card talent whereas he was just a mid-carder with WWE and obviously that doesn't make sense.

Heres another example drawn from something other than wrestling. If a new family moves to town and have a 16 year old son who joins the school football team and becomes a big time player, they wouldn't refer to him as a native son.

Even better, I happen to be a gardener. If my neighbor gives me a bushel of tomatoes and I share some with a friend, I couldn't refer to them as homegrown. I'd have to say they were raised by my neighbor.

Now I'll finish with the best argument I can-the dictionary.

From Dictionary.com
homegrown 1. grown or produced at home or in a particular region for local consumption: homgrown tomatoes.
2. native or idgigenous to or characteristic of a region: homegrown musicians.

So, with this dictionary definition, I can confidently say that none of the current TNA roster was grown or produced or native or indigenous to them.