Kincaid

They've signed names. It's done nothing. Names don't have a history of changing ratings or PPV buys in TNA, but sensible logical interesting storylines do. There's a reason Joe/Angle did so well.

Pratchett

I was going to disagree with you at first, but then I re-read the post, and I have to say I partially agree. There is some better wrestling on TNA, as far as in ring work goes. But you have to look at the whole show. You have to. The biggest reason I do not watch TNA on a consistent basis is that I have already seen most of this crap before. I was there, watching WCW Monday Nitro as it was dying, and I really am sick of watching it over and over again on Thursday nights. That is where the doubts creep in. It doesn't matter how big of a star Hogan was. He is the biggest cancer in pro wrestling today, and is doing his damndest to pull down TNA with him in his professional career freefall. It wouldn't matter one bit if CM Punk or John Cena jumped ship to TNA tomorrow. Until you get rid of the people who are running the show into the ground today, you won't have a product to prop up for tomorrow.

The same used to be true about WCW vs WWF. Turner had all the money, and all the ratings. WCW was live, and WWF taped its shows in advance. WCW had taken all the biggest names, and was burying the WWF. But guess who got creative? Who took chances? Big names and big success mean nothing if it can't be sustained.

WWE has been going into a lull. Now is the time for TNA to take risks, and think outside the box. The reason they are failing is because they are trying to use WWF tactics against WWE. Do they honestly think they can play Vince's games against Vince? He's already been there, done that. All WWE has to do is play to the status quo to win. And everything ends up being stale all the way around for everyone. Pro wrestling as an industry suffers, along with us fans who want to see something better.

TNA will continue to flounder behind WWE until they make some serious changes. Hopefully it is not too late. I want to see good competition between two strong companies. I want to see better products on both sides. But for the love of God, I recently just read spoilers telling me what's going to happen for the next 4 weeks of Impact. How can TNA possibly compete when they are taping a month's worth of programming in advance? Especially with those god-awful storylines and piss poor swerves?

Lariatoh!

I just want to say that comparing WCW/WWF to TNA/WWE is apples and oranges.

WWF before the nWo started runnin wild was the top dog had the rock and roll era, wrestlemania, and still had an aura, no matter what was happening at the time. Even though WCW was kicking VInce's ass, Chris Jericho's dream was always to go to the WWF and he jumped when he had the chance.

WWF was still thought of as the. It time, no matter how big WCW got. TNA on the other people even on wrestling forums are unaware of its existence. At least before Hogan showed up. Nash and Angle all the time used to have people come up to them and ask them why they aren't wrestling any more even though they were heavily featured every Thursday night on impact.

The WWE might suck to a lot of people at the moment, but when the Rock walks out, or Brock Lesnar's music hits, it all just feels like this giant epic blockbuster production. You might say well that's the Rock and Brock, well what about 3 relatively unknown talents called the Shield who are taking the industry by storm. Why? Because of the WWE machine. Because simply they are on WWE tv. How epic was the Royal Rumble titantron? Amazing.

TNA has all the talent in the world, some of he very best, but their promotion machine and their production values are dwarfed by Vince's.

In saying all of this, I think TNA is the number 2 promotion in the US and possibly he world (NJPW) not withstanding, and I think they should just concentrate on putting out a good wrestling product, and not worry about trying to compete. Not trying to overtake, because that is a fools errand, and what does it really matter in the long run? If they are putting out a different wrestling show, with different talent and it is entertaining, then who cares if they beat WWE in the ratings? Bragging rights really mean nothing. They give us more and diversified wrestling for fans to watch. I have never bought into, one federation is better than the other.

What concerns me about TNA ( this is a a TNA thread) is that they have amazing talents like Alex Shelley who could be as big as a CM Punk or Chris Jericho, but TNA just didn't have a clue what to do with him. At least they have seen Austin Aries' potential. TNA has started to turn a corner because they are starting to recognize and push the great talents they already have instead of try and buy someone like they did with Anderson and see how they really don't fit into the TNA environment, dont have the WWE machine that makes them more than what they really are and therefore don't help TNA in any way in the long run.

OP what makes Sheamus any better than Matt Morgan? The WWE machine is all. What makes Punk better than Aries, the machine. What makes Cena better than Joe? Or Magnus? Or Styles? It is all in the booking for TNA because hey don't have he epic stage that WWE has.

The better their product and creative is than the more fans they will get and more epic feel they can start to put on. Just grow your fan base and one day an epic feel, may come, but for now, make a profit and keep providing us with an alternative and a place to se on an international stage other great wrestlers can perform on.

bigdog40

Ok the only way WWE's top talent were to come to TNA is if WWE fires them. TNA can't buy out their talent and most of WWE's top stars for the most part are satisfied with this position in the WWE either card wise or financially.

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joeisgonnakillyou

- I don't see how punk is more marketable than hardy, he simply isn't. WWE would do way more money with jeff.
- This infantile dream of monday night wars 2.0 needs to stop. Different times, TNA should go after the social online media.
- Spoilers: if the rock or cena came to impact wrestling, at best they would get a 2.0 and then go back to irrelevant 1.2's.

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The Smark One

TNA needs to keep doing exactly what they are doing. Keep making stars and building there brand. and as far as creative goes, its gotten a lot better over the past year. I mean for fuck sake WWE is even taking ideas from TNA now. For example champions choice sounds a lot like open fight night to me. another example the aces and eights come around in TNA and all of a sudden a couple months later the WWE comes up with a stable (not nearly as big in size as the aces and eights). And indy guys are definitely the way to go but the WWE has beat TNA to punch with that as well. TNA missed out on Bryan Danielson, Jon Moxley, and El Generico just to name a few. TNA needs to revamp the X Division and all of the different match types that came along with the X Division. In closing people should want to watch TNA because its different from the WWE not because its a carbon copy of the E and not to watch all of there favorite wrestlers that use to wrestle in the E.

Pratchett

Yeah, there are differences, but in the end apples and oranges are still both fruit, after all. So there is a sort of comparison. Just for analogy purposes.

Yes. This is exactly what TNA needs to do.
Not going to happen, though, as long as they let Hogan hang around.
Ultimately he is too big a fish to be in their little pond, and his presence hurts the lesser known names that deserve better exposure.

nevereveragainu

except WWE dont consider themsleves wrestling anymore so the comparison really should be thereoh theres no denying that wrestling morale is at an all time low and wrestlers passion everywhere is slowly dying, doesn't help that the world is economically up the creek right now

his presence alone is worth a look see, his terminator style theme music is good too

like being the world standard for the catorgories that WWe dont do? training montages? knowing that it is a proactive company to change the worlds misconceptions towards this misunderstood little subculture

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Mrs. Austin Aries

This.

And I love this. Very quotable.

I think it's pretty much academic at this point that names do not necessarily = ratings and ratings don't necessarily = quality. And let's not fool ourselves here, John Cena is not much without the WWE machine behind him. If he truly is limited in the ring (I don't know his full potential as WWE tends to downplay that in wrestlers), and is trite on the mic, then what kind of character would he be in Impact Wrestling? He has to be Super Cena, the persona that maintains his popularity with the masses, in order to maintain his audience, but Impact's audiences don't really go for the Power Ranger types. The parents and kids who are into Cena in WWE may not be the type who would watch IW because their product is not as family-friendly. I find it hard to imagine that they would be okay with watching Velvet and her 'pigeons' or Bad Influence's antics. We already have a TNA-flavored Cena type, and he is sometimes called "Super Nero." Now, the people who like The Rock might be people who could switch over, but that doesn't mean they will. Many WWE fans are elitist and look down on TNA, so...yeah, I doubt they would be switching over, and certainly not for the long haul. What's more, no one less than The Rock would be able to do anything. But when it comes down to it, they want to see those "Superstars" in WWE.

And another point, WWE wrestlers have "lines"; in TNA they would have to be genuinely charismatic. Not an easy feat. I admire someone who can spout off hilarious or compelling things off the cuff, rather than someone who speaks slowly, enunciating each line they have rehearsed or have been fed. I want wrestlers who can talk, not "performers." If a WWE manufactured product (i.e. Superstar) came to TNA it would sort out whether they really are that good or if they actually suck. And while that would be an interesting experiment, it's not one I would want to take precious tv time for.

TNA needs to make itself known. THAT is the issue. They already have great wrestlers, including some awesome homegrown ones. The talent is already there. It is the brand that needs to be worked on. Did WWE not make its own talent? Why does TNA need to use theirs? Because they're already established? I say they can make, and are making, their own names. They have the money; they need to book their own marketing team to win them more fans.

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Fufflefuff

This thinking needs to stop as names have been shown to be fairly irrelevant to TNA in the longterm.

I will admit that if they get Will Smith, Angelina Jolie, Adele, Bieber, Pope Benedict XVI and Oprah to show up then maybe we'll have something.