Should TNA try and make their own Cena?

[mrbananagrabber]

One of the constant criticisms thrown at TNA is that they've never really had their own identity; for every Samoa Joe there's ten old WWE guys rehashing their past companies gimmicks to diminishing returns.

So should TNA sign a new, fairly unheard of guy and try and brand him as THEIR guy? Cena wasn't always a star or a top draw, he was made to be. I don't mean on the same scale, but shouldn't TNA try branding a guy as THE face of TNA, a guy when you think "Impact Wrestling", his face pops up?

[Push R Truth]

Abyss is about as close as they had to "their own guy".

And even he was a lovechild of Kane, Mankind and a stick of butter.

[mrbananagrabber]

Feb 19, 2015 19:55:59 GMT -5 Push R Truth said:

You mean like they did with THE MONSTER ABYSS?

In a way, yes, but he was only ever really a bargain bin Kane, and was never THE guy so face/heel turns meant nothing. I'm talking TNA's super face.

[Chip Chipperson]

They should have done that 10 years ago. These days they don't have the appeal for someone that is young, talented AND marketable unless they're WWE cast offs that were of zero value to WWE.

TNA's problem has always been that they don't want to build for the future. WWE's rise of Cena took them about 2 years and that was a guy who could talk, was good looking and decent in the ring. Most guys need a 5 year plan to become "The guy" and TNA has never really concentrated on that.

[Emmet Russell]

I'd argue they have one with Angle or Hardy.

[One-Armed Drummer of Defrebel]

Feb 19, 2015 19:55:59 GMT -5 Push R Truth said:

Abyss is about as close as they had to "their own guy".

And even he was a lovechild of Kane, Mankind and a stick of butter.

I'll never not find it hilarious that Hogan loved Abyss so much that he genuinely compared him to Cena.

[A Platypus Rave]

It should have been AJ Styles.

[Magic knows Black Lives Matter]

Feb 19, 2015 21:42:35 GMT -5 A Platypus Rave said:

It should have been AJ Styles.

Don't be ridiculous. He was just coming into his own in 2013/Dixie Carter.

[Captain Stud Muffin (BLM)]

The problem with that would be if you find a guy young enough and push him as the top talent how long will it be before he price tags you out and jump to WWE. Also I don't think it would be as easy to dedicate yourself to TNA full time the same way Cena does for WWE. Jeff Jarret essentially did that when building TNA up and look where he is at now and look where TNA is at now. To do that much work to build the company back up is so much more then a one man job,

[Reflecto]

TNA tried. Many times. We ended up with people like Gunner and Crimson, and the TNA audience turns on them.

TNA can't sign a new, unheard of guy because the TNA audience made it clear they won't accept anyone who didn't work for ROH or SHIMMER.

[Deleted]

TNA does and has desperately needed a face since it's inception pretty much. AJ was close but that was more bestowed on him by the fans than the office. At this point they're going to have to find some guys with good looks and see if any of them get over. Since most Indy wrestlers will avoid TNA they'll have to sign athletes, bodybuilders, anyone that looks the part, train them and hope for the best.

It should have been Monte Brown though, that dude was the real deal.

[chrom]

TNA doesn't want to make their own star though, they want some WWEject to come in and be the focus of everything. Look at how Angle the moment he stepped foot in was immediately made the focus of the entire product at the expense of everyone else. How many times have we seen TNA hire a guy not because of his ability or experience, but because he worked for WWE at some point?

Hell, I think TNA resented the fact that guys like AJ, Daniels, Joe, Monty Brown, and others weren't former WWE guys and that they were the ones the fanbase chosen as their guy.

[One-Armed Drummer of Defrebel]

Feb 19, 2015 22:03:28 GMT -5 Reflecto said:

TNA tried. Many times. We ended up with people like Gunner and Crimson, and the TNA audience turns on them.

TNA can't sign a new, unheard of guy because the TNA audience made it clear they won't accept anyone who didn't work for ROH or SHIMMER.

I think the reason for people not accepting Gunner and Crimson might be a tad deeper than that.

Just a tad.

[Deleted]

Feb 19, 2015 21:52:07 GMT -5 Captain Stud Muffin (BLM) said:

The problem with that would be if you find a guy young enough and push him as the top talent how long will it be before he price tags you out and jump to WWE.

I'm not sure how big of a problem that would be considering WWE seems to be very reluctant to snatch up long term TNA guys who didn't originally come from WWE/WCW/ECW.

[Chip Chipperson]

Feb 19, 2015 21:52:07 GMT -5 Captain Stud Muffin (BLM) said:

The problem with that would be if you find a guy young enough and push him as the top talent how long will it be before he price tags you out and jump to WWE. Also I don't think it would be as easy to dedicate yourself to TNA full time the same way Cena does for WWE. Jeff Jarret essentially did that when building TNA up and look where he is at now and look where TNA is at now. To do that much work to build the company back up is so much more then a one man job,

You can build more than one guy up at a time. Look at the WWE for example. Cena is the face of their company but they have Roman Reigns hanging around about to take that role. Orton has always been around in case Cena is gone. They had Undertaker as the face of Smackdown for a long time and he still technically could be classed as a face of the company. Triple H as well.

They've got a lot of guys who could be the face of the company also. Daniel Bryan is incredibly popular and if WWE marketed him more he probably could be "that guy" if need be. You have a couple others as well.

TNA literally has 2 guys who could even possibly be the face of the company and haven't been completely destroyed by the shitty booking. Those 2 men are Jeff Hardy and Kurt Angle who have already been the face of the WWE at one time or another.

[Captain Stud Muffin (BLM)]

Feb 19, 2015 23:10:38 GMT -5 Chip Chipperson said:

Feb 19, 2015 21:52:07 GMT -5 Captain Stud Muffin (BLM) said:

The problem with that would be if you find a guy young enough and push him as the top talent how long will it be before he price tags you out and jump to WWE. Also I don't think it would be as easy to dedicate yourself to TNA full time the same way Cena does for WWE. Jeff Jarret essentially did that when building TNA up and look where he is at now and look where TNA is at now. To do that much work to build the company back up is so much more then a one man job,

You can build more than one guy up at a time. Look at the WWE for example. Cena is the face of their company but they have Roman Reigns hanging around about to take that role. Orton has always been around in case Cena is gone. They had Undertaker as the face of Smackdown for a long time and he still technically could be classed as a face of the company. Triple H as well.

They've got a lot of guys who could be the face of the company also. Daniel Bryan is incredibly popular and if WWE marketed him more he probably could be "that guy" if need be. You have a couple others as well.

TNA literally has 2 guys who could even possibly be the face of the company and haven't been completely destroyed by the shitty booking. Those 2 men are Jeff Hardy and Kurt Angle who have already been the face of the WWE at one time or another.

This is what i'm getting at,  you need guys that are interchangeable in roles but more in general loyal to making TNA the best they could be. Jeff and Kurt are nice starts as far as rebuilding goes and you have the Roode, Storm, EC3, Lashley (who has a little crossover appeal) type guys that could be up their with the right marketing. You won't have a "Cena" per se but you will have solid pieces to start with.  

[CATCH_US IS the Conversation]

Feb 19, 2015 22:07:35 GMT -5 @akeem said:

TNA does and has desperately needed a face since it's inception pretty much. AJ was close but that was more bestowed on him by the fans than the office. At this point they're going to have to find some guys with good looks and see if any of them get over. Since most Indy wrestlers will avoid TNA they'll have to sign athletes, bodybuilders, anyone that looks the part, train them and hope for the best.

It should have been Monte Brown though, that dude was the real deal.

I don't see athletes, bodybuilders, random people off the street jumping into wrestling unless it's for WWE or for their hometown's local indy. But someone already working in the indies (or even the dreaded "WWE rejects") would probably sign with TNA just for the love of the art of wrestling.

I'm sure there's a good looking, skilled, unsigned indy wrestler out there somewhere who would like to jump to TNA. As bad as TNA is now, it's still a nationally television promotion, and TNA is a lot more lenient on talents taking indy bookings than they were in the past. I'm sure any young wrestler would gladly be the face of TNA with the proper incentives.

[Non Banjoble Tokens]

They could try that now with that Shabali Sherbet guy.

[Chip Chipperson]

Feb 20, 2015 1:54:44 GMT -5 CATCH_US IS the Conversation said:

Feb 19, 2015 22:07:35 GMT -5 @akeem said:

TNA does and has desperately needed a face since it's inception pretty much. AJ was close but that was more bestowed on him by the fans than the office. At this point they're going to have to find some guys with good looks and see if any of them get over. Since most Indy wrestlers will avoid TNA they'll have to sign athletes, bodybuilders, anyone that looks the part, train them and hope for the best.

It should have been Monte Brown though, that dude was the real deal.

I don't see athletes, bodybuilders, random people off the street jumping into wrestling unless it's for WWE or for their hometown's local indy. But someone already working in the indies (or even the dreaded "WWE rejects") would probably sign with TNA just for the love of the art of wrestling.

I'm sure there's a good looking, skilled, unsigned indy wrestler out there somewhere who would like to jump to TNA. As bad as TNA is now, it's still a nationally television promotion, and TNA is a lot more lenient on talents taking indy bookings than they were in the past. I'm sure any young wrestler would gladly be the face of TNA with the proper incentives.

I don't think it's so much about TNA offering the ability to still work indies but moreso the fact that TNA has killed careers. I wouldn't accuse them of doing it deliberately but it's very hard to argue with the facts. Guys who were seen as future international stars such as Austin Aries, Magnus, Samoa Joe etc signed with TNA and quickly became "just another guy" on the roster.

Back in 2006-2007 I'd understand the appeal of a young guy signing for TNA. They had quality national television, they were loved and seen as the future, the booking was solid (not great always but definitely not bad) and at that point TNA had the best pure wrestling roster in the world. Throw in a few big names and I understand why everyone wanted in but what's the appeal in 2015? You get to test your skills against the likes of Mahabali Shaera, Crazy Steve and Chris Melendez whilst earning very little money (I hear the undercard guys make 300-500 a taping) on a shit network that only 300-400 thousand people watch weekly? No thanks.

[Jedi-El of Tomorrow]

Feb 19, 2015 22:03:28 GMT -5 Reflecto said:

TNA tried. Many times. We ended up with people like Gunner and Crimson, and the TNA audience turns on them.

TNA can't sign a new, unheard of guy because the TNA audience made it clear they won't accept anyone who didn't work for ROH or SHIMMER.

Come on man, the TNA audience sure as f*** haven't rejected Rockstar Spud or ECIII. Spud was an unknown in the States, and ECIII never got to the main roster in WWE. They've been accepted, and seen as possibly the best things about TNA, for awhile now.