TNA interested in ANOTHER former WWE Wrestler

[i.Sarita.com]

leemir said:

He had some matches for TNA before he signed for WWE years ago.

That damn WWE, always signing former TNA talents...like Sonny Siaki and Joey Mathews....

;D

[Lionheart]

highroadheaven said:

"And I'm sorry, but I think a person has to have completely drunk the TNA kool-aid not to see that TNA has clearly demonstrated that they're pretty much interested in anybody who was in WWE for any extended period of time. "

That looks to me like you just said TNA tries to hire each and every former WWE guy.

I honestly do think having some WWE experience on your resume is enough to make TNA more than passingly intrigued by you, no matter who you were. But TNA realizes that their salary budget and roster size do have some limits...they're just hazy on where exactly the latter limit is, in my opinion.

[i.Sarita.com]

lionheart said:

highroadheaven said:

"And I'm sorry, but I think a person has to have completely drunk the TNA kool-aid not to see that TNA has clearly demonstrated that they're pretty much interested in anybody who was in WWE for any extended period of time. "

That looks to me like you just said TNA tries to hire each and every former WWE guy.

I honestly do think having some WWE experience on your resume is enough to make TNA more than passingly intrigued by you, no matter who you were. But TNA realizes that their salary budget and roster size do have some limits...they're just hazy on where exactly the latter limit is, in my opinion.

Well, people always talk about the amount of guys being added to the roster, and seem to forget that TNA has just as many guys who leave on a regular basis...so I see it evening out now that they have 2 hours a week and monthly PPVs to work with...

[erisi236]

still waiting for them to hire Vampiro.

[Can you afford to pay me, Gah]

Here we go again. What is everyone freaken problem? TNA is interested is a man who was a former WWE talent. So what does a bunch of you people do? trash it as if the WWE is so perfect at using talent. Now I'm not saying Joey is a Main Event talent but he is a good worker.

But I hate it when people go and say that oh he was released by the WWE so he a no talent and can never be a star else were because he wasn't one in the WWE as if they were so perfect.

Sure TNA did hie guys that were no talents like Junior Fatu and Test for example. VKM is another one. Team 3D is in the middle. They been very popular for a long time. They had a lot of sucess and TNA brought them to add that creditablity to there Tag Team divison. But TNA fail at keep that good Tag Team Divsion. Just a couple months after they got there TNA breaks up most of there teams. When they came there was the Naturals, Team Canada, AMW, VKM, LAX, and Styles and Daniels were teaming regularly. Only two of those Teams are still around.

Now lets me ask when you look at the releases. Were would TNA be right now if Raven didn't come over in 03. Because IMO he was one of the Main reasons why TNA weekly PPVs in they year were worth getting or interesting. He made TNA so much better. If you compare the last couple of PPV before he debut and what they were after. There is a big difference and in a good way.

Look at Ron Killings who was ones of there top heels in 02. He did good in the role and were would TNA be without him since he was released from the WWE just months before TNA started. You can't say Killings isn't a talented wrestler.

[Mr. Mediocre]

I like Mercury/Matthews...I kind of just wish he'd go back to ROH though. In all seriousness, TNA doesn't need him right now and I don't think he'd provide the kind of rub that getting Christian or Kurt Angle gave them (which wasn't much ratings wise to begin with).

[carter 15]

As long as they don't play up former WWE angles non-stop, or have him talk down WWE like it's the worst place on earth... i fail to see the problem when the wrestler is as talented as Joey.

[Splinter]

TNA should blow their entire budget on getting the Gobbledy Gooker, Doink the Clown, Repo-Man and Gillberg. That stable would RULE!!!

[hollywood]

I gotta agree with the guy who mentioned "TNA Kool-Aid."

Yes, guys jump from promotion to promotion all the time. In the late 90's guys would hop back and forth from WCW to WWE on a seemingly regular basis. ECW guys often made the step up to the big time in WCW or WWE.

But there's a difference between that and TNA today. ECW guys were called up because WWE and WCW recognized how talented they were. When guys jumped from one big promotion to another, it was because they were a huge assett, and both companies knew it. In the case of TNA, they seem to literally fall all over themselves to hire anyone who once worked for Vince McMahon in any capacity. Test, Rikishi, VKM, and Black Reign have already been mentioned. But they're hardly the only ones.

Anyone remember Earl Hebner? Honestly, what was the point in bringing in Earl Hebner, if for no other reason than he worked in WWE? No disrespect to referees in pro wrestling--they're vital--but no one tunes in to see them. And Earl didn't give the company any more of a rub than bringing in Joe Bloe Indy Ref would have (which equates nothing at all, just in case you wondered).

And Christy Hemme? She was initially brought in as nothing more than the girl who said "Coming up next!" before every commercial. That was it. (And for the record, it's all she was ever good at.) Was there no other skanky girl with big boobs out there that could've done the job just as well?

Not to mention that, if I'm not mistaken, they recently worked out some sort of deal with the band who wrote the original DX theme to help write some of their music. Now, really, was there not a single indy band in Nashville, Orlando, or anywhere in between that could'be done that job? What reason could there possibly be for bringing in the original DX band? No one even knows who they were. So, why?

I'm sure there's more instances out there. But I think I've made my obvious point. Yes, guys jump around all the time. And, in my eyes, acquisitions like Christian and Kurt were good (even if they blew it with Kurt), but there's no denying that TNA has a real hard on for anyone who spent six months or more working for Vince McMahon.

[hulkblood]

if he does go it will be the usual
*Joey appears on the rampway and heads to the ring*
Tenay (whos acting like its bret hart coming out of retirement) : do you see who that is on the rampway thats Joey (whatever name they give him)
West: YOU GOTTA BE KIDDIN ME
Tenay: Fans may know him as him as Joey Mercury
West; *incoherent ramblings sounding like he's having a seizure*
Tenay: This is huge news for TNA blah blah blah blah
*Joey does a shoot most likely anti-wwe says he's coming to TNA to make a impact blah blah*
*Don Wests blows his load all over Tenay*

[thestinger]

hollywood said:

but there's no denying that TNA has a real hard on for anyone who spent six months or more working for Vince McMahon.

There practically isn't anyone who has been in the business more than five years who didn't spend six months or more working for Vince.

Did you forget the whole 'monopoly' thing? Being the only national tv outlet for five years?

[hollywood]

thestinger said:

hollywood said:

but there's no denying that TNA has a real hard on for anyone who spent six months or more working for Vince McMahon.

There practically isn't anyone who has been in the business more than five years who didn't spend six months or more working for Vince.

Did you forget the whole 'monopoly' thing? Being the only national tv outlet for five years?

You're still missing the point. They seem like they'll take ANYONE. Wrestlers are one thing, but they seem like they'd be willing to hire Vince McMahon's secretary if they could.

[thestinger]

I am still missing the point. They didn't take Andrew Martin.

Also I have very strong doubts that Rikishi will be signed to a contract. I suspect he's been brought in hype up the Samoa Joe/Christian feud with the whole "Somoa vs. Christian Coalition" thing.

Anyway, this is just the 'current' TNA employs former ---- complaint.

When I started watching TNA, haters would claim they would hire anyone who was in ECW with New Jack, Sabu, Sandman, Raven and Shane Douglas running around.

Then a year ago people where like, "Sting, Jeff Jarrett, Norman freaking Smiley, this company will hire anyone WCW!"

People just don't like TNA and will crap on anything they do.

[hollywood]

thestinger said:

I am still missing the point. They didn't take Andrew Martin.

Also I have very strong doubts that Rikishi will be signed to a contract. I suspect he's been brought in hype up the Samoa Joe/Christian feud with the whole "Somoa vs. Christian Coalition" thing.

Anyway, this is just the 'current' TNA employs former ---- complaint.

When I started watching TNA, haters would claim they would hire anyone who was in ECW with New Jack, Sabu, Sandman, Raven and Shane Douglas running around.

Then a year ago people where like, "Sting, Jeff Jarrett, Norman freaking Smiley, this company will hire anyone WCW!"

People just don't like TNA and will crap on anything they do.

"People just don't like TNA and will crap on anything they do."

This isn't true. And I think you know it. Let me just give you a list of things in TNA I not only DIDN'T crap on, but actually enjoyed:

- The X-Division in 2006
- The Joe/Styles/Daniels fued
- Samoa Joe killing everyone (I never agreed that it hurt the X-Division)
- Christian Cage becoming a main eventer and World Champ
- LAX w/ Konnan
- The Murder City Machine Guns

So again, there's no denying TNA's love for all things formerly WWE. Even if it's just the CURRENT regime in charge, fine, I'll go with that. But they seem eager to hire anyone who's passed through Stamford, Connecticut--wrestler, diva, referee, band, and so on. I wouldn't be surprised if they had a janitor that used to work in Titan Towers.

[thestinger]

hollywood said:

Fine, I should have written, " NOW people just don't like TNA and will crap on anything they do."

I've known about the existence of TNA for less than three years, and I've still been around for "ECW lite" and "WCW lite" arguments which inevitably leads us to "WWE lite."

When was the last time TNA did anything that didn't result in a complaint thread? I can't believe people complain about the announcers saying, "The man formerly known as...."

When I was growing up, everyone was groaning about how insanely stupid it was that WWF insulted your intelligence by never acknowledging their new wrestlers' pasts -- even past WWF personas.

Now it's stupid to do the opposite somehow?

[hollywood]

thestinger said:

hollywood said:

Fine, I should have written, " NOW people just don't like TNA and will crap on anything they do."

I've known about the existence of TNA for less than three years, and I've still been around for "ECW lite" and "WCW lite" arguments which inevitably leads us to "WWE lite."

When was the last time TNA did anything that didn't result in a complaint thread? I can't believe people complain about the announcers saying, "The man formerly known as...."

When I was growing up, everyone was groaning about how insanely stupid it was that WWF insulted your intelligence by never acknowledging their new wrestlers' pasts -- even past WWF personas.

Now it's stupid to do the opposite somehow?

Yea, I can't deny that there's a complaint thread for everything TNA does. EVERYTHING. Every show, every press release, every announcement. You name

And there's a complain thread for everything WWE does, as well. I don't know how often you visit the WWE section (you've said rarely, I think), but people complain about every RAW, ECW, SmackDown, and PPV they air. I'm sure they'd whine about Heat if anyone actually watched it.

And on ROH's message board, there's people complaining after every ROH show. It's an online message board, it's what people do on here.

I don't really care how TNA announces Mercury. The only thing I've said is you can't deny TNA's love for all things WWE.

And I can't speak for the "WCW Lite" or "ECW Lite" comparisons in the past, but today "WWE Lite" is a pretty fair name. Their product is no different than Vinnie's. It's just rehashed versions of gimmicks he's thrown away.

[thestinger]

I've never been to the WWE forums, so yes, I confess my total all encompassing ignorance to what goes on there.

That's why I phrased my initial posting as a question "when he was hired by WWE initially did the headline read "WWE interested in ANOTHER former ECW Wrestler?"

I speculated the answer was 'no' but you can correct me if I'm wrong.

There could be as many threads on there complaining about WWF's stupid intelligence-insulting policy of never acknowledging new wrestler's pasts as there are here about "formerly known as."

I don't know.

As to love for all things formerly WWE -- I don't see it. When I first came here a year ago all I saw was "TNA hires Scott Steiner!? When will their obession with re-creating WCW end?!1"

[hollywood]

thestinger said:

I've never been to the WWE forums, so yes, I confess my total all encompassing ignorance to what goes on there.

That's why I phrased my initial posting as a question "when he was hired by WWE initially did the headline read "WWE interested in ANOTHER former ECW Wrestler?"

I speculated the answer was 'no' but you can correct me if I'm wrong.

There could be as many threads on there complaining about WWF's stupid intelligence-insulting policy of never acknowledging new wrestler's pasts as there are here about "formerly known as."

I don't know.

As to love for all things formerly WWE -- I don't see it. When I first came here a year ago all I saw was "TNA hires Scott Steiner!? When will their obession with re-creating WCW end?!1"

I'm not sure there were any message boards like this back then, and if there were, I wasn't on them. So I can't really say.

But when the WWE hired the Dudley Boyz and Taz, they did it becase they saw potential in them. Same goes for guys like Rob Van Dam, Tommy Dreamer, Rhyno, and so on.

TNA's eagerness to hire anyone...ANYONE...who walked through Titan Towers just screams of desperation to generate that star power they weren't able to create on their own. Honestly, what will Joey Mercury bring to the table that Sonjay Dutt, Jay Lethal, Alex Shelley, Chris Sabin, Christopher Daniels, AJ Styles, hell even Sharkboy can't?

And they've already successfuly recreated WCW--a second-rate promotion where new guys go for their break and old guys go to recapture their lost glory.

[Lionheart]

TNA likes WCW guys too, it's just that the pool of those is running kind of dry, a lot of them are getting up there in years.

But the comparison to WWE signing former ECW guys isn't valid, because ECW to WWE is a move up, whereas WWE to TNA is a move down. I'm not saying which is the "better" promotion, I'm just talking about market share, profit, and popularity.

[thestinger]

hollywood said:

And they've already successfuly recreated WCW--a second-rate promotion where new guys go for their break and old guys go to recapture their lost glory. That had better matches than Vince but didn't quite get that fans now want 'entertainment' instead of good matches

Fixed