|
|
Post by Final Countdown Jones on Oct 6, 2016 15:07:46 GMT -5
There's "we need to save money" and then there's "we're going to pay you 30% of your old contract". That's indefensible. It's not "can you please take a bit of a hit to help us weather the storm, and we'll do right by you again later", that's starting him probably back at what he was making when he first showed up, not knowing the kind of money he was raking in but it probably not being anywhere near seven digits. A 10% cut would be something, but a 70% cut is just a straight-up insult to anybody you employ, let alone your franchise player.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 6, 2016 16:51:09 GMT -5
Really, if AJ were just a head in the crowd in TNA, WWE wouldn't have literally the first time the opportunity presented itself rushed into a feud with John Cena which they initially sold all about being a showdown fans had been dying to see for over a decade. If AJ's name were made entirely on his New Japan stuff, it'd probably be a big match and one a lot of people would want to see but not presented as an all time great, "I never thought this could have happened," showdown. The fact it was Mr. WWE vs. Mr. TNA was what sold it.
|
|
|
|
Post by Kevin Hamilton on Oct 6, 2016 20:27:37 GMT -5
And again, my point too is they had dude there for a decade and NEVER propped him up the way he should've been as the face of the brand. Well before any money troubles, each time a WWE guy or whoever came in, AJ was shunted right back down the card.
|
|
lionheart21
Patti Mayonnaise
Once did a thing...
Posts: 31,805 
|
Post by lionheart21 on Oct 6, 2016 21:13:55 GMT -5
Really, if AJ were just a head in the crowd in TNA, WWE wouldn't have literally the first time the opportunity presented itself rushed into a feud with John Cena which they initially sold all about being a showdown fans had been dying to see for over a decade. If AJ's name were made entirely on his New Japan stuff, it'd probably be a big match and one a lot of people would want to see but not presented as an all time great, "I never thought this could have happened," showdown. The fact it was Mr. WWE vs. Mr. TNA was what sold it. They treated AJ as the star that he is once he debuted and JBL mentioned him in the same breath as Brock Lesnar, stating that both were IWGP Heavyweight Champions. They knew right from the moment that he stepped in that he was a star. |
|
|
|
Post by Captain Stud Muffin (BLM) on Oct 6, 2016 21:15:46 GMT -5
Really, if AJ were just a head in the crowd in TNA, WWE wouldn't have literally the first time the opportunity presented itself rushed into a feud with John Cena which they initially sold all about being a showdown fans had been dying to see for over a decade. If AJ's name were made entirely on his New Japan stuff, it'd probably be a big match and one a lot of people would want to see but not presented as an all time great, "I never thought this could have happened," showdown. The fact it was Mr. WWE vs. Mr. TNA was what sold it. They treated AJ as the star that he is once he debuted and JBL mentioned him in the same breath as Brock Lesnar, stating that both were IWGP Heavyweight Champions. They knew right from the moment that he stepped in that he was a star. Plus they had Roman sell the oh shit face when AJ came out. The same Roman who laughed after the beating he took from Lesnar |
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 6, 2016 21:19:21 GMT -5
And again, my point too is they had dude there for a decade and NEVER propped him up the way he should've been as the face of the brand. Well before any money troubles, each time a WWE guy or whoever came in, AJ was shunted right back down the card. And this guy won a ton of championship gold in TNA's early years, to boot. But, Jeff Jarrett had to be God & then we got the WWE exodus. I think his breaking point was when he had to work with that goofball Kurt Angle was chummy with in a MMA fight. |
|
|
|
Post by A Platypus Rave is Correct on Oct 6, 2016 21:23:48 GMT -5
And again, my point too is they had dude there for a decade and NEVER propped him up the way he should've been as the face of the brand. Well before any money troubles, each time a WWE guy or whoever came in, AJ was shunted right back down the card. And this guy won a ton of championship gold in TNA's early years, to boot. But, Jeff Jarrett had to be God & then we got the WWE exodus. I think his breaking point was when he had to work with that goofball Kurt Angle was chummy with in a MMA fight. I do think the offered paycut played a lot into it. Why should AJ continue to be loyal to TNA when TNA wasn't loyal to AJ in return? Yeah, they gave him titles and always had something for him to do. But he was always shunted away from being the focus when Dixie got her new toy from the WWE, and was never treated as the face of TNA like he should have been since EVERYONE BUT THE COMPANY SAW HIM THAT WAY. He was always the guy that would be the FUTURE! which wears off when you've been there for over a decade and have won every title multiple times. |
|
|
|
Post by benstudd on Oct 6, 2016 22:44:20 GMT -5
TNA: The company that let AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, Austin Aries, Bobby Roode, and TJ Perkins slip through their fingers. Good move, I bet those worthless guys are wrestling at flea markets for a hot dog and an orange juice these days. NXT wrestlers wrestle in front of 200 people on the road. Raw is getting 1.7 ratings. I'm not sure WWE having them makes a difference. You think Perkins is gonna turn the WWE into another Attitude Era? And look at the shape TNA is in financially, you think they could have afforded what AJ was he asking them 400,000 per year? |
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 6, 2016 22:58:46 GMT -5
TNA: The company that let AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, Austin Aries, Bobby Roode, and TJ Perkins slip through their fingers. Good move, I bet those worthless guys are wrestling at flea markets for a hot dog and an orange juice these days. NXT wrestlers wrestle in front of 200 people on the road. Raw is getting 1.7 ratings. I'm not sure WWE having them makes a difference. You think Perkins is gonna turn the WWE into another Attitude Era? And look at the shape TNA is in financially, you think they could have afforded what AJ was he asking them 400,000 per year? NXT Florida/PC gets 200 people, NXT Network tour gets anywhere from 4k to 8k with those mentioned. Ratings numbers don't matter as they have shifted in meaning over the years, viewership is what matters and while down, it still does nearly 10 times the number of viewers TNA does without them. Could TNA afford them, no, but you don't treat them like hell and drive them away to never return either. |
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 7, 2016 0:48:56 GMT -5
They treated AJ as the star that he is once he debuted and JBL mentioned him in the same breath as Brock Lesnar, stating that both were IWGP Heavyweight Champions. They knew right from the moment that he stepped in that he was a star. Plus they had Roman sell the oh shit face when AJ came out. The same Roman who laughed after the beating he took from Lesnar Really credit where it's due to Roman on that one, he did a great job selling the feeling of, "I have no idea whose music that is... Wait... Hold on, is that who I think it is? ... What the hell?!" |
|
kidkamikaze10
Dennis Stamp
Trying to think of a new avatar
Posts: 4,350
|
Post by kidkamikaze10 on Oct 7, 2016 10:31:02 GMT -5
Remember how long TNA had him. How many pushes they squandered, how many people they put over him that came from WWE. The baby storyline, Prince AJ...
Remember that AJ wasn't the only one suffering from this. Joe, Monty, Roode, hell even a bunch of Knockouts, got this treatment.
TNA doesn't deserve any sympathy. And to be honest, leaving was the only way AJ was going to truly grow, even if TNA gave him the push he deserved.
|
|
|
|
Post by evilone on Oct 7, 2016 14:49:05 GMT -5
And what do you think WWE is going to do with AJ once the novelty wears off? Yeah you guessed it back in the middle.
AJ was TNA since the very beginning, he was their number one wrestler and rightfully so. But he always hit the ceiling because ceiling in TNA is not that much tall. That's why TNA management thought that someone else other than AJ could break that ceiling and thus they always tried to push someone else only to return to AJ. AJ was like their Bret Hart, as soon as something is not working out just cut to AJ right away. I kind of understand TNAs reasoning behind trying to make someone bigger than AJ. Top face champion can't last long, their shelf life is like 5 years max after that he needs 180 turn or something completely else. AJ in TNA was way past that point, it all became predictable. The guy wasn't given a chance to pull off a proper heel angle, it was always something stupid and all of his face work was based of his in ring ability.
TNA is simply not the stage that could make AJ what he is right now. AJ didn't bloom in WWE because TNA didn't do right with him but because WWE can make anyone bigger than anyone in TNA. In other words TNA has been trying to solve the problem with a very wrong tool for a very long time now thinking that established names will give them more exposure. I guessed they learned their lesson with Triple A names like Hogan, Nash, Flair, AJ, Roode, Angle and others being in the same ring at the same time does not equal more audience. And it had cost them multiple millions of dollars.
|
|
|
|
Post by "Evil Brood" Jackson Vanik on Oct 7, 2016 15:05:45 GMT -5
I am pretty sure AJ was portrayed as the future of TNA for 11 years. It was ridiculous.
|
|
|
|
Post by Captain Stud Muffin (BLM) on Oct 7, 2016 17:06:16 GMT -5
And what do you think WWE is going to do with AJ once the novelty wears off? Yeah you guessed it back in the middle. AJ was TNA since the very beginning, he was their number one wrestler and rightfully so. But he always hit the ceiling because ceiling in TNA is not that much tall. That's why TNA management thought that someone else other than AJ could break that ceiling and thus they always tried to push someone else only to return to AJ. AJ was like their Bret Hart, as soon as something is not working out just cut to AJ right away. I kind of understand TNAs reasoning behind trying to make someone bigger than AJ. Top face champion can't last long, their shelf life is like 5 years max after that he needs 180 turn or something completely else. AJ in TNA was way past that point, it all became predictable. The guy wasn't given a chance to pull off a proper heel angle, it was always something stupid and all of his face work was based of his in ring ability. TNA is simply not the stage that could make AJ what he is right now. AJ didn't bloom in WWE because TNA didn't do right with him but because WWE can make anyone bigger than anyone in TNA. In other words TNA has been trying to solve the problem with a very wrong tool for a very long time now thinking that established names will give them more exposure. I guessed they learned their lesson with Triple A names like Hogan, Nash, Flair, AJ, Roode, Angle and others being in the same ring at the same time does not equal more audience. And it had cost them multiple millions of dollars. So you're saying AJ is still a novelty after 10 months with the company ? |
|
|
|
Post by Final Countdown Jones on Oct 7, 2016 17:12:51 GMT -5
And what do you think WWE is going to do with AJ once the novelty wears off? Yeah you guessed it back in the middle. AJ was TNA since the very beginning, he was their number one wrestler and rightfully so. But he always hit the ceiling because ceiling in TNA is not that much tall. That's why TNA management thought that someone else other than AJ could break that ceiling and thus they always tried to push someone else only to return to AJ. AJ was like their Bret Hart, as soon as something is not working out just cut to AJ right away. I kind of understand TNAs reasoning behind trying to make someone bigger than AJ. Top face champion can't last long, their shelf life is like 5 years max after that he needs 180 turn or something completely else. AJ in TNA was way past that point, it all became predictable. The guy wasn't given a chance to pull off a proper heel angle, it was always something stupid and all of his face work was based of his in ring ability. TNA is simply not the stage that could make AJ what he is right now. AJ didn't bloom in WWE because TNA didn't do right with him but because WWE can make anyone bigger than anyone in TNA. In other words TNA has been trying to solve the problem with a very wrong tool for a very long time now thinking that established names will give them more exposure. I guessed they learned their lesson with Triple A names like Hogan, Nash, Flair, AJ, Roode, Angle and others being in the same ring at the same time does not equal more audience. And it had cost them multiple millions of dollars. The lowest AJ is going is that dubious rung of "doesn't have a main event program at the moment but remains credible with filler because we want him to be important and look strong". They put him over John Cena at Summerslam after eight months, which in WWE is forever; Vince McMahon's sense of novelty for new acts can burn out in a matter of three weeks. Not that I understand where in the world it would be considered a novelty to put the world title on probably the single best total package wrestler WWE has on-hand, if not in the world. |
|
|
|
Post by Kevin Hamilton on Oct 7, 2016 19:30:19 GMT -5
I'm not sure I get the argument that TNA didn't make AJ the true face of their franchise because they didn't make him the face of their franchise. AJ being great in WWE doesn't really have much to do with TNA not pulling the trigger for over a decade in making him their Cena.
And TNA isn't as big a stage as WWE? Who on Earth would or has argue that? No one is saying that AJ would've broght them to that level, that'd just be a silly argument that no one has made.
|
|
|
|
Post by OVO 40 hunched over like he 80 on Oct 7, 2016 19:55:11 GMT -5
And what do you think WWE is going to do with AJ once the novelty wears off? Yeah you guessed it back in the middle. AJ was TNA since the very beginning, he was their number one wrestler and rightfully so. But he always hit the ceiling because ceiling in TNA is not that much tall. That's why TNA management thought that someone else other than AJ could break that ceiling and thus they always tried to push someone else only to return to AJ. AJ was like their Bret Hart, as soon as something is not working out just cut to AJ right away. I kind of understand TNAs reasoning behind trying to make someone bigger than AJ. Top face champion can't last long, their shelf life is like 5 years max after that he needs 180 turn or something completely else. AJ in TNA was way past that point, it all became predictable. The guy wasn't given a chance to pull off a proper heel angle, it was always something stupid and all of his face work was based of his in ring ability. TNA is simply not the stage that could make AJ what he is right now. AJ didn't bloom in WWE because TNA didn't do right with him but because WWE can make anyone bigger than anyone in TNA. In other words TNA has been trying to solve the problem with a very wrong tool for a very long time now thinking that established names will give them more exposure. I guessed they learned their lesson with Triple A names like Hogan, Nash, Flair, AJ, Roode, Angle and others being in the same ring at the same time does not equal more audience. And it had cost them multiple millions of dollars. New Japan made him heavyweight champion his first match in, they saw his true potential. The wwe had him skip nxt and they presented him as a big deal because they realized his true potential. TNA squandered him for years. Dixie called him an up and comer despite that he carried their stinking ass for years. |
|
|
|
Post by katiemorgan67212 on Oct 8, 2016 2:55:37 GMT -5
I wonder why Magnus hasn't gotten any sort of look from WWE? The guy was pretty decent in TNA. Did the horrible Storm feud just kill him in the eyes of everyone? As far as AJ goes, the thing that amazes me is how good of a promo he has become in WWE. I don't recall him ever being a particularly great promo in TNA, passable at best. Always thought he would be far too southern to make it in WWE. He's probably the best wrestler in the business right now. But then there were times when, even as a TNA guy, he was #1 in the PWI 500 and what not. AJ has never been bad on the mic. TNA just rarely gave him anything worthwhile to say. For example In his 100 year feud with CD he did really good promo work because he was actually able to have a coherent plot to work with hi character motivations made sense (mostly, excluding the Claire lynch parts) |
|
|
|
Post by bootytea on Oct 9, 2016 18:22:00 GMT -5
I can see their logic though. AJ Styles was just a TNA guy at the time and wasn't really considered a star before going to WWE. TNA has relied so much on having WWE guys headline that their homegrown guys look second rate. Look at Bobby Rhoode for example, he was just some generic guy, but is rejuvenated in NXT. If AJ stayed with TNA, what would he really be doing of note? He would be a big fish in a little pond. He needed to go to WWE to take his career to that next level. That's the point though. AJ more than any other star embodied the promotion; he had been with them from day one, had held all their titles and honors, had worked with every top star they had both home grown and ex WWE/WCW. Yet they never treated him as an established star, never gave him the four star main event status he deserved. And after he gave them more than a decade of his life and had done so much with them they turn around and ask HIM of all people to take a pay cut? It was nothing short of an insult. They showed him how much they valued him-and now he's turned around and showed them how much he is worth. I'm not saying what TNA did is right, I'm just saying it's what he needed to become a bigger star. No matter how much TNA pushed him, he would also just be some guy from TNA. TNA knows WWE is a much bigger organization so it makes sense for them to take chances and hire someone from a more well known company and push them than someone who is loyal and won't really grow the company. It's just business. AJ is a great talent and needed to leave TNA to be as big as he is now. He would never be this huge if he stayed with TNA, no matter how much money they gave him or well they pushed him. |
|
|
|
Post by OVO 40 hunched over like he 80 on Oct 10, 2016 0:18:58 GMT -5
AJ has the wwe championship and is one of the main stars in a global company.
TNA can't afford to rent a basement and pretty much is selling pieces of itself to stay afloat. There is justice is in this world sometimes.
|
|
:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/61946227/Dqpaz_iVsAA04LW.0.jpg)
