what does AEW have that TNA 2005 didn’t?

[Rican]

They have an even more disillusioned WWE fan base to promote to and a super disgruntled WWE locker room that would be willing to come over.

[Muskrat]

May 28, 2019 16:08:58 GMT -5 Cyno said:

Mrs. Matt is the one who got all the Hot Topic stuff going, wasn't she? In her case, I'd say it's totally earned. Brandi also seems to be doing a solid job with branding.

Mrs Matt is responsible for all of the Bucks merch for sure. Like, top to bottom. Getting them designed, ordered, shipped, eventually into retail. Everything.

I believe that extends to all The Elite, Golden Elite, and BTE stuff with obvious design input from everyone as well. If she doesn’t have a background in this sort of stuff, and I don’t know anything about her previous career, she’s clearly qualified to be doing the job.

[Shark]

It is pretty interesting. in 2005-06, TNA had a lot of positive buzz. Their X-division and tag division were white hot. They had a good mix of established names and homegrown talent that mingled well. They had a good spot on Spike TV and a growing audience. The problems really began later when they relied far too much on that established talent and never seemed able to get over that hump. They stopped taking advantage of what they had in their favor and watered themselves down into being WWE-lite. AEW needs to avoid that pitfall. Grow at their own pace without worrying about beating WWE.

[mcmahonfan85]

was does AEW have that TNA didn't?
- a longstanding and constantly growing dissatisfaction of the WWE product by wrestling fans
- a higher interest in indy and international wrestling
- its a completely new product, not one that's been around for a few years which already has a history of bad and questionable content
- the promotion already has a large existing fan base from the Omega-era Bullet Club
- they're building it up at a steady pace to maintain interest, instead of dumping everything on the public at once like TNA had to when they moved to Spike. all the matches on their debut show (with the exception of the joshi match) were built up over months on Being the Elite, so you know who was fighting who and why, instead of a bunch of guys you're hearing about for the first time randomly competing short matches
- the "money marks" financing it aren't the ones actually running to the shows and day-to-day operation. the people who know the professional wrestling business are
- the actual owners of the promotion are known for their work with the NFL, which is more attractive to potential television outlets and sponsors than an energy company, because they know of the world of television, marketing and promotion, etc.


also, AEW didn't pull the stupid shit TNA did in their debut episode of Spike. "Double or Nothing" ended with Jericho beating Omega clean in a lengthy match, announcing his intention of winning the title, then Moxley coming out for a relatively short but extremely effective post-match angle. the debut episode of Impact on Spike on the other hand, the "main event" match was Jeff Hardy vs. Rhino, which ended in a DQ after only four minutes when Abyss ran in and attacked Hardy, followed by a short brawl between all three and Sabu. but that wasn't the end of the episode because they still had fifteen minutes left, so the actual main event of the show was a recap of Jeff Jarrett beating Raven for the NWA title, followed by a long promo from Jarrett, which lead to a brawl between Jarrett, AMW & Team Canada and 3LK, and ended with both the debut of Team 3D and the return of Kevin Nash, who came in and cleaned house. so while AEW's show was filled with fresh wrestlers mostly known for their work on the indies or internationally, for the last half hour of their debut show, TNA went the opposite route:

Homegrown TNA talent fresh for the audience
- Abyss (who got punked out by Sabu)
- Chris Harris (who got punked out by Team 3D)
- James Storm (who got punked out by Team 3D)
- Team Canada (who ran in as a group to brawl for 30 seconds, had the commentators say their names in general without identifying who was who, and randomly disappeared when Team 3D came out)

Wrestlers known for their time in WWE, WCW or ECW
- BG James
- Bully Ray
- Devon
- Jeff Hardy
- Jeff Jarrett
- Kevin Nash
- Konnan
- Raven (via highlight footage)
- Rhino
- Ron Killings
- Sabu

[Cyno]

I really don't remember how frustrated people were with the WWE product around the time TNA started up and grew into something respectable. I wasn't watching any wrestling at all at the time because the Invasion angle just soured me on wrestling in general and WWF/E was the only game in town in the US.

[cabbageboy]

Yes, there was definite unrest with the WWE fans over the initial Cena megapush and TNA had a chance. That said, TNA's initial years occurred during a definite low ebb for non WWE wrestling in America. There was just no way for them to gain serious mainstream traction, even if the product had been white hot.

["Evil Brood" Jackson Vanik]

I mean, there are some differences but TNA's business was on an upward trajectory up until 2009ish. Hopefully AEW can mirror that trend and build on it.

[Oh Cry Me a Screwball]

A lack of Vince Russo writing the show.

TNA could have done so much more if Russo wasn't writing horrible television and sabotaging guys like Daniels and Joe with his moronic stories.

[fw91]

TNA didn't form at a time where the INDY's/NJPW were as popular in the US. AEW has that giving a big platform to names that have some wide audience exposure

[Lance Uppercut]

May 28, 2019 17:36:42 GMT -5 mcmahonfan85 said:

- the actual owners of the promotion are known for their work with the NFL, which is more attractive to potential television outlets and sponsors than an energy company, because they know of the world of television, marketing and promotion, etc.

Ahh that’s what I was wondering about.

Not only the fans but the mai stream media seems way more interested in AEW. I guess the Kahn’s themselves are a big reason.

Also, I’d say Christian was the equivalent of an Ambrose back then. Not a wwe reject, left of his own accord, pretty over on his way out, just worked with Cena and Jericho

[Deleted]

May 28, 2019 15:42:09 GMT -5 OVO 40 hunched over like he 80 said:

May 28, 2019 15:41:03 GMT -5 Brandon Walsh is Insane. said:

Joe and Angle was HUGE. TNA just didn't know what to do with all the attention.

Tony Khan keeping the time during the PPV is a bit different than Dixie making herself a TV star, too.

It drew their biggest buy rates ever and they still didn’t know what to do with Joe...

Give him pajamas pants, penis facepaint and have him get kidnap by ninjas for no reason?

[OVO 40 hunched over like he 80]

May 28, 2019 18:55:34 GMT -5 @shadowcage said:

May 28, 2019 15:42:09 GMT -5 OVO 40 hunched over like he 80 said:

It drew their biggest buy rates ever and they still didn’t know what to do with Joe...

Give him pajamas pants, penis facepaint and have him get kidnap by ninjas for no reason?

Sigh along with the pointless heel and face turns. Joe was their biggest draw and they killed him.

[Mozenrath]

The benefit of hindsight, for one.

Beyond that, more invested financial backing than Dixie's indifferent parents, social media being much more of a known quantity, Elite being a more interesting option than Jarrett was for a core, lot of stuff, really.

[Johnny Flamingo]

At the end of TNA’s first major show (Raven vs Jarrett) the insanely hit crowd was booing and throwing garbage at the ring in disgust.

At the end of AEW’s first major show the insanely hot crowd was chanting “AEW” and losing their minds because of a satisfying finish.

Early on TNA pissed off their audience and gave them the EXACT opposite of what they wanted. AEW gave the crowd EXACTLY what they wanted.

Less we forget TNA ending the “heel section” thus pissing off sone of their core loyal fans and eliminating something that made them unique.

It started a trend for TNA of gaining a buzz and then totally misreading and pissing off their audience. Burn an audience like that enough and eventually they leave.

[FinalGwen]

It doesn't seem like it's directly trying to appeal to the lowest common denominator. Despite it still having some of the wrestling trappings that may still make advertisers wary, it's doing well in terms of PR through its inclusivity, which makes a positive ongoing TV deal more likely.

[Joe Neglia]

Just pointing out some of the "top talent" that TNA was putting on their PPVs in 2005:

Erik Watts
Kevin Nash
Johnny B Badd
NASCAR racer Jeff Hammond
The Harris Twins
Tryton
Mideon. F***ing Mideon
Zach Gowen

[2coldMack is even more baffled]

May 28, 2019 20:00:06 GMT -5 Joe Neglia said:

Just pointing out some of the "top talent" that TNA was putting on their PPVs in 2005:

Erik Watts
Kevin Nash
Johnny B Badd
NASCAR racer Jeff Hammond
The Harris Twins
Tryton
Mideon. F***ing Mideon
Zach Gowen

All the rest of this I remember,  but I do not remember Mideon being in TNA at all, what was the story there?

[Crappler El 0 M]

Paying fans.

(I kid)

[Joe Neglia]

May 28, 2019 20:07:26 GMT -5 2coldMack is even more baffled said:

May 28, 2019 20:00:06 GMT -5 Joe Neglia said:

Just pointing out some of the "top talent" that TNA was putting on their PPVs in 2005:

Erik Watts
Kevin Nash
Johnny B Badd
NASCAR racer Jeff Hammond
The Harris Twins
Tryton
Mideon. F***ing Mideon
Zach Gowen

All the rest of this I remember,  but I do not remember Mideon being in TNA at all, what was the story there?

All I know is that he was masked and did a run-in on a Tryton match and ended up eating the pin instead of Tryton.

For reasons.

For TNA reasons.

[HMARK Center]

Some of the points here are right on: social media is a key difference, as are the deeper pockets and bigger investment by the Khans compared to the Carters, the larger discontent surrounding WWE today, the evolving indy/international scene that's been growing over the course of the 2010s, etc.

I'll toss in a couple of things that either piggyback some of those or add a bit of context: in 2005, the American wrestling scene was still pretty close in collective memory to the Monday Night War era, so I think there was still too much thought that the proper way to present a wrestling show had to be like that, whether it was crash booking influence, relying on "shocking debuts/returns", or whatever in that vein. It showed in a lot of TNA's early Asylum era shows and there was still some of that when the 2005 Spike debut began, with the reliance on bringing in big names from the Monday Night War and stuff like that. Plus, the Wars era laid waste to the rest of the wrestling landscape, leaving almost no other major companies to get anybody's attention, create any new stars in the public's eye, etc. ROH was about it, and it was very limited in its reach; anything else was international (e.g. NOAH in its prime around that point) and not readily accessible.

Secondly, while there was definitely plenty of criticism of WWE circa 2005 (fresh off Triple H's reign of terror, JBL as champion, entering the "lolCenaWins" era, and plenty more), WWE was still in a position where they were holding all the cards. Again, the proximity to the Attitude Era meant that WWE still had a number of recognizable names from that era on their cards and were still able to debut or bring in surprising marquee names, thus keeping some people around because they could still have a bit of an air of "Oh, I don't want to miss the show if <whatever> happens." Meanwhile, for big cards like Mania they could still bring out the Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, even Hulk Hogan sometimes; TNA wasn't going to compete with that.

Well, it's nearly 15 years later, and WWE has spent most of that time steadfastly refusing to build up new stars, and meanwhile the old stars have by and large aged out, so there's no more big surprises for returns and debuts by guys like Goldberg, the nWo, or whomever. While they've been neglecting that, the internet and streaming services have brought NJPW, ROH, various Japanese/Mexican/British promotions, and the much larger indy scene to the entire world's living rooms, and those promotions have much more often worked overtime to build people up as stars as they've gotten more eyes on them. This leaves WWE more vulnerable while AEW is being formed by a few guys who were among those new big stars, plus their many peers in that group, too. It's no longer "WWE's way or the highway" anymore, people have seen how different and varied pro wrestling promotions can be, so the door is open to do something entirely different while taking advantage of WWE not building for the future.