Is AEW considered a stepping stone/rebound from wwe?

[Deleted]

Dec 27, 2022 19:24:17 GMT -5 Final Countdown Jones said:

Anyway so Spike had issues with TNA because Bischoff sold them on a huge TV deal with the promise he could bring big ratings but they needed big money to get the show to that level, and Spike went along with it, because Spike were actually pretty good TV partners and were even paying a lot of the huge talent contracts themselves in hopes it would draw more eyes to the show. Negotiations were coming up and TNA was already in a weak position because they had failed to live up to their promises at all. Somewhere in the midst of that, they'd given an eidct that they didn't want any man-on-woman violence on the show. In August of 2014, months away from their end date and needing to negotiate, they paid off a months-long story by having Bully Ray powerbomb Dixie Carter through a table. It was a taped show and they had over a month to take it out or rethink it. They didn't. They aired it on Impact and Spike was unhappy.

Another edict that Spike handed down was that they didn't want Vince Russo involved in the show. "Don't re-hire Russo". Allegedly, Russo had been involved in the show since 2013. MOnths after being accused of being involved in the show and denying it, he emailed Mike Johnson of PWI commentary instructions meant for Mike Tenay, exposing the fact he was indeed working in a capacity for the company.

So TNA, already in a bad position to negotiate with Spike, broke two demands from the network, one of them openly and brazenly, and one of them in secret solely to keep them from knowing who they re-hired. Spike was never going to accept them. Destination America was one of the bidders to take them, but another Viacom channel, CMT, was also interested. Dixie took the lower-rated channel for less money intentionally, because she wanted to get a reality show made. Then, a year later, Dixie Carter called the head of Discovery Networks a dummy in an email she accidentally sent to [checks notes] the head of Discovery Networks. That not only left them f***ed on renewing their deal with Destination America, but also brought with it the issue of their reputation being so in the toilet that nobody wanted to pick their contract up because they were clearly a nightmare nobody wanted to work with. So they ended up on a channel meant for for-pay programming where they entered a revenue split deal, because the only way they could get onto any network was to have someone not have to pay them, at least until finally years later their new parent company bought a channel that could air them as in-house content.

Literally nothing about their issues had anything to do with 'star quality' and f***ing damn it no we've let this thread get derailed by the "I've been going to the gym for three months and I look like Ricky Starks" guy shit not again

Eric Bischoff is a carny who knows how to speak corporate, but he once said something that I absolutely agree with:

Everyone overestimates how fast bad booking can tank your company and how important booking and roster in general is in the face of business acumen.

TNA didn't go to shit because Aces & 8's was stupid or any other Russo-iffic bullshit, although bad creative certainly doesn't help your product.

TNA went to shit because Dixie is the living embodiment of a money mark and let Hogan and Bischoff basically defraud her into letting them turn TNA into their clubhouse for WWE washouts who were wanting a payday and an easy schedule.  TNA went to shit because no one in charge knew what the f*** they were doing and were prime examples of the Dunning-Kruger effect (much like some members of this board) by doing things like insisting on keeping Vince f***ing Russo despite the network, who TNA needed more than the network needed them, telling them he's persona non grata. 

Not a goddamn bit of that had anything to do with "Star Power" or "Casual fans", which.. by the way, has anyone seen a casual wrestling fan since, like, 2007? 

Anyway, I'm not here to say that booking and building stars and all that doesn't matter, but if all it took was putting some roided out freak in front of the camera, then Lucha Underground would be the #1 promotion in the world just by virtue of giving Brian Cage his first major platform.

Eric Young and Chris Sabin had f*** all to do with TNA going to shit.

[canceled4truth]

Now I kinda miss prime TNA. I'm old enough to remember the TNA board here! But yeah, the main difference between AEW and TNA — and it's why AEW feels, or at least is gunning for, more of a 1B to WWWE's 1A or a clear alternative rather than a little brother like TNA — is that Tony is not manifestly incompetent at running a company like Dixie was. Even the worst talent relations stories to come out of AEW, like Matt Hardy wrestling after nearly dying or the Gripe Bomb, doesn't hold a candle to how badly TNA under Dixie f***ed over Daffney and Jesse Sorensen, and that's before we even talk about booking.

[Feargus McReddit]

Dec 27, 2022 20:09:06 GMT -5 canceled4truth said:

Now I kinda miss prime TNA. I'm old enough to remember the TNA board here! But yeah, the main difference between AEW and TNA — and it's why AEW feels, or at least is gunning for, more of a 1B to WWWE's 1A or a clear alternative rather than a little brother like TNA — is that Tony is not manifestly incompetent at running a company like Dixie was. Even the worst talent relations stories to come out of AEW, like Matt Hardy wrestling after nearly dying or the Gripe Bomb, doesn't hold a candle to how badly TNA under Dixie f***ed over Daffney and Jesse Sorensen, and that's before we even talk about booking.

Hell, listening to You’ve Gotta Be Kidding Me, a month by month TNA history podcast, even before Dixie properly took over, there was stuff that was going on that would have had people wondering if WCW actually reincarnated as NWA TNA.

[Deleted]

Dec 27, 2022 17:36:50 GMT -5 @negan said:

 And it doesn't matter how much they're pushed, I am not buying certain guys beating guys like Hobbs, Archer, Luchasaurus and Brian Cage. It looks forced and fake to me. Same way it looked forced and fake when guys like Mark Henry were losing in 2 minutes to guys like Ted DiBiase Jr.

And as a final note, I just want to state that this guy, Mariusz Zbigniew Pudzianowski, earned the title "World's Strongest Man" for years 2002, 2003, 2005, 2007, and 2008 before turning to Mixed Martial Arts

He just got knocked out 10 days ago, in under 2 minutes no less, by Mamed Khalidov, who you might notice is a much smaller man than ol' Pudz up there

This is all to say that, in all honesty, no one really cares what you think looks "forced" or "fake" in an entertainment medium that has pre-determined outcomes, especially since it's not just feasible, but quite common in real life, for smaller men to wreck bigger man. 

I do not know where your preternatural fascination with size and your own misconceptions of realism come from, but man... you just double down that much harder when someone points out what's wrong with your statements, and it's tiring and its exhausting.

Anyway, sorry mods if I went overboard.  I'm tired. 

[Oh Cry Me a Screwball]

Bringing it back to the original question, I don't think we can really answer this right now, as only one person has actually done the rebound, and there hasn't been many more people that have had the chance to do so. Time will really tell here.

[Baldobomb-22-OH-MAN!!!]

Dec 27, 2022 16:00:54 GMT -5 The Captain said:

Using World Champion Chris Sabin as a reason why TNA fell off is all the proof you need to know someone wasn't actually paying attention to TNA at the time or even knows why that particular title reign was a failure. Hint: it had nothing to do with Chris Sabin's popularity as a talent.

And Nick Aldis had a classic "WWE-esque" look at 6'4" and 250ish lbs with a great physique. Surprised to see that in the muscle fetishist "indy flippy guys" list.

Also TNA had already been collapsing in on itself for a few years when Sabin got a run. Hogan and Bischoff basically killed it.

[fw91]

Depends. Are their muffins in WWE's catering?

[kingoftheindies]

Dec 27, 2022 20:00:16 GMT -5 @thelongandtheshort said:

Dec 27, 2022 19:24:17 GMT -5 Final Countdown Jones said:

Anyway so Spike had issues with TNA because Bischoff sold them on a huge TV deal with the promise he could bring big ratings but they needed big money to get the show to that level, and Spike went along with it, because Spike were actually pretty good TV partners and were even paying a lot of the huge talent contracts themselves in hopes it would draw more eyes to the show. Negotiations were coming up and TNA was already in a weak position because they had failed to live up to their promises at all. Somewhere in the midst of that, they'd given an eidct that they didn't want any man-on-woman violence on the show. In August of 2014, months away from their end date and needing to negotiate, they paid off a months-long story by having Bully Ray powerbomb Dixie Carter through a table. It was a taped show and they had over a month to take it out or rethink it. They didn't. They aired it on Impact and Spike was unhappy.

Another edict that Spike handed down was that they didn't want Vince Russo involved in the show. "Don't re-hire Russo". Allegedly, Russo had been involved in the show since 2013. MOnths after being accused of being involved in the show and denying it, he emailed Mike Johnson of PWI commentary instructions meant for Mike Tenay, exposing the fact he was indeed working in a capacity for the company.

So TNA, already in a bad position to negotiate with Spike, broke two demands from the network, one of them openly and brazenly, and one of them in secret solely to keep them from knowing who they re-hired. Spike was never going to accept them. Destination America was one of the bidders to take them, but another Viacom channel, CMT, was also interested. Dixie took the lower-rated channel for less money intentionally, because she wanted to get a reality show made. Then, a year later, Dixie Carter called the head of Discovery Networks a dummy in an email she accidentally sent to [checks notes] the head of Discovery Networks. That not only left them f***ed on renewing their deal with Destination America, but also brought with it the issue of their reputation being so in the toilet that nobody wanted to pick their contract up because they were clearly a nightmare nobody wanted to work with. So they ended up on a channel meant for for-pay programming where they entered a revenue split deal, because the only way they could get onto any network was to have someone not have to pay them, at least until finally years later their new parent company bought a channel that could air them as in-house content.

Literally nothing about their issues had anything to do with 'star quality' and f***ing damn it no we've let this thread get derailed by the "I've been going to the gym for three months and I look like Ricky Starks" guy shit not again

Eric Bischoff is a carny who knows how to speak corporate, but he once said something that I absolutely agree with:

Everyone overestimates how fast bad booking can tank your company and how important booking and roster in general is in the face of business acumen.

TNA didn't go to shit because Aces & 8's was stupid or any other Russo-iffic bullshit, although bad creative certainly doesn't help your product.

TNA went to shit because Dixie is the living embodiment of a money mark and let Hogan and Bischoff basically defraud her into letting them turn TNA into their clubhouse for WWE washouts who were wanting a payday and an easy schedule.  TNA went to shit because no one in charge knew what the f*** they were doing and were prime examples of the Dunning-Kruger effect (much like some members of this board) by doing things like insisting on keeping Vince f***ing Russo despite the network, who TNA needed more than the network needed them, telling them he's persona non grata. 

Not a goddamn bit of that had anything to do with "Star Power" or "Casual fans", which.. by the way, has anyone seen a casual wrestling fan since, like, 2007? 

Anyway, I'm not here to say that booking and building stars and all that doesn't matter, but if all it took was putting some roided out freak in front of the camera, then Lucha Underground would be the #1 promotion in the world just by virtue of giving Brian Cage his first major platform.

Eric Young and Chris Sabin had f*** all to do with TNA going to shit.

Let us remember that multiple talent, AJ Styles, MVP, Chris Daniels, Kaz, and others, all have similar stories to how bad TNA was at marketing. AJ and Daniels have the most famous where they were at a gym and were recognized and asked why they were in that town when Impact was that night. Both said that Impact was at the arena literally across from the gym they were working out with and nobody in the gym had any idea that TNA was in town. Keep in mind that Dixie has a degree in *checks notes* marketing and advertising.

And yeah TNA was also insanely stupid when going on the road. It was time and honestly as they were getting ready to tour the show was insanely good. The issue of course was that Bischoff and Hulk (maybe Pritchard as well) convinced Dixie they had to book insanely big arenas they had no shot of selling out or coming close to selling out. Combine that TNA was insanely inept at advertising and you get the death sped up insanely fast. Of course at this point, Dixie's brother took over the day to day operations at Panda and when he saw TNA's books he wasn't willing to deal with what it became.

Comparing Tony Khan to Dixie Carter is an insanely huge insult to Tony.

Now to try and get back on topic while also tying TNA into this. From everything anybody has said, talent all over is excited they have options. I forget if it was SRS, Meltz, ro Alvarez, but one of them pointed out how many in the WWE system actually feel AEW has given them more of a chance to have themselves heard because WWE is no longer the only game in town and the feeling is they can speak up more about things they don't like because WWE doesn't want people walking to AEW and proving them wrong. In the past talent may go to Impact or the indies but it was always to reinvent themselves and try to get another shot with WWE. Now that's not the case.

[Feargus McReddit]

Dec 27, 2022 21:18:20 GMT -5 kingoftheindies said:

.Now to try and get back on topic while also tying TNA into this. From everything anybody has said, talent all over is excited they have options. I forget if it was SRS, Meltz, ro Alvarez, but one of them pointed out how many in the WWE system actually feel AEW has given them more of a chance to have themselves heard because WWE is no longer the only game in town and the feeling is they can speak up more about things they don't like because WWE doesn't want people walking to AEW and proving them wrong. In the past talent may go to Impact or the indies but it was always to reinvent themselves and try to get another shot with WWE. Now that's not the case.

Like, Kevin Owens doesn’t get the bumper deal and the match against Steve Austin if AEW wasn’t around. He just doesn’t. But he did because they know a) he’d have been a boon for the company and right away been a top guy with the Elite at that time, b) he’d make indies a lot of money from appearances he’d make, especially at WrestleMania weekend off of the AEW contract and c) they don’t want to be known as the people who let Adam Cole, Kyle O’Reilly, (at the time) Johnny Gargano AND Kevin Owens leave in the space of a few months. Even if they aren’t top, top guys, the potential of them walking into the competition (or potentially with Gargano) would be too much to take in.

[canceled4truth]

Dec 27, 2022 21:18:20 GMT -5 kingoftheindies said:

Dec 27, 2022 20:00:16 GMT -5 @thelongandtheshort said:

Eric Bischoff is a carny who knows how to speak corporate, but he once said something that I absolutely agree with:

Everyone overestimates how fast bad booking can tank your company and how important booking and roster in general is in the face of business acumen.

TNA didn't go to shit because Aces & 8's was stupid or any other Russo-iffic bullshit, although bad creative certainly doesn't help your product.

TNA went to shit because Dixie is the living embodiment of a money mark and let Hogan and Bischoff basically defraud her into letting them turn TNA into their clubhouse for WWE washouts who were wanting a payday and an easy schedule.  TNA went to shit because no one in charge knew what the f*** they were doing and were prime examples of the Dunning-Kruger effect (much like some members of this board) by doing things like insisting on keeping Vince f***ing Russo despite the network, who TNA needed more than the network needed them, telling them he's persona non grata. 

Not a goddamn bit of that had anything to do with "Star Power" or "Casual fans", which.. by the way, has anyone seen a casual wrestling fan since, like, 2007? 

Anyway, I'm not here to say that booking and building stars and all that doesn't matter, but if all it took was putting some roided out freak in front of the camera, then Lucha Underground would be the #1 promotion in the world just by virtue of giving Brian Cage his first major platform.

Eric Young and Chris Sabin had f*** all to do with TNA going to shit.

Let us remember that multiple talent, AJ Styles, MVP, Chris Daniels, Kaz, and others, all have similar stories to how bad TNA was at marketing. AJ and Daniels have the most famous where they were at a gym and were recognized and asked why they were in that town when Impact was that night. Both said that Impact was at the arena literally across from the gym they were working out with and nobody in the gym had any idea that TNA was in town. Keep in mind that Dixie has a degree in *checks notes* marketing and advertising.

Thinking about the famous story about Kurt Angle getting approached at airports during his TNA run by fans asking what he was up to in retirement

[cjb01: Limited Edition Item!]

Dec 27, 2022 19:24:17 GMT -5 Final Countdown Jones said:

Anyway so Spike had issues with TNA because Bischoff sold them on a huge TV deal with the promise he could bring big ratings but they needed big money to get the show to that level, and Spike went along with it, because Spike were actually pretty good TV partners and were even paying a lot of the huge talent contracts themselves in hopes it would draw more eyes to the show. Negotiations were coming up and TNA was already in a weak position because they had failed to live up to their promises at all. Somewhere in the midst of that, they'd given an eidct that they didn't want any man-on-woman violence on the show. In August of 2014, months away from their end date and needing to negotiate, they paid off a months-long story by having Bully Ray powerbomb Dixie Carter through a table. It was a taped show and they had over a month to take it out or rethink it. They didn't. They aired it on Impact and Spike was unhappy.

NOT ONLY THAT, they ADVERTISED it as this huge big deal event

I remember the slogan, "IT HAPPENS!"

It was an absolute clown show, not only did Spike tell them not to do it and they did it, they made a huge stink about it like Spike was trying to hold them back. They got everything they deserved.

[Rave]

Dec 27, 2022 21:50:53 GMT -5 cjb01: Limited Edition Item! said:

Dec 27, 2022 19:24:17 GMT -5 Final Countdown Jones said:

Anyway so Spike had issues with TNA because Bischoff sold them on a huge TV deal with the promise he could bring big ratings but they needed big money to get the show to that level, and Spike went along with it, because Spike were actually pretty good TV partners and were even paying a lot of the huge talent contracts themselves in hopes it would draw more eyes to the show. Negotiations were coming up and TNA was already in a weak position because they had failed to live up to their promises at all. Somewhere in the midst of that, they'd given an eidct that they didn't want any man-on-woman violence on the show. In August of 2014, months away from their end date and needing to negotiate, they paid off a months-long story by having Bully Ray powerbomb Dixie Carter through a table. It was a taped show and they had over a month to take it out or rethink it. They didn't. They aired it on Impact and Spike was unhappy.

NOT ONLY THAT, they ADVERTISED it as this huge big deal event

I remember the slogan, "IT HAPPENS!"

It was an absolute clown show, not only did Spike tell them not to do it and they did it, they made a huge stink about it like Spike was trying to hold them back. They got everything they deserved.

Took over Dixie's twitter to promote it, had a contest for people to enter describing their awful bosses, and made it their #1 moment in a list of Spike era moments just before they got kicked off. I remember laughing for over ten minutes at that last one.

[Dub H]

Dec 27, 2022 20:39:08 GMT -5 @thelongandtheshort said:

Dec 27, 2022 17:36:50 GMT -5 @negan said:

 And it doesn't matter how much they're pushed, I am not buying certain guys beating guys like Hobbs, Archer, Luchasaurus and Brian Cage. It looks forced and fake to me. Same way it looked forced and fake when guys like Mark Henry were losing in 2 minutes to guys like Ted DiBiase Jr.

And as a final note, I just want to state that this guy, Mariusz Zbigniew Pudzianowski, earned the title "World's Strongest Man" for years 2002, 2003, 2005, 2007, and 2008 before turning to Mixed Martial Arts

He just got knocked out 10 days ago, in under 2 minutes no less, by Mamed Khalidov, who you might notice is a much smaller man than ol' Pudz up there

This is all to say that, in all honesty, no one really cares what you think looks "forced" or "fake" in an entertainment medium that has pre-determined outcomes, especially since it's not just feasible, but quite common in real life, for smaller men to wreck bigger man. 

I do not know where your preternatural fascination with size and your own misconceptions of realism come from, but man... you just double down that much harder when someone points out what's wrong with your statements, and it's tiring and its exhausting.

Anyway, sorry mods if I went overboard.  I'm tired. 

I will cut you a break you are tired ,old ,hurt and posting with f***ing children.

[Deleted]

Dec 28, 2022 0:08:18 GMT -5 Dub H said:

I will cut you a break you are tired ,old ,hurt and posting with f***ing children.

These FAN-branded muffins are the only real bright spot, the stepping stone away from TNA-branded muffins.

[The Captain]

Dec 27, 2022 21:18:20 GMT -5 kingoftheindies said:

Dec 27, 2022 20:00:16 GMT -5 @thelongandtheshort said:

Eric Bischoff is a carny who knows how to speak corporate, but he once said something that I absolutely agree with:

Everyone overestimates how fast bad booking can tank your company and how important booking and roster in general is in the face of business acumen.

TNA didn't go to shit because Aces & 8's was stupid or any other Russo-iffic bullshit, although bad creative certainly doesn't help your product.

TNA went to shit because Dixie is the living embodiment of a money mark and let Hogan and Bischoff basically defraud her into letting them turn TNA into their clubhouse for WWE washouts who were wanting a payday and an easy schedule.  TNA went to shit because no one in charge knew what the f*** they were doing and were prime examples of the Dunning-Kruger effect (much like some members of this board) by doing things like insisting on keeping Vince f***ing Russo despite the network, who TNA needed more than the network needed them, telling them he's persona non grata. 

Not a goddamn bit of that had anything to do with "Star Power" or "Casual fans", which.. by the way, has anyone seen a casual wrestling fan since, like, 2007? 

Anyway, I'm not here to say that booking and building stars and all that doesn't matter, but if all it took was putting some roided out freak in front of the camera, then Lucha Underground would be the #1 promotion in the world just by virtue of giving Brian Cage his first major platform.

Eric Young and Chris Sabin had f*** all to do with TNA going to shit.

Let us remember that multiple talent, AJ Styles, MVP, Chris Daniels, Kaz, and others, all have similar stories to how bad TNA was at marketing. AJ and Daniels have the most famous where they were at a gym and were recognized and asked why they were in that town when Impact was that night. Both said that Impact was at the arena literally across from the gym they were working out with and nobody in the gym had any idea that TNA was in town. Keep in mind that Dixie has a degree in *checks notes* marketing and advertising.

And yeah TNA was also insanely stupid when going on the road. It was time and honestly as they were getting ready to tour the show was insanely good. The issue of course was that Bischoff and Hulk (maybe Pritchard as well) convinced Dixie they had to book insanely big arenas they had no shot of selling out or coming close to selling out. Combine that TNA was insanely inept at advertising and you get the death sped up insanely fast. Of course at this point, Dixie's brother took over the day to day operations at Panda and when he saw TNA's books he wasn't willing to deal with what it became.

Comparing Tony Khan to Dixie Carter is an insanely huge insult to Tony.

TNA's marketing department, geniuses that they were, thought it was more important to buy a billboard in Stamford, Connecticut to stick it to THE COMPANY UP NORTH than to promote their shows in the markets they were being held. Mind you this billboard was nowhere near WWE's headquarters, but on some random road like a couple of miles away.

Prime TNA makes the shots WWE and AEW take at each other look like Tony Khan and Triple H get together as drinking buddies on the weekend by comparison. It wasn't even a back and forth so much as TNA going "look at me!" while WWE outright ignored them. Because TNA was never a threat and they never would be.

[fw91]

Dec 27, 2022 21:24:26 GMT -5 Feargus McReddit said:

Dec 27, 2022 21:18:20 GMT -5 kingoftheindies said:

.Now to try and get back on topic while also tying TNA into this. From everything anybody has said, talent all over is excited they have options. I forget if it was SRS, Meltz, ro Alvarez, but one of them pointed out how many in the WWE system actually feel AEW has given them more of a chance to have themselves heard because WWE is no longer the only game in town and the feeling is they can speak up more about things they don't like because WWE doesn't want people walking to AEW and proving them wrong. In the past talent may go to Impact or the indies but it was always to reinvent themselves and try to get another shot with WWE. Now that's not the case.

Like, Kevin Owens doesn’t get the bumper deal and the match against Steve Austin if AEW wasn’t around. He just doesn’t. But he did because they know a) he’d have been a boon for the company and right away been a top guy with the Elite at that time, b) he’d make indies a lot of money from appearances he’d make, especially at WrestleMania weekend off of the AEW contract and c) they don’t want to be known as the people who let Adam Cole, Kyle O’Reilly, (at the time) Johnny Gargano AND Kevin Owens leave in the space of a few months. Even if they aren’t top, top guys, the potential of them walking into the competition (or potentially with Gargano) would be too much to take in.

I mean I get what you're saying, but now that the dust has sorta settled on AEW's infancy stage, and objectively not many ex WWE guys are better off in AEW in terms of card placement, is WWE talent more expendable? Like you mentioned Johnny Gargano as a guy HHH probably didn't want to head over there earlier in the year. But now, I think WWE still be on the post Vince good will train so to speak, if he jumped ship and it would still be status quo in regards to comparing and contrasting the two companies.

[fw91]

Dec 27, 2022 20:47:57 GMT -5 Baldobomb-22-OH-MAN!!! said:

Dec 27, 2022 16:00:54 GMT -5 The Captain said:

Using World Champion Chris Sabin as a reason why TNA fell off is all the proof you need to know someone wasn't actually paying attention to TNA at the time or even knows why that particular title reign was a failure. Hint: it had nothing to do with Chris Sabin's popularity as a talent.

And Nick Aldis had a classic "WWE-esque" look at 6'4" and 250ish lbs with a great physique. Surprised to see that in the muscle fetishist "indy flippy guys" list.

Also TNA had already been collapsing in on itself for a few years when Sabin got a run. Hogan and Bischoff basically killed it.

Couldn't it be argued that it was before Hogan and Bischoff? Like when guys like Booker T and Foley showed up? That's when you noticed a trend that they were focusing on older ex wwe guys who were there to collect easy money for less dates then leave when they felt like going back to WWE.

[Starshine]

Dec 27, 2022 15:18:11 GMT -5 Finish Uncle Muffin’s Story said:

Dec 27, 2022 9:11:15 GMT -5 @negan said:

It will be equal as long as they don't fall into the trap that TNA did.

TNA fell off massively when they started putting the title on guys like Eric Young, Chris Sabin, Magnus and the like.

I feel AEW will go the same if they start putting guys like Ricky Starks, Daniel Garcia, Sammy Guevara and Action Andretti in the main event.

Whether anyone wants to admit it or not, they need star power to compete. Smaller Flippy guys is gonna make it feel like an Indy company.

1. WWE and AEW aren't equals. I think even the most passionate AEW fan would admit that today.

2. TNA fell off massively when Dixie put her last big bet investment into Hogan and Bischoff. They never recovered after that blew up in her face. Eric Young held the title for a brief time to try and leech off of the whole Daniel Bryan thing. Sabin had the title for a few weeks. Magnus wasn't the best, but at the very least, he was homegrown. But again, the issue there was Dixie didn't know what the f*** she was doing and invested in WWE hasbeens when they had incredible homegrown talent they didn't get behind.

3. Ricky Starks is getting star reactions. Sammy Guevara gets big time heel reactions. Action Andretti is nowhere near main events right now, he was handpicked by Jericho because he saw something in him. You may not like it, but I'll trust Chris Jericho's judgment on these things over yours.

Anyways, as it relates to the actual topic at hand, I think some people have to think of it as a rebound or stepping stone because it's a chance for them to rebuild themselves in the eyes of fans and wrestling management. I think we're still too early on in AEW's lifespan to actually know how wrestlers are going to use it. It's safe to say we're just going to see folks go back and forth between the companies over the next few years. That's how it should be. It's healthy.

It's also worth noting in addition to point 2, the period right before Hogan and Bischoff came in was the only notable time TNA has ever been profitable. That period was where they put the majority of their faith behind guys like AJ Styles and Christopher Daniels.

[Toates Madhackrviper]

Damn, I woulda thought Negan would be a fan of Magnus.

[Rave]

Dec 28, 2022 0:37:38 GMT -5 fw91 said:

Dec 27, 2022 20:47:57 GMT -5 Baldobomb-22-OH-MAN!!! said:

Also TNA had already been collapsing in on itself for a few years when Sabin got a run. Hogan and Bischoff basically killed it.

Couldn't it be argued that it was before Hogan and Bischoff? Like when guys like Booker T and Foley showed up? That's when you noticed a trend that they were focusing on older ex wwe guys who were there to collect easy money for less dates then leave when they felt like going back to WWE.

It was very much around before Hogan/Bischoff. I'll give a prime example: Shannon Moore's first run with TNA, which happened all the way back in 2006. Quoting from LOLTNA below.

Shannon Moore came to TNA after a fresh Future Endeavoring from WWE(CW) and began using an exaggerated version of his "Prince of Punk" gimmick. Moore debuted by interrupting what was (at the time) a dream match between AJ Styles and Hiroshi Tanahashi, started a feud with AJ, and even got a clean victory over Styles (back when he was still relatively important to TNA). The week after that win, Shannon left TNA. Since TNA hadn't actually signed Moore to a contract, when WWE came calling again, he headed back north. (Smart man.) He even took a jab at TNA in a WWE.com interview talking about his return.