Analyzing TNA's Potential Impact on WWE, Pro Wrestling Industry

The death of Total Nonstop Action would not be a win for WWE.

Should TNA, a company that has long been on financial life support, fade from existence, its absence will leave a gap in the business of the squared circle. WWE should be rooting instead for its rival to rise. A healthy TNA equals a healthier pro wrestling industry.

Before TNA's Bound for Glory pay-per-view on Oct. 2, rumors rumbled about the company going under.

Uncertainty plagued the event as fans wondered if TNA president Billy Corgan and majority owner Dixie Carter would even be able to scrounge up the funds to put on the PPV. They did, thanks to an unnamed financier. 

Richard Morgan of the New York Post reported that TNA "spent much of the week negotiating with WWE and Corgan for a cash infusion to pay for 'BFG,' sources said, but sources speculated the actual advance came from neither of those two but from an unidentified third party."

What's next for the company? How long will it be until the money supply runs dangerously low again?

Carter reportedly didn't clear up the situation with her troops. Mike Johnson reported for PWInsider.com, "We are told that Dixie Carter did not address anything regarding the status of the company, ownership, etc. with the talent yesterday. There was no meeting with the roster or anything of that nature." 

If TNA can't find a way out of its economic hole, many expect WWE to swoop in.

The sports-entertainment giant would surely love to have TNA's video library as part of the WWE Network. And Vince McMahon has previously gobbled up rival promotions as he expanded his empire. 

WWE bought chief rival World Championship Wrestling in 2001. It absorbed Extreme Championship Wrestling's assets in 2003.

But if TNA were to follow those companies' paths, it would not signal WWE's victory in a ratings war; it would weaken wrestling as a whole. 

Talent Exchange 

TNA and WWE have spent years proving the adage, "One man's trash is another man's treasure." There is a long history of talent thriving in one company after hitting roadblocks with the other.

One doesn't have to look far to see TNA's influence on the current WWE product.

Samoa Joe, a former TNA mainstay, is fresh off an NXT title run and is headlining the developmental brand in pursuit of reclaiming that crown. Former TNA champions Austin Aries and Bobby Roode are key figures at NXT, as well, aiding the growth of the next generation of Superstars.

TNA icon AJ Styles is the current WWE world champ.

After TNA decided to let these veterans go, they quickly became valuable commodities for WWE. The Performance Center and developmental system needs experienced hands like these men to teach rising prospects. WWE certainly enjoys the benefits of their star power, too, when selling tickets for NXT tours.

Wrestlers have traveled the opposite way, as well. TNA is brimming with underused and unhappy former WWE talent.

Ethan Carter III went from low-ranking prospect with WWE to the face of TNA. Tyrus transformed from a comedy act with WWE to a beastly addition to the roster with Carter's company. WWE didn't believe in Drew Galloway enough to make him more than an afterthought; with TNA, he's been a revelation, a star worthy of the main event. 

Take TNA away, and WWE would have one less quality source for Superstars. A TNA-less world would also mean that wrestlers like Carter and Tyrus might fade away rather than get a second chance in another spotlight.

Influence

The worst part of WCW's dissolution was that WWE was no longer looking in the rearview mirror, fearful of a rival siphoning its viewership. 

Had WCW not been flourishing in the late '90s, WWE wouldn't have had the impetus to make its product edgier, to up its game each Monday night, to be its absolute best.

TNA has never been that kind of competition. Raw hit a historic low on Sept. 26 at just a 1.75 rating, per ProWrestling.net. Impact Wrestling was nowhere near that, even on the show ahead of the Bound for Glory PPV. As Kyle Decker of Cageside Seats noted, the go-home episode earned a 0.08 rating.

Impact Wrestling has slid down the cable food chain of late, moving from Spike to Destination America to Pop. Raw has remained for a long stretch on the USA Network, where there are more available eyes to tune in.

Where TNA has affected WWE is with ideas.

TNA was highlighting its women's division long before WWE. The Knockouts were generally considered far superior to WWE's Divas, both in talent and in presentation. TNA showed how passionate fans got about feuds like Gail Kim vs. Amazing Kong or The Beautiful People storyline.

And earlier this year, it was obvious that WWE Creative tunes in to Impact Wrestling.

After Matt Hardy and Jeff Hardy collided in the bizarre, absurdist bout that was Final Deletion, WWE cooked up something similar just weeks later. The New Day's battle with Bray Wyatt and his crew at The Wyatt Family's compound drew heavily from the Hardys' war.

These aren't the first cases of WWE borrowing from TNA.

But beyond that, the industry has benefited from TNA's creativity, from its high-octane X Division to its creative match types. Closing its doors would take away a key voice in the wrestling chorus.

And fans would have one less wrestling world to escape to.

Variety and Opportunity

Simply put, TNA's folding would shrink the employment options for wrestlers. Chair Shot Reality host Justin LaBar noted on Twitter what is at stake for the industry overall:

If the Arena Football League closed today, hundreds of players would be out of work. The numbers would be smaller in TNA's case, but the effect would be the same.

Sure, Ring of Honor and EVOLVE could take on some of TNA's roster, but the lesser-known wrestlers would be out of luck. 

TNA is a non-WWE option on a national level for wrestlers. Aron Rex (formerly Damien Sandow) is currently a big-time beneficiary. After WWE essentially stopped using him, seeing him as expendable, he has found his stride at TNA.

Rex is evolving as a performer in front of the audience's eyes, showing that he can be more than comic relief as he takes on a more serious role.

Rex told Ring Rust Radio (h/t Donald Wood of Bleacher Report), "Impact Wrestling has taken some chances and is changing the game. I am proof of that."

And should the industry not have that kind of game-changing around, fans will lose out. Those who prefer the styles and stars of TNA will have to settle for something else.

Wrestling is a series of circuses, each with its own take on the freak show. 

Fans can tune in to WWE, the grittier Lucha Underground, the ridiculousness of Chikara or TNA, which features the likes of Bobby Lashley on top and the unsettling psychotics known as Decay.

WWE's purchase of TNA would take away that last option, erasing a valuable entity from a strange and varied world.