The TNA Identity Crisis

Professional wrestling is a business that has to remain on the cutting edge.  It has to be one step ahead of the curve to keep fans excited and wanting to see more.  Professional wrestling needs to adapt and make new stars whenever any wrestler begins to show signs of popularity.  Any successful company can tell you that if you give the consumer the product they want, they will continue to come back and pay for it. 

With that said, there seems to be an identity crisis over at Total Nonstop Action.

Now, when the company first started off in May of 2002, they were a small upstart company trying to make a name for themselves.  Understandable that they would go to other companies and secure stars from yesteryear to fill out their main events.  I mean, if you think about it, no one will pay to watch a new wrestling promotion that has a bunch of names that no one recognizes. 

So TNA begins pulling in names like Jeff Jarrett (co-founder and owner), Ricky Steamboat, Raven, AJ Styles, and other names from other recognizable companies to fill out the main event.  With old WWE, ECW, and new ROH stars on the rise, this is a great way to bring in a new audience to watch your shows and hopefully capture their attention with the younger guys on the mid card.  Once the mid card begins to expand, move them to the main event so they can become the face of your company. 

But TNA didn't really seem to grasp this concept too well.  Now, TNA has a lot of talented people on their roster, but it seems that anyone who is TNA branded will never get their shot in the company.  It seems that whenever someone leaves WWE, TNA is bending over backwards trying to get them on their show. 

Best examples are Kurt Angle, Booker T, Christian Cage, Bobby Lashley, Chris Jericho, and most recently, Mick Foley.  Now, TNA has been riding a solid 1.0 to 1.1 rating on Impact for maybe two years now.  In this time, we've seen several WWE main eventers show up to TNA and the ratings never increasing. 

So why would TNA keep spending money on talent that isn't improving the show?

We've seen many guys hold the title on TNA that have been huge names in other companies.  Kurt Angle and Christian Cage both came from the WWE.  Ken Shamrock was big in the UFC.  Sting and Jeff Jarrett made a name for themselves in WCW.  Rhino and Raven were huge in the old ECW.  Fans recognize Samoa Joe and AJ Styles from ROH more than any other company. 

It would seem that the only two stars that TNA made themselves and became champion were Ron Killings and Abyss.  Out of the 11 different world champions they've had, only two of them were homegrown talent and the last time one of them held the title was in 2006.  This is their world title, and it's suppose to represent the company.  So far, it looks like the company represents other companies stars.

Now, it's not just the list of champions but a list of all the people who get pushes as well.  We see people like Booker T, Team 3D, and Jim Cornette getting all the attention on TV.  Almost the entire women's division comes from Shimmer, were they've already made a name for themselves on the independent scene, which TNA fans are familiar with.

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