Cease and Desist : TNA's Desperate Cry For Attention.

Considering the talent to work for Total Non-Stop Action Wrestling and the near decade the company has existed, it's hard pressed not to find the limited success TNA has experienced completely compelling. 

Almost from day one, the then National Wrestling Alliance franchise benefited from the fallout of the WWE purchase of World Championship Wrestling and the acquisition of Extreme Championship Wrestling, picking up a mixture of young lions and former experienced & established talent over the course of it's first few years. 

Given time, TNA Wrestling would quickly establish themselves as the only national level promotion outside of the WWE attracting names like Team 3D, Rhino, Raven, Christian, Jeff Hardy, Kevin Nash, Scott Steiner, Mr.Anderson & Kurt Angle. 

Despite all the name dropping and constant re-branding, TNA has never been able to get the ball rolling in the right direction. 

The method has been simple for those running TNA Wrestling— watch the WWE, comment on whatever they are doing, and try to do it as loudly as possible. 

For years it was always a case of disgruntled former WWE mid-carders questioning their lack of success in the WWE and usually blaming all those who found it. TNA would give them a platform to stand on and the time to vent their frustrations —spinning an ignorant self belief into another WWE horror story. 

Fast forward eight years, and TNA find themselves at the beginning of a potential turning point in it's history. For weeks, the stars aligned. Former ECW wrestler after former ECW wrestler appeared among the TNA audience, showing a united front on the brink of declaring war on the TNA franchise. 

Just as we saw in the WWE weeks prior—the renegades invaded. Attacking the foundations of the TNA universe, striking quickly and hitting hard. TNA found itself in the midst of the early days of a civil war —orchestrated by TNA president, Dixie Carter.

Then just this weekend

The LAW reports that new promotional material sent out for TNA’s ECW-themed August pay-per-view has a new name for the show – Hardcore Justice: One Last Stand. A new commercial for the show features fans chanting “ECW.” It will be interesting to see how WWE reacts, if they do at all, to TNA using ECW to promote their product. lordsofpain.net

A WWE brand name, a WWE trademarked image, and a even the exact same Pay Per View name. What appears as an attempted to pay homage to the former ECW wrestlers remains questionable. 

What it is however— guerrilla marketing. 

In one scenario, TNA gets away with using another company's image and brand to sell it's product. It's a win for Team TNA when it sells it's Hard Justice PPV on the gimmick of an ECW reunion in the wake of the demise of WWE's ECW brand. 

In the other scenario, the WWE react. They send a cease and desist demanding the removal of any reference to Extreme Championship Wrestling from TNA's advertising and commercial ventures.

TNA comply—And swiftly react. It feeds into the ECW gimmick perfectly. That of the renegade promotion operating outside of the mainstream and constantly defying the establishment. TNA spin the situation as the WWE trying to destroy their product. A notion Dixie Carter has been spinning since her announcement Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff were joining her company. 

TNA sells it's entire PPV on the basis, Hardcore Justice: One Night Stand is the show, the WWE either tried to shut down or didn't want wrestling fans to see —The scenario TNA wanted. 

This exercise may sell one single Pay Per View and ignite the exact same storyline the WWE implemented five years earlier. But sadly for TNA Wrestling, August 8, 2010 will pass and will remain nothing more than another desperate cry for attention.