TNA: Will Bringing on OVW as a Developmental Promotion Lead to Real Change?

Last week, in a move that got everyone talking, it was announced that TNA Wrestling, America’s struggling No. 2 promotion, had struck up a developmental deal with Ohio Valley Wrestling.  Per the press release, TNA will send their newer, experienced talents to polish their in-ring skills before they make it on to the promotion’s flagship show, iMPACT.

Interestingly, it has since been reported that the deal was pitched by TNA’s new Head of Talent Relations Bruce Pritchard, who has had close ties with OVW from his days working in WWE. After hearing Pritchard’s convincing reasoning for a TNA/OVW relationship, Jeff Jarrett and Eric Bischoff went down to Louisville several months ago to meet with founder Danny Davis and get more of a feel for the place and how they run. Shortly after, a deal was announced.

As most are aware, OVW served as WWE’s main developmental territory from 2000 to 2008, during which time they churned out money-drawing stars like Brock Lesnar, Randy Orton, John Cena and Dave Batista. Eventually, the once strong OVW/WWE relationship deteriorated, and WWE eventually settled on making Florida Championship Wrestling their sole developmental territory, leaving Danny Davis free to pursue his options with TNA.

Notably, it was apparently OVW’s very impressive track record in developing new talents that served as Prichard’s main talking point when selling the territory to Dixie Carter and the rest of TNA management.

When the news broke, many fans and critics were rushing to praise TNA for making a smart, savvy business decision. Certainly for a company frequently criticized and berated for focusing too much on worn out, has-been stars of the past, often at the expense of younger stars, any move that indicates Dixie Carter is building for the future can be hailed as a step in the right direction.

But can it lead to real change?

There are several things to consider here. One is that while inexperienced, green wrestlers like Garrett Bischoff, Jesse Sorenson and Crimson can greatly benefit from a stint in development to hone their craft, lack of in-ring wrestling talent has never truly been in TNA’s problem.

Indeed, TNA’s outstanding in-ring product is arguably the only thing that has kept frustrated fans coming back to iMPACT in spite of terrible, business-harming booking and incoherent, illogical storylines. In recent years, the company has generally had their pick of top indie talent, most of whom are too small for WWE to seriously consider hiring. Notably, any great indie wrestlers they have signed (Samoa Joe, Low Ki, Hamada) have seen their considerable potential squandered by a woefully incompetent booking team.

One thing is for sure: The problem here is not so much that TNA doesn't have highly competent, trained wrestlers—they do. The issue is the dire booking.

And while the inept Russo may have been removed as head booker of TNA and replaced with Pritchard, or so we are told, the unforgivable hot-shotting of the James Storm/Robert Roode storyline—which saw what was easily six months' worth of storylines crammed into a few weeks—as well as several other loopholes on iMPACT (why exactly is the villainous Karen Jarrett still in charge of the KO division now that babyface TNA owner Dixie Carter has returned to power?) serve to raise several troubling questions about how much things have actually changed down in Orlando.

There’s also the fact that TNA insists on ramming former WWE/WCW stars down our throats, possibly because they have no faith in their own ability to make stars. TNA has long had fresh, talented stars like Alex Shelley and AJ Styles at their disposal but have continually overlooked them in favour of people with more exposure (the "But people know who they are!" reasoning at work). 

Perhaps things have changed, but the fact that the ancient, past-his-prime Hulk Hogan was recently re-signed to his expensive contract, when he hasn’t meant a thing for business in ages, is not a good sign.

There’s another interesting, slightly troubling point that few have considered when examining the OVW/TNA announcement: In WWE developmental, wrestlers cannot wait to get called up to the “big time” because they know they will be on the fast track to money, success, fame, etc. Even if these grapplers never make it past the mid-card, they‘ll still be making decent money and be more than able to have a comfortable standard of living.

As noted numerous times, life in the TNA undercard is not nearly so comfortable or glamorous. Just ask Jesse Neal. And how exactly will these called-up wrestlers feel when they discover that the paltry wages they make in the "big time" is roughly the same as the paltry sum they made in developmental?

TNA has long been accused of ignoring their real problems in favour of one “golden carrot” after another. First it was getting two hours on Spike that would reap TNA huge rewards and allow them to compete with WWE. Then it was bringing in bigger stars like Hulk Hogan, RVD, Ric Flair and Jeff Hardy. Then it was going to Monday Night Wars. And after that, it was taking iMPACT on the road.

Needless to say, absolutely none of these moves helped TNA breakthrough and their ratings have remained at roughly the same level for years now. And their buy rates, which were not great to begin with, actually plummeted after the Monday Night Wars fiasco.

Is it possible that this OVW/TNA deal, rather than being a sign of hope for the future, is another “golden carrot”? Something that TNA seeks simply because it will give them the legitimacy of a “real” national promotion, rather than wanting to make any real changes in how they deal with talent?

TNA’s biggest flaw has always been that while they that may ostensibly make changes on the surface from time to time, the main problems that are holding them back never change (bad booking, a sloppy and complicated chain of command, pushing washed-up stars who do not draw anymore).

Going by Dixie Carter’s stubborn refusal to remove any of the real hindrances in her company, this OVW/TNA deal could widely be interpreted as merely another empty gesture that will make no real difference in the long run. Time will tell of course, but people probably shouldn’t hold their breath.