The New Monday Night War: WWE vs. TNA
This is something many people aren’t talking about. Not many people are going to say that TNA is going to overtake the WWE as the leader in pro wrestling. Well, that is what this post is about. I will give you reasons and examples why I think that TNA will take over WWE. Not many people in the early ’90s would have believed in a million years would have believed that WCW (World Championship Wrestling) would have taken the lead in pro wrestling. Everyone believes that once you become the leader in something, you can’t get replaced by something else and that it is a long shot. True, it is a long shot to overcome a big oganization like WWE but it is not impossible. I want to give you my reasons of why I think TNA will replace WWE by looking back at the original “Monday Night War” between WWE and WCW.
In the early 90s, WWE was solidly established as the true leder in pro wrestling. Vince basically killed off alot of promotions when he started revolutionizing the pro wrestling world by crossing territorial boundaries. In the early 90s, WCW was basically a wasteland. Of course they had your standout stars like Ric Flair, Sting, and many more. But really, it was a place of rejected wrestlers that nobody wanted. Jerry Lawler’s Memphis territory was still pretty hot but they were partners with WWE as they were a developmental territory of WWE by this point so they were not viewed as competition. So, you can see why WWE was the leader of pro wrestling. Of course, once you take the lead in anything you have the tendency to become complacent. You might not right away, but after a couple of years in leading pro wrestling, WWE got the mindset that they could stick with what worked before and not change. But the problem was that this was the rebellious 90s and nobody wanted to keep on seeing children oriented storylines. They started to boo their top good guys like Hulk Hogan because they didn’t want to see guys like Hogan anymore. So alot of fan interest wore off and the numbers weren’t what Vince would have hoped for. In 93, Hogan left WWE and said that he was most likely done with wrestling altogether and he wanted to do more movie oriented things. Of course like many wrestlers over the years, they start to miss the feeling and the rush of being a wrestler. When Hogan’s tv series “Thunder In Paradise” got cancelled, word spread like wildfire and Hogan had WCW, not WWE people calling him. He signed with WCW and WCW was really starting to get going. They definitely had the money to compete with Vince but Ted Turner’s people did not know how to run a wrestling promotion. But an ambitious man named Eric Bischoff changed all that. He knew what it took to make a wrestling company sucessful. He stole some more of WWE’s top guys like their announce team and Randy Savage. WCW was becoming innovative. In September of 95, the war really started when WCW aired the first “Nitro”. They drew a 2.7 rating, an impressive showing although WWE didn’t feel any tremors. WCW got such a good rating not only because they of course had a fanbase that crossed over from the NWA when Turner Broadcasting bought them, but they were something new something different. They brought in a lightweight division before WWE did. Of course as usual, they stole some of their lightweights from ECW but ECW didn’t have a seperate division for them. People turned their attention to them when Kevin Nash and Scott Hall went over and formed the NEW World Order with Hogan. WWE fans started saying “Hey, these guys that I have watched for years are now going over here. Raw guys are going to Nitro this is really cool.” It was a good concept because it obviously worked. WCW started killing WWE in the ratings for 83 staright weeks. WWE was starting to get kicked in the dirt. It is very safe to say that WWE was definitely dying. They were not so much for a lack of talent because their roster had talented guys on it but their only true main eventers were Shawn Michaels, The Undertaker, and Bret Hart. But their storylines were not cutting edge like WCW’s were. They were still aimed towards children while WCW was more with the times storyline wise and were more cutting edge. WCW knew that wrestling had to make a change and they did it first. But like always, Vince started to come back. Vince had a single talent to make that transformation in Stone Cold Steve Austin. Austin was what every person out there wanted to be. He was very anti-authority and he appealed to everybody out there that wanted to beat on their boss and show him the finger. Of course, you couldn’t do that in real life but the fans started to live vicariously through Austin and WWE blew right past WCW. They blew right past them not just beacause of Austin although that was the main reason but WCW could not push the younger guys and get away from the older guys they stole from WWE. Vince knew how to create new stars and he stole a couple of young guys that WCW started to begin pushing like the Big Show. We know the rest of it as Vince bought WCW and put another piece of competition away. Now, the reasons for why I think TNA will run over WWE like WCW.
When TNA first started a couple of years ago, they were the land of misfit wrestlers that nobody wanted. The only thing that intrigued a couple of people was that they were run by the NWA. The Carters came in and gave a new fresh breath with an influx of money but TNA was still in trouble. They had great young talent but no tv deal and they ran weekly ppvs and no one was going to buy one from week to week to just see 2 hours of some guys that you haven’t seen before and alot of has beens that you don’t want to see ever again. Then they got their deal with FSN. It wasn’t a big station but it was better than nothing. In early 2005, they got kicked off of FSN and had no where to go. They got picked up by Spike late last year and have been doing a great job ever since. Now that I gave you the rundown of TNA, let me give you my reasons now. WWE now, unlike when WCW stared to overrun them, do not have a great talent roster. You have barely any athletes out there and a bunch of no athletic bodybuilders while TNA has alot of wrestlers with great talent. They have guys like AJ Styles among many others and that is what WWE really lacks. They have great storylines and know not to go to far over the edge unlike WWE as usual have gotten way to complacent and throw out whatever they want and hope it sticks. They are also turning alot of their fans away with these x rated angles like the live sex celebration I talked about a couple of posts ago. They are not traditional wrestling and TNA is and I am a big fan of that. They know how to get past old stars and create new ones unlike WCW ever did. Also, there is a modern day Hogan out there in the Rock. He has been out of wrestling for a couple of years doing movies but who are we the fans to say that he is done with wrestling. Personally I don’t like The Rock but I do admit he is a great wrestler and would be a good acquisition for TNA. There are a couple of other guys that could give TNA a big boost such as Goldberg, Chris Jericho, and Brock Lesnar. If WWE keeps on producing horrible television and TNA keeps on doing what they are doing, don’t say I didn’t tell you so that TNA would overrun WWE.
Also before I leave you, I would like to say look out for a new feature probably a couple of months away as my administrator and my step dad Jeff Maitland is going to put up a page full of wrestling pictures from past WWE shows that we have gone too and this will happen most likely if we get tickets to go see Smackdown live on April 11. He always takes great pictures and is the true force that makes this blog great. He made this blog for me and it was his idea for me to have one because he told me that I always had alot to say about wrestling and that this would be great for me. So he made this blog really. I do all of the writing but he is the master at doing graphics so whatever you see on here that isn’t writng about wrestling like the banners and such is all because of him.
