What NWA could have done to become the next ECW

[Guest TheGame2705]

You guys all remember ECW. It was pretty kickass. It was semi-underground and had all these different dudes doing crazy shit. Some of it was crap but most of it was pretty entertaining. But the thing was, you had never seen any of these guys before except maybe a few. You watched all of them grow and leave and see new ones come in. NWA has people that have been seen before and people know very well or alteast well enough. Some are relatively unrecognized but no fed can make it on matches with old talents who weren't that well liked to begin with i.e. Brian Christopher. Sure you can take the bombed gimmicks and rebuild like Al Snow but you have to have a very creative mind to transform some of these guys. Another thing is, most of the old guys have attitudes because they've been in the big time. I think NWA started too fast and on shaky ground. I for one don't have the money or the desire to pay $10 each week to see has-beens and guys I hardly know and I think alot of other people are in the same boat. I think NWA should have taken a minimal amount of recognized guys and then built their own stars. Get in popular in Nashville until they start spreading. Then after a while when you start to get a good number of fans, find financial backing. Then when you're good with the cash and everything seems to be going good get a small TV deal so you get a bigger audience. Then move up the TV deal and continue until you get a good enough status to go for PPV. By now guys no one knew before will be recognized. Also the main thing is, you need talented or atleast a way to make them look talented. Like in sales which is more or less what this is, bring out the good points. Hide the weaknesses at all times. Keep the slow sloppy workers in the ring for minimal time, out of the ring, out of the fed period. And most important, find your niche. The thing that made ECW so popular was that it was like nothing you had seen before at times. Tables, piledriving women, sick spots, etc. Now they don't need to do that because now all that is passe. They just need to find that new revolutionary thing. NWA can still make it but I don't think it'll have longevity.

[Guest goodhelmet]

how can it make it but not have longevity?

[Guest JHawk]

I was thinking the same thing, helmet...

[Guest bps "The Truth" 21]

ECW had longevity?

[Guest BoboBrazil]

Nothing TNA can do will be revolutionary, unless they want to do nude women death matches or something like that(I think this has been done in Japan). Everything has already been done in wrestling.

[Guest Slapnuts00]

I don't understand what you're saying. First of all ECW and TNA are very different since ECW was a small indy promotion that got popular through tape trading and the net. It took 4 years to get on PPV and 6 years to get a TV deal. TNA started off on a naitonal PPV scale immediately. So although it has a loyal following, it's not "underground". Also, ECW got itself known on it's "hardcore" style and made many unknowns into stars, but that's not what TNA is about neccesarrily. They have their share of little known talent that unless you were a big indy follower would have never heard of. I had no idea who Lo Ki, Red, SATs, or Divine Storm were until I started watching TNA. They're using the known stars like Jarret, Hall, James, Hennig, etc. to appeal to mainstream fans who will recognize the names and give them a shot to see some of these guys again. You could make a case that TNA's "revolutionary" concept would be the X-division which is a style that can not be seen watching WWE. TNA is in the business to make money and achieve success on a national stage. ECW was an indy promotion that drew a larger and larger following, and attempted to maintain status on a naitonal level, but simply didn't have the backing. I don't think they want to be like ECW, and are only comparable in the sense that they both are smaller known promotions that hope to compete with WWE.

[Guest TheGame2705]

I was trying to say it would probably make it all the way to competing face-to-face with WWE but it wouldn't last long. I never said it was trying to be the next ECW. I was just trying to say that if it wanted to be a really strong competitor with a good fan following by the time it got big then it should have grown gradually like ECW. ECW's problem at the end was getting it's talent raided and no money. NWA has the money. I just think they jumped the gun way too quick by going straight to PPV. I also think there's still stuff to be done in wrestling that hasn't been done before, well in American wrestling atleast.

[Guest dreamer420]

Nothing TNA can do will be revolutionary, unless they want to do nude women death matches or something like that(I think this has been done in Japan). Everything has already been done in wrestling.

I disagree. What about the X Division? That seems pretty revolutionary to me.

[Guest Slapnuts00]

I just think they jumped the gun way too quick by going straight to PPV.

Wrong. They already have a national following larger than any indy fed, some semi-mainstream stars and a growing buzz about them. Now with new financial backing, I predict they'll get a cable show by the end of their PPV contract.

[Guest CoreyLazarus416]

Let's see all of the "old names" that made itin the WWF or WCW that are currently employed by TNA, shall we?

 

Brian Christopher

Curt Hennig

BG James

Jeff Jarrett

Brian Lee (VERY arguable that he "made it" in WWF, BUT he was in one of the most remembered angles of all-time: Undertaker vs. Undertaker)

 

Wow, look at that...all of 5 guys on a roster that grows each week...

 

And, guess what? Only ONE of them is on the program consistently, and that's Jarrett, but him on my TV isn't a BAD thing.

[Guest El Satanico]

Nothing TNA can do will be revolutionary, unless they want to do nude women death matches or something like that(I think this has been done in Japan). Everything has already been done in wrestling.

I disagree. What about the X Division? That seems pretty revolutionary to me.

The X Divsion is great, but it's not revolutionary. I mean come on it's just a cruiserweight division.

[Guest TheGame2705]

Lazarus I'll agree with you on that but Hall and X-Pac were there before too. Tenay is there now too and he is known as the old WCW luchadore fetishist. Still however, I agree with you. Slapnuts though I don't get what you're saying, quoting me then saying something that to me makes no connection. It's a dead given that if you're on PPV you'll get a following bigger than that of a fed that's untelevised. It's just plain common sense. I'm saying that if they hadn't started at PPV there would be something to work to and by the time they got to PPV people would connect with them and love them as much as the old ECW characters were loved. People loved New Jack for chrissakes and he didn't know one wrestling move, it's just they grew with him.

[Guest CoreyLazarus416]

No, people loved New Jack because he'd come out and beat the shit out of some random jobber, leaving them a bloody mess. When used to his strengths, meaning violent bullshit brawls, New Jack gets over.

 

I certainly do hope TNA gets a TV deal soon. If only FX would sign a wrestling show, so maybe they could have a show I'd be INTERESTED in watching for once...