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Guest stringerbell

Bubba Ray Dudley calls TNA the"new ECW."

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Guest *KNK*

What's so renegade about TNA?

 

From it's inception it was always on PPV and then devoted itself to getting on Network TV.

 

The only company that compares to ECW is ROH and that's only for the loyal hardcore fanbase that is largely internet based and tape/dvd based.

 

TNA basically reminds me of WCW. The WCW of 1991-1994 (pre-hogan). Different style of wrestling and different type of promotion from what WWF was offering that was slowly building up it's market and worked primarily in one region.

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Guest MikeSC
TNA can't be the new ECW.

 

Nothing can, and while I am one, this isn't meant to be to markish or fan-boyish.

 

ECW just had a certain aura to it that wasn't, can't, nor will be duplicated.

 

Maybe he's referring to the 'renegade promotion' aspect of it.

Hard to refer to anything housed in Orlando as renegade.

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When TNA started, there were definitely parallels with ECW. Constant garbage matches with some decent spotfests (and some amazing ones), and giving new, little-known talent a somewhat national stage to present their talents. Many indy workers could demand more money after working dates for TNA, and others have gone on to become commonly ranked high in lists published by hardcore fans of wrestling with such titles as "best today," for example. AJ Styles was practically unknown save for the small (at the time) fanbases of RoH and Wildside, despite his WCW work (which was jobbing to various more-pushed cruisers), and once he hit TNA, he suddenly became a favorite of everybody (for at least a year or so).

 

So I see how they compare to ECW in THAT aspect. Otherwise, I'll state what I've said since the first time I watched TNA: TNA is what WCW would have been had it not closed. The product was originally very similar to what the last 6 months of WCW's existence was, in that the big "superstars" were there now and then but mostly to put over the young talent, the cruisers/X-Division was there to steal the show, and nearly everybody had something to do - either they were wrestling for a title, wrestling for a shot at a title, or wrestling somebody they disliked.

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Guest MikeSC

I've always said, Corey, that one of the things I do miss about the old TNA was that you'd have guys you'd never seen before working there for a little while. It was one of the nice touches they had early on.

 

TNA is very much like WCW.

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What's so renegade about TNA?

From it's inception it was always on PPV and then devoted itself to getting on Network TV.

The only company that compares to ECW is ROH and that's only for the loyal hardcore fanbase that is largely internet based and tape/dvd based.

TNA basically reminds me of WCW. The WCW of 1991-1994 (pre-hogan). Different style of wrestling and different type of promotion from what WWF was offering that was slowly building up it's market and worked primarily in one region.

 

I made this point on the TNA Revolution board a little while ago. I was watching the Monday Night War DVD and during the pre-Hogan WCW portion, the similiarities where striking. You have a big promotion that had been unchallenged for years and became so stuck in their ways that they were practically begging for a challenge. You have a money-losing promotion putting on a different type of show with lesser known talent. A company that doesn't tour much outside of TV and PPV (well TNA doesn't travel at all, but follow me here..), and produces all their shows for a weekend timeslot in a studio that looks good on TV but is really small (I was young when WCW did Saturday Night at Center Stage in Atlanta, but I seem to remember admission being free then too). Like I said, the similarities between early WCW and TNA are really striking. Hopefully they won't meet the same fate.

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Ultimately, I think they're doomed to, if only because of the fact that they're going to try to make it into a corporation instead of a wrestling promotion. That's the reason the WWF/WWE was successful: one man, Vince, always had the final say. It was the cause of their rise and their drop in popularity, because it was one man deciding which ideas were good, were bad, were so-bad-they're-good, and painful (like much of Russo and Ferrera's ideas, as shown in WCW).

 

Wrestling needs the unpredictability factor back into it. That's one of the other reasons why people loved ECW, Mike: it was one of the only promotions where you actually DIDN'T know what was going to happen each show. You'd have a vague idea - "oh, Balls is going to get into a garbage brawl, New Jack is going to kill some jobbers with a staplegun, Dreamer is going to break his back even more, and Corino will be proud of the fact that he's not a hemophiliac" - but you didn't know EXACTLY what was going on. Of course, you'll reply to that with "I knew what was going on because ECW was predictable in their unpredictability," but that's because you're an asshole, and that's why I like you.

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Guest MikeSC

In ECW, it was hard to CARE what they did.

 

"Oooh, will Steve Corino win the gold? Wait a minute, who the fuck cares if Steve will win the gold?"

 

ECW had some atrocious booking after Raven left. Absolutely atrocious booking.

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Guest JMA
Well, I guess because it's a kind of upstart promotion that has a bit of a cult following, about to make a splash against the big two(or the big One in this case)

That's it in a nutshell.

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Guest Coffey

I follow TNA simply because they have good workers on their roster. It's the same reason that I still watch WWE and why I'm a big fan of ROH. To me, it's not even about WWE having competition or TNA finally "getting a break." To me, it's about having more wrestling instead of having an alternative. Yet, at the same time, something feels different about TNA. It doesn't just seem like another wrestling show. Same with ROH. Not because they're Indy promotions either. It's not some anti-WWE thing. It's a "you can tell they're not in auto-pilot mode" thing.

 

I mean, I'll watch TNA to see Samoa Joe just like I watch ROH to see Samoa Joe. Guess what? If Samoa Joe ever goes to WWE (or when he works "B" shows as a jobber) I'll watch that too.

 

All the promotions have shitty wrestlers. Look at the Carnage Crew in ROH. They're the shits. I don't let them make me not watch ROH though. Just like WWE. Yeah, they're pushing Cena, Carlito, Batista, JBL, etc. That doesn't mean that Benoit, Angle & Guerrero suddenly aren't on the roster anymore though. TNA is no different.

 

That's just how I look at it. It's the same way I looked at ECW. I didn't think it was "mostly garbage." I liked most of ECW. I liked the RVD/Lynn feud. I liked the Awesome/Tanaka feud. I thought Justin Credible made a good World Champion. I liked when Raven came back and added another layer to his feud with Dreamer. I got emotionally involved in the characters and storylines. I can honestly say I've never felt that from another promotion, or at least not in a really long time.

 

Basically, once you become "smart" to the business, you're not able to "turn it off." You know what you know. That being said, like I mentioned earlier, it's all about the workers now.

 

That's why I somewhat agree with the comment that Bubba Ray made. I can see where he's coming from. TNA does kinda feel like the new ECW. It's not because of garbage spots or because they house "WWE rejects." It's a feeling. They feel like they're trying. You can just tell. It's hard to explain. They still act like they have something to prove. They still seem to think that the fans matter. They're not just getting the match over with to make it to the next town early. They're not just collecting paychecks and saying "yes" to ever proposal thrown in their direction.

 

That's also why I think it's a big deal when people with no fucking clue just aimlessly bash ECW. Yeah, you didn't like it, we get it. Well, my retort is, you "didn't get it." It wasn't about the five-star matches or the sick bumps. I don't even know how to explain it. It sounds corny, but I, as a fan, felt like I had a connection to the promotion; to the wrestlers. I felt like my time invested in the product was well spent. I thought that my money when buying a hat, PPV or T-shirt was going to something that I cared about. It wasn't wasted. When watching WWE, even live at the event, I'm just another nameless face with no value. WWE has fans come and go all the time, it's not a big deal. ECW seemed to care about each fan and it came across that way. It wasn't just because of the smart crowd or because Heyman was more up-to-date than McMahon. Like I said, it's tough to explain. You can just notice things, and this is one of them. It's a feeling. You can't book it. You can't write it. It's just there.

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