Shining a Spotlight 11.01.07: TNA’s Lack of Star Potential

The word is that TNA is attempting to court about ten or so former WWE guys ranging from small-time to names like Booker T and Rob Van Dam and even Scott Hall. This comes on the heels of reports of TNA seriously low-balling workers as Jerry Lynn was complaining over how little he was paid despite doing such a great job with the company. All of this has made me realize a key problem of TNA that I didn’t really figure out before.

They don’t seem interested in making new stars.

It’s not that they can’t. AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels, James Storm, Chris Harris, Abyss, Petey Williams, Eric Young, even Sharkboy. All of them were given the chance by TNA to rise up and become big names with their great talents and charisma. It seemed TNA was willing to do more with it like Alex Shelly and especially LAX last year. But suddenly, TNA doesn’t seem that interested in boosting such talent but rather relying on buying up older stars who are mostly past their prime and giving them giant pushes to justify the huge paydays.

Just look at Impact last week where the Motor City Machine Guns, a team that seemed on the rise, are destroyed by Team 3D to continue the idiotic feud of T3D, the Steiners and VKM over who’s the best tag team, which a match about eight years too late to be meaningful. Then, only a week or so after winning the TNA World Title, Sting drops it back to Kurt Angle thanks to interference from Kevin Nash and now we’ve got a tag match at Genesis with the title on the line, involving Nash, who has absolutely no business whatsoever in the title scene.

So people are tearing their hair out at how TNA is stuck in this time warp and it’s not getting better as they’re actually serious about getting Hall, who’s way past his time to be effective in the ring and RVD, whose backstage attitude is not the best. It all showcases once again that TNA is more interested in leftover names than building up new guys, which should be a key thing for them.

I should point out here that there’s a difference between building new stars and new talent. The fact is, a wrestler should have a few years under his belt before he’s really built up into a big star in order to get the wrinkles out, get used to the game and really be over. Lex Luger is a good example as he was pushed into a title only a month after his debut and while his physique was good, he never got the “paid his dues” mentality or the training to really unlock his potential and thus he never turned into the truly great worker he could have been. On the other hand, you’ve got Mick Foley, who spent years battling under various names until 1998, when the Hell in the Cell match finally got the respect of fans and led him to his stardom.

It’s true that it’s sometimes hard to gauge who will and won’t take off with the fans. There are cases like Steve Austin, who pretty much everyone knew beyond a shadow of a doubt was going to be a giant name from his very first match. Then you’ve got John Cena, who seemed destined for a life at the mid-card until his choice of a Halloween costume in 2002 gave him the character to let fans latch on and rise up. Promoters can do their best to shove guys down our throat only to have people get behind the ones that seem ignored. It’s happened throughout wrestling and will probably continue but the key is that promoters try.

I know so many people run down WWE but the fact is, they do still try to make new stars. True, sometimes, it’s with guys no one wants like Great Khali or Randy Orton. But then you’ve got Ken Kennedy and MVP, who have both gotten over great. In fact, MVP is one of the best example of how to make a star WWE has shown in years. Rather than have him beat Chris Benoit the first time out for the US title, the two spent months wrestling each other, each match better than the first so when MVP finally did win, he was far more over and came out looking great. London & Kendrick were also nice with their long tag reign and it’s not their fault WWE has ignored the tag team scene and not let them really break out. Perhaps singles runs might be good since Johnny Morrison has blossomed as a terrific star, showing how it can all work.

Keep in mind as well that so many guys the company has pushed and fans hated for those pushes at the time have validated the company’s faith. JBL himself has gone on record admitting the fans weren’t behind his sudden main event push in 2004 but I do believe by the time his title reign ended, he was pretty accepted as a good heel worker and has also turned into a great play-by-play man. Umaga wasn’t that hot at first but is also seen as a good tough guy wrestler and there’s still the chance some other guy could break out, especially given the unsure roster situation due to injuries and suspensions.

It bears remembering that when HHH was first pushed as a main event heel in 1999, fans just hated it and didn’t accept it but when he smashed up Mick Foley twice in early 2000, he was over instantly. It does take a combination of ring skill, charisma and even one great match to really break out big time for a guy and of course, it helps to have the promotion backing them up. I know so many of the Cult of Van Dam complain about WWE not giving him the chance but when you hear about his backstage arrogance and how he blew his big WWE title reign in 2006, you see that Vince McMahon may have been right not wanting to put a company on him.

The point of all this is that while WWE does use older guys, they are guys who are still hugely over with fans and able to get a reaction (Austin) and do great matches (Michaels and Flair). Now it’s true WWE was relying on Cena but then, it’s been a classic problem for promoters through history to be reluctant to let go of what works. One need only look at how the AWA fell apart because Verne Gagne wouldn’t see that he couldn’t keep running the older stars all the time, letting guys like Hogan, Michaels, the Road Warriors and other slip away which put things into a bad hole. And of course, WCW has an infamous rep for having one of the best talent rosters available during that period they were on top but refusing to give them their chances. A high point of the Monday Night War DVD is Mysterio, Benoit and Guerrero talking about how they were ignored (“you couldn’t tell what month it was on our show” Guerrero notes) while Ross points out the one guy who got a push was Goldberg and WCW still ended up blowing that by jobbing him to Nash in the end.

I should break to point out that sometimes, it’s not just a push that helps a guy get over but the guy himself. I remember Ric Flair’s autobiography talking about how Shane Douglas has always complained about being held back wherever he went but Flair says “if you’ve got the drive and talent, you’ll make it no matter what.” I do agree a bit with that as Douglas was good in ECW but didn’t really click over in WCW and while “Dean Douglas” wasn’t a good character, he still wasn’t that over with WWF crowds. And keep in mind that guys the IWC fawn over don’t really do as well in the top spot when they get the chance (Benoit and Guerrero in ’04 for example). But a push by the company does help and TNA isn’t doing that.

I mentioned Gagne before but it should be remembered (and the AWA DVD points it out) that Gagne did a terrific job making stars in his time. Jesse Ventura, Mad Dog Vachon, Dusty Rhodes, Hulk Hogan, all of them had been bouncing around wrestling for years but it was Gagne who managed to bring out the ring skills and charisma they needed to become major stars. Paul Heyman was also an expert at making guys huge for ECW thanks to his simple philosophy of “accentuate the positive, hide the negatives.” He did a great job selling guys, many with limited ring skill, as great workers and it’s telling how so many of the ECW alumn failed to really connect in other promotions (Public Enemy the best example of that in WCW) without Heyman’s guidance and help. Heyman was also smart to use veterans like Terry Funk to help make stars as that’s another key way to do so.

Ric Flair was a master of being able to make a guy over. Sting was a good worker with good charisma but with one match in 1988, Flair made Sting a superstar and rocketed him to fame. Flair also did his best to give the rub to guys like Barry Windham, Ronnie Garvin and so many more. He was planning a series with Steve Austin in 1994 that would have made Austin a main eventer a few years early but Hogan’s arrival in WCW ruined that. However, a lot of other promoters have been reluctant to follow this pattern of “passing the torch” as they hate to admit that the older star is fading even when there’s another one ready to rise up. It takes something dramatic like Cena getting injured for them to realize they need new faces but WWE is able to survive something like that since they still have a good talent base.

TNA, however, no longer seems willing or interested in making new talent but instead keeps getting older stars to fill out the main event ranks and pushes down the fresher talent. It’s one thing to get guys like Christian or Angle or Booker T who have some presence and big names. It’s another to get Nash and Hall, who have no business being in a wrestling ring anymore. Nash is good for skits and such but his best years (which were never that good) were a decade ago and suddenly shoving him into a World Title match when he hasn’t done any wrestling in over a year is an absolute insult. So TNA is selling a massive title match involving three guys who are all way past their place as main eventers and the fresh talent is wallowing ignored. And if TNA does bring in some big names, they have to make cuts to the roster in order to pay for them and that’ll just make things worse. I said it in a column a few months back but it bears repeating: If TNA had to choose between signing RVD and letting go of half the X Division, get the pink slips ready.

TNA’s failure is more galling when you look at how ROH, a promotion with nowhere near their resources or a TV contract, is more than able to make stars. Just about everybody under the ROH banner is given a chance as the lack of a “glass ceiling” or locker room politics really does help open things up. It also helps that ROH’s booking team understand what fans want and give them great action with detailed programs that show all their strengths. Because of that, Brian Danielson, Nigel McGuiness, Colt Cabana, the Briscoes and so many more are now known names to wrestling fans while I still dare the casual fan to name anyone in TNA who didn’t wrestle in WWE at one time. ROH understood what TNA apparently has been unable to, that Samoa Joe can carry a company as a major champion and fans will follow that. And CM Punk shows that, with the right chances, an ROH guy can make it big in WWE as well. Despite being seen as the weakest of the three promotions, ROH doesn’t need to bring in big names from outside and boost them but instead concentrates on building from within, which is what a wrestling promotion should be doing. Of course, they also pay well which is something else TNA has been having trouble with.

I’m not the first to note the chilling similarities between TNA and the dying days of WCW. WCW’s problem was that they had this massive talent base but failed to sign on big guys and when they did get a big name (like Bret) they did almost nothing with them. TNA does the opposite in that when they get someone big from WWE, they’ll just keep pushing and pushing and ignoring the fact that fresher faces are needed. Back in 2005, TNA really could boast being “the new face of wrestling” as the only real veterans around were Raven, Jarrett and Jeff Hardy and they weren’t taking over as much. But from the moment they started on Spike and signed on Team 3D and Christian, TNA has become obsessed with adding on big names, convinced that’s what they need to be on top. And the result is that the young talent in TNA is being underutilized and ignored. Jay Lethal is a fine worker and good as X Division champion but making him act the Macho Man (as good as the act is) just makes it seem like he couldn’t make it on his own but had to adopt the persona of a guy considered something of a joke now by fans. The MCMG has the potential to be a good tag team but crushing them so VKM/Steiners/Team 3D can continue this stupid “best of the best” argument is ruining their drive. Think about it…when was the last time you saw someone new, truly and honestly fresh and new on Impact (and no, Pacman doesn’t count)? At least WWE gives some newer guys chances on TV but TNA just keeps doing the same guys over and over and over again and that’s not good to get more attention.

Again, I want TNA to succeed, I really do. But the fact is, at the moment, they are ignoring a cardinal rule of the business, a rule even WWE hasn’t completely abandoned: Always be making stars and pushing new talent. True, WWE may still push Michaels and HHH but they have fresh faces at their disposal as well. But TNA is seriously attempting to make a Kevin Nash/Sting/Kurt Angle/mystery partner tag team match for the World title be the main event of a 2007 PPV. Two years ago, TNA PPV videos would talk about all the great young faces and really sell how they were a new force in wrestling. That attitude is apparently forgotten with TNA not only intent on buying up guys from WWE who are past being over but running the same talent in the midcard over and over with no room for advancement. Just look at how many PPVs featured Robert Roode vs Eric Young. They need new faces, new blood, if not as stars than at least there to liven up things. As it is, a TNA show from today really doesn’t look any different from one six months ago. This is not the way to run a promotion, especially not one trying to be the number two in the world. At the rate they’re going, TNA is going to be just a place where former WWE guys go to ply their trade and they’ll act like it’s novel and good. Meanwhile, the guys who deserve spots, the one who can be big, the ones who can help TNA rise, will be in other places and one or two might be big-time champions because they’ll be given the chances TNA wouldn’t hand them.