Hi! My name is Nick, and you might remember me from such hits as The Pro Wrestling Rant and… well that’s all I write…. Long time no talk or read in this case. My apologies as life forced me to step away from writing which I love doing but I am here, and I am back. In my head I just received the same pop Triple H received back in ’02 at MSG. Anyways, let’s rant shall we.
WWE-TNA end goal
If you are any type of wrestling historian then you know that companies working together have far more positives than working against each other. I am not saying it always works out but if egos are put aside for the overall business and financial gain than more times than none it’ll be a major hit.
Even the stickler Mr. McMahon, who arguably has the biggest ego in the entire business, seen the benefits. Now that HHH took over, and his old NXT roster who had loads of TNA talent, this was a smart move.
If having the likes of AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, Bobby Roode, MCMG, etc. come through TNA hadn’t added an even bigger spotlight on the company, Trips seen the potential and jumped on it. Maybe he has an end goal or not, ala AAA, it was a perfect business move.
It has been almost a year since the two biggest companies in North America (excluding AEW) and depending on your mindset, its either been a hit or a miss. Some think Papa H is pulling a Vince and trying to make TNA look less then, but I see the opposite.
Who’s Winning?
TNA has benefited much more from this than WWE has. I am not saying WWE hasn’t benefitted anything, I just say overall business wise TNA has in a major way.
The wrestlers have been given a bigger platform now, such as appearing on NXT shows, increased attendance, and even had talent appear on major WWE PLE’s.
WWE has been able to sign Jordynne Grace, who will be one of the major players on the main roster and most recently signed Joe Hendry, who not only had a match against Randy Orton at this years Wrestlemania and he blew the roof off of Allegiant Stadium with 60,000 fans and millions more at home going absolutely wild when his music hit.
More recently NXT and TNA have been invading each others shows which again is putting the spotlight on those involved. I know people say it is TNA’s top talent against developmental wrestlers but that is the glass half empty view. Has this worked thus far? Yes, yes it has, and I am excited for this to continue.
Contracts
I am sure more TNA talent will sign WWE contracts, and I am sure WWE talent who are released will end up in TNA like we have seen and that is just fine. AEW is stacked to the gills and TNA has been on fire so ex WWE talent going to TNA is the right move.
Look, when you have a working relationship like WWE-TNA, not everyone is going to be happy. Not every move is going to work out. But are both companies equally gaining from this and are both sets of wrestlers re-energized? You know darn well the answer is yes so this relationship thus far has been a match made in heaven.
The only thing I have to say about this, as I have been just letting this play out before saying my wish list of things I want to see, is with 2026 being the last active year for the Phenomenal One AJ Styles and with AJ being arguably the greatest talent TNA has ever had, Styles retire inside a TNA ring with the TNA World Championship around his waist. That is all I need for me to consider this relationship a massive hit, even if it shits the bed afterwards. AJ is and will always be Mr. TNA.
Paul Levesque’s creative control thus far
Before I dive into this a little deeper I must say that I haven’t been this confused since the time Cody left a company he helped start. But how can H run WWE very reminiscent to his father in-law, when he ran NXT to be the hottest wrestling promotion in the world at one point. Very confusing.
I still think Levesque is the right person for the job, I just feel he lost his touch. He knows/knew what the likes of Johnny Gargano, Shinsuke Nakamura, Finn Balor, Karrion Kross and Andrade bring to the table yet haven’t been able to utilize them how they should. I know Andrade returned for only 4 minutes, but he returned because HHH knows his work, and they have that trust built.
Taking On More
I get it, NXT was 1 show, and he now has a bigger role, but none of this makes sense. He took NXT and maximized the little time he had to put on the greatest shows WWE put out. NXT was transforming indie darlings into WWE Superstars by using the right formula. Every show, every PLE (PPV back then) exceeded expectations to the point that Takeover events, which were the night prior to a PLE, always destroyed the main roster event in overall in-ring work.
When H took the reigns of Raw and Smackdown I never once expected it to be very Vince-y. It is almost like Vince is still there and Triple H is just for the optics. With the roster they have and with the content they put out, it doesn’t add up. 3 hour shows and no time to push the tag division, the secondary titles, the women’s division and build up ne challengers. It is pretty much the same thing week after week with the same wrestlers doing the same schtick. It is repetitive, boring and very uncreative.
Withing the next 5 years the WWE roster is going to take a major hit with pretty much the entire top half of the roster retiring and will then blame the low attendance and viewership on the new talent when now is the time to start the process so by then it will be an easy transition for everyone involved, including the audience.
Internet says “too many Samoans”
The Bloodline was the greatest story ever told and the greatest faction in the history of the business. Week after week their segments and matches hit home runs. Roman Reigns became a mega star with an incredible World title run that will be hard to top.
From being Reigns and The Uso’s to bringing in Sami Zayn, and the Wiseman Paul Heyman, everything just clicked. Once the company decided to go a different route with Reigns back to doing his own thing, Jey Uso’s main event rise and the now leader Solo Sikoa adding Tama Tonga, Tonga Loa and Jacob Fatu to the mix, The Bloodline was still kicking ass.
Each member began to get over with the audience in their own way. Tama and his yeah-yeah-yeah-shhh schtick to the fans obsessing over Jacob, the band were firing on all cylinders.
The Next Big..Samoan?
Fatu, now a singles star who is poised for a main event run, Sikoa, Tonga and Loa started their own click, adding family member Talla Tonga and indie star JC Mateo to the mix and are heavily featured on WWE programming. WWE even signed Lance Anoa’i but ended up releasing him before he could debut and fans started saying “too many Samoans”
I don’t understand the fans. Every single of the Bloodline/MFT are major stars and their work has been top notch. The character work has been amazing. Sikoa’s expressions are in a league of its own, Tama Tonga got extremely over just by saying yeah-yeah-yeah and Jacob Fatu is so good that he had to go down his own avenue due to growing popularity. I don’t get the hate.
Zilla Fatu, the late-great Umaga’s son is just fine tuning his in-ring work as he is on deck and almost a shoe in for a WWE contract in the next few years. Zilla, much like Jacob whose journey involved going down the wrong path for a moment plays a key role into WWE’s lack of urgency to sign him up. Once he has shown trust, WWE will be there waiting.
With the Anoa’i family and their history in the business there are just so many stories to tell and different directions everyone can go. Since WWE is very story driven, the Samoan’s have more ways to go and more ways for the audience to become emotionally into their work. It is money and the potential to make these stars and future Anoa’i members a lot of money. It’s been utter perfection.
Well, that’s all she wrote for today. Stay tuned because it’s about to get real. Yeah-yeah-shhhh-yeaaaah.
Nick Whitworth
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