commentaries THE COLD WAR: TNA VS WWE

The seeds of a WWE-TNA war have been brewing since TNA first really came onto the scene. If nothing else, people perhaps made a mountain out of a mole hill because they were excited to hear that WWE might have some real competition again. While there is a definite sense that two companies are struggling for dominance of the pro wrestling world, the rivalry between the two has yet to gain any sort of momentum, despite several shots fired by both sides.

The first warning sign was TNA's inclination to attempt to make stars out of people that WWE decided had released. Of course, the first was really Ron "The Truth" Killing, previously known as K-Kwik. In the early days of TNA, before their TV deal and the monthly pay-per-views, Ron Killings was able to capture the World Title. I couldn't help but think "K-Kwik has a title? That guy who danced a lot?" No doubt there were others like me with the same feeling, but TNA made him a star. It's almost as if it were a big "screw you" to WWE.

Look at how often people have popped up in TNA after they were released and their 90 day no-compete clause expired: D'Lo Brown, Xpac, Raven, Rhyno, Jeff Hardy, Shannon Moore, Jackie Gayda, Gail Kim, Christy Hemme, The Dudley Boyz, Road Dogg and Billy Gunn, and even Christian. And how many of them have have won a title or been involved in a major storyline for TNA? Pretty much all of them in one way or the other. That's not to mention anything of Earl Hebner and Jim Cornetee and legends like Roddy Piper, Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, and even Randy Savage - all of whom first gained fame in WWE. And all but Savage had appeared for WWE in recent memory.

Remember when Chris Jericho was "fired" from WWE (aka taking time off) and the very next day had an image of him with the TNA logo on his website. Turns out it was all a hoax. Yes, it seems as if everyone wants to get in on the the war, but no one really wants to fire any serious ammunition at the other.

Let's not forget that TNA once sold "F*CK VINCE" shirts on their website. Granted, they maintained they were intended to refer to Vince Russo, who as that time of their major writers and on-screen presences. But you can't help but think there is a definite double-meaning there.

Even Hulk Hogan found his way to greener pasutres (or so he thought) in TNA. He shot an angle for them which was meant to lead up to a feud with Jeff Jarrett. It never happened because Hulk pulled out, but the point is that even Hogan, THE WWE legend almost became TNA property. Again, what was nearly a major coup was pretty much ignored. Granted, this is most likely because Hogan never actually went through with it...but what if he had? Would it have been a big deal? Would it be a big deal if The Rock showed up in TNA next week? Or Austin? The obvious answer seems to be "yes," but this appears to be rather anemic.

The feud between TNA and WWE seemed ready to escalate when it was discovered that a bit of fight broke out between WWE talent filming the 2005 Royal Rumble commercial and TNA talent. TNA claimed they had footage of it and were ready to air it for the world. Somehow, the whole situation never reached its potential boiling point.

And then there's the talent raids. Let's not forget that Zach Gowen was in TNA before arriving in WWE as a "fan" that got involved in a segment. WWE snatched him up from TNA, exposed him and pushed the hell out of him (even aligning with him Hulk Hogan and Brock Lesnar and Kurt Angle were even fighting on his side, all while he feuded with none other than Vince himself), then got rid of him once he wore out his usefulness as a novelty act. Guess where he ended up again? Think about it - they take this kid, make him a star for a short amount of time, but continue pushing him until no one cares anymore and he's no longer useful...then they cut him and ends back where he started. Smart, cut-throat move. Again, no one seemed to care though.

Then there was the big debut of Christian. He had walked out on WWE and appeared in TNA as soon as possible, cutting a scathing promo on Vince McMahon's segment on the previous Raw where he "pulled JR's head out of his ass." No one but the TNA audience seemd to care too much. Christian even went on to dethrone Jarrett and win the World Title. While that sort of thing would have made waves in the previous decade, it barely made ripples.

There have been other instances of talent bouncing back and forth between the two rivals: Shannon Moore was cut by WWE so he shows up in TNA. Just as he is receiving a bit of a push, WWE re-signs him. Rhyno left WWE and made a big impact on his return in TNA. It seems to happen a lot, doesn't it?

Speaking of Rhyno, there was of course the incident that took place in the summer of 2006, which should have been a bigger deal than it really was. Vince had just resurrected ECW as a third brand. Then, on an episode of Impact! Rhyno came out and cut a promo on Vince and ECW, trashing both and claiming that their champion was a joke because he owned the true ECW Title.

It went by without much of a notice. A few fans posted in message boards, but it did little else. You think Vince cared? Not at all.

Not long after, it was determined that TNA no longer wanted Jeff Hardy. It didn't take long for WWE to snatch him up once again and begin promoting his return. No one in TNA seemed to bat an eyelash that a guy who was arguable one of their bigger stars there for a while had left for the competition. Even more odd is that his return was only really seen as exciting by Jeff Hardy fans or those wanting a Hardy Boyz reunion. In short, it wasn't a big deal.

Another intriguing matter is that WWE left Spike TV to "return home" to the USA Network, allowing TNA the opportunity to get national television time. Was this a friendly move, inadvertent, or did WWE realize that Spike was not a good channel to support wrestling and left TNA with a (no pun intended) raw deal?

Speaking of television, last year's WWE Hall of Fame ceremony marked the first time in history that TNA and WWE went head-to-head in the ratings. And, for what it's worth, TNA recorded one of its lowest ratings ever. Yet that's an interesting tidbit that few seem to realize or give much thought to.

Here is what puzzles me: the kinds of events described above may be a lot tamer than some of the stuff that happened during the Monday Night Wars, but you would think it would still register more than a slight murmur on the Internet. Yet no one really seems to give the TNA-WWE rivalry much notice. The question is, WHY?

Is it that we're all living in a "been there, done that" sort of world where such competition is no longer exciting because it all happened once before (and in recent memory no less)?

Is it that wrestling just isn't the hot commodity it was in the 90s? Perhaps, and certainly business figures might suggest that. But keep in mind that the people who cared most, I would argue, about the competition between WWE-WCW-ECW in the 90s were hardcore wrestling fans, the same people watching WWE and TNA today.

Or is there a more disturbing trend going on here? Is it that people, aside from the TNA faithful, are just ignoring TNA altogether because everyone assumes WWE is just going to squash them?

You could be forgiven if you felt that way; there IS a precedent for Vince buying out his competition. And we all know that TNA does not have the financial backing of a Vince McMahon. WCW had all the money in the world and they couldn't last, how can TNA? And, yes, TNA has a rabid fanbase, but so did ECW and it too got bought out by Vince. Are we writing TNA off already?

Or is it just that the casual or new fans prefer WWE to TNA because they recognize the brand and TNA, unlike WCW during the height of its popularity, doesn't have a lot of recognizable names (aside from Nash, Hall, and Sting, all of whom are well past their prime)?

I don't know if those are necessarily the correct answers we should be seeking of if an answer is even available. And I can't say for sure why the war between TNA and WWE has been fairly tame and relatively unnoticed, but I do know that something interesting is happening and no one seems to care.

The Monday Night Wars was maybe one of the most exciting, unpredictable times in wrestling and it will never entirely be duplicated, but that doesn't mean we should turn the other cheek in regard to TNA vs WWE; we need to pay more attention and become more involved.

The only way wrestling will get better and better is if the competition between the two companies is strong and the only way that can happen is if we are passionate about the company we choose to love and the one we choose to hate.

Scott "Get Rowdy" Hellings

August 14, 2006

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