Wednesday, May 15, 2002

771

NWA - TNA. Why WWE Should be Worried

A recent announcement came from Nashville regarding a new wrestling promotion that will air only on Pay-Per-View television. NWA - Total Non-Stop Action.

Jeff Jarrett, one of the most accomplished performers in the industry, and his father, Jerry Jarrett, one of the most successful territorial promoters of wrestling, have aligned themselves with the NWA, the historic governing body of the sport of professional wrestling, to present a weekly TV show on inDemand PPV.

The first question that many may have is, "Why bother challenging the mighty WWE?" Simple answer. WWE is so stale now that fans are looking for a viable alternative to WWE programming.

But having to spend $9.95 a week to see it? Simple math shows that in a month's time you'd get 8 hours of bang for the $40 or so bucks as opposed to the $34.95 for 3 hours of WWE programming on PPV. It wasn't that long ago that WWF and WCW PPV's were two hours at $19.95 each. A $40 total for 4 hours of programming that I shelled out every month, regardless of the storylines.

In my opinion, I'll be getting the storylines. whether they are bad or good has yet to be seen, just like in WWE, for 8 hours, for a much more competitive price than the WWE charges me per hour. The economics of the offering is a no-brainer for a wrestling fan who shells out the bucks month in and month out to watch a PPV, regardless.

Other than Jeff Jarrett and Ken Shamrock, NWA-TNA hasn't announced any recognizable names to most wrestling fans. Sure they floated the names of Harley Race and Dory Funk, Jr. out there, but most fans know only of them through the record books. You may wonder, with only two big names announced, how are they gonna pull this off?

I'll point to wrestling history for this one. At one time, The Rock was known as Rocky Maivia, a lackey to Faarooq in The Nation of Domination. Before his initial WWF title run, Hulk Hogan was known best for his appearance in Rocky III as Thunderlips. Stone Cold Steve Austin was a member of The Hollywood Blondes and later, carried a gimmick as The Ringmaster in the WWF before he took on his bad-ass persona with his "Austin 3:16" line at a King of The Ring PPV.

A superstar could lirk anywhere under some stupid gimmick or just under-utilized in this business. WWE, while it may be the goal for all those in this business to aspire to, is not the end-all for talent recognition. Bill Goldberg, for instance, has never appeared on a WWF or WWE card. He was homegrown by WCW and grew into a phenomenon in the business. Goldberg may have been the single greatest booking job of all-time.

Many of the current WWE superstars spent time in ECW making a name for themselves.

The NWA has a multitude of member promoters who have wrestlers on their rosters who aspire to greatness. While these member promoters stage cards in small town community centers and bars, the young athletes/performers have been honing their craft waiting for national exposure and the "big break." Through its association with the Jarrett's, the NWA now has the national outlet that will allow those small town wrestlers that exposure to the masses. Who it  will be, I don't know, it's like throwing knives at a bullseye to see what sticks in the center.

It can happen to anyone of the hundreds that is associated with the NWA members. It's a matter of seeing who the crowd responds to and booking them in a program that is conducive to their style.

That doesn't mean that this is going to be a training territory like OVW or HWA.

There are plenty of established stars out there that are going to like the 26 event schedule that Jarrett has proposed for the first year. (NWA-TNA is going to tape two weeks on one night, much like the WWF used to do with RAW.)  A 26 day year sounded like a good enough schedule to get Shamrock to agree to a one-year deal after dabbling in MMA for the past couple of years. Who's to say that someone like Sting wouldn't see it the same way? I mean it keeps the name out there for lucrative merchandising opportunities at least.

If I had a wish-list of current wrestlers not signed to WWE that I wanted on NWA-TNA it would be topped by Sting followed closely by Goldberg. 26 events with no touring schedule sounds just like the ticket for a recognizable name like Scott Hall. If I was Disco Inferno, I'd be all about going to NWA-TNA with hopes of latching on with WWE after a good program. I have been told that Disco is one of the most intelligent storyline writers in the business. The Franchise Shane Douglas is a free-agent who has a ready made story-line to make a NWA return. Remember, he once threw down the NWA title belt in favor of creating the ECW World Championship. I simply always liked Masahiro Chono and think that he would be a great help to the start-up amongst purists.

WWE should be worried. While it may take a while for the NWA to once again be competitive, this sure seems like the inception of a WCW-like competitor. I guess I want to describe this as a bell curve with the WWF's purchase of WCW being in the center. What goes around, comes around, Vince? Doubtful.

But at least there seems to be a viable competitor for WWE, now. Maybe WWE will get out of its funk creatively and step up. The only way that we, as fans, can be assured of this bringing back some competition to the industry is by buying the PPV series that is NWA-TNA.