PWP Nation’s Jordi Davies talks about how the death of TNA Wrestling will impact the independent scene and everyone involved.
If the current resurgence in professional wrestling were an argument between two kids, this would be the excuse. The Kids most likely being Lucha Underground and NXT, and the parent undoubtedly being WWE themselves. Whilst being a really badly worked analogy, this is an accurate representation of the state of professional wrestling over the past two years. But if NXT and Lucha Underground are the successful younger children of the wrestling world, then TNA is the underachieving, socially awkward, hateable older brother.
Once a suitable alternative to WWE, a child prodigy if you wish to keep this terrible analogy going any longer, TNA are now in crisis. And with talks of their ‘Bound For Glory’ tour selling so badly, they actually had to give out free tickets to get people to enter the event, I think it’s safe to assume that it will take a miracle to save them from ultimate death and going out of business.
So, also assuming that GFW (Global Force Wrestling) is nothing more than a TNA rehash and that they wont be around for long, for the sake of the article, lets delve into how the death of TNA could affect the wrestling world.
Here are my predictions on the state of the wrestling world over the next five years.
Year One: Ring of Honor’s time to shine
In the first year after the demise of TNA, a lot of talent will be floating around the independent circuit, and a lot of promotions will be hoping to score those talents and sign them to as many dates as they can. This could lead to an oversaturation of free agents from the TNA roster “taking” the spots of established stars or up-and-comers. The lack of spaces on shows and guaranteed roster places could see some smaller companies suddenly find they are able to sign talents to dates who before would have looked for better work.
Some of the bigger talents could also lose some of their loyalties to promotions like ROH due to competitive rosters causing them to lose their big draw status or to be put into less important stories and matches. These bigger talents could then end up popping up in places like Japan, Lucha Underground or NXT, looking to sign written contracts or touring contracts in order for guaranteed work.
Promotions such as Lucha Underground, ROH and EVOLVE will all be vying to take that second place spot for themselves, and we could see ROH and EVOLVE starting to sign a lot more of their talent to exclusive contracts and only allowing talent exchanges with foreign promotions. ROH would probably be the peoples choice to take the spot, as Lucha Underground are seen as more of an alternative product to WWE rather than a competitor and Ring of Honor already having their Destination America deal (and probably better time slots with TNA’s death), however I can see EVOLVE bringing in better production staff and creative writers in order to pounce on the empty market space TNA will have left behind. The amount of ex-EVOLVE personal within the current WWE staff goes to show they have an eye for talent, and I can see this working to their advantage in the first year to pick and choose the right prospects.
Years Two & Three: The Indie Wars
The second and third years of the five years since the death of TNA I feel would be the most volatile. Talent swaps within the bigger indies will be a thing of the past, and the smaller promotions will have less of an option as to who to swap talent with, as promotions such as ROH won’t want talent from a smaller promotion also having a place on the roster of their competitors Lucha Underground and EVOLVE. Three other promotions I can see benefitting from this period in time are Booker T‘s Reality of Wrestling, Tommy Dreamer‘s House Of Hardcore and the UK based Progress Wrestling promotion.
With the death of TNA, a lot of people will try pinpoint the cause of their demise, and a lack of former wrestlers or people involved in the business running the company could be seen as one of the major downfalls. This could be backed up by Triple H‘s running of NXT. With this in mind, I feel that promotions set up by certain hall of famers will become trusted places to work, and with Booker T and Dreamer having deep connections within the wrestling business I feel they will be able to secure the contracts and deals with the specialist performers suited to their brands. Dreamer’s HOH promotion could fill the place ECW left behind but in a less Extreme and more potentially violent manner.
I see them as a better made, better quality ECW who can bring the hardcore levels down from the over the top roots ECW left behind and create a more sophisticated, better quality, more enjoyable wrestling product, but one where Hardcore aspects of the business are commonplace in the rule books. As for ROW, I feel they’ll become a great place for no nonsense, exciting product of wrestling that properly showcases its young talent in the best light whilst putting them against veterans of the business whilst managing to keep the product modest. This product would get a good sized fanbase of loyal fans and be another alternative to partner Lucha Underground. Whilst Lucha Underground is the kayfabe heavy over the top immersive experience, ROW would be the toned down, pure wrestling alternative.
As for PROGRESS, the reason I mentioned them was because TNA’s biggest market has been the UK for years. With them gone, I can see PROGRESS, who are the fastest growing british promotion in my opinion, seizing this lost market space and becoming the UK alternative to American wrestling, being the household name when it comes to wrestling in the UK, and maybe even getting aired on select American networks.
This period in time will be the prime time for wrestling. I can see multiple promotions getting deals, and ratings going through the roof as people rush to see what the big deal with wrestling is again and trying to figure for themselves who has the better product. Lucha Underground will get UK tv coverage, as will ROH and EVOLVE at the very least, and others may follow suit.
Years Four & Five: The Pecking Order Settles
In the final two years of the resurgence, the pecking order will settle to an extent. Whilst wrestling will be in a boom period for many years after this, the ratings will probably show who the fans have chosen as the new number two. Who this will be is for the fans to decide and I’m not going to even try and guess, although if I had to choose who was the definite number two, ROH would be my pick. However all this is of course hypothetical, and TNA is still around, but I would still like to hear your ideas on this subject, so feel free to leave your opinions in the comments and contact me on social media! Thanks for reading.