WWE Yard Sale of TNA Superstars

I rarely cover TNA Wrestling, and I have been deterred from Impact programming because of the exact reason; My observation is seeing TNA taking WWE's scraps and "re-polish" into their own stars. Now, I see that this has immense potential, if used correctly, BECAUSE the WWE has trained these superstars and has taken the work out of having a developmental territory. Ohio Valley Wrestling has been taken over by TNA as their official training grounds, but again... OVW was originally the primary developmental facility to the WWE! OWV trained the likes of Brock Lesnar, Randy Orton, Cody Rhodes, Batista, and even John Cena to name a few. Being led by Al Snow and Rip Rogers in OVW, one would think that TNA doesn't need to dig through Vince McMahon's remains.

Even through his struggles, Jeff Hardy
remains TNA World Heavyweight
Champion!

But look at TNA's top men. The TNA World Heavyweight Champion is a WWE discard. Jeff Hardy was being successfully coached by Triple H and being prepped for his WWE title run. Drugs and injuries limited Hardy in his run, and he left for a lighter schedule to TNA. Eight months after his return to TNA, he became the TNA World Heavyweight Champion. TNA was smart in this acquisition; Jeff Hardy brought his fan base over to TNA, and he draws there. Even with all of his drug concerns and court dates, TNA chooses to keep Hardy on top because he needs to be. For business.

The current Television champion is another WWE wash; Devon Hughes. Well known as part of the "Dudley Boyz" with Bubba Ray, he's on top of the third time branded Television Championship. And looking back, again with the WWE throwing away talent, the Television Championship was introduced as a "Legends" Title by none other than Booker T, and was held by Mick Foley and Kevin Nash. Currently, TNA's roster holds over 20 former WWE superstars, with plenty of TNA Alumni that are also WWE Alumni. Then, you have major players of the game like Kurt Angle, Rob Van Dam, Mr. Ken--er... Anderson, several divas, and even Earl Hebner, occasionally sporting a "Damn Right I Did" T-Shirt (which is pretty awesome, by the way), alluding to his involvement the Montreal Screwjob. All former WWE superstars.

Finally, you have the granddaddy WWE relic of them all; the ultimate, self-absorbed individual who immerses himself in everything he can because not that he needs to, but that he wants to. I am talking about Hulk Hogan. Don't get me wrong... I respect the man over all he did in the WWF/E back in the 70s, 80s, and early 90s, when times were great and Hogan couldn't book based upon his popularity. However, I believe that he was part of the destruction of WCW (along with a bunch of other things), as he refused to do several things, such as let other superstars defeat and go over him clean (refusing to job to Jeff Jarrett in WCW), the famous "Fingerpoke of Doom" (see video enclosed) match against Kevin Nash in 1999, and just the overall hand in his own Creative control. Being a fan, I could absolutely be wrong about Hogan, as I don't know him personally, but from hearing many things about his past, he is a rigid worker as far as the business is concerned. With his current run with TNA, Hogan has been given nearly ultimate control and has been involved and booked himself (and now his daughter Brooke) in several different angles, and not being a "General Manager" like he should be. I hope for Dixie Carter's sake that TNA survives the Hogan Era.

OVW has been elected as the Official Development
Territory for TNA Impact

TNA has been dipping in pieces of the WWE's own disposal for several years now, and have failed to utilize the salt-and-pepper talent that the WWE has no need for. Such is the case with the discovery of TNA's VP of Ace's and Eights. D-Lo Brown himself was a mid-card wrestler back in the late 90s, and again, didn't account to much outside The Nation of Domination with the Rock. Why bring a road agent/mid-carder who is now in his 40s into the ring? It may make sense to some, but taking what the WWE has washed their hands of isn't what TNA was founded on. It's absolutely thrilling to know that AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, Abyss, and a couple of others have been with TNA since the beginning, and I am happy for the fact that TNA now has a training ground to bring up new and fresh talent the "Impact" way, and not keep digging into the WWE graveyard. It will be a while, of course, but TNA needs to work on the talent in OVW and leave what McMahon doesn't need any more. The wrestling is there. The wrestlers can put on five-star quality matches.

TNA needs to work on creating a future Batista, Orton, or Cena in OVW, refrain from cultivating talent that hasn't been seen since the 90s, and take away some of the creative demolition from Hogan. These will be some start to success with TNA. It won't be immediate, but everything is a process. Rome was not built in a day.