I Wish WCW Never Died...

[Lockard 23]

This might sound silly but one reason I don't even care whether TNA grows to become competition is because I prefer (in this day and age) for a company to have a solid history behind it. That's one thing I love about WWE. I love that there is a rich, strong history behind that company, the way the intro video plays (or used to play, with the previous intro to all the shows) included all the guys from the past and the way the past can play a part into storylines. Like the way Punk claimed he is better than guys like Bruno, or the way they can always reach into history (with huge legends like Hogan and Austin and others) to play a part in angles, the way people can dream about Hogan vs Austin or whatever. The way wwe.com was able to construct their own Mt. Rushmore. The way they can have their own (not always) prestigious Hall Of Fame.

WCW had a history like that as well, going all the way back to the NWA to what we knew in the 90's as WCW, with guys like Flair, Rhodes, Race, Funk, Luger, Sting, Vader, Hogan, Goldberg, etc. over the years as the top guys. If WCW had survived 2001, and even if WCW had remained a medicore show since then, at least there's the feeling that if they regained momentum and caused another 'boom' in business one day, it'd be happening to a company that had a long history. They would be adding another worthy chapter to a history full of things like Flair and the Four Horsemen, the NWO and Goldberg. As opposed to TNA. There's always the thought that even if TNA hit upon a successful era but then after a successful 2-3 year run happened to die out (through some unfortunate circumstance, like WCW did), they would still be a small blip on the radar in wrestling history in the long run.

At this point, WCW could be having their own HOF, inducting all the guys I mentioned and more. And Nitro would itself be one of the longest running episodic television shows ever. And this month we'd be getting Superbrawl 23 and we'd be celebrating the 30 year anniversary of Starrcade at the end of the year.

 

[Stopspot]

TNA is an NWA off-shoot as well though. Didn't they use the NWA world title for the first 3-5 years or something like that? They have the same ties to the NWA as WCW, possibly that they haven't cultivated them in the same way.

 

[Lockard 23]

The world title used to be called the NWA-TNA World Title in the first few years or so. Never understood why or how, considering WWE owns all the rights and footage to NWA. Maybe they slid under the radar because of being a pretty small company than even WWE didn't pay attention to at the time (similar to ECW using copyrighted songs as entrance music without ever paying for the rights to use the songs) but for a big company like WWE, I find even that difficult to believe.

I don't know that they can really attach the same history to NWA though, certainly not to WCW, during their biggest run in the late 90's. They certainly can't use footage or anything from those days. There are a couple of advantages to being a relatively new promotion in my opinion, but I still prefer having a storied history behind a company.

 

[Stopspot]

The world title used to be called the NWA-TNA World Title in the first few years or so. Never understood why or how, considering WWE owns all the rights and footage to NWA. Maybe they slid under the radar because of being a pretty small company than even WWE didn't pay attention to at the time (similar to ECW using copyrighted songs as entrance music without ever paying for the rights to use the songs) but for a big company like WWE, I find even that difficult to believe.

I don't know that they can really attach the same history to NWA though, certainly not to WCW, during their biggest run in the late 90's. They certainly can't use footage or anything from those days. There are a couple of advantages to being a relatively new promotion in my opinion, but I still prefer having a storied history behind a company.

WWE has the rights to the NWA area that was Crockett promotions if I remember correctly. NWA consist of a lot more promotions and areas but the world title basically only hung around in the Crockett area towards the "end" of the pre WCW days. TNA was at the start connected to the rest of the NWA. The NWA title is active to this day in the NWA even if the company has taken a royal beating.