WWE V TNA

[chatty]

Wasn't sure what thread to put this in so if its more apt elsewhere then please move it mods.

There is not much point in assessing them as a whole business as we already know which one wins but break them down and I'd like to see people's thoughts on which company they believe is best in certain aspects. I've picked out a few categories but feel free to add some if you wish:

Star Power

WWE takes this one fairly easily, guys like Cena, Punk, Lesnar, Rock, HHH, Taker etc are all still huge draws in the business and elsewhere for some. TNA has been building up with marketable guys like Hogan, Sting, Angle, Hardy but are still a bit behind.

Wrestlers for Wrestling ability

This is a tough one for me. WWE has guys like Bryan, Punk, Jericho, Ziggler etc who are all technically excellent wrestlers but it also has a lot of guys like Brodus, Ryback, Ryan, Khali and Gabriel who are either green or not up to much. TNA has good wrestlers in Angle, Styles, Hardy, Storm, Aries etc as well but have less lower level guys who are just there as filler/jobbers. I'm gonna call this a draw overall at the minute, its a pretty tough call for me.

Young talent/how they push them

I think TNA currently makes better use of their lower card talents and pushes them through quicker. WWE can do this as well and have a great range of guys coming through on the main roster and preparing themselves on NXT and although they have proven over the years they can make huge stars, they do seem to stagnate sometimes whilst they recycle the same guys and story's over and over.

Again its a tough one because WWE has done a good job pushing Punk, Sheamus and Bryan for a few examples over the last year or so but have dropped the ball on guys like Ryder, Rhodes (not as much), Miz etc whereas TNA pushes recently have kept themselves as credible contenders (Aries, Bully, Storm, Roode). Not that they are all really young talent and some have been with the companies awhile but they have all been recently given there big pushes up the roster.

Story's/Feuds/Creative

I'm going to push through TNA on this one as well. if you asked me a year(ish) ago I wouldn't have said this but they have really pushed on imo. Sure they have had some stinkers like the AJ/Daniels/Lynch but overall they have been a lot tighter the past year. WWE still of course has its moments but there has been a lot of recycled rusbbish as well, poor feuds and to many squash/one sided matches with no feuding at all. There creative team seems tired and have dropped the ball a lot over the last year.

Tag Division

Both are pretty poor at present but WWE is making more strides to recrify this so I'm going with them for now. TNA's seems practically non existent at the minute.

Diva's/Knockouts

Definitely TNA, pretty much because its more wrestling based. WWE have some decent females but are more concerned about them being models and selling themselves that way.

X/cruiserweights

WWE got rid of there division but still have guys of that ilk such as Mysterio, Cara, Kid, Bourne etc. Not really much else to discuss though and having no official division really takes the argument away from them so TNA by default.

Development


WWE has NXT which is a damn good set up for developing guys to move up onto the roster. TNA have that Gut check thing going on but I really don't have much of a clue about there development system so I'm going for WWE - I'm sure someone can enlighten me though.

Live events/Production

WWE cruise this. I haven't been to a TNA live event but on production values the larger company is rightly streets ahead and their live shows are very well set up.

So for me I have it 4-4 with one tied. How do you see it?

[Chris]

Story's/Feuds/Creative

I'm going to push through TNA on this one as well. if you asked me a year(ish) ago I wouldn't have said this but they have really pushed on imo. Sure they have had some stinkers like the AJ/Daniels/Lynch but overall they have been a lot tighter the past year. WWE still of course has its moments but there has been a lot of recycled rusbbish as well, poor feuds and to many squash/one sided matches with no feuding at all. There creative team seems tired and have dropped the ball a lot over the last year.
WWE always tends to be shaky in the post-Wrestlemania period. They get into the habit of endless rematches, which result in feuds and characters being completely burnt out. It's the Rumble - Wrestlemania period where things tend to be, at least, very dynamic if not always high quality. But to be fair, the summer periods have given us some big moments like the formation of Nexus or Punk's rise last year. However, these experimental storylines can start out great and lack a satisfying conclusion. It was very apparent that they were making up the Punk storyline as they went along, resulting in an overbooked mess with Nash and Triple H.

Production is something which I think depends on your individual taste. WWE TV can be over-produced - unnecessarily epic video packages, constant replays, promos which are very formulaic, etc. TNA can be guilty of the same, but I sometimes find their particular style a refreshing change from the norm. Particularly with regard to backstage promos.

WWE have made things very difficult for themselves by committing to 3 hours of television, following a long period where they didn't exactly knock it out of the park with the regular 2 hour model every week. They have more air to fill, and perhaps not the creative ability or willingness to do it justice. But I think when WWE catches on to a winning storyline, they tend to be very good at running with the ball. It's just that the product as a whole can be very hit and miss each week, which is frustrating. TNA have certainly come a long way in recent months, and it'll be really interesting to see if and how they keep it up.

[IB_Lives]

I read all of that but my response can be summed up in a fragmented sentence. WWE wins all. At least until tna makes more of an "impact".

Ya there is nothing I have seen from tna that wwe can't do or hasn't done and already perfected or moved away from....sans women's wrestling but I give that very little weight in any debate.

Tna reminds me of the 1994 royal rumble. A few big names. Irrelevant Mid card talent flailing without thought and a whole cast of "who the fuck are they".

[chatty]

WWE always tends to be shaky in the post-Wrestlemania period. They get into the habit of endless rematches, which result in feuds and characters being completely burnt out. It's the Rumble - Wrestlemania period where things tend to be, at least, very dynamic if not always high quality. But to be fair, the summer periods have given us some big moments like the formation of Nexus or Punk's rise last year. However, these experimental storylines can start out great and lack a satisfying conclusion. It was very apparent that they were making up the Punk storyline as they went along, resulting in an overbooked mess with Nash and Triple H.

Production is something which I think depends on your individual taste. WWE TV can be over-produced - unnecessarily epic video packages, constant replays, promos which are very formulaic, etc. TNA can be guilty of the same, but I sometimes find their particular style a refreshing change from the norm. Particularly with regard to backstage promos.

WWE have made things very difficult for themselves by committing to 3 hours of television, following a long period where they didn't exactly knock it out of the park with the regular 2 hour model every week. They have more air to fill, and perhaps not the creative ability or willingness to do it justice. But I think when WWE catches on to a winning storyline, they tend to be very good at running with the ball. It's just that the product as a whole can be very hit and miss each week, which is frustrating. TNA have certainly come a long way in recent months, and it'll be really interesting to see if and how they keep it up.

Yeah I agree with that, generally RR to WM is the best period although i thought last years was a bit poor in build up, probably due to overprotection of stars when many were getting injured. i also dislike Elimination Chamber in the middle because they can't commit to executing it properly for the same reasons and it can lack something because of this.

I'm not putting WWE doen here though, they have proven over and over again that they can execute every section brilliantly when they are on form, i just think they tend to get in slumps where they rely to heavily on already marketable stars etc and it can tend to get repetitive at points.

[Cewsh]

I read all of that but my response can be summed up in a fragmented sentence. WWE wins all. At least until tna makes more of an "impact".

Ya there is nothing I have seen from tna that wwe can't do or hasn't done and already perfected or moved away from....sans women's wrestling but I give that very little weight in any debate.

Tna reminds me of the 1994 royal rumble. A few big names. Irrelevant Mid card talent flailing without thought and a whole cast of "who the fuck are they".

Do you actually watch TNA?

[chatty]

I read all of that but my response can be summed up in a fragmented sentence. WWE wins all. At least until tna makes more of an "impact".

Ya there is nothing I have seen from tna that wwe can't do or hasn't done and already perfected or moved away from....sans women's wrestling but I give that very little weight in any debate.

Tna reminds me of the 1994 royal rumble. A few big names. Irrelevant Mid card talent flailing without thought and a whole cast of "who the fuck are they".

I'm talking about this in the present form, I know WWE has a history of doing everything better than TNA has done but all companys of such size will be able to offer the same argument. WWE can do all these better currently as well (most probably) but they aren't so i was interested to see which areas people think each company is currently excelling in compared to the other.

[Cewsh]

I pretty much agree with chatty's full assessment. The basic deal is that WWE has the ability to do things that are better than TNA could ever to. The peaks are much higher. But WWE is also incredibly complacent and runs out of steam on things quickly, so the lows are just utterly, utterly boring. TNA, on the other hand, operates in between the two extremes, and in the past year since the new booking team took over, shows have been almost exclusively good.

So what's better? Pretty good every week, or occasionally brilliant and often dull? There's no real answer.

Also TNA has OVW as their developmental promotion and Team 3D's school as the training camp.

[IB_Lives]

Cewsh, I do watch TNA (not every week) and at very least read the show recaps.

And while I'm not happy with the product that WWE is giving out every week as a whole I still see nothing that TNA is currently doing better. I'll give weight to the BFG series as I find it pretty interesting and most/some of the matches have been really good. Otherwise I always find myself bored or left feeling nothing (except embarrassed when the fiance walks in the room to witness a really badly acted baby shower scene).

[IB_Lives]

I pretty much agree with chatty's full assessment. The basic deal is that WWE has the ability to do things that are better than TNA could ever to. The peaks are much higher. But WWE is also incredibly complacent and runs out of steam on things quickly, so the lows are just utterly, utterly boring. TNA, on the other hand, operates in between the two extremes, and in the past year since the new booking team took over, shows have been almost exclusively good.

So what's better? Pretty good every week, or occasionally brilliant and often dull? There's no real answer.

Also TNA has OVW as their developmental promotion and Team 3D's school as the training camp.


With DeVon finished up with TNA do you think 3D;s school will continue their relationship with the company? Even if they do not return to WWE?

[Cewsh]

Cewsh, I do watch TNA (not every week) and at very least read the show recaps.

And while I'm not happy with the product that WWE is giving out every week as a whole I still see nothing that TNA is currently doing better. I'll give weight to the BFG series as I find it pretty interesting and most/some of the matches have been really good. Otherwise I always find myself bored or left feeling nothing (except embarrassed when the fiance walks in the room to witness a really badly acted baby shower scene).

Aces and Eights is as good as CM Punk's story right now. Past that it pretty much goes sideways for both companies.


With DeVon finished up with TNA do you think 3D;s school will continue their relationship with the company? Even if they do not return to WWE?

Hard to say. If Bully Ray stays, I imagine they will and Devon will just become less active in it. If both go to WWE, then I imagine the school will hire a new trainer and just keep their name on it because they'd likely be on the road to much to teach personally.

[OD50]

Never thought I'd say this but currently WWE has the way more interesting tag-team division.. :eek:

Kaz and Daniels are cool and all but what else is there? Devon and Garrett?... Oh, wait a minute..

[Atty]

TNA is better right now. The only reason I still tune into RAW is Kane, Bryan and Punk.

[IB_Lives]

Wait? No Miz on commentary or in the ring? He's been awesome since he returned (IMO).

[Atty]

Miz was better on commentary than he is in the ring.

[takerson]

Miz was better on commentary than he is in the ring.


Fully agree with this. I totally enjoyed every second of him on commentary, whereas he's very hit-and-miss with me in the ring.

[Atty]

Well, in the ring, he doesn't get to show much. Sure, he'll have a RAW match here and there and maybe a PPV match, but it's generally maxed at 10 minutes and he hasn't had that GREAT match yet. He's the type of guy who would have done well to have work with Shawn, had he not retired. I get the feeling that, with the right guy, Miz can do something great but it will probably be on the heels of the other guy pacing it. I doubt WWE would do it, but a feud with Jericho (where they point out all the stuff current Miz has stolen from past Jericho incarnations) could be a great feud for Miz and a guy who could really help him to a great match.


Also, Miz is hurt in my head from the disaster that was his Mania main event. Yeah, the crowd was just waiting for Rock and that's not his fault but, in his biggest moment he should have been busting his ass to get something out of the match segment. Instead, both he and Cena were doing the same thing the audience was—waiting.

[IB_Lives]

I don't blame Miz for a lackluster main event for the very reason you mentioned. He was outshined before the bell even rung and honestly was probably given very little direction or say in what went on inside the ring. I have never seen a 5 star Miz match, however, so maybe arguing on his behalf is moot...Not quite sure. I do know that I wanted more out of him as champion and I don't know at this point (it feels like a million years and 500 losses ago) if it was his fault or a product of mediocre booking.

Could it be a case of being set up to fail? I would hate to be told " you are in the main event but only so we can have Rocky close the show" ...although a great payday I'm sure that hurt his ego a notch.

[OD50]

Sadly I have tons of gripes with the current WWE product, the biggest is summarized quite well in the dictionary under 'by the numbers':

2. In a strict, step-by-step or mechanical way.

[Cewsh]

I have never seen a 5 star Miz match, however, so maybe arguing on his behalf is moot.

To be fair, there are probably fewer than 10 guys on the WWE roster who HAVE had a 5 star match.

[IB_Lives]

I agree, that is fair. I'll say this...His reign was a big step up from Swagger and a punch in the dick from Ryback compared to Punks. So there's one analogy :)

[chatty]

To be fair, there are probably fewer than 10 guys on the WWE roster who HAVE had a 5 star match.

True, off the top of my head I'm guessing Punk, Cena, Bryan, Sheamus, Orton, Rey and Christian. Could probably up it by adding part timers like Brock, Rock, HHH, Jericho and Taker. I'd like to add Ziggler but I can't think of any and would hope Kane and Big Show would have at least one in there eacxh considering the time they have been employed.

[Cewsh]

True, off the top of my head I'm guessing Punk, Cena, Bryan, Sheamus, Orton, Rey and Christian. Could probably up it by adding part timers like Brock, Rock, HHH, Jericho and Taker. I'd like to add Ziggler but I can't think of any and would hope Kane and Big Show would have at least one in there eacxh considering the time they have been employed.

Yeah, I'd say Punk (vs. Joe, vs. Cena), Cena (vs. Edge, vs. Michaels, vs. Punk), Bryan (vs. Sheamus, vs. KENTA, vs. Strong), Mysterio (vs. Guerrero), Triple H (vs. Michaels, vs. Undertaker, vs. Foley, vs. Jericho, vs. Austin), Taker (vs. Triple H, vs. Michaels, vs. Edge), Sheamus (vs. Bryan), and Jericho (vs. Triple H, vs. Michaels).

Matches of that quality are raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaare.

[Vice]

Orton? Christian? Sheamus?

[Cewsh]

I instinctively thought Orton, but I'm actually having trouble thinking of any truly great matches of his. He's had a ton of 4 stars but maybe no 5 stars.

[Atty]

Did Cewsh just call Shawn/Cena five stars? Tell me, I didn't just read that...


Oh, wait. The RAW match? Was thinking their Mania match for a second and was gearing up for a good old fashioned Cewsh vs. Atty fight. ;)

[Cewsh]

Did Cewsh just call Shawn/Cena five stars? Tell me, I didn't just read that...


Oh, wait. The RAW match? Was thinking their Mania match for a second and was gearing up for a good old fashioned Cewsh vs. Atty fight. ;)

Both.

DEAL WITH IT. :D

[chatty]

Orton? Christian? Sheamus?

Like I said guesses, can't think of many that could be considered but then again some could have slipped my mind. From the top of my head these are some of the best matches each had:

Orton> V Foley, V Taker, V Christian

Christian> TLC (is it cheating?), V orton

Sheamus i threw in because I though the 3 stages match with Bryan was awesome, might be a 4 star match though but worth consideration

[Atty]

Cewsh, with Jericho, I'd also have a couple Benoit matches, the Benoit/Jericho vs. HHH/Austin tag, the Christian Cage match, the Batista Cyber Sunday match and maybe a Rey match. The Batista match, in particular, I find to be brilliant. Jericho knowing the whole show that he's fucked because of how big a dick he has been to everyone over the years, him managing to have it won only for Shawn not to count and then Austin costing him after years of Jericho bragging about beating Steve. Love that match.

I really loved two Rey matches (the one with the mask grab and the SD final match), but it's been too long since I saw them to rate them right now.



Not going to bite on that giant "Cena/Shawn at Mania is five stars" lure. Must. Not. Bite. I'm going to no sell it like a leg injury.

[chatty]

Cewsh, with Jericho, I'd also have a couple Benoit matches, the Benoit/Jericho vs. HHH/Austin tag, the Christian Cage match, the Batista Cyber Sunday match and maybe a Rey match. The Batista match, in particular, I find to be brilliant. Jericho knowing the whole show that he's fucked because of how big a dick he has been to everyone over the years, him managing to have it won only for Shawn not to count and then Austin costing him after years of Jericho bragging about beating Steve. Love that match.

I really loved two Rey matches (the one with the mask grab and the SD final match), but it's been too long since I saw them to rate them right now.



Not going to bite on that giant "Cena/Shawn at Mania is five stars" lure. Must. Not. Bite. I'm going to no sell it like a leg injury.

Jericho has a fair few to consider, even more if you include other promotions he has worked in

[Cewsh]

Cewsh, with Jericho, I'd also have a couple Benoit matches, the Benoit/Jericho vs. HHH/Austin tag, the Christian Cage match, the Batista Cyber Sunday match and maybe a Rey match. The Batista match, in particular, I find to be brilliant. Jericho knowing the whole show that he's fucked because of how big a dick he has been to everyone over the years, him managing to have it won only for Shawn not to count and then Austin costing him after years of Jericho bragging about beating Steve. Love that match.

I really loved two Rey matches (the one with the mask grab and the SD final match), but it's been too long since I saw them to rate them right now.



Not going to bite on that giant "Cena/Shawn at Mania is five stars" lure. Must. Not. Bite. I'm going to no sell it like a leg injury.

I will gladly grant you the tag match, because its my favorite tag match all time, and thinking about it I'm all for the Batista match and also vs. the Rock at the Royal Rumble in 01. I know the "BNOIT LADDER MATCH" brigade is going to march in here at some point, but I'm definitely not including that one. And the Christian match isn't quite there for me, but I don't have any huge issue with it.

The Rey matches were good, but a big problem for me is that they really all felt exactly the same, and never really took the next step to being really great. Both Jericho and Mysterio have had that issue at times.

[Atty]

The Jericho/Benoit Backlash match is perfect, but many can't get past it ending in DQ. Told a great story, pushed the feud forward and provided an exit for a match neither guy should lose. I also find their SummerSlam match well underrated (sandwiched between Shane falling off the TitanTron and TLC, if I recall) and was among my favorites when I could still watch that guy's matches.

[chatty]

Also which Jericho/HBK match -they had a fair few quality ones as well. Mania, the ladder match, they had a real good one on Raw not too long after their Mania match and the Street fight was pretty good (although I'm finding it hard to remember properly atm)

[Cewsh]

I wasn't getting into all of the individual ones. I'd say that both the ladder match and the Mania match are on that level.

[Atty]

Also which Jericho/HBK match -they had a fair few quality ones as well. Mania, the ladder match, they had a real good one on Raw not too long after their Mania match and the Street fight was pretty good (although I'm finding it hard to remember properly atm)

Shawnicho had the following five star matches:

Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho: WrestleMania 19

Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho: RAW June 2003

Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho: Great American Bash 2008

Non Sanctioned Match
Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho: Unforgiven 2008

World Heavyweight Championship: Ladder Match
Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho: No Mercy 2008



JeriShawn probably had at least five other perfect matches also. :D

[takerson]

I'm a big fan of their so-simple-it's-great wrestling classic at Judgment Day 2008.

[JRSlim21]

Let's go by chatty's tiers.

Star Power

Technically, Hulk Hogan trumps all.... yea, WWE wins.

Wrestlers for Wrestling Ability

I'm not gonna go from the top. I'm gonna go from the bottom. Guys like Gunner & Crimson are better than most of the other guys in the same position in WWE. I know that Santino can really go in the ring, but so can Eric Young. Maybe even Young is better. Plus, due to the size of the E, there's a lot more crap to shift through.

Young Talent

Gonna split this in 2. Slight lean to the E. I like how TNA doesn't insult people's intelligence and when someone new comes on to the scene, they're either just a relatively known outsider or they have an accomplished background. However, WWE seems to protect more talent. Maybe a lil too much (Brodus, Ryback) but if they have potential they'll get slight brushes with the top (Sandow, Cesaro).

Pushing Fresh Talent

TNA wins this. In the E, it's pretty much a handful of guys who could win the belt. Cena, Punk, Sheamus, Bryan, Ziggler (just because of MITB). Those are your guys who you know are good enough to win the title at anytime. On Impact, the BFG series has guys like Storm, Joe, RVD, Angle, and Hardy looking like guys who could win back the belt along with a guy like Roode still scheming to win his belt back + the reinvented Bully Ray looking like a guy who could actually win a major world title (another debate for another time, I'm sure). Not to mention, they have the X Division set to make the next star of the future with the way they set up the champ, which leads to...

Story's/Feuds/Creative

Yea, I'm leaning toward TNA. Look at all of the feuds going on right now in WWE and tell me how many are actually entertaining TV on both guys' ends. Cena/Punk is a battle of traditional fans & marks across the board to make everyone go bananas. But then there's Kane/Bryan (hilarious)... Sheamus/Del Rio (dull)... Ziggler/Orton? (is this an official feud)... Rhodes/Cara (sure, why not?)... it's not a lot to go by. And yes, the matches sell themselves, but if that's the case, then there would be a period where WWE was 3rd (YOU HEARD ME) to ROH and TNA, in whatever order you choose. In the case of the latter, they have done 1 well executed long-term storyline (Jeff Hardy & Immortal) and are on the verge of completing another 1 (Aces & 8s). You then have the BFG series interweaving Storm/Roode, Daniels/Kaz/AJ/Angle, Joe/Magnus, Aries/Roode, and not to mention they have the ultimate feel good feud stored in the attic with Zema Ion & Jesse Sorenson (get well soon, buddy). And in TNA's case, with only 1 2 hour show to work with and it's live, there is more of a focus to tune in with not the amount of time for some lag.

Tag Division

WWE. The Colons, PTPs, Kidd/Gabriel, Hunico/Camacho, Usos. That's 5 teams that CHALLENGE for the belts. And if you really want to dig deep, you could toss in the Ascension, Carter and Graves, or even McGillicutty & Curtis. TNA lost Alex Shelley & split up Beer Money taking away 2 of the best teams out there. Joe & Magnus looks like they're feuding so that's done. Maybe they need to raid other promotions to provide competition to the World Tag Team Champions of the World.

Divas/Knockouts

..... oh I'm sorry. I'm trying to remember divas fighting on TV. TNA wins.

Cruiserweights.

TNA. All of their champions are talented "vanilla midgets."

Developmental

Jury's still deliberating on TNA. Gut Check winners are apparently winning developmental contracts, so we won't know about Alex Silva & Taeler Hendrix's future anytime soon. Team 3D's school has given us Jesse Neal & Rob Terry (and WWE's Camacho). But seriously, WWE wins hands down since NXT can be viewed internationally (legally).

Live Events

Well, yea. Bigger budget means better "production" favoring the WWE.

[takerson]

Great post, JR. :yes:

I pretty much agree with all of that.

[DaSaintFan]

Let's go by chatty's tiers.

Star Power

Technically, Hulk Hogan trumps all.... yea, WWE wins.

No argument here...




Wrestlers for Wrestling Ability

I'm not gonna go from the top. I'm gonna go from the bottom. Guys like Gunner & Crimson are better than most of the other guys in the same position in WWE. I know that Santino can really go in the ring, but so can Eric Young. Maybe even Young is better. Plus, due to the size of the E, there's a lot more crap to shift through.

I'll take TNA any day in terms of wrestling ability.



Young Talent

Gonna split this in 2. Slight lean to the E. I like how TNA doesn't insult people's intelligence and when someone new comes on to the scene, they're either just a relatively known outsider or they have an accomplished background. However, WWE seems to protect more talent. Maybe a lil too much (Brodus, Ryback) but if they have potential they'll get slight brushes with the top (Sandow, Cesaro).

I'm kind of at a toss up here... 1) Yes, WWE protects their talent, but TNA gives their young talent more opportunity.




Pushing Fresh Talent

TNA wins this. In the E, it's pretty much a handful of guys who could win the belt. Cena, Punk, Sheamus, Bryan, Ziggler (just because of MITB). Those are your guys who you know are good enough to win the title at anytime. On Impact, the BFG series has guys like Storm, Joe, RVD, Angle, and Hardy looking like guys who could win back the belt along with a guy like Roode still scheming to win his belt back + the reinvented Bully Ray looking like a guy who could actually win a major world title (another debate for another time, I'm sure). Not to mention, they have the X Division set to make the next star of the future with the way they set up the champ, which leads to...

TNA easy at the moment... Though you couldn't always say that.



Story's/Feuds/Creative

Yea, I'm leaning toward TNA. Look at all of the feuds going on right now in WWE and tell me how many are actually entertaining TV on both guys' ends. Cena/Punk is a battle of traditional fans & marks across the board to make everyone go bananas. But then there's Kane/Bryan (hilarious)... Sheamus/Del Rio (dull)... Ziggler/Orton? (is this an official feud)... Rhodes/Cara (sure, why not?)... it's not a lot to go by. And yes, the matches sell themselves, but if that's the case, then there would be a period where WWE was 3rd (YOU HEARD ME) to ROH and TNA, in whatever order you choose. In the case of the latter, they have done 1 well executed long-term storyline (Jeff Hardy & Immortal) and are on the verge of completing another 1 (Aces & 8s). You then have the BFG series interweaving Storm/Roode, Daniels/Kaz/AJ/Angle, Joe/Magnus, Aries/Roode, and not to mention they have the ultimate feel good feud stored in the attic with Zema Ion & Jesse Sorenson (get well soon, buddy). And in TNA's case, with only 1 2 hour show to work with and it's live, there is more of a focus to tune in with not the amount of time for some lag.

This isn't even a "lean".. this goes to TNA right now.

For every bad storyline that TNA comes up with, (ODB/EY, Paternity test, etc.), they usually have one or two good ones (to me) to counter it, even on the midcard or Divas level (I'm LOVING the fact that Magnus is giving all the BFG losers smack-talk galore right now, and I did get a kick out of Madison Rayne/Earl Hebner stuff... although I had hoped it'd have gone on a little longer..) The WWE barely even thinks "storylines" for anyone below the very top of the card. And I will say when it comes to _group_ angles.. TNA knocks it out of the park (A&8's, Main Event Mafia, Immortals, World Elite) where as WWE only good "Group" angles in recent history they dropped the ball on (Invasion, Nexus)...




Tag Division

WWE. The Colons, PTPs, Kidd/Gabriel, Hunico/Camacho, Usos. That's 5 teams that CHALLENGE for the belts. And if you really want to dig deep, you could toss in the Ascension, Carter and Graves, or even McGillicutty & Curtis. TNA lost Alex Shelley & split up Beer Money taking away 2 of the best teams out there. Joe & Magnus looks like they're feuding so that's done. Maybe they need to raid other promotions to provide competition to the World Tag Team Champions of the World.

This all depends... I do think the loss of the MCMG's was HORRIBLE news for the division, but if they push Chavo/Mex, and even the Jersey Shore Robbies, . they can get back in there. I mean unofficially, you've got
1) AJ/Angle (if you can call them a full-fledged tag team?) 2) The Robbies 3) Gunner/Cash 4) Hernandez/Chavo 5) Kaz/Daniels. Right now, WWE gets if for being more active with their tag division, but I still think the edge here COULD go back to TNA.


Divas/Knockouts

..... oh I'm sorry. I'm trying to remember divas fighting on TV. TNA wins.

WWE has a diva division? Although I think TNA's been falling in the trap of kinda forgetting about the division... Is there any chance that Awesome Kong could return to really shake things up?



Cruiserweights.

TNA. All of their champions are talented "vanilla midgets."

There is no "cruiserweight" division, officially. But TNA's X-division guys still get more time to show their stuff than the US/IC level guys in the E.



Developmental

Jury's still deliberating on TNA. Gut Check winners are apparently winning developmental contracts, so we won't know about Alex Silva & Taeler Hendrix's future anytime soon. Team 3D's school has given us Jesse Neal & Rob Terry (and WWE's Camacho). But seriously, WWE wins hands down since NXT can be viewed internationally (legally).

Agreed...


Live Events

Well, yea. Bigger budget means better "production" favoring the WWE.

I'd actually split this .. kind of .. Just call it a "technical detail" area? Better production - WWE yes.. more realistic - TNA (due to how they do their backstage scenes)... but I'm going to actually throw the deciding factor to video packages.. and I'd call it a surprise win for TNA.. every video package they do lately... WORKS for me... especially when hyping their big matches. TNA's video packaging just seems to work better than what the WWE does. Maybe because it's not just repeats/rehashes on TV...

[chatty]

THought I'd bump this from two years back, consensus was WWE edged TNA despite being a much bigger company. Since then TNA completely dropped the ball with everything good they were doing and have become even less of a factor in US wrestling but with WWE also dropping the ball on everything bar making money I'd still be interested in seeing how people would compare the products at current.

WWE in reality should walk all over them in every department but I'm not sure they do (other than some glaringly obvious ones).

I'll post mine once I've dropped the bairn off at nursery but looking forward to seeing what people's opinions are.

[OD50]

TNA has somewhat improved as of late, Dixie needs to get the 'F' out though.