It’s perfectly fine for a wrestling company to draw inspiration from different wrestling companies or just entertainment in general. The “crash TV” style of WCW with the New World Order storyline caused WWF to go down a similar road; thus winning WWF the Monday Night Wars. The ideas from such matches as the Tables, Ladders and Chairs match came from the hardcore nature of Paul Heyman’s ECW. Even today, ROH and PWG presents an indie style of booking that NXT incorporates into its programming. However, the impact from one company formed in 2002 might have actually influenced WWE television a lot more than we realise.
TNA is often associated with featuring former top WWE, WCW and ECW talent on their product, as well as incorporating past WWE ideas into their storylines. Little did you know, however, that WWE themselves currently feature an top talent pool of former TNA stars in their roster. As we speak, four former TNA wrestlers are currently WWE champions on the main roster. Xaiver Woods, formerly known as Consequences Creed, is a member of the New Day, the WWE Tag Team Champions for more than a year as part of one of the most over tag teams in the last decade. While he was in WWE and ECW long before he joined TNA, Rhyno was also a former world champion in TNA and is currently one half of the SmackDown! Tag Team Champions. TJ Perkins (a.k.a. Suicide and Manik) won the WWE Cruiserweight Classic tournament, becoming the first Cruiserweight Champion in the process. Most notably however is the “Phenomenal” AJ Styles, who currently reigns as the WWE World Champion and the top champion on SmackDown!
The influence of TNA also expands into WWE’s developmental centre NXT, with a number of top former TNA stars on the WWE’s payroll. These former Impact wrestlers, previously wrestling at Orlando, Florida at Universal Studios, are now applying their craft at Orlando, Florida again while under a WWE contract. Samoa Joe was formerly a NXT Champion and has been a major part of the product in the last year. Austin Aries, Bobby Roode, James Storm and Eric Young are just some of the other names that have had a crack at life as a NXT wrestler. It’s incredible to think about how many TNA wrestlers that WWE are welcoming into the fold with open arms after so many years.
I’ll admit that former TNA wrestlers appearing on WWE television doesn’t exactly mean that TNA influences WWE’s programming. What it does prove, however, is that WWE has been keeping a close eye on these top stars for a long time. Abyss himself has even stated that WWE made him an offer way back in 2007 to join the company. Again, however, we’re looking at the impact of the product itself. We’ll start by diving into the innovative X-Division that put TNA on the map.
It took them long enough, but WWE eventually got around to re-introducing the Cruiserweight division into our lives. The division has been really hyped up as its own entity within WWE. I’m sure it’ll merge into the main roster eventually, but WWE is determined to make it seem that this cruiserweight action is a special attraction. I wonder if we can think of another wrestling promotion that made their high-flying division a special attraction? Why it is the company that has even featured the X-Division Championship in the main-event on their pay-per-views – Total Nonstop Action Wrestling.
The X-Division was a very special attraction for TNA, as it was an alternative to what you usually get out of a wrestling show. It was nothing like the sports entertainment influenced programming presented by WWE and even TNA at times. They treated it as if it were an actual special treat for those that love seeing the best wrestlers in the world taking the highest of risks to win matches. The Cruiserweight Classic was so different to RAW and SmackDown!, as it was mostly just allowing the cruiserweights in the ring to work their magic. If RAW’s incarnation of this cruiserweight division is anything like what we got out of the classic, then RAW is in for some quality action. Heck, we’ve got a former X-Division champion currently reigning as a cruiserweight champion at the moment for WWE. What does that tell you?
Finally, let’s actually get our teeth tucked into more recent examples of TNA’s influence on WWE. Following TNA’s legendary Final Deletion battle between “Broken” Matt and Jeff Hardy, RAW quickly followed that up with the New Day’s trip to the “Wyatt Compound” just before Battleground. Having took place only a week or so after Final Deletion, the shooting of the entire segment as well as other aspects of the angle were clearly influenced by TNA’s past Final Deletion battle.
This article isn’t to call out WWE for borrowing TNA’s ideas or anything. Funnily enough, it is to point out how painfully overrated originality can actually be. Think about it. Even though the Final Deletion match was much better than the Wyatt Compound angle, the Wyatt Compound angle was actually still entertaining. Both the Cruiserweight Classic and the X-Division have given us some truly great matches time and time again. Seeing a lot of these past TNA wrestlers do so well in WWE brings such a smile to my face. The wrestlers I watched in TNA many years ago are now among the elite stars in WWE. Not only that, old TNA concepts are now getting hugely over in WWE. Even though it’s not TNA at the top of the wrestling world right now, you can’t deny the influence the company has had in WWE.
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