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WWE vs WCW battle kept fans engaged like never before
The Attitude Era was arguably the best time to be a wrestling fan. It was packed with entertaining stuff all around as two equal powers were fighting to reign supreme over one another.
It was one of the biggest battles that wrestling fans ever saw and ended in the demise of WCW leaving Vince McMahon’s WWE as the sole ruler of the business. Promotions like TNA and Ring of Honor tried to emerge as a new WCW, but the efforts went in vain as they could not tackle the money and power that WWE had.
Though most of the other promotions showcased some superior in ring action compared to the WWE none of them was seen as a competition. TNA was the closest thing that came to being second but then again, WWE’s ignorance towards Dixie Carter’s promotion was some kind of insult.
WWE sees TNA as a competition
The WWE fans and company gave no importance to whatever that was going in TNA and even find time to rip off the promotion whenever they got the chance.
However, the recent signing of Kenta suggests that the WWE has finally started to see TNA as some kind of competition.
Usually, when the WWE signs a wrestler who is established in the Indy circuit they do it silently since he is sure to be repackaged. But when it came to Kenta, the WWE brought out one of the biggest names that they had in their roster, Hulk Hogan.
Hogan was given the task of carrying out a big segment where he’d introduce Kenta to the fans which was entirely different tactic from the WWE. One might argue that this is because of Kenta’s popularity in Japan, but ever wondered why WWE started to be concerned about the same?
Well, this is where the TNA factor comes in.
TNA has received a lot of criticism for ripping off most of WWE’s angles some time back. As the company was heading towards striking a new deal with Spike TV, TNA raised their game and was giving out A+ show all of a sudden.
They recruited names like Rhino, Brother Devon and Matt Hardy back into the mix adding star power to the roster. The fans were thrilled with the tag team division containing Hardy Boys, Team 3D and American Wolves with a talented name like Bobby Lashley being the World Champion.
As part of staying afloat, the best decision that TNA did was an alignment with Wrestle-1. The promotion which is owned by the Great Muta has a cult following back in a Japan and has some of the best young talent that the country has to offer.
Muta is one of the superstars without which Japanese wrestling wouldn’t be complete and TNA made good use of that. The two companies started having inter-promotional matches and trading talent freely helping both the companies to grow and expand their fan base.
WWE’s signed KENTA to matchup against TNA and Wrestle – 1’s contributions to Japan
The reaction that TNA got in Japan was more than welcoming and it has forced them to hold Bound of Glory (which is like their WrestleMania) at Japan. The pay-per-view is all set to boast some big names form Japan and all the ammunition that TNA roster has to offer as well.
At the same time, Ring of Honor has been tying up with New Japan Pro Wrestling which is the biggest promotion in Japan. Just like TNA and Wrestle-1, the two companies have held inter-promotional events which were a clear hit in Japan thanks to the hard-hitting style ROH has to offer.
And amidst all these was the WWE, who had nothing to show to their Japanese fans. This was easily the motive behind Kenta getting a big welcome into the company after being ignored so many times.
WWE might not acknowledge the smaller promotions or give any importance to them on the outer cover, but inside, it’s the same company which once feared of going out of business due to WCW gaining foothold.
