The WWE has issues. TNA has issues. They do not have the same issues. In fact, I would say that their respective main issues are completely opposite. I am going to discuss it in terms of being aggressive.
The WWE and being aggressive? I do not think it is hard to believe that their problem is that they are too aggressive. If they really want a certain thing to work out, they will force it, even if it does not work out. In the last decade, they have not been aggressive to try to give the fans what they want. They have been aggressive to push what they want to work out. John Cena was the best example of that for a while. He was connecting well with the fans prior to his big push. Soon after getting that push, fans started to become split with him. He gets a bad reaction. Ratings have not been strong with him. You can just see he is not the greatest performer to be pushed as the centerpiece. And the WWE has just continued to force him.
In case you ever wondered if it was possible for things to be worse than they have been under John Cena, you have the rise of Roman Reigns. They are being more aggressive with him than they were with Cena during this stage of his career. Cena was not even getting these issues back at this point of his career. Fans are already treating Roman Reigns like he has been centerpiece for years. The WWE still had him go over Daniel Bryan at Fast Lane. They are having people put him over big time in promos, as well as interviews outside of kayfabe. They are really defending their decision to stick with him and forcing it, even though many vocal fans dislike Reigns. He is obviously not a great performer, and there are better choices available. They can let Reigns win the title from Lesnar, but that does not mean they should push him as the new centerpiece. They are being too aggressive. They should pass the ball and give another performer a chance to be the top guy.
There was a time when the WWE was too aggressive with their diva division. These days, it is easy to say they don't care. They can't even push women they want to be stars properly. Fans have to protest just to get them pushed better. Between the time Trish and Lita left and the division really collapsing into this dark age, you had the era of failed centerpieces. Creating a new Trish was their top priority. They had Playboy pushes and other short-term things like that, but their primary concern was a new centerpiece. They were not developing a new Lita during this time. And what happened when they were so focused to create a new centerpiece? They all flopped. Whether due to injury, deteriorating in-ring ability, failing to get over, or just not sticking around long enough to get anywhere, all the eye-candy divas pushed in this position flopped. Even Roman Reigns looks like an awesome option to push standing next to some of these women. And the WWE just kept forcing it for years. What impact did all these years of failure have on their drive to run a successful diva division? Well, you are currently in the worst dark age the diva division ever had.
While the WWE was being so aggressive with getting the diva division to work the way they wanted it to, Mickie James, a woman pushed to put over the women meant to be the centerpiece and used as filler when they were not around, became the most over diva. They didn't even start pushing her in the periphery, like they did Lita. They just remained focus on what they wanted to work. Mickie James being more over than the women meant to be the stars is not going to make her a great asset to what the WWE wanted to accomplish. People often overlook this when talking about why she was released. Fans talk about the WWE being so aggressive with Roman Reigns leading to guys like Daniel Bryan being held back. In the diva division, the problem is worse than just being held back.
A year or so into this current dark age, you had the rise of AJ Lee. She got over through angles in the periphery, much like Lita did. In fact, AJ has been pushed better than any female wrestler since Lita. Difference is, Lita's push was more natural and not as forced. With AJ Lee, it was obvious the WWE wanted her to be a star. They were aggressive with her. She was consistently pushed in the main-event scene for months. She was GM. She was involved with a lot of top stars. Of course, that would have to come to an end sooner or later. They took the training wheels off. They sent her out there in the Diva's title hunt. She has benefited from this dark age. But how over is she? Looking around, I would say Paige, a credible jobber, is more over than AJ. Heel Nikki Bella once cut a promo against AJ and got cheered for it. AJ is more likely to get fans chanting for her husband when she is out there than her on most nights. The WWE is so aggressive to make someone into a star, but when it comes to that person actually delivering, they don't seem to get the job done as well as they should. I am not saying AJ should be a top draw, but her overness with the audience should be better.
TNA is not as aggressive when it comes to making stars. They don't shove people down the throats of their fans in an attempt to make them into huge stars. On the contrary, they just pass the ball around. They make someone look good for an amount of time, then they pull the plug and move on to something else. They do this in both their men's division and women's division. It is like they are just going through the motions. And these men and women that were pushed as something amazing for a period of time, they do not have that momentum once they get unplugged. How can you push someone well for a certain amount of time, get your audience invested in them, and then just move on to something else? You are relying on wrestling itself to be a draw, but you should also be relying on creating and featuring stars.
There are many guys that win the TNA World Championship that obviously did not deserve it. Most of them are very good wrestlers and connect with the wrestling audience, but does every solid wrestler deserve a World title? No. You have to have more appeal to be pushed at the top. TNA does not even have a centerpiece like the WWE has. They do not groom top stars. Instead, they just pass the title around. Some guys just did not deserve to win the title. Chris Sabin is one. He didn't even hold it long. They didn't even develop him as well as the WWE would.
The KO division is not handled much better. It is respectable. As long as they maintain this status quo, you are unlikely to have fans protest how the women are being treated the same way the WWE has experienced. Regardless, this women's division has issues. Are you actually creating stars? Are you properly featuring them? I read in the results for the next set of tapings that Taryn Terrell seems to have turned heel. Okay. Is that to help her connect with fans better? Or are you just building her up for a face to conquer and get her few months in the spotlight? Is Taryn going to lose her momentum? Probably. Every woman in this division is interchangeable.
When you are being aggressive with something, you better hope what you are doing is working out. If not, you are forcing something that is likely hurting you. There is a difference between being determined and being pigheaded. The WWE needs to learn this. It has cost them their diva division and it is leading to the development of men to be top stars that are not deserving. As for TNA, they need to stop passing the ball and make a shot. In basketball, you have a certain amount of time to get that shot off. You can say TNA has all the time in the world. You can also say that not getting their act together will eventually lead to them going out of business.
What do you do? Find a middle ground. Do not be so aggressive that you will force something that is just not working. At the same time, pay attention to who is working out and build around those individuals. Just like in any sport, if a coach sees that one strategy isn't working, he tries something else. He does not force what is not working out. Both the WWE and TNA have issues and nothing is being done to fix those issues. TNA needs to be more aggressive when it comes to making stars, while the WWE needs to be less aggressive.
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