Ruthless Aggression era WWE or Early TNA Wrestling?

[King Kamala]

I saw this debate fire up on Wrestling Twitter and thought I'd fire it up cause I'm drunk and we're bored enough.

Cut off period is when WWE moved back to USA Network. So what was better between Summer of '02 and Fall of '05...WWE or TNA Wrestling?

 

[Baby Shoes]

I didn’t see much early, early TNA but your cutoff starts right before my TNA fandom. There was a stretch shortly after Christian showed up in probably 2006, a stretch in 2008 and in 2012 where I preferred TNA to WWE at the time and I’ve pretty much been a hardcore WWE stan for life.

 

[King Kamala]

I would say '02-'05, they're pretty even. '05 to '07, I might give the edge to TNA. WWE had a great year in 2008 so I'd probably give it to them.

 

[Laz]

Early TNA, heartbeat. Unless it was the SmackDown Six era or HBK's last two years, the good in TNA outweighed the majority of WWE. That so much of the current WWE uppercard is made of former TNA talents says something to me.

That, and KID KASH IS YOUR NEW FAVORITE WRESTLER.

 

[King Kamala]

DISCO INFERNO GETTING A MAIN EVENT PUSH UNDER HIS IRL NAME!

 

[tekcop]

RAW was miserable for so much of that era, but I honestly liked SmackDown the whole time. Even during the era of the Dicks and when we got PPV matches like Billy Gunn vs. Kenzo Suzuki and Hardcore Holly vs. Mordecai.

A lot of the TNA stuff doesn't hold up at all. Most of the X-division stuff that was the main draw for me back then isn't really my cup of tea anymore. Jarrett was on top for what felt like forever and wasn't a fraction as entertaining as he had been before and would be again in the future. The Russo and his buddies stuff was always terrible. Raven losing to Jarrett was as bad as anything WWE did. The misuse of Truth and AJ. Having to watch Abyss every week. I can go on.

Plus, TNA from that era looks like absolute shit. The lighting and color choices are really hard on the eyes.

Edit: I was going to bring up Matt Bentley's seemingly never-ending X-division title run, but according to Wiki, he was only champ for 140 days! I would have sworn it was like 13 months!

 

[Laz]

His run was offensive as fuck because he was feuding with Frankie "what's a personality?" Kazarian, all the while Chris Sabin was putting in the best singles work of his career.

I stand by my choice, even with GLENN GILBERTI getting a shot at the main (that ended as quickly as it started and was meant to be a speed bump between bigger programs). Anything is better than HHH's reign of terror, the Boogey Man, and John Cena before he really knew how to wrestle.

 

[Brocklock]

WWE might of had the better wrestling overall during that period, but there was so much bad stuff and both brands were never good at the same time. Like as good as the Smackdown Six era in the fall of 02 was or Raw in the spring/summer of 2004 when Evolution was doing Horsemen type tags against Benoit and various babyfaces were the other brand was unwatchable.

I definitely have more nostalgia for TNA during this era. TNA obviously had some absolutely brutal times. I remember that I nearly quit watching from that period around September 03 til about April 2004 when Jarrett got the title back and Dutch Mantell got the book and was bringing in completely washed old guys like Jim Duggan, Rick Steiner, and Lex Luger while AJ Styles got shifted down the card. But, when TNA was good it was really good. They were just rolling in 2005 starting around April or so and stayed pretty consistent til Nov 06. It was so exciting and I think overall the shows were much easier to watch.

So I picked TNA.

 

[Epic Springs]

TNA was a mess during its early days aside from the X Division. I think mid-'03 is when they finally started to come around and have a clear vision so while I think the Smackdown Six barely edges out the Lynn/Styles/Ki era of the X Division, I say TNA was overall better in '03-'05 easily.

 

[Valeyard]

TNA and it isn't close. The thing was that TNA always felt special, like you were part of something that could be amazing. X Division, a perpetually solid tag division, the resurrection of Raven, Russo and Jerry Jarrett somehow being a perfect booking team for a while, the underrated and underappreciated innovation Trinity had on women's wrestling. Four two-hour shows cost as much as one WWE three-hour show, and for the majority of time it felt like you had at least one **** every time. Random names, good and bad, just showing up. TSM signs in the crowd. It felt like such a special time. Then when they went to Spike, it was like that special became what felt like a massive change to the business, like a real promotion and not just a cult show people dug. Everything Joe or Angle touched was pretty much gold.

Bias for the Asylum years aside, yes, TNA by a landslide.

 

[Laz]

I also can't lie: the company taking a shot at me and my constant dogging of Kazarian helps.

 

[Valeyard]

It will always go back to the show with the sign that said BOB BARRON ASKED FOR THIS.

 

[Baby Shoes]

I also can't lie: the company taking a shot at me and my constant dogging of Kazarian helps.

I’d like to hear more about this

 

[King Kamala]

I almost want to subscribe to Impact Plus to see these bob_barron and Laz references...

 

[Laz]

There was at least one time when it happened, late 2003/early 2004, when I'd spent many words in a review pointing out that Kazarian botched half of his spots and had no discernible personality beyond kinda looking like Antonio Banderas. I used to regularly call myself "the L-A-Z" and call people "babe" in a condescending manner, so then Kazarian cuts a promo or two where he calls himself "the K-A-Z" and calls people "babe" in a condescending manner.

Was it coincidence? Eh, maybe. All I know is that I mocked it in a review and then he stopped doing it.

 

[Epic Springs]

I get you, man. Orton cut a promo on Raw a few years ago talking about his "epic reign" as WWE champion. Appreciate the shout out, Randy.

 

[Big Beard Booty Daddy]

I was watching the Junior Tag League in NJPW last year. They brought in Douki to replace El Desperado who was injured. I Tweeted out to Kevin Kelly, Rocky, and Gino Gambino that I was surprised no one made the obvious okey-Douki joke yet. The very next show Gino made the joke. I Tweeted that I loved the shout out and Gino liked it.

 

[Baby Shoes]

There was at least one time when it happened, late 2003/early 2004, when I'd spent many words in a review pointing out that Kazarian botched half of his spots and had no discernible personality beyond kinda looking like Antonio Banderas. I used to regularly call myself "the L-A-Z" and call people "babe" in a condescending manner, so then Kazarian cuts a promo or two where he calls himself "the K-A-Z" and calls people "babe" in a condescending manner.

Was it coincidence? Eh, maybe. All I know is that I mocked it in a review and then he stopped doing it.

That’s awesome. Given how smart focused they were then and how popular the site was for the time, I’d say odds are high. Fantastic.

 

[Valeyard]

LOTS of Dames and TSM stuff for a while, too. Dames (allegedly) got Ace Steel fired for shitting on him in his reviews!

 

[Epic Springs]

We might need to "TSM/CXF Posters referenced by wrestlers IRL" thread!

 

[King Kamala]

Dames may have had on influence on more than TNA. Remember when he gave Brian Gewirtz a script at WWF New York and he alleged that Brian Gewirtz used all of his ideas (IIRC, it was for SummerSlam '02)?

 

[Valeyard]

I thought that was for Kane getting unmasked? I don't remember but it was a big deal.

 

[909]

Wow the results of this poll are shameful.

 

[Brocklock]

Wow the results of this poll are shameful.

Disgusting. If it was just like Smackdown from 2002 to 2007 vs TNA, I'd probably vote Smackdown. But 2002, 2003, and 2006 Monday Night Raw are some of the worst shit ever and more brutally boring than the worst of TNA.

 

[King Kamala]

Wow the results of this poll are shameful.

Me and the rest of the WWE cucks are revved up from the crappy WWE Network docuseries.

 

[909]

Also, I would way rather watch 2004 Rick Steiner than watch 2003 Hulk Hogan and Roddy Piper pushed as top stars.

 

[King Kamala]

I think predominant reason why worst era of WWE is beating one of best eras of TNA is simply level of exposure. You had what? Like 40,000 people ordering the weekly PPVs and probably not that many more watching Impact on Friday afternoons on FoxSportsNet. While RAW was still getting ratings in 3s and 4s in 2003.

 

[Sabre]

Early TNA for me was outstanding. I was never a HHH guy, so seeing him be the top guy on raw constantly for what felt like years had little interest for me.

Smackdown however was a different story, but TNA just felt different.

 

[Laz]

I may have voted for TNA and think that, ultimately, it had the greater strengths (the X-Division in 2005 alone might beat out everything WWE after the InVasion), but in terms of individual shows being particularly great or memorable? WWE wins. WM19, WM20, Vengeance '03, SummerSlam '03, ECW One Night Stand...those shows beat out any individual TNA/Impact show ever held.

 

[King Kamala]

Some of the worst WWE PPVs ever came out of this era (I'm looking at you, Great American Bash 2005) but in general, even if you selected a random second tier PPV of that era against a random TNA show from that era. WWE would probably come out on top.