2. Showing Respect To ROH
We mentioned TNA acknowledging and working with other promotions. That's all good for one off deals, but when a top star from a rival promotion (Yes ROH is up there!) signs with TNA permanently, TNA make no effort to hide the past. In WWE new arrivals have to start from square one. It didn't matter that Bryan Danielson was the best wrestler in the world, he started anew as Daniel Bryan. None of Seth Rollins' accomplishments as Tyler Black meant a damn thing when he got signed. And if you only watch WWE you may not be aware that Cesaro wrestled for nearly a decade as Claudio Castagnoli. In WWE your past means nothing. Once you sign, you start from the bottom. The problem is that when everybody starts from the bottom, casual fans really have no reason to care about newcomers. WWE has to build them up from scratch and while it worked for the Shield and Bray Wyatt, how many pushes and characters get dropped without explanation? Adam Rose is already on Superstars. The point is that when you treat newcomers as nobodies, the fans see them as nobodies and that makes it especially difficult for them to get over. Now when TNA brought in top ROH star Samoa Joe in 2005, they not only acknowledged his past with ROH, but pushed him as a star from the beginning. Booked in an undefeated streak that lasted 18 months, Joe was one of the most over wrestlers in the history of the company. When Nigel McGuinness joined the company in 2009 as Desmond Wolfe, the very first thing he did on TV was take out Kurt Angle! Though Angle won both of their PPV matches (which you must go out of your way to see!) Wolfe never looked inferior to the TNA Hall of Famer. Angle did everything in his power to make him look like his equal, even in defeat. Most recently Eddie Edwards and Davey Richards debuted back in January of this year and were pushed from the start with Mike Tenay calling them two of the hottest free agents in the world. Now that's respect!