1. Impact Becomes Impact Wrestling After WWE Bans The Word Wrestling
Okay this isn't exactly ripping off WWE's idea. This is a different kind of jumping on the WWE bandwagon altogether. In 2011 (what a year for fresh ideas!) WWE publicly dropped the word wrestling from all broadcasts because Vince McMahon decided that WWE was now a "Global Entertainment" company. He no longer wished to be associated with professional wrestling (you know, the only business he's ever had success in) and changed the name of the company from World Wrestling Entertainment to just WWE. No those letters don't stand for anything! It was no longer sports entertainment, just entertainment, with Superstars instead of wrestlers. This announcement was met with indifference, since pretty much the entire world still thinks of wrestling when they hear WWE, but most fans actually felt disappointed, betrayed even, that the most successful wrestling promoter of all time, was trying to distance himself from the very thing he made into a global phenomenon. Anyway about three weeks later, TNA announced that their weekly program Impact would now be called Impact Wrestling and that Wrestling was the new focus of the company. Okay, um first of all, that's a stupid name. Three years later and I still call it Impact. Secondly, this was TNA at it's most pandering. The name change and heavy focus on wrestling wasn't a fresh new idea, it was simply a response to WWE banning the word from existence. Again I know this isn't an example of copying WWEs ideas. Actually in this case TNA managed to do the exact opposite. But the fact remains clear that TNA just reacted to WWE's big announcement rather than trying to reinvent themselves as a separate company. Oh and finally, if this sudden focus on wrestling was supposed to mark a new era, or change of direction for TNA, then just what the hell were the previous nine years supposed to focused on, if not wrestling? Have I missed anything, or am I being too merciful? You have a voice. Use it below!