10 Ways AEW Is Nothing Like TNA
4. The Suffocating Shadow Of WCW
TNA was born under a dark cloud, a gloomy shadow that tainted anything and everything it touched, a pernicious memory that ruined a business and sent it back to the dark ages, to the before times.
WCW.
From the very moment the bell rang on that first TNA pay-per-view, the stench of WCW was all over it. Former WCW talent was all over the show, Mike Tenay and Ed Ferrara were on commentary, Vince Russo had the pen. The company may have made steps to introduce the world to fresh talent, but there's no taking away from those first few main events. WCW was still too fresh in the minds of the fans for a show featuring Jeff Jarrett, Scott Hall, Rick Steiner and The freakin Wall to be anything other than Nitro in disguise. Or, even worse, Thunder in disguise.
AEW doesn't come with these burdens. WCW is but another ghost of wrestling's past, a long-stripped cadaver that now provides sustenance only to podcasts and the echo of nostalgia. The promotion can grow free of WCW's mistakes, of its spectre, to the point where it can even cherry-pick the things the long-dead company did well.
When it began, TNA had to convince people that it wasn't WCW. In 2020, AEW has no such problems. If anything, WWE is WCW in the modern age.