10 Wrestling Myths Debunked
6. TNA Signed Every WWE Cast-Off
TNA developed a reputation over the years for signing whoever WWE released and immediately pushing them over their homegrown talent. We saw the likes of Christian, Kurt Angle, Booker T, and Jeff Hardy picked up just moments after Vince McMahon deemed them surplus to requirements. However, the argument that TNA would have been nothing without WWE stars is untrue, and claiming that they signed every WWE cast-off is a downright lie.
In TNA's defence, the Raw and SmackDown superstars they signed were designed to attract more wrestling fans to the product in a way indy stars simply couldn't due to name recognition, and Angle, Hardy et al. certainly did that for a period. Granted, for every former world champion there was an Orlando Jordan or Black Reign, but TNA also developed talents like AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels, and Samoa Joe.
In simple terms, whilst TNA was perceived to be living off Vince McMahon's scraps, they had a phenomenal non-WWE roster and passed on guys including Carlito & my best friend Wade Barrett. Just because you came from The Fed didn't mean you were guaranteed a job in TNA... unless you were a legend of course.