What Does TNA Do Better Than WWE?

[Kane-a-Roonie]

In most peoples opinion, mine included, the WWE has the better overall product compared to its main rival TNA. For me the WWE has the stronger roster, better booking and a new found sense of exitement due to this new 'Reality Era'.

But this doesn't mean the WWE is completly better than TNA as we all know. So my question is simple, where in your opinion does TNA succeed that WWE doesn't quite make the grade. This can be in area of the company.

For me the womens divison in TNA is stronger but only slightly now. In the past the Divas haven't been able to hold a light the the Knockouts with talents such as Kong, Gail Kim, ODB, Hamada, Love, Sarita and so on. But recently with some of there best talents leaving some even jumping ship and with the WWE pushing there stronger divas (although losing Melina and Kim was a step in the wrong direction) its not as clear cut as it may seem, But as long as the Divas Championship is on Kelly Kelly, The Bellas or Fox and with my favouite female and who I think is the best female wrestler, Victoria, at TNA I feel they have the better division.

There are other things I feel TNA do better than WWE but what do you think?

 

[The Dragon Saga]

I don't know why people keep saying things about a "Reality Era"? Since when was the "Reality Era" made official? Because WWE have broken the fourth wall like twice? That isn't reality at all. Its the same show with CM Punk, John Cena and Triple H breaking the boundaries the odd time - three of the top guys in the entire company. This is still the PG Era. They're just saying things, and what's worse and what makes this so-called "Reality Era" nonsensical is that half of the fans don't know what Punk, Cena or whomever is referencing half the time. Its cool to the IWC because we know what they're saying, others, not so much.

In-terms of product, WWE have the best overall product. The format is better, you know what to expect from it, they are willing to push more young guys, they have stayed within the lines for so long that now the odd behind-the-scenes reference is dropped people take it as if its huge, because it isn't something they're known for doing.

TNA do some things better. They have a better womens division in-terms of use and wrestling; granted, not used the best all the time but you'll have that. TNA's Tag Team division has been strong for the past three-to-four years, and has easily dominated WWE's, but recently its been falling flat and taking a lot of damage while WWE are replenishing theres.

But asides from those two things, they are lacking in a lot of other departments. For one the constant juggle between whose a face and whose a heel can be irritating. Russo has said before he doesn't like alignments, he likes to pull "swerves", sadly he doesn't know how to do them well enough to allow them to have an impact. Creatively TNA is a shambles, again, that falls on Russo but not his fault entirely. He may come up with angles and all that, but its someones job to filter them and allow the good ones come to light on television. That is what Jeff Jarrett did brilliantly, he filtered so many of Russo's ideas and it's one of the reasons TNA did so well in the early days.

TNA has got a knack of building people and letting them fall, good examples are Jay Lethal and Doug Williams. Williams was getting monumentous praise when he held the X Division Championship and now he's found on Xplosion, where he shouldn't be! Lethal was in a program with Flair, come from it, gained the X Division Championship - and one month later was released. Kind of makes you ask, "WTF?"

You could break it down as far as you want really, going to lighting, graphics, who has the better announcers etc, etc. But TNA followers realize the product isn't better than WWE's, they just prefer the TNA product and there is nothing wrong with that. The more people realize that having TNA around is better for the industry as a whole, the more fans will drop their obnoxious dislike for TNA. It makes mistakes sometimes and usually gets called out on it, but WWE has in the past - one can easily come back to someone bringing up the Abyss; Hall of Fame ring storyline with the Vince McMahon limo explosion angle. They won't hit the nail on the head all the time.

 

[Jeff]

Women's division is by far better on TNA then WWE. I actually enjoy watching the Knockouts on TNA, where I really don't enjoy watching the Divas. Karma was going to be a game changer for WWE, but we all know where that went. When she comes back I think the WWE may have a better division (or at least more exciting).

The Bound for Glory series I actually love in TNA. Matches actually mean something (for at least some of the roster that is). I think WWE should do some form of rankings. I even purposed that they do a College Football type ranking system. I think it could create some exciting story lines. Imagine if let's say Punk went undefeated but wasn't ranked number 1, then HHH says, he doesn't deserve to be number 1. How great of a story would that be. Punk would have a field day with promos if something like that happen.

Lastly, the fact that they have one main event championship, rather then two. That is something they are doing better then WWE.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

Scott Steiner promos
More diverse roster
Create more interesting marks
Building a character for Bubba/Bully Ray
Ring announcing

They are not all good things but this is all I can say they are doing definitively better right now. More may come to mind later.

 

[Defekt]

I've always liked the voyeuristic camera angles TNA uses in backstage segments. I'm kind surprised the WWE hasn't started using this.

I also like the concept of the X-Division (no limits, not weight limits).

My main issue with TNA is the bad booking and constant heel/face changes.

In the WWE, wrestlers tend to stay on one side of the fence or the other for a long time. Heel/face changes are fairly rare, and usually a big deal. In TNA, guys turn heel/face routinely and it has no impact.

The stable is still alive in TNA, which is something I miss in WWE, but I wish they were a bit leaner. Immortal has like 10 people in it. Fortune had 7 at one point.

I hope TNA improves. From a wrestling standpoint, I think they put on alot of good matches. That 30 minute draw between Angle and Hardy last year as my favorite match of the year.

 

[HamSwissman]

The TNA backstage vignettes are awesome and keep you believing. It seems less scripted and they just have a neater feel to them. I certainly wish "The E" would take notice of this and attempt it themselves. It could fit perfectly with this new "semi-attitude, semi-reality" era they seem to be heading into.

The other things, I believe, are more about what WWE does wrong than what TNA does properly. TNA doesn't have a roster split. TNA doesn't have an over-abundance of titles, rendering them less meaningful. TNA doesn't have Michael Cole. TNA also (at times) has a respectable tag-team division. Granted, this is coming from someone who hasn't really kept up with TNA in quite some time, but isn't a total hater of their product (I mean, they still have Kurt Angle).

 

[ABMorales787]

Somebody mentioned a "Reality Era" in WWE. That made me giggle a bit because don't really feel it's a realistic product. More based on real life. TNA to me does in fact feel realistic to me. You hear them constantly airing their grievances and showing truer emotions. They don't jump on the 4th wall to poke fun at the smarks. And of course the far better midcard. Even if the midcard title is in the dumps, the midcard itself blows WWE's.

 

[hatehabsforever]

One thing that TNA has managed to do really well over the last few years is somehow instill a sense of loyalty amongst many guys on it's roster. How they manage to keep AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, MCMG, Beer Money, even Sting on board, without them being tempted to test the waters elsewhere, and showcase their talent in front of a much larger audience for a larger pay cheque, that's something to be proud of. You would think that someone like AJ Styles must be getting tired of competing for mid card titles, putting over other talent, and functioning in the Impact Zone, yet he remains there, loyal to the company. That may be largely fear driven (the devil you know is better than the one you don't) but even still, you would have to think that as their contacts get renewed, they must be tempted to seek greener pastures elsewhere, for a big pay day, yet they don't go. Some of that has to be due to the fact that they are happy where they are, with favorable working conditions, so credit TNA for that.

Another thing they do well is somehow dupe the IWC into actually believing that their tag team division and Knockouts division are superior to their WWE counterparts. This is one of the biggest IWC fallacies out there, and I don't know what TNA does to convince
people of this, but that thought does remain out there.

And of course, no one harbors former WWE guys as effectively as TNA does, pushing them over younger and better homegrown talent, they really have perfected this skill. And no one can over hype an event and continuously disappoint quite like the folks at TNA. See BFG 2010, and in a couple of months, watch them do it all over again.

 

[silrock316]

Two things that are obviously done better by TNA:

1. Their womens wrestling is a much better product. I rarely turn Velvet Sky off but I turn EVERY Divas match off. They are remarkably boring.

2. The Bound For Glory Series is a ground breaking deal. I like the fact that wins and losses mean more and random people aren't getting title shots out of nowhere. I know BFGS is another way to push a guy you want to push but at least theres an explanation to why the guy is getting a shot instead of John Cena being the number 1 contender all the time, every week, no matter what happens it always ends up being John Cena the number one contender.

Those are the two glaring things that are better in TNA than WWE that I see.

 

[Redemption-2012]

Better quality wrestling I geuss but seriously who gives a damn about TNA it's the shittest thing ever.

 

[Jay Sherman]

Blow opportunities, drop angles, switch face/heel alignments, recycle story lines.

 

[It's Damn Real!]

Based off my impression of the TNA product v. the WWE product when last I watched it (which is now more than a year ago, at least), what TNA does better than WWE is provide it's audience with non-generic, non-vanilla, ENTERTAINING characters who actually have a personality and can actually get fans to give a fuck about them.

 

[jtolliver23]

What does TNA do better than WWE? Hm...for me it's a number of things, which is why I prefer TNA over WWE. First and foremost, the X Division. Yes it was on the back burner for a while, but they are working on rebuilding it and making it matter again which can only be a good thing, especially since Abyss isn't the champion anymore. The Knockouts division is way better than the Divas division in my opinion. And even though the tag team division in WWE is starting to possibly make a resurgence, right now TNA has better tag team wrestling, especially with the two best tag teams in the world in Beer Money and The Motor City Machine Guns (yes I know, ones injured right now, but they're still better than any tag team WWE has right now). And honestly, I know I'll probably get ripped for this, but I prefer TNA to WWE. I watch both shows, religiously even, but I like TNA's wrestling matches over WWE's in ring product.

 

[closet_fan]

The number one thing TNA has been able to do is build up a guy who was thought to be close to retirement and nothing more than a tag-team guy. And that's Bully Ray.

You have guys like John Morrison who are constantly getting pushed, but refuse to reinvent themselves for the betterment of their character.

Edge was always at the top after the split and Christian was able to get back there, but I think Bully's comeback is extraordinary.

TNA has to be given some credit for giving him the ball and letting him roll with it.

 

[duckbutter]

In my opinion, the only thing TNA does better is the women's division. They actually feel like wrestling matches to me, rather than lame barbie dolls just trying to get the same spots in week after week.

If the WWE put on women's matches and believable story lines for the women like TNA does, I'd actually watch the diva's matches. Instead I get Kelly Kelly (K-E-L-L-Y...why? Because.) with her annoying "I'm in pain" scream during her matches and then trying to make a mad face (the most fake looking mad face ever, by the way) at Natalya & Beth Phoenix every week. She is not tough, so quit trying to make her act like she is. If that's your champion, then that division is in more trouble than I thought.

 

[Rising Savior]

Based off my impression of the TNA product v. the WWE product when last I watched it (which is now more than a year ago, at least), what TNA does better than WWE is provide it's audience with non-generic, non-vanilla, ENTERTAINING characters who actually have a personality and can actually get fans to give a fuck about them.

Yeah because Gunner and Crimson have so much charisma right? What does Tna do better than wwe? I'd have to say Tna uses canned heat a lot better than wwe. No but to be serious I'd guess I'd have to say Tna um fuck this is hard. This really is difficult because a lot of area's where Tna had the sure advantage is gone. The tag division is near dead where as it seems wwe is rebuilding their tag division, the knockouts division is nowhere near it used to be although it has improved slightly recently, the x division is full of guys people have never heard of.

 

[CaptainZaltan]

I don't have a lot of love for TNA's current product and I currently prefer the WWE, but there are still a few areas in which IW/TNA are superior to the WWE right now.

First and most importantly, TNA's roster (both visually and in terms of character) is much more interesting. It seems like almost everyone has a clear idea of who they are and what they are about (okay, with the exceptions of Gunner, Crimson, and some of the newer X-division guys). Even though TNA doesn't always (or often) utilize the right people, they don't seem to inhibit their performers from having a personality or an identity. It doesn't always work, but it keeps things interesting. Whereas with a few exceptions, the WWE's roster seems fairly bland, with many wrestlers looking alike, most wrestlers sounding 100% scripted, and most characters being entirely one dimensional. Contrast the Knockouts with the Divas, for example; each Knockout has a unique identity, look, and style (Tara, Winter, ODB, Velvet, Mickey, etc), whereas each Diva smiles and bounces and....that's about it. Or contrast Evan Bourne with any of the X division wrestlers. Austin Aries, Brian Kendrick, Alex Shelly, and most other X division wrestlers are unique not only visually, but also in terms of personality, gimmick, and wrestling style. Whereas Evan Bourne smiles and loses. It's really the difference between allowing your talent's natural personalities to shine through and giving them the freedom to build their own identities, versus having the same writers concoct a ridiculous identity for each of them and script every word that they say. Now, the WWE occasionally gets this right, as is evidenced by the rise of CM Punk. But generally, TNA has the better characters (whereas WWE is better at using the ones they have).

Also, generally speaking, TNA's Tag and Knockouts divisions are far superior to the WWE's equivalents. Both are in the midst of a slump at the moment, yet are still stronger than the WWE's efforts in these areas. Someone at TNA (god knows who) seems to realize that it doesn't hurt the product to have more than one division booked to matter; rather, it gives people who might not be fond of the main event (Sting/Angle vs various) something else to care about.

And the obvious choice: the X division provides matches that far surpass anything the WWE is producing in terms of excitement and spectacle. That's not to say that the WWE still doesn't give us some great matches, because it obviously does, albeit of a different style. But most X division matches don't require a story, a feud, or even strong established characters to be extremely entertaining (see: the match from last week's Impact). The X division just represents a different philosophy of pro-wrestling, and provides an athletic spectacle that even non-wrestling fans can appreciate.

 

[It's Damn Real!]

Yeah because Gunner and Crimson have so much charisma right? What does Tna do better than wwe? I'd have to say Tna uses canned heat a lot better than wwe. No but to be serious I'd guess I'd have to say Tna um fuck this is hard. This really is difficult because a lot of area's where Tna had the sure advantage is gone. The tag division is near dead where as it seems wwe is rebuilding their tag division, the knockouts division is nowhere near it used to be although it has improved slightly recently, the x division is full of guys people have never heard of.

LOL. So you use two examples to try and destroy my argument? You barely nicked it. Try that with Sting, Angle, Anderson, Pope, Joe, Jarrett, Ray, Hogan, etc.

I'd put up the charisma and personality of a group like that (and then some) vs. a roster who's base is almost entirely composed of generic, vanilla dullards with the personalities of bathtub farts.

 

[ABMorales787]

Here's a question. If you have a negative opinion, how's about voicing it properly instead of looking like a dumbass for being too lazy to write more than "it sux".

It's like the inability to choose for a good while has rendered people stupid or mindless. Some like TNA, some don't and others don't voice an opinion on it. Then there are others, that just parade behind the fad and just say something without really saying something useful. So WWE has better markets, more shows, bigger roster and a popular names. Here's the thing though. TNA seems to be a little more respectful to it's fanbase. The main site always has a fan report on someone who went to a TNA house show and calls it a great experience for a fan. You hear many personal reports from guys like Matt Morgan and Eric Bischoff. In being so big, WWE doesn't really pay attention to the fan's in the show and just go for something bring in mass appeal. If WWE is so awesome and impressive, why aren't there house show reports with overjoyed fans posted? Why is the easiest way to hear from guys like Cena and Orton is via Twitter or a talk show and not a more direct radio interview? TNA sent Abyss and Mickie James to Puerto Rico for a tour not long ago. Who did WWE send? Primo. Who's sharing talent with NJPW and AAA to raise a fanbase in Mexico and Japan? TNA.

When it comes to being fan-friendly, TNA > WWE.

 

[legendkiller420]

In most peoples opinion, mine included, the WWE has the better overall product compared to its main rival TNA. For me the WWE has the stronger roster, better booking and a new found sense of exitement due to this new 'Reality Era'.

But this doesn't mean the WWE is completly better than TNA as we all know. So my question is simple, where in your opinion does TNA succeed that WWE doesn't quite make the grade. This can be in area of the company.

For me the womens divison in TNA is stronger but only slightly now. In the past the Divas haven't been able to hold a light the the Knockouts with talents such as Kong, Gail Kim, ODB, Hamada, Love, Sarita and so on. But recently with some of there best talents leaving some even jumping ship and with the WWE pushing there stronger divas (although losing Melina and Kim was a step in the wrong direction) its not as clear cut as it may seem, But as long as the Divas Championship is on Kelly Kelly, The Bellas or Fox and with my favouite female and who I think is the best female wrestler, Victoria, at TNA I feel they have the better division.

There are other things I feel TNA do better than WWE but what do you think?

what does tna do better than wwe hmmmm they are pretty good at getting lower ratings hahaha na im just messing im actually a big fan of tna i guess i can say they have Better quality wrestling and the knockout division is way better then wwe diva division in tna womens wrestling actually means something

 

[Jack-Hammer]

In my opinion, at this point in time, almost nothing. There's just nothing particular going on in TNA right now that's even remotely better than the WWE.

TNA's main event scene is mostly a joke at this point. Kurt Angle is the TNA WHC and I don't care. That gives you an idea just how bad the main event picture has gotten for them. The main event scene feels more like an afterthought and it's felt that way for quite a while. In WWE, there's been consistently a high level of interest in the main event scene for almost a year.

Since the X Division is now officially a cruiserweight division, it leaves TNA with practically no mid-card to speak of at this point in time. Eric Young is the TNA Television Champion, so it's not really as if it counts. To be fair though, the TV title was crap long before EY got hold of it. As for the X Division, the only guy that's come along that's all all interesting is Austin Aries. Everybody else they've been running through there are the typical faceless, generic vanilla spot monkeys that I wouldn't notice were gone if they dropped off the face of the earth. For much of 2011, I agree that the WWE's mid-card scene has suffered, mostly the IC title. I'll still take the crap they did with Kofi, Wade Barrett & Ezekiel Jackson over Eric Young's TV title "reign" any day of the week. As far as the United States Championship goes, I've got no real complaints about Dolph Ziggler. I like that the WWE has taken more time to build him as a character on the mic than they have with most mid-card champs in recent years.

The Knockout Division is every bit as lame as the Divas are in the WWE. I honestly don't know why so many desperately try to claim that it's better. Most of the time, what we're treated to are meaningless, 2-3 minute filler matches featuring attractive women running around in skimpy outfits. Occassionally, you'll come across a solid match from both women's divisions, buy not often. Last week's match between Mickie James & ODB is the best Knockout match I've seen in a very long time. Even if the Knockout Division was actually better, that's like saying one turd stinks less than the other.

TNA has had unquestioned dominance in the tag team picture for the better part of, at least, half a decade. The Tag Team Division was often one of the reasons I kept tuning into TNA but, throughout the course of this year, it's really dwindled. The only relevant teams in TNA for months have been Beer Money & Mexican America. Beer Money has already done everything there can be done as a tag team multiple times in TNA, so they're a little stale, and Mexican America just flat out suck. I'd say that their tag team scene is now on even kilter with the WWE though things aren't getting better for TNA in this area and, based on what we're seeing & hearing, things are either improving or are going to improve in the WWE tag team scene soon.

As far as wrestling quality goes, I'm sorry, but wrestling quality in TNA, for the most part, has been a joke for the better part of 2 years. I'm not saying that a good match doesn't pop up now and again but it's not often. I'm also not saying that TNA should have just nothing but wrestling matches or anything foolish like that. However, let's be honest, the vast majority of matches we see on TNA television come across as meaningless filler that rarely lasts more than 5 minutes with most of it lasting less. On Raw & SmackDown!, almost each week, each show features at least 2 competitive matches that go 10 minutes or longer. WWE does a far better job of making me want to spend money to see their wrestling matches on ppv by actually showing good wrestling matches for free on television.

There is probably one thing that I think TNA does better than WWE. TNA manages fans that it's this organization where everyone gets along, everyone is friends and that it's all 100% about the fans. TNA manages to hide the fact that it's a business better than the WWE but, then again, I don't see why WWE should hide the fact that it's a successful business in the first place just because some people have chips on their shoulders when it comes to big corporations in general.

 

[shitsngiggles]

1. Producing Character(S)
2. Getting the audience involved (suprising considering the setup they have)
3. Hotter and better female talent and matches.
4. Better promos with more edge (apart from CM Punk/HHH on WWE the rest are corny little school kids moaning or acting extremely pathetic)
5. Better theme songs/entrance music (for the most part)

Just off the top of my head.

 

[Rising Savior]

LOL. So you use two examples to try and destroy my argument? You barely nicked it. Try that with Sting, Angle, Anderson, Pope, Joe, Jarrett, Ray, Hogan, etc.

I'd put up the charisma and personality of a group like that (and then some) vs. a roster who's base is almost entirely composed of generic, vanilla dullards with the personalities of bathtub farts.

Well let's see Joe cuts an intense promo once every two months yeah he's real charismatic. Pope he has a personality but he's been useless in tna I can't recall the last interesting promo he cut oh wait yeah I can it involved Joe and a roasted pig and it was awful. Anderson let's see wait oh yeah it's the same shit he's an asshole who dgafs really interesting. Ray has been great. Sting is semi interesting with his joker gimmick. Jarrett is ok I guess. Hogan yeah his promos are pretty boring. I could name more guys in wwe with this stuff than you could name in Tna.

 

[MaxPlastic]

Airing cruiserweight matches. Not the quality, not the talent, just simply airing those matches. Of course, when WWE actually DOES have a cruiserweight match, it's much better. That is ALL

 

[The Crock]

I'm not going to be one of the guys that bashes TNA. They have some good things going on over there and they shine in places where WWE falls flat. Tag teams, Cruiserweights/X-Division, and the Knockouts division are the three biggest things that TNA can hang their hat on. They've been a good contrast to the WWE over the past few years, since WWE had really been shying away from all of those things.

TNA has some of the best tag teams in the world, if not THE best. Beer Money and the Motor City Machine Guns are so fun to watch and they really make you invest yourself in the match. TNA is focused on real tag teams and they actually allow them to showcase their ability, whereas the WWE is much different. They focus on one-on-one match-ups and they dominate the upper card. In TNA, the upper card contains some tag teams. I've seen Beer Money main event many a show and that's not something you'll see in WWE. It's always going to be revolving around the WWE Title and the World Title, and while TNA does that too, they know when to allow other people to shine.

The X-Division is another awesome thing about TNA. They did seemingly forget about them for a bit, but they're back now and I love to see good Cruiserweight action. Guys like Alex Shelley, Chris Sabin, AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels, Kazarian, Jerry Lynn, Kid Kash, Austin Aries... they're just fun to watch. In WWE you have some of those guys, but they don't get much TV time. The smaller guys have a stigma about their matches being complete spotfests, but if you really watch the match you'll notice how much they really do. Cruiserweights are great in-ring workers and they've been one of my favorite divisions ever since the Cruiserweights in WCW.

The Knockouts division also offers a different side of women's wrestling. It has a bigger emphasis on their in-ring work and not so much about their storylines. Mickie James and ODB put on a solid match a few days ago and they've been doing it for a while now. I'm usually not a fan of women's wrestling unless it's Sara Del Rey, Awesome Kong, or something of the sort, but TNA makes it watchable. I don't consider their Knockouts matches to be piss breaks, but then again I don't skip WWE Diva matches either.

You know, when it comes down to it, TNA has its strengths and so does WWE. The thing is, I don't grade TNA on WWE's level. WWE is far ahead in terms of money, production, it's totally a different level... But that doesn't mean I can't watch and enjoy TNA. If I see solid wrestling that entertains me then I'm satisfied, simple as that.