I like TNA more than AEW.
TNA for me is like NXT on drugs. They battle with WWE vibes but also have the indie scene feel. You can feel that they are not hard-hitting, but since most of their guys have been part of the WWE system, it's like they know how to take care of their wrestlers.
Maybe I'm just rambling here, but...
I think if I'm going to use the NBA as a basis here, TNA is like the Oklahoma City Thunder.
While they are not totally newbies, they are either discards or players that have yet to prove their selves in an elite environment.
Man, I really want to see the Motor City Machine Guns in a WWE ring.
And I guess this is why we have more WWE stars on the TNA side at the moment. Apart from the fact that most of them are getting better pushes (how the hell can they botch Rusev, Cesaro, Aleister Black, and The Undisputed Era given their current roster,) they have the chance to go back to WWE if they want to. With their current situation unfolding, I bet WWE would like to see guys like Josh Alexander and Moose performing under their banner. Jordynne Grace had an awesome 2024 WWE Royal Rumble debut as well.
Like Trinity, Nic Nemeth (or Dolph Ziggler) could use this run as a vehicle to end his career where it all started. Ditto for the second opportunity of Mustafa Ali and Steve Maclin.
AEW should be top-heavy but I really hate how they literally go all-in with their episodic programming. As mentioned in another article, I don't like how The Young Bucks are as "EVPs" because Tony Khan is an on-screen character and will definitely veto these guys if they do things in their favor.
A face boss with heel deputies always ends up with the heels as victors?
If so, then why were they stripped of their Trios Championship without a kayfabe explanation? This is why that angle will not work. For a company that almost regularly does pipebomb promos, the CM Punk incident will always be a missed opportunity. It also made The Young Bucks wimpy. Again, their suited versions with their personas are comparable to when The Godwinns turned into Southern Justice.
TNA lacks main event draws. Maybe this is because they know their main event scene is there to get snatched up once their contracts are up. Naomi is an example of a performer they built up who went to the WWE after all of that. With that said, the TNA wrestlers are handled better. The opportunities given to their upper midcard scene are more believable. Again with the Rusev example, he went from over as a beast to over as a beast... that is barely featured on television. Daniel Bryan is in the same category, although it feels like he is already preparing for a backstage role. Yes, he is still doing dream matches over dream matches, but these matches are exhibition matches and do nothing to the scheme of things if there is no clear payout. And if you consider that TNA is more of a pitstop or a stepping-stone to better things, the situation in AEW is more glaring.
In some ways, some of their non-WWE guys have felt the main event barrier on their AEW tenure. Nearly two months have gone by and in 2024, there are at least three dozen stars that have 0-0-0 win/loss records on their roster page. The list includes Keith Lee, Jay Lethal, Scorpio Sky, Bandido, Rush, Mike Santana, Josh Woods, AR Fox, Action Andretti, and Ethan F'N Page! If you place Page back to TNA, I bet he'll have the same career renaissance as Frankie Kazarian!
Anyway, these are the No Surrender highlights.