WWE or TNA? I Want Your Take

Yes…I am going to post another opinion question (except this will be longer). I know that we technically don’t cover TNA on this website, but after seeing two videos that were posted on nodq.com (see the “excitement” category for links) I started comparing the two products. Ben initially covered TNA in his article "Why You Should Be Watching TNA" but he stopped the discussion before a comparison of brands. I'd like to break it down for you now:

Category 1: Excitement

I’ll start off by posting links to the best of TNA, and the best of AJ Styles

These two videos show incredible athleticism and creativity. After watching these videos I find myself wanting to become a TNA fan. Since WWE has such a huge fan base, TNA has to pull fans away from WWE and toward TNA. This means that TNA has to have this kind of excitement every single night to keep up with WWE (which I feel is not happening at all).

Now I will give you some links to WWE videos: WWE1 and WWE2 (and i don't think that these two videos have even put a quarter of the cool stuff that WWE has done in here)

I feel that these two videos have the same quality of excitement that the TNA ones have, even though the WWE videos are missing some very important moments (Shane-o jumping off of billions of things, the complete Mick Foley vs. The Undertaker HIAC match, etc...)

The plus side of WWE having three shows is that they have a great chance to have three or four great and exciting matches a week, where as TNA fills up a week with about 6 matches.

Category winner: WWE

Category 2: Storylines

TNA has the creative genius behind the WWF Attitude Era (Vince Russo). However, I feel that his style doesn't fit TNA's style because of the short programming time. That being said, I feel that TNA had a nice amount of hype building into the King of the Mountain title win for Angle. Overall I feel that the storylines for TNA are pretty good (7 out of 10).

I thoroughly dislike most WWE storylines, such as Vince McMahon's death, John Cena vs. Khali, Lashley vs. the new Corporation (as I like to call it), etc...There really isn't anything I like about the WWE writing staff except for Dusty Rhodes at ECW...but that balances out because I hate Dave Lagana (he makes dumb decisions like having Hardcore Holly pin CM Punk clean and making CM Punk the first person out in the Elimination Chamber). However, I especially hate Smackdown's writers (Michael Hayes) and their storylines, because they show us the same main event almost every week. They always have a tag-team match between two tag-teams who aren't actually teams (like tomorrow's Edge & MVP vs. Batista & Ric Flair). So overall I feel that the storylines for WWE are not up to par (4 out of 10)

Category Winner: TNA

Category 3: Superstars

The obvious idea here is to compare two lists of superstars, one for each company. I will do this based on talent mixed with popularity.

TNA: Abyss, AJ Styles, Team 3D, LAX, Christian Cage, Jay Lethal, Jeff Jarrett, Kurt Angle, Rhino, Samoa Joe, Scott Steiner, Sting, Tyson Tomko.

WWE: Chris Benoit, CM Punk, Lashley, John Cena, Batista (I know), The Hardy Boyz, MR. KENNEDY, Randy Orton, HBK, HHH, Shane McMahon, Stone Cold, Kendrick & London, Edge, MVP, Kane, Rey Mysterio, Ric Flair, The Undertaker.

Shall we compare? Let's start with comparing the tag-teams. I put the top two tag-teams for each product. TNA has Team 3D and LAX, and WWE has Kendrick & London and the Hardy Boyz. Team 3D is actually the most decorated tag-team in WWE history, and they are doing very well in TNA as well. However, LAX is not up to the level that the Hardy Boyz (or even Kendrick & London) are on (and LAX is deteriorating). I am going to have to give the titles of "best tag-teams" and "most exciting tag-teams" to WWE.

Let's look at singles competition now. TNA has GREAT wrestlers like AJ Styles, Christian, Kurt Angle, and Samoa Joe. However, WWE has a great mix of powerhouses (Lashley, Cena, Batista), athletics (Jeff Hardy, Brian Kendrick, Rey Mysterio), classics (HBK, The Undertaker, Ric Flair) and future greats (Mr. Kennedy, CM Punk, MVP). A mix like that makes WWE all the more enjoyable, and that's why...

Category Winner: WWE

Category 4: Programming

In this category, I am going to compare the 1 hour show and the 2 hour show...

Both times have their pluses and minuses, but generally I feel that 2 hours is too much, and 1 hour is not enough...so basically I would like it if both shows were an hour and a half. This is because I always feel that TNA is rushing through things, and I feel that WWE has too many unnecessary backstage segments and squash matches. However, I feel that the 2 hour show is better than the 1 hour show because it allows time for more wrestling...and that is what I expect from a WRESTLING show.

Clear Category Winner: WWE

So basically in my opinion, WWE wins the heated contest 3-1. Please comment on the post and agree or disagree with me (even under anonymous).