Is TNA Letting The Fans Down By Letting Homegrown Talent Go?

Let me start this off by saying, I’m a TNA fan. With that being said, being a TNA fan is no easy task. The company is here, then it’s there, then it’s somewhere else. All things considered keeping track of TNA’s direction is like attempting to nail Jell-O to a tree. Once you finally get a grasp on what’s going on. The company sets the ship on a different course.

For years now people have been complaining that TNA needed to push their own homegrown talent and it appears that they’ve been doing just that. The only problem is, they’ve been pushing their own homegrown talent out the door. In the past few months we’ve seen the departure of the face of the company AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels, Chris Sabin and more with many more rumored to be on the way out. These are the guys that built this company and you would think TNA might make a bigger effort to keep them happy.

It’s been a well known fact that TNA has been attempting to re-sign their talent for less money and many people haven’t taken too kindly to that. This has caused quite a few of their homegrown talent to walk. While letting their established talent walk, TNA has also been signing extensions for some of their newer talent. Gunner, James Storm, Robbie E, Rockstar Spud and Bram have all recently signed multi-year deals with the company. Not to mention TNA is currently throwing away money as they pay King Mo and Rampage Jackson who haven’t appeared on the show in a very long time.

It’s a good call to lock down Gunner and James Storm on TNA’s part but what about the other three. Despite the fact that Robbie E has a bad gimmick he’s talented in the ring so that’s another good one as well. Rockstar Spud’s current character however is universally hated by wrestling fans (not in a good way) and doesn’t seem to have much of an upside. Last but not least…who the hell is Bram? Bram is former NXT superstar Kenneth Cameron and he’s been with TNA for about 5 minutes. The fact that TNA is going out of their way to sign former WWE talent while letting guys like Chris Sabin and Christopher Daniels slip through their fingers says a lot about the current state of the company.

As a TNA fan, guys like AJ Styles, Chris Sabin and Christopher Daniels were the reason I would tune in every week and now that they’re gone I find myself less and less interested in what TNA is doing. Those were the guys that built the company and those were the guys that gave it its own identity. One needs to only take a quick glance at TNA’s current roster to see it’s missing some of the very cornerstones that were once highlights of the company.

Aside from the talent that has left, Austin Aries is another big reason I was tuning in and TNA hasn’t been using him at all. Without a doubt Austin is one of the brightest stars in the industry and he can’t even get TV time.

TNA seems to be in the process of restructuring their company and while they’ve been doing this quite a few people seem to be losing their jobs. In the end the talent is missing out on the chance to help the company build their own unique identity in the wrestling industry and the fans are missing out on the chance to witness it.