NWA-TNA: The Arrival Of The Alternative

Heyman Deciple · 03-10-2009, 11:33 AM

NWA-TNA: The Arrival Of The Alternative

Hey everybody, I’m Heyman Deciple and this project is going to be an NWA-TNA thread set in 2002. I just really liked the idea of tackling TNA from the very beginning.

I'm looking forward to the challenge of this as at this point In TNA, there were no monthly Pay-Per-Views to build up to, they didn’t even have a national television deal, they were just doing weekly 10-dollar pay-per-views.

Now I’ve made a few alterations to TNA’s beginnings. As their first weekly pay-per-view was held in Huntsville, Alabama and they actually planned to travel around. Which was ultimately stopped because they weren’t really selling the tickets they thought they would. So they moved to doing shows in Nashville’s Municipal Auditorium and then down sized more to the Nashville Fairgrounds. So to start out I’m just going right to the Fairgrounds as to be honest I thought it was kind of dumb to think you’d be selling out buildings and drawing good crowds sight unseen. To me it would have been better to start small and build from there. Plus working that small building every week, gives an ECW arena type vibe, which I enjoy.

Another thing I’m changing no celebrity appearances. In the beginning TNA had Nascar drivers and country music stars. To me that’s just a waste of money. Who’s going to buy a wrestling pay-per-view just because a Nascar driver is there? Plus I never got the whole Nascar thing. Monster Truck races, sure but Nascar no.

Another change is no TNA girls. In the beginning TNA had girls dancing in cages between matches. Now while I was a big fan of TNA dancer Lollipop, I just thought this was too much like dying days of WCW. So I’ve dropped that.

I’ve also decided to add another Championship. We already have the NWA World Title, X Division Title, and the NWA Tag Team Titles. I’m adding the NWA North American title. I liked the idea of the North American title for two reasons, One because back in the day I remember watching the GWF on ESPN. A fine promotion back in the day in all honesty and I remembered the Patriot defending the North American title and I always liked it. The second reason is during the short-lived NWA invasion of the WWF in 98; Jeff Jarrett was awarded the NWA North American Title so I just thought it worked.

And on one final note, No Mike Tenay or Don West. I like Don more than most but if I’m planning this promotion from the beginning Don West wouldn’t even be on my radar. As far as Mike Tenay goes, again I like him more than most and feel the guy can be a very good announcer when he’s not heavily scripted. Hell the guy has won Observer awards for being the best announcer but I just decided to go with someone else and I always felt Mike Tenay was a little too mister know it all for my tastes.

Plus one more thing, no six sided ring. That didn't come along until 2004 anyway. I just thought I'd get that out of the way.

Anyway up next I’m going to post a fictional torch interview with Jeff Jarrett followed by the roster and line up for the first show.

The following is a work of fiction.

Courtesy of the Pro Wrestling Torch (Not really)

Since 2001, with WCW and ECW both having gone out of business Vince McMahon has had a near monopoly on Professional Wrestling in the United States but that may all change on June 19th 2002 as legendary promoter Jerry Jarrett and his son wrestling superstar Jeff Jarrett launch their own promotion NWA-TNA. Not much is currently known about the promotion other than it is affiliated with the NWA and it will produce weekly pay-per-views for 10 dollars a show. Recently I sat down with Jeff Jarrett to discuss the promotion.

*Wade Keller: Thanks for sitting down with me for this interview Jeff.

*Jeff Jarrett: My pleasure Wade.

*Wade Keller: Jeff what have you been up to, since WCW was bought out last year by Vince McMahon?

*Jeff Jarrett: Well I sat at home and spent time with my family as I waited for my contract with WCW to run out and once it did I began working overseas tours with Andrew McManus’ World Wrestling All-Stars group.

*Wade Keller: What was that like?

*Jeff Jarrett: It was good. It was great to just be back in the ring, wrestling in front of a crowd again. Also it was a fun experience just because we were working in areas that don’t get a lot of live wrestling action especially with some of the big stars the people have seen on television like myself, and Scott Steiner, and Disco and Buff and everybody else.

*Wade Keller: So what made you and your father think about starting your own promotion, NWA: Total Nonstop Action?

*Jeff Jarrett: You see Wade, while those WWA shows were fun. They weren’t really designed to step up and fill the void left by WCW and ECW. They were just mainly done as international tours and occasional pay-per-view shows. As a matter of fact the one pay-per-view they held in the United States in February didn’t go very well. No one has actually stepped up to be that number 2 promotion in the United States. John Collins’ MECW tried. I think they had one free TV taping and then it all fell apart. Jimmy Hart tried with his XWF promotion. They held two days of TV tapings down there in Universal Studios in Orlando and they had a pretty good roster to boot but while they were trying to get a TV deal Vince McMahon swooped in and took their top talent like Hulk Hogan and Curt Hennig and they still don’t have a TV deal and It’s doubtful from what I’ve heard that they ever will. There is a major opportunity for me and my dad to step up and be that number 2 promotion and I’m really excited about it.

*Wade Keller: As you said Jeff, Those promotions held TV Tapings but they had no outlet to air their shows and as I understand it you and your dad will be jumping right into pay-per-view. Doing weekly 10 dollar pay-per-view shows, aren’t you at all concerned that wrestling fans already have access to hours of free wrestling on television every week from the WWE why would they pay 10 dollars a week to see your shows?

*Jeff Jarrett: First Wade me and my father know this is a very risky situation and it could fail but we honestly believe this can work. Listen Wade there are a lot of wrestling fans out there right now who no longer watch wrestling. I’m not just talking about Vince McMahon’s lost viewers I mean that WCW audience that just stopped watching after WCW went away. WCW had a loyal rating audience of 2.5 and after WCW was sold to Vince, Vince’s numbers didn’t gain that 2.5, that audience just stopped watching. So if me and my dad can get some of those fans back on board and watching our show every week we’ll be a success. Will it be easy no, but over time people will see if they just sample us one time we intend to give you the best product possible. You’ll always get your money’s worth. We have no intention of just Copying what Vince does. We want to be our own product we want to be an alternative to what Vince does.

*Wade Keller: What do you intend to do to make you different and help you stand out from the WWE?

*Jeff Jarrett: First thing is more wrestling. How much wrestling do you really get on a weekly show from Vince McMahon? Usually how long is the longest match 10 minutes. We’ll give you more action and uninterrupted action, as we don’t have commercial breaks. That’s one of the worst things about Vince’s shows. When they actually give a match more time and your getting into it they go to commercial. NWA-TNA has no commercials. Plus we really plan to get behind our cruiserweight division or what we call the X Division?

*Wade Keller: The X Division?

*Jeff Jarrett: Yes Wade, the X Division. Where it's not about weight limits, it’s about no limits. The one thing I always thought WCW did better than Vince was their Cruiserweight division. As Vince could never really get behind the smaller guys as he’s a bigger believer in the muscle heads. In NWA-TNA the X Division will feature all the great young talent you’ve been reading about on the Internet. Guys like Christopher Daniels, Low-Ki, AJ Styles, The American Dragon, Spanky, Joey Matthews and Christian York among others but not only will we feature amazing unknown talent we’ll also feature big names like myself, Big Poppa Pump Scott Steiner, Ken Shamrock, Scott Hall, Jerry Lynn, and The Franchise Shane Douglas. Plus we’ll give you the best storylines we possibly can because the matches and the wrestling don’t mean anything without good stories and strong characters backing them up.

*Wade Keller: Speaking of storylines what’s the creative team looking like. I’ve been hearing some reports about Vince Russo? I know you two are close.

*Jeff Jarrett: Wade, I love Vince Russo. He’s a very good friend of mine. I think he has good ideas but I don’t think Vince would be the right kind of booker for the audience we’re trying to bring in. If the people wanted to see a Sports Entertainment show they have Vince McMahon for that and they can see it for free. The only way this is going to work is if we respect the audience and not insult them or their intelligence and not just give them more of the same. The Creative team will more or less be me and my dad. Now while my dad may be old school he is a legendary promoter. Me I’ve been apart of promotions at their peak, at the height of their popularity so I think I have something to contribute there.

*Wade Keller: The promotion is called NWA-TNA, so I under stand women will be involved. How raunchy are you looking to get?

*Jeff Jarrett: Women will be part of the show, we’ve signed Alicia Webb who was Ryan Shamrock in the WWF, we have Shannon who was Daffney in WCW, we have Alexis Laree who I’ve heard about on the Indy circuit and we’ll have April Hunter who was that red headed N.W.O. 2000 girl, she’s been in Playboy and she’s been working hard training with Killer Kowalski in Boston. As for how Raunchy it will get it’s not going to be raunchy at all. I’ve never considered wrestling raunchy. This is Pay-Per-View so we can do whatever we want. We also have to be responsible but women are a big part of the business today and we plan on using them to draw in that male demographic.

*Wade Keller: What about girls dancing in cages I heard that might be happening?

*Jeff Jarrett: That is not true. While we want to attract that former WCW audience. That would just be too much like the dying days of WCW so that’s not true.

*Wade Keller: What about the announcers. I’ve been hearing all kinds of rumors. Maybe Mike Tenay or Scott Hudson?

*Jeff Jarrett: There will be a two man announce team of Tony Schiavone.

*Wade Keller: Excuse me?

*Jeff Jarrett: I know Tony takes a lot of crap for his performance during the dying days of WCW but Tony is a solid announcer and I feel the only reason he takes so much crap is because his voice is associated with a failed wrestling promotion. While Jim Ross is considered a great announcer and he was on the winning team, plus I just thought it would be funny listening to the Internet bitch about Tony every week. Another thing you have to take into consideration Wade is that Tony has a very recognizable voice. He has called just as many big moments as Jim Ross. He was there when Jim Crockett got on WTBS. It Tony’s voice you heard when the Four Horsemen were formed, it was Tony’s voice you heard when Hulk Hogan shocked the world and joined Scott Hall and Kevin Nash to form the n.W.o., it was Tony’s voice you heard when Sting didn’t wrestle for a year and finally met Hulk Hogan at Starrcade 97, it was Tony’s voice that you heard when Goldberg went on his big undefeated streak and beat Hulk Hogan for the WCW title in the Georgia dome, and it was Tony’s voice that you heard on that last episode of Monday Nitro when Ric Flair wrestled Sting one last time.

*Wade Keller: Okay, fair enough. You said there will be a 2 man announce team so who will be broadcasting with Tony Schiavone?

*Jeff Jarrett: Calling the action with Tony will be the Disco Inferno, Glenn Gilberti.

*Wade Keller: Really?

*Jeff Jarrett: Yes, I wanted that old face-heel announcer dynamic and I really thought Disco could pull that off as he’s not only a funny, entertaining guy but he’s good at what he does and he can make you really hate him.

*Wade Keller: I had heard Don Callis was up for the job?

*Jeff Jarrett: Don Callis was considered but he lives in Canada and we didn’t want to deal with that expense. So we went with Disco. Glenn will also be part of the creative team pitching ideas.

*Wade Keller: Was there any interest in guys like The Warrior, or Savage, or Goldberg or even Buff Bagwell?

*Jeff Jarrett: I’m interested in anybody that will make me money and create interest in the product but the roster is pretty star studded as it is and you don’t want to blow all your cash on nothing but big names. I’m happy with the big names we have with Scotty, Shamrock, and Scott Hall. As for the guys you named, Warrior would be interesting but I feel the guy may be a little too insane to deal with at this point. The Macho Man was too expensive for WCW in 99 so I think he’d be out of our price range as well. Buff is a good guy but I just didn’t want to over load the show with big money stars and the same deal with Goldberg. He would just be much too expensive.

*Wade Keller: I’ve also heard Dusty Rhodes might be part of the promotion?

*Jeff Jarrett: Yes, the American Dream will be our NWA representative. You see my dad wants no part of being on camera and I thought Dusty would be perfect. I mean when he showed up on Nitro last year, the Ratings for that segment went up. So there’s obviously an audience out there that still wants to see him. He won’t be on every week as we don’t want to burn him out but he will be part of the show.

*Wade Keller: Why team up with the NWA?

*Jeff Jarrett: Wade me and my father started this promotion TNA, Total Nonstop Action but as a brand we have no credibility no newly formed promotion does but the NWA does. It’s a recognizable brand name. There’s an audience out there that still remembers the NWA so why not incorporate it. Plus those NWA titles have such a rich lineage. We right now have a world title that is known and prestigious and we haven’t even had our first show.

*Wade Keller: Tell me about the first show.

*Jeff Jarrett: Well the first show of NWA-TNA takes place Wednesday night on 8 PM live on Pay-Per-View at the Nashville Fairgrounds and will feature a one night 8 man tournament for the NWA World Heavyweight championship and entered into that tournament are myself, Scott Steiner, Ken Shamrock, Shane Douglas, Jerry Lynn, Steve Corino, Brian Christopher, and Scott Hall.

*Wade Keller: Jeff, as you said the first show takes place at the Nashville Fairgrounds. What’s the plan after that? Are you going to take the show on the road or will you be staying in the Nashville Fairgrounds similar to what ECW did with the ECW Arena?

*Jeff Jarrett: Me and my father would definitely like to take the show on the road but for right now we feel it’s best to stay in Nashville at the Fairgrounds and build our audience from the ground up and as word of NWA-TNA spreads and our audience increases than we’ll consider doing more road shows.

*Wade Keller: Well Jeff, thank you for your time and I wish you and your dad and everybody in NWA-TNA good luck.

*Jeff Jarrett: Thanks Wade.

End of Interview

NWA-TNA Roster

The Wrestlers
Jeff Jarrett
Scott Steiner
Ken Shamrock
Scott Hall (Razor Ramon)
Brian Christopher (Grandmaster Sexay)
Shane Douglas (Dean Douglas)
Steve Corino
Jerry Lynn
Kid Kash
Malice (The Wall)
K-Krush (Ron Killings)
Elix Skipper
Christopher Daniels (Curry Man, Suicide)
Low-Ki (Senshi)
American Dragon (Bryan Danielson)
Spanky (Brian Kendrick)
Paul London
Michael Shane (Matt Bentley)
AJ Styles
Amazing Red
Jimmy Yang (Akio, Jimmy Wang Yang)
Sonny Siaki
Chris Harris (Braden Walker)
James Storm
Joey Matthews (Joey Mercury)
Christian York

The Women
April Hunter
Alicia Webb (Ryan Shamrock, Symphony)
Shannon (Daffney, Lucy Furr, Shark Girl, The Governor)
Alexis Laree (Mickie James)

The Managers
Father James Mitchell

NWA Representative
Dusty Rhodes

Announcers
Tony Schiavone
Glenn Gilberti (Disco Inferno)

Backstage Interviewer
Goldy Locks

Ring Announcer
Jeremy Borash

NWA: Total Nonstop Action
June 19th 2002
Nashville Fairgrounds

On the Premiere of NWA-TNA, there will be a one night 8 man NWA World Title Tournament and the First Round matches have already been announced.

NWA World Title Tournament First Round Matches
Scott Steiner Vs. Scott Hall
Shane Douglas Vs. Ken Shamrock
Brian Christopher Vs. Jerry Lynn
Jeff Jarrett Vs. Steve Corino

Tune in at 8PM live on Wednesday night June 19th to witness who will become the NWA World Heavyweight Champion.

*Okay with that, I am done. The first show should be posted soon.

KenTheKiller · 03-10-2009, 02:59 PM

Really like where you're going with this. Can't wait for the first show.

Bernie · 03-12-2009, 06:29 PM

An alternative for TNA is the way to go. Glad to see your basically started from the begining of the company...I am sure your storylines will own the original storylines that NWA-TNA delivered when the first started. Mix storylines with the excellent wrestling and then we have a great show.

Good luck with this

NWA-TNA: The Arrival Of The Alternative

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