A couple of weeks back I tuned in to a Monday night show of TNA Wrestling and was pleasantly surprised with the show that they put on (from a wrestling perspective). I was however kind of shocked when I looked at the roster to see just how many old WWE and WCW guys were there. I suppose in retrospect this really should surprise me as there simply aren’t that many big time wrestling promotions available for the top guys. If the WWE doesn’t want you and you want to stay in the business then you’ve only got a couple of options.
As for TNA I certainly can’t fault them either… these are big names in the wrestling business and they’d be stupid just to let them sit at home or worse yet to go to work for another competing promotion. The problem that I’ve got with TNA here is the WAY they’re using their talent. When I tuned in a couple of weeks back I could have sworn I was watching a WCW Monday Nitro show from about 10 years ago. I was given a show with Eric Bischoff and Hulk Hogan calling the shots, Hall & Nash causing a ruckus and Sting hanging out in the rafters. I mean really… is this the best you can do TNA?
In any case, I got to thinking about just how may retreads TNA actually had so I went and did some research. Without further adieu, here’s what I found from the current TNA roster.
- A.J. Styles (Allen Jones) – WCW
- Bobby Lashley (Franklin Lashley) – WWE
- Brian Knobbs (Brian Yandrisovitz) – WCW & WWE as part of the Nasty Boys
- Brother Devon (Devon Hughes) – ECW & WWE as part of the Dudley Boys
- Brother Ray (Mark LoMonaco) – ECW & WWE as part of the Dudley Boys
- D’Angelo Dinero (Elijah Burke) – WWE
- Dr. Stevie (Michael Manna) – ECW, WCE & WWE as Steven Richards, Big Steevie Cool, etc.
- Jeff Hardy (Jeff Hardy) – WWE
- Jeff Jarrett (Jeff Jarrett) – WWE, WCW as Jeff Jarrett and Double J
- Jerry Sags (Jerome Saganovich) – WCW & WWE as part of the Nasty Boys
- Kevin Nash (Kevin Nash) – WCW, WWE as Diesel, Kevin Nash, etc.
- Kurt Angle (Kurt Angle) – WWF, WWE
- Matt Morgan (Matt Morgan) – WWE
- Mick Foley (Mick Foley) – WCW,ECW, WWE as Mankind, Dude Love, etc.
- Mr. Anderson (Ken Anderson) – WWE as Mr. Kennedy
- Orlando Jordan (Orlando Jordan) – WWE
- Raven (Scott Levy) – ECW, WCW, WWE
- Rhino (Terry Gerin) – ECW, WWE
- Scott Hall (Scott Hall) – WCW, WWE as Razor Ramon, Diamond Stud, Scott Hall, etc.
- Scott Steiner (Scott Rechsteiner) – WCW, ECW, WWE
- Sean Morley (Sean Morley) – WWE as Val Venis
- Sting (Steve Borden) – WCW
- Syxx-Pac (Sean Waltman) – WCW, WWE as X-Pac, 1-2-3 Kid
- Tomko (Travis Tomko) – WWE as Tyson Tomko
- Daffney (Shannon Spruill) – WCW
- Ric Flair (Richard Fliehr) – WCW, WWE
- Taz (Peter Senerchia) – ECW, WWE
- Tara (Lisa Marie Varon) – WWE as Victoria
- Christy Hemme (Christy Hemme) – WWE
- Eric Bischoff (Eric Bischoff)
- Hector Guerrero (Hector Guerrero) – WWE as the Gobbledy Gooker
- Hulk Hogan (Terry Bollea) – WWE, WCW
32 names. And that’s not to mention some of the off camera talent such as writers, road agents and referees. The list grows even more if you include folks that have had developmental contracts with the WWE. One thing that I found very entertaining is the stories behind some of these folks. Why they went to TNA, why they left WWE, etc. If you’re looking for some good stories head to Google or Wiki and enjoy!
