TNA Wrestling has had a bit of a bad reputation for being the place where unemployed WWE talent goes. This isn’t really without merit. From high profile wrestlers like Jeff Hardy and Kurt Angle to even the lower card workers like Chavo Guerrero and Shannon Moore, it’s clearly easier to make it to TNA with WWE in your resume than just being a high profile independent wrestler.
The problem with this isn’t so much the fact they are signing guys with primetime television experience, but that they aren’t doing much to change them. When Sean Morely made a quick run in TNA, he was pretty much Val Venis going by his real name. When Shannon Moore came in, he was no different than when folks last saw him as “The Prince of Punk” on the ECW brand. The most headshaking moment of this was when they needed to bring the former Luke Gallows into TNA through the Aces and Eights, and Mike Tenay explained to viewers that he knew him because, “he was a bodyguard for some of the biggest stars in the business”. It was alluding to his time in WWE as CM Punk’s bodyguard, the only sort of role he really had as such on his resume.
Enter Derrick Bateman.
Real name Mike Hutter, Bateman made his first appearance in the WWE when NXT was a talent competition, being mentored by Daniel Bryan. He stuck around as one of the better known NXT talents (which wasn’t saying much as it was the least watched WWE program) feuding with Johnny Curtis (now Fandango) and having on again, off again relationships with Kaitlyn and Maxine. Bateman rarely spent any time on other WWE shows and found himself released on May 17, 2013. At the time he was trying to work a new gimmick as “USA Guy”.
Now, TNA could have brought him under his real name and changed nothing about him (which is what they did for the few appearances made by Trent Baretta as Greg Marasciulo), trying to pass him off with his WWE gimmick. Instead, TNA decided to repackage Hutter. They repackaged him as Ethan Carter III, a snobby silver spoon heel and nephew of TNA President Dixie Carter. The heel gimmick was a far departure from the zanier babyface that we saw from Bateman. His silly curls were cut and his physique was certainly at its prime.
His gimmick isn’t exactly original. But the importance is how it’s performed Ethan Carter is done extremely well by Hutter. He’s getting natural heel heat just based on his demeanour and actions. Squashing smaller guys is a good way to sell his physique and stature, and once he gets more involved with the TNA roster (last Impact, Sting stopped him from beating up Jeremy Borash), he should stand out in the lower card. This is what TNA should have been doing all along with a lot of former WWE guys. Find the ones with tons of potential and let them shine where WWE didn’t. I can say with confidence that while the gimmick has similarities to “The Chosen One” Drew McIntyre and Alberto Del Rio, Carter III does a much better job.
More importantly, TNA is trying to cut budget right now. It costs a ton to pay for name recognition, but much less to create it yourself. If TNA can continue to cultivate Carter and create some new stars out of the best talent out there, there’s no need for them to grab up the top WWE unemployed stars. Instead, TNA will create their own, much like they did back in 2005. AJ Styles, Magnus, Bobby Roode and Samoa Joe are guys that TNA didn’t have to wait for WWE to make. When people think of TNA, it’s guys like Styles. Not guys like Shannon Moore. If TNA keeps it up, it’ll be guys like Ethan Carter III they think of.
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