The June 11 Observer Newsletter examines whether or not TNA wrestler Chris Sabin will leave the company when his contract expires in August. WWE may be leery of hiring any TNA talent at the moment due to the currently lawsuit stemming from the Ric Flair situation, plus TNA may not want to lose Sabin at he moment due to their own roster depth issues.
Writes The Observer: “The one thing about Sabin possibly leaving, and Alex Shelley leaving, combined with A.J. Styles and James Storm both turning 35 in recent days is that TNA needs to start signing talent in their 20s and groom them. One of the reasons TNA was able to develop its own stars is they started a lot of guys in their early years when they focused more on the X Division, and then the guys grew out of the division …
TNA also had an advantage because years ago, WWE looked down its nose at independent stars, but with the success of Punk and Bryan, combined with the fact that most of the best guys in their developmental system (Rollins, Cesaro, Ohno, Ambrose) all came out of the indie scene, they have a very different view …
For all the talk within WWE of their own talent depth issues, and it’s not really talent depth but star depth, people have considered guys like Styles and Roode as young guys for so long that they don’t realize that’s no longer the case.”
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