Does Impact Wrestling have a problem with keeping and showcasing talent?

It's hard to imagine a wrestling landscape without Impact Wrestling. Formerly known as Total Nonstop Action (TNA) Impact has been active since 2002 at various levels at it's peak a viable alternative to the WWE with a fresh roster and a unique identity to at it's troth a chaos of managerial mistakes and money blown. It could be argued up to the formation of All Elite Wrestling (AEW) or New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) expanding into America that Impact was the number 2 company with TV deals all over the world including being the company to really look at breaking into the Indian market for wrestling before WWE put the belt on Jinder Mahal for the same reason. 

However, something is just off with Impact to me. The majority of the promotion just feels like it's missing something. I feel this is due to the overall roster and how Impact finds itself in a wrestling landscape. Some of the talent I really like and will cover later but I think they suffer from being a smaller fish in the wrestling pond. I think of Impact like a mid table Premier League team. Every now and then you get a great talent coming through but then one of the bigger teams signs them. You can't build around someone for long enough before they go for a bigger payday. So when these talents see their contracts coming to an end they look to the bigger companies in WWE, AEW & NJPW for a pay day they can offer over Impact having made their name there. It leaves Impact in the middle most talents come through and go even in the last few years the likes of LAX, The Rascalz, Ethan Page & Brian Cage to name a few have made those moves. It's a revolving door and Impact is left with those with big potential leaving when they can and a mix of those nobody else wants and those let go by other places as well as those effectively on loan from other companies. 

That isn't to say Impact doesn't have gems on its roster. I think Chris Bey can be the face of any company and the likes of Ace Austin, Josh Alexander, Deonna Purrazzo and Jordynne Grace are good. I think they have the ability to build something good with Jake Something and Kiera Hogan as well and they seem to think the same of Trey Miguel (personally he was my least favourite of The Rascalz but nevertheless). However, outside of them and maybe a few others the appeal is lacking. The rest of the roster is filled of veterans in James Storm, Chris Sabin and Rhino for example and others who have left WWE recently in the likes of Matt Cardona and Brian Myers. A lot of the roster just seems to be there because it's the best place for them a cut below the top companies. Maybe this is an Anthem strategy to not invest big money in big talent to keep the running costs low but I wouldn't know that. Personally for me I'd build around Eddie Edwards who doesn't seems to be leaving (as long as he drops this weird Tommy Dreamer cosplay gimmick thing and gets back to great wrestler Eddie Edwards) but they seem hesitant on that. 

The likes of Chris Bey have come on leaps and bounds since his debut with Impact. Being on worldwide TV allows talents to grow (look how good Deonna looks for someone WWE had nothing for) but at the same time puts them in the shop window. If Chris Bey ends up in AEW when his contract is up he goes there a better talent then before his time in Impact and that is because of the place he has been allowed to work and grow in to a worldwide audience. It makes you wonder, should Impact pursue a deal like ECW did with WWE in the 90s. Financial help and talent sent from a parent promotion for them to learn. I feel the partnership with AEW could evolve into this. We saw Private Party go to Impact for a little bit but we could see that more. If AEW changes its format so that if Dark goes in place of taping for the new show on TNT certain talent like Top Flight, Lee Johnson and Leyla Hirsch could learn from being on worldwide TV. I don't think he's the best example but look at Al Snow in ECW, after several failed gimmicks in the WWF he managed to work something out with ECW which then translated back to WWF for his most successful run. I'm sure there's other to benefit from this system but it's late at night when I write this so that's the example I'm running with. Plus with this it means Impact wouldn't have to pay these talents as they'd be under AEW contract in exchange I imagine AEW is in the know of when talents deals would be up in order to negotiate with them to get a first refusal of sorts. 

I do find it interesting that both the World and Tag titles are held by wrestlers not contracted to the company. Let me run a hypothetical here in that ELP wins the X Division at the same time Kenny Omega is World Champion and FinJuice are Tag Team Champions. All of the men's titles in Impact at once would be held by people not contracted to Impact. Maybe it's a case to solidify the partnership with New Japan on the tag titles and a chance to make history with the world title but they don't have anyone really ready to win those belts. Sure the Good Brothers could win the tag belts back but outside of them who is build up to do that? I think it's a conundrum Impact currently has and they need to start finding a way to get their talent over and ready to be champions for the company.  

In conclusion, when looking at Impact it's a tale of two sides of a coin. They are great at giving new talent or talent looking to rebuild and image a place to work and shine. However, once that talent reaches a certain level they leave due to money or just interest elsewhere. It leaves Impact in this feeder like system not wanting to be it. If I was Impact I'd look to embrace this. While a different sport I look at how Brentford FC work in their transfer policy. Looking to buy cheap and sell for a profit with the next target in mind it would be a good strategy when Brentford lost Ollie Watkins they went and signed Ivan Toney and he has excelled at Brentford. Maybe Impact need to keep their eyes open for any young stars with a buzz about them and offer them say 2 year deals to shine and then move on should an offer come in. Whatever happens with the partnerships with AEW & NJPW I feel in the right circumstances Impact is the company with the most to gain. Will they use these partnerships to their full advantage for themselves or just remain where they are in the wrestling landscape? Only time will tell.