It is well documented that Foley, Austin, Guerrero, and Jericho were midcarders before going to WWE and being made into legit headliners. Who has been in a big company before, but not pushed to the main that TNA could capitilize on? (not currently in WWE of course.) Now this could mean a total character overhaul like Austin, or just the chance to shine like Guerrero. Either way, you see something in them that shows star potential.

The obvious first two that TNA is hoping for are Christian and Rhino. I don't think Christian is exciting enough in the ring to really carry a company, and I'm not sure about Rhino's promo skills.

What do you guys think?

Only time will tell what Christian is going to be. I'll agree with you that I don't think he's strong enough to carry the company...............but he COULD be. Rhino is good with the Orlando crowd, but I don't know if he would catch on everywhere they have the possibility of running shows in the future.

I think that TNA has guys that they can easily work into stars if given the right pushes etc. Eric Young has REALLY grown over the course of the Jarrett Army vs. Sting feud and it has nothing to do with him even wrestling. It's nice to see that TNA is keeping undercard guys in mind even though that feud is main event level for them. The same could go for almost anyone in Team Canada. I would eventually see them having guys break off from Team Canada and replaced by others. These guys could go face and maybe catch on that way. Bobby Roode comes to mind. He's a solid worker that with a good gimmick could actually be pretty convincing as a babyface. Who knows though.

They've already done it to an extent with guys like Ron Killings and Raven.

True on Truth and Raven, but they need to reestablish both of them since they have a national deal.

DK, I agree that the Canada guys could be built into stars, but they will be seen as homegrown. ( which is a subject we should hit on later) For now, I'd like to think of guys we're already familiar with who you think could really break through.

I'll throw one out there: Maven. And I'm completely serious.

Yeah, good call. I could totally see Maven succeeding. Good look, and he played a heel well in his last few days as well. He always had alot of heat, and he could execute in the ring.

I wonder what he is doin now anyway.

Some names I always thought could succeed:

Disco Inferno - liked his work in the ring and on the mic. Great Charisma. (He did some things with them in the beginning though, didn't he?)

Chuck Palumbo - Don't ask me why. Cause I don't know. And I guess he is with WWE again which technically means this one doesn't count.

Chris Kanyon - ignoring his current fascination with himself and his "shocking" revelation.

Believe it or not...............Matt Morgan. Corny swears he can talk his ass of and that's all they need. A big guy that can talk and be a bad ass motherfucking heel. If done right.........he's be TNA's version of Lesner.

I totally agree with Morgan.

I'd believe it with Morgan. It was stupid for WWE to release him. They should have repackaged him without the stuttering gimmick, other than that - he actually looked like a real threat - even to Big Show.

I could see Benjamin with the NWA title at some point. And as for less obvious people right now - Rob Conway, Rob Van Dam (although I wouldn't say he's a midcarders, but he'd get the belt in TNA), Val Venis, and even Trevor Murdoch might be up the card in TNA for Raw guys.

As for SmackDown guys - Davairi (assuming he'll ever work full-time again), Doug Basham, Gregory Helms (imaine him in the X Division), Jamie Noble, Ken Kennedy, Paul Burchill, Paul London, Brian Kendrick, and Matt Hardy - and even Nunzio, Super Crazy, Psichosis, Scotty 2 Hotty, and Steven Richards would be treated differently in TNA.

Scotty 2 Hotty as TNA Champion!

But how many of those guys do you think could break out as legitimate stars?

Well, I would like to see what TNA could do with London, Spanky, either Basham, Noble, or even surprisingly Steven Richards.

I'd agree with all those except Spanky and Richards. Spanky just isn't that good. Steven Richards prime was 6-7 years ago, and he wasn't even great then.

Apparently you missed Spanky's last ROH run. I wasn't too big of a fan of his either, but he's improved by leaps and bounds.........

I didn't see it. Something about him I just can't get into.

Two guys with them now that could become big stars for them are Shelley and Lethal. If they do a slow build with Jay and have him be the guy to finally usurp the X Title from Joe, he'd be huge.

As far as guys not currently with them, I'd like to see Sean O'Haire brought in, if he's still wrestling at all. I always marked for him and he could pull off the "Monster Heel" role you guys tossed out for Morgan.

Sad thing is I thought there was some major potential in his "devils advocate" character that they saddled just to throw him with Piper for whatever reason.

Even that was going good until they dumped Piper, and O'haire too.....again, for whatever reason. I think that was during Vince's "No WCW success stories" days.

Didn't Piper shoot his mouth off on HBO and get himself canned, then they dumped O'Haire 'cause they had nothing to do with him?

An O'Haire vs. Joe matchup would ROCK if they played it slightly shootstyle. Kinda like Ki vs. Joe I.

Yeah, O'Haire always had huge potential.

I could really see Richards playing the bitter WWE guy character perfectly in TNA. Not sure if you could get him over as a face though. He'd just end up as a crybaby and get beat all the time.

I've never seen anything in Richards. His ring work is below average, and his promo skills are just OK. What is the net's fascination with him anyway?

Last I heard, O'Haire was working some "Ultimate Fighting" type of deal. I used to get email updates about his matches last year (I didn't sign-up for the emails, but apparently some promoter thought my website screamed "I dig Sean O'Haire and would be willing to pay money to see him").

I'm pretty sure he's done with the MMA stuff.

That's pretty much what happened. Even before that, they had abandoned the cool "devil's advocate" gimmick they had given him in hype videos, so O'Haire wasn't catching on with the audience anyhow.

I'm a mark for O'Haire due to his WCW stuff, but he wasn't really doing too well on Smackdown in 2003. I only remember a couple of disappointing matches he had with Benoit, Guerrero, but a surprisingly lively one against Mr. America.

I agree with Richards not being in his prime, but he could be used well in TNA if not as a wrestler, at least as a manager to one of the top guys who can't cut a promo.

I haven't heard about any of his matches in a year now - so I have no idea.

I've been a mark for Richards since ECW, when he was the putz to Raven before Raven's Flock was created in WCW, even during Right To Censor, and as Victoria's manager.

I think Val Venis could be taken seriously and become NWA champion.

I definitely agree on Val.

And I think Val Venis won't be like one of those wrestlers who would be critisized because of his old gimmick -- like poor ole' Terry Taylor who will never be able to be taken seriously at any point in his life because he will always be The Red Rooster.

Speaking of Maven. Just caught him on VH1's Surreal Life tonight. Could be a nice career boost to him, and maybe he can transfer it into work with TNA, who knows.