PeterHilton

Mickie James is no big deal. She's no more popular then Kelly Kelly. She was barely better in the ring than Eve or the Bella twins (I mean..she was good at one point but holy **** she was terrible towards the end). And there were just as many 'stories' about her bitchy or unprofessional backstage as there are of Batista run-ins. She's gone. In two months only the nutter Mickie James fans who still think she's the second coming of Trish Stratus will care.

And I'm sure months of piss poor work, waning fan interest, and a desire to push her music career had nothing to do with it? Great rule to follow.

link? i'd definitely check it out. And for the record, love this board because I get to talk to guys like you, stennick, remi, Self..etc..who are wrestling fans without being..y'know..nut jobs. Kudos to the Dog Pound.

really? slang term means he went thourgh the motions without putting in any real effort. For instance, if you ride a bike downhill and allow gravity to provide the momentum you are 'coasting.'

One of my favorite columns on the net is 411mania's Hamilton Ave News Journal (smartest column out there..and not wrestling geek "smart" but thoughtful, business related smart)...loved this bit from this week's Q&A portion of the column (i'll bold the comment from the readers). Bischoff's quotes about lack of vision or a direction (creating a unique value proposition) are interesting and really true. To this day Dixie never seems to articulate what she wants TNA to be and what kind of fans she's trying to attract. The product is headed in a good direction though..so that's a start. Still not sure what is truly unique about it. The second part about advertising is what caught my attention though, especially with the last few comments in this thread. Beyond going viral, what else can TNA do to market to fans outside of their own 'captured' audience? Thoughts?

NWA/WCW first did Clash of the Champions free and they were amazing cards and enormously successful in building fans. But once the PPV business picked up, the Clashes becamse worse and worse because WCW had no intention of giving away PPV quality matches for free. But the fanbase was there so fans DID shell out the money. So the transition is possible.

Not a big deal, but I think the kick would've been a vital plot point in the storyline they were telling. It wasn't just a match ending. That punt is something they replay the week after and the week after and it's in the video package they play before they blow off the match on PPV...Orton knew it was a big deal so he kept trying to hit the move. imo

They did improvise a finish. Orton was trying to anyways...but Kofi keot screwing it up which made it look worse. Orton's reaction wasn't that bad; considering the character the plays it sort of fit. And it did get dealt with backstage: Kofi got buried, his push got cut off, and now he's on SD. That's how you deal with things.

Yeah, Dixie has said for a little over a year they've been making a profit, especially once all the overseas market deals kicked in. Never quite clear if that meant they made up for all their early losses, but that's neither here nor there...Dixie's dad wrote all that off. TNA makes it's money in TV deals, but it says something that you can't write your shows well enough to get your dedicated fanbase to pay a portion of what the E charges to see your big event shows. Long term they need to get that number up. And Hyde is right about getting their name out there..they need to improve on that as well.

His own fault. he screwed up a finish badly against Orton a while back and he's been in the dog house since then.

You're right. Tara's not worth breaking the bank over. But TNA made this situation worse than it should be by paying Hemme that insane amount. I think it's the combination of hearing Kong's complaints about pay along with this story along with Hemme making her money while doing zilch that makes it an issue worth bringing up.

Tara's gone..and she took some shots at TNA on the way out. Look for her to get a poor send off. http://www.411mania.com/wrestling/news/137393/Tara-Announces-That-She-Is-Leaving-TNA.htm This pay thing rears it's ugly head again. If TNA does actually beleive they can biuld around the KOs they may want tto try paying a few to stick around.

OH NOES! This will devastate TNA! Especially since there are no recent WWE releases that have more talent and/or are bigger names! Whatever will they do? I like Tara..but let's face it...if I were her I wouldn't be in a hurry to re-sign. Her storylines have been a mess. She was most effective as a dominant heel who played an obsessed psycho and in TNA she's been a face who loves spiders. WTF? Her momentum when she arrived was wasted . Let her go and sign Mickie James and no one will even notice.

To be fair, Raw's two hour numbers wer up from last week ..@ a 3.3. The bad lead in from last week's volcano show and the spotty advertising AND dealing with Impact led to a piss poor 2.4 or so for the first hour. But I do see your point..maybe there just aren't enough big venue wrestling fans to support two prime time TV shows.

He's not. Thanks. That's a weak roster. Who whould he feud with that I should care about?

Awful. Morrison seemed in line for a huge push on SD, on Raw he's lost in the shuffle, but at least he'll get seen The draft has always been stacked towards the A show, and I know SD is moving to SyFy but good lord...why would I even bother to tune in?

I like this Stennick guy.

You didn't really acknowledge the point I made about what the WWE does with its business model. You just insulted their fanbase. Also...if the fanbase is so programmed to watch that they tune in no matter what..I'd say the E is achieving it's goal.

Also, Knox is gone:

From a purely business standpoint, the E is stronger than they ever have been. They've diversified their revenue sources (movies, web and phone content, that insane library of footage they own, etc), created more markets internationally, and have become hyper predictable storyline wise because predictable revenue is better longterm for a publicly traded company. Their position now is in no way remotely close to what it was when they almost closed their doors. Vince & Co learned from that and created a new business model where -even with ratings and live gates relatively flat - the profits continue to grow. TNA is in no way a threat to put the E in any danger. EDIT: I mean..seriously? You think the move to PG and having mainstream publicity on a regular basis hurts them? Releasing people shows how weak they are? You do know wrestling is a business right? Internet wrestling nerds don't drive revenue...mainstream fans do. And as long as most people think that the WWE = pro wrestling, Vince is basically printing money.

Not really sold on Cassell yet tbh. And being a first round pick means Tim is going to feel pressure to start sooner rather than later. If management can resist that temptation..maybe...

Mays is awful in coverage. Awful. He just runs around trying to hit the **** out of people. Not agreat fit in a league that as pass happy as the NFL today.

I'd take the skillset of an Arena QB in an offense that has to pass the ball around 80 times a game in tight spaces over what Tebow did in college any day of the week. He's a great guy and an amazing competitor. If he doesn't become a much sharper, much more accurate passer very quickly he'll be out of the NFL within 6 years. And that will be up to Josh.

Also a Cowboys fan, also happy about Bryant, also think we have lots of needs to fill..especially on the O-line and in the secondary. Safety, specifically.

C'mon ..let's not be a total fanboy. Tebow won a Heisman in part because of his goal line TDs (that won't happen as much in the NFL ) and he had a lot of exceptional talent that turned 5 yard outs into 45 yard TDs. As a passer..Tebow is nowhere near ready to start in the NFL.