PeterHilton
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Posts posted by PeterHilton
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well Batista has a track of diva "run-ins" and well Shelly was released because of him
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?
Somewhat related to the top phrase, is that why they say "Dress for the job you want, not the job you have."?Great rule to follow.
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If you like Hamilton you should also check out Bill Behren's podcast on who is slamming who. He often discusses similar topics and using facts etc to back it up, plus he has inside knowledge of TNA, having worked there and being the agent for many current, including AJ, and past TNA talent.
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.
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I have no idea what this word means. lol
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.'
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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).
Sticking with TNA, there was great concern over their ability to build brand awareness. Kimmy starts us off:"Does TNA know how to build brand awareness?"
No. Spike TV doesn't either, sadly.
That would appear to be true considering how many brand changes Spike has gone through. Of course, Mr. Bischoff has recognized TNA's issues with brand awareness in the past. As covered in Issue #73 of the Journal in February 2009:
{quote from a Bischoof interview}Neither one of us [Hulk Hogan or I] were interested in TNA. It's a small organisation that doesn't have very much vision. The best way to describe it is like WWE-lite. There was nothing exciting there for Hulk or myself.
Although Dixie Carter is a nice woman, and I'm sure very intelligent, the rest of the people in senior management there are not the sort of people we would like to work with.
Mr. Bischoff was later asked if TNA approached him to do some work for them. His response was equally tepid:
Sure they have.
But look, the people that are involved in the creative process and vision for TNA are people that couldn't get a job in WWE or shouldn't have had a job in WCW.
There's no vision for that company.
They are people who have never been to the dance. They've never been a part, really, of any of the decision-making processes that led to the success of the industry.
Some of them happen to have been working there while other people did it, but have never really done it for themselves. They just don't have the feel for it.
So that's the reason we wouldn't want to be there.
For me to sit down and say "listen guys, this is what you have to do to be successful" would be like telling a three-year-old how to fly an aeroplane. You can try all you want, they're never going to get it.
Whatever Mr. Bischoff's personal opinions of the people who work there are, there is one point that remains clear: TNA lacks vision. They have yet to describe a unique value proposition for the product and truly define it different from all else that is available. When listening to Ms. Carter, she often gives conflicting messages of what TNA does and who it markets to. This lack of understanding has led to confusion and audience degradation and re-creation in the past.
Now the question is with Eric Bischoff at the helm, what is TNA's unique value proposition? Mr. Bischoff felt it was lacking so he should be able to articulate it now. MacDollarz believes they have all the tools, just need one more thing:
There's no reason TNA shouldn't be getting very high 1s and 2's. Please, they have literally every mainstream star in the business not under WWE contract.
I work for a cable company and in 4 years I've dealt with a TNA PPV order 2 times. Real ****... Their numbers are disgusting.
They need to advertise 20x harder.
Guest#9370 of why this has not come to be:
Part of this has been discussed - the lack of urgency, vision, and follow-through.
It can also be attributed to budget. Even if they persuade Spike to give them some ad time for free or for a significant discount, that would only reach people who watch Spike.
Nobody else has an incentive to cut them a deal though. I assume they have the people in-house to create an ad, but there is still the major expense of air time.
Wrestling seems to have a high payroll, as so many people are involved backstage. TNA's yearly revenues are about $50 million. I'd be surprised if their net profit margin is 5% or more. So they probably have less than $2.5 million to play with, if my assumptions are true.
This does not exempt them from properly advertising though. This means that making correct choices are even more important.
They must limit their advertising to getting the most impact per dollar. An expensive campaign that only reaches a small number of active wrestling fans is a waste. WWE can afford that, TNA cannot.
In spite of my complaints about how TNA has handled or ignored business, what they have done on YouTube is a good start. The Reader's Digest version of matches, a weekly round table, and interview segments is a low cost way to begin.
Unfortunately, that primarily reaches the IWC. The rest of the wrestling audience still needs to know about TNA.
And that is their biggest problem: people outside of this community do not know they exist. You said it above, TNA is not putting their advertising dollars (among other dollars) in the right place to build brand awareness.
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?
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Yeah but that is a gamble given as has been argued before the tendancy of people not the pay for what used to be free. Doing part pay and part free might be a good intermediate solution like CQ suggested, we shall see.
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.
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My point is after the first time, they should have just done the new finish (to make it look less dumb). Have Orton yell something at Kofi on his way out in disgust, and be done with it. And yes, it got dealt with backstage, but not before making a spectacle of it out there.
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
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Couldn't they simply have improvised a finish quicker, and dealt with it backstage?
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.
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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.
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Why isn't Kofi getting a push !? Hopefully on Smackdown! he actually gets moved up the card a bit.
His own fault. he screwed up a finish badly against Orton a while back and he's been in the dog house since then.
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I agree the pay thing rears its ugly head but in all do honesty Tara is not the girl to be giving pay increases to. She's on the wrong side of 40, she's always harping about doing MMA, she hasn't been interesting in five years. I agree the KO's need better pay or atleast more equal pay Hemme getting 500,000 doesn't count. That being said I'm quite sure they were blowing smoke up Tara telling her they wanted to build the division around her. I think its clear the division is built around The BP's and Angelina for the most part.
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.
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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
Lisa Marie Varon (aka Tara) posted the following blog, announcing that she is leaving TNA…Hey Gang!!!
It's been a while since I've posted a blog. I'm more into the daily updates. But the following is too long for an update.
It appears that I'm winding down at TNA. Unfortunately some organizations "leak" information to wrestling websites to put their spin on a situation, to make sure they come out in the best light. Not me. I'm gonna say it. I'm gonna put my name on it. And I'm going to stand behind it.
I came to TNA last year because I still had a lot of wrestling left in me. I was paid a fraction of what I thought I deserved. But I wanted to show I was still at the top of my game. Now my contract is up in May. I want a modest pay increase. They don't want to pay me what I think is fair. I have no problem going my own way.
But about 12 hours after the conversation where we didn't agree on pay, unnamed sources claim that I am hard to work with and that I don't give my best effort. My only response is that TNA made an aggressive effort to re-sign me, among other things saying that they want to build the women's division around me. And I think wrestling fans see, both on TV and at live events, that I always give 100%. I take pride in that. Smearing me on the way out the door is an act of second rate character.
I take pride in making my best effort to elevate my own wrestling and the entire TNA Women's Division. If people were rubbed the wrong way in the process, I stand behind my work and my positive intentions.
In closing I will say this. In the few weeks that I have left in TNA, I will be the same wrestler that you have seen for the past ten years. After that, I haven't decided if I will stay in wrestling, or finally make the jump to MMA. I do have a lot of irons in the fire. We'll see where life takes me. But wherever that is, there's gonna be competition, and I'm gonna give it my all.
Thanks For All Your Support!!!
Later Taters, Lisa Marie Varon : )
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.
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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.
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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.
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If Punk isnt reason enough to tune in...
He's not. Thanks.
That's a weak roster. Who whould he feud with that I should care about?
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Didn't they win the belts last night?
Honestly not sure. I didn't watch.
EDIT: Cody Rhodes. Chavo Guerrero. Chris Masters. I can't believe they're not just cutting these guys.
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?
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I like this Stennick guy.
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What ever you say, sport. I know how to run businesses very well and what Vince is doing is not going to work long-term. What Vince is doing is like reality television, feeding to the lowest common denominator of fan who are pleased with anything. People like that do not have attention spans and if they are not force fed everything on a silver platter exactly when they expect it, they go find something else. If you noticed the ratings this week, when word spread that the Raw crew was stuck overseas the ratings took a huge nose dive. This would not happen so noticably with TNA because they don't treat fans like brain-damaged people. Raw lost about 1/6 of its audience this week because the usual plate wasn't there. What the simpletons were expecting, what they see all the time, was not there, and they changed the channel. A small group turned to TNA and the others tuned to something else. Why? Because as I said, the people who enjoy seeing the same exact thing every week saw it was different and decided to change the channel. You pile that on top of PPV pricings and the magic carpet ride won't last forever. $45 for Extreme Rules? $60 in H.D.? That was what Wrestlemania 25 cost! At the speed WWE is going Wrestlemania 30 is going to cost over $100 in hi-def.
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.
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Also, Knox is gone:
That makes seven…- WWE.com just posted the following…
WWE has come to terms on the release of Mike Knox as of today, April 22, 2010. We wish him the best in all future endeavors.
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What? It can happen, it has happened in the past. WWF turned into a Looney Tunes show and WCW swooped right in and almost put McMahon out of business because Vince "knows what the fans want". Vince even did an interview within the last few months claiming Dixie and TNA were "smut and trash" and that the current WWE product is "what the people want to see". Dixie fired back thanking the king of smut for the compliment and laughing at how hypocritical Vince is.
Only a matter of time before it happens again. WWE has survived because of its name several times before but its been proven that the name won't keep them going when something better comes along. Remember when WCW Nitro started and everyone claimed the company would be dead in 6 months? Kind of like how everyone said TNA would be dead in 6 months, then in another, then another, then another. TNA continues to move up while WWE has remained on a steady decline/incline for about 7 years. But hey what do I know?
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.
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And I suppose it's your assertion that a player who hadn't played the position since HIGH SCHOOL was ready to start in the NFL?
Tebow wasn't drafted to start now (we're not the Rams). He was drafted to start 1-3 years down the line. So you might wanna call Scott Pioli and tell him that 1-3 years on the bench learning isn't long enough to make a player ready to be an NFL caliber passer. Oh wait....
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...
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I had basically accepted the fact we would get Taylor Mays a few days ago and I was fine with that. A lot of people had been saying it, but maybe he had some other issues we didn't know about since a few teams with safety needs passed on him and he's still on the board.
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.
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Haven't you heard? Neither did anyone else. Or are you not familiar with Kurt's story? Nobody else thought Kurt was that kinda QB either. People don't generally let their franchise QBs play in the Arena League, after all (or bag groceries for a living).
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.
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As a Cowboys fan, I'm excited about Bryant. Also as a Cowboys fan, I don't care about character issues as long as you aren't physically harming people. I think he's got a chance to be the best offensive player in this draft so I don't mind the risk. We needed a lot of things, so I would of been happy with a lot of different people here really.
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.
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I'll say this: Matt Cassel held a clipboard his entire college career (DIDNT EVEN PLAY!). Didn't do too badly after Josh got his hands on him. All Tebow's done is won championships (and a Heisman) in the most competitive conference in all of college football. I'm not too concerned, honestly.
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.
The Official WWE / NXT Discussion Thread *May Contain Spoilers*
in The Dog Pound
Posted
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.