The Official TNA / Impact / GFW Discussion Thread

[Stennick]

I liked last night but I fear TNA is still TNA.

 

Pope competed for the World Title last night and got not a single mention on television.

 

Where were Hall and Nash and Young? Nash basically jobbed Young out at the pay per view. After being betrayed and beaten up as well as mocked for weeks and what revenge did Young get? Being beaten clean in the middle of the ring.

 

As said before you could have RVD vs. Hardy this week, next week promote AJ vs. RVD first ever meeting, then book the rematch for the pay per view. Instead they pulled a Goldberg winning the championship, the threw a spike in ppv buyrates and even drawing out television ratings possibly by blowing their load in one night. I get what they were trying to do but its not like their an RVD vs. AJ television match away from winning the ratings war. Its a marathon at this point and its not going to matter if they delay a match for a week and give it proper hype and build.

 

I like that their pushing Rob Terry but why? The guy is big and muscular and thats it. I also hate how Desmond Wolfe is an after thought whipping boy for Flairs group.

 

I don't like the confetti thing unless one its a huge underdog victory ala Shawn Michaels first title win at Wrestlemania 12, or some huge triumph over evil over a long period of time ala Sting at Starrcade. They treated this like Flair's group was the nWo and they terroized everyone. 90 percent of the guys out there had never been in contact with Flair's group and the over the top celebration was a bit silly.

 

RVD as champion isn't bad but they had a chance to put the title on a "home grown" main eventer with Pope if they were taking the title off of A.J. Instead once again they show they'd rather pick up other companies upper mid carders and hand them championships rather than push the guys that can only be associated with TNA. If Pope wins the title he's known more as the Pope with TNA than he ever was Elijah Burke. If RVD wins the title he's remembered for ECW and the WWE not TNA. What it tells me is that Pope wasn't good enough, TNA guys like Daniels and Joe weren't good enough but RVD was.

 

I think Pope has the potential to make more money for TNA than RVD. RVD is a good worker but what is his drawing power? With six months of build up I think the Pope could have been red hot drawing in a demographic that Vince doesn't draw as well.

 

I liked the show I did but I still don't like the logic and I really want this stupid Flair vs. Hogan storyline to end. As well as some sort of explaination why Sting turned.

[sabataged]

I liked last night but I fear TNA is still TNA.

 

Pope competed for the World Title last night and got not a single mention on television.

 

Where were Hall and Nash and Young? Nash basically jobbed Young out at the pay per view. After being betrayed and beaten up as well as mocked for weeks and what revenge did Young get? Being beaten clean in the middle of the ring.

 

As said before you could have RVD vs. Hardy this week, next week promote AJ vs. RVD first ever meeting, then book the rematch for the pay per view. Instead they pulled a Goldberg winning the championship, the threw a spike in ppv buyrates and even drawing out television ratings possibly by blowing their load in one night. I get what they were trying to do but its not like their an RVD vs. AJ television match away from winning the ratings war. Its a marathon at this point and its not going to matter if they delay a match for a week and give it proper hype and build.

 

I like that their pushing Rob Terry but why? The guy is big and muscular and thats it. I also hate how Desmond Wolfe is an after thought whipping boy for Flairs group.

 

I don't like the confetti thing unless one its a huge underdog victory ala Shawn Michaels first title win at Wrestlemania 12, or some huge triumph over evil over a long period of time ala Sting at Starrcade. They treated this like Flair's group was the nWo and they terroized everyone. 90 percent of the guys out there had never been in contact with Flair's group and the over the top celebration was a bit silly.

 

RVD as champion isn't bad but they had a chance to put the title on a "home grown" main eventer with Pope if they were taking the title off of A.J. Instead once again they show they'd rather pick up other companies upper mid carders and hand them championships rather than push the guys that can only be associated with TNA. If Pope wins the title he's known more as the Pope with TNA than he ever was Elijah Burke. If RVD wins the title he's remembered for ECW and the WWE not TNA. What it tells me is that Pope wasn't good enough, TNA guys like Daniels and Joe weren't good enough but RVD was.

 

I think Pope has the potential to make more money for TNA than RVD. RVD is a good worker but what is his drawing power? With six months of build up I think the Pope could have been red hot drawing in a demographic that Vince doesn't draw as well.

 

I liked the show I did but I still don't like the logic and I really want this stupid Flair vs. Hogan storyline to end. As well as some sort of explaination why Sting turned.

 

I feel the same as a lot of this. I think they have a lot of good things goings but I thought Hogan said that if you can't wrestle and can't talk then get the hell out. Then they go push Rob Terry... uhhh come on. Of all people to give the sudden push too they give it to Rob Terry. I would have rather seen Pope or Eric Young thrown into that roll instead of Robb Terry.

 

Also it is good to see Samoa Joe back. I am not a fan but he is a bigger name in TNA. I seen TNA moving towards a Ken Anderson vs RVD eventually. I can also see another AJ vs Joe showdown coming soon. Lets hope Wolfe gets a push by taking on Hardy or atleast winning some matches soon. They need to get the TNA tag titles off of Morgan and move him to that Upper Mid Card slot where he can start taking on Abyss as Flair's new goto guy.

 

Overall I like how the direction is going

[TommyDreamerFan]

I feel the same as a lot of this. I think they have a lot of good things goings but I thought Hogan said that if you can't wrestle and can't talk then get the hell out. Then they go push Rob Terry... uhhh come on. Of all people to give the sudden push too they give it to Rob Terry. I would have rather seen Pope or Eric Young thrown into that roll instead of Robb Terry.

 

Also it is good to see Samoa Joe back. I am not a fan but he is a bigger name in TNA. I seen TNA moving towards a Ken Anderson vs RVD eventually. I can also see another AJ vs Joe showdown coming soon. Lets hope Wolfe gets a push by taking on Hardy or atleast winning some matches soon. They need to get the TNA tag titles off of Morgan and move him to that Upper Mid Card slot where he can start taking on Abyss as Flair's new goto guy.

 

Overall I like how the direction is going

 

 

I don't mind Rob's push provided its a long slow one.

[Bigpapa42]

I liked last night but I fear TNA is still TNA.

 

Pope competed for the World Title last night and got not a single mention on television.

 

Where were Hall and Nash and Young? Nash basically jobbed Young out at the pay per view. After being betrayed and beaten up as well as mocked for weeks and what revenge did Young get? Being beaten clean in the middle of the ring.

 

As said before you could have RVD vs. Hardy this week, next week promote AJ vs. RVD first ever meeting, then book the rematch for the pay per view. Instead they pulled a Goldberg winning the championship, the threw a spike in ppv buyrates and even drawing out television ratings possibly by blowing their load in one night. I get what they were trying to do but its not like their an RVD vs. AJ television match away from winning the ratings war. Its a marathon at this point and its not going to matter if they delay a match for a week and give it proper hype and build.

 

I like that their pushing Rob Terry but why? The guy is big and muscular and thats it. I also hate how Desmond Wolfe is an after thought whipping boy for Flairs group.

 

I don't like the confetti thing unless one its a huge underdog victory ala Shawn Michaels first title win at Wrestlemania 12, or some huge triumph over evil over a long period of time ala Sting at Starrcade. They treated this like Flair's group was the nWo and they terroized everyone. 90 percent of the guys out there had never been in contact with Flair's group and the over the top celebration was a bit silly.

 

RVD as champion isn't bad but they had a chance to put the title on a "home grown" main eventer with Pope if they were taking the title off of A.J. Instead once again they show they'd rather pick up other companies upper mid carders and hand them championships rather than push the guys that can only be associated with TNA. If Pope wins the title he's known more as the Pope with TNA than he ever was Elijah Burke. If RVD wins the title he's remembered for ECW and the WWE not TNA. What it tells me is that Pope wasn't good enough, TNA guys like Daniels and Joe weren't good enough but RVD was.

 

I think Pope has the potential to make more money for TNA than RVD. RVD is a good worker but what is his drawing power? With six months of build up I think the Pope could have been red hot drawing in a demographic that Vince doesn't draw as well.

 

I liked the show I did but I still don't like the logic and I really want this stupid Flair vs. Hogan storyline to end. As well as some sort of explaination why Sting turned.

 

Agree pretty much all the way around. I understand why they did a lot of this... just don't agree with it.

 

The Goldberg title win is what I thought of as well. TNA left money on the table, just WCW did. And for what? Some ratings. What TNA need to realize that is winning away the WWE's entire audience last night won't matter a lick if they cannot keep them.

 

As for the confetti celebration, it just didn't feel warranted given the situation. They threw it on there to try to make the title change more than it was, and I just felt like it failed.

[TommyDreamerFan]

Smartest move in the world by TNA putting the belt on Rob Van Dam. Really the only WWE-send off save Kurt Angle that has any name value, and can still wrestle. Best of all, RVD isn't looked upon as a WWE-guy or a WCW-guy.

 

I really think Jeff Hardy would of gotten it though, if only he had better microphone skills. WWE was very careful in hiding this, in TNA he's obviously trying to work on it but it's painful. Not that RVD is the world's greatest promo guy, but he's adequate enough to do the job.

 

Agree pretty much all the way around. I understand why they did a lot of this... just don't agree with it.

 

The Goldberg title win is what I thought of as well. TNA left money on the table, just WCW did. And for what? Some ratings. What TNA need to realize that is winning away the WWE's entire audience last night won't matter a lick if they cannot keep them.

 

As for the confetti celebration, it just didn't feel warranted given the situation. They threw it on there to try to make the title change more than it was, and I just felt like it failed.

 

Money from whom? What little fanbase they got?

 

Build the fanbase, then start worrying about "money" matches. Wrestling fans like shocking, unpredictable booking, Bischoff knows this. And I believe in it.

[GDE71]

I read it on 411wrestling.com who got it from Pwtorch.com

 

TNA 1.0 1.3 million viewers

 

RAW 3.05 with hours of 3.0/3.1 4.15 millionn average viewers

[Self]

PPV buy aren't their number one concern. TV ratings are. I imagine this show was good for ratings. If you were getting ready to watch RAW, and flicked over to Impact as any point during that unopposed hour, you'd have heard about the RVD/Jeff/AJ thing, which is good. It gives viewers something to stay for, or turn back for if RAW gets boring.

 

I like RVD and Jeff getting the screen-time, but I wish they'd ease up on the 'such good buddies' thing and focus on what makes them different. Jeff's more wacky & intense. RVD's laid back. They have no reason to hate each other, sure, but making out like they're best friends feels fake to me.

 

... and I'm just going to take a second to mark out for Madison Rayne being the Knockout's Champion. The last person I'd expect to win it, but I've got a bit of a thing for her so YEAH! WHOO!

[Bigpapa42]

Money from whom? What little fanbase they got?

 

Build the fanbase, then start worrying about "money" matches. Wrestling fans like shocking, unpredictable booking, Bischoff knows this. And I believe in it.

 

Money for pay per view buys. RvD vs Hardy and RvD vs AJ are two of the bigger matches they can put on at this point. TV doesn't make a promotion much money. PPV does.

 

Do they? Given the shocking, unpredictable booking TNA has had for the past four and a half months, wouldn't things be looking up if this was the case? And yet it takes a one-time situation for the WWE and TNA giving away two big matches to get them back to where they were pre-Hogan. I'm not so sure ratings bear out Bischoff's theory.

[PeterHilton]

Money for pay per view buys. RvD vs Hardy and RvD vs AJ are two of the bigger matches they can put on at this point. TV doesn't make a promotion much money. PPV does.

 

 

To be fair, PPV doesn't make TNA the majority of their money. Their buys are garbage. TV is their money maker.

 

So this approach of trying to boost ratings first does actually make sense.

[GDE71]

I don't think with 1.3 million viewers that they have a great shot at increasing their PPV buys.

 

Now if they can get that to 2.5 million viewers, then they can go for a more PPV model.

[Bigpapa42]

To be fair, PPV doesn't make TNA the majority of their money. Their buys are garbage. TV is their money maker.

 

So this approach of trying to boost ratings first does actually make sense.

 

Are TNA not on a set contract with Spike? I thought I read that they are contracted for a certain number of shows and get essentially the same amount of money from Spike whether they get great ratings or poor, live or taped, Monday or Thursday...?

[Hyde Hill]

They get a set amount for each show with a bonus for good ratings for what is now about 2 and a half more years. Still at the moment their main goal is increasing their fanbase and their television show is the main outlet for that. Once that fanbase is big enough I expect them to become more ppv focused etc. Still all numbers except ratings are up since the regime change so they are doing something right just not right enough imho.

[Hyde Hill]

Seems Daffney was injured heavily during a dark or webmatch when being powerbombed by a student of 3D school called Miss Betsy, hope she will be ok. Source PWI.

[Bigpapa42]

They get a set amount for each show with a bonus for good ratings for what is now about 2 and a half more years. Still at the moment their main goal is increasing their fanbase and their television show is the main outlet for that. Once that fanbase is big enough I expect them to become more ppv focused etc. Still all numbers except ratings are up since the regime change so they are doing something right just not right enough imho.

 

That makes sense.

 

Even if they aren't worried about building toward the PPV, though, building up from show to show still makes more sense to me. Did telling people there was going to be a world title match in the 2nd hour draw in any more viewers when you are only telling people that have already tuned in? At best, it kept some people from flipping over to Raw. But if they had build up the #1 contender match throughout the hour and promoted the RvD vs Styles match for the next week on Spike TV, it might actually make a difference in people tuning in.

 

Trying to take advantage of the WWE's situation was not a bad move at all. But blowing your whole load to do so just seems iffy to me. If it works for them in the long run, great. But based on the reported returns, its hardly a big step forward.

 

I really just wish TNA woudl slow things down and build things properly. trying to do everything with swerves and surprises does not appeal to me, and based on the ratings, it doesn't look like its building them a fanbase in any hurry. Swerves are great, but as I keep saying, TNA needs to learn moderation.

[Hyde Hill]

Thing is that if you did Stlyes vs RVD next week and had the title change it would have been spoiled all over the net, that might have been a consideration. And unfortunatly TNA does not spend a lot in marketing in general and yes that is a very big flaw budget wise imho. All the money that has gone into The Band and OJ and the Nasties and Morley etc would have been better spent there imho. The two shows that have been marketed heavily have done pretty well though. Well at least the first one hehe.

[shawn michaels]

Smartest move in the world by TNA putting the belt on Rob Van Dam. Really the only WWE-send off save Kurt Angle that has any name value, and can still wrestle. Best of all, RVD isn't looked upon as a WWE-guy or a WCW-guy.

 

I really think Jeff Hardy would of gotten it though, if only he had better microphone skills. WWE was very careful in hiding this, in TNA he's obviously trying to work on it but it's painful. Not that RVD is the world's greatest promo guy, but he's adequate enough to do the job.

 

 

 

Money from whom? What little fanbase they got?

 

Build the fanbase, then start worrying about "money" matches. Wrestling fans like shocking, unpredictable booking, Bischoff knows this. And I believe in it.

 

 

True. But as everyone knows, just because something is unpredictable, doesn't mean it's good. And it wasn't good. Sure it wasn't bad either...but it failed. As for the money from whom question, that's obvious, money from THEM! They lost their own money, or the ability to make it grow on a long term basis.

[haloed]

True. But as everyone knows, just because something is unpredictable, doesn't mean it's good. And it wasn't good. Sure it wasn't bad either...but it failed. As for the money from whom question, that's obvious, money from THEM! They lost their own money, or the ability to make it grow on a long term basis.

 

And you know this as fact how?

[Bigpapa42]

Thing is that if you did Stlyes vs RVD next week and had the title change it would have been spoiled all over the net, that might have been a consideration. And unfortunatly TNA does not spend a lot in marketing in general and yes that is a very big flaw budget wise imho. All the money that has gone into The Band and OJ and the Nasties and Morley etc would have been better spent there imho. The two shows that have been marketed heavily have done pretty well though. Well at least the first one hehe.

 

The Net thing is a consideration... though one that could work in favor of TNA.

 

I just don't like seeing them jam it all together like that. Its as simple as:

 

This week - hype up RvD vs Hardy #1 contender match for next week (taped same week), with a RvD & Hardy vs Styles and wheover tag match main event, teasing tension between RvD and Hardy in the match

 

Next Week - #1 contender match which RVD wins, already taped.

 

Following Week - once again live, you do the RvD vs Styles title change, having two weeks to hype the living crap out the match.

 

That builds nicely toward a PPV RvD vs Styles rematch, or even a RvD vs Styles vs Hardy threeway, or possibly even RvD vs Hardy. You give viewers reason to tune in week after week instead of doing everything in one week.

[shawn michaels]

And you know this as fact how?

 

Because i'm Shawn Michaels and i have privileged info about the wrestling business that include TNA. What? You thought that this was just a nickname?

[The Celt]

1. TNA was right to put on PPV quality matches this iMPACT in an attempt to draw fans over to the show against a weak RAW.

 

2. One of Team 3D's students, Miss Betsy has just injured Daffney after giving her a Sitout Powerbomb, which Daffney didn't get from for literally 20 minutes and had to have the help of EMTs and all of TNA road agents. [source: 411mania].

 

I'll be leading to a murder party to find Miss Betsy if anyone cares to join me. I've got enough knives for anyone lacking in weapons.

[LoganRodzen]

Last night's title change was completely symptomatic of the issues I have with TNA. Don't mind RvD with belt and I understand why they'd want him as champ. Makes sense and its a safer pick than Hardy. But to do the #1 contender match and title change on the same show, without much build seems really rushed. I get the feeling it was done to establish a "you can't miss Impact or look at what you could miss" thought. To put two of their biggest money matches on a single episode of Impact with no lead-in build... Unbelievable. I just don't get why you would do that. Why rush things to that extent?

 

I'm usually a sucker for big celebrations like the one they did, but the one felt... forced. I just don't get why most of those guys are supposed to be so happy RvD won the belt or AJ lost it. Save those kind of celebrations for a title change after a long chase, or for an ultimate underdog winning it. Not RvD.

 

I agree with you 110 percent. The entire thing felt forced. I don't follow closely enough besides reading a few news sites, so I was aware Hardy vs RVD was happening, but because the Bruins in the playoffs is more important than wrestling I missed all of the supposed "build up" to the World title match.

 

I caught the ending of Impact and honestly... words cannot explain what I thought. AJ Styles - the guy you were building up to be "THE MAN". The top draw, the guy who goes to all of the house shows, and doesn't miss an appearance. The face of the company. What does TNA do? They have a guy who doesn't want the heady schedule and barely just showed up beat the 'established' World champion.

 

The ending was cheesy as hell. You hit the nail on the head. These type of endings are for people like Tommy Dreamer who if he had won the ECW title deserved this type of reaction from his peers. The only people who should have congratulated him (in my opinion) were Hardy and Team 3D. Dixie and Hogan? What the ****?

 

I'm sure everyone loves it. Surprises are awesome in wrestling - it's the best. First thing that came to mind for me when watching this? Goldberg vs Hogan in '98. That match could have sold out a 70k+ arena and pulled in a huge buyrate. This Styles vs RVD match is a DREAM MATCH for most people. I'm not even going to pretend like what they did last night was a good move. In the long run this is going to bite them in the ass.

[Bigpapa42]

Speaking of Daffney, its being reported she is okay. Just shaken up.

[The Celt]

Speaking of Daffney, its being reported she is okay. Just shaken up.

 

Doesn't matter. We almost lost Lufisto, now someone almost cost us Daffney? To qoute the three 6; Somebody gonna get it.

[Guest Instant Classic]

People on the net don't get it. AJ Styles is easily the best talent in the world. The problem is, we're the only ones putting money into TNA PPV right now, so they would not have gotten more buyrates for having RVD and Styles at Sacrifice. But what ever I guess, most of you are complaining about that and saying Pope should have gotten the belt and he draws far less than Styles, so I think the whole debate is pretty sad.

[Comradebot]

Daffney!!!!

 

I hope she gets better.

 

I'll massage her aching parts if it'll help any.

 

But yeah, looks like she's just shaken up. Still, hope that's all it is.