The Official TNA / Impact / GFW Discussion Thread

[PeterHilton]

<p>I'm with you. They went all in on this venture.</p><p> </p><p>

If this fails, Eric is going to be looking for a 'real job' and Hogan is going to be out working the nostalgia circuit like Randy the Ram.</p>

[hellshock70]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Stennick" data-cite="Stennick" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="25170" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Bischoff doesn't have a lot of things going out outside of TNA right now.</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Wait till tomorrow when Puppet of Eric Bischoff's Half-Pint Brawlers appears on TNA. LOL</p>

[Stennick]

<p>I don't know what Hogan is making and I know that Hogan works what a few days a month for TNA tops? </p><p> </p><p>

That being said Hogan could make more money just doing autograph signings. Now granted that would mean travel and having to actually deal with the public that made him a star.</p>

[Slagaholic]

So is this go big or go home for TNA? With the Hogan signing I mean. I know Eric has other ventures outside of TNA but Scott Baio has ran his reality t.v course and Celeberity Wrestling didn't set the world on fire either. Bischoff doesn't have a lot of things going out outside of TNA right now. If he did he wouldn't be so involved with TNA. Say what you will about TNA and how many different "on screen" authority figures they've had but backstage things have been Jarett, Dixie and Russo for a while. Dixie does not get rid of the people in charge even when she should. So Bischoff's not going to get fired no matter how poorly he does and he's not going to leave because whats out there for the guy besides TNA that is this close to a billionaire's wallet?

 

Hogan's the same way. The guy is at the very least 50% poorer than he was a few years ago. I don't know what his finances are like but the Hulk Hogan brand isn't selling t shirts, his energy drink is nowhere to be found. Basically like Bischoff all Hogan has left is pro wrestling. I'm not even sure Vince is willing to take him back at this point. He already complained about being lowballed at WM a few years ago and I'm sure if he went back there he'd see an even bigger paycut. Just like his friend Eric I think this is Hogan's best chance at making cash being this close to a billionaire's wallet isn't something you cut out on.

 

My point is Dixie's not firing them and they got nowhere else to go that they would make any thing close to what TNA would pay them. Not for as little work as Hogan puts in and Eric's not exactly burning the midnight oil. So really is this going to be either the E and H connection bring TNA to never before seen heights or then run it flaming into the ground?

 

Again I'm not saying their doing either currently but with Dixie unwilling to fire "staff" and them not having a deal anywhere else that has near as much money vs. work as they do here their sure as heck not gonna leave under their own power. So that leaves them stuck together for better or worse I would imagine.

 

Your main point is based on Dixie being unwilling to fire them. And while if that is the case, what you say is true. I don't think its fair to Dixie to say that she will just let TNA go down in flames and never get rid of them. If anything Bob Carter would step in and either move to sell TNA or tell Dixie that a lot of changes must be made. I don't see TNA being run flaming into the ground with Bischoff sticking around for the entire ride (at least in the capacity he is now).

[Hyde Hill]

Yep of the big three in creative at the moment I actually think Bisch has been the least harmfull (OJ) and most helpfull ( The new backstage promo's for one) and has ideas closer to what I think most want out of TNA. Its mainly Hogan and Russo and possibly his team writing to please Hogan and possibly the network and or Dixie that I think are doing the most harm.

 

If they start losing too much money, if they are losing any at all as its all based on reports, Bob will certainly step in and force Dixie to cut high end costs and change creative.

[Stennick]

Yeah I'm not saying that they haven't done any good but I just look at Russo who has virtually been there since the start. Its hard for me to believe that Russo wasn't apart of those first few pay per views with the stupid, sexual, over the top, sterotypically offensive angles that were going on.

 

At any rate Russo has been there from the beginning and Dixie hasn't moved him even when their beloved Impact zone was chating "Fire Russo" with their cute little clapping thing. To have the only audience that you ever really get an accurate account of what your doing from to be chanting to fire your head of creative and not doing it says to me she's not that interested in changing things up on the staff side of things. That or she's just easily convinced that whatever she's seeing and hearing out there isn't what she's seeing and hearing.

 

That combined with Jarrett making himself the sole focus on the promotion for atleast two years and lets be honest its more like about three or four years. All of that and despite similar vocal chants about Jarrett and yet Dixie allowed him to continue on in the creative process as well as continue on as the main focus of the show without firing him. I know he's an owner and what not but if he's able to be sent home he's able to be depushed at the very least.

 

Again all I'm getting at is I don't see a single time other than when JJ was sent home (which only happened when he started sleeping with karen and that was much his choice as hers). Aside from that the only shake ups on creative have been after she sent JJ home all the guys JJ was protecting were sent walking as well.

 

So it seems to me that given past experiances that at the very LEAST it would have be a dramatic drop in TNA's current standards before there was even talk of removing EB and Hogan (assuming they stay on). I haven't seen Bob step in and do one thing with the promotion that I'm aware of so chances are by the time Bob got involved things would be bad and at the very least TNA might not be in blazing flames but it may be hurt too badly to recover.

 

Then again maybe I'm wrong and no matter what TNA does good or bad they will always be good for a 1.0 on Thursday nights *shrugs*

[Hyde Hill]

Yeah I'm not saying that they haven't done any good but I just look at Russo who has virtually been there since the start. Its hard for me to believe that Russo wasn't apart of those first few pay per views with the stupid, sexual, over the top, sterotypically offensive angles that were going on.

 

At any rate Russo has been there from the beginning and Dixie hasn't moved him even when their beloved Impact zone was chating "Fire Russo" with their cute little clapping thing. To have the only audience that you ever really get an accurate account of what your doing from to be chanting to fire your head of creative and not doing it says to me she's not that interested in changing things up on the staff side of things. That or she's just easily convinced that whatever she's seeing and hearing out there isn't what she's seeing and hearing.

 

That combined with Jarrett making himself the sole focus on the promotion for atleast two years and lets be honest its more like about three or four years. All of that and despite similar vocal chants about Jarrett and yet Dixie allowed him to continue on in the creative process as well as continue on as the main focus of the show without firing him. I know he's an owner and what not but if he's able to be sent home he's able to be depushed at the very least.

 

Again all I'm getting at is I don't see a single time other than when JJ was sent home (which only happened when he started sleeping with karen and that was much his choice as hers). Aside from that the only shake ups on creative have been after she sent JJ home all the guys JJ was protecting were sent walking as well.

 

So it seems to me that given past experiances that at the very LEAST it would have be a dramatic drop in TNA's current standards before there was even talk of removing EB and Hogan (assuming they stay on). I haven't seen Bob step in and do one thing with the promotion that I'm aware of so chances are by the time Bob got involved things would be bad and at the very least TNA might not be in blazing flames but it may be hurt too badly to recover.

 

Then again maybe I'm wrong and no matter what TNA does good or bad they will always be good for a 1.0 on Thursday nights *shrugs*

 

Well Russo was gone for a couple of years. The so called golden 2005 to 2006 at least as many of the IWC remember it. Also the problem with Russo is when he is writing for someone instead of being filtered in a good way by someone if ya know what I mean. The period he was headbooker post Jarrett and pre Hogan was actually pretty good. And a lot of the silly stuff that went on was Jarrett's and his palls.

 

You wanna know what Jarret's plan was for the MEM? He would join them after Young's heel turn. The MEM would turn face!!!????? Post BFG and then battle with World Elite. That is why Daviari wanted out as in that program he would have gotten more attention and Russo thankfully scrapped it.

[Stennick]

Yeah Russo's not all bad in fact I'm one of the only people that liked his Oct 99 run in WCW.

 

JJ on the other hand I haven't been a fan of his since 1998 or so.

 

TNA isn't doing horrible right now their more watchable now than they have been a few times in their past. That being said when you put yourselves on the same level as the very "best" at what you do for an industry your expected to step your game up and I'm just not sure thats happened.

 

Hopefully this move to Thursday has them regrouped and focusing on just them and not throwing out pay per view main events to "pop a rating".

 

Maybe Nitro would have survived if they moved it to Tuesday nights?

[Slagaholic]

How could he possible expect them to turn successfully face? Stop a lynching? Because that's the only thing I could think of that could turn the Main Event Mafia face.

[PeterHilton]

For what it's worth:

 

http://www.411mania.com/wrestling/news/140280/Eric-Bischoff:-Working-the-Fans-or-Leaving-TNA?.htm

 

Eric Bischoff: Working the Fans or Leaving TNA?

Posted by Larry Csonka on 05.26.2010

 

You decide…

 

- Eric Bischoff posted the following message on his Facebook…

 

Sometimes you gotta know "when to say when". Getting close.

 

- What's the deal? Is Eric just messing around with the fans, or is he considering leaving TNA? Share your thoughts in the comment section…

[Hyde Hill]

Yeah Russo's not all bad in fact I'm one of the only people that liked his Oct 99 run in WCW.

 

JJ on the other hand I haven't been a fan of his since 1998 or so.

 

TNA isn't doing horrible right now their more watchable now than they have been a few times in their past. That being said when you put yourselves on the same level as the very "best" at what you do for an industry your expected to step your game up and I'm just not sure thats happened.

 

Hopefully this move to Thursday has them regrouped and focusing on just them and not throwing out pay per view main events to "pop a rating".

 

Maybe Nitro would have survived if they moved it to Tuesday nights?

 

Well I am not so much against big main events for tv in TNA's situation given their still low but better ppv buy rates, just not the biggest like first time matchups etc which are guaranteed ppv buy draws. And yeah I wonder if that idea was ever tossed around in WCW, was meaning to ask EB on his facebook.

[Hyde Hill]

For what it's worth:

 

http://www.411mania.com/wrestling/news/140280/Eric-Bischoff:-Working-the-Fans-or-Leaving-TNA?.htm

 

Too cryptic, could mean anything and nothing.

[Stennick]

I really doubt its anything serious

[sebsplex]

TNA isn't doing horrible right now their more watchable now than they have been a few times in their past. That being said when you put yourselves on the same level as the very "best" at what you do for an industry your expected to step your game up and I'm just not sure thats happened.

 

Hopefully this move to Thursday has them regrouped and focusing on just them and not throwing out pay per view main events to "pop a rating".

 

Maybe Nitro would have survived if they moved it to Tuesday nights?

 

From a basic booking standpoint, the last few shows of so have probably featured the most consistent booking since the Hogan-era... e.g. the Lethal push. It's amazing how often episodes of Impact (good or bad) carry over or build on incidents that actually happened on prior shows or turn them into anything meaingful. I guess you could throw this criticism into the 'pop a rating' argument, but TNA has been guilty of several big segments or match results that have meant absolutely nothing more than a week or two later. The Orlando Screwjob? Orlando Jordan going clean over Pope? Motor City Machine Guns beating Generation Me for a tag team title shot (in a match on ppv billed with that premise) that they never actually received? Even the stuff with Abyss and Wolfe (while being questionably booked in the first place) is at least being logically advanced each week.

 

It's not bad business for TNA to throw out big main events every so often on Impact. What leaves me bashing my head against the wall is why they insist on booking them to happen on the same night they're announced. Sting vs Jeff Hardy this week was typical. There was easily enough material to build that match for next week, without it becoming a feud on it's own. Instead it's crammed into one show (at a time where TNA has numerous roster members unable to get meaingful airtime) and rushed. I get the idea of creating a 'anything can happen' vibe, but this has been covered enough with big main events, RVD's title win, etc. Would it kill to simply annouce a match for the following week. Perhaps give people who may not watch every week some sort of lure to come back next week. There's also a line between 'anything can happen' and 'lots of random crap happens, but we're not totally sure where all of it's leading'.

 

The problem with 'going to war' with the WWE was that most of the focus seemed to go on posturing and symbollic hype (moving to Monday nights). Even if TNA had doubled it's rating and held it until now, they'd still be well behind the WWE. I never quite understood how they intended to present this conflict that even in the best-cased scenario, they were always going to be 'losing' the following months/years. If this is a route they were determined to go down, surely selling it as a statement of intent would have been better than trying to create the illusion of an instant and equal war. Call it building an army or a war machine or sewing the seeds of a new revolution, whatever. All they did was position themselves for a higher fall than needed and as for stepping up their game. The first step was clearly splurging on new talent, the next step was utilising said talent and intergrating it with your product and the roster you've already got. That was where TNA have generally fallen down, although it's certainly not a story of complete failure.

[sebsplex]

I'm with you. They went all in on this venture.

 

If this fails, Eric is going to be looking for a 'real job' and Hogan is going to be out working the nostalgia circuit like Randy the Ram.

 

Definitely. There are no excuses with this one. No Vince McMahon-figure holding the strings. No corporate mergers. No lack of finance. No obstructive network. No lack of starpower. Freedom to recruit even the dregs of Team Hogan. I don't think there's much more that Hogan and Bischoff could have asked for beyond perhaps less (speculated) resistance from Dixie to canning or jobbing TNA 'originals'.

[Linsolv]

I thought Easy E was on the record as saying that he's not hurting for cash in the slightest, and wasn't going to be in the forseeable future, and took this TNA job because he thought it would be fun.

 

Then again he's in wrestling, and they're pretty good at lying.

[Hyde Hill]

From a basic booking standpoint, the last few shows of so have probably featured the most consistent booking since the Hogan-era... e.g. the Lethal push. It's amazing how often episodes of Impact (good or bad) carry over or build on incidents that actually happened on prior shows or turn them into anything meaingful. I guess you could throw this criticism into the 'pop a rating' argument, but TNA has been guilty of several big segments or match results that have meant absolutely nothing more than a week or two later. The Orlando Screwjob? Orlando Jordan going clean over Pope? Motor City Machine Guns beating Generation Me for a tag team title shot (in a match on ppv billed with that premise) that they never actually received? Even the stuff with Abyss and Wolfe (while being questionably booked in the first place) is at least being logically advanced each week.

 

 

Guns did get that shot mate.

[Hyde Hill]

I thought Easy E was on the record as saying that he's not hurting for cash in the slightest, and wasn't going to be in the forseeable future, and took this TNA job because he thought it would be fun.

 

Then again he's in wrestling, and they're pretty good at lying.

 

Yep he is definitely not doing it for the money, but more as a way to get the possibility of shilling his shows to Viacom as an ulterior motive.

[sebsplex]

Guns did get that shot mate.

 

Really? The only match shortly after that I can remember with MCMG in was one also involving Team 3D on Impact and The Band interfered so it was thrown out. Was that it?

[Hyde Hill]

Really? The only match shortly after that I can remember with MCMG in was one also involving Team 3D on Impact and The Band interfered so it was thrown out. Was that it?

 

Nope the match against Matt Morgan when he had Red as his partner.

[sebsplex]

Nope the match against Matt Morgan when he had Red as his partner.

 

Ah of course They pulled Red out of the way before he got the big Hernandez-boot-to-post treatment from Morgan after the match. Fair enough, I take that one back and maybe replace it with the Jeff Hardy fireball-to-the-face.

[Linsolv]

Ah of course They pulled Red out of the way before he got the big Hernandez-boot-to-post treatment from Morgan after the match. Fair enough, I take that one back and maybe replace it with the Jeff Hardy fireball-to-the-face.

 

That was not as ridiculous as I thought it would be.

 

Came off as being like Green Mist or something.

[Slagaholic]

Mr. Anderson is amazing at what he does.

[Astil]

Mr. Anderson is amazing at what he does.

 

This is truth.

 

I'm so happy I get to see my Hardy v. Anderson fued I dreamed since they were both in the 'E

[The Final Countdown]

...why was The Band in that match? They added nothing.