The Official TNA / Impact / GFW Discussion Thread

[The Swanton825]

This is a fan video from the first tapings in NYC. It's from a spot in the Lashley/Jeff match. Nothing indicating any spoilers that I can see, but it's just such a painful looking spot!

 

http://instagram.com/p/psBh7sEuZh/

 

Jesus Christ! Jeff must be in a constant haze from painkillers (and likely other assorted drugs) to do something that stupid!

 

So what's the point of even bringing the six sides back? TNA spent the last four years convincing their fans that the traditional ring was better and then they just go back to six sides. It's like committing to a concept is pure horror for management.

[Macca316]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="The Swanton825" data-cite="The Swanton825" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="25170" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Jesus Christ! Jeff must be in a constant haze from painkillers (and likely other assorted drugs) to do something that stupid!<p> </p><p> So what's the point of even bringing the six sides back? TNA spent the last four years convincing their fans that the traditional ring was better and then they just go back to six sides. It's like committing to a concept is pure horror for management.</p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> I think its really; </p><p> </p><p> 1. They want to be a bit different, the six sided ring was different and gave them a sense of identity they don't have at the moment. </p><p> </p><p> 2. They gave the fans a choice to express their voice, they spoke and want 6 sides, TNA are going to pander to what fans they still have. </p><p> </p><p> Personally I always enjoyed the 6 sided ring and was sad to see it go, I understand from a wrestler standpoint its impact is alot harder on the body but I always thought it was better for multiman matches on account of feeling bigger.</p><p> </p><p> Also apparently before the first NYC show Kurt Angle got on the mic and said TNA is rebooting its self (again!!) </p><p> </p><p> I personally think that TNA have reboot themselves more than any other company in the history of wrestling, Each reboot (minus the Hogan Era) has always started off with the best of intentions but then their trademark questionable booking always seems to set back in and things seem to go to pot. </p><p> </p><p> As a fan of the company I hope that this most current reboot works for them but really at this point I think that they need to "reboot" the booking team/management.</p>

[UkWrestleFan]

<p>I watched some TNA for the first time in a while yesterday. I've generally kept upto the with what's going on but not actually tuned in for a little while.</p><p> </p><p>

I have to say, I did enjoy what I saw, even if it was a little bizarre.</p><p> </p><p>

- I watched the debut of The Menagerie. While it does come across as TNA trying to do something like WWE are doing with The Wyatt's, it was pretty cool. The story of Knux helping him family out is interesting at the moment but I don't have a lot of expectation and don't think TNA will develop this story that much.</p><p> </p><p>

- The group of MVP, Lashley & Kenny King; do they have a name? Anyway, I like them. Nice to see Lashley getting pushed even if I can't stand his little girly voice. Wasn't MVP feuding with heel Dixie at one point? What happened there?</p><p> </p><p>

- Dixing / Bully is a good story. I'm loving how much Bully wants to put her through a table. Is this the story? Bully wants to put Dixie through a table because she is a bitch? Works for me. I can imagine there being an insane pop if/when that happens.</p><p> </p><p>

- What's the deal with Willow? Looks cool enough but Hardy hasn't got the acting skills to pull it off. Despite this, the feud with Magnus/Bram is still interesting. I'd expect a Matt Hardy return at some point.</p><p> </p><p>

- Eric Young being World Champ is cool and all but I don't think he's the guy to take them forward. I understand why they've gave him a run; he's a total veteran, but I would expect that end to run pretty soon.</p><p> </p><p>

In closing, I can see TNA beefing up the roster a little since WWE recently released a ton of people. I wouldn't be surprised if they brought in Ezekiel Jackson to join up with MVP, Lashley & King. I'd also be a fan of them bringing in Drew McIntyre to join forces with Magnus & Bram (playing on the fact that their all British) Plus, TNA have a pretty big following in the UK so why not?</p>

[Big Roguey]

I doubt Drew will be joining TNA any time soon.

[Mootinie]

Bound for Glory in October will be at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan this year. For those no familiar with this venue, Korakuen Hall is one of the most famous wrestling venues in Japan. It's a small arena that only seats around 1,800 but it's a wrestling hotbed, the attending crowd really give every show there a massive boost. With TNA's working agreement with W-1, it'll be interesting to see what kind of attendance they get. WWE's ticket sales for the tour of Japan apparently sold poorly until they added Hulk Hogan, so I worry slightly that the same could happen to TNA. Either way, it's an ambitious move and it should make a great spectacle.

[Killagy]

As cool as it is for them to bring the company's biggest event overseas to Japan I can't help but think it's an inadvertent slap in the face to the loyal, diehard fanbase they have in the U.K. After seeing the huge crowds they're able to draw and the reactions they receive, I really think BFGX would've been more appropriate there. Just my opinion though.

[Jaysin]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Killagy" data-cite="Killagy" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="25170" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>As cool as it is for them to bring the company's biggest event overseas to Japan I can't help but think it's an inadvertent slap in the face to the loyal, diehard fanbase they have in the U.K. After seeing the huge crowds they're able to draw and the reactions they receive, I really think BFGX would've been more appropriate there. Just my opinion though.</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> I don't see how it could be considered a slap in the face at all. They've been doing a lot of cross promotion with Wrestle-1, it only makes sense for them to try and capitalize on that.</p>

[sheepy]

Just finished watching the most recent impact and have to say TNA are really on a roll at the moment. Can't remember the last time I was glued to watching impact like tonight.

 

Lashley is absolutely owning his role as a monster heel. I thought putting the belt on him at the time was a great move and he continues to deliver week in week out.

 

Feels like they have found the sweet spot they were in for the 6 months before Hogan arrived.

[Rickymex]

Just finished watching the most recent impact and have to say TNA are really on a roll at the moment. Can't remember the last time I was glued to watching impact like tonight.

 

Lashley is absolutely owning his role as a monster heel. I thought putting the belt on him at the time was a great move and he continues to deliver week in week out.

 

Feels like they have found the sweet spot they were in for the 6 months before Hogan arrived.

 

I just hope they focus on consistency rather whatever catches their attention for a second. No more battles for ownership unless it's a "we have all the title, we have the power" and no more he's hot for a show let's put the title on him.

[BHK1978]

I was just reading that TNA might be done on Spike TV. If that is the case I would think that would be the deathblow to the company because I am not sure there is any networks that would me interested in them. If they are no longer on television I am not sure how the Carter family could justify pumping money into a company that is not profitable in the first place.

[alphadraighon]

It'll be interesting to see if this will be the death knell for the company, or if they can use this as a real wake up call and turn it into a good situation.

 

Can they get on another network? Maybe, but if they couldn't hack it with Spike I don't think any bigger network would pick them up.

 

Could they change delivery format? I recall TNA started out as a weekly PPV-only company. Doubt this would work today, but maybe they could get a distribution deal with a streaming service like Hulu for weekly content? (Doubt that, but maybe...) Maybe they could go online-only like some of the indy companies, but that would be more of a slow death thing I would think.

 

Also...don't they still have distribution in the UK?

 

One interesting rumor I had heard was that Spike decided not to renew after they learned that TNA has Vince Russo on contract as a consultant. No idea if that's true or not, but if so that's a pretty interesting bit of info.

 

Ideally I think I would like to see TNA sold but kept up and running. Panda has done all they can (or are willing to do) with the property, and in the hands of someone else they could have a chance to survive.

 

At any rate, it'll be interesting to see how this develops. If they do sell off the company, it'll be fun to see if WWE is interested. They've spent so much time acting like TNA isn't even there, and avoiding any homegrown TNA talents (much to their detriment) but if the company was up for sale lock stock and barrel, I think WWE might be willing to purchase just to keep some of those talents and the tape library from ending up in someone else's hands.

[bigtplaystew]

I have a hard time believing in today's television economy that a show with a reliable one million plus fanbase can't find a home anywhere. A million viewers isn't a huge number but it's about what a bunch of other Spike shows do. Bellator only draws slightly higher than TNA. Their top reality shows seem to be just under 2 million viewers. I don't know. Seems so strange.

[alphadraighon]

To be fair, Bellator is owned by Viacom, which also owns spike. Their ratings would have to be almost non-existant before they ever get pulled.

 

There have been so many rumors over the years, if any of them are actually true who knows what's going on. I heard at one point that Spike was fronting TNA money for contracts. I've heard as far back as three or four years ago that TNA wouldn't be renewed. So it's hard to say.

 

Right now the only info I've seen on this is from TMZ...and their reputation for accurate reporting on wrestling is not the greatest.

 

In the end TV is a funny thing. Networks get panicky. Nickelodeon just pulled a show that was drawing 1.5 million. Firefly was drawing almost 5. So we weirder things have happened.

[jwt13]

My gut tells me this won't be the end for TNA they have all their overseas contracts and with all the optitions in the us they are bound to find something. I was thinking about something that's probably a long shot but what about TNA making a deal with Netflix like Netflix does with their original programs. They film about 5-7 weeks of shows for netflixs with the last show being the PPV and call that a "season" I think that would be great.

[Bigpapa42]

I have a hard time believing in today's television economy that a show with a reliable one million plus fanbase can't find a home anywhere. A million viewers isn't a huge number but it's about what a bunch of other Spike shows do. Bellator only draws slightly higher than TNA. Their top reality shows seem to be just under 2 million viewers. I don't know. Seems so strange.

 

Its not merely about the numbers, though. At least not about the numbers we can see. Impact might do okay in comparison to other Spike programming, but what is the cost comparison? An old episode of Cops would cost the network almost nothing, whereas Impact costs them much, especially if the rumors about Spike helping them out with big contracts over the years is true. So despite investing in this product for years, the return continues to be minimal.

 

Will TNA find other interested networks? That's tough to say. The WWE hasn't exactly had a multitude of networks banging down their doors. There still seems to be a resistance to professional wrestling on TV amongst TV networks, and TNA's own history here work against them. A reality TV show doesn't cost a lot to produce - hence why they are legion - but professional does, comparatively.

[soxfan93]

"TNA Impact Wrestling, exclusively on the WWE Network!"

 

... I don't even know what I would think if I saw that.

[Stennick]

In the end TV is a funny thing. Networks get panicky. Nickelodeon just pulled a show that was drawing 1.5 million. Firefly was drawing almost 5. So we weirder things have happened.

 

I work for one of the six major networks in the United States and I can tell you that 5 million is very misleading. At the time Firefly was cancelled it was barely in the top 100 shows. 4.7 million viewers for Fox tv program is awful. As was Dollhouse who was drawing less than that.

 

Even if Spike TV is not paying for anything more than the rights to air the product there is no way the company can survive without that kind of money. There is also no way that all of their foreign contracts combined equal even half of whatever Spike was giving them.

 

For the kind of expenses TNA incurs with the type of talent it has contracted to them they need a television deal. The problem is the same problem WCW had when it shut down. You can't just shut down the company and wait for a tv deal to come. They are paying on these contracts regardless of if you are running shows or not. Even running shows without a TV deal just puts you MORE in the red since you're not drawing enough fans to even cover the arena rentals let alone the contracts.

 

I also don't expect to see Vince buying TNA now or possibly ever. They are in severe cutback mode and being a public company who is already spinning from tough stock drops and with the WWE's network numbers coming out this week and I bet there isn't much improvement with them the last thing Vince can do is take on a million dollar acquisition that didn't even make its original owners any money. The return on that investment would not be equal to the purchase amount in all do likelyhood.

 

I also wouldn't expect guys like Aries, Beer Money or Joe being in the WWE. If guys like Punk, Cesaro, Zayn, Hero, Kenta, Neville, etc all have to go through NXT then so would these guys and they are all over the age of 35. There is no way the WWE is hiring a bunch of guys that are nearly 40. Not too mention even taking age out of it again they are cutting talent right now. Not too mention I would imagine Angle, Hardy and possibly Bubba Ray may all get some sort of deal with the WWE making it all the more less likely they will spend extra money on guys the could have brought in on their own any time in the last ten years.

[jwt13]

TNA has a lot more options than WCW did distribution wise, with all the streaming networks, Hulu, Netflix, ect along with the hundreds of channels I think they'll be ok, AMC has been searching hard for a wrestling show lately so that's one option. Plus they have the new marketing group negating around so that's a plus for them.

 

And btw I find blaming Russo for this completely ridiculous, Spike could care less if he was working there IMO.

[Teh_Showtime]

And btw I find blaming Russo for this completely ridiculous, Spike could care less if he was working there IMO.

 

The observer said the exact opposite actually. They actually went on a whole tangent when the "accidental" email thing happened (What makes you think you need him if having him publically involved would make people inside and outside the company mad?). They also mentioned that if they were on the fence that the Russo involvement could have put it over the top which looked like it happened.

 

Nobody will know for sure but I highly doubt it was a coincidence

[Bigpapa42]

Its more likely the fact that TNA apparently proactively tried to hide it from Spike. That does not bode well for the relationship between the two companies.

[Stennick]

TNA has a lot more options than WCW did distribution wise, with all the streaming networks, Hulu, Netflix, ect along with the hundreds of channels I think they'll be ok, AMC has been searching hard for a wrestling show lately so that's one option. Plus they have the new marketing group negating around so that's a plus for them.

 

The thing is TNA is not popular. Not even really by cable tv standards. Reruns of Cops do about 3/4's of a TNA rating.

 

As for AMC, AMC wanted to buy WWE RAW because they draw 5 million people a week onto USA. However you notice how they weren't willing to pay top dollar for pro wrestling just to be on their network?

 

Securing a television deal is not as easy as getting a million people to watch your show. It has to do with the advertising dollars that your demographic brings in. There was a huge report that was done just a while ago showing that the majority demographic that watches pro wrestling is not valuable for advertisers. Meanwhile shows like Mad Men who draw not even half of that have a very desirable demographic making the advertising worth more.

 

Flat out TNA can't get on the Home Garden Network and make money. Spike TV gave them a fairly lucrative deal all things considered. They would have to be on one of the major networks and from what I hear Fox isn't interested. NBC Universal can't be interested and with Viacom out I'm not sure who that even leaves really of any significance.

 

As far as Netflix and Hulu and things of that nature. Yahoo brought back Community because it drew right around 3 million viewers. Netflix brought back Arrested Development because it drew right around 4 million viewers. Before last week's shows I believe the numbers for TNA have been 1.3 million, 1.2 million, 1.1 million and then like 900,000 viewers for their last four weeks of tv before this last Thursday.

 

I'm not saying its not possible but working in the business specifically for advertising where we deal with these numbers and demographics all the time on a smaller than national scale I don't see any way TNA stays alive without Panda just ignoring everything and continuing to fund it as the largest indy promotion without a television deal in the United States in history.

 

The show doesn't draw enough viewers to interest anyone and on top of that the demographic of viewer it does draw isn't exactly promising for most advertising and therefore isn't interesting for potential tv networks that survive on those advertising dollars.

[Bigpapa42]

The thing is TNA is not popular. Not even really by cable tv standards. Reruns of Cops do about 3/4's of a TNA rating.

 

<snip>

 

Great post. Great insight.

 

The thing that's easy to overlook and forget is that a possible deal has to be worthwhile for both sides. So while a lot of smaller networks or even streaming options might be willing to carry TNA if their outlay was small, that would make it far less valuable to TNA. The costs of running a company like TNA are not small. Its not like TNA can rely on attendances or PPV buys as their primary income.

[BHK1978]

Securing a television deal is not as easy as getting a million people to watch your show. It has to do with the advertising dollars that your demographic brings in. There was a huge report that was done just a while ago showing that the majority demographic that watches pro wrestling is not valuable for advertisers. Meanwhile shows like Mad Men who draw not even half of that have a very desirable demographic making the advertising worth more.

 

Wait a minute, so what you are saying is that I am part of a very desirable because I watch Mad Men and I am also part of a demographic that means nothing to advertisers because I watch TNA.

 

I understand why I am part of both groups, I also find it funny as well.

[lazorbeak]

I also think that "one million viewers" claim is extremely deceptive, because a huge percentage of that number is people who left the TV on, and won't follow TNA to a graveyard spot on Fox Sports 4 or whatever. TNA's actual buys were so bad they went away from a monthly model, but they struggled to sell their PPV's to 10 thousand people, and their live shows have struggled to fill high school gyms. Part of it might be the PPV system in general is dead or dying, but that's not good. There's maybe 100K people on the planet who care about TNA enough to support the product. WWE can't even find 1 million people to buy the network in America, and is counting on lapsed fans who miss the Attitude era to try to push them to the break-even line.

 

Wrestling has always scared away advertisers, even before you get into the man on woman violence or stalker angles that means that Spike probably isn't making any more money airing Impact over airing Cops re-runs, especially when Spike has to foot the bill for the "legends" that are paid enough to not need to bartend on weekends.

[Jaysin]

According to Spike TV and Dixie Carter, Impact hasn't been cancelled yet. Both parties say negotiations are ongoing.