Need Some Help with Booking TNA

[Dave_Scott]

Just wanted to start a small thread with a basic question. I've recently been feeling that TNA just has an awful product at the moment and I wanted to start up a TNA game and try to turn them around into something they used to be. But the problem is I always lose interest right away when I go to run TNA. I wanted to ask just anybody what their strategy is when they go into TNA? Like I said their product is so bad and I want to make them relevant again, but I just don't feel the motivation after a few minutes. I know people say do the goals thing helps, which it does to an extent, but I want to know what's someone's POV when they start up a TNA. Any advice on keeping motivation? Thanks in advance.

[Questlove]

The only way I could make it interesting is by playing as Shane McMahon taking them over with the backing of a Chinese consortium and pumping funds into them to sign a whole host of new/old talents. Their current roster is hot garbage and they need all the help they can get.

[marsupial311]

If you're starting now, it's quite a challenge. If you get a real world mod that was a couple years back when they still had a lot of good guys, you can turn it around and challenge WWE eventually with a few hot storylines and grabbing up some of the NXT talent before WWE gets to them.

[Henderson]

I agree, if you're trying to start from now, I don't really see how you could make them into a contender. Short of Colt Cabana, I don't know of any free agents that could help you out much. Maybe try and bring back in Jay Lethal and AJ Styles?

 

Try and find a monster (types like Goldberg, Vader, or Big Show) to bring in with a brute gimmick and go on a complete tear of the roster. Eventually try and find someone to challenge him. Eventually that storyline could build you up enough momentum to gain popularity and get a better TV deal. Maybe try building up the women's roster since there's a large amount of talented females and have that be your go-to spot for the time being.

 

Other than that, I'd say that would be one of the most challenging mods.

[crackerjack]

It really depends on when you decide to book TNA. The easiest time that I've had booking TNA is in the 2012 mod, when the stats are inflated and the roster still has a lot of talent. You can typically become pretty competitive and steal some guys from the WWE pretty quickly.

 

For current day TNA, I've had trouble as well. But, for a hook, you could either expand on the GFW/TNA feud, or bring in new ownership and bring in guys to bloat up your roster(most of TNA is thin and stale at this point). It's kinda cheap just to bring in all of the impressive free agents to "save" TNA, but it's probably you're best option at this point.

[soxfan93]

They still have some talent that could save the company with proper booking. Roode, Storm, Galloway, EC3, the Hardys, etc. I agree with Henderson, find yourself a monster, utilize squashes and menace angles, and bleed his popularity to other main eventers. A guy like Michael Elgin might work if you build his charisma to, I believe 74 is the threshold.

 

It shouldn't take too long to build the company back up.

[Dave_Scott]

Thank you guys very much for your suggestions. I'll look into that monster thing. It sounds like it could work really well.

[smartman]

And if you have any good booking ideas, feel free to give them TNA. Lord knows they need them. And after that god-awful cage match Wed. night, they could use someone who knows how to put a match together too. Good lord how they've gone to crap ever since they put the World Title on Eric Young (not his fault per se).

[Henderson]

Along with the monster, make sure he has high star quality or else he'll flop pretty bad.

[soxfan93]

Along with the monster, make sure he has high star quality or else he'll flop pretty bad.

 

Not necessarily. I have found that, with time, anybody can be pushed to the moon. Hell, I got Malenko to 90s popularity throughout the world in a 1995 game.

[Henderson]

That's true, but there are two parts to this;

 

1. With the current TNA situation, if he does not have a high star quality stat, it will pretty much do him no good. It will make it much more difficult for him to gain high popularity in a relatively short amount of time, which he can't afford.

 

2. With a low star quality stat, he runs the risk of the gimmick not getting over because it's not believable. That'd be like Hector Garza trying to use a brute gimmick and destroying opponents. They're just not going to buy into it.

 

He can't be afforded to take 5 years to get TNA relevant.

[soxfan93]

Yeah, that's fair. Does SQ also have anything to do with drawing crowds?

[Dave_Scott]

That's true, but there are two parts to this;

 

1. With the current TNA situation, if he does not have a high star quality stat, it will pretty much do him no good. It will make it much more difficult for him to gain high popularity in a relatively short amount of time, which he can't afford.

 

2. With a low star quality stat, he runs the risk of the gimmick not getting over because it's not believable. That'd be like Hector Garza trying to use a brute gimmick and destroying opponents. They're just not going to buy into it.

 

He can't be afforded to take 5 years to get TNA relevant.

 

I hired that Beast guy from Europe that always appears as the muscle guy in Fleisch's data. Brought in Barbie to be his manager. Basically going to give him the Rusev/Lana treatment.

[Dave_Scott]

I also want to keep him names Beast but I kind of wanted it to stand for something. Like each letter spelling out a phrase. I couldn't think of one myself, but if anyone has anything, I'd be really grateful!

[steesh07]

Since I've been looking for a new game and a challenge, I've decided to give this a go and try to keep the TNA Ship afloat and hopefully get some where. Will let you know how it goes.

[Mootinie]

I'm over a month late to this but could this be made into a challenge? I imagine modern day TNA would very tough if you played it as you would have to in real life.

 

For example, you can only sign Unemployed workers or those that work for Regional promotions or lower. Main point being that AJ Styles would not leave NJPW or ROH to join you, same for Jay Lethal and such too.

 

Adjustments to the product can only be minor: perhaps performance and popularity are level, which I think mirrors TNA in real life. TV being 70% matches, Events being 90%.

 

Only two PPV's per year (Slammiversary & Bound For Glory), you can move to four but no higher than that.

 

TV deal where you pay 100% and earn no advertising revenue. You start as Head Booker and not Owner, which more or less means you cannot snatch anybody from WWE.

 

You are only just a Cult promotion too and you start with Jeff Hardy and Kurt Angle on very lucrative deals, which I imagine is the case in real life. You're bound to leak money for the first three months of course, but once you renegotiate your TV deal, you might be okay if you've made new stars. Anybody down for giving this a shot and/or refining the criteria?

[LoganRodzen]

I just recently started an October 2015 game with TNA. I signed a lot of top talent to written deals and reached out to a bunch of guys who left TNA (Styles, Daniels, Kazarian, Sabin, Shelley, Aries, and the list goes on). I was able to snatch RVD but he's only set as an occasional wrestler. I can't hire anyone too popular because TNA's popularity is junk, along with the company prestige and momentum.

 

I lost money the first month but it wasn't a big chunk ($10k). TNA started with $1 million and I'll certainly make it back. Trying to boost up the prestige (currently at 37) of the company so that I can attempt to negotiate with a better network than Destination America. I'm trying to stick with Ethan Carter III as World Champion. I'm going to play it out and see how it goes. His first title defense for me was at Bound for Glory in a 3-way match with Styles and Angle (80 rating).

 

I adjusted the product a bit to fit my style. 80/80 for TV and Events when it comes to match ratio. Primarily a traditional company with some mainstream and cult tendencies mixed in. I was pumped that I was able to snatch up Team 3D and the World's Greatest Tag Team to add to the tag team division. I also brought in The Kingdom from ROH.

 

I ended the Xplosion TV deal on the first day and made Impact an hour and a half instead of two hours. We're slowly gaining popularity throughout North America. It'll be a slow progress and we'll never outrun the WWE, but we're going to be a strong competitor.

[Dave_Scott]

I'm over a month late to this but could this be made into a challenge? I imagine modern day TNA would very tough if you played it as you would have to in real life.

 

For example, you can only sign Unemployed workers or those that work for Regional promotions or lower. Main point being that AJ Styles would not leave NJPW or ROH to join you, same for Jay Lethal and such too.

 

Adjustments to the product can only be minor: perhaps performance and popularity are level, which I think mirrors TNA in real life. TV being 70% matches, Events being 90%.

 

Only two PPV's per year (Slammiversary & Bound For Glory), you can move to four but no higher than that.

 

TV deal where you pay 100% and earn no advertising revenue. You start as Head Booker and not Owner, which more or less means you cannot snatch anybody from WWE.

 

You are only just a Cult promotion too and you start with Jeff Hardy and Kurt Angle on very lucrative deals, which I imagine is the case in real life. You're bound to leak money for the first three months of course, but once you renegotiate your TV deal, you might be okay if you've made new stars. Anybody down for giving this a shot and/or refining the criteria?

 

Mootinie commented on one of my threads holy sh**!!!!! :D