The Official TNA Discussion Thread

[PeterHilton]

Read it on 411wrestling.com who credits PWInsider

In its first show back on Thursdays, last night's Impact scored a 0.93 rating with 1,275,000 viewers.


So not a 1.0 or better but well over a million viewers.

Still a bad sign. They spent millions of dollars, did tons of promotion, brought in every major star they could sign, and then got their asses handed to them on Monday...only to come back to score right around what they were doing BEFORE Hogan and Co showed up

Unless TNA can get up to the high 1's low 2's in the next few months, this whole experiment has been an abject failure. They could've just stayed on the same track and achieved more over the long term.

[GDE71]

Still a bad sign. They spent millions of dollars, did tons of promotion, brought in every major star they could sign, and then got their asses handed to them on Monday...only to come back to score right around what they were doing BEFORE Hogan and Co showed up

Unless TNA can get up to the high 1's low 2's in the next few months, this whole experiment has been an abject failure. They could've just stayed on the same track and achieved more over the long term.


It's a shame they can't shave the roster to a workable level and not look bad while doing so.

With 2 hours of TV how many workers should they REALLY have? 2 hours really only gives them 90 minutes or less once the commercials are taken out. So if you want to fit in 6 matches a week and some angles, how many workers can you keep in front of the viewers?

4 singles matches and 2 tag matches? That's 16 on screen. Announcers and backstage puts you at 20. Authority figures, 22. Extra singles, 26. Extra tags, 34. Inflate a little for injuries and you have 40.

So does TNA have 20+ too many workers?

[ampulator]

The problem isn't really how many people they have... it's how they use them. You could give them THREE hours.... and they still won't have enough to showcase their better workers, because the show will oversaturated with people that don't need that much TV time.

[Stennick]

Still a bad sign. They spent millions of dollars, did tons of promotion, brought in every major star they could sign, and then got their asses handed to them on Monday...only to come back to score right around what they were doing BEFORE Hogan and Co showed up

Unless TNA can get up to the high 1's low 2's in the next few months, this whole experiment has been an abject failure. They could've just stayed on the same track and achieved more over the long term.

Please don't go! Please don't go! :D

Seriously though you always take the words right out of my mouth. They scored a .93 WITH Hogan, Flair, Bischoff, RVD, Hardy how much money does that cost them on a monthly basis and for what? Credibility? Nobody is going to tune into TNA and say "wow theres Hulk Hogan still in a bandana and saying "brother" every five minutes my GRANDfather remembers him wrestling."

Then their going to see where Hogan's at in some dingy little studio in front of around a 1,000 fans and their going to turn the channel laughing to themselves.

RVD isn't the draw he thinks he is. He was over for a short while in 01 and maybe they could have done more with him but then he was all but buried in 02 and left to wallow in the mid card until he decided to screw up what he had to know was his ONLY shot at becoming a true "name". RVD is about as popular as Matt Hardy. I know it sucks but more people recognize Matt Hardy than RVD I'd bet money on it.

Bischoff has done nothing in the six months he's there. The T.V has been ok but they didn't bring him back to write television hell he didn't write most of WCW's crap he left that to Sullivan, Taylor, Dillon and whoever else. In 95 and 96 he did things like give away results, market the hell out of their product, do the exact OPPOSITE of what Vince was doing at the time as far as arena look, set, characters, and storylines. He counter programmed so when it was time to flip the channel because of commercial he was still on television. He was in the media. Then after he started getting to the ten weeks in a row, and thirty weeks in a row the guy coasted. He checked out and became the guy that Hogan or whoever else went to when they wanted to complain about "not looking bad on t.v brother". He came into TNA and what has he done?

Hogan's done even less than that. He's just not the name he was. Nobody really gives a damn about him more than a passing moment or two. Sure he's recognizable but nobody wants to BUY anything from him anymore. Hell he's not even presented in an interesting way on television. He's supposed to be "the boss" well that doesn't work for Hogan's character. Hogan's character is John Cena V.1 take on unbeatable bad guy in unbeatable odds and come out victorious only to wash, rinse and repeat. All while proclaiming how its the fans and his hard training and his never say die attitude that got it done. His act was stale in 1995 until they turned him heel nobody gave a damn about Hogan. He was heel for three years they turned him back to the "red and white" and nobody gave a damn still until he came back to the WWE and did the equalivant of a touring contract. He'd come in for three or four months, feud with one or two guys draw some money and leave before the fans got sick of him. He'd come back and get cheered and do it again. That finally ran dry after they milked it for four years and now the guy has nothing left. One minute he's just supposed to be the boss and refusing to get involved the very next week he's beating up the entire roster and calling out Sting.

Hardy was one of the most popular guys in the "E" but after debuting in January he was nowhere to be found until March taking five months out of the limelight and then coming in un announced and he's done little to nothing since coming in. A lot of his popularity was storyline driven feuds with money guys like Orton and Punk.

They hired all of these guys that they can't use right or have no real use to the business left in the first place.

[Hyde Hill]

They never showed Desmond Wolfe on camera. And Hogan milked that "but I don't want to" for far too long. The segment was poorly filmed.

Back to the Orlando Jordan character. I think building him up as a Weirdo Bi Bad Ass could work.

It could work if as discussed before it wasn't Orlando Jordan doing it. The lines they have given him and apart from the milk segment the booking he has had has not been that bad but his delivery of the angles and execution of the persona is just god damn awfull.

[Hyde Hill]

Please don't go! Please don't go! :D

Seriously though you always take the words right out of my mouth. They scored a .93 WITH Hogan, Flair, Bischoff, RVD, Hardy how much money does that cost them on a monthly basis and for what? Credibility? Nobody is going to tune into TNA and say "wow theres Hulk Hogan still in a bandana and saying "brother" every five minutes my GRANDfather remembers him wrestling."

Then their going to see where Hogan's at in some dingy little studio in front of around a 1,000 fans and their going to turn the channel laughing to themselves.

RVD isn't the draw he thinks he is. He was over for a short while in 01 and maybe they could have done more with him but then he was all but buried in 02 and left to wallow in the mid card until he decided to screw up what he had to know was his ONLY shot at becoming a true "name". RVD is about as popular as Matt Hardy. I know it sucks but more people recognize Matt Hardy than RVD I'd bet money on it.

Bischoff has done nothing in the six months he's there. The T.V has been ok but they didn't bring him back to write television hell he didn't write most of WCW's crap he left that to Sullivan, Taylor, Dillon and whoever else. In 95 and 96 he did things like give away results, market the hell out of their product, do the exact OPPOSITE of what Vince was doing at the time as far as arena look, set, characters, and storylines. He counter programmed so when it was time to flip the channel because of commercial he was still on television. He was in the media. Then after he started getting to the ten weeks in a row, and thirty weeks in a row the guy coasted. He checked out and became the guy that Hogan or whoever else went to when they wanted to complain about "not looking bad on t.v brother". He came into TNA and what has he done?

Hogan's done even less than that. He's just not the name he was. Nobody really gives a damn about him more than a passing moment or two. Sure he's recognizable but nobody wants to BUY anything from him anymore. Hell he's not even presented in an interesting way on television. He's supposed to be "the boss" well that doesn't work for Hogan's character. Hogan's character is John Cena V.1 take on unbeatable bad guy in unbeatable odds and come out victorious only to wash, rinse and repeat. All while proclaiming how its the fans and his hard training and his never say die attitude that got it done. His act was stale in 1995 until they turned him heel nobody gave a damn about Hogan. He was heel for three years they turned him back to the "red and white" and nobody gave a damn still until he came back to the WWE and did the equalivant of a touring contract. He'd come in for three or four months, feud with one or two guys draw some money and leave before the fans got sick of him. He'd come back and get cheered and do it again. That finally ran dry after they milked it for four years and now the guy has nothing left. One minute he's just supposed to be the boss and refusing to get involved the very next week he's beating up the entire roster and calling out Sting.

Hardy was one of the most popular guys in the "E" but after debuting in January he was nowhere to be found until March taking five months out of the limelight and then coming in un announced and he's done little to nothing since coming in. A lot of his popularity was storyline driven feuds with money guys like Orton and Punk.

They hired all of these guys that they can't use right or have no real use to the business left in the first place.

Well Bischoff has done some good, the new documentary style backstage stuff is his input and the pacing of the show has gone down a bit but is still too fast. And apart from ratings everything else is up, but yeah they need major help in the production department. Hogan apart from selling merch and giving them inroads to mainstream attention has done zilch except overbook himself.

I wanted to post about this earlier but seems I was pre empted about them actually making the backstage area seem second rate. There is absolutely no freaking reason for this. Keep the shots within the dressing rooms or within the "walls" of the interview areas. Ad the rafters for Sting and you are done.

Good case in point this week was the snafu with Neal and Moore where you could hear Kendrick being introduced and Williams coming out. This happened before the Band won the titles and they are talking about facing the Band for the titles in the segment.

On the themes, well they are not that bad imho but skipping them so many times for so many workers does not help, plus it helps to have a simple and catchy opening to a tune so you immediately know who it is. This is something the E always does and is not that hard to ad.

On the Band segment. Like I said before good continuity and if they lose the straps asap to one of the younger teams its not that bad. But looking at the segment itself. Morgan destroys both of Gen Me pretty much burying them but adding to his cred as an unstoppable big guy. This cred is then immediately destroyed by Joe being an even more unstoppable guy. The Band then takes extremely long to get to ringside and all the while Morgan is still out from the 2 moves and 2 punches from Joe. Then they get an easy 1,2,3. Not making the Band more over or anything and giving them belts they do not really need. So who got more over here. Joe a little bit (, He could have just destroyed OJ or anybody else for that matter or gotten involved in the ME,) Morgan got less over, Gen Me got less over, the Band won nothing. Sorry but that is bad f'n booking.

Abyss stuff just smacked Elizabeth, Goldberg to me. It was crappy then it was even crappier now. I like Chelsea looks wise but Wolf does not need her, but it is good to see him being the dominant one in that relation again.

Edit: On the costs, TNA's actual costs have not gone up much as Spike footed and is footing a lot of the bill, still they probably are not very happy with the results so far so TNA can count themselves lucky they still have 2 and a half years on the contract.

[Hyde Hill]

On the whole all the changes to TNA while some have been plus, more have been minus so far so its still a negative imho.

Hogan and Dixie need to stop meddling with creative. Russo and Ferrara need to go. Hogan should focus on being the TNA mainstream ambassador, Dixie should focus on the business side, Bischoff should focus on production and creative. New head of creative and secondary is needed badly with Conway remaining the junior in training. Of the trusted names out there I would say Heyman as head and Bill Behren's as secondary. Also bring in a new head of production with a lot of experience and hire a pr and marketing firm.

[Shmoe]

TNA ...I loved you. How could you do this to me?

There's no focus, everything is convoluted, over-complicated, over-drawn. I'm the biggest RVD mark in the world, and how have they really made him look as champion? Not ...much different. When I don't care for your company when you have RVD as your champion, you're doing something terribly wrong.

Also ...I swear they released Christopher Daniels (oh, which WTF), but he's still on the roster page. Wassupwitdat?

[Hyde Hill]

TNA ...I loved you. How could you do this to me?

There's no focus, everything is convoluted, over-complicated, over-drawn. I'm the biggest RVD mark in the world, and how have they really made him look as champion? Not ...much different. When I don't care for your company when you have RVD as your champion, you're doing something terribly wrong.

Also ...I swear they released Christopher Daniels (oh, which WTF), but he's still on the roster page. Wassupwitdat?

Reportedly, so take with grain/mountain of salt, they are trying to get him to sign a new deal which would be a ppa instead of the written he was on as a cost cutting measure. Otherwise chalk it up to the crappy TNA website team. For instance Creed and the Nasties where on there long after release as well.

TNA really, really, really need to invest in a better support crew in all areas. The talent on the roster is there to put on amazing shows, all the rest of the areas are flawed. I can not think of one area where they are not making glaring and obvious mistakes.

[cappyboy]

In in the NWA, WCW whatever and whenever the music was clear and you could atleast tell who it was. You can barely hear the music and their in a t.v studio. Never once have I ever recognized a single TNA them other than one of the Abyss themes. You can barely hear them, they all sound generic. Really its hard to take them serious when you see how small the studio their in.

The WWE is filling up stadiums and arenas world wide and TNA jams roughly 1300 fans into the arena. When I tune into the WWE they have these huge titan trons and big sets and then I tune over to TNA and its hard to hear, its dimly lit, sometimes its so quiet you can hear a pin drop and when it is loud it sounds more like a feisty night at grandma's bingo more than a major wrestling t.v show.

TNA is so focused on guys like Flair and Hogan lending them cred when in reality the casual fan is going to tune in and say "man they must be hurting for money bad if their in this dingy little place".


Before I start, keep in mind that I'm NOT saying you're wrong per se.

I do, however, think you're kinda overplaying the card here. Maybe it's a sign that I'm pushing 40 and thus there's a generational factor at play. But I find this production talk is far too often prone to falling into hyperbole. No knock on you. That's just in general.

You can barely hear the music? REALLY?!! I'd consider getting your checked then. Forgive me if that sounds like a broadside but I never have the TV above what our societial nanny wannabes would take issue with and I never have any trouble hearing the music. I occasionally have trouble with WISHING I couldn't hear but that's more because of the talent the music's tied to than it is Production's fault.

The TV studio vs arena thing is kinda fair I guess. Can we call it fair-ISH without the grammar geeks going nuts? Because that seems to be the best description I have. But even at that, you kinda have to go out of your way to think about that. Given that it's in a TV studio, they do really well at dressing that fact up. This could be a case of the generational rearing its head. But I've seen a lot of indies and wannabe big boys who filmed in studios over the years. Yet I can't remember a one that looked as good as TNA doing it. Most of them weren't big enough to dream of having a studio as grand as TNA's.

And I certainly wouldn't call them dimly lit or dingy. Places like ECW, the AWA or Global that had national presences on a similar profile of networks as TNA currently has on Spike never looked as bright or polished. I know TNA wants to be considered major. But you know what? So does every promotion that has any reach. Unless you're a WWE or SWF, it's part of creating your promotion's story world and making it matter that you portray yourself as bigger than you technically are.

At the same time I get being a fan on the outside looking in and wanting more from a company that tries to play the big shot. I don't even disagree with that impulse. But this sounds like an admittedly understandable lack of perspective due to the lack of visible indies. If you could have say more disccused underlings like RoH on Versus, CHIKARA on FX, and maybe a regional indy or two in (dare I suggest it?) syndication, there'd be a wider pool to judge TNA on production wise and perhaps more realistic standards for them would prevail. But when the only other highly visible standard is WWE? I'm sorry but pie in the sky expectations are inevitable. And while it shouldn't be, that's what it made to appear you're doing. Talking pie in the sky.

Now admittedly, I do come from a long-time fan perspective and have seen much the casual observer you mention wouldn't have. And yes, I do have fairly low tech senses. Always have. So if you want to say I'm too forgiving, I'm willing to accept that. But when the folks below them can't even produce shows deemed worthy of outlets casual fans can access easily, is TNA really that far out of line? Heck, it wasn't too long ago TNA themselves was confined behind the niche-channel fence of digital cable here in VA Beach.

[Hyde Hill]

Yep for the budget they have and the accommodation they are not doing too bad, its just small production gaffes etc and exposing the set etc when its not necessary that is a real major problem. And that does not cost money, just a different way of doing things and being better. Nobody expects them to be like the E in terms of quality that costs money but they need to do better with what they have.

Simple one is for instance the pyro. Either have good pyro or none at all. Same with the lasers, have them ad to the entrance and do a certain sequence and not have them just shooting all over the place or just do not use them. Admittedly better pyro costs more money but the rest is a question of presentation and production.

Edit: On the themes, I can hear them fine and I think almost everyone can its just some are not immediatly recognisable and the level of ambient noise vs entrance theme noise seems off as you can hear the crowd too much. Its more a balance thing them decibel level thing.

[Comradebot]

Yep for the budget they have and the accommodation they are not doing too bad, its just small production gaffes etc and exposing the set etc when its not necessary that is a real major problem. And that does not cost money, just a different way of doing things and being better. Nobody expects them to be like the E in terms of quality that costs money but they need to do better with what they have.

Simple one is for instance the pyro. Either have good pyro or none at all. Same with the lasers, have them ad to the entrance and do a certain sequence and not have them just shooting all over the place or just do not use them. Admittedly better pyro costs more money but the rest is a question of presentation and production.

Edit: On the themes, I can hear them fine and I think almost everyone can its just some are not immediatly recognisable and the level of ambient noise vs entrance theme noise seems off as you can hear the crowd too much. Its more a balance thing them decibel level thing.

Their themes, for the most part, suck ass. There is simply nothing iconic about the vast majority of them and are worse than the generic stuff you could give created wrestlers in WWF Attitude back in the mid-90s on the playstation one. And Kurt Angle's rap entrance will always stick out as one of the least fitting themes in the history of ever.

They're not as bad as they used to be, but TNA's theme music is still far below average. It's maybe a step above the gauntlet of mostly the same sounding speed metal many ROH wrestlers uses right now (and only because I like Anderson's, RVD's, and Hogan's themes), but at least ROH uses their talent to the best of their abilities and rarely leaves me scratching my head with their writing. (But seriously, the constant RAAAAAAWWWWWRRRRR metal drives the living hell out of me.)

[Stennick]

I hold them to a higher standard because they TELL me to. Their constantly going on and one "TNA is the place to be" "TNA is where all the wrestlers wanna be" "Monday night wars". I understand some of that is hype but at the same time ROH was on Monday nights before TNA and I didn't hear a word about Monday night wars from them. I understand their on a fraction of the network but even if they were on Spike I can't imagine hearing Prazak going on and on about a Monday night war. In the media you got Bischoff and Hogan taking constant shots at Vince which would be fine if they were on his heels but when their not even his league its like Dre said "move units then we'll do this". Meaning become relevant and then we'll take some shots back and forth.

My biggest point was Hogan, Flair, Hardy, RVD, Hall and who knows who else and they still are drawing the same rating they were in 2006. My point was that Hogan's what a million, Flair's another mil, Bischoff I bet has a sweet deal, RVD and Hardy didn't come into TNA for their passion of the business. Hall I'd be willing to bet isn't there for free as much talk about this being his "last chance" you know Hogan, Nash and others got him a sweet deal.

Their spending all this money on guys and for what? What are they getting in return? Credibility? What good is credibility when it does nothing to grow your audience? Its presumably the same audience for the last four years that 1.0 audience you already had cred with them. They popped over two million viewers in January and those fans haven't been back since. They could use that money they have wasted on guys nobody wants to see and produced better television from it.

If TNA would just admit to being a really big indy company I'd have no problem with their setup. However they constantly tell me their right behind Vince and their doing all these great things but then I get the feel of 1980 Saturday Night WCW with the dimly lit arena and a few fans.

[Comradebot]

If TNA would just admit to being a really big indy company I'd have no problem with their setup. However they constantly tell me their right behind Vince and their doing all these great things but then I get the feel of 1980 Saturday Night WCW with the dimly lit arena and a few fans.

Which, honestly, ISN'T a bad thing. In fact, I like the "old school" vibe I sometimes get from TNA. Heck, if anything they should embrace it. Well, I guess they do if you count the guys they've signed who were also on 1980 Saturday Night WCW...

But no, they're not "right behind" Vince, except in the sense they're in a very distant second place.

[Hyde Hill]

Ok do please stop with the jokes that enforce semi false perception, I come here to be free of those.

Also Stennick what you seem to forget is that Spike is paying the majority of these bills. Apparently Spike was not willing to put money into better production and advertising etc but where willing to pay or in part pay for Hogan etc. Also TNA gets no money for ratings. They get a rights fee and a bonus if they deliver a really good rating and that is it. All other figures that generate income for TNA are up, house show attendance, merchandise, ppv buys etc. I would not be surprised that on the Hogan name alone they secured the new deal in the Middle East. Plus all other television viewing numbers are up. Its just the states where they are flat. Now long term this will be a problem for when the Spike tv deal is up and the ratings have not improved. Spike will refuse to pay for a lot of the names etc and maybe offer not as good a deal. On the otherside that will mean Spike will have less influence on the booking and even with 0.9's TNA is one of their highest rated shows. Yes you are right that with the talent on board now TNA should be doing even better in all aspects, you are wrong that its costing them money though.

On the hype, perception etc. TNA is a distant second and yes since Hogan has come aboard they overhyped themselves and did not deliver quality wise. Does this have anything to do with the quantity of the production values? Not much imho. If they had kept their Jan 4th momentum and had built on it and all the other figures had gone up more I am sure they would have increased the quantity. Quantity being those things you can improve by spending more, what they need to focus on and I will grant you that is the quality but that has actually improved since the new regime, are there still glaring snafu's yep, are there less and is the overall production better? yep.

Look for in house themes most of the TNA themes are pretty good, they do not have the resources or are at this moment unwilling to put in the resources to make them better or hire bands to perform them. Are they different from the E? Yeps. Are they worse? Somewhat. Are they better then they used to be or any indie? Hells yes.

[Stennick]

It was under my impression that Spike wasn't paying any of their workers anymore. I know back in the day they paid half of Sting's salary but I was under the impression that Hogan, Flair and Bischoff had deals with Panda for fear if TNA went under they wouldn't get their money. I don't know how much these guys are getting paid but it would seem like a bad business decision to pour literally millions into TNA's salaries. Who knows who the contracts are under but I'm fairly certain Spike isn't paying any more salaries since back when they first brought Sting in.

It feels like their is a double standard sort of with TNA. They bring in Hogan, Bischoff, Flair, etc. they hype up Monday Night Wars they say their taking the company to never before seen heights, their the place everybody wants to be, etc. They say all this on national television and thats fine. I understand hyperbole and wrestling is full of it but you have to be able to back it up on some sort of level.

They say all this and then people turn around (people in general) turn around and say "well their just not big enough to support personalized themes, and big arenas".

Why are they presenting themselves as a national powerhouse and bringing in every star from 15 years ago they can find to then turn around and say "look we're not big enough for those fancy themes, cool sets, etc..

They had ten days to edit Impact and there are several scenes where they completely screwed up. When Smackdown is taped you always hear about retakes, re shoots, voice overs, edits essentially their all over that taped product to make sure any mistakes or mishaps are taken care of.

Maybe I'm spoiled in the fact that I remember clearly WCW and the WWF Monday Night Wars. And when they took shots at one another you felt like both had valid points and they were neck and neck. It would be like for me Arena Football trying to take shots at the NFL in their current set up it would come across as very bush league. Thats how I feel when TNA makes these grand claims and then you tune in and say "are they serious?"

[Hyde Hill]

They had ten days to edit Impact and there are several scenes where they completely screwed up. When Smackdown is taped you always hear about retakes, re shoots, voice overs, edits essentially their all over that taped product to make sure any mistakes or mishaps are taken care of.

Yep but that is quality of production and I totally agree with you there.

On the hyperbole, think it was kind of wishfull thinking hoping to turn it into a self fulfilling prophecy, it could of worked but mainly do to bad booking and decision making it did not .Nitro was in a similar plot before the War and it took till the NWO angle for them to be able to go on the road and really up the production values, plus the E was not at the same level production wise as it is now.

They are still doing the make the change stuff but the general hyperbole has toned down somewhat and the shots towards up north have pretty much gone lately. Except the Adamle one but come on that one was good.

[cappyboy]

If TNA would just admit to being a really big indy company I'd have no problem with their setup. However they constantly tell me their right behind Vince and their doing all these great things but then I get the feel of 1980 Saturday Night WCW with the dimly lit arena and a few fans.

And you know, if they did that, I don't know I'd have enough respect for them as a promotion. Acting like they are right behind the E and doing all these great things is what I would expect any proper number 2 to do. Regardless of the financials or little production errors or any of that. It's part of the illusion. It's how you build your story world. If TNA acted like they were wrestling's answer to a Triple A baseball club, I'd take all the effort to watch them that I do the Norfolk Tides. Which is none. If you're talking a RoH or CHIKARA or someone like that got to the lower rungs of basic cable and started playing that Triple A type role, okay. But for better or worse, TNA is the number 2. They HAVE TO big time it in order to be worthy of that role.

I won't deny a little extra polish here and there would be nice. Firm up those procedures where you were saying they need to. But I'm with Comradebot about the old school vibe TNA gives off. Taking the attitude that not only that they are on WWE's heels but nipping at them with ideals the E has cast off could really help differentiate them in people's minds and be a much better move than admitting they are a walk-behinder.

[ampulator]

The problem isn't they aren't acting as the 2nd top promotion... the problem it's half-assed. Either you go all-in and professionalize, or you don't.

TNA feels like a big Indy company, with a 2nd-biggest promotion gloss, rather than actually being the 2nd biggest promotion.

It's like their crap booking nowadays that drives this impression. What they claim to be and what they are too very, very different things.

[Fleisch]

The problem is that WWE is a monster in terms of wrestling, there isn't anyone who is going to catch them up. Fans tire easily. Yes it was probably good having your Halls, Nashs and Hogans for nostalgia, and as "name value" but I'll tell you one thing, alot of the guys I know who gave TNA a chance saw Hogan and burst out laughing at how he's still trying to clutch at the limelight. They've not watched since. It has worn off quickly. Their "experiment" has failed. I grew up watching these guys when I was 8-16 I'm now 28 and really seeing these guys not even at 50% of what I rememeber them being like is crap. I loved hall when he was Razor Ramon, I even liked him at the beginning of the nWo angle, but now (although he's got himself into a little better shape) he's still only half the worker he used to be. There is room for your RVD's, your Jeff Hardys and your Ken Andersons. These guys deserve the spotlight now, along with AJ, Samoa Joe and Desmond Wolfe, but they need to lessen Hogans on scren time. Small doses and i guess I could watch it again, but for now, i'm just so tired of the crap fed to me by both TNA & WWE (hell I won't even comment on WWE anymore as I don't have a clue whats going on - other than Vince is supposedly tired with wrestling now and "has made his money").

I'm definately not a Mark, I'm definately not a Smark. I'm a fan with a bit of knowledge on the ins and outs but I really don't want to turn on a show named Total Nonstop Action and get Total Nonstop Hogan/Flair/Outsiders. The only way TNA have ANY chance of competing with WWE is if the stars of TODAY, not the 80's, not the 90's, jumped ship, and lets face it, can you see Cena, Orton or Batista joing TNA? No, so TNA should leave any "war" alone and just concentrate on giving the fans something different.

[mystic]

Abyss vs. Wolfe

I’ll go with Wolfe in this one, though I can see storylines coming off of both post match. If Abyss wins Chelsea gets to act sickened by Abyss for a little while. If Wolfe wins Chelsea gets the ring and either Hogan comes to the aid to get his ring back or Hogan turns on Abyss for losing it. I still feel that this will somehow turn into a Flair vs. Hogan battle down the road.

global title
Terry vs. Jordan

Rob Terry will win and Jordan will move on, though it would not shock me to have Jordan win this one and then have Terry win it back at a later date.

knockout title
Tara vs. Rayne

Rayne takes this and they have to move onto Rayne vs. Love as the Knockouts division is a bad shape right now.

Tag title match
Nash & Hall vs. Ink Inc

I like moore but Neil just annoys me. To keep the fans somewhat happy, Ink Inc will win by DQ, while Hall & Nash retain

Hardy vs. Anderson

Anderson wins while Hardy goes to court.

3 way for the #1 contender spot to the tag titles
3-D vs. Beer Money vs. M.C.M.G.

M.C.M.G. will win in a decent match

x-title
Kaz vs. Williams

Williams wins here, I personally like him better then Kaz

Sting vs. Jarret

It just shows you how bad these two have become when this match gets the “oh by the way treatment” Sting wins to continue the Sting vs. Jarrett vs. Hogan vs. Eric vs. Flair vs. Abyss feud

World title
RVD vs. Styles

Can’t take the title off RVD now.

On paper it looks decent but I just don't have high hopes for this one

[Gouge]

Eh, not liking this card at all but I'll throw in my two cents for predictions.

RVD over Styles. I don't agree with RVD winning the title early at all and I think it was very poor booking to something that should have been a first time dream match. Think about it, how many times has RVD vs. Styles been included on dream cards all these years? Wasted opportunity, I believe. But in any case, they may as well run with it for now. Have AJ get into a few upper-card feuds while RVD has some fresh title feuds with the likes of Mr. Anderson.

Sting Vs. Jarrett... I don't even know. Nor could I possibly care much. It's not that I hate Sting or Jarrett, I don't, but this feud just doesn't interest me in the least. I still think Sting is a very weak heel and I've been having a hard time taking him seriously for awhile. Jarrett, while I consider myself one of the few that actually enjoy him, has just been bland. I thought him and Foley had potential to be some sort of rebellion, tweener veteran outcasts but ever since Foley left, Jarrett's just been bland.

Williams vs. Kaz, I see Kaz winning. I'd love to see Williams win since I think he's one of the more interesting people on the X-Division roster and he really breathes life into it, but I think this just adds closure to the match I think Williams was supposed to lose last month anyway.

Tag Title match I see Ink Inc pulling an upset. I don't care who wins though as I really don't like either team. What does TNA see in Jesse Neal? Why is Shannon Moore constantly being pushed? I don't think Moore is bad, but I feel he should be putting guys over in the X-Division. Him getting all these title shots is random as heck.

Knockouts I see Rayne winning. Knockouts need a shot in the arm, it's getting pretty redundant now.

Pope runs in and costs Anderson the match. Hardy goes to King of the Mountain, Anderson takes on Pope next month.

Terry vs. Jordan... again, couldn't really care. Don't like either. I think Terry is extremely overrated. Not as bad as a lot of people say he is, but has no business holding the second tier title either. Then again, neither does Jordan. I see either Terry winning by DQ or Jordan doing something freaky to cause Terry to get rolled up. And then, of course, this feud to... *sigh* continue in some very gimmicky match next month. Furry handcuffs on a pole, perhaps?

Abyss vs. Wolfe.. *sigh*. Well obviously I'd like to see Wolfe win. But I see Abyss taking this one as well.

Three way tag I see Beer Money winning and moving on to feud with Ink Inc.

[TNAfan123]

Eh, not liking this card at all but I'll throw in my two cents for predictions.

RVD over Styles. I don't agree with RVD winning the title early at all and I think it was very poor booking to something that should have been a first time dream match. Think about it, how many times has RVD vs. Styles been included on dream cards all these years? Wasted opportunity, I believe. But in any case, they may as well run with it for now. Have AJ get into a few upper-card feuds while RVD has some fresh title feuds with the likes of Mr. Anderson.

Sting Vs. Jarrett... I don't even know. Nor could I possibly care much. It's not that I hate Sting or Jarrett, I don't, but this feud just doesn't interest me in the least. I still think Sting is a very weak heel and I've been having a hard time taking him seriously for awhile. Jarrett, while I consider myself one of the few that actually enjoy him, has just been bland. I thought him and Foley had potential to be some sort of rebellion, tweener veteran outcasts but ever since Foley left, Jarrett's just been bland.

Williams vs. Kaz, I see Kaz winning. I'd love to see Williams win since I think he's one of the more interesting people on the X-Division roster and he really breathes life into it, but I think this just adds closure to the match I think Williams was supposed to lose last month anyway.

Tag Title match I see Ink Inc pulling an upset. I don't care who wins though as I really don't like either team. What does TNA see in Jesse Neal? Why is Shannon Moore constantly being pushed? I don't think Moore is bad, but I feel he should be putting guys over in the X-Division. Him getting all these title shots is random as heck.

Knockouts I see Rayne winning. Knockouts need a shot in the arm, it's getting pretty redundant now.

Pope runs in and costs Anderson the match. Hardy goes to King of the Mountain, Anderson takes on Pope next month.

Terry vs. Jordan... again, couldn't really care. Don't like either. I think Terry is extremely overrated. Not as bad as a lot of people say he is, but has no business holding the second tier title either. Then again, neither does Jordan. I see either Terry winning by DQ or Jordan doing something freaky to cause Terry to get rolled up. And then, of course, this feud to... *sigh* continue in some very gimmicky match next month. Furry handcuffs on a pole, perhaps?

Abyss vs. Wolfe.. *sigh*. Well obviously I'd like to see Wolfe win. But I see Abyss taking this one as well.

Three way tag I see Beer Money winning and moving on to feud with Ink Inc.

He's more over than you think with the fans I was at a show not long ago and he got the biggest pop during a three way tag match that envoled team 3D and The gunz the crowd goes crazy for this guy live and I think there doing the right thing with his push but I dont understand Moores push although I do think INK INC. is a pretty good team

[pate]

I went to a TNA house show Thursday. I won't write much, as everything was the same as other house shows (backstage pass giveaways, autograph sessions, etc), but here's a few things that stood out to me.

I was already a big Nigel/Desmond Wolfe fan, but his selling made my appreciation of him go up several notches. His facial expressions were amazing.

LVE was even worse than I knew from TV. Once, she moved back just before getting kicked, the kick missed her face by 3 feet, and she still fell over. Awkwardly.

The heels (except Desmond, Beer Money, and AJ) were all mega over. It was bizarre. People were booing Jarrett (no shock there), but going nuts for Anderson.

Abyss got very little of a reaction, which was expected based on his vote totals in the ranking system. Right now, I'd say the most over faces other than Hardy and RVD were Ink Inc. Yes, really.

[LoganRodzen]

I went to a TNA house show Thursday. I won't write much, as everything was the same as other house shows (backstage pass giveaways, autograph sessions, etc), but here's a few things that stood out to me.

I was already a big Nigel/Desmond Wolfe fan, but his selling made my appreciation of him go up several notches. His facial expressions were amazing.

LVE was even worse than I knew from TV. Once, she moved back just before getting kicked, the kick missed her face by 3 feet, and she still fell over. Awkwardly.

The heels (except Desmond, Beer Money, and AJ) were all mega over. It was bizarre. People were booing Jarrett (no shock there), but going nuts for Anderson.

Abyss got very little of a reaction, which was expected based on his vote totals in the ranking system. Right now, I'd say the most over faces other than Hardy and RVD were Ink Inc. Yes, really.

I went to a house show here in Maine in December and Abyss got a really dull reaction from the crowd. My older brother who hadn't been to wrestling in years (neither had I) but had watched and gone to events the entire time growing up - his exact words about Abyss after seeing his match, "he's nothing more than a glorified jobber." It was disappointing that he said that because I like Abyss... or at least I like the idea of Abyss. Thinking about it some more he's probably right because seeing his matches he does have some serious weak spots.

Best thing TNA has going for them at their house shows are doing the pictures in the ring after the show. They're making some serious cash because at least 50% of the people at every show will do it. I remember back when I saw an indy fed as a kid and getting in the ring for a pic with Tito Santana was like $5 and TNA is charging like $20 if I heard them correctly when I was there.

It was the first time TNA came to Maine and it was cool to see the six-sided ring for the first and last time before they made the switch. Beer Money were babyfaces at the time when they came here and they got the biggest pop. If I remember correctly it was better than Angle's pop. I guess that just tells you where our priorities are up here in the Northeast. :rolleyes:

[Slagaholic]

Doug Williams and Kazarian had a better match than I thought they have.

And I am now a mark for Kazarian because he had RIP RJD on his wrist tape.

[LoganRodzen]

I'm hoping Madison Rayne has a wardrobe malfunction. :o

[Slagaholic]

Well The Band won as expected, but they made Ink Inc look pretty good.

And I really liked the Wolfe-Chelsea segment.

[brashleyholland]

That Anderson promo was fan-tas-tic.

[Slagaholic]

That Anderson promo was fan-tas-tic.

Yes. Yes it was. I am proud to call myself an *******.

[Slagaholic]

I'm confused by the end of the Anderson-Hardy match.

[jwt13]

Sting=Legend

[cappyboy]

Anderson-Hardy match.

All I need to know to be glad I missed this PPV right here. :)

[Slagaholic]

Earl Hebner ain't nuthin to **** with!

[Slagaholic]

Ric Flair just admitted to having sex with Dixie Carter. He needs to have a mic during every AJ Styles match.

[ampulator]

Hey, for Ric Flair, she's a young buck. LOL

[Slagaholic]

TNA followed up some good TV with a good PPV.

[The Celt]

Read the report, sounded like a pretty good PPV.

Someone want to sum up what RVD and Anderson's promos were like?

[TracyBrooksFan]

was at PPV and enjoyed the show


(Meet Lacey and Madison again and Sarita)

[LoganRodzen]

Read the report, sounded like a pretty good PPV.

Someone want to sum up what RVD and Anderson's promos were like?

All I can say is it was awesome and that I'm one of Anderson's '*******s'.

EDIT: This is the first TNA PPV I've actually watched all of without missing a match or two. I did miss the Sting vs Jarrett match but we all saw it 10 years ago and we saw it 5 years ago. Not missing much there.

[Hyde Hill]

He's more over than you think with the fans I was at a show not long ago and he got the biggest pop during a three way tag match that envoled team 3D and The gunz the crowd goes crazy for this guy live and I think there doing the right thing with his push but I dont understand Moores push although I do think INK INC. is a pretty good team

Neal much as Moore has a very dedicated twitter following, they come to the shows etc. and ad in the military connection for sympathy and one of us overness. Apart from those guys he is not over. Small but dedicated following but not over for the general public. If TNA toured he would be a blip on the radar.

PPV overall RVD vs Styles and Abyss vs Wolf was not as good as I hoped but still good. Opening tag and Anderson vs Hardy and X Match where good. Tara vs Rayne and OJ vs Terry not as bad as expected. Sting vs Jarrett wtf! Save stuff like that for Impact. Band vs Ink was terrible. No real production gaffes this time except the audible 5 minutes when RVD was being interviewed by Hemme so that was good, bad production choice in putting Flair on screen that much as commentator, crowd as a whole was terrible flat and detracted imho. Overall middle of the road ppv. Anderson is really coming into his own in TNA btw.

[Hyde Hill]

I went to a TNA house show Thursday. I won't write much, as everything was the same as other house shows (backstage pass giveaways, autograph sessions, etc), but here's a few things that stood out to me.

I was already a big Nigel/Desmond Wolfe fan, but his selling made my appreciation of him go up several notches. His facial expressions were amazing.

LVE was even worse than I knew from TV. Once, she moved back just before getting kicked, the kick missed her face by 3 feet, and she still fell over. Awkwardly.

The heels (except Desmond, Beer Money, and AJ) were all mega over. It was bizarre. People were booing Jarrett (no shock there), but going nuts for Anderson.

Abyss got very little of a reaction, which was expected based on his vote totals in the ranking system. Right now, I'd say the most over faces other than Hardy and RVD were Ink Inc. Yes, really.

I think Abyss is suffering from you have to like this guy backlash if you know what I mean. As far as face pops go was Pope there? Joe? The Guns? Hernandez? Shark Boy? Lethal? Ink inc have a dedicated following and get sympathy pops, not overness pops imho.

I have read multiple house show reports where Rhino got one of the loudest pops. Doesn't mean a lot in the grand scheme of things.

[PeterHilton]

I think Abyss is suffering from you have to like this guy backlash if you know what I mean.

That's part of it. The other part is that this whole storyline is just frickin lame.

Abyss has always been at his most enjoyable as an out of control monster. Why the writing team think fans would prefer him as some mewling, suck up, slow witted, Hogan fan boy is beyond me.

I'm almost certain we're only a few more PPvs away from Abyss losing the mask and going full blown Hulkamaniac with yellow shirt and red bandana. Smell the ratings!

[Bigpapa42]

Some spoiler-ish stuff from WO and PWT...

WO is reporting that the backstage environment isn't that great right now, with morale down due to the move back to Thursday's.

PWT has an article saying that for budget reasons, TNA is looking at cutitng some talent.

[Slagaholic]

Not surprised.

[Hyde Hill]

Ill need to see it before I believe it. And the not surprised reaction is exactly why they post stuff like that as it goes with the perception etc. No offence meant.

[Stennick]

Do you mean they post that stuff on morale and finances because its what people want to believe and that it might not be true?

Because if I was working in a company that was ineptly run as that one I would start to shake my head as well. For every positive thing they do they take seven steps back. They move to Monday nights and less than a qtr later they move back. I understand they were getting killed in the ratings but what are the employees supposed to think? Are they supposed to be happy that they can't grow an audience and anytime they try to step above their 1.0 level they get murdered in the ratings and sent tumbling back down into obscurity.

As far as finances With talk of bringing in Helms when his contract as up as well as bringing in TWGTT when they come in to go along with all of the insane contracts they have how can budget cuts not be in the works? Not too mention thats got to get morale down anyway. A locker room leader like Daniels a guy that has been there from the start is cut from his 90,000 but do you think Helms will sign for less than that? What about TWGTT its just another example of WWE cast offs getting paid better "originals". Even though these cast offs including RVD, Flair, Hogan, Bischoff, Hardy, etc. have done ZERO for their television ratings they have proven to be no more useful than bringing in Sharkboy.

So when they tell me people are down in the locker room and that they need budget cuts I believe it.

The question I have is didn't they bring in a guy last year that was supposed to manage salaries and get them on track? How can they justifty giving all this money to Hogan and Flair as well as RVD, Hardy, etc. when they haven't helped the company in six months they have been there?

So yeah no only do I believe it but I'm not shocked either. What is there to be happy about in TNA right now? The fact that you lost over half your regular audience in about four weeks timeframe by moving to Monday nights? Or the fact that you doubled your audience at the start of the year and lost them in seven days and never saw them return again? Or maybe not only are your best friends being released from the company dispite how dedicated and helpful they have and are but they are replacing them with MORE castaways even though the biggest castaways such as Flair and Hogan haven't done a single thing for the company so how do they expect guys who weren't drawing in the E to make an "Impact"?

[Linsolv]

Cut the geriatric ward -- that should help the financial situation.

[Slagaholic]

Kevin Thorn and Roxxi are backstage at Impact

[PeterHilton]

What is there to be happy about in TNA right now?

A lot of those 'morale' stories in the ragsheets seem like bs, but Stennick does have some good points.

If TNA was a sports team, they'd be the Clippers. How could the morale NOT be affected?

[Bigpapa42]

I can't access WO or PWT from where I am, but...

Morale in TNA was said to be quite deflated after the announcement that Impact was being moved back to Thursday. Many of the roster members who don’t follow the history of the business had been convinced by talk a couple of months back that the move to Monday nights was going to turn the company around. Some are fearful that the Thursday ratings will not return to what they were in February, with the Monday experiment perhaps having run off a sizeable portion of the fanbase. In the past, the consensus has been that although the money in TNA was not as good as in WWE this was offset by a far more enjoyable atmosphere at work. Now, the general feeling is that TNA is still a less stressful environment than WWE but nowhere near as much fun as it was a few months ago. Some feel that this is attributable to Eric Bischoff and Hulk Hogan coming in without any knowledge of the product, storylines or characters and yet changing the dynamic regardless. Others go back farther and attribute it to Jim Cornette being let go in favour of Ed Ferrara. Cornette had been the one who took scenarios that seemed foolish on paper and performed major damage control on them, while Ferrara lacked such instincts. This was said to demonstrate just how little Dixie Carter knew about the business and how easy she could be manipulated. At the moment, it is becoming clear to many that Bischoff has no fresh ideas about how to turn business around. The upcoming schedule should be quite revealing about the creative team. The Sacrifice PPV on 16 May will be followed by TV tapings for four straight weeks of Impact on the 17th, 18th and 19th, right up until the next PPV. This has been done in the past as a cost-saving measure, yet it led to segments being taped out of order on different days and numerous internal logic holes, such as some people being in different outfits for no reason on the same show. When such tapings were being written by Vince Russo the major plot points and directions of the script would be left intact. Under the new regime, there are far more last-minute alterations to major aspects of storylines. Kevin Nash & Scott Hall winning the TNA Tag Team Championships was a last-minute decision after somebody brought up that Nash still had a Feast or Fired briefcase to use for a tag title shot. Bischoff knew nothing about the concept, while Russo had long since forgotten about it. When the subject was brought up they decided to go ahead and use it for a title change. This screwed with the original Sacrifice line-up, where Matt Morgan and a partner were to face Ink Inc, while Hall & Nash would have been in a #1 contenders four-way with Beer Money, Team 3D and Motor City Machine Guns. Now they are having Hall & Nash defend the titles against Ink Inc, with the other tree teams perhaps having a three-way match instead. Morgan has nothing in particular planned, although a match with Samoa Joe is on the cards since Joe cost him the tag titles. The original plan for Morgan was that Hernandez would return as a mystery partner for Homicide, who would have won a tag title shot, yet the entire LAX reunion idea has been forgotten about since the original Hernandez injury angle. Meanwhile, Homicide was confronted about his recent interview comments about his lack of faith in TNA, their current direction and Hulk Hogan’s involvement with the company. He claimed to have been misquoted and so Terry Taylor has asked for a copy of the interview tape.

Credit to Wrestling Observe Newsletter

And...

TNA News: TNA reportedly to begin cutting talent due to budget reasons

May 17, 2010 - 12:35:44 PM

By James Caldwell, Torch assistant editor

This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image. The original image is sized 800x600 and weights 65KB.

TNA will reportedly begin cutting talent soon due to budget issues, reports the Wrestling Observer.

TNA tapes the next four episodes of Impact this week starting today in Orlando. The shows will complete the build-up to TNA's Slammiversary PPV in June and could be an indication of which talent will remain with the promotion going forward.

Caldwell's Analysis: TNA's roster has become bloated with the addition of a lot of names since the beginning of the year - RVD, Ric Flair, Jeff Hardy, Shannon Moore, Orlando Jordan, Brian Kendrick, Nasty Boys (released), Sean Morley (released). TNA has too many wrestlers, not enough slots, and they're not drawing decent TV ratings with the talent they've brought in and the money they spent. TNA drawing a 0.5 rating in prime time with Ric Flair in a TV main event remains one of the most mind-boggling events this year. TNA's talent roster needs to be trimmed, but everything comes back to creative needing to be overhauled. The fans turning on the product at the PPV last night was the latest in a long line of indicators this company has serious creative issues that need to be solved first and foremost.

[The Celt]

FREE HOMICIDE

Let My People Go

[Slagaholic]

RVD vs Sting is the Slammiversary Main Event

[Stennick]

How do you know this? Isn't there a King of the Mountain Match at the ppv for the title or something?

[Slagaholic]

Last year there was a KotM for the X Division title, looks like they're either doing that or dropping the idea completely. Which I don't mind since every KotM match has been pretty bad. It's just a crap idea.

[Stennick]

Where did you hear the main event? Is there someone posting results already?

[fatallylost]

Last year there was a KotM for the X Division title, looks like they're either doing that or dropping the idea completely. Which I don't mind since every KotM match has been pretty bad. It's just a crap idea.

So.. to summarize. They're either doing a King of the Mountain, or, they're not?

I think I could go on the record that at Slammiversary, Jeff Hardy will face Rhyno.

Or he won't.

[Slagaholic]

So.. to summarize. They're either doing a King of the Mountain, or, they're not?

I think I could go on the record that at Slammiversary, Jeff Hardy will face Rhyno.

Or he won't.

Well that's the answer to the question. They will either do one for the X-Division title or none at all. But they will not have a match for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship, which was the main point of the entire conversation.

Where did you hear the main event? Is there someone posting results already?

Gerweck.net

Also, according to the results Mr. Anderson's turned babyface, which makes sense after that promo.

[fatallylost]

Well that's the answer to the question. They will either do one for the X-Division title or none at all. But they will not have a match for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship, which was the main point of the entire conversation.[/COLOR]

I was more pointing out that the way you said it, you gave every outcome. Either it will, or won't happen. There's no third option.

[Slagaholic]

I was more pointing out that the way you said it, you gave every outcome. Either it will, or won't happen. There's no third option.

That's just how my brain processes things and thus how I explain them off the top of my head. It's a gift and a curse.

[Hyde Hill]

Last year there was a KotM for the X Division title, looks like they're either doing that or dropping the idea completely. Which I don't mind since every KotM match has been pretty bad. It's just a crap idea.

Despite the overly gimmicky nature some of the matches where pretty good imho, different strokes I guess.

[SaySo]

Title: Dixie not happy about firing anyone

As noted before, there are people within the company looking to cut as many wrestlers from TNA?s roster this week to save money. However, TNA President Dixie Carter is fighting these decisions as she doesn?t want people losing their jobs.

Dixie realizes that these are tough times with the economy, especially in the wrestling business and doesn?t want anyone without work and pay.

Source: The Wrestling Observer Newsletter

[Hyde Hill]

Title: Dixie not happy about firing anyone

As noted before, there are people within the company looking to cut as many wrestlers from TNA?s roster this week to save money. However, TNA President Dixie Carter is fighting these decisions as she doesn?t want people losing their jobs.

Dixie realizes that these are tough times with the economy, especially in the wrestling business and doesn?t want anyone without work and pay.

Source: The Wrestling Observer Newsletter

Lol way to cover your ass when the reported roster cuts do not happen, and when they do happen you are also right. Sorry but this is bs reporting.

[ampulator]

You think it's BS reporting, I think it's Dixie Carter being naive... about wrestling.

Seriously, Meltzer interviewed her and asked her what she's going to do once Hogan and Bischoff leave. According to Meltzer, the look on her face was as if she didn't think that would happen.

[SaySo]

Title - Hogan Hair Problems

Celebrity wrestler HULK HOGAN has been wearing hair extensions since his split from ex-wife LINDA - after melting off his iconic blond mane in a dyeing mishap.

The star, real name Terry Bollea, relied on his former partner to colour his locks before their divorce last year (Jul09).

After the split, Hogan tried the beauty treatment on his own - but he left the dye on too long and the bleach caused permanent damage.

He explains, "When I was married back in the day Linda would do my hair - I never paid attention. When she filed for divorce and I was on my own and the roots grew out, I went to my local drug store and bought the hair (dye) and put in on. I didn't know you weren't supposed to put it on the scalp. I kind of rubbed it through (my hair) and then the phone rang. It (the dye) was on for an hour... (Then) I'm in the shower and it (my hair) all goes down there (the drain)."

Source: http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/story/hogan-lost-his-hair-in-dye-mishap_1142862

[Comradebot]

So...

If they cut some folks, who would you rather see go? Who are you terrified they may let go?

Personally, I want to see Orlando Jordan gone. "OMG, instead of a gay gimmick he's bi but still acts massively gay!" I tend to just flip over to something else. And, honestly, I wouldn't mind seeing Scott Hall go... I get depressed when I see him now. He's really and truly a sad sight on account of how much he's a shell of his former self. That said, I doubt his buddies will allow it.

If there's anyone I'm actually worried about... MCMs? Surely they wouldn't though, right? And I'm not concerned in the least about my hero Mr. Anderson. He's so over that it'd be, argueably, the worst business decision they've ever made to let him go.

[Hyde Hill]

Really depends what you are asking Bot.

Who do I want personally to go?

Who do I think would be best for TNA as a whole to go?

Who do I think they would let go?

[PeterHilton]

Ive said this about 10 thousand times in this thread..at least a third of that roster should be cut in order to maximize the amount of time they have on TV and eliminate that "too much sh*t happening at once" effect. (maybe)

[Gabbo]

Dr. Stevie, Jesse Neal, Kiyoshi, Brutus Magnus, Raven, Rhino, Shark Boy, Scott Hall, Tomko, Syxx Pac, Kazarian, Amazing Red, Jay Lethal, Eric Young and Shannon Moore should be gone asap.

They won't mostly because of friends in high places but... eh.

[Hyde Hill]

On Air talent:

Some asap some phase out definitely:

Nash, Hall, X Pac, Terry, 3D, Richards, Kiyoshi, Neal, OJ, Okada, Von Erich, Rayne, Chelsea, Tessmacher, Hart.

Possibly:

Red, Kendrick, Sharky, Moore, Magnus, Raven, Tomko, Rhino, Hebner Sr, Hebner Jr.

[Stennick]

I fear Desmond Wolfe would get cut since he's just the JOB guy now anyway. I don't even think he's won a ppv match since Hogan and Bisch took over.

Thats about the only one I fear would be released I'm not saying he would be but its the one guy I don't want released.

I think half the Knockouts will wind up leaving. Whats ODB doing is she injured?

Kendrick is only valuable as a team with London and since London is having too much fun being crazy in PWG I don't see that happening.

Doug Williams could go he's alright but theres no upside. He's older, he's not local, he's not got anything to market. Solid worker but TNA has plenty of those to go around.

Obviously about 30 other guys could go as well.

[Linsolv]

If they cut some folks, who would you rather see go? Who are you terrified they may let go?

I'd not mind seeing go: Earl Hebner -- he's too much of an on-screen figure now. Refs shouldn't be characters, unless they're gonna start wrestling. Sorry. Wolf Pack. Abyss. Dr. Stevie. EY. Homicide/Hernandez. Roode. Jesse Neal/Shannon Moore. Magnus, since he's not the badass I thought he'd be when I heard he was debuting. OJ. 3D.

Whatever happened to Rhino? I made this list from TNA's roster, and while I do like Rhino -- not so much that I'd be upset if he was cut but well enough -- I don't think I've seen him since I started watching again.

I'd be really upset to see go:

MCMG. Alex Shelley is the only reason I came back to TNA.
Hamada. Second favorite women's wrestler behind Beth Phoenix.
Daffney. Third favorite, most attracted to.
Kazarian. I know he's not DOING anything, but IMO he's got a really great look that I wish was doing something.
Sting. Do I look stupid? (Don't answer that.)

Incidentally, every time I hear "Paul London" I think of "Paul Burchill" and my reaction is "why does anyone care about him." But now that I've figured out who the hell he is I would love to see TNA pick him up. Ah, well.

[LoganRodzen]

I'd not mind seeing go: Earl Hebner -- he's too much of an on-screen figure now. Refs shouldn't be characters, unless they're gonna start wrestling. Sorry. Wolf Pack. Abyss. Dr. Stevie. EY. Homicide/Hernandez. Roode. Jesse Neal/Shannon Moore. Magnus, since he's not the badass I thought he'd be when I heard he was debuting. OJ. 3D.

I don't see them ever releasing Abyss. They've put way too much time into his character to let him go. They've basically killed the character he once had that people enjoyed though. Letting go of LAX would be a mistake - they're such a good tag team if they bring them back together. Robert Roode is a good talent and Beer Money was one of their most over babyface teams and now they get good heat as heels. Neal and Moore won't be going anywhere as long as TNA stays in Florida because that crowd loves them. I doubt they'd get half the reaction they get anywhere else in the US.

I bet Hebner has such a nice contract with TNA and letting him go would be a good thing. Create your own head referee that's involved with controversial stuff. Why do they think bringing in a popular referee helps a match? I saw him reffing the Knockout match from Sacrifice and he could barely move around the ring with them.

[The Final Countdown]

I'd like to see Homicide and the Machine Guns go...so I can watch them in ROH. MCMG vs. Briscoes and/or KOW, or MCMG vs. Kevin Nash & Scott Hall? Easy choice for me.

Was it me, or was the AJ/RVD match incredibly boring? I couldn't wait for it to end. I liked Williams/Kazarian and the opening 3-way tag match, and LOVED Anderson's promo. But the rest of the show was pretty blah in my opinion.

[Linsolv]

I don't see them ever releasing Abyss. They've put way too much time into his character to let him go. They've basically killed the character he once had that people enjoyed though. Letting go of LAX would be a mistake - they're such a good tag team if they bring them back together. Robert Roode is a good talent and Beer Money was one of their most over babyface teams and now they get good heat as heels. Neal and Moore won't be going anywhere as long as TNA stays in Florida because that crowd loves them. I doubt they'd get half the reaction they get anywhere else in the US.

I bet Hebner has such a nice contract with TNA and letting him go would be a good thing. Create your own head referee that's involved with controversial stuff. Why do they think bringing in a popular referee helps a match? I saw him reffing the Knockout match from Sacrifice and he could barely move around the ring with them.

Did... did I say Roode? Shoot. I meant Storm. The reason being that for whatever sick reason I really want Roode to get a push. I can never remember which is which though, so I guessed wrong this time.

I never really liked LAX, and they're not doing anything with either of them, so I figure...

[LoganRodzen]

Did... did I say Roode? Shoot. I meant Storm. The reason being that for whatever sick reason I really want Roode to get a push. I can never remember which is which though, so I guessed wrong this time.

I never really liked LAX, and they're not doing anything with either of them, so I figure...

I get where you're coming from with Roode. He has the look of a breakout singles star. And however much I like Beer Money it will never replace what I felt for AMW. Storm and Harris were awesome together.

[Hyde Hill]

I fear Desmond Wolfe would get cut since he's just the JOB guy now anyway. I don't even think he's won a ppv match since Hogan and Bisch took over.

Thats about the only one I fear would be released I'm not saying he would be but its the one guy I don't want released.

I think half the Knockouts will wind up leaving. Whats ODB doing is she injured?

Kendrick is only valuable as a team with London and since London is having too much fun being crazy in PWG I don't see that happening.

Doug Williams could go he's alright but theres no upside. He's older, he's not local, he's not got anything to market. Solid worker but TNA has plenty of those to go around.

Obviously about 30 other guys could go as well.

Yes he does he is a Brit and that is TNA's second biggest market plus because of his technical skills smarks like him.

[Hyde Hill]

Did... did I say Roode? Shoot. I meant Storm. The reason being that for whatever sick reason I really want Roode to get a push. I can never remember which is which though, so I guessed wrong this time.

I never really liked LAX, and they're not doing anything with either of them, so I figure...

Beer Money is bank and you do not need to release Storm for Roode to get a singles push. Plus LAX appeals to the Latino market. So I would never release those guys without adequate replacement.

[Linsolv]

The Latino market? I don't think they watch TNA any more. Pretty much, the first time Cody Deaner shows up with his 'hyuck hyuck I'm a redneck" gimmick, the Latino market books it. Or maybe that's JUST the black market. I don't know for sure.

I think TNA has a big problem with not knowing who in the hell they're trying to market to.

EDIT:

This might be a bit racially touchy, but I really am trying to be objective here.

Is the Latino market all that big, really? I was under the impression that the wrestling market was 80+% white male.

[Stennick]

Yes he does he is a Brit and that is TNA's second biggest market plus because of his technical skills smarks like him.

Being from TNA's second biggest market which is sort of by default since they don't do much of anything I Canada or anywhere else. Being TNA's second biggest market means they air their television shows a few days later over there and tour there every three months or so. Its not like the British market for TNA is so strong that they can't afford to release some British star who turns 38 this year.

He's great from a technical standpoint but honestly if they can't find somebody closer to home like say oh Ric Flair or any other number of overpriced vets they've brought in to help these guys out then their in worse trouble than I thought.

Doug's not near as built as he used to be, he's got average charisma, he's turning 38 and doesn't sell a single t shirt in fact he doesn't even have a t shirt to sell.

If TNA is worried about getting some Brits on their show they got Terry and Wolfe both are in higher positions in the card than Williams the way it is.

I like Doug but he's not even close to marketable. Good yes, experianced yes, but not marketable.

[Stennick]

The Latino market? I don't think they watch TNA any more. Pretty much, the first time Cody Deaner shows up with his 'hyuck hyuck I'm a redneck" gimmick, the Latino market books it. Or maybe that's JUST the black market. I don't know for sure.

I think TNA has a big problem with not knowing who in the hell they're trying to market to.

EDIT:

This might be a bit racially touchy, but I really am trying to be objective here.

Is the Latino market all that big, really? I was under the impression that the wrestling market was 80+% white male.

The Latino market can be HUGE. Wrestling and futball are religion in the latin countries especially Mexico. There is a reason that the WWE put Batista, Mysterio, Melina and other latinos were all on smackdown for quite a while. The Latino market was single handedly pushing that show in the ratings.

You'd think the pro wrestling market is 80 percent white males but I'd be shocked if it was 75% white males.

[Slagaholic]

Why do you guys all hate Jesse Neal? He's not business-exposingly bad and he's one of the few guys TNA has that's gotten over completely due to their work in TNA. I don't see TNA dropping him.

[Linsolv]

I don't like him mostly because of his look. It was okay when he was first debuting, but now that I'm back and I see him in his glam-rock Hot Topic makeup, I have a really hard time taking him seriously.

[The Celt]

The Latino market can be HUGE. Wrestling and futball are religion in the latin countries especially Mexico. There is a reason that the WWE put Batista, Mysterio, Melina and other latinos were all on smackdown for quite a while. The Latino market was single handedly pushing that show in the ratings.

You'd think the pro wrestling market is 80 percent white males but I'd be shocked if it was 75% white males.

Some consider the WWE 40% female, going on the fact that 40% of accounts on that WWEuniverse thing are marked female.

[Stennick]

Yeah pro wrestling isn't the same as it once was. I know a ton of females that watch pro wrestling.

[Linsolv]

/shrug

Shows what I know.

[ampulator]

Yeah pro wrestling isn't the same as it once was. I know a ton of females that watch pro wrestling.
Actually, you aren't wrong, but not exactly correct. Jim Cornette once said there used to be even MORE women watching wrestling. He and the Midnight Express once had to run away from females fans because they had "beat up" Ricky Morton.

He claims they left mostly because the product became male-dominated and overly sexualized during the early 90's up to the late 90's.

If I think about it, he's not wrong. I mean, guys like Ric Flair and Ricky Steamboat used to have tons of female fans. Even Dusty Rhodes did, despite his, well, size. Hell some women like TJ Magnum's moustache look, I heard.

Hell, even during the Attitude Era, Val Venis was a sex symbol that was also a sexist symbol. But he had a LOT of female fans despite what he represented.

[PeterHilton]

Actually, you aren't wrong, but not exactly correct. Jim Cornette once said there used to be even MORE women watching wrestling. He and the Midnight Express once had to run away from females fans because they had "beat up" Ricky Morton.

He claims they left mostly because the product became male-dominated and overly sexualized during the early 90's up to the late 90's.

If I think about it, he's not wrong. I mean, guys like Ric Flair and Ricky Steamboat used to have tons of female fans. Even Dusty Rhodes did, despite his, well, size. Hell some women like TJ Magnum's moustache look, I heard.

Hell, even during the Attitude Era, Val Venis was a sex symbol that was also a sexist symbol. But he had a LOT of female fans despite what he represented.

So based on some anecdotal evidence from one promoter/manager with a penchant for hyperbole...we're gonna go ahead and throw out 30 plus years of marketing research and Nielsen ratings?

Hey..and we can also ignore all previous hard information based on the membership figures of an internet message board like the WWE universe (because we know how infallible the intrawebs can be) ...

:rolleyes:

C'mon people..get it together. The business might be shifting as far as who it's marketed to and who is paying money for the product (especially with the E marketing itself as family entertainment) but do you guys honestly believe that the figure is anywhere near 40%? Really? REALLY???

[PeterHilton]

I mean..seriously?

The E draws like 8 k to its shows..which means that 3200 or so of that crowd is female?

Why are single guys going out to bars and night clubs? They should all be attending pro wrestling events. The guys there must be literally fighting the women off with ten foot poles.

:rolleyes:

[ampulator]

So based on some anecdotal evidence from one promoter/manager with a penchant for hyperbole...we're gonna go ahead and throw out 30 plus years of marketing research and Nielsen ratings?

Hey..and we can also ignore all previous hard information based on the membership figures of an internet message board like the WWE universe (because we know how infallible the intrawebs can be) ...

:rolleyes:

C'mon people..get it together. The business might be shifting as far as who it's marketed to and who is paying money for the product (especially with the E marketing itself as family entertainment) but do you guys honestly believe that the figure is anywhere near 40%? Really? REALLY???
Actually, anecdotal evidence is better than you think... but Jim Cornette wasn't on hyperbole when he said this. You can tell. He goes into that "mode" and screams, and rants... not when he said this.

It was like the tell he said that Kenny Bolin kicked his own mother out of the house... and told her through e-mail. And Bolin admitted it. That was one of the funniest things I ever heard, in a dark way.


That being said, I think females fans are definitely around 10%, if you include all-female promotions.

[lazorbeak]

I mean..seriously?

The E draws like 8 k to its shows..which means that 3200 or so of that crowd is female?

Why are single guys going out to bars and night clubs? They should all be attending pro wrestling events. The guys there must be literally fighting the women off with ten foot poles.

:rolleyes:

I don't know if you've satisfactorily made your point. :rolleyes:

Needs more :rolleyes:

:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

Also even in a :rolleyes: hypothetical how does outnumbering women 2:1 mean women are fighting over men? Are you not familiar with the concept of dragging your girlfriend to a sporting event? This may shock you but just over 50% of the population is female. Surprisingly, this doesn't result in men fighting women off at the grocery store.

[PeterHilton]

Actually, anecdotal evidence is better than you think... but Jim Cornette wasn't on hyperbole when he said this. You can tell. He goes into that "mode" and screams, and rants... not when he said this.


:rolleyes:

A bunch of good looking guys fighting off some ring rats back in the 80s does not prove that anything near 40% of the wrestling audience is/was/or ever will be female.

I like Jim too. But 30 years of marketing research, Nielsen ratings, advertising dollars, ticket sales, PPV buys, and merchandise sales all say he's wrong.

Think about it...the E gets around 3 million viewers a week. So if even close to that portion of the audience of the female, there'd be over 1 million women watching RAW each week. You don't think some advertisers or sponsors would've noticed by now? The shows on Lifetime barely draw that kind of audience.

Half of RAW's commercials would be stuff like Proactiv or Maybelline.

I believe the female portion of the audience is growing..but jesus christ...:rolleyes:

[PeterHilton]

Also even in a :rolleyes: hypothetical how does outnumbering women 2:1 mean women are fighting over men? Are you not familiar with the concept of dragging your girlfriend to a sporting event? This may shock you but just over 50% of the population is female. Surprisingly, this doesn't result in men fighting women off at the grocery store.

Hyperbole.

My point still stands..if you could go to an event where half the audience was female, that event would be quite a draw for men looking to meet women

Also...the fact that 50% of the population being female does not directly correlate to 50% of the crowd being female at many other events, such as football, baseball, boxing, etc.

[lazorbeak]

:rolleyes:

A bunch of good looking guys fighting off some ring rats back in the 80s does not prove that anything near 40% of the wrestling audience is/was/or ever will be female.

I like Jim too. But 30 years of marketing research, Nielsen ratings, advertising dollars, ticket sales, PPV buys, and merchandise sales all say he's wrong.

Think about it...the E gets around 3 million viewers a week. So if even close to that portion of the audience of the female, there'd be over 1 million women watching RAW each week. You don't think some advertisers or sponsors would've noticed by now? The shows on Lifetime barely draw that kind of audience.

Half of RAW's commercials would be stuff like Proactiv or Maybelline.

I believe the female portion of the audience is growing..but jesus christ...:rolleyes:

Where are you getting this made up wealth of information?

A quick search on WWE's ad sales reveals:

61% of audience is male (39% of audience is therefore female). Seriously I don't see where the disconnect here is. 2/5 /= 1/2, and is not at all unusual for a sporting event. That doesn't mean that there are groups of single women at WWE events or tampon commercials during WWE programming, because 40% is still a minority audience. And this is based on Nielsen research, so there you go.

Seriously it's as dumb as arguing that WWE advertising should be selling nothing but tacos because 33% of their demographic is non-white and the biggest portion of that is Latino.

[ampulator]

A bunch of good looking guys fighting off some ring rats back in the 80s does not prove that anything near 40% of the wrestling audience is/was/or ever will be female.
Actually I NEVER CLAIMED it was 40%. That's someone else. Not me. So, you use the "rolleyes" emoticon someone else that said that. ;)

[Hyde Hill]

Being from TNA's second biggest market which is sort of by default since they don't do much of anything I Canada or anywhere else. Being TNA's second biggest market means they air their television shows a few days later over there and tour there every three months or so. Its not like the British market for TNA is so strong that they can't afford to release some British star who turns 38 this year.

He's great from a technical standpoint but honestly if they can't find somebody closer to home like say oh Ric Flair or any other number of overpriced vets they've brought in to help these guys out then their in worse trouble than I thought.

Doug's not near as built as he used to be, he's got average charisma, he's turning 38 and doesn't sell a single t shirt in fact he doesn't even have a t shirt to sell.

If TNA is worried about getting some Brits on their show they got Terry and Wolfe both are in higher positions in the card than Williams the way it is.

I like Doug but he's not even close to marketable. Good yes, experianced yes, but not marketable.

he British Invasion T-Shirt when they where still active lolz. 8k at a house show in the UK which is a record attendance, television rights fees, high viewer-ship in the UK which makes it easier to sell overseas like their recent Middle East deal. TNA also airs in many other countries like Australia and India. TNA does quite well internationally do not underestimate the income that generates and the importance of it.

All international viewing figures are up for instance with the Hogan era, merchandise sales are up, ppv buys are up, house show attendance is up, international distribution is up. Everything is up except the US ratings, is it as up as could have been hoped? No. Is the US rating figure the only thing that matters? Hell no.

[Stennick]

Its not the only one that matters but my point is that the international money is just a small fraction of what their making. I wasn't saying they don't broadcast internationally but the fact that they should keep a guy on and that you thought he was marketable because he was a Brit is pretty laughable. Should they not release any Japanese people for fear the Asian fans will turn the channel off.

Doug is a good wrestler but he's 38, he's not near the worker he was and he doesn't bring anything to the table other than a good wrestling match. They have 15 guys in the back from Homicide, to Kendrick, Motor City Machine Guns, Kaz, etc. that can serve the same purpose Doug Williams served. The guy has average charisma and nothing else special about him.

Doug's average on the mic and above average in the ring but again if their cutting people he should be on the list. They have 20 guys in the back that can do exactly what Doug does (provide a good match and draw good heel heat) and their ten years younger than him.

I realized TNA is "worldwide" I don't have their international stats in front of me but I'd be shocked if at the LEAST 80% of their income came from North America and primarily the U.S. The reason TNA can pack 8K into a show and they don't do it all the time even is because the UK's wrestling scene is pretty baron so when they get a chance to go see good wrestling from guys they watch on television why wouldn't they go.

The point is Doug Williams is not marketable and being a good technition and a Brit doesn't keep you employed especially not when Desmond Wolfe is on the roster and does everything you described AND has about 10x more charisma. Nobody is going to say "you know he's marketable because he's British we should keep him around". It doesn't matter if your British, Asian, American, their going to say "this guy has a ton of charisma, a great look, he's young, he's marketable".

I like Doug but he's pushing 40 and should appear on anyone's cut list for the simple fact that he's not so vastly superior in the ring that they can't afford to lose his knowledge. They have Ric Flair, Kurt Angle, plenty of guys to learn things from who have accomplished just as much or more so being a British mid card technician is not marketable.

[Hyde Hill]

Yes he is old etc but at the moment he does stand out from the pack and the fact that he is British does ad to his lustre. Is that enough to keep him around? That is a different question. I do think TNA's income is more international then 80 but since TNA never releases hard figures we won't know. And as far as I know they do not have a TV deal in Japan so Japanese workers do not get that bonus. Also Doug was brought in before Wolf so yes now that they have Wolf Doug has lost some bonus so to speak.

Was just countering the statement that he was totally unmarketable etc which is not the case. Is he very marketable? Nope but that is never the case in any company and I liked the British Invasion tag team and what Doug is adding to the X Division at this time.

[ampulator]

Actually, from a financial standpoint, cutting Doug Williams isn't a bad idea. You usually have to pay for foreign talent more, just to cover their travel costs, AND to make it there worthwhile.

Now, I don't think his UN-marketable, but that's beside the point. If TNA needs to make cuts, it will probably cut foreign talent first (or at least, it should).

[cappyboy]

Wish I could disagree with the notion of cutting Doug Williams because I like the guy. I really do. But look what's happened with him since Bound For Glory. World Elite has melted into goo like Margaret Hamilton in The Wizard of Oz for no real apparent reason. The dissolution of the British Invasion was rushed. His theft of Rob Terry's X Division title shot never got proper closure. And then there's the little matter of his being stripped of the X Division title because of the travel snarls created by Mt. I'm Not Even Going To Try And Spell It in Iceland. With as little regard as he and his storylines have gotten since BFG, it almost seems like they'd be doing Williams a favor to cut him at this point.

[The Final Countdown]

Even though I like him, I do see the logic behind releasing a guy like Doug Williams. But considering they JUST put the X title on him again, he doesn't seem like a leading candidate to be released at this point in time.

[tristram]

he British Invasion T-Shirt when they where still active lolz. 8k at a house show in the UK which is a record attendance, television rights fees, high viewer-ship in the UK which makes it easier to sell overseas like their recent Middle East deal. TNA also airs in many other countries like Australia and India. TNA does quite well internationally do not underestimate the income that generates and the importance of it.

All international viewing figures are up for instance with the Hogan era, merchandise sales are up, ppv buys are up, house show attendance is up, international distribution is up. Everything is up except the US ratings, is it as up as could have been hoped? No. Is the US rating figure the only thing that matters? Hell no.

It doesn't do that well down in Australia. If I went up to all my work-mates and asked them about TNA, I'd get a confused look. It's time slot for Impact! is Saturday night at 10:30 on one of the weaker channels on the Fox-cable network.

[The Bus]

TNA is probably going cut so many people that it will bring some not so wanted firings. I'd probably go with a list something like this: Kiyoshi, Brutus Magnus, the Japanese rookie with Suicide gimmick, Jimmy Hart, Tomko, Some refs, Sarita, dr Stevie, Raven, Shark Boy, Lacey, So Cal Val and ODB.

[Slagaholic]

Why the Christ would you cut Sarita? There's too few workers in the knockouts division anyway. And the division has 2 championships to fill.

[Stennick]

I don't see Lacey and So Cal Val going anywhere. Especially not Lacey she's not going anywhere.

[The Bus]

Why the Christ would you cut Sarita? There's too few workers in the knockouts division anyway. And the division has 2 championships to fill.

I'd cut Sarita for being foreign and maybe bringing extra costs, there were some reports about her being used sparingly due to high salary. And I don't see a great reaction for her, that might be just me and I respect her skills, but still seems like possible cut. I would prefer her to be there, but if there are to be done firings as much as reported she might have to go.

And about Lacey, I think they'll not cut her, but I'd cut her out. She just doesn't have "it" IMO, and she's so green.

[ampulator]

*sigh* that's the thing, though. Is TNA even serious about having a X Division or a Knockouts Division anymore?

They released Christopher Daniels and Tracy Brooks. In the past, I can't fathom why releasing either, unless TNA management doesn't really care about those divisions. I'm certainly getting this vibe.

It literally feels like WCW 2.0 Lite, right now.

[fatallylost]

I like how everyones list of who to cut includes all the people we haven't seen in months. Hell, I wouldn't have remembered any of them were part of the company, had no one mentioned them.

Also, take back the blasphemy of cutting Sarita! It's hard to get a good crowd reaction when you've been used 3 times in 5 months, no?

[Hyde Hill]

And what has her being Canadian got to do with her being cut? Its such a funny pairing Sarita a Canadian with a Latino gimmick and Taylor Wilde a Canadian with a proud American gimmick. It depends where they are based and if they are being paid for travel.

[Hyde Hill]

It doesn't do that well down in Australia. If I went up to all my work-mates and asked them about TNA, I'd get a confused look. It's time slot for Impact! is Saturday night at 10:30 on one of the weaker channels on the Fox-cable network.

Maybe the rating is not that great but it is still income from television rights fees. And as with Spike its relative rating for the network that is also important. It was just an example that TNA has quite the international distribution and that gives them a good amount of income.

[Slagaholic]

Abyss is starting to get X-Pac heat from the TNA crowd. I feel bad for him.

[ampulator]

I blame TNA creative and management for misbooking, miswriting, and mismanagment.

[Linsolv]

Oh yeah? Well I blame Dave Prazak.

Why, you ask?

To point out how silly it is to blame anyone other than TNA management, mostly.

[TracyBrooksFan]

Not much but it from Dixie's twitter

TNADixie

Just left my first music showcase in a while. Wanna guess the artist? Mickie James. Thanks for the invite girl.

[The Final Countdown]

Taking "possession" of a woman against her will? The Abysster is the least likable "good guy" I have ever seen.

[Stennick]

Desmond Wolfe owns and thats why he has the only wrestling shirt in my 25 years of watching that I've bought.

[crownsy]

I blame TNA creative and management for misbooking, miswriting, and mismanagment.

Are you implying booking him like 1980's hogan and putting him in storyline as brilliant as the fake rape angle won't get him over? :D

In all seriousness, i don't understand why TNA felt the need to take two of its most organic gimmicks and workers in Styles and Abyss and turn them into Ric Flair JR and Hulk Hogan JR.

I just don't get it, both those guys were over with thier old gimmicks and history with the company and you turn them into a generic old school face and old school heel....

If your going to do the mentor storyline, fine, but they should have used guys who weren't already established with the TNA crowd.

[Slagaholic]

AJ Styles will be able to survive it because he's that good. Abyss on the other hand is dead in the water.

[Slagaholic]

Scott Hall got arrested again (http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/os-scott-hall-bar-incident-20100521,0,5529167.story).

Booker T showed up and fought RVD at TNA's house show tonight.

[Hyde Hill]

Taking "possession" of a woman against her will? The Abysster is the least likable "good guy" I have ever seen.

Yeah they kinda put themselves in a catch 22 there. If Abyss does not claim her then the stipulation for their match becomes (even more) meaningless but he is a gentleman. If he does claim her, eventhough he has a legitimate gripe against her, he comes of as a bad guy.

Hogan booking and Russo writing for Hogan just is not working.

[Hyde Hill]

AJ Styles will be able to survive it because he's that good. Abyss on the other hand is dead in the water.

Not necessarily but it hasn't helped much either, really hoping for a Abyss turn on the hukster and AJ on Flair.

[Self]

Taking "possession" of a woman against her will? The Abysster is the least likable "good guy" I have ever seen.

Tricky tightrope. I haven't seen much of TNA recently, but there's a way it can work I think. First, you'd need to set Chelsea up as someone who deserves comeuppance. I'd go the stuck-up, spoiled little princess route, looking down her nose at everyone. Second, I'd completely remove the sexual component of the 'possession'. Suggested rape isn't good for a babyface. Instead I'd have the little princess washing floors, cleaning toilets. Nothing you can feel sorry for her about, just some amusing ways to knock her off of her high horse. Ideally you'd have built up to it beforehand, so every punishment is deserved because of some past action on her part.

I reckon Pope could pull that type of thing off well. He's got a fun charisma that means you'd cheer him, even when he's being a jerk (see also Rock, The) Abyss... I don't know. Maybe. He's got this gigantic slobbering monster thing going which... Rape isn't cool. It just isn't.

[crownsy]

Tricky tightrope. I haven't seen much of TNA recently, but there's a way it can work I think. First, you'd need to set Chelsea up as someone who deserves comeuppance. I'd go the stuck-up, spoiled little princess route, looking down her nose at everyone. Second, I'd completely remove the sexual component of the 'possession'. Suggested rape isn't good for a babyface. Instead I'd have the little princess washing floors, cleaning toilets. Nothing you can feel sorry for her about, just some amusing ways to knock her off of her high horse. Ideally you'd have built up to it beforehand, so every punishment is deserved because of some past action on her part.

I reckon Pope could pull that type of thing off well. He's got a fun charisma that means you'd cheer him, even when he's being a jerk (see also Rock, The) Abyss... I don't know. Maybe. He's got this gigantic slobbering monster thing going which... Rape isn't cool. It just isn't.

Ya they kinda ruined that with the Rape angel, and the fact that Wolfe has now been shown to not care that Chealsa's not cool with being taken against her will since she's "his"

so in the last three weeks, we've had abyss accused of "attacking" a women we saw with a ripped shirt and disheveled hair for the super awkward "Girl cries rape against an innocent guy" set up

and we finish it with the

"she deserves to be thrown over a shoulder cave man style and taken away by the guy she accused of raping her" angle.

TNA's storyline writing is not good enough to paint that as anything other than it's come off as. the current moral of this storyline is:

"IT's ok to force a women against her will, including throwing her over your shoulder and dragging her away against her will, as long as she's been a bitch to you in the past. She was asking for it." :mad:

Awesome storyline TNA, not morally reprehensible at all :rolleyes:

I mean, not only do you have the stigma of "using force against a women is ok as long as she's not a nice girl" awkwardness, but Wolfe and Abyss both treating her as Physical property, rather than as a human being, is also not really something i think TNA want's to be pushing...hell, Abyss and Desmond BOTH refereed to her as Mine or in the possesive this week. what is Chelsa in all this, a lawn ornament or a human being?

[dvdWarrior]

Guess I should add the whole "winning complete control over another person in a match" storyline in the 'Annoying Things In Wrestling' thread. I have never liked that angle - just seems wrong that a person could win control of someone like that.

I wasn't a big fan of Desmond cutting Abyss with the broken bottle either. It's bad enough to use something like glass in a match, but at least in a match it would kind of make some sense. Seems a little much for just an angle. Can't imagine asking a worker to do something like that.

"Hey, man, I have an idea for you tonight! First, you do this. Then he gets mad and does that. Then you do this, and he cuts the crap out of you with some glass!!!!! What do you think?"

Don't think I could do such a thing as that.

[Hyde Hill]

Plus a cut like that was unnecessary, just slam it over his head and he goes down, keep attacking, he hulks up and lays Wolf out. Points at Chelsea, says you are mine now and walks off. Next week or same Impact we see her scrubbing floors or something. Most problems solved.

[crownsy]

But that would be "predictable and Not edgey" according to the IWC, which TNA appears to be trying to play to.

Note that I completely agree with what you wrote as a logical, problem solving solution to a storyline thats completely spiraled out of control on them...but i doubt they will do it.

they'll try to do something new and edgy, and come off looking terrible. It's Russo 101.

[Stennick]

Normally I'm here to talk about how TNA has dropped the ball on something but before I forget let me just say the way they have dropped Black Machismo which I thought was a stupid, pointnless gimmick that shouldn't have lasted for months let alone years.

They have gave Jay Lethal his own character and made it a credible evolution from his previous character.

[Hyde Hill]

Normally I'm here to talk about how TNA has dropped the ball on something but before I forget let me just say the way they have dropped Black Machismo which I thought was a stupid, pointnless gimmick that shouldn't have lasted for months let alone years.

They have gave Jay Lethal his own character and made it a credible evolution from his previous character.

Hehe yeah, its just easier and more accepted to criticize then look at the good. And yeah like the Lethal push. Him vs Kaz who seems to be going heel could be interesting for the X title.

And on that positive note. Remember that lame 8 reasons to watch Impact at 8 thing they made? Which was apparently for a contest in which you could send in similar stuff and they would pick a winner. Well I had been working on one , but since they scrapped the idea and released one of the workers I would mention I thought I would post it on here and see what people thought.
Hadn't done the video part yet but here is the draft story board, also remember this is before the Lethal push or the Daniels and other cuts:

Eight reasons why TNA Impact at Eight if for (pronounced as four) You!

1. The wrestlers everyone knows and can really go. Jeff Hardy, cut to higlights. Rob Van Dam, cut to higlights(cth). Kurt Angle, cth. Mr. Anderson, cth.

2. The TNA original wrestlers you should know and steal the show. AJ Styles, cth. Samoa Joe, cth. Daniels, cth. Abyss, cth.

3. The up and comming wrestlers that will make their presence known. Desmond Wolf, cth. The Pope, cth. Matt Morgan, cth. Hernandez, cth.

4. Real tag team wrestling that is the best in the world. Beer Money, cth. MCMG, cth. British Invasion, cth. Generation Me, cth. Lethal Consequences cth.

5. The wrestlers of the X Division who define the no limit lifestyle. Kaz, cth. Eric Young, cth. Homicide, cth. Red, cth.

6. The best women's wrestlers in the world that will knock you out! Kong, cth. Tara, cth. Hamada, cth. Flash, cth.

7. The legendary wrestlers that support TNA and ad to the show. Hogan, cth. Flair, cth. Foley cth. Sting, cth.

8. And finally why TNA Impact is four you is because it gives you violance, cut to hardcore stuff and blood mainly involving not previously mentioned people. Sexyness, The Beutifull Poeple, Sarite/ Wilde, Daffney and ODB doing their things. Real and diverse characters, cue promo and catchphrase higlights. And last but not least total wrestling action! Cue to wrestling highlights.

Those are the eight reasons why TNA Impact at eight is for you! Make the change and cross the line!

[Hyde Hill]

But that would be "predictable and Not edgey" according to the IWC, which TNA appears to be trying to play to.

Note that I completely agree with what you wrote as a logical, problem solving solution to a storyline thats completely spiraled out of control on them...but i doubt they will do it.

they'll try to do something new and edgy, and come off looking terrible. It's Russo 101.

Hehe yeah but one can be predictable and non edgy as long as it is well done. Its just when you are always predictable and non edgy and the performance level is always decent but rarely great that it becomes stale. Too bad the IWC always seems to want to have their cake. eat the cake and sell it too it seems.

[Stennick]

Damn Hyde at a quick glance Daniels, Magnus, Creed, Kong, Tara, Flash, Foley and Hamada have either been released or not seen on television in months.

Thats pretty crazy. I also find it ironic that Dixie doesn't want to release anybody thats been loyal yet she ok'd the Daniels release when he's been nothing BUT loyal to that company.

Is Foley gone or is there any plans for him? Did he want to be gone or did they decide they didn't have anything for one of the most mainstream, and genuine likeable guys in the last fifteen years?

[The Final Countdown]

Hehe yeah but one can be predictable and non edgy as long as it is well done. Its just when you are always predictable and non edgy and the performance level is always decent but rarely great that it becomes stale. Too bad the IWC always seems to want to have their cake. eat the cake and sell it too it seems.
What are you trying to say here? Sounds to me like you're saying the IWC should be happy that TNA is trying to be unpredictable and edgy, even if it means completely offensive garbage like the Abyss/Chelsea angle. Who says you can't be unpredictable without becoming morally offensive?

If I've misread, I apologize. But that's how it came off to me.

[crownsy]

What are you trying to say here? Sounds to me like you're saying the IWC should be happy that TNA is trying to be unpredictable and edgy, even if it means completely offensive garbage like the Abyss/Chelsea angle. Who says you can't be unpredictable without becoming morally offensive?

If I've misread, I apologize. But that's how it came off to me.

I think he's saying that the IWC wants every angle to be amazing, original, and never before seen. yet it still wants logical storylines.

In essence, the IWC is the kid from southpark that followed them around saying "simpson's did it" and pushing his glasses up on his noes.

[Self]

Is Foley gone or is there any plans for him? Did he want to be gone or did they decide they didn't have anything for one of the most mainstream, and genuine likeable guys in the last fifteen years?

I believe Foley has a deal to only work a certain number of shows per year, so they're leaving him off TV now so they can use him lots later.

[Slagaholic]

I wish they would have signed Hogan to a similar contract.

I don't mind Hall and Nash, this is most likely their swansong run anyway.

[cappyboy]

I think he's saying that the IWC wants every angle to be amazing, original, and never before seen. yet it still wants logical storylines.


That sounds about right. The IWC seems to want what they want and to heck with everything else. They want their minds blown and they want logical storylines. They want their Christopher Daniels to go over everybody and for the Great Khali to disappear. Even when it makes more sense for Khali to get God pushed because he's the mountain a guy like a Daniels must climb to earn their stripes. They forget that guys like Khali who are the mountains rarely if ever get to be "real men" the way the Cenas and my hypthetical Daniels do. And the reason your Khalis don't get to be "real men" is because they are mountains. They forget that the Khalis of the world usually have much shorter career windows because of the medical consequences of their size and the limited ways they are presented to the audience. So often they want every match to be a clinic.

"Too much pheasant?" The question barely translating as it struggles to rise out of the sand and is muffled. "Nope. Don't know what that means, Never heard of it." They have their uses and can be enlightening at times. But when they don't want to acknowledge something, I don't think I've ever seen a bigger flock of ostriches in my life than the IWC.

[Hyde Hill]

I think he's saying that the IWC wants every angle to be amazing, original, and never before seen. yet it still wants logical storylines.

In essence, the IWC is the kid from southpark that followed them around saying "simpson's did it" and pushing his glasses up on his noes.

Yeah that was more my point. It wasn't in defense of TNA in any way. As Russo always seems to cross the line in a bad way as there is a fine line between complicated and confuluted, suspense and makes no sense, original and ridiculous etc. And Russo booking for Hogan and EB and before when he was booking for Jarrett always crossed the line towards the second one too much. Weirdly when he was head of creative on his own it became a lot better as the period of Hard Justice till Final resolution was the only time it was just him being head booker and the Bound For Glory till Final Resolution has been their "best" booked period in recent times.

[Hyde Hill]

I believe Foley has a deal to only work a certain number of shows per year, so they're leaving him off TV now so they can use him lots later.

He is still under contract with TNA but I think rather then the dates thing, it is about rotating the Legends in and out which would be smart, plus TNA tends to give more latitude for outside projects with Foley finishing his book and the comedy stuff. Once the book is finished he will probably be back to make a major impact and thus also promote the book.

[Hyde Hill]

Damn Hyde at a quick glance Daniels, Magnus, Creed, Kong, Tara, Flash, Foley and Hamada have either been released or not seen on television in months.

Thats pretty crazy. I also find it ironic that Dixie doesn't want to release anybody thats been loyal yet she ok'd the Daniels release when he's been nothing BUT loyal to that company.

Is Foley gone or is there any plans for him? Did he want to be gone or did they decide they didn't have anything for one of the most mainstream, and genuine likeable guys in the last fifteen years?

Well I can rotate some guys and gals and still get the same result, only Daniels is irrplacible imho. Still if they had focused their product in that order and on those guys I think TNA would be doing a lot better.

[funkyzafara]

Reason Daniels had to was because he had to paid whether or not they used him on TV, and that wasn't reasonable.

[Linsolv]

That sounds about right. The IWC seems to want what they want and to heck with everything else. They want their minds blown and they want logical storylines. They want their Christopher Daniels to go over everybody and for the Great Khali to disappear. Even when it makes more sense for Khali to get God pushed because he's the mountain a guy like a Daniels must climb to earn their stripes. They forget that guys like Khali who are the mountains rarely if ever get to be "real men" the way the Cenas and my hypthetical Daniels do. And the reason your Khalis don't get to be "real men" is because they are mountains. They forget that the Khalis of the world usually have much shorter career windows because of the medical consequences of their size and the limited ways they are presented to the audience. So often they want every match to be a clinic.

Actually, I want some pretty specific things in MY wrestling.

I want a focus on angles roughly that of SmackDown!. I like angles and storylines, just not RAW amounts.

I want more technical mat wrestling. I know, this makes me weird. Most people, based on the new promotions cropping up, prefer the high-flying of PWG.

I want the mat wrestling to be good. Not some arbitrary definition of good, I want submissions given enough credence to be a possible submission, and chokes to be able to actually (kayfabe) choke a guy out. Side headlocks, needless to say, should be used less.

On the subject of storylines, I want things to make SENSE. Not real-life sense, kayfabe sense. When I see Abyss get arrested a week before an event, that doesn't make kayfabe sense. When I see an entire roster that is both heel and face, but not neither, that doesn't make kayfabe sense. When some dude is squirting milk or lotion or whatever all over himself, sure. That's kinda weird and might generate some interest some day in the gay community, it doesn't make kayfabe sense.

[Stennick]

Reason Daniels had to was because he had to paid whether or not they used him on TV, and that wasn't reasonable.

But with Dixie not wanting to fire people who have been loyal to the company because of the economy what about Daniels THE most loyal guy you have not named Abyss or AJ Styles.

[The Final Countdown]

But with Dixie not wanting to fire people who have been loyal to the company because of the economy what about Daniels THE most loyal guy you have not named Abyss or AJ Styles.
I just clicked on the roster page on TNAWrestling.com...and Daniels is there. Have they STILL not taken him down, or have they quietly re-signed him?

For the record, Sean Waltman, who I think is gone from the company, is still up. But some people who have left after Daniels, like Tara and the Love Sponge idiot, are gone.

[Stennick]

I had heard rumors they were going to resign him to a pay per appearance deal but he was being wasted before anyway feuding with Sean Morely. I hope he gets resigned the guy deserves the pay day but I also hope he's able to stick around in ROH with his new deal. I need Daniels vs. Richards in my life dammit.

[Hyde Hill]

Reason Daniels had to was because he had to paid whether or not they used him on TV, and that wasn't reasonable.

First off all that is reportedly of course and it was reasonable if they had used him right and/or saw enough in the guy. The second two where not there so yeah I can see the cut. But there are plenty of others on high paying deals or even higher paying ones that could/should have been cut before him.

[Slagaholic]

But those deals are being used still, I'd figure. Unless there's more written deals that aren't on TV either.

[Hyde Hill]

But those deals are being used still, I'd figure. Unless there's more written deals that aren't on TV either.

Daniels was being used though up until they terminated him. Not used well, but used none the less. And lets not get into the argument about how good he is or isn't as we already had that around his release. Fact remains he was a big part of TNA's brand identity and given that that is one of TNA's weak spots it was stupid to release him.

[Slagaholic]

True. I guess he was being used to justify the pay and not because they actually liked him.

[Slagaholic]

For those that care Impact did quarter hours of 0.86, 0.89, 0.94, 0.92 for the first hour and 1.00, 1.02, 0.99, 1.01 for the second hour.
The overrun did a 1.29 rating.

[PeterHilton]

For those that care Impact did quarter hours of 0.86, 0.89, 0.94, 0.92 for the first hour and 1.00, 1.02, 0.99, 1.01 for the second hour.
The overrun did a 1.29 rating.

Sooooo...basically what they did when they were n thursdays in the first place?

[Stennick]

Sooooo...basically what they did since they moved Impact to Thursdays years ago?

:D

But yeah before the Kurt Angles, Mic Foley's, Hulk Hogans, Flairs, RVD's,Hardy's etc. and now low and behold there is roster cuts going around.

[Linsolv]

:D

But yeah before the Kurt Angles, Mic Foley's, Hulk Hogans, Flairs, RVD's,Hardy's etc. and now low and behold there is roster cuts going around.

Before those?

[Stennick]

They were drawing 1.0's before Angle or Foley got into the company.

[Slagaholic]

Sooooo...basically what they did when they were n thursdays in the first place?

Yeah. As bad as it's been, if you're TNA you have to be relieved to be back at where ya were.

[Hyde Hill]

Yep last year they averaged around 1.1 - 1.2 so that is what they at least need to do to have the same size of first time viewers. Some are arguing that they have lost fans but that they have been replaced with paying fans. Say loss of 0.4 non payers gone and 0.2 payers gained. Still this is hard to verify. The big bad is the merchandising. Their sales should be much higher now, while they are higher but not as could be expected, with Hogan and RVD and Hardy. Their contracts should/could pay for themselves. Same goes for extra international expansion. They have signed a contract in Saudi Arabia now but if that is because those names are on board now is a question.

[Hyde Hill]

Yeah. As bad as it's been, if you're TNA you have to be relieved to be back at where ya were.

US Ratings wise yes and they have 2 more years to get those up or at the same level. The rest is up as well and so are international ratings. Not as much as could or should be up but still up.

[PeterHilton]

:D

But yeah before the Kurt Angles, Mic Foley's, Hulk Hogans, Flairs, RVD's,Hardy's etc. and now low and behold there is roster cuts going around.

Before those?

Yknow..it's gonna be close IIRC the Impact shows before Angle were in the low 0.7's at their absolute best. He may have been the first (and only) signing that atually created a long term bump in the ratings. i could be wrong though.

[PeterHilton]

Yeah. As bad as it's been, if you're TNA you have to be relieved to be back at where ya were.

That's true.

Yep last year they averaged around 1.1 - 1.2 so that is what they at least need to do to have the same size of first time viewers. Some are arguing that they have lost fans but that they have been replaced with paying fans. Say loss of 0.4 non payers gone and 0.2 payers gained. Still this is hard to verify. The big bad is the merchandising. Their sales should be much higher now, while they are higher but not as could be expected, with Hogan and RVD and Hardy. Their contracts should/could pay for themselves. Same goes for extra international expansion. They have signed a contract in Saudi Arabia now but if that is because those names are on board now is a question.

Interesting. Honestly, if that were the case, then it's worth it. I'd much rather have 0.4 of the TNA internet dorks (or the 'passionate faithful' as I'm sure they'd prefer to be called) in exchange for 0.2 of an audience that will pay for PPVs and merch.

[ampulator]

I'm pretty much done with TNA right now. Maybe I'll tune it another time, but not right now.

I hate to say this, but when people tell me that "it is possible to put on worse shows be worse than what the WWE right now" I scoff. Not anymore.

TNA is proof you can have great workers, but crappy angles, crappy storylines, and even crappier booking means the it's near unwatchable as a whole.

[sebsplex]

Yknow..it's gonna be close IIRC the Impact shows before Angle were in the low 0.7's at their absolute best. He may have been the first (and only) signing that atually created a long term bump in the ratings. i could be wrong though.

I always believed Angle to be the 'name' signing who actually created/arrival was followed by a consistant increase in ratings. I recall Sting's TV debut caused a initial bump, no idea how influencial Christian's arrival was prior to Angle... too lazy to trawl the net for reliable stats.

Regardless though, beyond the initial curiousity spike caused by Hogan's Impact debut, the ratings quickly dwindled back to their pre-Hogan level. It would be interesting to know what sort of fan turnover TNA has experienced, how many diehards have stuck around, how many fans actually tuned in due to Hogan/Bischoff/RVD/Hardy/etc.

Overall though, TNA didn't capitalise on the additional curiousity/buzz Hogan's arrival caused. Muddled product with no clue as to it's identity, completely inconsistant/poor booking, messing around with the ring, deludge of new arrivals, workers going 'missing', take your pick or add more. It's pretty hard to get someone to buy into product if you can't convince them you're actually sure what you're selling.

[PeterHilton]

TNA is proof you can have great workers, but crappy angles, crappy storylines, and even crappier booking means the it's near unwatchable as a whole.

WCW proved this years ago.

(waits for Hyde's head to explode at umpteenth WCW reference ;) )

[ampulator]

WCW proved this years ago.

(waits for Hyde's head to explode at umpteenth WCW reference ;) )

Well, no ****, Sherlock. I never said WCW didn't prove this. TNA is only more proof of this.

What the real issue is, at a time when they need to doing well, they are doing badly. They are a joke among casual AND internet fans. That's just pitiful.

[PeterHilton]

Well, no ****, Sherlock. I never said WCW didn't prove this. TNA is only more proof of this.

What the real issue is, at a time when they need to doing well, they are doing badly. They are a joke among casual AND internet fans. That's just pitiful.

It was a joke aimed at Hyde. Calm down.

[Hyde Hill]

WCW proved this years ago.

(waits for Hyde's head to explode at umpteenth WCW reference ;) )

Lolz.

So did many other companies. In and outside of wrestling.

[Hyde Hill]

I always believed Angle to be the 'name' signing who actually created/arrival was followed by a consistant increase in ratings. I recall Sting's TV debut caused a initial bump, no idea how influencial Christian's arrival was prior to Angle... too lazy to trawl the net for reliable stats.

Regardless though, beyond the initial curiousity spike caused by Hogan's Impact debut, the ratings quickly dwindled back to their pre-Hogan level. It would be interesting to know what sort of fan turnover TNA has experienced, how many diehards have stuck around, how many fans actually tuned in due to Hogan/Bischoff/RVD/Hardy/etc.

Overall though, TNA didn't capitalise on the additional curiousity/buzz Hogan's arrival caused. Muddled product with no clue as to it's identity, completely inconsistant/poor booking, messing around with the ring, deludge of new arrivals, workers going 'missing', take your pick or add more. It's pretty hard to get someone to buy into product if you can't convince them you're actually sure what you're selling.

Yep that is there biggest failure, the loss of all the momentum from the Jan 4th show. Which was happening before they moved to Mondays. And now an even more negative perception of the brand among die hards and casuals.

[ampulator]

It was a joke aimed at Hyde. Calm down.
Sorry.

In any case, TNA isn't dead, but it's certainly makes itself look like a two-bit company at the worst time.

I mean, they have all this talent, and they can't pull off a better show than most regional wrestling companies (sometimes pull even WORSE shows)? That's inexcusable.

[Slagaholic]

Sorry.

In any case, TNA isn't dead, but it's certainly makes itself look like a two-bit company at the worst time.

I mean, they have all this talent, and they can't pull off a better show than most regional wrestling companies (sometimes pull even WORSE shows)? That's inexcusable.

Let's ignore the fact that the largest wrestling company in the world just put on a worse pay-per-view than TNA has ever put on.

[Hyde Hill]

Let's ignore the fact that the largest wrestling company in the world just put on a worse pay-per-view than TNA has ever put on.

Victory Road 2009:o. Hey I am a fan and will defend what is in my view unrighteous accusations or present the other side of the coin. But when they do bad or dumb **** I call them out. Not an apologist or blind mark.

[ampulator]

Don't get me started on the WWE. I think they aren't going well at all. They are doing a bit better now, but I still think the direction is horrible.

[Hyde Hill]

They got their own thread to bash them hehe lolz. Plus they need more posts as the TNA one has a lot more.

Wrestling in general is in the tank right now with RAW scoring consecutive 3.1's. The E has severely eroded the entire (US) fanbase , while admit-tingly upping their profits, and TNA has not been able to find their niche as a viable alternative.

[crownsy]

And now for something completely diffrent...and as it may be a possable spoiler, i'll put the rest in White

Spoiler:

Whts everyone's reaction to TNA turning anderson babyface over the next two weeks because they qoute "can't ignore the crowd any longer!" in my mind, you should keep him heel and build off that. The crowd likes him because he's a great arrogant heel. IT's ok if a section of the crowd cheers for him TNA. if means they enjoy his work.

I am of course, withholding final judgment until we see the turn over the next two weeks. IF they are doing a "grey hat" turn where he's still a bad ass, but sticks to fighting heels, ok then, though i still think that's unnesscary

IF it's a full fledged babyface turn, it is, IMO a huge mistake. Don't turn the best heel in the company babyface because the crowd doesn't stick to loud Boo's TNA, that will be a mistake for you.

Anderson is Killing it right now, he's one of the reasons i watch. IF they change his character to much with this, huge mistake.

Sometimes the awnser is to stand pat, i think this is one of those times. In essence, i see them looking at a guy pulling a solid A for his gimmick and momentum, and now they want to turn him to see if they can get a A* instead

Not worth the risk, TNA. Let the man roll and enjoy the ride.

[PeterHilton]

Won't quote you to avoid the spoiler, but I agree with everything you said there.

It's a bad risk imo. If they play it worn - like what the E did to Orton when he broke off from Evolution - they are going to absolutely kill one of the hottest acts they have.

If they play it right..just not that much to gain. Especially since they need some top tier heels.

[Hyde Hill]

Yeah agreed although a pretend turn could also work with the distrust in the end being valid. That would make him an uber heel. Both stories are hard to pull of though and why muddle the waters? If it ain't broke don't fix it. Read that again TNA: If it ain't broke do not fix it!

[dvdWarrior]

Strange, with all the things TNA's gotten wrong, it's gonna be one of the thing's they've gotten right that they're gonna change.

:(

[Hyde Hill]

Well you could say it doesn't fit with their Brand Identity doing things right lolz. I kid, I kid. Hey sometimes even I can make snide remarks towards TNA hehe.

[Stennick]

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.

[PeterHilton]

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.

[hellshock70]

Bischoff doesn't have a lot of things going out outside of TNA right now.

Wait till tomorrow when Puppet of Eric Bischoff's Half-Pint Brawlers appears on TNA. LOL

[Stennick]

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

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.

[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 :rolleyes: 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 :rolleyes: 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.

[Slagaholic]

I have to admit, it's brilliant to use The Band like this.

[Slagaholic]

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

That was the point! I loved it. They just stayed on the apron and got heat by just existing. If they use the Band as just insta-heat to help build their tag division, why the hell not use em?

[Slagaholic]

I love the AJ-Kaz-Flair love triangle.

[Stennick]

I thought Nash was holding a contest for a new name and whoever's name he liked the most he would fly them to Orlando for a t.v taping?

[Slagaholic]

I guess no one won.

[Marshall]

I love the AJ-Kaz-Flair love triangle.

I love the idea, but i really wish tna would slow down - i could see a nice storyline to pull out over six months or something that would see Kaz increasingly prove to Naitch that he's the real new Nature Boy, and AJ has failed in his new role. Build the tension in Flair's new faction over months, with AJ getting jealous and then have AJ turn face and break from the faction feuding with Kaz at say Bound For Glory in October. That would elevate Kaz as a ****y top heel, lets AJ play an honourable face again and give tna some different angles to use over the next few months, rather than the same run-in over and over again. I just feel that they introduced Kaz into the Flair fold last week and now he's feuding with AJ? Way too soon...

Plus, I don't really want to see Naitch taking back body drops in angles - ok, Ric, we get that you can still do them, just relax a bit eh?

Also, Abyss is a disgusting excuse for an upper level face - this Chelsea angle is backwards and weird. That is all :p

[Slagaholic]

The Abyss storyline utilizes Desmond Wolfe and a very hot young lady. I don't care if it doesn't make sense.

[The Final Countdown]

The Abyss storyline utilizes Desmond Wolfe and a very hot young lady. I don't care if it doesn't make sense.
So could any other potential angle involving Wolfe.

[Slagaholic]

Exactly.

[Slagaholic]

They didn't forget about RVD's debut!

[Slagaholic]

Aww Roxxi's so cute.

[The Final Countdown]

I laughed when they DDT'd the midget.

[BHK1978]

I laughed when they DDT'd the midget.

Lucky midget, first he got to slap Velvet's butt and then he got to make out with Lacey!

What was up with that opening segment between Mr. Anderson, Modest and a Flop, and AJ? It was just so bad...

I am really getting into the Team 3D/Ink Inc. which is weird because the only person that I like in the feud is D-Von.

[Stennick]

So I liked Impact this week. I haven't really watched much since shortly after Lockdown since the show got pretty silly.

I know people elsewhere have said there is nothing to gain by turning Anderson face. I'd say he's easily the biggest face in the company now. I haven't seen anybody dragging the reaction with his promo's from these fans since Pope before Lockdown and Anderson has them eating out of the palm of his hand and his promos are insanely good. Just shoving Anderson in a handful of segments is more than enough reason to make me watch the show.

The Wolfe/Abyss thing is stupid but what I like is that a throwaway line from Wolfe about calling OJ "Bubble Gum" can get over like that. The guy has buckets of charisma and hopefully after this Abyss storyline he can move onto something else. Although I fear that something else may be Rob Terry another big lug but none the less.

I like this stable of AJ, Wolfe, Kaz and Flair. Although Beer Money don't really fit with the group IMO. Their the "Muscle" of the group but I'd rather have a guy than a tag team. Matt Morgan would have been good for the role I'm not saying I don't like his role now because I love it I'm just saying a big guy that is menacing and looks good in a suit.

The biggest flaw in this four taped shows in two days is AJ busting in on Flair and Kaz and saying "I've been looking for you all day and I find you in here with Kaz". Its like AJ you were just in the opening promo with him by your side so you haven't been looking for him all day. Maybe it wasn't a mistake but I'm more than willing to bet it was. You can't say "I've been looking for you all day" when you were with him the segment before last.

So all in all I'm entertained by RVD/Sting does not hold my interest and Angle on commentary was kinda boring as well. I also hate how AJ is Ric Flair Jr. and Abysss is Hogan Jr. but these are things I can't change so I won't dwell on them.

I like the direction of the company and I'm LOVING Anderson........... Andersoooooon.

[Hyde Hill]

Did you guys also have the very, very long promo for the UK tour as well?

Plus anyone else find it funny that Young is now aligned with Hall given the promo Joe gave when Hall no showed and Young stepped up to fill his shoes?

Puppet was more entertaining then all the stuff Swaggle has ever done combined hehe.

Nice continuity with Jeff saying he didn't have a match and then the match against Wolf. ffs. Also not promoting that at all during the show?? Nice match though for the time given.

Really hope its a false face turn with Anderson. He is much better as someone you like to hate then like to like. If you get what I mean.

What is with the heel vs heel ppv matches? One ok but two? And shame that king of the mountain is gone as it gave decent to good matches and was a part of TNA's identity. If they had tweaked it a bit by making it full elimination and no need to pin to hang up the title for example it would have been less gimmicky and thus even better.

Overall decent Impact. Not great but not bad either.

[Hyde Hill]

I thought Nash was holding a contest for a new name and whoever's name he liked the most he would fly them to Orlando for a t.v taping?

Or its still running. The paq is mine. Mixing pack with kliq.

[Hyde Hill]

So I liked Impact this week. I haven't really watched much since shortly after Lockdown since the show got pretty silly.

I know people elsewhere have said there is nothing to gain by turning Anderson face. I'd say he's easily the biggest face in the company now. I haven't seen anybody dragging the reaction with his promo's from these fans since Pope before Lockdown and Anderson has them eating out of the palm of his hand and his promos are insanely good. Just shoving Anderson in a handful of segments is more than enough reason to make me watch the show.

The Wolfe/Abyss thing is stupid but what I like is that a throwaway line from Wolfe about calling OJ "Bubble Gum" can get over like that. The guy has buckets of charisma and hopefully after this Abyss storyline he can move onto something else. Although I fear that something else may be Rob Terry another big lug but none the less.

I like this stable of AJ, Wolfe, Kaz and Flair. Although Beer Money don't really fit with the group IMO. Their the "Muscle" of the group but I'd rather have a guy than a tag team. Matt Morgan would have been good for the role I'm not saying I don't like his role now because I love it I'm just saying a big guy that is menacing and looks good in a suit.

The biggest flaw in this four taped shows in two days is AJ busting in on Flair and Kaz and saying "I've been looking for you all day and I find you in here with Kaz". Its like AJ you were just in the opening promo with him by your side so you haven't been looking for him all day. Maybe it wasn't a mistake but I'm more than willing to bet it was. You can't say "I've been looking for you all day" when you were with him the segment before last.

So all in all I'm entertained by RVD/Sting does not hold my interest and Angle on commentary was kinda boring as well. I also hate how AJ is Ric Flair Jr. and Abysss is Hogan Jr. but these are things I can't change so I won't dwell on them.

I like the direction of the company and I'm LOVING Anderson........... Andersoooooon.

He said he was looking for him all over not all day. Big difference so not a problem. And Anderson is just more likeable as a heel imho.

[Slagaholic]

I think Jeff said that he didn't challenge AJ to a match, not that he didn't have a match.

[Hyde Hill]

I think Jeff said that he didn't challenge AJ to a match, not that he didn't have a match.

Yeah my bad. He said: "I haven't requested to wrestle anybody tonight bro."

[cappyboy]

I like the direction of the company and I'm LOVING Anderson........... Andersoooooon.

I wish I could say I did. I didn't think it was possible but after this Impact, I think I'm even more annoyed about Anderson that I even was before. Hogan was right in that little heart to heart segment. The guy finally has a part of his character that could become HIS in making "*******" into a badge of honor and it's already at risk because he's also supposed to be "Mr. Sincerity"?

Damnit, TNA. You were on track to getting me, a long-time Anderson critic, to accept the guy as being worthy of the his spot on the card. So you go and split your focus like this NOW? If you're going to pull this with a guy like Anderson who just needed that last little bit to get over the top, why should I believe in any TNA characterization? Why should I embrace the Flair/Styles relationship? Why should I accept Orlando Jordan as this Goldust minus the body paint type? Heck, why should I accept Brother Ray as the hothead Taz is always calling him? That opening segment extending the ******* talk from Sacrifice had actually made me willing to give Anderson a fresh shot at converting me. And you create this muddle? Maybe you should just kiss off, TNA.

[GDE71]

I keep waiting for him to do

Misterrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr *******




*******

[PeterHilton]

Ric Flair Says TNA Will Have "As Much Awareness As WWE"

Posted by Ashish*on 05.28.2010

In six months... -

The Daily Mirror has a video interview up with Ric Flair promoting the 2011 TNA UK tour. In the interview, Flair says he will wrestle on the tour and that he is the happiest he has been in wrestling since 1986, adding that TNA lets him be himself. He also said that Eric Bischoff and Hulk Hogan are in for the long haul and that TNA will have "as much awareness as WWE" in six months.

Oh, Ric.

I get that it's his job to pimp TNA, but do he have to take a dump on his entire career since the mid 80s? Evolution? WM against Undertaker? The match with HBK that mightve been the best send off ever?

Ah well...

[The Final Countdown]

and that TNA will have "as much awareness as WWE" in six months.
*Snicker*

[Hyde Hill]

Ad the snippet that Reid has signed with TNA according to him and it's fun all-round. With the him being himself part, it is true that they just give bullet points for the promo's again instead of scripting it all which is a notable improvement.

[PeterHilton]

It is

But the E trated him like a god. There's an entire wave of wrestling fans that have been programmed to think Ric was the greatest performer to work in the business. And maybe he was. But considering his 'prime' was over 20 years ago, he should be thanking the wrestling gods that the E gave him the 'legend' treatment since he came back because that's the reason he's even remotely relevant today.

[Hyde Hill]

Yeah not disagreeing on that but in the Sun interview where he said the Reid bit he also clarified that it was about the fact that he was allowed to cut promo's freely. So he is probably enjoying being a performer more at this point but he is not disrespecting his time in the E etc. Listen to the Sun interview and you get my point.

Still Reid Flair *Groan* He should form an alliance with Lacey, Genetics is BS stable. Lolz.

[justtxyank]

It is

But the E trated him like a god. There's an entire wave of wrestling fans that have been programmed to think Ric was the greatest performer to work in the business. And maybe he was. But considering his 'prime' was over 20 years ago, he should be thanking the wrestling gods that the E gave him the 'legend' treatment since he came back because that's the reason he's even remotely relevant today.

Agree with this. The majority of wrestling fans today have no knowledge of Ric Flair when he was good. Hell, his last "good" run was in like 1998 as an in ring performer and most of those fans don't watch anymore. I'm with Hilton on this. The way the E handled Flair is the reason he is still relevant at all today. Harley Race wasn't getting pops in the 90s when he would make appearances. Flair's legacy was handled very well by the E and he should be thanking his lucky stars for that. He could have been treated the way the companies treated the rest of the 80s stars like Rick Martel, Bobby Eaton, Jim Duggan, etc. and just turn them into jobbers.

[PeterHilton]

It's also ironic that he's soooo happy now considering the primary reason he was so miserable for a good chunk of those years between 86 and now was the way he was treated in WCW by Eric and Hogan.

[The Final Countdown]

It's also ironic that he's soooo happy now considering the primary reason he was so miserable for a good chunk of those years between 86 and now was the way he was treated in WCW by Eric and Hogan.
Not to mention the shots he took at TNA when he was still with WWE.

[Stennick]

Not to rag on Ric because I do like the guy as a performer. But after reading his book, and hearing his comments, the grudges he holds against people, and just the general (donkey) that he's became over the last ten years.

For a guy that had spent one year of his entire wrestling career in the E before WCW's demise he was treated amazingly well.

I had really hoped Ric would fade off into the sunset a long time ago and especially after his match against HBK. I thought the stuff he was doing in ROH was fantastic as far as that side of his career went.

All that being said and as much as I love Ric Flair's career and I think in a lot of ways nobody has influenced this entire generation of wreslters more so than Ric Flair. Ric Flar was the celeberity athlete that T.O, Beckham, etc is today. He wore name brand clothing, he was a fan of the ladies, he was consntatly bragging on himself. He was what the E tried to do with MVP 25 years before they did it with MVP and for that he's a visionary even if it was just Ric. Other guys were bar fighting, coke heads but they didn't transition that into their on screen character at the time.....well not purposley at least.

All that being said I'll never forget Ric in the Monday Night Wars DVD saying the day WCW closed down was the happiest day of his life. For better or worse that company MADE him a star and despite problems it kept him a star until their very last show. Without WCW there would be no Ric Flair.

His problems with Bischoff and his mocking of their refusal to push new stars, etc, the creative problems, he tore down Russo in those interviews, he even tore down HOgan on severla occasions. I get business is business and Ric's broke but for him to say the things he's said about Hogan, Bischoff, WCW and Russo only to turn right back around and work with those same guys in the same goofy stories WCW was telling is the ultimate hypcorital thing to do.

Either that or Ric's just showing that he's the ultimate company man. That promo he cut on the last night of WCW was one of the greatest promos I've ever seen in my life. He went to the E and then talked about how they were the driving force and Vince was a genious, now he's in TNA and he's having more fun than ever before.

You hear it all the time that pro wrestling is a business based on lying and everything we see in front of or behind the camera is a lie to some extent or another. YOu know their business is lying, their pro con men and even in an era where "kayfabe" is supposed to be dead you see people working their marks every day of the week.

Hogan gets blased for Andre being 700 pounds and dying the day after WM III. Or how he kept telling WCW how Vince and the WWF did business but they wouldn't listen. Or how WCW was a two bit company drawing nobody before he came along. He gets killed in the IWC for saying those things but yet nobody calls Ric out for all the exaggerations and lies he's told over the last ten years. Nobody ever calls Ric out for rewriting his own history so many different times. He must be doing something right those because even after all of these recent comments he'll still be praised while Hogan's torn down for virtually the same comments and actions.

[BHK1978]

In regards to Ric, I guess it is just a case of not wanting to bite the hand that feeds him.

To be honest I was always shocked that Vince treated him as good as he did. Seeing how Ric along with Sting were the faces of the NWA/WCW.

[Hyde Hill]

Any word on the rating yet?

[Stennick]

I don't know the rating but they averaged 1.34 million viewers and thats up from 1.29 million viewers last week so I'd imagine the rating is virtually the same.

[tristram]

Oh, Ric.

I get that it's his job to pimp TNA, but do he have to take a dump on his entire career since the mid 80s? Evolution? WM against Undertaker? The match with HBK that mightve been the best send off ever?

Ah well...

I would say it'd have to be all PR. There's no way known to man that Ric Flair could logically say that, is there? I mean, after all, after a taping he cried in the middle of the ring when the entire roster came out to support him, led by Triple H. He said at the time that he had learned to like himself again, all because of the support of the WWE. It's practically the substance of his book in terms of how bad he felt about himself because of how he was booked and 'victimised' in WCW, compared to how great things were and how much respect he had in the WWE locker room.

I would have to hope that there's some very liberal creative license in bending the truth to make a story here.

[tristram]

Not to rag on Ric because I do like the guy as a performer. But after reading his book, and hearing his comments, the grudges he holds against people, and just the general (donkey) that he's became over the last ten years.

For a guy that had spent one year of his entire wrestling career in the E before WCW's demise he was treated amazingly well.

I had really hoped Ric would fade off into the sunset a long time ago and especially after his match against HBK. I thought the stuff he was doing in ROH was fantastic as far as that side of his career went.

All that being said and as much as I love Ric Flair's career and I think in a lot of ways nobody has influenced this entire generation of wreslters more so than Ric Flair. Ric Flar was the celeberity athlete that T.O, Beckham, etc is today. He wore name brand clothing, he was a fan of the ladies, he was consntatly bragging on himself. He was what the E tried to do with MVP 25 years before they did it with MVP and for that he's a visionary even if it was just Ric. Other guys were bar fighting, coke heads but they didn't transition that into their on screen character at the time.....well not purposley at least.

All that being said I'll never forget Ric in the Monday Night Wars DVD saying the day WCW closed down was the happiest day of his life. For better or worse that company MADE him a star and despite problems it kept him a star until their very last show. Without WCW there would be no Ric Flair.

His problems with Bischoff and his mocking of their refusal to push new stars, etc, the creative problems, he tore down Russo in those interviews, he even tore down HOgan on severla occasions. I get business is business and Ric's broke but for him to say the things he's said about Hogan, Bischoff, WCW and Russo only to turn right back around and work with those same guys in the same goofy stories WCW was telling is the ultimate hypcorital thing to do.

Either that or Ric's just showing that he's the ultimate company man. That promo he cut on the last night of WCW was one of the greatest promos I've ever seen in my life. He went to the E and then talked about how they were the driving force and Vince was a genious, now he's in TNA and he's having more fun than ever before.

You hear it all the time that pro wrestling is a business based on lying and everything we see in front of or behind the camera is a lie to some extent or another. YOu know their business is lying, their pro con men and even in an era where "kayfabe" is supposed to be dead you see people working their marks every day of the week.

Hogan gets blased for Andre being 700 pounds and dying the day after WM III. Or how he kept telling WCW how Vince and the WWF did business but they wouldn't listen. Or how WCW was a two bit company drawing nobody before he came along. He gets killed in the IWC for saying those things but yet nobody calls Ric out for all the exaggerations and lies he's told over the last ten years. Nobody ever calls Ric out for rewriting his own history so many different times. He must be doing something right those because even after all of these recent comments he'll still be praised while Hogan's torn down for virtually the same comments and actions.

I think you've hit the nail on the head. A very liberal use of professional wrestling ;take a slice of the truth and make it into a story' license. Sadly, though, the third time he's done it kind of waters down what you can and can't believe is genuine, and you perhaps wonder whether Ric knows how to separate the on-camera Ric Flair to the real-deal Ric Flair due to the web of stories offered.

[Hyde Hill]

On a completely different topic I was just musing on some possible changes for the Impact Zone and wanted you guys opinions on possibly replacing the guardrails with electronic advertisement boards. It is quite commonplace in Europe with soccer matches and I know the NBA uses them as well as triple A in Mexico who mainly uses standard ones though, plus you could use them to enhance entrances and then turn them back to ad's during other time.

If you strengthen them with padding behind them much as the WWE uses I do not think they would limit workers possibilities outside the ring and possibly even enhance them by walking the top or endanger their safety.

It would mean a possible extra source of income for TNA, make it look more professional, they can advertise their own stuff on it, use it to enhance entrances etc.

So what are you guys thoughts?

[The Celt]

They're used in football stadiums true, but because the hard camera is normally well zoomed out they visually would normally only take up about 1/25 of the screen when you see them on TV. Having them on barricades would be different, they'd be way closer those take up way more of the screen and would be quite distracting for the viewer. Americans have enough advertising as it is (seriously, in Ireland and the UK at least we go to break 80% less than you, and that completely true. Trying to watch TV in America can be so annoying knowing back home you get so much more bang for your buck).

[Hyde Hill]

Hehe yeah I remember from the times I was in the US how ridiculously often they go to commercial.

[sebsplex]

On a completely different topic I was just musing on some possible changes for the Impact Zone and wanted you guys opinions on possibly replacing the guardrails with electronic advertisement boards. It is quite commonplace in Europe with soccer matches and I know the NBA uses them as well as triple A in Mexico who mainly uses standard ones though, plus you could use them to enhance entrances and then turn them back to ad's during other time.

If you strengthen them with padding behind them much as the WWE uses I do not think they would limit workers possibilities outside the ring and possibly even enhance them by walking the top or endanger their safety.

It would mean a possible extra source of income for TNA, make it look more professional, they can advertise their own stuff on it, use it to enhance entrances etc.

So what are you guys thoughts?

I think it would be a little too intense and imposing for the viewer to have them so close to the ring... not to mention they'd be obscured for the most part by the ring itself (unlike pitch and courtside boards). As for the safety aspect of it, since reverting back to the four-sided ring, the railings seem too close now and those dives and bodypresses to the outside are looking more dangerous and awkward as it is, so maybe something with a bit of extra give or padding isn't a bad idea.

If TNA need some extra revenue, perhaps they'll go back to allowing sponsorship on the ringmat itself again or use something around the stage or perhaps even the large 'TNA' display that hangs in the background.

Speaking of changes to the Impact Zone, although it's subtle and I'm not quite sure what they've changed, I like the fact that their seems more steel or mesh fencing in the stands in the past couple of weeks. It makes it look a less like an old Nickelodeon set in the distance.

[ampulator]

Stennick, I need to disagree with you on Ric Flair when it came to comments on WCW. It's more correct to say NWA's WCW made Flair, not the one that Turner bought out.

You ever watch the 90's, especially the late 90's? Even as an Attitude Era fan, I can honestly say that the 90's and, WCW during that time, by extension, treated Ric Flair like a turd on the bottom of their shoe.

They had NO CLUE what to do with him during the late 90's. When Hogan came to WCW, it forced Flair to becomea second-rank player. And when the NWO came along, it was even worse for him.

Ric Flair has a lot of built-up resentment for what happened during the 90's. It's why he disses Hogan, Savage, and Bischoff. He wrongly disses Bret Hart for this reason too, I believe.

[Stennick]

I agree with you that LATE ninties Flair was treated like crap. Although Flair jobbed to Hogan constantly he was still main evented and presented as Hogan's arch nemesis until late 95ish and then Hogan left shortly after 96 started. So yeah the last four years of the 90's Flair was crapped on I agree.

However 90-94 (when he was in the company) Flair was still presented as the man. His feud with Sting MADE Sting and that was under the WCW banner (mostly). You had the entire Sting arc from Clash all the way through the Horsemen turn. You had Flair returning in 93 and beating Vader for the title. You had 1994 and the huge Sting swerve that reformed the Horseman.

So while he wasn't the man that he was in the 80's he was still the focus of the show and up until the very last episode of Nitro Ric Flair was given TONS of face time and always paraded as the father of WCW (for lack of a better term).

So I agree that he was jobbed to Hogan a bunch and put into silly storylines the truth of the matter is he still had some huge moments even after Hogan came in. WCW didn't make Flair but they sure as heck continued his legacy.

As far as him lashing out at Hogan, Bisch, etc. (I've not heard him say anything about Savage). He is now turning around and having these guys as his boss. I understand business is business but he comes across as a hypocrite wanting to fight Bischoff in the WWE and dragging his name through the mud and mocking Hogan as one of the greats only to talk about how great TNA is when their storylines are just as (if not more) stupid than WCW's were.

So yeah he's still a hypocrite and business is business I get that but you know what nobody is asking him to verbally (breathe out) Hogan and Bischoff. He does that willingly and thats just one of the reasons why Ric Flair the person will never be the guy I thought he was ten years ago. He's not losing sleep over it and neither am I so its all good.

[ampulator]

Well, Ric Flair needs the money. Have you heard about his financial situation? Granted, it's his own fault, but he needs the money badly. This is one of the reasons why I haven't dissed him or Hogan as much as anyone think I might for bringing back them when they are past their prime. They are actually in financially bad situations. Yes, of their own faults. But, hey, they got to do what they got to do to make their living.

Eric Bischoff, and Vince russo... on the other hand... ARGH!!!!!!

[alden]

if you listen to some of the fliar interviews he said he always lost and that is how it should have been. The heel needs to loose. The good guy always beat flair in the end. How many times was flair champion? 17 18? that means he lost it that many times also ;).........how many times was hogan champion? 3 or 4 in wwe and 3 or 4 in wcw.......because the man never wanted to get beat.

[ampulator]

Alden, you are completely, probably unintentionally, missing the point here. It wasn't the fact that Ric Flair lost. It was that he was treated LIKE CRAP during the late 90's. It's one thing to lose, and it's another to to be made to look like a fool. Flair lost a lot of times in his career, he but he never looked weak, until the late 90's.

For all the times Ric Flair lost the belt, he still won it back. I have to ask you, what is THE signature babyface of the NWA? I mean, SIGNATURE like Hogan? None. They tried. But they couldn't find one. Sting was a pretty big star, but the height of Sting's career is actually Crow Sting. Magnum TA? Cut short by a car accident. Dusty Rhodes? Close, but not quite. Ricky Steamboat? Great in-ring worker and performer, not so good on the mic. People always Ric Flair. It was he was the top star in the 80's and early 90's.

But since Hogan entered WCW, Hogan almost always beat him. Now, as a face, that made some sense. But Hogan as heel? Really? REALLY? Hogan was STILL beating the crap out of him. What a way to make one of the top stars to look like nothing.

When Ric Flair said he was glad it was over, party is because it's how we was treated in the end. He made a lot of money, definitely, but his career, at that point, was in shambles.

To put this in perspective, his career is STRONGER now, even though he is/was retired, than it was near the end of the days of WCW, when he had a gimmick as a "psychopath".

[Comradebot]

if you listen to some of the fliar interviews he said he always lost and that is how it should have been. The heel needs to loose. The good guy always beat flair in the end. How many times was flair champion? 17 18? that means he lost it that many times also ;).........how many times was hogan champion? 3 or 4 in wwe and 3 or 4 in wcw.......because the man never wanted to get beat.

Admittingly, it did make Hogan being defeated all the more epic. With Flair... yeah, you managed to overcome the guy who frequently needed to cheat to win. Clearly, Flair was booked to always need that "fall back" plan in order to overcome folks who were superior otherwise.

But with Hogan? He was damn near a superhero! If he had 17 title wins, it'd mean he lost that many times, and it would've tarnished his aura. Sure, Hogan most certainly didn't mind not losing all that often, but at the same time it was excellent long term booking, and NOT just because of Hogan's ego.

[ampulator]

I don't think anyone really complains much about Hogan's long title reigns, except after the 80's, when it became clear those long title reingns for Hogan made little to no sense anymore.

[Hyde Hill]

To finish off this week, let this reporter state that the Journal does not usually address unfounded rumors. If you are looking for gossip and unnamed sources that can never be confirmed, the Small-For-All News Report is an excellent choice. Guest#0754 brings up the Journal's viewpoint:

In this day of Twitter and Facebook as well as lawyers, I believe that if people were paid a month late we would be hearing about it from more than just un-named sources.

There would also be no-shows and people double booked.

Not just in this day and age--when Paul Heyman stopped paying talent in the late 1990's, many were vocal about it such as Mike Awesome and RVD. Also, let us not forget that many TNA talent have just a pay-per-appearance deal with no or very low guaranteed bases. With that, talent costs can be greatly reduced just by not flying people in.

This most likely stems from two things. One, people want to believe TNA is having money issues because of the moves to iMPACT and the mass hirings. Unfortunately, that does not take into account the extra revenue that TNA has made in merchandise sales, the higher distribution deals they have overseas, the addition of new revenue from new programming (ReAction). Two, there were rumors similar to this as recently as October 2009. Like any good internet rumor, the story works its way around and comes up again and again.

Now, TNA is hardly in the financially secure position the WWE is in. That said, cash in should still be outpacing talent costs. TNA does need to watch their expenses much better and control growth, but they have yet to show they have learned any lesson in slow expansion. They were slightly profitable a year ago, so they should still be today if they have kept some things in check. That said, in a worst case scenario they do still have parent company Panda Energy that can provide a one-time cash infusion or loan.

Source Hamilton avenue Journal 411 mania. com. Gotta love the Journal for separating fact from fiction/rumour/perception.

BTW non TNA related LA Park aka La Parka in WCW punching out that fan is hilarious.

[ampulator]

They problem isn't just revenue, but also cost. As Bill Behren as said, the way to REALLY cut costs is to cut from top-down, not bottom-up. Because People at the bottom aren't paid that much or used that much anyway, cutting or even simply not using them won't make that much savings, if any at all.

It's really having guys like Hogan, RVD, Jeff Hardy, Ric Flair, Eric Bischoff, Kurt Angle, Sting, Nash, and Hall that costs them money.

Although I disagree with Bill Behrens on this, he believes, unless they demonstrate the ability to draw or increase ratings without a serious drop-off within a short period of time, they should stop using them or cut them. I don't agree with him, but he does have a point.

[Hyde Hill]

They problem isn't just revenue, but also cost. As Bill Behren as said, the way to REALLY cut costs is to cut from top-down, not bottom-up. Because People at the bottom aren't paid that much or used that much anyway, cutting or even simply not using them won't make that much savings, if any at all.

It's really having guys like Hogan, RVD, Jeff Hardy, Ric Flair, Eric Bischoff, Kurt Angle, Sting, Nash, and Hall that costs them money.

Although I disagree with Bill Behrens on this, he believes, unless they demonstrate the ability to draw or increase ratings without a serious drop-off within a short period of time, they should stop using them or cut them. I don't agree with him, but he does have a point.

Yeah Behren's is pretty good although he can be over ratings focused and does not take some stuff into account when talking average ratings etc. He generally has a good view on the business.

On this I agree with him in part. Mainly that those nostalgia guys that do not bring in ratings and or merchandise are superfluous and should be looked at to being cut. Sting, Hogan and Foley do bring in fans and sell merch. The Band and Jarrett not so much.

Guys that can still go and are proven draws like RVD and Hardy should not be cut. As it is more TNA's overall fault they are not drawing then theirs.

[Slagaholic]

I kind of like the position The Band is in right now. They're not doing too much other than holding the tag titles while the tag team division fights each other. They cut a 3 minute promo every other week, and have Eric Young do most of the wrestling. They're just there to get heat. I doubt it's cost effective, but this is the best they can do for what they're paying Nash. I doubt Hall and Young are getting big money.