Dream Matches on iMPACT!

[farlance]

There have been quite a few dream matches or first time ever matches lately on Impact and I was wondering why. Here are a few:

RVD vs AJ Stlyes

RVD vs Samoa Joe

Samoa Joe vs Jeff Hardy

A whole PPV card in Impact the Thursday after Hardcore Justice

Now Im not complaining about getting matches for free but if PPV like Bound for Glory is supposed to be the WM of TNA, what else is left that would be new?

Is it a form of sabatoge??? What if the writing staff are expecting the pending singing of Paul Heyman and are booking these great PPV matches for no reason on Impact so if Heyman comes in, he will have to work all that harder to have somethings original for PPV. Thoughts?

 

[mrbrownstone]

I think that it is really stupid on the part of TNA. Any of the three matches that you mentioned could have easily main evented any TNA ppv especially Bound For Glory which as you said is TNA's version of Wrestlemania, the place where dream matches are supposed to happen. Now don't get me wrong they all still could main event PPV's and in all likelihood will but now they wont have that same special 'first time ever' feel about them which would bring in casual viewers and probably increase PPV buys. Now if these matches do happen on PPV people will think why bother paying for it they have alredy given it away on free TV, I'll just go watch that match instead.

Now if TNA do put on a first time ever match like RVD vs lets say Mick Foley (I dont think these two have ever faced off surprisingly, I searched for it and it came up with nothing, if it has happened could someone please point me towards it, I'd love to see that match) it would decrease the buys for that PPV because people would think well they will probably just do that match again on free TV in the future so why bother paying for it.

 

[shattered dreams]

I do not understand why no one gets this. They are doing it to attract an audience. Their PPVs do not seem to do too many buys no matter what the main event is and what type of matches are or are not shown on impact beforehand. Traditionally wrestling companies have used the PPV model but TNA is different because of their deal with the impact zone. Since they have that kush deal there and spike's support, the focus on TV is understandable. It is hard to sell the PPVs in this economy of an unestablished, at least in the mainstream, product. If they can grow their audience on impact then they should continue to get rub off PPV buyers over time. As that happens they could transition to more of a traditional style of matches on tv. They do not have that luxury right now because without the TV viewers the company would be in worse trouble than without the PPV buys. Too me it seems that simple.

They want to build their audience so should they put their best matches where over a million and a half people see them 4 different times a month and many more have the option to view or should they put them where allegedly less than 10,000 see them once a month and people have to pay something akin to their cable bill for the access of a couple of hours?

 

[Jack-Hammer]

If, and I do mean IF, TNA is drawing less than 10,000 ppv buys a month, then maybe this is what they're going to have to do in order to possibly increase those buys in the long run. I know it's not traditional or what WWE and WCW did, but maybe the nontraditional route in this situation is what TNA is going to have to do.

I'm just speculating about this, not trying to pass anything off as fact, but I fail to see how TNA isn't losing money on the ppvs IF they've been doing less than 10,000 buys. If TNA puts on these "dream matches" on iMPACT! for a while, then maybe it could possibly generate interest in their ppvs once TNA starts saving certain matches for those events. I don't think so, but I might be completely wrong. If that's the route TNA wants to go, then they should go all the way. Most of the "dream matches" we've seen on iMPACT for quite a while have been complete letdowns. TNA World Heavyweight Championship matches, various forms of gimmick matches, triple threat matches, fourway matches, #1 contender matches, etc. that've been dull, last 4 or 5 minutes or a combination of both. The only one that I think really lived up to its potential was RVD vs. Samoa Joe. A distant second was Samoa Joe vs. Jeff Hardy, which TNA treated as if it was nothing.

 

[red ass skull muhfukkah]

The first thing that came to my mind was when WCW had Goldberg vs Hogan on Nitro. They almost sold out the Georgia Dome with a match they announced only a few days earlier. They were so focused on beating the WWE and ratings that they wasted one of the biggest matches on free tv when they could have made much more money had they waited longer to hype it and put it on a PPV.

While the matches TNA are giving away on free tv, are not as high profile, they're still PPV quality matches. I understand they aren't getting many PPV buys anyway so they've decided to mainly focus on IMPACT! but if they keeping doing this it will only hurt them in the long run. As a few posters said before, why buy a PPV to see RVD vs Joe when you already saw it on free tv? It makes sense to do this once in a while like WWE does, but you can't afford to do it week after week.