If TNA Puts Shows Like 1/12/12 Out Regularly, Should They Move to Mondays?

[Shadow of Darkness]

I watched IMPACT last night and i could see the future of the company out there. Yah, believe me, if they are able to put these type of A class shows every week, then surely its going to be tough time for WWE coming in near future. The matches were PPV standard, the promos were excelent. The only thing they lacks are PRODUCTION PART - if they put pyro, road show at every week, better themes, more lighting, better titantron videos, and most important put the show LIVE EVERY WEEK...then should they move to MONDAY right now because they can realy draw a significant amount of people from the RAW as currently WWE is putting garbage product. Obviously i would want them to put their show from 8 to 10 pm. So they can get their main event during RAW middle GARBAGE hour.

 

[IHW]

It was a GREAT show.
But they need to stop competing with WWE, there are not even close to the E's league.

Wait another few years, and WWE will be at the same level, while TNA will have moved up. Then they should compete.

 

[MWRedskins]

TNA has their ups and downs, i really liked the Storm/Angle match they had and i also enjoyed the Roode and Hardy match UNTIL the end of that said match. the problem i have with TNA is they end most of their main events (when they have a heel champion) with some type of DQ or cheap win. Roode is not looking like a strong champion. he had to get himself DQed to retain vs. Hardy at the ppv and then had Bully Ray help him retain. i know a heel usually cheats, but at least have Roode somehow cheat and not get caught, but i agree that TNA has potential to be great. i like Roode and want him to be made to look like a strong champion. Storm in my book should be the guy to take the title OFF Roode because he has in ring skills and has the ability to cut great promos. he (Storm) has a bright future.

 

[Rckstrtmmy]

Remember when they tried this before? How did that go? What's changed since then? That list of things you rambled off like it's something that can be fixed in five minutes is actually alot of significant problems they would have to fix before even dreaming of competing with the WWE. Mainly the road shows every week and live TV. Both of these are VERY expensive and difficult to do. TNA doesn't bring in enough money to do either of these things yet. I think you're delusional to think that they can compete with the WWE any time soon with their current product.

 

[The_Southern_Star610]

First things first, it's true that right now WWE's product is not the best it has ever been, but it's far from their worst and it's still drawing bigger than TNA is. With that said WWE is on the up, less pay-per-views, bigger build times for angles, 2012 will be a good year for WWE, just you watch.

As for TNA, they have way, way too many issues to even dream about competing with WWE at the moment. Yeah they're having good matches but that doesn't mean a thing when its in the same place each week watched by the same combination of a few die-hard fans, and some tourists who wandered in from Universal. We get spoilers every week which take away from the action (You try not to look but sometimes you just gots to know lol) and in terms of international coverage, take here in Australia for instance, one of the bigger markets for any American television, TNA Impact is aired at 8 o'clock on a saturday night on Fuel TV. It's not advertised, it's filled with more advertisements then the home shopping channels, and lastly, very, very few people are ever home at that time to watch it. Fact is its just not as well placed to be seen as Raw and Smackdown. Then you start chipping into the real issues.

The production is piss poor, the stage is worse, the music is even worse still (bar JS theme) and the titantrons are even more woeful. I like TNA for the wrestling, because at this point in time they're putting on higher quality matches week to week compared to the WWE's three, maybe four good matches from four televised shows (superstars and nxt still air here in Australia). TNA Pay-Per-Views however have become stagnant. The same piss poor entrance/production/promotion problems coupled with the fact that nearly every match that features a champion is sure to end cheaply makes for poor television and I know a few people who have gone so far to say they were ripped off having to pay for a TNA event.

Once TNA can stop paying people like Hogan/Bischoff/Flair/Angle (Sting in the GM role is working well enough to justify a paycheck) who I'm sure take a considerable slice of the pie in terms of salary and barely do enough to earn it, then they can put some money towards travelling more, and most importantly, towards making their product look presentable. That's at the very least a 5 year job, maybe more and only after that can they even think about having another stab at Monday nights.

 

[WhatAboutRaven]

I almost never post here in this section of wz, but I felt I had to say HELL FUCKING NO.

Let's be honest, TNA is the INFERIOR product at this moment. that's not bashing tna, it's simple fact. Was last night a good show? (Well I didn't watch it all, I'll be honest but what I did see was decent. Nothing more, nothing less. A move to Mondays will do nothing but hurt TNA, as evidenced when they did the same thing a little while a go, then fled back to Thursdays where they belong with their tails tucked between their legs.

You say WWE is doing garbage shows. I can say with absolute certainty that everyone I know would rather watch the E then the Hogan and Bischoff Show and for you to say they can draw a "significant amount of people from the RAW" is not only asinine, it shows how delusional you are.

Thanks for the laugh though.

 

[The_Southern_Star610]

Also even if you love the WWE, don't bury TNA. TNA could at the very least be a bit of competition and look how well that worked out in the Monday Night Wars and into 2001-2 and even early 2003.

TNA can fix itself, with time and enough smart decisions (am I asking too much of the company who brought in Hogan and Bischoff?), and if it does wrestling will go through a boom period, and no matter who you like, that is good for any and all wrestling fans.

 

[Azane]

I don't care how good iMPACT is, giving away amazing matches on free TV just adds to their terrible PPV buyrates, and huge let downs.

The list of flops for PPVs in the last year have been enough to keep me from spending a penny on their company.

TNA needs to keep to itself and stop trying to attack the big dog, because it doesn't end good, they have a niche audience, which is very true and dedicated, focus on keeping them happy while you assimilate new fans, and grow, rather than alienate your fans and copy WWE more.

Also, whenever I think TNA Live, I just think of the entire audience chanting Bullshit @ Homocide.

 

[It's Damn Real!]

Not yet, no. The company simply isn't in the position they need to be in order to compete. It's still way too early to even think it, IMO.

While TNA is building a solid foundation right now, familiarity is what builds loyalty and what drives fans to continue to watch a program. TNA is still in it's infancy in terms of developing this new familiarity with all it's "new" stars. The reason WCW was able to go head-to-head in a primetime slot was because (1) the 90-day NCC didn't exist then, and (2) because they were backed by a billionare willing to spend the money to "win".

Slow, steady build is what will get TNA over in the bigger picture, not trying to force the Monday Night Wars III. In fact, if I'm TNA, I forget WWE even exists and just try to be the best wrestling company possible right now. Own Thursday nights.

 

[neildittmar]

While watching iMPACT last night, I also thought that the product looked fairly major league from both a talent and general performance standpoint.

When considering another head-to-head battle with the WWE, the key problem is that TNA is known to shift in quality over months, weeks, and sometimes even between two consecutive episodes. The issue is symptomatic of the still experimental nature of the show in general since Hogan and Bischoff arrived. I will say that in the last few months though, TNA has found somewhat of a rhythm in its production as far as focus, key players, and establishing feuds goes. Not every piece of production has been a home run, but the consistency (especially when following feuds through to conclusion) has definitely been there as of late.

In specific regards to the "Monday Night" question, the move would likely translate into another disaster at this point in time. It's far too much way too soon. TNA needs to establish itself with a level of consistency that proves popular, then go after the big dog in the yard if they feel they need to. Trying to do both simultaneously is ultimately why "Monday Night Wars 2" went down the way it did.

In the 90's, there was no doubt that Controversey Created Cash for WCW and almost put the WWF out of business. Nowadays when considering TNA, that first "C" should stand for "Consumer-focused", with "Consistency" directly proceeding it in order to "Create Cash" for TNA.

 

[wildfiregc]

While I don't think monday is the way to go for TNA. I think causing competition for WWE is. I would suggest maybe either going head to head against superstars. Maybe having a once in a life time event durring raw that might not be something anyone has seen. Like say I don't know Rob Van Dam vs Chuck Liddel or Sid Vicous vs Matt Morgan.... Or not or maybe air a pay per view on monday night for free. I don't know just ideas.

 

[LSN80]

If you read my review of last nights show, you'll see that I absolutely adored this show. It's shows like this that make me a wrestling fan. I don't care whether it's from TNA, WWE, or an Indy opponent, these shows remind me why I'm truly a wrestling fan.

That being said, look back to 2009-2010. TNA was coming off of two excellent PPV's in No Surrender and Final Resolution. The TV programming was as solid and consistent as it had been in a long time. However, despite riding this hot streak, they were buried in their attempt to go head to head with WWE. It takes more then just quality programming, it takes (a) better name recognition, (2)money and (3)the ability to compete with WWE in signing talent people want to see.

The name recognition simply isn't there. Although scoring a 1.1-1.3 isn't the disaster people would have you believe, it's hardly success compared to WWE, and they're not even competing against them on the same night, on a favorable night of programming at that. If TNA were to even consider moving back to Monday's, one of those components would be the need for ratings to improve, or the results will be the same as 2010.

Points 2 and 3 go together. TNA simply doesn't have the financial backing that WWE is does. This limits their ability to sign to compete with WWE for the best names on the Indy circut, and around the world. While the talent they signed isn't bad, they're few and far between compared with WWE. Why? Money.

The other aspect of this is the No Compete Clause. What if TNA had the finances to sign talent away from WWE? Say a talent like working for WWE, but they'ld like even more to compete in TNA? And Im talking top level talent here, mind you, much like WCW got. Would these "top guys" really be willing to step away from wrestling for 90 days to wait to work for a company they'ld slightly rather work for? Not likely.

I wasn't a proponent of TNA moving to Monday's even if it was one of my favorite times in the company. They have no competition on Thursday nights, so if they keep running shows like they did last night, they'll gain more exposure and interest from those otherwise unaware, and they'll grow a larger base of loyalists to the company such as WWE has. The best place to do that? Thursdays at 9pm.

 

[Zeven_Zion]

The show was great, but even if TNA does continue to put on shows just as good, or even better, a move to Mondays would ultimately lead to the same results as before. Why? Well, TNA can beat the WWE in quality all they want. They can have better talent, storylines, matches, even production, but until they're competing with the WWE on a business level - forget about Monday Nights.

Quite frankly, TNA doesn't need to be head-to-head with RAW in order to one day, hopefully, challenge that first spot. Stop thinking WCW's way was the only way. Nitro moving to Mondays was just Bischoff's way of generating buzz. It was a ballsy move and it contributed to the shock factor of seeing former WWF wrestlers appear on the show. WCW was a whole different story than TNA is.

So a move to Mondays? No. Just keep doing good shows and pleasing the fans, the rest should come naturally.

 

[Pedigree1]

I don't care how good iMPACT is, giving away amazing matches on free TV just adds to their terrible PPV buyrates, and huge let downs.

The list of flops for PPVs in the last year have been enough to keep me from spending a penny on their company.

i agree with what you said i am not going to bury TNA anymore but when they do every week indeed give away PPV matches for free where is the need to order a actual PPV?

 

[The_Southern_Star610]

i agree with what you said i am not going to bury TNA anymore but when they do every week indeed give away PPV matches for free where is the need to order a actual PPV?

You're absolutely right lol They're having great matches week to week and when it comes time for a PPV, they've got nothing different or better than their week to week programming to show us which results in the lazy looking finishes to PPV matches we see (cheap pins, DQ's etc). Its just too bad because I bet they'd come close to doubling their intake from PPV's if they could make them special rather then just another show.

 

[Cena's #1 In My Heart]

No they can't compete yet. Not until they go on the road weekly and start getting their product out there and making some real cash.

As far as PPV matches on TV.. what kind of fans are you? STFU and enjoy it...

10,000 viewers for a TNA ppv... 1,000,000 for Impact Wrestling.. (rough estimates)

Hmm.. don't you think you'd let your best work show on the Impact Wrestling Television show? Cause honestly.. except die hard wrestling fans.. who actually enjoy the wrestling matches... who gets TNA ppvs?

However, TNA continues to take steps in the right direction. Roode and Storm are amazing homegrown main eventers in my eyes.

 

[Zeven_Zion]

Are people seriously complaining that THEY GET AMAZING MATCHES ON FREE TV? Are you for real? Have fans become that smarky, jaded and plain stupid? Would you rather pay for it? Yes, it's a silly move from a business standpoint, but the people bitching them out should be the people who get their paycheck from the company NOT THE FUCKING CONSUMERS WHO BENEFIT FROM IT.

If you actually saw the PPV you'd come to the realization that the matches between Storm/Angle and Roode/Hardy were just as good as the ones on the following Impact Wrestling. So the PPV buyers were satisfied, and now the people who didn't buy the PPV are satisfied as well. The PPV Buyers even benefit more, because they saw sweet matches two weeks in a roll. I'm not including the downloaders and the people who watch it via stream.

I never thought I'd live to see the day when fans complain that they get free great matches.

 

[red ass skull muhfukkah]

No I don't think so. I honestly think they should just stay in their Thursday night slot as long as they can. Last night was a really good show and other than Funkasaurus I actually enjoyed it more than the Raw's WWE has been putting out lately. But there's no real point to moving to Monday's, it would only hurt TNA.

The main problem is that during the Monday Night Wars the audience watching wrestling was much larger than it is now. So when WCW went to Monday nights to compete with WWF, there was a large enough audience that you could split it. That's not the case now, ratings for wrestling overall are very low right now and the audience isn't large enough to split.

I have nothing against TNA and I've enjoyed it tremendously as of late but it would be in their best interests to stick not split the audience and just stick to there Thursdays. TNA needs to do what people have been saying for a long time and what they are currently doing now; forget what WWE is doing and just focus on building your own audience and identity. They have the roster and personalities to do so and now seem to have finally figured out what works for them.

 

[WWEvsJosh]

To be honest i would complain about free tv matches but now i dont care so much anymore. All i want is a good show and for them to push younger talent. All the other stuff will come later but for now i just want them to get better.

 

[The_Southern_Star610]

Are people seriously complaining that THEY GET AMAZING MATCHES ON FREE TV? Are you for real? Have fans become that smarky, jaded and plain stupid? Would you rather pay for it? Yes, it's a silly move from a business standpoint, but the people bitching them out should be the people who get their paycheck from the company NOT THE FUCKING CONSUMERS WHO BENEFIT FROM IT.

If you actually saw the PPV you'd come to the realization that the matches between Storm/Angle and Roode/Hardy were just as good as the ones on the following Impact Wrestling. So the PPV buyers were satisfied, and now the people who didn't buy the PPV are satisfied as well. The PPV Buyers even benefit more, because they saw sweet matches two weeks in a roll. I'm not including the downloaders and the people who watch it via stream.

I never thought I'd live to see the day when fans complain that they get free great matches.

You probably mean me I'm not complaining about the great matches, I've already watched Angle/Storm from Genesis and Impact twice because I'm first and foremost a fan. I do however think, like you said, its not a good move from a business standpoint. The thread is about TNA going to Mondays and what they need to do if they want to get there. And like it or not, PPV's need to be special or people will not pay for them and you don't need to be a genius to work out that ultimately that is bad for TNA's dreams of expansion.

And as a sidenote, I pay for all the PPV's that I want to see, and the world of professional wrestling would be much better off if everybody did the same.

 

[WolfNyte]

You know I HATE when people compare TNA to WCW because its impossible to do.

Lets look at WCW...Prior to being WCW it was NWA and they OWNED the south hence why ole Ted purchased it. WWF was the North and NWA was the south and that was the bottom line. You had a huge fan following not just 1 million loyal fans that give you around a 1 rating but NWA was the shit if you lived down south. WWE was that yankee crap wrestling.

Even when they became WCW it was rare for them to come above the mason dixon line as well as WWF going below it. Then WCW with Bishoff set up a show in Hartford CT WWF's back yard. I remember cause I was there in my horsemen shirt. Finally WCW was in the North and that was the end of the nicities.

TNA doesnt even come close to having the tallent or fan base of NWA you may recall the new NWA belts were yanked from TNA a few years ago and they are no longer allowed to use them in their orginization.

You cant compare the history of the NWA/WCW to Jeff Jarett and his TNA cause it just aint there. ROH blows them out of the water anyways.

 

[wildfiregc]

You know I HATE when people compare TNA to WCW because its impossible to do.

Lets look at WCW...Prior to being WCW it was NWA and they OWNED the south hence why ole Ted purchased it. WWF was the North and NWA was the south and that was the bottom line. You had a huge fan following not just 1 million loyal fans that give you around a 1 rating but NWA was the shit if you lived down south. WWE was that yankee crap wrestling.

Even when they became WCW it was rare for them to come above the mason dixon line as well as WWF going below it. Then WCW with Bishoff set up a show in Hartford CT WWF's back yard. I remember cause I was there in my horsemen shirt. Finally WCW was in the North and that was the end of the nicities.

TNA doesnt even come close to having the tallent or fan base of NWA you may recall the new NWA belts were yanked from TNA a few years ago and they are no longer allowed to use them in their orginization.

You cant compare the history of the NWA/WCW to Jeff Jarett and his TNA cause it just aint there. ROH blows them out of the water anyways.

See this to me is the greatest obstactle that TNA has. No matter how much quality matches they have they don't have the history. They have stars that were a big part of that history. Unfortunately vince controls a lot of wrestling history with the hall of fame and all their video archives. I notice one way TNA is combating that is supporting indy or lesser known wrestling promotions. I think they do that with the x-division. However that history is just not there. The one consistant they have is AJ Styles but he isn't that impressive. Aj just isn't Hulk or Flair/Sting.

 

[RD_21]

Before going to Mondays they NEED to go live. If someone know that it's Bischoff and Hogan and I can't understand why they are not doing it. Raw (live) so so ratings, Smackdown (taped AND on Fridays) less so so ratings.

If I can read spoilers for your show and the show doesn't look appealing to me I won't watch even if the guy who reported the spoilers failed to highlight how good or bad it came off.

If I can't read spoilers for your show, I will need to tune in to find out if it's good or not.

To me they need to get out of the Impact Zone more often and go lie even if it means that your guys now need to work 4 nights a month instead of 2 (okay they are also doing house shows, but still)

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I do think that TNA has improved itself overall to a significant degree. For me, most episodes of iMPACT!/Impact Wrestling have been almost unbearable to watch until the last 5 months or so. They've gotten better at fixing a lot of things that've held them back.

Even still, TNA is still drawing generally what it's been drawing for the past 5 years, namely in the very low 1s in the ratings. That is what Spike is ultimately looking at. Fans can debate which show is better, which roster is better and which match is better until they're balls fall off & grow mushrooms in their ass crack, but the executives at Spike care about the numbers first and foremost. WWE has been hit especially hard during the past several months due to a combination of changes being made to the company, such as different faces being put in higher profile spots, that often takes time for fans to accept or changes that are being given enough time to see if these changes simply aren't working. Also, Raw has been up against stiff competition from Monday Night Football, Pawn Stars, American Pickers and various dramas shown on TNT. If Spike considered moving TNA back on Mondays, they have to really consider that they're going to be competing against more than just WWE. There are a lot of rating heavyweights on cable television on Monday nights now, it's not like it was back when WWE & WCW ruled the roost or later when WWE was usually and consistently the #1 tv show on cable Monday nights.

If anything, I think it'd be more difficult now for TNA to pull off a successful move to Monday nights than it was back in 2010 as shows like Pawn Stars & American Pickers have grown in popularity since then. Even without MNF, those shows sometimes cut into Raw's viewership. Not only that, TNA's last move from Thursday to Monday caused them to lose roughly half their audience over the span of a few months. They moved back to Thursdays and were able to salvage the rest of 2010 by eventually getting their audience back.

It's just not at all feesible right now. Don't rest TNA's future based on the performance of a single show. That's how they got into trouble back in 2010.

 

[klunderbunker]

No.

On the Rise and Fall of ECW DVD, Tommy Dreamer said something along the lines of "you can have the greatest TV show in the world, but if no one's watching you it doesn't matter." That sums up TNA's main problem: the show has indeed gotten better, but the audience is still in the same area they've been in for the past 3-4 years. They tried this once before with similar numbers at arguably their hottest time ever and TNA got their heads handed to them.

At the end of the day, WWE is miles ahead of TNA as far as exposure and name recognition and all that jazz. If forced to pick, not a lot of people are going to pick Impact over Raw, even when Raw is at its worst. Hardcore TNA fans will, but the masses? Probably not. Until they get ahead of Raw or Smackdown, there is no point to even thinking about this because it would fail. TNA is in a good spot on Thursdays which they have all to themselves. Don't mess with that.