3.3.11 Vignette; Is Sting Is Coming Back to TNA?

[Lionheart]

I've explained this before: If TNA promotes an episode of iMPACT! by saying "This Thursday, Hulk Hogan will eat a baby, alive!" and then when iMPACT! comes, no baby is eaten, but rather Hogan delivers a promo talking about the money you could save by shopping for your furniture at Rent-A-Center, that is a bait and switch tactic. You were baited under the impression he'd eat a baby, but then switched during the programming into listening to a rant about Rent-A-Center.

If TNA teases an episode of iMPACT! with "The Biggest Surprise of the Year — Guaranteed!", they have made no promise, other than the fact that it's a surprise, as it being the biggest surprise is purely subjective and relative to the viewer. What I may take as the biggest surprise, you do not.

You wanna be upset? Be upset, but it doesn't change the fact that TNA did an excellent job at capitalizing on a very tense and high-strung IWC topic. What you are whining about isn't a ubiquitous consensus. It's just a very personal complaint over the semantics of the verbiage TNA chooses to use.

You're explaining something that has absolutely nothing about what I posted. It was very eloquent, what with Hogan eating a baby in the middle of a Rent-a-Center and all that, but I mentioned nothing about bait-and-switch tactics. I called bullshit. Here is why broken down succinctly in bite sized chunks for you:

1) TNA advertises their upcoming Impact broadcast's (2.24.11) final moments as the "Shocking surprise of the year - guaranteed!" (This statement is their promise to their viewer, YOU, the wrestling fan!)

2) The fan tunes into the broadcast. In the closing moments, they witness a vignette that is eerily reminiscent of WWE's Undertaker return material. They then get told that they need to tune in to the 3.3.11 broadcast of Impact to find out what said vignette means.

3) The fan is left without an earth-shattering surprise from the 2.24.11 broadcast as promised/advertised by TNA.

Are you getting my point now? I don't care what the surprise is. It could be Sting. It could be Jericho. It could be the reveal of Vince Russo as the bloody Anti-Christ. The fact is: TNA promised SOMETHING from the 2.24.11 broadcast and it turns out NOTHING is happening until next week. BULLSHIT tactics in the attempt to grab ratings. TNA treats their fans like imbeciles and you don't seem to mind.

 

[It's Damn Real!]

1) TNA advertises their upcoming Impact broadcast's (2.24.11) final moments as the "Shocking surprise of the year - guaranteed!" (This statement is their promise to their viewer, YOU, the wrestling fan!)

Yes, they did. Glad you caught that. The value of that promise also has no verifiable or clear-cut definition as "shocking surprise" simply means that the surprise is shocking, and it being shocking is subjective, which means if I find it shocking, it was shocking regardless of whether you too found it the same.

We on the same page here? Awesome. Next...

2) The fan tunes into the broadcast. In the closing moments, they witness a vignette that is eerily reminiscent of WWE's Undertaker return material. They then get told that they need to tune in to the 3.3.11 broadcast of Impact to find out what said vignette means.

Correct again, and again since said "shocking surprise" has no verifiable value or clear-cut definition I see no issue here. Next...

3) The fan is left without an earth-shattering surprise from the 2.24.11 broadcast as promised/advertised by TNA.

The angle quite obviosuly indicates that Sting will be returning to TNA, and the manner in which it was filmed and displayed was quite obviously done to rile up the IWC marks who were basement booking Sting post-WrestleMania, because let's face it... It's totally Sting! I can see it in the writing!

That makes the "earth-shattering" (where'd you get this from?) surprise the vignette that seemingly indicates Sting's return. Seems pretty simple to me. Next...

Are you getting my point now? I don't care what the surprise is. It could be Sting. It could be Jericho. It could be the reveal of Vince Russo as the bloody Anti-Christ. The fact is: TNA promised SOMETHING from the 2.24.11 broadcast and it turns out NOTHING is happening until next week. BULLSHIT tactics in the attempt to grab ratings. TNA treats their fans like imbeciles and you don't seem to mind.

No, TNA promised a "shocking surprise", and said shocking surprise was a vignette that seemingly indicates that Sting—the wrestler everyone had pegged for WWE/WrestleMania to go one-on-one with The Undertaker—would be returning to TNA on March 3rd.

The fact you have to tune in on March 3rd to see whether or not that is actually the case or not is irrelevant, as the "shocking surprise" was the vignette, not the actual return of the wrestler.

Once again, this all boils down to you being upset over the semantics of their choice in verbiage. Nothing more.

 

[Zeven_Zion]

You're explaining something that has absolutely nothing about what I posted. It was very eloquent, what with Hogan eating a baby in the middle of a Rent-a-Center and all that, but I mentioned nothing about bait-and-switch tactics. I called bullshit. Here is why broken down succinctly in bite sized chunks for you:

1) TNA advertises their upcoming Impact broadcast's (2.24.11) final moments as the "Shocking surprise of the year - guaranteed!" (This statement is their promise to their viewer, YOU, the wrestling fan!)

2) The fan tunes into the broadcast. In the closing moments, they witness a vignette that is eerily reminiscent of WWE's Undertaker return material. They then get told that they need to tune in to the 3.3.11 broadcast of Impact to find out what said vignette means.

3) The fan is left without an earth-shattering surprise from the 2.24.11 broadcast as promised/advertised by TNA.

Are you getting my point now? I don't care what the surprise is. It could be Sting. It could be Jericho. It could be the reveal of Vince Russo as the bloody Anti-Christ. The fact is: TNA promised SOMETHING from the 2.24.11 broadcast and it turns out NOTHING is happening until next week. BULLSHIT tactics in the attempt to grab ratings. TNA treats their fans like imbeciles and you don't seem to mind.

Questions you need to answer yourself.

1.Did you expect the vignette? If you didn't, it was a surprise.
2.Did it shock you? I bet it did. Shocking can be good and bad. This thread garnered a lot of attention, I can only imagine what it's like in the other IWC forum. So yes, it was shocking. Whether you like it or not is your business, and your business only.

So in the end, TNA did shock us, they did surprise us with something we didn't see coming, and at the same time stuck their foot up a lot of fans' asses with this. Mission Accomplished.

 

[thomas1027]

I am not going to go through every single post about this so hopefully someone didnt mention this yet but I thought it was brillant. I will admitt, I saw the one from THE OTHER company and I crossed the line after how stupid that promo was in the ring. So many people were dissapointed and tna is doing it now and when sting comes back,They will do it right. Two people return within minutes to just stare at each other. I wont watch that crap anymore. I am a tna guy now. I think this is good for tna if they do it right. And by doing this, They might get tons of more viewers so they cant really lose doing this.

 

[Mister Nice Guy]

Its the lack of creativity that makes watching TNA so damn difficult. I want to see TNA succeed by providing an alternate to what the WWE is doing, that is NOT insulting to my intelligence. I wish ROH had a larger platform to showcase their talents.

 

[Lionheart]

To Zeven_Zion and It's Damn Real!:

I did in fact expect that there would be some sort of vignette or pre-taped segment. How else were they going to add it into the broadcast so that one of the live attendees couldn't add it into any spoilers they might report to a wrestling website such as Wrestlezone?

Was I shocked? The only thing that shocked me was how stupid TNA seems to think it's wrestling fans are.

If this is your definition of a "Shocking surprise of the year - guaranteed", you live damn boring lives or you just expect garbage from your wrestling programs. Otherwise, TNA should choose their words more carefully in describing their TV shows or the only people with feet up their asses will be TNA itself when the fans get sick of being lied to.

 

[mr_dna]

Yes it is a surprise but a crap one here is a list of surprises this year in order of WOW Factor it would normaly be a top 10 but has to be a top 12 due to topic

1. Rock Return
2. Del Rio Winning Rumble
3. HHH Return
4. Nash Return
5. Booker Return
6. Taker Return
7. Christian Return
8. HBK HoF
9. Trish Return
10. Vinnie Mac Return
11. Mistico to WWE
12. Sting Back To TNA


I think people will end up being more pissed of the way TNA advertised it by "Biggist Surprise of the Year" Hell if may young gave birth to a hand this year it would top it lol

 

[Mister Nice Guy]

For TNA, this is the biggest surprise of the year... that is, until the next desperate tease for ratings. Honestly, seeing Fortune turn on Immortal was a bigger surprise. It made me think TNA was making lemonade out of MEM lemons and finally taking steps towards the right direction.

 

[yur_momma]

To Zeven_Zion and It's Damn Real!:

I did in fact expect that there would be some sort of vignette or pre-taped segment. How else were they going to add it into the broadcast so that one of the live attendees couldn't add it into any spoilers they might report to a wrestling website such as Wrestlezone?

Was I shocked? The only thing that shocked me was how stupid TNA seems to think it's wrestling fans are.

If this is your definition of a "Shocking surprise of the year - guaranteed", you live damn boring lives or you just expect garbage from your wrestling programs. Otherwise, TNA should choose their words more carefully in describing their TV shows or the only people with feet up their asses will be TNA itself when the fans get sick of being lied to.

i agree tna makes bogus promises and they try to elevate expectations for whatever it is they are trying to promote and it always is a huge let down. dixie really needs to just run the company and stfu.

as for the rip off of the undertaker's return vid, im not at all surprised. they have no ability to come up with ideas of their own from the fake horsemen rip off, to the hogan heel turn/nwo rip off....hell they even ripped themselves off by doing another "they" storyline LOL...such an absolute trash company and this is coming from someone who loved tna for ten years until about last august.

 

[kirkt690]

really tna? really?really? hey ur called tna CREATIVE, that mean u be creative with the storylines and come up(or try to come up) with better storylines than the bigger company no completely rip their shit off!!!!!!!!!!! and u make it so obvious tna that its goin to be sting so u really just need 1 video. and really the "most shocking moment in the wrestling world!" see your just lettin ur fans down thats why u lose so many fans, ok sting is no suprise, everyone knows hes like a loyal dog and stays with his company until it goes down, try making it someone else, try doing a BIG independent name nomore wwe hand-me-downs get some real talent.now maybe if u got MVp that could be a huge deal but u would just use him all wrong.look im just sayin be creative not predictable.

 

[UFOcalling]

All of the nay-sayers can say what they want. There has been more buzz on Sting in the past couple of weeks than there has been for him in YEARS. Why wouldn't TNA want to deliver him for the fans?

I think it's absolutely ridiculous that so many people posted on these forums and were upset that Sting didn't show up in WWE this past Monday. Some went as far to say that they would "never watch WWE programming again". Now it looks as though Sting is actually going to return (albeit to TNA) and everyone's still pissed? WTF? ...sounds to me like all the WWE marks just wanted to steal TNA's (only) aging star. That doesn't sound too fair to me.

Also, I really don't like the argument of "Sting would have wrestled in front of more people in WWE". Who cares? A bigger crowd doesn't make a better match, it's the quality of the in-ring work that matters. If you were excited for Sting showing up in the WWE, you should be excited to watch Impact next week. It's as simple as that.

 

[DethMetal]

Every time I try to get behind TNA, they pull crap like this! First the Shore, then J-Woww or whatever her name is then 10/10/10, then this Jarrett angle(no pun intended)(I don't think their kids find this funny.), then another random bitch from Jersey Shore that I've never heard of until TNA, and now 3-3-11. This is overkill. At least have an original promo. Maybe a flock of crows or ravens flying in the sky landing on a doorstep and a man in all black comes in, idk something! TNA really needs to hit grow up and stop trying to be the E.(Do they take us all for monkeys?)

 

[Benz19]

Ah ok, so TNAs most shocking moment ever is a returning superstar,hmm, fuck you dixie you bitch, where the hell is the cretivity in ripping off takers wwe promo, no wonder tna sucks

 

[dwith]

I just think it's absolutely hilarious that so many people are pissed and hate TNA even more for this simple VIGNETTE they ran last night mocking WWE's VIGNETTE, which I don't care who you are you thought STING was going to WWE, but when WWE realized they weren't able to get STING to sign, they had to run another VIGNETTE showing everyone the undertaker cause all the money in the world couldn't sign the STINGER. So TNA mocks WWE, and can and probably will produce the real STINGER.

Get over the TNA hating ....pleeeease.. Just enjoy the wrestling aspect, and not the story lines. Neither WWE or TNA have produced anything good for storylines lately, but you still love WWE, and still hate TNA (makes no sense to me)

 

[sfury2005]

californiachef84

How has TNA done a big Fuck You to WWE Sting Return to TNA is nothing hell probaly wont even help TNA rateings.Its more like TNA has to a big fuck you for Fans who thought it was Sting , As instead of watching a Dream match they are tourtred to watch a sting v Drug Hardey match or Fat Hardey God Help Us All

All in all this will do nothing for TNA and the only thing WWE lost if they were indeed trying to sing Sting is a month of Slightly High Rateing.

Id Like To Add the surprise of the yeah already happend any way THE ROCK ...... and TNA can never top that

Sting v Undertaker is a dream match? For who? WWE fans maybe but certainly not for former WCW/TNA fans who don't watch WWE.. The Rock, Stone Cold and Undertaker only have relevance to a WWE fan and as a person who almost never watched WWE TV I had no desire to see Sting vs Undertaker in WWE ever. Just like the WWE HoF only has relevance to a WWE fan.

Yeah I would have watched WWE if Sting went there but thank goodness he didn't so now I don't have to.

 

[Rayne]

1.Did you expect the vignette? If you didn't, it was a surprise.
2.Did it shock you? I bet it did. Shocking can be good and bad. This thread garnered a lot of attention, I can only imagine what it's like in the other IWC forum. So yes, it was shocking. Whether you like it or not is your business, and your business only.

You do not seem to understand what 'shock' is. All shocks are surprises; not all surprises are shocks. Providing the dictionary definition would do absolutely shit to educate anyone here, so I'm going to paraphrase what they'll tell you in your first college literature or psychology class.

The human mind has a set of expectations. When these are met, it's called 'predictability'. The human mind also has a set of expectations for how those original expectations could be violated; this is called surprise. Then, there are events that can occur completely outside of either set of expectations. This is called "shock".

If anyone was shocked by Sting returning to TNA- and I don't mean you saying "you were obviously surprised because I read your mind earlier and know you thought Sting was joining WWE"- they are dumber then even I give them credit for.

Now- and this is for IDR too- is about "surprise".

Personally, I was not surprised, because anyone with half a fucking brain cell knew pretty quick that Sting wasn't the target of those vignettes. It is not "surprising" to me that Sting would end up back in TNA; it is what I have expected for some time now. A few very loud idiots on a message board do not sum up the beliefs of the entirety of wrestling fandom. I think I'm pretty jaded, but before we even get into the semantics of "biggest surprise of the year", I'd like to think that phrase would at least elict an eyebrow raise from me.

I've explained this before: If TNA promotes an episode of iMPACT! by saying "This Thursday, Hulk Hogan will eat a baby, alive!" and then when iMPACT! comes, no baby is eaten, but rather Hogan delivers a promo talking about the money you could save by shopping for your furniture at Rent-A-Center, that is a bait-and-switch tactic. You were baited under the impression he'd eat a baby, but then switched during the programming into listening to a rant about Rent-A-Center.

If TNA teases an episode of iMPACT! with "The Biggest Surprise of the Year — Guaranteed!", they have made no promise, other than the fact that it's a surprise, as it being the biggest surprise is purely subjective and relative to the viewer. What I may take as the biggest surprise, you do not. This is not a bait-and-switch tactic, as you were not baited with a clear-cut expectation (other than what you may have conjured up of your own volition), and you were not subsequently not given that expectation.

Now, onto the "well, you're just upset about the verbiage"- WORDING MATTERS. If you promise customers "the biggest surprise of the year", you are setting yourself a very precise and public goal. At the end of the year, is there room for wiggle room? Of course, how big a surprise is is subjective. But that's what you have- wiggle room. To consider this "the biggest surprise of the year" in December is going to take enough wiggle room to park a Greyhound. Thus far, it's not even the biggest surprise of the month to most eyes.

When it comes to trying to sell someone something, it's not about what you're offering- it's about what the buyer thinks you're offering. Professional wrestling is the business of managing perceptions. If you allow your buyer to believe that you're selling them a diamond ring, but the rock turns out to be glass, it doesn't matter if you never TOLD them they were getting glass. They're going to be upset when they find out, and telling them "well, I never SAID it was a diamond" doesn't make them any less upset. You were the one who allowed them to believe it was a diamond, and capitalized on the sale knowing full well it wasn't a diamond. This is all good when you're selling diamond rings and don't expect the customer to come back for a long time, if ever; however, TNA is expecting their customers to come back every single week.

You're under the false impression that something specific has to be offered to constitute a bait-and-switch; and that if that very specific test isn't met, then it can't constitute a bait-and-switch and thus people have no right to be upset. This is wrong. When you are selling someone something, it doesn't matter if they are upset for a good reason or a silly one; you want them to leave happy and wanting to come back and spend more money. Anyone who has ever worked in retail or food service understands this intimately.

Telling fans "well, technically, it could qualify as a surprise, and someone could consider this the biggest surprise of the year" reeks of cheapness. Should TNA be trying to manage their fan base through technicalities? "The biggest surprise of the year" is a weighty statement, as much as you're trying to reduce it down to bare elements. Fans should leave with some sense of satisfaction, and I mean more then Zev going "OMG LOL WWE SUCKS".

I'm glad that you enjoyed it, but I'm afraid my threshold for surprise is somewhat higher then a 51 year old man returning after a four-month break after a couple of idiots on the internet thought he had signed with the WWE.

 

[Chess]

From the Vignette I would say it is definately Sting which is good news.

I personally love the way it was done, I wonder now whether WWE actually did try to sign Sting but a similar thing happened to them like the MEM situation for TNA. I do not believe WWE's line "We have had No contact with Sting". I call them liars!

While many WWE fans seem really upset by TNA copying the vignette it has really caused a ruckus and got many many people talking about TNA which is a good thing.

I really am enjoying all the WWE fanboys crying saying TNA sucks, they have no originality, blah, blah, blah. I say this vignette has worked and many will tune in for Stings return (if indeed it is Sting).

Those of us who like both TNA and WWE really have no issue with this vignette and can see it for what it is. A good piece of marketing (which TNA rarely succeeds at)

 

[RD_21]

All of the nay-sayers can say what they want. There has been more buzz on Sting in the past couple of weeks than there has been for him in YEARS. Why wouldn't TNA want to deliver him for the fans?

I think it's absolutely ridiculous that so many people posted on these forums and were upset that Sting didn't show up in WWE this past Monday. Some went as far to say that they would "never watch WWE programming again". Now it looks as though Sting is actually going to return (albeit to TNA) and everyone's still pissed? WTF? ...sounds to me like all the WWE marks just wanted to steal TNA's (only) aging star. That doesn't sound too fair to me.

Also, I really don't like the argument of "Sting would have wrestled in front of more people in WWE". Who cares? A bigger crowd doesn't make a better match, it's the quality of the in-ring work that matters. If you were excited for Sting showing up in the WWE, you should be excited to watch Impact next week. It's as simple as that.

That's the point you seem to be missing, Sting to WWE was generating buzz. Sting by itself don't and Sting going back to WWE generate even less buzz.

TNA should have bring Sting before 2.21.11 when people were still questionning whether it could be Sting or not. But when Taker walk through the curtain and HHH followed him ALL the Sting buzz died, people were like "Well it's been fun to dream" and that was it.

Sting today as no buzz and is not, and by far, the biggest surprise of the year and that's what annoys me is that deep down, TNA really believe that resigning Sting is the hottest thing, which make me doubt their ability to run that company effectively.

Biggest surprise of the year? Bring Macho Man, Randy Orton, John Cena, The Rock, Undertaker, HHH, CM Punk, Mistico or anyone else than a RETURNING wrestler to your company (I know most of those guys are under contract and couldn't go to TNA, just saying what would be shocking).

I would even say that the return of Scott Steiner and ODB were bigger shocker than the return of Sting who took the most obvious choice for Sting. That is not exciting and it's not a surprise.

Maybe for people who are 100% TNA and -100% WWE would rejoice because they were so scared of losing Sting but for WRESTLING fan (not WWE or TNA) it's not a big surprise that deserve the tweet it got.

I really am enjoying all the WWE fanboys crying saying TNA sucks, they have no originality, blah, blah, blah. I say this vignette has worked and many will tune in for Stings return (if indeed it is Sting).

Those of us who like both TNA and WWE really have no issue with this vignette and can see it for what it is. A good piece of marketing (which TNA rarely succeeds at)

You see I loke them both and if you take The Rock out of WWE I love TNA more than I do WWE. I watch TNA but I barely watch Raw and let's not even talk about Smackdown! and Superstars. I even watch ROH and CMLL more than I do WWE.

With that said I still think it's bad and make TNA look cheap. And it has to do with their perception of Sting within their own company that bugs me more I guess.

 

[Dowdsy McDowds]

One thing I'm failing to understand in all this is the hypocrisy of calling TNA unoriginal with this promo, considering when the first 21/2/11 promo showed up and lots of people were recalling how similar it was to the Starrcade promo of 97? Hasn't Sting always had rain in his promo vids too, so it's not as if Sting has jumped from being all sunshine and rainbows to rain because of Taker/WWE.
If it's just the lettering at the end that's being seen as unoriginal, who really thinks that TNA copied it without a hint of irony? Also, TNA are residents in the same building for the vast vast vast majority of their tapings, have poor entrance music for most of the talent so why are people surprised that their video production for promos isn't as polished as those of an absolute giant who have the money and resources to produce well-crafted promos/teasers? Jeese.

 

[The Poster]

god TNA sucks so fucking bad. how many sting returns to TNA are there going to be?

and a marriage on impact? how original. orlando jordan as the flower girl? really?

words honestly cant do it justice. TNA is WAY worse than WCW ever was.

 

[AntiChristDeicide]

god TNA sucks so fucking bad. how many sting returns to TNA are there going to be?

and a marriage on impact? how original. orlando jordan as the flower girl? really?

words honestly cant do it justice. TNA is WAY worse than WCW ever was.

And how many Undertaker returns to WWE are there going to be? I agree with the rest of your post except the part of TNA being way worse than WCW ever was.

 

[EStreet]

The complete rip-off of a promo is actual grounds for me to no longer watch TNA - there is no originality left in a company that I was turned on to back in 2007 because they had innovative matches and action. This is just crap and honestly TNA should pack up shop now. (this coming from a long time TNA supporter)

 

[ITALIAN NYC]

Why would TNA do this after 2-21-11. If they were smart it would have been done before that date. I dont get why they copied exactly what WWE did. The production value alone was very weak compared to WWE and it kinda made TNA look bad IMO. I almost feel bad for sting coming back to the company and being infront of a bunch of tourists in a small place compared to being into of like 80,000 for mania. I dont really care if its sting or not because ive seen him in TNA already and theres nothing left for him there. Whats he going to do , have title matches again? Be a champ again? Time to move on and finish ur career the way it deserves to be finished. On top of the wrestling world.

 

[JJYanks121]

Let me try this again.

The most important factors at play here are:

1) The only people that are amused by this are the IWC who pegged Sting to WWE. You have to remember that at least 90 percent of the WWE audience don't hang out around these sites and probably had no clue that people were speculating Sting to WWE. Thus, when you parody the video, the only people that will care or even understand what TNA is doing is the IWC. The fans that carry over from WWE to TNA (despite what many of you think, I'd guess that the majority of people who watch TNA also watch WWE) were probably a little confused by the new vignette, except the IWC ones who were either ecstatic or stupidified.

2) Did I actually see a poster call TNA "we"? I know sports fans do that (though I only do so for the university I attended), but you are doing it for a wrestling company? This whole "you can only be a fan of one or the other" thing is ridiculous. None of us work for either of the companies, so there is no we. This also isn't the Red Sox/Yankees. You ARE allowed to like both.

3) Undertaker and Sting left their respective companies at about the same time. They were both out for like 4 months, but the difference was that Sting was not still under contract. Thus, WWE built a return vignette for an injured superstar. The original ambiguity may have left the door open for Sting, but by the second video, it was pretty darn clear that one of WWE's own was coming back in time for Wrestlemania. Now, one of TNA's own is coming back as it is just as obvious as 2/21 became. The difference being that one show just showed the vignettes and let them speak for themselves, whereas the other hyped it as "the biggest surprise of the year GUARANTEED". If it was me and I ran TNA, I'd run the vignette, even if it was a parody, and let it speak for itself. Some of you guys argue verbiage, but if there was no verbiage to argue, you'd have no conversation.

4) The only people who think this is a major shot to WWE and that the WWE will be hurt by this are TNA marks. The thing is, they really think WWE FANS are the ones hurts by it! This is to say that these people think that all the WWE audience was SURE Sting was coming to WWE and now TNA is getting him back and it's a MAJOR stab in the back. Again, most of the audience probably never put that together, so it's only the IWC. Thus, the fans on the whole do not care and aren't the least bit concerned. On the other side, the WWE definitely doesn't care. They returned Undertaker and paired him with Triple H (who got a bigger pop than Taker btw due to legitimate surprise) and it went over well. I'm sure Sting will go over well with TNA audiences too, but it's not a dagger to WWE. TNA had Sting and they still do. The WWE returned The Rock instead. I'm pretty sure they take Rock over Sting any day of the week.

5) I said it in my first post - If TNA wants to grow, they have to stop this stuff. It's cute, but it only caters to the IWC. This is a Russo specialty but after over 15 years in the business he still hasn't learned that the majority of wrestling fans aren't internet marks and you have to cater to the larger audience. Until TNA can do that, they will have the same audience they always get of wrestling fans who will watch anything, TNA superfans, and internet marks.

Closing statement:

It was cute, but it's like an 8 year old kid playing a prank on his brother in high school. It's cute, but it amounts to nothing in the eyes of the older brother. The only ones who think it's amazing are the 8 year old's friends. That's what happened here. So, if you want to relish in this "success", go ahead. I'm going to sit back, watch wrestling as I usually do, and next Thursday I'll see Sting in TNA, where I've seen him for years.

 

[T2KFreeker]

Okay people, let's get something straight here, just because you are with WWE and TNA doesn't mean you aren't "On Top Of The Wrestling World." Especially when Vinnie Mac wants you to know that WWE isn't Wrestling, it's "Sports Entertainment". Just because Sting doesn't want to go to WWE doesn't make him or TNA suck. The promo was supposed to be similar to WWE's and it's because it was supposed to be. It sis exactly what TNA wanted it to do. The funny thing is that most of you that are complaining about TNA ripping off WWE are actually still mad about two things. One being that Sting didn't in fact go to WWE, or two, you said Sting will "NEVER" return to TNA because he was retired or whatever else rationalization you came up with. Save face now?n See, WWE can rip off TNA, but TNA can't do the same thing to WWE because they are the "Top Dog", yeah? I laughed when I saw the promo because I knew it was going to generate the buzz it did. Like it was said a long time ago, when trying to get attention, there is no such thing as bad press. The more you guys fester and complain about this, the more attention you draw to TNA and you can complain and B*tch all you want about how bad TNA is as a product all you want, but even if you get three people to watch TNA just to see if it's as bad as you are saying, that's three more people that had never seen it before.

I'm glad Sting is back at TNA because it still shows his integrity as he has said on several occasions that he would "Never" work for Vince McMahon in the WWE. It's nice to see a wrestler say "Never" and thus far mean it. The Promo is what it is and as long as people are watching TNA, they will stay on the sir. Sorry, it isn't closing up shop and it isn't going out of business because no matter what you WWE fans that hate TNA do and say, there are Wrestling fans pout there that HATE WWE and will watch TNA just to get their wrestling fix without having to watch WWE. If you think it's stupid, oh well, good for you and enjoy your WWE. I'm just happy wrestling is still on Television and it still has fans.