Breaking: Eric Bischoff is Talking Nonsense About the IWC

[Brian in Austin]

Mexico and PR. From what I read TNA has just as much viewers as Raw and Smackdown.

Where did you read that?

 

[shattered dreams]

X, I pose the question to you did Bischoff really insult the entire IWC?

IMO he ridiculed a subset only and that subset is one that most TNA fans do not like anyway. So this is hardly "hurting" his relationship with the audience. If anything it just adds fuel to his X division feud.

 

[Daniel]

Would the U.K audience be similar to that of Mexico and PR or the US

Interestingly enough, TNA is more well known than you'd think here in the UK. Even my brother (who constantly abuses me for liking wrestling) knows what it is. This is to do with the channel it airs on. It was previously on Bravo, a channel which you can get without paying for a Sky TV subscription. It's now on Challenge, which is the same deal as Bravo. WWE programming is exclusively Sky which requires paying for a subscription.

However, everyone knows the name WWE. Say wrestling to a normal person and they'll think WWE. Say TNA to a normal person and they wouldn't really know what you were talking about.

 

[ABMorales787]

Where did you read that?

-- WWE RAW in the UK did the following numbers for these weeks:

Week Ending April 24 (April 18 Raw) - drew 144,000
Week Ending May 1 (April 25 Raw) - drew 128,000
Week Ending May 8 (May 2 Raw) - drew 135,000
Week Ending May 15 (May 9 Raw) - drew 153,000

-- WWE SmackDown! did the following numbers for these weeks:

SmackDown (first airing/Friday nights)
April 22 SmackDown! - drew 111,000
April 29 SmackDown! - drew 135,000
May 6 SmackDown! - drew 103,000
May 13 SmackDown! - drew 132,000

-- TNA Lockdown drew an audience of 191,000 on Challenge TV (free TV):

Airing on a 5-day delay, iMPACT! did the following numbers for these weeks:
April 15 iMPACT! - drew 191,000
April 22 iMPACT! - drew 200,000
April 29 iMPACT! - drew 244,000
May 5 iMPACT! - drew 193,000

.

 

[X]

X, I pose the question to you did Bischoff really insult the entire IWC?

I don't know, didn't he? I skimmed his comments this morning and it sounded like he was writing off the entire IWC community, regardless of what percentage they make up. I don't know, maybe I need to read his comments again, I don't really care honestly, Bischoff's been saying this stuff since the 90s, it's nothing new.

He may have intended to ridicule that "subset" you speak of SD, but he doesn't outright say that does he? The wording of his comments made it sound like he doesn't care about the entire IWC community.

 

[Big Nick Dudley]

When Eric Bischoff does something, in this century, to further professional wrestling, I'll listen. Until then, fuck off.

 

[Brian in Austin]

Exactly. Bischoff is still playing for the underdogs, fighting uphill, against all odds. I wonder how long TNA is going to pay he and Hogan for lack of results?

 

[Big Nick Dudley]

Bischoff is, always has been, and always will be obsessed with the IWC. If we mean so little, why is he always talking about us?

 

[Brian in Austin]

Bischoff is, always has been, and always will be obsessed with the IWC. If we mean so little, why is he always talking about us?

You got me there. If I were in his shoes, I'd be working harder at producing a better product that didn't require me to respond to the IWC via twitter and claiming they don't matter AS HE'S ADDRESSING THEM!!!

LOL

 

[Uncle Sam]

Just to address the whole "people in the UK know about TNA" thing, I've met a total of four people that know what TNA is. Three of them were Lee, Tastycles and Phoenix. The other one has probably forgotten what their name is by now.

 

[Mighty NorCal]

Just to address the whole "people in the UK know about TNA" thing, I've met a total of four people that know what TNA is. Three of them were Lee, Tastycles and Phoenix. The other one has probably forgotten what their name is by now.

and that other one may not have been talking about a wrestling company

 

[Brahma Bull]

Any chance it could be a work? I dont know the background of the quote, but maybe he is just trying to get the iwc angry at him to further his status as a heel. if he was doing this as a face as well, i guess im wrong.

 

[Mr. Artistic guy]

Any chance it could be a work? I dont know the background of the quote, but maybe he is just trying to get the iwc angry at him to further his status as a heel. if he was doing this as a face as well, i guess im wrong.

It's an interesting thought. When a company has been in what they dubbed as 'full shoot mode' as long as TNA, it can be hard to tell when they're being serious or not.

I've just thought of something. Well TNA's ratings have been at around the same mark for about 3 years and we always think that basically means they haven't progressed. What we might be forgetting is that as a whole wrestling has been in a bit of a trough, or a decreasing market where WWE's average ratings have decreased over that same period. Therefore TNA are a bigger proportion of the mainstream market despite not gaining viewers. J'reckon that could be viewed as a positive?

 

[Big Nick Dudley]

Any chance it could be a work?

Immortal vs. The Network vs. The IWC.

A feud I can absolutely see happening.

EDIT: The IWC will be faceless, obviously.

 

[Kenny Powers]

Does anyone outside the IWC really know who TNA is? You are right BND, for someone that is constantly bashing the IWC, he and Vince Russo sure do make most of their storylines that cater to the IWC. We may or may not make up that big of an audience, but the other audience really hasn't grown by leaps or bounds since he and Hogan have come into TNA two years ago.

 

[Mr. Artistic guy]

UPDATE: Mark Madden, new article, bashing Bichoff, go read.

 

[Brian in Austin]

I read it. Pretty good stuff, as usual, from Madden. If anyone would have insight into the production meetings where Bischoff and Hogan are concerned, it would be him.