Can TNA enter the mainstream with the name "Total Nonstop Action"?

[Ambiguous Turd]

I have seen a few rumors circulating around the Internet, although nothing has been confirmed, that TNA may be receiving a name change in the future. Again, this is NOT confirmed and is pure speculation and rumor from what I have seen.

I, however, speculate whether or not as TNA goes to Monday nights, whether or not they will be taken seriously as a pro wrestling company by the Mainstream audience without "Wrestling" being somewhere in the title of their company.

They made a good move by converting the ring to a 4 sided ring, and frankly, the hooplah over that seems to be dying down quicker than I expected and fans seem to be accepting it already.

But does TNA need an image change in the actual "name" department for the name of the actual company?

There are clear advantages and disadvantages.

Disadvantage being that without "wrestling" in the title anywhere, many fans won't be able to easily identify the company as necessarily a "wrestling" company, and it may be too vague to casual viewers surfing the TV listings.

All the great companies did have this:

WWF- World Wrestling Federation
WWE- World Wrestling Entertainment
WWWF- World Wide Wrestling Federation
WCW- World Championship Wrestling
NWA- National Wrestling Alliance
AWA- American Wrestling Alliance
ECW- Extreme Championship Wrestling

and now we have the first semi-major wrestling company preparing to enter the mainstream without the word "Wrestling" in the title of it's product.

TNA- Total Nonstop Action


At the same time, an advantage to being called "Total Nonstop Action" is that it doesn't limit itself to strictly professional wrestling. In other words, if TNA actually is successful in expanding itself in a few years, they can enter into other forms of bouts, including MMA, boxing, etc. if they choose to do even go there or not.

What are your opinions on the company name and do you think that in order to be taken seriously and be successful by the mainstream, they need the word "Wrestling" somewhere in the name of the company/product?

 

[Mr. TM]

I think a name change could hurt TNA short term, as name change do. And TNA seems more worried about short term gains.

As it is sometimes called TNA Wrestling, I don't think it really needs the change. Most known wrestling fans I know calls WWE "WWE/F Wrestling". TNA us just the branding on the wrestling show.

 

[CBCS]

They could actually go back to NWA. Because the championship belt AJ has is actually the NWA title.(i think they merged with TNA a few years back?) not sure

 

[Ambiguous Turd]

They could actually go back to NWA. Because the championship belt AJ has is actually the NWA title.(i think they merged with TNA a few years back?) not sure

Just to provide a correction to this, the NWA was offering TNA the chance to purchase the rights to the NWA title, however TNA did not want to pay the NWA what they were asking for, so therefore they created a new title with what we now know as the "TNA World Championship".

But that does bring about an interesting suggestion which people can feel free to offer their opinions on. Would TNA experience more success as a Pro Wrestling company if they merged with the NWA and adopted the NWA name?

Then it would be known in the Mainstream as the WWE vs the NWA? That has a nice ring to it. But then again, the problem is also that the NWA is associated with wrestling in the past, and it isn't very modern.

TNA is relatively new and fresh. It just doesn't have the "wrestling" name in the title.

But that is an interesting debate in whether or not TNA should purchase the rights to the NWA name and essentially, buy the company out, for the name of their image.

But at the end of the day, my gut instinct tells me that this wouldn't be a good idea and probably wouldn't be worth the money to pay to the NWA, because it is too dated an organization that was successful back in the 80's, but is a mere shell of itself today.

I think the way to go in Brand positioning is to have a modern company name take on the WWE because that sounds more fresh to the viewer. The only debate in this case would be whether or not the company should have the name "wrestling" somewhere in it's name for purposes of recognition and product familiarity.

 

[RedStar]

They should change the name at some point. "Total Nonstop Action" sounds more like some federation a few kids would make up for their backyard. On top of that, I knew someone who was just getting into WWE, and it wasn't immediately clear to them what 'TNA' stood for - whereas you can kind of guess what the two WWs in "WWE" stand for.

I won't say this would be a major deal breaker, but the name does make it harder to take them seriously.

 

[Ubiquitous]

They could actually go back to NWA. Because the championship belt AJ has is actually the NWA title.(i think they merged with TNA a few years back?) not sure

Incorrect. NWA actually withdrew their affiliations with TNA a few years ago. That's when they changed from the historic NWA belt to the TNA Championship you see AJ Styles carry today. The NWA didn't like the way TNA was just passing the belt around their roster without letting the NWA know about it in advance. So the NWA pulled out and named a new NWA champ completely seperate from TNA. However, what's the problem with just calling it TNA Wrestling? It's not like that wouldn't fit on these new fangled TV guides everyone has since TV has gone digital. Just shorten that to TNAW if you really want. People will still just call it TNA. I see no problem here. Haha. Except maybe people might see it and assume it's some kind of porn wrestling, if you catch my drift.

(just a side note, the correction that was posted before mine was posted literally right before mine. I was typing while it was posted. I heard reports of unhappiness within the NWA whereas Lord Sidious obviously heard differently. I could've sworn I read a report on that subject stating the disregard of TNA for the NWA's title was what caused the change. In all honestly I'd love to be enlighted to the actual goings on and what happened there. And I believe merging with the NWA wouldn't be worth the money I'm sure they'd be asking.)

 

[GenMe]

I really think that TNA is unique with that name and every wrestling fan right now knows that tna means TOTAL NONSTOP ACTION and what tna is all about Tna really was unique with the 6 six ring and with all the high flyers taking tna's name and adding wrestling will be dumb but hey we might never know as right now TNA is just trying to be WCW2.0 lets face it tna is great but i dont want them to go down that easy

 

[Schizophrenic]

Im used to TNA and being an old fan the name really doesn't bother me, I can see where some people would get the impression that it may or may not be wrestling while channel flipping. Hell I myself and guilty of giggling at the name NWA-TNA when I first heard it thinking, sounds like a mix between women's wrestling and porn. If they do though I'm not sure what they would call it......perhpas the XWF....oh yeah, nevermind.

 

[Maestro48239]

well, I'm not too keen on them changing their name either, doing something THAT drastic may alienate the fans even more. although, it seems the only people that are down on TNA right now are the Smarks, AKA the "TNA Loyalists". can you just imagine all the bitching they would do over a name change? holy shit!

But, that in itself, would make for a lot of interesting threads on here, i can see them moaning already.

but seriously, TNA works we all know it means "total nonstop action" not "tits n ass" and as time goes on if they rebuild the company properly, no one would really mind. Because Total Nonstop Action is a unique name for a wrestling company!

 

[Suffy]

I think the problem with the name is that it has already derived a cult status to the level of ECW. The fans chant "TNA, TNA TNA!" whenever something happens, and could you imagine what kind of a blow to the fans it would be to essentially take that away from them? Not to mention it is this kind of cult status that allows the fans to promote the promotion rather than the promotion itself. Also TNA has been averaging a 1.3 in the rating scales as of late so that already signifies that there is a large audience (including people who know of it but do not watch it) who relate to the promotion and think "Oh that's TNA wrestling" when seeing the initials.

However if this move is inevitable i'd simply suggest something as simple as say.. TNW (Total Nonstop Wrestling). Therefore the current fans could adapt to it easier and it would allow newer fans catch it to it being related to wrestling faster.

 

[Suneeboy]

I am always for change, if its a change for the better. If something like this does have substance and does become public I can see everyone already pissing in their pants and howling to the moon about TNA changing its name.

I like the TNA name and I don't think they NEED to change it. I mean, they do say TNA Wrestling all the time, or Total Non Stop Action Wrestling, which lets everyone know its a wrestling company. They kind of go out of their way to say the word wrestling as often as they can. But if they can think of something better then by all means go for it.

 

[Mr_billy]

I like TNA as it is, and believe it should not change. But I could se why a name change would not be a bad idea because TNA sounds like T & A, and I can see some Parents not letting children watch, which can limit a small segment of the market.

 

[Pedro08]

I think it might be too late to go changing the TNA name. If they were going to change their name, it should have been done either as soon as Hogan signed or on the Jan. 4th show.

I say this because as soon a Hogan signed, he went on a media tour for his book. It took him to shows like Larry King and Jimmy Fallon where there was talk of him joining TNA Wrestling. So to the casual fan, Hogan is now associated with TNA. Changing the name might confuse the fans into thinking he's now joined another wrestling company.

There is no doubt that Hogan / Bischoff have raised the profile of TNA. More people are now tuning in as shown by the ratings. To go and change the name of the company seems unnecessary at this point.

 

[AnthonyMango/NoFate007]

They should have never called it TNA in the first place lol. "Total Nonstop Action" and their use of X in everything is about as lame as you can get. It reminds me of people that try writing their own comic books and they name all their characters stuff like "Ultimate Deathkiller X" and shit haha.

But as Pedro08 says above and I agree with, I think it's too late now. They're kind of stuck. They should have changed it on the 4th if they were going to change it. I'm not sure of anything that they could have changed it to, though, as I can't think of anything that has a nice ring to it. They would have to stay away from having WW as the first two letters, obviously. Fuck it, who cares, they're not doing it anyway lol.

 

[CuddleBuns84]

If the company wants to go mainstream, then they do need a name change. Total Nonstop Action doesn't sound like a company or league. It sounds like a selling phrase used to push DVDs that are on sell at the supermarket. Plus on top of that, if you were a champion in the company would you want to be the champion of Total Nonstop Action? Yea, it does sound cool, but does it sound serious. Take a look at professional sports. The XFL collapsed after one season, and the name was just goofy. Hey look at my team, they are the champion of Xtreme Football. No not the United States Football, or the World Football league, but the champion of Xtreme Football. It just isn't serious. So yea, I think a name change would be good, and I know all the TNA fans would be sad about it, but then again, I'm not too upset over what 33 people think. Yes, name change is a need, especially competing with the Established WWE.

Hell, even other companies came out with absurd and off the wall names for the product in the past. Such as, "Slug" soda. I don't want to drink "slug" that sucks. Or the Fat Burger. I don't want the truth, I just want a burger. Or the In Your Face make-up for girls. That shit never worked.

If you want a serious competitor, then you have to have a serious name.

 

[CaptainZaltan]

While I personally don't care what it's called, brand name is a pretty known factor when it comes to marketing, and it's commonly accepted that brand names can influence sales or customer interest. TNA has always sounded a little silly to me. At the same time though, you're right to point out that TNA has a rather unique and 'edgy' sounding name, that may appeal to a more mainstream audience. While having a 'W' in the title may draw the attention of old-school wrestling fans, the TNA name should hypothetically appeal to Spike TV's core audience. I'm sure there's some sort of market research TNA can do to get a more conclusive idea of the benefits/risks of a name change, and hopefully they will try and do some research in advance of making such a big change.

But hypothetically speaking, if they were to change the name, the old name should still be incorporated somehow in order to avoid completely pissing off the existing fan-base.

They could go with TNW (Total Nonstop Wrestling), or as someone else suggested, TNAW. Alternately, if TNA gets a second show every week, than TNA could become a show title or brand, and the company itself could go by a different name. For example, NWA: TNA and NWA: Impact could be the two weekly shows (NWA in this case just being an example of a company name).

 

[Maestro48239]

after reading on posting on this thread, i looked up the NWA website, and it looks to me as if they are selling franchises to whoever wants their rinky-dink indy company to seemingly have a little more prestige.

so to me, it seems if TNA wanted, they could probably buy the rights to the NWA name for about 73 dollars and a warm case of PBR

 

[mister_b1LL]

I'm cool with TNA being called TNA. If somebody is confused about what TNA is selling, what's so hard about explaining it to people? It's a unique name for a wrestling company, and because they don't have the 6 sided ring anymore this is their thing that sets them apart. Much of the time anyway, announcers always seem to call it TNA wrestling anyway. It's even the name of their website. I say don't change the name. TNA has invested to much in the name and as somebody said, it's gained cult status like the ECW name.

 

[AndyUK]

I'm fine with it now. At first, I wasn't but like a lot of things, I've just got used to it and I even kinda like it now. They definitely shouldn't change it because the company has built an identity for itself.

 

[SickJames]

Yes it can, it doesnt Have to have wrestling in there although I do admit that's always bugged me. I dont really like the name.

but why did you list WWE & WWF seperately? Aside from ppl's reasoning just like I dont really care if you think ECW should be called WWECW, thats just stupid. WWF & WWE are the same thing, sure the name changed but you can say WWE WrestleMania 2 instead of WWF WrestleMania 2

or for Videogames just say WWE Smackdown! 2 Know Your Role

the company isnt different as if its history started in 2002 it just changed from a F to a E

When the hell will ppl stop treating it as if it's a different company

If a person changes their name you wouldnt treat them as if they're a different person, it's the same thing. You may make reference to their old name when it's relevant but that's not Mary anymore that's Janet and that's not Steve anymore he's Jack now

 

[Lancer]

I think a name change would be nice for TNA, but it is not necessary. They have come this far with those distinctive initials and logo, it is kind of pointless to change it in my opinion.

However, having a "W" in the initials, whatever it may stand for, would be another thing that likens the company to WWE, and it is hard to tell whether or not that is TNA's motive at the moment. Only time will tell.

If a name change does come about, perhaps they can keep the acronym "TNA," but just change the "A" to "Adrenaline."

"Total Nonstop Adrenaline." That has a nice ring to it. Plus, there are always the detractors who say there is hardly any "action" in the company anymore. Perhaps that would take away some of the distaste.

 

[Chicago1989]

I think a name change would be alright as long as it's something catchy and wrestling-related. I always thought that a name like Total Nonstop Action would sound like a name for a video game (MAG: Massive Action Game?) or a movie critic's review lol.

And being called "TNA" sounds like something pornographic. You want to be taken as a wrestling company, not like some porno movie lol..

Give it something classy like World Nonstop Wrestling or World Wrestling League...you know?

 

[Uncle Sam]

Chicago, you are both correct and incorrect.

Firstly, Massive Action Game is not your typical videogame name. In fact, it was ridiculed as it seems much more like a working title than the name of a finished product. Think Snakes on a Plane.

Secondly, yes, TNA does sound somewhat pornographic. It sounds it both as an acronym and as the full name. I'd never tell my friends I was going to go home and watch some TNA, pour example.

Merde, they're stuck with it now. Maybe some people find the stupid name endearing - I don't know. Let's hope so, eh?

 

[The Roid Rage]

I don't think the name change is necessary of anything. People are getting to know TNA and the notion of it sounding pornographic in nature or something is gone when you see it on t.v. for yourself. It would probably hurt them a bit because of how established the TNA name is now, imagine if tomorrow WWE was Global Wrestling Entertainment or something? That would really fuck things up wouldn't it? So trying to call TNA anything but TNA would probably lose them a reasonable enough chunk of their fan base on principle alone. What could you call it though? Let's think of some names:

Total Wrestling Action, Nonstop Wrestling Action(New NWA), Nonstop World Wrestling, Total Championship Wrestling, Total Nonstop Wrestling, Nonstop Action Wrestling, Global Championship Wrestling, World Action Wrestling, World Wrestling Impact? There's a few to chew on.

 

[Chicago1989]

Chicago, you are both correct and incorrect.

Firstly, Massive Action Game is not your typical videogame name. In fact, it was ridiculed as it seems much more like a working title than the name of a finished product. Think Snakes on a Plane.

Secondly, yes, TNA does sound somewhat pornographic. It sounds it both as an acronym and as the full name. I'd never tell my friends I was going to go home and watch some TNA, pour example.

Merde, they're stuck with it now. Maybe some people find the stupid name endearing - I don't know. Let's hope so, eh?

I know it's not a typical video game name but I was trying to say that Total Nonstop Action is something you'll find commonly in things like video games or movies. I was just using MAG as an example.