Could Even Cena Give TNA a Ratings Boost?

[GameOver]

Agree with the others. there's no one man/woman on earth that could give TNA a big boost enough to get them over, it needs a total overhaul. Kurt Angle did a good job, but even he couldn't change the way TNA is percieved as a poor man's WCW with even worse booking

Hulk Hogan the biggest name in the sport gave them a brief shot in the arm but it lasted only a few months because
A) He's boring now and is soooo still trying to live in the 80's but as a heel
B) the underlying managerial stuff still happens more often then not, which leads to seemingly uncaring stars, poor talent relations, horrible commentry
C) more often then not shit matches/endings.

Cena would be no different, If and i mean If he was the Doctor of Thuganomics, not Super Cena. Super Cena would be useless in TNA, TNA is alot more adult orientated, how many kids watch it? answer none with any brains.

PS not saying WWE doesn't also fail at alot that they used to succeed at, b4 someone flames and makes it a WWE vs TNA argument.

 

[IT Factor]

Cena going to TNA might be effective for a few weeks. Maybe even months. Until TNA gets brand recognition, people won't care who shows up. You know, the whole "if a tree falls in the forest" idea. Besides, Impact Wrestling has a locker room full of untapped potential breakout stars that are their own creations. Creating an identity and using those creations are a bigger priority to establish the company and not bringing in names established elsewhere. That's not the answer for everything. Although that's definetely Hogan & Bischoff's main working business philosphy. And it's wrong. As everyone else has pointed out, not one single "big name" has effected the Impact ratings. It's a company thing and not necessarily about that one big acquistion. If they could go back to having great matches and creating their own image, they would probably do more to effect the overall rating. In short, people are tired of seeing the same thing over & over. We don't watch to see WCW part 2 or WWE wanna-be. We watch to see what alternatives Impact Wrestling has to offer. They need to focus on that.

 

[Clare]

i really doubt it as most cena fans ar aged from 5 too 12 years old and most parents wont let them watch TNA cum on would you ?? now maybe if stone cold or D-X went too iMPACT there would be a chance of it but as for cena he's cute but a defernate no no

wiv love not h8

 

[bigandpissed]

I think people need to look at this from a different point of view. throughout this entire thread people have said that cena would only give a temporary pop in ratings and then it would quickly return to normal. Well I 100% disagree and this is why...

What I think people are discounting in this thread are a group of people who are not represented at all on this forum and that is children from ages 3-12. To so many young children, John Cena is not only an Idol, he is WWE. I'm pretty sure if he left he would bring at least 400,000 children who would consistently watch TNA just to see the man who represents so much to them perform regardless of what company its in. If you have ever been to a WWE live event, you know alot of kids go there exclusively to see cena and then just sit on their hands for the rest of the superstars. Their loyalty is to John Cena, not WWE. I feel the same thing would occur in TNA. Throw into the mix that Jeff Hardy (arguably the second biggest draw in the industry in that demographic) is also in TNA and I think every young wrestling fan would cream their pre-pubescent pants.

People have brought up that hogan only caused a temporary spike in ratings, which is absolutely true. However what is also true is the fact that hogan came into TNA 20 years after his prime, and he doesn't have near the same drawing power he used to have, especially in the demographic TNA would be targeting with a Cena acquisition. How many kids ages 3 to 13 (who are often the most dedicated watchers of wrestling week to week) give 2 shits about Hulk Hogan? He was decrepit by the time they were born and kids have only seen him in his current state. I guess what I'm trying to say is the difference between the two is Hogan was aquired to attract the casual older fans who watched hogan in the 80's (many of whom have stopped watching wrestling altogether, which has further diminished his drawing power) and cena would attract a bunch young hardcore cena fans who would be devastated if they missed a single cena match even if its in TNA.

 

[Dagger Dias]

No one on the current roster in WWE could give TNA a significant ratings boost. Not Cena. Not Orton. Not Triple H. Not even the Undertaker. If Hulk Hogan and Flair couldn't get a large number of people to watch, then how could today's top guys who are not as well known pull it off? The only two people who could potentially cause a ratings spike are Stone Cold and The Rock, but even in their case it would be a tiny boost like with Hogan. Cena or Orton suddenly going to TNA would bring in a very small ratings increase but TNA would lose these same fans when they get sick of the show and get curious as to who WWE chooses to replace them with, probably Miz and Punk, and how that will go. So much for that. Until TNA start promoting their product better, no one will be able to bring in better ratings for them.

 

[kor420]

I think he could give them a ratings Spike but a ratings boost, I am not so sure. The thing I see a problem with regarding TNA is that I think some people regard Impact as some offshoot of WWE programming (like Velocity, Sunday Night Heat used to be) and therefore don't know that this is a different organization. Yes, the presence of former WWE alumni does not help either with that perception.

The biggest thing that I think hurts TNA and just remember this is a viewpoint and not a hard fact like some people here like to make is that TNA lacks a true presence outside of its product. Meaning that other than action figures and its website, I see very little in the way of licensing with the company. They haven't found another developer for their video game franchise (which I think is a HUGE factor in a company's success these days) and so forth.

Believe it or not I don't think the former WWE guys in TNA hurt all that much, I truly think it's the fact that you see very little in the way of TNA licensing. Also the lack of traveling outside the Impact Zone up until now I am sure trapped TNA in those ratings too or helped contribute to that. The thing is this, they are starting to fix that at least and have begun to go on the road.

Again, Rome wasn't built in a day and I think TNA still has a chance even amid all these Hogan leaving rumors. It's a wait and see thing like always. Again I am sure Cena could help spark an interest if he ever went there, but it's not like Hogan going to WCW in the 90s.

The difference between a possible Cena jump to TNA and what Hogan did in the 90s is that Hogan came into an established organization that had roots going back to the 1930s and an established group of stars (Steamboat, Flair, Sting, Vader, and others). TBS's specials like Clash Of The Champions were huge ratings grabbers so it's not like Hogan just walked into something brand new here and legitimized it instantly, WCW was a lot more established than people might want to think in retrospect. TNA on the other hand despite its presence of veteran talent and a few young and talented guys does not have that benefit.

"Wrestling" isn't the problem, most casual and new fans expect the drama (thx wwe), the live soap opera type production. Allot of people finds too much wrestling "boring" if you think because there isn't enough wrestling, then why is roh not bigger then tna or wwe?

TNA needs to get a healthy mix of both wrestling and the drama. They need to get tenay out of there, i be like holly shit! and tenay and taz just babbles on about something, showing no emotion what-so-ever. But as far as dixie fire tenay, it wont happen because she said that he can set behind the both as long as he wants and she owes everything to him (basically he's safe), but they need to get someone up there that shows emotion.

They need to slowly start moving out of the impact zone and going to venues that they have had success at, because the impact zone is dead, not real fans of wrestling and just goes there because it's another part of universal studios, thus is the reason why i don't blame them for using canned heat and hiring "fans" to cheer and boo. The fans what makes the show seem boring, and story lines seem less important. the fans are setting on their hands + the impact zone makes the show seems small time and less important to the causal fan.

Look at the places where they got a nice size crowed, then next week they go back to the impact zone.. you can tell a big difference! the show seemed more important.

So what tna need to do is this..
1) Remove Tenay from the booth or give him a limited role at the booth and get borash with taz and borash (he done really good the first time he was up there taz/borash had that click)

2) Get out of the impact zone

3) Make russo give suggestions instead giving unlimited creative control (he does have good ideas sometimes)

4) find the right mix of wrestling and drama.

5) keep a few older guys, but don't make the whole show about them.