Eric Bischoff's War Against the "10 Percenters"; Calls the IWC "Irrelevant"

[Prestige]

Thanks, and I agree completely. 10% of your customers, particularly if it's the the most loyal and diehard part of that group, would be a big deal to any company. Of course, that 10% is something Bischoff is pulling out of his ass, as it's practically impossible to track just how much of his audience is on internet forums. You'd need far too much in-depth information on the true identities of people to be able to get such figures. While other companies are utilizing the internet at every turn to try and gather more information about potential customers, and sell to them, Bischoff is marginalizing and dismissing internet wrestling fans as irrelevant



While there's not 100% consensus on the term, here's part of the wikipedia entry: "Traditionally a 'community' has been defined as a group of interacting people living in a common location. The word is often used to refer to a group that is organized around common values and is attributed with social cohesion within a shared geographical location, generally in social units larger than a household." While the people in your town may have different political opinions, at least they live in the same area, have largely the same problems and concerns, and I assume have a similar culture. That can't necessarily be said of the fans here. As I was saying, there's no real community here because the people on these forums share little else other than a love of wrestling and an internet connection (well, and enough passion about wrestling to post about it, or at least lurk on the forums).

But put aside the validity of the term for a minute, and lets get to the main point, which (with all due respect) you're kind of making for me. As you admit yourself (and even if you're going to narrow the definition of "IWC" down to just forum users), it's impossible to look at the so-called "IWC" and conclude anything about its' likes or dislikes, because there's very little consensus to draw conclusions from. And when you point out that the forums used to be comprised of mainly intellectuals, but are now populated by "idiots," "kids," "social outcasts," and "10 year olds," that just illustrates the point even more. We're getting fans of all sorts even on these forums: the marks who don't know what's going on are casual fans, the intellectuals are the hardcore. People here don't even like each other, let alone agree on anything. To say that members of the "IWC" are a community based on a devotion to wrestling is the same as saying that hardcore liberals and conservatives are a community because both are politically active.

Ultimately though, the actual existence of an "IWC" (which I personally think is a figment of peoples imagination) is irrelevant and secondary to what people PERCEIVE it to be. As you say, the fact that it's not in the dictionary makes it very open to interpretation. In your case, you're making a subjective distinction between internet users and people who post on forums/look at spoilers/etc, but there's no evidence to suggest that the two groups activities are mutually exclusive. Or that the average fan will make the same distinction. And even a slight dabbling in forums/dirt sheets would make a fan a part of Bischoff's "IWC" generalization. I think Bischoff is underestimating how active the average fan is on the internet, and to what extent the average fan is involved in forums/message boards/spoiler sites/etc when it comes to entertainment that they enjoy. I also think he's erroneously assuming that everyone criticizing TNA is a part of a small and vocal minority. Rather, I think you've just got a lot of people here who like and dislike various things about TNA, and that they are all getting lumped together even though they really don't agree on anything.

The main point though, is even if you conclude that E.B only insulted 10% of TNA's fanbase (and as others have pointed out, that's highly questionable), and even if some of those people honestly deserve the criticism, what's to gain by doing so? E.B may know a lot more about pro-wrestling than we do, but he sure as hell doesn't seem to grasp that deliberately alienating any portion of your customers is just a bad idea. I'm not going to lose any sleep over Bischoff "offending" me, but there are plenty of fans out there who will take this personally, and really I'm not sure that TNA can afford to lose them.

We certainly agree on a few things. I may have misinterpreted what your main point was. What I was getting at was that the IWC is as real as anything. I suppose there is room for interpretation, but even if the word community isnt a perfect fit, it still works. We are a community in every way you quoted except for our proximity to each other. But in todays technological prowess, I think a community can justly refer to an internet society. Just like people who play online games can be considered a community. And as with any society large enough, there will be extreme differences, as well as idiots and geniuses and so forth. I just can't wrap my head around the idea that the IWC doesn't exist, especially just because the word community usually refers to a real world atmosphere, or because the difference in opinion is strong.

Now one thing I certainly did not disagree with was the quality of the people who pertain to the IWC. And while it may not be strictly forum users, I would say for certain that if you don't at least read the dirtsheets in some form then you arent apart of the IWC, no matter how many wrestlers you follow on Twitter. Where the problem lies is that the filter has been removed, and any spoiled 10 year old with a smart phone could join a forum. And while that obviously means there are more "members" of our community each day, it also lowers the respect we command each day. As I said in my other post, it isn't just Bischoff who feels that way. It is every single employee in either company. As much as these forums and every other complain about this and this and that, and make conclusions about things we assume we know everything about, what is there to respect? What is there even to not completely dislike? Sure, in usual circumstances, a business would not be wise to trash their patrons. But this a whole other animal, and a very unique one. Look how big this thread is. People already hate Bischoff. That isn't going to change. This whol thing is nothing but good for TNA. No one can honestly tell me they think there will be any effect on the ratings due to his comments. That is illogical. In this scenario, there truly is no such thing as bad publicity. Anyone who is offended by his comments clearly have no realization of how the IWC as a whole appears and is thought of by ANY wrestling employee; even our darling favorites. They ALL hate us.

And to the people saying "Oh yeah? If we don't matter then why are you still posting?" .....what? I'm sorry, I didn't realize I was posting here because I was hoping Hogan or Vince would read all my writing and make a storyline out of it. I'm doing it for me, and I'm sure everyone else is too. I like to share my opinions. But I'm not blind enough to think that we do or even should matter to the wrestling brass. I mean, look at us...

 

[SpecialFNK]

I don't know about the % number that Bischoff used, but I agree with him.
there are a lot more general wrestling fans out there that would not be part of the IWC that do not take the time to do such things as being part of message boards/forums on the internet.

 

[Poop Master Flex]

Well Bischoff is completely right in the long run the IWC doesn't really matter.

Look at it like this, most of the IWC who complain about TNA don't even bother to watch an episode of it therefore why care what they say? They read the results, not actually seeing the product and make their decision based on that without even giving the product a chance. Sure lots of us don't like TNA from what they have seen but there is a hell of a lot of IWC members who trash the product without even watching it.

Secondly even though I will bitch about WWE, I still watch the product. Eric knows that the IWC are gonna watch the product anyways regardless of what they say, feel and write so in the long run it really doesn't matter what they say, they got those fans locked up. Even though the IWC may be unsatisfied with the product they will still watch it no matter how good or shitty it is.

Thirdly, the IWC will always be complaining about something. They will complain that new stars won't get pushed, then when new stars finally get pushed they complain they "aren't ready". Its a lose-lose situation listening to the IWC for any company. The IWC is so diverse, everyone has their preferences and although they may please some with lets say Christian winning the world title, but will piss off the many fans who felt he only got it because of Edge. The IWC loved John Cena until he became champ, as soon as he became champ the IWC hated Cena, there is no reason to listen to them as a mass.

Lastly the casual fans is what brings in the big money not the hardcore fans. For example, you get a shitty sports team that will always have hardcore fans watching the game and cheering them on but you can't run a successful sports team if only hardcores are backing said team. A team needs to win to get more casual fans to fill the seats so they can build revenue. In 03-04 the Calgary Flames were pretty much in Portland because of continuous years losing revenue. They always had 8 - 10,000 hardcores watching the game but there was still 8 -10, 000 seats vacant. They did a complete turn around and by the end of the season and playoffs it was nearly impossible to watch a Flame game live because the Saddledome was always packed. If those casual fans didn't come out to support the team they wouldn't be the Calgary Flames anymore, the would be the Portland Tree Huggers or something.

The Hardcore fans and IWC will always be there because they love wrestling, no matter the quality of programming, its the casual fans that determine the success of a business in the long run. In wrestling you want to do 2 things, bring in new fans and keep the ones you already have. They already know the IWC isn't going anywhere so they focus of how to bring new ones in.

 

[AmericanDragonSW]

The best way to show someone they are irrelevant is by ignoring them. Mr. Bischoff just proved they care about the IWC.

Good one Eric!

PS. I love his remark about ratings not lying. Right again Eric. They sure don't!!!

LOL

I gotta agree here with most of what was said on here. And yeah, if Excess Baggage, I mean Eric Bischoff cares so little about the IWC and feels they don't matter, why'd he go out of his way to right about it? And yeah, the ratings really don't lie because if he actually looked at the ratings he'd see that TNA sucks right now and that not only is Hogan not a draw like he used to be, neither is Bischoff. Bischoff needs to get over himself because not only is this NOT about him, it's NEVER been about him. Nobody pays to see his dumbass re-hash the same stale tired lines he does in every promo he has.

Somebody needs to remind Eric that Vince was the one that ended up winning the monday night wars and ended up the successful one, not Eric. Eric was the one that actually brought down a company. In other words, Eric was a failure.

I called Eric "excess baggage" because that's all he is. He got his job because Hogan brought him along. Because he's Hogan's tag along, his pet monkey, he's his ventriloquist's dummy complete with Hulk Hogan's hand right up his ass! The only good idea Bischoff ever had was the NWO and he milked that for all it was worth.

 

[Champ1432]

Bischoff is correct in what he said. I don't think he's referring to just anyone who pops onto Wrestlezone or WWE.com once in a while either. When he said "IWC Smarks", he's referring to the know-it-all posters who come on these sites and always claim to have better ideas for booking, know just who to push and who to bury, and can do everything better than what we see on TV. You can say the IWC encompasses everyone who ever does anything wrestling related online, and that's fine, I wouldn't argue it. But I think he was referring to just that smaller group of insatiable smarks who criticize anything and everything. Look at the the storm he's created with his comments as well. This thread lit up pretty quickly and is expanding rapidly.

He was spot on, though. The type of "fan" he's talking about are the minority. Why would you not give the majority of your fans what they want. It's just Business 101. If you would listen to the small group of complainers, you would go under in a heartbeat. Especially since a lot of us here in the IWC don't know what we want half the time. As soon as something happens that we say we wanted, we change our minds. Someone previously mentioned the Orton/Christian situation. Perfect example. How many people on here rode Orton forever, saying how great he was (and I'm not saying he's not, I think he is great), but as soon as he took the title from Christian, now there's a problem. "Wait a minute....... Christian is an even bigger favorite.......booo Orton, you suck! You don't need another title reign!" That kind of stuff. So he's absolutely on the mark.

I'm not saying Bischoff is a wrestling genius like he probably thinks he is, or that he's right all the time. But he's right this time. And look at the buzz he's created. Pretty smart on this one I think.

 

[Zeven_Zion]

Of course the Idiotic Wrestling Community is irrelevant. It always was, is and forever will be and THANK GOD for that. The last thing McMahon or Bischoff or whoever wants is to listen to the idiots in the IWC who are mostly concerned about their own likings and bitch about just about everything.

Good for Bischoff. Everyone in the business is thinking it, Eric's the only one that has the balls to say it.

 

[Dizzy]

I gotta agree here with most of what was said on here. And yeah, if Excess Baggage, I mean Eric Bischoff cares so little about the IWC and feels they don't matter, why'd he go out of his way to right about it?

Because he was asked a question? What kind of dumb thinking is that?

And yeah, the ratings really don't lie because if he actually looked at the ratings he'd see that TNA sucks right now and that not only is Hogan not a draw like he used to be, neither is Bischoff. Bischoff needs to get over himself because not only is this NOT about him, it's NEVER been about him. Nobody pays to see his dumbass re-hash the same stale tired lines he does in every promo he has.

No, If you look at ALL ratings on Spike. You would see it's the same. But again, the IWC doesn't care about logic and things that add up.

Somebody needs to remind Eric that Vince was the one that ended up winning the monday night wars and ended up the successful one, not Eric. Eric was the one that actually brought down a company. In other words, Eric was a failure.

Lol Eric was a failure? Okay. I bet that's why Vince hired him and they got huge ratings due to the storylines as a GM of Raw.

I guess Eric Bischoff's real name must be Ted Turner too.

I called Eric "excess baggage" because that's all he is. He got his job because Hogan brought him along. Because he's Hogan's tag along, his pet monkey, he's his ventriloquist's dummy complete with Hulk Hogan's hand right up his ass! The only good idea Bischoff ever had was the NWO and he milked that for all it was worth.

He got his job because he knows how to product shows and makes TNA look better instead of a amateur looking program like ROH's broadcasts.

If your gonna take crap about someone, use real life facts instead of proving his point.

 

[Brian in Austin]

In the end of all of this, TNA Wrestling will be judged by their ratings. Which at last check, weren't very good nor improving.

Good Luck Eric. You'll need it.

 

[Big Nick Dudley]

If some of this seems redundant, forgive me, but I refuse to read through 11 pages worth of shit at 1:45 in the morning

Are we irrelevant? In some ways, yes. Technically, we're a small portion of the crowd. I'd be surprised to find out that one in every ten viewers of TNA mess around on wrestling sites. Honestly, I'd say the number is even lower. So, we don't (technically) make up a large part of the audience.

HOWEVER we do matter. Why? Because we're a portion of the fan base. Does he think our opinions are drastically different from "regular" fans? We basically act as a polling sample.

I have eight friends who watch wrestling, nine of us all together. We don't watch together anymore, but we still talk about it. We have different opinions, but we aren't radically different in how we view the programs we watch. Same goes for any other wrestling fans I've met over the years who I'm not actually friends with. None of these people even know WrestleZone exists, yet we share very similar opinions (not specifically, but in general when it comes to wrestling).

Bischoff acts as though the IWC fans aren't real fans. Yes, actually we are. We're not some different species who thinks and reacts different than those around us. We have similar reactions to "regular" fans, and I don't think that's something he (or TNA defenders) are willing to accept. We really aren't that different from "general," or "casual" fans. Nowhere near as different as Bischoff (and TNA marks) would lead you to believe.

 

[Brian in Austin]

Believe me Big Nick, he knows we're out here and he knows what's being said. If he didn't, he never would have made the comment. It was interesting to see the direction they went with the Foley angle tonight. Sounds like Mick didn't want anymore to do with this sinking ship.

 

[itsme123]

If VKM had said this then I would've agreed with him. Shit I would've said,"Vince you're being too nice more like 5%(guesstimate)" But we are not talking about WWE we are talking about Impact, which has a smaller fanbase than the WWE,way smaller. For TNA that 10% can easily be 20% or even more who knows? For a company that is trying to grow every fan should count because if there's one unhappy fan most likely there's others that feel the same way. From a businesses standpoint it was a bad move on EB's part. And no I'm not hating on Impact.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

To some degree, Bischoff does have a point in his latest comments. It's definitely true that a lot of internet fans believe that TNA, or any other wrestling company, should simply ignore what most of its audience is into. A good portion of the IWC willingly ignores the fact that professional wrestling is supposed to be a business rather than some fantasy league to cater to their momentary whims.

At the same time though, Bischoff going on about TNA's ratings is a fallback tactic that he pulls out whenever an episode or a specific segment of a show manages to pop a big rating. Last week's show had a promo segment featuring members of Immortal, Mick Foley and the X Division faction. This segment drew a 1.49 rating, the second highest for any segment TNA has had in 2011. Now based on this or, as I said earlier, whenever an episode pops a rating under the current format, Bischoff will tout this as being what the majority of TNA's audience wants. You almost never hear Bischoff going off on the IWC until/unless TNA pops a big rating.

 

[Dizzy]

If VKM had said this then I would've agreed with him.

Lol Of course. Because that makes you look like a Vince McMahon worshiper.

Shit I would've said,"Vince you're being too nice more like 5%(guesstimate)" But we are not talking about WWE we are talking about Impact, which has a smaller fanbase than the WWE,way smaller. For TNA that 10% can easily be 20% or even more who knows? For a company that is trying to grow every fan should count because if there's one unhappy fan most likely there's others that feel the same way. From a businesses standpoint it was a bad move on EB's part. And no I'm not hating on Impact.

The ENTIRE IWC hated TNA's Orlando screwjob remake last year but it so happened to be the highest rated segment in TNA history.

Therefore, what he says is true. It's also a bad move when you have a bunch of idiots taking shots at a company instead of stop watching or simply quit acting like they should be ROH.

He's not doing a damn thing but speaking the truth and he certainly proves a point when you have people here getting butthurt over "their demands" being looked upon as worthless.

Dixie catered to what the fans wanted on Twitter and she was a laughing stock on IWC forums because she was on Twitter and a President...Female president.

You really think a company is gonna take a fanbase seriously when they are asking and demanding them to fire their own employees? So, yes it is relevant.

Vince McMahon proved it by switching the demographics of his show to PG and not giving a damn about adult fans.

 

[Brian in Austin]

The problem for EB and Co. is this: Their tv ratings are not getting better by any appreciable difference. Meaning that the presence of EB and HH haven't made any real difference to the TNA brand.

So now EB lashes out at the IWC, claiming they are irrelevant, YET by addressing them he's ADMITTING they matter!

Hilarious!

 

[itsme123]

I could care less about VKM, I mentioned him because he is someone that's in the WWE. I guess everytime I post something in a Impact thread I should say, " I watch both Impact and WWE. I want both companies to grow, solely for my entertainment. I don't give a crapp who makes the most money because its not making my pockets get any bigger." There's always a fan that thinks you just love to hate TNA no matter what. But let's be real WWE does have a way larger fanbase than Impact ,they don't give a shit about what a fan on the internet thinks because there's thousands of other fans that will watch. As a comapny WWE is set for life, you can't say the same for Impact. In Impacts case, that 10% that EB mentioned is huge for them since they're struggling to increase ratings. But its a random number the percentage can easily be more or less but who knows????? The internet is taking over the world, on a yearly basis the number of people that have WZ accounts or any other wrestling forum site can drastically increase. I'm not saying Impact should do whatever fans tell them but don't take shots at them when you are trying to make it to the top. There is alwasy going to be those fans that are going to get booty hurt. And you are right some people complain and they still watch,not the case for all ppl though. And yes TNAs Orlando screw job got a high rating but how many of those fans were regulars,new viewers, members of the "IWC"???????

 

[vampireblade]

so were irrelevant? if we were talking about wwe id say yes he was right but were talking about TNA most of the people who watch wwe and dont follow wrestling on the internet have never heard of TNA hell id say 80% of TNA fanbase is the IWC so we may be irrelevant in the wwe but to TNA i think were the majority of their fans even if most of us are never satisfied

 

[Rayne]

The ENTIRE IWC hated TNA's Orlando screwjob remake last year but it so happened to be the highest rated segment in TNA history.

Yes, because people were curious how the Jeff Hardy heel turn panned out. Ratings returned to normal levels the next week. One night of ratings is fairly meaningless unless you're the Super Bowl. People weren't excited that they remade BatB 2000, they were excited that Jeff Hardy had turned heel. How'd that end up working out for them, btw?

Getting one night of ratings is easy. You have Dixie Carter go on Twitter and promise everyone a HUGE SURPRISE THAT WILL HAPPEN TONIGHT. But advertisers don't pay you based on a good night. What's hard is creating an increased week-to-week audience. If anything, the Orlando screwjob remake demonstrated that TNA/IW had done something that people wanted to see, but were unable to follow through and do anything to keep the large audience they had received. FWIW, that was also the night which I stopped trying to watch TNA/IW regularly.

 

[Dizzy]

Yes, because people were curious how the Jeff Hardy heel turn panned out. Ratings returned to normal levels the next week. One night of ratings is fairly meaningless unless you're the Super Bowl. People weren't excited that they remade BatB 2000, they were excited that Jeff Hardy had turned heel. How'd that end up working out for them, btw?

Getting one night of ratings is easy. You have Dixie Carter go on Twitter and promise everyone a HUGE SURPRISE THAT WILL HAPPEN TONIGHT. But advertisers don't pay you based on a good night. What's hard is creating an increased week-to-week audience. If anything, the Orlando screwjob remake demonstrated that TNA/IW had done something that people wanted to see, but were unable to follow through and do anything to keep the large audience they had received. FWIW, that was also the night which I stopped trying to watch TNA/IW regularly.

Cool but that's not the screwjob I'm speaking of.

It was this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMkXhoVoqnk

That show drew a 1.6 in ratings and that segment drew 3 million viewers. The week after drew about 2.7 million viewers but the IWC was so enraged with the screwjob because it was the time WWE had Bret Hart back that TNA dropped the angle and ratings went back to around 1.9 million viewers after the buzz from this was gone.

Again, further example of the bad influence of the computer know it alls. Watch all of the idiots on youtube commenting on that segement and see how many are against it and then look at the numbers I just provided. They hated it, but 3 million people watched it and it was followed by the same amount the next week.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

The match pulled the ratings not the screwjob, the screwjob was just part of the match. How many people tuned in to see a screwjob? The match would have done a high rating without the screwjob.

And the complainers were right, it was a lame finish of creating controversy for the sake of it. They tried to follow up on it but the angle had no legs.

 

[itssoeasy123]

Cool but that's not the screwjob I'm speaking of.

It was this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMkXhoVoqnk

That show drew a 1.6 in ratings and that segment drew 3 million viewers. The week after drew about 2.7 million viewers but the IWC was so enraged with the screwjob because it was the time WWE had Bret Hart back that TNA dropped the angle and ratings went back to around 1.9 million viewers after the buzz from this was gone.

Again, further example of the bad influence of the computer know it alls. Watch all of the idiots on youtube commenting on that segement and see how many are against it and then look at the numbers I just provided. They hated it, but 3 million people watched it and it was followed by the same amount the next week.

Idiot's commenting on Youtube? I'm usually not a person to stand up for the Youtube smark's, but those people have a point. It's the same goddamn thing WWE did, TNA though it would bring in substantial rating's, it didn't, and they never talked about it again.

And beside's, why are we talking about something that is completely irrelevant right now? The got a good rating for the segment, whoopdee-fuckin'-do, what was the rating for the show, 1.3?

 

[ugotpwned999]

100% agree.

While IWC members know more than the average fan (like KB said) we don't have any say in what happens because we are irrelevant. Could you really see McMahon or Carter trying to make 10% of the IWC viewers happy over 90% of other fans?

It earns them more profit to make the 90% happy and as much as you may not like it they don't give a crap about our '10%er's' opinions. At the end of the day "It's all about the Money" and TNA/iMpact Wrestling and WWE are earning more catering to the 90%.

 

[Hulk Hogan's Brother]

HA! What we have here is Eric Bischoff trying to cover up his inefficiencies by something that is hardly groundbreaking and is of little consequence to the issue at hand. What Bischoff should be concerned about is actually making Impact Wrestling a quality show. The fact is that it is his show that is still drawng the same ratings it drew about 1 and a half years ago despite spending a ton of money and getting the biggest wrestling star of all time on their show.

The fact is, that almost everything Bischoff and Hogan have tried to do in TNA has been a failure. AJ's heel turn failed and it made a certified main eventer drop down to the midcard. Abyssamania was a horrible failure. The "they" angle had huge holes in logic. Immortal is possibly one of the shittiest factions of all time with their current main eventer being a guy whose claim to fame is being a tag team specialist in a team known for longlevity rather than actual in ring skills. Mr Anderson as "Stone Cold" Mr Anderson failed due to shoddy booking mostly. The last I saw he was actually helping Immortal, the faction that he had promised to take down.

Frankly I think that Bischoff should sit down and look back and think real hard whether his product really panders to the 90% of the crowd or the 10%.

 

[AmericanDragonSW]

Because he was asked a question? What kind of dumb thinking is that?

No, If you look at ALL ratings on Spike. You would see it's the same. But again, the IWC doesn't care about logic and things that add up.


Lol Eric was a failure? Okay. I bet that's why Vince hired him and they got huge ratings due to the storylines as a GM of Raw.

I guess Eric Bischoff's real name must be Ted Turner too.


He got his job because he knows how to product shows and makes TNA look better instead of a amateur looking program like ROH's broadcasts.

If your gonna take crap about someone, use real life facts instead of proving his point.

First off, blow me. And yeah, I'm sure TNA was just ACHING to get him even before Hogan was brought up. ROH isn't trying to compete with anybody. And I'll take their alleged "Amateur looking programming" over TNA's renamed bullshit any day. If Bischoff is so good, let's see him come up with something original. And the alleged "Huge" ratings for Raw, yeah I'm sure it was because of him and not because of the guys that they had at the time that people wanted to see. It's like "Oh screw John Cena. I'm paying my money to see Eric Bischoff." And if Bischoff isn't a failure, than why couldn't he pull WCW out of its downward spiral? And just because the ratings are the same is not a good thing. At some point, Spike will want results and TNA's not gonna get that with Bischoff's bland promos or putting two fossils like Hogan and Flair in the spotlight all the time. So um.....oh yeah. FUCK OFF and get YOUR facts straight, Shit-heel

 

[Rayne]

Cool but that's not the screwjob I'm speaking of.

It was this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMkXhoVoqnk

That show drew a 1.6 in ratings and that segment drew 3 million viewers. The week after drew about 2.7 million viewers but the IWC was so enraged with the screwjob because it was the time WWE had Bret Hart back that TNA dropped the angle and ratings went back to around 1.9 million viewers after the buzz from this was gone.

Again, further example of the bad influence of the computer know it alls. Watch all of the idiots on youtube commenting on that segement and see how many are against it and then look at the numbers I just provided. They hated it, but 3 million people watched it and it was followed by the same amount the next week.

Oh. You meant the Montreal Screwjob. If you want people to know what you're talking about, it's best to call it by the right name. Else people will tend to think you're talking about the thing you named.

TNA's ratings were high at the time because they had *just* started the revamp with Hulk Hogan. There was a lot of interest in what TNA was going to do at the time, because at that point we didn't know that Impact would become the Hulk + Eric Show. Fans didn't stop tuning in because they aborted a single angle in a single program; they stopped tuning in because TNA failed to deliver on the hype that they had promised for their company, which was a recurring theme for them in 2010. If anything, those numbers said that TNA had a hot program and failed to follow through with it. It's a bit over the top to blame it on people posting opinions on the internet; people in television obsess over ratings. High audience share in 18-49 y.o. males is what counts, not what people post on these message boards. If TNA was formulating their program based on internet reaction rather than the actual results they were receiving, they only have themselves to blame for that kind of insanity.

 

[Brian in Austin]

Oh. You meant the Montreal Screwjob. If you want people to know what you're talking about, it's best to call it by the right name. Else people will tend to think you're talking about the thing you named.

TNA's ratings were high at the time because they had *just* started the revamp with Hulk Hogan. There was a lot of interest in what TNA was going to do at the time, because at that point we didn't know that Impact would become the Hulk + Eric Show. Fans didn't stop tuning in because they aborted a single angle in a single program; they stopped tuning in because TNA failed to deliver on the hype that they had promised for their company, which was a recurring theme for them in 2010. If anything, those numbers said that TNA had a hot program and failed to follow through with it. It's a bit over the top to blame it on people posting opinions on the internet; people in television obsess over ratings. High audience share in 18-49 y.o. males is what counts, not what people post on these message boards. If TNA was formulating their program based on internet reaction rather than the actual results they were receiving, they only have themselves to blame for that kind of insanity.

Bingo!!!

I just love this conversation that's taking place regarding the IWC and it's alleged impact, one way or the other, on TNA programming. The fact does remain, despite all the efforts of the TNA honks to spin it positive, that TNA Wrestling has failed to grow it's base. They (Hogan and Co.) have failed to deliver on their promises and I asked the question weeks ago, how long is TNA going to continue to pay Hogan and Co. to continue failing?