Foley on Twitter/TNA Attendance
- Thread starter Brian in Austin
- Start date
Brian in Austin
Getting Noticed By Management
Over 1000 in the U.S.? For a house show? And you think that's good? Wow!
Brian in Austin
Getting Noticed By Management
It's only good if it results in more tickets sold for house shows (ahem) and more PPV buys. And by all indications, neither is happening. I like TNA Wrestling. I like having a choice besides the WWE to watch. I'm a wrestling fan, so I want TNA Impact to be successful.
But the fact remains that bad publicity is not always good publicity. TNA Impact needs all the help (good help) it can get in order to survive. I can tell you firsthand that business in todays' world is fragile. You're one phone call away from being out of work. Point is, Mick shouldn't have said what he did, or he wouldn't have apologized for the remark.
Wow, a facetious comment. Smart.
Of course it isn't good but isn't this the point. It's better than an empty arena.
Brian in Austin
Getting Noticed By Management
Well yes. 1000 people is better than an empty arena. But if TNA's goal is 1000 people, then they've lowered the bar so far as to make it practically impossible to fail.
A good leader sets goals, hires people, and gives clear direction and feedback that allows those people to achieve more than they thought they could.
Given what we see from TNA in some regards, it seems like they keep lowering the bar to make it seem as those they are achieving great heights when in reality they are little more than a blip on the radar.
Now, I know people on here (some anyway) like to say that some of us who comment here think we know more about wrestling than those booking matches. I beg to differ. It's not that at all. It's just that some of us who have worked in business for the better part of our professional lives understand the basic principles of business. We understand that when you spend money on frivolous things like, say (Chyna, Tommy Dreamer, Jeff Hardy, and the like), that you are wasting money you can't get back. And what's the benefit? A short term bump in tv ratings? A few more PPV buys? Is that REALLY their goal? Small incremental improvement? Was THAT why they brought in Hogan and Bischoff? Small and incremental improvement? If so, WOW!!! Then heck yes, give me a job there cause I could scarcely do worse.
Think about this for a moment. At one moment in time here's what TNA had.
1. Eric Bischoff
2. Hulk Hogan
3. Kurt Angle
4. Sting
5. Jeff Hardy
6. Matt Hardy
7. The Dudley Boyz
8. Awesome Kong
9. TBP as a tag team
10. MCMG
11. AJ Styles
12. The Fallen Angel Christopher Daniels
13. America's Most Wanted
14. Robert (now Bobby) Roode
15. Abyss
16. Jeff Jarrett
17. Kevin Nash
18. XPac
19. Christian
They had all this talent and more and the best they can manage is a .1 or .2 in television ratings? ReallY???
And their PPV buyrates aren't good either.
To say they've underachieved against their talent level would be an understatement. So it doesn't take an expert in analysis to understand they've failed to make any real difference with all they have/had to work with.
shattered dreams
Hexagonal Hedonist
There is no magic ratings bullet. If you think there is then you are dumber than I thought which I am a not even sure is physically possible at this point.
Brian in Austin
Getting Noticed By Management
See I understand there is no magic bullet. I knew that when they hired EB and HH. It's EB and HH and those running TNA that don't seem to understand that. Not only that, but their continued throwing of shaghetti at the wall to see what sticks that serves as evidence that even they don't know, at times, what to do.
Imagine being in a production meeting with these folks and they toss out the idea that they'd like to bring Dreamer back in to turn on AJ Styles under the guise of his somehow being indebted to Ray. Then a week or two later he makes the full turn, saying he now hates the fans. Now, let's consider for just a moment the fact that Tommy Dreamer has NEVER been relevant in any major organization. (no pre-WWE ECW wasn't a major organization.) Not to mention his age and how injury prone he is, wrestling against someone probably 10 years his junior and with enormous physical talent. Does that make any sense to you?
Let's try another. Ric Flair. Allegedly brought in to teach AJ how to be the TNA Champ, forms Fortune, has a mini-feud with Jay Lethal, whereby he puts over Lethal by allowing Lethal to rip his clothes off him on national tv and then beat him to a pulp. Where is Lethal now?
Abyss. Great big man. They have him as a heel who escapes the mentorship of James Mitchell, turn face, then heel, then face, then heel. Holy Moly, this guy probably has mental issues for real by now he's been turned so many times in the last 2-3 years. He carries around a 2 x 4 loaded with nails and we're supposed to believe he nearly killed RVD with it. Only RVD is back within what 8-10 weeks? If that? Only to have Crimson bury the thing in Abyss's back. And he missed even less time than RVD did.
Now I get that for a lot of this that we as fans are supposed to suspend our disbelief. But come on.....really? RVD got drawn and quartered and survived? And waterboarding is torture? Okay...sure!! LoL
There are a lot of other storylines I could bring up to show how silly some of the writing is but I hope you get the point.
Which is: For all their efforts at shock value, they can't move the needle. Now they find themselves stagnating and trying to figure out what to do next.
What I said long ago was they should build their brand around young talent and let the fans get to know them and the stories they can tell on tv. Problem is, and this is where it gets interesting considering what Bischoff tweeted today, that fans love the name brands don't they? Budweiser, Nike, Microsoft, Apple, Bischoff and Hogan. Now if the IWC (i.e. the fans) are irrelevant, how in the world have Bischoff and Hogan survived this long in the business? Exactly: Because the fans, to include the IWC, DO matter!
So when folks like EB, HH, Sting, Foley, Angle, Christian, Kevin Nash, Xpac, and Chyna can't move the needle, what does it really say about TNA as a product?
shattered dreams
Hexagonal Hedonist
So there is no magic bullet but they are a failure for not finding one 
It's a magic remote, silly. Not a bullet.
Brian in Austin
Getting Noticed By Management
So there is no magic bullet but they are a failure for not finding one
Meaning that for all their efforts to improve their product, the results show they've failed to move the product forward.
Yeah, because expanding overseas is moving to the left. Not forward.
shattered dreams
Hexagonal Hedonist
Define forward.
Brian in Austin
Getting Noticed By Management
Forward meaning improving their overall product resulting in improved television ratings, house show sells, and PPV buyrates. Now as an aside to that, once their product improves enough, people begin to respond to ancillary issues like merchandise, buying t shirts, hats, sweatbands, posters, and dvds. This is a revenue stream that allows them to spend more money on again, improving the overall product, be that expanding into markets they are not yet visiting, hiring more talent, or holding their PPV's in bigger venues like MSG to attract a big market audience.
Brian in Austin
Getting Noticed By Management
To address your issue of their going overseas, they currently have 3 events scheduled, all for next year, Jan. 26, 27, and 28. There are no dates currently on their site to go overseas for the remainder of this year.