iMPACT! Going on the Road Again

[Baximus]

Wrestling Observer is reporting that TNA will do a double taping of Impact again.

This time, it will be on April 1st in Pikeville, KY, so that means the two shows leading up to Lockdown in Cincinnati will be out of the IZ!

While it hasn't been officially announced, TNA just cancelled their March 31st House Show in Corbin, KY so I think that's the writing on the wall.

I guess having 3,200 people show up in Fayetteville has them realizing they can actually make some money on the road?

Apparently, the goal is to make Impact on the road a monthly event, so perhaps we're finally seeing TNA stretch their legs out into a greater world. Great news.

 

[AntiChristDeicide]

Its good news for them to be able to take impact on the road. Even if its only at least once a month, its better than nothing. If only they would come to Montreal (where i live) i would be happy.

 

[MachoMadness1988]

That is AWSOME news!! I was thinking that it would be really hard to go back to the iMPACT! Zone all the time again after finally seeing iMPACT on the road in North Carolina. This is pretty quick, they must've liked what they saw in Fayetteville. I read they drew around 3,500 people.

The road to Lockdown will be epic, as will Lockdown '11. That is great to have the two iMPACTs leading into a PPV be on the road. Can't wait! Very happy iMPACT is FINALLY starting to go on the road! This is exactally what TNA needs to be doing. I feel the iMPACT Zone's crowd hurts the product. I am so happy they are getting closer and closer to getting out of that place for good!

 

[Baximus]

That is AWSOME news!! I was thinking that it would be really hard to go back to the iMPACT! Zone all the time again after finally seeing iMPACT on the road in North Carolina. This is pretty quick, they must've liked what they saw in Fayetteville. I read they drew around 3,500 people.

The draw number is about right: The pictures that I saw (and one nice video, which I'd post here but the title is a spoiler to Jeff Hardy's opponent for the show) have two completely full sides to the arena and the camera-side is about half full. With the Crown Coliseum cut in half, that amounts to about 3,500 people.

And I think EVERYONE ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH agrees that the quicker you get away from those morons in the Impact Zone (I went and they got angry with my friends & I for stealing their TV time with our big RVD signs the night he won the title) the better TNA will be.

How do you know who is over and who isn't if the fans are the same 50 idiots every show?

 

[JaredJammer]

An iMPACT! a month on the road is a nice start. Still, Pikeville, Kentucky seems to be a strange place to choose to hold a taping. It's population is less than 7,000 and it's at least an hour's drive from even small metro areas (Huntington, West Virginia─Lexington, Kentucky is about two-hours away).

 

[onewayleeway69]

3,500 times say 20 dollas per ticket well you do the math. The stars get payed anyways so that wont come out of it just the cost for travel and the arena and tna should be laffing in profit. If there taping impact aswell it brings extra intrest from fans and the more intrest from fans the more theyll tape on the road. This could be the start of something beauitful tna as it could lead to 2 tapings a month then 3 then 4. And coz there on the road more fans can visit craving some impact! I like how tna are not tryn 2 run be4 they can walk with it and wish them the best! lets do this tna lets get out of the shitty impact zone!

 

[Dzone]

A monthly event eh? sounds like TNA wants every PPV outside the iMPACT zone... in all seriousness they should literally do everything outside the iMPACT zone if you ask me. Why not make the iMPACT zone a once a year stage and make it the true home of TNA, BUT have all shows outside it? Like the idea?

 

[Rayne]

3,500 times say 20 dollas per ticket well you do the math. The stars get payed anyways so that wont come out of it just the cost for travel and the arena and tna should be laffing in profit. If there taping impact aswell it brings extra intrest from fans and the more intrest from fans the more theyll tape on the road. This could be the start of something beauitful tna as it could lead to 2 tapings a month then 3 then 4. And coz there on the road more fans can visit craving some impact! I like how tna are not tryn 2 run be4 they can walk with it and wish them the best! lets do this tna lets get out of the shitty impact zone!

That's $70,000, which isn't crap. That's also assuming TNA can fill a 3,500 seat house, which indications are they cannot right now.

I'm a *huge* supporter of TNA going on the road, but not because there's some secret stream of revenue out there that they've just been ignoring up until now. Going on the road is expensive. Moving a television set around America involves renting a fleet of trucks, the workers to assemble and dissemble the set, and that alone will shoot you way past the cost of tickets, much of which has to be split with the arena and ticketing agencies. The reason why TNA goes on the road is to bring the TNA experience to the fans. One of the lures of the WWE is that they're in your area 2-4 times a year. You can go participate in the "WWE experience", but right now the "TNA experience" comes off as a TV studio in Orlando with a bunch of jaded smarks high on their own self-importance- which it isn't.

Why do you 'bring the TNA experience to the fans'? The more you invest the fans in the product, the more they talk about it and give you the best kind of advertising, word of mouth. The live shows appear more intense; compare a WWE crowd, which pops whenever you show John Cena on the big screen, to a TNA crowd, which can't decide who they're supposed to be cheering.

TNA can't be "just a television show", they have to be a fan experience. Otherwise, they can't have the kind of growth they're interested in. So good for TNA for getting on the road more.

 

[Captain Jive]

The show in Fayetteville was great (I was there). Tons of fans were there, it looked much bigger than the Impact Zone, just the noise from the crowd alone made it WAY better, we were going apeshit the whole night. I can't wait to see how it turns out on TV Thursday. I'm glad it turned out the way it did and it's giving them the confidence or whatever it is to make them want to do it more, they just desperatley need to be out of Orlando. And also, the tickets were more than 20, ours were 30 a piece and we weren't exactly front row.

 

[DX98folife]

Pikeville eh? a certain Reviewer from these boards lives near there for a possible in depth review of an Impact eh? lol I kid

However I'm glad to see this is concept TNA is welcoming. They don't need to be a new place every week, however getting out of Orlando is going to help them build a well diverse fan base. Provided its all handled correctly of course. I've never heard of Pikeville however, its within hours of driving distance of bigger cities and to be honest, as a traveler for Wrestling events of all kind(Anytime they are ever near New England I make it a point to drive the distances to make it to shows) its A LOT easier to get into smaller cities then it is to make rounds in Boston,Providence,New York,Stamford(personal experiences) etc etc. If you advertise well enough you'll attract!

The audiences in Kentucky can only hope by then Hogan will have had his 20th back surgery and finally call it a career

 

[The 5th Horsemen]

Tickets for the Fayetteville show were $60, $40, and $20. Add in merchandise purchases and I'd say TNA probably did ok with 3,500 people in attendance.

 

[DX98folife]

The show in Fayetteville was great (I was there). Tons of fans were there, it looked much bigger than the Impact Zone, just the noise from the crowd alone made it WAY better, we were going apeshit the whole night. I can't wait to see how it turns out on TV Thursday. I'm glad it turned out the way it did and it's giving them the confidence or whatever it is to make them want to do it more, they just desperatley need to be out of Orlando. And also, the tickets were more than 20, ours were 30 a piece and we weren't exactly front row.

Hate to be off-topic (you can PM me this answer if you don't wanna spam the topic) but how were your seats? 30 dollars is *still* a good price if it was floor or the lower parts of the lower sections. Also was it true they only use half the arena instead of the 80% or something that *other* company uses for venues?

 

[Megadeth]

I hope this is true. I live on pretty much the complete opposite side of Kentucky, but if they are recording impact in Pikeville, I may very well consider making the 5 hour or so trip. Personally if the are going to do impact in KY, it seems like it would have made more sense to do it in Louisville or Lexington, but TNA seems to go to Pikeville quite a bit when they are in KY. I think this will be like the 4th or 5th time they have been there, opposed to I believe they have only been in Louisville twice, so I am assuming it is because they typically draw pretty well there. It could be because it is a smaller town, I dont think WWE ever runs there, so it could be because they don't get any big shows in the area often people are more likely to go the few times they do, I'm not sure. But either way, hopefully it is a sign TNA will be taking impact on the road much more in the future. Now if only they would start doing it live.

Edit: I just checked TNA's website, and ticketmaster is still currently selling tickets for the Corbin, KY show despite that according to the OP, the Wrestling Observer claiming TNA cancelled this show. TNA's website is still also listing the impact tapings as being at the impact Zone for when this would be. So it's possible that if it just happened ticketmaster hasnt pulled it yet, but until they do, I am a little hesitant to take this as fact yet, and personally I wont be looking into buying tickets until TNA officially announces this.

 

[Baximus]

I believe the reasoning behind going to Pikeville is the fact that they sold over 4,000 tickets to a House Show there in 2008. Furthermore, they already have an event going on there on the 1st anyway, so it is easier to 'plug in' an Impact on that date.

With the strong back story, well-timed show date & tickets already sold, I imagine this should be a success as well.


Re: the poster who was at the Fayetteville taping........Was the crowd as excited for the 2nd taping as they were for the first? Also, was there a big military presence in the crowd? I ask because if there were a lot of men in uniform you have to believe that TNA papered the event. If not, that's a legit 3,500 person show.

With an average ticket price around $35, TNA cleared well over $120,000 in revenue from tickets alone. Add in merchandise and I bet they might have hit $140k...........

 

[CuddleBuns84]

Not a damn thing wrong with taking to whole show on the road. They don't have to travel the United States, but getting out of the Impact Zone, is a really smart move.

Especially if they are bringing in 100'000 plus pure show.

Then on top of that, if they market the hell out of the company, and get people knowing that they are coming to town, then it increases their growth rate.

More road shows equals a good growth rate for TNA.

 

[CuddleBuns84]

Not a damn thing wrong with taking to whole show on the road. They don't have to travel the whole United States, but getting out of the Impact Zone, is a really smart move.

Especially if they are bringing in 100'000 plus pure show.

Then on top of that, if they market the hell out of the company, and get people knowing that they are coming to town, then it increases their growth rate.

More road shows equals a good growth rate for TNA.

 

[Post]

This shows that TNA is realizing that they have the potential to grow and expand. By getting outside of Orlando for TV tapings they will gain exposure and recognition. Yes, their growth will be small at first, but they will have to take baby steps initially to get loyal followers in different cities.

If fans can see the great quality of wrestling live, then quite possibly they would become hooked. I live near Detroit and I can only remember TNA coming around once or twice. I would pay good money to see them live...

In comparison, ROH has been here 3 times in the past year and a half, and I have shelled out $40 each time to be there. But more importantly, I became a ROH fan. I now follow them and will be loyal to them. I am already a TNA fan so get on the road, come to my town, and dammit take my money!

 

[Souls On Fire]

I hope this news is true. As a TNA fan I am looking forward to seeing how Impact comes across on TV this week. I believe the product will appear refreshed being in front of an arena crowd. My only issue with this being the plan is why cancel the show in Corbin? The Corbin show is on a Thursday night and if TNA wanted to get a little ballsy I why not go for a live Impact on that night and then tape the second episode the next night. A live taping is what they truely need to experiment with as I believe without spoilers it will help they're ratings go up. Unfortunately the only way to really know would be to do it for a month or two as ratings may not change if it's only one week live. All in all this is still a good thing for TNA...

 

[Kenny Powers]

Pikeville eh? a certain Reviewer from these boards lives near there for a possible in depth review of an Impact eh? lol I kid

However I'm glad to see this is concept TNA is welcoming. They don't need to be a new place every week, however getting out of Orlando is going to help them build a well diverse fan base. Provided its all handled correctly of course. I've never heard of Pikeville however, its within hours of driving distance of bigger cities and to be honest, as a traveler for Wrestling events of all kind(Anytime they are ever near New England I make it a point to drive the distances to make it to shows) its A LOT easier to get into smaller cities then it is to make rounds in Boston,Providence,New York,Stamford(personal experiences) etc etc. If you advertise well enough you'll attract!

The audiences in Kentucky can only hope by then Hogan will have had his 20th back surgery and finally call it a career

Yeah believe it or not there is actually a poster on here that actually lives in Pikeville. Yours truly. I know, most people that aren't from Kentucky have never heard of such a place. Usually for the past 3 years TNA has done a house show here. We are lucky if WWE comes once a year to do a Smackdown house show. Pikeville is about 2 hours from bigger cities like Lexington KY, Huntington and Charleston WV.

I can't believe that TNA would actually be filming Impact in Pikeville, but if that is true I am pretty excited. I've always wanted to see a live Impact and have always enjoyed the house shows. I'm not getting my hopes up yet. I'm surprised TNA continues to come here considering that only a couple of hundred people show up. I will definitely be there whether it is a house show or Impact taping, and will give a detailed review.

 

[Shocky]

It's about damn time. The Impact zone is shit, and makes me not want to watch Impact. Seriously, these guys make the ECW Arena look like Madison Square Garden in comparison. The Impact Zone crowd is probably the worst crowd in all of wrestling, if not all of organized sports. A bunch of fucking morons, straight up.

I've seen some questioning about the Pikeville, KY location. I remember when Pikeville got their first TNA show, and the results were all positive. There is nothing to do in Eastern Kentucky, and the fact that they are going to get a TV taping is only going to make that crowd rabid. TNA was happy with the house show crowd, that crowd will be pumped for TV.

As stated earlier, the more shows away from that hell hole known as the Impact Zone, the better.

 

[Derrtown]

This is great news. 52 impacts a year with 26 being on the road? Im in heaven. The iMPACT Zone has worn out its welcome long ago. Lets hope for more success because more success = more impacts on the road and more PPVs on the road.