Is TNA Picking a Fight it Can't Win?

[Aotearoa (Bushwacker)]

So whats the big deal, you see a billboard and think, oh whats this other wrestling show. You tune in for one week, realise it sux and go back to watching WWE again.

 

[Da Truth]

It's an ok ideal I guess. Personally, I wouldn't do it because it's a big gamble. It's just like sincityblitz said they're not on the level of WCW or the Old ECW. Personally, I don't think they're as good as WCCW. If they're going to go with this all out blitz on the WWE, the writing, booking, and the push of certain wrestlers have got to get better.

 

[[cL]]

But look at it from this point of view. WWE organize tours of their headquarters for fans from all over the world. Do you really things that if a WWE fans cames from Japan or the u.k. and decides to go on a guided tour of WWE headquarters that they will really cares about TNA? I Really Doubt it. The funny things is that most WWE fans are just that WWE fans, there not going to go and watch other wrestling outside WWE programming, so they won't cared really if they see a huge billboard from another wrestling company because they are not going to watch more wrestling, especially from another company. So advertising in Stamford is pretty much a waste of time and pretty much prove how desperate TNA is at getting the WWE attention.
.

I'd have to agree. Only extremely ride or die hard fans of the WWE are going to take a tour of the facility. Having to look at TNA Billboards in the area will do nothing but piss of fans, and make Vince laugh. I don't even think its poking a stick at a bear. This is more like an annoying mosquito..well not even that. Its more like a fly in your house that...no, not even that. Its like....spiderweb in the corner of a high ceiling in your house. You know its there, you'd like for it to be gone, but its not really bothering you so you just leave it alone....Yeah. TNA is kinda like that to Vince.

 

[silrock316]

Really??? Are people REALLY complaining about this? First off let me say I LOVE WWE but I love wrestling in general. I WANT Impact Wrestling to succeed. If you are a WWE fan and you DO NOT want Impact to succeed than you are probably just a wrestling fan of 7 years or less.

Someone tell me ONE good reason why advertising near Vince is wrong? Someone stated that Vince will never mention Impact Wrestling. You are most likely right BUT what if Impact Wrestling does enough just enough to get under Vinces skin and he does mock them on air? That is huge advertisement in itself.

Another thing, WWE fans just seem to be like zombies and don't remember who Eric Bischoff is. All Impact Wrestling is doing is stirring the pot trying to get any kind of attention they can get. Again how is this dumb? Its business. ALL businesses advertise from McDonalds to Kmart. So Impact Wrestling shouldnt advertise because YOU don't like them?

For those with a half of a wrestling brain know what Eric Bischoff is about, for those WWE zombie fans that don't....Eric wrote a book basically saying Controversy creates cash. Putting advertisement right in Vinces face is just a shot at doing just that. Stirring up controversy.

But hell why root for more wrestling when we can just have one on Mondays and Fridays or have one on Thursdays too that may get big enough to give us a war back?

Hey Zombies, if you think back to when WWE had competition with ummm WCW the wrestling business was at its best. If you want WWE to get better, then you best get on board with Impact Wrestling because right now, WWE doesn't have to be hungry.

Still without all that being said, what kind of idiot thinks advertising is BAD? Any advertising at all, how can it be f'n bad? This is soooooo flippin DUMB.

 

[Terminal Sledgehammer]

One thing I would like to know is if Impact is advertising elsewhere. If they aren't the idea is a little dumb, but not completely mind boggling stupid like some people feel.

Assuming they aren't advertising elsewhere the splash is smaller than it could be. The location is obviously effective. as JR wrote, It may be the first time people have heard of Impact. But that is where the stupid comes in, It insures that everyone in Stamford knows what Impact is but now no one else does. If half the signs where moved to another city than the number of people viewing the signs is aproximentaly doubled.

 

[Brian in Austin]

If this form of advertising results in a small but temporary bump in ratings .. then tell me oh Brian Almighty, what type of advertising would lead to a PERMANENT bump in ratings? None. You're confusing the purpose of the billboards. They're out there to raise awareness and possibly have people tune in. That's what advertising is for. To lead them to TNA. It's iMPACT Wrestling's job to keep them there. Simple as that. From a marketing stand point this move is good. The ball is in TNA's court, now run with it.

Dude, why the hostility? Look, I think it's a good move if it results in growth of their brand in that specific market. And I think we're actually saying the same thing here, that if it results in a long term/permanent growth in their market share, that's a win for them. So your point about it being up to TNA to keep those people is exactly right. So, if they don't, then guess who's fault that is?

 

[vampireblade]

Only extremely ride or die hard fans of the WWE are going to take a tour of the facility. Having to look at TNA Billboards in the area will do nothing but piss of fans, and make Vince laugh. I don't even think its poking a stick at a bear. This is more like an annoying mosquito..well not even that. Its more like a fly in your house that...no, not even that. Its like....spiderweb in the corner of a high ceiling in your house. You know its there, you'd like for it to be gone, but its not really bothering you so you just leave it alone....Yeah. TNA is kinda like that to Vince.

not really see this is TNA advertising on wwe turf to get his attention and your wrong of the account of ONLY diehard wwe fans taking tours of their hq what bout wrestling fans from all over that are just that a fan not diehard but still fans nonetheless who want to see this juggernaut and how they put on the shows that they do and really have no clue about impact wrestling they see the billboard and go oh theres another company out there they then check it out and maybe they like what they see and come back the next week for more and more then they tell their friends about impact wrestling they start watching and so on and so on until boom huge spike in ratings and those who watched it because of the billboard become permanent fans

 

[George Steele's Barber]

Hard to believe that Impact Wrestling needs to create "awareness", especially in Stamford or domestically in general. They have the biggest name in wrestling history affiliated with their product and are on a network that previously hosted the biggest show in the business. Not to mentiom Spike has been a huge success for the UFC.

I don't know what it costs to put up some billboards but this sounds like a stunt.

 

[Zeven_Zion]

Dude, why the hostility? Look, I think it's a good move if it results in growth of their brand in that specific market. And I think we're actually saying the same thing here, that if it results in a long term/permanent growth in their market share, that's a win for them. So your point about it being up to TNA to keep those people is exactly right. So, if they don't, then guess who's fault that is?

TNA's of course, but I'm not sure I'm digging your relentless pessimism. My point was that you stated that this form of advertising will only lead to a temporary boost in ratings, which is untrue. It's not the reason, it's the way that leads to the reason.

The only proper way to blame TNA for their ratings not growing is if they're promoted like hell, are on one of the top networks, marketed out the ass and the weekly numbers are still the same (a.k.a the WWE). To me, TNA's current marketing power equals their ratings and the whole thing is a success. I see nobody giving them props for that, instead I see people expecting them to pull 2.0's when that's impossible because the load is not only on TNA's shoulders.

 

[jhauth11]

well on the subject of TNA trying to poke WWE with a stick ... anyone remember TNA's antics at Wrestlemania 24 when they were in Orlando. Like TNA hiring a Plane to fly over the Citurs Bowl with a large TNA Sign on the back of it during the show. That for some 'reason" didnt happen.

 

[Shakin' Abe]

First let me say that I am a BIG TNA fan. IMO, the "Wrestling Matters" marketing is a direct answer to Vince taking the word wrestling out of it's product. Vince has the money to make movies, tv shows, pay for his wife's political dreams and anything else, so by removing the word wrestling from it's product, it won't hurt it. TNA on the other hand is the little engine that could but the WWE mountain is a very steep climb, and I don't know if they aren't just going to fall on their Caboose, like so many times before.

 

[silrock316]

@shakin abe.....of course tnas rebranding is a direct response to WWES dropping of wrestling. To me its a great move. You think there isn't a lot of loyal wrestling fans that are bothered by WWE ignoring wrestling? You are kidding yourself. Impact Wrestling is MILES behind WWE therefore they need any edge possible and trying to get the angered WWE is brilliant for them. They need to start offering business classes in high school bc I swear the fact that any advertising can be viewed as a bad thing stinks of idiocy.

 

[JJ15776]

@shakin abe.....of course tnas rebranding is a direct response to WWES dropping of wrestling. To me its a great move. You think there isn't a lot of loyal wrestling fans that are bothered by WWE ignoring wrestling? You are kidding yourself. Impact Wrestling is MILES behind WWE therefore they need any edge possible and trying to get the angered WWE is brilliant for them. They need to start offering business classes in high school bc I swear the fact that any advertising can be viewed as a bad thing stinks of idiocy.

You're partially right. You started off wrong but you finished strong. Good work.

Don't get me wrong, by itsself this isn't going to change anything. WWE has their fans and TNA has their fans. WWE fans know what they're going to get from the WWE - if they want wrestling, they know to watch ROH instead. It's not like taking the world "wrestling" out of their lexicon has changed anything about what they do. So not so much on the angered WWE fans part.

But it will help TNA, of course. It's advertising. It's attention. Now, they just need to DELIVER. And that's been TNA's problem so far. They've always had potential. Bringing in Kurt Angle got them attention. Bring in Hogan and Bischoff got them a LOT of attention. And they dropped the ball. They've got people talking about them again...can they capitalize this time, and actually keep the attention?

 

[sTyLnK]

If TNA won't go bigger IE bigger arena, more house shows etc they don't have many other options. If you're going to reach out to more people marketing wise than billboards are definitely smart. Putting them up close to WWE headquarters though is pretty funny.

 

[WWEIsLife2]

Im not as much angry about this (sorry TNA fans) as I am annoyed by it more. TNA/Impact Wrestling (whatever they are calling themselves now) is like that 5 year old kid that wants attention and nobody will give it to him. Im glad they are trying to promote themselves but once again are throwing it in WWE's face saying haha Wrestling Matters. I watch TNA as well as WWE but when they do things like this it just makes me shake my head and say Why?

TNA can say Wrestling Matters all they want to but they should prove it first IMO.

 

[VCUpkunk11]

Ok... while competition is good TNA does not stand a chance trying to start a "War" with WWE. I mean lets see TNA has 1 show- Impact on Thursday Nights at 9 EST. WWE has 2 shows (not counting TE, Superstars or NXT)- Raw on Monday Nights at 9 EST... the longest running episonic television show, and Smackdown on Friday Nights at 8 EST. Either one of those shows could handle TNA head to head.

I mean heck WCW back in the days of the Monday Night Wars even with all their talent they had... and all their former WWF talent that was on the WCW roster at the time of it, and yet WWF/WWE still prevailed. TNA just can't compete with WWE, no matter how they "strategically" place billboards or what not.

Not to mention the fact that probabaly 75% if not more of TNA's roster are former WWF/WWE employees. Kurt Angle, Hogan, Bischoff, The Hardys, The Dudleys, Mr. Anderson, RVD, Mickie James, among others. If these 2 were to have a "War" similar to WCW/WWE back in the day... I would be every penny that I have that WWE would come out on top.

I dont have a problem posting billboards like that... after all they payed for the sign, and WWE didnt say that TNA couldnt do it (at least not that we no of). But like one guy said... if TNA isn't advertising elsewhere... then its kind of pointless because while Vince or the WWE people might hate seeing their sign there.. all Vince needs to do is go look at the #'s and he'll see that WWE is still WAY out in front of TNA in terms of Fans, Revenue (from TV, PPV's, Toys & Games) and ticket sales.

So I praise TNA for having the guts to put a sign on WWE property, and around there, and I honestly do hope TNA can do better, but they need to do like WWE and start developing guys in the "minor leagues" so to speak instead of just signing the people who quit, got fired from WWE.

 

[itssoeasy123]

Well, I saw a picture of one of the billboard's. Guess who's on it, Hogan, Angle and Sting.

Yep, thier really moving forward in TNA by putting former WWE employee's on the billboard. But, that does make some sort of sense, if I saw AJ Styles on a billboard I would have no clue what he is.

Still funny how Hogan's still the center on attention on the promo's and such when, in fact, he hasn't been a draw for TNA by any mean's.

 

[Big Ol' Buckta AIDS]

This is really not as big of a deal as it as it being reported. I live right in the Stamford area (westport, only 20 min away) and there is one billboard in the middle of stamford and one on the other side of the mall from the highway for impact. No where even near the highway where you can see WWE headquarters and defiantly nowhere near where Vince's commute would be from. I don't know why it's being reported as these billboards being anywhere in WWE's face.

 

[Rock Bottom]

The big issue for TNA is if they don't aim high then they can never elevate themselves above their current status. Yeah they need to make sure the product is up to scratch but at the same time they are doing this they need to make it worthwhile and try to promote their product as well. At the moment they can please their current fans but then what? How do they make people take notice of the TNA?

 

[Minecrafted]

Ok just shedding some light on what most of you are saying that this is a good move for TNA or that its horrible. Maybe its a big deal in America but for international fans like myself.....i had no friggin clue that TNA existed until earlier this year when i started marking out and joining forums like this. Seriously most of my friends watch all of WWE shows whether it is online or on cable yet nobody cares about TNA, at least here.

I thhink its the network, USA has some of the best programming and its available on most basic packages, spike is not. And tna is really trashy imo, i wouldn't mind watching angle, hogan etc but tna just sounds like a horrible company to me. I may be wrong because i have never watched an episode of impact, not by choice but because internationally USA network and wwe programming is just huge and tna isnt available for me

 

[Rock Bottom]

Ok just shedding some light on what most of you are saying that this is a good move for TNA or that its horrible. Maybe its a big deal in America but for international fans like myself.....i had no friggin clue that TNA existed until earlier this year when i started marking out and joining forums like this. Seriously most of my friends watch all of WWE shows whether it is online or on cable yet nobody cares about TNA, at least here.

I thhink its the network, USA has some of the best programming and its available on most basic packages, spike is not. And tna is really trashy imo, i wouldn't mind watching angle, hogan etc but tna just sounds like a horrible company to me. I may be wrong because i have never watched an episode of impact, not by choice but because internationally USA network and wwe programming is just huge and tna isnt available for me

Not that I tune in that regularly myself at the moment but TNA is quite popular here in the UK. They draw higher ratings than WWE, all be it TNA are on free to view TV and WWE is on a service you need to pay for, but it says something that people tune in to it.

 

[Minecrafted]

@rock Bottom its the opposite here xD i can only speak for myself but the cable company that provides tv service to most of the caribbean islands don't even have spike tv as an option while usa and syfy are basic so wwe is standard to us here

 

[Dizzy]

Do you all even think? at all? What would TNA gain out of marketing that towards WWE? That would make no sense. Whatsoever.

Stamford, CT has a LARGE amount of wrestling fans. TNA did a few shows that drew alot of fans within the area. Is it stupid now?

Are you all really getting mad at TNA for ADVERTISING? ARE YOU SERIOUS?

WWE can show ads for SmackDown during Impact commercials, WWE can have shows in Orlando and it's a problem for TNA to put up a fucking billboard.

I hope you all actually realize, this is beyond hypocrisy. Does Vince own Stamford now?

 

[UFOcalling]

I think this new advertising campaign is a step in the right direction for TNA, but none of it really matters unless they have an entire game-plan in place. Getting the WWE (as a company) to acknowledge your existence doesn't matter AT ALL...TNA needs to focus on stealing the WWE's fans, which TNA has already tried (on a much smaller scale).

This ad campaign literally means nothing, unless TNA begins to travel (put Impact on in different cities, like WWE does - and WCW did), and unless they begin to put at least one live show per month on television.

When the "network executive" was announced & Chyna made her Impact debut, the whole IWC already knew about it because spoilers were announced more than a week before the show aired on TV. If those surprises were announced live on television instead, it could have meant bigger ratings for TNA.

Bischoff was lucky when he worked for WCW. He made WCW successful because Nitro was live (while WWE was still taped) & because he had Ted Turner's money to steal established stars from other companies. The situation is completely reversed now (WWE is live, and have a bigger budget than TNA does), so they really have no leg to stand on when it comes to competition.

Bischoff was a pioneer that completely changed the wrestling world 15 years ago, but his method(s) of doing so won't work anymore. TNA's current creative team also seem like they're relying on old tricks that aren't working, so I believe that TNA (the company as a whole) is focusing their efforts on the wrong strategy.

TNA needs to stop trying to compete with WWE, because they're putting the cart before the horse. They need to worry about having a better product first -- which they're completely capable of doing. They need to stop worrying so much about the WWE and start worrying about having the best storylines, the best in-ring action, the best damn wrestling show on television...unfortunately, they're too worried about "sticking it to Vince" to make that happen.

 

[TUFFY54]

You know what the best part is? McMahon's stupid ass would have to look at that shit every time he goes to work. TNA - 1, WWE - Zilch.

When I read something like this it blows my mind. I honestly cant decide if someone would say something this silly, or they are just trying to get heat on a message board.

WE'RE TALKING ABOUT A DAMN BILLBOARD! How the hell does that make "TNA-1, WWE-Zilch". Lets take a look at a few more stats.

Last month WWE sold out 70,000 seat in the Georgia Dome, and had about a MILLION buys for Wrestlemania. TNA has 900 people at it's PPV's on a soundstage. It might be lucky to get 3,000 for Bound For Glory.

WWE manages to sell out 15 - 20 thousand seat arenas every week for RAW. TNA, again, has 900 people at Impact.

RAW has four times the views that Impact does. Figure in Smackdown, and the WWE has 6-7 times the weekly viewers that TNA does.

TNA Impact the video game received mediocre reviews and sold about a million copies. Smackdown VS RAW has always received positive reviews and usually sells about 3.5 million units a year.

RAW has been on Mondays nights for 18 years. Most people stick to their diets longer than TNA was on Monday nights.

WWE Magazine has a circulation in the millions. These magazines are seen on the shelves at every grocery store, book store, and gas station. TNA put up a few fucking billboards.

I could go on, but a blind person could see my point. Yet, some TNA marks continue to call Vince an idiot and say things like TNA-1, WWE- Zilch.

Lets be honest, the score will always be this:

WWE - EVERYTHING, TNA - NOTHING