Is TNA Turning Into Old Monday Night RAW?

[tripleddd]

I'm based in the Uk so i might be a bit behind but Hogans turned up putting all the belts on the line, rock music at intervals and Bischoffs been dumped in the toilet as opposed to the garbage truck in wwe - has TNA turned into Raw - if it has no problem - fine but surely being an alternative wrestling company it should be offering something different ?

 

[Zeven_Zion]

We had three periods in wrestling

1. Kiddy PG product, colorful characters, no particular obscenity, good wrestling.

2. Obscene Television, half naked women, cursing, poop/vomit, people kissing other people's asses (literrally), blood and gore, good wrestling.

3. A mix of the two. Some edgy television, some PG family television, high regard of mainstream entertainment (songs, references, movies, celebrities).

Regardless of what TNA does it will always resemble one of these three periods in pro wrestling and there will always be at least one confused fan to point it out and ask "y u no try something different". It's easy to ask it, it's hard to answer it. The really short answer is: they don't have to.

Having a show doesn't mean you have to make it absolutely original. Surprise surprise, people don't give a shit if it's a complete crabon copy, somewhat similar or completely different. They just want it to be worth their two hours. There is also this thing in the media world called "logic of safety". Been done for ages, works every time. Logic of safety is simply relying on things that have worked in the past. Not copying them, just using the essence of what they are, their appeal and the audience they appeal to and making them your own.

That is precisely what both the WWE and TNA are doing at this moment. WWE is borrowing from their late 80's and early 90's period by focusing on a more cartoonish, entertainment focuses product as well as incorporating aspects of the attitude era such as wrestlers breaking character, the occasional bad word or something edgy. It's all good.

TNA is borrowing from the attitude era period as well. A bit from WCW, a bit from the WWF, a bit from ECW. Again, nothing wrong with that. Do it, go nuts, just do it right and in a way that people will enjoy it.

Just because an idea is unique doesn't mean it's good. Ring of Honor is providing an absolutely different product than anything else on the American wrestling market and look where they're at - in the shit house. Why? No one wants to fund their project, and for a good reason. There's no money in it. They're not employing the logic of safety and they're being different for the sake of being different. Little do they know, audiences don't exactly like things that are completely new and different. Everyone craves something familiar in a program, wrestling fans ESPECIALLY. Nostalgia is a KEY selling point with us. One of the biggest ones. We all love it.


That being said, the best formula I think is to use things you know worked in the past, put your own spin on them but at the same time offer little unique things that make your program "your" program. Well friend, that's exactly what TNA has been doing. Open Fight Night is a testament for that as well as TNA being the first wrestling company to incorporate SNS' such as Twitter into their programming, the former glorious six sided ring, the reality-TV style of shooting some promos and a plethora of other ideas who, unfortunately, flopped. Not because they were different but because they were just executed badly which ONCE again proves my point that different almost never means good.

Keep using what worked, make it your own and make it good. If you do end up with a miracle in your lap, much like WCW did, then run with it, go wild. If not, don't be too brave, this ain't a science fair.

Think the logic of safety thing is hogwash? Look at the WWE right now. For the last two years they tried new things. We had the Million Dollar Clusterfuck where McMahon would give out money. We had Tough Enough (again). We had the Youth Movement which spawned some of the worst World Champions in the history of this business, bar none. We had the celebrity host. Despite all of these rather unique ideas, two-three years later we witness the WWE relying on what worked in the past. The Rock, Shawn Michaels, Triple H and The Undertaker were the focal points of this year's WrestleMania. On the very NEXT day we had the return of Brock Lesnar. The Rock announced he's going for the Championship. Cena is center stage as he always is and all of those different and unique ideas I mentioned are rendered obsolete.

Logic ... of ... safety. Logic - safety. Key words. Play it smart, play it safe, keep your business above water level. Even WCW with their unlimited stream of money and their unique and revolutionary twist on what ECW did, which translated into WWF doing a twist on WCW did, even they got flushed down the toilet. Why? They didn't play it safe. McMahon however did and his company survived.

TNA is fine, pal. Plenty of things to find enjoyable. Plenty to hate too. That's wrestling for ya. Variety.