Jan 4th- Monday Night Raw vs TNA iMPACT

[Dagger Dias]

RAw has been horrible, I mean Thunder horrible, so I will give TNA a chance that night and watch the product.

Maybe this will force McMahon to stop that lame guest host thing.

I hate the guest hosts too, probably more than anyone since I devoted my signature to making fun of them.... but even if everyone who posts on this forum were to join you and not watch Raw that night, Raw would still do better than Impact because people have the option of just catching a rerun a few days later on thursday.... and because of that, Raw will end up doing a lot better that night in terms of the viewers. If you had the choice between a show you can see that night only, or a show that you can see on two different times that week, most people would go for the one they can only see that night. See what I mean? Exactly.

 

[jaymcfad]

Hi all bit of a newbie to forums. The guest host thing may be the worst idea since having todd grisham commentate on smackdown! Or bringing back Vickie G on smackdown. TNA loving the face Kurt Angle! Why? He is athletically speaking the wrestling worlds Randy Couture but with the angle personality TNA wins if it books him in good matches. WWE's trump card? Randy Orton Turn him face and you've got the ratings in the bag. (P.S> I am a brit so go easy on me)

 

[EStreet]

2 Quick thoughts:

1. this LIVE IMPACT works no matter what IF AND ONLY IF it gets the attention of the WWE..if the WWE makes one notion that it is responding (and that could be so much as extending RAW an extra hour on USA) then we have a game on our hand beacuse despite what we say, and Vince says, it is a sign that WWE feels threatened and needs to respond.

2. IF (as rumored) The Rock comes on Raw to guest host Monday Night the 4th of January..well we once again have Icon vs. Icon and just like last time..The Rock will win...more people will tune in to see The Rock return to WWE (the biggest promotion in wrestling) than an old Hogan on the little engine that could TNA

 

[psykohurricane]

I'm quite happy to see that TNA is confident enough to try to go head to head with Raw but let's face it, i don't see them doing to much damage to Raw's ratings and here why

They already announce that they will replay this show in the regualar time slot which means that if The WWE decides to do a 3 hour Raw on the same night, which i think they will, People will have to choose between watching Raw who doesn't have a replay or IMPACT who does have a replay. Personally if i had to choose i would go and Watch Raw and then on thursday watch the 3-hour IMPACT replay.


Going head to Head with Raw on january 4th is a good move for them and i hope it works out for them even if they already screw it up by announcing the replay.

 

[wolvdog316]

Ya know, I get sick and fucking tired of everybody making excuses as to WHY TNA sucks. Or why their ratings are so bad. It's not lazy. That's one of the dumbest excuses I have EVER heard. People will tune in to what entertains them, period. Am I believe that wrestling fans are lazy now, but weren't back in 1996 when WCW took off? Fans of 24, or CSI, or Law and Order don't keep watching year after year, because they are lazy.

Wrestling fans, myself included, DOES want some competition, but TNA and Hogan isn't it.

And on the subject of ratings suicide, I'm not sure. I know this. A 1.1 program going up against a 3.5 program can't be good for the 1.1

TNA is going to realize Hogan isn't the draw he once was. And that he fed them a bunch of bullshit, and tricked his way into running things. I'm not even sure Austin would sell great in todays wrestling world. Rock would, but that's because he is so mainstream right now

 

[HBK-aholic]

TNA simply aren't good enough yet. I'm not saying they're bad - they've done a remarkable job in becoming so big in the short time they've been a company. But they are ahead of themselves here, I don't believe they have any chance of being a major problem to the WWE's usual ratings. That's especially true if The Rock is the Guest Host. He's such a major star he'll draw in even non-fans, as well as bringing back the audience that have stopped watching but were fans during his era.

 

[a0161613]

This is going to be a huge night no matter what happens and if WWE bring in The Rock for a three hour special, I can't see it going really well for TNA.

BUT they clearly have decided to go all out and as a fan, I appreciate that beyond anything.

What do you think that they can possibly do to match WWE, bring in ratings and promote their product. A product which I feel is superior in many aspects.

I could book the whole show in my head but without doubt there are some things which are more important than others.

X Division match to open the show. Something fast to get the crowd going, maybe throw a gimmick or a title change in there but let them do what they do best. I think it's a tactic they use at house shows so there is proven logic to it.

Hogan inring segment - you could argue this should open but the match can get the crowd hot for Hogan and build it up. I think the Foley/Nash thing needs a payoff so involvement from those two or just Foley would be mic gold.And Sting too. This could be awesome and match any of Rocky's TV time.

This could go another way. Hogan could force Eric Young to defend the Global title against SuperMex and the British invasion to face MCMG and Beer Money. Doing something like that makes booking sense if as things seem, Hogan is coming in as a babyface in power.

End with Hogan in the ring with Styles. Have AJ main event the show, defend the belt, maybe in a PPV rematch and Hogan can do commentary. he can then come into the ring after and raise AJ's hand. Instant rub, seal of approval, call it what you will.

Oh make a load of new merchandise and charge people to get in the iMPACT zone. There is no way it won't be full anyways. May as well make some cash with it .

 

[HollywoodLuthias]

I'm a big of TNA....I am excited about this because this will eventually bring about the best in WWE which I've been waiting for a very long time.

I find it interesting that Vince was not pleased with Hogan's announcement taking place at MSG. The big picture is not so much it's a TNA announcement, but it took place at MSG and Vince's displeasure let me know he is going to take a more serious look at his competition probably for the first time. I for one will be I will be watching TNA if they get the rock call me old school but I would rather watch hogan and I do hope it is Hollywood Hogan black and white not the red and yellow

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Regardless of how it turns out, the fact that it's got people excited and talking is something in and of itself. TNA is testing the waters I believe in order to see exactly how much of a threat it atcually is to the WWE. Dixie Carter has said that she wants TNA to be the #1 wrestling company in the world, so I think January 4, 2010 could be a monumental day for TNA one way or the other.

Personally, I can't help but wonder if Dixie Carter is ultimately trying to decide whether or not she wants to be part of TNA for the long haul by doing this. Like I said, she wants TNA to be #1 despite the fact that TNA's overall audience is only a fraction of the WWE's audience. Impact isn't going to outscore Raw on Jan 4 but, depending upon how Impact actually scores against Raw, it wouldn't surprise me if Dixie wanted out if the show doesn't draw well. I think that Dixie Carter's mentality towards this situation is that Hulk Hogan is still the biggest thing in wrestling and if TNA can't get the numbers she wants with him as part of the company, then I think she's going to be very discouraged. I might be wrong, it's just a feeling I've got. Carter knows about Hogan's past as a huge draw, the biggest of them all, but part of me can't help but wonder if Carter actually thinks that Hogan can pull in those mega numbers like he did way back when.

 

[sammysrh]

Wow I think this is going to be GREAT. But the only thing wrong is I will have to switch from watching two shows to three shows on monday night. I will have to watch Raw TNA and NFL. This is going to be insane. But yeah I like that you told me it is a SECOND show .. I thought that it would be the replacement of thursday nights. But my point being is The rock guest hosting on 1/4/10 vs a new monday night tna is just going to be sick. I mean look at all of the competition each has to offer. I hope that wwe decides to break the pg rating and ACTUALLY have good shows.

 

[mayhem]

TNA Impact v WWE Raw will be a great day for pro wrestling after many void years of not seeing two companies face off head to head against each other. I commend TNA for rising so fast to becoming a mainstream, valid wrestling promotion with a top roster.

However with TNA only garnering a 1.0 rating on Thursdays and going head to head with a 16 year old flagship programme in the timeslot usually occupied by the WWE i think TNA will find it very difficult to get anywhere close to WWEs rating on Jan 4th. Not even with Hulk Hogan.

Also with Impact being 3 hours long TNA has an additional hour required to keep their viewers hooked in and Raw has the prestige of being a show produced by a company with a long and rich history whereas Impact has been around since only 2005.

I think TNA Impact will pull off the better wrestling for the evening as they intend to have a starstuded lineup to test the waters but the WWEs huge fanbase will sadly overpower TNAs hopes of getting a rating which will closely match Raws rating. Nevertheless a really interesting day for wrestling fans on Jan 4th.

 

[It's Damn Real!]

TNA Impact v WWE Raw will be a great day for pro wrestling after many void years of not seeing two companies face off head to head against each other. I commend TNA for rising so fast to becoming a mainstream, valid wrestling promotion with a top roster.

However with TNA only garnering a 1.0 rating on Thursdays and going head to head with a 16 year old flagship programme in the timeslot usually occupied by the WWE i think TNA will find it very difficult to get anywhere close to WWEs rating on Jan 4th. Not even with Hulk Hogan.

Also with Impact being 3 hours long TNA has an additional hour required to keep their viewers hooked in and Raw has the prestige of being a show produced by a company with a long and rich history whereas Impact has been around since only 2005.

I think TNA Impact will pull off the better wrestling for the evening as they intend to have a starstuded lineup to test the waters but the WWEs huge fanbase will sadly overpower TNAs hopes of getting a rating which will closely match Raws rating. Nevertheless a really interesting day for wrestling fans on Jan 4th.

I'm not so sure the intentions are to actually get the rating off the bat that the WWE is pulling in on average (3.5) as much as it simply is to increase the awareness to new wrestling fans/would-be wrestling fans or borderline/teetering/fringe WWE fans that there's now an alternative to McMahon's mediocrity.

Even a marginal increase in ratings would prove that the risk was in fact worth it, because although they didn't sky-rocket, they raised a few eyebrows in the process, and that's all they really need. The rest will follow suit by means of word of mouth, the internet, etc.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Also with Impact being 3 hours long TNA has an additional hour required to keep their viewers hooked in and Raw has the prestige of being a show produced by a company with a long and rich history whereas Impact has been around since only 2005.

Well, the thing about 3 hour shows is that they tend to draw worse than the 2 hour shows. The 3 hour Raw a few weeks ago only drew a 3.2 in the ratings and the overall rating of of the show was dragged down by the first hour. The standard running time for that episode, 9-11 pm, drew about a 3.6 while the first hour drew only a 2.6. Also, the one time that TNA did a 3 hour show, it was also a disappointment ratings wise. Granted, that could possibly have been the fact that the third hour was at 11 pm and consisted only of tapes and interviews conducted with wrestlers as a prelude to an upcoming ppv. From what I understand right now, Raw isn't planning on doing a 3 hour show on Jan 4 and are just going on like business as usual. I'm sure they'll put up a very strong line up for that night in particular, but the WWE doesn't seem to be worried from what I've been reading today.

I think TNA Impact will pull off the better wrestling for the evening as they intend to have a starstuded lineup to test the waters but the WWEs huge fanbase will sadly overpower TNAs hopes of getting a rating which will closely match Raws rating. Nevertheless a really interesting day for wrestling fans on Jan 4th.

I don't know about that. It's possible of course, but the WWE is fully capable of pulling off matches as good as TNA. Both companies have great wrestlers that can put on great matches. As you mentioned, TNA's biggest obstacle overall is the WWE in and of itself. Nobody is expecting TNA to outdraw the WWE, it'll be the shock if the decade if that were to happen, but if TNA is unable to at least draw it's 1.0-1.1 average that it's been doing for the past few months, then it's ultimately going to know where it stands at this point in terms of being competition. TNA is hoping to generate enough interest that people are going to switch from Raw that night and watch Impact. Personally, I think that strategy is a little bit of a hail mary at this point, but who knows.

 

[dgrblue38]

Honestly, I don't know why anyone is hitching their truck to the Broken and decrepid trailer of Hogan. I know he was the best thing in the 80s, but he's never been good in the ring, even in AWA, and was always teamed with people around him. Look what he helped do to WCW. Hogan can't wrestle anymore, and has never been a fan of bringing up new talent. I realize that today's wrestler can't talk on the mic, and most aren't that innovative or they just want to be paid. Eitherway, its bad for TNA.

 

[HollywoodLuthias]

What if Hulk Hogan and Vince are working together to boost ratings....Could you guys see it ? Vince knows the WWE needs a way to boost up ratings,So vince pays Hogan,,,Hogan goes to TNA ...Declaires war with WWE. TNA then dies and Vince can say he can beat anyone.. 2 birds with one stone

 

[burnout4200]

There's way too many points to argue through here so this is gonna suck. I guess I'll start typing anyway and only hit a couple main ones.

"TNA isn't good enough to compete yet"

TNA is in the middle of an epic occurance and the introduction to anything should be all out and full blown. For example the best debut for a band would be to play with the most famous band in their genre. Soak all of the publicity and stunts out of it that you can get because after all the goal is to get your name out there and get people to hear about it. If you're gonna do it then do it on the biggest stage you can or don't waste your time. Also there's gonna be potential new bookers on the 4th. There will definitely be extra input on the scripts. The product will change so you couldn't even estimate if they're ready yet.

"3 hours on Monday Night is a bad idea"

Monday is wrestling night. You want your show on as long as possible to increase the chances of a channel flipper seeing it. On Monday the 4th it's an easy guarantee to say some people will discover TNA for the first time and start watching it. So wouldn't it be safe to say they will gain some new viewers for Thursday nights when WWE isn't airing any wrestling? This isn't gonna cost TNA any money aside from advertising costs but since it's live editing costs will lower as well. So how is it possible to be a bad idea? They are guranteed to pick up new viewers for their show. The number is iffy and depends on the show quality but if you owned the company wouldn't you want to see how many you could gain? This scenario would have worked before Hogan, but with Hogan they are guranteed to bring even more viewers back to Thursdays. It's not like Hogan's presence will negate all of the great wrestling matches and the competent womens division on the show. Those two elements will still draw their own viewers along with the Hogan element. All TNA needs is exposure. They've shown they can keep an audience with the extremely consistent rating. Time to draw a few more in.

People are dying for something different. I'm curious to see what happens when more people notice there's another federation with wicked matches and old names they still love. (That reminds me, I hope Sting snaps over Hogan showing up. Being a WCW loyalist this is just plain awesome.)

 

[wolvdog316]

TNA PPVS draw, if they are lucky, 2,000 people. Maybe 2,5000. We are talking about slightly better than ECW in its day. And ECW got NO publicity, NO love from Spike, and was on years before they got PPV.

Again, another fucking bullshit excuse. TNA needs to be exposed. Bullshit. What more do you want? They are on TV, their stars are on late night shows, they have a video game, they have a website, they have main stream names, they have drama. What more? Exposure my ass. WCW didn't have HALF TNAs exposure. But I'll tell ya, the action was good, the drama was top notch and then nWo came in and blew up.

I remember being 12-13 and talking to friends online and they told me I had to check out ECW. So the guy made like 10 tapes, and mailed them to me. Incredible. That's the product being good enough for lack of exposure. Word of mouth is the BEST exposure.

When ECW came here in Houston years back, they outdrew the TNA PPV here.

Point is, when your ready to fight the big dog, you have to be able to take a punch. You might not win, you will probably get knocked out, but you want to get some licks in and take some hits.

Translation, your drawing 600-1000 people compared to 10-15,000 people. You won't produce a live show, you won't travel outside of the Studio except for rare occasions and never for Impact, you draw almost the same as ECW which is filled with nobodies and Christian. And you think your ready to go to Monday Nights with Vince? Hogan isn't going to draw viewers over the Rock. Angle vs Wolf or Styles vs Daniels isn't going to draw over DX vs Jerishow. Or HBK vs Taker, or Cena vs HHH.

 

[burnout4200]

TNA PPVS draw, if they are lucky, 2,000 people. Maybe 2,5000. We are talking about slightly better than ECW in its day.

That's even more of a reason to try it on an occasional basis. If a hundred thousand RAW viewers flip to TNA for a short period of time (Wrestling fans that are already watching TV, some of which don't watch TV Thursdays) you have a mathematical advantage to increase revenue dramatically. The number is already low so it's not gonna take much now is it?

Again, another fucking bullshit excuse. TNA needs to be exposed. Bullshit. What more do you want? They are on TV, their stars are on late night shows, they have a video game, they have a website, they have main stream names, they have drama. What more? Exposure my ass. WCW didn't have HALF TNAs exposure. But I'll tell ya, the action was good, the drama was top notch and then nWo came in and blew up.

I remember being 12-13 and talking to friends online and they told me I had to check out ECW. So the guy made like 10 tapes, and mailed them to me. Incredible. That's the product being good enough for lack of exposure. Word of mouth is the BEST exposure.

This is an extremely exciting turn of events with Hogan showing up. He's claiming openly everywhere that he's going to be running the company. It's the biggest news worthy moment TNA has ever had and it's their first chance to hopefully stumble across something monumental like The NWO. Some may argue Hogan won't make that big of a difference which is understandable, but the biggest critic can't deny that it's a big moment regardless and there is at least a slim chance of something monumental taking place.

TNA doesn't make special appearances anywhere near as much as WCW guys. Wrestling was more accepted by the mainstream back then.

WCW was an established company for years and it stemmed from the NWA. I'm not even going to guess how many years worth of exposure WCW had. Everyone was aware that it was there. Wrestling has noticeably lost wrestlings fans since the WCW Buyout and if you study the numbers it's a fact. Those fans seemed to just disappear, but they are still roaming out there somewhere, and my guess is watching The UFC. Their company exploded around that time. Wait ... That's right ... Hulk Hogan was on UFC to announce the show a month ahead of time to allow word of mouth exposure. How convenient.

Point is, when your ready to fight the big dog, you have to be able to take a punch. You might not win, you will probably get knocked out, but you want to get some licks in and take some hits.

Translation, your drawing 600-1000 people compared to 10-15,000 people. You won't produce a live show, you won't travel outside of the Studio except for rare occasions and never for Impact, you draw almost the same as ECW which is filled with nobodies and Christian. And you think your ready to go to Monday Nights with Vince? Hogan isn't going to draw viewers over the Rock. Angle vs Wolf or Styles vs Daniels isn't going to draw over DX vs Jerishow. Or HBK vs Taker, or Cena vs HHH.

It's called a fight or a shot fired to make it sound good. That adds to the monumental feel of it. It's actually called good booking. They'll do a few trial runs on Mondays and won't move the show there unless the numbers show a good business decision. They're gonna make a move and see how many viewers they can pick up for the hell of it. I have to be closed minded about this because I don't see how a publicity stunt like the Monday Night deal is a bad idea when it isn't costing any money. The worse things Vince could do to TNA is move ECW to Thursday or try and steal a few wrestlers. Those same wrestlers have watched Chris Harris, Gail Kim, Monty Brown, and Christian get held back because they came from TNA. WWE can't squash them and there's nearly no gamble at all to having a Monday Night special.

And again, they don't need to outdraw RAW. They need some new viewers to watch on Thursdays when RAW doesn't matter. Then they just need a product strong enough to translate that into pay per view buys. There isn't any risk of losing the buys they already get so you might as well go for it.

 

[HollywoodLuthias]

Most of us are very excited about WWE vs TNA Monday jan 4th so I have a Idea for the main event.what better day to have ric flair join.Now on with the match.
The Nature Boy Ric flair v Hulk Hogan in a Prune Juice Drinking Competition

Raw with the rock wont even come close to the ratings TNA will get lol

 

[F-5MONSTER]

Okay im sick of everyone saying that tna isnt ready to compete sure they not ready at all i should know i hate tna read my sig but if we were real wrestling fans why cant we and only for a minute enjoy the fact that there might be competiton to the wwe's pg ways i swear half of this thread was the same guys saying over and over again that tna isnt ready to compete well we know that okay so how about we start dreaming about what we want to see happen in this so called monday night war rather then bitch about what were not going to see.

 

[HollywoodLuthias]

I agree with you F-5 MONSTER 100% I am getting excited about wrestling again and it has been far to long. Is TNA ready maybe and maybe not but we shall see and I will watch TNA and record raw I don't care about the monday night wars I just want good wrestling better story lines and like most wrestling fans to be entertained

 

[Daedalus]

Hogan just stated in an interview with the Right After Wrestling show on Sirius radio that he expects the Monday night TNA show to score a 3.0 rating. Is he on crack? Haha.....they will be lucky to get a 2.0 let alone a 3.0. And this is coming from a fan of TNA who wants to see them do well. I know it's part of the smack talk rivalry that's going on between Hogan/Bisch/TNA and WWE right now but Hogan's setting himself up to look like a fool with this crazy prediction.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Hogan just stated in an interview with the Right After Wrestling show on Sirius radio that he expects the Monday night TNA show to score a 3.0 rating. Is he on crack? Haha.....they will be lucky to get a 2.0 let alone a 3.0. And this is coming from a fan of TNA who wants to see them do well. I know it's part of the smack talk rivalry that's going on between Hogan/Bisch/TNA and WWE right now but Hogan's setting himself up to look like a fool with this crazy prediction.

I just read about Hogan's interview a few minutes ago myself. Hogan came right out and said that Impact will triple its audience on Jan 4. I hope TNA doesn't get embarassed that night and I hope the show does well in the ratings, but now Hogan is talking out of his ass about this. Is Hogan just talking smack? Possibly. Does Hogan actually believe what he's saying? Again, possibly. Hogan is such a legendary bullshitter that it's hard to distinguish what he believes from what he doesn't. If TNA manages to pull a 1.5 on Monday against Raw, they should consider themselves happy. It'd be the biggest rating they've ever gotten and is about half a point or so higher than what they've been averaging for the past few months.

 

[Blade]

it's expected that John Cena will miss WWE Raw on January 4th as we previously reported that he is to be the Grand Marshall of the Fiesta Bowl that night.

So... The big night is coming up, TNA vs WWE, and WWE will be without their biggest star, John Cena. TNA will be missing Team 3D, but it won't affect TNA at all, 3D aren't a draw in America. Cena, on the other hand...

Raw needs to really pull out something special that night if they're going to comfortably beat TNA's show without Cena.

Will Raw suffer without Cena? Or will they find an adequate replacement?

In my opinion, if ever there was a time for The Rock to come back and help out WWE like he said he was going to. He'll be the biggest draw, with Hogan in TNA, Austin not wanting to go back to WWE and Cena being away that week. But Rocky's return will need to be heavily advertised, they need to make sure that anyone who'll be watching TV on January 4th knows The Rock is going to be on Raw.

So what do you think?

 

[Blade]

A 3.0 for TNA? How goddamn deluded is Hogan? Hogan was a huge draw. And, if I had to guess, I'd say he's still a decent one. Not the biggest in the world at this point, but still big.

But my god, how could he overestimate his drawing power so incredibly much? There's no way he can make Impact's rating jump up 2.0. It's not going to happen. Hogan will be eating his words on January 5th. Which is sad, cause Hogan could really help TNA. But they're jumping in at the deep end... They're aiming too high, too soon and it's gonna end up really badly for TNA if they don't stop being so daring. A certain amount of risk is fine... But this might be a tad too much.