"Major Breaking News"

[hatehabsforever]

So, the folks at TNA have once again taken to twitter to promise us some "major breaking news". And I would imagine the rumor mill is swirling as per usual.

TNA Wrestling must have finally been sold, possibly to the dude who likes to smash pumpkins. Possibly AJ Styles has re-signed a new contract and has abandoned his tour of obscurity to return to the company whose title he actually holds. Or maybe they've finally managed to do it, to sign their next great superstar, John Morrison.

Then again, it could be referencing Bully Ray and his apparent interaction with Tommy Dreamer, leading to yet another trip down memory lane with the old dudes from ECW. Maybe they have signed another football player to join Pacman Jones, or some other non wrestling entity such as a MMA guy or an out of work actor.

Then again, it could simply be Dixie Carter working us all yet again, using the world of social media to pull the wool over the eyes of professional wrestling fans yet again, just to provide yet another colossal disappointment. Maybe over three years later, "they" have finally decided to show up.

So what does everyone think? Is this Dixie Carter, specifically heel Dixie, bullshitting us all again, and if so, how do people feel about it? Or might there actually be some significant development in Impact Wrestling about to go down?

I know where my money is.

 

[Mr. Book This Section]

Well when TNA Says something is big it's not usually as big as they say it is and as big as they hype it up. I mean take a look at some previous examples...
- August 1st Warning
- Pacman Jones
- Debute of EC3 ***It's just him taking on random jobbers***

So I'm not going to get my hopes up. My prediction is that it is going to be about this on going situation with Bully Ray and Tommy Dreamer's match at Old School.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

My guess is that they are announcing a new home for Impact Wrestling. "State of the art", "Will give TNA the best chance to succeed", "Lots of planning went in to this", "Will bring something new and different to professional wrestling", blah, blah, and blah. If that is the case, I will agree that it is "major" news for TNA.

Or maybe Imapct has been moved to 8:02pm EST/7:02 CST. That would not be "major".

Can we even call it "breaking" news if they already know what the news is? I'm not a TV or internet journalist so I genuinely not know what qualifies.

 

[Fabulous Freebirds]

The breaking news is that Bully Ray invaded a House of Hardcore show in New York and attacked Tommy Dreamer. This is going to set up a Bully Ray vs Tommy Dreamer One Night Only ppv special called Old School.

That's the news.

 

[Mustang Sally]

The breaking news is that Bully Ray invaded a House of Hardcore show in New York and attacked Tommy Dreamer. This is going to set up a Bully Ray vs Tommy Dreamer One Night Only ppv special called Old School.

That's the news.

Did anyone think Dixie's pronouncements could get even lamer than they were before? The number of things they'd have her announce as "major breaking news" and other items that would "shake the world of pro wrestling to it's foundation" have become a joke in the industry.

At this point, I'm still hoping TNA will find a way to survive; which is to say, to operate profitably rather than just having an investor throw good money after bad to keep things going as long as they can.

But until they do, they should stop Dixie from angering the fan base by getting them interested.....and delivering nothing.

Of course, at this point, the fan base might not be pissed off by Dixie's words.....they might be completely indifferent.

That's even worse.

 

[Rayne]

What's really sad is that Bully Ray vs. Tommy Dreamer would have been a much bigger match fifteen years ago, and now no one gives a shit.

I get that TNA needs to find a way to get people excited in their product again. And they're trying. They're taking that ball, and running with it. All the way to their own fucking end zone.

I don't know. Maybe we're being conditioned. Maybe we're going to get another half-dozen "MAJOR BREAKING NEWS" announcements, and then, BAM, out of nowhere they pull an actual surprise out of their hat that tickles people's tits. I doubt it, but there has to be some justification out there for this new strategy of "disappointment booking".

Eh, I'm pretty sure TNA couldn't pull off an announcement at this point in time that anyone would consider "major", but they still have to try.

 

[Fabulous Freebirds]

Did anyone think Dixie's pronouncements could get even lamer than they were before? The number of things they'd have her announce as "major breaking news" and other items that would "shake the world of pro wrestling to it's foundation" have become a joke in the industry.

At this point, I'm still hoping TNA will find a way to survive; which is to say, to operate profitably rather than just having an investor throw good money after bad to keep things going as long as they can.

But until they do, they should stop Dixie from angering the fan base by getting them interested.....and delivering nothing.

Of course, at this point, the fan base might not be pissed off by Dixie's words.....they might be completely indifferent.

That's even worse.

Here's my thing on that. If people know that TNA's "surprise announcements" are going to be lackluster, then why continue to fall for it?

Why get upset about the announcement made by either Dixie or TNA turns out to be a dud?

Fool me once, shame on you.
Fool me twice, shame on me.

If you continue to be disappointed by every announcement, then it's the person's fault. That just how I feel.

 

[Rayne]

Here's my thing on that. If people know that TNA's "surprise announcements" are going to be lackluster, then why continue to fall for it?

Why get upset about the announcement made by either Dixie or TNA turns out to be a dud?

Fool me once, shame on you.
Fool me twice, shame on me.

If you continue to be disappointed by every announcement, then it's the person's fault. That just how I feel.

People aren't upset that they're being fooled by TNA. (At least, the better part.) They're upset that TNA is using come-on lines and cheap hype to try to drive retweets for their product, instead of investing in something people want to watch. When everything is "Breaking News", it underlines the fact that nothing is "Breaking News".

On the other hand, I should probably stop being disappointed that TNA has taken the chance to disappoint people, again. I should be used to the fact that these people aren't going to be able to provide anything but disappointment.

 

[hatehabsforever]

Some of the answers here get down to the crux of the matter that I intended to get to in my original post. It's one thing to speculate on what the "major breaking news is". Been there done that and got lots of disappointment to show for it.

What I can't help but wonder is, assuming the news is Bully Ray getting involved with Tommy Dreamer for the hundredth time, is which of the three scenarios is at play here.

A) the people in charge at TNA are totally out of tune with the interests of their fan base. As we approach 2014, they honestly believe that Dreamer versus Bubby Ray Dudley is big news. If so, that's sad.

B) they honestly simply don't care anymore. They slap together a storyline or scenario, label it as breaking news, and don't really give a shit that it isn't and that they are disappointing their fans again. Even sadder.

C) they are disappointing the fans on purpose as part of the whole heel Dixie schtick. You know, have her lie to and deceive the fans as part of her new heel persona. The saddest of all, and a recipe for disaster if you ask me.

When I first started watching TNA, and the whole "they" storyline fizzled out at Bound For Glory, I would have said A. Over the last year or so, I've come to believe B. In recent weeks, though, I'm leaning towards C. And if that's the case, maybe the apocalyptic posts about Impact Wrestling are not too far off base after all.

 

[It's Damn Real!]

People aren't upset that they're being fooled by TNA. (At least, the better part.) They're upset that TNA is using come-on lines and cheap hype to try to drive retweets for their product, instead of investing in something people want to watch. When everything is "Breaking News", it underlines the fact that nothing is "Breaking News".

On the other hand, I should probably stop being disappointed that TNA has taken the chance to disappoint people, again. I should be used to the fact that these people aren't going to be able to provide anything but disappointment.

This is the way I see it as well. It's essentially the boy who cried wolf. Eventually, you will burn out your own audience to your "announcements", be they breaking, major or not. It drastically affects your ability to legitimately shock your audience if you consider Bully Ray challenging Tommy Dreamer not only shocking, but worthy of "breaking news" or "major announcement", etc.

 

[DDevine]

If this is a storyline that would be built up over time, I would agree to it being "breaking news". But since TNA has mentioned nothing with Bully Ray's feud with Dreamer, it's not interesting. Now, maybe if they had eluded that there was some sort of Twitter war or something between the two where Dreamer was making fun of his losses, that would even be understandable. It would be something recent, and therefore important enough to have "breaking news" on. We're not about to see ECW One Night Stand but done better, it doesn't matter. But to each their own, and maybe this breaking news is more intended for House of Hardcore and less for TNA?

Maybe TNA is trying to hype a few smaller promotions, hoping that it will make for a "unified front" as they try to increase their image.

 

[Lowdown]

I agree that this would've been something folks wanted to see say back in '98 or so, and if you were a die hard ECW fan. It's understandible that TNA is trying to reach out to other audiences. But Bully has lost some steam even before he lost the belt at BFG, and Tommy Dreamer has never been big with audiences outside of Philly. This was not a "major" announcement, but perhaps it could drive a buy rate. Do enough fans care enough to wanna see this? Especially if they bring in Terry Funk also (doubt it).

 

[mlp420]

Internet Wrestling fans are just too bored IMO. What are people waiting for anyway?

Rumors that the company was for sale have proven to be false. Heyman or JR ain't walkin' through that door. The only other thing TNA could feasibly do that would be a huge deal is signing The Rock or Batista. None of those scenarios are likely so what pops into people's heads when TNA announces these things? If you're not into TNA by now, it's time to give up already and follow something else. It's just a waste of your time to keep hoping for some overnight transformation of the product via "Breaking News". They are set on what they want to do going forward. You either like it or you don't.

 

[mlp420]

And another thing, TNA is doing this to promote an old school themed One Night Only show they're taping in the same building that last night's show was in. That's all it was. Just trying a little something different to promote live events, and the ECW alumni shows draw well up here.

But according to the IWC, TNA promised to revolutionize the business, and disappointed with an attempted revival of 90s ECW. Again, just way too invested.

 

[Rayne]

Internet Wrestling fans are just too bored IMO. What are people waiting for anyway?

Rumors that the company was for sale have proven to be false. Heyman or JR ain't walkin' through that door. The only other thing TNA could feasibly do that would be a huge deal is signing The Rock or Batista. None of those scenarios are likely so what pops into people's heads when TNA announces these things? If you're not into TNA by now, it's time to give up already and follow something else. It's just a waste of your time to keep hoping for some overnight transformation of the product via "Breaking News". They are set on what they want to do going forward. You either like it or you don't.

Hold the thought train here.

If you know you have something people won't really care about,

And you know that you're going to be in the middle of a talent building phase because you have no "new" performers with which to shock people,

Then why jerk people's chains about it and promise them "major" news?

You are absolutely right. People will either like it or they won't. When they don't, ratings go down and TNA realizes "wow, so I guess it wasn't worth the 150 RT's to promise people a former world champion, huh?", then changes their approach to entertainment. Tommy Dreamer isn't putting asses in seats, he never has, he never will, and if Tommy Dreamer is the extent of "major news" that TNA can pull off, they're calling attention to the fact that they can't provide anyone people want to see.

It is entirely possible to promote a television show without going "pay attention to me and wait for huge news!" Dixie Carter and the people she hires just don't know how.

But according to the IWC, TNA promised to revolutionize the business, and disappointed with an attempted revival of 90s ECW. Again, just way too invested.

Who is this IWC guy? Is he a poster here who changed his handle? (I can never keep track of that stuff.) Is there someone you can quote as saying this? Because it sounds like you're making up someone's argument so you can attack it.

Are there particular individuals in this "IWC" you speak of? I'm going to assume that you're not a member of it of course, but you just frequent internet message boards to share your opinion with an internet community.

 

[mlp420]

IWC is just a term to address popular consensus. I.E the majority of feedback on forums, comment sections and social media. I don't think the IWC is one person (although looking at these comments I wonder....), And I know damn well I'm a member of it and it doesn't bother me one bit. I'd rather just say 'IWC' when there's 500 people saying the exact same things all the time. I don't know why people are so defensive about it. Why the heck should I address everyone individually when no one is saying anything unique?

And like I said, they didn't do the angle with Bully/Dreamer to take wrestling into the next boom period, they did it to promote a show that's going down in a venue where that match can draw. If this is such a big scandal, then I think people should boycott.

 

[Rayne]

IWC is just a term to address popular consensus. I.E the majority of feedback on forums, comment sections and social media. I don't think the IWC is one person (although looking at these comments I wonder....), And I know damn well I'm a member of it and it doesn't bother me one bit. I'd rather just say 'IWC' when there's 500 people saying the exact same things all the time. I don't know why people are so defensive about it. Why the heck should I address everyone individually when no one is saying anything unique?

And like I said, they didn't do the angle with Bully/Dreamer to take wrestling into the next boom period, they did it to promote a show that's going down in a venue where that match can draw. If this is such a big scandal, then I think people should boycott.

Who are these 500 people? It should be very easy to find a specific example of people saying what you are accusing them of if that many people are saying it. There's not this huge, unwashed mass of humanity you're addressing every time you say "IWC". What you're doing is making up an argument that's easy to attack, instead of addressing what people are actually saying. Because whenever you end up directly in a conversation with someone, they tear the logical foundations of your argument to pieces. Best to just say "IWC", because that way there's no one to fight back.

If people were actually saying the things you're accusing this "IWC" person of saying, you'd have no problem quoting them in the middle of a discussion, instead of constantly going off on these "well the IWC" rambles in the middle of otherwise perfectly good threads.

As far as boycotts go, people only do that when they care about the product. When they don't, they simply don't watch. TNA's ratings are down 10% over the past month.

 

[Zeven_Zion]

See, I get overhyping news to garner interest. It's fine, that's marketing. But there's that, and then there's what TNA's doing. Or overdoing.

How about you just announce some news the normal way SOMETIMES. Just "Hey guys, we've got some cool news for you, we will update you in the coming days". Nothing bombastic, nothing over the edge. Just some news they think the fans might enjoy. If anyone gets their hopes up too much for THAT message then hey - your problem, bub.

But when you scream "OH MY GOD BREAKING NEWS GUISE OH MY GOD I CANT BELIEVE THIS AND YOU WONT BELIEVE IT EITHER IT'S SO AMAZING!" sixty times a year, after the fourty fifth we kind of catch on that this is bullshit.

It's lazy marketing, and it's no longer working. Now I know, "but but but you're talking about it" - well, yeah we are. So? Is TNA's ambition here to piss us off or give us some news? I don't think that NOW is the time to disappoint your fans. See what's happening. You need to show stability to the few fans you've got left. Instead you're doing this shit.

One of these days they WILL have major news, and WILL announce them as such and we won't give a fuck because they had "BREAKING NIUZZZ!!!1!!" last week which turned out to be that Eric Young is wiping is boogers off the back of the couch and it's like booger valley there.

Tone it down and keep the fancy announcements for fancy times. You can market something and put some attention to it in more ways than sliding "Major" into the title. Maybe have Borash announce it. He's more credible than Dixie these days. Now I don't know if she's serious or it's a fucking gimmick anymore. Can't act for shit but she can Tweet the fuck out of something. You have a marketing department for that, ya googly eyed twit.

 

[mlp420]

Who are these 500 people? It should be very easy to find a specific example of people saying what you are accusing them of if that many people are saying it. There's not this huge, unwashed mass of humanity you're addressing every time you say "IWC". What you're doing is making up an argument that's easy to attack, instead of addressing what people are actually saying. Because whenever you end up directly in a conversation with someone, they tear the logical foundations of your argument to pieces. Best to just say "IWC", because that way there's no one to fight back.

If people were actually saying the things you're accusing this "IWC" person of saying, you'd have no problem quoting them in the middle of a discussion, instead of constantly going off on these "well the IWC" rambles in the middle of otherwise perfectly good threads.

As far as boycotts go, people only do that when they care about the product. When they don't, they simply don't watch. TNA's ratings are down 10% over the past month.

You're not making any sense at all. I'm using IWC to make up a point that's easy to attack? Let's see, in this topic there's handful of people expressing disappointment in TNA and their announcements. And then you have the comments sections here on WZ, along with Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, other Wrestling sites, pretty much everywhere you turn. I simply gave my take on all the people that are saying this. Like any other human being that sees one opinion being spouted everywhere if they happen to have an opinion that goes the other way. It's just easier to say IWC than to go back and list every single person on all these sites.

I think you're problem is you're a bit insecure. I know people don't like being lumped into a group but sometimes when the shoe fits you gotta wear it. Just because you have an opinion that's shared by the masses doesn't mean you're wrong. Maybe you're all right and I'm the goof.

BTW the boycott remark was sarcastic. And please stop trying to seize on ratings. That's literally the most pathetic thing anyone could do. That's the sign of someone that's desperate to have their opinions validated. You have your opinions, others have theirs, just live with that. Even the almighty WWE is constantly holding focus groups to try and figure out why the hell people aren't watching anymore. So it's safe to say that none of us has a clue what would draw viewers to a wrestling show in 2013.

 

[bko]

I don't think I have EVER cared about Tommy Dreamer EVER, to be completely honest so from a person stand point I don't care, plus the last time Tommy Dreamer was even slightly relevant was his run as WWEECW Champion if you even call that relevant. However... Has anyone read the childrens book "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" TNA reminds me of that book, if you keep using terms like "breaking news" for little things "Pacman Who" and shit like this, how the hell do you expect to hype something thats worth hyping when that time comes, because "Breaking News" to TNA is like WWE saying "Wish them best on their Future Endeavor" after firing someone.... As in they both became joke terms after overuses. Over hyping something is not always a good thing.

 

[Pedigree1]

Dixies carters earth shattering news are anything but earth shattering. The recent events that TNA has gone through is a clear sign that she or the execs have no interest of even remotely running the company the proper way. Dixie recently has been known to jerk our chain when it comes to earth shattering news,her news is no news at all.

I really hope it isnt the Bully Ray vs Tommy Dreamer old school match one night only crap! Really Dixie thats all you got if that is true? I dont know whats worse her non existent news or the fans just expecting her non existent news! TNA is hanging on by a broken thread its clear its going down if all People Billy Corgan was the rumored buyer or buyers

 

[Rayne]

BTW the boycott remark was sarcastic. And please stop trying to seize on ratings. That's literally the most pathetic thing anyone could do. That's the sign of someone that's desperate to have their opinions validated. You have your opinions, others have theirs, just live with that. Even the almighty WWE is constantly holding focus groups to try and figure out why the hell people aren't watching anymore. So it's safe to say that none of us has a clue what would draw viewers to a wrestling show in 2013.

Yes. There really is nothing less important to a television show than how many people are watching it. Because as everyone knows, television is put on the air as a charitable service by people who own multimedia companies. It's totally unimportant that enough people are watching it to justify the continuing rates they charge for advertising. *nod*

Were you born this way, did it take practice, or was there some kind of accident?

I grasp how you don't get the whole "IWC" thing. You're so caught up in telling other people what their points are that you no longer bother listening to what they actually have to say. (That's the point of using "IWC"- you create a belief, call someone "IWC", and imply that they've had that belief. It's called a strawman tactic, and it's why after a battle of a couple of years, you're one of the last people left who uses the term. Look up "strawman defense" on your internet. You'll learn something.)

But if you don't understand how ratings are important to television, we clearly can't have this conversation. That's day one shit, bro. We're having a discussion about how people will get sick of having their chains jerked and stop watching the product. What kind of fool am I for bringing up the metric that's commonly used to determine how many people have been watching a product? How desperate someone must be to introduce actual.... facts into a discussion! How pathetic!

By the way, these five hundred people- can you name any of them? If they're all spouting the same argument, can't you quote anyone making it? It would be a lot harder for me to accuse you of making up arguments if you could actually point to someone that was making them. Y'know, if you aren't just making stuff up so you can attack this "IWC" group that curiously seems to have no living members.

Focus groups are used by virtually every company that exists and sells a product. Not sure what your point is in talking about focus groups, but it's pretty obvious that you don't understand the concept of them.

People have their opinions, but some of them are ******ed and don't make any sense. I can live with people with stupid, poorly formed opinions. It's when those people try to infect other people with their stupidity that I have to get all socially responsible and demonstrate how your ideas are stupid and poorly formed.

You probably shouldn't bother with a response unless you're going to start pulling out some of these five hundred people who are somehow immune to the quote button.

 

[Fabulous Freebirds]

And another thing, TNA is doing this to promote an old school themed One Night Only show they're taping in the same building that last night's show was in. That's all it was. Just trying a little something different to promote live events, and the ECW alumni shows draw well up here.

But according to the IWC, TNA promised to revolutionize the business, and disappointed with an attempted revival of 90s ECW. Again, just way too invested.

Agree. All this was for TNA to make use of THEIR social media (twitter, youtube) to advance a storyline and / or a character. The "breaking news" was TNA's Bully Ray invading an independent show attacking Tommy Dreamer.

I remember last week reading on wrestlezone that the WWE had "breaking news" which was something about Triple H banning the Big Show from Raw or something. Same situation. Using social media to move along an angle.

TNA did nothing wrong nor did they mislead anybody. Quite frankly, it was actually kind of neat that they may work with Dreamer's House of Hardcore promotion.

 

[fenderjapan]

This is a smart move by TNA.

HOH has drawn comparably to TNA's biggest pay per views. It makes perfect sense to cross-promote the two. It might even win over some of the TNA haters. Whatever Dreamer is doing to get asses in the seats (mine included, for HOH 3) is working pretty damned well.

TNA needs to keep taking advantage of situations like this, and needs to keep being creative with their promotion. This is a good start

 

[It's Damn Real!]

The best way put this all into perspective is like this:

Kurt Angle leaves WWE, jumps ship and signs with TNA? Breaking news, major breaking news, huge announcement, et all.

WWE developmental wrestler with little to no history does the same? Not breaking news. Not major breaking news. Not a huge announcement.

TNA simply needs to understand that there is in fact a very visible, very discernible line in the sand between what honestly deserves this type of trumpeting of the horns, and what honestly does not. The day they learn this is the day the next "breaking news" will actually be ground breaking — the same as it was for when they signed Angle, Hogan and maybe Christian Cage and Booker T as well.