*MERGED* Apart From Hogan, How Else TNA Can Open iMPACT!

[LegendKiller716]

Is Hulk Hogan The reason TNA has that second rate feels.

Every single week it seems Hulk Hogan is comming out and talking about how TNA is getting bigger, and how all the talent from the main company wants to jump ship. It's realy irritating...to me atleast.

Hulk Hogan IMO needs a heel turn and fast. Maybe if he goes heel he will stop being a TNA cheerleader and look like a leader.

This thursday i was watching TNA and Hulk Hogan comes back from his limo ride and gets on the mic talking about how this is the best thing going, and i couldnt help but laugh when all the wrestlers started dancing around like school girls. it was terrible.

I dont know, theres my little rant. tell me your thouhts, im i right, wrong, and idiot? or tell me what you think makes TNA feel second rate

 

[Hawkeye]

I agree,it feels like they aren't trying to entertain us,but they just wanna over throw the WWE. With the cheesy slogans("Make the Change" what the fuck is that?) and always bashing WWE on the internet,it just seems like Hogan's obsession is tearing down a product in need of a good boost.

 

[650ballinwhiteboy]

HUlk Hogan is like what? 148 years old now? He has no idea what the current wrestling market likes and instead hires as many out of shape, past their prime, wwe rejects while talking about making a change. TNA is a straight up joke.
I feel sorry for Eric Young and his constant heel-face turns.
I feel sorry for Abyss for having to do the whole "Abyssamania" thing just to stay on Hogans good side
I feel sorry for Samoa Joe cause I guaruntee he isn't going to be doing anything anytime soon
I feel sorry for every young talented wrestler backstage who are litterally sitting around doing nothing while Rick "Prehistoric" Flair almost has a seizure in the ring

Holy Hell WHAT KIND OF WRESTLING PROMOTION IS THIS

Yeah WWE isn't all that great and can be boring at times but at least their storylines MAKE SENSE and they push new superstars (Sheamus, Swagger, Miz)

TNA fans, you had a great product (pre-2006) but the bottom line is you cannot go on defending the show you have today because it flat out sucks.

 

[Spidey Revivey]

Is Hulk Hogan The reason TNA has that second rate feels.

Hulk Hogan IMO needs a heel turn and fast. Maybe if he goes heel he will stop being a TNA cheerleader and look like a leader.

You my friend said it in perfect words. That's exactly what should happen IMO. I see the same thing, and I dislike it. It is one thing for taking pride in a company you are trying to put on a whole new playing field, but it's another to go week-by-week addressing the same "We're Getting Bigger!" facade. After a while it looks cheesy and fans will stop buying into it.

Hogan would go over as a heel. Not sure how they can work that out right now, because the main picture has Flair, Styles, etc already as heels. But I am sure if they use creative talent they can work on something that might make sense.

I don't see how he can brag about the show improving and "getting bigger" either- they had to move back to Thursdays because they were losing badly in ratings going against a PG WWE. But I'll save that talk mostly for another time. It just seemed fitting to mention here because of, in your words, Hogan's "cheerleading."

 

[richunclescrooge]

Hogan is making TNA suck

He's in every damn segment!

I understand he's the big name thats gonna shake things up but im sick of him. If I wanted to spend hours watching a show with him as the only focus Id watch reruns of Hogan knows best.

HE SHOULD NOT BE INVOLVED IN THE MAIN EVENT FEUD!!!!!!!

He should be involved sparingly, like the GMs and Commisioners have been in the past.

Im sick of watching the Hogan show, I would like to see TNA

 

[Synner]

Hogan continuously coming out and bragging about how the company is getting "bigger" is extremely annoying. Yes TNA has made a lot of changes and yes they have made an IMPACT (Excuse the pun) but do we really need to be reminded about it every single week? I think not.

I personally think that Hogan should step off screen and let Bischoff be the "man in charge" face of the company. IMO when Hogan and Bischoff arrived in TNA back in Jan, I saw a new fire in Bischoff's eyes which made me excited. I wanted to see what he had planned but now he seems really watered down by what Hogan is doing.

 

[fredstephenson]

i get what you mean its good having older and established names like hogan on tna but they can not base the entire show around them i actually really enjoy tna but it is starting to feel like a show based around the oldies trying to regain their glory days

as someone said earlier they couldnt beat a pg wwe or even come close there has never been a better time to compete with the wwe then since theyve been in the kiddy era which so many fans despise but tna still managed to blow it but like i said i enjoy tna but this proves they are doing somthing wrong i think

 

[PEP3]

Honestly, the Hogan vs. Flair storyline -- because, despite involving people like Styles, Abyss, Van Dam, etc. in the periphery, that's what this predominantly is -- is over 20 years old. It hasn't been interesting to me for at least 15 of those years. I'll be generous and give it a "mildly interesting" ranking for an additional two years.

That said, to me, most of what TNA is trying to "build into the future" with is rehashed shit that bored me to tears over 10 years ago. It's NOT what I want to see now. I firmly believe that if Hogan was removed from TV, allowing Van Dam/Hardy/TNA's faces to square off against Flair/Styles/Wolfe/Beer Money, that would be a huge step in the right direction. If TNA focused on providing kick ass wrestling from the hottest young talent in the industry today rather than turning the spotlight constantly to a string of has-beens like Hall/Nash/Waltman/Hogan every 2 seconds, that would be even better.

You see, the problem they're facing is that while those men ARE, in fact, household names which might intrigue the casual viewer who tunes in out of curiosity, most are MORE than looking their age. So when Joe Schmoe switches channels because he heard "The NWO" is now on TNA, what he's seeing is a pack of old ass men running their mouths. It becomes a glaring reminder of just how LONG its been since those men ruled the roost -- and anything BUT the message that TNA is the wave of the future.

Had Hogan's entry into TNA been done properly, it very much COULD have provided a boost to the company. At this point though -- considering how it was coupled with the disastrous move to Mondays head-to-head with RAW -- it was a failure. TNA shot its load, lost the gamble and is now skulking back to Thursdays with a product that isn't even as strong as it was 6 months ago.

While I can't say that's outright Hogan's fault, he's certainly not helping it. If anything, the fact that he's present during almost every single segment of TNA's broadcast -- literally -- only supports people's early fears that he's an ego-maniac who not only thinks the product should but mustrevolve around him. The 0.5 rating should make him reconsider that.

If it doesn't, it should make TNA officials/Dixie Carter reconsider. Surely at some point, she must ask herself exactly how much longer she's going to bet the farm on Hogan. Right now, especially considering how much cash she had to dish out for him, it looks like bad business all around.

 

[UFOcalling]

I completely agree that TNA is in desperate need of "Hogan Holy Water" right now. However, I'm not sure if a heel-turn is the solution. If "Hollywood" started gracing the Impact Zone instead of "Hulk", I bet we would still be seeing too much of him. Hogan simply doesn't want to be on TV any less than he currently is. Get used to seeing Hogan on TNA, because I don't see Hogan stepping out of the spotlight any time soon.

In my personal opinion, I'd like to see at least ONE episode of Impact where Hogan doesn't appear at all. Since he's arrived in TNA, he's probably the only TNA "character" (for lack of a better word) that we've seen EVERY SINGLE week.

I'd like to see Hogan written off TV with an injury-angle, just for a little while (at least a couple of weeks). TNA could have Bischoff assume power in Hogan's absence, and somehow write it in to the storyline that Hogan doesn't have as much authority when he makes his inevitable return.

Even though this is just for the television audience (we'd all obviously know that things behind the scenes haven't changed), I think it would do wonders for TNA overall. Not only would it get rid of the clearly over-saturated Hogan for a little while, but it also would keep the whole "Hogan Knows Best" thing from getting stale (er...any more stale than it already is).

Just a thought...although Hogan would never go for it. I'm sure HOGAN is the reason we're seeing so much of HOGAN on TV. The only way we're going to see less of him is if he finally realizes that the fans are getting sick of seeing so much of him. Unfortunately, I don't think his ego will allow him to realize this fact.

 

[TCBT]

as someone said earlier they couldnt beat a pg wwe or even come close there has never been a better time to compete with the wwe then since theyve been in the kiddy era which so many fans despise but tna still managed to blow it but like i said i enjoy tna but this proves they are doing somthing wrong i think

Actually, MOST fans don't hate the WWE PG product. The thing is that the ones that hate it are the most vocal about it. I think WWE is getting better and better. They're building young star after young star and this era is reminding me A LOT of the pre-Attitude Era phase when you knew something good was about to happen, and fast, but it was just a matter of time before they had all the pieces together to beat WCW to extinction.

TNA, on the other hand, is desperately trying to GO BACK to the Attitude Era. Their biggest mistake is to take the IWC too seriously. TNA THINKS we want to see an alternative to the WWE in the form of a blood-centered show with inconsistent swerves and racy half-naked women running around with "wardrobe malfunctions" in every show (ok that one can stay), but why are they losing more and more ratings as the weeks go by?? That's all been done before.... 10 years ago... why do we want to see it again?

To prove my point, look at the TNA audience in attendance each week. They LOOOOVE Hogan, they mark out for Abyss. And they don't necessarily react much to Desmond Wolfe. BUT, (and the ratings breakdown proves this), the majority of the fans DON'T care for Hogan and switch the channel. DON'T care for Abyss and switch the channel. And apparently voted Wolfe into a Title shot. Go figure....

So that's my point: a big-time company can't really listen to a small group of vocal people just because they're vocal.

 

[Low_Ki]

Now I have seen all of the threads about Hogan constantly opening and closing iMPACT along with probably Flair, and I also agree, it does kind of suck.

Moving on from this, what could be put in place of Hogan opening? I would suggest maybe an X-Division match to go about ten minutes. If TNA made an effort to put in a really fast-paced X-Division match at the beginning of each iMPACT, and obviously build a story to go with it, it would add a nice original feel to the product, which is vastly becoming very predictable.

If you could change the opening of iMPACT, what would you do?

 

[philbrooks]

Take down all the banners and aprons around the ring and area. In a segment heralding a name change for the promotion. As TNA is a horrible name for a company.

 

[Fan_of_Wrestling]

I personal feud is always my favorite way to start a show. Have Mr. Anderson, or anyone who is strong on the mic build open the show. But having said that, the opening moments should and link up with what ever the main event, they should start a interest in what ever the main event is more so in TNA when main events aren't often advertised before the show.

P.S. I do love a good fast paced X-division match to hook you into a show, but I think that would be best served to go in straight after the talking segment to keep the viewers watching.

 

[jccool420]

I agree that it should be a good fast paced match... Either X Division or Tag Team...

I don't think the twenty minute talking segments are a good way to start the show especially when it's usually Hogan or Flair with the same bs every week...

And about the name change comment, I agree, but only because there is not "Total Nonstop Action," in the show... They really need to concentrate more on good wrestling instead of garbage storylines...

 

[dxraider]

i said it from the start that TNA seems more concerned with trying to put themselves over and that they are "bigger" than WWE, instead of actually focusing on trying to make their product better.

The simple fact that Ric flair was in wrestling tights was enough for me to turn the channel off and keep it that way forever. The same goes for Hall and Nash coming down to the ring together to Wolfpac music. I thought hall had a heart attack on the ramp a few weeks back but it turns out he just got his ass beat.

TNA is a joke and doesnt use their senior guys properly, and they also DO have way too much Hulk Hogan running his mouth. They really had a chance here and they blew it in a way IMO. Why Mr. Anderson couldnt keep the name Mr. Kennedy is weird, and ive seen just about enough of Orlando Jordan to make me want to puke. While the wrestling is actually very good, TNA is still light years away from even coming close to not only comparing to WWE, but to understanding what todays wrestling fans really would like to see.

I like how they got rid of that joke 6 sided ring, but another thing that annoys me about tNA is just how phony the arena seems. It has something to do with the camera angles and overall camera work for one, but there are other things too, from the announcers, to the backstage segments, they just seem so unprofessional and always have. Hogan HAS made things a bit better and he needs credit where credit is due (i am a huge hogan fan anyway), but i think they belong on Thursday nights, at least for now

 

[Optimist Prime]

TNA hired Hogan for his star power...they didn't hire him for his creative booking abilities. Therefore, throwing Hogan in the back is a complete waste of their money (in terms of sticking to the original plan). They got him TO be on television.

That being said, I completely agree that he's on WAY too much and needs to tone it down quite a bit. The segments and angles don't make any sense and are all over the place...and then you add Hogan into every one of those segments and it's easy to point the finger at him as the cause of it because he's right in the middle on television.

Fact of the matter is, he should be on TV for maybe one small segment a day...and by this I mean show in the back at his desk...not in the ring challenging and fighting younger wrestlers and Ric Flair. If he plays the role in the back at his desk with Bischoff...that would be so much better. Wrestlers coming in the back complaining about stuff...like they did the first few weeks they were there. That was interesting. I was real curious about the NWO (Band) and Hogan's place with them...it had my full attention for the first time in a while...but that just randomly went away and never was talked about again. That seems to be the trend with every angle thus far...milk it for a week or two...then drastically change it to the point where it doesn't make any sense.

 

[assault]

i knew when hogan bought his ass in i new he would b all ova the screen. Would it kill him to just play the background ah what this is hogan we talkn bout. Tna needs to leave the impact zone n quick at least record a impact ar a house show location or somewhere besides the impact zone. P.S. could please somebody take those WWF HOF rings n throw them out the fn windows. p.S.S i know i didnt get my f out

 

[It's Damn Real!]

Do I really have to be the one to say it?

Apart from Hogan, how/what else can TNA open iMPACT! [with]? Anything else!

There are dozens of feuds going on in the company right now that do not need to directly involve Hogan as some type of mentor/mediator/McMahon character.

Open with Anderson cutting a promo against Hardy. Open with an X Division match. Open with Beer Money, Inc. cutting a promo against the MCMG. It doesn't matter – they're all equally as valuable to the long-term future of the company, because none of them involve a 57, soon-to-be-58-year old Super Hulk still kicking ass and taking names.

 

[Savage1]

Hogan continuously coming out and bragging about how the company is getting "bigger" is extremely annoying. Yes TNA has made a lot of changes and yes they have made an IMPACT (Excuse the pun) but do we really need to be reminded about it every single week? I think not.

I personally think that Hogan should step off screen and let Bischoff be the "man in charge" face of the company. IMO when Hogan and Bischoff arrived in TNA back in Jan, I saw a new fire in Bischoff's eyes which made me excited. I wanted to see what he had planned but now he seems really watered down by what Hogan is doing.

Exactly How much of an "IMPACT" can they be making if they are forced to move back to Thursday just to stay afloat?! And I have to agree with you that Bischoff should be the man in charge. Hogan knows the business when it comes to entertaining fans in the ring, but Eric Bischoff knows the management and production side of things as well as anyone. I still hold out a good amount of hope for TNA...false hope probably but hope nontheless. I want a Hogan heel turn, a lot less of him and Flair in the ring and on camera, Abyss to become the monster again, Joe to murder people like he used to, and for the core of TNA, the young talent, to get a lot more screen time and better storylines that make sense. The sad fact is, TNA has lots of talent, and some big names who can draw but they dont use them properly. Jeff Hardy is one of, if not the most popular wrestler in the world today and yet they cant draw ratings...it all rests on the shoulders of creative! Hopefully for their sake and for our sake they can pull it together and start producing a good show soon, otherwise we will all be forced to watch a watered down PG WWE to get our wrestling fix...and I'm not ready for that!

 

[mr.davidson]

Reading these threads somthing has occured to me.


TNA is far from doing things right

I remember in th good old WCW days.. when the show opened it was the Cruiser Weight Divison that opened the show.. and you didnt get into the more seasoned heavey weight guys until the second hour....

This is where i think TNA needs to go...... They need to stop rushing everything in the beinging and start to slow things down and build up to there main events later on in the night.


As far as Hogan coming out and ruling the Show....


Hogan is good 4 ratings and so is Flair... IF.... and thats the Big Word.... If they are Used In the right way!!!


This is where i see the problem... TNA has all the Talent there.... Old and New

They just need to utlize them in the right way.

This doe not mean making the old guys job... what it means is just as i have stated using everyone to there best abilities. which currently i dont see them doing.

 

[RicSpade]

I hate to say it but pretty much every wrestling company except ECW started off with a promo about 15-20 minutes long every once in a great while you may start off with a match, but usually it sets the tone for the night and thats why they continue to do it. Major star A comes out and talks about blah blah and so Major star B comes out to confront and then person in charge shows up or Major stars C and D show up and the main event is made infront of the audience for a cheap pop. The only reason ECW didn't do it is because when they were on TNN they didn't have a 2 hour show.

Right now people may not like certain "legends" in the spotlight, but lets look at it this way, shall we. Flair faces Abyss, Abyss beats him and so now he holds a victory over the legendary Ric Flair it is suppose to help his credibility. Lets say The Band ended up holding all the lower level titles, X-Division, Tag Team and Global titles while some may say its a bad move, having people who have been in the business and can somewhat still go (granted Hall is still slightly sloppy) it makes the titles more credible kinda like when a Jericho or HHH wins the Intercontinental title for 4-5 months. RVD is champion right now, is he washed up? NO I loved his match with AJ, he still does all his old stuff so why is that a big deal its elevating AJ to a new level and to step up his game. Anderson and Hardy may be from the boys up north, but they are familiar to fans and thats why they have a feud. They are building Joe to be a monster, Lethal is getting his chance to shine, Wolfe, Morgan, Kaz, Williams, Beer Money, are all getting chances to shine in the process so I really don't see anything wrong with that. It takes a legend or a major star to push guys some people who don't watch TNA would know or even WWE fans would know such as Sheamus, AJ, Rob Terry, Joe, etc.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

Of course, the easiest answer to the question posed in the topic is a good fast-paced match between a couple of X-Division guys, or a big match right off the bat between two major names. Something to really set the tone for the entire show with. Promos that go 15-20 minutes, especially when it's the same old shit every week are channel-change inducing. And once you lose a part of the audience at the start of the show, it's going to be hard to get those viewers back.

They need to make the titles mean something, and starting Impact off with a good 10 minute title match every week would go a long way as it builds recognition for the lower tier titles. It also helps build some of the undercard guys who need a springboard to really get over.

TNA needs to make it more of a point to focus on the "Total Nonstop Action" name. People watch a wrestling show for wrestling, not for Vince Russo's self-*********ory writing that's absolutely awful and never makes much sense. More wrestling and limiting Hogan to one segment a show to make his presence mean something would go a long way.

 

[Optimist Prime]

Reading these threads somthing has occured to me.


TNA is far from doing things right

I remember in th good old WCW days.. when the show opened it was the Cruiser Weight Divison that opened the show.. and you didnt get into the more seasoned heavey weight guys until the second hour....

This is where i think TNA needs to go...... They need to stop rushing everything in the beinging and start to slow things down and build up to there main events later on in the night.


As far as Hogan coming out and ruling the Show....


Hogan is good 4 ratings and so is Flair... IF.... and thats the Big Word.... If they are Used In the right way!!!


This is where i see the problem... TNA has all the Talent there.... Old and New

They just need to utlize them in the right way.

This doe not mean making the old guys job... what it means is just as i have stated using everyone to there best abilities. which currently i dont see them doing.

This is a good point...but the difference was that people knew what they were getting later on in the program. You saw all the high flyers at first...which was a great build up for what you knew you were getting at the end.

TNA isn't exactly at that stage right now. Nobody knows what they're getting...literally ever - at the moment. The storylines are all over the place and what happened last week could literally seem like it had never existed sometimes. This makes it extremely harder for them (TNA) to run a similar style.

Although, I must say that the cage match in the octagon back when Hogan and Bischoff first appeared...started off great (even though the cameras weren't able to pick up as much and the ending to the match was a disappointment)...but again...it worked because it was an action packed match (for the most part) filled with younger talented X division guys...with the anticipation for Hogan/Bischoff/Flair/whatever other surprise the fans were waiting for...

The key is in getting better story lines. They need to do this first. THEN you can tweak the arrangement around and play with the name or whatever else if you want...but changing the order of nonsense isn't going to fix it. It'll still be nonsense...just in a different order.

Fix the storylines...THEN go from there.

 

[mattmcgee85]

I agree that Hogan and Flair take up too much of the show. They were great in the ninties but that was over a decades ago, most wrestlng fans today don't even remeber when they were in their prime. I also agree Hogans TNA " is the best thing going" spiel is becoming borderline vomit enducing( the network must agree since they're back on Thursdays this week).
Tna should start this weeks show with Hogan and Flair coming out with their same crap, only for Samoa Joe to come down and beat the piss out of both of them. Then they'd be making an IMPACT(pun intended).

 

[TokiRKO]

The bottom line is Hogan is trying to be Cena who is trying to be Hogan. What I don't understand is so many people in the IWC HATE Cena, why would Hogan try to be Hulkamania again? The only reason I could come up with is he's trying to steal the kid demographic by being the better superhero. He's trying WAY too hard, using WAY too much time to try it, and he should know better considering his age. His name is enough to get people to watch the show he runs, not him wrestle. He needs to hang em up for good and let Bischoff run the show. Bischoff MUST have a leash, in case he tries any thing stupid, BUT he would still be a great improvement to Hogan running it