Buyrates make the company money, but the other revenue streams are extremely and possibly more important. These are so often overlooked by the pundits online. TNA is a profitable company, and one which probably really needs a white-hot angle and the wrestling industry to boom again. For any company to be profitable in this financial climate, especially considering where and how TNA started, is a major accomplishment.
Well, of course. But if I could win the lottery or come up with a winning invention, I'd be a millionaire. It's all about the "ifs". We all know that, if you sell more, you earn more. My issue is not this obvious claim, which GG is not disputing. It's the claim that, if TNA just fired the booking team and booked the way a lot of the Internet critics suggest, they'd grow their buyrates by 30,000. There is no evidence for this at all.
A lot of the critics online will go to great lengths to bolster their own creaky arguments.
I would like to see the evidence as well that booking the way that most Internet Fans want (and I have read what they want and it is generally different for each fan in some capacity) will increase the ratings. Here is a short list of what the general consensus of what most IWFs want from TNA:
1. More wrestling and less backstage vignettes
2. Compelling storylines that make sense
3. Less ex-WWE guys being brought in
4. A lot less gimmick matches
5. More X Division
6. Utilizing TNA "homegrown" talent better
And my personal response
1. I would personally like more wrestling as well, but in the end of the day, pure wrestling does not sell. Mike Johnson even said that if pure wrestling is what sells the product then ROH would be selling out stadiums. Contrary to what I like and what most IWFs like, characters and storylines are what sell the product. How TNA presents these characters and storylines is a different story.
2. The thing that I find confusing about arguments involving storylines is the use of ambiguous terms. What is a "compelling" storyline in wrestling exactly? The answer is different for each fan. In the end of the day, it is not what you want personally, but what the masses want. If people truly did not like what they are watching in TNA, then TNA Impact would NOT get a consistent 1.0 to 1.2 rating every week. How could a wrestling company get a consistent rating for a product that the fans do not like?
3. When the WWE talent get pushed harder than the "homegrown" talent, then it is a problem because the "homegrown" talent is the future of the company. However, ever since I have seen these "established" talent coming in, they have for the most part been working with the "homegrown" talent either feuding with or associating. Also, the current champions are all "homegrown" talent. It can be argued that to get the casual fans, you have to show them something that they are familiar with first.
4. I will totally agree about having less gimmick matches. There is evidence out there that shows that too many gimmick matches can even hurt the product.
5. I would like more X Division, but I think many are not realizing something important about the X Division when it was the hottest thing in TNA. During the X Division's hot period, many of the talent in the X Division were absolutely vanilla and bland. Also, TNA's Heavyweight Division was really weak during that time. Jay Lethal mine as well should have been called "X Division wrestler A," and Sonjay Dutt "X Division wrestler B", etc. Who were these wrestlers and why should I care about them? All of the X Division talent could wrestle well, so there was nothing that truly set them apart from one another. The IWFs cared about them, but why should "Joe casual" care about them? I personally liked the X Division and would like to see it strong again, but once again, the characters sell not the wrestling.
6. At who's expense do you make the TNA "homegrown" talent better? Should Christian, Kurt Angle, etc start jobbing out to wrestlers just because they are "homegrown" talent? Also, there really is only so much room in the top. If James Storm, Robert Roode, Chris Sabin, Jay Lethal, etc are all on top, then where is the mid and lower card exactly? I say this because so many IWFs want to see so and so wrestler being pushed to the main events. I personally feel that most, not all, talent get the airtime that they deserve. I am NOT against pushing "homegrown" talent, but I feel that most IWFs are unrealistic about pushing them.
I personally feel that most IWFs have an unrealistic view about TNA. Yes, I do feel that with the talent that they have that TNA should get better ratings, but obviously that is not the case. The IWFs problem is that they believe that what they want is what the masses want even though there is no proof for that.