Should IMPACT Go Dark for a While and Just Start from Scratch?

[Psykohurricane55]

I know that IMPACT is going to do a tv tapings in January which will lead to them to around the end of march or beginning of April, But i feel like after the last show of the current taping, they had the perfect opportunity to just go Dark, makes peoples forget about the horrible year they had in 2017 and go dark for a couple of months, build a real strategy into how to restart the company from scratch. Go and sell the video library to vince and just build a new legacy for the company with new star a new look and new direction and give it a name that won't make people remember the whole TNA/GFW/IMPACT fiasco.

Doing couldn't be worst then what they are doing right now since nobody is watching in the states from what i've been reading and i don't know how well their doing elsewhere because they don't release the ratings for the other markets so a whole reboot wouldn'T be such a bad idea at this point.

Also while they go and do this whole reboot thing, just have them do one final IMPACT show that will be to celebrate the history of the company and then just send some of their already tapes shows they have in their library which would fill their time slot until the new company starts.

In the end, this would IMPACT wrestling thing with them helping out other company isn'T working for them, the ratings are showing it. So i say just close the whole thing down and start from crash. The worst that could happen is that the new company doesn'T work and they have to stop running the company all together.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

No. It's generally not a good idea to break your contracts with your partners and employees to take a break. Your partners are not going to want to pay you for your break or at all going forward. Your employees will not be happy not working during a time when you signed a contract with them to work and they will not want to work with you going forward.

 

[FromGlasgow]

Personally I think that would be a terrible idea, Main reason being is the the worldwide TV contracts they have to produce new TV content every week, I also I feel its a risk of some of the loyal fans who do actually watch every week will just drift away and forget to watch when it does come back especially when their in the habit of watching every week for years why risk breaking that habit?

 

[WWEIsLife2]

I think i am just tired in general of TNA or whatever hitting the reset button every 5 minutes because what they envision as their next phase of the Company doesn't work out. Going dark for several weeks isn't going to solve anything for them either. The problem just stems from whoever is in charge doesn't know what they are doing and it's been a running theme with them for almost 15 years.

 

[Messiah]

They can't do that man.. If that ever happened they would never come back, it would be the end for TNA.. They need to keep doing what they're doing now and figure out strategies as they produce shows... It's kinda funny how some people think a company can close for a bit and start from scratch.

 

[d_henderson1810]

I think that TNA should just sell up to Vince now.

It's going to happen sooner or later anyway. TNA will one day fold and WWE will buy the trademarks, some of the talent contracts, and the library.

The sooner I can start watching TNA content on WWE Network, the better.

 

[stingray11214]

I think that TNA should just sell up to Vince now.

It's going to happen sooner or later anyway. TNA will one day fold and WWE will buy the trademarks, some of the talent contracts, and the library.

The sooner I can start watching TNA content on WWE Network, the better.

They probably will sell. But, not to Vince. I honestly believe that They will sell it to Billy Corgan for peanuts. It will bring TNA full circle: When they were once NWA-TNA.

 

[Macho Mans Beard]

From a business standpoint, I wouldn't go dark. It loses business revenue and also hurts TV viewership. Now granted that Impact viewership is very low, it would hurt in the long run with other TV ventures.

If I was running the company, here's what I would do. I would sell library to Vince/WWE. Do a possible Merger/Share to ROH and build up product with both brands as one. A merger of these 2 companies will have a far greater effect on both products and can have MAJOR impact as far as a major TV offer. Maybe possibly going back to Spike or a major network that people actually watch.

By getting a major network back on board with a Impact/ROH merger they would still be #2 behind WWE. But they can still have that Independent tag that they still want to keep. ROH understands they are not going to be WWE which is why they stay successful and they (In my opinion) have the better matches.

Where this merger could benefit is the signing of pissed off WWE talent. Daniel Bryan, CM Punk and others could thrive and bring Impact/ROH to compete with WWE. Plus with the NJPW/ROH sharing of Wrestlers this has unlimited possibilities. It would have the WCW aspect of signing WWE Superstars but not to huge contracts that keep the company from making money. Plus the draw numbers from bringing in people like Bryan or Punk would bring that company to be competitive with WWE. Which, in turn, could bring about a new war. And that is good for everyone, including WWE.

 

[TDFG]

No major broadcaster will touch Impact until they see some stability and even at that, the stigma of the company over the last few years is difficult to look beyond.

Going dark is probably the last thing the company needs, they've hit the restart button that many times over the last few years that they should count themselves lucky that they have the fan base they have currently got.

The current contract situation isn't going to help matters, major names are coming to the end of their contracts and it looks like they might move on while veterans such as Storm have already left Impact.

There currently is no stability around Impact Wrestling so it's difficult to see how they move forward.

 

[johnbragg]

The only asset Impact really has as a wrestling company is "existence."

They don't have talent, or an audience, or a booking philosophy that separates them from any other indy. They have TV contracts, and they have managed to continue to exist.

If they go dark, they don't even have that.

(NOTE: I'm not saying their guys aren't talented. But the talent they have doesn't matter. They're not big stars who draw audiences on their own, they're not exciting new stars who you could credibly say "we're going to build the company around this guy" like they did with AJ Styles at the beginning.)

 

[Starkist]

The should go on with destroying IMPACT the name and come on to the new year as Anthem Wrestling Federation and completely put IMPACT to rest. A four sided ring, tapped only in Canada while having a better color scheme and brand new titles. The final reboot as it would not be a reboot per se, it would be a new company with a new identity. Keep who they can keep name wise and create newer stars if the must which is a must.

But can they go dark, I doubt it as they have barley any sponsorship and whatever source of income they got might be lost. I would be all for it if my fantasy booking idea went into effect but I know that this would not happen.

 

[sMark]

Impact need to rebrand fully and find it's own new identity. This is the only way they can have success one day.
...
nobody will be able to compete with Vince until some miracle happens or Vince will make some fatal mistake. Like it or not, WWE is years ahead of any other wrestling company in the world in everything, have worldwide market, money, talent and Vince McMahon - the guy who became #1 since the day he bought WWWF from his father, and still is. There is no another Bischoff/Turner combination and there are no reasons to leave WWE right now for big names.

 

[Radical]

I think TNA/GFW is kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place.

In terms of fan support they are somewhere along the spectrum between a popular indy promotion with no TV exposure, Ring of Honor, Lucha Underground, NJPW and WWE. I said, SOMEWHERE along that spectrum.

But they don't seem to know what they want to be. I think ROH knows what it wants to be, Lucha Underground knows and NJPW knows. They stick to that and have stuck to that for years and it seems to be successful for what they want to accomplish.

They are in a really tough position. New Japan is gaining more exposure and support in the American market now and Lucha Underground got, I believe, season 1 and 2 on Netflix, and possibly more coming up. ROH seems to have their sweet spot between dedicated fan base, some TV exposure and some PPV events that seem to go well.

What is left for TNA/GFW? I do not think going dark is the answer. Perhaps, at most, a month, if the show before they go leaves fans with enough of a cliffhanger and interest in what is to come.

All I can really say is good luck to them. I do think competition in any form for WWE is good and if TNA/GFW can find a way to do that then great. But not sure what they do form here if it hasn't really worked already.

 

[Psykohurricane55]

that's kind it really, 15 years they been existing and we still don't know what their identity is. They've change so many time that it's no wonder that even they most hardcore of their fanbase is starting to leave them.

Right now, while my original thought was just sell everything and restart from scratch, i realize that this isn't possible in this day and age because at soon as they leave,, somebody else will take their spot. So i fell like they just need to refocus and actually sign some talents to long term contract, it doesn't need to be guarantee money but just have a decent number of performers locked in for at less a year so that the company doesn'T fell like a revolving door like it did in 2017 and just go on from there. Build the company's identity and stick to it for the long run. Stop bringing guy from other promotions if their not going to stick around after the set of tapings and for god sake, if they can't produce 2 hour of original material every week, just fill the first hour with what they taped for xplosion at it's original content and it won't fill like you're trying to fill time or make fans remember how great the promotion use to be like they're doing right now.

 

[akathelaw]

It was clear that Dixie Carter wanted to compete with WWE, and everything done in the last few years she was in charge was to position TNA as an equivalent to WWE. It did not work, she sold the company and they tried to brand it as GFW so Jeff Jarrett could run it as his own promotion. Sadly Jeff was not in a position to run the promotion so somebody else is doing it. Right now, I think Impact has no real direction. Going dark might help them figure out a direction to go, but at the cost of losing momentum. Really they need to find a path for the next year, focused on talents that can make them some money. The days of Impact taking on WWE as a legit competitor are over. ROH has surpassed Impact in popularity and has a stronger roster. Impact needs to start over, again, or just fold up shop.

 

[GhettoV1]

Looks like until the next tapings the next two weeks of Impact Wrestling will have best of 2017 episodes to fill air time.

 

[Psykohurricane55]

Looks like until the next tapings the next two weeks of Impact Wrestling will have best of 2017 episodes to fill air time.

They did best of to fill time because they only have one show left from the ottawa tapings and it's a big episode since a lot of stuff will happen on that shows.