The BIG Momentum After Bully Ray's Heel Turn at Lockdown - What Should TNA Do Now?

[KingHill]

So incredible epic Lockdown. Best thing that happend in years in TNA.

[YOUTUBE]YAfyOv-7vaQ[/YOUTUBE]

The Lockdown mainevent was so fucking epic.

I hope TNA dont lose the momentum.

People was so fucking upset and the fans was even crying. They threw stuff in.

I miss those days when they trashed the ring I hope that will be a part of the show.

When Hogan stood on his crutches and couldnt go in to the ring, and was helpless and Bully taunted him, and Brooke was crying.

TNA shouldnt lose this momentum they have now.

What should be the next move?

 

[Limitless]

I loved lockdown and loved bully going back into heel mode. I also thought him being revealed as the leader was pretty cool, as I didn't feel anyone else would have done well in that role.

I think TNA needs to keep Aces and Eights strong and make create new members as they go along. The members they have are kind of weak in the sense that they are all ex-wwe midcard guys. I would put Matt Morgan in there and have brooke hogan turn on her dad and go for the Stephanie Mcmahon role. I would love for Brooke to beat up Dixie Carter!

They obviously need to have AJ Styles stay a loner and then beat Bully Ray for the belt... As It seems he's going for the old Sting role. They need to keep it as real as possible and have invasions on certain events. NWO invaded Jay leno show and attacked WCW stars outside of the building. Have Aces and Eights attack people all over and be dominate until there is internal problems rising. Have bigger stars join aces and eights which will cause there to be some Ego problems.

I would destroy hogan and keep him off TV for a while and let Aces and Eights really run the show. Sting should put his career on the line against Bully Ray - That would be huge and cause alot of heat for Aces and Eights. TNA just needs to stay the course but change some of the people in Aces in Eights members. I mean DLO BROWN is the Vice President? - lol.

One last thing - Keep the X Division Strong... This will help them appeal to people who don't watch TNA. Eric Bischoff used the Cruizerweights for the opening of WCW shows for a reason... It's exciting and gets people pumped for the show.

 

[#heel420]

What momentum?

They drew their lowest rating so far this year last week. If anything it's a lack of momentum. Last week's Impact was stacked and they couldn't get over a 1.0 rating.

 

[SpecialFNK]

it's unfortunate that ratings are what are used to judge/value the show.

what TNA should be doing right now is making Aces and Eights look strong. have them running the show. I would like to see them beating up/attacking other TNA wrestlers, even during some non Aces and Eights matches.

Aces and Eights being the dominating stable should be running into/towards Bound For Glory. Slammiversary is too close to have anything negative happen to Aces and Eights, and the next PPV isn't until BFG in October.

maybe Aces and Eights should also have a tag team to go after the tag team titles. Doc and Anderson? maybe they can even have something where they can switch members, like maybe Doc and Anderson win, and then one week Doc and Wes Brisco defend them.

 

[It's Damn Real!]

Considering this is WCW 1997 2.0 (and that's a good thing, considering it was the single greatest year in pro-wrestling history IMO), the answer is easy:

1. Book Aces and Eights strong. Everyone wins. Members rarely lose, and when they do, they lose strong too (as in beat the shit out of the face after).
2. Keep pumping up AJ's "turn" and continue to pump up the "loner" factor.
3. Build, build, build to AJ/Ray for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship at Bound For Glory '13, when AJ can compete for it once more.

The success writes itself.

 

[Zeven_Zion]

What momentum?

They drew their lowest rating so far this year last week. If anything it's a lack of momentum. Last week's Impact was stacked and they couldn't get over a 1.0 rating.

Someone can't differentiate between momentum in ratings and momentum in story. See, genius, you care about the number, we care about the story. You judge by the number, we judge by the story. The number has been horrible, the story has not. Meanwhile, WWE's number is pretty good, the story isn't. Now what do you enjoy more? A good story, or a high rating. I thought so. And before you say some stupid bullshit like "the story isn't good because the rating is", just don't. There are plenty of people to disprove that garbage as we/they have in the past so save yourself the trouble of looking like a jackass. If you've seen Bully's work so far and the way it's all developed after Lockdown you'd know this is some good TV and stellar work from Bully.

On topic: what do they do to keep the momentum? Don't fuck up. Keep making Bully do badass things. Keep giving him the mic so he can keep drawing the heat. Add a few layers to the story so it's not repetitive since this WILL go on until Bound For Glory at the very least and in a 2-3 shows start involving AJ Styles with Aces and Eights some more.

Either way, TNA has become a storyline heavy company. They love plots, they seem to love booking long term, they're catching on and they're trying to build characters and stories for almost everyone. Fine and dandy by me.

I trust they'll keep this storyline cool for a while longer better than I would.

 

[Lowdown]

Like a lot of things in pro wrestling, it's a matter of perspective. A&8's was made to look so weak up until Bully turned at Lockdown. Now what's the overall goal? Are they trying to take over TNA? They have the main two titles in the company, so perhaps they should aim for the tag titles. Seems feasible being that they're being held by a face team in Chavo and Hernandez. But do they have a strong enough team to represent? I've said before that outside of the Dudleys and maybe Anderson, they have no other "stars" that jump out as major threats. But that could be the difference that separates them from the NWO. Kinda how WWE is doing with the Shield stable they have. Make something from nothing, but don't overdo it. All good things eventually come to and end. But this can be nurtured right. The key here I believe can be AJ, but don't drag it out like Sting in 96-97. Maybe have him beat Bully at BFG, or the Impact following.

 

[CripplerBenoitFan]

Exactly Lowdown. When you have a stable, you need to have a direction and a plan on the endgame for the angle. Without that you're just spinning wheels. I must say though I don't have a lot of faith in TNA's booking of stables. I think the only angle they ever do is a heel stable and they never seem to fully resolve it. Whether it's Planet Jarrett, Main Event Mafia, World Elite, they all just kind of disappear with no real finish.

I hope they have learned from the mistakes of the past. Time will tell.

 

[JJYanks121]

Considering this is WCW 1997 2.0 (and that's a good thing, considering it was the single greatest year in pro-wrestling history IMO), the answer is easy:

1. Book Aces and Eights strong. Everyone wins. Members rarely lose, and when they do, they lose strong too (as in beat the shit out of the face after).
2. Keep pumping up AJ's "turn" and continue to pump up the "loner" factor.
3. Build, build, build to AJ/Ray for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship at Bound For Glory '13, when AJ can compete for it once more.

The success writes itself.

So basically do exactly what WCW did in 1997 minus the good cruiserweight stuff? Yeah......

There's a HUGE problem with one of the things you said. Aces and Eights looked like shit for months. Booking them strong now doesn't mean a whole lot and honestly, they don't mean a whole lot. They are all there to serve Bully Ray. Not one of them has an individual agenda or feud and they honestly have no purpose. I'd honestly rather Bully kick everyone but Devon, Taz, and D'Lo out since they did their job and now they aren't needed. Makes him seem like a dick and it gets rid of useless drones who are doing absolutely nothing.

But then there's the other problem. Starrcade 1997. By then, the nWo was supposed to get beaten but they didn't. What if TNA does the same thing and decides to keep a story going when it's run its course? That is ultimately what started the downfall of WCW. Do you want that for TNA?

I said this in my thread but I'll reiterate it here. If you do WCW 1997 shot for shot, people will catch on and go "I've seen this before, do I need to see it again?" Plenty will not call it good storytelling when not one part of the story is unique from the most famous superstable story in wrestling history. I'd like to see something different, anything different personally. If it's WCW 1997, I know exactly what's going to happen so what's my incentive to watch every week?

That's where the ratings come in. You might say the storytelling is good because you are nostalgic for it, but the casual fan will have seen it and think it's quite unoriginal. Some may just think it's not that good. Ratings do matter as now that the show is on the road, the goal is to get people to watch the show and want to go to the live shows as well as tune in each week so they could make money.

It remains to be seen if they will with this but it seems to me that TNA is doing what WWE did last year which hurt them as well. We know what the end game is going to be so why care about anything in between?

 

[WWEIsLife2]

What momentum?

They drew their lowest rating so far this year last week. If anything it's a lack of momentum. Last week's Impact was stacked and they couldn't get over a 1.0 rating.

This^

What momentum is TNA building? The Ratings are still the same as they were when Hogan arrived in 2010 and Lockdown only drew 17,000 buys. Aces/Eights to me is still a joke of a Faction even with Bully Ray running it now. BTW who didn't see Bully being revealed as the Leader?

When you cut down the PPVs to 4 a year and build up the TV Show yet draw below a 1.0 with a TLC Main Event some red flags should go up.

And before I get blasted with your a WWE Mark I do follow TNA also.

 

[countryhearts4]

I think TNA are getting ready to turn Brooke #HEEL as MachinimaSports who film #TNAReAction Video's have PULLED Brooke's Lethal LockDown Reaction Video and have PULLED ''Brooke Wants A Divorce'' #TNAReaction Video from Impact Wrestling Website and their YouTube Channel.

they've also PULLED all of Bully Rays #TNAReaction Video's where he talks about Brooke from their YouTube Channel and Impact Wrestling's Website.

 

[TNA cross the line]

Like always Zeven_Zion and IDR hit the nail on the head with this topic. Bully MUST stay Dominate and keep making Aces & Eights look badass, (also on a side note i think ASSHOLE is very entertaining with the A&8s gimmick its fit his current TNA character very well) And i want to see AJ & Sting and possibly Morgan to unite- (kinda iffy on that at this juncture) but definitely Sting and AJ unite and not be with TNA or Aces & Eights for early-mid summer, but not go full blown "Wolfpac" 3rd Stable on us. Then ride it out till BFG and the Epic showdown for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship Bully Ray vs AJ Styles your Bound For Glory Main Event. Just thinking about it gives me goosebumps knowing ill be in Norfolk on 8/15/13 for the Live Impact taping's and be able to experience first hand the build up for BFG in person.

 

[KingHill]

People cried, the fans threw stuff in.

You could almost see that Hogan was near to tears to that he couldnt go in to the ring, because of his crutches and age, and that his daughters heart was crushed.

This was the ultimate heat factor for a match between Bully Ray vs Hogan. Hogan has given so much for this business, he dont have to do this anymore and take care of his body. But man, what a heat factor it was.

Keep posting suggestion to the thread I started.

I really hope TNA takes care of the momentum. Bully Ray is the best heel in years.

 

[rokuma]

What momentum?

They drew their lowest rating so far this year last week. If anything it's a lack of momentum. Last week's Impact was stacked and they couldn't get over a 1.0 rating.

It's a good indicator, but times are changing too. If you're like me and are a TNA fan w/o cable, I usually catch the show on Friday on YouTube or they stream them on Spike TV. It'd be interesting to see how the ratings would translate in like 1998 or something before internet streaming. Would they be near WCW's ending ratings? Who knows.

 

[Limitless]

This whole ratings things is a joke. Don't get me wrong it is not good for TNA to bring in low numbers for a huge main event... however times have changed.

This is not 1999, where you have a huge amount of wrestling fans. I mean WWF and WCW were way bigger than WWE and TNA are now. I never missed a Raw or Smackdown and hell I would watch nitro replay on TNT real late at night. WWE is lackluster in there ratings compared to then, and its because a lot of "fans" left.

TNA is like ECW was to me, it has a die hard fan base with no advertising or production values. Does that mean ECW sucked? NO!
It just means that TNA is on a crap network and the die hard fans are almost gone. What it also comes down to is the casual fan will watch it online or download it somewhere. Times have changed for wrestling and the ratings are a hard way to judge a company. I hate to say it but WWE is going to get some major blows in the next couple years if they don't change as well as TNA.

 

[New Hot Fed]

There is zero momentum. Guy got beat by a hammer. Then they fought again, again got beat by a hammer. Aces & 8s sucks. People are tired of them and Bully looks worse for it.

They should disband Aces & 8s. And let Bully be awesome like he was in 2012.

The way it could be accomplished would be that something bad should happen so that Hogan go nuts and fire all of them except champ Bully. Like for example there's world title match at Slammiversary between Bully and somebody, Bully throws Brooke Hogan into a table and pulverizes her. Next Impact Hogan become this huge dictator firing everybody left and right. Bully stays champ but he's still a big jerk. Hogan would keep throwing obstacles at him and he would keep winning anyway cause he's more ruthless than everybody.

If need be, you could bring back DOC and Knox as a badass tag-team unrelated to any groups.

 

[IT Factor]

From the moment Bully Ray reinvented himself, he has impressed the hell outta me as a fan. We cannot expect Bully to shoulder the blame for bad booking or lack of momentum as reflected in bad ratings. TNA had decent ratings the last time Sting was champion and that reign sucked ass. Sting was having 5 minute marathons in which he either totally squashed opponents or screwy endings happened, thus taking away the good match potential. The point is that ratings do not accurately reflect momentum or a deserving champion. Bobby Roode's title reign is another excellent example. He did everything right and yet the ratings still yo-yo'ed. It has more to do with TNA's overall lack of identity and horrible booking than of deserving people becoming champion.

I just hope TNA doesn't make the mistake of making Bully a transitional champion or do the unthinkable of having either of Sting or Hogan take the TNA World Title off of him. That would be lame and one of the biggest disappointments in recent memory.