Thoughts on Return to the Impact Zone and American Idol

[braveh]

I don't think it's a disaster now that Impact has to return to the tv-studio in Florida.

American Idol was the biggest TV-show in the country for many years (it just recently lost its no.1 position to Sunday night football)

American Idol is a show based on an industry where the big artists sell out nba-arenas 3 times a week. Yet American Idol, throughout the years have had a very small live audience. They put all the dough on the stage set and making the tv-production right. Here is a Picture that proves it: From the 2013 season of American Idol

Now here is the point. Nothing says that successful wrestling show has to be recorded in front of thousands upon thousands of wrestling fans.

My biggest beef with the Impact Zone was always the sounds. The 5 loser chanting "This is awesome" or "TNA TNA TNA". The pathetic booing (and "pops") that made TNA seem like such a minor league wrestling product.

Furthermore I Always thought TNA had crappy cameramen and editing that made the Impact Zone seem smaller and more pathetic than it really is.

What they have to do is to put all their effort into making the tv-studio seem bigger than it is...it probably shouldn't be live. Avoid bad camera angles, edit out the loud mouth losers at the ring-side.

 

[It's Damn Real!]

I completely agree with the comments you made regarding the audio. The IMPACT Zone itself doesn't look that small when it's shot properly, but it absolutely sounds small when I can literally hear a SINGLE fan telling Samoa Joe to "stop being a baby" on a live PPV because of how the arena is mic'd up. That's what made things look so poorly, much more so than the arena itself, though I still think it's a tad shy of where I'd like them to be.

 

[fenderjapan]

I don't have a problem with taping wrestling in a TV studio. They did it for years with a lot of the biggest promotions...WCW/JCP did it, WWE basically rented the Manhattan Center and used it as a TV studio...the problem lies in making it look "right".

The first match on the WCW Rise and Fall DVD is Ric Flair vs. Magnum TA...taped in a TV studio in front of MAYBE about 75 people. But in those times, wrestling was about getting people to come to the live events and supercards more than TV ratings.

Now people are always going to compare the "look" of TNA to what WWE has going on, so there is more pressure to put together a big-league show. The sound and camera work in the impact zone definitely need to improve.

A lot of the problems TNA is facing now are similar, albeit on a smaller scale, to problems WWE and WCW faced at one point or another. TNA found that when they taped back to back shows on the road, the crowd got tired and less "into it" as the show went on. That is something that happened to WWE in the 80's when they would squeeze 20 matches in a single night of taping.

Granted, WWE/WCW never had to worry about low draws for WM/Starrcade like TNA does for BFG...but I guess the point I'm making is they can adapt if they learn from their mistakes.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

According to an article I read today, they won't be taping Impact Wrestling in the same sound stage that contained the Impact Zone. It'll still be on the Universal Studios lot and on a sound stage, just not the original one. The newer one is said to be smaller in terms of length than the original Impact Zone, but is spaced wider.

All in all, taking the show off the road and returning to a central location is a step backwards. There's no way to spin it without it sounding a little ridiculous. It's not a positive sign, but it's also not the disaster some feel that it is. They tried taking the show out on the road but it just didn't work, so now they're going back to, essentially, the Impact Zone as a cost cutting measure. Nothing wrong with that. With the reported financial problems, TNA's primary goal right now isn't growth so much as it's about basic survival.

As far as whether or not returning to the Impact Zone causes TNA to look less "big time", opinions will vary. Some said that TNA would have to get out on the road and touring like WWE does, to get out of the Impact Zone to look like they're a "big time" organization. Once they got out on the road, some had the opinion that they still weren't big time because of the numbers they were drawing. If WWE is the measuring stick for "big time" in pro wrestling, then every other company falls short, not just TNA. The simple answer to this question is that a lot of fans will never see TNA as "big time" no matter what they do or try unless they're able to genuinely compete with WWE the way WCW did back in the late 90s.

 

[ABMorales787]

I don't think it's a disaster now that Impact has to return to the tv-studio in Florida.

American Idol was the biggest TV-show in the country for many years (it just recently lost its no.1 position to Sunday night football)

American Idol is a show based on an industry where the big artists sell out nba-arenas 3 times a week. Yet American Idol, throughout the years have had a very small live audience. They put all the dough on the stage set and making the tv-production right. Here is a Picture that proves it: From the 2013 season of American Idol

Now here is the point. Nothing says that successful wrestling show has to be recorded in front of thousands upon thousands of wrestling fans.

My biggest beef with the Impact Zone was always the sounds. The 5 loser chanting "This is awesome" or "TNA TNA TNA". The pathetic booing (and "pops") that made TNA seem like such a minor league wrestling product.

Furthermore I Always thought TNA had crappy cameramen and editing that made the Impact Zone seem smaller and more pathetic than it really is.

What they have to do is to put all their effort into making the tv-studio seem bigger than it is...it probably shouldn't be live. Avoid bad camera angles, edit out the loud mouth losers at the ring-side.

I lost brain cells reading this. Guess how many people The Walking Dead and Breaking Bad are recorded in front of. Don't worry. I can wait.

You do realize the end game in a wrestling show is to earn money from the tickets, right? Now, how the hell do you do that when you aren't selling tickets? This isn't a TV show with the sole objective of having ratings alone. It's a constantly moving attraction that needs to constantly generate money for itself. If we go by your dumb logic it would be a totally positive thing to have Metallica or Miley Cyrus just hold all their concerts in some sound stage with no ticket earnings whatsoever.

The only positive thing that can come from TNA going back to Universal Studios is their stage set not looking so dull. And putting that against the potential ticket gains does not pay off at all.

 

[DarksideEric]

According to an article I read today, they won't be taping Impact Wrestling in the same sound stage that contained the Impact Zone. It'll still be on the Universal Studios lot and on a sound stage, just not the original one. The newer one is said to be smaller in terms of length than the original Impact Zone, but is spaced wider.

All in all, taking the show off the road and returning to a central location is a step backwards. There's no way to spin it without it sounding a little ridiculous. It's not a positive sign, but it's also not the disaster some feel that it is. They tried taking the show out on the road but it just didn't work, so now they're going back to, essentially, the Impact Zone as a cost cutting measure. Nothing wrong with that. With the reported financial problems, TNA's primary goal right now isn't growth so much as it's about basic survival.

As far as whether or not returning to the Impact Zone causes TNA to look less "big time", opinions will vary. Some said that TNA would have to get out on the road and touring like WWE does, to get out of the Impact Zone to look like they're a "big time" organization. Once they got out on the road, some had the opinion that they still weren't big time because of the numbers they were drawing. If WWE is the measuring stick for "big time" in pro wrestling, then every other company falls short, not just TNA. The simple answer to this question is that a lot of fans will never see TNA as "big time" no matter what they do or try unless they're able to genuinely compete with WWE the way WCW did back in the late 90s.

As someone who has been a wrestling fan for a large portion of their life and in the last like 5 years has been dipping in and out of it, the core problem for me in regards to TNA is not where it's shot.

It's just... TNA. TNA, as a fan, has never really caught me enough to keep me watching. I watched for a few weeks back when it started... didn't feel it. Watched again for about a month after a break, again, didn't feel it. Every time I watch TNA I just have the urge to go back to WWE or watch older matches from WCW/WWF. I don't know what it is about TNA, I know they have good talent, but they just can't hook me.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

It's not a positive sign, but it's also not the disaster some feel that it is.

I was one of the people that thought there may not be any going home again once they hit the road. Good to hear I was wrong. Although, I am not excited to hear that they are headed back to another sound stage. The Impact Zone was always a consistent complaint of mine. The fans seemed dulled and disinterested. It felt like there were large groups of people who had no familiarity with what they were seeing. I don't know how you fix that. My gut tells me that TNA should keep the cameras on their talent and not worry about what is happening around them. Maybe they should pump in the noise they want from the audience instead of counting on the audience. Then again my brain says that people want to see themselves on TV.

Here's a bad idea - every week pick out a lucky fan and let them do Christy Hemme's job for a match. I think it would be neat and a big thrill for a impressionable fan or even pseuodofan.

Here's a worse idea - every couple of weeks pick out a lucky fan and let them manage a wrestler for a match.

And now the king of bad ideas - introduce a new manager that way by swerving the audience and having the special guest manager turn on their face. Wait, does TNA have managers? Nevermind.

Anyway, the point is made. A sound stage is probably the best place for Impact right now but that's not really a good thing. Hopefully they can come up with ideas to make the experience more enjoyable and less bush league feeling.

Some people wait a lifetime for shit thread like braveh's

 

[The 1-2-3 Killam]

My problem with the Impact Zone is that Orlando wrestling fans, who don't have to pay to see TNA, because Universal won't let them charge, is they become incredibly complacent. Impact Zone crowds are terrible. That being said, Sunday's BFG crowd was terrible. So I guess they really can't go backwards.

The big reason they are returning to the Impact Zone (not really the Impact Zone, because they can't use Soundstage 21), is because of this new 24/7 thing. It would be a crazy endeavor to try and produce that from the road. From what I understand, the amount of media with all the guys they will be filming, it's just too crazy from a technical standpoint to do from laptops on the road. The production rooms they have at Universal Studios will come in handy.

Granted, maybe the 24/7 thing is just a cover-up for TNA wanting to come home because of money, but not wanting to look like they've run out of money.

It's not the worst thing. It will suck not being able to go see Impact, but their travelling live house shows are so much better anyways. Maybe it will let them expand West of the Mississippi more often. They were paying way too much to produce on the road. I'd rather them focus more on the brand, more on younger talent; more of what they were doing in 2011/2012 when they were at the Impact Zone. Their location is NOT going to matter in the long run.