TNA "beating" WWE in the Uk

[FoleyIsGod]

Before anyone gets a bit too excited about TNA supposedly beating the WWE in the Uk, I'd thought I would come and explain a few things.

For one, Bravo(which shows TNA broadcasts), is a basic package which Virgin customers get when they subscribe to the service. Sky users have to pay for this package, however as it is only a £1 extra for that package of programs, most people get it.

However, in order to watch Sky Sports, you are required to pay something in the region of £20 on top of your usual sky bill, which is around £18, to get all the sports packages, as to get sky Sports 3, on which the WWE is shown, you need both Sky Sports 1 and 2.

Second up is the time difference. Raw is shown live here 2 while 4 am usually, depending. However TNA is shown at a much more reasonable time, with repeats on a weekend.

The point i'm trying to make is that TNA programming is more accessible to people over here than the WWE is.

It is probably the WWE's fault for wanting the most cash, but in doing that, you isolate your fanbase.

 

[K3NK0NG888]

It doesn't matter... TNA will NEVER be as big as the WWE worldwide, let alone even in the US. Even in smaller countries!

 

[HBK-aholic]

Have we seen UK ratings for Raw live yet? I saw someone made a thread around a week ago about it but they only provided comparison for the repeats, which Raw won, yet people were for some reason getting excited about it. I don't believe TNA will be a big competition for Raw ever, let alone in the next few years. It'd be fun to see the 2 competing for ratings like the WWE/WCW did but TNA simply aren't big enough yet.

 

[Blade]

I find it really hard to believe to be honest.
Even with WWE programming costing more here and being on at a worse time, it can't be true that TNA are winning. I have a good few friends that watch WWE and hate TNA, quite like I do. There's literally one person I know who watches TNA... And I know alot of people.
And WWE can still sell out arenas that TNA could only dream about selling out. WWE sell out some of the biggest arenas in UK and Ireland on a yearly basis. I don't know how TNA do in UK, but they didn't even come close to selling out the second biggest arena in Ireland.

But.... I could see how TNA might occasionally win ratings. I live at home, and my parents don't want to pay for the sports channels, so I watch my WWE and other sports online. But, whenever I'm bored and TNA is on, I will watch it. But I doubt there's that many people bored at 9 PM. At 9, there's Big Brother, Friends and very popular comedies on Comedy Central. It seems that WWE fans will watch WWE over anything, but most wrestling fans I know occasionally watch TNA as a last resort...

But I'm rambling too much. Well done to TNA if it's true, even though they don't deserve it and it won't last long. And UK actually isn't that important compared to the amount of wrestling fans in USA.

 

[yoshi_doce2006]

I find it interesting. I saw a report somewhere that said that TNA outsold the WWE in Brittan during events from the last tours for each company. I have also heard that TNA is also more popular in Japan and Australia. Now I know those are just two or three countries compared to the hundreds of countries that the WWE is tops in but I found it interesting none the less. It shows me that despite what the WWE Marks want to say about how TNA sucks the facts are that TNA's popularity is growing. Will it ever be as popular as the WWE? Who knows. I try not to think that far ahead, gives me a headache. However for the here and now I say that TNA has a very good product that seems to be spreading and becoming more popular oversees than in it's own country the United States.

 

[angry_panda]

I find it really hard to believe to be honest.
Even with WWE programming costing more here and being on at a worse time, it can't be true that TNA are winning. I have a good few friends that watch WWE and hate TNA, quite like I do. There's literally one person I know who watches TNA... And I know alot of people.
And WWE can still sell out arenas that TNA could only dream about selling out. WWE sell out some of the biggest arenas in UK and Ireland on a yearly basis. I don't know how TNA do in UK, but they didn't even come close to selling out the second biggest arena in Ireland.

I'm not gonna say you and your in a minority of UK fans, but every wrestling fan i know tunes into TNA on Bravo, and most of them would rather watch TNA than WWE, so i can definitely see WWE loosing to TNA on ratings, I do think its only because TNA is more easily available, but I dont think that takes anything away from TNA.

TNA fills (or at least sells out the seats they put on sale) arenas like the MEN and Wembley. Its is a very popular promotion in the UK (if I'm not mistaken the UK gave TNA its highest live show attendance, which is sad considering they take PPV's on the road in the us).

You Yanks need to take your heads out of your elitist asses and see TNA for the great show it is. Granted it doesn't have the production values of WWE, the fan base, or the history, and some of the story lines can be a little.....ummm fragmented, but they put on one Damn fun to watch show, and I most definitely not surprised to see high ratings for TNA in the UK.

 

[corvis]

I really doubted this when I saw it as well.

As someone said, the first airing of Raw here in the UK (which is a live airing) is usually at 2am on Tuesday morning. So if that is what the TNA ratings were being compared to, then it's no real shock at the end of the day.

More people will watch a show at 9pm instead of 2am.

Secondly, if TNA is really "outperforming" WWE in the UK then why is there tickets still available (last time I checked) for the Glasgow show during their UK tour (at least). They also had the same problem last year for the Glasgow show which was far from a sellout from what I've heard.

Then on the flipside WWE has sold out their Glasgow shows (in the same arena) with little to no problem (and they've been putting on 2 shows a year since 2006).

I wouldn't read too much into this "TNA is winning..." thing.

This isn't a random TNA bashing post on my end.

I don't watch TNA now, but I did and I thought it was good and I want it to get to that level again.

 

[ianfromlondon]

This is funny because i dount it is accually true because..

as other people have said wwe raw is on live at 2am-4am here in the uk (people are usually sleeping by then)

smackdown is on at 10pm here on a friday night (people usually go out friday nights)

what they need to do is add the raw and smackdown repeats to these figures and add them up, then you will see that raw and smackdown are still way ahead in ratings.

its funny because ive read things on this site from people who work in tna thinking they all happy about 'thinking' they are out doing wwe in ratings here, when its based on 1 show which is on at 2am here. without adding the other airings of raw and smackdown

tna and thier fans shouldnt get excited because this is not the whole truth and im sure everyone knows it

difference is some people sit up at 2am and watch wwe raw, i think tna should be shown at 2am then u can see who would win the ratings,cause i know for a fact noone would watch tna at 2am (well apart from people who are having trouble sleeping) cause tna would send them straight to sleep lol

my point is tna is nowhere near as popular as wwe is here in the u.k

also i want to add this that some guy said

'Its is a very popular promotion in the UK (if I'm not mistaken the UK gave TNA its highest live show attendance

the reason for that is cause tna can't sell tickets to thier shows in the states they give them away,even thier ppv's are 75-80% people who have been given free tickets because they cant sell out the shows

 

[donutman]

lol too bad these are two wrestling promotions based in the USA. I don't see TNA bragging about ratings where it really matters. let them hold live shows on the same night and see who gets a better showing.

 

[stryfe604]

wow some people got real defensive about this. well, it doesn't matter for WWE, GBR is a small market for them. Look at Japan, a place that has great promotions, great wrestlers, just really an all around good wrestling country. WWE goes there and sells out, does great there. I don't know the ratings, or when its on there, but we know WWE does really well over there. Hell when I was in Akihabara they had a store dedicated to WWE Classic Superstars figures. We live in north america and can't say that. WWE losing to TNA in one market is nothing to excited about, unless TNA magically gets some magic wallet with a never ending supply of cash.

 

[My$terio_Fan]

While I don't think these recent ratings win for TNA are amazing or as big as some TNA fans like to put it, it's still nice to see. Regardless if TNA is on a channel everyone gets, and is in a prime time slot, it's still nice to see TNA slowly improving in all markets.

From what I have read/seen, TNA does pretty decent in the UK. While it still can compete with the WWE in terms of money made and all that, you can't deny TNA is rising.

So I think its foolish for hardcore TNA fans to rave about this being a "huge upset" and praise TNA at being more popular then WWE, I also think it's foolish for Hardcore WWE fans to rub it off like it's nothing. It's still pretty good that TNA's ratings are doing well overseas.

 

[T2KFreeker]

I find it funny that you are all convinced that TNA will "Never" be competition to WWE. I love how I am on a site full of fortune tellers. No offense, but given the current product andf direction that WWE is going in right now, it might happen sooner than later. In the end, I hope it's a good thing because it will force Vince, or whoever may be in control at that time, to pull their heads out of their butts and so something about the situation. Not saying that TNA is perfect either, but at least it seems like they are trying. Before I get hit with the whole "You're just a TNA mark" crap, I am a wrestling mark and watch anything that looks good. So to me, I'd love for it all to be great, but really, it isn't. Is TNA beating WWE in the UK? Probably and it's not because of the timeslots either. If people want to watch it, they will pay for it and we all know this so stop making excuses. Even if you hate TNA as a company, which is weird to me to hate a company based on the fact that it's TNA and not the talent, you have to agree that it has been quite entertaining lately. What does WWE have to offer? Kane holding "The Sultan of Sideburns" hostage? Shawn Micheals super kicking an 11 year old girl? John Cena and Randy Orton in the main event "AGAIN"? The best thing WWE had this week was the Hardy angle, which we all don't know where it's going. It's kind of like when TNA pulled the brilliant swerve with Joe joining the MEM. Vince followed that up with Donald Trump buying RAW for a whole week. Wow, that was a waste of time, wasn't it? You have a great episode of IMPACT! with an all out brawl, and the best WWE can come up with was a pretty lousy DX skit, yeah, DX isn't going to work with a TVPG rating, by the way, and that's the damn truth. Again, not saying that TNA is perfect though as the whole thing with Abyss and "Dr. Stevie" is just bad. Add in the fact that TNA has too much product and not enough television time, sometimes the show seems too rushed and not thought out properly. Still, if they get it straight and a second show, that might ease things up and give them an edge. Who knows, but yeah, TNA will end up being competition to WWE someday. Not saying they will beat WWE, but they will be competition, whether you agree with the ratings or not, they are what they are.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Yeah, I remember reading about this on the main page earlier this week. It's nothing to really get into a twist over. I'm almost certain that Impact drew 57,000 viewers to Raw's 45,000 and Smackdown drew a little less. In the grand scheme of things, a difference of 12,000 viewers in a what I think it s apretty small market to begin with isn't exactly something that the WWE's gonna get its collective drawers bunched up about.

A 2-4 a.m. timeslot is pretty shitty, so I can't help but wonder what Raw would do in a much more favorable slot. Somehow, I doubt Impact would win that. But, as I said, it's not really anything to crow about.

 

[ianfromlondon]

Yeah, I remember reading about this on the main page earlier this week. It's nothing to really get into a twist over. I'm almost certain that Impact drew 57,000 viewers to Raw's 45,000 and Smackdown drew a little less. In the grand scheme of things, a difference of 12,000 viewers in a what I think it s apretty small market to begin with isn't exactly something that the WWE's gonna get its collective drawers bunched up about.

A 2-4 a.m. timeslot is pretty shitty, so I can't help but wonder what Raw would do in a much more favorable slot. Somehow, I doubt Impact would win that. But, as I said, it's not really anything to crow about.

yea thats what i was trying to say they base it on the 2-4am live airing but they didnt add into it the other airings wwe has during the week at better times, so i dont know how they can say it has had 'better ratings' they base it on a show at 2am?? na add up the other airings of raw and smack down and that number will shoot up

 

[X]

No offense, but given the current product andf direction that WWE is going in right now, it might happen sooner than later.

It won't. TNA is going to suddenly jump 2+ points in the ratings? You realize how difficult that is? It's not happening, not with the same nonexistent promoting they do. Many wrestling fans haven't even heard of TNA for God's sake.

Is TNA beating WWE in the UK? Probably and it's not because of the timeslots either.

Yes, yes it is because of the time slot. Raw doesn't air until 2 AM in the UK. That's just about the worst time slot you can possibly have. Whereas TNA is aired right in the middle of primetime, 8-10 PM. You honestly think the time slot doesn't play a factor here?

If people want to watch it, they will pay for it and we all know this so stop making excuses. Even if you hate TNA as a company, which is weird to me to hate a company based on the fact that it's TNA and not the talent, you have to agree that it has been quite entertaining lately.

Not really. I was far more entertained during 2006 than I am by their current product.

It's kind of like when TNA pulled the brilliant swerve with Joe joining the MEM.

How was that a "brilliant" swerve? That was an awful booking choice. The only thing they did was make Samoe Joe look like a raging pussy.

Vince followed that up with Donald Trump buying RAW for a whole week. Wow, that was a waste of time, wasn't it? You have a great episode of IMPACT! with an all out brawl, and the best WWE can come up with was a pretty lousy DX skit, yeah, DX isn't going to work with a TVPG rating, by the way, and that's the damn truth. Again, not saying that TNA is perfect though as the whole thing with Abyss and "Dr. Stevie" is just bad. Add in the fact that TNA has too much product and not enough television time, sometimes the show seems too rushed and not thought out properly. Still, if they get it straight and a second show, that might ease things up and give them an edge. Who knows, but yeah, TNA will end up being competition to WWE someday. Not saying they will beat WWE, but they will be competition, whether you agree with the ratings or not, they are what they are.

TNA isn't even close to the WWE right now. Not even close. That's like comparing the Arena Football League to the NFL. There's a pretty large gap in popularity. TNA isn't even popular enough to be able to go on the road for Impact yet, they still have to give away hundreds of tickets just to get people into the Impact Zone. They don't compare to the WWE, even slightly. The WWE could have a 3-hour Raw dedicated to Hornswoggle and it would still draw 15,000 fans. TNA would be lucky to draw 15,000 fans in an entire month worth of shows.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Vince followed that up with Donald Trump buying RAW for a whole week. Wow, that was a waste of time, wasn't it?

Nope, I can't say that it is. Since the Donald Trump commercial free episode of Raw, which drew a 4.5 and in which the weekly guest host thing evolved from, WWE Raw has been drawing an average of 3.8 in the Nielsen Ratings. Compared with the same time period last year, Raw as doing about a 3.3. A full point in the Nielsen Rating System equals 1,145,000 homes so over 570,000 more people have been watching Raw now than they were at this exact same time last year. So no, it hasn't been a waste of time at all. The guest host angle has been doing consistently for the past 2 months what TNA has failed to do: attract more viewers to watch.