Seriously having major players on your team means nothing. This week's Impact and probably 3 out of the last 4 weeks (and Wrestling Observer backs me on this) has been the best wrestling show on TV, with great build, good logical stories (a rarity for TNA) and just some interesting TV period. Especially the go home show to Lockdown which aired yesterday - it was fantastic. BUT it doesn't matter. For the same reason you guys can't watch it. You say something as simple as the small venue puts you off the product. If YOU (a member of the internet wrestling community and ergo a passionate wrestling fan) can't look past small things like this, why would you expect an average joe mark to? They don't.
The fact that they have stars in their roster means nothing. Its like saying that if you took Cena, Triple H, HBK and the Undertaker and put them all in ROH, overnight ROH would be the biggest thing going. Its not going to happen. ROH is not ready to go head to head with the WWE just like TNA isn't, regardless of how much star power they have. For the average fan, TNA looks like the minor leagues and its hard to change perception. If even you looked past the small Impact Zone, the substandard production values, the commentary and just took the product for what it was you would surprise yourself at how good some of it is. TNA's product has admittedly been a fucking joke for a long time but when it comes good, like it has in the last month, its hard to deny that they have a pretty decent thing going.
And the brand has a lot to do with it. WWE IS wrestling. And don't feed me crap about the WCW being a player. WCW was every bit the minor leagues that TNA is. WCW was nothing. If it wasn't for a shitload of money being thrown at them, the boss being the owner of TV networks and a billionaire's dark agenda to take down an old business partner with whom he was at odds - WCW would never have been a player. A combination of money, power and just great timing with a fresh product is the only thing that made the WCW as big as they got. They had a two year run and then fell back to where they belonged. Success in this business is not as simple as we think it is when we throw in our two cents from the refuge of our keyboards.
For the record I fucking loath TNA and WWE equally. The product they put out is just plain garbage relative to my tastes and what I look for in a wrestling product. I'm an ROH/Dragon Gate type of guy. And I have to agree with most guys who have posted - TNA has over the last 18 months had the worst wrestling show and has been host to the most illogical series of bullshit storylines this business has ever seen - right up there with WCW circa 2000. But I have to take a step back and take my own personal opinions out of the equation when I write about wrestling as a business. My promotion, ROH, will never make it big in its current format. There is no market for a product that is all about the in-ring stuff. The general public has no patience for it. They need bang bang crash style TV with a lot of talking, short matches, high spots and lots of bullshit soap opera content. As much as I hate it - its what sells.
Big stars don't make a promotion. A great plan, a strong corporate structure, strong marketing and PR, effective brand management and leveraging, a half-decent TV product and lots and lots of fucking money make a promotion.
The fact that they have stars in their roster means nothing. Its like saying that if you took Cena, Triple H, HBK and the Undertaker and put them all in ROH, overnight ROH would be the biggest thing going. Its not going to happen. ROH is not ready to go head to head with the WWE just like TNA isn't, regardless of how much star power they have. For the average fan, TNA looks like the minor leagues and its hard to change perception. If even you looked past the small Impact Zone, the substandard production values, the commentary and just took the product for what it was you would surprise yourself at how good some of it is. TNA's product has admittedly been a fucking joke for a long time but when it comes good, like it has in the last month, its hard to deny that they have a pretty decent thing going.
And the brand has a lot to do with it. WWE IS wrestling. And don't feed me crap about the WCW being a player. WCW was every bit the minor leagues that TNA is. WCW was nothing. If it wasn't for a shitload of money being thrown at them, the boss being the owner of TV networks and a billionaire's dark agenda to take down an old business partner with whom he was at odds - WCW would never have been a player. A combination of money, power and just great timing with a fresh product is the only thing that made the WCW as big as they got. They had a two year run and then fell back to where they belonged. Success in this business is not as simple as we think it is when we throw in our two cents from the refuge of our keyboards.
For the record I fucking loath TNA and WWE equally. The product they put out is just plain garbage relative to my tastes and what I look for in a wrestling product. I'm an ROH/Dragon Gate type of guy. And I have to agree with most guys who have posted - TNA has over the last 18 months had the worst wrestling show and has been host to the most illogical series of bullshit storylines this business has ever seen - right up there with WCW circa 2000. But I have to take a step back and take my own personal opinions out of the equation when I write about wrestling as a business. My promotion, ROH, will never make it big in its current format. There is no market for a product that is all about the in-ring stuff. The general public has no patience for it. They need bang bang crash style TV with a lot of talking, short matches, high spots and lots of bullshit soap opera content. As much as I hate it - its what sells.
Big stars don't make a promotion. A great plan, a strong corporate structure, strong marketing and PR, effective brand management and leveraging, a half-decent TV product and lots and lots of fucking money make a promotion.
