TNA/IW PPV Dilemmas: How I'd Fix Them

[gunnascott]

TNA in my opinion isn't focused enough to deliver a PPV every month. Also they have too many wrestlers for the 2 hours of programming they provide for true character development. With these circumstances I believe TNA/IW should only provide 6 PPVs per year and maybe 4-6 supershows that are live and not in the Impact Zone

January: Should be a free show since this is the month WWE does the Royal Rumble and viewership is sure to drop some.

Febuary: Against All Odd

March: Interchangeable PPV/Free should depending if WM is in March or April. If its a PPV then Sacrifice.

April-N/A

May-Destination X should be moved here since WWE PPVs in this month are usually poor draws

June-Another Supershow where all titles would be on the line with limited promos and 65% is spent on wrestling

July- Hardcore Justice where every match has some "brutal" stipulation Ex. Cage, I quit, Last man Standing etc

August-N/A since WWE provides its 2nd biggest show

September-No Surrender

October Bound For Glory and should be treated as the biggest PPV of the year unlike this year

November- Turning Point Should have a wargames like match like Lockdown but only one not all cage matches

December- 3 Hour live supershow that I'd like to see a champion on Champion match(World Heavyweight Champion v. X Division/TV Champ)

 

[randomguyri]

wwe,tna and ufc need to cut back on a few pay perviews only reason why they wont is if ufc or wwe only sells 100,000 at 50 dollars each 25 goes to the cable company and 25 goes to wwe/ufc now do $25 times 100,000 and you would see greed is why they do so many pay per views

 

[Lowdown]

Interesting ideas you brought up. The thing is in their own way TNA is still trying to compete with WWE and on a smaller scale ROH. Maybe it would be more cost effective if they scaled back on the PPV's by maybe 2 but no more than 4. But what I think they should do is do house shows beyond the east and southeast. Being that I grew up in Cali (but live on the east coast now), I never really heard of TNA going to the Forum in Inglewood, Sports Arena, or Staples Center. I think it would be beneficial if they got exposure to the western U.S. and possibly build up a bigger fan base across the country. Now let me know if I'm ignorant or unaware that they have already taken these steps. But the way I see it is if they do this, perhaps it could generate bigger PPV buyrates. I won't get into what needs to be done behind the scenes since it'll start up more debates.

 

[randomguyri]

tna needs to do overseas tapeing the ufc has been doing that for their pay per views and now wwe is tapping back into the international market

wwe just filmed raw and smackdown in mexico probally made tons of money there doing pay per views over seas generates cash for ufc

tna probally cant sell a 10,000 seat arena in england like wwe can but if they could id recomend it

 

[ABMorales787]

Their PPV's have longer gaps between them than WWE's with mostly 4 to even 6 weeks between each PPV. Not to mention cutting PPV's means cutting PPV buys with cuts revenue. Meaning it's a bad idea to cut PPV's just because a couple of dudes on a computer think it would make storylines leading up to them seem better. Believe it or not, those half-assed PPV's make good money and no matter how well developed a feud or PPV card is people still buy.

 

[gunnascott]

@KillJoy yeah I understand that but TNA ppv buyrates aren't that good to begin with and if they cut back there would be more hype meaning each PPV will see increased revenue and buyrates

 

[It's Damn Real!]

One of the most important things to remember here is that PPV's produced in the iMPACT! Zone don't cost TNA anything to produce from what I understand, or cost them very little as Universal Studios foots a ton of the bills, if not all of them.

If that is truly the case, it's easy to see why TNA hasn't cut PPV's despite reportedly low buy rates because it's all profit regardless.

 

[ABMorales787]

@KillJoy yeah I understand that but TNA ppv buyrates aren't that good to begin with and if they cut back there would be more hype meaning each PPV will see increased revenue and buyrates

No they won't. Sales come from the PPV's which if held in the Impact Zone are highly low cost and if you cut one PPV to help another, at the least you'll just get a slight bump. Simply put, cutting one to benefit the other won't do anything. If they can build a PPV in 4 weeks that sells well enough, why cut PPV's to get longer builds? Both TNA and WWE know that and that's why WWE has more PPV's than the number of months on the calendar year.

 

[fenfool]

I think now that Russo has been demoted, the next thing is to get rid of Bischoff. He is more concerned with fooling the 'smarks' than with doing business. Get rid of his influence, and they can concentrate on building PPV business...not screwing fans who shell out the PPV money.

That said, I think 6-8 PPV's a year is a good plan, but I don't see it happening. It's almost like holding those PPV timeslots is a form of advertising...their name gets seen on a monthly schedule, it doesn't matter if anyone actually buys them or not. With their current TV-focused business plan, I think PPVs every other month mixed in with a TV special on alternate months makes sense, and could actually work.

 

[ABMorales787]

I think now that Russo has been demoted, the next thing is to get rid of Bischoff. He is more concerned with fooling the 'smarks' than with doing business. Get rid of his influence, and they can concentrate on building PPV business...not screwing fans who shell out the PPV money.

He's also producing the shows. And I hardly see how getting rid of him will help "focus" on PPV's. And besides Victory Road, when exactly have fan's been screwed out of their PPV money?

That said, I think 6-8 PPV's a year is a good plan,

That's a horrendous plan..

but I don't see it happening. It's almost like holding those PPV timeslots is a form of advertising...their name gets seen on a monthly schedule, it doesn't matter if anyone actually buys them or not. With their current TV-focused business plan, I think PPVs every other month mixed in with a TV special on alternate months makes sense, and could actually work.

Or they can keep the current one which has been working perfectly well. Because, what the hell is the point of a TV special when it can be a PPV and get buys? What kind of a stupid idea is that? Trade PPV's for TV Specials? That's like trading bottles full of water for empty ones.

 

[Karilas]

...And besides Victory Road, when exactly have fan's been screwed out of their PPV money?

Well I've seen a lot of people bleating about Bound For Glory, but I feel that's a facile argument, you can't say a PPV was a rip-off just because the guy who you wanted to win the main event loses in a controversial finish, that's actually been grating at me since Sunday night, that one.

Basically I agree, as long as their PPVs turn a profit there's just no logical business reason for scaling them back. Also TNA's PPVs this year haven't been half bad, even considering TNAs less than stellar track record in recent years for putting together logical shows.

 

[SpecialFNK]

as long as PPV's make a profit, you can't really cut them all together.

but to TNA PPV's are not that big. to TNA an episode of Impact is just as important and maybe even more.
I have no idea on the numbers or money, but if TNA can make more money on Impact then I can understand why they want to make bigger matches for Impact.

if TNA was to take a "PPV" and on Sunday night(or another night) and instead of having it a PPV they were to air a 3 hour special show on TV with commercials, could they end up making more money? it would be the amount of money made for PPV buys compared to the money they would get for commercial time.

 

[randomguyri]

Their PPV's have longer gaps between them than WWE's with mostly 4 to even 6 weeks between each PPV. Not to mention cutting PPV's means cutting PPV buys with cuts revenue. Meaning it's a bad idea to cut PPV's just because a couple of dudes on a computer think it would make storylines leading up to them seem better. Believe it or not, those half-assed PPV's make good money and no matter how well developed a feud or PPV card is people still buy.

i mentioned the money split tna is different from ufc or wwe that couldbenefit from cutting a pay per view

fireing bischoff would help he never understood the pay per view business
tna has to figure out what they are doing wrong

alot of money is involved in the pay per view business

as long as PPV's make a profit, you can't really cut them all together.

but to TNA PPV's are not that big. to TNA an episode of Impact is just as important and maybe even more.
I have no idea on the numbers or money, but if TNA can make more money on Impact then I can understand why they want to make bigger matches for Impact.

if TNA was to take a "PPV" and on Sunday night(or another night) and instead of having it a PPV they were to air a 3 hour special show on TV with commercials, could they end up making more money? it would be the amount of money made for PPV buys compared to the money they would get for commercial time.

theres more money in pay per view then tv time ufc and boxing make a killing off of pay per view

 

[Corpse_Machine]

I have'nt read any of the above post's, but my biggest issue right now was the fact that they sold less than 3000 ticket's to BFG. For a promotion that consider's themselve's a rival to the WWE's massive product this is not good in the slightest, WWE sell's over 70,000 ticket's to their biggest PPV of the year and BFG is apparently TNA's biggest. A simple solution would be to hold PPV's in a bigger arena, im sure with the right advertisement and promotion that TNA PPV's would sell a lot more than those few thousand ticket's. It wont match WWE sales but it will atleast give TNA a little bit more of an edge.

Also what was with the 15 minute main event? They should focus on producing better qaulity, lengthy matches.

 

[Viggo]

I think the best thing TNA can do is get rid of Hogan and Bischoff. At this point, they give nothing and take everything. Forget wrestling, Hogan can't even walk anymore and you can tell by the expression on his face that he doesn't care anymore. Give him and Bischoff a severence package and get them out of the company altogether. TNA has a fairly solid roster, and guys like Angle, Styles, Roode, and Storm can certainly carry the company.

 

[ABMorales787]

I think the best thing TNA can do is get rid of Hogan and Bischoff. At this point, they give nothing and take everything. Forget wrestling, Hogan can't even walk anymore and you can tell by the expression on his face that he doesn't care anymore. Give him and Bischoff a severence package and get them out of the company altogether. TNA has a fairly solid roster, and guys like Angle, Styles, Roode, and Storm can certainly carry the company.

What the hell does this have to do with PPV's? You're off-subject considerably. Not to mention off-minded by saying TNA's executive producer and public relations spokesperson are useless. Eric Bischoff is the man who speaks directly with Spike TV and it's thanks to him TNA's gotten the chance to do other programming and various projects. Meanwhile, Hulk Hogan is TNA's most public figure, going around hyping TNA. Just this week, it was reported that he had so many scheduled appearances, he missed a few. So clearly, you are wrong and TNA benefits from the two of them. You just can't accept it because you are trampled thinking about WCW.

 

[He's Phenomenal]

Why would TNA arrange their PPV calender around WWE's?
1. They would be criticised and moaned at for thinking about WWE instead of just concentrating on themselves.
2. TNA have worked hard to build their PPV calender, most fans could say what PPV takes place in what month.
3. Does anyone buy both TNA and WWE PPV's? The products are aimed at different audiences and they're expensive to boot.

If TNA cut a couple of PPV's so they could film the rest in arenas, I'd be all for it. But just to arrange their calender around WWE seems a little silly. It's quite rare if there's a PPV that has no build, so TNA can clearly cope with one a month. Like I said, unless cutting PPV's mean TNA can film the ones they do have, on the road, there's no real reason to do it.

October Bound For Glory and should be treated as the biggest PPV of the year unlike this year

Did you seriously mean to say that? How the hell was BFG 11 not treated like the PPV of the year? It had a great build up, huge stars, big crowd, some awesome matches, and an epic moment. That was easily the biggest and best PPV TNA have produced.

 

[SpecialFNK]

how much money does TNA not make because people watch it free on streams?
if you change a PPV to a 3 hour show on TV with charging more for commercials, couldn't they make more money?
if TNA did this would a 3 hour "PPV" special show also have to be on Spike TV? or could TNA bid that out to another network?

 

[Dagger Dias]

TNA in my opinion isn't focused enough to deliver a PPV every month.

That may be true, but they need what money they do get from PPV buys. They are not as strong of a brand name as WWE, so they need to keep doing monthly PPV's and trying to advertise them as much as they possibly can. Doing shows outside of the Impact Zone helps too.

January: Should be a free show since this is the month WWE does the Royal Rumble and viewership is sure to drop some.

OR they could just do their show during a week that isn't anywhere near the Rumble. The 2012 Royal Rumble is on January 28th. TNA can do their Genesis show on the first weekend of the year. The Rumble will outdraw them no matter what, but in the first of the year people will be more likely to be interested in a TNA show before the Rumble takes over.

May-Destination X should be moved here since WWE PPVs in this month are usually poor draws

I liked it better when Destination X was in the spring. It doesn't really matter though, as long as TNA keep this show. It is one of the bigger ones. Having a bigger show right after their #2 (Lockdown) might not be such a good idea though.

June-Another Supershow where all titles would be on the line with limited promos and 65% is spent on wrestling

OR they could just do another PPV. They put most if not all of the titles on the line at each PPV and they just need to advertise more.

July- Hardcore Justice where every match has some "brutal" stipulation Ex. Cage, I quit, Last man Standing etc

This I agree with.

August-N/A since WWE provides its 2nd biggest show

Why? They might as well call Vince McMahon begging him to buy their organization then too, right? TNA can't run from competition. They are the weaker brand at the moment so they should concentrate on improving their product while STILL DELIVERING ONE. If WWE do their show at the end of the month then TNA can do one at the beginning of the month, and vice versa. If Summerslam is in the middle of August it will be more difficult. TNA could always still provide a show 1 or 2 weeks off if they try.

October Bound For Glory and should be treated as the biggest PPV of the year unlike this year

They already do treat it as their biggest PPV of the year, and look what we got. This is where the improving upon their product comes into place the most. This needs to be alongside Wrestlemania and Summerslam in the top tier for shows of the year. TNA honestly CAN pull that off with a roster like theirs.

December- 3 Hour live supershow that I'd like to see a champion on Champion match(World Heavyweight Champion v. X Division/TV Champ)

OR they could do this on the last Impact of the year and still do a December PPV event.

TNA need to keep doing 12 PPV's a year because even though they do not do as well as we would like them to, they do need the money they get from these shows. There's really nothing wrong with TNA's current format except that they need to advertise FAR more than they do, and do more shows outside of the Impact Zone. Fixing both of those problems will open up the doors for solutions to a much longer list of issues they face, and all without risking major financial loss by killing off half of their PPV events.