TNA needs more advertising, not wrestlers.

[wrestlingfan2]

As someone who watches wrestling on a regular basis, I'd like to think I have a grasp of what's going on. As for the casual fan who doesn't watch all the time TNA does a poor job at promoting their product. Don't get me wrong, they have at times done some decent promotion including their switch to Monday nights and that Hulk Hogan was coming in. But what about when they switched to Thursday nights? I honestly didn't not see anything but on occassion on Spike TV. Why wouldn't they advertise in NYC again or on other TV networks? Why don't they do promotion on their top stars such as Styles, Hardy, Angle, Flair? These people are people that the casual fan or a fan that has been absent for a time would know. Adversiting in my opinon is a huge part of the product. You have let people know. Telling fans that watch the show to text or call their friends isn't going to cut it. The ratings have shown that doesn't work. I know TNA's budget isn't the biggest, but why spend money on talent (eg ECW guys, former WWE talent that don't add drawing potential) when you can promote your company and it's top stars. With all the inconsitency that TNA has, it still has the potential to be a strong number 2 company but that will not happen until awareness of when and where the products is shown is increased significantly.

 

[sTyLnK]

They need better advertising no question, but personally I just don't like the production of TNA. It feels very cheap. The look and feel doesn't make it seem like a mainstream wrestling company. I know it's not going to be as good as the WWE, but they are a legit 2nd place company ahead of ROH and independent small companies....So why does it feel like a poor man's WCW? To many wrestlers. Put it into the actual show.

 

[Zeven_Zion]

Okay smarty pants, if you're such a genius, please list a number of great ways to promote a product. Apparently everyone's a promoter on these forums so let's hear your crap. I also want you to list all the ways TNA is promoting itself these days. One would figure that you're aware of the majority of the promoting TNA does to criticize it. As you just said, you think you have a "grasp" on what's going on, so give us your "grasp". Let's discuss it, but once we have all the facts and figures black on white, because I have no grasp on what's going on, I need things explained to me like you would to a moron.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I'm afraid the old "nobody knows about TNA because TNA doesn't get advertised" story isn't going to fly anymore. Your average wrestling fan knows about TNA by now just as surely as the IWC knows. When it was announced that TNA was bringing in Hulk Hogan, TNA went on a media blitz hyping their product, Hulk Hogan being part of the roster and the January 4th episode. People know about TNA and if they're not watching, it's because they'd simply rather watch something else. They don't like the product or they at least don't like the product enough to change their viewing habits on Thursdays. Commercials on TNA could air every 10 minutes and it's ultimately not going to mean anything if people don't like the product. Advertising only gets you so much. Once you have people's attention, you have to find ways of keeping it.

 

[Zeven_Zion]

So why does it feel like a poor man's WCW? T

'Cause you ain't got a brain, that's why. Why does it feel like WCW? Because there's people in the company who worked for WCW? See, if that's the case, and if that's how the air between your ears works, then TNA is also a rich man's ECW. It's also a rich man's Independent Promotion. EVEN a rich man's ROH. Face it, numb nuts, wrestlers are BOUND to work at other places before they go to TNA or WWE.

Because if so, then WWE is also a very, very rich man's WCW, ECW and TNA. Let me troll on WWE like you troll on TNA.

WWE is like WCW. Their World Heavyweight Title is WCW's World Title. Their ring has four sides. Jericho is an ex-WCW guy. Big Show is an ex-WCW guy. Triple H is an ex-WCW guy. Goldust is an ex-WCW guy. Regal is an ex-WCW guy. Chavo is an ex-WCW guy.

By the way, they also hire TNA guys all the time. CM Punk, Ron Killings, MVP, Matt Sydal. Booo I won't watch it because of that.

...sheesh...

TNA does need more advertising, it's hard to do it from freaking Orlando Florida, though. IMO these guys need to pack their bags and haul ass to New York. I'm still waiting on these rumours about TNA going to the old WWF RAW arena, some ball room or whatever it was. New York's a great place for promoting. Just being there will do more good than any campaign TNA has ever done.

Having TNA wrestlers like AJ Styles appear on big events with the likes of Kurt Angle and Jeff Hardy is also good. Have them pop up at the Kids' Choice Awards or any event like that. Their schedule isn't too rough so why not. Kiddies orgasm for Hardy.

But like the poster above me said, if you decided that you ain't gonna like a product, there's nothing TNA can do to change your mind. I know that, because I'm like that toward WWE. My intelligence has been insulted way too many times by that company. I've been let down a million times, I spent thousands of hours watching that load of crap, waiting for something exciting to happen, and nothing ever sparked my interest, so I hate its guts now. I don't like it, and I won't give it another chance until they do something really spectacular for a change.

Fact is, TNA suffers from the fact that it's a smaller company, in a smaller arena, with a smaller budget. That whole thing screams second rate, and people are too used to WWE's production standards, which are excellent, and once they tune in TNA they turn it off because it LOOKS like crap. But IF they gave the company a chance - believe me, it's very hard not to like it. The wrestling is better, the gimmicks are cooler, the storylines are intriguing.

But like I said, if you've got your mind set on not liking TNA before you even gave it a chance, then there's nothing they can do about it. Don't watch it, don't criticize it - you just look like a moron when you do.

 

[Hazardous]

Okay smarty pants, if you're such a genius, please list a number of great ways to promote a product. Apparently everyone's a promoter on these forums so let's hear your crap. I also want you to list all the ways TNA is promoting itself these days. One would figure that you're aware of the majority of the promoting TNA does to criticize it. As you just said, you think you have a "grasp" on what's going on, so give us your "grasp". Let's discuss it, but once we have all the facts and figures black on white, because I have no grasp on what's going on, I need things explained to me like you would to a moron.

Or instead of being a Jackass, you could just tell him the ways he is wrong. But that would require actually looking into ways to prove his theory wrong.. So much easier to try and just make him sound like an idiot through insults..

I do think that a little more Ad's here and there wouldn't hurt any. They may not help, or they might. Who knows. Really the only place you see TNA ad's is on Spike, duh, that's where they air the show. But. I watched spike TV a few months back, for the "Deadliest Warrior" marathon, and think in the 6 hours of TV I watched, I may have seen 2 TNA ad's. That's not enough really. Hulk was on the "Roast of David Hasselhoff". Didn't see him wearing anything TNA at all. That would have been the PERFECT place for a TNA plug. Granted I don't know when they filmed it, but I'm pretty sure he was in TNA by that point. Donald Trump once said "Advertising is critical in business expansion" So take that any way you like.. Really what do they have to lose by throwing some more ad's here and there? Buy out a page in Maxim, or Playboy, or any other "Guy Themed" magazine.

 

[hunterXhunter21]

I have always felt TNA needs to promote more. I think a good cross promotion with another company would be good. Something to get their name out there. WWE is partnering with Burger King later this year. Sony is doing something with Coke. Video games and movies are always showing up on the side of Pepsi cans. TNA needs something like that. Something that will get their name out in stores all over the country. I'm tired of seeing a Stacker 2 logo on the TNA ring and commercials starting Kurt Angle that only play while Impact is on. They just need to find a huge company pay them some cash to get the TNA logo and faces of these wrestlers out to the mass public.

I would start taking out ads in magazines and on websites. But they need to stay away from pointless places. Gaming mags I don't think would work since the it just seems like you would be advertising to people who already know about TNA. Maybe in those rock mags and muscle mags. Also like one of the above poster said mags for the 18-49 year old male. Same with the web ads.

Then I would get with Pepsi or Faygo(since they have the ICP following and people who tend to like ICP like wrestling since they always have it at there big yearly show) and cross promote the hell out of TNA. Put AJ, Kurt, Hardy and maybe Anderson or Flair on the side of cans/bottles. You want one or two TNA originals out there but also faces people would know to get them to tune in. Give away shirts, DVDs, autographs and maybe a chance to have 2 or 3 wrestlers fly out to your house and go out to dinner with you. Maybe an all payed trip to the Impact Zone to watch a PPV and the follow up tapings. Maybe make it a trip for 4 so it seems like a family trip.

True something that big would cost a bit of cash. But the pay off to having your name and wrestlers faces in every supermarket, gas station and in peoples home would be great. People are gonna buy it no matter what is on it. They will be sitting at home eating dinner, look at the can and say "OH, Thursdays at 9 on Spike TV. It's 8:55 now lets see what this is about." The old fans will see the face of Flair and figure out were he has been and tune in. The people who liked Hardy but are not so hardcore they follow his every move that have been trying to figure out why he has not been on Smackdown will see that he is on this other wrestling show and tune in. It can only increase the public knowledge of TNA which I think is their biggest problem.

 

[The Viper Orton]

I wont be talking and bitchin about how and what are TNA promoting and what they aren't. But They just need to leave Orlando Florid, at least at every PPV. I'm so sick of the cancer crew and I can't belive a heard a women's voice chanting pope herself on TV! IT's so small. they chant for no reason (I love that they feel alive, but sometimes its overdone.) TNA has great wrestlers, better than WWE in my opinion especially if Jericho is gone.

So why does it feel like a poor man's WCW?

Because its the same story with less budget. Comeon Eric, Hogan, Russo and small hand from flair ran WCW backstage and is running it in TNA atm, but with lower budget!

 

[tornadof86]

what they should do is air commercials for tna during raw and smackdown.

 

[VencomHardcore]

Okay smarty pants, if you're such a genius, please list a number of great ways to promote a product. Apparently everyone's a promoter on these forums so let's hear your crap. I also want you to list all the ways TNA is promoting itself these days. One would figure that you're aware of the majority of the promoting TNA does to criticize it. As you just said, you think you have a "grasp" on what's going on, so give us your "grasp". Let's discuss it, but once we have all the facts and figures black on white, because I have no grasp on what's going on, I need things explained to me like you would to a moron.

It doesn't take a genius to be creative in marketing DUMB ASS. Read Guerilla Marketing or any of his books and there are at least 300 ways for nearly free TNA could use to get the word out.

Here are a few ...

Make a Wish Foundation - Tons of Free Publicity

Sponsoring Nights at Minor League Baseball Games

Having people give out TNA Merchandise outside WWE Events across the country - Maryland Championship Wrestling Does this... It works !


Create Press Outside the Ring and send it to News Papers


Get stories in Fitness Magazines

Sponsor a Table at the Bodybuilding Olympia

Get the Knockouts Featured on the Cover of the Men's Magazines

Get the Pope in Ebony, Jet , and the Hip Hop Magazines and in videos

Start Paying Fans to promote Locally

Create all access events that fans could attend free if they promote TNA . Similar to the AXE Concert with TI

Create a list of your top 5 TNA Cities and Rotate your shows from these locations.


Have Ric Flair do interviews in Magazines for Men in the Senior Market

Get Dixie an Interview in Inc and Marketing Magazines

Get Wrestlers on G4 for interviews

Attend the Arnold Fitness expo and do a free show

Give exclusive matches on the web only

these are just a few people

Offer FREE Downloadable Matches on Ipod Each Week and Pay to have them placed on the front page = works well for new artists and people needing publicity.

Do video game signings at wal-mart and target.

 

[jevil85]

Tna did advertise heavily at the time Hogan was coming on Jan. 4th and when they attempted to switch to Mondays permanantly. Both instances they recieved an increase in ratings. Since then they have stopped advertising so heavily and they have fallen back to their standard rating, I agree it has nothing to do with their talent pool or bad writing; but rather they don't advertise their product outside of the wrestling community. Of course they advertise impact and ppv's during impact, on twitter, and their website; but nothing outside of that realm. Of course we know when TNA is having something because we search for info about wrestling in general because we love it. A wrestling company looking to expand can not go further with just us alone, they need the casual fan as well(the one only interested by certain storylines and wrestlers) TNA does not help those fans find their product. Every popular TV show reminds their fans when they will be on. TNA switched from Mondays to Thursdays without heavily promoting the fact they were.

I also see alot of people saying TNA small budget is the reason for lack of advertising, but that small budget does not stop them from employing more wrestlers they don't have TV time for. Besides some questionable storylines and direction sometimes; TNA does put on some great matches that people would love to see if they knew what time and place to find it. Placing ads during shows such as RAW and other programs wrestling fans or those who might be interested in tuning into a wrestling program would be a great start.

 

[Marcesto Del Santos Vega]

Marcesto Del Santos Vega is Back! TNA TNA TNA does not promote their wrestlers that much maybe its because they have nobody huge. Yea they have Anderson and Pope but they are the new guys "ROOKIES" if you advertise pope and anderson some may not know who they are yet. samoa joe is going where? angle is already been said and done Jeff Hardy has lost his popularity since leaving Smackdown Also hes been kind of sluggish lately. they just lost RVD over some bullsh*t money issues sting can't really wrestle anymore flair is too old to main even a ppv HMMMMMM......Aj styles Vs Flair could have been great for BFG TNA does need new wrestlers about 95% of TNA wrestlers have already been in matches with each other what TNA should strive for next year is develop new talents never before seen natural athletes that can compete with angle pope and anderson.


WZ Top HEEL Marcesto

 

[shattered dreams]

I'm no advertising expert but I do not think you can get significant worthwhile advertising for the price of one or two guys that probably get at best moderately compensated on a pay per appearance deal. I think we all "know" TNA would benefit from some increased exposure on a week by week basis. However, it is debatable if they can afford it and just how much it would help. There are a lot of things TNA would benefit from, but pretty much every one of them is not cheap. TNA has to make tough choices about how to use their limited resources.

 

[wrestlingfan2]

Zion, I think it's pretty obvious that TNA needs a better promotional compaign. Vencom makes alot of good pts. Pts i should have pointed out but it's good that there are some smart internet wrestling fans out there. I never claimed to be the man that would promote TNA but I think i could definitely contribute to the marketing dept. TNA has a bunch of talent and more people should know about it. Spike TV can be partly to blame as they show the product on their network. TNA is one of their higher rated shows. Shouldn't they promote it more like UFC?

Leaving Orlando has nothing to do with their promotion. They already have house shows so they do leave the area. I can understand them taping there for now. As I stated before, let word get out and then they can tape at other locations.

Thanks to the rest of you for your thoughts. I'm happy that a lot of you agree.

 

[wushady]

There's been reports lately that TNA is doing a lot of cost cutting maneuvers. So maybe they can't afford a major advertising campaign at the moment. They did have a good amount of advertising when Hulk Hogan first came in and when the were on Mondays. They even had commercials for Impact air during Raw at one point.

I don't know what else they can do right now to get the word out. They're probably years off from doing promotions with major companies like WWE did with 711 recently and currently with Burger King. I think the majority of wrestling fans know it's out there, but choose not to watch for one reason or another.

 

[Jeff]

1) When TNA switched to Monday nights for that fist night they got good ratings. They advertised it a great deal. The problem was, personally, I think the storyline was all over the place then. People didn't want to tune in because TNA was all over the place. After TNA started bring in a ton of old guys which made people turn away from the product. Now however I think TNA has a nice balance of new and old on the show. They have some great veterans like Nash, Angle, Hardy, Hogan and Flair to get people to tune in but then they have a lot of younger guys like Beer Money, AJ Styles, Generation Me, Pope, etc. to keep people hooked. When they did a huge advertisement push before they were highlighting strictly the older guys.

2) TNA needs to do some TV shows outside of Orlando. I think once a month one of the shows should be from somewhere other than Orlando and the tickets need to be DIRT CHEAP. Once they see it live hopefully they will want to stick with the program, especially now since the story lines are starting to get pretty good and like I said before they have a nice balance between old and new.

3) Just to mention something someone else said. I was at a WWE event in January and someone was handing out fliers for a house show TNA was going to do in the area.

4) Everyone is saying put the wrestlers in magazine articles, put them on G4 for a interview, etc. etc. This goes both ways too everyone has to realize. Why would G4 want to put them on TV? Why would a magazine want to interview and write a article on TNA and the wrestler?

Those are just a few things I wanted to say. Lastly I will say, I think the advertising they did for the move to Monday night was perfect. The problem was...they moved to Monday Night! I think TNA needs to create a huge main event for Impact and advertise it like CRAZY, same way they did for the Monday switch. Hopefully this time with the fact that they are not going head to head with the WWE, the story lines are entertaining, its not just veterans wrestling (seriously they had The Nasty Boys last time, who wants to watch them) I think they could get some good numbers and I think they could get people to stick with their product since they are on Thursday Nights again. The biggest problem is what would be the big draw to get them to watch this mega show? Maybe if they did a cross promotion with UFC, that could be pretty cool.

 

[VencomHardcore]

4) Everyone is saying put the wrestlers in magazine articles, put them on G4 for a interview, etc. etc. This goes both ways too everyone has to realize. Why would G4 want to put them on TV? Why would a magazine want to interview and write a article on TNA and the wrestler?

Those are just a few things I wanted to say. Lastly I will say, I think the advertising they did for the move to Monday night was perfect. The problem was...they moved to Monday Night! I think TNA needs to create a huge main event for Impact and advertise it like CRAZY, same way they did for the Monday switch. Hopefully this time with the fact that they are not going head to head with the WWE, the story lines are entertaining, its not just veterans wrestling (seriously they had The Nasty Boys last time, who wants to watch them) I think they could get some good numbers and I think they could get people to stick with their product since they are on Thursday Nights again. The biggest problem is what would be the big draw to get them to watch this mega show? Maybe if they did a cross promotion with UFC, that could be pretty cool.

THERE ARE ALOT OF TOPICS TO PUT THE WRESTLERS in magazines.

Rob Terry was in Men's Fitness because of his definition. You can do the same with the BP as just pinup girls with some dumb list of what they like and dislike.

You read that model nonsense in every issue of Maxim, KING, Playboy, and Jet.

You can have wrestlers talk about the games they like. It's not about TNA you have to have the men and women show the fans they are like them.

For example, Christopher Daniels was at Comic Con and is an avid follower of DC/Marvel. He did a round table show on the internet. Great placement.

That is what a public relations person does. Get people interested. If i can come up with angles TNA should.

 

[CaptainZaltan]

If you had witnessed how TNN mishandled ECW's advertising and promotion back in the day, you'd realize just how good TNA has it.

Spike has been backing TNA to the hilt. They've put TNA talent on video game awards shows, MMA shows, etc etc. They've given TNA plenty of advertising in the past, three hours of programming a week, and have been incredibly flexible and patient in allowing TNA to experiment with timeslot changes. TNA was also paired up with the UFC in terms of a programming block and advertising, which should have given them a massive push with their target demographic. And if you think that the problem is Spike itself, remember that the WWE resided on the same network for a time, and had few problems drawing an audience. Outside of Spike, the promotion for the Hogan/Bischoff debut was very well done and resulted in a temporary ratings boost, which clearly demonstrates that wrestling fans are aware of TNA.

I'm sure that increased advertising couldn't hurt (any opportunity to increase product awareness helps). However, I don't think that TNA's problems are advertising related. Most wrestling fans are well aware of TNA's existence and of who is wrestling there, and so are most MMA fans thanks to Spike. And ECW on TNN managed to draw similar numbers as TNA on occasion, with zero advertising and shows like "RockNBowl" and "Rollerjam" in the same programming block.

TNA's problem is that fans simply aren't interested/entertained enough to continue watching after their attention has been gained. I've heard lots of excuses thrown around to explain why; the 6 sided ring, the time-slot, the lack of recognizable talent, the network, the advertising, even the audience in the Impact Zone. The ring, time-slot, and lack of recognizable talent have all been addressed. The network is solid, and the advertising has proven effective in the past. The audience being to blame is laughable. It's about time that TNA stopped making excuses and took a hard look at the creative team charged with putting the show together, because if everything else is right with the company (and it is), the fault has to lie with them.

 

[Bobby B]

TNA's problem is nothing to do with advertising (well, not at the moment it isn't anyway) it's simply that the product is awful.

They've shown that with the right billing over the hill stars can draw ratings peaks over 1-2 weeks (see Hogan arrival and EV2.0 arrival). But then the people who are drawn in see the underlying product (which is lousy), and turn off.

It's all well and good calling for more advertising, but the reason people don't watch is because they don't want to, not because they don't know it is there.

Yes any product needs advertising, and TNA could probably do more (albeit I don't believe for the second they have the money to). But it doesn't change the fact that the product isn't worth advertising. TNA is still drawing 1.0's because they're the same people that ALWAYS watch. New people come in, and then leave.

Make the product more compelling, stop patronising your audience, and people might stay tuned in.

Look at ECW, they didn't have any advertising. But the product was so good that people wanted to go out of their way to see it. TNA is at a similar level to ECW in terms of following simply because they have money and a major cable TV deal.

 

[Jeff]

THERE ARE ALOT OF TOPICS TO PUT THE WRESTLERS in magazines.

Rob Terry was in Men's Fitness because of his definition. You can do the same with the BP as just pinup girls with some dumb list of what they like and dislike.

You read that model nonsense in every issue of Maxim, KING, Playboy, and Jet.

You can have wrestlers talk about the games they like. It's not about TNA you have to have the men and women show the fans they are like them.

For example, Christopher Daniels was at Comic Con and is an avid follower of DC/Marvel. He did a round table show on the internet. Great placement.

That is what a public relations person does. Get people interested. If i can come up with angles TNA should.

I understand there are topics that isn't the problem here. What people have to realize though is G4, Maxium, King, Playboy, etc. aren't charity. It isn't as simple as going...hey fitness magazine have you seen Rob Terry he is a beast, do an article about him. What is in it for the Fitness magazine besides giving out free advertisement for TNA? Have you ever thought of the fact that maybe a fitness magazine wants NOTHING TO DO with TNA? Maybe they already have enough articles and they have articles they know their FAN BASE will read. Maybe they don't want to pay one of their reports two days of pay writing an article on Rob Terry and TNA knowing that they most likely will have 4 other articles that would be more interesting and more geared towards their fan base?

A G4 TV show lets say has 30 minutes, why should a producer of a show give up 7 minutes to interview a wrestler who likes video games? Let's be honest if a huge video game nerd is watching a video game show and instead of interviewing the creator of some video game they interview Matt Morgan who goes..."I like video games, I like Mario". Seriously they would be pissed.

I am not saying they are not good ideas. I think they are great ideas but it isn't as easy as making a phone call and getting a two page article in a magazine. It is kind of like the whole guest host thing on WWE Raw. We all watch it and go...why the hell are these people on Raw? They have nothing to do with wrestling? People will open up a magazine and go, why the hell are these people in my magazine? Why the hell are these people on my Video game show? Now I am not a marketing or business expert but I have a feeling that I don't think this will benefit the magazine and TV companies ENOUGH to give it up for free.

 

[LokiCobain]

I do agree that advertising has something to do with it, but TNA stars are going to be on Family Feud, and I believe the MCMG were on that MTV show "Made". It seems like they're trying, but you're not seeing them on Letterman or Leno or places where John Cena, or even the Big Show, go. As someone else said, the shows need a reason to put TNA stars on, they aren't going to do charity exposure for them.

That said, the biggest problem is the business as a whole. People simply no longer care for pro-wrestling. And of the ones that do, they have a pre-existing bias toward anything not-WWE. You can have the greatest wrestler in the world, but if it's not cool to watch wrestling, or he's "in the minor leagues" because the WWE is the only standard of "major leagues", then you're not going to watch. From 10 years ago, WWE's ratings are way down.

This is a result of two things: Vince McMahon admitting what everyone already knew (that it was fake), and then turning his attention away from the product to the money it makes, thus damaging the product to market towards kids. For 10 years, WWE was the only promotion on TV, and because of that they shifted their attention, alienating "older" fans and the fans they created during the Attitude Era. With the change away from that time, WWE was "PG" before they actually claimed to go "PG", and lost the fans. Wrestling has left a bad taste in older people's mouths once they realized what they were watching. It is still painful for me to watch most Raws and Smackdowns, but I do it because of the one ray of hope that may shine through.

I was at the TNA event in Coney Island, NY, the only event they ever advertise having. You had "real" wrestling fans, older guys who grew up on WWF in the 80s, WCW/WWF in the 90s, and now TNA. Then you had a handful of young kids wearing Jeff Hardy shirts. The wrestling landscape has changed. Either you were already a fan, or you're 10. Because of the stigma wrestling has (see Linda McMahon's campaign, "wrestling is like a circus"), new fans are going to be hard, if not impossible, to create. At one point, circuses were the thing to do, for all ages. Not the case anymore. Times change.

There seems to have been set up a false dichotomy: more advertising vs more wrestlers. Because of the landscape right now, more wrestlers IS more advertising. Forget new fans. How can pre-existing fans come on board with TNA? a) Bring back guys that were recognizable BEFORE the decay of wrestling and b) take guys from the company that the kids will recognize are missing, i.e. Jeff Hardy's.

Let's face it, all the guys people are complaining about as being old have at most 2 years left. After EV2, those guys are gone. Look long term. Who should replace Nash, Jarrett, Sting, 3D, etc? It should be guys that from WWE. Make a grab at Evan Bourne. Make a grab at John Morrison. Once these veterans leave, there will be more money. Heck, they ARE the money. But in the mean time, bring back as much nostalgia as possible, while putting the guys you have over (MCMG vs Beer Money tag series). Soon the nostalgia thing isn't going to work anymore, and they'll be forced to go a different route (taking WWE guys). It's what WCW did, and although TNA can't offer more money like WCW could, but due to the incredible work schedule WWE has for the guys, TNA can have that appeal on guys who want to either try out other mediums or even have a normal family. Even offering health insurance is a plus to WWE.

The illogical statements that are used on here blow my mind. As a wrestling fan, why do you care what company makes more money? "TNA is the minor leagues because they're going to go bankrupt and are forced to sign rejects that don't sell". But have you actually WATCHED it? I've been watching the Lucha Libre USA, and I enjoy that the most as far as quality of matches go. As far as the PRODUCT goes. TNA matches are better than WWE matches. Revenue does not determine how good the matches were. The equivalent would be like saying "I refuse to by an Apple computer because Microsoft is the more successful company". If everyone had that ridiculous logic, Apple wouldn't be a company at all today.

What ya'll need to do is stop sitting on the high horse of self-righteousness and be a fan again. Stop trying to fix everything like you know something. Enjoy wrestling for what it is, not what it makes. Just because a company makes more money than another, and has had a head start since a time when WRESTLING MATTERED, does not mean the product it is delivering is any better than the other options.

 

[WhyTravisFelt]

I would say it's mostly an advertising issue. Outside of Spike, I don't think I ever see advertisements for TNA. Vencom had a lot of good points about ways to market the product that should work just fine. I agree that 1/4 show was a giant waste of money that did nothing to highlight the current talent and the "surprises" were guys nobody wanted to see come back (Val Venis, Orlando Jordan, Nasty Boyz).

I think putting wrestlers on G4 is a great idea. You think G4 can get bigger draws than Matt Morgan? One time I saw that skinny kid from "knocked up" on the show advertising "Sorcerer's Apprentice"; but besides that they don't get many celebrities. Hulk Hogan might not be able to get onto Leno or Letterman, but there's got to be plenty of TV outlets for him to come out and make some hype for TNA; he's Hulk f'n Hogan!

The product, in my opinion, is mostly great. Sure, most of the storyline's are confusing, nonsensical, and obviously not thought out very well (re: Sting, Jarrett, Nash, Abyss, Four(six?seven?)tion, EV2.0) but I honestly don't care about storylines. If I want decent storylines, I'll read a book or watch a movie. The actual wrestling is top notch, and the main event scene with Anderson, Pope, Angle, Hardy, and, until recently, RVD is leaps and bounds more enjoyable than any group of main eventers Raw has had in years (Sure you can call me biased, since I don't like HHH, Cena, Batista, or Orton).

 

[25andIstillpeethebed!!!]

I really think TNA should try and cater their product a little more to an untapped audience...The Gay Community!! Im a gay man and a gay wrestling fan,been so since the middle of the Monday Night wars.One of my fondest memories as a kid was discovering my sexuality during a WCW Thunder match between Stevie Ray of Harlem Heat and Lex Luger with Lee Marshall calling the action!At that moment i knew who i was as an indivdual and i could be proud of myself and yell it to the world.It also strengthened my love for the art and drama of wrestling!IM PROUD TO BE A GAY MAN AND GAY WRESTLING FAN

Back to the subject at hand,i think TNA would be very wise if maybe they started sending some of there wrestlers like AJ Styles,Abyss,Joe,Kevin Nash to the gay bars n clubs and show us some of the wrestling moves they use on each other.They could also sign some autographs,pose for pictures,have a couple of drinks with us and maybe be the judges in a hot body competition to end the night!This would go a long way to bringing a new audience every thursday night...they could bump that stagnant 1.0 rating up to a 1.3 or 1.4 if they sent a bunch of there guys across the country doing this!As a gay man and gay wrestling fan i know plenty of gay men who would Cross The Line and be a strong TNA supporter

Maybe have a Gay Appreciation themed episode of TNA Impact!Have a couple of wrestlers(Kurt Angle,Taz,Rhino) come out the closet on this episode,even if its just for storyline purposes and there not gay in real life.Have the wrestlers hug each other before the match,break into song during the match like in Glee and have Mike Tenay talk about his gay brother Carlos during a promo!

Also the week before Bound For Glory were having annual event at one of the nude beaches in Daytona Beach!Maybe set up a ring in the middle of the beach and have Beer Money face MCMG for the titles nude!

This would be very progressive of TNA and as a gay man and gay wrestling fan it would warm my heart quite a bit to see this happen!