"TNA sucks"...and keeps getting bigger

[Audioslave]

Just because both men made their mistakes doesn't mean that their comments have no merit. In fact, they're pretty spot on. And if anyone has a place to talk, it's two men who've experienced successes and failures. They have a perspective on what to do and what not to do in pro wrestling.

And both of their failures are pretty similar. Bischoff had too MUCH money and overspent. Heyman had too LITTLE money and lost his big stars. Creativity and promotion-wise, they were damn successful. Bischoff diversified the wrestling on his brand and got the right combination of stars to form a knock-out punch to McMahon for 80+ weeks and the promotion still put up a fight a couple of weeks past that. Heyman, promoting-wise, got creative and carved out a unique identity for ECW. It was that niche, adult rogue promotion for those that were tired of WWF and WCW. He also created many great or unique characters and gave others a platform to do whatever they could do best.

Point is, neither of their problems had to do with promoting or creativity. They either bought the stars, created them or innovated the existing ones. Their problems were financial. TNA's happens to be in the promoting and creativity department. Even guys on their own roster have talked about how when people see them at airports, bars or whatever they wonder what they've been up to and why they're not wrestling anymore.

They've got young stars with potential, but how are they going to turn them into superstars and promote them as big deals when they can't even promote the established stars on their roster? When you've got people oblivious to the fact that certain superstars are still wrestling, there's a problem. It's both a promoting and creative thing. If they had a solid creative department, who had a vision and a good deal of talent then their problems would be solved. The right guys getting pushed, with the right angles and stories. And it'd create a buzz, potentially snowballing into more. That's not happening. TNA's operating as if they had been an existing promotion with many, many years behind them. And it seems that although they've got some stuff rolling on their show, it's still not cutting it.

For what it's worth, although I don't really watch the show at all. I caught the first hour of that one Impact the other day was pretty entertaining. The whole NWO takes over Nitro retread. The one with Booker and Nash basically joking and burying the whole roster, along with Steiner as ring announcer. That was pretty good. Didn't do anything for anyone, but it was pretty entertaining nonetheless.

 

[Talon_DR]

I completely agree with you, TNA has it's share of problems. However TNA is nowhere near failure marks, they haven't lost money since like 2006 and that's four years from it's inception. WCW constantly lost money for the company, (70,000,000?). ECW always lost money as well. You can make excuses like ECW Fans do, like TNA Management does but TNA was in the same position ECW was in (moneywise and tv wise) and TNA so far has succeeded in both aspects. I could also honestly say that if TNA had the resources Eric Bischoff had in WCW, they could be more of a rival to the WWE.

TNA does many things wrong, Booking and Promotion wise. TNA needs to Advertise more and they don't. I don't care how crappy the product is, but if you catch the eye of 100 people at least 1 is going to stick. The more you attract, the more you keep, the higher the ratings go.

 

[MisterRob]

You can make excuses like ECW Fans do, like TNA Management does but TNA was in the same position ECW was in (moneywise and tv wise) and TNA so far has succeeded in both aspects. I could also honestly say that if TNA had the resources Eric Bischoff had in WCW, they could be more of a rival to the WWE.

How has TNA been in the same position as ECW moneywise and tv wise? ECW never had a huge corporation backing them financially for long term success. TNA has a tv station behind them, advertising, promoting, and helping them on their station.. ECW never had that at all.

And TNA couldn't be rivals with WWE even with the resources Bischoff had, because its about more then just money and financial backing. TNA's problems are Booking and Writing, the very things that made WCW a success and helped them become rivals to the WWE back in the day. TNA would need to fix that and have a complete overhaul in booking/writing first, because they could ever compete with WWE. Their viewing audience has been stagnant for years and years, all the money in the world isn't going to solve that unless they fix the true problems they have.

 

[OIL]

TNA have grown as a business, I won't deny that. But the fact of the matter is that they're not a patch on the WWE, and they won't worry the WWE for a long, long time.

Look at the company a few years back, and it was just like an indy fed, but with the capability to be watched on the TV. Fast forward to now, and while they're a bigger company, their product is still lacking incredibly. Look to an interview with Eric Bischoff in The Sun recently. He said that TNA was horrible, in one way or another. He doesn't want to be a part of their product, and neither does Hulk Hogan. Neither did Goldberg, and Christian Cage is leaving. Rumors of Kurt Angle looking into returning to the WWE and you'll see that TNA aren't getting any bigger in wrestling terms. Their storylines are stale, and their best answer to that is to rip off Stone Cold Steve Austin, to no avail. It just made TNA more laughable.

You talk about the rise in ratings. Their ratings are shit for a company that are apparently 'getting bigger'. Their best rating is a 1.1, or 1.2. I can't remember which. Yet, compare that against ECW where they get 1.5 usually, although I am aware that iMPACT! beat ECW in the ratings once or twice, it's still not a patch on the constant 3.0+ of RAW, and the constant 2.2+ of SmackDown! If TNA are getting bigger, WITH such big stars as Kurt Angle then surely they should be doing better? Long gone are the days where WWE fans would chant 'TNA!', because they've realised that the WWE were always better.

TNA does indeeed suck, in many, many areas. They need to actually realise that they have a good roster, and the wrestlers have the capabilities to put on amazing shows/matches, yet, they don't do it at all. By no means are the WWE amazing every time, but in comparison they are; by a large margin.

 

[gg inferno]

I think i posted earlier in this thread that TNA is what it is. a promotion on a network that gets good ratings for the network. no more. no less. and yes, they have generated revenue growth through some licensing deals and house shows. but dixie has zero clue how to promote this product on a national level, and she's not willing to spend the money. they can't afford anymore top talent, and despite what people think, none of the ROH castoffs and little guys they hire that the web thinks are so great and can take TNA to the next level. you guys just need to have some water splashed on your face and accept that. the only thing that can save tna, or wwe right now for that matter, is for some guy that's never been on tv before that has the charisma and mic skills of a stone cold steve austin or rock to emerge. the main problem with wrestling isn't the creative problem in tna, as it is moreso with the wwe. they've managed to lose half of their wrestling fans over the past seven years, while all the shmucks on the internet have been bashing russo's work in tna , when most of the crap he's been given credit for comes from dutch and jeff. bishoff nailed it right on the head with wwe's programming. they want an adult audience, but do it with juvenile writing.

the cold hard facts are that we live in a UFC world right now. it's taken over the wrestling audience, and as long as more shootfighting schools arise throughtout the country as opposed to pro wrestling schools, the wrestling audience will never come back. dana white has been smart enough to promote enough of good fighters to the point that ufc can put on a show that packs the sports bars once a month, much like the way wrestling did in the past. with the exception of internet nerds, most people that are entering the 18-34 year old male demographic these days could give two shits about a couple of 185 lb guys having a four star match in peabody massachusettes in front of 260 people chanting "holy shit" every two minutes, as they are about two world class fighters trying to kick the shit out of each other for real. the ufc audience is wearing affliction shirts and ed hardy. the wrestling audience is wearing that goofy cartoon john cena shirt, and tna is actually selling an aj styles "pele" kick shirt. you guys can keep watching pro wrestling shows that are written by gerwitz, michael hayes, and a show where dutch mantell has alot of say and debate about what you think is wrong with them, while i watch dana white's stuff from now on. along with most others.

 

[Audioslave]

The UFC stuff is bullshit. And it really is the root of what is wrong with the wrestling business: Excuses. UFC gets shit all for ratings as compared to WWE. The thing that the UFC has over wrestling, is that they generally have a much bigger chunk of their audience going to order PPVs. Other than that, they really haven't broken into the mainstream. More popular than before? Yeah. Mainstream? Not so much. And you forget, WWE still had boxing, football and other such shit to go up against all these years, competing for their dollars and it hasn't really meant a damn. And people have known wrestling's fake for two decades now. No one cares. If a product is presented that people will watch, with stars that people give a shit about.. they'll tune in.

Wrestling's in the shit-hole right now, because no one's came along that can make a show worth watching. And any of the people who could potentially do it are out of the business or are laying around somewhere as untapped talent. I'm speaking of the bookers, promoters and such. Not the superstars. Cause the bookers/writers are the ones who really make you or break you.

And another reason why wrestling's in the state it is today is due to WWE having no competition. There's no two promotions at war. Back when that whole thing was happening, you had your WCW fans against WWF fans (albeit, not seriously, more jokingly among friends, but still) and people talking up both promotions and shit. I still think that Bischoff bringing WCW to Monday nights was probably the biggest factor in the wrestling boom of the 90's. The competition that resulted caused both companies to adapt to new styles, stories and such just so that they could compete.

Today, you could probably have a Steve Austin out there. But you wouldn't know it, cause they're not given that opportunity to get exposure. Everything is paint-by-numbers in WWE and everything is spastic and uncoordinated in TNA. And ROH is, well, I have no idea. Don't really care either.

 

[drondog]

I like TNA, don't get me wrong. But the problem I have with the show is all the damn gimmick matches, I mean does VInce Russo sit up at night strocking himself to pictures of Vince McMahon, and think of the next stupid ass match he can think of to throw a couple wrestlers in. What is this "empty arena match" That just sounds ******ed, and headpiece on a pole this shit is ******ed, TNA got started on WRESTLING, not stupid gimmick matches. Kurt was right to blast TNA when is the last time you watched Impact and didn't see a gimmick match of some sort, it's getting old, who cares to see Booker T fight refs that is a waste and turns the legends belt into a bigger joke than it is! TNA needs to get with the picture or close the doors

 

[GameOver]

I only watch cause there's nothing else on in that time slot, i'd never waste my money on the PPV's again. and Impact is just background noise.

as for it's getting bigger. it hit a 1.4 Rating at it's highest. ECW gets the same rating LOL
it may not suck totally but it's far from good.

and storylines lasting a few weeks and supposed legends like Scott Steiner, booker t and Nash stuttering all over on the mic don't help the situation.

Anyway no point raving on about it, the competition needs to be there and TNA fills that spot, WCW was just as crap for lots of viewers yet they still got ratings cause it was something else other than WWE.

 

[klunderbunker]

The new ratings astound me. TNA got one of its highest ratings of all time for the show we saw on Thursday night. For the life of me I don't understand this. The show was just awful in my eyes. The main event made little to no sense and for an empty arena match they actually played entrance music and had pyro. It's like TNA has become a parody of themselves. TNA fans are the most loyal people of all time apparently, as why they watch this show is mind boggling to me.

 

[The Sparks]

Does TNA suck? No, but it's not getting better in my opinion. Here's my biggest problem with TNA, they've gone against what they were founded on. This past edition of Impact saw hardly any wrestling and mostly backstage segments and in-ring interviews. That's why I want the WWE (and they are much better at it). I got tired of Angle, Nash, Booker, Steiner, Foley and Team 3D a long time ago. I would rather see actual wrestling. I enjoyed Styles, Petey Williams, Samoa Joe, Christopher Daniels and other good wrestlers with a little story line invovled. That is what drew me in and that is why I'm getting turned away. I know everyone hates ECW, but they're starting to get it, more wrestling and less interviews and crap. It's more enjoyable to a true wrestling fan. Also, when they do come up with a decent idea (MEM vs Front line) they screw it up. Rhino and Team 3D should have either joined the MEM or been left out. IT should have seen AJ, Joe, Christopher Daniels, MCM and other original members versus MEM. It would have been more credible and would have allowed these guys to show if they have what it takes to be top of the line "entertainers." TNA Has a long way to go and I hope they get there but they never will with bad booking, questionable pushes and the same old crap that killed WCW. Different is better and here's to hoping that ROH's new TV deal pushes TNA to improve or drop to No.3 in the ratings.

 

[CannonSpikeKnight]

I dont think TNA "SUCKS" per-se. I loved TNA a while back but now im also fed up with whats going on. Why the hell are they giving us announcer catfights. practically no championship is in action. Alot of the talent they had weren't used for a while and is still unused or gone.

I Tuned in the other night and had a major feeling of deja vu when kurt spit in stings face. hasn't this happened before?

Christopher Daniels is under a mask, of a potentially entertaining character but what are they doing with suicide? Pulling a boogeyman.. I personally think they could at least for a short time revive the x-division with daniels returning or even as suicide.

Sorry to get into it, i do that sometimes. but my point is i dont think TNA sucks as a whole but.. RIGHT NOW IT DOES!!! lol

 

[My$terio_Fan]

It's the typical IWC if you ask me. People loved and praised TNA when it was a low grade, indy type promotion. It was the type of promotion alot of smarks loved, because of the high flying guys, the hardcore, and what not.

But once it became a legit company that had a chance to become more mainstream it lost it;s "indy" feel and became uncool to like. The thing is obviously the way TNA is now(with a mix of old stars and young ones)along with the added "entertainment" it has become more popular. If it would have stayed a promotion that relied almost on it's wrestling and little named stars it would not be growing like it is.

People that rag on the has-beens, and say TNA doesn't want to build new stars have to realize if they don't build up the promotions popularity(with the so called WWE rejects and old guys)their won't be any company for the new guys to suceed anyways. So while alot of people bitch and complain about TNA and say it's become pure shit, if that's what get's the ratings then I don't blame TNA for going in that direction. If you want that kind of entertainment go watch ROH or something, TNA is in it to be sucessful which it is getting there.