Vince Is Doing The Right Business Move Right Now

[CH David]

I talked to D-Man about this thread a little bit, making sure it is all copacetic. I couldn't find any topics on this exactly, and if there is one, well the Mods know how to do their job better than I do, so there we are on that.

Anyway...

This is not a thread on how much PG sucks or how TNA is going after the demographic of 18-34 year old males.

This thread is about how Vince is doing the correct thing by not changing his programming or stories due to TNA. I want to make that clear right now.

Now for those saying "Oh my goodness, TNA is so good right now, Vince needs to start changing his philosophy, make it edgier and more entertaining" you are wrong. It is simple business, and what got me to thinking about this was radio. We were talking in class about competition among radio stations. Radio station X has been the top station amongst listeners for such and such amount of time, and when a new station comes along trying to take away some of their viewers, you don't acknowledge what they are doing. An example of this is station X has been doing what they do, let's say maybe 1/3 of the show is the DJs talking, and the other 2/3 is music and commercials, probably with more music than commercials. Then station Y comes along and says "I want to go after their target audience,how do we do it" so they do what they think will draw people from the other station, with maybe a commercial free Monday or something. Maybe less talk, cut that down to maybe 1/4 of the time, and use the other 75% of air time for music, and minimal commercials. Unless they lost a staggering amount of money, station X would stay the course while station Y is throwing everything they have got. My teacher, who has been in the radio business over 20 years, says that it is the right idea to stay the course unless something drastic has happened and you are losing a freakish amount of money.

This is a direct parallel, with radio in Chicago, to wrestling with WWE and TNA. Vince is staying the course, going about his business acting like TNA does not even exist. He does not need to go and please all of us and our wants for more entertaining and compelling action. Until TNA officially moves to Monday nights, and starts to pull away a substantial amount of viewers from Raw and the WWE, Vince is not pushing any gas pedals. Why should he? So people on here think TNA is a far superior product. Whoop dee fucking doo.

Matched up against Raw, if I recall correctly, they lost numbers in the hours they were going head to head. TNA was at a 1.7 when unopposed, but dropped to a 1.4 and a 1.2 head to head. Take away the first hour, and they get a 1.3, not a huge improvement from some of their previous ratings. Around the same time last year, they would get 1.0, 1.1, and 1.2 in successive weeks, and would get a 1.3 routinely in February and March of last year. I apologize for the tangent, I am going somewhere with it.

See, when TNA throws everything they had at Raw, my point facing towards the two hours of head to head, they lost viewers. Why does Vince need to be afraid right now and change how he puts out his product? He doesn't. He isn't losing viewers, he isn't losing a substantial amount of money, and lastly, he doesn't care what we say. We all wanted him to up his ante and possibly crush TNA on January 4th. Why didn't he do it, because it would be overall bad business to acknowledge another company by changing what he was doing. He did the same thing when WCW was around. He stayed his own course until WCW took the wrestling world by storm with the nWo. After that, and into '97 was when Vince would turn the engine a little bit, and then turned it on full blast. Why acknowledge something that isn't hurting you when you don't need to.

So I expect people to come in here and tell me I am wrong and that Vince needs to step up his game soon otherwise TNA will rise up. But remember, I don't mean 6 months or so down the line, I mean right now. Thoughts?

And please, this is a non-spam thread. So don't spam.

 

[Little Jerry Lawler]

I agree with you 100%. If Vince decided to crank up the jets and run a program similar to TNA, then that would mean he acknowledges what they are doing which in turn could possibly bring more viewers to TNA which he doesn't want. Most people would want Vince to take a proactive approach rather than a reactive one but that is not needed right now as WWE is still pulling in higher ratings. If TNA starts getting 2.0's and higher I think Vince would be concerned, but not right now as you said that TNA's ratings for January 4th were lower in the last two hours than in the first hour. The Attitude Era was something that cannot be duplicated or shouldn't be replicated but if TNA becomes a threat and I don't know if that ever will happen, Vince would start to tweak WWE. And we can't forget that Vince has lots of money so he can lure TNA stars and former WWE stars away from TNA if need be.

 

[Stuntz]

Well said and great thread. As much as I would like to see a little change in the E, you have definately made me see a new look into the situation, even though I dont watch TNA at all. I will however admit that I was one of the watchers of the first hour on the 4th then switched without looking back. I have said it before, I really dont believe that TNA stands a snowballs chance in hell at ever beating the E but if they do somehow get close to true competition Vince will change his ways, but not until TNA becomes a true threat to his $$$$$$.

 

[psykohurricane]

I completly agree with you on this. Actually i was going to start a similar thread. If you look in the history of Pro wrestling since Vince McMahon Jr. took over the WWE from his father that everytime he wanted a rival company gone, he would find a way to close it down. HE wanted the AWA gone, took all there big Stars and let them try to run the league with nobody, A couple of years later, THe AWA was dead. Then you got Jim Crockett Promotion, Same thing happen, Vince wanted it closed, took all there PPV spots and Jim went bankrupt and had to sell to Ted Turner. Later on near the end of the big three promotion in the late 90's. Vince Wanted ECW gone, since he was secretly giving them money to survive he stop giving them money, took their TV Deal and a month later ECW die. He did the same thing with WCW. WCW was in trouble, nobody wanted to buy it so he just bought it and closed it down.

The point i'm making is this if Vince wanted TNA gone, he would found a way to crush them but vince knows that TNA is good for for his company, just look at last week Impact, TNA gave a lot of free publicity for the WWE just with the last segment of the show with Angle and Styles. Mcmahon always was a good buisiness man and he know right now that the money is by being PG instead of 14+. He's letting TNA do what they want to do because he know that they can help him a lot just by mentionning them on tv every week. When the time is come, Vince will go out like he did so many times before and he will find a way to kill TNA just like he did every other organizations he ever wanted to get rid of. So now he doing the PG rated stuff and not bothering himself with TNA and that the right move for himself and his business.

 

[Dave]

Oh definitely right, Chilli.

This is business 101 and Vince McMahon is a very shrewd businessman. As you say the last thing that the WWE need to do is buy into all of the hype surrounding TNA and try to play them at their own game. That would be a step in the wrong direction and considering that WWE is by far the biggest company out there in the world of professional wrestling, acknowledging TNA is a huge mistake. Think of all the people that would at that as a rub from WWE and think to themselves that it would be a good idea to switch over and see what all the hype was about. That is the last thing that WWE wants to happen and a lot has been noted about TNA being publicised during WWE programming but I that is not the same. From a business stand-point, acknowledging that your competitor is putting out something that rivals yours, is almost suicide.

Vince should have learned his lessons from the last time a wrestling company tried to steal his business away from him and his experience is invaluable in this situation. I have faith in McMahon and I am sure that he knows how to handle this business a lot better than any of us could ever imagine. You are 100% correct that the last thing WWE needs to do is push the pedal to the floor. That would only give TNA more momentum and would be an all round stupid move. I commend Vince for that. He has put out some great shows without actually making it obvious that he is competing with TNA.

 

[CH David]

This isn't that we want Vince to bring about a better product, or that TNA is the superior company and program. This is about how Vince is going about the business side the right way. In times of competition, you do not throw on the jets unless you are losing viewers and money at a substantial rate. Last I checked, the WWE was consistently making money, and were getting some fairly decent ratings at the mid 3.0s. TNA is lucky to get 1.3, with two of the biggest names in wrestling history. They got a 1.5 when they threw everything they had out there. To change the plans and move the course would be a mistake right now. It would prove to the wrestling world that Vince was scared of a promotion in Orlando that doesn't even leave their own studio.

Once TNA does a few things, then maybe Vince will take notice and turn it up. What are those things? Well, TNA needs to move their show to Mondays on a permanent basis, going head to head with Raw and pulling more than just a 1.5. After that, they will need to be able to pull higher buyrates for PPVs than what they currently get. I'll put you in this position. Are you going to tell me right now, after Raw got a 3.6 compared to a 1.5 head to head, that you would turn up the heat, and blow TNA away? You would change your programming, all over a .3-.5 increase in ratings? That is not taking away a significant amount of viewers, and certainly as of today, has not taken away money. He is doing good business by not even acknowledging TNA.

I'll repeat myself once more, until TNA starts taking away a good portion of viewers and money from Vince, there is No Chance in Hell (I had to) that he changes the product. No need to.

 

[FromTheSouth]

The current product is a good business move for Vince, for one reason.

His wife Linda is running for the US Senate. It is in his best interest to get her elected, and placed on the Commerce Committee. The Commerce Committee regulates interstate commerce, like a traveling entertainment show. The House committee has been investigating steroids, under Rep. Waxman. The problem is that if there needs to be any major legislation passed, the Senate will hold the more important hearings. Vince needs to get his wife on that committee as an attempt to call off the dogs, or at least, to help him get softballed if he gets called in to testify.

The best Vince can do is stay under the radar. That means, for Vince's sake, PG is the key to his getting his way.

 

[Suneeboy]

Wait a minute, hold up. Are you saying Vince is making the right business move by not changing his programming? Listen, since when is not having interesting storylines, creative characters, angles, surprises, and non-repetitive biased commentary a good business move? When people are talking about the WWE needing to change now, I think the ranters kind of drown out the logical thinkers on this topic. The ranters and spammers say end PG, and misconstrue the feelings of those with a little bit of intelligence here. What is meant at least by people like me is that Vince needs to change his programming by making it INTERESTING, because it has not made for watchable television over the past few months.

His business model is good and he shouldn’t change that, which is correct, however to say it is a smart business move by doing nothing is a little off base to me. He doesn’t have to copy TNA in any way, shape, or form. The PG move is actually not a bad idea, and like you said it has nothing to do with that. What it has to do with is uninteresting storylines, and stale TELEVISION.

Demographic aside, this is still the ultimate male soap opera, professional wrestling. To make it entertaining you need characters and stories to go with the matches. If that is not there you are not doing the right thing. That is where TNA and WWE are different. Not because one is PG and one is TV-14. It is because one is not entertaining, while one is.

Vince doing nothing, and keeping course with his current format is NOT a good business move.

 

[CH David]

I think you are missing my point Suneeboy. By Vince staying the course, he is not acknowledging TNA. If he were to change from PG or make it Attitude Era-esque, he would be acknowledging that TNA is around and could be a legitimate challenger. He would be jumping the gun, as TNA is not as well known throughout the entire country like the WWE. If TNA is able to starting taking fans away from WWE, which in turn would lose the WWE money, then Vince will turn up the heat. The way he is going about his business, not changing the programs, or intensifying anything, is the correct move. He doesn't want to give TNA any confidence that he sees them.

As much as the fans of TNA want to say that TNA is a challenger right now, they aren't when they are stuck on Thursday nights in a sound stage with a program pulling 1.3s. They have a good product right now, but until they get out of Orlando and start getting around acquiring new fans, they are just some pissant little company to Vince. Until it happens, Vince staying the course is the correct business move. You don't acknowledge competition unless said competition is making you lose money.

 

[Randolph H]

Vince is doing exactly same thing that led to WCW Nitro overtaking Raw. It is about his ego, and that no one can touch him. He will not make the needed changes until he gets knocked on his butt when reality hits. Basically he will tease mid card talent like they are going to the next level and then throw them to the curb. He will push someone down our throat as a champion, not because he (Sheamus or whoever) draws... but because of he is friends with the McMahon family (politics). Vince is doing the wrong thing because he is not making the product better, forcing fans ( and yes young fans grow up and grow tired of BS) to the alternative.

 

[emtflash]

How is Vince Mcmahon not acknowledging TNA when he brings back Bret Hart the very same night TNA brings in Hogan? He acknowledged it right there. It is not a good business decision to stay PG because his wife is running for a senate seat. I mean if she actually had a shot, yes. But she doesn't. WWE is watered down crap ATM. Thank God for TNA!!!

 

[Suneeboy]

I think you are missing my point Suneeboy. By Vince staying the course, he is not acknowledging TNA. If he were to change from PG or make it Attitude Era-esque, he would be acknowledging that TNA is around and could be a legitimate challenger. He would be jumping the gun, as TNA is not as well known throughout the entire country like the WWE. If TNA is able to starting taking fans away from WWE, which in turn would lose the WWE money, then Vince will turn up the heat. The way he is going about his business, not changing the programs, or intensifying anything, is the correct move. He doesn't want to give TNA any confidence that he sees them.

I think you may be missing my point also. Vince does not have to acknowledge that TNA exists. The WWE Universe is in fact just that. A Universe, and if it isn’t recognized by the Universe it doesn’t exist at all. TNA never has to be mentioned in any way, shape, or form.

What Vince does need to acknowledge and need to realize is that his product is stale. It doesn’t have to leave the realms of PG. It doesn’t need blood, it doesn’t need adult themes, but it needs to be interesting. TNA gives you something to talk about each week. Each week we are talking WWE but we are talking about what we wish they would do, or what they started and completely ruined.

Vince needs to do something. That something is make the product interesting. He does not have to “compete” with TNA and gear programming towards adults, but he needs to make something that is watchable. Right now, WWE Television is unwatchable.

 

[Tastycles]

Of course Vince is making the right business decision. While Taz is taking the piss out of Cole and while everyone is wanking about crossing the line, TNA looks like it is trying to be WWE or at least trying to beat them. As long as they're doing that, they aren't being "TNA", they're being "not WWE" and all that does is make people think about WWE and what they want to do there.

Vince is ignoring them and carrying on regardless, and it makes them look even more pathetic. TNA is literally playing all of their cards and getting basically nowhere, while WWE haven't lost any audience members. As soon as the WWE start trying to emulate TNA, the fans will start perceiving TNA as a legitimate rival, and therefore worthy of watching. It is classic media psychology. WWE is a monster truck and TNA is a Ford Escort. When they're heading towards each other, it's not the monster truck that needs to move out of the way, is it? TNA will never step out of the shadows until it stops being "not WWE", because doing that plays right into lazy booking Vince's hands.