What if TNA Survived The Monday Night Wars?

[Disturbed]

Well, it wasn't really a war but they lost in the ratings. On January 4, 2010 TNA declared war and had a show that night to compete against Raw in the ratings. Oviously they lost but they did have a damn good show but WWE also had a good show. TNA lost but declared war once again in March where they said they were moving Impact to Mondays permantly. That didn't last long because they didn't put up shows like they did on the 4th. They only lasted a few weeks and then moved back to Thursdays.

So my question is, what if TNA survived the ratings war? What if they actually was up there in the ratings with WWE? Would they still be in the Impact Zone? Would Jeff Hardy be World Champion? Would Immortal be around? Would they have more money? Would they steal Superstars from WWE?

There are so many questions to be answered here. Now, some of you might say, " It doesn't matter what if. Reality is what matters." So don't be a buzz kill, just set back, relax, and pretend TNA didn't get blown away in the ratings last year.

What would have occured?

 

[akathelaw]

Realistically I think TNA could have started filling small arenas in the big wrestling markets of the country (NorthEast, South) if the creative direction had been clearer and stronger from the get-go. The big red birdcage was the kiss of death in my opinion. they had all the right talent to make it a live Monday Show like Raw, and if they could have started traveling around they'd have stood a better chance at getting the most money and exposure out of their talent. I do blame the Impact crowd for TNA's lack of success. They need to get out in the country and work real crowds of wrestling fans.

I could see TNA doing a lot better right now if they'd have replaced Russo this time last year.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

When you consider what the focus of the TNA product was at the time, I don't really think they had much of a chance of surviving the Monday Night Wars. For at least the first half of 2010, Hulk Hogan was pretty much the central focal point of TNA. He was popping up in almost every segment, he was involved in just about every big storyline & angle TNA had going and he was frequently shown beating up much younger wrestlers & swatting them aside as if this were 1984 all over again. The feuds were weak, wrestling content on iMPACT! was often weak and they were up against a proven and long established Monday night staple.

If TNA would have stayed on Monday nights, if they'd have fought tooth & nail to convince Spike to keep them on through the Fall Season, I think Spike would've cancelled their contract with TNA. I believe that iMPACT! would have been completely swallowed up by a combination of the WWE, the various other Monday night hits on the History Channel & Monday Night Football.

I know that the title of the thread is to suppose if TNA did stay on Monday nights, but I honestly don't believe that TNA iMPACT! would still be on television right now if they hadn't moved back to Thursday nights and spent much of the remainder of 2010 building back the hardcore viewers that they lost once they moved to Monday nights.

 

[Mustang Sally]

If TNA had pulled a 3.0 on 1/4/10 (as Hogan had predicted), it's not as much a question of what TNA would have done as what Vince McMahon would have done. When faced with this dilemma before, McMahon sprung into action and destroyed a wrestling company (WCW) that was backed financially by a mega-corporation (Time-Warner), whose specific goal was to put McMahon out of business. He turned it around and put them out of business instead. To this day, I don't know if people realize the enormity of that accomplishment. To me, it's as if your high school band decided to put the London Symphony Orchestra out of business......and succeeded.

Remember, if TNA had attained their 3.0 on 1/4, it would have meant that they pulled enough of WWE's audience away to have actually won the ratings war that night. If it had happened, TNA would be falling all over themselves in an effort to hire away John Cena, Randy Orton and the Undertaker. They would be looking to do the same thing WCW tried to do; destroy WWE. They might not have stopped to consider that the ratings win was a one-night occurrence.....and that the novelty might wear off and people would return to WWE. Instead, they would have decided that Hulk Hogan is God and they would spend money they didn't yet have in the certainty that WWE would soon be biting the dust.

No, I don't have first-hand knowledge they would have done this, but in view of the rashness and downright stupidity of their Monday night experiment, I think it's possible they might have.

I don't know if McMahon could ever duplicate the magic he conjured before, but it sure would have been entertaining to watch, no?

 

[Million Dollar Dream]

I like what was said in this forum.. If the focus went in a different direction TNA could have gained some better ratings. The Nasty Boys 2010 version should never have happened, Bubba The Love Sponge should have never happened and Orlando Jordan and Val Venis should never have been so focused on... TNA has/had some of their own great talent (Homicide, Daniels, AJ Styles, etc.) If they just go some exposure to show what TNA was all about and how unique it was with their 6 sided ring. TNA may have gained some fans in the rating wars.. some unique storylines wouldn't have hurt either...

The Hogan era really at the beginning was too much ego feeding and getting his friends TV time.. I wish the Monday Night Wars would rekindle I loved back in the day having the remote handy and switching back and forth between Nitro and Raw... Sure as heck would have come in handy during last nights horrible episode of Raw......

 

[An Angry Blonde]

What would of happened?

To put it simple, WWE would of probably put TNA out of buisness right now, with all former WWE stars begging to come back.
If TNA actucally got a 3-4 rating, Vince would see it as a wake up call, and a new golden age of wwe would be born giving back the fans the amazing feuds,matches,gimmicks, and never will you be able to know what will happen next. In fact TNA winning the rating war would in fact be digging its own grave. Vince can to amazing shit when his company is threatened with competion and going out of buisness. So in fact the best thing for TNA was losing the rating war and remainning in buissness, instead of eventually being crushed and burned by the full force of WWE.

 

[Eyebrows]

I don't think the goal was to get a rating close to WWE's but to slowly gain exposure and eat away some of the viewers who might have been fed up with WWE and looking for an alternative. Despite Hogan's claims I don't know if they really thought they'd match WWEs figures...or maybe their egos are that big and they really thought so?

For what it's worth, I don't think TNA would be able to compete with WWE's ratings if they'd stayed on Monday nights only because the WWE is a juggernaut with the marketing expertise and financial backing to keep themselves relevant. I also think it's a shame because in my opinion I think WWE's product is piss-poor and that TNA has a much more interesting roster. Yes, TNA's booking is often off yet WWE makes shit booking decisions too. TNA would be crucified for Eagle vs. Leprechaun, or for the way the Nexus feud fizzled or for wasting this Bryan/Kidd feud. But no matter what the product is like it'll get high ratings. A big company like WWE can get away with poor booking a lot more than a smaller company like TNA. And I do like some aspects of the WWE but have stopped watching it recently because the negatives far outweigh the positives. I'll watch the PPVs which are free on Sky but that's it.

If TNA had survived the Monday Night War and pulled in high ratings I think they'd definitely benefit from the exposure, be able to travel like a regional promotion for TV tapings if not a national level immediately and start earning some extra money. But I think the WWE would remain untouchable because that's just the way their brand is.

 

[jholcomb22]

If you look at the ratings for TNA over the first six months...they started in the mid 1's, then they moved to monday nights permanently and slowly started to decline, not only because they were going head to head with WWE, but because every other show was taped. We could find out the results beforehand. I am one who can't stay away from spoilers, so I didnt watch as much.

TNA has a loyal fanbase who wants them to compete and compete well with the WWE. But veiwership numbers started to drop when TNA started becoming some crazy rehash of ECW, WCW, and WWE rejects. TNA could have used all the hype they were working on to spotlight a lot of young talent. Getting Young involved with Nash and the new NWO was smart. Having newly acquired RVD and Hardy control the belt all year was not. I saw that when those 2 were winding down their careers in WWE.

They got away from AJ's reign to show us what we already suspected. The WWE castoffs are looked at as more valuable than TNA's homegrown talent.

If they were still going head to head with Raw, then WWE might think a second longer before releasing some stars, but in reality, WWE would have just moved SD back to Thursdays and work on improving those ratings knowing Raw was safe.

 

[Serious Mozzarella]

If TNA actually survived MNW2.0, then they would have had to have put on decent programming, rather than the garbage they were putting out at the time. Granted, they probably did raise their viewers by a good margin, but I think we'd have been seeing actual content that could have competed with the WWE, and we'd still be seeing it today. In fact, I think their ratings would have been going up solely because they'd be competing with the WWE, regardless of their content.

It would have been nice, but sadly, that's not the case. TNA needs a creative overhaul, and they won't make it to the next level until that happens.

 

[Hulk Hogan's Brother]

This is obviously a very hypothetical situation. TNA did not have the product or the popularity to compete with WWE at any stage.

But let me tell you this. If TNA had survived the ratings war I have no doubt in my mind that it would have ushered the third golden era of wrestling. First off for TNA to have competed with WWE, they would have needed a revolutionary storyline, the likes of which we have not seen to date. That would have set WWE's asses on fire and they wold have tried harder, maybe experimented a lot more than they usually do.

So if TNA had survived the wrestling war, I do not think you would be seeing anything that you are seeing now. You'd be seeing something completely different, way more entertaining and way more consistent as far as the booking is concerned.