What if Turner Bought TNA?

[Weems2k]

One of TNA's bigger problems is exposure. Having Impact, and most of their PPV's in the Impact Zone all the time doesn't help TNA get much pub or recognition. I remember reading that Billionaire Ted was pretty upset that he lost WCW. I'm not sure how much say he has in his network today, but what if he somehow did buy TNA from Dixie and Co?

Not only would it increase their budget to provide a better presentation, and look for the shows, but also to move to other arena's across the country. Plus, TBS and TNT are way more popular channels than Spike. God knows there's enough Law & Order reruns on those stations already.

Of course if the booking, and storylines suck bigtime, it's just going to be considered WCW 2.0 and most likely fail. Which is why if something like that ever does happen, TNA should go dark for a few months, and find a completely new writing/booking team. I'm talking about fresh names just waiting to bust through.

 

[Steamboat Ricky]

To be honest, I don't think it would do anything but get some old WCW fans jazzed for about two weeks.

The bottom line is that if a product is good and people want to see...they will find a way to see it. TNA's problem is not with exposure. If you have cable...you likely have SpikeTV. The problem is that people aren't being entertained by it at a level that the wrestling industry once enjoyed.

Billionaire Ted couldn't make TNA more interesting unless he had magic powers.

 

[THEPUNKB4 CM PUNK]

if ted got TNA i think with the money and expose give or take a few years it would rivil WWE

 

[The_Phenomenal_One]

I've been thinking that for a while, I wonder if he'd want to do it anyway because he's tried it once and failed so why try again. It would be interesting but I don't see Panda Energy shutting up shop just yet unless Billionaire Ted came in a massive bid. If he did come in he'd probably look at signing Cena as his first big impact. But overall it'd be a dick move by Ted and probably would be the same as WCW, Ted wouldn't invest much time in the running of the company so would probably hire bischoff to run it for him again unless they have bad blood, which if they do it'll be Ted Turner V Eric Bischoff winner gets custody of Hulk Hogan and gets to pick the special GM which will change once a week. And every show would start with a limo shot !

 

[Gman35]

if ted got TNA i think with the money and expose give or take a few years it would rivil WWE

Dude, that is so ridiculous!!! It would ultimately, be sold to Vince!! Ted Turner learned before with WCW!!! Yes, they got hot and then lost their asses, just like TNA did when they showed up on Monday Nights, they lost their asses!! Hogan and Company know this and that is why they are back on Thursday Nights!! Hell, FCW Television is 10 times better than the shit TNA puts on

 

[ShawnBronald]

If Turner, or someone with money and media presence, purchased TNA, well, it would help but just how much would ultimately depend on who was in charge. Obviously, if they had the money to tour the country, that would get their product out there more. And to see TNA in a real arena (even if it wasn't "sold out"), would raise the view of the product immensely. Finally, they shouldn't be worried about signing big name talent to huge, ridiculous contract, unless they can actually bring something to TNA. As Nash said, start with Cena and work backwards. If TNA could somehow sign John Cena, they'd have a fighting chance (but that would never happen, Vince could and would always outbid them). No one else on the WWE roster (Orton included) would ultimately be worth TNA signing. At this stage, with a billionaire backing them or not, they need to continue developing the young, exciting talent they have, while maybe bringing in other Indy talent and just say no to over-the-hill WWE rejects. Then, and only then, will TNA actually start to grow. Oh... and a name change couldn't hurt. ;-)

 

[mrbooker]

Dude, that is so ridiculous!!! It would ultimately, be sold to Vince!! Ted Turner learned before with WCW!!! Yes, they got hot and then lost their asses, just like TNA did when they showed up on Monday Nights, they lost their asses!! Hogan and Company know this and that is why they are back on Thursday Nights!! Hell, FCW Television is 10 times better than the shit TNA puts on

bro do you know your history at all Vince had his ass handed to him on a silver platter week in and week out, he had to change the WHOLE dynamic of his company to stay alive, blood every week, tits and ass on the screen when ever a female is in the ring, cursing left and right on every promo....

If ted turner bought TNA and started signing stars away from WWE and had it booked correctly their is no telling what would happen because their is no chance in hell vince would go back to what he resorted to. Anyone who watched back in 1996 knows vince tried running a straight shooting promotion and was failing miserably and then decided to go with shock value television, if Turner bought TNA i would be VERY interested to see what would happen since vince cant resort back to that.

 

[Iversen]

bro do you know your history at all Vince had his ass handed to him on a silver platter week in and week out, he had to change the WHOLE dynamic of his company to stay alive, blood every week, tits and ass on the screen when ever a female is in the ring, cursing left and right on every promo....

If ted turner bought TNA and started signing stars away from WWE and had it booked correctly their is no telling what would happen because their is no chance in hell vince would go back to what he resorted to. Anyone who watched back in 1996 knows vince tried running a straight shooting promotion and was failing miserably and then decided to go with shock value television, if Turner bought TNA i would be VERY interested to see what would happen since vince cant resort back to that.

While your right it wasn't Ted that booked it though... To the best of my knowledge anyway. You can pump money in but if you can't book a decent show it won't go anywhere and the people in TNA are the exact same ones who were in WCW and they don't seem to have any new ideas.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Ultimately, I don't think it would mean a thing in the long run. TNA has had one "savior" after another come into the company in the hopes of turning things around and it's never reaped long term benefits.

If Ted Turner bought TNA, it'd generate a lot of buzz of course and would get people talking and interested to see what would happen. Having Ted Turner as the owner, however, would mean nothing if TNA continued to deliver the same mediocre product week in and week out. Even if Ted Turner signed some WWE wrestlers whose contracts had run out, there's still the 90 day no compete clause to deal with. That in and of itself takes a huge degree of surprise and shock value away from wrestlers showing up, and that's not even counting the dirtsheets. Gone are the days of shocking debuts when Lex Luger could work a WWF ppv and then show up on WCW Monday Nitro the very next night.

In the end, it'd depend on what Ted Turner decided to do from a creative standpoint. Just having him own the company would mean nothing if TNA continued to wallow in the same creative sludge.

 

[UltimateHitman]

I don't think he'd have to worry about Hogan, Bischoff, and Russo this time around, at least at the beginning. They wouldn't want him to buy out their contracts. I'd wager they would rather collect the easy check on Panda's dime.

For hypothetical's sake, let's say he did. He'd have to get a hell of a lot better to run it. Get some creative guys from television and pay Heyman what he wanted to be lead booker. Then get somebody like Foley to be spot checker. I think Heyman's business sense has come a long way since ECW. I don't think he'd be dumb enough to go down the same road twice, unlike the current TNA creative team.

That's about it. Keep yourself more involved w/your product, and, for the love of all that is Holy, do NOT hire that 3 egos of doom creative team ever again. Not even for janitorial work.

 

[Weems2k]

Which is why Ted's first step should be to hire a Shane McMahon, or Jim Ross. Those 2 guys can then interview, and create a whole new creative staff that doesn't have ties to the old WCW, or usual bookers.

 

[punkrules]

it would be pretty good if they pushed the right guys,style should be the face of the company and idk why sabin hasnt been given a major push

 

[AntiChristDeicide]

Which is why Ted's first step should be to hire a Shane McMahon, or Jim Ross. Those 2 guys can then interview, and create a whole new creative staff that doesn't have ties to the old WCW, or usual bookers.

Can you say No chance in hell? There is no way and i mean no way in hell that Shane O Mac or Jim Ross could be hired (ok maybe Jim Ross). Shane would not cross his father like this. i said in another thread that the 3-3-11 promo was for Shane coming in TNA, the next thing i know somebody wrote to me that i was crazy.


As for everything else you said, maybe that could work.

 

[Steamboat Ricky]

Which is why Ted's first step should be to hire a Shane McMahon, or Jim Ross. Those 2 guys can then interview, and create a whole new creative staff that doesn't have ties to the old WCW, or usual bookers.

Assuming that the two of them would even be interested in the position. It would be stupid for Shane to take a job at TNA, and it would honestly be a big stab in the back to his family. Shane wanted to branch out on his own, sure...but WWE is the family business. He'll never go to TNA.

And Jim Ross has been looking to retire for quite some time. He's been drained from the wrestling business for several years now, and if he did come back, then he's going to do so in WWE for some kind of special promotion. If Jim Ross was going to go to TNA, he would have done it when his contract expired with WWE. Do you NOT think that TNA was trying to get a hold of the best announcer in wrestling history? He's out of the business because he wants to be.


The only way TNA is going to be successful is by being original and by actually having an entertaining product. Name value =/= success. Otherwise, TNA would have squashed WWE when it brought in Hogan, Bish, Foley, Flair, etc. Nobody cares who is running the show if the show isn't worth watching.

/thread.

 

[mrbooker]

I think 90 day compete clauses are for guys who get released if their contract runs out they can do whatever the want the next day, I could be wrong someone please correct me if i am.

 

[Steamboat Ricky]

No. 90 day no-compete clauses are in to prevent people from being on WWE TV one day and then show up on Impact the following day for tapings. It's any time a talent is signed to WWE (exceptions I'm sure), they also agree that they will not wrestle with another promotion for 90 days after their time with WWE is finished.

 

[The Suplexer Perfecter]

Turner doesn't own Time Warner. So I don't know how he'd buy it. He also doesn't run anything so it would be vastly pointless to do it.

If any company would buy it, I'd think Spike's parent company Viacom would.

 

[dizzle1119]

I honestly don't know how TNA would do under Ted Turner ownership. They'd probably have more money to toss around, and they'd most likely get out of the Impact Zone more often, but I don't know if there'd be many changes beyond that.

The television aspect of this conversation is odd too (TBS & TNT), because Turner doesn't even let his own Braves play on either channel these days (if he even owns the Braves at this point). I simply haven't kept up with Turner at all in recent years. All I can say is that if he doesn't push his own baseball team on his television networks, why would he get behind TNA? It just doesn't make sense...

 

[Cats Pajamas]

I am still a firm believer that there's not enough interest in wrestling to support to BIG wrestling companies, but this is kind of an interesting question. I would hope Turner would have enough since to put Flair and Hogan into a retirement home. There would be more money which would solve the recently theorized "Nash Paradox" (he seems to think if Dixie just payed the wrestlers more money she'd quickly put McMahon out on the streets).

Maybe Turner could get a real creative staff in there... J.R., Heyman, whoever...

Interesting...

 

[I_Like_All_Wrestling]

After the Turner/Time Warner and Time Warner/AOL mergers, I'm not sure Ted Turner even owns a significant or controlling portion of the company, let alone the cable division.

With that out of the way, it's not really Ted Turner that's needed. It's someone with near bottomless pockets who is willing to invest TONS of money in the product. They'd likely have to spend much much more today than they did in the late 90's, and almost certainly get a smaller return on that investment.

 

[THEPUNKB4 CM PUNK]

Dude, that is so ridiculous!!! It would ultimately, be sold to Vince!! Ted Turner learned before with WCW!!! Yes, they got hot and then lost their asses, just like TNA did when they showed up on Monday Nights, they lost their asses!! Hogan and Company know this and that is why they are back on Thursday Nights!! Hell, FCW Television is 10 times better than the shit TNA puts on

Ted would bring TNA back too the top and with hogan and Dixie aswell and now they have a load more peaple who use the internet TNA would kick WWE'S arse and if Ted Turner Did buy TNA it would liven the industry up as it is starting 2 go stale cum on have u seen some of the storylines lately

 

[sfury2005]

I heard that back when TNA was looking for a television station Ted Turner wanted to put them on his stations but since he wanted to buy controlling interest in TNA first the Carter family declined the offer.

 

[Kizzo]

Ted Turner has no power at Time Warner (which owns Turner Broadcasting)... he sold all his shares. He resigned from the board in 2006. Again... he has NO POWER AT TIME WARNER. Not even influence at Turner Broadcasting (the company he founded). He has bashed Time Warner and TBS in interviews constantly in the past few years since he resigned from the board. Mainly for costing him his fortune and the lost of executive influence at TBS.

After he resigned from the board in 2006... they went ahead and sold the remaining sports assets including the Braves and Turner Field. They sold WCW, Atlanta Hawks, the hockey team, Phillips Arena, Omni Hotels, and etc during 2001-2006. Turner sold New Line Cinema and Castle Rock to Warner Bros (also owned by Time Warner). Yes, at one time.. Ted Turner owned all of this lol

They basically transformed Turner Broadcasting into a pure entertainment cable company. I don't think they will have any interest in buying a wrestling company or broadcasting wrestling on TNT or TBS.

 

[pharmacy]

didnt ted and his network give up on wcw? why should he buy tna. TNA IS IN GOOD HANDS.

 

[pharmacy]

TNA WITH DIXIE AND PANDA ENERGY ALL THE WAY. TURNER HAD HIS CHANCE WITH WCW HE DIDNT KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH IT.