What Niche Can TNA Fill in the Wrestling Market?

[Vader]

When TNA first came out I was excited to see some competition for the WWE. Shortly after it seemed like they were drifting into what looked like a product similar to WCW in it's final years. Then of course they started to look like a retirement home. It seems like much of what TNA is doing is trying to emulate the WWE. Since WWE essentially has a monopoly, nothing TNA can do will get them noticed.

There seems to be great number of fans that long for an edgier product reminiscent of the Attitude era, but TNA seems to be drifting further from that.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

At this point in time, I think all it can really offer is an alternative in the sense that it's another wrestling company on television for people to watch. The years when TNA came across as a legit alternative in terms of overall product format, as a whole, are long gone, so it ultimately adopted more of a "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" kind of mentality over the course of the past 4 or 5 years especially.

I haven't watched TNA in close to 1.5 years but from what I understand, they've put on a pretty solid product but the problem is that, for the most part, nobody really seems to care; that seems to have been the case throughout 2014 especially. TNA has had to go through, reportedly, significant financial problems and, from what I understand, is still sort of going through them, they've had to deal with dwindling ratings throughout the year and scrambling to get a TV deal. It seems that TNA's struggle to land a new TV deal and speculation as to whether or not it was gonna happen has overshadowed a lot of what's been going on.

However, things are looking up now that they've officially landed a new deal with Destination America. While a potential downside is that Destination America is available only in about half as many homes as Spike TV, it could be more of an upside for them ratings wise because the bar for Destination America isn't exactly high. The top drawing shows already on the network, from what I understand, have only drawn in the mid six figures in terms of viewership, so that takes some pressure off. If TNA can regularly deliver 400,000 to 500,000 viewers for Destination America on a weekly basis, they'll probably be sitting pretty for quite some time, relatively speaking.

I think TNA's best strategy is to hit the reset button and just focus on putting out as good of an overall product as they can. Don't pay any mind to the mentality of trying to compete with WWE, they've gone down that road and everyone knows the results were just plain lousy. They're not gonna outdraw WWE, they're not gonna knock WWE off its perch as the biggest wrestling company in the world. Hell, don't even acknowledge WWE in any way, shape or form. Just focus on doing their own thing, focus on whatever working relationships they're able to forge with other companies and just rebuild as best as they can.

 

[klunderbunker]

Kind of the second level.

We've established that TNA isn't going to fight WWE because it's not a fair comparison. WWE has more money, talent, experience, better leadership, name recognition and almost every other advantage imaginable. That's not a knock on TNA. It's just that WWE has been wrestling in America for years now.

Now that being said, what TNA can do is trump every other company in the wrestling industry. They can fight ROH and PWG and Chikara and New Japan when it's in America. Those are the companies that want TNA's spot as the second biggest promotion in America and are capable of taking it from them. That's the kind of competition TNA needs to fight off. For years, the major thing TNA had over everyone was prime time cable television. Now they have a network that roughly half their old audience can find now.

TNA needs to fight those companies off now, because TNA has lost their perch on top of the wrestling world, under WWE of course. They need to stop trying to fight WWE because it's a battle they're not going to win. Focus on those companies that they can beat, but more importantly companies that can beat them.

 

[rmp0012002]

When TNA started out they had a mix of a lot of styles which drew all types of fans but was a bit more on the edgier adult side. I would like a return to that but the wrestling world has changed and it's directed towards kids and I don't think the networks will risk taking a hit by allowing an edgier show.
If the TNA's mindset is to compete against Vince,which I'm sure it is, then they're already taking on water. Warring with Vince is delusional, that time has come and gone and doing exactly what the WWE is doing is not going to bring the fans.

 

[Lowdown]

I haven't been watching TNA as long as most of the folks on these forums. Perhaps I shouldn't spill my two cents, but I'm gonna give it a go. In my mind, TNA should've never attempted to compete with WWE. For that matter, they shouldn't compete with anyone else. I've stated in past the every promotion has their own niche and calling card. WWE, ROH, and New Japan has theirs, and so does TNA. The worst thing they could do is try to replicate the Attitude Era, mainly because of the wide margin in the competition. It's not necessary, and I doubt it ever will be. The talent is there, so utilize what you have. I'm a TNA fan, but I'm also an ROH and Hollywood Wrestling fan, and slightly New Japan via ROH. Unless TNA decides to do stuff like WCW did like our the belt on someone like Jeremy Borash, I'm sticking with the product.

 

[Boring]

TNA can not expect WWE type numbers as far as ratings and merchandise goes, I agree with that. But it'd mind blowing that they can not put on a better show at least. RAW is 8:00 speech from Cena or someone, 8:30 Divas are midcarder match, 9:00 speech or 2nd tier maineventer match, 9:30 tag team or midcarder match, 10:00 speech or some top guy segment, followed by garbage, followed by the main event, segment.

The Usos wrestle the same match every week, as well as most of the rest of the roster, and when anyone wrestles more such as a Ziggler or his dance partner, it doesn't mean much because the importance isn't placed on it.

I don't know the exact niche TNA can fill, but surely there is something they can. Timing is everything and between politics and the wrong people being in there, TNA hasn't shined threw.

I can't expect TNA to shine threw either. They had older wrestlers which they needed! just look at the ratings since this old timers have left. All those years with ex-WWE, TNA always withstood the 1.0, now with the young guys they're like a consistent .85

I don't care about competing or being an alternative to WWE, do you think WCW set out to be an alternative to WWF? WCW and WWF were practically the same thing even if they were different. WCW's biggest home grown star was Sting, a guy WWE would of loved to have. TNA on the other hand has a bunch of guys WWE doesn't even care to sign, AJ Styles is the equivalent to a Rey Mysterio.

I'm tired of the bullshit. To me WWE/TNA, it's just wrestling. I don't want a complete different alternative, I just want wrestling to do it's thing. There is not much difference UFC and Bellator can be, the same way WWE/TNA can't be all that different, if TNA wants any success.

TNA's roster, writers, bookers etc... it's not their fault, but you either need to be clicking on all cylinders or not have as many chefs in the kitchen. TNA does some good things, but also fucks up, not to mention their productions leaves alot to be desired. They need so many things to fall into place and they need the characters to do so. At this point, w/o a revolutionary visionary, it might be impossible for another wrestling company to rise.

 

[Daggdag]

Back when they focused on the x-division, they did a good job filling the niche of being a high flying promotion.

Now, they don't really have any specific niche.

 

[Zeven_Zion]

Any niche they want. The problem is that wrestling niches are so miniature, it doesn't make any business sense to cater to them. We have people who like Hardcore, High-Flying, "Pure" Wrestling, Cursing&Boobs and then there's casual which is very little of all of those other niches and more "entertainment" (I hate that word now).

If you cater to the Hardcore audience, yeah you please all 34 of them, but then people bitch about:

*You have no stories
*You have no characters
*You only focus on "xtreme" which gets boring
*Likely low production values
*Too dangerous

If you cater to the High-Flying audience, you sure as hell will please them but ...

*You have no stories
*You have no characters
*All matches are spot fests
*Production values are crappy
*Too dangerous

If you cater to the Pure Wrestling fans, yeah they'll bust a nut but ...

*You have no stories
*You have no characters
*It takes seven working days to complete a match
*What are production values?
*Too snobby
*ROH already did it stop ripping them off TNg@y

If you cater to the Cursing&Boobs fans, there shall be *********ion taking place but

*Your stories are offensive
*Your characters are offensive
*Everything is done for shock value which sucks
*WWF already did it and did it better
*Get over the Attitude Era
*Not enough good wrestling

So in the end, yeah you COULD cater to any of those. But do any of them have a following big enough to invest so much time, money and effort in building a product for those people? It's a bit difficult to provide market research on wrestling audiences (I assume). In the end, the casual fans remain the largest segment and that's why everyone is catering to them.

The question is, IS this all true? What if there is a high demand for hardcore, or for high flying, or for "pure"? I think the answer lies in TNA having to combine all niches while providing nice elements of entertainment such as stories, characters and maybe fine production values if the budget allows it. That way you do all of the things WWE is deathly afraid of doing (associating with a niche), and you take literally the only good things about "entertainment" - focus on stories and characters. Then you might have something.

One thing that is proven in wrestling is that focusing on one single niche is a death wish. ECW did it and while their niche was noisy, ECW died quickly. ROH is doing it and they're not doing too well. Indies have been doing it for ages and maybe that's why so many of them remain indies. Mixing and matching is the best option. Wrestling fans never like just one thing. I think we need a bit of everything, and make it good. Point is we like wrestling, and in 2015 wrestling can include all of those things above in fine amounts. Then you have diversity which is really attractive to viewers.

 

[Daggdag]

Any niche they want. The problem is that wrestling niches are so miniature, it doesn't make any business sense to cater to them. We have people who like Hardcore, High-Flying, "Pure" Wrestling, Cursing&Boobs and then there's casual which is very little of all of those other niches and more "entertainment" (I hate that word now).

If you cater to the Hardcore audience, yeah you please all 34 of them, but then people bitch about:

*You have no stories
*You have no characters
*You only focus on "xtreme" which gets boring
*Likely low production values
*Too dangerous

If you cater to the High-Flying audience, you sure as hell will please them but ...

*You have no stories
*You have no characters
*All matches are spot fests
*Production values are crappy
*Too dangerous

If you cater to the Pure Wrestling fans, yeah they'll bust a nut but ...

*You have no stories
*You have no characters
*It takes seven working days to complete a match
*What are production values?
*Too snobby
*ROH already did it stop ripping them off TNg@y

If you cater to the Cursing&Boobs fans, there shall be *********ion taking place but

*Your stories are offensive
*Your characters are offensive
*Everything is done for shock value which sucks
*WWF already did it and did it better
*Get over the Attitude Era
*Not enough good wrestling

So in the end, yeah you COULD cater to any of those. But do any of them have a following big enough to invest so much time, money and effort in building a product for those people? It's a bit difficult to provide market research on wrestling audiences (I assume). In the end, the casual fans remain the largest segment and that's why everyone is catering to them.

The question is, IS this all true? What if there is a high demand for hardcore, or for high flying, or for "pure"? I think the answer lies in TNA having to combine all niches while providing nice elements of entertainment such as stories, characters and maybe fine production values if the budget allows it. That way you do all of the things WWE is deathly afraid of doing (associating with a niche), and you take literally the only good things about "entertainment" - focus on stories and characters. Then you might have something.

One thing that is proven in wrestling is that focusing on one single niche is a death wish. ECW did it and while their niche was noisy, ECW died quickly. ROH is doing it and they're not doing too well. Indies have been doing it for ages and maybe that's why so many of them remain indies. Mixing and matching is the best option. Wrestling fans never like just one thing. I think we need a bit of everything, and make it good. Point is we like wrestling, and in 2015 wrestling can include all of those things above in fine amounts. Then you have diversity which is really attractive to viewers.

You are under the delusion that hardcore, high flying, and pure style wrestling can't have good storylines and characters.

 

[Zeven_Zion]

You are under the delusion that hardcore, high flying, and pure style wrestling can't have good storylines and characters.

I'm not under any delusions, I'm basing it on what I've seen over the past 15 years. ECW might have scored a couple of good storylines and characters, and the same goes for the WWF. Other than that, everything has been garbage and that's a fact. Of course they CAN have good storylines and characters, they just have never consistently shown good storylines and characters, and sometimes the people who prefer this kind of wrestling purposely abstain from good story and good characters because those are traits of a "sports entertainment shows". For some reason over the past decade and a half bookers, writers and owners have decided that the two can't coexist, which I think is nonsense. That's something that can and should change. But it isn't.

 

[Daggdag]

I'm not under any delusions, I'm basing it on what I've seen over the past 15 years. ECW might have scored a couple of good storylines and characters, and the same goes for the WWF. Other than that, everything has been garbage and that's a fact. Of course they CAN have good storylines and characters, they just have never consistently shown good storylines and characters, and sometimes the people who prefer this kind of wrestling purposely abstain from good story and good characters because those are traits of a "sports entertainment shows". For some reason over the past decade and a half bookers, writers and owners have decided that the two can't coexist, which I think is nonsense. That's something that can and should change. But it isn't.

Storylines depend on the bookers ability to write them and the wrestlers ability to act them out. Specific styles of wrestling have nothing to do with how good a storyline is.

The issue with ECW was their fan base. ECW fans were braindead morons who cared more about seeing someone get his head caved in with a chair than seeing a well booked angle. ECW bookers had no incentive to write creatively.

The only bookers that I can think of who have been consistently good are Hunter Johnston (aka Delirious) and Gabe Sapolsky

 

[Zeven_Zion]

Storylines depend on the bookers ability to write them and the wrestlers ability to act them out. Specific styles of wrestling have nothing to do with how good a storyline is.

The issue with ECW was their fan base. ECW fans were braindead morons who cared more about seeing someone get his head caved in with a chair than seeing a well booked angle. ECW bookers had no incentive to write creatively.

The only bookers that I can think of who have been consistently good are Hunter Johnston (aka Delirious) and Gabe Sapolsky

Even so, again you see a pattern. That's all I'm saying. Up until now there has never been a wrestling company that focuses on these niche styles and is able to churn out good stories and characters on a consistent basis. Never. There is always something going wrong.

And DUH stories depend on bookers and writers. That's not the issue. The issue is that 99.99% of the time, the bookers and writers who work for companies like ROH, CZW and even early TNA overload on one thing and forget about the other. Include the WWE in that list. It's either too much high flying, too much hardcore, too much story. There's never a balance.

Yes, in theory it's possible. In reality, we've never seen it happen. Are we going to? Doesn't look like it, but let's hope so. And I'm not talking about Hollywood caliber stories and characters here. Just something nice to get us emotionally hooked. Haven't seen it yet. TNA seemed to be heading in the direction of balance between wrestling and story, and they still are in terms of the quantity of each, but the quality isn't there yet.

 

[fenderjapan]

Be as accessible as possible. Meet and greets at every show, signing autographs... the same things that make people show up to indy shows. Nothing makes people happier than getting to meet the people they watch perform in the ring/on TV.

Also, keep putting on shows in smaller markets that WWE isn't bothering with anymore... the Vermonts, the northern Maines, etc.

 

[Psykohurricane55]

I always said that if TNA would stick to old school pro wrestling like what the nwa use to do in time 80's they would have been an alternative to wwe. They got the talent, they got the production value. The best part of TNA in 2014 was the last couple of month of 2014 when they didn't know if they had a TV deal for 2015. They didn't care about storyline or swerve or reality TV, they just when out there and produce a wrestling show and they were getting rave review for the first time in a long time. All that people want to see is wrestling matches with simple story and titles that actually mean something instead of what they seem to think people want. After last night impact, they seem they still don't get and that sad because they have a great roster they are better that what they give them every week. Until they get it that it's all about the competition and not about reality TV and swerve, TNA will never be competition.

 

[closet_fan]

If you cater to the Cursing&Boobs fans, there shall be *********ion taking place but

Might as well forget about that. When I was watching the promo between MVP and Angle at the beginning of the show, they literally bleeped out every time the audience yelled fuck or shit. It not only made the show look low brow, but it bleeped out a lot of what those guys were saying because it cut out ALL mics. It's going to ruin a lot of promos.