The TNA "reboot" has been going on for two weeks now (plus a set of tapings- I will avoid talking about them here, but am basing what I have to say off of knowledge of the spoilers.) At this point, what's working within TNA, what hasn't, and what needs more time?
* Get rid of Bubba
The biggest mistake TNA has made in their reboot to date. As it was for Mike Adamle, it was painfully obvious in a very short amount of time that he is not going to work out. Fortunately, TNA television is not as character driven as WWE is, and their contracts appear to be structured much differently. We will not have to suffer through months of watching him shift from awkward interviewer to awkward announcer to awkward Jenna Morasca vs. Sharmelle. This is all before we even discuss his recent comments about Haiti and how that's affected his public position.
One position that I think he has the potential to work out as, if not the ability to make the time commitment, is as a manager. He has a little bit of Paul E. Dangerously in him, which with time and effort could be developed. (Sorry, Paul.)
Unless your market research has told you that his little guppies are the kind of consumers that can get their friends to buy everything they recommend, get rid of Bubba.
* Highlight the X-Division
The reason for the changes in how the TNA stage is setup is simple; the WWE has convinced the casual fan that's what a wrestling arena is supposed to look like. It's not a mistake that it looks exactly like the prior RAW set without the ramp.
However, one feature of TNA that distinguishes them as something "different" from the WWE is the X-Division, which has been getting somewhat short shrift lately. The X-Division isn't going to the main event, but if all we had were main eventers, we'd treat it like boxing and show up for the last half hour. You will not see a guy fall from his head from a guywire anymore in the WWE, intentional or not. They won't set up the spot.
Some of the gimmicks have to go, like the Steel Asylum match. It looks awful, gimmicky, and focuses more attention on the cage than the wrestlers. Some have to stay, like the Ultimate X match. Whatever the individual details, the X-Division needs to be a major part of TNA going forwards.
* Either get the Cripple Crew on board, or get rid of them.
There is a well known group of about 10-20 idiots that you let sit in 'the pit', because they have a lot of positive energy for your show. However, if they continue to try to make the show about them; turning their backs when they see something they don't like, chants that screw up kayfabe, etc.; get rid of them. I don't need to tell anyone in TNA this, they already know- this is more for the Cripple Crew. They are there to help sell a product, not as a focus group. The average viewer at home doesn't know it's the same group of 12-20 idiots every night, unless they're rather perceptive at picking out one person who dresses for "Let's Make a Deal" over another. Those "This is Awesome" chants? You can tell people something is awesome, and if you do it enough, they'll start agreeing. But on the other hand, that can be dubbed in on the tape. That can be played through the arena sound system for a live audience.
If the Cripple Crew wants to help you sell the product to the fans at home, embrace them and put up with their lesser bullshit as you have been. When they start trying to tell fans not to buy, use your discretion and bar them for being disruptive.
* When Hogan finally wrestles, make it mean something.
Hogan's eventually going to wrestle someone in TNA. We all know it.
Of course he's going to say he has no intentions of wrestling; no one wants to go back to mid-90's WCW, where the only time you could see Hogan wrestle a match was every two months on pay-per-view, and young, athletic guys in their 20's had to work at a snail's pace in order to keep Hogan from looking awful as opposed to merely bad. Hogan knows this. But, amazingly enough, he's not done yet as a wrestler. He can still put asses in seats for a match involving himself, and that's all that matters. If a unicyclist playing "The Stars and Stripes Forever" out of a trumpet jammed in his ass sold seats, we'd be listening to marching music on Thursday nights.
But build it up. Hogan vs. Angle could be TNA's Hogan vs. Rock, if it's set up right. If it happens in March, we've got problems.
* Get on Monday nights, NOW.
TNA has a remarkable amount of buzz still hung over from their 1/4 Monday Night Impact. They need to capitalize while the iron's hot, and they have an unusually favorable set of circumstances. They're on a cable channel that has plenty of viewers but little original programming that draws. They'd be bumping reruns of "1,000 Ways to Die" or the nine-thousandth showing of the lesser three Star Wars movies. Work the deal out fast and go head to head against Raw now, while your audience is thinking about pro-wrestling on pro-wrestling's night.
The way they are structured now, they can't immediately go live every Monday. Their wrestlers aren't around that much, and many joined TNA exactly to avoid that kind of commitment. But there's no harm in doing what RAW used to do; tape one show, then do one live. WWE isn't going to acknowledge you by reading your results on their program; they saw how that ended up biting WCW on the ass.
Other thoughts, comments?
* Get rid of Bubba
The biggest mistake TNA has made in their reboot to date. As it was for Mike Adamle, it was painfully obvious in a very short amount of time that he is not going to work out. Fortunately, TNA television is not as character driven as WWE is, and their contracts appear to be structured much differently. We will not have to suffer through months of watching him shift from awkward interviewer to awkward announcer to awkward Jenna Morasca vs. Sharmelle. This is all before we even discuss his recent comments about Haiti and how that's affected his public position.
One position that I think he has the potential to work out as, if not the ability to make the time commitment, is as a manager. He has a little bit of Paul E. Dangerously in him, which with time and effort could be developed. (Sorry, Paul.)
Unless your market research has told you that his little guppies are the kind of consumers that can get their friends to buy everything they recommend, get rid of Bubba.
* Highlight the X-Division
The reason for the changes in how the TNA stage is setup is simple; the WWE has convinced the casual fan that's what a wrestling arena is supposed to look like. It's not a mistake that it looks exactly like the prior RAW set without the ramp.
However, one feature of TNA that distinguishes them as something "different" from the WWE is the X-Division, which has been getting somewhat short shrift lately. The X-Division isn't going to the main event, but if all we had were main eventers, we'd treat it like boxing and show up for the last half hour. You will not see a guy fall from his head from a guywire anymore in the WWE, intentional or not. They won't set up the spot.
Some of the gimmicks have to go, like the Steel Asylum match. It looks awful, gimmicky, and focuses more attention on the cage than the wrestlers. Some have to stay, like the Ultimate X match. Whatever the individual details, the X-Division needs to be a major part of TNA going forwards.
* Either get the Cripple Crew on board, or get rid of them.
There is a well known group of about 10-20 idiots that you let sit in 'the pit', because they have a lot of positive energy for your show. However, if they continue to try to make the show about them; turning their backs when they see something they don't like, chants that screw up kayfabe, etc.; get rid of them. I don't need to tell anyone in TNA this, they already know- this is more for the Cripple Crew. They are there to help sell a product, not as a focus group. The average viewer at home doesn't know it's the same group of 12-20 idiots every night, unless they're rather perceptive at picking out one person who dresses for "Let's Make a Deal" over another. Those "This is Awesome" chants? You can tell people something is awesome, and if you do it enough, they'll start agreeing. But on the other hand, that can be dubbed in on the tape. That can be played through the arena sound system for a live audience.
If the Cripple Crew wants to help you sell the product to the fans at home, embrace them and put up with their lesser bullshit as you have been. When they start trying to tell fans not to buy, use your discretion and bar them for being disruptive.
* When Hogan finally wrestles, make it mean something.
Hogan's eventually going to wrestle someone in TNA. We all know it.
Of course he's going to say he has no intentions of wrestling; no one wants to go back to mid-90's WCW, where the only time you could see Hogan wrestle a match was every two months on pay-per-view, and young, athletic guys in their 20's had to work at a snail's pace in order to keep Hogan from looking awful as opposed to merely bad. Hogan knows this. But, amazingly enough, he's not done yet as a wrestler. He can still put asses in seats for a match involving himself, and that's all that matters. If a unicyclist playing "The Stars and Stripes Forever" out of a trumpet jammed in his ass sold seats, we'd be listening to marching music on Thursday nights.
But build it up. Hogan vs. Angle could be TNA's Hogan vs. Rock, if it's set up right. If it happens in March, we've got problems.
* Get on Monday nights, NOW.
TNA has a remarkable amount of buzz still hung over from their 1/4 Monday Night Impact. They need to capitalize while the iron's hot, and they have an unusually favorable set of circumstances. They're on a cable channel that has plenty of viewers but little original programming that draws. They'd be bumping reruns of "1,000 Ways to Die" or the nine-thousandth showing of the lesser three Star Wars movies. Work the deal out fast and go head to head against Raw now, while your audience is thinking about pro-wrestling on pro-wrestling's night.
The way they are structured now, they can't immediately go live every Monday. Their wrestlers aren't around that much, and many joined TNA exactly to avoid that kind of commitment. But there's no harm in doing what RAW used to do; tape one show, then do one live. WWE isn't going to acknowledge you by reading your results on their program; they saw how that ended up biting WCW on the ass.
Other thoughts, comments?
