WWE & TNA Soft Merger= Profitable

[scomvp316]

I think its time for TNA to make a major business decision that makes sense for them and the wrestling industry Here is an idea that could work very well for both promotions:

WWE & TNA have a soft merger
WWE buys their digital library and takes over their licensed properties
WWE keeps TNA as is because of TNA's TV Deal
WWE wouldn't have to shop around NXT once again
NXT Talent would join TNA's roster
RAW and SD talent could be relegated to the minor league system of TNA
Talent from the newly formed TNA could be called up
Creative names controlled by WWE but all other creative direction handled by Heyman running TNA
TNA would have to fit under WWE's digital policy maybe not PG but PG-13
WWE could pick up no more than 20% of TNA's PPV production costs
TNA would then submit 30% of PPV revenue to WWE
WWE would allow TNA PPV concepts with ECW and or JCP/WCW PPV themes
Unlike the mistake they made with buying WCW and not utilizing WCW's properties the soft buyout would insure profitability for both promotions although seperate but under the same corporate umbrella
TNA would run their company business as usual with some WWE input and follow WWE policies
The only business expense WWE would pick up would be the 20% production costs for TNA PPV's
WWE would their talent contracts
TNA would cover their talent contracts
If TNA can't cover certain talent costs WWE would assist TNA but TNA then would give more in return of the agreed PPV revenue
TNA WHC match would be defended at select WWE PPV's

Fans I would like to hear to see if you like some of these concepts and what changes you would make if a soft merger was to ever happen

 

[newwaveknight]

A soft merger would not happen with the WWE. If TNA was as esteemed of a name as, say, WCW was it would be different. However, TNA is nowhere near the name recognition of WCW or even ECW, so Vince would just buy the company outright, use what archived footage they have of some of his superstars that went over there, pick a VERY select few Originals to work for him, then pretty much shut it down.

 

[ABMorales787]

This isn't gonna go down well.

 

[scomvp316]

I totally understand that TNA will never be close to WCW in any statistical category
I think if VKM was to go back when he bought WCW he would probably keep certain WCW properties around like Championship Saturday Night
I do think it would go along way for WWE's reputation not to just buy and squash another company
With certain new talent being called up if they had a national tv show for that talent the fans of RAW and or SD would have a better idea what that new talent can and can't do via promo or in-ring work

 

[Nikeo]

Joo gonna get flamed. =/

The goal of TNA is to become a global competitor to WWE. From a business point of view, it's an existing market in which there is only one competitor. That's what prompted Dixie's investment.

As such, the financial figures behind TNA are not going to want to become the "minor league" with minor financial assistance from the WWE. They want to tap into the market and become as profitable as a WCW/WWE.

That's to say nothing of the other major problems with this idea.

Nice thread idea but I really don't think it's a theory that has any merit from a business point of view.

 

[Dr. Mantis Toboggan, M.D.]

personally i wouldn't find it interesting. there's no one in tna i enjoy watching other than kurt angle and to an extent sting.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

Go 32.3% of TNA's PPV revenue and I'm sure Vince will be PMing you with his lawyer's phone number.

 

[Trill Co$by]

You know what else would work? Taking internet away from wrestling... seriously, try it.

 

[scomvp316]

I thought it was a good idea especially for young talent getting more comfortable in front of the camera that would make them better prepared if they would ever get the call up
It worked during the territory days and this idea has some similarities to that
The one thing I learned along time ago with the whole internet thing the smarker the comment the more inferior that person feels
Some most really dislike the idea but thats the way it goes
Good thing in my everyday business that I don't take advice from smark net fans

 

[The Butcher]

I thought it was a good idea especially for young talent getting more comfortable in front of the camera that would make them better prepared if they would ever get the call up
It worked during the territory days and this idea has some similarities to that
The one thing I learned along time ago with the whole internet thing the smarker the comment the more inferior that person feels
Some most really dislike the idea but thats the way it goes
Good thing in my everyday business that I don't take advice from smark net fans

No need to insult people just because they don't agree with you. One thing I learned a long time ago is that people who resort to ad hominem attacks generally don't have a good point to stand on.

Your merger deal isn't a merger. If WWE buys TNA's video library, acquires/maintains TNA's licensing and television deals, takes control of TNA's creative, puts TNA under WWE policies, uses the TNA brand for talent development/relegation in lieu of NXT, and basically takes TNA under its corporate umbrella, then what you have is an acquisition. You described WWE buying out TNA.

Then, in a nonsensical addendum to this hypothetical "merger," TNA's current ownership would still pay for 80% of the cost of producing TNA's pay-per-view events, while WWE (presumably paying for all the other facets of TNA's operation because, well, they'd own it) would only get 30% of pay-per-view revenue. Dixie Carter would essentially just be a ridiculously generous PPV sponsor with WWE giving back profits to the sponsor just so the sponsor can pay a few members of the talent roster. Also, I don't know what "WWE would their contracts" means. All-in-all, it's just a ridiculous plan you've laid out.

I'm not trying to be a jerk. I've followed this thread and voted in the poll yesterday evening. However, for you to act like you've got some incredible business acumen and knock people for being smarks is unnecessary. Go back to the drawing board, hash out an actual merger that is truly mutually beneficial, and I bet you get a more positive response.

 

[ABMorales787]

This isn't gonna go down well.

It's almost like I'm psychic.

 

[scomvp316]

Its consider a soft merger because the only cost WWE would pick up would be 20% of PPV production
WWE then would get 30% of the PPV revenue which would entail WWE gaining 10%
TNA would still run their company business as usual under WWE digital policies
Minus the archival library this deal would be almost the same that VKM had with ECW
The smark comment is towards people who don't take certain posts serious for the reason to make the OP's idea much less informative than its actually is
I have biz experience and merger experience so for some to say I don't know what I am talking about is very futile
Like I mentioned before if people don't like the concept thats fine but I don't act like I know everything because if I did I think I would be working for WWE or any Fortune 500 company

 

[The Butcher]

Its consider a soft merger because the only cost WWE would pick up would be 20% of PPV production
WWE then would get 30% of the PPV revenue which would entail WWE gaining 10%
TNA would still run their company business as usual under WWE digital policies
Minus the archival library this deal would be almost the same that VKM had with ECW
The smark comment is towards people who don't take certain posts serious for the reason to make the OP's idea much less informative than its actually is
I have biz experience and merger experience so for some to say I don't know what I am talking about is very futile
Like I mentioned before if people don't like the concept thats fine but I don't act like I know everything because if I did I think I would be working for WWE or any Fortune 500 company

Fair enough, but the ECW deal was mutually beneficial, and it wasn't a merger. Vince was paying Paul Heyman as a World Wrestling Federation employee which allowed Heyman to fund his promotion, which was essentially autonomous. In exchange, the WWF actually got a "rub" of sorts from ECW. WCW was on top of the wrestling world, and the WWF had to try as many new things as possible to keep up. The relatively small but extraordinarily vocal ECW fanbase that was spreading across the northeast, traditionally the WWF's homebase, was given reason to reinvest in the WWF, while fans across the nation started to change the channel from TNT to USA because they were hearing that the WWF was getting pretty cool. Sure talent like Vic Grimes got sent to ECW, but rosters were never merged and ECW was never a true farm system like NXT is or like you propose TNA would become. In short, both sides were desperate and both sides got something.

WWE isn't desperate; TNA isn't desperate (despite Chicken Little-esque doomsaying that crops up during periods like this week's roster cuts), and neither side gets anything they don't already have. TNA has money, and WWE has a minor league. I may have been overly harsh in calling your deal "nonsensical," as a more fair term would be "unnecessary." As much as I'm sure Vince McMahon and WWE's board would like to have a US television deal for NXT, I doubt they're clambering for one to the point that they're circling TNA like vultures. And as much as Dixie Carter may take a loss here or there, she and partners like Eric Bischoff have enough business experience to know that that happens when you're expanding your brand.

As a fan, the thing I look at that makes me reject any merger ideas (not just yours) is competition. Yeah, yeah, TNA isn't competition, whatever. On a fan's level it essentially is. It's another wrestling show on another channel with another modus operandi. That's good. TNA just aired a match of the year candidate with two guys who have never been in WWE. Personally, that's just what I want for the industry, not mergers. Just reading anecdotal reviews here and seeing highlights of the match on YouTube honestly make me regret not watching Impact last night. TNA should aspire to engendering that feeling in fans rather than look for WWE's assistance. Likewise, WWE is doing a great job of elevating young/new talent. They don't need TNA to help them do that nor do they need the relatively meager pay-per-view revenue that TNA brings in.

No disrespect, I'm sure you're a fine businessman, but the wrestling industry and its two biggest players are doing pretty good. In my view, if we smarks should be encouraging any kind of merger, it's one between the TNA loyalists and WWE loyalists.

 

[scomvp316]

Over the last year within WWE top executives have expressed the problem with certain NXT Talent is their inexperience in front of the camera
I was thinking back to the territory days where the remedy is tv exposure in TNA
I was also thinking WWE could end their bad reputation of just buying and squashing companies and trying to utilize the positive properties of the company that they would purchase
Like I mentioned in a previous post I do think VKM had some regrets not utilizing certain WCW Properties
I am not saying TNA is like WCW cause they are far from that

 

[The Dragon Saga]

I was also thinking WWE could end their bad reputation of just buying and squashing companies and trying to utilize the positive properties of the company that they would purchase

It's 2013, not 1999. Nobody cares that Vince destroyed the territorial system which most promoters such as Verne and Greg Gagne nowadays look back on as being an outdated system of growth. Vince took their stars and made what we have today. He never squashed WCW or ECW, Time Warner offered him WCW and ECW was bankrupt, he purchased it so he could absorb it into the history of his company which was nothing but smart.

They don't have a "bad" reputation for destroying companies, they've a good reputation as being the one that stands. For being the one that's better.

WWE wouldn't see any long term benefit from assisting TNA in any way. In the 1990's when they were struggling and had competition to bring ECW in for a short while turned some attention to them, but even in the Rise and Fall of ECW DVD, Vince says looking back he doesn't really know why he did it, at the time he thought he was helping the business, but nowadays the business has changed and he views himself as his own business.

 

[ABMorales787]

There is nothing necesarily wrong with the idea. However it doesn't accommodate to what either company wants. WWE wants money and media attention. Investing in any form on TNA is money that does not need to be spend especially when they have their own development system that was created from scratch. TNA wants to grow into a top wrestling promotion. It's the very reason it came into existance. To have an alternative. Working under the WWE even if it's temporary would only hinder that for them.