He’s going to be paid to sit at home until his contract runs out. I can’t say I’m complaining as the last few years haven’t been the most interesting for TNA. At the end of the day, they had one really good idea with the THEY ARE COMING storyline and since then it’s been downhill for me. As usual, back to square one for TNA.
This is what selling TNA to a fan might sound like right about now.Dude you should totally watch Impact Wrestling. They have this guy named AJ Styles who does the most awesome flips and dives and has the best matches in the world.
Potential fan: That sounds cool. Which one is he?
Oh well actually he left after turning down money and a car and implied sex with a not terrible looking woman. But he’s champion and the best in the world!
Potential fan: But I can’t see him?
You might be able to if you don’t mind listening to Spanish or Japanese commentary.
Potential fan: HUH?
Never mind. Oh I know you’ll love this: TNA has this thing called the X Division which has no limits on it at all. Everybody is all about leaving it all in the ring and giving everything they have to be champion. They fly around and have to crawl across ropes to pull down a title belt.
Potential fan: Now that has to be cool. When are they on?
Actually scratch that since they weren’t on TV this week because Impact needed more time to spend on the not bad looking older woman. Wait I almost forgot the best part! There’s this team called Aces and 8’s and they’re just like Sons of Anarchy and they ride on motorcycles and beat up everyone!
Potential TNA fan: I don’t watch Sons of Anarchy.
Uh……Oh there’s this guy there named EC3 who is just like Robert Griffith III.
Potential TNA fan: He’s my favorite player on my favorite team. Ok so I need to look for the black guy named EC3. He has to be cool.
Actually he’s white.
Potential TNA fan: But he’s more athletic than everyone else right?
…..not especially.
Potential TNA fan: He represents Washington DC though?
If the DC stands for Directly from Cleveland he does!
Potential TNA fan: Nicest guy in the company?
Actually he looks to be one of the new top heels. He’s the nephew of the older lady who isn’t bad looking.
Potential TNA fan: …..is he recovering from knee surgery?
YES! I can indeed assure you that he had his knee operated on last year and is at least mostly back to full strength!
Potential TNA fan: So to recap, you want me to watch a show where to see the best guy in the world I need to watch other companies, I should be a fan of Sons of Anarchy, the high flying dudes weren’t even on last week, the show is apparently dominated by a woman that isn’t that bad looking and there’s a guy who is supposed to be like RG3 because he’s the polar opposite of him?
……did I mention Sting is still there and Hulk Hogan might come back? And Sting can almost bend over still!
The worst part: this isn’t meant as a parody.
Is best for business.The current word on the street is that TNA is moving back to a home city, most likely Orlando again, to hold most of their TV tapings. A few major shows could be taped on the road. This is without a doubt the right move for TNA for one reason: they can’t afford to stay on the road.
Look at TNA’s business lately. They’ve cut away their PPVs, they’re cutting house shows, they air specials on TV which get slightly higher ratings/audiences than usual, and they’re spending way more money on TV tapings. Translation: spend more, bring in less. For a company like TNA which doesn’t have a ton of sponsors and doesn’t draw huge crowds (see: Glory, Bound For), going on the road this often isn’t a viable plan. People often compare TNA to WCW, but it’s really more like ECW. Think about this for a second.
ECW did most of its shows from one area/city
They never came close to being #1 or #2 (TNA is firmly #2 but only because there isn’t a third major company)
Their TV show is the #1 show on its network, but it doesn’t ever draw many people outside of its core audience
Only after several years of being an underground hit did it start regularly holding TV tapings outside of its base
ECW lasted about a year taping on the road before going back to house shows and syndication where it lasted abut six more months. Now before you ask, no I’m not saying TNA has six months left and no I’m not saying they’re in the same kind of shape as ECW was in 1999/2000. What I’m saying is right now, TNA flat out cannot maintain their status quo or grow nearly at all while doing TV on the road.
In short, they can stay in Orlando/whatever single city they pick and survive at a stable level or they can have a hotter crowd once in awhile and barely be able to afford anything outside of TV. This isn’t a complicated problem.
So the big stories at the moment are Hogan possibly leaving after October 1, TNA possibly taking Impact off the road by the spring and Mickie James’ contract expiring and her walking away. We’ll lump these together into one post and say…..1. This is I believe the third time in four years that it appears Hogan won’t be at Bound For Glory no matter what I believe? At the end of the day, Hogan is probably more trouble than he’s worth. I’d assume he’s the highest paid guy in TNA and he’s on TV about five minutes a week anymore. I doubt Hogan is leaving forever, but I can’t imagine he won’t be at BFG.
2. Impact off the road would probably be a good thing. It has to cost a good deal of money for them to change venues every other week and with only four regular PPVs a year, the financial burden must be weighing them down. Yeah it’s annoying to have it in the same place every week, but if it’s what keeps them financially sound, so be it.
3. Mickie James leaving puts them at four active Knockouts: ODB, Velvet Sky, Gail Kim and Tessmacher, who hasn’t been in a match for months now. Taryn is on maternity leave and will be gone for months. But remember people: Ivelisse just doesn’t have what it takes to be on Impact. All she has are looks, ability, charisma and in ring abilities, plus an appeal to the Latino demographic. Just not worth it.
In short, TNA is in a big state of flux at the moment and it’s hard to say where it comes out. It should be interesting though.
According to Meltzer it’s a cost cutting measure. That’s a bad sign if they’re so tight for money they can’t run house shows. I was at a show a few months ago and a TNA employee asked me to write up a good report for them on the internet. The fact that they’re relying on fans to report on the internet that they’re fun shows on top of this tells me that they’re having problems.
According to various words on the street that is. In other words, the guy who is likely to become world champion at the biggest show of the year might not be signed two months later. From what I can find, and of course remember to take EVERY report you hear on the internet with a barrel of salt, it’s due to TNA not being able to afford raises that Styles was promised. You have to think that these alleged financial problems could signal the end of Hogan’s run with TNA. He must be their highest paid guy and he’s barely ever on TV anymore.
According to Meltzer’s site:
| The entire thing is a mess because time is running out and of the 11 matches that would be necessary for each guy in a 12 man round-robin tournament, the guys have ranged from four to six matches completed with time running out.
So they are essentially dropping everything, doing the four matches this coming Thursday, and ending it from there with the top four point getters going to the 9/12 final four show. |
http://www.f4wonline.com/more/more-t…r-glory-series
The current standings (number of matches in parentheses:
1. Magnus – 39 (7)
2. Bobby Roode – 34 (8)
3. Christopher Daniels – 30 (6)
4. Austin Aries – 28 (7)
5. Samoa Joe – 26 (9)
6. Jeff Hardy – 24 (7)
6. Mr. Anderson – 24 (9)
8. AJ Styles – 22 (8)
8. Kazarian – 22 (7)
10. Joseph Park – 17 (8)
11. Hernandez – 7 (7)
12. Jay Bradley – 0 (7)
So apparently the Series is out of time, given that the finals are scheduled for two weeks from this Thursday at the No Surrender special. Yes, amazingly enough you can’t have 12 guys wrestle 11 matches each in the span of a month. Basically everyone is about 2/3 of the way through their matches but the totals are going to be all over the place due to the inconsistencies. But at least we got to promote Ortiz vs. Jackson for another company.
Can this company go a week without something screwing up?
This doesn’t surprise me. She didn’t really do anything other than wear good looking outfits, but Christy Hemme does that just as well if not better.
Back to singles matches.
THANK GOODNESS. The three way match rules were getting really annoying as there’s nothing gained by having everything as a triple threat. Good choice here.