Buzz Lightyear

Why? WWE already do this very well, TNA should market themselves to a different market and capitalize on doing things WWE can't. Aiming towards an older generation makes more sense for TNA.

TNA don't have a Cena, they have guys like Sting, Hogan, Hardy, Aries, Bully Ray, Styles, Angle and Roode. TNA's main eventers are made up almost entirely of people who would appeal to an older generation

I think they have a couple of guys who could be marketed well to kids, Hardy seems to be a popular choice with a lot of young fans during his WWE days and could be again. Sting & Styles are guys any age can get behind.

Just feel that TNA is missing the boat with a lot of the younger fans, they've had their problems over the last 10 years and majority of fans are ones that will always remember the mistakes, so why not start on the next generation. Get them to the shows, and they'll see that what you get with TNA you won't get anywhere else in terms of access to talent and show enjoyment.

Just yesterday I was saying on another thread on how the company needs to embrace kids into the product and tap into the next generation of wrestling fans and then this comes along.

It's great we'll finally get TNA on the road, I'm guessing that initially it'll be 2 taping's per show (LIVE and taped) and if they have good results then they'll do it LIVE every week, hopefully they book sensible arenas (3-4k max) and get as many people into them as possible but if the house show results are anything to go by then they could have big problems but they've obviously thought this through and come to a decision that they need to make this step.

Going back onto my original point, the shows will end at 11:30pm, parents won't take their kids to shows because of this late end time. Surely it would be better to encourage them to come to shows ending at 10pm and have every other show LIVE in Orlando?

I don't know if the brand is that toxic, it's just that a certain (large) spectrum of fans will take one look at the comparative TV ratings and the size of the impact zone 'LOLZ TNA SUCKS', and that's that. There's a lot of people out there who are only too happy to sack off TNA as being shite, while being happy enough to sit through three hours of Raw and another two of Smackdown.

Probably because those fans grew up watching WWE and feel loyal to the company. TNA have a very popular guy with the young kids/women and they don't use him to attract new viewers in he way he does best. (Jeff Hardy)

Wherever TNA fans (myself included) like it or not, the company is going to have to change if they want to succeed long term. In order to start taking TV on the road long-term they need every fan possible and if that means brining in younger fans then it's a sacrifice worth making.

Yeah, that's the big problem. Its going to take ages (if ever) to delete the years of "LOL TNA" in the viewers mind. Wrestling fans generally just assume they know something, even if they didn't watch it. Like this idea WWE suddenly turned shit when they stopped booking vulgar storylines (forgetting 7 years of ratings declining) and if WWE started booking characters like Naked Mideon again business would be booming. Or that TNA was the greatest promotion on earth before Hogan got rid of the six sided ring. As good as TNA is, its stock in the eyes of the wrestling audience is low right now. It'll take a lot of effort to regain their trust.

I've been a TNA fan from day one, and they frustrate me! The US market is so shit right now that it's going to take a long long time for them to overcome those problems.

Another thing that they must grasp, is in order to survive in the current climate, they really do need to look at getting kids to shows & to invest in the product. If the WWE crowd does anything it shows you that 50% of the fans that attend are kids/women, TNA aren't doing anything to attract those. For me rather than getting another 1 hour show on TV in a decent timeslot, they really need to look at having a kids shows focusing on certain talent and having that shown during the day at the weekend.

They might have lost the current generation of fans, so start planning for the next generation and have them invest long-term.

To be fair, i'd argue the product has been nothing but long-term and consistant since Bruce Pritchard steadied the ship. Aren't they booking TV a month in advance now?

They were always booking TV months in advance, even under Russo. The product has got better but the damage for me has already been done in the US market, far too many short-term changes has really effected the casual viewer in America.

Here's hoping with the reduction of PPV's (a move I've been calling for years) it allows them to focus on putting good TV week in week out, and helps them build PPV's which fans want to invest in, but once again the US market is so much dictated by the WWE i'm not sure it will have any effect.

Right now the company should be focusing on getting TNA worldwide and having deals around the world that allows them to gather money from that hardcore fanbase like the UK and using that money in getting iMPACT on the road. The last shows they have done on the road have been very good with really hot crowds.

I've always been surprised TNA hasn't tried to grow in the Canadian market, because the Hulkster has always seemingly been over like mad up there.

That's the problem when you change the direction every 5 minutes. Nobody has long term ideas.

Ok, do the viewing figures count for all showings? I don't know why but I assumed they only referred to the initial airing. Which was probably a silly assumption on my part.....

No individual viewings, either way iMPACT does very good numbers for TNA and Challenge. Yes it's on Free TV but the aim for TNA is long term fans and the more eyes that see the show the better for the company.

Fuck me, we're talking viewing figures aren't we? I don't watch TNA but it goes out at, what?, 8, 9 PM, Raw goes out at 1am. Go figure!

Has multiple timeslots, like RAW.

TNA is still new to this market, it's only been coming over here for 6 years and only recently got a TV deal with a respectable network. Slow steps for the company.

Hopefully Australia is next and then they branch out elsewhere and start to become a global success worldwide, because unless something drastic happens in the WWE they will always have the bigger share of the US market.

The "iMPACT Wrestling" brand idea for me showed TNA perfectly, a short term idea which wasn't thought out correctly. Still amazes me that they changed the name but don't market iMPACT as "THURSDAY NIGHT iMPACT".

JEFF HARDY-TNA UPDATE

By Mike Johnson on 2012-11-12 18:42:52

TNA champion Jeff Hardy appeared on Sirius Radio's "Busted Open" earlier today.

 

When his TNA contract status was brought up, Hardy responded, "In January when that rolls around, I

Yeah, you're spot on Loki - drug bust at the border and he never came back.

 

I think it was even on the morning of a TNA PPV he had a pretty major role in.

Garza was supposed to wrestle Scott Hall with Roddy Piper a guest referee. Jeff Hardy ended up wrestling Hall on the PPV instead. Shame. Garza was a roll back then. He had just beat TNA's golden boy AJ Styles, almost beat Jarrett in a Title match and was probably about to go over Hall. Of all the singles latino guys TNA have tried pushing over the years (Apolo, Shocker, Mesias, Hernandez, etc.) Garza was the best, IMO.

Didn't Garza have VISA issues during his run with TNA?

Batista's never had the goal of UFC. He's not daft. They'd never have hired him at his age. Its a labour of love for the big man. I'm glad he's finally got his fight.

 

If Batista isn't embarrassed, Bellator should try and get Batista on board, like they've done with King Mo. Spike will fund it, and if Batista is a failure in Bellator, just ship him off to TNA.