Impact wrestling thread - It's a Don West tribute thread now!

[dopper]

That photo was taken during the Xplosion taping after the first match and a backstage angle had already happened.

 

It's one thing when Michael Cole says some of the 80,000 fans are still filing in during the first match at WrestleMania each year, but saying people are still filing in at that point in a TNA show is clutching at straws I reckon.

[Thunderplex]

Just watched the PPV that was on Challenge the other night. The whole thing just came across as cheap. I've seen CZW shows with better production values. Even when TNA started years ago and they had those awful vids that looked like powerpoint presentations it looked better than this. Really, really sad.

[PowerButchi]

How good was the British set up fo last year? My sister's bought tickets for Manchester for us as she wants to look at Hosses In Pants.

[Nick James]

Ian's Post

 

 

Obligatory post picture of the fans filing in the venue and passing it off as the actual live crowd when show is actually in progress. Twat.

 

Not one person on the pic is just entering the arena. Its already been stated that the pic was taken from the side that the hard cam is facing but that is still a poor attendence. Calm yourself down.

[IANdrewDiceClay]

Obligatory post picture of the fans filing in the venue and passing it off as the actual live crowd when show is actually in progress. Twat.

I just assumed you walked in and everyone in the building fucked off. Can't you get anything right?

 

On an unrelated topic, here's the fans I assume filling into the venue. Halfway through a house show the other night.

Edited January 18, 2014 by IANdrewDiceClay

[simonworden]

Why is there attendance so fucking poor. I genuinely dont understand how they can do so badly. They have 2 hours of TV a week, a half decent web presence as well and a roster with some knowns still on it such as Joe and Angle

 

If you put on an indy show full of half Joe nobodies and Angle Joe Daniels Roode and Magnus for example you would expect at least 500-1000 people in the hicksville armoury. TNA can and should be promoting the fuck out of house shows and drawing 1000 minimum I feel and at least double for TV

 

I get the impression you could really call ROH a more successful promotion these days in terms of attendance surely?

[LaGoosh]

Jesus Christ...how can a wrestling company that has a weekly TV show draw less people than indies like CZW? I just don't get it. I think being in a huge empty arena like that watching wrestling I'd feel like a right sad twat. God knows how the wrestlers feel.

[IANdrewDiceClay]

The picture was taken from a house show in Mobile, Alabama last night. It drew 287 people. As far as why it draws so little? Fuck knows. The arse has fallen out of the company this last 12 months. Even if it did low attendance the team of Don West, Jeff Jarrett and Jeremy Borash used to come away with a tidy profit when doing house shows. Now everything from the lineup to the venues they run looks proper indy.

Edited January 18, 2014 by IANdrewDiceClay

[digforvictory]

I wonder if it's difficult for the wrestlers to go out and perform in front of an empty arena like that? Especially the guys like Kurt Angle who used to wrestle in front of thousands every week.

 

It's embarrassing, it defies belief how badly they are doing. I'm sure at some point they're going to have to just turn all the lights out except for a big spotlight on the ring so you can't even see an empty front row.

[wrestlescotland]

Surely they should be booking smaller halls. They are advertising the house shows on TV so they can't get better promotion than that. Just seems crazy that they are getting smaller crowds than crappy indy shows. I know before it was mentioned they where doing venues in crap area's outside of town and cities rather than inner city venues don't know if this is still the case.

[ClassicsGuy]

Why is there attendance so fucking poor. I genuinely dont understand how they can do so badly. They have 2 hours of TV a week, a half decent web presence as well and a roster with some knowns still on it such as Joe and Angle

 

If you put on an indy show full of half Joe nobodies and Angle Joe Daniels Roode and Magnus for example you would expect at least 500-1000 people in the hicksville armoury. TNA can and should be promoting the fuck out of house shows and drawing 1000 minimum I feel and at least double for TV

 

I get the impression you could really call ROH a more successful promotion these days in terms of attendance surely?

 

I think the answer is the product they put out just doesn't make anyone want to spend any money on it.

 

They scrapped monthly ppvs for this very reason, because they reached the point were the buys were so low that they were losing money putting on the shows.

 

The storylines are crap and the booking is clueless. They booked Hogan and Styles like heroes in their final appearances with the promotion. Magnus has no credibility as champion. Rockstar Spud is a massive turn off to a lot of people. Dixie can't act and has no business being a tv character.

 

The latest thing on this week's & next week's shows:

 

SPOILER - Highlight the black box to read

They sign 2 great in-ring talents like Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards and how do they debut them? In a throwaway backstage segment with Dixie, on this week's show, with some convoluted 'mystery investor' angle. They're not even wrestling on next week's Impact either. Their first 2 weeks in the company on tv is in backstage skits. You couldn't make it up.

 

 

There's no focus to the tv, the titles are irrelevant, nothing builds to anything and nothing matters.

Edited January 18, 2014 by ClassicsGuy

[IANdrewDiceClay]

I think the answer is the product they put out just doesn't make anyone want to spend any money on it.

I dont think its just that. It was that for a while, but not now. I think it goes way deeper than that. They've lost the trust of the wider wrestling fan. They are at a point where even if they had a good product, they aren't drawing people. The whole promotion is a massive turn off for a lot of people. I just cant see a way back. They are at their lowest point and they counter that with heel owners, special referees, run ins, heel stables and a new investor character? Every clich

Edited January 18, 2014 by IANdrewDiceClay

[CTXRussomark]

It's gotten to the point where TNA is so damaged as a brand that it's no longer a case of not being able to draw people in, the name is now actively deterring people from attending their shows. I'd be willing to bet an Indy show promoting Kurt Angle vs Samoa Joe (just as an example) as the main event would easily outdraw a TNA show with the same match headlining. I really don't think there's any coming back for them now.

[CTXRussomark]

Just managed to get through the entire Hardcore Justice show in less than half an hour thanks to Sky+. There's no way I'd have made it through the entire show otherwise. I will say that I actually liked the reduced production on it. In a strange way it actually made some of the guys appear like bigger deals than they usually do. Guys like Roode coming out looking great to a plain black backdrop and without big screens and lights actually gave them a big fish/small pond vibe, kinda like RVD used to have in ECW. Usually everyone just looks like a mediocre fish in a mediocre pond and nobody stands out. On the flipside it also showed that some guys (Dreamer (obviously), Sabin, Joe, Abyss, Anderson w/gut & shit tights) wouldn't look out of place wrestling on shitty small-time indy shows (moreso than TNA counts as that already before anyone says it).

 

One more thought - there's really no excuse for Abyss/Park to be in such horrendous shape. With a few exceptions he's had almost two years of working this gimmick and mainly working comedy matches. The infrequent Abyss returns really don't have the impact they could have when he turns up almost too fat to get into the cage.

[Psygnosis]

Jesus Christ...how can a wrestling company that has a weekly TV show draw less people than indies like CZW? I just don't get it. I think being in a huge empty arena like that watching wrestling I'd feel like a right sad twat. God knows how the wrestlers feel.

 

Agreed. CZW have been going 15 years and only really do events in the New Jersey/Philidelphia area and Japanese tours, I think Cage of Death did 1300 people but as you say they're an independent promotion, TNA is a national/international promotion with a TV deal and doing embarrassing crowds like that, it just gives the impression they've been badly damaged as a company, maybe even beyond repair as CTX has said.

 

Spike will probably think, 8 years and they've just stagnated and haven't grown one single bit.