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

[PowerButchi]

You need to remember how much the market's changed as well. The days of AJ Styles getting offered $500 a week to report to the HWA on a developmental deal are long gone. Never mind Dean Malenko and the like earning $450,000 p.a. WWE downsides for a lot of midcarders are something like $75,000 these days, aren't they?

Edited June 26, 2013 by PowerButchi

[d-d-d-dAz]

Titus O'Neill is the worst paid bloke on the roster IIRC, on about 75k a year. Most make north of 100k and the big boys are still on silly money.

[IANdrewDiceClay]

You need to remember how much the market's changed as well. The days of AJ Styles getting offered $500 a week to report to the HWA on a developmental deal are long gone. Never mind Dean Malenko and the like earning $450,000 p.a. WWE downsides for a lot of midcarders are something like $75,000 these days, aren't they?

Something like that. You make your money based on international tours, pay-per-view appearances and getting stuff on the shelves. Its why JTG went public with his shite WrestleMania pay off last year. He probably thought the majority of his yearly payoff was his Mania payday.

 

Titus O'Neill is the worst paid bloke on the roster IIRC, on about 75k a year. Most make north of 100k and the big boys are still on silly money.

There's no way Yoshi Tatsu is on $100,000. That would be impossible to justify to your stockholders.

Edited June 26, 2013 by IANdrewDiceClay

[PowerButchi]

I suppose the main thing is hoping you make the computer game. That drags in silly royalties, doesn't it?

[d-d-d-dAz]

I did say 'most'. There's a little pocket of Tatsu's and Primo's, I'm sure, nestled between Titus and the real money.

[jackhennessey]

I suppose the main thing is hoping you make the computer game. That drags in silly royalties, doesn't it?

Didn't R-Truth get paid a large amount for being on the Wrestlemania 25 poster/cover and he wasn't even on the card!

 

(I dont mean silly money but I mean a large amount for having your photo printed and doing bugger all work on the show.)

[TheShowOff]

Yup, shortly after the Mark Henry / Hayes debacle iirc.

[garynysmon]

WWE is pretty much the whole market. Their recognition compared to any other company is so large, its quite shocking..

 

I'd love to disagree with you but I can't. I'm finding myself increasingly frustrated at the breed of fanbase there is at the moment, who won't even give TNA a chance. I'm unduly harsh on WWE because I feel they've had it a bit too easy since WCW shut down and are on cruise control, little things like refusing to call it 'Wrestling' have pissed me off, but the sad thing they're the market leader and can basically do what they want.

The longer this situation continues, the bigger the gap will be. Gone are the days where fans crave competition and you'll increasingly find younger fans who have grown up on a diet of just WWE, dismissing anything TNA do. I doubt that's anything to do with anything Vince Russo has or hasn't done.

 

I'm no better myself though. I've dismissed ROH as indy shite without ever watching it really.

[FLips]

WWE is pretty much the whole market. Their recognition compared to any other company is so large, its quite shocking..

 

I'd love to disagree with you but I can't. I'm finding myself increasingly frustrated at the breed of fanbase there is at the moment, who won't even give TNA a chance. I'm unduly harsh on WWE because I feel they've had it a bit too easy since WCW shut down and are on cruise control, little things like refusing to call it 'Wrestling' have pissed me off, but the sad thing they're the market leader and can basically do what they want.

The longer this situation continues, the bigger the gap will be. Gone are the days where fans crave competition and you'll increasingly find younger fans who have grown up on a diet of just WWE, dismissing anything TNA do. I doubt that's anything to do with anything Vince Russo has or hasn't done.

 

I'm no better myself though. I've dismissed ROH as indy shite without ever watching it really.

 

ROH is indy shite though. Me and my mate watch it every few weeks but as a satire, and have developed an in-joke now where if we're watching WWE or WCW or TNA and someone does a ridiculous spot, we'll shout "TWOOOO!"

 

ROH is embarrassing.

[Loki]

I guess I'm more of a glass is half full thing. It's practically impossible to set up an alternative to WWE, incredibly difficult to get wrestling on tv, and yet TNA have managed to do this, during a period when wrestling isn't hot, and have managed to do it for longer than companies like ECW did in the super-hot 90s.

 

They've also managed to produce some consistently good, entertaining tv over the last 5 years, bring in big stars, get Hogan on my Freeview box here in the UK, put on some of the best live wrestling shows this country has seen in decades, and keep many people in full-time employment who would otherwise be selling cars or whatever.

 

Somebody said earlier "if TNA is ever a success". It already is. Just surviving in such shark-infested waters is success. If you honestly expect them to ever be the size of WCW or WWE, then you're smoking crack.

[Maverick]

It's not so much what the fans expect Loki but Dixie Carter and TNA constantly bang on about trying to be as big as WWE or WCW was, that seems to be their aim and the way their doing business etc isn't going to get them towards that end even if it is impossible. I hadn't missed an Impact since BFG but I haven't watched these last two weeks, the lack of PPV to build up too and pretty much no midcard has killed it for me.

[Loki]

I was thinking about that - they should do a thing where they resurrect the Night Of Champions once every 2 months, and have the Heavyweight Title only defended on that show and PPV.. Basically create a mini 2 hour tv "PPV" which is built to as a stopping point between PPVs. You could do your screwy finishes on tv to set up a proper result at the PPV.

[IANdrewDiceClay]

It goes back to that question whether TNA is actually a success now, though? Is Newcastle United a successfully ran business right at this moment because they had a profitable few years when they were getting Champions League football. In 2009 TNA was successful, because it was turning a profit, had a video game deal and was scoring their biggest audiences. Is it still a success? There's no money coming in anymore and loads coming out. Going live and going on the road are two big dices to roll. If TNA lost TV they'd be done, because they only have one revenue stream. They have no other profitable outlets outside of their TV contract. Its all well and good lasting longer than WCW and ECW, but if you can't say you reached the heights of WCW or ECW, its not much of a bragging right. ECW would probably still be around now if Spike put all the money into them that they did TNA.

 

If they wanted out of the Impact Zone, TNA should have done something like WWE do with NXT. Set up a deal with universities, where they'd get the students to work with their production staff as work experience in exchange for getting the building rent free. NXT has a young crowd in every week who whistle at Paige and think the cruiserweights are hot shit. It would be cheap, you'd get free staff from the students and you a packed albeit small building, but with a casual crowd that doesn't look the to oiks at the Impact Zone. NXT looks so much different to Raw, that its almost an alternative in itself. There must have been a cheaper way than spending 7 figures a month and averaging 4,000 paid.

Edited June 27, 2013 by IANdrewDiceClay

[ColinBollocks]

Somebody said earlier "if TNA is ever a success". It already is. Just surviving in such shark-infested waters is success. If you honestly expect them to ever be the size of WCW or WWE, then you're smoking crack.

I think you were referring to me (even though you took my quote out of context a bit and left out the "proper success" part).

 

TNA is somewhat successful, in that they do a good number on TV, but their other revenue streams are abysmal. Despite having a solid TV audience, very few are that invested to actually spend money watching TNA. House show numbers can be famously laughable; ditto with PPVs; I also think I'm the only person that purchased their video game.

 

TNA has all these viewers, yet they can't convince them to spend money. Given that's essentially what your goal is with a wrestling show, the company can clearly do better (without being WWE or WCW). When Hogoff joined they weren't coming with the goal of helping the company draw under 20k on their 'big' PPVs. If TNA were to somehow persuade even 4% of their TV audience to buy their three PPVs a year they'd be in a much better state.

Edited June 27, 2013 by Blackson Jackson

[UK Kat Von D]

I prefer the idea of using the impact Zone than travelling around small venues, it was jus in the wrong place. Put the Impact Zone in Las Vegas and you have a constantly revolving crowd of young drunk people wanting to have a good time. Whack Hogan on a few posters around the strip and you would have a consistent large crowd. Would be a good mix of fans ranging from hardcore to super casual. Not to mention merchandise would sell well, Vegas is the place people go to spend a lot of money

 

 

Just imagine going on the piss in Vegas and waking up in a Zema Ion tshirt thinking "what the fuck did I do last night?"

Edited June 27, 2013 by Tattoos are gay