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I'm impressed on your in-depth knowledge of Luke Gallows' TNA deal though. You should write for the Observer!

 

I was under the impression that although TNA's ratings are generally low, they are about as good, (if not better) than most things on SPIKE, hence why they are still there really.

 

With the Gallows things, i hadn't seen it reported he was a particular figure, but don't most new roster members get a "Pay per appearance" type deal that ranges from at least $200 per appearance? Depending on whats what, a lot of guys have said they can't live of anything like that. It only the top end guys who have some sort of official deal from TNA that allows them to commit.

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Do you think Bellator is going to work though? As a non-fan, I can't help but notice that besides UFC, most MMA promotions have the life-span of a Samoa Joe push. They may part-own Bellator, but they don't own and run it, like WCW, do they?

They are pumping big money into it, they just signed Randy Couture who is one of the biggest names in the sport.

 

However, history dictates the long term success of MMA companies beside the UFC is limited. The only advantage Bellator has in comparison is that the network they are on seems to be in for the long run and they are on a channel (Spike) that is more accessible.

 

Other companies in MMA like Affliction gambled on the PPV market and failed, whilst Strikeforce financial backers pulled out. Elite XC did well on national TV, but it was solely to do with the Kimbo Slice fad. Affliction and Elite XC were run by cowboys as well with little MMA and business knowledge.

 

Bellator on paper will not have these problems to such a high extent. But with MMA being so overexposed, it may be hard for them to put up numbers that are consistently high.

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Maybe they want to own their own wrestling federation, like many have speculated for years. A one that isn't called "TNA" and has that negative stigma throughout the wrestling fanbase. Why pump millions into TNA when they can just set up or buy their own promotion like they have done with Bellator.

 

Actually if they chucked TNA off Spike, they could probably just buy what is left of TNA and its wrestlers.

 

TNA isn't toxic, it suffers because it's not WWE. A new generation of fans have grown up believing wholeheartedly that WWE is Wrestling, and everything else is automatically piss poor and seond rate. Any start-up would face the exact same problem, and no-one would give it a chance - like those who'll swear until they're blue in the face that TNA is shite without taking any proper time to actually watch it.

 

We all do it to a degree though. I think MMA is pure shite and ROH is Wrestling without all the fun, but I don't give them a proper chance either.

Edited by garynysmon
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TNA isn't toxic, it suffers because it's not WWE.

That's just not true, though. TNA suffers because they don't promote their house shows and didn't know how to build their PPVs. If you have 1.5 million a week watching and only 6000 of those will buy your PPVs then its got nothing to do with not being WWE. Running a town and getting out drawn by local indy feds is the problem of the infrastructure of the company. If TNA addressed these issues they would be doing far better.

Edited by IANdrewDiceClay
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I can't profess to knowing enough about TNA houseshows in the States, but I can only imagine it's an issue with advertising because they tend to have Jeff Hardy and Kurt Angle on a lof of these shows.

 

PPV? I have no idea what's going on there. I can't be arsed with the PPV's they hold in the Impact Zone and don't usually watch them, but the build-up to the last two Bound for Glories was pretty much on the money, and I don't think they did well either.

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I can only imagine it's an issue with advertising because they tend to have Jeff Hardy and Kurt Angle on a lof of these shows.

How do you mean?

 

Bound For Glory was a pretty shite build to be fair. The Aces and Eights angle and killing James Storm off after building the whole year around him took away any PPV buyers interest. The fans have been educated to no TNAs PPVs wont deliver much newsworthy anyway. The promise of good matches don't tend to get people spending money.

Edited by IANdrewDiceClay
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I miss so many TNA PPVs because I just have no idea when they are on, and I watch Impact every week. They don't build them up or advertise them properly. The new PPV schedule may help them in that respect, if the TV concentrates on building storylines to the big four.

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I can only imagine it's an issue with advertising because they tend to have Jeff Hardy and Kurt Angle on a lof of these shows.

How do you mean?

 

Bound For Glory was a pretty shite build to be fair. The Aces and Eights angle and killing James Storm off after building the whole year around him took away any PPV buyers interest. The fans have been educated to no TNAs PPVs wont deliver much newsworthy anyway. The promise of good matches don't tend to get people spending money.

 

Well, names like Hardy and Angle should be a bigger pull than they currently on the house show circuit, so all signs must point at the promotion of them.

 

Bound for Glory 2011 had a hot angle with Bobby Roode chasing the belt and Sting v Hogan, and still did a miserable buyrate. With the Bound for Glory series as well, i'm not sure what more they could have done.

Edited by garynysmon
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Maybe people were expecting an ending like the one we got. Its worth looking through that thread of BFG 2011 where they had this massive build and people's reactions were "please dont fuck this up TNA". And they sort of did. The reactions post-Bound For Glory were mostly negative because they robbed Bobby Roode of his big win after that huge build. Another thing, like Arch said, they rarely ever promote their PPVs. Like this year, they have cut them to four a year. And the first PPV out of four in 2013 they ended the go home show with Bully Ray telling us he wanted to marry Brooke on Impact the following week.

Edited by IANdrewDiceClay
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I remember the discussion well, and still think it was the wrong thing to do with Roode. They could have easily had Roode beat Angle, with all the celebrations to end the show, them offer Storm the first shot at the title and turn on him afterwards.

 

I think TNA had given up hope on PPV's by the last one to be honest, might as well pop a rating for next week's impact as only the same fuckers will buy the show anyway.

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It must be a little hard with Spike I suspect, because Spike probably don't give a fuck about TNA's PPV schedule and are more interested in them filling Impact! with content to entice people back to watch the show the next week.

 

But I definitely agree they need to use their TV to build more towards the PPVs, and that means keeping certain matchups for the PPV in my opinion. And also promoting the shit out of it, and making the storylines conclude on PPV.

 

The Bobby Roode thing is interesting, because the story is that Roode has to lose at BFG so they could turn him heel. But they could have done that a number of different ways. He could have won the title, and defended it on the next show against Storm and lost, and then in the return match gone heel and bashed Storm over the head to get the title back, and job done.

 

Point is, they could have had him win and left the PPV on a high, and still set him up for his amazing heel run.

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Last year was a bit weird from TNA, they spent the first part of it looking like they were making an effort with their PPV's. Then they went back into their default of building everything for TV. Sadly, their PPV model will take years of solid work to get anything other than abject numbers (it appears TNA realised that and sort of gave up).

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The Bobby Roode thing is interesting, because the story is that Roode has to lose at BFG so they could turn him heel. But they could have done that a number of different ways. He could have won the title, and defended it on the next show against Storm and lost, and then in the return match gone heel and bashed Storm over the head to get the title back, and job done.

 

If you look at it in detail, TNA did everything right except one thing: Roode should've beaten Angle for the belt at BFG. All they had to do was turn him heel with the title. It would've made perfect sense: after all this time chasing the belt, he's finally got what he wanted, and so when it looks like he's going to lose it to Storm because he can't beat him, he smashes him over the head with a beer bottle. Not only does this turn him heel, but it gives him instant, white-hot heel heat: the crowd now hate him because he had them cheering so hard for him to get the belt in the first place, so it's a deep betrayal. Furthermore, it gets over just how much Roode wants to hold on to the belt and how it means everything to him.

 

This would've also made it a bigger deal when Storm finally beat Roode, because he'd have never held the belt before; this would've made it seem like a much bigger prize than the one-week hot-shotting it did.

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Well, that's at least three of us in agreement on that one then. It's more frustrating taking into consideration TNA book things weeks in advance, so it's not like this was a last minute decision - it was actually planned that way.

 

Mind boggling.

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There was a bit of talk that the original plan was for Roode to win, but Hogan changed the plan a couple of weeks before. Hogan didn't think Roode was any good, as a face, and was well impressed with Storm when he had a belter of a match with Angle on Impact (turns out it was one of those excellent Angle carry jobs). TNA then decided to put the focus on Storm, as their new top babyface, which they went and buggered up.

 

Roode's in a good spot, though. He won Hogan over with his title run (if you believe the rumours), and this Aries 'Two Man Power Trip' type of tag team has endless potential. You can see this team being used to turn Roode face.

Edited by Blackson Jackson
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