TNA… Cross the Line again

[Olly1984]

5 hours ago, Devon Malcolm said:

The optics of TNA resigning Tessa Blanchard might be terrible - but this is a great brawl....

....and then Santino Marella comes out. Why is this company like this.

Cracking brawl, proper felt the hatred!! And then like Dev says, some 80s cheesy cop show music hits, Santino comes out, calls Grace" Grachey, and ruins it

[garynysmon]

2024 was a very interesting year for TNA and I can't quite put my finger on it.

I was quite vocal in my belief that Scott D'amore going would turn out to be a badly timed disaster. Why, after a much anticipated rebrand, would you get rid of the man widely believed to be behind the company's resurgence just weeks after the fact?

His TV presence could be annoying, he was always coming out and one-upping sometimes top heels, and ended up throwing Canadian destroyers on talent a 50-odd year old exec really shouldn't.

But when you lose a figurehead to be replaced by a faceless exec, you can hardly be confident (and I'm not sure I even am now).

At times the product was rather lacking this year I thought, and the actual creative was the weakest I can remember since the Jeff Jarrett/GFW debacle.

But business wise they're doing good numbers, you're talking easy four figures for all tapings now and substantially more for bigger shows. 

In the Hardys they have actual draws on the roster which quite noticeably are swinging the needle a little, ditto Joe Hendry with his degree of traction.

Its clearly the case that a sold product and word of mouth will get you so far, but some buzz (TNA rebrand, NXT linkup etc) will get you much further.

The AEW storyline was too skewed in its execution to be of any longterm benefit beyond Kenny Omega PPV buyrates, and the New Japan link-up always felt second rate with TNA only getting the sloppy seconds while AEW hoovered up all their stars.

Who knows how the NXT stuff will pan out, this could well be a Progress situation where WWE will be left picking off the bones when they're done.

But certainly at this stage, with those reservations in mind, it feels a hell of a lot healthier in its execution.  

Edited January 15, 2025 by garynysmon

[FUM]

On 1/10/2025 at 8:23 PM, Devon Malcolm said:

The optics of TNA resigning Tessa Blanchard might be terrible - but this is a great brawl....

....and then Santino Marella comes out. Why is this company like this.

Enjoyed that. First clip I’ve watched from TNA in a while and looks much better lit than it was previously. They really need to ditch the yellow ropes for red though.

[DavidB6937]

I honestly thought things had cooled off recently so this is really interesting. 

 

 

[garynysmon]

Well I, for one, hail our new Titan overlords.

[Devon Malcolm]

Sol Ruca was on a while back, wasn't she? Have there been any other NXTers on TNA?

[DavidB6937]

13 minutes ago, Devon Malcolm said:

Sol Ruca was on a while back, wasn't she? Have there been any other NXTers on TNA?

Stole it from the press release but:

Wes Lee, Charlie Dempsey and the No Quarter Catch Crew, Riley Osbourne, Dante Chen, Gallus, Arianna Grace, Tatum Paxley, Izzi Dame, Wendy Choo, Brinley Reece and more.

They've definitely been sending people more for the experience than giving TNA any major people up till now. Would be nice to see them step it up a gear now.

[Snitsky's back acne]

12 hours ago, FUM said:

Enjoyed that. First clip I’ve watched from TNA in a while and looks much better lit than it was previously. They really need to ditch the yellow ropes for red though.

Tessa's always been good.

It seems she has made amends with La Rosa Negra so hopefully this is a chance to show she has grown as a person over the past several years. We shall see.

[Callum1993]

Several exciting prospects of cross promotion and you just know it’ll end up with Ziggler in the Rumble. 

[TheScarlettChad]

Jeff Hardy is a shoe in for The Rumble, surely?

[BomberPat]

I doubt it. They've made it pretty clear that it's an NXT/TNA relationship, I doubt it will even get a mention on the main roster, outside of the women's division, where we'll likely get another Jordynne Grace appearance and maybe Masha Slamovitch. At a push, Joe Hendry will be in the men's Rumble, but even then, I think the bloom is off the rose on that gimmick being over outside of TNA anyway. I doubt we'll see any proper stars moving in either direction.

[TheScarlettChad]

38 minutes ago, BomberPat said:

I doubt it. They've made it pretty clear that it's an NXT/TNA relationship, I doubt it will even get a mention on the main roster, outside of the women's division, where we'll likely get another Jordynne Grace appearance and maybe Masha Slamovitch. At a push, Joe Hendry will be in the men's Rumble, but even then, I think the bloom is off the rose on that gimmick being over outside of TNA anyway. I doubt we'll see any proper stars moving in either direction.

Do you think they waited too long to pull the trigger on Hendry?

[Hannibal Scorch]

Whilst it's obviously a positive announcement from TNA's perspective, I don't see this making any huge difference. Maybe a few NXT lifers (I'm looking at you Andre Chase and Tony D'Angleo) get shifted over in a talent exchange, but the last year with the deal in place did nothing to the brand. When they partnered with AEW they had their biggest buy rate in years and a ratings bump. TNA has sold more tickets last year than they had for a while, but their TV ratings went down and their main stars were on NXT getting mostly jobbed. I don't want to be a cynic, but unless there is a better use of talents across brands I am not sure what the gain is, unless it is for WWE to be able to poach their top talent, which is going to help neither company in the long term. 

[DavidB6937]

5 minutes ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

Whilst it's obviously a positive announcement from TNA's perspective, I don't see this making any huge difference. Maybe a few NXT lifers (I'm looking at you Andre Chase and Tony D'Angleo) get shifted over in a talent exchange, but the last year with the deal in place did nothing to the brand. When they partnered with AEW they had their biggest buy rate in years and a ratings bump. TNA has sold more tickets last year than they had for a while, but their TV ratings went down and their main stars were on NXT getting mostly jobbed. I don't want to be a cynic, but unless there is a better use of talents across brands I am not sure what the gain is, unless it is for WWE to be able to poach their top talent, which is going to help neither company in the long term. 

I can see why people would be cynical but I do wonder if a more official and long term working relationship means that it can be built better than the bits here and there than they had previously. That could've been just trying each other out and seeing if a working relationship could work and now they've clearly decided it can then they go all in? Maybe. Only time will tell but I would hope it will allow both sides to step up a bit at least.

... and obviously WWE will still end up with the top talent regardless. I think we all know that.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, BomberPat said:

I doubt it. They've made it pretty clear that it's an NXT/TNA relationship, I doubt it will even get a mention on the main roster, outside of the women's division, where we'll likely get another Jordynne Grace appearance and maybe Masha Slamovitch. At a push, Joe Hendry will be in the men's Rumble, but even then, I think the bloom is off the rose on that gimmick being over outside of TNA anyway. I doubt we'll see any proper stars moving in either direction.

As someone who's not watched much TNA, for those who do what's happened here? Are people just over the music outside of TNA? He's still a main eventer in TNA, right?