TNA… Cross the Line again

[garynysmon]

22 minutes ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

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.

TV ratings being down is mainly due to AXS being dropped by cable packages in America. Its a shit station anyway, can’t say I’d blame them.

On the whole ticket sales were up massively in 2024 and Hard to Kill last year blew most Dixie era PPV’s out of the water in terms of buyrates.

Pretty mad when you consider talent budgets now compared to then.

If Triple H pops up on Impact with ‘paid ads’ saying how shit it is with no comeuppance whatsoever, then I reserve the right to say its shite.

Edited January 17, 2025 by garynysmon

[TheScarlettChad]

21 minutes ago, Duke said:

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?

He's likely winning their world title this sunday, I think. So yeah, I think he is. At least, he's their most over guy, When your champion is Dolph Ziggler, you don't have a lot of options.

[garynysmon]

On 1/17/2025 at 12:19 PM, TheScarlettChad said:

When your champion is Dolph Ziggler, you don't have a lot of options.

I think that’s a bit harsh. There’s been a long line of ex-WWE top-ish stars that have waltzed into TNA wishing and acting like they’d rather be anywhere else, but I wouldn’t put him in that category.

He’s an experienced guy who’s put the work in and produced solid matches and promos.

I realise he stayed in WWE way too long, but it isn’t particularly his nor TNA’s fault how he was presented in his latter WWE years. Its not like he won the belt right away or anything like that.

Edited January 19, 2025 by garynysmon

[Supremo]

Gave Genesis a go considering the buzz. It was good. I might come back for future pay per views.

Crowd and building looked great. Metal guardrails, too! Be still, my beating heart.

Seemed to be a fair few NXT guys turning up, so WWE are at least holding up their end of the bargain, for now. Forgive me if I’m not convinced this relationship will help TNA in the long run though. You know, due to every other example in the history of forever.

Mark Henry looked happy to be there. What ridiculously unimpressive, basic, generic perk do you think blew the bootlicker away? Free tea and coffee?

Tessa Blanchard makes for genuinely uncomfortable viewing. Just a real bad vibe surrounding her. A fucking Texan crowd chanting, “SHE’S A RACIST!” What an indictment. The poor commentators trying to talk around it was grim. You almost see why they want to use her; based solely on the action this match was excellent, but I’m not sure Tessa is worth all the hassle. It’s such a bad look.

Fair play to Jordynne Grace doing the clean job on what I assume is her last night. I expected her to go full Austin Aries and jump straight up. I assume she’s in The Rumble. Rey Fenix needs to make note of this professionalism.

Super classy video package for Chris Bey.

Dolph Ziggler still stinks. Nothing’s changed. They’ve rebadged it, you fool! The only thing that makes him look better by comparison is bringing in his even worse brother.

Joe Hendry winning the Title was good. Nice feel good ending. Every time I see him wrestle I’m surprised at the chops he does have. It’s mostly the song that’s got him over, but he can put a shift in. Feels a little late putting the title on him now though, since the moment has passed a bit, but you have to assume this seals the deal and Joe will be in the Rumble. Will be interesting to see what reaction he gets in that big stadium and whether he only ever went viral for the hardcore fans.

[d-d-d-dAz]

Thing is, you can see how they fell for the strategy. Supercharge the buzz around Joe Hendry on WWE TV, then get him back as a bigger star and put the title on him. Perfect.

As it is, the WWE exposure just hit fast forward on an act that already had a limited shelf life and now it feels like TNA have struck whilst the iron is cold.

He seems a nice chap though, so I hope he warms back up.

[DavidB6937]

I have the day off so gave this a go and it was alright actually. Not a bad watch. It's nice to see the NXT stuff progressing and they've got some bigger names going over now so it's definitely heading in the right direction.

TNA has always had a pretty decent roster over the years with some good talent so that's not really surprising. You have to wonder how WWE feel about the Tessa stuff though. Yeah I know, HHH probably doesn't care because he's the same as her right. But no seriously, it's not the best optics for them if people are tuning in and seeing that, so whether it's just ignored or something happens I don't know.

Both Jordynne and Josh seem to have done everything they can in TNA and fair play to them for working their arses off over the years. Hopefully they'll both turn up in NXT/WWE as they need fresh starts and new rosters to work with. Both incredibly solid all round performers.

I definitely feel like the Joe Hendry thing was timed late but again if it leads to more of a push due to the WWE relationship then that'll be interesting. I think a Rumble appearance would be fairly safe as the bigger events tend to have a decent mix of knowledgeable fans so he should get a pop there at least. I'd love to see him come out against Drew.

[garynysmon]

I can’t get over the fact this is the same company as the one I watched in 2018, basically filmed in a warehouse with crowds three rows deep with one or two fans trying their best to start a chant to be met with complete silence.

[Hannibal Scorch]

3 hours ago, Supremo said:

Mark Henry looked happy to be there. What ridiculously unimpressive, basic, generic perk do you think blew the bootlicker away? Free tea and coffee?

Oh we know 

 

[Merzbow]

He'd eat a Triple H shit sandwich and smile at this point.

[garynysmon]

I've become more obsessed with TNA's ongoing growth in terms of attendance and buzz than the actual product, but its interesting that they're shooting a live episode at Full Sail next month. (After another live episode in Texas tomorrow night).

If I've understood correctly the production is largely done in-house by the students and is a bit 'Impact Zone' in its presentation.

I don't think its a massive stretch to think that having shows in the tin shot in a well-lit, good sounding venue wouldn't hurt in terms of shopping around for a better TV deal, domestically and internationally.

Edited January 22, 2025 by garynysmon

[RIDDUM_N_STYLE]

Wouldn’t surprise if they did a number of TNA vs NXT matches for that show given its history as NXT’s home for 6 years until the Pandemic moved everything to the PC

[garynysmon]

Yes! Mustafa Ali is back and seemingly signed.

That’ll do me! 

(And another nice looking show)

 

[Hannibal Scorch]

So the cats out the bag, this new TNA agreement with WWE is strategic combat against AEW. The PCO/GCW angle from their Hammerstein Ballroom show has had to pivot to Mance Warner coming in. We’ve got ex WWE talent being re-signed as well as current NXT wrestlers appearing. And it appears one of the reasons NJPW was dropped from AXS in the states was because of this agreement. It now appears TNA is being shipped to markets where WWE has gone to Netflix to scupper AEW replacing them.

It’s like Vince never left.

[Chili]

15 minutes ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

So the cats out the bag, this new TNA agreement with WWE is strategic combat against AEW. The PCO/GCW angle from their Hammerstein Ballroom show has had to pivot to Mance Warner coming in. We’ve got ex WWE talent being re-signed as well as current NXT wrestlers appearing. And it appears one of the reasons NJPW was dropped from AXS in the states was because of this agreement. It now appears TNA is being shipped to markets where WWE has gone to Netflix to scupper AEW replacing them.

It’s like Vince never left.

You do realise that AEW is doing perfectly fine though? With their new streaming deals and whatnot. They've actually started to make profits etc. The only people who'll get fucked in the end is TNA unfortunately.

[DavidB6937]

40 minutes ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

So the cats out the bag

The cat was in the bag?