TNA's arena "Impact Zone" is on the lot at Universal, so not only does TNA have to pay to use the site they can't charge fans that attend! It only holds 900 people though, so it's not like thousands of fans are getting a free show. Combine that issue with their talent roster and the cost of some of these guys (Sting s the highest paid wrestler in the world - per appearance and Angle actually makes more money per appearance than he did in WWE) and it's hard to understand how TNA could ever turn a profit.Originally Posted by DennyMcLain
But apparently they are making money. Most of their cash comes from selling their Impact show around the world. Impact is carried in a lot of countries and those networks/stations have to pay for it. I know TNA does/did big business in the UK because they've toured there twice in the last few years and I know India gets Global Impact, because Sonjay Dutt (an Indian wrestler in TNA) used that to try to get more money out of TNA when his contract was coming up. They released him instead lol
I have heard that Spike TV did help them pay for Sting, too. Maybe they helped pay for some of the other big names. If they didn't help re-sign the Dudley Boys, Scott Steiner and Kevin Nash recently then TNA is fucking stupid for keeping those guys and letting people like Christian and Gail Kim leave.
I'd say TNA is more like WCW in 1997-2000, unfortunately. That's when WCW had Benoit, Jericho, Booker T, Malenko, Eddie and Chavo Guerrero, Goldberg rising, Mysterio and Kidman going all out to have great matches.
Also, TNA is a cross between WCW and WWF circa 1985. I can't watch it due to it's cheeziness. Of course, some will say "dude, but they've got great wrestlers". Of course they do, but the foremost importance is "entertainment". It's a scripted television SHOW, not a sports event. A show's main purpose is to entertain, and if you don't have great writers it doesn't matter who the fuck you put in front of that camera...period.
The storylines were shit, they didn't get much time on the mic to sell those pathetic storylines and it didn't matter if they had a great match or the fans loved them because Hogan, Nash, Hall, Dallas Page, Savage, Luger, Sting, Flair, etc had the top spots locked down.
And while you might want entertainment many wrestling fans want to see matches that are realistic and stories that are based in reality. As Arn Anderson used to say "The W on the marquee stands for Wrestling"
Of course if you pander to the hardcore fan and have classic matches on every TV show then at some point the matches become routine. If you love steak and you only ate steak every night for weeks on end eventually you're gonna fucking hate steak.
Naturally every wrestling company with a TV show tries to find a balance between great in-ring action and great storylines, but IMO TNA need to change the whole show if they want to be anything more than a shitty version of WWE. [my plan is quite lengthy so I'll post it on a slow day]
And the reason the Attitude Era worked so well is because those characters were clearly defined. Despite popular opinion Vince Russo is actually quite good at booking "Shades of Grey" TV - where you take wrestler A and he has a set of values and morals. All his actions are based on those character traits. It's up to the fans to decide if you cheer or boo that character.On the flip side, you can have a stable of mediocre wrestlers, but if they can entertain you AND you have solid writing, then you're all gold. Check out the Attitude Era as an example. Neither the Rock nor Stone Cold Steve Austin nor HHH were very good technical wrestlers, and HHH can't sell a punch if his life depended on it (shit misses by a good six inches or more each and every time), but their characters were so damn incredible that it didn't matter.
If you develop solid and varied personas, the storylines will write themselves.
Russo just has no patience to let issues brew "naturally" and is always rushing to the next plot point. A team can form and break up within 1 month and he sees no problem with that. The obvious problem with these quick turns is that people don't have any emotional connection to the team that just formed, so why would people care if they part ways? The break up would matter more if you let it slowly build over a lengthy period of time before 1 wrestler turned on another.
The recent EPIC FAIL of the Main Event Mafia v Frontline war is a clear case of Russo having a good idea (or recycling a good old idea), except the way it was portrayed killed it. All the characters involved were/are right, based on their histories, character traits and from their own POV. However, fans did not want to boo Sting and they didn't want to cheer Kurt Angle. Yet those 2 were on the same side! So the fans sat on their hands.
The Impact Zone fans love Samoa Joe but even they couldn't cheer a man wanting to take out Sting. The Stinger is a fucking Icon (and the only man who has pinned Hogan and Flair for a world title win btw) Because the writing wasn't better and because the sides weren't clear cut the storyline failed.
Is that Russo's fault? Partly, since he's the mastermind behind the Shades of Grey booking concept but it's also due to the fact that certain wrestlers (Sting) did not want to be the bad guy in this storyline.
I could save the storyline for TNA, though and it's pretty simple (another post for another day) but the fact remains that the Frontline was portrayed as less than the MEM.
Eric Bischoff said re: Nitro "Be better, be different or be less than" WCW couldn't beat WWE at their own game in 1995. They didn't want to be less than, so they were different.
TNA needs to do the same thing: "Be Different". Shades of Grey would work, but the majority of fans from the Attitude Era have left - which is why Vince is going for the PG rating.
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