Professional Wrestling

[Pharaoh]

Question for Pharaoh -- how the Hell does TNA make money when they're stuck in the same arena for every Impact (or what appears to be the same arena). WWE is annually near the top or at the top of venue attendance moneymakers. I can't remember the last time I watched a RAW and saw empty seats at the top. From what I understand, tix aren't too expensive, either. But if you're packing 15 grand into an arena at $25 a ticket, that's some decent money. And that doesn't count the merch vendors.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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]

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.

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.

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.

[DennyMcLain]

The thing I notices most about TNA is that their show is... a "show", while the WWE shows (yes, even shitty SmackDown), is more of a rock concert -- huge setting, lots of choreographed lights and pyrotechnics, fans holding signs. When I'm watching RAW. I'm watching an event. There really is an aire of connection with the fans, and it makes a huge difference when the fans "sit on their hands" during a show, as compared to when the crowd is really into it.

I'm the kind of viewer who enjoys quality in production. I like films and shows that appear like the crew and talent really put serious effort into the product, rather than just going through the paces. It's why I enjoy Letterman over Leno -- Letterman's show is chok full of effort, even if it sometimes doesn;t work, and he packs a shitload of stuff into each taping, while Leno played it safe and pulled the same old shtick each and every time. Let's hope Conan takes it up a few notches (fuck NBC if they hold him back).

TNA needs your ideas, man. But they also need to stop being lazy fucks, get out of Floriduh, and tour.

[Pharaoh]

They do need to change the creative team (the Jarrett/Russo/Dutch Mantel trio has been in charge for what seems like forever) and they need either a new arena to tape Impact in or they need to tape it while on the road.

I agree that WWE shows look fucking amazing. That has something to do with the fact they are very, very good at hiding empty seats. They would never show a wide shot of the crowd if part of that space is empty.

TNA also needs to forget going live for at least the next 2-3 years - they don't have the production crew capable of that. These guys are lazy - they miss pins on Pay Per Views or TV far too often.

Think about it: 99.9% of matches are completely scripted now from start to finish (when back in the day the wrestlers only knew a few spots and the finish) so everyone in the production crew knows what's coming and when. How the fuck do you miss the finish?

IMO TNA needs to spend whatever it would take to hire Paul Heyman to be the lead writer. Then bring Scott D'Amore back from his Indy promotion in Canada (he was the writer that got TNA's women's division going and it was awesome). Then have Russo and Jim Cornette work under them.

Russo, Cornette and Heyman are not exactly the best of friends (which stems from the way they view wrestling) but all 3 are very capable, proven bookers.

Heyman has a column in the UK Sun or something (it's called the Heyman Hustle if you wanna google it) and he has stated time after time that TNA is fucking themselves with this WWE-Lite shit and that they don't know what to do with their roster (which implies that he does know what to do with it)

2 non-wrestling hires and TNA would be fine creatively. Production wise I can't help there.

BTW, Bobby Lashley is training to fight in some MMA company. Can't remember which one, but it's not the UFC.

[Darth Thanatos]

Didn't he leave because of that whole Michael Hayes fiasco?

[Pharaoh]

Yeah. Hayes being the racist cunt that he is and was planning on putting some diva (forgot her name though I want to type Krista Marshall for some reason) in a really bad storyline.

Either Lashley was with her at the time, or caught wind of the proposed storyline and fucking flipped but either way he was released staright away.

Usually any WWE performer has a 90-day No Compete clause, meaning they can't appear on TV for another wrestling company in the world! The surprising thing about Lashley's release is that WWE waived the no compete clause.

IIRC he didn't show up anywhere during the 90 days, so it didn't really matter, but it did bring more attention to his release and once people got digging the racist shit was gonna come out.

BTW, the fact that WWE gave in and released a guy like Lashley speaks volumes for that company. Granted he wasn't any good on the mic but the guy was roided the fuck up, was over with the crowd and was a main event player before his injury.

To allow someone at his level to leave means that the storyline must have been pretty fucking bad - I'm talking slave type shit

[DennyMcLain]

What's so wrong about slavery?

[Pharaoh]

We're all slaves to something.

A truckload of people wake up every day and go to work rather than wake up and go fucking chill out somewhere.

You do have a choice. You could live in a cardboard box, eat garbage for the rest of your life and deal with that kind of life or...

You can keep going to work at a place you hate, for a wage you think is beneath you in order to buy crap you don't need so that you appear to be normal to your family, friends, neighbours.

You're not normal - if you were normal you'd tell your boss to get fucked, quit that shitty job and go do something you actually enjoy doing.

[Pharaoh]

Oh, back to wrestling.

Chris Jericho may end up facing Jerry Lawler at Mania!

WTF?

From Mickey Rourke to Ric Flair to Rick Steamboat to Jerry Lawler? Some consider Lawler a legend (and to be fair he is) but he's been a comedy relief kind of wrestler the last decade. He's known more for his announcing now than his accomplishments as a wrestler.

The only match that makes sense to me is Jericho v Hogan! It's Mania 25 - Hogan has to appear. With Rourke (got to be there) and Flair (there for reasons that will be obvious shortly) in his corner Hogan could pin Jericho in less than 10 minutes and the fans got what they wanted: Jericho got put in his place by a legend.

(If I was running WWE) After the match as Flair, Hogan and Rourke celebrate the win Flair turns on Hogan!!! Jericho and Flair then beat down Hogan and Rourke.

Later that night Flair and Jericho help Orton win the title from Triple H.

The next night on Raw Flair, Orton, Jericho, Rhodes and DiBiase kick off the show in suits, raising the 4 Horsemen hand sign (even though there's 5 of them).

Yeah, I went back to the good ol' days but this would fucking rock. To explain why Legacy joined Flair and Jericho Orton could simply say that "There is no greater Legacy than being a Horsemen"

The Raw GM (whomever that is after Mania) under threats of the Horsemen rules that Triple H has to fight his way through the Horsemen before he is granted his rematch.

So, that sets up a 1 month TV feud between Triple H and Rhodes, which HHH naturally barely wins. It's hard surviving the 5 on 1 odds.

Then we could go to a 2 month prgram with DiBiase, which would see the introduction of Mr Kennedy. He'd come to the aid of HHH. The Triple H/DiBiase battle would feature a match between Kennedy/HHH v Rhodes/DiBiase on PPV, plus a HHH/DiBiase match on PPV before HHH moves on to Jericho.

HHH v Jericho at Summer Slam in August would sell a lot of tickets in this scenario, with Kennedy, Orton, Rhodes, DiBiase and Flair all circling the scene.

But really we're just building to the Ultimate Showdown between HHH and Orton, which would take place at Survivor Series in November.

So, from Mania 25 until November RAW as a TV Show would feature 2 v 5 and every possible combination of match they could have. Just as the story could get old and tired I have a plot twist:

The Triple H/Orton war would end at the Rumble in 2010 ("I Quit" Match). During this match you Kennedy would turn on HHH, costing him the title.

The next night on RAW the Horsemen call Kennedy to the ring. Naturally they aren't adding another member - so who is being booted?

Chris Jericho gets smashed by the Horsemen and left laying in a pool of his own blood as Flair, Orton, Rhodes and DiBiase welcome Kennedy into the group. Jericho is not seen again until...

At the February PPV, Orton defends the title against HHH (using the old rematch clause thing). In a surprise Jericho helps HHH win the belt back.

From here to Mania it's a basic story as we set up a Fatal Four Way for the RAW Title:

Triple H v Randy Orton v Chris Jericho v Mr. Kennedy

That's a pretty fucking solid 12 month storyline that I spent all of 2 seconds thinking about as I typed!

[DennyMcLain]

I've always wished for the Horsemen to come back, but the combinations were never there.

Now, you've got DiBiase and Rhodes basically as Blanchard/Anderson, the dominant tag team. You need a big man, which Orton can fill, and you've got a loudmouth, which Kennedy can EASILY fill. Flair doesn't have to wrestle -- he can play the J.J. role and be the manager. So really you'll only have four plus Flair.

As for wrestlemania, I'd prefer to see Austin (or Hogan) v. Jericho in a lumberjack match with HOF legends surrounding the ring.

Shit dude. You've gotta find a way to get your post on to a wrestling site. I'm sure WWE creative reads those things from time to time.

[Pharaoh]

Denny, they get a ton of posts every day and they still churn out shit.

There is a section on WWE.com where you can send them your creative ideas but if they use them you get nothing. I don't care if they use my ideas, just put out a better product.

If I can write an outline for a feud that could headline the RAW Brand for 12 months in 2 minutes imagine what they should be putting out. The problem is that the WWE creative team spends 50 weeks per year putting out content (a lot of shows and the ppvs) that they don't have time to listen to the fans or see what the latest trends are.

For the Record WWE: Everyone loves to see wrestlers form stables. The business fucking booms when there is a dominant stable:

1980's WWF = Heenan had a group of wrestlers challenging Hogan
1980's NWA = The Four Horsemen

1990's WWF = DX, Nation of Domination, The Hart Foundation, The Ministry etc
1990's WCW = NWO, The Horsemen

Now we've got Legacy, but they haven't put the smackdown on anyone yet, not really. Not Horsemen style or NWO style. After Orton wins the title at Mania they need to fucking destroy Triple H and another top contender in "backstage attacks" to get some serious fucking heat.

Right now, Orton is getting some cheers from the crowd (when you hit the McMahon's you're bound to get a cheer) as well as getting real heel heat. To eliminate those cheers and actually allow Rhodes and DiBiase to gain some heat they need to plan a substantial role in at least 2 kick ass beatdowns on someone like John Cena, The Undertaker, HHH or someone on that level...

They should beatdown HHH one week, then Shawn Michaels the next and just keep fucking alternating between the 2 until 1 night HHH comes out to save Michaels. The next week have a verbal confrontation between Legacy and HHH/Michaels. That would set up a DX reunion v Rhodes/DiBiase.

This way more people would tune in the next week and they'd pop a big rating for something "special" (I realise DX has re-united so many fucking times it's almost a joke but the fact remains that group was so over and is still so over that fans will forgive them for continuing to play on it).

Naturally Orton would interfere in that match and Rhodes/DiBiase would win. Then for the next few weeks you could see Michaels v Rhodes and HHH v DiBiase. Then for a few more weeks you could have HHH v Rhodes and Michaels v DiBiase. Orton is busy threatening the GM.

After HHH and Michaels have given the rub to the lesser Legacy members 1 of them would get to face Orton. But which one?

The guy still out for revenge (HHH) or the guy who feels his career is nearing it's end and this might just be his last chance at the title (Michaels)

Can the 2 friends get a long?
Will their friendship break down again due to ambition?
And can Orton surive a twin turbo attack from DX?

Tune in NEVER to find out the answers.

Fuck! This shit is easy to outline. Maybe the dialogue would be difficult and the matches would be impossible for me to write but that's why they PAY those fuckers and they don;t pay me.