Brandon

Sounds like a loaded question..and it's one that could have a number of possible answers.

I think TNA has a lot of issues in the booking department, but that's not where I'm going to go with this..

The biggest problem in TNA is the lack of television time compared to the number of PPVs they are trying to sell..

Now here me out on this. WWE has way too many PPVs.. I believe at one point they were up to 15 in a single year, now they are down to 12 or 13 I believe, but I'm not sure on that for 2008.. Regardless, they do have 5 hours of programming every week where, in theory, they could probably get away with doing a PPV every month.. they just haven't used their time wisely in a lot of cases.

TNA only has two hours of programming a week. They have a roster that is too large for a two hour show. They have a website that doesn't offer much exclusive content. These are the issues at hand..and With the landscape as it is.. they are continuously shoving a PPV down our throat every month. Before one even airs, the next one's graphics are plastered on my fucking screen..

Wouldn't they be better served if they had a good 8 weeks or so to build up a show? This would give impact! a little breathing room for a couple weeks to construct new angles and storylines but also they could dedicate more time to developing one's character.. They also wouldn't have to worry about throwing undeserving wrestlers (Steiner) into the main event scene..

Lets take Consequences Creed, for an example on how TNA is lacking in character development because of them not having enough time for it.. His video packages before debuting were excellent.. but after he debuted? We haven't heard from the man.. ONCE. He shows up, does a couple trademark moves, and that's it.. How is someone supposed to cheer for that? It's the same people at the top of the card getting all the promo time every week.. How many fucking Kurt Angle, Samoa Joe, or Kevin Nash backstage promos do we need in one night?

Can I get a little something from the Machine Guns or something? Is that too much to ask?

Look, I'm not hating on TNA.. I just think their business model is flawed. They would make more money from having 4 or 5 STACKED PPVs a year than having 12 so-so-maybe shows a year..

Discuss.

God

Nothing wrong with the booking, the wrestling, the tv time, PPV's or anything like that.

The problems are Production which costs a lot of money & WWE have a lot of. Take the opening on iMPACT! this week. AJ Styles had only just come on screen when they cut away. Styles was what everyone wanted & that annoyed me, especially because it cut away to an interview! If it was something big i'd have let it go but an interview can wait two more minutes.

The next problem is advertising. I dont see American TV but from what i hear iMPACT! is only advertised during iMPACT! I've never heard of any PPV advertisments on TV. Problem again being, it costs a lot of money.

TNA are making the product what they want first, then worrying about advertising etc. If they can get what they want in the roster (no idea what that is) & then up the production values then advertise it will keep a lot more of the "i'll give it a shot" fans. Whereas if they spend all the money on advertising but dont improve production etc only a few will come back next week.

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God

I ment to say it earlier but forgot. Creed is actually still in collage (The guy is only 20) so he cant always be at the iMPACT! tapings.

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Low Ki

Biggest problem with TNA is that they have become what they originally despised.

TNA 2005 = "We are wrestling"
TNA 2008 = "We are backstage interviews"

I really miss the days where I could actually watch wrestling in TNA without all of the extra bullshit.

Number Nine

Their main problem is that they aren't trying to be an alternative to WWE like they originally were, now they're just a bad impersonation of WWE. If they were different from WWE more people would tune in to get something new and fresh, right now I'm sure people turn it on and think to themselves "Why am I watching this shit when I can watch the same thing only better on WWE?"

Brandon

Yeah.. I agree with a lot of that. God, I see advertisements for TNA on Spike from time to time, especially during UFC..

Griff0rd

Look at the quarterly averages for this year in comparison to last years. Pro Wrestling Report did a good breakdown of this and it showed that TNA was slightly improving where as WWE was losing audience in every brand. Some of them more than 1.0 points in the ratings. I'll look to see if I can't find it. It was in one of their March shows if I remember right.

Needless to say, TNA is faring better than WWE in ratings when you look at the gain/loss side of the discussion. In total audience, they are still till new to really compete.

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Griff0rd

I have to argue with WWE being better. The in ring action in TNA is still leaps and bounds better.

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Number Nine

And as a TNA moderator I'm sure you aren't the least bit biased. Thank you for your insightful opinion.

Brandon

Well, I'm not sure how biased or unbiased anyone is.. but I would expect that Griff would enjoy TNA's matches more than WWE's and that's not a knock on him, he has a right to that opinion..

I'm in the middle. I like some of what TNA does.. but some of their matches are too spot-reliant and others are overbooked. But I love guys like Styles and so on..

With WWE, you have a lot of storytelling aspects like matches involving HBK, and I love that as well..