Problems at TNA?

[DC 536]

Couldn't be that bad they lasted longer

Coronation Street has been running for 55yrs, so by your logic that should make it the best damn show in the history of television.

 

To be fair to TNA, the shows over the last few months have been a lot better than the shite on show when Dixie was the top on-screen heel, but they have had practically the same rating for the last 6+ years and have shown no overall growth or a genuine idea of where to take the promotion in the future.

[Guest John Hancock]

Couldn't be that bad they lasted longer

 

WCW and TNA both existed because millionaires, if not billionaires, were willing to lose money to amuse themselves. WCW died because Turner got overruled, TNA survived because the Carters didn't. If the Carter family had decided they wanted TNA to function like an actual business, and not an eccentric playboy folly, it would have been dead by the end of the day, and if the Carter's had owned WCW, we'd still be putting up with shitty Nitros.

 

You could say TNA succeeded as a form of entertainment, in that it apparently entertained you all these years, that's subjective, but the facts show that in any objective way, TNA failed, and the obscene length of time it spent failing was down entirely to them having the good fortune to be bankrolled by a man who has no problem spoiling his daughter for her entertainment, and a woman who is willing to spend millions of her family's dollars playing dress-up on television and pretending to run to company.

[Kam 243]

From the Wrestling-Online Newsletter:

 

TNA ISSUES STATEMENT ON CANCELLATION RUMORS

 

- TNA Wrestling issued a statement on the rumors of the cancellation of their television contract with Discovery Communications, denying the reports and threatening legal action. “It has come to our attention that several internet news sources have falsely attributed statements to TNA, its executives and broadcasting partner,” the statement reads. “These false statements constitute defamation and if necessary we will seek all legal remedies available to us.” Last year the company also denied the rumors that Spike TV were not renewing their deal and went flat out against TMZ who reported the original story. Eventually the TMZ story proved to be correct as the highest officials within TNA knew that Spike were ending their association with the company.

[Guest John Hancock]

Never take the phrase "if necessary we will seek all legal remedies available to us" seriously in a press release, it's like claiming you have a gun when someone tries to mug you.

[Guest]

Trust Billy Corgan to take to Twitter and make this about himself. Again.

[Guest John Hancock]

Don't, you'll get him coming in here. He's the Candyman or whiney, defensive arseholes.

[Omega 354]

The only really sad thing here is that there were some good talent in TNA that basically fucked themselves over by being loyal to the company and in the end a woman who wanted nothing more than to have a plaything on TV and will walk away from this without any real penalty has nailed them royally.

 

I can only hope that Crazzy Steve gets a job being a jobber on NXT so I can continue to say "not Crazzy Steve!!" as this was really the last joy TNA brought me as it convulsed and spasmed it way to choking on it's own tongue.

[Omega 354]

Anyone else find it a little fun that at the same time TNA is dying Time Warner are being purchased by another company? It all runs in cycles...

[The Fury 65]

Ring of honor will be on destination America next month....

[DC 536]

I was just coming to post the same thing. The article I read said the first episode is on June 3rd immediately before Impact.

 

Do you think they'll end up replacing TNA come September?

[Guest John Hancock]

It's the sensible thing to do. Similar audience, similar product, but with the ability to actually pay it's bills.

[Guest HH-Evolution]

Yeah, it's just how it looks like it'll go down...TNA will disappear and be replaced by ROH.

Until we hear something about TNA's future soon, it really doesn't look good for them right now.

[Guest John Hancock]

I decided not to imbed it, because the font was giant and gross, but MVP is going to town about TNA not keeping their roster up to date on any of this, and either joking or advertising that he's looking for bookings from other companies. TNA, meanwhile have also cancelled their upcoming tour of India and China, because they realised it might actually make any money, and fuck that nonsense. A bunch of places are saying that TNA's roster is now basically living and dying by the internet as far as job information is concerned, but the company itself is just blankly refusing to tell them anything, or simply straight out lying, and no one trusts them anymore, where as the dirt shirts have been pretty much spot on, breaking a lot of stories that TNA has immediately denied to their fans and employees, only to confirm sometimes simply a matter of days later.

 

At least they died doing what they loved; being incompetent.

[Kam 243]

If DA are going to start airing RoH then surely there can't be any issues with finding advertisers during a wrestling show like previously reported?

[Guest John Hancock]

Given that it won't have Angle, Hardy, Lashley and the like, and given the fact RoH can at least sell tickets and t-shirts, usually makes money, and isn't run by an actual, medically certifiable maniac, I'd assume it'll be a much cheaper show to make, a much more profitable show off-camera, so advertising won't be as crucial to RoH as it is to TNA, and they can cope with lower income in a way that TNA couldn't.

 

The issue isn't so much finding the advertisers, it's the issue that pro-wrestling, including WWE, has always had, in that advertising sales for pro-wrestling shows are never as good as for other types of shows with similar ratings.

 

It's down to advertisers believing that wrestling fans are inherently stupider, poorer and less fashionable than the average T.V. viewer, so the big boys, the car companies, the cosmetic companies, the "aspirational market" brands and the like, aren't willing to spend money on slots during show where they think the audience either couldn't afford their product, or is simply too stupid, too out of touch, or too much of a hillbilly to consider buying it. They're not incorrect either, the market research backs them up that pro-wrestling fans are genuinely poorer and less educated than most people. There's money there, with lower class products, beer and fast food and shit movies and the like, but it's less than you'd get for, say, a clean sit-com with the exact same rating, or a legitimate sporting event, to just say two examples, who have audiences a bit more willing and able to spend money on products being advertised than wrestling fans are.

 

So it's a factor that has to be taken into consideration, that a wrestling show, despite it's ratings, is going to get less money than any other type of show with the same rating. But, as WWE have shown, that's not as a massive issue if you're making your money off other things like ticket sales, sponsorships, pay-per-view buys, network subscriptions and merchandise. WWE's budget is defined by those things a lot more than it is by it's T.V. ratings and ad sales, and I'd expect RoH to follow suit; that ad revenue will be a nice bonus, not their entire revenue stream, which is the situation TNA is in having done a fantastic job of killing their pay-per-view, live event and merchandise businesses by being generally awful.

 

TNA's problem is that, well, they're TNA. Advertisers know that, even in the sullied, idiotic world of pro-wrestling, they're the laughing stock, they're the weirdest guy in the mental asylum as far as advertisers think. They're the fattest man at the hot dog eating contest. For starters, and I know it's easy to forget this, their name's TNA. T.N.A.. Their entire name is a pun, a stupid pun at that, based on a phrase used in the film industry (which advertisers are more knowledgable of than pro-wrestling) to describe a movie where you get to see some tits. And that isn't an unfortunate "therapist.com" mistake, they wanted that pun, the entire point of their name is that pun. That's the level we're at with this company, and advertisers know that.

 

It's a company no one respects, in an industry no one respects, with a name no one respects, that doesn't have a single profitable income stream, has a stupid ring, and, if you Google it, everyone's either making fun of it, or psychotically defending it and generally looking like an idiot (Dave Meltzer made the point that, if TNA haven't already killed their chances of getting another channel, he has first hand evidence that the fan's insane reaction to the suggestion that a shit company might be shit has scared off several other channels who were interested), attempting to sell advertising space/T.V. shows. A lot of the problems TNA have with image and with money and with just their brand, RoH won't have to deal with.

[Guest HH-Evolution]

That is the single best description of everything wrong as far as advertisers and TNA go that I have ever seen...

[GENE 86]

What are the chances of ROH ever getting back on TV across here?

[DC 536]

Maybe Challenge will pick them up if TNA goes tits up as I can't see how TNA would survive without a TV deal in the US.

[Kam 243]

Matthew has his latest article up:

 

LOLTNA: A pictorial eulogy

[The Fury 65]

Just cause it's related to tna. Shelton Benjamin revealed on his twitter supposedly that him and tna failed to reach am agreement to work for them