TNA.....Turning point?

Vince135792003

I have written on here some negative things about TNA (all of which was factually true in my defence!) but last night could be a turning point for them. The last 10 minutes with Angle's confrontation with Joe and the Jericho video hyping up the ppv was compelling tv.

Both videos are available here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jnpp2VFO-VA&eurl=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGfDDzFTD_Q&eurl=


In a couple of years time this might be the show remembered as the point when they began to turn the corner. Or it could easily be just 1 good show that meant nothing in the long run.

Either way, both videos are well worth a look.

HorseRadish

Very impressive,reminds me when WCW were just starting to gather a bit of momentum. Could be very interesting now Spike has given them 2 hours of primetime

Ph3n0m

that is a fine headbutt from Angle - and Joe took it well - nice and stiff

Charlie

HorseRadish wrote:

Very impressive,reminds me when WCW were just starting to gather a bit of momentum. Could be very interesting now Spike has given them 2 hours of primetime

Have they been given 2 hours? I know they were moved to a primetime slot but I thought Spike were holding off on giving them 2 hrs for the time being.

Vince135792003

charlie mchugh wrote:

Have they been given 2 hours? I know they were moved to a primetime slot but I thought Spike were holding off on giving them 2 hrs for the time being.

From what I remember I think its initally 1 hour with a few 2 hour specials thrown in.

I don't want to keep being down on them but they are a long way off the radar. But lets hope they can build on the momentum Angle gives them.

Fozzy

They've just got the one hour at the moment, with some live specials next year. Apparently the live specials will be two hours though

I don't see what the big deal about that Jericho video is. The bits where he's in it were recorded almost two years ago, it seems like TNA are trying to get people's hopes up of Jericho joining them when it really seems like there's very little possibility of it. But it's just a Fozzy video with some clips of TNA guys thrown in! Although the Abyss clip looked cool

Bound For Glory is certainly shaping up to be interesting. Good to see Nash back! Hall and Hogan in the Invitational, haha

Vince135792003

Fozzy wrote:

I don't see what the big deal about that Jericho video is. The bits where he's in it were recorded almost two years ago, it seems like TNA are trying to get people's hopes up of Jericho joining them when it really seems like there's very little possibility of it. But it's just a Fozzy video with some clips of TNA guys thrown in! Although the Abyss clip looked cool

That video clip was really, really well done. A great way of closing the show 3 days before a ppv. And thats what they need, a method of persuading casual fans to buy the show.

The guy that did it (David Sahadi I think his name is, he used to do all WWE's) is really talented.

Stalfos

Just watched it. Must see this PPV, Angles entrance was great and the headbutt was cool. Thought they would have waited a while before having an Angle/Joe feud. Sooner rather than later i say. Even Jericho wrestling again would be something but joining TNA is another.

Vince135792003

Stalfos wrote:

Just watched it. Must see this PPV,

Theres a flip side to the segment too. I liked it but a guy on the figure four board made the following 4 points which are pretty reasonable.

1. It didn't have anything to do with Bound for Glory. Everyone knows for TNA to survive they need to hype their PPVs with great matches, such as Sting fighting for his career.

2. No one knew Kurt Angle was showing up. How the hell was the average viewer supposed to know something important for once is happening on iMPACT? Good job Russo.

3. Samoa Joe and Kurt Angle already touched each other. Once again, great job Vinny Ru. Now that they've touched each other who the hell is going to pay to see a match between the two?

4. Mike Tenay yelled too much. I can't stand that guy. He would have ruined it for me if the other reasons above already took away from my entire enjoyment of the segment

nasty_crash

just amazed!! cant believe that tna are gonna let angle and joe go at it from the beginnin!! they must wanna push their ratings up - with angle signin TNA is buzzin but the feud that every1 wanted straight away - i def think that their ratings have to go up!! really hope so! want tna coverage to be upto date!! this waitin a week or two later is killin me!!

Mr.Nice Guy

I just watched the show and for me this was the best Impact ever. Really fantastic, well done show.

However, why has no one mentioned Konnan's Border Toss on Gail Kim? That was f*cking incredible. I almost fell out of my seat. You can see it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGzK_jqv6N0

As for the Angle/Samoa Joe confrontation, I felt originally that they shouldn't rush into this feud but you have to strike when the iron is hot and since this is a big time for TNA I feel it was the right move after all.

Is this a turning point for TNA? I hope so. I think they should get a good buy rate for Bound For Glory (personally I really want to see this PPV) and with some good feuds developing there is hope for the wrestling industry. It's the causal fans who need to be converted though which is the difficult part. Some more of my thoughts on this week's Impact:

- TNA's video packages are really coming along well and rivalling WWE. David Sahadi did a great job with the Fozzy video package and the Sting video.

- LAX are on fire right now and can become the hottest tag team in wrestling if pushed properly. Their entrance is top notch and they have tons of charisma.

- Nash is proving quite funny in these Paparazzi Production videos but I worry about allowing him to dominate in a pretty weak looking X-Division.

All in all I think TNA are coming out strong right now. Russo's influence hasn't been as bad as I feared (so far) and Bound For Glory has a lot going for it.

Vince135792003

Mr.Nice Guy wrote:

- Nash is proving quite funny in these Paparazzi Production videos but I worry about allowing him to dominate in a pretty weak looking X-Division.

I agree. He's hilarious but he did no favors for the X division in his last run in TNA.

Fozzy

Mr.Nice Guy wrote:

However, why has no one mentioned Konnan's Border Toss on Gail Kim? That was f*cking incredible.

Twas Hernandez! He's a lot more impressive than I thought he'd be at first, fits in great with Homicide. I'd love to see Homicide feud with Angle at some point

They're still tryin to push that Jericho is involved with TNA in some way, they have an interview with him on their site, but it's actually an interview from 2 years ago. So no one should be gettin their hopes up about him in TNA!

I'm guessin they won't be able to continue callin Angle's move the Olympic Slam either, hit me as a bit strange that they'd call it that

Vince135792003

Last minute note for the TNA ppv on the wrestling observer site:

-There were still some floor seats available for today's TNA show in Plymouth, MI. The World Series will kill walk-up but the truth is, it's telling that in a small sized building, they couldn't sellout well in advance for the biggest show in company history and coming off the Angle publicity. (thanks to Jake Koch)

Vince135792003

TNA ratings for Angle debut (courtesy of [url]www.f4wonline.com):[/url]

Impact did an 0.80 rating. Final quarter with Joe and Angle did an 0.76.

Wrestling is a long term game but that is a desperate rating.

Jerichoholic

Vince135792003 wrote:

TNA ratings for Angle debut (courtesy of [url]www.f4wonline.com):[/url]

Impact did an 0.80 rating. Final quarter with Joe and Angle did an 0.76.

Wrestling is a long term game but that is a desperate rating.

That is a crying shame, the impact episode was far better than anything I've seen in a few years anywhere, I had goosebumps watching the Joe/Angle scuffle, and it ended with a killer Jericho video. Rating does NOT reflect how awesome it was.

Vince135792003

No but what it reflects is that the Joe v Angle segment was less than the overall average for the show. That surprised the hell out of me.

Its a really bad rating for Angles actual debut. I would have expected at least a little bump. I mean Stings debut got them to a 1.0.

Dave Meltzer made the point on his radio show that theres just too much wrestling and MMA on American tv at a time when wrestling domestically is not that hot at all. And the weakest shows are the ones getting most effected.

Jerichoholic

TNA didn't hype Angle being on the show at all, whereas when Sting was debuting they advertised it heavily. I'm sure they won't do that again. Still Meltzer is right, there is way too much wrestling per week on US TV and ratings aren't exactly through the roof for WWE either, so I would say it's all relevant. Wrestling needs a big boom period, but there's just so much on you can't see it all every week withought getting tired of it.

Vince135792003

Jerichoholic wrote:

TNA didn't hype Angle being on the show at all, whereas when Sting was debuting they advertised it heavily. I'm sure they won't do that again. Still Meltzer is right, there is way too much wrestling per week on US TV and ratings aren't exactly through the roof for WWE either, so I would say it's all relevant. Wrestling needs a big boom period, but there's just so much on you can't see it all every week withought getting tired of it.

But did n't they announce his signing on ppv, then hyped his signing and interview a week later on tv and then hyped his debut a week later after that?

You can argue that they did n't hype it as big as Sting. The counter argument of that is that they did advertise to an extent and in 2006 I would have thought Angle was more of a viewers pull than Sting.

But in saying all that, the Angle Joe segment in which Angle debuted actually lost viewers to the overall average. To me, thats incredible. Maybe TNA are just so below the radar of an average fan that they don't even know that Angle has gone there.

nasty_crash

angle wasnt announced to be on impact apart from words from him! his first real appearance was meant to be a bfg!! but to have him on impact last week no one expected it!! i dunno whats going on with the ratings now - personally im sick to the teeth of WWE - TNA has got a few probs, storylines not worked out as well, same arena every week(apart from bfg) but for pure wrestling its quality! surpasses WWE by miles! and yet its pretty much the same roster apart from joe, daniels, aj and lax.

Quality watch cornette's face when some1 shouts at fanfest "Russo" and cornette says "im not gonna say his name - no matter what you try!!" lol funny sh*t!!

BigWilly

Vince135792003 wrote:

2. No one knew Kurt Angle was showing up. How the hell was the average viewer supposed to know something important for once is happening on iMPACT? Good job Russo.

3. Samoa Joe and Kurt Angle already touched each other. Once again, great job Vinny Ru. Now that they've touched each other who the hell is going to pay to see a match between the two?

4. Mike Tenay yelled too much. I can't stand that guy. He would have ruined it for me if the other reasons above already took away from my entire enjoyment of the segment

To respond to a few points:

2 - Maybe this was their strategy all along. Maybe they want TNA to be the place where nobody knows who's gonna show up, as opposed to WWE where you know whats going to happen when you read about it 6 months in advance.

3 - I doubt many people are bothered by this. Both men came off pretty strong and tbh it made me want to see the match more than if it'd just been a few weeks of "I'm going to win"/"No, I'm going to win" style promos.

4 - .....


It's a pity about the rating but maybe the next show will pull in a bigger audience. It was never going to pull in a 5.0 rating that quick.

Vince135792003

BigWilly wrote:

To respond to a few points:

2 - Maybe this was their strategy all along. Maybe they want TNA to be the place where nobody knows who's gonna show up, as opposed to WWE where you know whats going to happen when you read about it 6 months in advance.

3 - I doubt many people are bothered by this. Both men came off pretty strong and tbh it made me want to see the match more than if it'd just been a few weeks of "I'm going to win"/"No, I'm going to win" style promos.

4 - .....


It's a pity about the rating but maybe the next show will pull in a bigger audience. It was never going to pull in a 5.0 rating that quick.

They were points that someone else made and I just quoted. But to get to your points:

2. TNA adopting that strategy would be foolish. TNA is not WCW in 1995. Its getting a .8 every week.

3. I think thats a tough one. On the one hand I really liked the angle but on the other booking 101 says you should n't let them touch right away, particuliarly since their TNA's 2 biggest stars.

Tease people for sure, maybe give them a little a week or so before it but if you give too much away for free it will effect the buy rate. Triple H v Austin was like that in 2000, Taz v Sabu in 1996 at Barely Legal, even Batista v Triple H in 2004 was very much a slow build. I mean they are basically doing Angle v Joe in a month which seems quite rushed to me.


But in saying all that, they'll do good business with Angle and Joe next month. The question is how good though.

Jerichoholic

Nobody is saying that this will be the only match between them, this is a fued that can run and run, there's the NWA title to consider aswell. Either one of them could win that somewhere down the line and that would breathe new life into the fued. Edge and Cena went for 8 months even though it was boring after 3. Joe and Angle are a huge step up from those two.