NWA: TNA Roster

[Mr. JL]

Now that I have learned that NWA: TNA IMPACT will only be a 1 hour show (thx The Mackem & PureHatred) I have decided that NWA: TNA has too many wrestlers under contract. The rosters size is fine for now but when they debut IMPACT they are going to have to downsize thier roster. There is no way they can possibly fit half of thier roster on a 1 hour show with 15 minutes of that hour being occupied with commercials. I know some wrestlers just work under day-by-day contracts (Sting, Piper, Konnan) but I have heard that they have offered alot of long term contracts to a good amount of wrestlers who appear on thier show.

Do you think they will downsize thier roster? How do the think NWA: TNA management will handle this situation?

[Pepsi Man]

"Downsizing" your roster has no advantage other than the saving of money. The more guys you have, the more stuff you have to throw out there, and the more backup you have if someone gets injured or whatever. Remember, they are still going to have monthly Pay-Per-Views, probably three hours in length.

Back in the day, the WWF had quite a number of superstars and primarily relied on the one hour show known as Monday Night Raw for television exposure.

[Mr. JL]

"Downsizing" your roster has no advantage other than the saving of money. The more guys you have, the more stuff you have to throw out there, and the more backup you have if someone gets injured or whatever. Remember, they are still going to have monthly Pay-Per-Views, probably three hours in length.

Back in the day, the WWF had quite a number of superstars and primarily relied on the one hour show known as Monday Night Raw for television exposure.
I can see your point but I believe it is going to be very difficult to set up feuds, have matches/promos that would allow you to properly build up 3 hours worth of quality matches on Pay Per View, when you only have a window of 45 minutes to do it in.

[Pepsi Man]

I can see your point but I believe it is going to be very difficult to set up feuds, have matches/promos that would allow you to properly build up 3 hours worth of quality matches on Pay Per View, when you only have a window of 45 minutes to do it in.
No doubt it'll be tough, but this is a step up for NWATNA.

[Savio]

its on @ 3:30 on fridays right?

[Mr. JL]

its on @ 3:30 on fridays right?
Sorry, I couldn't tell yeah. They won't be showing NWA: TNA in Canada!

[James Steele]

I am suprised TSN isn't at least going to try and get it, but then again... they might not wanna spoil things with the WWE.

[BloodRiotZero]

TNA Wrestling iMPACT will debut on Friday June 4th at 3:00PM on FSN. They'll still have their weekly 2 hour PPV shows though, I didn't hear anything about any monthly PPVs.

[The CyNick]

The way they'll have to do it is shoot angles with the top guys for TV, which will lead to matches on the PPV. That way they can use their top guys for both shows.

Then on top of that maybe have 2 or 3 matches.

It doesn't make any sense to use all the bottom end guys very much on TV, because then why would people bother to watch? They need to use whatever recognizable stars they have to sell the Impact show, and then in theory drive up buys.

Its all a moot point, the show is doomed to fail.

[Pepsi Man]

The way they'll have to do it is shoot angles with the top guys for TV, which will lead to matches on the PPV. That way they can use their top guys for both shows.

Then on top of that maybe have 2 or 3 matches.

It doesn't make any sense to use all the bottom end guys very much on TV, because then why would people bother to watch? They need to use whatever recognizable stars they have to sell the Impact show, and then in theory drive up buys.

Its all a moot point, the show is doomed to fail.
Nah, if you do three matches a show, you have two jobber matches where the other guy is just a punching bag...then a main event between two evenly matched guys, where you could really see either man winning.

It's basic wrestling.

[Kane Knight]

"Downsizing" your roster has no advantage other than the saving of money. The more guys you have, the more stuff you have to throw out there, and the more backup you have if someone gets injured or whatever. Remember, they are still going to have monthly Pay-Per-Views, probably three hours in length.

Back in the day, the WWF had quite a number of superstars and primarily relied on the one hour show known as Monday Night Raw for television exposure.
Yeah, but times change.

They now have to compete with over 6 hours a week of WWE programming in various forms. The benchmark over the last few years has been 2 hours, and they're getting as much TV as the wrapup shows.

[Pepsi Man]

Yeah, but times change.

They now have to compete with over 6 hours a week of WWE programming in various forms. The benchmark over the last few years has been 2 hours, and they're getting as much TV as the wrapup shows.
No, they don't have to compete against the WWE. Competing against the WWE at this juncture would be stupid. NWATNA needs to focus on NWATNA. They can build a fanbase if they do this right. An hour a week is TONS of time compared to zero hours a week.

[ColdwaVer]

The way I see it, TNA has set up a method that's backwards from the way WWE has always gone; their PPV's will continue to showcase the entire roster, while their TV time will focus more on the top guys. Interesting to see where this goes.

[Goldbird]

Let's just hope that this move wont backfire.

[The Mackem]

But it's a very valid point though isn't it? I mean their weekly PPV totalled how long? Surely it must have been about 2-3hours, so they are losing a lot of match time there.

[The CyNick]

No, they don't have to compete against the WWE. Competing against the WWE at this juncture would be stupid. NWATNA needs to focus on NWATNA. They can build a fanbase if they do this right. An hour a week is TONS of time compared to zero hours a week.

Believe me, they are,a nd have to compete with the WWE.

People have certain expectations based on what the WWE produces every week, 9 hours per week. If TNA doesn't look and feel like the WWE, the people wont watch because it will come off as minor league.

Look at the ratings of Velocity and Heat, those shows come off as minor league to RAW and SD, and as a result they do 1/5 the ratings. TNA will likely come off as minor league compared to Heat and Velocity, so imagine how low their ratings will be?

Squash matches in this day and age wont work. Again, people expect to see star vs star matches, and anything else will be ignored. For TNA to make this to work, they need to get as many eyeballs on the free Tv to drive the weekly PPVs. If you make the TV show forgettable people will ignore it, and then the PPVs wont go up, and then TNA will be out of business.

Its an ass backwards plan, but they cant produce seocnd rate television and expect people to keep coming back.

[The Mackem]

They are competing with WWE to a degree. They aren't all out WCW competing with them but at the same time they are judged by WWE's standards. For instance I'm sure there are a lot of people who think things like "TNA are OK but they aren't as good as WWE". That's mainly because they are in the same area of business. You don't buy a can of Supermarket's own cola and say "well it's crap but it's unfair to judge against Pepsi/Coca Cola" because at the end of the day they are competing in the same market.

I still want NWA TNA to do well but the more I think about the more this TV deal might do more harm than good. I hope I'm proved wrong though :)

[Mr. JL]

I am suprised TSN isn't at least going to try and get it, but then again... they might not wanna spoil things with the WWE.
TSN used to show WCW Nitro on Tuesdays during the peak of the Monday Night Wars so I don't know why they won't try and show Impact. Although, the fact that they showed RAW on Mondays and Nitro on Tuesdays shows where thier loyalty remains.

[The CyNick]

TSN used to show WCW Nitro on Tuesdays during the peak of the Monday Night Wars so I don't know why they won't try and show Impact. Although, the fact that they showed RAW on Mondays and Nitro on Tuesdays shows where thier loyalty remains.

That was just because they had the deal with WWE first. The Nitro deal came much later, so they couldn't bump RAW (which always did better than Nitro BTW), and gave them the next best spot possible.

I doubt they'll add Impact, I cant see a big following for TNA that would cause TSN to add them to their lineup.

[Kane Knight]

No, they don't have to compete against the WWE. Competing against the WWE at this juncture would be stupid. NWATNA needs to focus on NWATNA. They can build a fanbase if they do this right. An hour a week is TONS of time compared to zero hours a week.
Don't be an idiot. They're competition by default. The only way not to compete is to not be a pro wrestling organisation.

[The Mackem]

Kane Knight done in two lines what I was trying to say in nine, there's no justice in the world.

[mitch_h]

We had Johnny Swinger come down to where I train on Saturday and he said that the TV deal is good for them and said TNA would be satisfied if they get a 0.3 rating.

Apparently they are going to be really censored... no swearing, blood, "offensive" gimmicks, not even low blows. He looked at it as a positive as it might attrack some of the younger fans back to wrestling. But I see that more as a negative myself.

[Wildcat789]

The only things they can do is not be on the air during WWE programming, and pray.

[Samurai_Star_Sailor]

i heard that TNA will play at 1:00 pm and i don't get out of school till three. Man that pisses me off.

[Pepsi Man]

Fuck it...this "idiot" isn't in the mood for this shit.