The One
08-03-2004, 03:38 AM
I have been doing some major thinking latly...as many of you know I am probably one of the most die hard TNA fans around (mainly because of the NWA part....god I loves me my NWA) and given all the floating rumors out there I thought I would drop my thoughts on everything they have going for them and against them.
Let's start out with the positive. IMPACT is one of Fox Sport Net's top 3 rated show. Because of this the Fox Corperation has taken notice. The rumor of Fox giving them a time slot on FX is going around, only they say it would be on Thursday head to head with SmackDown...WOAH! Stop right there. What the hell are they thinking? No no no! Fox, you will not be able to do what Turner did with Nitro...why you ask...I will tell you. On Nitro's debut show, you had Ric Flair and Sting battle, Hulk Hogan defended the World Title, and let's face it Brian Pillman took on Jushin Liger. There where big names to draw in the ratings. September 4, 1995 (Nitro's debut show) pulled in a 2.5 rating (for the record, RAW drew a 2.2 that night). SmackDown's previous rating was a 3.1...IMPACT is drawing a 0.8. Now if anyone believes that NWA is going to reign supreme again it's me, but I am sorry if you place TNA show head to head with SmackDown, you will be killed. That is why TNA should go back to Fox, tell them they want a 2 hour show on FX, put it Wednesday on Prime Time and move from there. On FX you get national exposure, you also don't have the put up with the fact that your program would be on during the middle of the fucking day when everyone is still at work/school. I don't give a fuck what they do with the 3:00 pm Friday slot, keep it or don't it won't much matter after they get the FX deal...
Now as far as the TNA contract situation. They are making GOOD moves here. To have them demand that wrestler's sign contracts with them in order to put them on TV is a good idea. Why build up a wrestler (let's use Abyss here as a hypothedical), have him become a huge star for your company, only to allow him to go over to MLW, break an arm, and be out of action. TNA isn't a big corperation yet, but as far as indies go, it's the only real choice outside of regional shows. Demanding contract from guys like Abyss, Ki, Daniels, and even Styles is vital...
But here is the kicker...they can't afford to have guys like Hogan, Sting, and Goldberg contracts...so sign those fuckers to one time deals. My idea would be (after the FX deal goes through and they stop the weekly PPV) have one big PPV...I want Sting to face Styles, Hogan to face Jarrett, and Goldberg and Austin to face off in the main event. The money for a Bill/Steve match is still out there. Have that one big event on PPV, pull in the marks, the attitude fans, and attach them to the product. That's what Turner/Bischoff did back in the early 90's...they brought in Hogan to bring in the casuals. Now Jarrett and CO can't afford to have big guys on full time, so get a few dates from them...do whatever you can to bring in the WWE marks for just a few shows...in WCW they might have come for Hogan, but they stayed for Mysterio. They might have tuned in the first time to see Flair, but they kept tunning in to see Booker T and Sting. Bring your prduct to the masses by giving them what they THINK they want to see, and then hit them with what YOU want them to see. Once that is done, once you have guys liek Styles, Jarrett and Daniels go over the big names, they carry the fans attention.
That is the only way I see anything happening for NWA-TNA...oh and for my purposes, I would drop the whole "TNA" thing, just shorten it to NWA, and call a show Total Nonstop Action...kind of a reverse of what NWA did with WCW...
Oh and my final note, on this little rant/idea session, let the Raven mutants get the wet dream come true and have him hold the World Title...and then let Daniels run with it for a while.
P.S. I saw Chris Sabin at my local Best Buy, I was buying Hunter: The Reckoning (good game BTW) and he was buying a CD...not really a big deal, just kind of a fun little throw out.
Let's start out with the positive. IMPACT is one of Fox Sport Net's top 3 rated show. Because of this the Fox Corperation has taken notice. The rumor of Fox giving them a time slot on FX is going around, only they say it would be on Thursday head to head with SmackDown...WOAH! Stop right there. What the hell are they thinking? No no no! Fox, you will not be able to do what Turner did with Nitro...why you ask...I will tell you. On Nitro's debut show, you had Ric Flair and Sting battle, Hulk Hogan defended the World Title, and let's face it Brian Pillman took on Jushin Liger. There where big names to draw in the ratings. September 4, 1995 (Nitro's debut show) pulled in a 2.5 rating (for the record, RAW drew a 2.2 that night). SmackDown's previous rating was a 3.1...IMPACT is drawing a 0.8. Now if anyone believes that NWA is going to reign supreme again it's me, but I am sorry if you place TNA show head to head with SmackDown, you will be killed. That is why TNA should go back to Fox, tell them they want a 2 hour show on FX, put it Wednesday on Prime Time and move from there. On FX you get national exposure, you also don't have the put up with the fact that your program would be on during the middle of the fucking day when everyone is still at work/school. I don't give a fuck what they do with the 3:00 pm Friday slot, keep it or don't it won't much matter after they get the FX deal...
Now as far as the TNA contract situation. They are making GOOD moves here. To have them demand that wrestler's sign contracts with them in order to put them on TV is a good idea. Why build up a wrestler (let's use Abyss here as a hypothedical), have him become a huge star for your company, only to allow him to go over to MLW, break an arm, and be out of action. TNA isn't a big corperation yet, but as far as indies go, it's the only real choice outside of regional shows. Demanding contract from guys like Abyss, Ki, Daniels, and even Styles is vital...
But here is the kicker...they can't afford to have guys like Hogan, Sting, and Goldberg contracts...so sign those fuckers to one time deals. My idea would be (after the FX deal goes through and they stop the weekly PPV) have one big PPV...I want Sting to face Styles, Hogan to face Jarrett, and Goldberg and Austin to face off in the main event. The money for a Bill/Steve match is still out there. Have that one big event on PPV, pull in the marks, the attitude fans, and attach them to the product. That's what Turner/Bischoff did back in the early 90's...they brought in Hogan to bring in the casuals. Now Jarrett and CO can't afford to have big guys on full time, so get a few dates from them...do whatever you can to bring in the WWE marks for just a few shows...in WCW they might have come for Hogan, but they stayed for Mysterio. They might have tuned in the first time to see Flair, but they kept tunning in to see Booker T and Sting. Bring your prduct to the masses by giving them what they THINK they want to see, and then hit them with what YOU want them to see. Once that is done, once you have guys liek Styles, Jarrett and Daniels go over the big names, they carry the fans attention.
That is the only way I see anything happening for NWA-TNA...oh and for my purposes, I would drop the whole "TNA" thing, just shorten it to NWA, and call a show Total Nonstop Action...kind of a reverse of what NWA did with WCW...
Oh and my final note, on this little rant/idea session, let the Raven mutants get the wet dream come true and have him hold the World Title...and then let Daniels run with it for a while.
P.S. I saw Chris Sabin at my local Best Buy, I was buying Hunter: The Reckoning (good game BTW) and he was buying a CD...not really a big deal, just kind of a fun little throw out.