Michrome

All I say to this is: It was an exciting show with a very fast pace and a lot of different things going on. It felt like a Vince Russo show, the question is, how will this affect buyrates? Survivor Series will do well because they're stacking the card, so it will be hard to tell.

I'm a pretty big RoH fan, I have every show, and I'm a big puro fan as well. However there's a lot of buzz about IWA Mid-South, and I was wondering what you would say the best shows to pick up are.

Homicide vs. Chris Daniels from Epic Encounter was awful, a horrible disappointment. There But I like Homicide, and I was looking forward to the match. The fact that Gabe won't adress this question at the ROH boards is somewhat telling.

Yep, throwing out "names" that people know, even if they're lumbering old 50 year olds will help a company be succesful in the U.S. Just ask WCW. I can't wait to hear your excuses when TNA is in the shitcan months from now if they head down this direction. Some people learn from the mistakes that drove companies into the ground. Others, like yourself, will continually try failed policies, because hey, they're bound to work someday.

Low Ki's absence hasn't been confirmed, and the 11/1 date on his website still says Ring Of Honor on it. The 1bob radio show reported that Ki refused to job to Homicide.

I'm one of those that thinks Ki is horribly overrated, so I don't really mind. I'm looking forward to Danielson-Styles.

Styles is moving to the X Division, in fact, I'd bet that he will be the one to take the belt off of Michael Shane. The main event feud is going to be Jarrett-Hogan, and by extension, Jarrett and Hart until after Hogan can walk. If being moved down to a division that has been relegated to the curtain-jerker means being buried, then yes, he was buried. However, I think he's going to be the star babyface of the X Division, which may be a better place for him given his size and the fact that Jarrett won't job to him in a singles match.

Eh, Dutch isn't going to be booking with the purpose of giving workrate fanboys like you and me **** matches. He will be booking with the purpose of building long-term stories with big blowoffs.

Ok, fine, fuck facts, just live in Lala land: In 2002, the Royal Rumble Buyrate was up 19% from 2001. In 2002, the Wrestlemania buyrate was down 36% from 2001. It dropped from a 2.18 to a 1.6. Every single person that knows shit about buyrates saw it as a huge disappointment.

Well clearly it's not worth arguing the Sonjay point with you, since you have it set in your mind that he can't work good matches, even though I'm sure a lot of promoters around the country would disagree. And I think they will do Raven-Punk, because MONEY is the biggest motivator, and I think they know that this feud can draw money.

You know, I'm about as negative about TNA as anyone on these boards, but I really do want them to succeed. You seem to want them to fail. There is no way Raven is jobbing next week, unless CM Punk turns heel on Raven, even though he should never have to, cause they already hate each other in EVERY OTHER FUCKING INDY IN AMERICA. God. However, if they do the Raven vs. Punk feud on TNA I will probably be ordering the shows more often, because Punk on the microphone=$$$$ AJ is back to the X Division, and I think they will be splitting off feuds to Chris Daniels vs. Chris Sabin and AJ Styles vs. Michael Shane. Styles will be the one to take it off Shane, and hell, if they insist on Hogan-Jarrett as the ME feud, I'd love to see Daniels-Sabin, and eventually Daniels-Styles. On Sonjay Dutt: You don't know what you're talking about. Check out some of his Indy work where he gets to work matches more than 6 minutes long, he can work full matches that are not spotty at all. The fact that he's booked in 4 minute matches where he can do nothing but spots doesn't mean he can't do anything else.

The show is more cohesive, and it makes more sense overall now, but I just don't like where they're going with it. I'm thinking it's going to be Jarrett vs. Knobbs next week....then Jarrett vs. Duggan...then Jarrett vs. Meng...ugh. Raven vs. Vampiro doesn't really interest me, and I am annoyed to no end that TNA doesn't acknowledge the hate Raven and Punk have for each other elsewhere. Here's to hoping Punk turns on Raven next week and TNA takes advantage of the hottest feud in wrestling. PS: While I don't really love Shane or anything, it's a good idea to not constantly switch the title. Eventually, the blowoff could be good if fans are dying to see Shane lose the belt. PPS: Fuck Jeff Jarrett.

At 450 paid, they break even. MOst of the time these days they get a lot more than 450, but yes, a ton of the profit is in tape sales.

Buff was really great in the ring until his neck injury. He was really improving and putting on good matches, he would have been great.

RoH does have less expenses, but they have better ticket sales than TNA, they do various venues and cities, as opposed to just one, and they put on a way better show with way better wrestling and far better storylines. As opposed to TNA, ROH has been adding expenses as they've made money, as opposed to cutting them to deal with losses. The Punk-Raven storyline blows anything TNA (Or WWE, for that matter) has done this year. You seem to think that RoH has no storylines or feuds and that it's just random guys wrestling. Get a clue. Speaking of Russo.... Let's look at Russo's Ratings Record in 99: 3.32 3.51 3.21 3.31 3.1 3.41 3.12 3.0 2.9 3.2 2.84 3.3 3.4 (Gone) The idea that you're going to give him credit for bringing the ratings up to 3.4 just because he put on 2 big shows in the end is ridiculous, the numbers were wildly varying. Either way, total money these ratings brought in: Negative a lot. Let's look at buyrates: Halloween Havoc: Russo did 1 Nitro before this show, and nothing else. Buyrate: .52 Mayhem: Russo's first masterpiece: .45 Starrcade: The biggest WCW PPV of the year, with 2 months of Russo Build: .23 Souled Out: .26 Buyrates, the things that made WCW money, went WAY DOWN under Russo. The "casual fan" that they were trying to catch might check out the show, but he sure as hell wasn't dishing out 35 bucks to see it. Hogan can be useful to the company, hell, so can Luger and Sting, but if they base the company around these guys they are heading for disaster. Look at WWA, for god's sakes. The lesson here about buyrates and ratings is telling as well. The "casual fan" (who lives in the 80s according to all of you) may stop when he sees Hogan on a channel and watch, but why would he be more inclined to actually pay to see Hogan? Will Hogan pimping the show on Jay Leno really do a lot for buys?

All of the same excuses people made for WCW get made for TNA. It almost gives ya chills, doesn't it? People will pay to see a program with good wrestlers and good storylines. They're not going to pay for a shitty program that gets good once every couple of months that happens to have Hulk Hogan. You have to weigh the amount of buys that you will get for having Hogan-Jarrett against the amount of your core fanbase that you will lose when you completely change the direction of the program. Russo completely changed the direction of WCW in 99, failed to bring in new viewers for more than 2 months, and after they left, core viewers had left too, and the company was crippled. And if it's just Hogan bringing in the buys, regardless of Jarrett, then why not have Hogan just be the ref? People know who Jay Leno and David Letterman are, let's put them in a singles match on PPV, that'll get more buys! If RoH was on PPV, they'd be making upward progress at least, which is something TNA can't say. And they would draw more than 350 paid, as they do regularly now.

WM 18 buyrate was a HUGE disappointment, it did horribly. Try again next time.

In what parallel universe is this true? Almost nobody watched WCW at the end, and Hogan hasn't drawn money since 1998. People will pay to see a great wrestling product, great wrestling products do well in the U.S., look at Ring Of Honor, making far more money than TNA is. I mean gosh, why would anyone pay to see good matches? They'd much rather pay to see 70 year olds lugging around the ring. You all seem to be in this lala land where "the masses" (who haven't paid to see Hogan since 98) will buy a TNA show with Jarrett vs. Hogan and thus see how great the rest of the product is, and a number 2 promotion will be born. Reality: The show will do a 0.2 buyrate at best, the whole show will be built around Hulk Hogan's "dream" of winning a title that has been trashed for years, and all of the talented wrestlers will be thrown into idiotic gimmick matches like the ultimate X to kill themselves early in the show.

Yes, Jeff Jarrett is very well known--well known for being a worthless piece of shit midcarder-at-best. He has never drawn a dime in his whole career, but because people know his name, it is going to help? Are you shitting me? Let's flash back to 1998. "Hulk Hogan and Sting, those are some well-known names. Undertaker vs. Steve Austin? That sounds like the Bulls against a Junior High School Team. The Rock vs. Steve Austin? Nobody knows *them*, they can't draw shit." The way to make money in the wrestling business is to create new stars, not endlessly try to use washed up stars to draw in nostalgia buyrates. And why the hell would anyone pay 30 bucks to see Hogan when they just got to see him for that much a few months ago in the WWE? It's not as if Hogan's been gone from the wrestling scene for years, or anything.

haha, and as soon as I posted that, I figured out how to check.

I can do Ring Of Honor for you, I have a bunch of the tapes and love writing about the product. I sent you a PM, but since even I can't figure out where to check them, I figure you might not know either.

That cracked me up Bob

That's the whole problem with booking Dusty finishes, fans come to expect them. Maybe next week they'll pull that and set up a big rematch, or something.

They're not even close to 25k buys a week.

"You are all wrong and stupid for complaining about a horrible booking decision that will cost TNA a lot of buys. If you don't like it, stop watching, I'll be here to make a bullshit excuse when buyrates drop after this show." Yes, I'm sure there is such a huge market still in 2004 for a tough road to the title for Hulk Hogan. Give me a fucking break. I guess any pushes, interesting storylines, and young wrestlers get to sit on hold while we build around Hulk Hogan and Jeff fucking Jarrett. Are you shitting me? How can anyone think that burying everyone in order to make HOGAN VS. JARRETT more dramatic is a good idea? Did TNA send out free crack as part of a package purchase? The endless defense of idiotic ideas and stupid decisions really rivals the level of insanity that WCW defenders were at when Russo came in in late 99. He sacraficed everything the company stood for, completely alienated the base, and turned the show into SHIT, but it was still always, "You always complain too much", or something like that. This is what TNA is doing, it is abandoning every aspect that earned it a following (albeit small), and attempting to move everything to a Hogan-Jarrett feud. BOLD PREDICTION: TNA will not only lose the loyal fans that enjoy great action, but the few extra fans that come in for a Hogan match will disappear soon after. So then what? You no longer have your loyal base, and you no longer have the few nostalgic Hogan fans. This is how companies die.