Caught TNA for the first time last night...

[Guest Crazy Bread]

Last night was the first time that l have had a free Wednesday night in a long time without schoolwork and other stuff to do. So i decided to FINALLY check out TNA and see what all the fuss was about. The first thing I noticed is that Jeremy Borash DOES make the greatest video packages in wrestling bar none. Also, WWE really dropped the ball with Raven and D-lo. Their match was really good, made even better by the super hot Asylum crowd.

I also had a very hard time believing what i saw/heard from Glen Gilberti. His promo before the street fight was awesome and the match, only the second time I have seen AJ, was awesome as well. Mike Awesome was horribly out of shape in his match with Saturn and the whole mess left me with a bad taste in my mouth. The promo that New Jack and the Sandman cut playing chess of all things had my laughing my ass off but they still suck in the ring. Plus, Justin Credible as a face? Definitely not going to work. The final match was absolutely fantastic with INCREDIBLE heat. I loved the hell out of that match.

Some little thoughts:

-Don West sounds like Herb Abrams doing commentary.

-James Storm reminded me of Jeff Hardy in his looks, and Julio Dinero looked like a clone of Matt Hardy <the last time i saw Julio, he was Julio Sanchez with an afro>

-Sonny Siaki is great on the mic.

-Goldilocks, Alexis Laree, and Trinity are absolutely HOT, as are the TNA girls <good muff shot by the cameraman at one point as well>

- And finally, they sure know how to promote a blowoff. Raven/Jarrett looks to be hella good and im sure the buyrate will be their best.

All in all, a great 2 hours and i hope to order next weeks, and most definitely order the April 30th edition.

[Guest RedJed]

They are doing a really strong job with Raven v. Jarrett to the point where I don't think I've ever been so excited to see a TNA match ever like this. None of the matches at Mania had quality buildup like this. Also, both guys' character development in the past few weeks too have been out of this world.

 

The low point of the show but still was a good match was Storm v. David Young. Its cool to see this company really seem to get a nice and solid direction going, as storylines are nicely advanced week by week and everyone is getting a role better than ever, they're totally blowing WWE TV shows out of the water week by week easily. Even if WWE TV was back to whatever could be considered it's "glory days" of Raw and Smackdown, I still think TNA would be better just because this company doesn't insult anyones intelligence and WWE still would do so, even in their best years on occasion. This is definately the best I've seen TNA so far since they've come around.....its nice to see that they actually DO learn from particular mistakes.

[syxx2001 0]

lets give russo a round of applause.

[Astro101 0]

i wonder how the ratings would be if they were on tv. It's something fresh, new, and exciting.

[Guest Crazy Bread]

For them to do good on regular television, it would take more awesome shoes on a regular basis and some heavy marketing to introduce new fans.

[syxx2001 0]

i think them advertising on the back of cable guides is a good start. then they should do to wrestling magazines and commercials on late night tv.

[Guest bps "The Truth" 21]

I saw on the Observer site that Meltzer said that...well...screw it I'll just cut and paste:

 

We're looking for your thoughts on the NWA TNA PPV last night, so you can send a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to [email protected]. You know what is funny about TNA. The best thing for TNA in the long-run is for a healthy WWE, because as WWE goes, so goes the industry. But with WWE struggling with its product as bad as it is, there are more people that seemed to have sampled the show last night than in several weeks due to that very thing.

 

 

This is why TNA needs to be on TV. Because people are so fed up with WWE they will watch an alternative. Paying for it is a different story though.

[Guest treble charged]

You know what is funny about TNA. The best thing for TNA in the long-run is for a healthy WWE, because as WWE goes, so goes the industry. But with WWE struggling with its product as bad as it is, there are more people that seemed to have sampled the show last night than in several weeks due to that very thing.

That's a good little conspiracy theory for you, there. Vince is purposely putting out a bad product now, in an attempt to weaken TNA (or any other start-up promotion) by making business bad enough that no one can get a TV deal. Then, when these companies are no longer around, he turns things around and puts on a good show again.

 

Or, Vince could just not realize that the product sucks. I dunno.

[Guest RedJed]

You know what is funny about TNA. The best thing for TNA in the long-run is for a healthy WWE, because as WWE goes, so goes the industry. But with WWE struggling with its product as bad as it is, there are more people that seemed to have sampled the show last night than in several weeks due to that very thing.

That's a good little conspiracy theory for you, there. Vince is purposely putting out a bad product now, in an attempt to weaken TNA (or any other start-up promotion) by making business bad enough that no one can get a TV deal. Then, when these companies are no longer around, he turns things around and puts on a good show again.

I dont think that was what Meltzer meant at all there.

 

Its a catch 22 with this TNA and ppv thing still. On the flip side, if WWE was really "healthy" TNA might not even still be around right now. And if WWE got worse and worse month by month and, say, more kept sampling TNA (and hopefully coming back) if numbers got impressive enough on a ppv front, thats much more leverage for a TV deal. BUT at this point its possible you can have all the leverage in the world and a TV station still might not want in on TNA right now until WWE starts picking up since thats the only walking stick to judge by for ratings right now. Judging strictly from ppv buys for a possible succession on cable TV for another wrestling promotion is risky.

 

I do agree though that if the WWE went under, that pretty much is it for wrestling being a staple here in the states. Sure, you would have small indy promotions still doing their thing, but I couldn't see anyone being able to afford to finance a new wrestling promotion on a mainstream stage, mostly because no TV stations will want to carry it since wrestling in casual circles will be considered "dead" if WWE ever goes under. It would take years for wrestling to see the light of day ever again in the states if Vince goes under. A good comparison about this is Roller Derby when you think about it. It was mainstream decades ago, and then when the main company went under, it never really picked up to the point where it was a continuous thing happening. Sure, we had things like RollerGames and RollerJam and etc, but they never stick around.

[Guest bps "The Truth" 21]

I think what Meltzer is saying is that Long Term the WWE needs to be strong for TNA to make it. Like I said in my preview...if Raw was pulling 8.0's right now TNA would get a TV deal from someone.

 

But in the short term WWE is actually so bad that people are paying to watch an alternative.

 

Think about that for a second...WCW beat WWF in the ratings because they signed guys like Hogan, Nash and Hall and Savage and Piper and whatever so they had all the stars...leaving Vince with Jack and Shit and HBK and Taker (two people who never drew anyway)...

 

Now the product is so bad that people actually paid to see something else...when WWE has all the stars and TNA doesn't.

 

Long term WWE has to start drawing again for TNA to progress...short term this should let Vince know how aweful his product is.

[Guest Crazy Bread]

The Monopoly on mainstream wrestling that Mcmahon has is only hurting his company because a. People are turning to local Indy feds or b. theyre giving up on the product as a hole which is bad for Vince and even worse for the industry. In order for WWE to regain its success to a higher level, there needs to be competition on national televison. Because in the height of the Monday Night Wars, it was clear that people were going back and forth between Raw and Nitro. If TNA could get a national time slot on Monday nights, along with proper advertising and marketing, more and more people would catch TNA, therefore, hopefully,making wrestling mainstream again,