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TNA Notes, including moving PPV location

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As we noted a few days ago on PWInsider.com, Jeff Jarrett was in Los Angeles on Monday for business meetings. The word going around backstage last night that the meetings may have had something to do with the promotion moving all of their PPV tapings to Orlando, Florida at Universal Studios (where they currently tape Impact!) The feeling is that while it is not yet a done deal, it is likely to happen. Obviously, this has not been confirmed at this time by TNA. I like the idea of the move myself. There are a number of positives involved with moving locales, including the prestige of being affiliated with Universal, the better facilities and location making it easier to handle production matters, and the hotter crowds that show up in Orlando as compared to Nashville. The negatives obviously will be pulling out on the fan base that helped build the company, but to be fair, most of that base was getting in for free to begin with. The talk was that the final Nashville PPV will be the week of 7/28 and the promotion would be completely Orlando-based by August. I don't know how this would affect those who work full-time in the Nashville offices.

 

For those of you in the New York City area, FOX Sports New York has upgraded the timeslot of Impact! to Fridays at 3 PM starting tomorrow. So, for those of you in the NYC area, it won't be on next Tuesday. The promotion and FOX are said to be very happy with the ratings for the show thus far, and there are already rumors of discussions about moving Impact! to the FX Network. One highly placed TNA source did shoot those rumors down, but the talk was of putting the show on Mondays at 8 PM or on Tuesdays before or after "The Shield" when it returns in January.

 

The feeling on Monty Brown is high from TNA management, although they feel he is not quite there yet as a worker. The feeling is that he needs to be led in the ring and is still learning, but his persona and work ethic are more than enough of a reason to invest in him for the future. Quite a few people who were backstage at last week's Impact! taping were surprised the promotion had Brown cleanly defeat Irish Pat Kenney, since Kenney was in the midst of his own storyline with the NYCs.

 

I've gotten a lot of emails about this, I wanted to note that the reason the Jerry Lynn vs. Scott D'Amore match went so long on the Second Anniversary show was due to the show running badly under time. They needed to fill in time to stretch out the show, so the nod was given to that match. I was told the decision came from Jerry Jarrett himself.

 

Shane Douglas recently relocated to Florida.

 

Florida indy workers Mikey Batts, Lex Lovett, and Jerelle Clark are booked to work the Impact! taping tonight against The Elite Guard. Ken Shamrock and Big Vito LoGrasso are also scheduled to be at tonight's taping. My guess is Dennis Rodman will be doing something with Jeff Jarrett.

 

Jerry Jarrett's book, which one person described to me as a journal of the first year of TNA's business is currently in the final editing stages. A few copies have been bouncing around and I've heard nothing but positive things for Jarrett's honesty in the book.

 

I think it's good that they are considering moving the PPVs from Nashville, since IMO, they burned that crowd out a long time ago, but I'm not sold on doing BOTH Impact and the PPV from Universal. Moving it to a different location in FL would be a great move for them as it would reduce travel costs, but doing 2 shows a week at Universal will probably burn that crowd out faster than they did in Nashville. And if they let them in free like they do Impact, they'll lose all gate revenue and if they charge but keep Impact free, people will just go to Impact and the PPV attendance will be really low. So I'm not sure this is a smart move.

 

Either of the proposed FX timeslots are good for me, but I'd be more in favor of Monday's at 8, because if they show any life at all, they might get that extra hour later on down the road and run the old Nitro slot of 8-10. Tuesday would be cool too, but I really like them being on Mondays, because as people have said in other threads, Mondays are wrestling night to most wrestling fans.

 

Glad Shamrock and Vito will be on Impact. Good to see storylines continue from show to show. And I'd think Rodman will do something with Fairplay, and not JJ, but I could be wrong.

 

I figured that had something to do with Lynn/D'Amore running so long. But they should have given 5 of those minutes to Styles/Hardy and 5 to Jarrett/Killings IMO.

 

Jerry's book should be very interesting. I'll definitely read it.

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Guest Dynamite Kido

If they start doing an angle with Rodman and Jarrett, I'll seriously punch myself in the face.....

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Guest The Last Free Voice

I don't know about the move to Orlando permanantly. For the reasons stated above. Then again, I guess the Nashville fans would end up ordering the PPV. (The diehard one, anywho.)

 

Clark is a pretty good flier. I think I've seen Lovett on MXPW, and he was okay.

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If they start doing an angle with Rodman and Jarrett, I'll seriously punch myself in the face.....

I'll punch you in the face as well.

 

As for moving to Orlando, I think it's a good idea to move b/c of the crowd, but I don't know about doing both shows in the same place. I agree that they should charge, and I think it would help if they had a seperate set for the PPV than for IMPACT as having the same set for both could get confusing. Maybe do one show in Tampa, and the other in Orlando? Actually, I really don't care because they might drop the Wednesday PPV's soon enough anyhow

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Guest whitemilesdavis

I don't think two shows a week from one location is a good idea. I'd be happy if they canned the weekly PPV's anyway.

 

And am I the only one who likes the Elite Guard?

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Guest The Last Free Voice

I like the wrestlers in the guard, but I hate the gimmick. Well, not really, just how over the top they do it.

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I agree that they should charge, and I think it would help if they had a seperate set for the PPV than for IMPACT as having the same set for both could get confusing. Maybe do one show in Tampa, and the other in Orlando?

 

Yeah, having separate sets would help. And I do think they should try to do something like that (Tampa and Orlando) if they move to FL permanently. I'm sure they could dress up one of those venues MLW used to use.

 

Actually, I really don't care because they might drop the Wednesday PPV's soon enough anyhow

 

That'd be the best plan.

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The great thing about the Orlando location is that they get a new set of fans every show. Even in December, or when it's nearly thunderstorming, you're still going to have people there on vacation searching for a place of sanctuary for two hours.

 

They need a new set for the PPV, yes. But having them both there is perfect, at least to me.

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Guest whitemilesdavis

Good point, they do have a large potential audience at Universal, but those of us who remember WCW Worldwide, realize that audience has the potential to suck really bad. If they do 2 shows at Universal, they'll have to keep the action high.

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The great thing about the Orlando location is that they get a new set of fans every show. Even in December, or when it's nearly thunderstorming, you're still going to have people there on vacation searching for a place of sanctuary for two hours.

 

Yeah, there is a greater chance for fan turnover, but at some point, you'd hope that they are drawing people to the arena who came to see TNA. Those people will be more likely to react to things other than the high spots.

 

 

They need a new set for the PPV, yes. But having them both there is perfect, at least to me.

 

I may be in the minority, but I like the PPV entrance way better than the Impact entrance way. The overall presentation of Impact is better, but just the PPV entranceway is great IMO. The only thing I would change about it is to put the video wall behind the entrance way so we see the wrestler's videos as the enter the arena.

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Guest whitemilesdavis
I may be in the minority, but I like the PPV entrance way better than the Impact entrance way

 

Not me. There was a shot last week from behind the Impact ramp as AJ was exiting. It was just an awesome shot, and made it look like a memorable event.

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More hope for the FX thing...now if it's true that there's talk of before or after the Shield, that'd be good. Though isn't the Shield on at 10EST? Which would mean TNA would run at 11EST to past midnight if it's 2 hours long.

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Yeah, there is a greater chance for fan turnover, but at some point, you'd hope that they are drawing people to the arena who came to see TNA. Those people will be more likely to react to things other than the high spots.

Unfortunately, you have to pay for park admission to attend the Impact tapings. And according to their website, a one day admission ticket to Universal Studios costs $55.00.

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Unfortunately, you have to pay for park admission to attend the Impact tapings. And according to their website, a one day admission ticket to Universal Studios costs $55.00.

 

I thought I'd read that they had worked out a deal where you could go directly to the Impact tapings for free. Maybe I am mistaken.

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Guest whitemilesdavis

I know for the first one you could get into impact without paying park admission. I'm not sure if this has changed.

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Guest whitemilesdavis
How would they know if you just came for the Impact tapings and if you go elsewhere in the park?

 

A different entrance, and check the tickets before exiting on the park side. You can eat at the Hard Rock there without having to visit the park too.

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Universal Studios is divided into three sections: Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure, and CityWalk. The first two are theme parks that have rides and shit and you have to pay a park admission for. CityWalk has a bunch of shops and movie theatres and shit that you dont have to pay admission for. The tapings are in CityWalk. You have to pay for parking, though (unless you run the booth and keep going...ahem B-) ), and its a FUCK of a long walk, especially if your belt breaks and your jeans are kinda stretched out so you have to hold your pants up for a 15 minute walk.

 

 

I hate life.

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I stand corrected.

 

On that note, hopefully there will slowly be people willing to come there just for TNA. I know that if they had ran in Atlantic City every week as they were thinking about, I'd take the train up there every week without complaint to see TNA.

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