TNA News & Notes from the 7/12 Observer

[Enigma 0]

For reasons that haven't been made clear at press time, DirecTV stopped carrying TNA PPVs without warning, effective immediately, on 7/6, the day before the show.

 

TNA confirmed the information in an e-mail to regular customers saying only that the shows would not air in July and for an undetermined period of time. DirecTV, which is in more than 10 million of the current 54 million homes that have PPV access, generally does above the national average when it comes to buy rates. When WWE lost DirecTV in a several month long dispute over a 5% margin of the PPV gross that each side felt it was entitled to, it figured its DirecTV buys as 18% of the total audience. This was the primary reason WWE upped its PPV price from $29.95 to $34.95.

 

With boxing shows and UFC, the percentage has been significantly higher. The last real numbers we got from UFC indicated 25% of the orders came from DirecTV homes and boxing has been as high at 33%. TNA PPV numbers are believed to be in the 6,000 to 7,000 per week range, so it would be losing 1,200 to 1,800 homes per week, or $4,800 to $7,200 per week in decreased revenue, or added weekly losses. This comes at the same time the budget for the promotion has increased tremendously due to both producing and paying for weekly television tapings.

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A.J. Styles’ brother committed suicide, shooting himself on 7/1 which cast a dark cloud over the Orlando tapings that night. Styles was scheduled to lace Alex Shelley, and Elix Skipper subbed. A lot of the people in the company were really broken up as he was there and getting ready for his match when he got the news. David Young, who is probably his best friend in the company, was also taking it hard, although Young did work a dark match against Shark Boy.

 

The company took some false advertising heat again this past week, but this time it really wasn't their fault. The advertised main event was A.J. Styles vs. Kid Kash for the 6/30 PPV. (Kash had said that he'd be able to wrestle, even though he broke his fibula just a few weeks ago). He also was quoted in the Brian Stull story we wrote about last week, saying about the 6/23 show, where he was scheduled with Styles, that if it had been ECW, he'd have worked the match, but with TNA, he wasn’t going to, which made management hot. Most of the wrestlers were expecting he was going to be suspended for his comments, and his future with the company at this point is in jeopardy. He showed up on 6/30 in Nashville and told management his leg wasn't ready and he couldn't go. Management was furious at him because they were led to believe all week he'd be fine. So they ended up doing a six-man, which most likely wound up being a better match anyway. On the PPV, it was announced Kash was suspended, but that was just a work because they didn't want to say he was injured after advertising him all week. So instead, they got people thinking they false advertised him all week, since a suspension would be a company decision.

 

The Dennis Rodman deal turned out to be a big nothing. The idea they came up with was for Rodman to manage 3 Live Kru against Team Canada. The idea is that Rodman would take out Scott D'Amore with a choke slam and clean house after Team Canada was doing a 5-on-3 beat down. This would bring out Jeff Jarrett, swinging the guitar. Jarrett would be about to hit Rodman with it when Ken Shamrock would make the save and break the guitar, hoping for a Sports Center moment, figuring you've got Jeff (of course) in there to get the rub from being with Rodman and Shamrock. Well, Rodman got there and vetoed everything they came up with, even to the point where he wouldn't come out wearing a basketball jersey as they requested. They ended up wasting their money (one TNA official reported it wasn't all that much money, mainly a plane flight as his agent had him come as a favor to Jarrett as both are represented on personal appearances by the same guy), as they got no pub regarding him being there all week, and since he did nothing, they got nothing coming out. Maybe this is a lesson to work out the angle and have everyone agree to it before advertising a guy being there. A lot of wrestlers were upset about Rodman refusing to do anything. Some, being almost half-serious, started egging Shamrock on to go down to the ring and just scare the hell out of him because of the attitude he displayed backstage and in front of the people. As it was, he got there, sat at the Spanish announcers desk, flirted with women in the crowd, and wasn't over to begin with. Fans were chanting "Rodman's Worthless" at him, as he was managing the babyfaces. And they were correct. According to those who know Rodman, he got there and thought, "What have I gotten myself into?" since the only people there he even recognized, and he's a wrestling fan were Jarrett, Shamrock, and Konnan.

 

Those close to Jeff Hardy say he hasn't signed a contract with TNA, although those in TNA claim he has. He did say he was interested in working more dates for them after the reception he got. He didn't work either show this week. The betting line is TNA is asking for big trouble if they sign him, but they will have major egg on their face if they don’t, which shows what happens when you ignore people's history and mark out over the idea we can get a star.

 

The third week ratings were a 0.2, which you can say was down 41 % from the prior week (as misleading as saying week two was up 55% from week one), but with numbers that small and the nature of the sample, these variations aren't that significant. After three weeks, the show was averaging a 0.25. Dixie Carter made the decision for the company not to release ratings, and she did so in the first two weeks when the numbers were good. The average over the first two weeks for the Friday at 3 p.m. shows (the Saturday at midnight showings do a little better, upping the actual national average) on Fox Sports Net means 164,000 homes. The lowest rated WWE weekend shows on Spike are still beating 400,000 homes, but they do have better time slots and are more established. Carter was in Los Angeles this past week meeting with Fox Sports Net officials attempting to get a TV time slot upgrade because the ratings started out strong.

 

The Carters are very strong on moving everything to Orlando. The look is better and it'll save on travel costs and the wearing down factor on everyone having to rush from Nashville to Orlando. The downside is that you're asking a lot from the Orlando market to support two live shows per week. As surprising as this is to almost everyone, the Nashville crowds have been hotter of late than the Orlando crowds, but that doesn't overcome the nicer look of Orlando. There were rumors going around that 7/21 would be the last show in Nashville, but when Don West, who does a radio show in Nashville, asked Jeff Jarrett, he said that story wasn't true. However, workers at the building were telling people they were told that 7/21 would be their final night. Bert Prentice has also started booking the Fairgrounds for shows starting on 8/7 for his own promotion. Even though the story was out, as late as this past week, Todd Curler (Dixie's brother) and Jeff Jarrett were still debating the merits of the move, with Jarrett, feeling two shows a week from Orlando could burn out the market, strongly against it. The feeling was the Carters saw the costs after five weeks, and no question, it's a huge savings in transportation to at least run closer together. It may be a better bet to run Wednesdays (well, best bet is to eliminate Wednesday and run once per month, and eventually, they'll either figure that out or blow nearly six figures weekly learning) in the Tampa/St. Pete area rather than Orlando. Orlando has the look, no doubt, but the last thing you want to do is run too often and kill the crowd response.

 

The bad timing award goes to Johnny Devine. Devine moved from Calgary to Nashville about two weeks ago so he could work full-time with the promotion.

 

If they do move to Orlando permanently, it would be best to have the Wednesday show be just the PPV, as opposed to doing Xplosion and PPV on the same night. That way they could do Xplosion on Thursday after the PPV, and have a better idea where they are going since the show would have already taken place.

 

The "Bellars watch," the new term for predicting the time table for the next person to go, is already listed for Vito LoGrasso. Vince Russo, who has been friends with him from well before Russo even got into wrestling when Vito was Long Island independent wrestler Skull Von Krush, has been pushing to get him a shot for months. Vito is actually a far more talented worker than his rep, largely because people can't stand being around him. He already had two major blowouts this past week with Trinity. While most blamed it on Vito, some have blamed it on Trinity, claiming that the Kid Kash hothead influence has been a terrible influence on her.

 

Charlie Haas & Miss Jackie were not at the Orlando tapings last week as has been reported. They wore in Orlando on a vacation together and bumped into some of the guys, which is where the story (not reported here) originated from.

 

Terry Taylor presented an idea for Dennis Rodman; actually the idea came from Swinger, where Rodman would come out with him in the skirt and coconut bra. Russo was said to have loved it but Jarrett nixed it.

[Guest Real F'n Show]

Are Charlie Haas and Miss Jackie actually dating, or was it just some promotional thing? Sad to hear about AJ's brother btw.

[HollywoodSpikeJenkins 0]

That's horrible news for AJ. Man, I feel sorry for the guy. Best wishes to him and his family.

[slimm44 0]

Fans at the Asylum were talking about the move this past week after the show. The problem is that it is doing fine for the summer time, attendance wise, but when school starts and winter comes, the theme park is nearly empty. Which could be bad news. But if it saves costs then I guess it would be good for financial reasons. However I will be happy if they move the PPV to Tampa, because I go to college down there. But it seems the past two weeks, people have realized Impact is not all that important when it comes to storylines with the PPV.

[Placebo Effect 0]

Taping Xplosion on Thursdays may not be realistic.

 

They have to overnight the tapes to the various outlets, and the show airs on the Sunshine Network on Friday nights. Thus, the show wouldn't be edited until Friday morning.

 

Maybe they can do it, though. Doesn't Sunshine run out of Florida?

[eirejmcmahon 0]

Fans at the Asylum were talking about the move this past week after the show. The problem is that it is doing fine for the summer time, attendance wise, but when school starts and winter comes, the theme park is nearly empty.

I almost guarantee that no-one in the office has thought of that.

[Guest Jesse]

Fans at the Asylum were talking about the move this past week after the show. The problem is that it is doing fine for the summer time, attendance wise, but when school starts and winter comes, the theme park is nearly empty.

I almost guarantee that no-one in the office has thought of that.

I've been to 2 Impact tapings and nearly everyone I've talked to was there just to see Impact. It's not Universal Studios tourists just popping in to see what the line was for.

[syxx2001 0]

I almost guarantee that not one smark has thought of that.

[Steviekick 0]

I almost guarantee that not one smark has thought of that.

I was kind of thinking along the same lines of that. I don't think the average Universal Studios tourist would be that excited by randomly finding out that AJ Styles would be there. I'd assume that the majority of the audience is local wrestling fans who happen to have a season pass or something.

[Guest Jesse]

I almost guarantee that not one smark has thought of that.

 

I'd assume that the majority of the audience is local wrestling fans who happen to have a season pass or something.

You don't have to pay the park entrance fee to go to the tv tapings.

[Steviekick 0]

I almost guarantee that not one smark has thought of that.

 

I'd assume that the majority of the audience is local wrestling fans who happen to have a season pass or something.

You don't have to pay the park entrance fee to go to the tv tapings.

Even better. I'm sure it's propably 85% regular wrestling fan / 15% casual viewer and vacationer who was interested

[syxx2001 0]

Yeah, you are treating this like some kind of circus side show. When someone calls wrestling this, you get offended and mad. They aren't peeking into the curtain to see whats going on, they know its wrestling and they wouldnt be there if they didn't want to watch and you would see people walk out during the show as well.

[TheBigSwigg 0]

Yeah, you are treating this like some kind of circus side show. When someone calls wrestling this, you get offended and mad. They aren't peeking into the curtain to see whats going on, they know its wrestling and they wouldnt be there if they didn't want to watch and you would see people walk out during the show as well.

I would think, though, that anyone who came in from the park was a wrestling fan who heard and was interested. Seeing that it's not in the main part of the amusement park, everyone who came from the park would be a wrestling fan.

[eirejmcmahon 0]

Fans at the Asylum were talking about the move this past week after the show. The problem is that it is doing fine for the summer time, attendance wise, but when school starts and winter comes, the theme park is nearly empty.

I almost guarantee that no-one in the office has thought of that.

I've been to 2 Impact tapings and nearly everyone I've talked to was there just to see Impact. It's not Universal Studios tourists just popping in to see what the line was for.

And how many people did you talk to ? Five ? A Dozen ? Twenty ? Did you get a chance to watch either show ?