Meltzer piece on TNA from 11/29 Observer

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

It was the biggest week in TNA history, and now, from all signs, when it didn’t pan out, the company is in critical condition.

 

Here is the basic financial score. Panda Energy, in the two plus years it has been funding TNA, has lost approximately $15million on the venture. This came on the heels of the $1.6 million Health South lost in getting the company off the ground. There may also have been losses that Jerry Jarrett incurred during the interim period between Health South money and Panda Energy money. Because of the cost of buying television time, producing television, and signing higher priced talent, the losses in recent months have hit $200,000 to $250,000 per week. With the exception of WCW from 1999 on, no wrestling company in history is believed to have ever burned money at anywhere near close to this rate. Worse, they’ve done so without really making any mark on the industry or having any significant public visibility. There is simply no possible way the company could make money as things stand, but that has been clear for some time. The weekly PPV system was a big loser. Overseas revenue, television ad revenue and merchandising income, something counted on for profitability because of the WWE model, has been largely non-existent. All the talk of doing house shows is a pipe dream, because WWE is having difficulty drawing for house shows, and TNA simply can’t make money running house shows. IT would only cause more losses. The only revenue source is PPV.

 

While the company did what is being estimated by cable sources as 30,000 to 35,000 buys for Victory Road, which should bring the company from $385,000 to $450,000 in revenue, that only cuts monthly losses down to about $550,000 to $615,000 for November. Most likely, the number of buys drop for the Turning Point show in 12/5, although I don’t expect them to drop drastically, and do consider the numbers, four times what they were averaging on Wednesdays, as a success. However, there were those internally pegging 50,000 buys as the prediction. The one good thing is it seems to be proven the monthly idea at $”4.95 is far superior to the weekly at $9.95. The company, to break even, with all the costs, needs the PPV’s, that are virtually all the revenue they have, to do nearly 80,000 buys per show to become financially solvent. With the cutting back of expenses by taping two shows of Impact every other week, a saving of between $100,000 and $200,000 a week, that cuts the needed buys to somewhere near 62,000 and 70,000 for the company to break-even, again figures which are unattainable. That number is simply impossible no matter what stars they get when the TV is on such a poor time slot. Smackdown, for instance, does close to five million viewers a week, and the last Smackdown PPV did less than 200,00 buys. TNA Impact does maybe 140,000 total viewers per week. The UFC, which is significantly hotter (although has virtually no television), doesn’t come near the average TNA needs to break even on PPV shows, and only tops it when it has a really special main event. The numbers don’t add up. As we’ve written so many times, the company’s only answers if they were even in this game, was to know they needed patience, and until they got a good time slot for TV to have real visibility, and started bidding for top talent, they aren’t even in the game. If they weren’t willing to understand those rules, they had no business being in. Getting cold feet about losses now shows they never should have gotten in, because the venture had no potential for short-term profits until it established itself on TV in a good time slot and built an audience.

 

Far more important than the PPV numbers were the numbers for the two Best Damn Sports Show Period specials. The company was of the belief if they could average a 0.35 rating on the two 8pm showings on 11/10 and 11/11, that Fox Sports Net would turn Monday night into a wrestling night. They would have the BDSSP personalities do a weekly wrestling taping, for an 8-9.30 pm show in their regular time slot, which couldn’t be better, getting the lead-in on Raw, and building to main events against the usual lengthy interview open. This wouldn’t the old Monday Night Wars, because Fox Sports Net isn’t even a blip on the radar screen compared to TNT, or even Spike. The credibility of the celebrities and the time slot would drive the wrestling product. The wrestling would drive the ratings of what is a poorly rated by heavily promoted network flagship show, and hopefully also serve to increase the rating a little for the rest of the week.

 

Unfortunately, the first set of ratings we got last week, which were based on the overnights, which still fell al little short, didn’t hold up. The final numbers were: The original 8pm airing on 11/10 did a 0.26 rating (the show averages a 0.13 on Wednesday nights in the first run) and the 11pm airing did a 0.18 (averages 0.12). For 11/11, the first showing did a 0.18 (0.13 average in the slot), and 11pm showing did a 0.14 (0.12 average in that slot). At those numbers, the idea of getting a Monday prime time show is said to be highly unlikely by FSN sources. They were floating numbers claming they did triple what the show usually does, but they were really, for the two nights, 52% above, which is good, but not what they needed. UFC did an 0.43 a few years back, with a similar level of promotion, and worse, did a 0.47 with virtually no promotion on a Sunday afternoon. A James Toney boxing match on BDSSP did a 0.76 on the 8pm shows as the highest rated episode in the history of the show. The success of the Toney show is what got the BDSSP people interested in doing the pro wrestling week, as well as doing two boxing specials in December, including a Michael Moorer fight and the “Next Great Champ” championship match. The one thing that has to be noted when it comes to FSN ratings, is because we are talking about such low numbers, the margin of error is pretty high. The difference between a 0.1 and a 0.3 in some markets is just a viewer or two in the sample group. But it doesn’t matter, because accurate or not, and the odds are those numbers could be just as inaccurate on the high side as the low side, they are the gospel of the industry. Several in the industry noted to us when they read the real numbers, it was an eerie feeling, knowing so much was riding on it, how much the margin of error really is, and knowing they came up well short of what they needed at such a critical time. Worse from a morale standpoint has to be the fact that the second night drew less than the first night, even though so much of the first night were angles to build to the matches on the second night. It’s the same reality as the Friday ratings starting out so positively, and going down over time.

 

There are so many different things going on right now. The Jarrett’s and the Carters don’t see eye-to-eye, in particular Jeff Jarrett and Dixie Carter. It’s been noted that Jerry Jarrett has clearly undermined Jeff, although it’s a debatable point whether it’s for the good of the company or not. Jerry has apparently felt Jeff’s ideas about wrestling are too heavily influence by Vince Russo to the point Jerry can’t steer him back to a logical wrestling direction. Russo is totally gone from the company, and had confided to friends he thought TNA was done as soon as Dixie Carter got pregnant, feeling once she had her baby, her focus would be less on her wrestling company that was such a money drain. Considering the booking position in a company like this is always in play, and as long as he’s on the payroll he’s always in a position to be called after a failure, his leaving a $100,000 per year job that he only worked one day per week speaks volumes of how he reads the future. Others say Jerry is totally living on past laurels, has really not kept up on the business closely in ten years and is totally out of step when it comes to modern wrestling and modern fans. From reading his book, you get the impression his lengthy experiences in wrestling have taught him a lot of valuable lessons regarding talent and booking, but he had also not kept up with the modern business, which is an historic kiss of death for even the giants of the industry when making a comeback after being away. A sale of the company by Panda, or even Panda folding the company, wouldn’t surprise people close to the scene. Many expect one or the other to happen over the next 90 days. Jerry is now in more of a power position, while Dixie Carter had tried to appease wrestlers complaining that Jeff had booked the entire show around himself and were on the verge of leaving to giver her time and a change would be made. Jerry is thought to have the only chance to sign Hulk Hogan, since he gave Hogan one of his early breaks in the late 70’s and Hogan at least respects him as a promoter and booker who does have a legitimate impressive track record, even though it was a different business and a full generation ago. One has to think Hogan is never coming, particularly now that the primetime slot is so unlikely, because since WCW, he’s been very careful to avoid being tainted with failure. Jerry is also said to have the lead on two potential buyers, but Bob Carter has yet to give him a money figure that he wants for his stock. Unless the new ownership has a way to get them on a good time slot and expects losses while building the brand (and at that point you’d need a great booker with new ideas and the ability to get new talent over and have a unique concept of wrestling or else it’ll fail even with a good slot), they would only be fooling themselves. The only fit I can see working is a deal with Turner Broadcasting, but even then, they won’t be able to be put on the air likely until the spring of 2006.

 

Jerry’s move was to replace Jeff as booker with Dusty Rhodes. To the surprise of many, Dutch Mantel still has a job and will be Rhodes’ assistant, although nobody was taking bets on how long that would last. Jeremy Borash and Bill Banks are still giving input, but when the change was made on 11/19, it was clearly Dusty’s direction from this point forward. Many noted that Jerry going with Dusty showed once again how out of touch Jerry is with modern wrestling. Rhodes, 59, is just a few years younger than Jarrett, and was a successful booker from 84-86 with Jim Crockett Promotions during its national expansion, which first made the company bigger than it had ever been. The downside was by the end of 1987, when the company’s business started falling due to going with a pat hand on top for too long (wrestling’s repeated mistake of trying to relive glory periods after they are over), the company was deep in debt and would have declared bankruptcy by the end of 1988 had Turner Broadcasting not purchased the company because they wanted to keep the highly rated traditional wrestling programming.

 

Rhodes was a huge name in the industry during Jarrett’s day as a major power broker as one of the top drawing wrestlers in the world for more than a decade. Rhodes also hasn’t had a successful year booking since 1986, and has booked numerous companies, including WCW, and his own companies, with little to no success. When Rhodes has been asked about what he’d do to turn things around, he was of the opinion that the only thing that draws is bringing back old legends, and was down on a lot of the wrestlers being on top who weren’t strong on interviews or had that special charisma. In the 80’s, Rhodes’ strength was an ability to make strong babyfaces, although none were ever over stronger than himself, which is certainly something the company needs. He’s a big believer in talking over action in the ring, because he was a great talking in his day, and remained a headliner long after he could do little in the ring but have talented heels work off him. He has in the past had an ability to create stars, which this company needs, but few have shown a past history at that better than Jerry Jarrett. Doing so is virtually impossible when you have television that so few are watching.

 

The Rhodes system in the past has been based on having a company filled with great talkers, which, with a few notable exceptions, is exactly the weakness of the current crew. He inherits a lot of wrestlers who can deliver in the ring, most of whom come across as interchangeable and most of whom haven’t gotten over to the weekly regulars. Rhodes built things around strong faces, who were never put in a position where they let the crowd down, chasing heel champions, who would escape with frequent screwjob endings. While his babyface philosophy is probably what is needed today, if he wasn’t evolved from that thought process regarding big match finishes, this won’t make it because that won’t fly on PPV today. The other question that has to do with every booker who is a performer is, how much will he be allowed to feature himself, because he is just about the best talker in the company, but is almost three decades past his prime as a performer. And there is also the question if he’d be allowed to bring in his son, and if he’d avoid the natural over pushing of him and creating a new nepotism deal in a business choking with that problem. Rhodes was introduced as the new booker to the wrestlers at the taping on 11/23, although is direction won’t start until the next taping, since the PPV was already booked. He talked to the X Division guys about slowing down their work, working on their promos and differentiating them.

 

It just shows how out of touch people are when a Gabe Sapolsky, who has a proven track record in 2004 in the US, doesn’t get asked (not that he’d do it, but if you paid attention to the current wrestling scene he’s clearly the best candidate out there). It’s as if much of the industry has stalled around 1988, and nothing in the last 16 years has registered, because so many in power grew up and learned wrestling in the 70’s and 80’s. At least Mantel had a successful track record coming in. The negative was Puerto Rico is a completely different culture with fan base described as closer to 70’s level US than modern level, and a culture filled with established starts with mainstream name recognition. Most importantly, in Puerto Rico, both groups had TV that everybody watches. Mantel’s jump from WWC to IWA as booker coincided with the turning around of that wrestling war, and he was a significant part of it, even though he’s not well liked there these days. But he wasn’t able to do much of anything for this product. Some of his stuff has been logical by the book. Nothing has been particularly grabbing. But, ultimately, it was doomed without TV, and still doomed with TV on such a weak network in such a poor timeslot.

 

As noted last week, the official decision was made this week of going to bi-weekly tapings of Impact to cut costs, and numerous other cost cutting measures are expected. The company taped two shows on 11/23, and will tape again on 12/7 and 12/21. Xplosion will turn into a magazine format show. It is expected that wrestlers will be paid per show they appear on, so the guys who work every TV show won’t be cut in pay, and will actually have an easier schedule only having to travel every other week. The positives of this are cutting in half of television production costs. There is a negative in the lack of immediacy, particularly for the second week show, which would be on a 12-day tape delay. In the slow moving wrestling business of a decade ago, that would be no problem, but in today’s business, where things break on almost a daily basis, and with such a specialized small audience, that could be significant. Still, given the finances, it’s the right option for now, and it can be changed if needed. If the company will pay wrestlers per show they appear on and their incomes aren’t sliced in half, it’s largely a benefit. If wrestlers suddenly get their income slashed at this point, after being cut once when Wednesday PPV’s were dropped, it would kill morale. At the same time, it isn’t like there are a lot of options available these days.

[JoeDirt 0]

Wow. That sounds bad for TNA.

[geniusMoment 0]

Dave paints a bleak picture. But, you must remember Dave has been saying TNA is probably going to fail soon for over a year and a half. He does not like many of the people in the company, especially now that Rhodes has the book. A company with both Rhodes and Shane Douglas, both rivals of Ric Flair, is going to be shit on by Dave "I want gay sex with Ric Flair" Meltzer a lot.

 

With all that said, the numbers are what they are. The ppv numbers were good, and it does not make sense that they keep on brining in high priced old guys if the Carters are so concerned with money now. I never believed TNA would get a prime time slot on FSN for a good rating on the specials so I cannot be too upset about that.

 

Basically, the same problem still exists. TNA needs to get a prime time slot on a cable network, without it they will eventually fail. Actually, with it they will probably fail, but its the only chance they have.

[Guest The Winter Of My Discontent]

Dusty Rhodes is 69?!?!!

[Guest LooneyTune]

Ditto...Rhodes is 69!?!? Jesus Christ he's old. TNA sounds fucked...$15 MILLION?! So...how long until TNA dies? 6 months?

[JoeDirt 0]

Ditto...Rhodes is 69!?!? Jesus Christ he's old. TNA sounds fucked...$15 MILLION?! So...how long until TNA dies? 6 months?

The piece says maybe 90 days. They don't have anything booked for after Final Resolution in January, as far as I know.

 

Either Panda is going to close shop, or they're going to have to make a sale to someone else willing to invest and lose money.

[Guest The Winter Of My Discontent]

Boy spending all this cash on Hall, Nash, Savage, and DDP makes sense considering their in such financial trouble. If Vince McMahon is losing money, why would anyone assume their company would make it?

[Jericho2000Mark 0]

Ditto...Rhodes is 69!?!? Jesus Christ he's old. TNA sounds fucked...$15 MILLION?! So...how long until TNA dies? 6 months?

Rhodes is 59, from what I know, he was born in October 1945.

[JoeDirt 0]

Yeah, that was just a typo by HTQ I'm sure.

[Guest LooneyTune]

59 sounds more reasonable...I think. Rhodes has always looked horrible when guesisng his age.

[UseTheSledgehammerUh 0]

Can I ask a question?

 

Ok. It says "TNA will lose money by doing House Shows".

 

They've got guys signed to contract, unlike, say CZW.

 

If TNA were to run at Viking Hall 1 time a month, and draw 1500 fans a show, how would it lose money?

 

The guys would apparently not be paid for the individual show. It would only have to pay for the building and setup. Drawing a full house, selling DVDs, merchandise, etc. would certainly be SOME of a profit.

 

I'm not saying doing 1 Viking Hall show a month is a CASH COW, but they need to start somewhere?

[UseTheSledgehammerUh 0]

And by the way, all the people, including the "smart" TNA haters that said "UseTheSledgeHammer, you're crazy! No way they'll go away in just 5 months and die!" can order your crow any time now.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Can I ask a question?

 

Ok. It says "TNA will lose money by doing House Shows".

 

They've got guys signed to contract, unlike, say CZW.

 

If TNA were to run at Viking Hall 1 time a month, and draw 1500 fans a show, how would it lose money?

For one thing, they wouldn't come close to drawing 1500 fans, at Viking Hall or anywhere else for that matter. They haven't gone one show without having to do some level of papering, and even then I think they've rarely, if ever, drawn close to 1500. Secondly, running at Viking Hall would be death anyway, because every Indy show I've read reports of there, almost without fail, has seen a very vocal anti-TNA sentiment.

[UseTheSledgehammerUh 0]

I disagree. If they advertised the following names to appear at Viking Hall for a few weeks, it'll sell out, just like the "TNA hating" fans would:

 

A.J. Styles

Scott Hall & Kevin Nash (non-wrestling)

"Diamond" Dallas Page

Monty Brown

Raven

Alex Shelley

Petey Williams

Abyss

L.A. Park

Sonjay Dutt

Psychosis

Spanky

Kid Kash

Chris Sabin

Team Canada

Ron Killings

 

That's a much better in-ring product than ECW *ever* had in one show, if the TNA guys are given enough time at non-televised house shows to develop their matches.

 

With proper advertising and booking of matches, I believe they could succeed.

 

Although they've done neither thus far in 2 1/2 years.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

I'd wager a million dollars that if TNA did that, they wouldn't sell Viking Hall out. I think the TNA hate is just that strong.

[Guest The Shadow Behind You]

I can't wait for this company to finally shut down. Jarretts had a chance to create a real alternative for the mainstream and yet they pissed it down by being a watered down 1999 WCW and instead of being a alternative, they became a joke.

 

People claim WWE is a horrible product and it is compared to the past but TNA was completely worst.

 

The good news here is that AJ Styles, Daniels and others can finally come back to where they belong (Ring of Honor) and not be wasted in the mid-card or being buried by Daddy's Boy.

 

Even better, this means no more Nash, Hall, Savage, Douglas and others because not even WWE will take them anymore.

 

Maybe Raven will finally give up and just be a full time booker for ROH or perhaps sell his soul and go back to Vince (he's done it before).

 

TNA is a major blown opportunity here and it won't be missed. Unlike ECW, TNA never attracted a cult base and never created a star. AJ Styles was already a known name before TNA existed and all it's other names were WWE Rejects. Monty Brown was hardly a success.

 

It'll take awhile before someone realizes what Jerry Jarrett did wrong (everything) and creates a smarter foundation for creating a true #2 promotion in America. Ring of Honor is now the de-facto #2 american company and they are so far away from Vince and Co. right now (by choice).

 

Bye Bye TNA. Thanks for nothing.

[Guest OSIcon]

Can I ask a question?

 

Ok. It says "TNA will lose money by doing House Shows".

 

They've got guys signed to contract, unlike, say CZW.

 

If TNA were to run at Viking Hall 1 time a month, and draw 1500 fans a show, how would it lose money?

 

The guys would apparently not be paid for the individual show. It would only have to pay for the building and setup. Drawing a full house, selling DVDs, merchandise, etc. would certainly be SOME of a profit.

 

I'm not saying doing 1 Viking Hall show a month is a CASH COW, but they need to start somewhere?

 

First of, if they were to pay the wrestlers a monthly salary instead of being paid for individual shows, they would STILL have to pay the wrestlers extra money. One way or another, they would be paying the wrestlers for working that Viking Hall show. It doesn't matter if they handed them a check right after the show or a check with their "monthly salary". I really don't know where you get the idea that they would be paid a regular salary from while just running one house show a month.

 

Not sure what TNA having the guys under contract as to do with anything either.

 

Drawing 1500 fans per month at Viking Hall wouldn't be *that* easy. The roster you listed *still* isn't as strong as an ROH line up from a work perspective, so you would have to be betting on some of the "names" to draw in casual fans. I question how many fans Nash, Hall, Jarrett, and company would be able to draw in.

[Guest The Shadow Behind You]

None. If they aren't drawing now, they won't draw in Viking Hall.

 

Has ROH even done Viking Hall? I'd imagine they'd be welcomed with open arms there.

 

Or is ROH trying to stay away from there and create their own little "home" at the RexPlex?

[Michrome 0]

CZW and 3pw have exclusive rights to Viking Hall. That nixes this conversation, but I'm sorry, TNA would have *no hope* of drawing 1500. They haven't ever been able to come close to 1000 tickets sold barring the Raven-Jarrett match, they have been papering crowds since forever. Philly wrestling is basically dead, the fans there would not show up for washed up wannabees and workers they can see in better matches elsewhere. They'd draw 600 paid.

[Guest Phenom]

I think TNA, 3PW, and CZW need to join forces if they want to get somewhere.

 

Other than that, CHARGE MONEY FOR IMPACT!

[Guest The Shadow Behind You]

How the hell would 3PW, CZW and TNA combining make any difference?

[Corey_Lazarus 0]

It would, um...bankrupt all of the companies, since TNA would make Zandig and Jasmine book THEIR way, and make all of the CZW and 3PW workers suck ass like they do with their own roster.

 

...fucking TNA...

[TheBigSwigg 0]

I agree that TNA should do house shows. I DON'T Agree that it should be anywhere north of Tennessee. They should try to build a strong following for people who can actually show up at their tapings and PPV shows. It would help them more that way. Run some shows in Florida, SC, Georgia, etc. Get them excited to see your regular tapings first, THEN expand north. Anyhow, ROH pretty much dominates the northeast and midwest right now.

[Guest Fook_Theta]

I might be ignorant of the facts, but before Impact! when TNANWA was running PPVs in Tenn., weren't they breaking even? Or atleast they were not losing $200,000+ a month/week.

 

Other than the most obvious answers beyong cutting some talent, the "old" folks, and running houseshows, I cannot see much else they can do beyond developing contacts for a better timeslot. Still is surprising to me that they cannot on a decent cable channel(in the south), at a decent hour. Local sports teams be damned. Through heavy rotating of what day it runs, and solid promos telling the 'new' schedule, they could slowly build a fanbase. Random timeslot beats 3pm Friday by a long shot.

 

Sad to see them seemingly go, but with Jeff at the top it was inevitable. Would be nice to see Raven start booking RoH or WWE, although it isn't likely to happen for a number of reasons.

[UseTheSledgehammerUh 0]

Jasmine St. Claire is not a booker.

 

And Zandig would never listen to the Jarrett's. He actually runs a credible company.

[Michrome 0]

I might be ignorant of the facts, but before Impact! when TNANWA was running PPVs in Tenn., weren't they breaking even? Or atleast they were not losing $200,000+ a month/week.

 

They were losing a ton, probably the same amount as now, putting on a 2 hour show each week and getting 6-8k buys.

 

Would be nice to see Raven start booking RoH

 

By "nice" you must mean "terrible."

[Guest The Shadow Behind You]

If ROH is doing the Hardcore stuff, might as well stick Raven there. Don't let him run the place though.

[Guest MikeSC]

Dave paints a bleak picture. But, you must remember Dave has been saying TNA is probably going to fail soon for over a year and a half. He does not like many of the people in the company, especially now that Rhodes has the book. A company with both Rhodes and Shane Douglas, both rivals of Ric Flair, is going to be shit on by Dave "I want gay sex with Ric Flair" Meltzer a lot.

You know, Rhodes' booking, like it or not, DID kill Crockett's company. And Douglas has NEVER done a damned thing in the business. If I had a choice of Flair or Rhodes and Douglas, I can't imagine a choice being much easier to make.

With all that said, the numbers are what they are.  The ppv numbers were good, and it does not make sense that they keep on brining in high priced old guys if the Carters are so concerned with money now.  I never believed TNA would get a prime time slot on FSN for a good rating on the specials so I cannot be too upset about that.

 

Basically, the same problem still exists.  TNA needs to get a prime time slot on a cable network, without it they will eventually fail.  Actually, with it they will probably fail, but its the only chance they have.

No, the problem is that even WITH a cable deal --- they are highly unlikely to make money. As Meltz pointed out, this company has burned through money in a way that only WCW could ever hope to have matched and have, if anything, regressed in terms of attention.

 

No cable channel will touch TNA because a) they just don't generate big ratings and b) they, clearly, are bleeding money in an epic manner. ECW didn't lose money nearly this quickly, and they had an atrocious business plan.

 

TNA STILL can't sell tickets. Their audience is STILL smaller than even ROH's.

-=Mike

[Guest The Shadow Behind You]

At least ROH is making money. In my eyes, ROH has already passed TNA as the #2 wrestling promotion in America.

 

Better quality, better workers, better storyline/angles, every show has meaning, they deliver what they promise, attract usable names who have starpower but still can contribute to the product (foley, steamboat) and make money by connecting to the market they are attracting.

 

TNA has NO market. They pissed on the niche 'Net market by blocking ROH and others from having their talent and mocked the mainstream fans by making Jeff Double J Jarrett the face of their promotion and bringing in WWE Rejects.

[Guest MikeSC]

Boy spending all this cash on Hall, Nash, Savage, and DDP makes sense considering their in such financial trouble. If Vince McMahon is losing money, why would anyone assume their company would make it?

Vince isn't losing money. He's still turning profits regularly. They're just significantly smaller profits.

Can I ask a question?

 

Ok. It says "TNA will lose money by doing House Shows".

 

They've got guys signed to contract, unlike, say CZW.

 

If TNA were to run at Viking Hall 1 time a month, and draw 1500 fans a show, how would it lose money?

They haven't drawn 1500 to a show in Nashville or Orlando in a LONG time. There is absolutely no chance of a Southern company drawing 1500 fans in Philly.

The guys would apparently not be paid for the individual show. It would only have to pay for the building and setup. Drawing a full house, selling DVDs, merchandise, etc. would certainly be SOME of a profit.

 

I'm not saying doing 1 Viking Hall show a month is a CASH COW, but they need to start somewhere?

Increase the workload and you have to increase the compensation. Plus, who pays for travel? Rent ain't free. Hauling the ring --- 6-sided rings aren't exactly prevalent in the US --- would only add to the costs.

 

And, as pointed out, Viking Hall is ALREADY reserved.

I think TNA, 3PW, and CZW need to join forces if they want to get somewhere.

3 unprofitable companies combined equals 1 quite unprofitable company. Especially since TNA is one of the biggest financial black holes in recent history.

It would help them more that way. Run some shows in Florida, SC, Georgia, etc. Get them excited to see your regular tapings first, THEN expand north. Anyhow, ROH pretty much dominates the northeast and midwest right now.

Keep in mind, WITH a good national TV deal, WCW didn't tend to draw terribly great in SC or GA for years. I know in Columbia they used to run to half-full crowds at the Township Auditorium (which holds, MAYBE, 2000 fans) after they couldn't put a BUTT in the seat at the Carolina Coliseum.

 

People want an alternative. A company that is WORSE is not an alternative.

I might be ignorant of the facts, but before Impact! when TNANWA was running PPVs in Tenn., weren't they breaking even? Or atleast they were not losing $200,000+ a month/week.

No, they bled money in TN, too. Keep in mind that 50%+ papering of crowds in Nashville were exceptionally common and they drew about 7500 buys per week for their last year there or so.

 

Maybe that Raven v JJ match DID kill the company.

 

TNA is dead. They are IDENTICAL to WCW in 2000 --- a company that only exists until somebody decides that they are sick of bleeding money. I do think that this has done wonders showing how utterly unprofitable Russo's work has been since 1999 and how incredibly shitty of a draw JJ is.

-=Mike