TNA News and Notes

[TNABaddboi 0]

According to a number of sources, don't be surprised if Dusty Rhodes is out as booker sooner or later. At this point, it appears both sides will be happy when that comes to pass. There are some who say Rhodes is unhappy that his legs are being cut out from under him (one source noted that Chris Candido, who Rhodes pushed hard for, has yet to be signed to a deal) and there is also a feeling that Rhodes is taking the heat for ideas that aren't his (such as the all Cage PPV, which he distanced himself from on radio appearances last week) when others were responsible for the ideas. One of the main complaints of those working in the company about Rhodes was that he would tune out suggestions and ideas from others and simply do what he wanted. There was a feeling that Rhodes told the X-Division he would focus on them (which gave morale a huge boost) and then did the exact opposite (which sent it plummeting), although he did give Christopher Daniels his biggest singles push to date. A lot of Rhodes' ideas were taken out of the equation at the last Impact! taping.

 

Another major change over the last week was a new Vice President for the company, Frank Dickerson, who is said to have been a major higher-up executive for Panda Energy with a legal background. A number of people have commented to me over the last several days that his appointment to the position is a sign that Panda is serious about finally making major moves to put the company on the map.

 

The internal word is that the company is hoping to get on Spike TV, with WGN as a backup plan. There were some in the company who were positive about their presentation to Spike several weeks ago, although others are taking a "wait and see" attitude. The feeling is that something needs to be signed soon if they are going to take advantage of the fall season.

 

As of right now, there are no dates announced beyond this June's Third Anniversary PPV at Universal Studios, but there is said to be an announcement on a July PPV event coming shortly.

 

Expect a huge push for AJ Styles over the next several months.

 

Sonjay Dutt has been added back on the TNA Superstars page on their website. His deal had expired sometime back, but with the new emphasis on the X-Division, it appears he'll be returning soon enough.

 

Some notes from Bill Banks' new column: Lockdown is planned as an annual event. If that is the case, they should never (and I mean NEVER) break out the cage except for that show....Weapons are legal in the Team Jarrett vs. Team Nash six man tag....Dustin Rhodes vs. Bobby Rude will be a "Prince of Darkness" match (blindfold match)....Apolo vs Lance Hoyt has been added to the show....Footage from the IWA Puerto Rico events over the weekend will air on this Friday's Impact!....The Best of Raven DVD will be released this week.

credit: PWInsider.com

 

Thoughts?

[Zack Malibu 0]

All for the Styles push, as well as the rehiring of Dutt.

 

Candido is entertaining enough and busting his ass enough that I'd keep him around, even without Dusty in power.

 

I hate the all-cage matches idea, because you're taking away the oldest, most reliable feud-blowoff stipulation and watering it down. I'd like to see the occasional cage match, rather than a once a year all cage show.

 

I pray they get Spike. The Monday Night Wars are greatly missed.

[Placebo Effect 0]

BLINDFOLD MATCH???????

[Zack Malibu 0]

BLINDFOLD MATCH???????

Mmhmm. Prince of Darkness match was the name it had back in the day when Kevin Sullivan used it in Florida, during Dusty's heyday.

[B. Brian Brunzell 0]

I've always thought that the world is a better place without blindfold matches.

[Guest Coffey]

How can AJ Styles get pushed any more? He's been the X-Division Champion, TNA Heavyweight Champion and I believe a Tag Team Champion as well. He's main evented shows and been in several big feuds. It's not like he's going to get the Jeff Jarrett treatment, so what the fuck does that statement even mean?

 

It seems like it was just randomly thrown into the article to grab some smark attention.

 

In for a big push? What, some more win on iMPACT!? Whoop-de-shit.

[RedJed 0]

I'm getting more open to the idea of this all cage ppv, as this would (you would think) force the bookers, wrestlers, and agents who lay out the match to come up with creative finishes and contexts to these matches. We'll see what happens, but all I know is that having Hoyt v. Apolo in a cage sounds like the shits though. They should have that match be on the preshow instead of the actual ppv and NOT in a cage. Matches like that hurt the card as every other match at least has a purpose, whether its a gimmick on top of the cage gimmick, or else a title or a title shot on the line.

 

The bad thing about if they fire Rhodes (which I kind of hope doesnt happen and now Rhodes just allows more suggestions and maybe having a team work with him, like Jerry Jarrett) is that if they do, their other choices are Mantel (which has already proven he can't really book this company well) or, believe it or not, Nash. Jeff doesnt want to get back into the booking as he claims he likes it better this way. Rhodes and Jerry Jarrett working more as a team and also having guys like Shane Douglas, Jerry Lynn, etc would be best. Rhodes has done some good in this booking run, such as created better structure to the product as well as pushed some of the "right guys" like Daniels, etc.

 

I hope TNA gets on Spike too, but I'm not convinced they are ready to go head to head with Raw on Monday nights. This might be a stretch, but I think Spike should consider the UFC going head to head with Raw if anything on Mondays (1 hour TUF, and another hour of Best of UFC or something) or otherwise dont even bother as its going to be tough to compete with Raw back on USA when they are going to do an 8 million ad campaign for them. TNA would be best fit to return to their 2 hour slot on Wedsnesdays that they had when they did those weekly ppvs. Weds is usually a dead time of the week on TV and this would allow them the chance to get some decent numbers if they can manage it, and then once they get on solid ground, move them to Mondays to compete with WWE down the road.

 

WGN is worthless and about the same as FSN.

 

Will be interesting to see what this new VP does, if anything.

 

Dutt returning is good - he never should have left in the first place, as he was one of the few X division guys who added a great deal of psychology in his last few big matches with TNA.

[Guest Coffey]

WGN is worthless and about the same as FSN.

You must not be a Chicago Cubs fan.

[Jericholic82 0]

WGN is worthless and about the same as FSN.

You must not be a Chicago Cubs fan.

We get wgn here in socal for some reson, and its on channel 8 so its not even cable. I like it if only cuz they show some Yanks games on it when they play the white sox.

[Open the Muggy Gate 0]

So you take Dustin Rhodes and Bobby Roode... two guys who can put on a solid match and do a good job in that ring.... and YOU PUT THEM IN A BLINDFOLD MATCH IN A CAGE? WHAT THE FLYING FUCK?

[RedJed 0]

WGN is worthless and about the same as FSN.

You must not be a Chicago Cubs fan.

Nah I'm a Cubbies fan but the channel is still worthless in terms of penetration into the cable market. While I think alot of companies have WGN more than some others, I still dont think this is a great backup plan v. Spike TV. A station like FX as an upgrade from FSN would be much more better.

[slimm44 0]

TNAWrestling.com has posted the name of the July PPV - No Surrender

[RedJed 0]

Big question is if they will be around by then or moreless WHERE will be they be if they stay alive. Universal contract expires in June and this might mean even their Anniversary show might be in a different location that Orlando.

[ChrisMWaters 0]

Big question is if they will be around by then or moreless WHERE will be they be if they stay alive. Universal contract expires in June and this might mean even their Anniversary show might be in a different location that Orlando.

Back to Nashville, maybe?

[RedJed 0]

That in itself might be interesting since I think there might be quite the revolt if they go back to Nashville. They kind of fucked their fanbase over there by saying they were returning down the road and never did.

 

They'd be much better off probably either going to a different area in Florida or trying out a different territory like the west coast or hell, even up here in MN or Chicago might be interesting.

[Fro 0]

WGN is worthless and about the same as FSN.

You must not be a Chicago Cubs fan.

Nah I'm a Cubbies fan but the channel is still worthless in terms of penetration into the cable market. While I think alot of companies have WGN more than some others, I still dont think this is a great backup plan v. Spike TV. A station like FX as an upgrade from FSN would be much more better.

WGN has huge pentration... if they could get a solid timeslot it's practically like being on TBS in the Midwest and Southeast. They'd need the Tribune owned NYC station on board to flesh the rest of the country out.

 

They reach well over 100 million homes.

 

Considering they're hyping up "Extreme Paintball" for the fall season, I'm sure they'll take TNA for the right price in a good timeslot.

 

And they draw big ratings for Cubs games.... maybe they're under a different category in the ratings since they're a "superstation" and not a cable network.

[Guest netslob]

TNAWrestling.com has posted the name of the July PPV - No Surrender

eh, kinda pedestrian, but still better then "Slammiversary".

 

did they run out of Phil Collins song-titles to rip-off?

[Celtic Guardian 0]

WGN has huge pentration... if they could get a solid timeslot it's practically like being on TBS in the Midwest and Southeast. They'd need the Tribune owned NYC station on board to flesh the rest of the country out.

 

It's more than a penetration issue, it's a question of whether the target audience is ever inclined to flip to that station in the first place.

[RedJed 0]

WGN has huge pentration... if they could get a solid timeslot it's practically like being on TBS in the Midwest and Southeast. They'd need the Tribune owned NYC station on board to flesh the rest of the country out.

 

It's more than a penetration issue, it's a question of whether the target audience is ever inclined to flip to that station in the first place.

Exactly - WGN is such an "eh" station (except the Cubs, its was more worthless than a TBS or something) most certainly not catered to wrestling fans. In fact if they go to WGN I question their gameplan to even make known that they are on a channel like WGN, much less people remember if they hear it. Its like that RPW league getting airtime on a channel like f'n PAX - they are going nowhere on that channel yet getting Impact-level numbers on their FSN slot (and what does that say about TNA unfortunately?). The station isnt associated in any fashion with anything wrestling in the past except an old NWA syndicated show in the 80s/early 90s.

 

Like I said they would be better off on a place like FX or Spike - if they are going to bother with WGN (wasnt they going to do this before they got the FSN deal?) they are just continuing to waste $$$ on presenting a show that is almost impossible to generate ratings on such low rate "networks" that are hard to consider "target market" channels for an person already familiar with wrestling on the station. Spike, even at a weird timeslot, would be the best way to get this company rolling while FX would work too since I think those Toughman contests did well on the station in a Sat night slot. Do the same with TNA, why not?

[Guest MikeSC]

TNAWrestling.com has posted the name of the July PPV - No Surrender

eh, kinda pedestrian, but still better then "Slammiversary".

 

did they run out of Phil Collins song-titles to rip-off?

I'd consider buying TNA: Su-Su-Sudio

-=Mike

[Guest Coffey]

I don't have any money or experience doings so but I bet I could run a better wrestling show than TNA has been doing. Or at least how they were doing the last time I was watching.

 

Fuck ya'll, I'd get Siaki over.

[Guest MikeSC]

I'd have a PPV where anybody who buys a ticket will be put over JJ.

-=Mike

[JJ Johnson 0]

But I don't want to jo-OH! Jarrett! Phew! That was a close one!