Banks New Column

[TNABaddboi 0]

y 24th, 2005 16:25

This past Thursday, TNA Wrestling announced a new television deal with SpikeTV starting this Fall. For everyone in TNA who has worked their collective butts off from the front office and especially the locker room, it was certainly a day for celebration.

 

From a personal standpoint, it was a day that ranks right up there among the top moments I’ve been a part of in this business since I was fortune enough to become a part it of in 1995. I can relate the excitement to the Tuesday in the WWF offices when we learned Raw finally overtook Nitro in the Monday ratings war, which was a huge personal victory for many of us. I felt the same way this past Thursday after the deal was announced.

 

As we head towards Spike, it finally feels like everything is falling into place for the success of TNA Wrestling. It’s a great feeling to have again all these years later.

 

But now, the real work begins. This is only just the beginning for us, and I know first hand the pressure that comes with big tv and ratings. TNA is going to be changing and growing in a number of ways in the next few months as we prepare for Spike, and I can tell you the first show will be jam packed based on some of the plans being discussed.

 

The Spike/TNA deal had been done for a week prior to the announcement, due to legal obligations. A handful were given the heads-ups a few days prior to prepare (website, public relations, etc) while the entirety of the company (staff, wrestlers) were given the news via a conference call from TNA President Dixie Carter. It was a fun and positive conference call, and when you have over 30 wrestlers on the phone at the same time things tend to get silly pretty quick (BG James and Christopher Daniels, I’m looking in your general direction). Highlights included AJ Styles having to change his son’s diaper during the call, as well as a “VKM” impersonator chiming in during rollcall. By the way, I hear referee Mark Johnson is still on the line asking questions…

 

This past week was also memorable based on the success of No Surrender (PS – replays still airing on InDemand and DirecTV) and the Impact Television tapings that followed. The Pay-Per-View was solid all around, and our entire locker room has the much-deserved reputation of collectively taking it to a new level on the Pay-Per-Views. Everyone showed up with their game faces on, and the roster delivered. I know I say that a lot in my columns, but I firmly believe it. Some may say not every locker room can be perfect, and that may be true, but I’m personally damn proud of ours.

 

On a side note, I was happy for Sean Waltman and the great match he had with AJ Styles at No Surrender. Sean’s comeback in recent months has been nothing short of tremendous. When he arrived on Sunday for the Pay-Per-View, he had that determined look in his eyes, and I knew he was going to deliver. Waltman has faced his share of detractors and controversy in recent years, but when it comes down to it he always comes back to what he loves the most – wrestling. He proved that once again at the Pay-Per-View.

 

In my opinion, the Tuesday television taping resulted in the best in-ring wrestling action I’ve seen since Impact began. The Super X Cup tournament resulted in several action-packed X bouts, while the upcoming Sacrifice Pay-Per-View took shape with what I believe is going to be one of our best Pay-Per-Views line-ups in some time.

 

The finals of the Super X Cup tournament will take place at Sacrifice, with the trophy and a shot against Christopher Daniels for the X Championship on the line. Also announced are Jerry Lynn vs. Sean Waltman and Konnan and The Truth vs. Kip James and The Alpha Male Monty Brown (which takes an interesting twist this coming week on Impact).

 

The Lynn vs. Waltman bout not only marks Jerry Lynn’s long-awaited TNA in-ring return, but it’s the first time in 13 years the two have faced off. I remember watching Lynn and Waltman (then the Lightning Kid) compete on the old Global Wrestling shows on ESPN back in the late 80s/early 90s, and having followed their careers it’s definitely going to be a treat for longtime wrestling fans. If you watched Impact this past week, there was a backstage confrontation between Lynn and Waltman where the two argued over their past. I know talking to both of them a lot what was said came from the heart.

 

Several other big matches for Sacrifice will be announced on Friday’s Impact, including Raven answering the challenge to face Jeff Jarrett and Rhino at the Pay-Per-View in a tag team match. For those of you that avoid spoilers, I won’t ruin who showed up to be Raven’s partner, but it’s a big return for TNA.

 

A funny story for those of you that may be race fans. A little over a week ago, F1 racing (and ultra hottie Danica Patrick) came to Nashville, Tennessee for a big race. Don West was on hand for ESPN radio covering the practice, and only a select few were able to interview (or even get near) Patrick that day. With her newfound fame, the racing star is kept on a very strict schedule. By complete coincidence, West bumps into Danica’s press guy, who tells West he’s friends with none other than our own “Professor” Mike Tenay. (Tenay confirmed it Sunday). As a result, West got an exclusive interview with Danica for his radio show. I wish I had the same connections that Tenay has…

 

Speaking of connections, David Sahadi’s father Lou (a TV production legend in wrestling and sports) visited Orlando this week to enjoy some wrestling. At one point while watching the action from the crowd with David and his father, Mr. Sahadi turns to me and asks if I like football. I tell him I’m a diehard New York Jets fan, at which point he flips open his cell phone and scrolls down to the name of quarterback “Chad Pennington”. Needless to say, Mr. Sahadi instantly became one of my new best friends.

 

Several former WWE stars were backstage at No Surrender visiting friends, including Billy Kidman, Shannon Moore and Kanyon.

 

On Tuesday afternoon, Abyss looked liked someone had clubbed him several times with a giant meat tenderizer. Not only was his body covered in hundreds of tiny puncture wounds from the tacks, but you could feed a family of bats with the wound on his forehead from the staple gun because the freakin’ thing wouldn’t stop bleeding. I was able to capture the backstage footage of the medical staff removing the staples from his forehead, as well as the bloody $10 bill Raven put there, which will be on the future “No Surrender” DVD. Rumors that Jeremy Borash used the bloody $10 bill to pay for a cab ride back to the hotel that night are completely untrue.

 

If you watched Impact this week, you know that Samoa Joe and AJ Styles have advanced in the Super X Cup tournament. The remainder of the first-round matches will take place this Friday on Impact, with Shocker facing Alex Shelley and Petey Williams taking on Chris Sabin. In addition on Impact, you’ll see an X Division three-way with Sonjay Dutt vs. Shark Boy vs. Primetime, James Storm vs. Matt Bentley, plus appearances by Raven, AJ Styles, Jeff Jarrett, Rhino, Abyss, and many others.

 

As mentioned in the last column, the TNA Canada online site is almost ready to go, and should be up either today or tomorrow, featuring columns by Team Canada member Johnny Devine, columns in French by TNA RDS announcers Marc Blondin and wrestling veteran Pierre Carl Ouellet.

 

Last but certainly not least, TNA is in the process of finalizing a deal with Walmart for our first DVD release with the retail giant. The plan right now is to offer a combo pack for our first release, with Victory Road, Turning Point and Lockdown. It will be nearly 12 hours of total footage in one low-priced pack. That’s a tremendous deal if you ask me and is a great way for us to hit the shelves. As soon as we know when the DVDs will be hitting major retailers you’ll know here first.

 

That’s it for this week – enjoy Friday’s Impact online!

Bill Banks

 

IMO, the most important thing here is the DVDs going to Wal-Mart. Maybe that means TNA is finally serious about getting their products where customers are. Hopefully Best Buy and Media Play aren't far behind.

[zyn081 0]

y 24th, 2005 16:25

Sean’s comeback in recent months has been nothing short of tremendous. When he arrived on Sunday for the Pay-Per-View, he had that determined look in his eyes, and I knew he was going to deliver. Waltman has faced his share of detractors and controversy in recent years, but when it comes down to it he always comes back to what he loves the most – wrestling. He proved that once again at the Pay-Per-View.

 

Konnan and The Truth vs. Kip James and The Alpha Male Monty Brown (which takes an interesting twist this coming week on Impact).

 

Several former WWE stars were backstage at No Surrender visiting friends, including Billy Kidman, Shannon Moore and Kanyon.

 

As mentioned in the last column, the TNA Canada online site is almost ready to go, and should be up either today or tomorrow, featuring columns by Team Canada member Johnny Devine, columns in French by TNA RDS announcers Marc Blondin and wrestling veteran Pierre Carl Ouellet.

 

Last but certainly not least, TNA is in the process of finalizing a deal with Walmart for our first DVD release with the retail giant. The plan right now is to offer a combo pack for our first release, with Victory Road, Turning Point and Lockdown. It will be nearly 12 hours of total footage in one low-priced pack. That’s a tremendous deal if you ask me and is a great way for us to hit the shelves. As soon as we know when the DVDs will be hitting major retailers you’ll know here first.

 

IMO, the most important thing here is the DVDs going to Wal-Mart. Maybe that means TNA is finally serious about getting their products where customers are. Hopefully Best Buy and Media Play aren't far behind.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Could anybody give a bit more unbiased opinion on Sean please?

 

Let me guess, BG James is going to be the Special Guest Referee. Great, they are going to call them Jameses.

 

Interesting about Kidman and Moore. With respect to Kanyon: about FN time.

 

Wasnt Ouellet one of the Rougeau brothers and X?

 

Damn good video deal. Id prefer it if they put PPVs on the DVD in order, 3 at a time. Very practical that way and fantastic VFM.

[TNABaddboi 0]

Damn good video deal. Id prefer it if they put PPVs on the DVD in order, 3 at a time. Very practical that way and fantastic VFM.

 

I hope you can buy each one individually too. Packages can get kinda pricey (WWE packages sometimes run about $70) and IMO, they'll be more likely to get more impluse (as in "hey, i don't know about this, but I always liked Raven") buys for $20 bucks than a three pack for $60-70. The packs will be a good idea for regular fans, but people who haven't been introduced to the product yet will probably pass on the pack.

[RedJed 0]

I've seen UFC shows in double packs for $20 there, so its possible they could give a shot at doing a triple pack for $30, which would be a hell of a deal, of course.

[TNABaddboi 0]

I've seen UFC shows in double packs for $20 there, so its possible they could give a shot at doing a triple pack for $30, which would be a hell of a deal, of course.

 

That would be a hell of a deal, but they sell them online right now for $25 plus shipping and handling. I don't see them going too much under that for them in the store. I think $20 per is the best we'll see.

[natey2k4 0]

I think the 3 pack will cost around $30-40 at Wal Mart to start off. And when they start releasing Single DVDs, they'll be around $15-20.

 

I don't see them being released for much more when WWE, a extremely more popular and known fed, releases their PPVs for about $15.

[King Cucaracha 0]

zyn- Oulette was X. He was also Quebecer Pierre and I think had the pirate gimmick in 95 too.

[zyn081 0]

I think the 3 pack will cost around $30-40 at Wal Mart to start off. And when they start releasing Single DVDs, they'll be around $15-20.

 

I don't see them being released for much more when WWE, a extremely more popular and known fed, releases their PPVs for about $15.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Given that I now know what the WWE charges for its PPVs, Id say single DVDs at $10 or $12.50 and 3 pack at $25 or $30 would be relatively fair.

 

zyn- Oulette was X. He was also Quebecer Pierre and I think had the pirate gimmick in 95 too.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Thanks. THought as much.

[TNABaddboi 0]

I don't see them being released for much more when WWE, a extremely more popular and known fed, releases their PPVs for about $15.

 

I don't know where you get your DVDs from, but the last WWE DVD I brought (WM21) was almost $30. It was "on sale" for $27.99. Granted that was a 3 DVD set, but the last regular ones I brought (Monday Night Wars and Survivor Series 2002) where each $19.99.

[JoeDirt 0]

DeepdiscountDVD.com has most new WWE DVDs for under $14, and WM for under $20.

[zyn081 0]

I don't know where you get your DVDs from, but the last WWE DVD I brought (WM21) was almost $30.  It was "on sale" for $27.99.  Granted that was a 3 DVD set, but the last regular ones I brought (Monday Night Wars and Survivor Series 2002) where each $19.99.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I get my information from here:

 

I think the 3 pack will cost around $30-40 at Wal Mart to start off. And when they start releasing Single DVDs, they'll be around $15-20.

 

I don't see them being released for much more when WWE, a extremely more popular and known fed, releases their PPVs for about $15.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

If thats the case, I think they should price them at $5 under the WWEs. Hence, the use of the word relative in my post.