TNA Thursday night special rating

[Guest karlitoapple]

"0.9. I'd call it a minor disappointment."

 

from Meltzer

[Dangerous A 0]

So much for "potential new audience".

[Guest]

Ouch.

[Guest Coffey]

Damn, how is the rating out already? It's not even been twenty-four hours yet.

[Guest tony manero]

That's horrible. I believe they got a 0.9 rating in the 11 PM Saturday Night time slot before.

 

Don't expect any more prime-time specials for TNA.

[Guest tony manero]

double post

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Before people call it horrible, let's see how they do with their second prime time special which will have a longer and stronger build from Spike. If that one is around the same range, or even down, then the doomsayers can have their fun.

[Guest Coffey]

I'm not going to call it horrible. As a fan, I'm disappointed that it didn't do any better. However, I know that the majority of TNA fans are from the IWC. I also know that the spoilers were on-line for over a week, the curtain jerk was lackluster and Jarrett won the title back. The show did have a good match on it but it did kinda feel like the whole show was drawn out. It makes me have a new appreciation for the one-hour show.

 

I read about the advertising on Howard Stern's radio show and shit but those people don't give a shit about wrestling. When they hear wrestling, they think WWE anyway. "Is Stone Cold gonna be there?"

 

I wouldn't wait for another prime time special. This is definitely a disappointment. Yeah, it wasn't as advertised as it could've been but it was still during primetime on a station that a lot of people get. They didn't beat the rating that they get with have the time in a worse timeslot. It seems like just having channel flippers stop would break a 1.0.

 

The second prime time show will be a good test. A better test. It'll be more hyped and more shilled, etc. However, I still thought this show would break a one.

[Guest tony manero]

Believe it or not, I can think of six reasons why casual fans haven't taken to TNA yet:

 

1) Jeff Jarrett is champion

2)Most of the wrestlers are small and have no personalities or charisma

3)The stupid studio audience and obvious canned cheers.

4)The ludicrous TNA name. Seriously, Total Nonstop Action? You can't get any more lame than that. In fact, I've had a few friends comment on how horrible the brand name is.

5) Six sided ring. Just looks too gimmicky and obviously screams, "Look at me, I'm different." Not only that -- and you can call these people dumb and stupid all you want -- but I've known many people who were immediately reminded of UFC when they saw that ring. And these people hated UFC.

6) Mike Tenay and Don West. They both look like tools, and Tenay in particular, despite his "knowledge" looks like some nerdy loser. West just robotically shills everything, and has the same inflection in his voice all the time, which makes the fans distrust the product.

[Guest JMA]

I didn't expect it to crack the 1.0 barrier, to be honest. Then again, I always tend to think the worst of every situation.

 

That being said, the TNA doomsayers still suck. The company isn't going to die over this.

[Vyce 0]

I agree that it's only a minor disappointment. Why do I feel that way? Because the only advertising I ever saw for the special was via message boards like this one. Maybe Spike had an advertisement on its website or something, but I swear, otherwise I saw ZERO promotion for the show.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

I agree that it's only a minor disappointment.  Why do I feel that way?  Because the only advertising I ever saw for the special was via message boards like this one.  Maybe Spike had an advertisement on its website or something, but I swear, otherwise I saw ZERO promotion for the show.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Which is why the real test is the second prime time special which will have a longer and more focused build up. A lot of people, usually those lacking a clue, seem to forget this special was ordered with very little lead time for TNA.

[Fro 0]

I think TNA did a poor job of hyping it on the previous week's Impact, of course they only had half of one show to do that with how it was booked.

 

It's really far from "OMG, TNA is DOOMED" though. Just shows that there's a limited audience of people with Nielsen boxes that show up for pure wrestling (there certainly were a TON more people online watching it) when they don't know the characters.

 

It was too much to expect for TNA to come on Spike for four weeks, get a Primetime Special, pop a huge rating and go all the way to a weekly primetime show.

 

Blaming superfical crap like the ring, the size of the wrestlers, and the name of the promotion is just ignorance.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Blaming superfical crap like the ring, the size of the wrestlers, and the name of the promotion is just ignorance.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

People like that must be very happy.

[Guest tony manero]

Casual fans who are initially becoming acquainted with TNA (which also sounds like it stands for Tits And Ass -- again, just stupid) pay attention to that "superficial crap." It will determine if they continue to watch out of curiosity OR immediately change the channel.

 

And like someone mentioned, if only a small percentage of channel surfers watched TNA for just a FEW MINUTES, the rating would have topped the 1.0 barrier. However, there seems to be something about TNA's look that gives a bad first impression.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

Not that it really matters, but their camera work was a bit disorienting, at least when compared to WWE.

[Guest tony manero]

Not that it really matters, but their camera work was a bit disorienting, at least when compared to WWE.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Exactlly. People watch for enjoyment, not to be on their knees throwing up into a toilet bowl because some program, which they've never heard of, triggered their motion sickness.

 

Then again, I wonder why the Bourne Supremacy made so much money...

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

I think that the ring, the size of the wrestlers, and the name _are_ problems, but there are much more fundamental problems that need to be addressed, whereas these are minor ones, all of which tend to go away with time.

[KingPK 0]

I doubt that really affected that many people.

 

I can't really be that disappointed in this rating. They only had a week to hype it and TNA's only been on Spike a month. As long as Spike keeps backing them and they sign recognizable guys like Christian (or especially Jericho) while building up their own guys like AJ and Samoa Joe, the audience will come.

 

I think the New Year's special will be a big night for TNA.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

Does TNA have a December PPV?

[Guest Leelee]

I'm somewhat disappointed...

 

Basically, the people who watched Impact watched it, and very few others did. I was expecting a gain to 1.0 simply due to the earlier time of the show.

 

But, oh well, it's no disaster. I believe TNA is already locked for 2 more of these primetime things.

[Guest *KNK*]

Does TNA have a December PPV?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Final Resolution is 12/11.

[Downhome 0]

Who was the poster here that predicted a ratings of 2.0-3.0?

 

Here is just a tiny bit more, about the lead-in, from PWInsider:

 

TNA's first prime time special on Spike TV, which aired last night, did a 0.9 cable rating, with a 1.3 share. That is in the same area that their weekly late night Saturday show does, and is probably a minor disappointment for the company. They had a nice lead-in, following a 1.9 from the 8 o'clock hour of CSI, so that isn't a factor in the number.

[cabbageboy 0]

More than anything I think TNA needs to actually run some shows. You know, tour and stuff. Cause right now these guys mostly seem like local guys out of Orlando. They need to book some house shows, maybe tape TV somewhere else. It's hard to develop serious fans when the only areas you've ever run are Nashville and Orlando.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

If they could make money, or at least not lose a whole lot of it, from touring and house shows, they would have done so by now.

[Placebo Effect 0]

I completely forgot aout the show, so yeah.

[syxx2001 0]

People saying stupid stuff like the ring, the camera and junk remember this...

 

WCW's first show was in a MALL. Doesnt get any more turning off than that.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

Wrestling is a visual medium. When Billy Gunn is one of the biggest guys you have, and since a significant porton of wrestling fans have been conditioned to accept big guys as wrestlers, that the big muscles = polish and professionalism, then that poses a problem for TNA. Does anyone think that Jeff Jarrett could take Batista? Or that AJ Styles could take John Cena? This may not be particularly relevant in the conscious sense, but subconsciously its in a persons head. The 6 sided ring, especially with someone accustomed to the WWE ring (which often has rope running), is disorienting for someone seeing it for the first time. And TNA is just a silly name. "Hey, what are you watching?" "uummm...Teee...NA?" It sorta helps word of mouth if you don't feel ashamed saying the promotions name to others. But like I said before, these are problems that time can fix. People can become adjusted to the smaller wrestlers, the 6 sided ring, and TNA can become the name of a wrestling promotion rather than Tits and Ass.

 

But to label cosmetic issues in professional wrestling as being "stupid" is ignoring a big part of professional wrestling.

[Guest tony manero]

Wrestling is a visual medium.  When Billy Gunn is one of the biggest guys you have, and since a significant porton of wrestling fans have been conditioned to accept big guys as wrestlers, that the big muscles = polish and professionalism, then that poses a problem for TNA.  Does anyone think that Jeff Jarrett could take Batista?  Or that AJ Styles could take John Cena?  This may not be particularly relevant in the conscious sense, but subconsciously its in a persons head.  The 6 sided ring, especially with someone accustomed to the WWE ring (which often has rope running), is disorienting for someone seeing it for the first time.  And TNA is just a silly name.  "Hey, what are you watching?" "uummm...Teee...NA?" It sorta helps word of mouth if you don't feel ashamed saying the promotions name to others.  But like I said before, these are problems that time can fix.  People can become adjusted to the smaller wrestlers, the 6 sided ring, and TNA can become the name of a wrestling promotion rather than Tits and Ass.

 

But to label cosmetic issues in professional wrestling as being "stupid" is ignoring a big part of professional wrestling.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Well Said

[2GOLD 0]

If you feel ashamed saying the word "TNA" you must be 16 years old. Seriously, people should have grown up by now. I feel more ashamed saying I watch the WWE at this point than TNA.

 

Wrestling in itself is embarassing to admit you watch. You are basically saying, "I'm going to watch a bunch of well oiled muscle guys roll around on top of each other for two hours".

 

The rating is about what I expected. You can't wait til the last day to start promoting a show and that feels like what Spike did. I didn't hear one word about the special UNTIL Wednesday and Thursday. Look how hard USA promoted the RAW HOMECOMING. You need promotion like THAT if you want to get the people higher than your normal audience. If they want a rise, start promoting the next special like right now.