Kurt Angle shoots with Dave Meltzer

[UseTheSledgehammerUh 0]

"Kurt was WWE's top draw"

 

600 fans Friday night in the ECW Arena.

[Hawk 34 0]

"Kurt was WWE's top draw"

 

600 fans Friday night in the ECW Arena.

 

WWE always had promotion. TNA doesn't promote outside the internet and considering that CZW and ROH draw just slightly larger crowds, shows that 600 is a fairly average draw for Philly and internet based promotions.

 

However, Angle was never once WWE's top draw from a box office standpoint.

[UseTheSledgehammerUh 0]

TNA delivered a very good last show in Philly with a much larger crowd than CZW or ROH draw in Philly.

 

Great show.

 

+

 

TV Advertising

 

+

 

Web Advertising

 

+

 

Angle headlining

 

=

 

Lower attendance? Doesn't add up.

[UseTheSledgehammerUh 0]

And honestly, Angle was in such bad shape Friday that it really doesn't matter to me. I'm not feelin' TNA.

 

The fact is that Kurt Angle was never a draw for WWE, and was always just a great wrestler and character who added a large piece to a greater whole.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

It's a slippery-slope though because some people would argue that trying to get *that* particular fan is what the downfall of WWE is.

You don't need to bother with the fan who doesn't like wrestling. It's the wrestling fan who doesn't know about TNA or needs a hook to get interested in TNA that they need to go after. There are still a large number of wrestling fans who either don't know TNA exists or haven't been given a reason to care that they exist.

[Guest Coffey]

I'm not feelin' TNA.

 

This post is gonna be confusing and all-over-the-place, so I'm apologising before hand. I can't really explain what I'm thinking with words...

 

I'm glad Angle showed up in TNA because, assuming TNA bothers to ever get the word out, I think Angle's name could draw in some more viewers. Of course, no one knows that Christian, Sting, Rhyno, The Dudleys, etc. are there either.

 

All of that's fine and dandy but that's not why *I* tune in. I'm sure it's not why a lot of other internet fans tune in either. We watch because we want to see good wrestling. We watch because we want to see a non-WWE promotion prosper so that WWE will, eventually, have some competition and, hopefully, that would make them attempt to continually improve. Angle is a good wrestler. Christian is decent. So, the fans that TNA currently have, welcomed them both with open arms. However, when TNA bring in someone like Billy Gunn, we don't really give two shits because we don't think they can offer a whole lot.

 

Maybe I shouldn't speak for other people.

 

I watch TNA because WWE bores me and I still want to watch wrestling. The problem is, TNA isn't really good. If iMPACT! had WWE's name on it, I'd badmouth it to no end and not watch it, I'm sure.

 

There's a place where you try to get to as a company where you appease the casual fans and the smart fans without alienating either side. The Rock was able to do it, for example. Both sides were entertained by him, even if he wasn't the best wrestler. Eddie Guerrero as well. Those are just wrestlers though, you have to, somehow, convert that into a show. Not just an occasional good segment.

 

If TNA can do that, people will take notice and start to watch. It's like the nWo in WCW. People started to notice because it made compelling TV. People knew who the guys were because of their previous runs in WWF. So, people started watching WCW. Then they learned who Dallas Page and Goldberg were from tuning in and watched them get built-up. Too bad WCW didn't do it with more people...

 

So, ideally, TNA want to get someone like Angle to get people to tune in, then have someone like Samoa Joe make them keep coming back. Or even LAX.

 

So, to "not be feelin' TNA" makes a perfect amount of sense because they're confused as to what they're doing right now themselves. I mean, how many times have they already hit the reset button? How many wrestlers have already started to get pushes then just fell off the planet? Week-in and week-out, what's supposed to be making us, as fans, want to watch again the next week?

 

WWE has the same problem right now. There's not really any storylines. It's just "this month, these two guys are doing something" until the PPV. Then the PPV is just another match like any other match, or maybe has a gimmick, but no one cares because the build-up was the shits and rushed and probably didn't make a whole lot of sense to being with. People don't want to pay for that. Especially forty times a year.

 

You don't need to bother with the fan who doesn't like wrestling. It's the wrestling fan who doesn't know about TNA or needs a hook to get interested in TNA that they need to go after. There are still a large number of wrestling fans who either don't know TNA exists or haven't been given a reason to care that they exist.

 

Yeah, I agree. This is kinda what I'm hinting at: TNA don't have that "hook." There's no reason to keep tuning in other than, as an internet fan, hopes of seeing them (them being TNA as a whole) deliver a good match, or that maybe, eventually, they'll stumble into something compelling and we want to be there to say "I saw that." It's kinda like a blind faith.

 

Compare that to the marks. They don't give two shits about workrate. They don't know who the fuck AJ Styles is and probably just think Joe is "some chubby dude." So, they hear about Angle, let's say, so they tune in. After watching the show one week, why would they watch it again the week after? They'd think "this shit sucks" and that viewer would be lost. There's no hook.

 

I've watched TNA with a lot of former wrestling fans. There's very few things that made them actually speak up and even less that wow'ed them. You'd get the occasional comment like "he's here too?" or "she's hot" (you know how that is) but only something like a Canadian Destroyer would make them, you know, mark out. TNA need a storyline equivalent to the Destroyer.

[World's Worst Man 0]

However, Angle was never once WWE's top draw from a box office standpoint.

 

But but, Angle said he was the top draw in the company

[Bruce Blank 0]

He also said Raw was well written so take it with a grain of salt