At the peak of its viewership TNA was bringing in 1.2 million viewers a week. After its recent debut on POP TV, it is now at 250,000. It has gone up and down over the last couple of weeks, but this is the average rating as of recently. So why the drop? Why has the talent we loved so much moved on to bigger things in the WWE? That’s what this piece is all about.
Four months into its deal with Destination America they decided to cancel all TNA related programming by September 2015. After this TNA was picked up by POP TV where it sits for us to watch today. A lot of this was down to lack of advertising due to TNA’s TV-14 rating which is a shame for today’s more mature viewer of wrestling.
I honestly believe that the problems started in 2010 for TNA, the year that Hogan and Bischoff joined the roster. It is not entirely their fault that the company failed, but it led to the natural progression of failure. Once they had been given creative reins, TNA fell into the same pattern that WCW did, but this time without the massive budget that Time Warner had. The company already had Kurt Angle, Christian Cage and Team 3D when Hogan and Bischoff took over, but shortly after Ric Flair, Rob Van Dam, Mr Anderson and Jeff Hardy all signed long term lucrative deals with the company. Not only that but they killed off the talent they already had, they pushed aside the TNA “originals”, and the amazing X-Division had been finished.
Then TNA brought in the WCW mindset of Factions everywhere ‘If wrestlers aren’t working then put them in a faction’. You had two major groups in Hogan and Bischoff’s time one of which was Immortal, which ended up having 22 unique members over 18 months, this was followed by Aces & Eights whose storyline constantly changed from week to week and ended up closing with a whimper. Then the ridiculous decision to move their show live to Monday nights, in direct competition with Raw, and going on a world tour completely drained their finances and left them vulnerable. The thought of world-wide viewership was too fast and left the company not knowing how to book their stars.
Shortly after a lot of the current main roster left the company. Christian, RVD, Sting and Hogan all came to the WWE and have now been followed by Samoa Joe, AJ Styles, Austin Aries and James Storm for a short stint. I firmly believe the company has ran its course and it is a shame to see as it truly was another choice for the avid wrestling fans like myself.
They continue to limp on even though their main event roster is a shell of its former self. They will continue to survive as POP TV has nothing to lose with having them on their programming, but the chance for the company to thrive and grow has all but gone. The company has provided some of the best matches in wrestling history, especially with the Knockouts Division which highlighted the wrestling talents of the female roster.
Maybe I’m wrong and they might get another chance, but in all honesty is it right for forgotten stars such as the Hardy’s and TNA originals like Bobby Rhoode to stay in that type of environment, or should they chance going to the big leagues and getting that one chance?
Let us know in the comments below what you think TNA need to bring it back to the big leagues.
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