TNA Impact Wrestling as of January 5th will be moving to a new television network. POP TV will now broadcast the episodes for wrestling. Let’s take a look and profile TNA Wrestling.
The proponent of this argument is: TNA surviving with a new lease on life. They get out of their deal with DA, Destination America. Pop TV is more viable and widely available in 20 million plus more homes, and more than the capabilities of Destination America. As a conjecture though, on the flip side: just because TNA is widely available on more televisions does not mean that more fans will watch the show. TNA has to figure out what entices their fans, and to stay? In lay terms, what’s the “hook”? What’s the compelling cliff-hanger of their television to bring people back to watch the next week, and those to come? At the end of the day, television is a business and makes its money from viewership and ratings and not by DVR standards.
What will “pop” for TNA? What can bring a better rating to the show? What can we expect regarding content, and most importantly “different” versus what we’ve seen? TNA needs newer concepts and contracted talent, as opposed to talent sharing. Free agents who are unsigned by the bigger promotions like a Colt Cabana, Rey Mysterio and Chris Hero are ones that come to mind. It is those three men, among others who have a following, a proven track record of success and can move the numbers and merchandise will bring profit and freshness for TNA. Fans need to buy in and believe in a given character or persona whose home as the company face is TNA. Yes, talent sharing means wrestlers can find more work. Make the wrestler’s as must see, only to be found in TNA. Having outside venues like MMA for Lashley, and other promotions who share TNA talent dilutes Impact Wrestling and their appeal. The fans that follow MMA and those performers have not crossed over to see a pre-determined sport, in pro wrestling.
Regarding this new lease on life, changes must be made now for the company. For starters, it all begins and ends with creative. The product and ratings are based on what draws, of what is produced, and coming across on television. In lay terms, Impact needs stability and to be a more creatively compelling product. With the rise of competition such as New Japan on American AXS TV and WWE NXT means fans are tuning into other promotions, which takes away from TNA. Talent raids and contractual departures stunted the company’s growth, and ability to recover from the losses. Stars like: Samoa Joe, AJ Styles, Daniels, Kazarian and James Storm to name a few left Impact Wrestling. They, along with Magnus have received better opportunities. Naturally, they went with the respective competitors with bigger resources, and the ability to utilize these men.
Tonight’s action on January 5th features the culmination of the World Title Series Tournament. Matt Hardy won the title amid controversy back at Bound for Glory, and relinquished the title due to this controversy and injunction filed by former champion, EC3, Ethan Carter the third. Impact was also smart to air “Best of 2015” two-part airings, as well as a yearly recap show as a preview to the product. It is smart to entice as well as educate fans, including the disenchanted ones that new beginnings are coming; and admittedly, hopefully, they are.
January 5th’s Pop TV debut will feature Bobby Lashley versus EC3 and Matt Hardy versus Eric Young in the two semi-final bouts. Who will meet in the finals and win the bout? We will also see (which reeks of pre-taped if the rumors of the departures of Taryn Terrell are true) The Dollhouse versus The Beautiful People in Knockouts action. But the title developments, and creative gusto remains to be seen. Bobby Roode is defending his Global (King of The Mountain title) as it was wrested from the GFW, Global Force Wrestling contingency during their inter-promotional battle for ownerships stakes with TNA.
In other aspects, how will TNA continue to develop and more importantly push new and younger talent? Talent such as Mandrake, Shera, Manik and Zema Ion has a bit of a following, but need more depth in their personas to go along with their charisma and in-ring abilities. How does TNA continue to prop the established talent into must-see franchise players; such as Galloway, Eric Young and Bobby Roode to name a few? Will the tag team ranks continue to thrive, and will the division be rested solely on the best tag team, in the American Wolves? What happens with veterans like Kurt Angle and Abyss to be best utilized? How does TNA combat the departures to either resign the individual to a new contract, or entice others to fill the void of said departure?
Impact revamps must also continue with the on-air look and appeal to the show. It goes beyond just the 6-side ring, and original concepts. It’s the wishy-washy storylines, or lack thereof which does not attract the casual, or mainstream fans who appreciate more story-telling and not the wrestling side of it. Some stories honestly look and come across as a Xerox or a carbon copy. This means the storyline failures translates to a lack of connection to the audience. Pop TV and TNA have to look at who they are appealing to, their demographics while trying to write (and “right”) the ship for that audience. Fans of all types want a superstar, a face of the company who they can relate to.
The taped shows make it difficult to get a real vibe of who’s following a specific product; and it’s not live, lacking the feeling of spontaneity. A taped show can have a match or performer on it on a given week, and then perhaps gone the next. Thanks to the internet along with newsletter sites with news of departures and changes means TNA is trying to adjust on the fly, and counter.
The fans need and want an individual(s) who are narrow-focused by the company and stand out. The wrestlers must have an intimate connection to the fans- whether it’s a move (like The People’s elbow), along with charisma for personality. Someone with flair, someone who will stand out is what TNA needs. Storyline consistency, of better writing and better execution to make a show better is important. Fans want a balance of a good wrestler, and also a persona, a character, a performer. They want and need stories that will be compelling, and thought-provoking. The stories are a balance to compliment what is in the ring. Video vignettes, segments, angles which spark stories, or a feud are the proper formulas needed for TNA. Impact needs characters and performers with clearer roles. Ethan Carter is the best example of both a persona and a wrestler with intangibles. TNA “rebuilt” the former Derrick Bateman. Carter “got over”, respectively earning the elevation and push he deserved. He interacts with the audience. His persona is character-orientated, with good promo and microphone skills.
Eric Young is a TNA Original and who suffered as a comedic Super Eric at one point. Then, he was pushed as a diet-lite brand version of the WWE’s Daniel Bryan. He was perceived as the heroic hero, who was underutilized and small by the standards who finally won the title belt. But Young has re-branded himself as the World Class Maniac. TNA does not need to have “knee jerk” reactions to what their competitors do, or execute well. Objectively, Impact staying the course with the things which are already established as successful is key. TNA needs to be different creatively in order to succeed. Bad writing regimes that added more to the payroll, but did not provide a bigger number also stunted the growth for TNA, like it did in 2010.
Main-stream wrestling fans like the intrigue, the drama, the stories and the interaction. Hardcore, die-hard classic fans appreciate more of the in-ring product. However, these concepts and two ideologies are very different. These fans and ideologies must be successfully married in order to cater to a larger audience. Sadly, great matches do have their place on the show, or a PPV. However, America’s sense of wrestling and attention span, disregards the wrestling side. Matches do not draw as high a rating as it should, or formerly. TNA should return to a limited PPV schedule, and doing so would make profit. Impact could also redefine their Video on Demand or have a branded Network. These maneuvers and ideas are to keep the lineage, history and “link” shows together. Having PPV quality matches as their Television, hot-shotting did not work for TNA. Reason being, is that the ratings did not rise, and did not turn in a positive way. If ratings and the product were better, then they’d still be on Spike TV, or Destination America- and they aren’t.
Who books, who writes: Many creative changes throughout the tenure of TNA; who will provide stability creatively and for the numbers? TNA brought in Bischoff and Hogan in 2010, and they were hampered by what they could do, and perhaps the talent didn’t share, or execute the same vision Bischoff and Hogan had. Arguably, Dutch Mantel and Jim Cornette had successful reigns at the helm, but due to undermining and differences; both are no longer with the company. Dutch is now as we know, in WWE as Zeb Colter with Alberto Del Rio. TNA has brought in Billy Corgan, adding him along with their current regime. It is intriguing to see what ideas, changes and layouts Corgan has created or suggested. Most importantly, have his suggestions made a positive in the ratings? What intangibles does Corgan have that sets him apart, or perhaps better than his predecessors? Quite frankly, it is surprising the head of creative is also the head of talent relations in John Gaburick. Given the ratings, and creative issues, inconsistency at times; is John Gaburick handling too much, too much micro-managing? In other words, he too, is only one person. How much is too much, and spreading oneself too thin?
Stripping away the history and all other factors; one question remains: How many fans and households will view TNA, even on a new network? Mistakes and bad decisions, with bad directions in the past have disenchanted fans before. With this fresh start, and availability as potential reach- Can these new changes bring fans back, along with new ones to watch and not just sample TNA’s product? They also need to take away fans who are following any (or all) of the three WWE brands. Taking away fans from the competitor adds to the fan base, and also approvingly of TNA’s product. More fans, equals higher ratings. Contrast; sampling the product or just DVR-ing an episode of Impact does not maintain a steady fan base. It gives an inaccurate reading.
The “Logic:” Let’s play Devil’s Advocate regarding Pop Network. What demographics will Pop TV and now TNA appeal to? We as fans hope that this is not just a leverage move by Pop TV, to use TNA as proverbial cannon fodder if ratings do not hit the high points, or as early as predicted. We hope that TNA this time around finds consistency, and do not get kicked off because “wrestling” is unappealing, or doesn’t fit in the parameters, just like it did on the Turner networks in 2001.
In closing, with new media and new technology, hopefully entices fans and give more avenues to see TNA and other wrestling products if desired. It all centers on the ratings, and of which after a while, had declined on each network. TNA needs to make a bang, and make the debut show different than what has been broadcasted. Hopefully, on January 5th at 9:00 ET, TNA will get the “pop” they need, and make ground on Pop TV.
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