A few weeks ago, something strange happened to me. For the life of me, I can’t think what it was, but for some reason, I started getting optimistic about the future of TNA, and the world of non-WWE wrestling. This high took me from the excellent performances of Rockstar Spud all the way to a local wrestling company in Dundee, and all the while, I stood alone as a beacon of positivity in a world of WWE induced doom and gloom.
Like a world class surfer, I was riding this wave of euphoria. This was THE wave, and it was never going to end. I was doing cool tricks and everything to impress the girls on the beach, and it was easy, because this was a wave that would never end.
And then it did. Abruptly…
I hate TNA again, and I hate myself a little bit for once again believing they were moving in the right direction, for putting my faith – once again – in a company best known for monumental mismanagement.
So what did TNA do? This was a two pronged attack, and like the very worst heel turn, right up there with ADR doing a hit and run on Santa, common sense was the victim…
The Wolves are now the TNA Tag Team champs. We all knew this would happen. It should come as a surprise to no-one. But they became tag champs…in America…at a house show…in the middle of six editions of Impact that were recorded in the UK…on a tour TNA have hyped to the heavens.
Now if you want to generate crowds at your house shows, it’s probably not a bad idea to let the fans know that they should really come along to the show, because a title may change hands. But…to do it in the middle of a run of shows taped overseas is just plain wrong for so many reasons. My head hurts trying to think of all of them.
But, let’s give it a go…
The average fan of TNA is probably the one who simply watches the show. No more, no less. The average fan sees TNA as a 2-hour show, once a week. These are fans looking for a bit of entertainment, not the ones who search online for spoilers, or debate whether or not Russo is back, but the average fan.
The average fan is willing to put aside reality to a certain extent. They will not believe the impossible, but can be convinced on the unlikely.
Examples of this can be found everywhere in wrestling. Rey Mysterio becoming World Champion – unlikely. David Arquette becoming champ – oh wait…not a good example. Hogan winning the title at WrestleMania 30 – unlikely. Bryan winning the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania – impossible. The Bro-Mans as TNA Tag-Team Champs – unlikely.
The Wolves getting a time machine, travelling four weeks forward in time, securing the belts, then travelling back in time to appear on a show as the new champs – impossible.
But win it they did, and TNA then had to start an information offensive, with everyone on the roster tweeting congratulations to the Wolves, so the information got out before Impact aired. Tenay and Taz (TAT for short) had to repeatedly mention it in commentary during the show, and of course in real time, it meant the Wolves were announced as tag champs four weeks before the match took place (unless my time machine theory is correct).
For continuity purposes in terms of the TV show, it made sense, but it really just overcomplicates things. Why not just have the Wolves win the belts in the UK? In front of more than 500 fans? Rather than trying to convince fans that the Wolves left Birmingham and immediately flew back to America to win the belts, only to return to London as champs. Why not just have them win the belts in London??
Now, I have no idea on figures here, but just watching the shows, the live audiences in the UK look at least five times bigger than anything TNA does back in the good old US of A, so why not reward those excellent attendance figures with a title change? If you plan on returning to the UK, why not have the 5, or 10, thousand fans leaving with that memory, especially when you’re trying to punt tickets for the next tour while this tour is on?
Why not say to those fans, “you never know, you might see a title change in Glasgow next year”. If you’re selling tickets a year in advance, why not give people a reason to buy them as soon as they leave the show?
On its own, this title change wouldn’t be enough to dampen my enthusiasm for the product. But something else happened. If you want to know what that was, you really need to #AskDixie.
A few months ago, Dixie Carter decided a live tweeting session was in order, and invited fans to #AskDixie. For anyone unaware of this event, to give you some perspective on how well it went, I’d ask you to imagine the two largest trains in the world, heading towards each other at the speed of light. The result of that collision would be smaller than the train wreck that was the original #AskDixie.
Every smark with internet access went into smugness overdrive, and Dixie was inundated with ridiculous questions. My fellow SLTD writer, and host of the ever brilliant MFX Podcast, Duckman wrote an article about it at the time, you can read it here. And Dixie thought it was a good idea to repeat this.
This time however, Dixie had an ace up her sleeve. You tweet Dixie, she cherry-picks the tweets she wants to answer, and does it all on the TNA “second screen experience” – whatever that is. Now that was probably a sensible idea. What was not a sensible idea was Dixie doing the whole thing in character.
#AskDixie, handled properly, could have given people the chance to ask some real hard-hitting questions of the person who, in essence, runs the second largest wrestling company in America. It could’ve given Dixie the chance to show she actually has a plan for the company – a plan that will see the company grow. What we ended up with was TNA picking out questions like “Are you coming to Canada?”, or “will Jay Lethal return?”
On top of that, #AskDixie was apparently taking place while Impact was being taped four weeks ago, so at least TNA are getting value on that time machine, but questions about the show, asked and answered in the present tense…really??
So the first time she tried it, Dixie took an internet beating. The second time, she levelled the playing field by picking the questions she wanted to answer, and even then, she didn’t actually answer them all.
“Q: What is your favourite TNA PPV? A: Depends, Bound for Glory and Lockdown are always great, but Slammiversary is too”.
So from that, we can gather that Dixie hates Sacrifice. They only have four PPVs, and she likes three…
Answering in character meant her answers were the answers of that character, so you weren’t asking Dixie, you were asking “Screen Dixie”, who we have to hope is not really running the company, and as such, the exercise was about as useful as losing your wallet, on pay day, two days before Christmas, after withdrawing all your money from the bank.
I’d like to end this by pointing out that Impact is actually my wrestling show of choice. What I mean by that is that I actually like more of what TNA do than WWE. I said two weeks ago that Spud was on course to become a big star, Kaz and Daniels have the ability to actually make me laugh (the suits for the Roode EGO HoF Induction were total class), and Magnus is growing into his role every day.
#AskDixie, and the need to overcomplicate things, are not so good, and it annoys me more because they do some things so well, then ruin it all on stuff that doesn’t even need to happen. I only get annoyed because I’m a fan. WWE is something I watch with low expectations, so when I get The Wyatts vs The Shield, I’m impressed, but that’s only because I expect rubbish from WWE.
Bizarre though this may sound to some, I expect better from TNA.
As is the norm, anyone can disagree, or indeed use the preferred option of telling me how absolutely brilliant I am by leaving a comment below, and of course, you can follow me on Twitter @GrantCookDFC
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