The Reality of Wrestling: TNA on primetime

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The Reality of Wrestling: TNA on primetime
By Phil Clark & J.D. Speich

IT’S SHOWTIME!

Today, what has been known by the wrestling community for weeks was finally made official: TNA is heading to primetime. The Carters announced that TNA would be getting a Thursday slot coming in April. It will still be 60-minutes, but now the adrenaline rush gets a move to primetime on a now non-WWE night that they can have all to themselves. With this latest development in the “will they or won’t they make it” story that is TNA, is the E going to take notice, or have they already?

J.D. says: TNA getting their prime time slot is what they needed to contend with WWE

Earlier today it was announced that TNA will be moving to Thursday night starting April
13. The time slot TNA will be 9 p.m. ET/8 p.m. central time. I believe that TNA getting their prime time slot is the move to put them over the edge as far as contending with the WWE. The best part about this announcement is that the time slot is going to be on a Thursday night, a night where WWE will not be on T.V. so TNA will get full attention. Over the past year TNA has been able to easily beat WWE as far as match quality, but hasn’t been able to compete with WWE’s buyrates on pay-per-view. With this move to Thursday TNA will be getting at least double the publicity they had. Therefore I feel that with the move to Thursday TNA is going to be able to easily double their buyrates at pay-per-views within the next 6 months. I’m predicting that in about a year everyone will be watching TNA while Vince and the WWE will be left in the dust.

With fresh, new talent like A.J. Styles and Samoa Joe, TNA is going to the best product out on T.V. The only way WWE will be able to compete with TNA is if Vince flashes some money towards top prospects Samoa Joe and A.J. Styles in order to steal them from TNA, and if that doesn’t work he might have to catch those two at a day spa and persuade them with some nude pictures. Right now is the time for the WWE to start taking TNA seriously as a competitor. I will leave this article this week with one last thought; who do think is going to headline Wrestlemania 23? The answer is: no one is going to care in a year and everyone will be wondering who is going to be main-eventing any card for TNA.

P.C. Says: TNA didn’t need a primetime slot to be in contention with the E

First of all, lets get one thing straight: Vince McMahon has always been a paranoid man. My guess is that after spending most of the 80’s dealing with promoters that were as paranoid if not more paranoid than Vince is right now, it’s just karma at work. Vince’s paranoia has been something that he has benefited and suffered from in the past and proof of it is with TNA’s rise over the past year. TNA coming to primetime on a day that the E made a wrestling day in the fans’ eyes seems like a shot to the nuts towards the E. Kudos.

First of all, let’s look at the TNA talent pool. Ever since the fall of WCW, Vince has tried to snag A.J. Styles to no avail. Samoa Joe apparently is also on Vince’s list of guys to pick up. If he were to be successful, TNA is severely crippled due to the loss. Also, last year, Vince signed James Gibson, Brian Kendrick, and C.M. Punk from Ring of Honor with the specific purpose of keeping them from going to TNA. Punk had lobbied to be in Joe’s debut at TNA’s Slammiversary pay-per-view, but his demands weren’t met. Also, Charlie Haas was just brought back apparently despite a rather ugly exit also so he wouldn’t jump right into the Impact Zone. It has been rumored that Vince’s big name guys—(cough) Benoit (cough)—who’s contracts are coming up could be in store for a big payday again just so they won’t jump. My guess is that flashbacks of 1995-96 are entering Vince’s head and he’s showing that he knows one of the key rules of history: it repeats itself.

Now, looking at McMahon’s haste in signing Punk, Gibson, Kendrick, and Haas, one has to wonder, “Why is TNA so scary to begin with?” If you look at TNA’s credentials, they aren’t that scary: going on four years as a promotion, no house shows (yet), they only wrestle in one place, and they don’t have that much cash to work with after handing over ½ a mil to Sting. So, why do former WWE guys want to jump and have jumped? The atmosphere. Watch “ECW: One Night Stand” again and look at how many guys on there are working for TNA right now: James Mitchell, The Dudleys, Sabu, and Rhino. Now, none of these guys were under WWE contract going into the event (maybe Rhino), but they were all given the opportunity to re-sign after the event. In fact, Vince went after Sabu pretty hard, but to no avail once again. Former WWE guys who’ve shown up in TNA (Christian Cage most vocally) have commented that locker room and the overall atmosphere surrounding the promotion is eons better than the E’s at this point. Is there politics? Of course there is, wrestling today wouldn’t be wrestling without them, but they aren’t as rampant and TNA has shown that older guys can’t muscle their way around (examples: Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage), something that is very appealing to the younger guys looking to catch their first big break.

Next, the overall quality of the shows. Certainly, this caught Vince’s eye. Whenever a rival promotion hits a hot streak where people begin to buzz about them, that’s when Vince starts to take notice; best example: ECW. Well, since 2003, TNA has been putting on a quality product on par with the E’s. With Samoa Joe’s entrance, A.J. Styles’ evolution into a fully-functional wrestler, and the influx of good booking and good workers, TNA’s overall product was able to smoke the E’s in 2005 as they (in my opinion) bettered them eight of eleven times their pay-per-views aired on the same month. Also, TNA utilizes their cruiserweights (most of their roster is under the 228-pound mark) in a way that the E can only dream about doing; or they can do on Japanese tours. Also, the quality of their shows is what got TNA a cult following in the first place as the people they were pushing (minus Jarrett) were young guys trying to make a name for themselves. They continued (for the most part) to do this and that’s what’s gotten them on T.V. and what has brought them to Thursday nights. Even though having some established former WWE guys isn’t that bad of a thing either. Plus, that Sting guy is there too right?

My opinion has always been that TNA didn’t need to shill out the cash to get Sting because they didn’t have to spend that much to get Sting and I don’t think they need Sting. The Thursday deal has been in the works since near the end of last year and Sting’s entrance was likely just the icing on the cake. Still, with all the problems TNA has at this point, it didn’t take a primetime T.V. deal for them to get the E’s attention.

The Reality is…maybe the E is dogging it on purpose. When WCW wasn’t competition (before and after the Monday Night Wars), the E didn’t have that same spark or effort towards their product and the buyrates and T.V. ratings, and attendances all suffered. The same has been happening for the past couple of years and at this point with TNA on the rise, maybe it’s all an evil plan from Vinnie Mac. Here’s the mindset, “Have my product suck, the fans will tune into the other guy’s product, then when I actually have someone to compete with, I’ll start trying again.” While most would think that philosophy stupid, it seems to be the one that Vince used from 94-96 until WCW became something big and helped the E create the Attitude Era out of necessity. So, if you love the E, start watching TNA. Trust me, like any tough love this will help them in the long run. If the buyrates continue to be low (and Mania’s may be the lowest in years) and the attendances for house shows and non-Big Four pay-per-views are crappy and TNA’s ratings and buyrates rise up, then Vince may have to go back to drawing board and that’s when the E is usually at their best.

THE WEEKLY “FUCK YOU!”
We’re trying something different this week. As everyone must know by now, the wrestling business can be very, very depressing at times. As a way of healing our (and your) pain, we are going to let someone or some company know how we all feel about them each week. Let’s see if this catches on.

This week’s “FUCK YOU!” goes to…

THE WWE
The E once again pimping out the death of Eddie Guerrero for nothing more than cheap heat to build to a match that won’t main-event and (knowing the E) will be right smack dab in the middle of No Way Out with the conclusion being that Eddie’s friend loses his title shot and with it his hopes and dreams of Wrestlemania. I’ve always said the E has no class and this may be the icing on the cake there. Thank god the locker room seems to feel the same way.