Grantland takes an extensive look at TNA

[Lance Uppercut]

grantland.com/features/tna-professional-wrestling-dixie-carter-jeff-jarrett-wwe/

**Grantland has an extensive look at the history of TNA, in a piece written by Thomas Golianopoulos, with interviews from a bunch of people including TNA president Dixie Carter, John Gaburick, Vince Russo, A.J. Styles, Bobby Roode, Joey Ryan and Jeff Jarrett. The writer also notes that Eric Bischoff was reached out to but would not comment on anything related to TNA (Bischoff has been careful not to discuss anything related to TNA in other podcast interviews as well and I know in at least one lengthy interview he did, he stated TNA was off limits). The story is well put together and you hear from a lot of key people on opposing sides of the fence but the key interview is the one with Carter. She noted that “We will die a slow death on the vine if we just stay as one two-hour show in the U.S.” when describing the current situation and also saying she wouldn’t play “Monday morning quarterback” but acknowledges she could have done a lot of things differently. The takeaway from the piece is that this is a company that is definitely in a very bad way at the moment and made some key miscalculations (ones outlined in the piece include not listening to their fan base for a number of years, leaving the Impact Zone to go on the road and drastically increase costs but also maintaining that Vince Russo’s involvement this year and the leaked email to Mike Johnson were of no consequence and downplayed that story significantly).

[andrew8798]

dave

Almost every quote in that story made my head spin.

[HMARK Center]

The whole thing about "dying on the vine if we only have two hours" is infuriating, because it shows where her head has been at.

TNA was born at the beginning of the downswing of pro wrestling in the US. Trying to force itself into being a national presence was never going to be a viable strategy. It had to think about growing slowly, building up talent, getting a fanbase, THEN worry about growing beyond that.

So many of TNA's problems have stemmed from just having to have things that were beyond its means.

[Sephiroth]

Am I the only one who wonders why these business types can never just come out and say "I effed up?"

[El Cokehead del Knife Fight]

So Dixie is the type where she'd rather her business die slowly and painfully over a longer period of time instead of going "yeah, that's enough" and at least letting it die with dignity? Can't say that shocks me.
EDIT: Keep in mind, that's a general impression that I get from Dixie.

[grunt]

Meh, from a journalistic standpoint, the only interesting things in this piece are the direct quotes. The rest is the same old mix of rumors, newz, approximations and subjective smarky POV/narrative that you could find in any bleacherreport or cagesideseats blog about TNA.

Somehow, I expected more facts, and less of a hodgepodge of every opinion piece written about TNA by wrestling fans &/or reporters these past ten years.

[kevin]

This article had a lot of great quotes I really enjoyed reading it.

[JTG Fan]

Sept 16, 2014 19:16:58 GMT -5 grunt said:

Meh, from a journalistic standpoint, the only interesting things in this piece are the direct quotes. The rest is the same old mix of rumors, newz, approximations and subjective smarky POV/narrative that you could find in any bleacherreport or cagesideseats blog about TNA.

Somehow, I expected more facts, and less of a hodgepodge of every opinion piece written about TNA by wrestling fans &/or reporters these past ten years.

Truth hurts.

[Red Impact]

Sept 16, 2014 19:16:58 GMT -5 grunt said:

Meh, from a journalistic standpoint, the only interesting things in this piece are the direct quotes. The rest is the same old mix of rumors, newz, approximations and subjective smarky POV/narrative that you could find in any bleacherreport or cagesideseats blog about TNA.

Somehow, I expected more facts, and less of a hodgepodge of every opinion piece written about TNA by wrestling fans &/or reporters these past ten years.

The only bit of "newz" that isn't confirmed is the tv deal. Everything else is directly addressed by the people involved.

[salsashark]

I love Thomas G's writing so much. Fantastic piece. Check out his great Kevin Nash story from 2012:

grantland.com/features/wrestling-star-kevin-nash-making-headway-hollywood-keeps-night/

[Kevin Hamilton]

Dixie just comes across as so fulla shit.

[Confused Mark Wahlberg]

The matches are fake! They are not real!

[andrew8798]

Bix asked Russo about the Star Ratings thing on Twitter

Does anybody rate the arrests a fake cop makes on a TV show? Or the surgeries a fake doctor performs?

[Deleted]

Russo is such a clueless putz.

[OVO 40 hunched over like he 80]

Lol at Jeff saying that TNA always meant total non stop action, and that Russo contradicts him saying it stands for Tits N Ass and that in the first episodes Lollipop was dancing in a cage.
That article is so sad, Dixie can't accept that tna is dead, she went full Linus mode waiting for the great pumpkin to come.
The woman truly is the biggest money mark ever, she should've never been a part of the industry, her decisions single handedly killed the only alternative to Vince.

[BlackoutCreature]

Sept 16, 2014 21:50:38 GMT -5 andrew8798 said:

Bix asked Russo about the Star Ratings thing on Twitter

Does anybody rate the arrests a fake cop makes on a TV show? Or the surgeries a fake doctor performs?

Is Vince Russo really this clueless about the existence of the entertainment review industry? Siskel & Ebert? Rottentomatoes.com? Channel Awesome? None of this stuff at all rings any bells with him?

[HMARK Center]

I WAS kind of interested to see how Hogan was portrayed; noteworthy how guys like Joey Ryan apparently loved having him around, and that he was actually accessible to them for help and direction if they wanted it.

Still leaves you scratching your head over why Hogan never seemed to mention TNA in other public appearances, though...

Roode also makes a decent point that people have been saying TNA is dead in the water for nearly ten years already, but at the same time it's hard to ignore the situation they're in now. The article is right, it's kind of sad to see them finally get the message about how to improve their product (put on solid wrestling matches instead of long-term conspiracy heel faction angles...who knew?!) just as we're likely nearing the end, or at least the end of current TNA, as we know it.

[OVO 40 hunched over like he 80]

Sept 17, 2014 5:52:53 GMT -5 HMARK Center said:

I WAS kind of interested to see how Hogan was portrayed; noteworthy how guys like Joey Ryan apparently loved having him around, and that he was actually accessible to them for help and direction if they wanted it.

Still leaves you scratching your head over why Hogan never seemed to mention TNA in other public appearances, though...

Roode also makes a decent point that people have been saying TNA is dead in the water for nearly ten years already, but at the same time it's hard to ignore the situation they're in now. The article is right, it's kind of sad to see them finally get the message about how to improve their product (put on solid wrestling matches instead of long-term conspiracy heel faction angles...who knew?!) just as we're likely nearing the end, or at least the end of current TNA, as we know it.

Dixie finally acknowledged that Hogan didn't knew the product, kinda implying that the only good thing hogan ever brought to tna was the exposure.

Wouldn't you be embarrased to say on national tv (like Larry King) that your company's name is TNA? Even Hogan buried the name in the Howard Stern show.

[Ben Wyatt]

Sept 17, 2014 5:52:53 GMT -5 HMARK Center said:

I WAS kind of interested to see how Hogan was portrayed; noteworthy how guys like Joey Ryan apparently loved having him around, and that he was actually accessible to them for help and direction if they wanted it.

Still leaves you scratching your head over why Hogan never seemed to mention TNA in other public appearances, though...

I think a big part of it is that Hogan's heart was simply never in it. His "home" was and will always be WWF/E.

[wahoowah11]

I enjoyed the article, as I live outside of Nashville I have been hoping to run into Dixie or Jeff.