Rave
El Dandy
Perpetually Bored
Posts: 8,068
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Post by Rave on Feb 13, 2019 13:52:57 GMT -5
TNA gave us Bigfoot dance party That's kinda worth it But they didn't... that was part of their let's tape fake matches to confuse the internet No it wasn't, it was stuff discarded when they decided to repurpose the stuff they taped for their One Night Only PPVs as the World Title Series to close out their DestAM run, which resulted in them having to do a live PPV with absolutely no buildup afterward. The fake stuff was a little earlier in the year, in the form of random and horrendous matches like Al Snow vs. Jessie Godderz in an Elevation X match announced for a Genesis that never happened.
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Chainsaw
T
A very BAD man.
It is what it is
Posts: 90,480
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Post by Chainsaw on Feb 13, 2019 14:37:46 GMT -5
I think it's a tough call. Ultimately, history will not be kind to TNA (not like it's kind to it now), but I think there are some positives that came from it for a little while, until Dixie decided to go all in on Hogan, and both of them ended up screwing each other over completely to the absolute detriment of the company. After that, TNA was nothing more than a 2-bit carny promotion that had nice sets. But they got a lot of people on TV, in front of eyes, and certainly raised their profile of a few wrestlers. But I feel like the damage really outweighs the positives at the end of the day.
Really, the only people it ended up benefiting (outside of the people who took the company for a ride) was Christian, who is arguably the only wrestler from WWE to TNA who really, truly was better off from going to the company before going back to WWE and really getting lost in the shuffle, AJ Styles, who really only started on his path because TNA tried to screw him over, not really a positive (the Young Bucks can be put in this category too, since their stint in TNA gave them the motivation to break away and start making more of a name for themselves), Christopher Styles and Frankie Kazarian, Bobby Roode, and maybe Samoa Joe, although since coming to the main stage of WWE, he's been made to look like a chump when he could get really over. Everyone else, I feel, probably would have found their inroads eventually in the business.
Really, if the positives you bring to the industry are mostly because you pissed off enough wrestlers to motivate them to do better elsewhere...you're not a good thing for said industry.
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Post by The Dark Order Inferno on Feb 13, 2019 15:03:30 GMT -5
Net gain. A lot of guys made a decent amount of money from working there, got a lot of exposure they wouldn't have gotten and managed to wait oout the period of time where the WWE were chewing up indy talent and spitting them out. If TNA didn't exist, AJ would have retired in the mid 00s because RoH never paid big money at that point in time and Japanese companies are equal parts selective and brutal in terms of travelling from overseas and stiffness. Joe would have signed around the same time as Punk and been given the Amish Roadkill treatment, treated as a big deal in development until someone higher up in the WWE actually looks at the guy and realises he's not actually a huge monster, then he'd be chewed up and spat out like Low Ki, Colt Cabana, Sinn, Kid Kash and others were. Whatever the booking of the overall show was, there have been a lot of solid matches in TNA over the years and it's a testament to Dixie's incompetence that no-one cared.
I do not buy 'Oh TNA salted the earth and now no TV company wants to show wrestling' crap. Spike were rebranding and had Bellator, a program they actually made money from, the relationship was so bad they kept TNA on long enough for them to find a new h0me as a gesture of goodwill because they did everything Spike asked of them, including promoting their replacement on their own dime. Destination America, yes, they damaged that relationship, but Ring of Honor were on there too and weren't renewed because ratings for neither show were what the company wanted and advertisers wanted nothing to do with either. TNA left Pop by choice rather than outstaying their welcome and had a good relationship with them. The WWE, on the other hand have had multiple B and C shows cancelled from channels that haven't gone near wrestling since, and their departure from Spike was unpleasant to say the least, but people blame TNA for salting the earth, you know, and not the biggest player, who would promise stations star packed shows filled with action, only to give them raw highlights, lower midcarders and ratings that never came close to expectations coupled with complete disinterest from advertisers because of the fallout from the attitude era. Few people wanted to take a chance on an alternative product when the biggest player has roamed the TV landscape for a decade, underperforming.
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Post by Cyno on Feb 13, 2019 15:04:43 GMT -5
On its own merits as a business, it is kind of a miserable failure. But it definitely gave mainstream exposure to a lot of solid workers who either languished in WWE and honed their craft in TNA or were big in the indies, but not getting a second look from WWE.
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Post by OVO 40 hunched over like he 80 on Feb 13, 2019 15:43:16 GMT -5
Net gain. A lot of guys made a decent amount of money from working there, got a lot of exposure they wouldn't have gotten and managed to wait oout the period of time where the WWE were chewing up indy talent and spitting them out. If TNA didn't exist, AJ would have retired in the mid 00s because RoH never paid big money at that point in time and Japanese companies are equal parts selective and brutal in terms of travelling from overseas and stiffness. Joe would have signed around the same time as Punk and been given the Amish Roadkill treatment, treated as a big deal in development until someone higher up in the WWE actually looks at the guy and realises he's not actually a huge monster, then he'd be chewed up and spat out like Low Ki, Colt Cabana, Sinn, Kid Kash and others were. Whatever the booking of the overall show was, there have been a lot of solid matches in TNA over the years and it's a testament to Dixie's incompetence that no-one cared. I do not buy 'Oh TNA salted the earth and now no TV company wants to show wrestling' crap. Spike were rebranding and had Bellator, a program they actually made money from, the relationship was so bad they kept TNA on long enough for them to find a new h0me as a gesture of goodwill because they did everything Spike asked of them, including promoting their replacement on their own dime. Destination America, yes, they damaged that relationship, but Ring of Honor were on there too and weren't renewed because ratings for neither show were what the company wanted and advertisers wanted nothing to do with either. TNA left Pop by choice rather than outstaying their welcome and had a good relationship with them. The WWE, on the other hand have had multiple B and C shows cancelled from channels that haven't gone near wrestling since, and their departure from Spike was unpleasant to say the least, but people blame TNA for salting the earth, you know, and not the biggest player, who would promise stations star packed shows filled with action, only to give them raw highlights, lower midcarders and ratings that never came close to expectations coupled with complete disinterest from advertisers because of the fallout from the attitude era. Few people wanted to take a chance on an alternative product when the biggest player has roamed the TV landscape for a decade, underperforming. Spike rebranding was not why tna got cancelled, they asked Dixie not to bring back Russo and she did. That was one of the main reasons why they kicked them out and not because of their rebranding. Destination America wanted to show wrestling and tna did nothing but call them dummies and mock their programming with Josh Mathews’ making snide remarks about them. You may disagree but tna hurt wrestling’s chances at returning to a real network.
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Post by The Dark Order Inferno on Feb 13, 2019 16:40:19 GMT -5
Net gain. A lot of guys made a decent amount of money from working there, got a lot of exposure they wouldn't have gotten and managed to wait oout the period of time where the WWE were chewing up indy talent and spitting them out. If TNA didn't exist, AJ would have retired in the mid 00s because RoH never paid big money at that point in time and Japanese companies are equal parts selective and brutal in terms of travelling from overseas and stiffness. Joe would have signed around the same time as Punk and been given the Amish Roadkill treatment, treated as a big deal in development until someone higher up in the WWE actually looks at the guy and realises he's not actually a huge monster, then he'd be chewed up and spat out like Low Ki, Colt Cabana, Sinn, Kid Kash and others were. Whatever the booking of the overall show was, there have been a lot of solid matches in TNA over the years and it's a testament to Dixie's incompetence that no-one cared. I do not buy 'Oh TNA salted the earth and now no TV company wants to show wrestling' crap. Spike were rebranding and had Bellator, a program they actually made money from, the relationship was so bad they kept TNA on long enough for them to find a new h0me as a gesture of goodwill because they did everything Spike asked of them, including promoting their replacement on their own dime. Destination America, yes, they damaged that relationship, but Ring of Honor were on there too and weren't renewed because ratings for neither show were what the company wanted and advertisers wanted nothing to do with either. TNA left Pop by choice rather than outstaying their welcome and had a good relationship with them. The WWE, on the other hand have had multiple B and C shows cancelled from channels that haven't gone near wrestling since, and their departure from Spike was unpleasant to say the least, but people blame TNA for salting the earth, you know, and not the biggest player, who would promise stations star packed shows filled with action, only to give them raw highlights, lower midcarders and ratings that never came close to expectations coupled with complete disinterest from advertisers because of the fallout from the attitude era. Few people wanted to take a chance on an alternative product when the biggest player has roamed the TV landscape for a decade, underperforming. Spike rebranding was not why tna got cancelled, they asked Dixie not to bring back Russo and she did. That was one of the main reasons why they kicked them out and not because of their rebranding. Destination America wanted to show wrestling and tna did nothing but call them dummies and mock their programming with Josh Mathews’ making snide remarks about them. You may disagree but tna hurt wrestling’s chances at returning to a real network. Spike were so mad about the Russo thing that they kept TNA on for month after month beyond their contract expiration, long after the end of their negotiations for renewal when they were under no obligation to. Such was the fury on their part over Russo. I have a hard time believing that TNA are the ones that soured Spike on wrestling and not ECW, who shat on the relationship from day one, made them the villain of their shows and had an announcer say their slogan was 'We **** pigs' on TV, or the WWE who went out swinging with that disastrous final episode of RAW, you know the one that Spike had to censor because the WWE decided to leave doing something they were asked not to. I also have a hard time believing that Spike cared a jot about Russo, given all the years he was there, and the numerous other horrendous human beings who've worked for both TNA and Bellator, but that's neither here nor there. The WWE burned channel after channel with their immensely mediocre programming and being radioactive to advertisers because of all that they pulled during the attitude era, but TNA leave one major network on relatively good terms, and they salted the earth. Sorry, I don't buy it.
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Post by OVO 40 hunched over like he 80 on Feb 13, 2019 16:44:37 GMT -5
Spike rebranding was not why tna got cancelled, they asked Dixie not to bring back Russo and she did. That was one of the main reasons why they kicked them out and not because of their rebranding. Destination America wanted to show wrestling and tna did nothing but call them dummies and mock their programming with Josh Mathews’ making snide remarks about them. You may disagree but tna hurt wrestling’s chances at returning to a real network. Spike were so mad about the Russo thing that they kept TNA on for month after month beyond their contract expiration, long after the end of their negotiations for renewal when they were under no obligation to. Such was the fury on their part over Russo. I have a hard time believing that TNA are the ones that soured Spike on wrestling and not ECW, who shat on the relationship from day one, made them the villain of their shows and had an announcer say their slogan was 'We **** pigs' on TV, or the WWE who went out swinging with that disastrous final episode of RAW, you know the one that Spike had to censor because the WWE decided to leave doing something they were asked not to. I also have a hard time believing that Spike cared a jot about Russo, given all the years he was there, and the numerous other horrendous human beings who've worked for both TNA and Bellator, but that's neither here nor there. The WWE burned channel after channel with their immensely mediocre programming and being radioactive to advertisers because of all that they pulled during the attitude era, but TNA leave one major network on relatively good terms, and they salted the earth. Sorry, I don't buy it. An executive put his name out there and buried Russo in two separate times. That’s why I think Russo was a big reason why they soured on tna. You’re right with ecw treating Spike/TNN worse than tna ever did though. I think the reason ecw didn’t salt the earth there was because TNN was just using them to test the waters for the wwf coming in. And tna left two networks in very bad terms, Spike and DA, not just one network.
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Post by "Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay on Feb 13, 2019 18:32:44 GMT -5
They wasted money renting a big foot costume just to prank the iwc... They spent a night of their tapings with fake matches and angles. I had no idea that the Bigfoot angle wasn't for TV. That's utterly insane.
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Post by OVO 40 hunched over like he 80 on Feb 13, 2019 20:03:12 GMT -5
They spent a night of their tapings with fake matches and angles. I had no idea that the Bigfoot angle wasn't for TV. That's utterly insane. Back then, Dixie was going around doing interviews saying that she was pissed that the tapings results were spoiled online. At the same time, everybody employed by tna was shitting on Meltzer because he revealed a lot of embarrassing details that ended up being true; such as the production people not getting paid, the neo nazis intimidating the production people into working for free, and finally that Destinations America has buyers remorse and were gonna cancel their asses. Dixie, Bob Ryder, MVP, Matt Hardy, and TJ Perkins went all Iraqi Minister of Information, tweeting about evil David Meltzer lying and that morale was high and they weren’t getting cancelled. That’s why they wasted resources for the fake spoilers. Just to get back at Meltzer.
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