Hogan's TNA: Big moments with no build-up

[Zen411]

Guys like RVD and Hardy showed up with no build-up or teasers.

Then big moments like an RVD title win happen with no storyline build, nothing advertised ahead of time....on free tv after people paid to see The Pope not become world champ.

Wouldn't it make sense to at least promote a world title match where a title was going to change hands a week or two in advance to get people interested? Build the tension between RVD and Styles?

I like surprise moments....like in WWE when someone cashes in MITB, etc. WWE gave Foley his first WWE title on an unadvertised RAW title match.

Wouldn't TNA benefit from advertising or promoting these big moments? Get the fans dying to see RVD win instead of just placing it at random. I don't think it really affected the ratings.

[Krimzon]

Of course it didn't affect the ratings. They hotshotted the belt on a guy that doesn't need it, on free TV, with no prior build. Not only that, but RVD vs. AJ Styles was a potential dream match in the making and they blew their wad too soon.

[Crusty Ruffles]

Apr 19, 2010 22:55:52 GMT -5 Krimzon said:

Of course it didn't affect the ratings. They hotshotted the belt on a guy that doesn't need it, on free TV, with no prior build. Not only that, but RVD vs. AJ Styles was a potential dream match in the making and they blew their wad too soon.

Second.

[kropotkin]

We'll see if it affected the ratings or not. Regardless, there was a lot of hype for January 4th Hardy and RVD showed up so that argument doesn't really work.

Tonight they wanted to show that Impact was the show on Monday nights where anything could happen. They accomplished that, IMO. RVD is over like hot cakes, why not put the belt on him? And besides, it opens up all kinds of fresh directions.

As for Pope, I know everyone is yelling but for the last time...he was stabbed in the eye with a pen. It's called selling an injury. And secondly, the guy just arrived in the main event. Give him time to actually building a following. If you watched the PPV last night you saw that he was definitely over and on his way up but not over enough to be given the belt. He's young, he's been put over, he'll have his shot.

[Ishmeal Loves BBL Bayley]

Apr 19, 2010 22:55:52 GMT -5 Krimzon said:

Of course it didn't affect the ratings. They hotshotted the belt on a guy that doesn't need it, on free TV, with no prior build. Not only that, but RVD vs. AJ Styles was a potential dream match in the making and they blew their wad too soon.

OK. You like Dinero. We get it.

[AriadosMan]

Speaking as someone who doesn't particularly mark for Pope or RVD, I don't have a problem with them putting the belt on RVD. However, they should really promote their "big events" much better than they do.

[bob]

Apr 19, 2010 22:59:02 GMT -5 Crusty Ruffles said:

Apr 19, 2010 22:55:52 GMT -5 Krimzon said:

Of course it didn't affect the ratings. They hotshotted the belt on a guy that doesn't need it, on free TV, with no prior build. Not only that, but RVD vs. AJ Styles was a potential dream match in the making and they blew their wad too soon.

Second.

3rd

[Krimzon]

Apr 19, 2010 22:59:44 GMT -5 kropotkin said:

We'll see if it affected the ratings or not. Regardless, there was a lot of hype for January 4th Hardy and RVD showed up so that argument doesn't really work.

Tonight they wanted to show that Impact was the show on Monday nights where anything could happen. They accomplished that, IMO. RVD is over like hot cakes, why not put the belt on him? And besides, it opens up all kinds of fresh directions.

As for Pope, I know everyone is yelling but for the last time...he was stabbed in the eye with a pen. It's called selling an injury. And secondly, the guy just arrived in the main event. Give him time to actually building a following. If you watched the PPV last night you saw that he was definitely over and on his way up but not over enough to be given the belt. He's young, he's been put over, he'll have his shot.

TNA has done not one damn thing to make me think they will continue with Pope's push. These are the same people that tossed Lance Hoyt away when the fans were crazy about him. They did the same with Tomko not that long ago, before he got fat and lazy.

If Pope won at Lockdown, who would be upset about it? It's not like they dragged out f***ing Shark Boy and gave it to him. People got behind Pope and Pope winning wasn't farfetched. He could've used the win a whole helluva lot more than RVD could've. From the look of tonight's show, it appears that they've pushed Pope aside for RVD & AJ Styles for basically no freakin reason other than for shock value.

At this point in time, Pope should've won that title. Not RVD. All the shit AJ, Flair, & Desmond have put Pope through, busting his ankle and all, after Pope beat 3 guys in a sigle night to win a shot, it would've been a much better story, and made a helluva lot more sense than RVD winning it out of nowhere.

[kropotkin]

I can see that you're clearly upset. See you next week.

[BitterAF]

I think tonight happened just because 95% of the Raw roster was unable to make the show. I agree though, it shouldn't have happened. It's not like Raw was canceled so people didn't have to make a choice.

[sjones]

Apr 19, 2010 22:59:44 GMT -5 kropotkin said:

We'll see if it affected the ratings or not. Regardless, there was a lot of hype for January 4th Hardy and RVD showed up so that argument doesn't really work.

Tonight they wanted to show that Impact was the show on Monday nights where anything could happen. They accomplished that, IMO. RVD is over like hot cakes, why not put the belt on him? And besides, it opens up all kinds of fresh directions.

As for Pope, I know everyone is yelling but for the last time...he was stabbed in the eye with a pen. It's called selling an injury. And secondly, the guy just arrived in the main event. Give him time to actually building a following. If you watched the PPV last night you saw that he was definitely over and on his way up but not over enough to be given the belt. He's young, he's been put over, he'll have his shot.

And I saying for the last time, you are in denial if you think that Pope will have another shot at the title.

I think he got buried more by what they did with him after that match. They could either A) continue to push him as a main event caliber guy who has a chance of winning the title, or B) start pushing him as a midcarder who has trouble even winning the Global title. If they go with option A, nobody will care about Pope losing to AJ or any of those promos, because he still would've been seen as a top-tier guy. If they go with Option B, I'm afraid that it will take years for him to recover if TNA chooses to stop pushing him, if that company is still around.

[Deleted]

Apr 19, 2010 23:07:22 GMT -5 bob said:

Apr 19, 2010 22:59:02 GMT -5 Crusty Ruffles said:

Second.

3rd

th

...though I don't hate it as much as it seems some people do.

[Red Impact]

He's trying to recreate the aura that made the Monday night wars so successful in the ratings, by giving the feeling that anything can happen. You lose that a bit if you advertise. RVD's title win won't affect this show's rating, because no one knew it was going to happen, but the theory is that if you do enough things that missing a show means you'll be way out of the loop, then people who are fans will tune in more.

[Slingshot Suplay]

Pope is getting the old NWA Sting buildup. How many times did he get beat down and injured by Flair? How many times did he lose to Flair, or just fail to win the title? When he finally won it, he took the next step from mid-card to superstar and solidified his spot as a main event draw in the business. Pope will do it eventually, and Hogan is high on Pope. He has a future with the company, but they want to make him into a superstar that will carry TNA, not just another star in the company.

[Zen411]

So here's my gripe.

I watched a little bit of TNA in the 8:00 hour enough to know the deal with RVD-Hardy for the title shot.

When the title shot happened, I was watching RAW, probably face palming with the MacGruber shenanigans. I wish I saw RVD win the title. If TNA did a good job of promoting a Styles-RVD match that was must-see, I would have seen it.

Couldnt they have done Hardy vs RVD at the PPV and then promoted the hell out of RVD-Styles? Or put the #1 contender match at the start of the show and had nearly a full hour to promote the Styles-RVD match to get people from changing to RAW?

There just is never enough time to build a story and the anticipation. Those Bischoff-type surprises just for the hell of it dont work when the ratings war is what it is. This isn't the Monday Night wars yet. A random title change out of the blue isn't good for business, it just loses what could be a money match and a lot of viewers. Wouldn't hardcore ECW fans and RVD supporters have tuned in if they sincerely thought RVD had a chance to win that night?

[kropotkin]

Apr 19, 2010 23:29:29 GMT -5 sjones said:

Apr 19, 2010 22:59:44 GMT -5 kropotkin said:

We'll see if it affected the ratings or not. Regardless, there was a lot of hype for January 4th Hardy and RVD showed up so that argument doesn't really work.

Tonight they wanted to show that Impact was the show on Monday nights where anything could happen. They accomplished that, IMO. RVD is over like hot cakes, why not put the belt on him? And besides, it opens up all kinds of fresh directions.

As for Pope, I know everyone is yelling but for the last time...he was stabbed in the eye with a pen. It's called selling an injury. And secondly, the guy just arrived in the main event. Give him time to actually building a following. If you watched the PPV last night you saw that he was definitely over and on his way up but not over enough to be given the belt. He's young, he's been put over, he'll have his shot.

And I saying for the last time, you are in denial if you think that Pope will have another shot at the title.

I think he got buried more by what they did with him after that match. They could either A) continue to push him as a main event caliber guy who has a chance of winning the title, or B) start pushing him as a midcarder who has trouble even winning the Global title. If they go with option A, nobody will care about Pope losing to AJ or any of those promos, because he still would've been seen as a top-tier guy. If they go with Option B, I'm afraid that it will take years for him to recover if TNA chooses to stop pushing him, if that company is still around.

That's a false dichotomy, those are hardly the only two options nor has tonight solidified anything about the future direction of the character. Stop pretending like you have a crystal ball into the future and everyone around you is just stupid for disagreeing.

It's a tired shtick.

[sjones]

Apr 19, 2010 23:47:10 GMT -5 kropotkin said:

Apr 19, 2010 23:29:29 GMT -5 sjones said:

And I saying for the last time, you are in denial if you think that Pope will have another shot at the title.

I think he got buried more by what they did with him after that match. They could either A) continue to push him as a main event caliber guy who has a chance of winning the title, or B) start pushing him as a midcarder who has trouble even winning the Global title. If they go with option A, nobody will care about Pope losing to AJ or any of those promos, because he still would've been seen as a top-tier guy. If they go with Option B, I'm afraid that it will take years for him to recover if TNA chooses to stop pushing him, if that company is still around.

That's a false dichotomy, those are hardly the only two options nor has tonight solidified anything about the future direction of the character. Stop pretending like you have a crystal ball into the future and everyone around you is just stupid for disagreeing.

It's a tired shtick.

It's not my fault that you're stuck on your high-horse and not looking at the bigger picture. I laid out those two options because those may be the only options that Pope may have. If you have any more options for Pope, feel free to list them instead of shooting everything and everybody down with that "I'm right and everybody's wrong" mentality.

And as far as that "tired schtick" comment, you definitely need to fall back on that because that was the same junk that killed WCW.

[kickassJP]

Pope is going to be just fine. Once again, people continue to bitch because things don't go their way.

Anyways, I loved what TNA did tonight... They showed that anything could happen at any given time. Who would have thought that the title would switch hands on impact? I was completely shocked when it happened and that's a good thing.

So what if Pope didn't get the title, give him time and the next time he fights for it he'll be better than he was on sunday. It's not the end of the world people, geesh

[angryfan]

This is, essentially, Hogan/Goldberg all over again. It drew a big rating, but in hindsight I think we'd all agree, they threw away a chance to make huge money on PPV. AJ/RVD or even the prelim of RVD/Hardy for a title shot are both main event caliber matches for PPV which are definite draws to get people to spend money.

You want to give one away for free, to entice people to pay for the other, then that's fine. It still leads to the ultimate goal of people giving the company money. Instead, we got them all for free. Yeah, the matches delivered, but no one knew the matches were coming, so how is that going to get people to tune in?

What made Hogan/Goldberg, aside from the "big match" feel work so well is that they did advertise it, they did promote it, and it paid off for WCW in the short term. This had no build whatsoever, so you can't really draw people in unless the "phone a friend" option is really going gangbusters.

Take it a step further, though. Joe's return, after months away, and he just shows up, kills people, and leaves. It's fine, it's the badass Joe we wanted, so I can let that particular one slide, but that's three huge events in one night, zero build up or hype, and you can't redo the "shocking moment".

RVD/Hardy will now not have the special feel if they do it again. Same for RVD/AJ and Joe's return. Three chances to make solid cash with a PPV, and that should be important.

[Back to being Cenanuff]

Apr 19, 2010 23:35:20 GMT -5 @geneyussrevolution said:

Apr 19, 2010 23:07:22 GMT -5 bob said:

3rd

th

...though I don't hate it as much as it seems some people do.

I just thought it was a bad idea.