Now if I were booking TNA...

[Sephiroth]

Hogan, both Bischoff's, Hector and Chavo Guerrero, Sting, and Jeff Hardy=gone. On their way out they are used to put over younger talent.

TNA tv title=retired in a storyline where it is stolen from Abyss and smashed. Abyss is so traumatized he goes silent and returns to being a monster heel.

AJ Styles=pushed to the moon. The belt goes on him and he gets referred to as TNA's "Standard Bearer." His first title feud is his old partner and rival-Christopher Daniels. Bobby Roode and Samoa Joe engage in a long series of matches to determine the next title contender.

X Divison=revamped, starting with a new World X Cup tournament. Seek out any available talent from Mexico, Japan, Canada, and if possible from Europe and Australia to represent. If possible, acquire the services of Nick Dinsmore and Paul Burchill-if signed, Dinsmore comes in as a heel who uses a mat based style to keep high flyers grounded.

Knockouts=revamped, starting with calling the Blossom Twins up from OVW and making them the new Beautiful People, the superficial heels. Seek out the return of Cheerleader Melissa, if she is willing. Seek out a return by Winter if she is willing.

TV tapings mostly done on site at a studio, ala the Impact Zone, but a live show done every several months. All PPV's done on the road. Aim for at least one or two house show's in the area and state's immediately surrounding the studio. Seek out any cross promotion possible, particularly with Spike's other shows-beg and plead for cross promotion with UFC if necessary; not necessarily TNA vs UFC, more like mutual stars appearing in the audiences, getting briefly interviewed, and announcers plugging mutual shows.

Possibility:
Tenay and Tazz replaced by Jarrett and Angle.
Jeremy Borash=gone and replaced backstage by Christy Hemme.
Open relations with Japanese and Mexican feds once again for talent exchanges and cross promotion.

Yep, that is how I would do it.

[evilone]

Then what?

You'll end up with the same product they have today just with different actors.

And you will end up with the same problems they have now, no money to power up marketing crunching machine.


If you want to reach any success with minimal marketing budget you somehow need to distance TNA from wrestling as we know it, but MMA being in the next corner and being a synonym for fighting there is only few ways to go. Either you accept all as performing arts like ballet and tell the epic stories and don't ever try to go kayfabe and let people now that or you go full on reality show where you deal with wrestlers real life struggles.

Wrestling weakest spot was always developing characters cause there is only place for one to three fully three dimensional characters but due to risky nature of business they cant rely in a long term so they develop everybody, just in case, but in the end they don't know how tie it in together and that's why you have moon pushes that take steep dives back to the ground.

Wrestling needs TV characters that portray their goals and means to get that goal and they need to know how to transfer that in ring. But hey in 2013 we have 150lbs referees that get knocked out by a simple bump, that can't put 2+2 together and act plain retarded in the ring. That is one of many problems in today's wrestling. Every generation of kids is getting smarter and bigger so tricks that worked on us won't work on them.

Bottom line: wrestling is run by same more than half a decade old people and even worse its run by their egos. They have no clue about current or upcoming generations and they exercise majority of ideas based on their subjective opinion.

[Instant Classic]

Why would you get rid of JB?

[Push R Truth]

Needs more Shark Boy

[SOR]

The problems here:

- If you fire Hulk, Eric, Sting and Jeff who draws the fans to the arena? Kurt Angle? Sure, he's a big name in the wrestling world but he only really got big during the tail end of the hot wrestling period so not as big of a draw as a Hulk, Sting or Hardy at all. If Angle is your only star you'd be wrestling in front of a thousand fans week to week and would be forced to move back to the Impact Zone. This is your first mistake.

- AJ/Daniels feuding again? Their matches were overdone and old when I went to my first live wrestling event when I was 14. I am now 22 and people are suggesting these guys fight again in main events? Zzz. Roode and Joe would be a decent 1-2 month feud but I don't want to see a series between them

- What do the Knockouts you want to bring in really bring to the table? The Blossom Twins have potential but what do Cheerleader Melissa and Winter bring in? What makes them stand out and what makes people want to watch them? They wrestle good, that's it. Wouldn't it make more sense for you (If you were booking) to bring in hot chicks with great characters so you could cater to both the smarks (Who want great wrestling matches) and the casuals (Who want a great character)? Reminds me of that taco commercial "Why not have both?"

- TNA could return to a studio and that'd be fine but what draws the people in? You have 1 star and that's Kurt Angle the rest of your ideas are catered towards internet wrestling fans who probably aren't going to want to watch TNA live more than a couple of times a year. If you wanted to go with this idea wouldn't it be wise to keep Hogan or Sting around in the hopes of attracting tourists to the tapings?

- UFC would never work with TNA and vice versa. TNA is with Team Bellator and want Bellator to have success because of their loyalty to Spike TV. I doubt even WWE and UFC would work together so throw this idea away.

- You talk about running live events across the country for PPV but if TNA only draws 5000 with Hulk, Sting, Hardy, Angle etc how are you going to draw with just Angle? You would have a couple thousand or so internet fans for Bound For Glory and probably less for the lesser Pay Per Views

- You'd replace Tenay (Who has 18 years announcing experience) and Taz (Who has 11 years announcing experience) with Kurt Angle (Who has probably announced 20 matches ever because he's a wrestler and not an announcer) and Jeff Jarrett (Who is a wrestler, not an announcer) how does this make sense? Surely you're underrating what actually goes into broadcasting and the power the announcers can have over an audience.

- Why would you get rid of Borash? He is a jack of all trades he can run production, he can book, he can announce, he can organize travel, he can handle promoting and I believe he could probably also run House Shows if need be. What sense would that make? Who would you use to replace Christy Hemme as ring announcer? Why would you put Christy backstage when she's hot and can keep the crowd warmed up because of the fact she's hot? What sense does this make?

I don't want to be a dick here but your ideas here are very very smarky and you're aiming a product towards a niche part of the audience. The niche isn't big enough to have TNA make money off and that niche probably never will be. Your idea's would literally drive away a majority of the TNA Fanbase that actually spends money on the product and tunes in. And that, is bad booking.

[AdamAFL was sooooo wrong]

Sept 18, 2013 9:58:49 GMT -5 Instant Classic said:

Why would you get rid of JB?

This. You're getting rid of a guy who is not only fantastic at his behind the scenes job but also is a competent backstage interviewer and the best "big fight feel" announcer in the wrestling world today and replacing him with Christy who, whilst hot and seemingly a nice person, has only just learned how to announce wrestlers properly. She's like a more botchy version of Lilian Garcia.

[Sephiroth]

Valid points. On Borash, my thoughts are that TNA currently have three announcers-they could stand to trim one. I'm just as amenable to losing Hemme, although her recognition with fans is a saving grace.
On touring; its a necessary component for building awareness of your product and expanding the audience. But TNA doesn't currently have the financial resources to go on the read full time, so limited live shows ate carefully selected venues is the best option. The same applies to cross promotion and advertising; its needed to draw in more revenue and raise awareness. MMA/UFC is a hot topic and is often compared to wrestling, so it is a natural place to start.
On releases and AJ/Daniels: if the numbers are proof of anything the names listed are NOT drawing crowds. TNA has established itself to a niche audience, so the fatter contracts can be lost without much pain. New stars need to be established to take things to the next level. As the names most associated with TNA guts line AJ, Daniels, and Joe can fill the spot while the new generation are built. AI and Daniels have always worked well together and can still put together a decent package, the key would be in how you build it. Make it a match for the ages, the two names who define TNA going st it one last time for all the prizes. How many time did we see Rock and Foley, but each time something was added to keep it fresh and interesting.

[Jedi-El of Tomorrow]

Sept 18, 2013 10:42:45 GMT -5 SOR said:

The problems here:

- If you fire Hulk, Eric, Sting and Jeff who draws the fans to the arena? Kurt Angle? Sure, he's a big name in the wrestling world but he only really got big during the tail end of the hot wrestling period so not as big of a draw as a Hulk, Sting or Hardy at all. If Angle is your only star you'd be wrestling in front of a thousand fans week to week and would be forced to move back to the Impact Zone. This is your first mistake.

- You talk about running live events across the country for PPV but if TNA only draws 5000 with Hulk, Sting, Hardy, Angle etc how are you going to draw with just Angle? You would have a couple thousand or so internet fans for Bound For Glory and probably less for the lesser Pay Per Views.

Gotta point out the flaw in the draw argument.

- Hulk, Eric, and Jeff Hardy weren't around till 2010, and TNA was doing the same ratings they're doing now, and were improving internationally. Hulk and Bischoff haven't done anything for TNA.

- Hulk, Eric, and Jeff Hardy weren't around when TNA drew it's biggest buyrate ever, that was Lockdown 2008. That was main evented by Kurt Angle vs Samoa Joe. Give the fans a good storyline, and they'll want to see it through. Fans didn't give a shit about Immortal, which Eric, Hogan, and Jeff were front and center for.

- You have to build people up. Let's look at WWE right now, the main face is Daniel Bryan. D-Bry's not the name Hogan, Eric, Sting, or Jeff Hardy are, but people are tuning in with him at the top. Cena's not there, and the company isn't hurting. The ratings actually went up going head to head with a MNF game involving the Pittsburgh Steelers (one of top 3 most popular teams in the NFL, if not the most popular). Hell, Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, and Roman Reigns are involved with the main event storyline again and it's not hurting WWE in the least. Names haven't always been big names, you've got to build other guys up, and capitalize on them when they're on fire.

[SOR]

Sept 18, 2013 11:44:05 GMT -5 Sephiroth said:

Valid points. On Borash, my thoughts are that TNA currently have three announcers-they could stand to trim one. I'm just as amenable to losing Hemme, although her recognition with fans is a saving grace.
On touring; its a necessary component for building awareness of your product and expanding the audience. But TNA doesn't currently have the financial resources to go on the read full time, so limited live shows ate carefully selected venues is the best option. The same applies to cross promotion and advertising; its needed to draw in more revenue and raise awareness. MMA/UFC is a hot topic and is often compared to wrestling, so it is a natural place to start.
On releases and AJ/Daniels: if the numbers are proof of anything the names listed are NOT drawing crowds. TNA has established itself to a niche audience, so the fatter contracts can be lost without much pain. New stars need to be established to take things to the next level. As the names most associated with TNA guts line AJ, Daniels, and Joe can fill the spot while the new generation are built. AI and Daniels have always worked well together and can still put together a decent package, the key would be in how you build it. Make it a match for the ages, the two names who define TNA going st it one last time for all the prizes. How many time did we see Rock and Foley, but each time something was added to keep it fresh and interesting.

1. TNA has done the MMA thing and it was boring and didn't improve anything. I don't follow MMA and I know who Rampage and Tito are but TNA never gave me a reason to care and I doubt they ever could. It's hard to book these guys because they can't work.. Something as simple as "Hey, here's Kurt Angle from TNA Wrestling what does he think about the fight?" won't draw people into watching TNA unless they're an existing TNA fan.

2. How are AJ and Daniels really "new generation"? Christopher Daniels is in his early 40's wouldn't it make more sense to have your new generation be Aries, Roode, Magnus etc?

Sept 18, 2013 12:00:02 GMT -5 Jedi-El of Tomorrow said:

Sept 18, 2013 10:42:45 GMT -5 SOR said:

The problems here:

- If you fire Hulk, Eric, Sting and Jeff who draws the fans to the arena? Kurt Angle? Sure, he's a big name in the wrestling world but he only really got big during the tail end of the hot wrestling period so not as big of a draw as a Hulk, Sting or Hardy at all. If Angle is your only star you'd be wrestling in front of a thousand fans week to week and would be forced to move back to the Impact Zone. This is your first mistake.

- You talk about running live events across the country for PPV but if TNA only draws 5000 with Hulk, Sting, Hardy, Angle etc how are you going to draw with just Angle? You would have a couple thousand or so internet fans for Bound For Glory and probably less for the lesser Pay Per Views.

Gotta point out the flaw in the draw argument.

- Hulk, Eric, and Jeff Hardy weren't around till 2010, and TNA was doing the same ratings they're doing now, and were improving internationally. Hulk and Bischoff haven't done anything for TNA.

- Hulk, Eric, and Jeff Hardy weren't around when TNA drew it's biggest buyrate ever, that was Lockdown 2008. That was main evented by Kurt Angle vs Samoa Joe. Give the fans a good storyline, and they'll want to see it through. Fans didn't give a shit about Immortal, which Eric, Hogan, and Jeff were front and center for.

- You have to build people up. Let's look at WWE right now, the main face is Daniel Bryan. D-Bry's not the name Hogan, Eric, Sting, or Jeff Hardy are, but people are tuning in with him at the top. Cena's not there, and the company isn't hurting. The ratings actually went up going head to head with a MNF game involving the Pittsburgh Steelers (one of top 3 most popular teams in the NFL, if not the most popular). Hell, Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, and Roman Reigns are involved with the main event storyline again and it's not hurting WWE in the least. Names haven't always been big names, you've got to build other guys up, and capitalize on them when they're on fire.

- Forget ratings were are talking about live audiences. Hulk Hogan obviously has something to do with how they draw because he's doing the advertising. He's on the radio he's on the TV and he's saying come see TNA. Do you think TNA would be drawing 2-3 thousand for TV on the road with AJ, Daniels and Joe leading the company? Probably not. These are the same guys who usually head line House Shows and those House Shows usually only draw a few hundred.

- Lockdown 2008 did a lot of buys because of Kurt. Sure, Joe is involved in it also but Angle carried that feud and made Joe interesting at all times. Regardless, it still proves my point about needing a star. In April of 2008 Kurt was still relatively fresh out of WWE and Joe was a young and unproven baby face. It's now 5 years later they couldn't pull the same buy rate.

- Daniel Bryan, Sheild etc are over because someone (Cena) put them over. If a nobody (AJ) beats another nobody (Christopher Daniels) how are you going to build anyone up?

[Deleted]

Some very good ideas here

I'm usually in the Sephiroth camp, but I would keep Borash and sack Hemme. She still gets names wrong and doesn't really add much. You could just go out and interview a group of local models, hire the one who is a wrestling fan and your better off then you were with Christie.

Loosing Hulk, Eric and Hardy wouldn't hurt TNA all that much really. They still have Sting who is their icon. And Eric hasn't brought any real benefit to TNA. He is one of those.."well he could help if..." Well he hasn't in 3 years has he. As for Hardy, yes he seems popular enough, but no more than Bobby Roode or James Storm or even AJ Styles. So he wouldn't kill them by going. They were doing just as well in 2009 with out him.

To move forward TNA need to face a few facts. They are not going to get there with the standard heavyweight division..they have the B roster and always will. They can have the A roster for Knockouts and X-Division and should be focusing on that. It is not too late to rebuild the Knockout division, Cheerleader Melissa would be a great start, they could try to get Beth Phoenix and float an off to Natalia Neidheart. Sadly with all the cost cuts I doubt they can afford to rebuild either division.

The biggest factor though that no one talks about is Panda Energy. They have already cut the budget several times and if Dixie cant stop loosing money, they might cut it further. They might even get rid of TNA al together if it is just an annual money looser.

[Reflecto]

Sept 18, 2013 16:45:05 GMT -5 @torgaddon said:

Some very good ideas here

The biggest factor though that no one talks about is Panda Energy. They have already cut the budget several times and if Dixie cant stop loosing money, they might cut it further. They might even get rid of TNA al together if it is just an annual money looser.

This is also the biggest factor for why Hulk Hogan is so necessary. Yes, he makes this much money. Yes, he can't wrestle, and is getting it for advertising only. But YES, he is HULK HOGAN. Panda's already cutting the budget- and if they're losing, there is the non-zero chance Panda would say "We hired you HULK HOGAN, and he couldn't get the company on the upswing. It's never going to happen. We're pulling our money from it."

[Deleted]

I think the only thing TNA can do at this point is elevate guys like Styles, Aries, Roode, Joe, Magnus, Bully, Storm, Daniels, Kazarian, etc, into main event roles while trying to find the next core group of guys in the low/mid-card. There will always be talented guys that WWE lets go or doesn't utilize or doesn't recognize. TNA just has to find it.

[Deleted]

I want to see Hector Guerrero get jobbed out so bad.

[Andrew is Good]

The big one is Borash. JB is like, the backbone of that company. I'm pretty sure the company would die with no Jeremy Borash.

Personally I would keep Jeff Hardy. I get the fact that nobody draws in TNA. The idea that Hogan is worth the money he's being paid is ridiculous I think, especially at this point. He's far FAR too expensive, and TNA would do just fine without him, like they were doing for years without him. Same goes with Sting. Jeff Hardy though, he is a good merch seller, and he can still go. Maybe if Hogan could still do something, then yeah, I can see him sticking around. But he can barely throw a worked punch, his promos aren't what they used to be, he doesn't promote the product outside of TNA when he does appearances. He's a waste of money. A better marketing team at TNA would probably help with Jeff as well, but he's definitely an asset to have in the company.

Kurt Angle was a draw, but Joe was as well. The whole idea was Joe vs Angle was the big match. Joe was that strong, home grown talent, facing off against this well known wrestling machine. Joe and Angle drew the two biggest pay per view numbers ever at TNA Genesis 2006 and Lockdown 2008, both great builds. It's the drama of seeing two bad ass guys fighting, and who's gonna win. No bullshit, just one on one, and TNA needs to remember that. Both guys have lost a tremendous amount of drawing power in the past few years, and of course, we're at the point where nobody draws in TNA. But, the positive of nobody drawing in TNA is you have a clean slate where you can start to make people draw again. They're at the bottom when it comes to drawing, so you can only go up from here. I think Magnus could be that guy, especially if they do good things with him over in the UK. People have to remember, more people bought TNA pay per views without the so called "big stars" then they did when guys like Hogan came around.

It's weird though. TNA has the talent. What would help is pretty much firing everybody backstage. The camera people, the writers, production people, everybody, because a lot of them were from WCW, and they're all failures. Basically, find fresh people to run the product.