Callis: I want fans buzzing about Impact like they do NJPW

[héad.casé]

Don Callis: "I think there are two paths we're looking at. I think there's the incremental path—the small victories. Let's eliminate stupid stuff. Let's eliminate the stuff that was ticking people off. Let's inject some logic. Let's slowly build a talent roster. Where we have legacy talent that we've allowed to move on, let's introduce that new talent—the Brian Cages of the world, Austin Aries, wrestlers that people are excited about. Those are the incremental steps. The big picture is, look, you made the point, but you didn't put it like this: The brand has not been cool.

And we all know that if we create a great product with compelling storylines and excellent talent, and we have an open environment, working collaboratively with talent and with other promotions, we all of a sudden are breaking paradigms of the wrestling business. That will then make us cool and give us a buzz. It may not happen that quickly, but by the fall, by the end of the year, we both want real buzz around Impact Wrestling. The way people talk about New Japan Pro Wrestling and get excited about it as a cool promotion, I want people to talk about us like that. And I think we are on that path."

wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2018/0527/641241/don-callis-says-he-wants-fans-buzzing-about-impact-wrestling/

[OVO 40 hunched over like he 80]

The only buzz you drew was when one of your wrestlers got hit in the eye with a baseball bat. New Japan you're not and you never will be.

[Deleted]

So Callis wants them to basically be NJPW lite

All while they are trying to be LU lite

Another case of "oh shit lets try go be all the cool companies at the sametime" and ending up with another company that has no clue what it wants to be

[2coldMack is even more baffled]

It's a nice thought. But TNA is salted earth. I feel bad for Callis. He's saying all the right things but none of the right moves are being made.

[Allie Kitsune]

May 27, 2018 14:10:07 GMT -5 2coldMack is even more baffled said:

It's a nice thought. But TNA is salted earth. I feel bad for Callis. He's saying all the right things but none of the right moves are being made.

There _ARE_ no right moves.

Nothing can remove the death-stink of TNA from this entity.

[KAMALARAMBO: BOOMSHAKALAKA!!!]

And I want a million dollars and three Hawaiian islands (the good ones, not the leper ones), but it ain’t gonna happen.

[lionheart21]

Unless he's referring to New Japan from a few years back when they were seemingly on death's door, that's not gonna happen.

[Final Countdown Jones]

I mean it's a sentiment everyone in the industry should be aspiring to, but they're also taking like none of the real lessons from New Japan about how to get there and in its place they're just doing the same old TNA bullshit again and again. I won't crap on the guy for dreaming but I'll defintiely crap on him for standing in a field with his pants around his ankles hoping gold rains down from the sky on him.

[OVO 40 hunched over like he 80]

May 27, 2018 14:09:05 GMT -5 @sigmax said:

So Callis wants them to basically be NJPW lite

All while they are trying to be LU lite

Another case of "oh shit lets try go be all the cool companies at the sametime" and ending up with another company that has no clue what it wants to be

It tried to be wcw lite when it started, it tried to be wwe lite as years went by, it then tried to be ecw lite right before getting cancelled by SPIKE.

They never tried to be themselves.

Callis is just another Dixie Carter, using wwe rejects instead of their guys.

[héad.casé]

I like Callis. He knows what the faults are, he and D'Amore are taking responsibility for the crap that happened in TNA when he wasn't even in the company, theey're trying to make things right with wrestling fans. Sad thing is though, as someone already put it, TNA is salted earth. They could convince Ted Turner to get back into wrestling, pump his money into the company and use his influence to get on a better network - it wouldn't change a thing.

I appreciate Callis and D'Amore putting themselves out there, asking fans to give them another chance, but it's too little, too late. Fans have been burned by empty promise after empty promise. They're in a difficult position of trying to turn something around that can't be turned around.

[Final Countdown Jones]

May 27, 2018 16:22:08 GMT -5 héad.casé said:

I like Callis. He knows what the faults are, he and D'Amore are taking responsibility for the crap that happened in TNA when he wasn't even in the company, theey're trying to make things right with wrestling fans. Sad thing is though, as someone already put it, TNA is salted earth. They could convince Turner to get back into wrestling, pump his money into the company and use his influence to get on a better network - it wouldn't change a thing.

I appreciate Callis and D'Amore putting themselves out there, asking fans to give them another chance, but it's too little, too late. Fans have been burned by empty promise after empty promise. They're in a difficult position of trying to turn something around that can't be turned around.

But see I think there's an even deeper, worse issue there; people were giving them another chance. It was TNA's millionth regime change and rebranding in a year and a half, but people seemed ready to watch their new shows with a more open mind. Nothing's meaningfully f***ing changed, though. Even reliable TNA standbys like the "here's flips we don't care" X Division clusterf*** has become this weird, sluggish lucha rules six way that slows down all the action and takes away the spotfest momentum that makes it a decent show opener. Match finishes are still so amazingly and unbelievably sloppy that it makes you wonder if the company is just cursed. The writing is asstacular. WWE cast-offs as far as the eye can see.

I could sympathize more if they were putting out something legitimately fresh, interesting, and visionary and the audience was just writing them off as "typical old TNA, same shit as always". If this new regime brought in a total overhaul of what TNA was and was putting out something that felt unique to everything else out there right now. If they were booking dudes who felt like a new generation of breakout stars just waiting to have their chance to shine like it once did. They're doing none of that. At best it feels like an indie show with a handful of big names, at worst it's just normal everyday TNA nonsense. Nothing to set it apart, nothing to make it good, nothing to give it any real identity. Just a show that lives on through dubious reputation and name value alone.

[Rudy Gobert Fadeaway]

I mean, it's a good attitude to have.

Sounds a bit f***ing stupid though when you just had this big angle that veered in to "no I'm gonna beat *your* girlfriend!"

[2coldMack is even more baffled]

May 27, 2018 18:28:40 GMT -5 Rudy Gobert Fadeaway said:

I mean, it's a good attitude to have.

Sounds a bit f***ing stupid though when you just had this big angle that veered in to "no I'm gonna beat *your* girlfriend!"

[Loser troll. Please ban me]

So once again instead of doing your own thing, TNA/Impacts 2 year plan is "Be another company that successful"

[OVO 40 hunched over like he 80]

Talk is cheap Callis. I'm gonna need actions in order to trust tna again, not domestic abusers being signed and Tommy Dreamer bleeding everywhere.

[Final Countdown Jones]

Also seriously if you can put together any concepts of like, what is giving New Japan that sort of buzz, where is it here? New Japan's commitment to long-term storytelling and making sure matches tell a story and previous clashes between two wrestlers become building blocks to the story of the current match? They can't even keep people around long enough to finish up their story lines because they'll write the start of a fat guy faction one taping and then the next lose their main fat guy and just scrap the whole thing. Top flight match quality? They have some good talents cycling in but they're not given the sort of build or opportunity to put on an amazing show that New Japan gives their guys. Top-flight talents from arouind the world? You've got a bunch of good indie standouts mingled in with low-hanging fruit and dudes whose best quality is "works cheap". Diverse styles of matches that range from breathtaking high flying matches to stiff strong style brawls? No everything's pretty standardly "American style" and the flippy dudes have been slowed down by the new lucha rules six-way format.

New Japan is getting a lot of buzz in the west for what it's putting out right now and for having a product that appeals to what a lot of fans are looking for, but you can't understate the bottom line business successes of them turning around and reaching a new, prosperous period where they not only have all the acclaim and respect they did in the past, they're doing better business than ever. Western fan buzz isn't just "Oh this is a good show", it's people getting New Japan world subs and braving its not-too-great interface to watch shows starting at f***ing 3 AM. It's a guy like Ishii becoming such a breakout hit with western fans that he's RPW champion. Sure everyone should want to be able to acheive that kind of success but I don't think it's where you should aim your sights as an actual goal.

It's especially frustrating hearing it from Callis, who is within the orbit of NJPW and who can't have possibly watched Redemption backstage and thought "We're on the right track now, shit's like the second coming of Wrestle Kingdom in here"

[lildude8218]

The flies are already buzzing around its dead carcass

[Deleted]

Glad that Callis is being positive, unfortunately I am also positive that there’s no saving TNA.

It’s such a wreck.

[Seth Drakin of Monster Crap]

Anyone in Impact that is making all these eventual expectations is more the boy who cried wolf. Impact has so many times hit the reboot button and hoped for better things that it isn't just there anymore.

I don't even think Paul Heyman or Vince McMahon could fix this company.

No one can.

It is too far gone to be anything other than the walking corpse it has been for years that has been infected by a virus that has mutated beyond the point by idiotic moves to the point that any vaccine will be obsolete to the disease in less than a year.

As some would say, wrestling is a cyclical business, but you have to have an up already in place (which in Impact's case was promising) and sadly even if business does get better, it won't help Impact as it is just too far gone.

[Deleted]

Callis is a smart guy and might have some good ideas and it’s probably very easy for him to impress his current bosses but running bar shows occasionally in Thunder Bay 20 years ago doesn’t  mean you should be in charge of what could be the #2 wrestling in North America or any wrestling company for that matter.He’s a good talker,a fine podcast host,a pretty good commentator but that’s where it should end and while he says a lot of the right things publicly those are only words eventually we need action and impact wrestling still feels like impact wrestling the only real change is the working relationships which to me is kinda of a negative right now because so many guys are working everywhere that I’d rather see some variety of new talent.

I also thought it was stupid for Callis to debut as an announcer and then 2 shows later have him involved in a major beatdown angle with blood to me that’s an angle you do when the announcer has been established in that role for a good while so to me that angle was a waste for a one show storyline and impact shouldn’t be wasting time getting Callis over they should be getting the talent and their product over.