I think this is the problem though.

TNA had their shot at the big-time - they spent huge sums of money on Bischoff, Hogan, Flair, Sting, Angle, Jeff Hardy - and many other big names in the business. They had a primetime slot on a medium-sized network that was never going to draw enough viewers to beat RAW, but could have had the drawing power to outperform Smackdown and certainly be a viable second show for wrestling fans.

But there is nothing else we can call the Bischoff/Hogan era other than a disaster. It stripped TNA of their originality and an ill-advised move to go head-to-head with RAW - a program with infinitely higher production values - made them look decidedly second rate, losing them a sizable audience share who may have watched them on any other night instead.

The end result is that the brand is irreparably damaged and, while I can see them surviving on a smaller scale, it is looking increasingly likely their role as the de facto No. 2 promotion may be coming to an end.

And that's the real shame - because since Hogan & Bischoff left, the program really hasn't been that bad. The best it's ever been? I certainly wouldn't go that far. But anyone who has watched it would surely admit that it is a far-cry from the overbooked, drama heavy 'Hogan Knows Best' soap opera that it was in 2010-2011. There may still be an overreliance on factions, but there is nothing quite so cripplingly bad as the Aces & Eights - an angle so awful in idea and execution that I think we can all agree it was responsible for TNA's steady decline in viewership over 2012-2013.

The point I'm making though is that it doesn't matter what TNA does any more. The brand name is ruined. wCw's brand name was ruined in 2001 and whether it was Vince McMahon or Eric Bischoff attempting to relaunch it, the show still would have failed. As much as it saddens me to say it - because TNA were responsible for getting me back into wrestling again, and I do want the company to do well - their age of relevance is over.

Aces and Eights started out quite promising I thought, the problem was how long it went on for far too long IMO and the fact it was yet again another stable of largely ex-WWE employees as the top heel faction.

The main issues I have right now is Angle as the face of the brand, and mainly him as champion, and what are quite terrible production values IMO. They still have a place but with limited PPV, ONO's recorded months and months in advance (which I understand but still dislike a lot) and zero house shows, that place is obviously going to be smaller.

I agree that A&E started off well, and unlike a lot of people, I didn't hate the Devon reveal as the first member - if I remember correctly TNA worked the smarks huge with that angle, with the likes of Meltzer all saying he had left the company.

I don't necessarily think it went on too long either - a year is about long enough for an angle of that magnitude and scope. It just suffered from nWo-itis, in that it consumed the ENTIRE show. If you didn't like the angle, then you couldn't enjoy TNA, because that was all the company was for a year. But I agree that one of the biggest problems was that, aside from Bully Ray as the leader, the faction consisted of simply terrible wrestlers. It wouldn't have mattered they were ex-WWE if they were any good. Let's never forget that GARRETT BISCHOFF was deemed important enough to be given a reveal as one of the masked men.

There were some things I liked about the Aces & Eights, the unveil of Devon was ok as it did provide some shock value with everyone thinking he had quit, Bully as leader I loved as it was a role he was born to play and it cemented his status as top heel in the company which I thought he was and still is deserving of.

I could even live with them bringing in guys like Briscoe and Bischoff as they were young and unproven, even recruiting Anderson wasn't the worst thing ever as Ken is a great talent who for some reason has just struggled to find his mojo in TNA despite his very good initial run, but what killed the faction was the addition of washed up WWE rejects like Knox, D.O.C and D-Lo. Would have been better to just have the group as Bully, Devon, Bischoff, Briscoe and Anderson or maybe recruited some TNA originals like AJ and Samoa Joe for some shock value, or they could have brought in some outside talent who people actually care about.

So The Hardy's has had to vacate the tag titles aftet Jeff broke his leg in a motorbike accident.

https://youtu.be/Qhsd3UBYkDI

That also means 2 Tag Teams in a row have had to vacate to to legit injury

Really gone down hill this now, last few weeks have been utter sh!te.

The May 24th Impact is 3 hours long apparently. Cos the extra hour helps Raw sooooo much.

Difference is with TNA though it's just a one off special which I'd expect to be a stacked show, I have no problem with this as it helps fill the void left by the lack of TNA PPV's.

I thought last weeks live Impact was very decent, shame that Bully Ray's appearance is said to be just a one off though and not a full-time return.

dman tna is so boring right now. it has so much fast fwd fodder.

the promos take ages to get to the point.

Will Challenge will show the full show or an edited version? Hopefully it isn't permanent.

Bully/Bubba has hinted a WWE or NXT return.

As it turns out isn't a 3 hour impact; there is no new show that week, Destination America are showing the 2014 Slammiversary PPV instead.

Destination America are moving Impact to Wednesday nights. This can't be good for them, surely ?

I suppose it moves them out of the Friday dead slot but obviously into more competition. I don't see why they would move them though.

The show also moves to Wednesday 9-11pm in Canada. Maybe unfortunately, the show will air against Smackdown which runs 8-10pm.

Could this be.... the final end?

Bearing in mind I wouldn't believe Melzer if he said that grass was green, we'll have to see.

That said, if it IS true, i can't imagine they'd just essentially pull the rug from underneath them and dump them with no notice. It would likely be similar to the Spike situation where DA would tell them that they are essentially cancelling them and that their programming will be removed from the network within X number of weeks.

Not necessarily. The TV industry can be fairly ruthless. Spike had a long term relationship with TNA, so helped them out by allowing them time to get a new deal. DA don't have a long term relationship, so may not show them the same courtesy. Come September, TNA is getting punted regardless of new deal or not.

................................

Keyboard's broken mate.

Haha, nooooo

I did reply, but i read it back and it came across as a bit snarky, which wasn't the intent.

I never saw it. Rubbish joke on my part.

Whether DA act on this opt out we'll have to wait and see. The fact that there is a potential of DA dropping TNA is fairly big. Another new channel would have to be found. I wonder if GFW will be able to get a deal.

Didn't TNA have another option at the time they signed with DA ?

I guess even though Impact is likely the biggest program on their channel, they still have certain ratings expectations and if it's not performing then they certainly could ditch it.

U.S. TV is completely ruthless, the advertisers are the customers and the viewers are the product being sold. To that end, it is irrelevant what is on screen as long as it draws.

Having said that, TNA has shown survival powers to the point that after world war three it wouldn't surprise me if cockroaches and TNA were the only thing left, so who knows.

Ratings aren't really the issue, it's that they can't get good ad revenue regardless of ratings because as ever, the perception is pro wrestling is only for children & imbeciles.