Originally Posted by dave_windows:
“So what would this all mean.
I got the impression Destination America cancelled TNA yesterday which means legally TNA can still air on TV up to the 3rd week of September then thats it for no more tv?”
They were likely told last week which was upfront week in which the US networks sell their programming slate to advertisers. If Destination America are dropping TNA they would have made the decision to do it either before presenting their slate of programming to advertisers last week or after negative advertiser response to TNA last week.
Originally Posted by hazydayz:
“I think TNA will bounce back but it's things like this that make think Jeff Jarrett will not get any deal for GFW. Wrestling just hasn't been popular since 2003 and even then that was because Rock and Austin were finally on their way out and there was a bit of renewed interest in it.”
Yes because everyone was just clamouring for Rock and Austin to leave...
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“For over 10 years it's been the same thing over and over and TNA should have been trying to do things differently and whenever they did it lasted a few weeks and then they gave up and went back to their same old routine.”
Remind me who was booking TNA for the majority of its existence?
Originally Posted by seibu:
“Oh dear. I'd imagine that's it then.
It really shows how commercial TV works: The importance of advertising revenue. TNA was DA's best rated show, and still they cancel it. It must be *damn* hard to sell ad space on wrestling shows.”
There are a few things I'd point out here.
As previously mentioned I'm not convinced that Destination America's apparent souring on TNA is entirely advertiser related. If I get the time I'll look into the numbers a little more but I suspect what's largely triggered DA pulling back on the TNA product is that it hasn't led to much, if any, increase in their reach in the US. I suspect what they were hoping for is that they'd be able to tap into a passionate and dedicated fan base (and as much negative feeling as there might be toward wrestling fans within the television industry that they're incredibly dedicated is rarely in doubt) who would demand Destination America from their cable provider. It should be noted that TNA have largely dropped the ball on this front given that I can't really remember much sustained effort on their part to really push their audience into doing that.
The second thing I'd point out here is that TNA and Destination America have never felt like the most obvious of bed mates. I suspect Destination America advertisers in particular weren't especially enthusiastic about TNA because it didn't really fit the branding Destination America had previously been selling (which is backed up by reports that a lot of them were saying they didn't want time during TNA).
One final thing worthy of note here I think is that wrestling fans are getting a abstract lesson here in why WWE's PG rating is so valuable to them.
Originally Posted by seibu:
“I think the sad truth is that a non-WWE nationally televised US fed isn't viable anymore.”
Although Paragon Wrestling announced a national television deal in April and I think start their television tapings next month.
Originally Posted by hazydayz:
“WWE since 2003 has done nothing but lose fans and viewers and as the years have went past and more and more wrestlers have retired, they have failed to create household names...”
Always fun to read hazy's revisionist history (inspired by the ramblings of Vince Russo)
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“What they should have done in those 12 years is stuck to being a good wrestling show with storylines that were easy to follow...”
Remind me who spent large portions of the last decade booking TNA...
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“just like most have ditched WWE and any former fan of WWE will no doubt laugh or have a sore jaw from it hitting the ground when they see the 50 year old Undertaker still going and 46 year old Triple H still on TV........and with the same beard he had in his peak in 2001 lol.”
Yeah nothing like the Attitude Era when the 50+ Vince McMahon was a major television presence. Also worth remembering that Hulk Hogan, who had already had a long career by this point, was in his 40's when he was part of one of the biggest wrestling angles of all time in WCW. Also that wrestling fans followed guys like Hogan and Savage to WCW back in the early 90s which would be a pretty big indicator than on the whole they don't really care that much about a performers age but rather whether they have any kind of investment in them or if they're still entertaining.
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“Just nothing at all going on in wrestling and the money men in US TV know that. USA Networks got nothing going on. I'd rather watch their re runs of NCIS but even they took Smackdown off Syfy because I'm sure the people at SyFy didn't want any wrestling on their channel so they let USA have it.”
Yeah this isn't true on any level but OK.
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“Lucha is doing a good job but that will always be a small gig and it should be that way because if anyone with money got a hold of it they would just ruin it anyway.”
Isn't Lucha Underground co-owned/run by AAA? They're not exactly a minor cash strapped organisation.
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“Sad sad times for wrestling but this is 2015. I don't think any of them know how to present wrestling in 2015.”
So once again I'll ask this question (which you once again won't answer) how should wrestling be presented in 2015? You make comments like this and then never actually provide any kind of context for what wrestling should be in 2015 beyond pointing at a random collection of other shows you watch that give no sense of what you'd actually like the product to be.
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“They don't have a Vince Russo to tell them their fake wrestling is 20 years out of date with the rest of society.”
I like that Vince Russo is still pretending that's what he did.
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“The Following”
So wildly successful that Fox just cancelled it. Also just as an FYI on Monday Raw and The Following went head-to-head at 9PM here's how that ended
Raw - 1.3 [4001]
The Following - 0.9 [3005]
I bring this up purely to point out that The Following probably isn't a strong example of how far ahead of wrestling the television industry is.
Originally Posted by seibu:
“Just as was the case with Spike, publicly confirming that they'll soon have no TV deal places them in a weaker bargaining position when looking for a new one. Can you honestly not understand that? If so, let's just agree to disagree and get on with our lives.”
This is a fine theory before it becomes a point of a public speculation. As it is the news that TNA is being dropped by Destination America is now all over the internet. If it isn't true then someone at TNA (or DA) needs to issue a definitive statement to that effect. If it is true then TNA aren't actually getting anything out of dancing around the issue beyond further alienating their fans (and roster).
). I think the main part of their problem was thinking they could compete with the WWF rather than just focusing on themselves and their own brand.