Not often we agree but on this we do. Bischoff and Hogan's run was what ultimately ruined TNA.

I don't think it was just Aces & Eights personally, it was the long line of heel factions of ex-WWE/WCW stars facing off against face factions of TNA homegrown which A&8's simply followed. They were the straw that broke the camels back (I think that's the saying anyway lol).

As someone who watched from pretty much the beginning, including through years where I'd simply given up on WWE, on The Wrestling Channel if was sad to watch an alternative to WWE become a pale imitation of it.

Hogan and Bischoff had a place in TNA, I genuinely believe that, but that place wasn't one with so much control. They both should take a long look at their part in what looks to be the demise of TNA.

I can't feel particularly sorry about the company going because it's a shell of its former self but I do feel sad for the crew and roster.

I don't think wrestling will ever die completely, it will just go back to its roots, small regional or even town and city local companies putting on shows locally for small but enthusiastic audiences of die-hard fans.
What will stop is WWE putting on five hours of live TV every week, with PPVs every month, and endless spin-off shows.
The numbers for the WWE Network prove IMO that there is only a certain amount of wrestling that people will watch, especially if it's repetitive and formulaic.
The network numbers have pretty much levelled off at around 2 million, which sounds good but that's for the whole world (where it's available), and I'm sure Vince thought he would have at least that many members in the States alone almost immediately, not in the whole world after several years!
Vince and his company have always arrogantly assumed they are much more popular than they actually are.

Oh I agree with that. When the next contract negotiations come up in America there's no doubt in my mind both Raw and Smackdown will be taken off prime time TV and only Raw will survive.

The Network numbers are good but obviously not as good as they wanted. That's one of the reasons why I got so annoyed at so many NXT wrestlers ending up on Raw and Smackdown. The WWE ASSUMED people knew who they were when clearly Raw was doing around 3 million at the time, a lot less now but not everyone that watches Raw in America has the Network, it's just the arrogant assumption that people knew who Kevin Owens or AJ Styles was. I think that's a large part of why so many people in America have tuned out in the last year......they've no idea who these people are and they're not gonna pay $10 a month to find out. To them it's just a TV show. That's like asking me to pay £10 a month to watch extra episodes of Eastenders when the free stuff is just fine.


I hope TNA stay in business because there's always a chance things could change. It only takes one character to really connect with the public and bring wrestling into the public eye again. If TNA go out of business all that leaves is WWE and I know Lucha is there and ROH but let's be honest, when most people think of wrestling they think WWE or WWF. That's what most people grow up on, then grow out of and hear people talk about.

If TNA ends up out of the picture all that leaves is WWE and WWE is filled with wrestlers. There's a wrestler in Triple H overseeing creative, there's wrestlers working as agents, there's wrestler's working as staff backstage in producing roles. Some of them have been there a very long time and they still think things only work one way. The WWE doesn't have the right people in the right jobs and when you see Raw getting a 1.75 rating, Vince McMahon isn't doing that deliberately. I do think in 2019 his end goal will be to put Raw and Smackdown on the Network and bleed every penny he can out of the hardcore fanbase but he's not putting on a bad show for the sake of it. I think Vince McMahon genuinely believes it's good, I think Triple H and Stephanie think it's good. I think they are in a position where they can't fix things because in their eyes there's nothing wrong and it's everyone else that must be wrong and with the way things are going over there, they're killing the business. They're killing the wrestling business, if not creatively then in the ring, guys getting kicked in the face all the time with these superkicks and getting back up seconds later, everyone diving through the middle rope, finishers meaning nothing, they make it look like a joke so if TNA goes out business I think the wrestling business on TV at least is done. There's no way it will ever be relevant again or mainstream.

Though I haven't watched it in years, it's nevertheless sad if TNA goes under. However, unlike WWE, WCW and ECW, I'm not sure Impact ever had much of a run where it was genuinely critically acclaimed. Within the industry and with a significant amount of viewers, anyway. When Rhodes and D'Amore were booking the then one hour version it paled in comparison to the PPVs. Then it was panned during the Russo years, into the Bischoff years and afterwards. Ironically, it's in the last few years it has built up good reviews, but NXT has kind of taken its spotlight at the same time.

As for WWE. I think Vince has got too old or too bored and the TV product has fallen down off the back of trying to juggle too many hours against several family based partners. The likes of Coca Cola, Mattel, 2K Sports, Fruity Pebbles etc.

I think under Billy Corgan there is a chance the company could shine and he is a fan, he's not just a guy with money and I think it takes someone who's a real fan to really make it work, Vince McMahon is a fan too, you need people in charge who really enjoy it. I know which years of TNA i preferred. I think after Jeff went home and the whole thing with Karen Jarrett came about, which was Dixie's chance to really get rid of Jeff and have a real legit reason for doing so, I don't think Dixie ever trusted anyone to really run the shows, she had to have her bit in it despite not really knowing anything about booking a wrestling show. When Jeff Jarrett was sent home, Dutch was next and then Jim Cornette leaving only Vince Russo and Matt Conway and the only reason Matt Conway was there was because when they would have their creative meetings during the week, before the show was finally written, Dixie basically put him in there as a stooge to tell her what they were saying or if they talked about her and that run only lasted 6 weeks before Hulk and Eric came in so it seems like throughout it's history it's never really had a chance to get going before something happens or someone gets fired or sent home and then someone else comes in. It's never really had a true single vision, it's always been a mish mash of different ideas from different people and of course you know by the names just mentioned, just like you mentioned Dusty and D'Amore, those are all people that think they're right, they're not gonna budge or compromise anything, they're gonna argue their case.


I can be harsh on WWE and the reason I can also be harsh on Vince McMahon is because it starts and ends with him. It's really up to him to pick good wrestlers and give them good characters and make sure the shows are entertaining and there's storylines. Now it could be he has stepped back without a big public announcement and that's fine. He's 71 years old. If it were me and I was him, I'd do the same, at 71 years old it's time to give it a rest and take a rest. The wrestling fan in me always wants them to roll the dice once more and take a big chance and a big risk and over the last 10 years, really since the WWE became PG, there's been so many big names in the company that could either still go in the ring or unfortunately have passed away and I think because of the show being PG and maybe McMahon not even wanting to be PG, being more G rated, refusing to have blood, refusing coarse language, refusing the carnival pantomime side of wrestling, I feel like fans have been cheated out of one last run. When Bret Hart finally came back, Shawn Michaels last few years, Ric Flair's last run before his " WWE retirement", even the McMahon family, the return of The Rock to inring competition, even the angles with Dusty Rhodes and his family, Dusty could have still worked in the ring, Roddy Piper, Hulk Hogan, the list goes on. I've already seen all of them in their prime, I know it's not gonna be anything like they were when they were young but when wrestling is done right you can forgive a lot of things. I feel like it would have been good to have seen them all have one last really good run in the WWE and unfortunately for the most part, anytime we seen them on TV it just didn't feel right, it just didn't look or sound the same, we see that with Mick Foley now, it's very empty and dark and not very nice to watch. There's no heart there or passion. So when I think of all those names, I need to go back many many years to really remember them because that's when they were good.

Since they became PG the effort seems to be on making money. They all talk like robots. I just don't get it. I was watching clips from 2007 earlier and the difference is huge. I really believe the WWE's endgoal is to put Raw and Smackdown on the Network. I think that's why they don't care. They're getting $100 million a year regardless, they must have USA Network over a barrel with it because they're not getting that kind of money again with the numbers they're pulling in. They must know that themselves hence why the shows don't get any effort but I also don't think the McMahons really expected the numbers to get as bad as they have. That's a big reason why many want TNA to stay in business, at least if you don't like TNA, you can see the effort being made, they're trying. With WWE, it's not looking good and if they end up being the only major wrestling company on TV there really is no hope for wrestling because I honestly think the McMahons think the shows are great. It's different if you know there's a problem and you want to fix it, I don't think they even think there's anything wrong. I just don't see wrestling recovering. TNA gives you that little bit of hope that something big might just happen.

If TNA has done one thing well it's convincing some people they are still a major company. They run shows for a week every couple of months, barely any PPV, no touring, I can't imagine much merch sales. They've been basically an indie with a TV deal for a couple of years now.

They're a low rent TV product and nothing more at this point.

I don't think anyone believed they were a major company after they lost the deal with Spike. However, that still doesn't stop them from being the No. 2 NA promotion - and that is a sad state of affairs indeed.

I doubt WWE will get it as the highest they will go is still not much but WWE have said they will buy it with minuites to go before BFG if TNA are willing to sell to them and in the end it may come to that.

But no matter who buys TNA Corgan-Aroluxe/Harris Twins-WWE or Sinclair/ROH or anybody else the they are all saying part of the deal will inc Dixie going 100% and having nothing at all to do with TNA.

I would like Corgan to get it but I'm unsure he has enough money to buy it pay off all the debts rebrand and able to take the losses to keep it afloat until things turn around.

After that Sinclair so hopefully ROH gets the TV deals and a lot of guys can be moved to ROH.

I really hope WWE doesn't end up buying TNA, as that will just massage Vince's already enormous ego even more, reinforcing his company being "the only show in town".
They would only really want TNA to add its tape library to the WWE Network, as it does contain a lot of very significant shows featuring very significant stars, but that's all they'll want. I'm pretty sure they would only buy it to shut it down as a wrestling promotion, as they ended up doing with WCW.

TBF WWE had no choice with WCW no channel wanted it and even the plan to turn Smackdown into WCW Smackdown (Or Nitro) was shot down by The USA Network saying they paid for WWE not (a failed brand) WCW.

But yes all WWE will want is the tape library as apart from the Network they would own pretty much every ever match from Sting-Hogan-Hardy Boys-Foley-Kurt Angle and more.

Not to mention some great AJ Styles Samoa Joe- Bobby Roode Matches.

I'm also sure there are a few wrestlers they would pick up from it.

Though what Cody and Sandow will do I don't know.

Codys only supposed to be doing his BFG bit, as hes got other stuff to do with ROH that will take him into next year.

Dixie said on twitter, that shes looking forward to be sharing some news soon (18hrs ago).

This is Dixie we are talking about here.

The news will be TNA have signed El Torito to a multi year contract and he will get a Title Match at BFG.

Rumours are also even if it goes ahead some BFG Matches have already been cancelled and wrestlers flights ect have been cancelled and they have been told not to show up.

That doesn't make any sense though at all.

If the card has had to be changed at that short notice that's going to look pretty bad as the pre-BFG Impact Wrestling show has already aired in the States hyping it up!
BTW, I can find no trace of a Challenge transmission for BFG, which would normally be on Wednesday night.
Perhaps they know something we don't, or they're just hedging their bets and not scheduling it until they know that it actually happened!

I would have thought any deal would have gone through by now (Maybe it has and no news is out yet).


But if they need the money to put BFG on they really need it no later than tonight so they have it ready to use.

I think the longer it goes more chance of WWE getting it for peanuts just to get rid of it.


I do think 1 good thing about WWE getting it is they can put them on The Network as there was some gold there at one time and if it is on The Network at least they won't just vanish.

Sadly I think even if Corgan gets it it will cost him so much he'll be selling it himself within a year at a loss just to try and recoup some of the money.

According to this Corgan has a net worth of $50 Million
http://gonetworth.com/billy-corgan-net-worth/

While that is hell of a lot is it enough to buy pay off the debts save TNA and rebuild a new brand from it

Plus that is Net Worth meaning of course he doesn't have that in cash laying around so just how much of that can he afford to put into it?

Drew Galloway not at BFG, injured, take it thats a story for his ticket being cancelled.

ROH is the number 2 promotion in the US.

At this point it's like arguing between apples and oranges. They've both about evenly matched. The only real difference is ROH runs houseshows, holds them in stronger markets than TNA did, and has a history of consistency and vision of who they are and where they are going. Therefore they get the return they expect on those live events.

Both very very niche brands to be honest.

Billy Corgan: "Nothing you or God can do to stop Vince McMahon from buying TNA"

However: "I would have to be informed of that -- or at least would hope to be informed of that."

http://nypost.com/2016/10/01/tna-to-...alks-continue/

Bound for glory to go ahead on Sunday.

Just read that and it's true - buying TNA would be small change for McMahon. The sad thing would be that they'd simply absorb the company into the WWE and distribute the workers between NXT, Raw and Smackdown. With the brand split, they'd benefit from bigger rosters for each show.

And then what price on him going after ROH down the line as well to once and for all eliminate all competition ?

TBF that says as far as Corgan knows not a 100% confirmation although I think it will it's the TV tapings I think will not happen unless a buyer who wants to keep it going gets it.

So BFG may very well be their fairwell show.

Looking at the matches if it is the winner of Bound For Gold Match may as well cash in that night.