Dear TNA,
Now as Chief Editor of this operation and "ultimate" wrestling fan, let me start off by saying I am familiar with your weekly product but DO NOT watch it on a daily basis. That being said I have taken a look at your overloaded roster and have the following suggestions for you as a company:
1. The Number of Wrestlers on the roster.
The most glaring issue with TNA is their roster size. A quick count of their roster page has 61 wrestlers/knockouts/personalities profiled(not counting Spanish announce table and Mike Tenay). There is 90 minutes of television each week when you take commercials out. So that leaves just under a minute and a half per performer on a show. Now some will compete in tag team matches and share time with others, but a minute and a half is no where near enough time to build a meaningful story. TNA needs to cut its roster size down to 45 performers (25 Wrestlers, 12 Knockouts, 8 Other Personalities). Could you imagine the costs that would be cut down due to the reduction of the payroll. Hmmm....maybe that could be a start to funding a weekly on the road Impact? Just a thought.
Some of the names that are dead weight and could be chopped are: Mick Foley, Brian Kendrick, Daffney, Don West, Christy Hemme OR So Cal Val, Abyss, Ric Flair, Scott Steiner, ect. That is only half of what I would cut. If Team 3D is no longer a team, then after this feud neither has much worth to TNA. Eliminating the above wrestlers would start to create a youth movement and a better business model. The reason that Hulk Hogan isn't on this list is because he still has the ability to draw and draw better than Ric Flair. There really isn't room for 2 washed up has beens so keep the one that has a better wrestling mind.
Now TNA has created a reputation as a place where the cows go out to pasture. They have signed people way past their prime. Examples of this are Sting(current TNA champion), Kevin Nash, Mick Foley, Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair. Hey TNA these guys were huge in the 90's but that was over 10 years ago, time to get current.
2. Eliminate the 1 title that is a huge waste of time.
The TNA Knockout Tag Team Titles. You have little time as it is, 90 Minutes after commercials, so use it on the things that could use it like say the WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT Championship. FEATURE him on every episode on TNA Impact.
3. Develop and Sustain 2 guys that can be the face of the company.
The best option for TNA is Kurt Angle and AJ Styles. Kurt Angle is at a point in his career where he should be carrying a company for a few more years. But take a look back into the 90's and when the WWE had AUSTIN and THE ROCK. It was their era even with guys like HHH and UNDERTAKER playing a very good supporting role. So I think Kurt Angle and AJ Styles have the goods to be the faces of TNA, kind of like ORTON and CENA are right now for the WWE, but they aren't as over as they were in the attitude era and their supporting cast isn't as big. Make Angle and Styles larger than life and that will give the company some direction. That leads me to:
4. Have a more clear and focused direction.
I feel like every week is like an episode of Law and Order and there is a new case every week. In pro wrestling this is not a good thing. There needs to be approximately 7 storylines that need to be portrayed on television every week. Why 7? Because there are 7-8 matches on every PPV. That will give each match meaning and direction. The writers need to have a plan for the top 3 programs for a whole year in advance. Yes a whole year that way everything doesn't seem so put together at the last minute. The next 4 story lines should be mapped out 4-6 months in advance. Planning ahead is a huge way to provide direction for the company that it has never seen before. And if anyone can tell me that Sting winning the TNA World Heavyweight Championship was planned more than a month in advance then I will tell them BULLSH*T.
Another thing is 8 days before a PPV, it is unacceptable to have 2 matches announced for Victory Road. You can expect a lower amount of buys because of this. This is why TNA is trending downward or straight instead of on an upward slope.
5. Use the crowd reaction and not the crowd opinion.
There are a lot of opinions of the wrestling community I have been hearing lately and the one I hear the most is that TNA listens to its fans/internet opinion too much. That appears to be true due to the lack of direction from the company (see #4). Now what TNA should listen to is the crowd reactions because that tells way more about how over something is than a million opinions. AUSTIN, CENA, and ORTON are 3 prime examples of the WWE listening to the crowd reactions, all of them transitioning from Heel to Face because of the crowd, but not changing their character. ORTON still does everything like a Heel and I appreciate that. Even Eric Bischoff realized in 1996 that HULK HOGAN was on the down side of the peak of his career and made the Bold Bold move to turn HULK HOGAN Heel. As HOLLYWOOD HOGAN he lead the greatest faction pro wrestling has ever seen, the nWo. Even Vince McMahon tried his own version of it in 2002. But if the fans are cheering you have a successful product, but if they are booing, you have a more compelling and successful TV show.
6. Going Live on another night.
Cutting staff will allow for more funds to be allocated to Impact going live on Thursday Nights. Going live will prevent people from reading results ahead of time and create the allusion that anything can happen on live television. Just one suggestion would be to change nights to Tuesday nights. Now I know that there is a fan base that is loyal to Thursday Nights so maybe an encore presentation on Thursdays? But that’s not important. The importance of Tuesday Nights is that there is far less competition for network television than on Thursdays. The biggest show that is watched on network TV on Tuesday is The Biggest Loser, which is losing ratings every season. Thursday Nights you are competing with The Jersey Shore, cables highest rated TV show, Grey's Anatomy which is pulling in the same ratings as The Biggest Loser, and whatever follows American Idol on Fox, because lets face it America is a tad lazy and might not change the channel after 9pm.
7. Stop Trying to Be Like WWE.
Do I really need to touch on this? The 3.3.11 promos say it all, and the fact that TNA gets the majority of its new talent for the Future Endeavored line of the WWE. If they didn't make it in the WWE well then why would they make it in a less marketed promotion like TNA? They wouldn't. Now Jeff Hardy was on top of the world in the WWE in 2008-09, but a lot has happened since then. For one he is currently facing charges pertaining to drugs. TNA should not be pushing a guy who is facing potential jail time. Now I'm not saying Jeff shouldn't be on the roster, because I think he should, as a tag team with his brother, Matt. The Hardy Boyz has been done in the WWE but not since they both have been pushed as singles wrestlers. Being a tag team creates a measuring stick for young teams like Beer Money, Ink Inc, Generation Me, Motor City Machine Guns, and Gunner and Murphy. This is a good thing because after EDGE and CHRISTIAN, The Hardy Boyz were the best tag team the WWE had during its golden age. You are not the WWE and you don't need to even watch their programming weekly for ideas, and if your current staff continues to do this, I would look for a new creative staff. In fact I would be willing to give PAUL HEYMEN the all the money saved from the roster cuts, complete creative and roster control to head my creative team. I'm sure if TNA offered him the world, he would graciously accept.
8. Don't be afraid.
This one goes out to DIXIE CARTER...Don't get attached to the wrestlers, get attached to the product on TV. This means to grow the "Balls" that Eric Bischoff said you had on impact and fire people you like as people that aren't helping your business. You need to start being a smart business woman or hand over the keys of the car to someone better suited to drive the car.
This blog was to summarize the 8 key points to turning around the product on TNA TV. The articles will appear on the weekends. And the next opinion I will tackle is the Undertakers Wrestlemania Streak, and why it SHOULD be broken.
The Chief Editor of PWA
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