TNA General Discussion Thread

[Hosferatu]

I purchased the year of their streaming service and made it like 2 months.

You and me both sister

 

[Dmac]

I actually enjoy TNA currently for what it is.

Matt Rehwoldt (The former Aidan English) posted something last week just expressing how far they have come as a company after they pretty much hit rock bottom at one point.

I don't expect to see a fully polished product or a card of 5 star matches, but it's a fun product with room to grow.

 

[R-Troop]

To think they went from like 100 people for BFG to 7900, the largest crowd in the companies history for North America.

I'd say they've really grown since the name change.

 

[CFCrusader]

Crazy. The level of excitement I had for the company in that moment, to see where things are today... all you can say is loltna I guess.

Same. All of the big 4 PPVs that year were fantastic (even Rebellion, which had two vacated world titles) and so despite my nervousness around the rebranding, I trusted in the bookers. Hard to Kill weekend was where I reached maximum hype. The production was so much better, Nemeth felt like a big deal because of the way they presented him, Grace in the Rumble, Scott's "TNA is back and it's never going away" promo.

Making myself feel sad now

I know 7k fans is nothing to scoff at, but it doesn't feel so organic. People still talk about TNA as if they'd struggle to keep talents if WWE/AEW come knocking... I know ultimately that will always happen, but that gap should feel like it's way smaller.

On a positive note, TNA has been way better since Slammiversary IMO. Earlier in the year I was struggling to get through the shows. The booking hasn't felt as lazy recently. May they continue on this path when they return from the hiatus. I look forward to seeing what the bookers do without an NXT star in the men's main event scene

 

[Hosferatu]

Yeah I can't speak on the recent quality, I haven't seen much TNA these last couple years, I trust that it's totally fine and no doubt quite enjoyable to a lot of people. To which I say: good.

But their attendance numbers and all other metrics don't really mean anything to me. They're getting these numbers because they've become, in essence, the sister brand to NXT. Things were trending positively before Scott got canned and the WWE partnership started, but the crossovers with WWE have clearly accelerated their improvement from a business perspective. That's all well and good, but there's absolutely no universe where WWE eventually says "alright, it's been cool collaborating with y'all, we're going to just let you guys go on your own path now that things are looking good". They're clearly going to keep them under their thumb for as long as it's beneficial, probably will try to purchase them I imagine, and if they do eventually separate, then the numbers for TNA will quickly fall off and they'll be left back at square one having lost their identity and a lot of their longtime fans. None of that is to say that people shouldn't enjoy TNA now, and that the company themselves shouldn't be happy with the good business they're doing, but it's very easy to see that this doesn't just end with TNA flourishing independently.

Once again, I know there are a lot of positives for a lot of people that are coming from their work with WWE, and I don't even blame WWE for doing what they're doing, but as someone who has been a TNA mark for 20 years, I certainly lament that the company wasn't really even given a chance to rebuild independently, and that the spirit of TNA that Scott D'Amore specifically represented and wanted to revitalize is probably never coming back.

 

[CFCrusader]

Yeah, when they break a new attendance record or people say "TNA is so hot right now" I just think about the WWE effect. Most of the buzz comes from the live shows or when people appear on NXT. TNA's own booking is very meh. Delaying Hendry's title win (twice), his reign was basically just jobbing to Orton, delaying Santana's title win, BFG was a bit of a weird show, and now they're on a mini-hiatus. I lost track of how many times they ran System v Hardys on the weekly show during late 2024/early 2025 as well.

Then you have the people who are no longer in the company, and firing Scott was definitely a factor in most of those departures. And then you have someone like Trinity who would've been telling people to come to TNA, if they didn't get rid of the management lol.

I've noticed a few fans who used to be present in the weekly Impact discussion threads in r/squaredcircle are no longer there. It's going to be interesting to see how many of the new "WWE fans" they keep once the NXT deal is over, and I agree that it's unlikely to go very well.

It's funny when people say "Anthem made the right choice" as if Scott had viral Hendry, the Hardys, pretty much any of the WWE promotion, or literally more than a month to develop the buzz around TNA. And it's not like Anthem followed up with the UK and Australia shows he did. I am so bitter about how they treated Scott, it's unreal

 

[Chris]

Firing Scott the way they did without even entertaining his offer to buy it was pretty much unrecoverable for me. Every reason that pulled me into supporting and wanting TNA to succeed was tied to believing in what Scott was doing and loving the product he was creating. I voted him as booker of the year both years I was watching before he was fired.

People act like disliking what TNA has done is all "anti-WWE" when Scott was more than happy to work with them and I was more than happy that they were going to be. WWE never told them Scott had to go, they'd have probably been against it at the time. My anti-WWE sentiment didn't start until well after I stopped giving a fuck about TNA because they fired they guy that was producing the product that I was enjoying and half the talent I enjoyed left because of it. Not a hard thing to reconcile for me, corporations always ruin shit I like