TNA, Hogan, and Monday night.

[TDamien]

Everybody has their opinions on where TNA is currently and most of us agree that some changes need to be made but here are some questions to ask...

Had they not brought in Hogan, would TNA be recognized in the mainstream media today?
I say "Absolutely Not!" Right now, no TNA originals are recognizable names (to anyone else besides major wrestling fans) and that's where the Hogan signing will make a change.

If they were still on Thursday night (doing the exact same thing), would their ratings be better?
I think they would because WWE fans might watch Impact BUT they still wouldn't be taken seriously. This move opened up some eyes and got the attention of even people who don't really follow wrestling.
IMO, if they wanted to do something more than just stay put at where they are now, this was a necessary move. If this doesn't work out as planned, that's OK cause people are watching (what the business is doing).
If they are forced to make a bigger change... they can pull another publicity stunt, it will get MSM coverage, it will grasp viewers attention, and if done right, it will bring viewers back the following week.

Now something to keep in mind... they weren't suppose to last 6 weeks!

 

[Charismatic Edge]

TNA made great progress from 2002-2008. After that they hit a plateau. Or a brick wall depending on who you ask. They can't jump up to a major player and they've been trying for a long time. I made a thread about how important it might be for them to start leaving the Impact Zone for tv and ppv. Staying in Orlando makes them a regional product. That's not a terrible thing to be, it only becomes a problem when you say you're going to war with the tougher opponent.

 

[TDamien]

Being a regional product is fine but if you have the opportunity to be something bigger, you should do it.

I gather that the complaints we're hearing about the current TNA Impact is mostly from fans that have been following it since 2002. They liked things the way they were and I can understand that BUT everybody wants to move onto bigger and better things.

I'll admit that I haven't been a TNA follower for long BUT if there was no Impact, I would not be watching wrestling at all! This is what kept me watching in the past...
In the 80s we had WWF, NWA, AWA, and WCCW televised.
In the 90s we had WCW, WWF, and ECW televised.
Through most of the 2000s we had only WWE.

NWA/WCW had always been my top choice. Yes, I was pissed when it was bought out but WWE was pretty cool at that time. I got sick of WWE around 2004 so pretty much stopped following wrestling completely (since there was ONLY one show).
In 2008, I saw a few Impact shows and started liking TNA. I really don't care which show gets higher ratings, as long as Impact gets enough to stay on the air and continue to evolve.

For the sake of choice... I don't want WWE to fall either. Maybe ROH will eventually get their own weekly live show too.

 

[jonlawson]

That sounds reasonable to me TDamien! ROH has great talent, no mic skills though, and it's because of that they may not make it on television.

The reason Hogan and such are a good pairing is the fact that they will help this no names in TNA become better with their mic skills. Yeah, they'll steal the limelight for a while, but when that's done and it will be done, people like AJ Styles and Abyss will be on top.

At least that's what I think.

 

[TDamien]

That sounds reasonable to me TDamien! ROH has great talent, no mic skills though, and it's because of that they may not make it on television.

The reason Hogan and such are a good pairing is the fact that they will help this no names in TNA become better with their mic skills. Yeah, they'll steal the limelight for a while, but when that's done and it will be done, people like AJ Styles and Abyss will be on top.

At least that's what I think.

That sounds about right. I don't know much about ROH. When I had expanded cable, they had a show that aired two times. I was quite impressed with the talent. The only names I knew were Jerry Lynn and 2 Cold Scorpio.
One thing I didn't like was the handshake before each match. To me, that took some intensity away and now that you mention it, you're right. Some mic skills are needed if they want to get on a legit channel.

And I completely agree with your take on Hogan in TNA. With mic skills also comes character development. There's a lot of extremely talented wrestlers that never made it as big as they should have because of lack of character. Sabu comes to mind immediately for me there. He should have gone much farther than he did.

Then there some that are lame talent wise but made it big because of their character. Scotty 2 hottie comes to mind there. IMO, everything about him is extremely lame (character and ring skills) but I can't argue his success.