[Olympus]

Okay let me start off by saying I love these forums. Stumbled upon them a few weeks ago, joined, and have just been reading yours guys' discussions. Now I want to get in on the action.

I would also like to make a disclaimer. THIS IS NOT AN iMPACT! RATINGS THREAD. It is related to iMPACT's ratings, but not about them. That being said, let's get into the meat of this thread.

So after learning about iMPACT's recent 1.31 rating on another wrestling site, I got really excited. They had what I believe was a mid 1.2 rating last week and so I'm really happy to witness TNA's improved ratings. The Angle/Jarret storyline is getting hot, the "THEY" storyline is freaking AMAZING!, Hardy/Anderson is building, and hell even the Dvon/Bully Ray storyline is going good.

However, the biggest problem TNA has had, besides Hogan/Flair/Russo/Bischoff lolz, is consistency. Sometimes they do really good things, but fail to keep going. This is two consecutive weeks their ratings have improved and now they just recorded their second highest rating in company history behind, of course, Hogan's debut which was a 1.5. My question to you guys is, do you think TNA can keep riding this momentum train they've got going on and keep attracting viewers or will they drop the ball with most of their storylines and stumble backwards?

Personally I feel like they'll keep going. The Fortune split from Immortal was great, Anderson just keeps getting better, and I enjoy watching guys like Angle, Pope, and almost the entire tag team division...aaaand Velvet Sky. Had to mention Velvet, lol. I REALLY hope TNA just keeps getting better, grows as a company, makes more money, is able to hit the road for iMPACT more often, and eventually challenge WWE. Raw is obviously WAY down they road, but Smackdown isn't that far away. Though, it will be interesting to see this past Friday's ratings with Booker's debut.

Sorry if this was a bit long. I enjoy writing about stuff I love.

So yeah, will TNA keep moving forward?

 

[Dice Darwin]

Velvet will keep moving forward. We'll keep watching her from behind.

As for TNA as a whole? I have no clue. But welcome to the forum.

 

[Paladine]

If AJ's promo is any indication that they recognize their faults and are attempting to work on them then yes. Bishoffs strategy has always been ratings-fast-now and he will push to hire any ex wwe wrestler they can. It failed in WCW and it's failing now in TNA.

Lets hope Dixie was listening to that promo and puts the focus back on her own TNA talent. And I really hope they listened to that crowd. It's obvious fans want the 6 sided ring back. The few people who disagree have really spurious arguments. Who cares if it's "gimmicky". The entire business of wrestling is gimmicky. It's what works that you stick with.

 

[Olympus]

If AJ's promo is any indication that they recognize their faults and are attempting to work on them then yes. Bishoffs strategy has always been ratings-fast-now and he will push to hire any ex wwe wrestler they can. It failed in WCW and it's failing now in TNA.

Lets hope Dixie was listening to that promo and puts the focus back on her own TNA talent. And I really hope they listened to that crowd. It's obvious fans want the 6 sided ring back. The few people who disagree have really spurious arguments. Who cares if it's "gimmicky". The entire business of wrestling is gimmicky. It's what works that you stick with.

Agreed with everything you said, except the part about the six sided ring. I watched a little TNA a couple years ago and never really liked it. It could be just that I'm so accustomed to a square that I don't like six sides. Same thing with that platform they had earlier last year from the stage to the ring. I don't know, just me.

 

[Paladine]

Well I have grown accustomed to the 4 sided ring also. Honestly I don't really care if it's 4 or 6. I thought it was an interesting deviation from the norm that made TNA unique. But as long the wrestling is great who cares. =)

 

[miles berg]

I prefer 4 sides except for lockdown they should use the six sides of steel gimmick and make that ppv even more unique.

 

[Iceman.]

Little things they can do to make it even a better product.

- Change the whole look, have the whole arena setup like they have at the current UK tour.
- Just have things organized!
- Less promo's
- Make the TNA title seem like a huge deal, put the Anderson/Hary feued which is great, ahead of the "They"/Immortal feud.
- Make the ring bigger, is it smaller than the WWE one? It really seems like it, I could be wrong though.
- Move away from the Impact zone, it's too small and the crowd is full of smarks that cheer for anything and anyone.

 

[AmWolves10]

I kind of sympathize with TNA to a degree. Their fans are mostly indy-esque marks who want to see great wrestlers tear it up in the ring. But if they cater to those guys they wont really grow and steal the mainstream fans which is obviously what they are trying to drive towards. But their quick fix plan to push any and all former WWE star is not very good either since those guys don't really appeal to their fanbase and they don't have the right tools as a company get the most out of those types of guys. They are in a tough spot.

As a mark, I want to see their top wrestlers go at it and put on great matches. But at the same time I know that TNA wants to grow and step into that mainstream spotlight and that means experimenting with things(like bringing in hogan and all those old school names and hardcore justice)even if we don't like it.

The best case scenario at least in my opinion is TNA continues to put on a great wrestling product and at the same time continues getting new fans. Its a little optimistic to think that will happen since the majority of wrestling fans are still really having troubles accepting anything that does not fit the WWE formula.

 

[The-619]

I'm really loving TNA right now, I'm not usually one to complain on the negatives though. Mr. Anderson/Jeff Hardy is probably the best feud going on right now, although Immortal vs. Fortune looks great as well and seeing AJ Styles give Jeff Hardy a Styles Clash was completely awesome.

 

[Pinball Wizard Graves]

TNA has shown over the last 9 years that it doesn't like progress or creating any new stars. I would hate to go in a long rant as to the obvious problems of the company and how they can be changed. Its sad because its so relatively simple and straight forward. Consult some of my posts for further information. Welcome to the board.

 

[Pinball Wizard Graves]

Little things they can do to make it even a better product.

- Change the whole look, have the whole arena setup like they have at the current UK tour.
- Just have things organized!
- Less promo's
- Make the TNA title seem like a huge deal, put the Anderson/Hary feued which is great, ahead of the "They"/Immortal feud.
- Make the ring bigger, is it smaller than the WWE one? It really seems like it, I could be wrong though.
- Move away from the Impact zone, it's too small and the crowd is full of smarks that cheer for anything and anyone.

Some of these 'suggestions' are too vague to be of any help.

 

[apexcliquemonsta]

Answer to the question is simple in my opinion start by putting more effort into other divisions then start feeding in new talent to keep the show growing. As far as the immediate future I can see this Immortal vs Fortune feud lasting a while toss in a few surprises such as a third faction coming in and forcing them back together in order to fight a common enemy. As far as Anderson goes I can see him vs Matt Morgan coming real soon then possibly the Pope or even Douglas Williams I would say Samoa Joe but thats not gonna happen. Other than that the future is looking a little better for TNA.

 

[JigsawKrueger]

1) Get the hell out of the Impact Zone.Live once a month.
2) Re-establish the X division as a no cheating, no-limit, respect driven "division". Simply clean matches.
3) Use Mick Foley in some sort of role (color-commentator?).
4) If they are pulling shit poor buyrates cut back to six PPVs per year.
5) Bring back the six sided ring through the Dixie/Hogan storyline.
6) No more pointless gimmick matches on television.
7) Less post match beat downs, less crappy backstage brawls,sporadic use of blood, less predictable swerves. More pacing in other words.
8) Don't f**k up Immortal vs. Fortune vs. TNA babyfaces!
9) Keep pushing Anderson, Hardy, Morgan, Dinero etc as THE stars of TNA.

 

[PBens21]

I always try and think optimistically about the recent rise in the TNA ratings. But in reality the only reason there scoring hire ratings is because the Angle/JJ/Karen triangle feud. Once this is all over I could see TNA go right back to weekly 1-1.1 ratings. I really hope Im wrong because I always want wrestling in general to gain more popularity.