About a month ago, I was talking with XHeadlines.com webmaster, Jacob Spades, about the future prospects for Total Nonstop Action. I don’t think that it’s a big secret that I really like the whole TNA concept and I try to catch their show as much as possible. In fact, I even write a TNA Impact review column each week titled, TNA Impact Wishes. There’s something about watching a non-WWE wrestling show that is exciting and TNA is the best of the bunch out there right now (for my money).
Our conversation covered what TNA needs to do to cover the “other stuff” in their burgeoning empire. I thought I would take some space here this week and talk about just what TNA needs to do to make the leap from the wrestling alternative to a viable, top-level organization that does not compete with WWE, but offers a completely separate product for wrestling fans to get behind.
First, there have been rumors for a while now that TNA will be expanding to 2 hours in the near future. Personally, I think that TNA could use a 2 hour show, but they should not drop their hour-long Impact show. If they really want to go on Monday nights with a 2 hour show, then I would suggest going from 7pm to 9pm so they do not compete head-to-head with WWE. Of course, if they DO want to compete head-to-head (and I, of course, am not privy to the backstage discussions going on about this in TNA) then I would only want to go against them for one hour of the show, not both hours.
But, as you’ll see with many of my suggestions, getting this 2 hour show up and running is intertwined with other roads that TNA must walk down. For example, a 2 hour show on a Monday night isn’t going to draw big ratings if it doesn’t look like a big-time show. What is the #1 thing that detracts from Impact looking like a big time show right now? The television studio that the show is taped in! Sure, for the current state of Impact and the way that TNA is operated, using the television studio is a viable option. But if you’re going to get a big-time show on a Monday night, you absolutely must go to a bigger venue. Even if you go to a place that only fits 5000 fans, you’ll get a bigger pop out of that crowd than you’ll get out of the Impact Zone.
Of course if you’re going to move to a 2 hour show in a bigger venue each week, then that begs the question of what to do with the Impact Zone. Keep it! Keep the Thursday show at a one hour time limit and use it as an enhancement show. Don’t use it like the way WWE completely abused Saturday Night’s Main Event last month by making it a commercial for the One Night Stand pay-per-view. Rather, use it as a place where some of the second-tier talent can get their feet wet in front of a rabid crowd. Also, keeping the Impact Zone retains the rabid fan base involved in Orlando – where the show is taped. Ask Paul Heyman about the benefits of having a completely dedicated fan base…
All of this brings us to the next “thing” I would do to make TNA more of a big-time organization. I’d stop the 2-day each month work schedule and start touring one week each month. Now, I would never book a venue bigger than any of the venues that the original ECW used to wrestle at, but I certainly would attempt to run a Friday – Tuesday schedule at least one per month. Hit a house show each day for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday and then go on to television tapings on Monday and Tuesday. In fact, if the 2 hour show comes to fruition, then you could even use this 5 day schedule to tape a month’s worth of television. One of the draws to work at TNA is the reduced road schedule and I think working 12 weeks out of a 52 week year is still a great incentive for the wrestlers.
Now, if all of the above takes place, then I think it’s obvious that more marketing needs to go on and there are a million ways to go about that end of the business, but I would immediately start a magazine for the company. This magazine shouldn’t be a mega-massive production, but there’s no reason why a good magazine with good marketing can’t pay for itself and bring in an extra revenue source. With advertising comes the “sponsorship” of pay-per-views. WWE does this and WCW began to do it before they folded. I think this can be another great opportunity for TNA to mainstream itself.
I’d also look into putting out some of the wanted DVD sets that WWE has not put out. For example, wrestling fans WANT to “seasons” of their favorite wrestling shows. WWE would make a killing if they boxed up each “season” (year) of RAW and put them out there on the market in two volume sets (26 episodes per volume). I would look into doing this type of promotion with TNA and their Impact show as well as their pay per views.
Finally, (speaking of pay-per-views) I would promote the hell out of Bound for Glory. This is the “big” pay-per-view that TNA runs each year (think WrestleMania), but very few people know that. Granted, it does take time to build up such an event to be a mega-huge event, but part of that is the way the wrestlers regard the event on a weekly and monthly basis.
Most of the stuff above is just the details of a larger promotion. However, long-term success for TNA just might be all in the details.
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