For our older readers out there, you may remember the 1967 Buffalo Springfield hit song titled For What It’s Worth. If you don’t remember that song or if you’re too young to know which song I’m referring to, then you’ll probably know the lyrics of the song from hit movies like Forrest Gump or even Tropic Thunder. The first two lines of the song go:
There’s something happening here
What it is ain’t exactly clear
Do you know what song I’m talking about now? Good!
I mention this song because over the last month since iMPACT Wrestling aired live from Chicago I just can’t get those first two lines out of my head. When it comes to TNA Wrestling and the iMPACT Wrestling brand, well, there really is something happening here.
And whatever “it” is that is happening here, it’s a very good thing. All you have to do is watch any one of the episodes of iMPACT Wrestling since it changed to its current format (one week live, one week taped; all on the road) and compare that episode to a show taped in the iMPACT Wrestling Zone and you’ll see the difference immediately. The show looks good – it looks like a professional production. Better yet, the wrestlers are getting tremendous responses from the live crowds who aren’t jaded and generally weird like many of the folks who frequented Orlando. Going on the road has been very good for iMPACT Wrestling and, as a fan, I’m glad to see the show hit the road.
I do, however, have a quick opinion to share with Eric Bischoff and the gang behind the scenes on how to make these shows even better.
Specifically, the branding on the shows needs to be better produced. If you’re an iMPACT Wrestling fan and you remember when Gut Check and Open Fight Night debuted about a year ago, then you remember that those special episodes of the show were drenched in the branding for those promotions. And it looked great! One thing that I think has been missing since iMPACT Wrestling hit the road and began producing live shows last month is the great, across-the-show branding that used to be a major part of each Gut Check and Open Fight Night program.
I understand that across-the-show branding is a hard goal to accomplish when you’re putting out a live product that may only have a 30 second tape delay. I get it. I understand. This is where it would make a lot of sense for the backstage production team to really grow, expand, and increase its depth. Bringing in everything from entry-level producers to graduate level interns would be a great help in developing some prepackaged, highly branded graphics to display across the show.
Other than this quick opinion, I really can’t think of anything that is so sorely wrong with the new format that it requires immediate attention. What do you think? Since the show flipped to live, have you seen anything on iMPACT Wrestling that requires the production team to fix it right away? Some anti-TNA person out there is going to read this and write something about Hulk Hogan and Sting needing to retire because they’re stealing the spotlight from the younger generation. Okay, let’s pretend that 10 minutes (out of 120 minutes) of the show where the older generation is on display is not part of this discussion. Do you see any issues with the way the arenas are set up? What about the Dixie-Tron? Like it? Hate it? It’s pretty cool that iMPACT Wrestling gets to use these around-the-arena LED screens to have their logo wrap around the entire building. It’s a cool effect when other promotions do it and it looks great for TNA, too.
What do you think? Do you have any constructive criticism for the team at iMPACT Wrestling?
– Joe
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