Hey Scott,
In light of Hogan's latest looney rant, what kind of impact (pun not intended) do you think The Rock would have on TNA if they threw a shit load of money at him to come in and work for 3-6 months. Obviously this is never going to happen; but I thought I might make a fun topic on the blog.
Here are the goblin's comments (copy/pasted from 411):
Hogan says TNA is one big name away from catching WWE...
The Southtown Star has an interview up with Hulk Hogan. Highlights are below.
On TNA: "I watch both products. (TNA's) like the little engine that could. Everybody thought they wouldn't be around for long, and they've been chugging along for seven years. They gain momentum every week. They seem to be real fresh. When a lot of guys go over to that side of the fence, they seem to get a spring in their step."
On WWE: "Vince is the constant. He's the standard of excellence. I just love watching his show because you never know what he is going to do. Plus, the production -- you can't even touch his production. It's so dialed-in. It's amazing just to see how they put the pieces together."
On TNA's future: "If you look at history, everyone says, 'History repeats itself.' With all of the choices in the universe of entertainment, I look at the big package and look at the big picture from 40,000 feet. I see history repeating itself. I see TNA getting strong. I see Vince McMahon being impeccable except for a few little holes in the boat. TNA is lacking that one momentum-shifting move, that one big name that would even the playing field, the brand (that is) just as powerful as the WWE brand. (TNA's) lacking the big piece of the puzzle. It wouldn't matter who did what in the past. It will be a totally even playing field. You never know."
It’s true, you never know. I think their product is ridiculous bullshit and you couldn’t pay me to watch, but they’ve gone from losing millions to actually making money and breaking a 1.1 rating on Spike on a regular basis, so who knows?
Rock’s not coming back, though. There’s not enough money to make it worth his while and he’s far bigger than either promotion now.
I don’t watch TNA regularly but from what I’ve heard and read, it sounds like they could sign Rock, Austin, Cena, HBK, Jericho and Undertaker and they’d probably not get above a 2 rating because they’d find someway of ruining the momentum.
I agree. I remember the way TNA killed off Booker’s momentum when he jumped. Again, it’s not about the stars, it’s about the show. Back in 1999 WCW had the best roster ever, yet managed to lose millions. And few people thought that a roster consisting of Austin, Foley, Rocky Maivia and the veteran Undertaker could lead to much more than shit yet look what happened. The sad thing now is that people buy brands rather than quality. WWE is so ingrained into people’s systems that it doesn’t matter what stupid shit they pull, they’re still automatically number one.
The only way for TNA to boost ratings is to radically reinvent the business.
I think TNA’s biggest problem is the presentation of the whole thing. The WWE-lite look of everything from the entrance videos, to the backstage skits, to the nonsensical turns. And to me…the 6-sided ring screams bush league to me….wrestling is meant to be in a 4-sided ring, end of story.
In my opinion, they need to move away from the entertainment aspect of wrestling and closer to the sport side. The UFC is a perfect example of sports entertainment except its SPORTS with some entertainment. Wrestling can follow that same path if they just treated the in-ring stuff as a legit sport…bring back kayfabe in at least that sense. Take an old-school approach to the in-ring while keeping the spectacle aspect of promotion. TNA has some quality workers.
Oh, and having a Sting/Foley main event 17 YEARS after they had a great match is not a good way to eat into the WWE’s audience.
I’m going to have to disagree. The business is so exposed that presenting it as if it were an actual sport (like UFC) as it were in the early 80s and prior is ridiculous. You can’t compare the two anymore than you can compare shooting in a war to watching a action war movie.
You’re right about that, that’s not what I meant though. I mean that the announcers and wrestlers treat the matches in a more kayfabe style. I think it would also help the wrestlers in getting over because the matches, in my opinion, have become too orientated on “performance” instead of who wins/who loses. I know who wins and who loses doesn’t matter but it makes for better heat and gets the crowd more invested in the actual characters.
I don’t think there’s a better example of that in the past few years than HBK/Taker at WrestleMania. After Shawn tried to be a bitch and take the countout win, the match became about who won and who lost. The fact it was ***** and awesome was only a post-match thought. Too many matches today feel like guys just doing moves to entertain (Cena/Batista from SummerSlam jumps out) and then having a finish instead of working towards who’s going to win.
This is the reason I really liked the Orton-Dibiase match on Raw this week. There were no fancy moves, no hardcore wrestling and no props. It was just a great story of a mentor knowing he’s better and the student trying to prove himself.
Dibiase didn’t put on a great match by doing eye-pleasing moves, but he got you into the match because he made you believe how much he wanted to win, trying backslides, small-packages etc. anything to get the pin when he lost control of the match. And after he lost, his expression showed how frustrated he was that he wasn’t able to beat Orton. It shows that despite everything fans have seen during the past 15 years, two guys can still get over by going back to basics.
As I’ve said, this is why I love Dibiase. He always looks like he’s trying to win the match. Not perform or entertain, but WIN.
He’s never once (to my knowledge, I’m sure I’ll be corrected if I’m wrong) given an interview talking about how entertaining and charismatic he is, he just tries to win the match. No one does that any more.
I completely agree about Dibiase and wrestlers who only care about winning. Of all the 2nd/3rd generation guys that are up and coming Dibiase displays the most passion in his matches. I really liked the match he and orton had and can’t wait for legacy to break up so Dibiase can stand on his own.
I must say I am excited to see The Hart Dynasty on smackdown. They seem like they could be a really fun group to watch grow into their roles.
Don’t worry, he’ll get it drilled into his head soon enough that he’s a “performer” and not a bad ol wrestler. The “performer” gimmick really should only work for Shawn Michaels. At this stage of his career, they can play it up that he’s got nothing left to prove, he’s won everything there is to win, he’s financially secure but he needs to go out there and be “The Showstopper” to feed his ego and that’s why he’s in the business.
but characters in that action movie would hardly acknowledge it is a movie. I agree on bignasty here, wrestling could easily profit of the mma boom if they just do it right.
I have to agree. Everything they do screams WWE on a smaller budget. There was more originality (which is a relative term) when they were running out of Nashville at the Fairgrounds. Sure, it looked like WCW-lite, but it still had a different feel. I still think that they need to abandon the Impact Zone and find a new home to give the promotion a fresh feel.
The most glaring mistake that they made was going away from what made them different in the first place, and that was the emphasis on the X Division, and the tag team scene. In the span of a couple of years, you had epic matches involving AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels, Samoa Joe, America’s Most Wanted, XXX, and the emergence of LAX (sorry TNA, letting Konan go was the dumbest thing you could have done. Having him as the mouthpiece in the Anti-Gringo angle MADE LAX. As did the separate entrance area for them. Turning them face was a disaster). Now, they still have very capable future stars in Jay Lethal and the Motor City Machine Guns, just to name a few, but they can’t get decent pushes or TV time because we must see WWE rejects like Matt Morgan, Jethro Holliday.
The LAX had serious, serious potential to be huge. Especially considering how big wrestling is within the Latino community…they could’ve have done the Bret Hart/Canada thing and they had good wrestlers in Hernandez & Homicide.
I don’t have a problem with WWE rejects but they just don’t do anything different or great with them. Like why bring in Murdoch…and not Cade? Why bring in Victoria and give her the lamest ring name of all-time? Oooh its Tara.
Totally agree on the Konnan thing. The LAX-Styles/Daniels feud was fucking AWESOME.
To me, I hate crash tv and Russo is still employing that technique for the Impact shows. I simply think he doesn’t know how to write any other way. I hate watching 2 minute spot fests and how dumb is their show pacing that the main events get interrupted by a commercial break when the match is only 10 minutes to begin with?
As for Hogan, wow, he had hardly any impact when he arrived in 1994 to WCW. In fact, I think he made things worse bringing in all his friends and if it wasn’t for the single greatest angle of all time (nwo), I don’t think WCW would’ve almost put Vince out of business.
Yeah, I just can’t get into TNA at all. I couldn’t agree more with the 6 sided ring. Does anyone honestly believe that that concept brought in any more viewers? If anything it hinders the matches and makes the wrestlers (sorry, Vince) try and perform non-stop spot fests rather than working a match. The entrance themes are actually worse than WWE’s, and the 2 sided entrances are lame. Even the name of the company is lame.
To get me interested, they would need an angle that would blow this all up and have them start from scratch. Fire Russo and the other lackeys. Hire Heyman for booking and try and bring in Bitchoff to manage the talent and production–those were his specialties. Either that or enhance Cornette’s responsibilities. Send a feeler to Jake Roberts while were at it to help with promos and other booking aspects. (And of course fire him the minute he shows up stinking drunk.)
I am not sure what big talent they could bring in to help with a jump start. Hogan certainly wouldn’t “hurt”, but he’s certainly not going to help solidify the future. Who’s to say they can’t do it with the talent they already have? If the product is there, I’ll be watching.
There are alot of hardcore fans (particularly males) who are dying for a viable WWE alternative right now. For me, TNA isn’t it–at least not now. They certainly appear to have the resources and fledgling budget to put up a fight, so long as Dixie Carter keeps writing those checks. But for now, I am not watching.
I forgot to mention the name will prevent it from ever competing with the WWE because there’s not brand recognition. UFC = mma. NFL = football. You say WWE or WWF, people think wrestling. WCW, ECW, AWA…same thing. You say TNA….what do you think people are thinking of?? Hint: not wrestling.
Whatever, Hulk.
Yeah, the LAX teaming was pretty awesome. Easily the best idea for a tag team in at least a decade, maybe two. They certainly tip-toed on the line of making it an offensive stereotype, but were careful to not portray them simply as “gang-bangers” as Vince would surely have, but more as revolutionaries, complete with the awesome entrance video with all the Castro imagery and such. I think if they could have kept Konnan around that they could have eventually made a face turn as a lot of what he said from week to week certainly rings true with a LOT of people. It certainly would have been a significant angle in wrestling history and quite a challenging one for what you might consider a stereotypical wrestling fan. That’s the kind of stuff TNA should be reaching for, because it’s completely out of the box stuff that the WWE could never even attempt.
I actually do believe TNA are one major (relevant) star away from grabbing a chunk of the current WWE audience.
If TNA signed John Cena (never gonna happen) today, pushed him to the moon using his current gimmick…boom TNA would be in the big time next to the WWE.
Until they draw that one relevant top star from the opposition they will always be wwe-lite.
There product is pretty shit but it is growing and interms of booking and ‘feel’ doesn’t seem to distant from WWE.
The problem is TNA will never be able to sign a ‘hot by todays standard’ current drawing superstar like Cena, Batista or Orton. But perhaps this will change in 3 or 4 years time who knows?
Like many people have said, one of the most frustrating things about TNA is just the fact that they had this awesome, young roster: AJ, Joe, MCMGs, Lethal, Sonjay Dutt, etc. and then they just royally fucked up the whole thing.
They made people not care about Joe after he was one of the hottest acts in the business back in 2006-07. Lethal is doing this lame Macho Man-impersonator gimmick. Dutt was released to make room for Foley, Sting, Angle, Steiner, Team 3D, Nash, and all of the other old farts and WWE castoffs.
Now, I know that they need some of the older guys to lend name recognition and get the “casual viewer” to tune in, but really what is the point of bringing in Tazz when he isn’t even physically capable of wrestling any more? (Unless they replace Don West with Tazz on commentary, that would be worth it, I guess.)
And like someone pointed out, doing Sting/Foley in the main event of a PPV 17 years after the original and about 10 years after each man’s prime is not the way to overtake the WWE.
TNA’s biggest mistake was giving Sting the title shot against Jarrett at Bound For Glory ‘06 (or was it ‘07) instead of Joe. Joe was a monster, undefeated, and absolutely on fire, and it made perfect sense for him to run through Jarrett and claim the World title. Instead, they let Joe’s heat die off while putting the belt on Sting and going with an incredibly lame feud with Abyss. Not to mention bringing in Kurt Angle and immediately jobbing Joe out to him.
How to fix TNA:
1. Get rid the 6 sided ring. I never really see anything useful the 6 sided ring does.
2. Stop taping TV from Orlando all the time. I suggest TNA atleast tape TV in other cities like Tampa, Miami, Atlanta, Jacksonville if they don’t want to travel that far for a taping. Im sure the wrestlers living in Orlando and Tampa wont mind driving to Miami for a TV Taping.
3. Get rid of all guys who look like they belong in 1998. Sting should had went to WWE last time his contract was up and had one match with Taker. His mistake. He looks like a old fart in TNA.
4. Take risks with making gimmicks which stand out. Evil Judge, Evil Preacher, Power wrestler with face paint, stoner, etc. It doesnt matter if the wrestler is a avg ring worker. It draws. For example, Honky Tonk Man isn’t that great of a ring worker, but his gimmick stood out and he drew cause people wanted to see ass get kicked. This can also apply to the current WWE Product.