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This Sunday TNA is holding another PPV outside of Orlando, FL. It just so happens that they are holding the PPV in Greenville, SC where I currently reside. When Kurt Angle leaked this information there was some definite excitement. TNA has had one local run here in South Carolina but they were a decent driving distance. The two closest stops were in Clemson, home of The Clemson Tigers and insanely high football expectations for a school no one has heard of outside of a four state area, and Columbia where football Coaches go to collect a paycheck and fade in to obscurity.
But enough about football. TNA has a great opportunity in this market to branch out and reach fans. WWE and WCW regularly traveled here in the boom period and have significantly scaled back on their visits well, WCW is gone so whatever. They have not had a television taping in roughly two years but they have peppered in a house show once in that time. Unfortunately for WWE they made the grievous error of scheduling a house show at the early bell time of 6:00, an hour before a good deal of the locals go to church around here.
A little historical and cultural fact for everyone: Greenville is widely recognized and bragged upon for being the buckle of the Bible belt.
Based on that WWE had no business scheduling a random house show on a Sunday when people’s priorities run directly against WWE’s marketing. The last show here drew a miserable number and has raised questions about WWE’s next run through this area. This was at the end of 2007.
So TNA decided that it was a good idea to also run their first major show in the area on a Sunday night, but at the even less convenient hour of 7:30? TNA has shown through their booking and talent that they desperately crave to be WWE so none of this should come as any surprise. TNA wants to be legitimate so following the WWE’s business model isn’t a bad idea, well, except in this case.
The show, Against All Odds, so far has “sold” about a thousand tickets. The Bi-Lo Center, where the event is being held has a special configuration for smaller shows called “The Pepsi Pavilion” and this is the set up TNA is going to use. It is a smart move as the arena is far too large for TNA’s fan base and to risk a traditional wrestling set up in the arena would look embarrassing. WCW ran in to this same problem in their dieing days as the show was heavily papered and they allowed people general seating after Nitro started to fill in the lower bowl.
The Pepsi Pavilion at the Bi-Lo Center seats roughly 2500-3000 for wrestling and possibly more. TNA has come in very low as of this writing and what were they expecting? They have had very little presence in the market and they have failed over all to saturate the market with paper ads, television spots and barely any radio. Alex Shelley did make an appearance on Torch subscriber Mike Bower’s Clemson radio broadcast (Link can be found in the PWTorch members TNA forum) Monday night and Kevin Nash but that has been the extent. Some other wrestlers may have been on radio but these are the only two that I have heard of.
This is the problem with TNA. Even if I would not listen to local radio the general public should know that they are going to be available and on the airwaves. TNA should be inundating the Greenville, Clemson, Spartanburg area with wrestler appearances and interviews. I have tried myself to get interviews with different TNA wrestlers to no avail. They don’t return messages or e-mails. Now, this may or may not have something to do with the Audio Experience show content on a weekly basis but still. A simple reply from anyone in TNA would suffice.
This isn’t sour grapes. So I do not get an interview, no big deal, won’t be the first time any of the crew have been turned down. The problem is that TNA is not making an attempt to increase awareness of the product in this area and ticket sales have shown this.
As I wrote this I looked on ticket master. I put in for two tickets and marked for best available. What popped up was Section FL4, Row B, Seats 13-14. Three days before the show I can get second row floor seats.
Second row floor seats for a PPV.
Even with WWE’s missteps and bad planning they still saturated the market with ads. There were large page ads in the Greenville News. They had wrestlers calling in to various radio shows. There were posters in various store windows. This was all for a house show with no major angles running. It was a simple stop over before television in Charlotte
TNA has done very little in comparison. I work downtown, 3 blocks from the Bi-Lo Center and there is absolutely no presence by TNA. There are no posters in any of the store fronts. There have been no print ads in the Greenville News. They have taken no steps to promote the show. It’s a shame really; the south has historically been a draw for wrestling. The Greenville Auditorium use to have shows every Monday night and they were full. Now though it is hard to find someone who follows wrestling.
TNA had their chance to make a large footprint in this market and they failed miserably. When you watch the PPV Sunday, or Tuesday I suppose, remember that if the crowd is full, it is more than two-thirds papered. It is important because TNA needs to make money. They could have made more if they had simply invested in the area and the surrounding areas.
I will be back tomorrow with a complete Against All Odds PPV preview. Since the show is in Greenville I have taken a special interest in it, especially since I paid good money for a sub par show, on paper.
Jeremy Maes is the "J" in the DEJ Audio Experience, found at PWTorch.com. He has been doing this for some time now, long enough that he can’t remember the start date. His famous words for all listeners have never changed “Don’t follow my path son. Don’t follow my path.” Find him on the PWTorch.com VIP Message Board, or shoot him an e-mail at theaudioexperience@gmail.com
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