PWTorch.com - THE STATE OF TNA: Special Report on TNA's current standing, future prospects, and the "big play"

CALDWELL'S TAKE
THE STATE OF TNA: Special Report on TNA's current standing, future prospects, and the "big play"

Oct 23, 2014 - 1:50:30 PM

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By James Caldwell, PWTorch assistant editor

At the beginning of the year, 2014 was viewed as a challenging year for TNA. The expectation was a lot of growing pains slashing costs, saying good-bye to franchise players A.J. Styles and Sting, and introducing a new crop of younger stars without the same cachet as the likes of Styles and Sting.

Along the way, TNA's year has included Spike TV reportedly not renewing the TV contract, a secret relationship with Vince Russo coming from the shadows to the light, TNA president Dixie Carter becoming defiant in public interviews as an extension of her TV character, and more talent leaving the company.

Attendance at TNA shows has also been a recurring story. As I wrote about earlier this year, TNA is too big to be small and too small to be big, meaning the promotion has a national TV outlet to make fans aware of TNA's existence, but the company does not have a local marketing effort to connect with fans at the ground floor. Whereas, an independent promotion has the local ties to connect with local fans. The result is the look & feel of the current Impact TV episodes from Bethlehem, Pa., which appear to have the same number of people in the building as a local independent show.

This is a roster that includes Kurt Angle and Jeff Hardy.

Besides the lack of local marketing or awareness to draw people to the building, the lack of an absolute #1 star continues to stunt TNA's growth. It's been the same story throughout company history trying to market the company around a collection of stars rather than a true #1 who is synonymous with the brand.

Jeff Hardy could be that guy, but TNA went through the "Willow" phase that was a major setback. Now, Jeff's character is bouncing around like a football. One week he's in the Tag Title Series, the next week he's back to singles in a #1 contender match, and the next week he's in a Tag Title tournament.

The current TV product has the feel of a football bouncing around - you just never know which direction it's going to bounce. It's not a terrible show, nor a great show, just a collection of shows that seems to go in a different direction each week.

It's clear TNA is burning through episodes until their Spike TV contract expires while hoping to land a new TV deal. But, what will TNA's product look like if they have to slash production and talent budgets to make ends meet?

TNA has already slashed the number of shows they're running. Their 2014 calendar is complete - Bound for Glory was the last scheduled event of the year. Which brings the total number of events this year to 87, down from 102 events in 2013, which was down from 147 events in 2012.

If Austin Aries, Bully Ray, and Samoa Joe do not re-sign with TNA, it will be a major blow to an already-thin roster as part of TNA's rebuilding process.

TNA certainly plans to stay in business, as they've lined up several international TV contracts, have a strong U.K. presence, and want to increase their reach in Asia. But, how will any of this be funded if their bread & butter domestic business remains at its current state or worse?

TNA president Dixie Carter told Grantland.com last month that she believes the solution is more hours of programming on U.s. TV. Unfortunately for TNA, though, if they do not have the talent roster to support a two-hour Impact episode, they'll fall into the same trap as WWE trying to fill a three-hour Raw, two-hour Smackdown, and monthly PPVs with a depleted and over-exposed roster.

“We will die a slow death on the vine if we just stay as one two-hour show in the U.S.,” Carter said in September. “I have big decisions to make. I want this to be a big play. I don’t want this to be a status quo play.”

Status quo seems to be Impact moves to another network, they're on a reasonable timeslot, and they accept the terms of a reduced TV contract just to stay on television. But, they would have to slash, slash, slash after benefiting from a sweetheart deal with Spike TV for several years.

But, it's unclear what a "big play" would look like for TNA. Is a "big play" something outside the box where TNA merges/is acquired by another entertainment company to establish a firm footing in the marketplace and acquire resources? Is it re-branding the entire company and finally getting rid of the letters "TNA" after going through a down year where there wasn't as much attention on the company?

Whatever the "big play" is, Carter still sees TNA as having a presence in the marketplace. She regularly re-tweets Twitter followers who praise the TV product and boasts about any announcement no matter the significance, almost in an over-compensatory manner.

"THANK U for continuing to provide our #IMPACTonSPIKE every week to make Wednesday the best day of the week!" said one person that Dixie re-tweeted after Wednesday's Impact, pointing to TNA's 12-year-old mindset that the wrestling industry needs TNA.

“All these people say, ‘I hope you go out of business’ - why would you ever want that? You don’t think we make wrestling better just by exposing more people and giving people more options? It’s the most ludicrous, shortsighted thing - the sheer absurdity and stupidity of it blows my mind. I feel sorry for the wrestling business if we’re not around," Carter infamously told Grantland last month.

If TNA were to go out of business in 2015, would the wrestling industry notice? It would certainly be a big story because of how often TNA has survived in the face of certain doom in company history, but if Impact is suddenly not on television screens on a Wednesday or Thursday, how long until TNA's absence drifts into the background behind the latest complaints about WWE booking and renewed interest in Ring of Honor and New Japan?

TNA sure has its loyal, hardcore fanbase who followed Impact from Saturdays to Thursdays to Mondays back to Thursdays and now to Wednesdays. For many of those fans, Impact filled a void when WCW and ECW went out of business. They see Impact as "not WWE" and providing another wrestling show to enjoy with a different talent roster.

But, the Impact of 2014 is not the Impact of TNA's heyday. It's almost unrecognizable based on the roster and positioning of stars. So, if TNA did go out of business, what would their loyal fanbase be losing? Is it simply the weekly ritual of watching a wrestling-themed show in the middle of the week? That's a big factor for a lot of viewers, and there are those who just like the Impact product, as captured by Dixie's re-tweets.

So, the big question for 2015 is whether TNA wants to simply keep the product on the air to draw a number each week reaching their loyal audience. Or, is the "big play" getting back to being "TNA?" But, for every 1,000 people, that means 1,000 different things. The lack of brand identity, top star, and even clear message on the name of the company makes it even harder on TNA to market their product with limited resources.

Perhaps the "big play" is starting over, introducing a new name & approach, creating a uniform look & feel that everyone can get behind, stepping into 2014 instead of operating with a 2002 mindset, and learning from the past 12 years to be a real player in the wrestling industry 12 years from now.

But, that depends on whether TNA stays in business in 2015. Or, "dies on the vine" after neglecting the fundamentals and basic tenets of running a successful pro wrestling company.