WWE Wrestling Discussion thread...

[Dolemite]

So much for ECW having even the slightest chance of being decent. Cancel pls, kthx.

[Drewbacca]

So much for ECW having even the slightest chance of being decent. Cancel pls, kthx.

Jebus Tapdancing is this a trainwreck (like... XFL kind of flop). I think it goes to show you how much Vince McMahon owes to the groundwork his father did in the 70's with the WWWF. I'm not convinced WWE would be what it is today without it, because he certainly doesn't have the business savvy to do it on his own. Every operation he's taken on without his dad's foundation has failed, and ECW is going to be no exception unless something drastic changes and he allows himself to step back while its given some time to establish itself. He stumbles on success when the company absolutely REQUIRED itself to do so because of looming defeat.

I'm not really disappointed, ECW was guaranteed to fail because of the general setup the actual wrestling took place in at the Smackdown tapings. It's like expecting old school wrestling to go over at a Pride or UFC event. It's not the right venue and sheds the product in the wrong light. The ratings for the first ECW show were high, actually really good for a new wrestling product which tells you the demand for a quality alternative to the WWE style (slow wrestling, slow at making new stars, not capitalizing on successful scenarios when they're at the ready in favor of forcing product in a controlled direction) was there. The ratings drop was attributed to a terrible first show, a show Vince McMahon and Kevin Dunn bumrushed with their ham fingered writing. Instead of allowing Heyman or anybody with a lot of knowledge of how ECW should be run to take a good swing at it their idea is to go back to the setup that made ECW's first show a bomb in the first place.

The best thing Paul Heyman can do right now to save face is to jump to TNA creative or start the pro wrestling / MMA tie-in work he was going to go to once his contract expired. ECW is not only dead its cold blue corpse is being dragged around the town square. This is where I'd say something like it was good while it lasted but it really wasn't.

I also think there's just way too much wrestling on TV right now that the WWE controls. RAW, Smackdown, ECW, Saturday night Main Event, 12 Traditional WWE ppv's a year, Taboo Tuesday's, the ECW PPV. It's saturated the market, and without that much of a difference between all of this stuff people get bored with it.

[Tommy Tallarico]

I just don't understand Vince's reasoning. Paul Heyman made ECW so popular that Vince wanted to bring it back. Vince didn't make ECW so popular that he wanted to bring it back. So of course, logically to Vince, this means he should control the company instead of the guy that made it what it is.

His ego is just fucking incredible.

Though I suppose it's no worse than Jeff Jarrett shutting down the official TNA forums because people were talking too much shit about him and the old WCW guys.

[Drewbacca]

TNA's got enough problems of its own.

The sad thing is that whenever we get a shred of something new and exciting it's always squashed before it gains enough steam to get really popular. TNA was going well until it started to become WCW 2, and still failed to really capitalize on its X-Division talent outside of Christopher Daniels, Samoa Joe and AJ Styles. WWE's gone boring. ECW's new rebirth was an abomination and ROH lost most of its useful talent to TNA and WWE. Guys like Brian Danielson (The American Dragon) and Colt Cabana are still consistently awesome, though.

I also just hate the name Total Nonstop Action. It's such a silly brand name.

[Tommy Tallarico]

Every TNA PPV is always worth it in some way. They need to find a way to make their weekly TV show the same way, though.

Their problem is that they use the TV shows to promote the PPVs, completely ignoring that they are NOT an established brand and they need to use the TV shows to promote the TV shows first. When they pop a 3.0 rating, then they can worry about using Impact as a promotional tool.

[Advocate]

Jebus Tapdancing is this a trainwreck (like... XFL kind of flop). I think it goes to show you how much Vince McMahon owes to the groundwork his father did in the 70's with the WWWF. I'm not convinced WWE would be what it is today without it, because he certainly doesn't have the business savvy to do it on his own. Every operation he's taken on without his dad's foundation has failed, and ECW is going to be no exception unless something drastic changes and he allows himself to step back while its given some time to establish itself. He stumbles on success when the company absolutely REQUIRED itself to do so because of looming defeat.

I'm not really disappointed, ECW was guaranteed to fail because of the general setup the actual wrestling took place in at the Smackdown tapings. It's like expecting old school wrestling to go over at a Pride or UFC event. It's not the right venue and sheds the product in the wrong light. The ratings for the first ECW show were high, actually really good for a new wrestling product which tells you the demand for a quality alternative to the WWE style (slow wrestling, slow at making new stars, not capitalizing on successful scenarios when they're at the ready in favor of forcing product in a controlled direction) was there. The ratings drop was attributed to a terrible first show, a show Vince McMahon and Kevin Dunn bumrushed with their ham fingered writing. Instead of allowing Heyman or anybody with a lot of knowledge of how ECW should be run to take a good swing at it their idea is to go back to the setup that made ECW's first show a bomb in the first place.

The best thing Paul Heyman can do right now to save face is to jump to TNA creative or start the pro wrestling / MMA tie-in work he was going to go to once his contract expired. ECW is not only dead its cold blue corpse is being dragged around the town square. This is where I'd say something like it was good while it lasted but it really wasn't.

I also think there's just way too much wrestling on TV right now that the WWE controls. RAW, Smackdown, ECW, Saturday night Main Event, 12 Traditional WWE ppv's a year, Taboo Tuesday's, the ECW PPV. It's saturated the market, and without that much of a difference between all of this stuff people get bored with it.

QFT.

I so agree with that. I even shed a tear.

[Drewbacca]

Every TNA PPV is always worth it in some way. They need to find a way to make their weekly TV show the same way, though.

Their problem is that they use the TV shows to promote the PPVs, completely ignoring that they are NOT an established brand and they need to use the TV shows to promote the TV shows first. When they pop a 3.0 rating, then they can worry about using Impact as a promotional tool.

That's the kicker. I don't buy TNA PPV's because the shows they put on with their weekly programs don't make me want to buy them.

Every TNA PPV is always worth it in some way. They need to find a way to make their weekly TV show the same way, though.

Their problem is that they use the TV shows to promote the PPVs, completely ignoring that they are NOT an established brand and they need to use the TV shows to promote the TV shows first. When they pop a 3.0 rating, then they can worry about using Impact as a promotional tool.

That's the kicker. I don't buy TNA PPV's because their weekly IMPACT! program doesn't make me want to buy them. The television show should be a vital point for any company looking to build strong PPV buys. WWE is in a position where their name alone draws in about 250,000 PPV buys, but that number is dwindling drastically every passing year that their show remains stagnant.

UFC has been pulling in an average of 300,000+ buys with their monthly PPV's. Their bitter rival PPV this month will probably top 500,000 with Tito and Shamrock going at it one last time and Arlovski and Sylvia's heavyweight rematch.

Sometimes I wish ROH would get bigger and become a good alternative but I know it'll never happen. Their owner has made it clear he never wants to become a TNA or WWE, he always wants to remain the small indy promotion that tours the east coast in gyms and shit like that just for fun. It's noble good goal I suppose.

[TobalRox]

... and ROH lost most of its useful talent to TNA and WWE.

Is Austin Aries ever coming back to TNA?

[Tommy Tallarico]

Roderick Strong is off tnawrestling.com's roster page.

I guess he'd be awesome in WWE, but really, no one is.

[BerringerX]

How long ago was that ridiculous litte backstage thing where Vince "introduced" Triple H to Stephanie? It just got me to thinking... With all these comments that DX has been making about the father of the baby, could they be going with the whole Triple H knocked up Stephanie thing to drive Vince up the wall here?