v2 wrestling podcast 14th April - Kong, UK TV and Quick Fixes

http://v2wrestling.com/5/post/2015/04/v2-wrestling-podcast-14th-april-kong-uk-tv-and-quick-fixes.html









Welcome back to another edition of the v2 Wrestling podcast and welcome to all of our listeners on TNAsylum.com and the 606v2.com forum.

Please note that we are currently looking for contributors to write for v2Wrestling, so if you want to see your article read by a large audience, make sure to get in touch.

This week Adam is joined by Rich and Paul, to talk about the latest news from TNA and WWE.

We kick off the proceedings with a look back at this weeks wrestling news which mainly focuses on troubles at TNA – rubbish or reality, let us know what you think.

The show then moves on toa quick roundup of last weeks TNA action with a particular focus on Awesome Kong. One of our podcasters suggests that she is wasted in the Knockout division and should be moved into the X Division to challenge. And that is our question of the week – would you like to see Awesome Kong compete with men in the X division?

We then move on RAW and look at the main talking points from the show. The debate centres around whether WWE disrespects its international fans by going through the motions when filming in the UK? Should they make more of an effort to shock whilst in the UK or are you happy just to get to see the top superstars in the UK, irrespective of the story?

Our final part of the show focuses on quick fixes. What quick fix could you give TNA and WWE to make them a better product? Some interesting suggestions offered up – do you agree with any of them or do you have better ones of your own? Let us know!

To ask a question or answer any of the above, please email us at wrestling@v2journal.com or contact us through twitter or facebook and please make sure to submit any questions you would like us to discuss!

To listen to the show scroll below or download from iTunes here (click)

If you have problem listening to the show on the v2Journal, you can listen directly to the show on http://v2wrestling.podomatic.com/entry/2015-04-14T13_41_19-07_00


Interview with EC3
Interview with Spud
Interview with Jeff Jarrett
Interview with Nigel McGuinness
Interview with Gail Kim
Interview with Bram
Interview with Doug Williams
Interview with Rob Terry
Interview with Chris Daniels 
Hulk Hogan retrospective
Interview with TJ Perkins/ Manik
Interview with MVP
Interview with Snitsky
Interview with Austin Aries
Interview with Lex Luger
The latest v2 Wrestling Podcast

Should also point out that Hero now has a weekly quiz on the show as well. One which I am obviously rubbish at!

Yes it's officially weekly!

My sabbatical has come at a very good time. Without me and Gav around to keep some order Hero gets away with awful ideas

Am I the only one who had the visual of Brock Lesnar in full suplex mode after Adam aired his quick-fix idea for Impact?

I take it your not a fan then!

The obvious way to fix TNA is clearly a title only aired via the Internet. I don't know why Dixie etc never thought of it.

Also Adam, you seem to try and defend TNA on the pay issues by suggesting it's not a cash-flow problem. However that is actually worse I think, if it's a cash-flow problem then paying talent is an unfortunate position but more understandable. Not paying them whilst having a decent cash-flow means they have no excuse.

Also WWE denied that Great Khali was coming back.

Adam, your defending of TNA is crazy in this episode! Punk/Bryan vs. The Shield with the Wyatt family interrupting is definitely bigger news than the TNA examples you gave. It makes sense that you're a TNA fan when you value "twists" over "story development"  I think more than anybody having TNA-hater hats on, you've just got a "TNA lover" hat on in the face of all and any evidence! 

I`ve been keeping an eye on TNA since moving to Destination America (my life is quite hectic right now so not been able to follow as much as I`d like), but I like what they`re doing with the BDC and with Drew Galloway. The tag tourney scheduled for this week looks very promising, with some legitimate tag teams in there to make it feel more meaningful. As for cash-flow problems I have no idea. But, we know that for the time being, TNA have had to take one step back as far as numbers go. Nevertheless as a TNA fan I am hopefully the move over to Destination America will prove a good one. TNA now have international TV deals with Brazil and Canada so hopefully they can build their international fanbase and tape more impact episodes overseas.

Crimey wrote:Also Adam, you seem to try and defend TNA on the pay issues by suggesting it's not a cash-flow problem. However that is actually worse I think, if it's a cash-flow problem then paying talent is an unfortunate position but more understandable. Not paying them whilst having a decent cash-flow means they have no excuse.

Also WWE denied that Great Khali was coming back.

Adam, your defending of TNA is crazy in this episode! Punk/Bryan vs. The Shield with the Wyatt family interrupting is definitely bigger news than the TNA examples you gave. It makes sense that you're a TNA fan when you value "twists" over "story development"  I think more than anybody having TNA-hater hats on, you've just got a "TNA lover" hat on in the face of all and any evidence! 

To be fair, that example for WWE is a good one. But dont forget they film 4 shows a year in the UK and have done so for 10+ years - what else can you actually remember (other than Taker wrestling Ambrose) in those 10 years.

For all of their faults, TNA respect their British fans more than WWE do (and thats most probably due to the fact that most of TNAs fans are from the UK!).

I still believe that within the context of their respective sizes, TNAs reveals were bigger events than what you mentioned above. MVPs reveal and Drew Galloway debuting were big storylines, whereas the feud you mentioned was going to happen at some point, just happened to be in the UK.

I have a few general comments on this podcast and the issues it covered.

1) TNA late payments
I've no problem with people reporting news. But, sometimes there seems such glee in reporting bad news about TNA. Like somehow people have a vested interest in it failing, so they can say "told you so". And I guess if people have decided that the business is so badly run then the wrestling world is better off without it, then that's their decision. I don't think the organization is perfect. But the options are there as a viewer to not watch it, or if you are a wrestler not work there, or if you are a promoter start up a competitor if you feel that strongly.

And I'm sure there are those who will argue for and against the quality of Impact, but financial success and quality, don't necessarily go hand in hand. For example, I think Lucha Underground is the best wrestling show, but it will very likely go out of business soon. People love RoH (which of course has given us wrestlers like Punk, Bryan and Rollins), but that may go the same way.

2) WWE UK tapings
Raw traditionally drops somewhere over 10% of their US viewers for this taping. I think the argument could be made that this is because nothing big happens and WWE should make something happen so people will watch it. But I think WWE see this as a pre-recorded show and therefore not of interest to its US viewers.

Given the above, I'd expect them to not do Raw shows from the UK, before doing a UK PPV. But I think the argument that the Network is a game changer, so maybe.

I don't think they disrespect the fans though by not bothering to do more than a house show with cameras. Neville and Barrett may both have lost, but were well featured.

3) Quick Fix
HHH himself said that he would take Raw to a 2 hour show. But is that just a sop to fans. As far as I understand it, Smackdown was introduced and Raw extended from 2 to 3 hours for lucrative TV money.

Maybe this situation may change with both shows going to the same station. But, put simply, Raw goes to 2 hours. TV money is cut by $Xmillion and there's no money to pay for Lesnar (cos sure as hell the saving isn't on the company jet or the fees HHH and his buddies get for being in a WM main event). So, you improve Raw, but lose Lesnar. To me that is a neutral position.

4) Tazz
I watched approximately half of the Bell to Bell Impact show the other night. It was okay. But Tazz managed to make it practically unwatchable with his rambling commentary. Is wrestling commentary really so hard? Because most of the protagonists now are really not doing it for me.

Prometheus wrote:I have a few general comments on this podcast and the issues it covered.

1) TNA late payments
I've no problem with people reporting news.  But, sometimes there seems such glee in reporting bad news about TNA.  Like somehow people have a vested interest in it failing, so they can say "told you so".  And I guess if people have decided that the business is so badly run then the wrestling world is better off without it, then that's their decision.  I don't think the organization is perfect.  But the options are there as a viewer to not watch it, or if you are a wrestler not work there, or if you are a promoter start up a competitor if you feel that strongly.  

This. I completely agree. As a TNA fan I'm quicker to think the better of them and give them the benefit of the doubt rather than the worse. I admit that. That doesn't mean I don't see its faults, but rather I think the good outweighs the bad. I really liked how Galloway debuted. I'm loving Storm's work with the Revolution and the feud between Roode and EY. One of the reasons I like TNA so much is that as a fan it feels like you are on a journey. TNA are not at the level of WWE or WCW in their heyday, but nevertheless with every change, big or small, it feels like they are growing. If you don't like it, I perfectly understand. If you think other promotions do it better that's fine. But for me, I'm invested in seeing them continue and even to continue experimenting as long as they're committed to producing the best wrestling show they are physically able to make. And with the resources they're working with, I think they're doing a good job.

Adam D wrote:

Crimey wrote:Also Adam, you seem to try and defend TNA on the pay issues by suggesting it's not a cash-flow problem. However that is actually worse I think, if it's a cash-flow problem then paying talent is an unfortunate position but more understandable. Not paying them whilst having a decent cash-flow means they have no excuse.

Also WWE denied that Great Khali was coming back.

Adam, your defending of TNA is crazy in this episode! Punk/Bryan vs. The Shield with the Wyatt family interrupting is definitely bigger news than the TNA examples you gave. It makes sense that you're a TNA fan when you value "twists" over "story development"  I think more than anybody having TNA-hater hats on, you've just got a "TNA lover" hat on in the face of all and any evidence! 

To be fair, that example for WWE is a good one. But dont forget they film 4 shows a year in the UK and have done so for 10+ years - what else can you actually remember (other than Taker wrestling Ambrose) in those 10 years.

For all of their faults, TNA respect their British fans more than WWE do (and thats most probably due to the fact that most of TNAs fans are from the UK!).

I still believe that within the context of their respective sizes, TNAs reveals were bigger events than what you mentioned above. MVPs reveal and Drew Galloway debuting were big storylines, whereas the feud you mentioned was going to happen at some point, just happened to be in the UK.

Yeah of course they are when you take into account their respective sizes, but for a fan of both, Drew Galloway and MVP simply aren't that big compared to The Shield, or the Wyatts, or Daniel Bryan. I totally agreed with Hero that when people go to watch the shows in the UK, the first thing on their mind is which wrestlers they get to see rather than any big reveals happening, that's why WWE has such a demand for house shows around the world, not just in the UK, is because seeing the wrestlers is the draw. TNA on the other hand don't have that same luxury, they have to make it worth seeing because the wrestlers themselves aren't the draw. They do have a good roster of talented wrestlers, but they're not huge names. The biggest star they have is Kurt Angle, but only because of his WWE run. AJ Styles was the only original TNA star that I feel would have been a big draw, people like Bobby Roode, James Storm, Austin Aries etc. I'm sure are good to watch, but are they big names that seeing them is worth the ticket price alone? I don't think so.

I think TNA need their British fans more than WWE do, TNA relies heavily on the British fanbase because at this point it's probably just as big as their US fan base. I don't feel it's about respect rather it's desperation. I also think you put far too much emphasis on something big happening on UK Raws, I feel like when you look at 80% of Raws there aren't big reveals or surprises. It being the UK isn't relevant, it's just that it won't happen at most Raws, yet that isn't considered disrespect, that's just what happens. You tried to compare it to TV shows, but from the wrong angle, TV shows do have episodes where the stories are just developed rather than big reveals happening, people still watch. Basing your wrestling show on reveals and surprises and big moments is cheap. I don't think WWE are great at story-telling but I certainly think it's better that they value building stories rather than cheap surprises.

I also think claiming that when people report the news that they are only after bad news for TNA is absolutely ridiculous. That is the news! It is 75% negative, whether it's wrestling or not. In the news sites you often see lots of negative stories about WWE, about how the Network is struggling, or stock prices or falling or they're losing viewers. Whatever it is, usually the stories are negative whether WWE, TNA, ROH or Lucha Underground.

That's because a news site full of "all the major wrestling promotions are running smoothly and everything is great" doesn't bring in many hits. I'd say the general mood towards TNA at the moment from lots of the major wrestling news site is one of apathy rather than distaste. Compared to 5-7 years ago, TNA seems to have really reduced in size and impact in the wider wrestling world. I think it's a combination of both TNA getting smaller and the emergence of Lucha Underground and a wider appreciation for indie wrestling. I'd say the only difference you have in the reporting of TNA is now that there is simply a lot less of it rather than it wanting TNA to fail.

Poor naive Crimey, still fresh faced and new to the podcast, trying to convince Adam his opinions on TNA are weird.