Changes at TNA - is it enough to reverse their woes?

So recently, TNA have made a lot of announcements about changes behind the scenes as well as kayfabe recognizing change on TV. Jeff has returned to impact wrestling, won the so-called king of the mountain belt and in a two-part interview with Mike Tennay said that Global Force Wrestling will work with TNA as one of their 'partners' going forward in line with their mission statement as a company. Off screen Eric Sherman has been named Chief Strategy Officer, responsible for advancing the TNA brand globally. And most recently TNA have just announced that they are partnering with AO1 productions to improve their broadcast production and fan experience.

http://www.impactwrestling.com/news/item/6497-TNA-Partners-With-Industry-Leader-To-Enhance-Broadcast-And-Live-Event-Production

http://www.impactwrestling.com/news/item/6480-Eric-Sherman-Named-Chief-Strategy-Officer

http://www.impactwrestling.com/videos/video/qAP-6yk4te8

So, considering the pressure TNA are supposedly under at Destination America with an extension of the TV deal looking unlikely, leaving TNA once more without a TV network to broadcast impact wrestling, what do we make of these changes? Are they all in a response to DA? Has DA set out some prerequisites and expectations before renewing their deal with TNA? Have the powers-that-be at DA told TNA that only significant improvement to production quality and less expense being leveled at DA's door will result in a contract extension?

Or are these changes pre-emptive in expectation that the DA TV deal will fall through and TNA are now trying to make themselves look as attractive a prospect as possible for potential TV stations in the future? Is this a sign of TNA regrouping ready to try and make the hard sale again and secure a new TV deal?

Or yet another possibility is that the DA TV deal is secure and these are just changes that TNA felt they were now in a position to make. Perhaps TNA feels like this is the right time to seek more professionalism for their product and this is all being done in the spirit of progress? Does the AO1 partnership suggest that TNA do want to put on house shows again and are looking at touring again?

What do we make of these announcements? If the TV deal with DA falls through is this all going to be a waste of time? With the strength of TNA's international market, will the company survive even without a new TV deal? Will the partnership with GFW result in more doors opening for TNA and higher ratings?

Ultimately, are TNA turning that all important corner?

Well it looks like they are making a concerted effort to shape up, bringing in new partners to help improve the product and make it more accessible, as well as making cost savings.

I would think that if they can demonstrate significant improvements on all counts, DA would be more than happy to renew their contract. If not, there ought to be other networks that would take a chance on them.

Whatever the reasons, this can only be a good thing for TNA as IMO the shows have been drifting quite badly for some time now, with only 1 or 2 major stories / feuds active at any one time, with the rest of the matches relying almost solely on the wrestlers' in-ring skill.

They really need to learn how to develop their talent into characters that could become household names and put on full shows where the audience will care about most, if not all the matches, rather than just the main event and maybe one other.

Are TNA turning the corner? Well it certainly sounds like they're trying, but ultimately, only time will tell.

My thinking....

TNA management is tainted. The lie of Russo working for them was a straw that broke Spike's back. And there have been rumours of Destination America not enjoying working with Dixie. So, whether TNA stay with DA or go to a new home, bringing in new management is a smart move.

The biggest problem for TNA, IMO is what are they? I think we know what they are not.
- They are not a touring wrestling company. They seem to have 1 tour a year, to the UK. They have sold 0 tickets for their product in the US this year.
- They are not a PPV company. They have made 1 PPV this year, it was a booking mess due to the changing TV schedules.

So, if they make negligible money from live shows and PPVs it would appear that their income stream is as a TV show. And here again there is a problem. As TNA are now running looser contracts with their wrestlers that puts issues on them doing an episodic TV show, as the Hernandez / Lucha Underground situation has shown, one screw up and all that taped product goes in the bin.

So, it would not be impossible for me to see them as running a weekly TV show and bringing in talent. But that may severely limit their options for champions (who wants to put the belt on someone who could be on ROH next week?) and angles, again what happens when you start a faction or feud and one wrestler decides he has a better offer elsewhere.

Right now, this is a production that is looking smaller and smaller than GFW, which is not only the newest kid on the block, but is one that is playing to mostly empty baseball stadia and has a TV taping in a week's time with no TV deal in place.

I agree with everything you said.

As I posted in a previous thread, I've come to the conclusion that it is Dixie herself that is at the heart of the problem. They've been a TV show company for over a year now and they can't even do that right! And their PPV's have gone from bad to pathetic.

At first they were only going to have 4 PPVs a year - a massive reduction, but it still made the remaining 4 feel important, which could have boosted the buy rate if they had booked them correctly. But, then that went down to 2, and last year their biggest PPV of the year ended up being nothing more than an exhibition show with Wrestle 1 in Japan. Pathetic. They've completely ruined their PPVs to the point now where they're little more than a vestigial organ of the company.

And as for the TV shows, contract issues and competition from other promotions have really hurt TNA badly. Their TV shows were their last ace and they've played it and lost. As you said, if you can't lock down your roster in secure contracts then you can't book your TV shows. Without bookings you don't have a wrestling company!

So where does the blame lie? I have to conclude with Dixie. As president she is responsible for the hiring and firing of staff. As president she has the ultimate word on creative direction and business decisions. If she can't do her job properly, then she either needs some mentoring or to just step away completely and do what is best for the company. If DA don't have a good working relationship with Dixie then this is another indication she is the root cause of TNA's woes. She is doing a massive disservice to her roster by being so incompetent. I don't think Dixie has the credentials to run a wrestling company and I fear for the future of TNA as even if they remain in business, unless some drastic changes are made to their business model, I can easily imagine them being overtaken by the likes of ROH and GFW.

So, in other words TNA needs a miracle if it is to survive.

Given the way she's felt the need to make her presence felt on TV again, makes me think she's the type thats too proud and stubborn to admit they can't hack it.

In this week's podcast, Adam said that Dixie had confirmed that with big names leaving that Impact had enough funding from its overseas TV deals to continue.

I personally have a question about the level they will continue at and for how long that may be possible. Because, I have to believe that if Challenge TV is showing a repeat of Bulls Eye and 3-2-1 one minute, its not paying full whack for a wrestling show the next. Without having information on their deals, I think we could expect UK, Germany and Italy might be their bigger ones.

But, I would not be surprised if they had enough funds to continue for at least another 2 sets of tapings, with their core roster / some GFW input.

After that, you can only cut costs so far. At some point you also have to make money. And its still pretty unclear how TNA plans to do this. The obvious answer would be TV, but obviously they will be in an increasingly weak negotiating position.

IMO they still have access to wrestlers who can put on 3*+ matches. I'd still ditch some of the roster (Dollshouse for example do nothing for me). But talent like Hardy, Wolves, EC3, Mark Andrews, Eric Young and even Spud can all work. And you can bring in Indie talent to fill spaces as and when. But, as the product shrinks (and I don't think we can deny that production and roster has shrunk this year) it gets increasingly difficult to differentiate TNA from ROH and other promotions. We must be 6 months down the line and a couple of TV tapings into the reign of Billy Corgan. And I'm not seeing anything to make me feel this is a man taking TNA in a positive and interesting direction creatively.

Prometheus wrote:In this week's podcast, Adam said that Dixie had confirmed that with big names leaving that Impact had enough funding from its overseas TV deals to continue.

I personally have a question about the level they will continue at and for how long that may be possible.  Because, I have to believe that if Challenge TV is showing a repeat of Bulls Eye and 3-2-1 one minute, its not paying full whack for a wrestling show the next.  Without having information on their deals, I think we could expect UK, Germany and Italy might be their bigger ones.

But, I would not be surprised if they had enough funds to continue for at least another 2 sets of tapings, with their core roster / some GFW input.  

After that, you can only cut costs so far.  At some point you also have to make money.  And its still pretty unclear how TNA plans to do this.  The obvious answer would be TV, but obviously they will be in an increasingly weak negotiating position.  

IMO they still have access to wrestlers who can put on 3*+ matches.  I'd still ditch some of the roster (Dollshouse for example do nothing for me).  But talent like Hardy, Wolves, EC3, Mark Andrews, Eric Young and even Spud can all work.  And you can bring in Indie talent to fill spaces as and when.  But, as the product shrinks (and I don't think we can deny that production and roster has shrunk this year) it gets increasingly difficult to differentiate TNA from ROH and other promotions.  We must be 6 months down the line and a couple of TV tapings into the reign of Billy Corgan.  And I'm not seeing anything to make me feel this is a man taking TNA in a positive and interesting direction creatively.

Anyone who is in business, whether that is wrestling or retail or any other avenue of business, surely must be in it to make a profit. No company can survive for long, let alone thrive if all they do is break even or run at a loss. I'm a TNA fan. I support TNA for the talent and potential within the promotion. Yet, I can't deny the writing is on the wall and I am now so disillusioned with Dixie. She may be a really nice person in real life, but if she doesn't have the business smarts to run TNA she needs to go! For her to announce that they've got enough money to keep going by cutting talent then to me that is a sign she doesn't know how to make a profit. With the small roster she has left, she really needs to go back to the drawing board and get some people in who will help her create a business model that can generate money.

What kind of arrangement do they have with Universal Studios in Orlando? Do they get a cut of the ticket sales into the park? How much rent do they pay to use the studio? Is there some way they can boost merch sales by cutting a deal with fans who attend the impact tapings that they can get a t-shirt half price as they've already paid entry into the park? Have everyone who wants to be front row or beside the entrance ramp to wear TNA t-shirts as a condition to help promote the latest t-shirts? The amount of money people spend in theme parks anyway on food and souvenirs, buying a half-price t-shirt shouldn't be a big deal.

They need to invest whatever money they can in promoting their product again. Do baseball park shows like GFW are currently doing and make sure they market it, with possibly another deal attached to ticket sales - buy a ticket and get a t-shirt/dvd of your choice half price or even a free dvd with every ticket sold (limited range of titles naturally).

Try and arrange more international tours like a full blown European tour or a tour of Canada or Australia, anywhere where there's a big enough TNA fan base to make it worth their while. I mean the amount of statistics now on the internet and with tv-ratings, surely TNA know where their biggest international markets are.

Maybe TNA have tried similar things in the past and they've failed, but they need to give fans an incentive to financially support the promotion. If I can think of several ideas off the top of my head, then I'm sure the TNA execs with their experience in the business can think of things. But, why is it that we never seem to hear of anything?!

I totally agree.

Obviously there are some examples of companies that are doing exceptionally well, but break even. So Amazon, for example have such massive re-investment in their infrastructure, that they have huge turnover, but are often -ve for profit. But let's face it, that is very much the exception that proves the rule.

I think there may be a case to be made that it was too easy for TNA. I know they've had their well documented financial ups and downs, but it feels like Spike put a lot of money into the TNA roster and then Panda Energy gave them huge amounts.

And without those TNA might not be here, so they can be viewed as good things for TNA. But when you don't have to think about how you are going to make one more cent tomorrow than you made today (pretty much as you are doing above), I think you can speculate that some degree of complacency can sink in and then when the stark need to make money stares you in the face, you are not hardened enough to go out there and make it.

Without going through the history books, I feel comfortable in saying that more wrestling companies have gone out of business than have stayed in business. So we know it is not foolproof and simple. But, if that is what you set yourself up to do, you have to try to do it and there seem more swings and misses from the TNA management than home runs.