|
SLAM! Roundtable: TNA monthly PPVs
By
SLAM! Wrestling
|
  
|
We were also fortunate to have a very hot topic to gather 'round the SLAM!
roundtable for debate. As many of you already know, NWA-TNA has shown its last Wednesday night pay-per-view, and will be moving to a more traditional monthly pay-TV
offering. Thus, this edition's debate topic was an obvious choice:
SLAM! Speaks Topic #2 - "Is NWA-TNA making the right move by going
from weekly to monthly pay-per-views?"
Steven Johnson
As the weekly recap writer for TNA Impact!, I'm not sure the company has
a choice. I try to watch Impact! on different Fox Sports Net affiliates each
week to get a gauge on advertisers from different markets. It's my impression
that there are not a lot out there. Impact! is designed as a loss leader, to
be sure, but controlling costs is important, and a single monthly PPV might
be a better way to count pennies.
Bob Kapur
I don't think that the change will make much difference. The company
has built up a solid core audience that they'll probably retain even after
the change. But if they're doing this to grab new viewers, I doubt
the strategy will work; the appetite of casual audience is on too much of a
downward slope. That doesn't mean I don't like the company --
I think it has great potential. Unfortunately, their good idea comes at the
wrong time.
Corey David Lacroix
I don't think TNA has a choice. Mediocre match line-ups won't draw buy rates.
How many buyers took a chance on the PPV, only to be completely turned off by
that one show where the product was sub par? The promotion is better off to
focus on building feuds on the weekly television format, then blow off those
sagas on the monthly PPV. Push the wrestlers who deliver consistently in the
ring with focused story lines, heavy on the depth of character department.
Chris Sokol
NWA-TNA made the right move switching to a monthly PPV. Having one a week
was way too much. Not everybody has the ability to shell out ten bucks a week.
Having a weekly PPV hurt buyrates and TV production; it was way too overwhelming
for them. It got so overwhelming that each week seemed like one big time-filling
brawl; there wasn't really much quality anymore. A monthly PPV will help increase
the quality of both TV and PPV and put more emphasis on TV production. Good
move.
Jon Waldman
I'm going to go the way of the devil here and give my thumbs down. Aside
from the fact that this nearly completely shoves the Canadian market out the
window, TNA had a niche in its 10 bucks for two hours market. Now, all it is
is a WWE clone, and in the end you're ending up with less time (three hours
compared to eight) for your dollar If they want to cut back on costs, TNA just
should have done two shows worth of taping at a time - that would have cut their
spending pretty much in half.
The Last Word
Jason Clevett
They said it wouldn’t survive, but TNA has lived for 27 months. Now, once
again people are calling into question whether or not TNA will survive with
monthly pay-per-views.
It boils down to which is the lesser of two evils – losing money on a
weekly or monthly basis. Have no doubt that it will lose money; Impact has a
horrible timeslot and isn’t seen in a lot of important markets, including
the full Canadian market. Much like ECW, TNA will have to rely on people just
taking a general interest in seeing the monthly shows. This may result in the
dreaded “not having a card and seeing matches thrown together” ECW
effect as well.
What this change boils down to is Panda Energy. As long as the Carter family
is willing to put their money into TNA, then the promotion will continue to survive.
They have the talent to put on exciting matches, although running a show around
Dusty Rhodes, Jeff Jarrett and Vince Russo isn’t going to result in people
buying shows. As well, unless they can get a prime-time slot that actually lets
people with jobs or in school see their show, buyrates will continue to be low,
and TNA will struggle to survive.
It’s a step in the right direction, but there is still a long twisting
path before TNA is successful.
Now it's your turn. What are your thoughts on the TNA pay-per-view change?
Send us your
opinions on NWA-TNA's new format. Please be sure to include your full name
in your response, and to leave the subject of your e-mail as SlamWrestling,
otherwise your e-mail may not be properly received.
-- compiled by JON
WALDMAN
Visit the SLAM! Wrestling store!
Psicosis vs Rey Misterio Jr. and Jericho vs Benoit:
Order Super J Cup 1995 (12-13-95) Triple DVD-R
