FIXING TNA: Conclusion

CONCLUSION: GET PEOPLE TALKING BY CREATING THE NEXT WAVE OF WRESTLING STARS AND PROVIDING AN ENVIRONMENT FOR THEM TO THRIVE


Here is a list of successful modern-day wrestlers along with the age and tenure at which they first received a sustained main event push. That is, the point at which they were to never again return to the midcard:

Hulk Hogan – 28 years old, six years into his career
Steve Austin – 33 years old, seven years into his career (after it had been generally acknowledged within the industry that he should have been pushed sooner)
Ric Flair – 28 years old, six years into his career, which included a long hiatus after suffering a broken back
The Rock – 26 years old, two years into his career
Triple H – 28 years old, three years into his career
The Undertaker – 25 years old, four years into his career
Shawn Michaels – 29 years old, ten years into his career
John Cena – 27 years old, four years into his career
Sting – 28 years old, three years into his career
Kurt Angle – 31 years old, one year into his career
Bill Goldberg – 31 years old, one year into his career
Batista – 34 years old, seven years into his career
Randy Savage – 34 years old, ten years into a career where he'd already headlined in his father's territory
Roddy Piper – 22 years old, eight years into his career

Where are the equivalent wrestlers in TNA today? The likes of Austin Aries, AJ Styles, James Storm, Samoa Joe, Robert Roode, Kazarian and Christopher Daniels are treated like they are the up-and-coming youngsters of TNA, not yet good enough or knowledgeable enough to truly get behind as the main focus of the promotion. And yet, these are all wrestlers in their mid 30s or older, with over a decade in the business.

Every single one of these names is far more tenured than the names above were when they were first breaking out as major, game-changing stars, never again to return to midcard obscurity even for short periods. They are in the prime of their careers (and closer to the end of their prime than the beginning of it) yet they continue to play second fiddle to the previous generation.

Furthermore, where are the twenty-something wrestlers being groomed for a starring role in TNA in a few years’ time? As a viewer, I am resigned to the fact that in one or three or five or ten years the majority of the fresh faces
in TNA’s main event scene will likely be whichever wrestlers leave WWE in that time. It would be easy to say this is because the talent is no longer available on the independent scene, but that is not true.

There is a wealth of talent in wrestling today, if only the right people can tap into it. There was nothing to stop TNA signing Daniel Bryan, Antonio Cesaro, Wade Barrett, Sheamus, Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose in the last few years, and holding onto CM Punk when he was with the company. All of these wrestlers were quite obviously going to be future stars a number of years ago if a major company would sign them up and promote them properly. Now they are all in featured roles in WWE.

It is imperative not to let history repeat itself and lose out on the next wave of wrestling stars. And it’s imperative that, when those wrestlers are signed, they are portrayed as the superstars of today, not just a group of rookies taking a backseat while the show continues to focus on veteran performers and non-wrestlers.

The vast majority of fans are watching wrestling on their TV at home because they want to lose themselves in a story for a couple of hours every week. They do not want to be told that TNA is raising the bar; they do not want to be promised huge announcements which turn out to be below their expectations; they do not even want to be praised by TNA for being the best fans in the world. They want to watch a great wrestling show. And if the wrestling show is great, your most important public relations target is met, because the quality will speak for itself, and the audience will spread the word, and new viewers will not only tune in, but they will stay tuned in.

The most important focus within TNA every single week - in fact, every single working minute of every day - should be on making the on-screen product as good as it can possibly be. Having strongly-defined characters whose journey has been logically and meticulously mapped out. Featuring matches that are always treated like a major event, and which happen for a reason, and tell a compelling story. Presenting champions and main event wrestlers like they are the most important thing in the world. Questioning every decision, however big or small: Why are we doing this? Is this the best possible option? How does this improve the story we are telling? What is it leading to?

The surest guarantee of brand loyalty is quality, whatever business you are in. The audience doesn't really care whether they are the best fans in the world. They don't even really want to be made exciting promises by the owners. They just want a great product. People don't drink Coca Cola because the company tells its customers how wonderful they are, or talk about the new ingredients that are planned; they drink Coca Cola because they like the taste.

Your audience's desires really aren't very different to those of any other TV viewers or any type of consumer; ultimately, they want a great product. In the case of wrestling, this means compelling storylines involving characters they can relate to, which culminate in meaningful matches. This should be the goal at all times. By following the steps I have detailed, TNA can set new standards in the industry.



If you have enjoyed reading this series, and you think Dixie Carter would benefit from reading it, please tweet @TNADixie a link to http://v2journal.com/17/post/2013/08/fixing-tna-how-a-few-small-changes-can-make-all-the-difference-conclusion.html

Many thanks for reading.

Gavin Duenas (@gavinduenas)

For a variety of reasons, I am close to giving up on TNA. A combination of factors in last weeks show riled me up beyond what was necessary. Above all else, nothing in this series of articles is groundbreaking, yet not one principle appears to be followed within TNA.

Apologies if you mentioned it somewhere and I missed it but I've felt for a little while that one problem is a lack of TV time for their wrestlers, could be their roster is too big as they've got 48 people on their roster on their site not all of them are wrestlers but still 40ish. They have as far as I know only a 2 hour tv show which with adverts leaves roughly 1 hour 20 for developing storylines for 5 titles and 41 wrestlers and putting on matches.

I don't think the amount of TV time is the problem. In fact I think less is more.

When the WWF was on fire in 97/98 they only really had two hours of TV per week.

And it's not like they haven't managed to have about six segments with Brooke Hogan in every week for the past year!

Tighter writing is far more important than more TV time, in my opinion.

I don't think a lack of TV time is a huge issue for TNA, particularly as they have only have 4 PPV's a year, they don't have to give every feud the huge sell every week for the PPV coming up, they can rotate and focus on one or more particular feud each week.

I also wish TNA would go back to focusing on there divisions again, despite the huge number of guys they have on their roster, they only have a handful of people in their x division, tag team and knockouts.

They're probably over represented in their heavyweight division and have a lot of chaff in there, a re focus on their divisions could give them a way to focus and rotate there feuds and make the most of their 2 hours.