No thread yet on the new "Monday Night War"?

[dave]

Comparing TNA to WCW is ridiculous.

WCW was established.

WCW had the NWA title.

TNA a solid development company and a good place to retire - nothing more.

[Derrville]

Its gonna be closer than people think.

[Warner2BruceTD]

Comparing TNA to WCW is ridiculous.

WCW was established.

WCW had the NWA title.

TNA a solid development company and a good place to retire - nothing more.

Not really. WCW pre-Nitro wasnt all that much different than TNA today.

-WCW was losing money pre-Nitro. TNA is (slightly) profitable in 2009.

-WCW had very strong tv exposure and tons of support from Turner. TNA has good tv exposure, and tons of support from Spike.

-WCW had a very talented roster, that most felt was more talented than the 1995 WWF roster. TNA has a very talented roster, that many feel is better than the WWE roster.

-WCW aquired Hulk Hogan, TNA aquired Hulk Hogan.

The only real difference between the two, is WCW had a very loyal and decades long established fan base of southern wrestling fans. TNA has the same couple of million people who watch Impact every week, and the same couple thousand people who buy the PPV's. So they are working with a much, much smaller base audience.

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

F4W newsletter had an interesting take on how this has almost nothing in common with the original MNW.

WCW had almost an infinite amount of money behind them (Turner w/ actual power) and they could and did bring in almost anyone they wanted.

TNA has a limited amount of money behind them and they cannot compete with WWE as far as bringing in big time talent. If a big name (a young, in their prime big name) is considering either place, they will take the money and go up north.

It's almost impossible for TNA to directly compete with WWE and benefit in any way from it.

Pretty much.

WCW had just an infinite amount of cash + an already in place, never going anywhere TV deal, plus a much more established fan base.

WCW had brought in some of the hottest names in wrestling at the time...took some of the WWE's young stars in Nash and Hall after a while on Mondays...it is just a much different and much more slanted playing field...

[Warner2BruceTD]

Here are the two main points working against TNA that no one has touched on:

-In 1995, WCW offered something with Nitro that wrestling fans werent getting on free TV--stars vs. stars. This made the product different than what WWF was offering at the time, and completely changed the business. TNA is basically a cheap looking WWE knockoff, and they offer nothing different, new, or exciting.

-Nobody knows TNA exists, not even wrestling fans. Christian said in an interview that when he was with TNA (main eventing, no less) that fans would approch him in airports and ask him why he "retired". Hulk Hogan has noted that at book signings, he tells people to catch him on TNA Impact, and many people have to ask him what it is and where can they see it.

Unless TNA can offer fans something NEW & DIFFERENT, it wont matter what day of the week they air. My feeling is they will get an artificial/curiousity ratings/PPV pop when Hogan debuts, then fall back to around the level they are at now. People are growing tired of the bad WWE product, so nobody want to watch a second rate version of something thats already not very entertaining. That story wont change.

Bad booking + stale names + copycat TV format = same old story.

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

Not really. WCW pre-Nitro wasnt all that much different than TNA today.

-WCW was losing money pre-Nitro. TNA is (slightly) profitable in 2009.

-WCW had very strong tv exposure and tons of support from Turner. TNA has good tv exposure, and tons of support from Spike.

-WCW had a very talented roster, that most felt was more talented than the 1995 WWF roster. TNA has a very talented roster, that many feel is better than the WWE roster.

-WCW aquired Hulk Hogan, TNA aquired Hulk Hogan.

The only real difference between the two, is WCW had a very loyal and decades long established fan base of southern wrestling fans. TNA has the same couple of million people who watch Impact every week, and the same couple thousand people who buy the PPV's. So they are working with a much, much smaller base audience.

You forgot money...biggest difference between WCW and TNA is money behind it...Turner would put an infinite amount of money behind WCW, including infinite amounts of TV time on his own channels...he could basically bring in any of the WWF's guys (and did...Hogan, Savage, Luger, Nash, Hall, Madusa, Bret Hart eventually...some of the biggest names in wrestling.)...and had the money to keep their own guys Sting and later guys like Goldberg.

TNA can't compete like that...they can't get those kind of names in their company (Hogan of '10 isn't quite the same as Hogan in '95)...

While TNA's general landscape has some semblance of early WCW, its booking is more closely resembling very late WCW.

[Warner2BruceTD]

The Carter's may not be Ted Turner, or Time Warner, but they arent exactly Paul Heyman writting bad checks and scaming airlines in order to put together shows.

But yeah, WCW had deeper pockets. But to me that dosent matter. WCW was beating WWF before Eric Bischoff spent them out of business. Buying up the talent just widened the gap. Nitro was neck and neck (and mostly winning) BEFORE the Outsiders showed up.

EDIT-TNA dosent have to overtake WWE for this to be a successful move. The idea is to increase exposure, increase ratings, and ultimately increase PPV buys and profits.

They can do that without being #1. Let's not lose sight of that. Will it happen? I doubt it, but you never know.

[EmpireWF]

Nobody knows how long Big Papa Carter will go though. If TNA is still a money loser in two years, does he still want to fund his daughter's play pen?

In any way, TNA has an opportunity to do something better...but is there any reason to believe they will jump on this chance?

[Warner2BruceTD]

Nobody knows how long Big Papa Carter will go though. If TNA is still a money loser in two years, does he still want to fund his daughter's play pen?

In any way, TNA has an opportunity to do something better...but is there any reason to believe they will jump on this chance?

Nope.

The complete incompetence of that company will only get worse with Hogan's manipulations.

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

I'll tube in if I can see Hogan play the air guitar with his belt again...that shit = ratings

[Warner2BruceTD]

I'll tube in if I can see Hogan play the air guitar with his belt again...that shit = ratings

FWIW, I will watch TNA for the first time in close to a year (maybe longer) on January 4th (I don't even bother wasting DVR space on the shit anymore). I'm sure i'm not alone, so the curiosity factor will give them a bump.

They key, is they have 3 hours to hook me and get me to come back. Will they? I fully expect to abondon them again right after I hit "delete" on the DVR.

The misuse and killing off of Samoa Joe, when he was red hot and coming off the great Kurt Angle feud, still baffles my brain. Ratings were up, they broke PPV records, and had legitimate upwards movement. And they dropped the ball like Az Hakim.

[Kuzzy Powers]

They've got me moderately interested.. which is more then I can say about anything TNA has done in a long ass time.

[Epidemik]

When interviewed by Arda Ocal and Corey Erdman of the "Right After Wrestling" program on SIRIUS 98, Hulk Hogan predicted that Nielson ratings would triple to a 3.0 on his debut appearance on TNA Impact on Monday January 4. Hogan went on to list names such as AJ Styles and Matt Morgan as guys with "something there" and that he will look to mold and "bring to life".

The full interview will air on "Right After Wrestling" on Monday night December 14 at 11pm EST on SIRIUS Channel 98, Hardcore Sports Radio.

(c) ND

[EmpireWF]

Hogan believes he killed Andre, so....

[Warner2BruceTD]

Hogan believes he killed Andre, so....

Did you know Andre weighed 1,000 lbs when Hogan slammed him at the Pontiac Silverdome, in front of 150,000 people?