7/14 Impact Wrestling TV Ratings Are In

That roster has so much talent, and a great Women's Division, yet that company is bound and determined to live in WWE's and WCW's past. They bank everything on Hogan, Sting, Bischoff, and Flair, and it's not improving the ratings one bit.

People complain about C. M. Punk not being pushed enough... What about A. J. Styles? Remember him? Good, because the company he works for doesn't.

Right now, wrestling fans need a great, viable, alternative to WWE. This company, however, refuses to provide it. They're not going to bring in casual and new fans by saying "Hey, remember that Jeff Jarrett/Chyna feud from back in the 1990s? Well, here's the sequel!" Um, guys? The Jarrett/Chyna feud sucked the first time around.

Remember those great matches RVD put on a decade ago? Y'know, when he gave a damn and didn't just phone it in?

I like AJ, but please... he's gotten his push over the years.

Punk 4 Winter wrote:

I like AJ, but please... he's gotten his push over the years.

So, you think the way to build a viable alternative and challenge to WWE, to give fans who aren't fond of Cena and Orton and Morrison something more interesting, to win new fans over, is to have your top people be Hogan, Sting, Bischoff, and Flair?

Sure, those were the guys to do that with... in 1996. Then, those were the guys who put WCW ahead in the Monday Night Wars for a year and a half. Paul Heyman said, years ago, that the only new star Bischoff ever built was Goldberg.

And how did the WWF overcome the drawing power of Hogan, Sting, Bischoff, and Flair to take back the lead in the Monday Night Wars permanently in early 1998? By building and promoting the young talent already on it's roster, like Austin, Rock, Foley, Undertaker, Triple H... Three of whom (Austin, Foley, Trip) Bischoff had declared would never be more than midcarders. The best example was this classic moment on Nitro, and what Bischoff told his announcers to say live on the air...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DouPTYUH_KE

600,000 people switched the channel to Raw, right there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uuCZmqnKiw

But hey, Nitro always ran a little over time back then, so a lot of folks switched back to see that huge match WCW had been going on and on about that night that you did not want to miss to see that Foley guy beat that Rock nobody over on Raw...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Di2DX_3KStQ

Needless to say, the fans stuck with Raw. People brought signs saying "Mick Foley put my butt in this seat."

So, which is TNA using as it's model, the promotion that built itself on newer, younger, talent, or the one built on older established names from other promotions?

They're using the formula that ultimately failed over a decade ago, even using the same guys it failed with. TNA has actually managed what I would have thought an impossible feat: Make the 5 Knuckle Shuffle guy look new and fresh and exciting just by comparison.

With the roster they have, that shouldn't have happened. WWE sticks with the Cena formula because their"competition" challenges them with this...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lckr9OLR2Ow

They need to do better than that. Hell, WWE needs them to do better than that. Vince rises to the occasion when he's being seriously challenged.