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WWE Raw fans are disgruntled. WWE shouldn't fool themselves. The ten year low 2.8 rating on Monday represents a less loyal bunch than ever. Their "core audience" is more likely to reach for that remote than at any time this decade.
TNA has an opportunity to win over those fans. There's a whole ratings point worth of fans who were watching Raw a few months ago who tuned out Monday to watch the Cowboys or Yankees or Heroes or YouTube. TNA can capture those wrestling fans. Unfortunately, Kip James and Black Reign won't do it. Last week's show was an undisciplined, frustrating, counter-productive mess.
There are some steps TNA can take to seize the opening created by WWE apathy. The most obvious is to incorporate a systematic weekly dose of athleticism and coolness that WWE either can't or is unwilling to attempt to match - X Division Wrestling done right. Just as Nitro won over Raw viewers a dozen years ago in part by exposing American fans to luchadors and cruiserweights like had never been done before, TNA should learn from that and amp it up with a more serious push than that of smaller, more athletic wrestlers who are not only on the current roster, but available in much bigger numbers on the indy scene than heavyweight prospects. Here's how they can do it:
SEPARATE X DIVISION FROM REST OF ROSTER
X Division. The old guard running the show in TNA who once saw themselves as the new guard must realize they're 40 or 50 something now. They are not the right people to be judging whether Alex Shelley is cool or whether anyone would pay to see Black Machismo. TNA should create four X Division segments in every episode of Impact. Separate X Division wrestlers from anything having to do with anyone else on the roster. No tag matches, no singles matches against heavyweights, no run-ins where they're tossed around like jobbers. They are separate.
DESIGNATE SEPARATE BOOKER FOR DIVISION
Then internally designate a booker who has complete creative freedom. It can be Senshi or Jeremy Borash or Mike Tenay or Kevin Nash. I don't care. But that booker's job is to listen to X Division wrestlers for their ideas on how to best be promoted and featured. Have an open mind. Be willing to try some new things. Oh, that booker must also watch four hours of UFC every week just to get the feeling for what TNA's target audience has been exposed to in terms of promoting matches - simulated or not - in a realistic, compelling, nuts-and-bolts manner.
X DIVISION SHOWCASE SQUASHES EVERY WEEK
Then on each week's Impact, there is one five minute segment that features an X Division top tier player getting a squash win over a similar sized jobber. The point of this match is to feature the personality and signature moves of this wrestler while announcers talk primarily about that wrestler and any feud or big matches he is involved in. There can occasionally be an angle or interference or a staredown afterward, but it should be the exception, not the norm. Get over the wrestler's ring entrance and signature moves and finisher.
X DIVISION TITLE MATCHES ON TV ONCE A MONTH
Then throughout the first hour hype the X Division Title match or contender match scheduled for that episode. The X Division Title should be defended on TV every 3-4 weeks. The other weeks should feature a showcase X Division match - one-on-one, no gimmicks, no stips - where the result of the match leads logically to the winner moving toward a title match on TV. The X Division matches must never be less than 12 minutes if interrupted by a commercial and never less than 10 minutes if not interrupted by a commercial. Let the wrestlers do their thing. If they have more than 10 minutes, they won't rush through their spots and thus open themselves up to criticism from the curmudgeons in management who use that deride their intellect and drawing power.
The televised X Division Title matches should also be at least 10 minutes. They should be given prominent, serious hype early in the show. A video package should be created the week before an X Division Title match showing the challenger preparing for the match in the ring, at the gym, wherever. He should be interviewed about what his strategy is and how he's motivating himself. Of course, there should be some personal issues between he and the champion, but realistic stuff, not cartoony stuff.
X DIVISION TITLE MATCHES ON PPV IN TOP SLOT
Alex Shelley [photo by Wade Keller (c) PWTorch]
The X Division Title should also be defended on every PPV. This is where stipulations can be added to matches, although (this will shock TNA bookers) that is not always necessary. But PPV should be the setting for three-way or four-way or Ultimate X or cage type X Division matches. You know, so they feel special and differentiate themselves from the standard matches on TV.
The X Division Title matches on PPV must never, ever be earlier on the show than the third from the top. Every three or four months minimum, the X Division Title must be defended in the final match on PPV.
Just a reminder. Under no circumstances should an X Division wrestler be on the same screen or in the same ring as the heavyweights. Drawing attention to their lack of size is prohibited - not because it matters as much as anti-cruiserweight curmudgeons who are ruining this industry think - but because it's not a huge plus. Feature them in the best light, protect them at all costs.
X DIVISION PROSPECT MATCHES ON TV
Scour the indy scene for X Division wrestlers to bring in for tryouts on Impact. Hype their tryout matches for two weeks before the match takes place. One of the weeks when there's an X Division Title match each month feature two new guys who fans have been exposed to through video packages where they get to know them. Like, who they really are. Show them at home with their girlfriends. Show them at the regular jobs at Starbucks. Show them at the gym or on the basketball court. Viewers at home - TNA's target demo - will related to these guys trying to achieve their dream. Have the prospect speak on camera about his desire to earn a contract with TNA some day because his dream is to become the X Division Champion. He should not talk about wanting to impress management with a great highspot or cool moves; he should talk about wanting to win his match to earn a spot. The goal of the X Division, like any sports drama - real or scripted - is to win contests in the ring.
Then, the two new wrestlers have a match lasting 5-10 minutes. The winner can be brought back for a short-term TV program culminating in a potential contenders match that, in most cases, he'd lose to an established X Division guy. But some would stick. Some would win. And occasionally TNA could promote one of the new guys to a title match on TV or even PPV. Some would go away, back to the indy scene, drawing from their exposure on Spike TV and hoping to return in a few months for another shot.
TOUT THE X DIVISION AS SOMETHING THAT SETS TNA APART
Vince McMahon is too stubborn and blind to his bodybuilding fetish to ever promote cruiserweights as a serious part of his promotional structure, despite five hours of TV a week to at least experiment with a full-fledged effort. TNA has a lot of things going for it, including good star power, a good cable clearance, good production values, and an injured and vulnerable top dog. Now is the time for TNA to be smarter than Vince McMahon and capitalize on his weaknesses and feature their unique strengths.
One of TNA's untapped strengths is a serious X Division push. With two hours, there is zero reason not to try this for 12 weeks. See what happens. Isolate the segments so ratings trends can be analyzed. The X Division Title matches or top contender matches (two weeks before a title match, where the winner gets the TV title shot two weeks later) should always be in the last half hour of the two hour shows. It should sometimes finish the show, other times be in Q7. That way, ratings for it can be compared to ratings for non-X Division segments. Having a separate booker who concentrates on the X Division and only the X Division will prevent it from falling through the cracks on any given week. Keeping the X Division wrestlers separate - at least for a year - will keep mistakes from being made such as intermixing X Division stars with mid-card heavyweights in ways that compromises the integrity and credibility of the X Division stars.
Now is the time for TNA to act. WWE may never be more vulnerable, and one of the easiest, least expensive, most likely to succeed tactics is to get serious about the X Division again. With two hours, there no excuse not to go all the way. Right now.
(Vote in our PWTorch Instant Poll below on whether you think this is a good concept for TNA to try)...
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