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I wrote an extended editorial on this in this week's Pro Wrestling Torch Weekly Newsletter #1120 (now available to subscribers in both online text and PDF formats), but I want to touch on it here before tonight's Impact.
There's been a trend on TNA lately, showing through with Dixie Carter and Hulk Hogan's statements, that the key to getting more viewers is rallying them behind the name brand "TNA" and "making TNA number one."
How many people watch their favorite TV show to help the network it airs on become "number one" or to "beat the competition in its timeslot" or "another rival show" in the same genre? It's a mistake, I believe, to start with the "make TNA number one" strategy.
I don't think the key for TNA to get from 1.0 to 1.5 or 2.0 is to have Dixie and Hogan talking about making TNA number one. They need to talk about making TNA more entertaining to watch, which means utilizing the talent they have to tell the best stories they have.
Fans shouldn't be teased and tempted with potential new roster acquisitions with the idea being it'll "help make TNA number one." Fans should be sold the idea that new wrestlers will make watching TNA better. With all due respect, fans don't care whether the Carter family is richer or current TNA executives get raises. They want two hours of sensible, entertaining escapism featuring the athleticism of pro wrestlers putting on dramatic simulated fights in the ring that lead to ramifications that hook them into watching next week's show.
I doubt the million new weekly viewers TNA is trying to attract care how Impact's ratings fare compared to WWE. That's not a motivation for them to tune in. The focus should be on creating a better playing field for wrestlers and improving the level of competition between wrestlers.
The old late-'90s attitude that "fans know it's fake so we can't insult them by pretending it's real" philosophy is totally antiquated now in 2009. Fans know it's scripted. More than ever. The new generation has grown up knowing what the deal is.
What they want is the same thing they want when they tune into their favorite scripted TV show. They want characters they care about playing their roles with a straight face, with conflict or drama or comedy taking place between clear-cut protagonists and antagonists, with a resolution that is either satisfying (good guys wins) or builds more tension for the next conflict (bad guy wins, often by cheating).
How many people are going to tune into "The Office" or "CSI" or "Flash Forward" tonight hoping that the executive producer of that show starts "talking shop" about how they and their network are faring in the ratings compared to others?
And how many of those shows are built around the owner of the network or another executive telling the viewers how much better things are going to be some day?
TNA can pull off Dixie Carter being an on-air figure on a regular basis as long as her focus is on playing the part of a league president who is addressing TNA's equivalent of rules, competition, game schedules, and that type of thing.
TNA is not a team sport competing with WWE. Nobody from TNA is going to face anyone from WWE anytime soon. Fans know that. The excitement during the Monday Night Wars wasn't generated by wrestling fans getting wrapped up in "WWF vs. WCW" or "Raw vs. Nitro." It was generated because two shows went all out to present the best product possible and often succeeded with a great mix of old stars and rising new super-talent emerging and putting on great matches and great promos. The fact that there was a ratings war going on that the bookers and promoters got a rush from did not affect 99 percent of the massive audience watching either Raw or Nitro or a little of both.
Dixie's last speech telling wrestlers to "step it up" made no sense. Don't they already have incentive to step it up, because within the context of TNA Impact wrestlers fight to win, and winners get more money and title shots? The incentive is already there. She doesn't need to tell them that. Her speech sounded like something a wrestling manager would give to his faction of wrestlers who are about to enter a big night of competition against other wrestlers. But as a "roster-wide" address it made no sense.
Anything that appears on Impact should be in the context of pro wrestling as a real sport, just as every scene in "The Shield" presents the action as cops in a station house or on the streets fighting crime, just as every scene in "The Office" presents the action as office workers in a real office interacting with one another. There's no shame and no harm, once the show starts, in following the same rules as any other scripted drama or comedy show does. Everyone stays in character and presents the most entertaining show possible. You're not insulting the audience by doing that. On the contrary, you're actually giving them exactly what they want. They know the score and "they're over it." It's not 1998 anymore where fans got off on promoters acknowledging the worked nature of wrestling to them. In fact, even in 1998 that approach was overrated.
I hope Dixie's speech tonight doesn't focus on a TNA vs. WWE war that the fans they want to attract don't have a stake in. I hope Dixie's speech tonight doesn't focus on TNA wanting to increase ratings or profitability. Anything Dixie or anyone else says on TV should fit within the context of the majority of the show, which is wrestlers settling feuds and fighting to try to win titles. Send feedback on this article to pwtorch@gmail.com and we'll regularly publish reader feedback in the "Torch Feedback" category on the Main Listing.
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