Jump to content
DVDVR Message Board

2017 WHATEVER THE HELL USED TO BE TNA DISCUSSION THREAD


Recommended Posts

28 minutes ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

Your next knockouts champion. Karen and JJ are insufferable as the Dollar Tree version of HHH and Stephanie.

Why are you disrespecting Dollar Tree like that?

 

 

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 minutes ago, zev said:

Why are you disrespecting Dollar Tree like that?

 

 

That was wrong of me. I do like Dollar Tree.

Let's try again. If HHH and Stephanie are Peter Luger Steakhouse, then JJ and Karen are Golden Corral.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

27 minutes ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

That was wrong of me. I do like Dollar Tree.

Let's try again. If HHH and Stephanie are Peter Luger Steakhouse, then JJ and Karen are Golden Corral.

A steakhouse reference in wrestling that doesn't involve Ribera? That's allowed?

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Jeff Jarrett's ability to con people into giving him power and influence despite being a complete failure basically everywhere he's been is almost Russoesque. This would be like the Knicks rehiring Isaiah Thomas.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

For the first time ever the two people, Jarrett and Carter, who turned everything good TNA ever had into shit were gone.  So in typical TNA fashion what do they do?  Bring back Jeff Jarrett.  Maybe Jarrett will give Russo another shot to really complete the epic failure.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

Your next knockouts champion. Karen and JJ are insufferable as the Dollar Tree version of HHH and Stephanie.

Jarrett is a million times better than HHH. I have been saying this since 1999 and JJ was the best heel act in the company and HHH was drowning. 

I don't think Karen Jarrett is good, but at worst she is a lateral move from Steph.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I like how people keep referring to the good ol days when TNA was good. When was that, and when did that not include Jarrett?

And to be fair, I'm not saying this is going to work or defending JJ, far from it. But let's say you are Anthem and you just paid a bunch of money for this shitshow. The books say the money coming in is substantially less than is going out. What can you do?

At least JJ understands(unlike apparently Dixie) that the point of a business is to make money. The only time that ever happened in TNA history was 2009. I think you could make a pretty legit argument that business has slowly gotten worse since JJ left. 

And again, I think that there really is zero percent chance that this works, especially if the idea is to bring in WWE castoffs and make it look like WWE lite. Been there, done that, but I'm not sure what else they really can do.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, it looks like Jarrett got them back on tv in the UK. They'll be on Spike UK.

Not sure if that outweighs any of the negatives in the last few days. Now if he's able to weasel his way back on Spike in the US....

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Full update from newest WON

Quote

After months of words being written about it, and discussions regarding what will happen, TNA has lost both the Hardys and Drew Galloway days before the first set of TV tapings with the new creative team in charge.

In addition, Mike Bennett and wife Maria Kanellis-Bennett have also left the company right before the current set of television tapings and the contract of Stephanie Bell (Jade) expired on 2/28 and TNA sources indicate she is also gone from the company.

One performer noted that there may be more as the company is trying to take wrestlers who were under annual contracts and change them to per-show deals, as well as put in the contracts that TNA controls independent bookings and gets 10 percent of all independent money.

The contracts for the Hardys, Galloway and Bell officially expired this past week and they are free agents, available to work anywhere immediately.

The key issues with the Hardys and Galloway appear to be TNA’s insistence on exclusive deals where they would be in charge of booking the talents outside dates and get a ten percent commission on those bookings.

Another issue is that with the Hardys and Galloway, all three were unhappy that with their time coming due that TNA had dragged its feet on negotiations. That was blamed on the new regime being in charge and the transition to getting the new team in place, a budget being put together and the company knowing what it was going to be able to offer. By the time they were ready, Galloway had mentally moved on and made other plans for his career. The Hardys were frustrated, and Matt wasn’t happy about the new creative team.

According to Pro Wrestling Sheet, the Hardys had agreed to terms in December verbally. TNA sources have claimed that as well. Our sources close to the situation said that they were in talks and the Hardys were definitely leaning toward staying, but there was always the issue of exclusivity that was a hold-up in finalizing the deal.

They were looking at staying since they were given full control of all their creative, which wouldn’t be the case in WWE. But it was never a done, confirmed deal and we were constantly told things were up in the air, but they weren’t willing to sign away their rights to work independently for the money they were offered. But it is true that until Jeff Jarrett was brought in to head the creative side and work with Ed Nordholm to run the company, the Hardys were leaning toward staying. When Jarrett came in, the dynamic changed.

As noted last week, the two had told independent promoters that they weren’t taking any dates after the end of April because they weren’t sure they would be able to fulfill them, which meant WWE, but also made it clear that it could change.

The big change is that Matt Hardy was pushing to be more hands on when it came to creative, not just for himself, but for the company as a whole. When Jeff Jarrett was brought in to run the wrestling end with the title Chief Creative Officer, he brought in his team of Scott D’Amore and Dutch Mantel (whose official title is head of creative) and added Jeremy Borash, who is close to the Hardys, as the new main creative staff (Rockstar Spud and Abyss also have a hand in creative).

It also wouldn’t shock me to see Borash as television announcer because in trying to erase the changes and image of the current promotion, one would think Josh Matthews and The Pope would be in serious jeopardy of being replaced.

The reports were that the Hardys wanted creative control written into their TNA deals, and were turned down.

It was said that when Jeff Hardy, 39, found out, he wanted to leave at that point. Matt, 42, was still in talks but the exclusive nature of the contract was still a major issue.

The huge question out of this regards the “Broken Hardys” character that Matt created. Matt is claiming the character as his, and should be free to take it to WWE, or wherever he wants to go. TNA is claiming the characters which debuted on their television, of Broken Matt, Brother Mero, Senor Benjamin, Queen Rebecca and King Maxel as its intellectual property, and that Matt & Jeff were under TNA contracts when the characters were developed.

“The company transition has been a bit rocky and from what I’ve heard, they weren’t in a position to be finalizing big money deals until two or three weeks ago,” said one person with knowledge of how this went down. “That’s settled now and the company has a firm talent budget in place that will allow for a few high dollar talents. Verbal agreement were in place a few months (ago) but the delay spooked them, and at that point, discussions with WWE began. I think they both eventually planned on going back (to WWE), and they aren’t getting any younger, so the feeling was to strike while the iron is hot. There are a lot of factors, though, that would prevent them from going, mainly the physical and both have infants and wives who don’t want them on the road (full-time).”

The Financial Post in Canada ran a story this week about Anthem’s acquisition of TNA.

“I’m not doing it because I’m a wrestling fanatic,” said Leonard Asper, who heads Anthem, who grew up watching AWA wrestling in Winnipeg and would pretend to be Baron Von Raschke while his older brother would pretend to be Crusher when they would mock wrestle each other. “It’s a business decision. We want to own content as a company.”

He said that they saved TNA because it was the second highest rated show on their station.

Asper’s family had built Canwest, a major media company in Canada, which included televison and media outlets like the National Post. The family lost Canwest during a financial crisis.,

The Hardys were willing to come to television to do a farewell angle and do business in dropping their TNA tag team titles, but TNA apparently nixed doing so. The report was that TNA was willing to bring them back to do a storyline departure, but insisted on them signing a short-term contract. As is the case in the television industry, TNA wouldn’t have wanted them on their TV while also appearing with WWE. Depending on how many television weeks it took to tie up the characters, they would have wanted the Hardys at least exclusive to them on television until that was over.

They are going to work with the Young Bucks on 4/1 in Lakeland, FL, but it’s now more than likely a one-shot deal rather than the beginning of a major program, which was the original goal. Obviously the angle where they were teleported to different independent promotions and win tag team titles is also over. It’s not clear what they are going to do about the belts they’ve won, but the Hardys are still doing all their indie shots through the end of April.

Others close to the situation were saying that was Matt’s story, but that TNA was willing to continue to give Matt all the creative input he wanted and not change what they were doing, including having Matt be involved in the creative meetings. It was noted that Borash, who was a key part of the Hardys angle and creative, is now a member of the creative team officially. Those at TNA believe that WWE simply made an offer and they backed out of a verbally agreed upon deal to stay.

However, it is known that Jarrett saw Jeff Hardy as a key person in the promotion, and as someone to be in the world title picture with Bobby Lashley, whether with the new character or not. But as the most popular historically and best-known wrestler on the roster, Jeff Hardy had to be a key figure in rebuilding.

Rebecca Hardy, on Twitter, said, “I’ve said it many times. TNA was the perfect situation for our family and how grateful I was for professionalism/open communications/respect...Now think about what kinds negative and straight fuckery would have to go down for us to leave.”

The Hardys had been the highlight of most of the recent shows. We do know that when the new regime with Jarrett came in, they felt the company needed a change and wanted to do a more serious wrestling product. The feeling was that while everyone talked about the Hardys act and at WWE shows and independent shows they weren’t at, people chanted “delete” and “obsolete,” and other phrases from their vignettes, but that ratings for the most part had fallen over the recent few months. While there was no direct blaming of them that I heard for the drop, the idea was, and there is something to it, that if it was that hot in a business sense, the ratings would have at least stayed even. The first major segment that the company heavily promoted did more than 400,000 viewers, its best numbers in a long time, but since that point the segments have been on shows where the ratings are more down than up.

The Hardys were drawing better than they had in a while on the independent scene and while I don’t have proof of that, I would suspect their merchandise was way up as well. With TNA looking to tour, the Hardys were clearly the strongest act on their roster when it came to selling tickets to live events. There were also questions as to whether the Hardys act itself would stay together since there was the feeling that the new creative team would want to do a more old-school presentation, and use Jeff, the company’s most popular wrestler and biggest mainstream star, as a singles champion or championship chaser. Still, the impression we were given was TNA was willing to keep the act together and keep Matt with strong input.

One person very close to the situation said that Jarrett and Nordholm were negotiating with all three “like they were WWE, which they weren’t.”

As noted before, if they to go do WWE, which seems most likely since WWE has made it clear they are interested, they would also not be in control of their characters. WWE would be foolish not to use the characters if they legally could, and it is very much a question right now. But would they also employ Matt’s wife (Rebecca Hardy), father-in-law (Senor Benjamin) and use Matt’s son Maxel as part of the act is another question. With WWE exposure on the gimmick, there is huge potential in merchandising and obviously more money. But the schedule is tougher and both are pretty beaten up. When it comes to both of them, long-term, the current WWE schedule is probably not the best thing past a short-term run. Plus, in the past, Matt has always been someone that WWE never pushed to the level they were over at, and certainly at times at the end of his last run, that was probably justified given Matt’s issues at the time.

Really, the perfect fit for them would be NXT. NXT needs individuals who can help sell tickets at the grassroots level, especially if and when Shinsuke Nakamura is moved to the main roster. The NXT schedule is a better fit for them as far as physically holding up and having more time with their families. But the offer they would have turned down in TNA is far more than pretty much anyone in NXT would be making (Nakamura being the possible exception). So the question is what would WWE offer them for a main NXT position as compared to a main roster position. Plus, for them, if the idea is to go back for one last run, NXT, with no major television exposure, is not the idea of that run.

While their character wouldn’t fit with the general presentation of ROH, the reality is that it’s always good to have a variation. However, ROH also wants its top stars to be under an exclusive contract for the U.S. and Ontario markets, plus there’s question of ROH’s budget being able to afford the costs of both Hardys to that type of deal, as the level of money they were offered by TNA would be significantly more than anyone in ROH makes. There were issues in the past with the ROH fan base not liking the Hardys because they were ex-WWE names and didn’t work at the level of the ROH headliners and nor had the super matches those fans were used to out of main events. Because of the coolness of the gimmick, that may not have been the case now, but it’s still largely a moot point.

The Hardys also could stay independent and make money easily. But even Cody Runnels, who is doing very well working indies, has kept himself visible on both ROH and TNA television while working most of his dates on independent shows and signing with nobody. Runnels is interesting, because he is doing TNA tapings on 3/2 (where he will face Moose in a singles match stemming from an angle that aired on television where he turned on Moose out of jealousy that his wife, Brandi Rhodes, was teaming with Moose and called Little Moose), and is working the 3/4 ROH show in New York and other major shows coming up, and has been able to do that without signing any contracts and remaining in full control of his independent bookings. Both TNA and ROH have used him with those guidelines. Also, with ROH being on The Fight Network in Canada, and The Fight Network owns TNA, it really makes no sense to not have the two groups have some type of working agreement.

It was also noted to us from the independent standpoint, that the Hardys leaving would be the single most significant blow to the U.S. indie scene in a long time, because they can draw big crowds for smaller indies all over the country. In particular, in the Carolinas, they are the key act responsible for the healthy state of the indies because they can draw good crowds on a regular basis and bigger money with picture sales.

Galloway, 31, confirmed he would be leaving the promotion and would not be at TV this week. TNA did open up negotiations shortly after word got out that they hadn’t in the recent Observer and they had gone back-and-forth over the past week. TNA was looking for an exclusive deal where they would be in control of his indie dates with TNA planning its own house show tours, that would limit him in booking indie dates and he’s doing well on overseas shows right now.

Galloway right now is going to keep doing what he has been doing, with What Culture, ICW and Evolve and other U.K. groups being his base of operations. Galloway had been earning more on the independent scene as he did in his last few years in WWE, where he wasn’t used well, so he can do well financially outside of WWE and TNA, although the old TNA deal which gave him freedom to continue all his indies worked out well. He was told that had he stayed they were going to position him as a major singles star. He officially turned down the offer on 2/26. He was told in the negotiations that they were going to book him as a top guy and made what he said was a nice financial offer to him and he praised his time there on the way out.

Bennett, 31, and Kanellis-Bennett came to TNA in January after signing a one-year deal for guaranteed money. They had been working with ROH and New Japan Pro Wrestling as part of the Kingdom group with Matt Taven. The contract had expired at the end of 2016 and with the situation in TNA where all the contract things were on hold in the change, they worked the first tapings of 2017 on a per-show deal in lieu of negotiating a new deal. The word going around is both are headed back to ROH. WWE had been calling talent like Barbara Blanks (Kelly Kelly) to participate in an angle idea involving women of the past and Kanellis does fit into that category. Either way, those at TNA say that the Bennetts leaving was their choice and that they weren’t given a reason why they made the decision. The Bennetts were known to be close to Billy Corgan and not happy that Corgan didn’t end up in control of TNA. They made it public at the time of that position.

In the case of Bell, it was a financial situation so it regarded the offer made to her and what she was wanting not being close enough for a deal to be made.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Quote

One performer noted that there may be more as the company is trying to take wrestlers who were under annual contracts and change them to per-show deals, as well as put in the contracts that TNA controls independent bookings and gets 10 percent of all independent money.

Just wanted to highlight that point.

Really - if you are an independent wrestler who signs with TNA, you are a fool

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That's actually much better than the previous one. 

 

2 days after announcing they're scouring the indies to look for new talent, some has been announced: LAX & Matt Morgan. I think the only reason they won't bring Sonjay Dutt back this week is that he's doing a training stint at the WWE PC.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just from all the random parts

I think - THINK (and this is me just guessing on the things that have been said) - the plan is

- slice salaries as much as possible

- bring in more international money (They still get from India and obviously have a new UK deal)

- get a percentage of guys indie money (since they want everyone on the 10% contracts)

- run house shows

- swindle other promotions to allow TNA to piggy back onto a show that the other promotion was already doing (Jarrett was the King of this for a while with Global and random indie feds)

- Get Don West to sell millions of Jeff Jarrett signed guitars

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
×
×
  • Create New...