2017 WHATEVER THE HELL USED TO BE TNA DISCUSSION THREAD

[nate]

So now, who's worse for their company at this point?

#fuckkevindunn or #fuckthatowl?

[RIPPA]

Covering a couple of things

- Yes Billy's lawsuit is done. When they bought him out, he agreed to drop his lawsuit. http://radio.com/2016/11/29/billy-corgan-settlement-tna-wrestling-lawsuit/

- What TNA did to the Hardys this weekend is exactly what Lucha Underground (and an extent AAA) do to other companies. Threaten lawsuits over gimmicks that they may or may not have actual ownership over. Most places don't want to take the chance or deal with the hassle - so they just bow to LU/AAA's wishes. Ironically - they just did it to TNA themselves with the whole blurred out ref thing. A few weeks ago they tried to pull it on a SoCal indy fed over Pentagon Jr and Fenix and the company stood up to them and told them to go fuck themselves and surprise surprise - nothing happened to them. It is very similar to what patent trolls do.

[JohnnyJ]

What all of this comes down to is TNA is a company that loses money. A gimmick was created in TNA that has been profitable to the wrestlers and many indy feds.  TNA would like to make money as well. The problem is TNA has no business model. They just kind of exist in perpetuity. So new ownership comes in and sees they have this thing with all of this buzz but it's costing them a lot of money and have no easy way to turn a profit on it. A genius idea is hatched to play hardball with the Hardys. They'll claim ownership over the Broken Universe,  lower the performers pay and piggyback on an independent contractors outside bookings.  In the worst case scenario and the Hardys walk its two larger contracts off the books.

While TNA has some decent arguments, it's hard to get away from the feeling that the Hardys are being punished because TNA is a shitty company. If TNA had a business model everyone would be profiting off this stuff and everyone would be happy. Instead we're having half-serious discussions about how a 15-year old wrestling company should build its own arena and try to get paying customers.

Meanwhile, TNA has watched as  Styles, Joe and to a lesser extent Roode, walked into WWE and were money-making acts on day one. I can understand why they don't want that to happen with the Hardys. 

 

 

 

[Ace]

Meanwhile, the Hardys are already finding their way around this bullshit anyways. Instead of the "Delete" hand-swipes, they just chop a fucker and the crowd chants "DELETE" anyways. They can't go after the "Obsolete" bit, I assume, since unless Jeff's a complete idiot, he owns his song.

 

[JonnyLaw]

1 hour ago, JohnnyJ said:

The problem is TNA has no business model. 

 

False.  Their business model has developed into essentially being a pimp. 

[JonnyLaw]

Del Rio El Patron used the hashtag #sisisi in a tweet promoting Impact, so they have no problem bringing gimmicks/characters created elsewhere to Impact.

[Thibs]

36 minutes ago, Ace said:

Meanwhile, the Hardys are already finding their way around this bullshit anyways. Instead of the "Delete" hand-swipes, they just chop a fucker and the crowd chants "DELETE" anyways. They can't go after the "Obsolete" bit, I assume, since unless Jeff's a complete idiot, he owns his song.

 

The thing is, what made the broken gimmick was the original Final Deletion. And I've still yet to see where they can replicate/build on it unless they go LU. Even if they get full rights to it.

[Spritenaut 32]

Lucha promotions going after workers for "copyright infringement" always strikes me as comical considering the opening match on the card was probably ninja turtles vs. power rangers; one of the midcard matches likely featured a guy using the same gimmick name as a couple other, unrelated wrestlers; and it would be hard to throw a rock into the locker room with hitting an "El Hijo" or "Junior" who is not related to or endorsed by the name wrestler.

I hate to see TNA prevail here.  Regardless of whether their claim is valid or not, they could tie the Hardys up for awhile over this.   Hardys are fairly close to the end of their careers and there's probably more money to be made working out a deal and doing the Broken gimmicks.  I doubt that, come this time next year, promoters are going to be clamoring to book "Icon" Matt Hardy who was part of SCUM in Ring of Honor.

[Thibs]

Quote

PWInsider has more details about what led Anthem to send cease and desist orders to the Hardys, Ring of Honor and PPV distributors over Matt and Jeff appearing as their “broken” characters. This led to the ROH PPV getting pulled from DISH Network and the Hardys toning down their act for the PPV itself. Reby Hardy has been trashing Impact Wrestling and Anthem on social media while Hardy still uses parts of the character. According to Reby, The Hardys have full ownership of the gimmick. 

A source claims that Hardy filing a trademark for “Broken Matt Hardy” is what caused Anthem Media to act. They believe that since Hardy wasn’t the only person to create the character (others involved include Dave Lagana, Matt Conway, Billy Corgan and more), others deserve part of the revenue. It’s possible this is Anthem’s way of getting money if the act is taken to other promotions, including WWE. They want to pressure Hardy into signing a deal that gives Anthem a percentage of profits made from the gimmick.

The hilarious thing about this is the people listed in parenthesis are no longer with the company and would most likely agree that Matt and Jeff deserve the copyright.

[MonteCarl]

So couldn't Matt reach out to those guys - if he's on good enough terms with them - and have them publicly state via Twitter or some other media that they had nothing to do with the gimmick and it was all Matt Hardy and that could be the end of it? What leg could Anthem stand on if the people who were in charge of creative at the time stated that they didn't come up with any of it?

[Thibs]

Well because its true that they did play a role in terms of booking it, producing, etc. I'm just saying that guys like Corgan and Lagana probably aren't the type to want to take credit or try to benefit financially from it.

[Web Conn]

Looks like the India tour is finally happening

http://www.ewrestlingnews.com/news/impact-wrestling-announces-tv-tapings-india-press-release

Quote

The following press release was issued to us:

#MakeImpactGreat – Inaugural Show Results

TORONTO | NASHVILLE – IMPACT Wrestling, a subsidiary of Anthem Sports & Entertainment Corp., announced today the viewership results for its inaugural show that aired on PopTV on March 9, 2017.

Viewership on PopTV held steady week over week, but viewership on the IMPACT Wrestling YouTube channel and other social media outlets exploded, with new content attracting more than 2.4 million views through the weekend, an increase of more than 275% over the same period last week.

“We are thrilled to see this response from our fans. We wanted to deliver an on-screen product with a new energy that would captivate our audience. Early signs are that we are on the right track,” said Jeff Jarrett, Chief Creative Officer for IMPACT Wrestling. “The new on-screen branding was matched with new graphics across all IMPACT Wrestling platforms. The thrilling and exciting new open to the show and the abundance of new content across all platforms, including digital, reflect the enthusiastic energy that Kevin Sullivan has brought with him in his return to the show as Vice President of Production.”

During the week, IMPACT Wrestling also reached agreement with its partners in India to begin taping in India. On May 30 and May 31, episodes of IMPACT Wrestling will be taped in Mumbai to be aired in the four weeks leading up to Slammiversary. Discussions are now underway with local sponsors and promotions to launch a new show featuring local talent in association with the IMPACT Wrestling roster to be filmed in India commencing as early as Q4 2017.

 

“We are excited to be in a position to bring our show to our fans in India,” said Ed Nordholm, president of IMPACT Wrestling. “This is an initial step in what we hope will become a regular part of our programming cycle, leading to live events in all of our key markets.”

Mr. Nordholm also commented on management additions, noting that Scott D’Amore has agreed to join the company as Vice President of International Development, adding to his responsibilities on the creative team.

“International growth is a top priority for us and Scott will be a key member as we forge alliances with international partners to bring IMPACT Wrestling to these markets,” said Mr. Nordholm. “Scott finalized a working agreement with the popular Japan-based promotion, Pro-Wrestling NOAH, this past weekend, and stars Moose, James Storm and Eddie Edwards travelled to Japan with him to compete in Yokohama at The Great Voyage 2017.”

Scott D’Amore added: “I look forward to growing the brand on a worldwide level. In addition to this agreement with NOAH, we have reached an agreement with Crash Lucha, and I am actively working on other initiatives with local partners in Mexico, the United Kingdom and India.”

The roster continues to grow and new faces will premiere on IMPACT Wrestling every Thursday night. We have already witnessed the debut of world-renowned star, Alberto El Patron, and an exciting new tag-team has burst on the scene named Reno Scum. Familiar fan favorites will also return to the IMPACT Zone in the coming weeks, including Karen Jarrett, Magnus, Matt Morgan and The Notorious LAX.

For more information, please visit www.impactwrestling.com/

 

[Thibs]

Now this I can get behind. And with Borash at the announce table i have confidence he'll know to shut up during their entrance. 

 

[BEN!]

Nordholm learned the wrong lesson from the LU suits.  Hardys should just change their act to the Twisted Hardys from the Twisted Dimension or some shit.  Not that Anthem really has a claim to the Hardys acting retarded since they've been that way forever.  Plus, there's probably a bunch of media interviews around the time of The Final Deletion where Matt gets the majority of the credit along with Jeremy Borash.  Nobody but those two wanted to claim anything until it got declared an artistic success then Corgan got involved so he could get his baby Decay into something over.  I also like this fairy tale of the Hardys being model employees that TNA owes so much to.  Lest we forget Jeff costing TNA the NJPW deal or having to make Sting shoot on him or any of his other issues or Matt at his grape eating peak or Reby fighting with Kong.

The only thing Anthem should be trying to keep is Vanguard-One cause it's an inanimate object they can market for pure profit and it's Borash's drone anyway.  Also, they need to film a vignette at Rosemary's barn where Abyss pulls out a treasure chest and fills a sack with gold coins.  There was gold in that barn the whole time!  Bram could've partied like it's 2006 but he blew it.  Then we see Vanguard-One fly off with the sack hanging underneath him as Decay cackles.  He sold the Hardys out.

[sabremike]

Here is the bottom line: Anthem drove the Hardys out of the promotion to save $$$ despite them being BY FAR the most popular act in the entire company. They are probably spending more than they would've had to pay the Hardys on Alberto alone, a WWE castoff who nobody outside of his immediate family cares about. That's not how to run a successful promotion at all.

[JohnnyJ]

 

[Web Conn]

25 minutes ago, sabremike said:

Here is the bottom line: Anthem drove the Hardys out of the promotion to save $$$ despite them being BY FAR the most popular act in the entire company. They are probably spending more than they would've had to pay the Hardys on Alberto alone, a WWE castoff who nobody outside of his immediate family cares about. That's not how to run a successful promotion at all.

That sums up the 15 years of TNA and Impact Wrestling right there

[MonteCarl]

Driving them out to save money, giving that money to del Rio, then spending who knows how much MORE money to take the Hardy's to court over a gimmick

[Web Conn]

Not only do they ape WWE's booking, they ape WWE's pettiness.

[kafkonia]

Suit jacket over untucked gimmick shirt IS pro wrestling.

[J.T.]

The core members of the new LAX are Mike Draztik and Angel Ortiz who work as EYFBO and they are quite indyriffic in a good way.

[RIPPA]

 

[Curt McGirt]

On 3/12/2017 at 11:33 AM, Thibs said:

Potentially Lucha down the road. Imagine if they took this gimmick to Lucha. 

They already BEEN to The Crash. You think Konnan cares about copyrights? Por ejemplo:

On 3/13/2017 at 11:15 AM, Horton Hears a Wooo!!! said:

Lucha promotions going after workers for "copyright infringement" always strikes me as comical considering the opening match on the card was probably ninja turtles vs. power rangers; one of the midcard matches likely featured a guy using the same gimmick name as a couple other, unrelated wrestlers; and it would be hard to throw a rock into the locker room with hitting an "El Hijo" or "Junior" who is not related to or endorsed by the name

Catching up with this thread six pages after you've last been on it is like having a fever dream.

EDIT: Reading into it, the Alberto Giving Up the Belt video is Jarrett and company literally telling the Hardys what they want, down to the greasy middle management guy* laying down the line. What a bunch of assholes.

* Prichard of course, not Dutch. I like Dutch.

[Marty Sugar]

What was even the point of that segment with Alberto giving up the belt? It was poorly planned, poorly acted, and went on far too damn long. WRESTLING!

[Thibs]

2 hours ago, Curt McGirt said:

They already BEEN to The Crash. You think Konnan cares about copyrights? Por ejemplo:

Catching up with this thread six pages after you've last been on it is like having a fever dream.

EDIT: Reading into it, the Alberto Giving Up the Belt video is Jarrett and company literally telling the Hardys what they want, down to the greasy middle management guy* laying down the line. What a bunch of assholes.

* Prichard of course, not Dutch. I like Dutch.

Well, my point was that Lucha is the only promotion that could match/top the final deletion, which is what made them popular in the first place.

From that sense, I understand why Nordholm would want to make sure they aren't to take the gimmick somewhere like that, since they're basically on the same level. Or if they do, he'd want a cut.