What TNA's storyline reveal did for TNA

[cero2k]

WHY LAST NIGHT'S REVEAL WAS THE BEST THING TNA COULD HAVE DONE (EVEN IF YOU HATED IT)

By Mike Johnson on 2012-06-22 17:18:07

As I watched last night's TNA Impact Wrestling closing segment, I couldn't help but laugh to myself. I wasn't laughing at the angle and I wasn't laughing at the negative feedback I knew it was going to get (and boy, did it) but I was laughing because wouldn't you know it, Hulk Hogan was right.
All TNA needed was to go live weekly.

That realization hit me last night watching the show's ending. Now, no matter whether you thought the twist of AJ Styles and Dixie Carter helping a pregnant junkie being the secret (and just WHY did Christopher Daniels know about this woman, anyway? Perhaps Daniels is the father of her demon seed?) was insanely ludicrous or ground-breaking, there was one reality through all of this.

You didn't know it was coming and that's why it was the best thing TNA could have done.

Had the show been taped on Tuesday a week ago and aired last night, I'd have a different feeling. After all, if you are the average person, unless you are meticulously taping every wrestling show that is fit to be broadcast, you likely wouldn't have cared about the angle, the reveal or perhaps even the Impact episode. You may have read about it and then moved on, shrugging by the time that it aired. You invested yourself by reading about it and maybe made a mental note to catch the RVD vs. Jeff Hardy match (or Joseph Park, whatever your poison) via DVR later. There was no feeling that it was critical you needed to watch, because it wasn't.

By going live, TNA has created a situation where the majority of the audience that cares about pro wrestling needs to watch, because that's the only way they can follow the company live as it happens, and let's face it, there's a reason Raw will always be the WWE flagship over Smackdown - and it ain't because it's on Mondays, but because it's live and "anything can happen." Impact now has the same feeling.

There's no chance for a preconceived notion about the show to be created, no chance for criticism of the show to be voiced and no chance for Impact to be something that is dismissed without viewing it.

Now, the audience can still do all those things, but ONLY after the show has aired. By then, TNA has you. TNA has created a situation where the audience that watches and dissects the show now has to be emotionally invested in watching the two hours plus (including the online segments and post-game show) before that discussion has happened.

By going live, TNA has pulled the control of their product and how it is depicted back into their own hands and that's a good thing.

Now, as far as why last night's reveal was the best thing the company could have done, no matter whether you saw it as bad acting or a campy twist, here's the reality - no one could have predicted it.

While people may not have liked it (although I can see some female viewers interested in seeing where the twist may go, because obviously this is just the start of a new direction), they certainly couldn't have looked at it and said, "Eh, same old sh**."

Maybe you loved it. Maybe you hated it. But, you had to watch an entire Impact episode to get the payoff, and there was a lot of good wrestling and angles underneath the last segment.

So, the reveal was the best thing the company could have done, because it opens them up to an entirely new dimension for the audience the follow - and with the show airing live, more fans than ever have the potential to actually invest and watch.

It's not a stretch to say that right now, out of every promotion out there, TNA is the only one with any sort of real feeling of momentum. At a time where everyone from WWE management to your local indy promoter is trying to figure out how to get eyeballs on their product, TNA is doing just that. They haven't conquered the world yet but they sure took a nice, firm step forward in the last month.

So, rant and rave about how stupid the ending was or why you liked it - because TNA already won. They got you, most of you anyway, to watch...and more importantly, to care. Email to the site and responses to our post-show polls are up. That's a huge sign that you are out there, watching, and caring.

I hate to say it, but Hogan dropped the leg on everyone. He was right. I'll really be saddened if TNA reverts to their old taping format this September...and even if you hated the end of Impact, so will you....because they are giving us a reason to care about TNA.

[Big Red Machine]

I am calling MAJOR BS on this one. Just because something is unpredictable does not make it good. When Disco Inferno was booking WCW, he wanted to do an angle in which Lance Storm and Mike Tenay would be revealed to be aliens. Was is about as unpredictable as you can get. It is also about as f*cking stupid as you can get.

Yes, fans reading spoilers and talking about things before they air can create impressions going in, but that can work both ways. If the product was good, fans would be busing about how good it was. Hell, I'm sure that that happened with the MCMG vs. Beer Money series back in 2010.

It all comes down to the same thing that it always has. If you put on a good show, people will watch it. If you don't they won't.

[Bob-O]

I am calling MAJOR BS on this one. Just because something is unpredictable does not make it good. When Disco Inferno was booking WCW, he wanted to do an angle in which Lance Storm and Mike Tenay would be revealed to be aliens. Was is about as unpredictable as you can get. It is also about as f*cking stupid as you can get.

Yes, fans reading spoilers and talking about things before they air can create impressions going in, but that can work both ways. If the product was good, fans would be busing about how good it was. Hell, I'm sure that that happened with the MCMG vs. Beer Money series back in 2010.

It all comes down to the same thing that it always has. If you put on a good show, people will watch it. If you don't they won't.

But he never said it was good, he said it was the best thing TNA do, and I have to agree. Especially with this angle of questionable direction. Had this been taped, and I would have read said spoilers, I would not have tuned in to see that crap. But, the live aspect had me wondering what was going to happen, just like the author said.

You're right, if TNA HAD A GOOD SHOW TO WATCH it wouldn't matter if they taped it. But they don't and they haven't for some time, in my opinion, and by going live they've managed to get people like me back. He never said the element of surprise made it good, he said it makes it interesting. Unpredictability is never a bad thing, and he's saying that it's all TNA really has going for it right now. THAT'S the bad thing...

Now, what I do disagree with is how he says Raw is WWE's Flagship because it's live. Taped or Live, WWE's had that time slot for 20 years. People know where to find it, they expect it, and it works. I don't think being live has much bearing. Even if they taped, ratings would drop but Raw would still beat Smackdown consistently there's no doubt in my mind. Even when they run live Smackdown's on Tuesdays, the numbers don't come close.

[Big Red Machine]

I am calling MAJOR BS on this one. Just because something is unpredictable does not make it good. When Disco Inferno was booking WCW, he wanted to do an angle in which Lance Storm and Mike Tenay would be revealed to be aliens. Was is about as unpredictable as you can get. It is also about as f*cking stupid as you can get.

Yes, fans reading spoilers and talking about things before they air can create impressions going in, but that can work both ways. If the product was good, fans would be busing about how good it was. Hell, I'm sure that that happened with the MCMG vs. Beer Money series back in 2010.

It all comes down to the same thing that it always has. If you put on a good show, people will watch it. If you don't they won't.

But he never said it was good, he said it was the best thing TNA do, and I have to agree. Especially with this angle of questionable direction. Had this been taped, and I would have read said spoilers, I would not have tuned in to see that crap. But, the live aspect had me wondering what was going to happen, just like the author said.

You're right, if TNA HAD A GOOD SHOW TO WATCH it wouldn't matter if they taped it. But they don't and they haven't for some time, in my opinion, and by going live they've managed to get people like me back. He never said the element of surprise made it good, he said it makes it interesting. Unpredictability is never a bad thing, and he's saying that it's all TNA really has going for it right now. THAT'S the bad thing...

But then it has nothing to do with the reveal of the storyline itself, and the thing that makes it good for TNA is the fact that it was live... but the title of the article says "last night's reveal was the best thing TNA could have done."

[cero2k]

But then it has nothing to do with the reveal of the storyline itself, and the thing that makes it good for TNA is the fact that it was live... but the title of the article says "last night's reveal was the best thing TNA could have done."

because it was the first real segment that they promote to be live with no spoilers going in. The Sting thing wasn't expected, so people wouldn't know to tune in to see what happens.

[Big Red Machine]

But then it has nothing to do with the reveal of the storyline itself, and the thing that makes it good for TNA is the fact that it was live... but the title of the article says "last night's reveal was the best thing TNA could have done."

because it was the first real segment that they promote to be live with no spoilers going in. The Sting thing wasn't expected, so people wouldn't know to tune in to see what happens.

There was also Aries decision earlier on this show which got hype, but either way it is not the reveal that was good for TNA. It was going live, which they have been for a month now. He said that the reveal was good for TNA.

[cero2k]

There was also Aries decision earlier on this show which got hype, but either way it is not the reveal that was good for TNA. It was going live, which they have been for a month now. He said that the reveal was good for TNA.

I think we're agreeing to the same thing but with different ideas. Going live was definitely the thing that helped TNA, The reveal was good for TNA regardless of the content of the segment. it's all about giving the viewer the uncertainty of what will happen and thus making them wanna tune it. It shouldn't be necessary if they had a good show, but TNA lost a lot of people in the last 3 yrs. This is the kind of thing that could make them take a little interest again. I worked on me.

[Big Red Machine]

There was also Aries decision earlier on this show which got hype, but either way it is not the reveal that was good for TNA. It was going live, which they have been for a month now. He said that the reveal was good for TNA.

I think we're agreeing to the same thing but with different ideas. Going live was definitely the thing that helped TNA, The reveal was good for TNA regardless of the content of the segment. it's all about giving the viewer the uncertainty of what will happen and thus making them wanna tune it. It shouldn't be necessary if they had a good show, but TNA lost a lot of people in the last 3 yrs. This is the kind of thing that could make them take a little interest again. I worked on me.

I don't understand how you can say that the reveal was good regardless of the content of the segment. EVERYTHING they do is now spoiler free. How was this any different than the title match between Roode and Anderson last week? We have a situation where something major is going to happen (all title matches are major because they could be a title change) and everyone is spoiler free. Why was this reveal so special? If not this, they would have had some other thing that they hyped up and had to reveal (like Aries decision) and the show would be live so everyone would be spoiler free.

If anything, I could argue that the fact that the content of this segment sucked hurts their live ratings. Whether live or not, TNA is giving us the same sub-par angles that they always do. If it wasn't good enough to watch before, but you still read spoilers, what is the difference between that not watching the show live and then reading the recap?

[cero2k]

I don't understand how you can say that the reveal was good regardless of the content of the segment. EVERYTHING they do is now spoiler free. How was this any different than the title match between Roode and Anderson last week? We have a situation where something major is going to happen (all title matches are major because they could be a title change) and everyone is spoiler free. Why was this reveal so special? If not this, they would have had some other thing that they hyped up and had to reveal (like Aries decision) and the show would be live so everyone would be spoiler free.

If anything, I could argue that the fact that the content of this segment sucked hurts their live ratings. Whether live or not, TNA is giving us the same sub-par angles that they always do. If it wasn't good enough to watch before, but you still read spoilers, what is the difference between that not watching the show live and then reading the recap?

everything is spoiler free, but then again, everything is predictable as hell.
- we knew Aries was taking the title shot
- we knew Anderson was not gonna get the title from roode, just like were predicting that Storm will do it at BFG.
- we know Tess is not losing the title against Madison Rayne
- we were almost set of who was gonna make the BFG series, with the exception of Robbie and Pope
- we knew something was gonna come out of the Dixie/AJ thing, were we expecting this, hell no.

the reveal, whether it was good or not, proved (at least me) wrong that i can't assume what TNA will do.

bad segments will hurt be it live or taped. problem here is that if it's live, you can't judge until you watch it, and to watch it you gotta tune in and give them viewership. RAW has been live for years already, and week by week we put up with stupid angles and segments, just in case, we get another Nexus or another Punk shoot. TNA is gonna start doing that, they did it with Sting's attack and now with this thing, it's gonna come to a point when you can't anticipate what will happen in TNA and that equals viewers.

[Big Red Machine]

I don't understand how you can say that the reveal was good regardless of the content of the segment. EVERYTHING they do is now spoiler free. How was this any different than the title match between Roode and Anderson last week? We have a situation where something major is going to happen (all title matches are major because they could be a title change) and everyone is spoiler free. Why was this reveal so special? If not this, they would have had some other thing that they hyped up and had to reveal (like Aries decision) and the show would be live so everyone would be spoiler free.

If anything, I could argue that the fact that the content of this segment sucked hurts their live ratings. Whether live or not, TNA is giving us the same sub-par angles that they always do. If it wasn't good enough to watch before, but you still read spoilers, what is the difference between that not watching the show live and then reading the recap?

everything is spoiler free, but then again, everything is predictable as hell.
- we knew Aries was taking the title shot
- we knew Anderson was not gonna get the title from roode, just like were predicting that Storm will do it at BFG.
- we know Tess is not losing the title against Madison Rayne
- we were almost set of who was gonna make the BFG series, with the exception of Robbie and Pope
- we knew something was gonna come out of the Dixie/AJ thing, were we expecting this, hell no.

the reveal, whether it was good or not, proved (at least me) wrong that i can't assume what TNA will do.

But this is how most things in wrestling go. I don't see why this segment deserves any credit at all. TNA was already live. Just because this happened to be in the right place at the right time, it deserves credit?

bad segments will hurt be it live or taped. problem here is that if it's live, you can't judge until you watch it, and to watch it you gotta tune in and give them viewership. RAW has been live for years already, and week by week we put up with stupid angles and segments, just in case, we get another Nexus or another Punk shoot. TNA is gonna start doing that, they did it with Sting's attack and now with this thing, it's gonna come to a point when you can't anticipate what will happen in TNA and that equals viewers.

You can't judge it until you watch it if it is taped, either. If people decide that the product is bad, they will stop watching it, live or not, and it will take doing something good to bring them back (the Punk shoot pretty much proved that).
As for not being able to anticipate what would happen, who saw James Storm winning the belt from Kurt Angle? I sure didn't, and that wasn't live. I will admit that I am usually pretty damn sure who is going to win a match in most company when the match begins, and I am usually correct, but that doesn't change if the show is live or not. That just comes from being a smark and from having some booking sense.

[cero2k]

But this is how most things in wrestling go. I don't see why this segment deserves any credit at all. TNA was already live. Just because this happened to be in the right place at the right time, it deserves credit?

it gets the credit for what it did. It could have been any segment IMO, if they had revealed Samoa Joe's kidnappers it would have taken the credit this segment is taking. you're right, it was at the right place and the right time. I think that if this had been an amazing segment, everyone would be agreeing that this is why live helps tna.

You can't judge it until you watch it if it is taped, either. If people decide that the product is bad, they will stop watching it, live or not, and it will take doing something good to bring them back (the Punk shoot pretty much proved that).
As for not being able to anticipate what would happen, who saw James Storm winning the belt from Kurt Angle? I sure didn't, and that wasn't live. I will admit that I am usually pretty damn sure who is going to win a match in most company when the match begins, and I am usually correct, but that doesn't change if the show is live or not. That just comes from being a smark and from having some booking sense.

true, but if i read a spoiler and i see something that i don't like, chances are i won't watch it. If i don't know any outcomes coming in, i may feel inclined to watch the show, because after all TNA is the only other nationwide wrestling show i get. And even when some segments may be horrible, maybe there's something worth watching. I'm a Robbie E fan ;P

again true, no one really saw Storm win the title from Angle. I'm not saying that TNA used to be 100% predictable, but their unpredictability was on tuesday when the spoilers came out, not during the show. And still, with TNA's rule to hold a big Impact show after every PPV, you can always anticipate that they'll try something big.

[badnewzxl]

the reveal PROVED why TNA going live was a good idea; bc they were able to surprise us. Of course, the surprise wasn't anything mega exciting, but had it been taped ppl would have made sure NOT to watch (like Bob O said). Being live and having a big secret to reveal def helps bc the audience will stick around to see the reveal, instead of just giving up on the terrible show and reading the spoilers. They actually have a hook now.